Archive for August, 2010

Nokia N8 Shows Up SIM Free on UK Site, Networks Gearing Up

Those friendly Finns from Espoo’s next throw of the smartphone dice, the N8, appears to be nearly at British shores.  UK phone retailer MobileFun.co.uk has listed the Symbian^3 device for £419.95 SIM free, with T-Mobile and Vodafone putting up placeholders on their websites.

Boasting 16GB of memory, a 3.5″ 640×360 AMOLED display, a 680MHz ARM processor, HDMI out and a Xenon flash to light up that 12mp Carl Zeiss camera, the N8 certainly looks on paper to be a genuine contender.  However recent industry analysis has put one-time smartphone trailblazers Nokia and Microsoft now playing catch-up to iOS and Android armed devices.  While some analysts say Nokia’s future rests on the success of the MeeGo and Symbian^4 platforms more than Symbian^3, the N8 is at least a chance for them to right S60s touchscreen wrongs and put Nokia back in the spotlight for good reasons.

Mobilefun lists the Nokia N8’s availability from 28/8/2010.

Posted by: Ian

Meridian Launches M80 Audiophile Compact Sound System

With the rest of us mortals happy with spending £50 on an iPod sound dock, or even £400 on the Zeppelin if feeling flushed, Meridian’s sound system incorporating an iPod dock tips the money scales at a whopping £1500.  However this isn’t Vertu-style all bling and lo-tech, the M80’s sound reproduction is of audiophile standard, so you do at least get a quality device for your money.

The M80 is a 2.1 system with the main body housed in the distinctive semi-circle unit.  It has the sub as a separate unit, as is the iPod dock but the rest of the magic happens in the main unit.  DAB, DVD and CD all feature, but sadly the only digital output is for the audio – you’ll find no HDMI for the video here, S-Video is your best bet, sadly.  The analogue radio can also pick up FM, MW and even LW, just so you don’t miss out on Test Match Special.  There’s also a remote control and you can also turn it into one of the world’s most expensive clock radios with the alarm feature if that is your want.

The M80 comes in Ivory, Chestnut and the Potter-esquely named Obsidian Black, and is available at retailers listed on Meridian’s site.

Posted by: Ian

HTC Desire HD caught on video

Earlier today we showed you a video of what we believe to be a forthcoming HTC Windows Phone 7 device. The same site, solopalmari.com has also published a video of the HTC Desire HD which also looks rather nice.

We still have nothing official from HTC regarding this device but it is definitely coming, that I can confirm.

See the video after the break.

Flash for iPhone 4, here and now? Only the ‘broken need apply.

Apple putting Adobe’s Flash on the iPhone – it’s now as likely as Burger King putting Big Mac sauce in their Whoppers.  Unless of course you are an industrious hacker with a fleeting regard for the welfare of your ultra-expensive telephone.  Thankfully the internet is such a vast place there’s bound to be at least one willing to take one for the team, and that one goes by the name Comex, the brains behind the JailbreakMe  and Spirit tools for iOS.

The process uses Frash, and apparently works with a jailbroken 3GS (at 3.2.1), iPod Touch, iPad and iPhone 4.  The process is relatively simple, involving some SSH to-ing and fro-ing with OpenSSH (found in the Cydia repos), and placing the package onto the handset using FTP.  After this Flash content appears as a Flash button, which when clicked launches Frash to run the Flash code.

Sounds relatively straightforward, especially if you already have a jailbroken device, but obviously all of this is done at your own risk.  Saying that though, this does look like the only way Adobe’s foremost web technology will ever grace iOS shores.

Check out the instructions here and accompanying video here from Redmond Pie

Posted by: Ian

HTC Desire HD rumour roundup

First confirmed in a Vodafone Germany stock system screen late July, HTC’s codenamed ‘Ace’ device has been building up a steady head of rumour, culminating in the recent leak of a rumoured prototype device (pictured here). You may be aware that James and Matt have been talking about the HTC Ace for several months but now we know that the new flagship handset will almost certainly be called the HTC Desire HD.

So, in a wheat/chaff sorting effort, let’s take a look at the whispers: