Saturday, May 14, 2011

Phones Review

Phones Review

HTC Thunderbolt OTA Update: No LTE Fix

Posted: 13 May 2011 04:59 PM PDT

For those HTC Thunderbolt users out there on Verizon the long waited for the OTA firmware update has finally arrived. Although there is still no LTE fix.

On May 6, I did an article entitled 'HTC Thunderbolt Update on Verizon Coming Soon', which related a 'COMING SOON' message that appeared on the support page of the HTC Thunderbolt smartphone after Verizon had delayed the update roll-out – see article here.

Well you will be please to know that you can now grab the update through a manual download, as advised in a Verizon (PDF). Information on the update, which is supposed to fix some of the connectivity issues that some users have been experiencing, comes to us via the guys at Engadget.

The new software update is also expected to speed up GPS updates for Google Maps and VZ Navigator, stabilize data-dependent apps and fix a few small messaging glitches. However, with an upside, there is always a downside and on this occasion that is, the update is only for 3G.

We are glad that the wait is finally over for those HTC Thunderbolt owners awaiting the update, but surely, it would not have hurt Verizon to sort out LTE also. Who knows we may see another update 'coming soon' for the LTE fix – I don't think so, not if the delay to this update is anything to go by. If you have updated your Thunderbolt, please let us know what you think – was it worth the wait?

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Release: Black & White via Verizon

Posted: 13 May 2011 08:47 AM PDT

Great news for those waiting for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, rumour has it that the tablet could be on its way to Verizon in both Black and White, with 16GB and 32GB storage capacities. There is also a possibility that it could arrive with 4G LTE.

In a Big Red system the model number SCH-I905 is listed and this model number is being referred to as a "4GTablet" that runs on Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), this most definitely relates to a Samsung device. There is also further information indicating that it will not come loaded with VCAST.

Already released for the device is a WiFi certification (see below) and although there is a mention under ‘Category’ of it being a smartphone, we have already seen that the model number relates to a "4GTablet" that will be running Honeycomb. Thus, indicating that it is not a Verizon version of a small handset.

As stated in the article by Droid-Life, there is no idea when this Android 3.0 run 4G LTE version might be ready, but there could be an announcement at the big press event held by Samsung, which is scheduled for May 26th (the same day the DROIDX2 comes out to play). There is an expectation by most of us that Samsung will announce the S2's arrival in the U.S., but you never know they could also mention something about this new tablet variation.

Netflix for Android Handled on Video

Posted: 13 May 2011 08:46 AM PDT

You may or may not be aware that Netflix has now come to the Android platform and is available as a free app from the Android Market, but apparently is currently only for the HTC Incredible, Nexus One, HTC EVO 4G, G2 and Samsung Nexus S running Android 2.2 Froyo and above.

However apparently the guys over at Enadget managed to load the Netflix app onto their Motorola Droid X but gave the app a spin on the Nexus S and recorded the outcome on video, which we have for your viewing consideration below.

So what do the guys say about Netflix on Android? Well they say it's much like Netflix on iOS and it is difficult to tell them apart if it wasn't for the tabs being moved from the bottom to the top of the screen while everything is more or less as one would expect and streaming performance over WiFi is great.

So rather than me write it all out as it's Friday afternoon, I'll leave it there and simply let you jump on down to hit the play button and check out Netflix for Android…enjoy.

BlackBerry Plugged in The Apprentice, BBC Under Fire

Posted: 13 May 2011 07:39 AM PDT

The new series of The Apprentice, the business orientated show featuring Lord Alan Sugar has just begun and an episode candidates were given the task of designing a new mobile phone app and promote worldwide, but apparently the BBC has been criticised over the amount of BlackBerry close ups.

According to the Daily Mail, the 2 teams, one men and one women, were told whichever team's app was downloaded the most in 24 hours that tam would win the challenge. Twenty minutes into the episode the teams were shown huddled round a BlackBerry smartphone.

The women team were excited huddled round a white BlackBerry handset, while the guy's team was seen loading their app onto a black BlackBerry device. Apparently viewers then hit Twitter claiming product placement.

Apparently one Tweet said… "Is The Apprentice sponsored by BlackBerry?" while another said…"I thought the BBC couldn't do product placement? BlackBerry to the max?" while apparently some viewers asked why develop for the smaller BlackBerry market than the iPhone.

Apparently the BBC say they have no deal with BlackBerry to feature their products and stated that it would have been difficult to have filmed the scenes with a smartphone being used.

Maybe next time round they will use iOS or Android, but really if you have a task to develop a mobile app it's quite obvious they would need to use a smartphone of some description, just so happens it was a BlackBerry, no big deal.

You Can Use Google Music On The iPhone

Posted: 13 May 2011 07:09 AM PDT

As you are probably aware now, a beta version of Google's new cloud storage service has been launched. Google Music Beta enables Android user to store in the range of 20,000 songs for playback on their device. However, do not despair iOS users as you can also access the service on your iPhone or other iDevices.

The availability of the Google service is great news to those iDevice users, who are fed up of waiting for Apple to launch their own cloud services. In a similar way to that of the Amazon cloud service, iOS users have found a way to playback Google Music on their devices.
,
At present, Google Music Beta is free to users with a Google Music account in place, on an invitation only basis, which you can request via Google's Music Beta website. When your invitation is received, you will need a computer to login to the storage service site and upload some music. When you have songs available, just opening up Safari on your Apple iPhone (or other iDevice) and go to google.com/music, enter your account information, press the 'Play' button and your away bopping to your beats.

As advised in the article by IDB, the music is played through the web browser and therefore does not require Quicktime to open, unlike Amazon's player. Playback toggles like Shuffle and Repeat can be set and thanks to multitasking support, the music can even be played in the background.

Please note that as this is still in beta version, it is currently only available in the US and may still contain a few bugs. Let us hope that this will be seen as a wake-up call to Apple and their cloud services is rolled out sooner rather than later. If you have the Google Music Beta running on your device, please let us less fortunate people know how it plays.

LG Optimus Black Released on T-Mobile UK

Posted: 13 May 2011 06:33 AM PDT

The word was that the LG Optimus Black smartphone would make its European debut in May and would eventually make its way Stateside, and true to their word, the Android 2.2 Froyo smartphone is now available from T-Mobile in the United Kingdom.

According to an article over on Pocket Now by way of GSM Arena, those in the UK wishing to snap up the LG Optimus Black handset can gain the smartphone as a free device when signing up for a 2-year agreement at £25.54 per month.

For your £25.54 a month you will receive 300 minutes, 300 texts, a Flexible Booster option and Internet, or if you opt for their highest option at £56.16 per month you receive unlimited minutes any network, any time, 500 texts any network, any time, and Internet.

As the LG Optimus Black is now available from T-Mobile UK other European carriers should see the handset hit their shelves reasonably soon. So who is going to snap up the N.O.V.A display packing LG Optimus Black?

HTC Sensation A Closer Look Promotion Video

Posted: 13 May 2011 06:01 AM PDT

If you are going to push out a 4G enabled smartphone you are obviously going to promote that device and HTC have now released a new promo video of their Android HTC Sensation handset, which we have for your viewing pleasure below.

The video is called the HTC Sensation "A Closer Look" and comes our way courtesy of the guys over at Phone Arena and by way of the official HTC YouTube page and deliver almost six minutes of HTC endorsing their Android 2.3 Gingerbread handset.

Spec wise the HTC Sensation offers the user a 4.3-inch qHD display, unibody construction, contoured glass, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, HTC Sense experience, 8 megapixel camera with instant capture tech, and 1080p HD video capture, and WiFi printing.

I'll leave it right there as not to spoilt your viewing pleasure of the footage so head on down and hit that play button to check out the latest promo for the HTC Sensation…enjoy.

Samsung Infuse 4G Reviewed on Video

Posted: 13 May 2011 05:20 AM PDT

AT&T's 3rd 4G enabled smartphone, the Android 2.2 Froyo Samsung Infuse 4G which will be releasing to AT&T in the next few days has now been given an in-depth review on video and of course we have that 2-part video review for your viewing pleasure below.

The Samsung Infuse 4G video review comes our way courtesy of Aaron Baker over at Phone Dog and jointly delivers almost 25 minutes of checking out the Samsung Infuse 4G device.

The Samsung Infuse 4G sports a huge 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus touch screen, 1.2 GHz Hummingbird processor, 8 megapixel rear camera with 720p video, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera, TouchWiz UI 3.0, and is 8.9mm thick at its thinnest point and a special addition of Angry Birds preinstalled.

However, the Samsung Infuse 4G followed the likes of the Motorola Atrix 4G and HTC Inspire 4G so how well does the Samsung Infuse 4G stand up to its predecessors? Well to find out head on down and mash those play buttons and feel free to let us know if you agree or disagree with Aaron's appraisal…enjoy.

Apple iPad Security: How To Be Secure

Posted: 13 May 2011 05:07 AM PDT

Have you ever wondered just how secure your Apple iPad was, well according to research undertaken by Kurt Marko (Information Week) your device sports some surprisingly robust security features.

When companies rollout their tablets to the consumer market, issues such as support for automated provisioning, network security, local data protection and centralized configuration management are sometimes over-looked or lost in the barrage of information that comes out on the product.

Whilst the Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch do not at this time equal the BlackBerry when it comes to enterprise-grade management tools, they do contain some astonishingly tough security features. Incorporated within the iPad are the latest Wi-Fi security standards, like WPA2 personal and enterprise.

The iPad also offers a multitude of VPN protocols, including Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol, Cisco IPSec and Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol. There is also support for SSL VPNs by way of third-party apps from the likes of Juniper, Cisco and F5 Networks, so the data in motion on the iPad is well protected.

Kurt goes on to add that the data at rest, the flash drive partition for application and user data, is encrypted with AES-256 by means of an embedded hardware key, which can be strengthened by salting (similar to that of Unix passwords) with the Apple device’s screen-lock passcode. To see Kurt's full article visit Information Week.

Has this information set your mind at ease? Will you be taking any precautionary measures to tighten your iPad's security even further?

HTC Flyer Now Available Priced Lower than iPad 2

Posted: 13 May 2011 04:41 AM PDT

For the Android faithful who have been awaiting the availability of the HTC Flyer, the Android tablet is now on sale and in mainland Europe the HTC Flyer is selling for marginally less than rival tablet the Apple iPad 2 other than in the UK.

According to the guys over on Slash Gear, the HTC Flyer will be available in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Romania, and the Czech Republic, first and followed later by the USA.

In Europe the WiFi only HTC Flyer commands a price tag of 499 Euros which is about £479or $714, while the 3G version costs 649 Euros, £599.99 or $929.

In the UK Carphone Warehouse has confirmed pricing for the HTC Flyer as £599.99 as standalone, or £129 based on a £25 per month agreement with 5GB data with Talk Mobile. This means that the UK HTC Flyer is more expensive than the Apple iPad 2 priced at £399 for the 16GB WiFi model and £579 for the WiFI+3G 23GB iPad.

So any of our UK or European readers going to be snapping up the HTC Flyer now that the tablet has become available?

Samsung Galaxy S 2, iPhone 4 Comparison Fight Video

Posted: 13 May 2011 03:40 AM PDT

The latest smartphone out of the Samsung camp is of course the Samsung Galaxy S 2, and as usual when a new device hits the mobile space it inevitably gets compared to the hottest handset out there the Apple iPhone 4, and we have that comparison for your viewing pleasure below.

The Samsung Galaxy S 2 versus the iPhone 4, or to put it another way Android against iOS, video comes our way courtesy of the guys over at Daily Mobile and by way of the Gsmonliepl YouTube page, and delivers just over nine minutes of comparison footage.

Unfortunately though there is no commentary with the footage, so is basically purely a visual comparison between the iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S 2, but there is a speed test done as you can see in the image below, and a look at gaming on both devices.

So I'll leave you there and let you head on down to hit the play button and enjoy the video, and if you feel inclined to drop us a message on your personal opinions of the Samsung Galaxy S 2 and iPhone 4 feel free to do so…enjoy.

Samsung Galaxy S 2 (II) Clocks at 1.5GHz: Video

Posted: 13 May 2011 03:32 AM PDT

As if the Samsung Galaxy S 2 (II) was not fast enough already with its 1.2GHz processor, it has become known that with a little bit of tinkering, your smartphone could clock in at a speed of 1.5GHz.

If you have purchased the Samsung Galaxy S 2, the most powerful smartphone at present to enter the Android fraternity, some say you should just sit back and enjoy it. However, some people just cannot help themselves, by upping the speed of their handset to see what it can produce.

Initially when the Galaxy S 2 was brought to the table it had at 1GHz processor. However, just before its release Samsung increased the processor to 1.2GHz, which has now been tweaked to an impressive speed of 1.5GHz by a developer named coolbho3000.

Therefore, anyone wishing to try this stable overclock on their Galaxy S 2 can obtain the source code and instructions over on the xda-developers forum. This information comes to us courtesy of the guys over at Engadget. For your viewing delight a video has been provided showing the Samsung Galaxy S2 operating at 1.5GHz – see below.

Will you be increasing the power of your Samsung Galaxy S2?

T-Mobile Acquisition Failure Could Cost AT&T Big

Posted: 13 May 2011 03:18 AM PDT

Most will be aware that AT&T wants to acquire T-Mobile USA, and whether you are for or against the acquisition, apparently if AT&T fails to secure regulatory approval for the AT&T, T-Mobile merger it could end up costing AT&T a pretty penny.

According to the guys over at Engadget, Reuters is reporting if the AT&T, T-Mobile merger doesn't garner approval then AT&T will own T-Mobile USA owner Deutsche Telekom a whopping 3 billion bucks in cold hard cash.

Furthermore, the cost of failure doesn't end there, as AT&T will also own Deutsche Telekom, $2 billion worth of AWS spectrum and $1 billion due to a roaming agreement according to two unnamed sources and would bring the total cost of failure to a staggering $6 billion.

It's still unclear as to whether AT&T will be successful with their acquisition bid, but either way it looks like Deutsche Telekom will come out smiling, but if AT&T can pull it off they would leap over Verizon to become the leader in the US market.

Motorola Droid X2 Release Delayed But Coming with Gingerbread

Posted: 13 May 2011 02:54 AM PDT

For the Android faithful that were hopefully expecting the release of the Motorola Droid X2 on Verizon to happen yesterday, obviously it didn't go ahead, and apparently the Android 2.2 Froyo smartphone has been delayed just like the Samsung Droid Charge.

According to an article over on Droid-life, Veriozn has confirmed that the Motorola Droid X2 has been delayed albeit slightly and now has a new release date of the 26th of this month with direct fulfilment orders beginning as of the 19th.

Furthermore, according to Droid-life the image shows a blue top bar, which could well mean that the Motorola Droid X2 will actually come out to play sporting Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which is put down to the original Motorola Droid X possibly gaining Android 2.3 Gingerbread sometime this week.

So there you have it, those waiting to snap up the Motorola Droid X2 from Verizon should be able to do so by the 26th and also be able to experience Gingerbread from the outset. So how many of our readers are after the new Android smartphone?

Amazon CEO Stay Tuned For New Tablet

Posted: 13 May 2011 02:34 AM PDT

As you probably know there is a rumour going around that Amazon will put out a tablet device at some point, which apparently will supplement the Amazon Kindle rather than replace the ereader and the boss of Amazon has now commented on the possible release of that Amazon tablet.

According to Apple Insider, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in an interview with Consumer Reports earlier in the week, when asked about the possibility of the Amazon tablet, replied…"Stay tuned," a remark that has apparently prompted speculation that Amazon will indeed put out an Apple iPad challenger.

However, Bezos apparently killed off the rumour of a coloured screen device that would use e-ink tech by stating that colour e-ink “is not ready for prime time…the colors are very pale," but added "it continues to be improved."

So it would appear that the Amazon Kindle will be around for some time yet as they have no intensions of killing it off, and at some point in the future we should see an Amazon tablet of some description. Would any of our readers consider purchasing an Amazon tablet if it became available?
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)