Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
Data collected by the NPD Group indicate that smartphones running the Android OS are now outselling the Apple iPhone for the first time.
This switch over in sales puts Android as the second most selling OS behind RIM devices.
In the first quarter of 2010, Android from Google [GOOG] took about 28% of all handsets followed by Apple at 21% and just behind RIM at 36%. [Read more…]
The APad, AKA iRobot, is an Apple iPad clone that runs the Google Android operating system. It is designed to look like an iPad (kind of, but not very good) and has a 7 inch touchscreen along with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. The screen is in a 16:9 aspect ratio.
For connectivity it has wireless 802.11 a/b/g. The Android operating system uses a Chrome browser from what we have read and the device is capable of supporting PDF documents along with Word and Excel files. Email is also available on the device.
The device comes with 128MB of RAM and for storage you get the option of either 2GB or 4GB. A microSD card slot is also included allowing for up to 32GBof extra storage to be used. [Read more…]
It has been confirmed that Orange in the UK will be adding the Alcatel One Touch XTRA to their network.
The XTRA from Alcatel is a QWERTY slider phone that is aimed at those wanting to keep in touch through social networking. This means that Facebook, Twitter and other similar sites are all easily accessible on the phone and play a prominent part of the UI.
Technical spec wise the One Touch XTRA has a QVGA screen, a 2 megapixel digital camera along with Bluetooth connectivity. There is no mention of WiFi that I can find although the phone does connect over EDGE networks. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] has opened up pre-orders in the UK for the Apple iPad as announced recently. Prices for the iPad start at £429 including VAT for the lowest spec model that has wi-fi only and 16GB of storage. The top price is £699 that will get you the 64GB iPad with Wireless and 3G connectivity.
If pre-ordered in time (ie, before May 28 and before pre-orders are out of stock) then you will get the iPad on Friday May 28.
As well as launching pre-orders for the iPad, Apple has also given prices for all mobile networks who will be offering iPad plans. This includes Vodafone, O2 and Orange. Prices can be found below… [Read more…]
Back in March we wrote about the WePad that was designed to take on the iPad. The company behind the WePad called Neofonie, have decided to change the name to WeTab.
The reasons for the name change are not clear although it could be related to Apple applying a bit of pressure, or perhaps Neofonie just getting a little scared and wanting to separate their product a little.
The WeTab is an 11.6 inch touchscreen device that has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. It is powered by an Intel Atom N450 processor and has integrated Intel GMA 3150 graphics. [Read more…]
Visa and DeviceFidelity are working with Apple [AAPL] to bring mobile payments to Apple iPhone users. The new system works with the iPhone sat in a protective case that has a secure memory card that is home to a contactless payment application called Visa PayWave.
The system is only designed right now to work with the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS with no next-gen model being mentioned. When active, the system will allow users to easily pay for small products and items as well as make purchases at vending machines by simply waving the phone in front of a contact-less pay system.
In the US there are 1000’s of companies who already accept contactless payment that are compatible with this system. As well as working with the iPhone with a special case, any mobile phone with a memory card slot will also work as the Visa chip can also utilise a microSD card slot. [Read more…]
When Google [GOOG] launched the Google Nexus One, the tax was calculated slightly wrong and rather than being based on the sale price it was based on the full retail price. So, if you overpaid the tax, Google are now returning the overpayment to you.
The money you over paid will be paid back to the card you paid on originally unless the card has expired and in those cases, it will be refunded to the same account on to the new issued card.
The letter reads as follows…
Hello,
We’re writing in regards to your recent Nexus One purchase. There was an issue with the way the sales tax was applied to your order. When your order was placed, you paid taxes on the full retail price of the phone. However, you should have only been charged taxes on the sales price of the phone. We apologize for this issue and wanted to let you know that Google will issue a partial refund for the difference in the amount of taxes you were charged.
The refund will be issued to the debit/credit card used to complete the original purchase. To verify which card will receive the refund, please sign in to your Google Checkout account at and click ˜View order’. The payment information for the order will be listed at the bottom of the order receipt.
If the debit/credit card used to complete your purchase has been closed, your card-issuing bank should forward these funds to your new account or mail a check to you for the amount of the refund.
If you have any questions about the refund, or if you need further assistance, please reply to this email and we’ll be happy to help.
Sincerely,
The Nexus One Team
Pioneer are launching six new satnavs over in Japan that will cost from 112,000 to 352,000 Yen which is the equivalent of $1242 – $3904. The six new units, obviously top of the range units, are split in to two categories.
The first is the H9990 series that has a 7 inch screen capable of an 800 x 480 pixel resolution. This is in a 1+1 Din form and includes a 12Seg TV tuner along with other features such as DVD, CD, DSP, HDD and supports a number of file formats for playing back MP3 files, WMA, AAC. For connectivity it has Bluetooth as well as an iPod and iPhone connector although this is optional.
The next range is the AVIC-ZH9990 that is a 2 DIN device while the AVIC-H9990 is a 1 DIN HDD based GPS. Confused? Never mind as we definitely won’t be seeing these over in Europe or the US at least for now. [Read more…]
The Garmin nuvi 260W is a 4.3 inch widescreen satnav device that comes preloaded with maps of north America.
The device provides turn-by-turn directions in either 2D or 3D allowing you to easily navigate your way around. Voice guidance is included with this satnav as is text to speech allowing the system to speak out street names rather than saying “turn left in 30 yards”.
* GPS system preloaded with City Navigator North America NT
* 4.3-inch touchscreen display with 2D/3D mapping perspective
* Turn-by-turn directions with voice guidance and text to speech
* Rechargeable lithium-ion battery makes it convenient for navigation by car or foot
* Includes JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more [Read more…]
For those who don’t want to spend an extra $130 + monthly costs on an Apple iPad 3G, but want to still connect to the internet when there is no wireless signal around, an application can now convert your Apple iPhone 3G/3GS in to a wireless hotspot allowing a wifi iPad or other wireless device to connect up and share the unlimited data.
The application is called MyWi and is available for download on Rock, ie, you need to jailbreak your iPhone to get it to work. Once installed you can load up the app, enable WiFii Tethering by switching it to On and a wireless network is then created allowing you to connect up your iPad and share the data connection. [Read more…]
SanDisk has confirmed that the XBox 360 USB flash drive is now shipping. A couple of capacities are available which include an 8GB model costing $24.99 and a larger 16GB model costing $69.99.
The drives carry the official XBox logo as they were built in a partnership with Microsoft [MSFT] and each drive can be used to take advantage of the firmware that was launched on April 6 that allowed external devices to be used to store saved games, profiles as well as demos, video and pictures.
Although SanDisk and Microsoft are saying the SanDisk flash drive is the “official” USB device for the XBox, this doesn’t prevent other 3rd party flash drives being used. [Read more…]
John Benson ordered an Apple iPad 3G in the UK that arrived from the US this week. When opening it up, it obviously had an AT&T microSIM that won’t work over here. The problem is that in the UK at the moment, microSIM’s are not available just yet so rather than waiting a month to use it, John took a knife to his Vodafone SIM and chopped off the plastic edges to make it in to a microSIM.
The U.K. resident was faced with a disparity in SIM cards once he received his iPad from over the pond, writing on his website, “This morning, my shiny new iPad 3G 64Gb arrived from the USA! The only problem was, it had an AT&T MicroSIM and as yet there is no such thing in the UK.”
