russian

Phone Search:

RSS

Samsung Galaxy Note. First Look

Today, large companies, especially corporate giants like Samsung, do not surprise users with extraordinary products...

Apple In A Post Jobsian World HTC Sensation In Use iPhone 4S: Part One

Reviews Editorials

Mobile Phones Editorials MP3 Forum

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Pre 2 To Launch 'Within Days' [ 13-10-2010 20:39 ]

Author: Irina Turina Source: MobiFrance Translation by: Paul Smith

MobiFrance is reporting that the Pre 2 is all set to launch 'within days' with France's SFR network being the exclusive launch partner in that country. To accompany the new information there are some new pictures! The updated Pre does look very similar to the original Pre, but note in the pictures the reduced curvature of the screen when compared with the original. Even so most of the changes are one's that you won't see, being under the hood e.g. the beefed up 1 GHz processor, the improved 512 MB of RAM, etc.

Rating:

Comment
All comments (0)

Tweetdeck Android Beta Survey Results ... HTC Leading [ 13-10-2010 19:31 ]

Author: Serge Novikov Source: Unwired View Translation by: Paul Smith

Tweetdeck have released some statistics based off of usage patterns gleaned from their beta version of Tweetdeck for Android and the results are pretty interesting for a variety of reasons. The first, and perhaps most interesting of all, is that HTC is miles ahead of the competition when it comes to Android.

Of the top 20 Android phones half are from HTC, with Motorola and Samsung mustering 4 each and Sony Ericsson managing to rustle up 2. The Desire is the most popular handset in the study, leaping ahead of the 2nd placed Droid by almost 50%. In terms of overall marketshare in the study group HTC manages to win 55.8% with Motorola trailing in second place with 23.8%. Sony Ericsson barely registers with a paltry 4.8%.

Sony Ericsson, whilst definitely the also ran here, do provide us with another interesting insight in that the X10 seems to be hugely popular in Japan when compared with the rest of the world. The Japanese version of the handset showed up in the results just as much as the global edition of the handset.

In terms of the version of Android being used it seems that fragmentation is decreasing with 57% of the beta users using Froyo (Android 2.2) and 35% using Eclair (Android 2.1). Just 9% were using Donut (Android 1.6) and those that were using it were presumably X10 owners.

Also of interest whilst we're on the subject of Android iterations is the fact that the study shows that Gingerbread, the next version of Android, is out in the wild already, being tested one imagines.

The study also threw up some unconventional Android users with 103 members of the beta group using HTC HD2's and 6 were using the Nokia N900. There was even an HTC Kaiser! The unreleased HTC Glacier also made an appearance, no doubt being field tested.

It is important to note, however, that a very valid criticism of this study is that the sample surveyed are unrepresentative of the wider Android customer base. Being a beta programme it could be that the people involved as more geeky than your average consumer and thus any trends or insights one takes away from this survey might not necessarily be relevant in a wider context. That charge is partially borne out when one looks at some of the irregularities that the results throw up, such as unusual hardware configurations or unreleased handsets.

Rating:

Comment
All comments (0)

Win Phone 7 & Memory Cards ... Not The Best Of Friends [ 13-10-2010 19:26 ]

Author: Irina Turina Source: IntoMobile Translation by: Paul Smith

A rather interesting, if disappointing, piece of information regarding Windows Phone 7 and memory cards has come to light, namely that they're not hot swapable. Win Phone 7 can use memory cards, as evidenced by the Samsung Focus, but they are handled differently than in most other devices, Samsung having modified the device so that the bundled memory card is treated as part of the phone's internal storage.

Microsoft's own spiel on the situation lays it out pretty clearly:

Windows Phone uses a special high–performance SD card that works differently than SD cards in other devices. When your phone is built and first set up, its internal storage and SD card are combined and recognized as one storage system.
Warning

You should not remove the SD card in your phone or replace it with a new one because your Windows Phone won’t work properly. Existing data on the phone may be lost, and that SD card can’t be used in other devices or Windows Phones.

Having read the above it is worth pointing out that Paul Thurrot, author of a book on Win Phone 7, has said that you can indeed add additional memory, but you're going to have to hard reset the device. That of course assumes the device has a microSD card slot, which not all Win Phone 7 devices will.

At any rate expandable memory on Win Phone 7 is not going to be the carefree option found in most other devices, but then with many of the devices coming with 8 GB+ of internal storage adding extra memory may not be an issue for many.

Rating:

Comment
All comments (0)

Apple Seeks To Regulate Smut In Texts [ 13-10-2010 19:11 ]

Author: Irina Turina Source: TechCrunch Translation by: Paul Smith

Apple really doesn't want 'objectionable' material on the iPhone and that crusade is highlighted with a new patent the company has just been granted. The patent covers 'text-based communication for personal communication device" and essentially it means Apple can institute a method of regulating what someone writes in a text message through parental controls. The device would host a list of words that aren't allowed and if the parental lockout detected the use of such words they could either be removed from the message or the message actually blocked.

The system only covers text based communication so it has no control over pictures or any other media. Interestingly enough the system can also be used to make sure the person using the text messaging feature uses a specified language. Perhaps useful for children learning a foreign language.

Rating: