Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
Last week we mentioned that LG were readying the first Windows Phone 7 Series handset ready for launch sometime between September and November this year.
Engadget managed to take a look at the handset whilst filming the Engadget Show. A quick look at the picture above shows that it appears to have the right things in place to qualify as a Windows Phone 7 Series handset such as it having 3 hardware buttons below the screen and a large high-res screen that’s capacitive touch. [Read more…]
The Nexus One from Google [GOOG] will be arriving in the UK in April according to news from the Telegraph. An exact date in April is unknown at the moment and pricing is also unknown although it is expected that the phone will be priced similarly to the Apple iPhone in regards to tariffs.
Just like Google have done with T-Mobile and soon Verizon, the Nexus One will go on sale direct from Google at Google.com/phone rather than going on sale direct on the networks own sites or resellers sites. We assume that support will also be handled the same in that Google will be responsible for sales, after sales and technical support in relation to the hardware while network issues will be handled by Vodafone. It is also unclear if calls will be handled in the US for support, or if Google will take an email only support approach like originally when the phone launched in the US. [Read more…]
Recently Apple were heard to say that Adobe Flash on a mobile device would kill battery life and give up to an 85% decrease in how long the battery would last. The Apple iPad was specifically mentioned as dropping from 10 hours to just 1.5 hours if Apple allowed Flash on their device.
To try prove these numbers wrong an Adobe evangelist called Mark Doherty has created some evidence along with a video of Flash 10.1 running on a mobile device and the exact effect it has on the battery of a mobile device. By playing a 17 minute embedded video that ran flash, the consumption of flash was just 6% (mixed in with the browser processor usage). The numbers also indicate that H.264 playback over a WiFi connection could allow for about three hours on a single charge. [Read more…]
The Apple [AAPL] iPad was first announced about a month ago and at that time it was revealed that it doesn’t have a camera at all on the device. A few weeks later it was spotted that the iPad’s bezel actually had a cut out for a camera but it still seems like the final iPad won’t actually arrive with a camera. This could mean a second generation iPad is already being built.
A new iPad SDK was recently released that was also found to support a front facing camera, camera flash, zoom and video conferencing.
This information was found in the SDK thanks to a couple of buttons that show large Decline and Accept video call buttons which appear to be too big for the iPhone screen. [Read more…]
Street Fighter 4 will arrive on the Apple iPhone next month with a price tag of $10. The downside is that although it’s the 2009 game that you are getting, you’ll only be able to fight with 8 characters.
The eight characters included in this version of the iPhone game are Ryu, Ken, Guile, Blanka, Chun-Li, Dhalsim, M. Bison and Abel. From what we see in the game play footage, the graphics look amazing, as does the sound. I’m not sure how good an on-screen controller will be but I am sure we’ll find out more as reviews of the SF4 game for iPhone start appearing. [Read more…]
The Apple iPhone managed to get Google Earth quite a while back now. For some reason Google [GOOG] haven’t launched Google Earth on the Android until now.
If you are running Android 2.1 then you should see Google Earth available in the market ready to download and install as you so wish. The Android 2.1 version of Google Earth allows users to move around and explore the world in the palm of their hand. Gestures can be used to navigate around the globe such as swiping your finger to rotate the globe.
Included in Android Google Earth is all the same 3D imagery that you can find in the desktop version. As well as showing map data you can also search for various places and points of interest. [Read more…]
If the Apple [AAPL] iPad was to run Adobe Flash to run on it’s OS then the best battery life the iPad would get is 1.5 hours… well, that’s what Steve Jobs told the guys at WSJ recently in a meeting.
This is based on Flash running hardware acceleration although the Max OS X version for desktops did not run this.
Well, yes and no. Jobs is picking and choosing here between hypothetical versions of Flash. If the iPad version of Flash were to have hardware acceleration, which Flash 10.1 offered up for desktops (though not OS X), that wouldn’t be remotely the case. If Flash on the iPad were to support hardware video decoding where available, it wouldn’t require nearly as much CPU. You’d lose battery life, sure, the same way you lose battery life watching any type of video on any system, but nothing near as dramatic as 85%.
Google [GOOG] seem to be doing very well at the moment with the Android operating system and the phones it ships on. Figures revealed recently by the Google CEO, Eric Schmidt show that about 60,000 phones running Android are shipping every single day.
At the rate of 60K per day that equates to about 5.4 million handsets per quarter which is a decent amount of handsets. Although it’s still some way behind the Apple [AAPL] iPhone in terms of sales per quarter (which are at 8.7 million), it’s still a huge chunk considering the amount of time they have been shipping vs the iPhone. [Read more…]
The graph above represents three mobile phone OS’s in competition with each other. Back in December 2006, Microsoft [MSFT] appeared to be the king of U.S. smartphone market share with just short of 35% of the market which rose slightly after that but then started to fall down on a steel slope till in December 2009 it hit a low of 17% share with RIM taking the top spot and Apple [AAPL] being somewhere in between.
Windows Phone 7 Series was announced this Monday just gone and Microsoft are hoping that this graph can be fixed. [Read more…]
Wired have demonstrated what their tablet based reader will run like. The Wired Reader app aims to immerse the user in real magazine content that hasn’t been altered by HTML. The content is designed on the Adobe InDesign software and allows users to seamlessly scroll around a magazine on a dual-navigation system that lets you scroll both horizontally and vertically.
As well as showing content as Wired want it to be displayed, 3D interactivity, video and audio are also thrown in to the mix. If Wired are reviewing a product, you can slide your finger across the product to rotate it in 3D to get a view from all sides. As well as being able to manipulate reviewed items real-time, you can also click to see video and listen to audio embedded on a page. [Read more…]
Windows Phone 7 Series has been officially announced at MWC today. The new operating system was designed to “re-invent” how phones actually operate and how the UI functions. In the past a lot of phones tend to try function like a PC. Microsoft’s [MSFT] new approach is that the phone is more intimate than a PC, and should have a new user interface.
What Microsoft wanted to achieve when planning Windows Phone 7 Series is a device that can focus on an individual and their needs as well as helping to organise information and applications.
The new operating system features flatter icons than before that actually look good. They are large allowing for 1 or 2 to fit across the page and work easily without the need of a stylus. The home page scrolls down and displays several of these blocks which house the most common details and contacts you need. [Read more…]
We’ve seen a fair share of unique accessories for the Apple [AAPL] iPhone. This time the unique accessory is a case designed to look like a mix tape that a number of you will have made in the 80’s and 90’s.
The case has an image of an old FE 90 tape bonded to it to create a vinyl like exterior to protect the iPhone held inside. Inside the case is a soft scratch free grey felt to protect the screen and casing of the iPhone as well as providing a bit of padding. The case is hand cut and machine stitched. Although not washable by machine, the build of it certainly allows handwashing it in warm water to keep it clean. [Read more…]
