Search Results for: iphone

Symbian released some source code for Symbian^4 recently and in doing so, quietly made some screen shots available that show what new features or changes have been made.

The changes show that the new OS and UI has a new iPhone/Android style status bar at the top of the page that is almost permanent. When we say “almost” we assume that some apps can go full screen. Just below the status bar is another bar showing comments on what is going on as well as what looks like the ability to switch between apps and jump back to the home page. This section will hopefully slide out when needed rather than being a permanent fixture as it takes up valuable screen estate for small screen devices. [Read more…]

BGR along with others managed to get hold of a Samsung Protoype Windows Phone 7 device to test for a week. The hardware it’s self will never be launched although the preview is for the software that will be running on it, Windows Phone 7 from Microsoft [MSFT].

The preview covers hardware briefly although it doesn’t cover the specific Samsung handset used due to it never being launched. The requirements though were mentioned which includes a 1GHz CPU, 3.7 inch 4 point capacitive multi-touch display, 5 megapixel camera, 3 hardware buttons, dedicated graphics chip and memory built in with no removable storage allowed. Microsoft are being strict on the requirements to ensure that the Windows Phone 7 experience is good on any approved device that runs it. [Read more…]

Bloomberg is reporting that a top engineer at Apple [AAPL] warned of potential antenna problems early on in the iPhone 4 development phase.

The top engineer called Ruben Caballero is an antenna expert who informed management at Apple about the design’s potential to cause issues.

As well as Ruben raising the voice of warning to Apple management it is also believe at least one carrier partner also raised concerns about the new design before the June 24 release date.

Although we’ll never know for sure if Ruben mentioned this or not, it’s certainly difficult to imagine that Apple didn’t spot the problem whilst testing the device. It is also surprising that their press release about a few weeks back also didn’t accept there was an issue. [Read more…]

As well as changing the formula that calculates the signal strength and bars on the iPhone 4, iOS 4.1 also includes ACRCP stereo Bluetooth controls.

What that allows you to do is pair your iPhone iOS 4 device with headphones or a car stereo and control it from the said devices.

Previously you could play and pause tracks, but now you can use the rest of the controls such as the volume and skip track controls. [Read more…]

Apple [AAPL] has pushed out iOS 4.1 to developers. The new update includes the fix for the signal reporting problems that the iPhone 4 has. Something to note here is that it doesn’t fix the antenna problems, but instead just fixes the signal bars so that they represent the actual signal better.

We are not part of the developer program, so do not have the download yet to install, but Mobile Crunch does and has made a video showing that the signal still drops when touching the bottom left of the iPhone 4’s antennae as seen below.

Gizmodo has put together a quick image showing the old vs new bar size as Apple has increased the size of the smaller of the 5 signal bars to make them easier to see. Image also below. Again, this is just a cosmetic type fix to help you see how good or bad your signal is and doesn’t actually fix the signal issues (that is assuming you get problems with the antenna which not all people do). [Read more…]

Samsung Galaxy S a Smart Move

True iPhone Competitor

Samsung have a great phone here, and an even greater opportunity to take a bigger chunk of the prosperous smartphone market, especially with current issues the iPhone 4 users are experiencing.

Straight out of the box the first thing we notice is the phone is lightweight and slim with more than decent build quality, I have read others compare it to the iPhone 3GS in feel and look but I’d have to disagree and say that’s like comparing the design of a wood encased Atari to the all black plastic design of an Atari 2600, they’re not as close in looks as they are in function, and while the original Atari was new, sleek, and modern at its release, the 2600 was clearly a better design and very up to date.

Turning on the Galaxy S is easy, there are really only two options, a small control button on the right side of the phone which would have been better placed on top beside the sliding USB port door, or what appeared and eventually turned out to be, the rocker type volume control on the left. Once the initial wallpaper appears there’s a moment similar to the recent Staples commercials advertising low prices, ‘Whoa! That’s a crisp image!, while the iPhone 4 may cram in the most pixels per square inch of screen realty it does not match the vivid quality of the Samsung AMOLED equipped Galaxy S. [Read more…]