cellphone news: September 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Samsung Galaxy S II Android 2.3.5 update leaks – yours to try, if you dare

We already knew that Samsung are about to release an Android 2.3.5 update for the original Galaxy S, so the fact that its successor is getting the same treatment is not exactly shocking news. What you might be more excited to know is that one of the Samsung-made Android 2.3.5-based ROMs has escaped the security at their R&D centers and is, available to everyone that would like to give it a try right now. We are not quite sure if it’s worth voiding your warranty, though, as Android 2.3.5 isn’t such a major update. We don’t have an official...

HTC Runnymede/Bass shown off in quick video, still not official

The HTC Runnymede peeks out of the rumor mill again, this time on video. It’s been spotted before, but seeing an actual running device means that it’s either very close to completion or already completed – and an official announcement can’t be too far off. The Runnymede, or perhaps Bass, puts a 4.7″ WVGA S-LCD screen and Beats Audio in the same package as a 1.5GHz single-core CPU, among other specs. Being a Beats Audio device, it’s a safe bet that the HTC Runnymede will come with an above-average headset as the other Beats-branded HTC phones....

The two Motorola Xoom 2 tablets put side to side – the 8 and 10-inchers

The Motorola Xoom 2 tablet will, by the looks of it, be offered in two size versions – the 10.1″ and a 8.2″ one. Both devices seem to sport an iPhone-esque 9.3 mm thickness, which isn’t the best in tablet land but is still considered thinner than average. Join us after the break for more photos. There are a lot of photos of the two devices, courtesy of Engadget.com. On them you will find the “Fleming” codename on the smaller slate and LTE connectivity for both. The two Xoom 2 tablets will offer 5 MP cameras, capable of capturing HD video...

Samsung shamefully covers up Apple AppStore icons with S letters

Remember that Italian Samsung store that had its decor feature some unmistakable iOS icons? Sure, you do. It seems Samsung were rather quick to act on this one and fixed the whole thing by sticking the letter S (as in Galaxy S) over the Apple icons. Well, I find the whole situation rather funny and had I seen the store in person I would have Facebooked the hell out of the wrong background just for the fun of it. But I bet funny it is not to the people who worked at the store and became the laughing stock of the Internet community. Above...

ZTE announces the WP7 Mango-running Tania

Today is certainly an eventful day. First it was the two Samsung LTE phones for Korea, then came Huawei Honor followed by the Mango-running Samsung Omnia W and now it’s ZTE’s turn to announce a piece of hot hardware. The the Mango-based ZTE Tania was showcased at the China International Communication Expo 2011 and there are still no official pictures pf it so the few blurry live ones will have to do for now. ZTE Tania has a 4.3-inch WVGA display and is based on the popular Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset with a 1GHz Scorpion processor,...

The 7-inch rugged Honeycomb tablet Asus Tough ETBW11AA announced on its way to Japan

Don’t you just love the simple and easy to remember names that manufacturers give to their Japan-only products? Take the Asus Tough ETBW11AA Android Honeycomb tablet, which was just announced, for example. The 7″ Android 3.2 tablet with a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and WiMax connectivity comes with IP54 certification. This means that the slate is capable of surviving water jets for 3 minutes and should be sealed against any particle larger than 1mm. It should also live through drops on concrete from up to 76 cm, which is not...

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Sprint Wireless will offer iPhone 5 with all you can eat data, according to rumors

Sprint Wireless has been trying to slowly reverse its fortunes for a couple of years now. According to the latest rumors, the wireless operator might get even closer to being a serious contender in the highly profitable U.S. market this Fall. According to Bloomberg, Sprint Wireless will be offering the yet to be announced iPhone 5, along with its highly popular unlimited data plan – a sharp departure from the practices of Verizon Wireless and AT&T. The aforementioned current iPhone vendors in the United States are well known for their...

Eighth major release of Android to be named 'Jelly Bean'

Once again we bring some good news and some bad news, both courtesy of our friends at This Is My Next. First, the good news. The eighth major release of Android after Ice Cream Sandwich will be named 'Jelly Bean'. Considering Google's tradition of naming Android OS versions after sweets in an alphabetical order, this isn't really a big surprise, although we are always interested to know which sweet it would be. The version number for it is still unknown, then again, so is the one for Ice Cream Sandwich. Now the bad news. TIMN is also reporting...

HTC event to be held on September 20

The invite does not elaborate regarding what it could be about and a 'Come celebrate in style with HTC' is all we get. But it is being said that the event could be regarding the launch of the women-centric HTC Bliss handset. The event could also be about any of the other HTC phones that have been leaked recently, including the HTC Vigor, the HTC Ruby or the HTC Holiday. Whichever it is (we hope it's all of them), we will find out on the 20th. Source:http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_event_to_be_held_on_september_20-news-3115.php...

Samsung is the top smartphone vendor in Western Europe in Q2

The premier market intelligence firm IDC released its Q2 2011 mobile phone shipment estimates in Western Europe today, marking a fundamental shift in the market for mobile phones. For the first time, the smartphone shipments outnumbered the feature phone ones on the Old Continent. This change is mostly attributed to the significant rise of Android OS's adoption (352% year over year) according to IDC. The Google OS devices account for 48.5% of the total smartphone shipments. As far as manufacturers go, Samsung has the top spot in smartphone...

Paraswift, the first base-jumping robot

You should probably just go straight to the video after the jump so you can see the Paraswift, the world’s first base-jumping robot. What you will see is pretty cool. The Paraswift is able to climb up a wall that looks like a long banner via suction. What really makes it cool is that when it reaches the top, it spreads its wings and jumps off, flying to the ground. It reminds me of Johnny 5 from Short Circuit 2. The Paraswift is a collaboration between the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and Disney Research. The purpose...

Presenting the world’s first moving building!

Some of us live or have lived in mobile homes, but what if an entire apartment building could be moved? This three story apartment building is the first of its type to be moved, anywhere. It was first installed in Turku on the southeast coast of Finland, but it can be moved with a crane. In fact, the owners plan on moving it to a new location somewhere else on the coast. In fact, you can watch a video here of it being moved on a large raft. The building can actually be transported on the road as well, and, as much as I would like to see...

R/C Battling Robot Dinosaur

Back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, they battled it out with each other in colossal fights, literally throwing their weight around to gain the upper claw. Well, all it took was a wayward meteor to end their reign on earth, and fast forward to today, we have dinosaurs that come in the form of robots. Far smaller than their original ancestors, these still retain their mean streak, and do not take too kindly to another dinosaur roaming around their fields. Of course, since the R/C Battling Robot Dinosaurs come with a remote...

V-MODA True Blood MAKER limited edition headphones

Headphones are dime a dozen, and if you are not particular in any way of what you hear, then surely you won’t mind whichever brand that graces your earlobes – audiophiles, on the other hand, will definitely pay close attention to what a particular pair of headphones carry, as well as the specifications which it misses out on. V-MODA has long been an old hand at churning out quality headphones, and this time around they have delivered a limited edition version of the True Blood MAKER headphones. This will be made out of zinc metal, where...

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Back to the Future II shoes real, and making a killing!

I’m surprised that we haven’t covered this already, or if we even need to cover this. Nike has finally released the NIKE MAG, which are the shoes that Michael J. Fox wore in Back to the Future II. Nike plans to release only 1,500 of these iconic pairs of shows, and they will go up for auction on eBay. So far, the ones they got now are going for $4,000 a pop. I don’t believe that Nike intends to put the MAG on the market. However, they have a commercial for it already that you can see after the jump. The commercial has Christopher...

German court upholds Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales ban after hearing

Apple scored a pretty big victory in their ongoing court battles with Samsung in Germany. The Dusseldorf court just confirmed the ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 shipments in Germany, as the slate was found guilty on infringing Apple's patents. If you need a memory refresh, the German story started with Apple winning an injunction against the sales of Galaxy Tab 10.1 across all of EU. Later the court lifted the ban outside Germany because it suddenly realized that it has no jurisdiction over the Korean-based company. Samsung problems continued...

Bada 2.0 is hitting all current Wave smartphones in Q4

We've got some great news for you, our dear Bada-loving friends. Samsung has just confirmed that it will be bringing the latest version of their proprietary OS, 2.0, to all the devices in its Bada lineup before this year has ended. Have in mind though that due to hardware limitations some of the Wave smartphones won't get the full feature set that Bada 2.0 brings. Recently we had the first Bada 2.0 device in our office - the Wave 3 - and we already have an idea or two what to expect from the next version of the platform. You can check...

LG Univa E510 droid surfaces in a quick hands-on session

LG hasn’t officially introduced the LG Univa E510, which is supposedly the Optimus Two, but the smartphone has surfaced yet again, starring in a quick hands-on. The hands-on confirms most of the specs of the Optimus One successor, including that it runs Android Gingerbread (v2.3.4). It's powered by a Qualcomm chipset with an 800MHz CPU, 512MB RAM and Adreno 200 graphics. Unfortunately the CPU uses ARMv6 architecture (just like the Optimus One processor), which means no support for the Flash plugin, the Android version of Firefox and other apps...

AT&T to launch Sony Ericsson Xperia Play 4G on September 18th

The game-centered Sony Ericsson Xperia Play has been available in the US for a while now, but only in CDMA flavor. Well, starting September 18th this will change as AT&T will be launching the Xperia Play 4G. It's basically identical to its European cousin (4G stands for HSPA+ in this case), but it does come with a bonus - the Experience Pack, which Sony Ericsson demoed at E3, complete with the DK300 Multimedia Dock and a selection of 7 games. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play 4G will be available in an color exclusive to AT&T too - Stealth...

Microsoft Apps for Symbian get announced, we rub our eyes

When Nokia and Microsoft announced their partnership a few months ago, most people back then all but left Symbian OS for dead. Since then, there have been a couple of major updates to the OS, and the news just keep pouring. Today, Nokia and Microsoft announced that the latest productivity apps from the software giant will gradually become available for Symbian Belle. The apps will come to the OS in two stages. The first batch will become available in Q4 and will include Microsoft Lync 2010 Mobile, Microsoft PowerPoint Broadcast, Microsoft...

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 review: Droid at large

Tablets are basking in well-deserved attention and manufacturers know they need to try hard and make their devices distinct and memorable. Truly unique gadgets are hard to come by these days - especially in Honeycomb land. Which is perhaps part of the reason why iPad is still the one to beat. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 3G is in for a challenge, and up for it. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 official photos Shortly after launch the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was blessed with a custom user experience, called Touch Wiz UX, which literally puts more color...

Leaving Anna for Belle – we take an up-close look at Symbian’s latest version [REVIEW]

We had our first encounter with Symbian Belle when we previewed Nokia 701, but this one was major enough to deserve its own review. So, we decided to take some time and look at Belle all by itself – after all, it would power all of Nokia’s smartphones sooner or later (including the previous-gen N8, E7, C7, C6-01). We’ll try to cover the changes in the general user interface and the changes to Symbian’s native apps, but also take a spare a moment to talk about what is still lacking in Belle. We’ll be using the Nokia 701 as the platform for...