Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
Microsoft [MSFT] has announced that it completed the $8.5bn purchase of Skype.
“Skype is a phenomenal product and brand that is loved by hundreds of millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “We look forward to working with the Skype team to create new ways for people to stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues — anytime, anywhere.”
T-Mobile has announced a new smartphone that is compatible on its HSPA+ network. The new smartphone is the HTC Radar 4G which is also the first Windows Phone 7.5 Mango device that supports the HSPA+ network at T-Mobile.
HTC is likely to announce a new smartphone in London next week called the HTC Omega. The Omega is a Windows Phone 7 device that is rumoured to have have a 3.8 inch SLCD screen along with an 8 megapixel camera.
Samsung is launching the latest Bada OS SDK. The new version is Bada OS 2.0 and when it launches, we’ll also see the launch of 3 new Bada OS based smartphones that carry the Samsung Wave name.
This week has seen a few announcements about the new Nokia N9. First we heard that it wasn’t going to be going to the US. We then heard the N9 wouldn’t launch in the UK. We now hear that it isn’t going to Germany.
The image below is a screen grab of what is probably a fake video of the new Windows Phone 7 Nokia smartphone (Sea Ray). Although the video looks quite official (other than the usual leaky shake effect leaked gadgets have), it does pull elements from other videos of products. But, we quite like the ideas given in the video and hope to see some in the future.
Nokia has confirmed that the Nokia N9 will not be arriving in the UK. The MeeGo based smartphone was first rumoured not to be arriving in the US and then confirmation came about the same happening in the UK.
In a few weeks time on August 17, Nokia and Microsoft will be holding a special event. The event is being held in Cologne, Germany at the GamesCon trade fair. It isn’t fully known how many Nokia/WP smartphones will be on show at the event, ie… which smartphone will be revealed, but what we do see is the Nokia and Windows Phone logo on show which guarantees that we’ll see where Nokia is at with the new operating system while also getting launch details of the device.
Nokia is holding an event in Athens a week today. Nothing is known about the event other than being held on the 17th May at 8pm in Athens.
What we expect to hear is that Nokia will unveil or provide more details on Windows Phone smartphones.
Microsoft is working on a new version, perhaps update, for the Windows Phone platform. The new update could arrive this year and when it does, it will bring a mobile payment technology to the smartphone. However, current smartphones are more than likely not compatible with the new service which means it will be available on new hardware only.
The system follows on from what Google is doing with Android 2.3 Gingerbread where smartphones embedded with NFC (near field communications), can be used as mobile wallets. Microsoft will include the necessary code in Windows Phone so that manufacturers can add NFC to their smartphones and in turn, allow end users to make payments by waving their phone over a sensor. [Read more…]
Spotify has reached another milestone today and has just announced that they now have 1 million paying subscribers to the service. The 1 million subscribers count arrives about two years after the 1 million users mark which at that time, was also a big accomplishment for the company.
Daniel Ek also comments that about 200 million playlists have been created so far. [Read more…]
Nokia has sent out an email to members of the Launchpad, letting them know that they will be getting a free E7 and a Windows Phone 7 device when available.
Launchpad is Nokia’s mobile app development program that normally has a price tag of 300 per year. It’s actually free for the first year. Nokia need to approve companies and developers in to the program and once there, when the devices are available, they’ll be shipped out. [Read more…]
