Let Your Phone Stand Out with Nokia Sleeping Screen

Let Your Phone Stand Out with Nokia Sleeping Screen

Nokia Sleeping Screen enhances the appearance of your phone with always on decorative graphics, status indications at a glance, and a calm nighttime clock. This experimental beta is available for you to download to Symbian^3 phones. The design and development of Nokia Sleeping Screen has been an exciting combination of concepting and very detailed optimization to reach aesthetic appearance with an uncompromised battery operating time. For instance, visual style lives within very narrow boundaries and the screen is actually turned off when you keep phone in your pocket or bag.  And the timed night clock helps you preserve your precious sleeping time.

iPad 2 Accessories: CEO Hybrid Case By Marware

If you are one of the lucky ones to have got your hands on the new Apple iPad 2 you may be considering buying some accessories for the tablet PC, please read the following about the Marware CEO Hybrid iPad 2 case covering features and price.

The Marware C.E.O. Hybrid iPad 2 case is only $49.99 and is the sequel to the original best-selling iPad case, this is a ultra-tin profile injection-molded structure that will keep you expensive Apple iPad 2 safe whilst still giving it the trendy look it deserves.

This stunning case features an intelligent sleep/wake lid that allows the iPad to wake and sleep when the lid is open or closed, the case also acts as a stand for the iPad and a handle on the back for your hand to slide through that will make FaceTime chat very comfortable indeed.

Main Features: Ultra-low profile traditional hard shell and padded folio hybrid design, Innovative elastic interior hand strap, Injection molded interior for added support and protection, Soft magnets that secure the lid closed, Soft scratch-resistant interior, Reinforced grip corners for maximum hold, Protective lid that adjusts into multiple angles, cutouts for all button access, it also includes Folio case.

For more information and option to pre-order the C.E.O. Hybrid iPad 2 Case please visit Marware Website. Please let us know what you think

Samsung Galaxy S getting a 1.4GHz '2011 edition' next month (update: confirmed)

You didn't think Samsung was going to leave the classic Galaxy S handset in the past, did you? Dmitriy Ryabinin of hi-tech.mail.ru has tracked down the above comparison sheet showing off a new variant of the 4-inch Android phone, this time packing a 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255T chip and a 14.4Mbps HSPA+ radio. Other than those upgrades and a 1650mAh battery, it's a faithful reproduction of last year's original and should be arriving in Russia around the end of April for a price of just under 24,000 rubles ($846). What gives us faith in this apparent leak is our earlier sighting of a 3.7-inch Galaxy S2 "Mini" device from Samsung, which also clocks in at a mighty 1.4GHz. Coincidence? We doubt it.

[Thanks, Andy]

Update: That was quick. Samsung's Russian mouthpiece has confirmed all of the above, adding note of a metal back cover and a Galaxy S Plus name for markets outside of Russia. Sadly, there's no word as to where else it might be showing up.

iPhone to Gain BlackBerry Messenger App Late April

Earlier this month there was a rumour doing the rounds that Research In Motion was contemplating opening up their BlackBerry Messenger app to be used on both the Android platform and the iOS platform, and the word now is BlackBerry Messenger is coming to the iPhone.

According to an article over on 9to5 Mac and by way of TUAW, a member of Macrumors forums has posted when BlackBerry Messenger will become available to the iconic iOS smartphone…

” RIM had a Social Media conference today in Toronto, and my entire college business and marketing class was invited to the event. RIM’s co-ceo Jim Balsillie revealed that they plan to bring BBM and “other services” to iPhone on April 26 via the app store. Major news networks are expected to pick up on this very soon! Balsillie also revealed that they plan to release an update to the app this summer which will take advantage of a new “notification system”!!!

Thus if true it would appear that BlackBerry Messenger will become available on iTunes as of the 26th of April, although as with the Android BlackBerry Messenger app which should hit before the iOS version, both will not be as full featured as the RIM original.

So with RIM enabling BlackBerry Messenger for both Android and iOS, and with the BlackBerry Playbook playing nice with Android apps, one wonders if we’ll ever see iOS apps being made by Apple to play on Android and BlackBerry.

What do our reader’s think about all this, should different platforms open up and share apps or should they remain on their own platforms?

Otterbox Case for iPad: Utility Series Latch

If you are looking for a stunning Otterbox case for the Apple iPad then the ‘Utility Series Latch’ is a choice you should consider, this case looks fantastic and can be used with or without the Defender Series or Commuter Series cases.

This Otterbox iPad case is not really a case but merely a strap on accessory for handling with ease, it is a latch iPad case with adjustable handstrap that fits onto the iPad that comes with a padded strap that is adjustable.

The strap has heavy duty Velcro secures, you can strap it to your leg whilst sitting or to your hand whilst walking or running etc, you can even strap it to the back of a car headrest for easy viewing pleasure. It also comes with an accessory storage bag to keep all your little straps in one handy place; this also doubles as a stand for the iPad.

You can use the lanyard that attaches to the corners on the back of the Latch and can be adjusted to your desired length to hang the iPad in either landscape or portrait orientation.

Overall the Otterbox Utility Series Latch looks great and gives the Apple iPad that extra stylish look whilst given you a little freedom whilst carrying. We are thinking of getting one to test it out. For more information please visit the Otterbox website where you can purchase for only $49.95.

Please check out the PDF file for even more information and images. If you already have this iPad latch case please let us know what you think of it. Your reviews are very important.

HTC Desire HD Android 2.3 Gingerbread Update April Release

Everyone who owns the HTC Desire HD is asking when the Android 2.3 Gingerbread is going to be released, well how does first half of April sound to you?

The HTC Desire HD will be getting the Gingerbread love and the Motorola Defy in the same month will be getting Android 2.2 Froyo update, Unwired View have confirmed this information and April is the month it will happen.

French Carrier SFR are the ones that revealed this information first, there are a few HTC handsets such as the Desire Z and Incredible S running Froyo so these models will also get the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update in April if all goes according to plan.

It would have been nice to see the Motorola Defy get Gingerbread but at least it will be getting the Android 2.2 Froyo love it deserves, hopefully the HTC Desire HD running Gingerbread and the Defy running Froyo will not see problems.

Source – TechTree

Loophole Enables Amazon Cloud Storage Upgrade to 20 GB for $.69

In the wake of today’s launch of both Amazon Cloud Storage and Amazon Cloud Player, a loophole has been discovered that allows an upgrade to the current maximum 20GB storage quota for a 98% discount from the listed $20 rate by buying a song for $0.69 cents from this link.

This loophole may be closed at any time, but independent confirmation by PhoneNews.com has confirmed the availability of the loophole at press time.

Microsoft job posting teases Windows Phone Mobile Studio, requires thinking cap to grok

A conclusion for Captain Obvious to draw, this is not. As with most mega-corp job postings, the wording in Microsoft's latest is just obfuscated enough to keep us guessing, but a few key phrases have us (as well as ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley) on edge waiting for the next big thing in cloud storage. Judging by the rousing reception seen by Amazon's Cloud Drive, we're guessing that the folks in Redmond haven't forgotten completely about Kin's one positive feature: Kin Studio. Based on a new job request, there's a Windows Phone Mobile Studio brewing, and the leading thought is that this is really Kin Studio... but for WP7 devices. Granted, this may be nothing at all like it sounds -- we could be looking at a future home for apps, or simply another aspect of Zune that'll make music management a wee bit easier. That said, we'd love to see Microsoft bust out a world-class streaming / storage service for its mobile platform, and you can bet we'll be prying for details at MIX next month.

Coulomb's ChargePoint app now provides EV charging station status

There's unfortunately still no Android version, but Coulomb has now rolled out a fairly significant update to its ChargePoint app for iOS and BlackBerry. In addition to helping you locate EV charging stations in the United States, Europe and Australia, the app will now also provide realtime charging status information, including things like the total cost to charge and the current charging station configuration. Other improvements include a new landscape mode, the ability to view your home ChargePoint station, and the ability to just search for nearby ChargePoint stations (within a thousand foot radius). Full press release is after the break.

Show full PR text

Coulomb Technologies ChargePoint Network Releases New Mobile App for Locating Available Charging Stations

World's Largest Electric Vehicle Charging Network Releases New ChargePoint Smart Phone Apps for BlackBerry and iPhone: Provides Drivers Advanced Search, Pricing and Real-Time Availability Features

CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Coulomb Technologies today announced new features for its ChargePoint smart phone apps for the Blackberry and iPhone. Now available for free in the iPhone and Blackberry app stores, the ChargePoint® App is the only app available that gives electric vehicle (EV) drivers real-time charging station status. The new version allows drivers to search and filter for charging stations by status: available, in use, voltage level, and paid or free stations. The smart phone apps provide an easy and mobile way to access the world's largest EV charging network service with features that allow an EV driver to find stations near any specified address, get turn-by-turn directions, and even start and stop a charging session directly from their smart phone. In February 2010, Coulomb released the first generation of its iPhone App and to date has seen tens of thousands of downloads.

"We have seen overwhelming acceptance of our ChargePoint apps and we expect this next generation of apps for EV drivers to be no different"

"We have seen overwhelming acceptance of our ChargePoint apps and we expect this next generation of apps for EV drivers to be no different," said Pat Romano, president and CEO at Coulomb Technologies. "The ChargePoint Network has been in operation for more than two years and continues to be the world's largest and only charging station network in the United States with new stations added every day. We are committed to providing drivers the most advanced EV charging services and the most comprehensive tools to eliminate range anxiety and support EV adoption."

Users can receive charging session information including: real-time charging status notifications, energy used, greenhouse gas savings and time usage. The ChargePoint App is also now available for ChargePoint Network service in Australia. Additional new features include the ability to:

* View charging station configuration (voltage/current/connector)
* View price to charge and total cost of a session after completion
* View your home ChargePoint station
* View the app in landscape mode
* View a list of nearby stations within 1000 feet radius
* View your ChargePass account information

Some features require a ChargePoint Network driver account with an activated ChargePass™ card. To create an account, or activate a ChargePass card, go to www.mychargepoint.net and click Sign Up.

To download the updated ChargePoint app for iPhone visit: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chargepoint/id356866743. To download the updated ChargePoint app for Blackberry visit: https://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/9249

About Coulomb Technologies, Inc.

Coulomb Technologies is the leader in electric vehicle charging solutions, with charging systems and application services delivered by the ChargePoint Network. The ChargePoint Network provides web-based portals for Hosts, Fleet Managers, Drivers, and Utilities. The open-system driver network went live in January 2009 and now operates in 14 countries with Network Operations Centers in the U.S., London, and Hong Kong. Coulomb's ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations range from 120 to 240 VAC charging up to 500 Volt DC fast charging with over 3000 stations shipped worldwide. For more information go to: www.coulombtech.com. Follow Coulomb on Twitter: twitter.com/coulombevi.

HP rolling out webOS 3.0 beta to Early Access developers today

Interested in developing for HP's upcoming TouchPad? Sure you are -- but to play ball, you're going to need access to webOS version 3.0, which the company has announced will be getting delivered as part of the festivities at its webOS Connect event in London today. Of course, you can't just wander in off the street and get access to it: you'll need to be signed up for the Early Access program, which has been dropping early webOS SDK builds on eager devs for some time. Naturally, we'd prefer a real, actual, physical TouchPad to the mere idea of a TouchPad in emulation coming from the soft glow of our laptop displays... but we'll take what we can get while we wait for the June launch.

[Thanks, Michael]

Axis introduces outdoor-ready affordable cameras with slim and compact design

Axis M11-E camera, outdoor ready affordable camera, Axis Communication, HDTV video, AXIS M11 Series

Axis Communications, the market leader in network video, today announces new outdoor-ready and affordable fixed cameras that support HDTV video quality. Easy to install and flexible, the new AXIS M11-E cameras come with a wide choice of CS-mount lenses, and are perfect for monitoring office buildings, gate, retail stores and service stations.

“The outdoor-ready cameras are an attractive complement to AXIS M11 Series that offers customers excellent video quality together with easy installation and an affordable price,” says Erik Frnnlid, Director of Product Management, Axis Communications. “The IP66-rated fixed network cameras are delivered with a wall bracket, ideal for both indoor and outdoor cost-sensitive installations and wide-ranging applications.”

Thanks to their slim and compact design, the AXIS M11 Series are ideal for both indoor and outdoor installations where video surveillance is used as deterrent. The outdoor-ready cameras deliver superb image quality and support multiple, individually configurable, high-resolution video streams in H.264 and Motion JPEG in up to 30 fps in full resolution. Power over Ethernet enables power and video to be carried over the same cable. The sunshield and casing are made of UV resistant polymer and require no additional heater. The cameras can operate in a temperature range of -20°C to 50°C (-4°F to 122°F).

Providing excellent image quality, the camera series consists of AXIS M1114-E model with up to 1 megapixel resolution, and AXIS M1113-E with SVGA 800×600 pixel resolution. AXIS M1114-E supports HDTV video conforming with HDTV 720p standards in color fidelity, resolution, frame rate and wide-screen aspect ratio.

AXIS M11-E Network Cameras are supported by the industry’s largest base of video management software through the Axis Application Development Partner Program and AXIS Camera Station. In addition, the cameras include support for AXIS Video Hosting System (AVHS) with One-Click Camera connection for managing video monitoring services over the Internet.

The cameras will be available in Q2 2011.

Skyfire iOS Web Browser Updates With Multilingual Support

The iOS version of the Flash playing mobile browser Skyfire has now been updated to support seven new languages including: French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Other features added in the new update also include a related sites service, that allows you to see other similar sites to the one you are currently viewing. The feature has been added to help out when you may encounter a site that doesn’t support the Skyfire browser completely or when you might need more information on a subject, via a simply button press.

Clicking the ‘Related Sites’ button searches the web for comparable video sites and content, and delivers these web links conveniently to users, providing users with more video content via Skyfire.
A new user Agent Interface has also been added to this release which helps users the ability to unlock more video content and easy toggling to accommodate browsing via iPhone (Safari), Desktop or iPad view.
If you haven’t already downloaded the Flash playing browser more information about Skyfire on iPad , iPhone and Android on their website.

Sprint Opens Up Kyocera Echo Reservations For The Extra-Crazy Early Adopters

Even if you never heed any other word of gadget advice I give, heed this: Sprint has just opened up the reservation queue for their crazy new multi-screen Android phone, the Kyocera Echo. Don’t do it.. Don’t stand in line for it, either. Wait a few weeks.

Now, the Echo may be a wonderful phone. It may very well surprise us and be the best Android phone ever. It also might a hot, wonky mess — and given that it’s a brand new form factor (one that requires developers to tweak their apps for full functionality with the dual screen setup) and that it comes from a company that has never really been known for their software, the odds are stacked against it.

Give the gadget reviewers and the extra-crazy early adopters a few weeks to get our feet wet with it before you dive in. Don’t let the siren call of a shiny new form fact go and get you locked into a 2-year contract.

Verizon Wireless And Samsung Deliver The 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot

Verizon Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot, 4G LTE, Samsung 4G LTE, Mobile Hotspot

Verizon Wireless and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced that the Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot is available for order today in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a 4G Mobile Broadband plan. The 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot will be available in stores on March 31.

Key features:

Share 4G LTE internet connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices at the same time

4G LTE – customers can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G Mobile Broadband coverage areas

Backward compatible with the Verizon Wireless 3G network

Dimensions: 2.32”(H) x 3.54”(W) x 0.45”(D)

Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot customers can take advantage of Verizon’s 4G LTE network by subscribing to a 4G LTE mobile broadband data package starting at $50 monthly access for 5GB. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted. Data usage can be tracked by logging on to My Verizon online at www.verizonwireless.com/myverizon.

The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network, launched in December 2010, is the fastest, most advanced 4G network in the United States, providing speeds up to 10 times faster than Verizon Wireless’ 3G networks. Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network currently reaches one-third of all Americans, with plans to expand the network to the company’s entire 3G coverage area over the next three years.

HTC Thunderbolt orders go live on the Verizon Wireless Website

Well it’s time folks to opt for HTC Thunderbolt. After many rumoured launch dates, delays and seemingly false starts- the HTC Thunderbolt has now gone live on the Verizon Wireless website and is ready to be delivered direct to your door.

As noted previously, purchasing the device straight from Verizon will run you $250 for a two-year contract, $320 for a one-year contract, or $600 $444.99 with no contract.

No matter where you stood in our poll from earlier, a lot of folks are going to be grabbing the HTC Thunderbolt and taking the device as well as 4G LTE for a spin. Until now, the Verizon 4G LTE network has seen minimal traffic so it’ll be interesting to see how it handles the masses.

Source: Androidcentral

Windows Phone 7 getting NFC payments in next update?

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 is still catching up to the competition in terms of apps and basic features, but when it comes to mobile payments it might not be left in the dust -- Bloomberg has two anonymous sources who say that Microsoft will outfit the next version of Windows Phone 7 with software support for near-field communications, and bake NFC tech into WP7 smartphones as early as this year. As we heard earlier this week, Google's reportedly working on a similar plan, complete with partnerships in the credit card space, RIM may or may not be arguing with carriers over its Bank of America trial, and the general consensus around the water cooler is that Apple won't be pursuing contactless payments this year. Yes, it's an exciting time to work in industries that rely solely on money changing hands.

HTC Incredible S coming to Virgin in Canada for $500?

After reading a heartwarming review of the European-spec HTC Incredible S we're left wondering when we, the colonies, will get ourselves a taste. The US-spec Incredible 2 looks to be coming soon enough, but our neighbors to the north will keep the S moniker, and are said to be getting it soon. It's believed to be hitting Bell on April 4th, and now the above image purports to show the phone also listed in Virgin's inventory system. The price is $499.99, while a carbon fiber shield is going for a bargain $24.95 -- useful if you want that Atrix look but are hoping for PlayStation certification thanks to the Adreno 205 graphics here.

Videotron parent company tries to push iPhones off its TV network in Quebec

What happens when a giant media company owns both a wireless carrier and a television network? Shenanigans -- or at least that's what now seems to be going on in la belle province of Quebec, where the parent company of cable and wireless provider Videotron and television network TVA has seemingly decided to throw its weight around a bit. Apparently, some folks from Quebecor Inc. recently realized that a number of television shows produced for TVA featured iPhones somewhat prominently, which just so happens to be a phone that isn't offered by its Videotron subsidiary. Their solution? Ask the shows' producers to feature phones that are available on Videotron instead, like the Nexus One -- provided free of charge, of course. There doesn't seem to be an outright iPhone ban, however, and at least one show has apparently been given specific permission to let its characters continue using their iPhones -- although another show's producer says he "wouldn't be surprised" if such a ban was eventually put in place.

Direct Editing Of Google Doc Files Jolicloud Browser Update

Joilcloud has unveiled a new update to their Joilcloud browser which now allows users to directly edit Google Doc documents directly from the Jolicloud File Browser. The feature has already been enabled, but if you dont see it yet on your installation, you may need to just refresh your Jolicloud Desktop.
As with the recently added Dropbox integration this connection is persistent, meaning anytime you log into your Jolicloud either via a browser or Joli OS, your Google Docs and Dropbox files will appear automatically inside your desktop.

To then setup access go to the File Browser and click “Google Docs” in the left sidebar. Then click “Link to my Google Docs” and on the next screen, log into Google and grant Jolicloud access to Google Docs.
Your Google Docs will appear in your File Browser, enabling you to be able to browse not only documents, but also all the files uploaded to your Google Docs. An instant preview of any document is also available by just click the file name or the Preview button.

O2 UK New Monthly Tariffs: Inclusive Tethering

O2 UK customers who have been asking for inclusive tethering will now get exactly what they have asked for, O2 is now offering new monthly tariffs offering inclusive Internet Tethering, choice of data allowances and flexibility.

If you are one of those O2 customers that were paying 7.65 tethering charges per month you will be happy to know that has now been scrapped, this is such good news for subscribers on pay-monthly deals.

O2 now has many different Pay Monthly tariffs for new and upgrading customers that allows you to custom tailor your very own tariff that will suit you, it is now simple where you just choose your handset or keep your old phone and contract length, then you simply choose your minutes and text allowance and then choose how much web data you want to use.

We all know that mobile phone users love to go on the internet and O2 are still continuing to offer as much as 1GB per month plus adding a 100MB data allowance for those customers who just want to send a few emails. If you choose to go for the 500MB or more each month option O2 will chuck in 20 MMS with your allowance worth around 4. Internet Tethering will be included into these new tariffs, which means a 7.65 additional value will be built into the tariff.

Check out the full O2 UK tariff table here, for more information we do suggest visiting the O2 blog. Please do let us know in the commenting area below what you think of the above news.

Source – Engadget

Samsung Galaxy Mini T-Mobile Price and Details

If you are looking for a small and compact smartphone, then why not check out the Samsung Galaxy Mini, which is now available on T-Mobile’s network and is currently in stock.

The Galaxy Mini may be small, but it packs quite a punch, apart from the 3.15-inch touchscreen this little fellow runs off a 1200 mAh battery and comes with the full Froyo package, Facebook and Twitter integration, built in GPS, a 3 megapixel camera, 32GB of storage, a number of pre-loaded Google Widgets, 3 megapixel camera and more.

As reported by Dial to Save author Carly Page, the Samsung Galaxy Mini is now available to order by customers via T-Mobile on pay monthly deals. These prices start from as little as 11.06/month when cashback from an 11 month free line is claimed from a 2 year 24.42/month contract. Please note that this deal includes a free Galaxy Mini handset, 500MB data, 300 texts and 300 minutes.

I would also point out that the Samsung Galaxy Mini is also available on monthly contracts with other networks from 8.51/month and Pay As You Go from 149.99.

For those of you interested in the Samsung Galaxy Mini, you may also be interested in my recent article on a leak from phone operator Three UK about the expected release of the Samsung Galaxy S II Mini next month, or my colleague Mark’s article on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, which is expected to be revealed soon.

Samsung Galaxy S II shows off motion-zoom option in TouchWiz 4.0 (video)

It's skinny, it's fast, and it can do some seriously fun stuff with its gyroscope accelerometer. Yes, we're talking about the Galaxy S II, Samsung's upcoming followup to one of Android's biggest successes to date, the Galaxy S. The new handset will bring with it a revised version of Sammy's Android skin, TouchWiz 4.0, which will harness the motion sensors inside the phone to allow you to zoom in and out of webpages as well as navigate the UI with the movement of your hands. Basically, instead of the traditional pinch-to-zoom, resting two fingers atop the screen will allow you to zoom in by bringing the S II closer to your face or zoom out by holding it further away -- a naturalistic gesture that makes all the sense in the world to us. Moreover, when adding new widgets to your home panels, you'll be able to move between them by propelling the phone laterally. It's quirky and appealing stuff, see it on video below.

[Thanks, Lawrence]

Update: We initially thought this was done using the gyroscope inside the Galaxy S II, but as commenter ClioCreslind helpfully points out, it's far likelier that Samsung's using the phone's accelerometer to achieve its new fanciness.

Best Buy Adds 4G To Its Mobile Internet Service

Flickr’d

Best Buy is now in the the 4G business. The company has announced that its Best Buy Connect service, which first launched last July, will now support 4G, courtesy of a deal worked out with Clearwire. Access to the 4G network will set you back $45 per month, with Best Buy willing to waive the $35 activation fee if you agree to a two-year contract.

The service will be available as an option one any one of 23 “computing models” that Best Buy sells from the likes of Asus, HP, and Samsung.

Best Buy says that its customers want “choice” when it comes to mobile Internet access, hence its move to 4G.

Keep in mind that it could become harder and harder to find “choice,” as the nation’s telecos attempt to gobble each other up.

You think things are bad now, in other words.

IDC fails to learn from previous mistakes, issues 2015 smartphone predictions

The stat guardians at IDC are among the most reliable sources for keeping track of the latest developments in the smartphone market, but we've got to say their forecasts haven't always benefited from the same accuracy. It's with this disclaimer that we present you the world of 2015 as seen through the IDC prism. In just four years' time, says the data, Windows Phone 7 (or whatever version it reaches by then) will have ascended to occupy a fifth of the market and second spot overall behind Android, whose leading position is expected to stabilize somewhere around the 45 percent mark. Apple and RIM are projected to hold steady with shares close to where they are today. It has to be humbling for the IDC, which predicted Symbian would continue to dominate all the way into 2013, to now have to foretell of its almost complete extinction (a mere 0.2 percent) and total irrelevance in the smartphone market. Alas, while the new prediction sounds very reasonable today, four years of unknown unknowns is a mighty long time to try and forecast through, and we have a feeling we'll be looking back and chuckling at this within a few short months -- probably (hopefully!) in the midst of a massive webOS revival.

Show full PR text

IDC Forecasts Worldwide Smartphone Market to Grow by Nearly 50% in 2011

29 Mar 2011

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. March 29, 2011 – The worldwide smartphone market is expected to grow 49.2% in 2011 as more consumers and enterprise users turn in their feature phones for smartphones with more advanced features. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone vendors will ship more than 450 million smartphones in 2011 compared to the 303.4 million units shipped in 2010. Moreover, the smartphone market will grow more than four times faster than the overall mobile phone market.

"Overall market growth in 2010 was exceptional," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. "Last year's high market growth was due in part to pent-up demand from a challenging 2009, when many buyers held off on mobile phone purchases. The expected market growth for 2011, while still notable, will taper off somewhat from what we saw in 2010."

To capture the strong consumer demand for smartphones, manufacturers have unleashed a steady stream of new models and features over the past two years. The battle for mind and market share has also resulted in stiff competition among the smartphone operating systems.

"Android is poised to take over as the leading smartphone operating system in 2011 after racing into the number 2 position in 2010," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. "For the vendors who made Android the cornerstone of their smartphone strategies, 2010 was the coming-out party. This year will see a coronation party as these same vendors broaden and deepen their portfolios to reach more customers, particularly first-time smartphone users."

Nokia's recent announcement to shift from Symbian to Windows Phone will have significant implications for the smartphone market going forward. "Up until the launch of Windows Phone 7 last year, Microsoft has steadily lost market share while other operating systems have brought forth new and appealing experiences," added Llamas. "The new alliance brings together Nokia's hardware capabilities and Windows Phone's differentiated platform. We expect the first devices to launch in 2012. By 2015, IDC expects Windows Phone to be number 2 operating system worldwide behind Android."

O2 scraps mobile tethering surcharges, cheers up a whole United Kingdom

This is weird. UK carrier O2 has decided to do exactly what we've been asking mobile operators to do for donkeys' years -- it's going to allow users to chew through their data allowance in whatever fashion they like, without imposing artificial surcharges for tethering secondary devices to your phone. Up till now, you'd have had to swallow a salty £7.65 ($12.24) charge each month to get your tether on with O2, but for whatever reason, that has now been scrapped for subscribers on pay-monthly deals. Hit up the source link for a detailed list of O2's new contract options -- they don't include any unlimited 3G data plans, unfortunately, but we'll take what we can get for now.

[Thanks, Neerav]

Today’s Mobile News in Brief (March 28, 2011)

As reported here on Cell Phones Etc. and across the Web, here’s your daily brief on what happened in the world of mobile phones this Monday, March 28th, 2011.

Allview Announces F2 Crony Touchscreen Phone
Romanian handset maker Allview has just announced their newest dual-SIM handset offering, the F2 Crony. This baby sports a 3-inch touchscreen, a 3.2-megapixel camera with flash, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support, and EDGE/GPRS. As for WiFi, it’s still not clear if that feature will be available on the F2 Crony. It’s set to debut in April though pricing is still yet to be known.
Softpedia

Virgin confirms HTC Incredible S will be launching “soon”
The title already says it all. Virgin Mobile will soon be adding the HTC Incredible S to their smartphone line-up. They’re still mum as to its launch date and pricing, but according to a previously leak, we already know that it should retail for $499.99 off-contract.
Mobilesyrup

American Express challenges PayPal with ‘Serve’ digital payment platform
American Express has just announced Serve, their digital payment offering. With Serve, American Express client can send money to others, pay bills, and go online shopping. Users can top-up their Serve account either from their bank account or their debit/credit card. And to make it accessible to everyone, they’ve rolled out an iOS and Android Serve app. Sure, it’s no PayPal-killer, but as they say, competition is always good, and Serve is definitely good competition.
Engadget

Ovum predicts Nokia/Microsoft will redraw smartphone market, overtake iOS by 2016
Ovum analyst Adam Leach is optimistic that the new partnership of Nokia and Microsoft will reap benefits for the Windows Phone platform. So much so that he he’s gone on record and predicts that it’ll become the second most used mobile OS by 2016 overtaking Apple’s iOS to play runner-up to Android. He cites Nokia’s huge following will help Windows Phone become a household name once again. That couldn’t be more true. The question is, will Windows Phone be up to the task? That’s a question that’ll probably only be answered in the next couple of months.
WMPoweruser

iPhone 4 coming to SaskTel
And to end our news round-up for today, Sasktel just hit us up to remind us that they’ll be soon coming out with the iPhone 4. In fact, their iPhone registration page is now live, where interested individuals can already sign-up to receive the latest info an Apple’s current iPhone. Are you one of those folks? Then head on over here to be part of their mailing list.

iOS Game Review: Forget-Me-Not

After seeing this interesting-looking game on Indie Games, I thought I’d give it a shot. The colorful, 80s-arcade graphics, minimal controls, and randomly generated gameplay suggested a retro-themed good time. And I wasn’t disappointed — it’s a lo-fi retro delight.

Forget-Me-Not is a bit like Pac-Man in that you are, as you can see, traveling through a maze (new every time), trying to collect all the flowers, find the key, then get to the door out. Enemies of various types (I haven’t encountered them all yet) spawn and wander the maze, occasionally attacking you or each other. You get more points for collecting flowers in a row without missing one, which produces a pleasant rising blip noise. You’re always firing straight ahead, and you can shoot yourself if they go through one of the screen wrap tunnels. The gameplay starts tame, but gets frantic quickly, as multiple enemy types are shooting, biting, and exploding each other all over the map.

The only controls are swiping in the direction you want to go (or grind, a skill I haven’t mastered that lets you run down enemies); there’s no onscreen joystick, you can touch anywhere. It’s a bit weird at first, but once you get a feel for how far you have to swipe, they’re perfectly serviceable. There’s a simultaneous two-player mode that gets complicated real fast, but is a great way to waste 10 or 15 minutes with a friend.

The fun comes from the old-school aesthetic and ramping difficulty. Easy to learn, impossible to beat, just like the best arcade games of the period: Robotron 2084, Joust, Tempest. The simplicity of the controls makes the gameplay surprisingly cerebral, as you strategize against the dangerous shooting enemies, plan out the key-carrying route so it doesn’t get nicked by a monster, and that sort of thing. Meanwhile, the graphics are clear, colorful, and smooth. I liked the attract-mode style instruction screens:

The sound is also absolutely wonderful. The “blip blip blip” that accompanies your movement, the “tink-tink” of your shots against the key, the level end noise, all are classic arcade fare of the squarest wave. Listen and check out the gameplay here:

I did not get to test this out on an iPhone; it looks great on the iPad but I can see how some of the graphical details might be more difficult to discern on an iPhone screen. I’d advise caution in iPhone users’ case, unless you’re really struck by the game.

Conclusion:

I’ve had a great time playing this game, and anyone who enjoys the arcade classics, or is maybe just looking for something different from the usual casual fare, will probably find it worth the two bucks.

The game will also be coming out on PC and Mac some time in the next two weeks.

Forget-Me-Not: $1.99 in the App Store, for iPad and iPhone.

Make iPhone Apps with App.Cat

App.Cat is the world's only iPhone app to rapidly create attractive and feature-rich iPhone apps right from your iPhone. App.Cat instantly makes apps for businesses, clients, friends, and family right on the iPhone and iPod touch without the need of a Mac, PC, or computer knowledge.

Anybody with an iPhone can now create, edit, and share their own apps without knowing a thing about programming thanks to the latest iTunes release "App.Cat PRO" from Hottrix. Apps generated by App.Cat have it all: Animated names and logos, Speed-dial, Maps, Galleries, News, RSS, Twitter- and Facebook integration, Live Video and Audio Feeds. 60 professionally designed templates ensure a polished look for apps created in 2 minutes or less.

BDXL Portable Blu-ray Burner by Buffalo

Buffalo has released details of it new Blu-ray writer equipped with the BDXL standard allowing you to use 100GB and 128GB disks if required and is able to store up to 100 GB on three layers and 128 GB on four. The BDXL Portable Blu-ray burner is fitted with two USB 2.0 connections that allows a burning speed of 4 x when you use both or just 2 x when only using on USB connection to your computer.

The BRXL-PC6U2 is capable of burning speeds of 6x for BD-R SL/DL (single-layer/dual-layer), 4x for BD-R 3-layer/4-layer, 2x for BD-RE, 8x for DVD-R/+R/+RW, 6x for DVD-R/+R DL and DVD-RW, 5x for DVD-RAM, 24x for CD-R and 16x for CD-RW.
The portable BRXL-PC6U2 Blu-ray writer measures just 145 x 153 x 19 mm, and weights in at 340 grams and will be available in Japan within the next week for around $273.

Nokia's Angry Bird Championship in Findland

 

Finland known for its bizarre world championships such as The World Sauna Championship, The World Mobile Phone Throwing Championship, The World Wife Carrying Championship, and The World Air Guitar Championship recently added the world’s first “Angry Bird Championship”. The Angry Bird Championship took place in Finland, had 32 finalists from eight Finnish cities.  The winner took home a free Nokia N8s and a trip for 2 to Hollywood.  See video above.

Microsoft's SpecNet promises to seek out unused wireless spectrum

Microsoft's been toying around with hardware for so-called white space spectrum for some time now, and it's now back with another fairly ambitious scheme. Dubbed "SpecNet," the hardware in this case in actually a network of spectrum analyzers that would seek out and map where spectrum is available and where it's not, and let unlicensed devices use it when it's available. Of course, that's still all a bit theoretical, and it does face a few significant hurdles. Those spectrum analyzers, for instance would cost between $10,000 and $40,000 apiece, and you'd obviously need a lot of them for a nationwide network, although Microsoft suggests that they could be set up on an ad hoc basis and assigned to different areas for a specific time period. Those interested in the finer technical details can dive into Microsoft's full paper on the subject at the source link below.

Will Nokia’s big gamble pay off?

After Nokia’s disastrous 2010, its tie up with Microsoft  was one of the industry’s biggest talking points for years. As the manufacturer tackles the future, analysts tell Paul Withers if it was the right move

The Nokia/Microsoft alliance has arguably been the most talked-about topic in global mobile-phone manufacturing since the launch of the Apple iPhone in June 2007.

Opinion is divided if it will restore Nokia to its past glories or has come too late to stop it sliding down the pecking order of handset vendors.

The announcement, made on February 11, dominated the mobile world in the lead-up to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that began on February 14, despite heavy speculation of a plethora of handset announcements from the likes of Samsung, HTC and Sony Ericsson, to name a few.

Nokia was to undergo major organisational changes and form a partnership with the US-based IT software company, which sees the Windows Phone operating system adopted as Nokia’s main smartphone platform.

The news perhaps shouldn’t have been a big shock. At the end of January Nokia announced its financial results for the final three months of 2010, and the findings were so grim, recently installed Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop warned of difficult times ahead, as well as the need for revolutionary change at the company.

Then, just two days before the big announcement, in a memo leaked to The Wall Street Journal, Elop compared Nokia to a man standing on a “burning platform”, and said the company needed to take a “bold and brave step into an uncertain future”.

Yet a further clue of things to come.

He added Nokia was not bringing products to market fast enough and admitted that by the end of this year it might only have one high-end smartphone in the marketplace. We now know that to be the N8, effectively its ‘hero’ handset for 2011.

Then came the Microsoft announcement. But among all the hype, something the industry didn’t really discuss was where it all began to go wrong for Nokia.

Bad strategy

One opinion is that Nokia has been far too slow to market with new form factors on its phones, and stood still while manufacturing rivals have moved through innovation.

Some even say there was a touch of arrogance on Nokia’s part, that it didn’t think it needed to move as quickly as others because of its standing.

One well-placed manufacturing source reckons its failure to recognise the importance of touchscreens to smartphones until it was too late, ultimately cost it.

“Individuals at Nokia I personally know very well, said: ‘Touchscreens aren’t ready yet and when we bring them out they’ll be ready.’

What they meant was they didn’t know what was going on. Nokia didn’t recognise that touchscreens were ready for the market and its rivals, particularly Apple, absolutely slaughtered it on touchscreen development.

“It had already lost so much ground and it wasn’t just inept, but arrogant in thinking everyone wanted a Nokia therefore all these touchscreen innovations wouldn’t come to much. Of course we all know that it did come to an awful lot.”

More recently, the same source also pins a lot of blame on Nokia’s launch of Ovi, its application store, in May 2009. He brands it a “shocking strategic decision”, claiming Nokia was not in a position to compete against the likes of Apple.

“Nokia thought it could create something that could compete with the types of things Apple and RIM were doing in the application space, but it was wrong.
“Many praised Nokia for getting involved in software, but a lot of people also counterbalanced that by questioning whether Nokia was able to do this.

What was proven was that it wasn’t able to do this, as it never got off the ground. Backing wrong horses such as Symbian and Ovi have proven it is strategically inept, despite being a fine manufacturer.”

Full article in Mobile News issue 485 (March 28, 2011).

To subscribe to Mobile News click here

Kinect Horror Title Rise Of Nightmares Detailed

Although the Kinect’s triumphant march to date has been relying mostly on 3D modeling hacks and dancing games, someone was bound to throw the hardcore a bone one of these days, right? Well, it turns out they did, about a year ago, in the form of the announcement of a survival horror game called Rise of Nightmares published by Sega. That’s all we knew about it until it recently got the ESRB treatment.

“This is a horror-adventure game in which players assume the role of an American tourist who must rescue his wife from a deranged scientist,” is how the ESRB sums it up. It’s not hard to see how this could easily turn into fun with “zombie-like creatures and disfigured monsters inside a mansion environment”.

Android Gingerbread Update for Motorola Droid X Delayed

Yesterday the word was that owners of the Motorola Droid X smartphone could gain Android Gingerbread as of Sunday; however the word now is that the Gingerbread update for the device has now been delayed.

According to an article over on Pocket Now by way of Droid-life, a tweet from @PydePypper broke the word that Verizon has rejected the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update and thus wont be rolled out Sunday or any time soon.

The tweet said…“Pass the word folks just got word the GB build for the X was rejected by VZW so it is back to Moto 4 fixes. Talking another month 4 release”

So if this latest rumour is spot on it looks like Motorola Droid X owners will have another four week to wait before there is any hope of Gingerbread coming to play on the Droid X as it will take this time for Motorola to tweak the software and return it for approval by Verizon.

Thus for the time being, Droid X owners will have to be patient for a while longer, feel free to voice your annoyance to our comments area below.

Verizon FiOS TV Debuts in Capital District

Verizon FiOS TV

The age of TV competition has arrived in the Capital District. Verizon begins offering FiOS TV service in parts of four communities in the region on Friday (March 25), bringing consumers and businesses an all-fiber-optic connection that provides more channels, more HD, more video on demand and faster Internet speeds than old-fashioned cable TV. With the introduction of FiOS TV in the suburban Albany area, Verizon is offering its revolutionary FiOS triple play of TV, Internet and voice services to homes and businesses in parts of the towns of Bethlehem and Guilderland, and the villages of Colonie and Scotia.

Verizon expects to expand that availability as additional franchise agreements are approved.  A franchise agreement from the city of Schenectady is currently being reviewed by the New York Public Service Commission, and a franchise awarded to Verizon Thursday night (March 24) by the Town of Colonie is now awaiting review by the commission.

Verizon delivers FiOS TV over the nation’s largest digital, all-fiber network, offering more than 535 total channels in New York – including more than 130 high-definition (HD) channels in the Capital District market, more HD channels than the region’s current monopoly cable provider, Time Warner.

“Consumers and small businesses in these communities at long last have a better choice for TV,” said Tracey Edwards, Verizon president and general manager for Verizon’s upstate New York region.  “We’ve had great success in many other parts of the state.  Now it’s time to bring FiOS TV to this part of northeastern New York and provide customers in the region a choice that is truly different from the cable TV company.

“Our advanced 100 percent fiber-optic network was built for HD.  With all-fiber connections running straight to their homes, viewers get both high-definition and standard TV that is eye-popping.  And with Flex View and FiOS TV Online, we’re offering more interactivity with more content on more screens,” Edwards said.

Where FiOS TV is available, consumers now have the option to bundle FiOS TV service, FiOS Internet Service and the FiOS Digital Voice unlimited calling plan for as little as $99.99 a month for the first year.

Customers interested in FiOS TV can visit http://www.Verizon.com/FiOS or call 1-888-Get FiOS (438-3467) for more information.

FiOS is also available to small businesses, which can take advantage of the Solutions Bundle with FiOS TV, Internet and Unlimited Nationwide Calling, also at $99.99.*  Included in the small-business bundle are Verizon websites powered by Intuit free for six months; free Google Apps for Verizon; Verizon Internet Security Suite and Online Backup; and discounts to nationally known brands like Office Depot, FedEx and more.

Updates to Atrix 4G and Inspire 4G to Enable Full Uploads Confirmed

After weeks of anticipation, HTC has announced a future update for the Inspire 4G smartphone to enable full-speed uploads via FCC documents after customer complaints began to surface that it and the Atrix 4G were artificially limited to 300Kbps upload speeds while the iPhone 4 was unaffected.

Speculation then began to circulate that Apple’s iPhone and the mobile broadband device lineup was exempt from the upload cap in order for AT&T to tout its new “4G” network, while capping other smartphones as it waited to deploy the necessary changes to its network to enable full HSPA+ access for both phones without issue.

Additionally, AT&T has broken its weeks of silence on the issue and confirmed with CNET that the Motorola Atrix 4G will also be updated to support full upload speeds along with the aforementioned Inspire 4G, with the update expected in mid-April.

Three UK to Offer iPad 2 in the UK on March 25

Three UK iPad 2, iPad 2 in UK, Wi-Fi 3G in UK, Wi-Fi 3G iPad

Three today announced it will offer iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G in the UK as well as dedicated data plans for iPad 2 from this evening. Three will offer iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G models with a range of attractive price plans, including iPad 2 at a more affordable price on select tariff plans with a two-year contract.

iPad 2 features an entirely new design that is 33 percent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter than the original iPad, while maintaining the same stunning 9.7-inch LED-backlit LCD screen. iPad 2 features Apple’s new dual-core A5 processor for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics and now includes two cameras, a front-facing VGA camera for FaceTime and Photo Booth, and a rear-facing camera that captures 720p HD video, bringing the innovative FaceTime feature to iPad users for the first time. Though it is thinner, lighter, faster and packed with new features, iPad 2 still delivers the up to 10 hours of battery life* users have come to expect.

“We’re extremely excited to be launching iPad 2 on Three,” said Marc Allera, sales and marketing director, Three UK. “Our network was designed and built to deliver the best data experience on innovative products like iPad.”

Customers can buy iPad 2 at select 3Stores beginning Friday, March 25 at 5:00 p.m. local time. For complete details on pricing and availability, and store locations and opening times, please visit www.three.co.uk/ipad.

Android 3.0 Honeycomb Tablet:Ainol

Ainol have released some photos and more details on their new Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet, and whilst we do not know the full specifications we get a few more details.
This new Honeycomb tablet from Ainol will feature a IPS capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 80 pixels, and a Cortex A-9 processor, plus it will also come with a front facing camera for video chat.

Other specifications include HDMI, a microSD card slot, a kick stand, as well as a range of physical keys on the front for controlling things like volume.
There are no details on when the new Ainol Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet will be available, and not details on how much it will retail for. As soon as we get some more information and some full specifications we will let you guys know, in the mean time have a look at the gallery below.

Car Connectivity Consortium to Standardize Car Smartphone Integration

 

The Car Connectivity Consortium launched last week with the leading players in the automotive, smartphone and in-car entertainment industries together to establish standards for how cars and smartphones will integrate better in the future.  

Android Gingerbread Possibly Coming to Motorola Droid X On Sunday

Well now for those Android lovers that happen to own a Motorola Droid X device you just might be seeing your handset updated to the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system if the latest rumour turns out to be correct.

According to an article over on Droid Dog and by way of Droid-life, the word is that Verizon’s Motorola Droid X could be officially updated to Android 2.3 Gingerbread as of this Sunday, albeit business user will gain the update first.

Apparently the Android 2.3 Gingerbread rollout could start as of midnight on Sunday and then continue throughout the week to other Droid X users.

Apparently Droid-life says a “friend in the business” says the build for the Motorola Droid X is complete but it is up to both Verizon and Motorola when it is rolled out. So folks keep your eager eyes open come Sunday and who knows by mid-week you could be playing nice with Gingerbread on your Droid X.

Doro inks distribution deal with Pama

Pama to sell Doro’s handsets in its FoneBitz stores at motorway service stations, as well as distribute the products through its wholesale distribution channel

Handset manufacturer Doro has signed an agreement with Pama covering both retail and wholesale distribution of the company’s mobiles, which are aimed at the senior market.

Initially the consumer retail activity will focus on Pama’s Fone Bitz brand – currently trading in 32 UK motorway service stations. The first products offers through Fone Bitz stores are the PhoneEasy 332 in black and PhoneEasy 410 in white.

The entire Doro mobile portfolio will also become available through Pama’s wholesale distribution channel. Pama works with independent and national retailers in the UK and in 30 overseas markets.

Doro UK and Ireland managing director Chris Millington (pictured) said: “Pama’s retail business Fone Bitz is an interesting concept, with locations in service stations across the UK it has a very strong bias towards the senior demographic we’re aiming at. We made the decision to work with Pama as the company’s strengths are well-suited to exploring what is a senior retail environment.”

Pama group sales director Mike Hopkinson said: “We see Doro becoming a major business partner as we work more closely to pursue our ambitious goals. We are excited about starting this relationship with two key models – both of which offer the mobile user an easy-to-use option.”

Nokia E7 Now Up For Pre-Order, and Priced

For the Nokia faithful out there that have been eagerly awaiting Nokia to get all official with the Nokia E7 smartphone, Nokia has now placed their official stamp on the smartphone by making the Nokia E7 available for pre-order.

According to an article over on Pocket-lint, Nokia has opened up pre-orders for the Symbian^3 slider, which apparently will be shipping some time in April and have posted some pricing info on the device as well.

According to the Nokia pre-order page the Nokia E7 will be a free handset on a 2-year agreement for 35 per month on Vodafone and includes 600 anytime minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data with a delivery time of up to 14 days.

Or if you prefer the Nokia E7 on Pay As You Go the device will set you back 469 on T-Mobile, or of course you can opt to purchase the Nokia E7 without commitment for a price of 499.00 with a 2-year warranty.

Spec wise the Nokia E7 offers a 4-inch 16:9 nHD AMOLED touch screen, full side out QWERTY keyboard, 16GB internal memory, Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI, integrated GPS, Ovi Maps navigation, 8 megapixel camera with duel-LED flash and 720p video, and WiFi.

So any of our readers going to rush to pre-order what could well be the last Symbian based smartphone to be released by Nokia?

Sencha Touch Web Framework with BlackBerry Support Launched

Sencha Touch Web Framework

Last Year at BlackBerry DEVCON 2010, Sencha has launched Sencha Touch framework to the BlackBerry platform. And today they have released an update to their Sencha Touch framework that brings support for the BlackBerry 6 operating system. For those unfamiliar with Sencha Touch, it is an impressive web framework based entirely on HTML5, CSS and JavaScript that is designed to bring an incredibly powerful set of components to help create web apps that look and feel like native applications. The Sencha Touch 1.1 release today not only brings support for BlackBerry 6-enabled touch devices such as the BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone, but it also supports the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

To get started, developers should download the framework, and then check out the Sencha Touch Learning Center, where they will find code samples, videos and tutorials. To get an idea of what is possible using the framework, there are a variety of demo applications showcasing the breadth and power of the platform.

To help encourage the developer community to adopt the Sencha Touch web framework, BlackBerry Team is  pleased to offer a free BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone to the first ten developers that submit an application to BlackBerry App World storefront using the new framework for either the BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone or the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Restrictions apply. See the Terms and Conditions for complete offer details.

Polycom and Motorola Team to Extend MobileTelepresence to Motorola XOOM

Motorola XOOM

Motorola Mobility, Inc., and Polycom, Inc., a global leader in unified communications (UC), today announced collaborative development around delivering Polycom enterprise-class, high-definition (HD) personal telepresence on Motorola XOOM tablets to create broader collaboration choices for businesses.

The standards-based Polycom Telepresence m500 mobile video application on Motorola XOOM tablets will deliver improved enterprise collaboration and productivity by enabling users to easily connect and share content virtually anywhere via one-to-one or group video experiences.

“Motorola Mobility is making great strides in enabling enterprise users, and we are excited to equip mobile workers with effective collaboration tools that improve decision making and accelerate customer response,” said Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president, software and services product management, Motorola Mobility. “Leveraging Polycom’s innovation and leadership in telepresence, Motorola will help businesses easily extend their video initiatives to Motorola XOOM, thereby expanding mobile collaboration for workers. For consumers, the Motorola XOOM video experience will set a new standard for quality and performance.”

Motorola XOOM, the ground-breaking tablet from Motorola Mobility, offers a best-in-class dual core processor and 10.1” widescreen HD display, creating an optimized platform for enterprise collaboration. The sleek, stylish design features a front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video conferencing, as well as a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera that captures HD video. Innovative desktop accessories for Motorola XOOM include a Standard Dock and Speaker HD Dock that expand device capabilities.

“Polycom is excited to team with Motorola and leverage their innovative device to help enterprise customers expand workforce mobility and drive standards-based telepresence further into the business and mobile markets,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, Polycom executive vice president and general manager products and services, and chief development officer. “For Polycom, this collaboration demonstrates continued momentum into the mobile market and furthers our strategy to deliver UCEverywhereSM and drive a network effect and increased value for customers.”

The Polycom UC Intelligent Core infrastructure platform allows enterprise customers like Motorola to easily extend enterprise visual communications to mobile users without additional network configuration. The broad support for industry standards within the platform will enable Motorola XOOM and smart phone users to seamlessly and securely connect with existing telepresence and video conferencing investments and the estimated ecosystem of two million standards-based video room systems in use today.

“Polycom telepresence provides tremendous value to our business in terms of improved collaboration and productivity between our locations,” said Walter F. Oswald, corporate vice president and CIO, Motorola Mobility. “The ability to extend telepresence to mobile workers via Motorola tablets will further enhance collaboration with employees in the field and drive greater value and return on investment for our video investments overall.”

Motorola XOOM is currently available at Verizon Wireless as a 3G/Wi-Fi enabled device with a free upgrade to 4G LTE for consumers in the second quarter of this year. Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi will be available with more than seven leading retailers across the United States by the end of March. For more information about Motorola XOOM, please visit www.motorola.com/xoom.

Availability:

The Polycom Telepresence m500 for Motorola devices is planned for availability in the second half of 2011.

Orange UK Subsidised iPad 2 199 From Tomorrow

Earlier today we told you that T-Mobile would start offering the iPad 2 here in the UK for a reduced price when customers sign up to a new 24 month contract, and prices started at 199 for existing customers.
Now Orange, which is part of the same company as T-Mobile has confirmed that they will be offering the same deal as T-Mobile to both existing and new customers here in the UK.

As with the T-Mobile iPad 2 deal, orange will only be selling the 16GB WiFi and 3G iPad here in the UK, if your an existing customer you will have to pay 199 up front and then 25 a month for 24 months.
If you are a new customer you will have to pay 229 up front and 27 a month for 24 months, both of these contracts will give you 1GB of data and 1GB of ‘quiet time’ data, the deal is identical to the T-Mobile one.

AT&T planning access to Amazon Appstore, sideloading still an open question

Angry Birds developer Rovio announced on its Facebook account a few hours ago that "AT&T is also working on enabling purchases from the Amazon Appstore soon," which would mark a pretty big move on AT&T's part since they've been firm in their resolve to keep apps from outside the Android Market ecosystem off their branded Android devices -- a frustrating (and arguably illogical) stance, to say the least. Well, first the good news -- AT&T has confirmed to us that they are, in fact, setting up access to Amazon's store:

"We're working to give our Android customers access to third party application stores. This requires updates to our systems and finalizing arrangements with Amazon. We will share more info with our customers in the near future."

The bad news is that AT&T's having any discussions with Amazon about this at all, which would seem to indicate that they're planning on making an exception to their Android Market policy for the Amazon Appstore rather than simply enabling sideloading on devices altogether and calling it a day. We suppose this could involve a round of firmware updates that drops the Appstore in ROM, but that seems like an awful lot of work considering how much red tape is involved in pushing even a single update for one handset on a major carrier. More on this as we get it; hopefully, AT&T subscribers will have their Angry Birds Rio fix soon enough.

[Thanks, Thomas]

Microsoft serves up a 'NoDo' update schedule for Windows Phone 7 devices

Where is your Windows Phone 7 "NoDo" update? That's the question Microsoft is aiming to answer with a new spreadsheet it has cobbled together to detail the software status of all WP7 handsets released so far. A February preparatory patch and the long-anticipated first proper upgrade to the OS, herein titled merely "March update," are sat side by side, with a set of delivery states under them for each WP7 phone. Things aren't looking awesome in the US, where AT&T's batch is still undergoing carrier testing and T-Mobile's pair of phones are "scheduling" (which Microsoft says takes no more than 10 days), but news is better overseas, where most have received the February OTA and are mere days away from the final NoDo goodness. Sprint's HTC Arrive and AT&T's upcoming HD7S will both have that software preloaded, so at least new buyers won't have to fret unduly.

[Thanks, Arty]

Atrix 4G Having Voice Quality Problems, Motorola Investigates

Well now it would appear that owners of the Motorola Atrix 4G smartphone are having a bit of a problem with voice quality with the new Android 2.2 Froyo device, and apparently this problem is quite widespread.

According to an article over on Engadget, this voice quality issue hasn’t gone unnoticed by those at Motorola either, as apparently over on the Motorola Support Forums, a Motorola forums manager has put up a sticky post addressing the many customer complaints.

The sticky post confirms that Motorola is aware of the voice quality problems customers are experiencing with the Motorola Atrix 4G and that they are investigating the issue. Although it appears the reason for the voice quality problem isn’t known at the moment, although the word is users aren’t losing hearing altogether.

For anyone that is seeing this issue with the Android device they can of course share their woes on the forum much like several others have done, but for the moment it looks like users will have to continue suffering with the problem until such times as a fix is found.

So are any of our readers experiencing this voice quality problem with their Motorola Atrix 4G? If so feel free to voice your annoyance to our comments area below.