Mobile Devices - Page 182

The company behind BlackBerry, Research In Motion (RIM) had a scheduled smartphone launch event in Indonesia, but had to cancel the event early. Thousands of people turned up to get their hands on the latest BlackBerry smartphone, but rumors began to spread like wildfire that the new phone had sold out, after which chaos broke out.

RIM had chosen Indonesia as the first country to receive the new Blackberry Bellagio, known as the Blackberry Bold 9790. Indonesia is a hot spot for Blackberry handsets, which is why RIM set up a special event at the Pacific Place mall in Jakarta to celebrate the event. RIM also offered a 50-percent discount to the first 1000 people to purchase the smartphone, which resulted in a line formed 24 hours before the event.

Those who were eligible for the discount were given a red wristband but as the crowd grew, organizers announced that everyone on hand would get a phone. Rumors began to wave through the crowd that the phone had actually sold out and people lost their patience. The crowd burst through security barriers to try get their hands on a new phone, with the Jakarta Globe reporting that as many as 90 people had to be treated for injuries ranging from broken or fractured bones to unconsciousness.

Samsung have a new series of commercials where they poke fun at Apple fans, its not a dark insult, but more of a realistic view of most Apple customers. The ad starts in a lineup for Apple's iPhone 4S in New York, a similar site in most cities around launch day. A large group of Apple fans are lined up, talking about how this is "an event" and they will "remember it for the rest of their lives."

Just after this, another guy outside the line is on his smartphone and it attracts the people in the lineup, he's holding a Samsung Galaxy S II. The Apple fanboys comment on how light and thin the device is and how large the display is. Some of the quotes are "I could never get a Samsung, I'm creative", with someone saying "Dude, your'e a barista."

One of the Samsung owners says "Why don't you guys just get 4G phones?", with one of the Apple fans in the lineup says in a very sarcastic tone, "Why don't you just get 4G phones?". "The battery looks sketchy", "If it looks the same, how will people know I upgraded?" All of the things that most Apple fans (who aren't completely stuck in the Apple rose garden) would say. If the phones look the same, how does someone know if you have a iPhone 4 or 4S from a distance?

Well, this is quite the development and is sure to set a fire under the rug for most people. The only method that Kindle Fire owners will be able to install apps is through the Amazon Appstore for Android, it does not ship with Google's Android Market, period.

This means that Android developers need to make sure that their apps will be available on the Amazon Appstore, if they want to get a piece of those 12 million Fire owners that Amazon hope to have in 2012. Right up until now, Amazon has been very Apple-esque in the way that they treat developers, and publishers. By having your app on the Amazon Appstore, you give up more control than Apple actually asks of you, with you giving up the control to set your own price and control your app's description, with more restrictions behind those Fire-y curtins.

Google's open approach to the Android Market is what draws a lot of people to it, versus the rose-tinted world of Apple's App Store, or Amazon's Appstore. If the Fire does indeed sell 12 million tablets next year, what will happen to owners who want a game, or app that just isn't made available on the Amazon Appstore? I hate to think that Amazon could have this plan back fire on them...

Not much to say about it, but there's a video below of a hands-on experience with ASUS' Transformer Prime, which packs NVIDIA's Tegra 3 quad-core (with fifth "companion" core) SoC. The video is actually showing off the Prime with Android 4.0/Ice Cream Sandwich.

I must say, it looks absolutely delicious. Maybe that's the Ice Cream Sandwich I'm drooling over, but Prime looks fast. Very fast. The video shows off the UI, movement between screens, a quick game of Riptide GP, and 1080p video playback which is absolutely seamless. The only issue is Prime will not launch with ICS, but will have it in a future update.

I now know how Twilight fans feel when they catch a glimpse of R Patz.

It's full steam ahead for Apple's next-generation iPad, the iPad 3. We've talked about it before, reporting that it would sport a 9.7-inch 2048x1536 display, but it seems that CNET's Richard Shim is claiming that the iPad 3 panels are going into production.

The new screens are said to be QXGA displays and will be manufactured by no less than three separate display suppliers which is set to ensure Apple have enough devices at launch, which is said to be in April, with an announcement the month before, in March. From CNET:

I was in high school when Buffy was on TV, I absolutely was in teen-love with Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Now there's rumors of the Facebook phone once again, codenamed "Buffy." The phone is reportedly going to sport a modified version of Google's Android OS which Facebook have tweaked heavily to deeply integrate its services, as well as featuring support for HTML5 as a platform for applications.

Facebook have only recently chosen HTC after considering Samsung as a potential hardware partner. This means we won't see products with the Facebook branding for at least 12 months. Buffy has reportedly been an ongoing area of concert for Facebook for two years now. Buffy is led by Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, and a spokesperson for Facebook may have declined to comment on Buffy directly, but did say to AllThingsD:

Norwegian-based start-up FXI, has unveiled their new prototype, codenamed 'Cotton Candy', a cloud-client on a USB stick. Cotton Candy sports a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9, as well as a quad-core ARM Mali-400MP GPU, 1GB RAM, MicroSD reader, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, USB and HDMI outputs.

This is virtually the same hardware that powers one of the best smartphones on the market, Samsung's Galaxy S II. What is different with Cotton Candy is software. It acts as a cloud-client on-the-go. You could be running a PC with Windows, Linux, or a Mac, an Embedded device or just a TV, you'll be able to plug the Cotton Candy stick into a USB port of a PC or into the HDMI port of a TV. After you've plugged it into the device, that device turns into a portal to the cloud, allowing you to carry your own personal OS on you at all times, whilst having the experience that is identical no matter the device you're next to.

Google's Android OS powers Cotton Candy, so it will turn any device into a larger Android-powered device. Applications will have the ability to both send and receive data to and from the cloud, with control of Cotton Candy through a mouse or keyboard, and if they're not available, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth peripherals, or even a mobile phone.

We've seen some pretty amazing advances in mobile technology over the past decade, and even more so in the past two to three years. Battery life is one thing that has not kept up with the fast pace of the industry and this is set to [hopefully] change.

A team of engineers at Northwestern University claim to have discovered a breakthrough that could revolutionize the industry. The researchers have developed an electrode for lithium-ion batteries that could increase the capacity and recharge rate by 10 times. If this can be done, we could see smartphones lasting for an entire week before requiring a recharge. Oh, what's that? You need to recharge it to last another week? That'll only take a few minutes versus a few hours.

Currently, lithium-ion batteries are charged by a chemical reaction that causes litium ions to move between the anode and cathode. As energy is used, litium ions travel from the anode to the cathode through the electrolyte. This is reversed when its charging. The anode is composed of carbon-based graphene sheets and they can only handle one lithium atom per six carbon atoms.

Apple have been having quite the hard time lately, with iOS updates flying thick and fast lately. iOS is rumored to be hitting some time next week, with another attempt from the Cupentino-based company to fix their battery life issues that went unresolved with iOS 5.0.1.

Battery drain has been a serious, recurring issue with iOS updates, although most devices are usually unaffected. iOS 5.1 is set to include a bunch of upgrades to Siri, expanding its functions. iOS 5.1 should include the ability to take a photo or record video using voice commands, as well as toggling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on or off. iOS 5.1's release date? TBA.

Apple officially considers Siri to be in a beta state, with some functions unavailable to those outside of the US and currently only supports just a few languages. Siri currently installs on just the iPhone 4S, but it has been hacked to work on older products.

In The Matrix, Neo said "Whoa", and the whole world listened. Today, I'm saying "whoa" at the rumor of HTC's Zeta smartphone. It's rumored to be a quad-core smartphone but sports a 2.5GHz APQ8064 CPU along with 1GB of RAM, all looking purdy on a 4.5-inch 720p HD display.

The phone is also very unique in its shape, which I kinda dig. Zeta is said to have Ice Cream Sandwich pre-installed, with Sense UI running the show, too. 32GB of internal storage should keep most people happy, an 1,830mAh battery, Beats Audio, Bluetooth 4.0, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with dual LED flash, 1080p video capture and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.

Dimension-wise, we have 109.8 x 60.9 x 9.8mm (4.32 x 2.4 x 0.39 inches) and weigh 5.15 ounces (146g). Right now this is just sitting on RumorTT, but it is something that could definitely materialise. Now, I've been talking about this for a while, especially with the release of the Galaxy S II, Galaxy Nexus, Transformer Prime, and various other handsets like this new HTC Zeta, but I'm going to come out and say it in a single sentence below, and I'd like some thoughts on it:

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was misquoted during Microsoft's annual shareholders meeting, where he answered a bunch of questions regarding Microsoft's future. Ballmer was asked whether we're in a post-PC era world and what his expectations are of the PC market going forward, he said:

But, press outlets and bloggers ran with it and thought Ballmer had all but confirmed Windows 8 for phones, but this is not the case. Microsoft have been clear that Windows 8 will be made for 7-inch devices and up. They have no plays to make Windows 8 available for phones and Microsoft are reportedly putting their focus on pushing the two ecosystems together with Windows 8, which is set to include the mix of the next-generation Xbox.

It seems every few months there's some news about RIM, BlackBerry are dying, BlackBerry are returning... well, now we have the first-ever photo of the next set of BlackBerry devices, which will sport RIM's new BBX operating system.

The phone in the above picture is the BlackBerry "London", and should have a June 2012 release. The phone sports a TI OMAP dual-core 1.5GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of on-board storage, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera and is reportedly "thinner than the iPhone 4" and roughly the same size as Samsung's Galaxy S II.

Right now there's not enough information on the handset to make a complete, 100-percent claim on what is inside of it, how it looks, etc. But this is merely a tease. Whatever it is, I really enjou the look of it. It has that Porsche Design look of it that was on RIM's Porsche Design P9981.

Is this what a post Steve Jobs Apple looks like? You would think in a closed-off world that Apple keeps iOS-based products in, that these sorts of issues just wouldn't happen, but here we are. Apple says that they are still investigating battery drain issues with the iPhone 4S after some users complained that the newly-released iOS 5.0.1 update didn't solve their issues.

Now Apple users are looking at more issues, such as microphone failures, Wi-Fi signal loss, and cellular network reception issues. Apple said in a statement to All Things Digital:

Have you wanted panoramic picture mode for your iPhone? How about the Android-like autocorrect bar for the on-screen keyboard? Well, you're in luck. Developers have recently discovered a few hidden features in iOS 5, with both items having the ability to be enabled without jailbreaking your iPad or iPhone.

Why they're hidden, is a mystery in itself. But iOS hacker, Sonny Dickson, is responsible for finding the "Android-like" autocorrect bar Thursday morning. The autocorrect bar is so close to the Android autocorrect bar, that it may explain why Apple left it out of iOS 5's initial release.

Enabling the autocorrect bar requires a simple .plist file edit, but since Apple does not allow an easy way to access the file system, it requires a few steps which I've listed below. The second feature unearthed was the enabling of the panorama mode for the iOS camera app. Apps exist that do this now, but this is the first time it's had the ability to do so within the native camera app.

Adobe has just killed Flash for mobiles, which is sure to hit Android-based users. But, from the flames, other companies will benefit such as iSwifter, who makes a product for the iPad that allows Flash-based games and video to remotely run on a proxy server and then be sent down to the mobile device.

Until now, iSwifter has focused their energies on the Apple iOS market, but it has had an Android-based app nearly ready for months now. iSwifter founder Rajat Gupta has said "our target market literally just doubled, we had actually predicted this day now for over a year."

Gupta has said that iSwifter's Android product should be in the market by December, initially for tablets such as Kindle Fire, Barnes & Nobile's Nook and more traditional tablets, such as Samsung's Galaxy Tab. He also said that his company has talked to Adobe for some time about the need to move to a solution more like iSwifter's. Gupta has said "they have a fundamentally flawed architecture for mobile, Steve Jobs pointed it out but they didn't listen."

Telstra are set to join Vodafone in the direct retail sales of Apple's tablet, the iPad 2. Telstra will directly retail Apple's iPad 2 from November 15, with monthly plans beginning from just $49. The iPad 2 will be available through Telstra Business Centres, Telstra Shops, online or over the phone at 132 200.

Telstra will offer the Wi-Fi + 3G model of the iPad 2, in 16, 32 and 64GB sizes, on two-year contracts and pre-paid data plans. Starting with the 16GB iPad 2, it will cost $0 upfront on $49, $59, $69 and $99 plans. Monthly data caps are 1, 4, 8 and 15GB, respectively.

The 32GB variant of the iPad 2 will also cost $0 upfront, with monthly costs of $54, $64, $74 and $104 with data allowances the same as the 16GB model. Finally, the 64GB model will come with an upfront cost of $24 and monthly pricing of $57, $67, $77 and $107 per month. Data allowances remain unchanged once again.

HTC Edge is set to be the world's first quad-core smartphone, powered by NVIDIA's Tegra 3 System-on-a-Chip (SoC). Edge is set to be a premium handset, incorporating the latest mobile technologies.

Edge will be a 4.7-inch smartphone that is just 10mm thick, and will sport a 1280x720 resolution. It will also contain 1GB of RAM, a backlit 8-megapixel rear-racing camera with a 28mm, f/2.2 lens. The biggest thing the Edge can brag about is that it sports an AP30 Tegra 3 CPU from NVIDIA which is set to pump out quad-core at 1.5GHz each.

Storage-wise, we should see it increased to 32GB and Bluetooth 4.0 is included, on top of this we have Beats Audio with the package. Edge is also rumored to include the rollout of the new or improved HTC content services, such as the HTC Listen music store, HTC Read bookstore and the HTC Play gaming hub, finally, the HTC Watch movie portal will reportedly begin to offer HD fare. Edge could also be one of the first to sport HTC's Sense 4.0.

Microsoft don't do things small, and today was no exception. Customers can today experience new Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango), with a selection of new, sleek and stylish smartphones from HTC and Samsung starting at just $49.99. The Samsung Focus S and Focus Flash are available today at AT&T and are the latest additions to the Windows Phone portfolio, joining the HTC Radar 4G available at T-Mobile USA Inc.

Microsoft designed Windows Phone around one simple concept: People belong at the center of the phone experience. This is where Microsoft go all-out and have put real people inside a gigantic six-story phone in NYC's Herald Square to bring to life the phone's key features and experiences. Included was a life-sized "Plants vs Zombies" battle highlighted the phones rich Xbox LIVE gaming experience.

The Music + Video Hub was bought to life by the Far East Movement performing a concert for hundreds of fans, and while "connecting people" was shown by a NY-based man proposing to his girlfriend from inside the Me Tile of the giant six-story phone.

For a bit there we were scratching our heads a bit on what Barnes & Noble had up their sleeve for us come its scheduled November 7th event, but it's all out in the open now thanks to the crew over at Engadget working their magic and getting all the hot details for us.

It does indeed look like Amazon's Kindle Fire will be getting some company with B&N planning to reveal its new "Nook Tablet" in a few days time, and beginning shipments from November 16th.

The said tablet will come in at $249 and promises 'the best in HD entertainment'. It looks much like the Nook Color and measures 8.1 x 5 x 0.48-inches, weighing in at 400 grams. It features a 7-inch (1024 x 600) VividView IPS touchscreen display and is powered by a 1.2GHz OMAP4 dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM.

A few days ago we reported about the battery life issues hurting some iPhone 4S customers, but now Apple have confirmed they have found a few problems that are leading some iPhone users to experience less-than-expected battery life with iPhones powering its latest iOS 5. Apple said in a statement to AllThingsD:

In the past few weeks, there have been various reports not only from tech sites, but from users, that their battery life on the iPhone 4S has been less than stellar. The problems seems to stem from what network a user is on, usage patterns and other factors. Apple has of course been quiet about it (don't want to hurt those precious iPhone 4S sales or make people think Apple products aren't invincible!) but the support forums are filled with posts on the issue.