Author Archive: Patrick Rigby

New HTC Sense Announced with HTCsense.com

Along side the brand new Desires, unveiled the latest version of HTC Sense with a lot of cool features. And according to HTC, Sense is not a UI or an overlay, but rather something else, maybe magical? Running on Android 2.2, the new Sense brings features such as cache data for maps, a digital compass and it cuts down launch time to just 10 seconds! It also brings HTCsense.com. Lauching next month, HTCsense.com is similar to MobileMe for the iPhone, as it enables users of  owners to backup of texts and contacts, locate their lost phone on a map and even remote wipe the Device straight from the website 
See a full list of the new features below:

HTC’s Take on WP7, And Oh My, it is Beautiful!

If this turns out to be real, I think HTC have got themselves an instant hit. As blog MobilityDigest have managed to grab hold of and post a video of what appears to be a running version of HTC’s implementation of Windows Phone 7. Codenamed, the HTC Portal, it is supposed similar to HTC Sense that is running on it’s Android phones, but not as customised. WP7 still has all the tiles that we are used to, but now we have some new gorgeous eye candy with HTC’s take on it. Such as the versions of the notes app, stocks app and the weather app. One thing I’m kinda confused about though, is the flower petal app. Not really sure why it is there, and pretty pointless in my opinion.

Microsoft has always said from when they announced WP7, that they were going to have tight control over the hardware and software. And ever since HTC was announced as a hardware partner, they’ve tried to customise WP7 heavily. But as you can clearly see, Microsoft has obviously stamped down on that, and limited HTC to the HTC Portal. Even though it may not be as customised as it is on Android, it is certainly prettier.

Anyway, check out the videos below and please excuse me, I need to go change my trousers.

HTC Announces Desire HD and Desire Z

The rumours were true! The successors to the Desire are here in the form of the Desire HD and the Desire Z. Announced earlier today in London, these phones are HTC’s latest and greatest phones to date. The Desire HD is the european version of the very successful EVO 4G on the Sprint network in the US, and the Desire Z is the HTC Sense version of the G2 on T-Mobile USA. And both come with the latest version of Android and HTC Sense, with HTCsense.com, that enables backups of texts and call logs, remote wipe and the ability to locate your phone.

Read on for details of the phones…

Blackberry Torch Available for Pre-Order

RIM’s first slider phone, the Blackberry Torch 9800, is now available for pre-order on Vodafone. But it is going cost a small fortune! As for a £20 a month contract you will need to shell out £400 just for the phone! And the only way you can get out of the £400 is by paying £40 a month, and did I mention that all contracts are 24 months? Oh, and to top it off, the data cap is at a measly 500MB on all contracts. RIM and Vodafone really got you by the balls on this one!

But if you still want the Torch after the insane cost, you do get some nice features. Such as a 3.2″ capacitive touchscreen, OS 6 with a real browser and universal search, the famous Blackberry keyboard but in slide format this time and a 5MP camera.

Anyway, if you do pre-order today, you should expect it to ship by September 27th.

Posted by Patrick

[ Post Tags: RIM, Blackberry, Blackberry Torch, Blackberry 9800, OS 6, tracyandmatt.co.uk, Slider ]

Hackers Unite! Cydia Merges with Rock

For jailbreakers of the iOS platform, these two stores have been the gate way to pissing Steve Jobs off. But now, after a year and a half of being rivals, Cydia and Rock unite, under SaurikIT. (the makers of Cydia) SaurikIT acquired Rock and will be moving not only the apps and licences from Rock over to the Cydia store, but also all of the software engineers will be combined as well to create the biggest and best unofficial app store on the iOS platform. This is a great thing for all jailbreakers, I’m sure, but users running 4.1 will have to wait a bit longer to see the new Cydia Store as there is still no jailbreak yet.

Posted by: Patrick

[ Post Tags: Apple, iOS, iOS 4.1, iPhone 4, iPod Touch, tracyandmatt.co.uk, Cydia, Jailbreaking ]

The iWatch Is Here

Let’s face it, it was going to happen. Somebody was going to make the iWatch and here it is. Made by ?Incipio, the Linq enables you to put the brand new iPod Nano on your wrist and wear it like a watch, and as far as I am aware, this is the first of many watch straps for the iPod Nano which will come to market. Not much to say execpt the strap is velcro and interchangeable, and your new iPod will be protected on your wrist as it protected by Incipio’s next gen polymer material which makes the housing nice and strong. Oh and it is available in 5 colours, in Black, Grey, Blue, White and Pink.

I was never really an iPod person, as all my media and music was stored on my phone, but this makes me really want to get one of the new Nanos! There is no word on pricing yet but expect it to be around the £20-£30 price point.

Posted by Patrick

[ Post Tags: Apple, iPod, iPod Nano, iWatch, Accessories ]

iOS 4.1 Available for Download

Well iOS 4.1 is finally here after Steve Jobs announced it’s new features last week at the annual Apple music event in San Francisco. Mr Jobs announced many things in iOS 4.1 including bug fixes to do with the proximity sensor and iOS 4 running incredibly slow on the iPhone 3G. But the main features of the new update are HDR photos, 720p upload over Wi-Fi and the debut of Game Center, Apple’s version of Xbox Live. See detailed description of new features here. .

iOS 4.1 is available for the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 2nd gen, iPod touch 3rd gen, and the iPod touch 4th gen, so go download it now if you already haven’t! Still no word of Jailbreak yet though…

Posted by Patrick

Post Tags: Apple, iOS, iOS 4.1, iPhone 4, iPod Touch, tracyandmatt.co.uk

iPod Touch an iPhone? Well Apple’s Photoshop People Seem to Think So

The 4th gen iPod Touch is basically just an iPhone without the phone, right? Well someone at Apple’s art department seems to think differently, as they have managed to accidentally include the phone app in the images of the latest iPod Touch.  And it doesn’t stop there, when you search using Spotlight, you get SMS as well. But it does remind you that Apple is not just a heartless company with robots for employees. They do make the occasional mistake *cough* iPhone antenna problems *cough*.

Read on for the images…

iOS 4.1 Jailbreak Ready

It is not even out yet, but the good people over at the iPhone Dev Team have managed to Jailbreak iOS 4.1. ?Comex, the creator of the Spirit and jailbreakme.com jailbreaks is saying that he has already located 2 exploits in iOS 4.1. The first one is similar to the jailbreakme.com jailbreak as it uses a loophole in iOS itself, which makes it simple for the user to impliment, whereas the second one is in the bootrom of the iPhone at the hardware level. Which makes the second jailbreak will be much harder to impliment than the first, but as the second one is deep down within the iPhone, it will be much harder for Apple to lock it down.

Look for it to be available the same day that iOS 4.1 is, which is rumoured to be September 8th.

Posted by Patrick

[ Post Tags: Apple, iOS, iOS 4.1, iPhone 4, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]