Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
A number of companies are trying to get Android based tablets launched on to the market. Some make it, some don’t. This next one aims to lower the price by introducing the tablet at just £179.99.
The tablet is called the disgo Tablet 6000 and has a 7 inch screen in a WVGA format. The OS running on the tablet is Android 2.1.
Features on the disgo include Wireless 802.11b/g/n as well as a miniHDMI port and USB port. Inside, 2GB of storage can be found. [Read more…]
Google [GOOG] has formally launched its URL shortening service called Goo.gl. What this does is allows you to shorten a long URL down to just a few characters to make it easier to share a URL on social networking sites like Twitter.
A handy “Easter Egg” style feature has also been included with the new shortener. What the new feature allows you to do is automatically create a QR code for the shortened URL by simply adding .qr on to the end of any shortened URL. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] has been granted a patent for a MacBook that has built in multiband cellular technology.
Apple’s Patent Abstract: Antenna window structures and antennas are provided for electronic devices. The electronic devices may be laptop computers or other devices that have conductive housings. Antenna windows can be formed from dielectric members. The dielectric members can have elastomeric properties. An antenna may be mounted inside a conductive housing beneath a dielectric member. The antenna could be formed from a parallel plate waveguide structure. The parallel plate waveguide structure may have a ground plate and a radiator plate and may have dielectric material between the ground and radiator plates. The ground plate can have a primary ground plate portion and a ground strip. The ground strip may reflect radio-frequency signals so that they travel through the dielectric member. The antenna may handle radio-frequency antenna signals in one or more communications bands. The radio-frequency antenna signals pass through the dielectric member.
Google [GOOG] is launching a new image format called WebP. What WebP does is squashes down the file size of images to make them smaller, hence, a quicker download for users.
The aim of Google is to make the web faster and this is just another step to make this happen. Typically, the webP format can reduce the file size of a JPEG image by about 40% making images a lot smaller in file size. However, with this format, not much changes in image quality with it not really even being noticable. It’s a bonus in both ways for the end user (and webmaster who pays out for bandwidth usage on his hosting account).
Another interesting thing to note is that 65 percent of traffic on the internet is image traffic according to Google. Cut image sizes down by 40% on average and you have a lot of bandwidth savings. [Read more…]
Rumours started back in April about a Dell Streak 7 inch and 10 inch model being launched. Up till now, only the 5 inch model actually made it on sale.
Recently, Michael Dell himself mentioned that a 7 inch tablet was being looked in to although no specifics could be revealed last week when he made the comment. More details of the 7 inch version have now appeared and it seems like a 7 inch model could be landing as early as this month. [Read more…]
Super Talent has created the CKB USB flash drive that has been designed to attach to your keychain. The reason for creating it was due to the need to carry keys around with you when you leave your home. If a flash drive is attached to them, you’ll never forget to carry it around with you.
Storage capacities for the CKB starts at 2GB and goes all the way up to 32GB. Dimensions of the flash drive reveal it measures 40mm x 25.9mm x 3.7mm making it quite compact. [Read more…]
The BlackBerry Curve 3G and Pearl 3G will soon become available on the AT&T network in the US.
The announcement came from AT&T who said that each of the smartphones would be made available on its 3G network.
Each of the smartphones has social networking access along with access to the BlackBerry App World. Carrier billing is also integrated with App World that allows customers to purchase apps from the store but be billed by AT&T for the download. [Read more…]
Some leaked information has revealed that the HTC Mondrian Windows Phone 7 smartphone will be also landing on a mobile network over in Germany. Up till now, we had only heard of the AT&T version.
Part of the giveaway is that the device has some of the German language on the screen shots. The information isn’t official just yet and there isn’t too much we know about the Mondrian. [Read more…]
The Samsung Epic 4G (Sprint model) has a problem with 3G upload speeds. An OTA update released recently was expected, by users, to fix this although unfortunately, it did not.
Sprint was aware of the problem though and have now managed to fix the problems with upload speeds. The new update is being released as early as today, September 30. [Read more…]
The UK Mobile network, Vodafone has yet again caused a bit of a kerfuffle (understatement) due to their latest update for the Samsung Galaxy S.
Many had believed that they would finally be able to get the latest update for Android, being 2.2 (Froyo), but this could not have been further from what was actually recieived. Instead rather, it seems that many forum members and Galaxy users have snarled at Vodafone in shovelling “bloatware” onto their new phones with apps that are either not needed, that cannot be un-installed and which take up valuable space or that many find, now finding performance issues such as increased call-dropping as a result of the new update. [Read more…]
The TechCrunch Disrupt conference introduces a number of unique ideas that intend to disrupt how things work… hence the name.
One of the apps revealed is an update to the Paypal App for the iPhone. The new version will make it possible to deposit checks by taking a photo of the front and back. Once done and submitted, the checks are then deposited in to your Paypal balance making them ready to withdraw when needed. [Read more…]
We have seen a hack before that allows the iPhone 3GS to get HDR photography. This modification required that you jailbreak the iPhone 3GS and edit a file to activate the feature.
What we hear now is that Apple [AAPL] could have intended on the iPhone 3GS getting HDR photography all along. The information comes from a couple of images of the HDR button found in the firmware for the phone. Two image files were found. One of them had a retina display enhanced version of the HDR image (button found at the top of the screen when capturing an image). A second lower resolution image was also found that looks to be optimised for the regular display.
What this indicates is a couple of things. Either Apple intended the HDR feature to be included in iOS 4.1 for the 3GS, or that they might add it in the future. [Read more…]
