Thursday, March 10, 2011

Phones Review

Phones Review

Angry Birds Seasons App Update: St. Patrick’s Day iOS & Android

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 04:24 PM PST

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day the Angry Birds Season has gone all green and today the iOS and Android app update has gone live, Nokia and Palm coming soon.

We mentioned on March 8th that Angry Birds was going to get an update and now it has, creators Rovio Mobile has now added some St. Patrick's Day fun into the mix and bringing new hidden surprises and bonus content as well as 15 new levels.

The update is now live on the App Store (iTunes) and is free for all existing Angry Birds Seasons owners; you can also visit the Android Market for the update.

Angry Birds Seasons: Happy St. Patrick's Day! Oh yes it is going to be fun, get your update now and try and complete those new levels if you can. Please let us know once you have downloaded this new app.

Just so you know Angry Birds is one of the most popular and addictive games ever, it is becoming that big there are Angry Birds games, iPhone cases, iPad cases, cuddly toys and so much more. Rovio also confirms that 20th Century Fox's Rio the animated movie is arriving in theaters on April 15.

Source – 9to5Mac

New HTC Thunderbolt March 21 Release, Your Predictions

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 03:38 PM PST

The release date for the HTC Thunderbolt is getting a little boring now but we said we would report on everything we find, well how about adding March 21 to your release list.

So far we have all seen Verizon HTC Thunderbolt release dates being February 14, 17, 24, 28, then March 3 and 10th, which means these dates are void, then we heard that March 17th is a possibility and now according to BGR and Droid-Life March 21st has popped up.

Now these are all just online rumours, they could be true but we always suggest waiting for an official announcement and until then we will still report what we find or know. Apparently according to BGR their tipsters do not have proven track records but the new March 21 date did show up on HTC's Facebook page briefly.

According to Droid-Life they were having a casual chat with a friend at Verizon and the word "Official" when the potential date was mentioned.

Verizon if we are not mistaken release products on a Thursday and March 21 is a Monday, and before you ask yes the Apple iPad 2 is being released on Verizon tomorrow but that is Apple's doing. As soon as the official HTC Thunderbolt release date has been mentioned we will let you know.

Please do give us your HTC Thunderbolt release date predictions in the commenting area provided below. Thanks (Picture above is a fantastic Photoshop)

iOS Apps: NCAA Basketball Tournament & 2011 March Madness

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 03:02 PM PST

We have two iOS apps just for you and if you love NCAA Basketball you will definitely want the applications if you have not got them already, the two apps are called "Sporting News NCAA Basketball" and "NCAA March Madness On Demand".

Sporting News NCAA Basketball, which is a free app that has many offerings for sporting fans such as access to videos, standings, news, scores and much more. The main app features for the Division I college basketball includes: Sharing via Facebook and Twitter, Customization to select favourite teams and conferences, Push notifications for up-to-the-minute news on favourites and leagues, plus At-a-glance game information. You will also be kept up-to-date when March Madness hits with breaking news as it hits. For more information please visit iTunes. (Oh this app has push notifications)

The next app is called NCAA March Madness On Demand that gives you full live streaming videos of every game of the NCAA 2011 Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. Oh yes it all starts from March 15-16 to the Final Four, April 2-4 over both Wi-Fi and 3G.

Main features include (More Info via iTunes): FREE live video of every game, LIVE video of the bracket selection show on Sunday, MARCH 13, Game Center for Apple iPad for -game highlights, live box scores and team leaders in a single screen, plug in your zip code and TV provider and you'll see where each game is on across all four networks – TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV, Real-time bracket with match-ups, regions, and scores, plus breaking news coverage and Alerts for your favourite teams, tip off, halftime and more. You can even comment on the games live with Twitter and Facebook.

If you are a NCAA Basketball fan please do post your comments below, let us know what you think of these apps and how the tournament will pan out.

iPad 2 Boring vs Superior Toshiba Honeycomb 3.0 Tablet

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 09:07 AM PST

The iPad 2 goes on sale soon and Toshiba believe that their new upcoming Honeycomb 3.0 Tablet is more superior, so here is a little iPad 2 vs Toshiba Tablet.

Toshiba Australia is hoping to release its new Honeycomb 3.0 tablet May 2011 and they are looking at selling the 10-inch tablet PC for around $600 or as near to the iPad 2 as possible, this would surely make this device more popular than the Motorola Xoom or even the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Anyway, this is about the iPad 2 and the Toshiba tablet; Rob Wilkinson, General Manager of Toshiba Australia's Information Systems Division say's “We are confident that we can match Apple pricing for their new iPad 2 while delivering a device that is richer in features. We are currently showing retailers the device running Google’s new Honeycomb, and when we ship in May, we will have a full version of Honeycomb 3 running”.

He also said that the Toshiba tablet is superior to the Apple device and that this device coming around May time has many features that the Apple iPad 2 is missing.

The Toshiba Tablet Main Features Include: Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, integrated HDMI port, Adobe Flash support, 1080p video decoding, full resolution video, accelerometer screen reorientation, supports multi-touch, two camera at 2MP resolution and 5MP, Bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi, GPS, digital compass and stereo speakers.

What has the Toshiba Tablet got the iPad 2 hasn't? How about full-sized USB, SD card expansion, mini-USB sync, 32GB on-board storage, resolution video enhancement, which upscales standard-def video to full HD. This tablet also has a removable battery and we know the iPad 2 does not.

What are your thoughts on the new Toshiba Tablet, we will bring you more information soon. Please post your comments below.

Source – Smarthhouse via UnwiredView

Apple iPad 2 Thoroughly Reviewed: Videos

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 08:54 AM PST

For anyone, iOS faithful or otherwise who might be sitting on the fence pondering whether to purchase the latest piece of tablet tech coming out of the Apple camp, namely the Apple iPad 2, we have a couple of review videos for your viewing consideration.

The Apple iPad 2 review videos come our way courtesy of the guys over at Daily iPhone Blog, with the first being an almost nine minute review of the iOS tablet from Macworld, and they also have a thorough in-dept review of the second-generation Apple iPad on their website.

The second Apple iPad 2 review video comes courtesy of AllThingsD and features Walt Mossberg delivering his evaluation of the iPad 2, which lasts just over seven minutes, and again an in-depth written review can be found on the AllThingsD website.

But if you don’t have time to check out those lengthy reviews and find it much easier to watch a video review you can head on down and check out those reviews of the Apple iPad 2 below so you can get a better idea on if you wish to shell out your cash on the latest Apple device or not…enjoy

Three UK Gains Samsung Galaxy Pro and Mini in April

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 08:28 AM PST

A couple of more Samsung Galaxy smartphones are heading for Three in the UK, the Samsung Galaxy Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Mini, with both bringing along Android 2.2 Froyo as their operating system.

According to an article over on T3, the Samsung Galaxy Pro is a QWERTY keyboard device along the lines of a BlackBerry, although the Galaxy Pro does feature a 2.8-inch capacitive touch screen, 3 megapixel auto-focus camera and an 800MHz processor.

As for the Samsung Galaxy Mini, as expected by the name the Android device is a small smartphone with a 3.14-inch capacitive touch screen, 3 megapixel camera, 600MHz processor, and Phone Arena gives us a few more specs such as FM radio, A-GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi b/g/n, 160MB built-in memory, microSD expansion up to 32GB and a 3.5mm jack.

Apparently the Samsung Galaxy Mini is positioned as a budget handset for customers that may think the Samsung Galaxy S and Samsung Galaxy S II are a tad expensive for their tastes.

Furthermore it has now been confirmed that both the Samsung Galaxy Pro and Samsung Galaxy Mini will hit the Three network in the UK next month however no actual date or prices were given.

New iPad 2 Cases: Angry Birds Case by Gear4

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 08:19 AM PST

The iPad 2 will be on sale to the public soon and you may want to protect it with new iPad 2 cases and this Angry Birds case by Gear4 will definitely be a good choice.

The new Gear4 Angry Birds case for the Apple iPad 2 aka Red Birds will protect your tablet from bumps, minor drops and scratches. It has the Red Bird design and features all the cut outs for all the buttons and various ports.

The case is made out of very strong plastic so no need to worry about your brand new Apple iPad 2 getting knocked; it is simple to fit thanks to the snap on design and just as easy to remove.

The iPad 2 case has a special coating that prevents the case from getting scratched; you can buy the Angry Birds iPad 2 Case by Gear4 via Mobilefun.co.uk for only £24.95.

Please let us know what you think of these new cases, new iPad 2 and new Angry Birds case is a match made in heaven.

HTC Thunderbolt Hype: Keeping My Desire HD

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 07:41 AM PST

With all this delay to the release of the HTC Thunderbolt one wouldn’t be surprised if some potential customers changed their mind about waiting for the Android 2.2 Froyo smartphone, and yes, some people have simply had enough of the run around and moved onto another device.

Mostly I have found by looking at the various comments on our HTC Thunderbolt posts that people are opting to pick up the Motorola Droid Bionic, and to be honest with all the beating about the bush Verizon has done with the HTC Thunderbolt one can’t blame customers for looking at other devices.

The thing is, the HTC Thunderbolt isn't an all dancing, all singing smartphone that’s better than any other out there, yes it will be able to run on a 4G network but then so can others, so lets compare a few specs between the Thunderbolt and say another HTC handset, the HTC Desire HD.

Thunderbolt specs put forward according to Phone Arena, a 4.3-inch capacitive touch screen, 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash and 720p video, front facing 1.3 megapixel camera, Android 2.2 Froyo OS, built-in Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, GPS, a-GPS, Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, 8192MB memory, 32GB microSD expansion, DLNA, and 3.5mm jack.

The HTC Desire HD specs according to GSMarena are, 4.3-inch capacitive touch screen, 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with dual LED flash and 720p video, Android 2.2 Froyo OS, 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, Facebook and Twitter apps, GPS, a-GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, 1.5GB memory, 32GB microSD expansion, DNLA, and a 3.5mm jack.

So not a great deal of difference between the two, of course the Thunderbolt will be able to play nice on Verizon’s 4G LTE network but as that’s not available yet, it shouldn't really count like for like, besides by the time the Big Red does have 4G LTE fully rolled out newer smartphones will be available.

So the thing is this, if you own an HTC Desire HD will you bother exchanging for the HTC Thunderbolt once it finally arrives, or will you simply keep hold of you HTC Desire HD?

Now as for that HTC Thunderbolt and its never-ending release delay, one of our readers called NoMoreThunderBolt pointed out in a comment on one of our Thunderbolt articles that Best Buy has the date for pricing for the HTC Thunderbolt set to become affective between 02/20/2011 and 03/26/2011.

Here’s how you can verify that info, hit the Best Buy site, then enter the location 75070, click on weekly ad at the top, click on the Buyer’s Guide, once done you click on any image of the Thunderbolt and you be presented with a pop-up showing the price and at the top it states “Prices effective Sunday, Feb. 20 – Saturday, Mar. 26 (Except as noted),” try it, it works.

So could this then mean that the release of the HTC Thunderbolt could be as late as the 26th of March? Your guess is as good as mine.

HTC Thunderbolt App: VZW HTCBolt Device Showcase

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 07:28 AM PST

The HTC Thunderbolt saga continues, not only have we brought you the latest news on the not yet released details we have now decided to share with you the all new HTC Thunderbolt app via Android Market.

Do not lose hope just yet because the smartphone will get released sooner or later, ok more later than sooner but hey, this HTC Thunderbolt app is called "vzw htcbolt device showcase" and is on the Android Market right now. Once again do not get too excited because this app is only for Verizon employees to demonstrate its capabilities in their stores.

If you visit Android Market the app page says, "Do not download or install this application, it is intended solely for use within Verizon Stores as a promotional tool."

This app according to Phone Arena is only in place for store employees to demonstrate device speed, on-board apps, Google services and the 4G network. What does this app mean, is the Thunderbolt going to release Friday 11th? Probably not so sit back, hold onto your head, breathe and wait patiently.

Check the images below of what the app contains, you will notice it features 8 tabs saying HTC Thunderbolt, Included Applications, Productivity, Social Connections, Verizon 4G LTE, Google Mobile Services, Features and Try It. The other image just gives you the main specs and a back button.

The Images:

Apple iPad Prices Dropped By Carphone Warehouse

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 06:33 AM PST

Obviously with the arrival of the Apple iPad 2 retailers want to make some shelf space and are thus pushing the original Apple iPad out at a reduced price, we’ve seen several retailers make this move previously.

Now according to an article over on T3 by way of Tech Watch, Carphone Warehouse has now reduced the prices of the Apple iPad to fall in line with the Apple iPad being offered by UK Apple stores.

Thus anyone wishing to pick up the original iOS tablet from Carphone Warehouse can now gain the device for as low as £329, which is for the WiFi only 16GB model. If you prefer the 16GB WiFi and 3G model it will set you back £429.

Of course if you want the top range 32GB WiFi and 3G Apple iPad it will still hit your wallet for 500 quid, but the 32GB WiFi + 3G version will at least get you the same storage capacity as the Motorola Xoom although you can pick up the base version of the Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet for 100 quid cheaper.

So do these lower prices for the Apple iPad take your fancy or are you going to simply purchase the iPad 2 or perhaps another tablet device?

Samsung Goes All Official With Corby II

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 06:15 AM PST

Word is old Sammy has now given the official touch to the success to the Samsung Corby handset, the Samsung Corby II, announcing thee device at Samsung SEA Forum in Singapore, and with a revamped design in tow.

According to an article over on Engadget Mobile by way of Samsung, the Samsung S3850 Corby II as it is officially known sports a 3.14-inch QVGA display, 2 megapixel camera, quad-band EDGE data, and microSD expansion up to 16GB.

The guys over at the Samsung Hub offer a little more detail on specs such as WiFi, Bluetooth, FM radio, Microsoft Exchange support, TouchWiz user interface, Social Hub, 3.5mm jack and 1000mAh battery.

The Samsung Corby II is expected to see release in Germany sometime near the end of March and will follow with other European countries, Latin America, India, China, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The Corby II will be available in Yellow, Pink, and White and apparently will hit Russia in late April for 6490 rubles, which is roughly $230.

Windows Phone 7 NoDo Update Delayed Again

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 05:53 AM PST

Funny how the mobile world is constantly assaulted with delays, the latest delay is apparently to do with Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 update, called NoDO which is supposed to deliver the copy and paste function to WP7 smartphone users.

According to an article over on Unwired View by Brad Molen who reports that Microsoft has made an announcement to its official French blog, Windows Phone Frogz, stating that the NoDo update has been delayed until the second half of this month.

Originally the NoDo update was expected to see release back in January, and was delayed until the first half of March, and now the update is to be pushed out later this month via the Zune software.

Apparently no word on the reason for the delay in rolling out the NoDo update to Windows Phone 7 smartphones; however they did share a video demo of NoDo, which we have for your viewing pleasure below.

Samsung Galaxy Tab New Teaser Image: Possible 8.9-inch

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 05:10 AM PST

Samsung is up to something special when it comes to the new Galaxy Tab and a little while ago we reported on the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9-inch model coming soon, well this time there is a new teaser image.

Thanks to Samsung Hub, Samsung has now posted a new picture of the Galaxy Tab and we think it may possibly be the 8.9-inch version that will be announced and unveiled at CTIA on March 22.

Samsung is not revealing too much at the moment but if you look at the picture below that we mentioned in our previous news article via Mashable you will notice it says what's your Tab life 78910, which surely means 7-inch / 8.9-inch / 10-inch.

But if you look at the NEW Samsung Galaxy image it also says what's your Tab life 78910 but with a new black tab offering, check out the hole that has got to be the 3.5mm headphone jack.

The new image also shows Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2011, Special Episode March 22, Orlando, Florida U.S.

Join us on Facebook or Twitter because soon as this new tablet is announced and unveiled we will give you all the details covering specs, features, where to buy and much more. Sorry for the quick article but that is all we have to go on at the moment.

iOS 4.3 Problems: Downloading, Installing, Home Sharing

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 04:43 AM PST

As you all know the new iOS 4.3 update was released last night and we gave you a few details covering its new features and enhancements, so we thought we would ask you if you are having any problems at all.

The main features that stand out include Home Sharing, Personal Hotspot Functionality, new AirPlay features, and much more. You can see all the main features on our previous article.

We went to iTunes and started the iOS 4.3 download / install onto our Apple iPhone and iPad and had no problems at all, we even mentioned that the Home Sharing feature got reviewed that we think you may like.

The update went smoothly and was very fast indeed, to install on both Apple devices took less that 8 minutes. We have yet to play with the iPhone and iPad and check out the new update features and when we do we will let you know what our impressions are.

In the meantime please do post all your comments below if you have experienced any iOS 4.3 update problems being it the download, install, home sharing, etc. Thanks

iPhone 4 Of A Different Colour Unboxed On Video

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 04:42 AM PST

Well actually there are three iPhone 4 handsets in this unboxing footage, one red iPhone 4, one white iPhone 4 and one blue iPhone 4…very patriotic indeed, and makes a welcome change from seeing a black smartphone being unboxed.

This patriotic unboxing of the red white and blue iOS smartphones comes our way courtesy of Jon Rettinger over at Technobuffalo, who was sent the iconic handsets by iFixdirect who can fit up your iPhone 4 with a red white or blue conversion.

According to Jon, the conversion of the iPhone 4 to a different colour will set you back roughly 275 bucks, and says that the conversion is not accomplished using official Apple parts and thus will void the owners warranty.

Apple obviously doesn’t offer coloured versions of the iPhone 4 although the latest rumour is that you may be able to pick up a white iPhone 4 sometime in April.

So I’ll leave it there so you can check out this iPhone 4 of a different colour unboxing video, and ask the question, would you purchase a coloured iPhone if Apple were to offer them…enjoy.
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