Friday, June 17, 2011

MobileCrunch

MobileCrunch

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Amazon Puts Nokia E6 Up For Pre-Order, Shipping In 1-2 Months

Posted: 16 Jun 2011 02:29 PM PDT

Listen up Nokia loyalists, this one's for you. Amazon has just put the Nokia E6 business-class smartphone up for pre-order on its web site, which is pretty good news considering the fact that US carriers haven't exactly been chomping at the bit to sell Nokia handsets.

If you're looking for a little Anna in your life, this Symbian-powered QWERTY smartphone is all yours for $446. Shipping should begin in one to two months.

[via Engadget]

Sony Ericsson Preps NFC For Android Phones

Posted: 16 Jun 2011 02:03 PM PDT

Talk of NFC has been around longer than I can remember, but when are we actually going to get to wave our phones around and magically pay for soda, or a movie, or whatever else our little hearts desire?

We're getting closer, especially now that Google has put together its Mobile Wallet with help from Citibank, MasterCard, First Data and Sprint. And now it looks like Sony Ericsson is joining the mobile payments party, with plans to add NFC chips to its Android smartphones.

Interestingly enough, SE's plans didn't come from the horse's mouth. NXP, the same NFC chip manufacturer that hooked up Google and Samsung with NFC on the Nexus S, delivered the news instead. This move should help Sony Ericsson fulfill its promise to become the largest provider of Android handsets.


Sprint HTC Evo Shift 4G To Get Gingerbread On June 20th (Or Today, If You’re Antsy)

Posted: 16 Jun 2011 12:36 PM PDT

Just a quick heads-up for all of our readers rockin’ Sprint’s HTC Evo Shift 4G: you can start nommin’ on some Gingerbread with the official update to Android 2.3 right this second.

According to an announcement posted over on Sprint’s forums, they’re going to start rolling out the update to everyone on June 20th. If you just can’t wait any longer, however, there’s a way to get it now: jump into the settings menu, then click into System Update >> HTC Software Update. You’ll be one of the first to nab the download and thus be something of a guinea pig — but hey, these things never go wrong, right?

Joystick-It: Because Your iPhone Needs A Gigantic Oldschool Joystick, Right?

Posted: 16 Jun 2011 12:01 PM PDT

You know, just last week I was sitting there playin’ some Pac-Man on my iPhone when I thought to myself, “Man! This is fun and all, but it would be so much better if I had a big ol’ wonky metal nipple-joystick thing sticking out of my screen.”

Just kidding, that didn’t happen. I don’t even have Pac-Man on my iPhone. I just needed an intro. I’m sorry I lied*, okay?

For those that do have Pac-Man — or any of the many games out there for iOS with a circular, touch-based D-Pad contraption — ThinkGeek has just announced the Joystick-It, an $18 (or $24.99 for the bigger, iPad version) stick-on joystick modeled after an oldschool 8-way ball arcade stick. It’s made of milled-aluminum, sticks and unsticks without leaving any adhesive, and is preeeeetty much the geekiest thing you can buy for your phone.

* I’m not sorry.

Apple Patent Application Describes Location-Based Social Network

Posted: 16 Jun 2011 11:52 AM PDT

After Ping’s not-exactly-earth-shattering launch, Apple has remained relatively quiet on the social networking front. However, a freshly discovered patent application suggests the company isn't quite ready to toss in its friend-making towel quite yet.

Filed towards the end of 2009, the patent application describes a location-based social network that lets users find people nearby that share common interests, including books, movies, and, of course, music.

The idea bears some resemblance to Color, the recently launched photo-sharing network which groups people according to venue. Like Color, Apple's social network can connect you to others nearby, allowing you to partake in the Internet generation’s favorite pastime: sharing experiences with complete strangers without having to actually talk to anybody. This isn't Apple's first time to play around with the idea of a location-based social network; an "iGroups" patent application surfaced midway through last year, but nothing really ever came of it.

Dual-Screen Android LG Slider Spotted In The Wild, Possibly T-Mo-Bound

Posted: 16 Jun 2011 10:06 AM PDT

When the dual-screen Kyocera Echo first appeared, my initial reaction was, "Nice gimmicky idea, but let's hope this double-screen thing doesn't get trendy." Honestly, I see no need for two screens on a phone, especially when one screen tends to do a great job draining battery life all on its own.

But apparently LG and T-Mobile don't feel the same way, as a dual-screen QWERTY slider has made an appearance in the wild. At an event held by Orange in the UK, PocketLint discovered this mysterious LG-branded Android phone, although details are pretty limited. What we know so far, is that the second screen, tucked nicely between the split QWERTY keyboard, hosts a variety of app shortcuts, with two spaces left empty for user customization. Past that, we're not quite sure what that second screen is capable of, but hopefully it can do more than launch apps.

It looks pretty heavy in terms of the hardware, and the screen size and resolution appear moderate. We're also somewhat baffled by that Android 1.6 wallpaper. Perhaps this handset is actually an older model that never made it to market, rather than a newbie preparing for launch. We don't know the much about the rear-camera, other than the fact that its LED supported.

Kineto Wireless was the company responsible for laying this bad boy out on the table, and a rep mentioned to PocketLint that the phone could be called the Flip II. Leaked T-Mobile documents indicate a few new phones headed to market, including the Flip II and the LG Maxx Q, which could also end up being the name of this mystery phone.

[via Pocket-Lint]

Evernote for Windows Phone 7 Released Today

Posted: 16 Jun 2011 10:00 AM PDT


Evernote, the record-everything app for smartphones and desktops, is launching on Windows Phone 7 today. Built specifically for Windows Phone 7, this is Evernote’s 14th supported platform and looks as solid as every other Evernote release. The home panorama leverages Windows Phone 7 panels for notes, notebooks, tags, and recent notes. At the bottom of each screen is a context-aware Application Bar providing access to additional features. If you’re a Windows Phone 7 user, don’t delay: Evernote is free!

Read the full Evernote Windows Phone 7 release for more details and screenshots.

25-Year-Old Indian Man Electrocuted To Death By Shanzai Phone

Posted: 16 Jun 2011 08:51 AM PDT

With the exception of the Foxconn fire, we rarely, if ever, report on any real tragedy in this industry. The closest we come to reporting a tragedy probably involves RIM, or Nokia, or some form of a product delay, but very rarely do we write up anything truly horrific. Today, however, a young man from the Panchmahal district of Gujarat, India was electrocuted to death by his shanzai phone.

Obviously, this is incredibly unfortunate, and our condolences are with the family. It happened when 25-year-old Dhanji Damor was trying to make a call while his shanzai phone was plugged in to the wall to charge. He was shocked, and rushed to the hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead from electrocution. In India, people have a pretty common joke about made-in-China phones: "No guarantee, no warranty." In other words, if it was made in China it could either last forever, or for a hot minute.

It may be funny in some cases, but this should be taken as a lesson to those developing nations who are trying so desperately to keep up with the rest of the world. Those copycat handsets may look and feel just like our precious smartphones, but under that back cover lies a mess of unreliable technology that, as we’ve seen here, can be dangerous.

[via UberGizmo]

Rumor: iPhone 5 To Sport Edge-To-Edge Display?

Posted: 16 Jun 2011 07:03 AM PDT

There's been a lot of speculation as of late over the next model iPhone. Will Jobs pull a 3GS on us and leave the form factor alone or will Apple go big and create some new hardware to go with that awesome new OS?

Well, we may be inching closer to some answers today, as an app developer with connections to Nuance, the speech recognition firm, posted a few screen grabs of what appears to be a next-gen iPhone with an edge-to-edge screen.

9to5Mac originally found the photos, which displayed the SpeechTrans Ultimate Powered By Nuance app in the iTunes store. But SpeechTrans TM, the developer responsible for the photos, was tricky about it – only two of the five screen shots posted appear to be on a new iPhone, the rest were on a regular old iPhone 4. Since the photos are obviously mock-ups, it's totally possible that the developers had a little brain fart when calculating measurements.

On the other hand, Nuance is expected to be a pretty big part of iOS 5, with its voice and speech recognition technology baked right in. We know SpeechTrans TM has pretty significant ties to Nuance, so it's certainly not too far off to hope that the app developer has some knowledge of what to expect out of iOS 5 and the next-gen iPhone, and merely wanted to let us in on the fun.

[via PC World]
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