Mobile Devices - Page 351

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.