Friday, June 10, 2011

MobileCrunch

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Sprint To Bump Upload Speeds On Their WiMax Network Up By 50%

Posted: 09 Jun 2011 12:26 PM PDT

Good news, Sprinters! Sprintees? Sprintums? Guh. I never know what to call Sprint customers.

Anyway, you guys are in for a little treat: the upload speeds on your 4G WiMax network? They’re about to get about 50% faster. There is, of course, a little catch.

The catch: upload speeds on Sprint’s WiMax network are currently capped at 1 Mbps… which means that, once the new speeds are in place, you’ll still only be cruising along at 1.5 megabits per second. It’s a bit paltry compared to some of the competition (like the 5-7 Mbps upload speeds Verizon is seeing with their 4G LTE network) — but hey, it’s a free improvement, so no complaining allowed.

Confirmation of the speed upgrade comes from a comment to Phonescoop:

Soon the uplink speed cap on all existing Sprint dual mode and single mode 4G mobile devices will be increased from 1.0 to 1.5 Mbps. Customers may notice uplink speeds as much as 50% faster after the speed cap is raised. We haven't stated a specific date this will take place.

Nokia CEO Clarifies Choosing Windows Phone Over Android

Posted: 09 Jun 2011 12:00 PM PDT

Wondering why Nokia chose Windows Phone over Android? Nokia CEO Stephen Elop clarified the reasons for that decision today, explaining that when it comes to Google's increasingly popular OS, you just never know what to expect. "Google's open box still has flaps," said the Nokia boss, "and we don't know what those flaps will do."

"Apple in 2007 introduced a high water mark in terms of saying, 'this is what users expect [...],' but Apple did this in a very Apple way. It was closed," said Elop. "Apple created Android, or at least it created the conditions necessary to create Android. People decided they could not play in the Apple way, and they had to do something else. Then Google stepped in and created Android [...] and others jumped on the Android train."

Elop also took the opportunity to squash rumors that Samsung plans to acquire Nokia. "Nokia is not for sale," he said.

[via Gizmodo]

Gasp! iCloud Allows You To Re-Download Purchased Apps That Have Since Been Banned

Posted: 09 Jun 2011 11:04 AM PDT



I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard friends lamenting on this very issue: they managed to buy some questionable App from the iOS App Store before Apple (or the app’s own developers) got around to pulling it, only to accidentally lose it while updating their firmware or because their handset took an unexpected, all-expenses paid vacation to Shattering-on-the-groundsville before they got to back things up.

We’re not quite sure if this is just a soon-to-be-erased mistake or not, but it looks like the new iCloud features built into the App Store in OS 5 allow you to re-download applications that have been booted from the store since you purchased it. CDFXApps noticed that they could download the now ban-hammered iDOS application, while our brothers-from-another-mother over at Engadget confirmed that they could still download the Tetris-clone Tris. Yeah, remember Tris? Didn’t think so. It got the boot way back in August of 2008, just a month after the App Store launched.


Virgin Mobile Gets More No-Contract Android Goodness With The Motorola Triumph

Posted: 09 Jun 2011 10:44 AM PDT

As little sisters tend to do, Virgin Mobile got a bit jealous when they found out their big brother, Sprint, was gettin’ a fancy new Android phone out of Motorola. Lookin’ to steal a bit of that spotlight, Virgin’s bringin’ out a Moto-built Android phone of their own: the Triumph.

And for an off-contract, pre-paid Android phone, it’s quite the doozy.

Here’s what you need to know about the Triumph:

  • 4.1″ WGA (800×480) display
  • Just 0.4″ thick
  • 5 megapixel rear camera, 0.3 megapixel front facing camera
  • Launching with Android 2.2 (Froyo) (A bit unfortunate, as Froyo is very much at the end of its life-cycle)
  • Video recording and playback at 720p
  • HDMI out
  • Oddly, they’re not listing what the CPU clocks in at — Update: Strike that! We’ve just been informed that the Triumph has a 1 Ghz CPU inside.

Virgin Mobile’s no stranger to Android (they’ve got the Intercept and the Optimus V), but the screen alone makes this one markedly higher-end than anything else they’ve picked up thus far.

As with the Photon, Sprint and Motorola are bein’ a bit coy with the launch specifics: Sprint/Virgin say “this summer”, while Motorola says “This month”. Neither will spill the beans on the pricing details.

Sprint And Motorola Announce The Dual-Core, Kickstand-Packin’ Photon 4G

Posted: 09 Jun 2011 10:24 AM PDT

While there’s by no means a shortage of Android devices on Sprint, just about every Android-flavored they have to offer up is made by either Samsung or HTC. Dig Sprint, but want something made by Motorola? Bummer, Duderoni. Unless you want the XPRT, which is just a whacky rebadge of the already whacky Verizon Droid Pro. Which you don’t.

Fortunately, that’s about to change. Sometime in Q3 of this year, Motorola and Sprint will be launching a phone worthy of its weight in PVC and carbon emissions: the Photon 4G.

Here’s what you should know about it:

  • 1 Ghz, Dual-core Tegra 2 CPU
  • 4.3″ qHD (960×540) display
  • Comes with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) out of the box
  • 3G and 4G (WiMax) friendly
  • Sprint’s first “Global” WiMax phone — it runs on Sprint’s (CDMA) 3G and WiMax here in the states, but works on GSM internationally
  • Compatible with Motorola’s accessory docking system, a la the AT&T Atrix. It’s not clear yet if it plays friendly with the Laptop Dock system, though, as Sprint/Motorola only mention the TV Multimedia Dock and the Car Dock. That’s okay, though, because the Laptop Dock is hella stupid.
  • Dual cameras: 8 megapixels on the back, with a VGA resolution (sneaky way of saying 0.3 megapixel) front facing camera
  • 16GB of on board memory, with support for microSD cards up to 32 gigs
  • Bluetooth 2.1
  • 802.11b/g/n WiFi
  • Plus, it has that super sweet kickstand, which usually isn’t Motorola’s thing

All in all, that’s one fine piece of kit. No word yet on pricing and nothing beyond “Sometime in Q3″ for a launch date, but I’ll let you know if we hear more.

Nokia Can’t Catch A Break; CTO Rich Green Takes Leave Of Absence

Posted: 09 Jun 2011 10:00 AM PDT

To say that Nokia has been struggling would be putting it lightly. We've seen some bizarre commercials for Nokia's pink N8 handset, which is more amusing than sad, but on a more serious note, Nokia has posted its lowest share prices in 13 years. That said, it's only fair to mention that the company is in a re-grouping state, as it solidifies its deal with Microsoft to put the Windows Phone platform on Nokia handsets. Either way, it seems that the Finnish company can't catch a break, as its CTO Richard Green has taken a leave of absence, which could become permanent.

For now, head of the company's research center, Henry Tirri, will take on Green's day-to-day responsibilities. Neither Green nor Nokia have given a reason for his exit, other than that he’s attending “to a personal matter,” and there's been no mention of how long this leave of absence will last. The company did publicly state, however, that the CTO's exit would not affect Nokia's product strategy or launch timelines.

According to the Hensingin Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper, unnamed sources claim that Green was unhappy about the company ditching MeeGo for Microsoft's Windows Phone platform. The paper also claimed that Green's return was unlikely. Green is just one of a number of top-level players at Nokia to cut and run, as the company lost several EVPs and its long-serving chairman and former CEO within the last year.

[via MocoNews]

T-Mobile, WildTangent To Bring 25 Cent App Rentals To Android

Posted: 09 Jun 2011 07:34 AM PDT

One of the worst things about app shopping is the uncertainty. A few screen grabs and a four-line description is hardly enough to make an informed decision. When apps are free, it's less of an issue, but when I'm coughing up a couple bucks, I want to know what I'm getting. A few app stores have tried to quell this issue: Amazon's Appstore for Android has a test-drive feature, the Android Market has a 15-minute return policy, and Apple launched a "Try Before You Buy" system last summer. But T-Mobile has taken a pretty innovative approach to app shopping: rentals.

Read More

Apple Cuts Off DUI Checkpoint Apps

Posted: 09 Jun 2011 06:24 AM PDT

A couple months ago, a few DUI checkpoint apps in Google's Android Market, RIM's BlackBerry App World, and Apple's App Store made a big stir among politicians. RIM immediately removed its questionable apps, while Google declined. Apple claimed that since the apps weren't in violation of its insanely long App Store guidelines, the company couldn't justifiably yank the apps from the App Store. Until today.

Following a request from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Apple has revised its App Store guidelines, Section 22.8 to ban DUI checkpoint apps. The revision reads: "Apps which contain DUI checkpoints that are not published by law enforcement agencies, or encourage and enable drunk driving, will be rejected." These aren't the first apps to cause a bit of controversy: a "gay cure" app had people up in arms just a few months ago.

[via Engadget]
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