Google tightening reigns on Android
Back in the days when Google acquired the Android project, the idea was to create an operating system that was not bound by stringent rules and regulations, the direct opposite approach Apple has taken from the beginning with iOS. However, most people do not know that Android was not a Google idea much less the fact that it had gained much attention before the Mountain View behemoth decided to scoop up the project and turn it into the Android operating system we know today.
At the very heart of the Android operating system has been the idea that it should be opensource, this of course was an idea that was implemented way before Google came along. But with Google’s recent decisions to delay the release of the Honeycomb source code, many were beginning to wonder if those days of openness and freedom are numbered.
While the debate so far has been hushed, many a companies have hinted that Google has been flexing its muscles concerning Android. According to Motorola, Google forced it to use their own satellite software instead of the competitions. Similar situations occurred when Samsung scrambled to use a different GPS positioning software than what they had originally planned thanks to Google “forcing” them not to. This might explain why the GPS reception on Galaxy S devices have been so lackluster.
Another issue many have raised about Android is the “fragmentation” of the ecosystem which to be frank is over exaggerated. That still hasn’t stopped Google from taking steps to put tighter reigns on Android. According to Bloomberg’s BusinessWeek, Google is fighting with OEM’s over more control of Android and having the final say in customizations to the operating system. The company is reportedly going as far to say that they want all customizations and modifications to get the blessings of Lord Andy Rubin before there are available to the general public.
According to the same report, things have gotten so heated that many are filing complaints with the United States Department of Justice. This could have something to do with Verizon and Google being in a heated battle for Verizon putting Bing on their Android smartphones which we are sure Google considers the ultimate disrespect.
Not only that, but seeing Google is trying to stay ahead of its competition, other sources are claiming that El Goog want’s to have firsthand info on customizations before others as a way to keep its secrets safe.
What does this all say? Not much from a consumer standpoint seeing that most of these rules will not affect the sale of Android devices. But it does lend some credence to what Stephen Elop said about Android a few weeks back: "The premise of a true open software platform may be where Android started, but it's not where Android is going." Unfortunately, we’re going to have to agree with Mr. Elop on this one.
HP Veer coming to O2 Germany in May
You might be wondering why we might be citing cellphone news from across the border, or rather waters. However, before you jump to conclusions, hear us out.
According to Albert Fetsch, the company who is known to user water droplets for its representation will be launching the HP Veer in May of this year. The webOS 2.2 device will be available for an undisclosed amount. The news was delivered Albert’s Twitter account where he used the hash tags to tag HP, webOS, Palm, Pixi and Telefonica as well as O2 in the same post.
Seeing that the company has operations here in the UK and that HP is an American company, we cannot help but speculate that the device should arrive in the UK as well as the United States during the same time frame if not sooner.
As you might remember, the HP Veer is the smallest of the HP webOS devices and comes with a 2.6-inch 320 x 400 display and sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7230 processor that carries a clock speed of 800MHz. The phone comes with a full slide out QWERTY keyboard and will support the latest edition of webOS for phones. Other features include a 5 megapixel camera on the back as well as HSPA+ support and 8GB of onboard storage. Of course, there is accelerometer, proximity and light sensors as well as full compatibility with Palm’s TouchStone chargers and hotspot support as well.
That being said, this is all the info we have for you now folks. In the meantime, feel free to take a look at our introductory post on the Veer as well as making room for its purchase in your budget, if indeed you do intend to buy the device when it is launched within the next 6-8 weeks.
Source: Engadget
Mobile Phones and Modern Shopping
Knowing what is beyond your immediate location is always a great thing – and we do not mean that just literally. Surely, smart phones with GPS and a great map service (such as Google Maps), would easily identify nearby places just beyond your sight, but access to 3G and WiFi will also provide a deeper trove of information: what’s available in store in beside you and what you can purchase online.
Price checking has to be one of the oldest practices when it comes to consumer behavior. Back then, some folks would try out three different market locations just so that they could compare prices. Today, it is as simple as holding up your phone as a bar scanner and getting instant results within less than minute –often with results of prices from rival stores and online shopping sites.
The results are astounding; manufacturers are forced to come up with ways to lessen their price tags and at the same time, encourage stores to standardize the retail price.
Of course, the influence of modern smart phone technology does not stop there. One of the favorite things that women do when shopping is to travel in small packs, not only does having more people help you scour out the store faster, but the extra heads provide extra sources of information. These days, even shopping solo can merit you those much needed comments of whether that new sweater you are trying out really does flatter your figure (or not) –thanks to social networking.
The next time you find yourself in a long queue to the dressing rooms, do not be surprised, this is mostly due to the other patrons taking their photos and uploading the images online for their friends to comment on. With so many people actively online these days, comments and remarks arrive within minutes, often becoming the deciding factor if the item gets bought or not.
A quick overview of the upcoming Dell Venue Pro
Dell has promised to deliver some pretty great looking phones that will also be powerful and cheap by next year, and it seems like they’ll be keeping that promise. The Lightning and Thunder looked good on paper and in renderings, but the first Dell phone to see the light of the production tunnel will be the Venue Pro, a Windows Phone 7 based smartphone that will be released in November 2010.
The Dell Venue Pro is an impressive phone, both in terms of hardware, software and style. It is powerful enough to do most of the tasks one might require, has a nice QWERTY keyboard for those who type a lot, runs on the new Windows Phone 7 Series OS and looks very sleek and professional.
It is equipped with a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, 512 MB of RAM and 8 or 16 GB of internal storage, which is pretty standard for today’s phones. Other specs, of course, include Wifi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, aGPS and a lot of sensors, plus support for HSDPA and HSUPA.
The main points of interest are, however, the big 4.1 inch screen that is covered with Gorilla glass, so it’s very resistant to scratches and other abuse, and the Blackberry-like QWERTY keyboard, which slides out in portrait mode, and provides you with a great way to type a lot of text. Blackberry users will now have to think twice before choosing between the Torch and this phone. With Microsoft’s OS and the best mobile office suite available on smartphones, this device is sure to be successful in the corporate and business world.
The Venue Pro is clearly aimed at business professionals and people who need a mobile powerhouse in their pocket, but usual consumers will definitely also like the phone. It might actually become one of the bestselling Windows Phone 7 smartphones when it comes out, so be sure to check out Dell Venue Pro contracts of you're looking for a new handset.
The New HTC Desire Z adds QWERTY to the Desire
So what do you do for an encore after releasing your most successful product to date? Change clothes.
Taiwan’s leading smartphone maker HTC made just that when it released the new HTC Desire Z, a good six months after the highly successful HTC Desire. It added a full QWERTY keyboard to an otherwise monolithic Desire body and turned it into a slider. That’s really not new as most mobile phone makers make QWERTY slider variants of previous model, often slapping the word “pro” on one.
Similar Desirable Features
With a slim 14.2mm profile, the HTC Desire Z can claim to be among the thinnest QWERTY sliders in the market. And outside of a few features, it’s really the Desire reincarnated with a QWERTY slider.
It has the same 3.7-inch Super LCD capacitive touchscreen with 480 x 800 resolution and 16 million color support. Older Desire owners might say they have an AMOLED screen, not S-LCD.
That’s right, HTC shifted its later Desire generation to S-LCD after Samsung failed to supply the AMOLED screens. But you still get the same multitouch input technology and the usual proximity and accelerometer sensors.
Even the 5-megapixel autofocus camera is the same but not the 720p video recording which the new Desire has, thanks to the Android v2.2 Froyo that supports it. However, you get a less endowed engine under the hood with an 800 MHz Qualcomm MSM 7230 instead of a 1GHz Snapdragon.
Other Feature Desirability
Apart from the outstanding HTC Desire Z features above, it has a full wealth of radio telephony and data connectivity options starting with a tri-band UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA on the 3G network and a quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE on the 2G network.
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ with DLNA come standard along with Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, microUSB v2.0 and onboard GPS with A-GPS. A generous 1.5 GB onboard memory with 512 MB RAM is complemented by a micro SD expansion support for up to 32 GB while its 1300 mAh battery allows 9.8 hours of talk time of 2G and 430 hours of standby time.
The HTC Desire Z deals are already emerging, and the handset is expected to be released by the end of October.
Nokia Touch and Type: Functionality with Facebook and Twitter
The use of 3G and WiFi technology has grown a lot these past couple of years. With the growth of social networking and the need to get connected online, many phone owners have come to discover how the connectivity features on mobile phones could help make their lives more convenient.
Nokia X3 Touch and Type is a great testament to this concept, the device brings great connectivity options, integrated social networking features and an interesting user input system to make the phone experience truly satisfying.
The Keypad and the Screen
As the name of the handset suggests, this mobile device has both a physical keypad for typing and a display that is touch sensitive. But the Nokia Touch and Type is more than just having the two features present in a single device; it is also about how the two are able to complement each other.
This actually explains why Nokia did not use capacitive touch screen technology on the phone. Not only would it have made the device more expensive than it should, but because the keypad supplements the additional functionality. There is no need for gestures or multi touch, the additional button controls makes everything easier to handle.
Also, the layout of the keypad may seem odd, with the 4 column setup, but this is actually easy to use. The position of the space and zero button on the lower right of the handset is a great choice as it makes one hand typing a slight bit faster –though left handed users will certainly feel the difference as the space button is much farther now.
Other Features
Aside from 3G and WiFi support, as well as the 2.4 inch touch screen display and the keypad, the Nokia X3-02 also sports a 5 mega pixel camera, an 860mAh battery, and support for a wide range of media file formats, as does the only other handset currently in the Touch and Type series, the Nokia C3 Touch and Type.
Introduction to the Samsung Wave 723
The Samsung Wave 723 is the newest addition to the expanding Wave family and uses the Bada operating system. It has a 3.2 inch capacitive touch screen where the interface is application-centric. This allows the user to access applications easily to attend to their mobile needs and way of life.
The Social Hub is also one feature that Samsung is proud off. It helps the user have an organized and easier access to social networking sites anytime and anywhere. Built in Wi-Fi connectivity even makes the experience better by giving faster internet speeds for web browsing and downloads.
Those are just some of the appealing features of this device so let us dig deeper into it.
Powerful Snapper
The Samsung Wave 723 offers an amazing 5MP camera. Though the resolution is not as high compared to other high end camera mobiles, it is still a good thing that a reliable camera is present to capture precious moments anytime. It’s always better to have one than none, right?
Besides, looking at it on a brighter light, there are some high end Smartphones in the market that only offer 3MP cameras.
The camera also comes with a built in LED flash for better photo quality when located in areas where lighting is not as bright as one would expect. It has smile detection and geo-tagging as well.
Ever Reliable
The Samsung Wave 723 is perfect for those who are always on the go. Mobile calls can be made almost anywhere for it is compatible with both 2G and the 3G network. Data transfer is a lot better because it is also compatible with HSDPA, EDGE and GPRS, not to mention that the speed may be a lot faster than other devices.
In addition, Bluetooth and USB can be used for file sharing too. Generally, the Samsung Wave 723 is a reliable mobile to use and will definitely attend to the consumer’s mobile needs.
The Nokia X2: A Music Mobile to Trust
Nokia has been very clever in providing several types of mobile series’ to cater to different types of users. They have the E series where the features focus more on functions for work and business. Their design and functionality is somehow comparable to most Blackberry mobiles.
Another example is their high end N Series which provides top of the line features as well. On the other hand, the X series is made for those who want to maximise the music capability of their mobile without spending so much. We will further talk about one mobile that belong to that series called the Nokia X2.
Multimedia
The Nokia X2 targets those who love music; therefore it is fair to say that we should expect exceptional music features from this mobile. Being able to access the music player quickly is something very important for users because it saves them time. Good thing is that that there are keys designated for that function in the Nokia X2. It is also compatible with different kinds of files such as MP3, MPEG and WMA.
If you find it a little bit boring listening to songs stored on your mobile, you can turn to FM radio on the X2. In this way you will be up to date with the latest tracks in the music scene. With the X2, you don’t need to use a bulky headset.
Camera
The Nokia X2 handset also offers a powerful 5MP snapper despite the fact that it is primarily a music mobile. It comes with an LED Flash to help you capture quality photos even in a dim situation. Now you don’t have to worry about purchasing a digital camera or a high end mobile to capture stunning photos.
UK Homes Adopting Mobile Over Landline
As crucial as landline communication technology might be, more and more folks in the UK are now letting go of their landline connections and are sticking to mobile phone technology when it comes to communication solutions.
A recent study has shown that about 1 in 5 households in Wales are now solely mobile based when it comes to telecommunications options. To say that the rest of the UK is going to be following the trend is not a far shot.
The big draw here is that landlines have a monthly bill that needs to be settled. With already pretty pricey deals on great smart phones like the Samsung Galaxy S or the Apple iPhone 4 –particularly those that provide decent data plans. Instead of having to handle two different bills, sticking with just the mobile plan is a much better idea.
This is even better in households where all the mobile phones use the basic pay as you go payment option. In the meanwhile, this shift towards mobile phones is seen as a bad thing for stronger and better broadband networks as less people are subscribing to landline connections.
For folks who are often on the go and rarely ever at home, the decision to switch to mobile instead of sticking with a landline connection is a pretty easy decision to make.
The trend is actually not surprising to see; this is particularly true and most applicable to young adults and small families where being able to squeeze the value out of every single quid is a must for day to day living.
Of course, it is unlikely that landlines would ever be completely replaced by mobile phone technology. After all, landlines are still more stable and in many ways, cheaper than the average mobile phone for people who use it every single day. As stated above, broadband internet connectivity tends to be reliant on the landline connection as well.
Android Update for Samsung i9000 Galaxy S leaked to the public
According to reports, the Samsung i9000 Galaxy S Android smart phone is getting an update to the next version of the operating system, Android 2.2 Froyo. Sadly, this is not an official update, but rather, a leaked version that allows users to install a pre-release version of the OS.
The patch has already been used by some curious users and has been successfully installed. While no adverse effects have been reported, many users confirm that the Adobe Flash support is not packed with the update. This means that users might have to download and install the Flash player manually. Most of the Android Froyo’s pre-reported features are present, most particularly, the part about the speed boost for the user interface.
It seems that Google was not kidding when they mentioned that the update will change the way people feel about the Android operating system –not that we had problems with the previous versions. With the older Android operating system, the UI navigation and controls are already intuitive, smooth and responsive. Getting around was a simple series of motions, gestures and taps that received quick feedback and response.
The Froyo OS however, is on a completely different level. According to the first few users who have tried the update for the Samsung smart phone will be the first to point out the change in the UI speed -as impressive as this is, people fail to realize the one important element that the interface is able to retain despite being sped up; the smoothness. This is what makes the Froyo update so significant. Not only does it make the entire UI run faster, it is able to retain the cohesiveness and design sensibilities of the interface.
Of course, it would be important to remind readers that updating the Samsung Galaxy S with the leaked update is a risk and a gamble. Samsung and Google will not offer compensation or coverage for any user that uses it.