Author Archive: Matt

The calm before the MWC storm!

We’ve noticed that general industry news seems to be slowing over the past week or so and we started to wonder why. However, the reason could be that Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2010 starts in a little over a week and there’s a good chance that many of the hardware and software vendors are hanging on to their news to announce later at the event in Barcelona.

Some of the manufacturers are having pre-MWC events, the first of which we shall attend next week, while others are having post-MWC parties that we’ll also be at the week after.

James will be in Barcelona for the main event and has already been booked up by some of our big name friends for meetings and press conferences, to say that he’s excited may be an understatement!

So if there’s something that you would like our roving reporter to go and find out about at MWC, if you are at the event or of you are an exhibitor at the event then drop us a line and we’ll do our best to sort something out.

As for me, I’ll still be stuck here in not-so-sunny London picking up the news and press releases and posting from a dark room while James lives it up in Spain!

Posted by: Matt

GSmart Android handset ‘fake’!

Last week a few pictures of a new Gigabyte GSmart handset surfaced, claiming to be GSmart’s first Android powered smartphone offering. I was pretty pleased to see these images as they seemed to support my prediction that we’d see an Android handset sometime this year and this was earlier than I would have expected. We reported the news of the new GSmart handset as did a lot of other sites at the time.

However, yesterday I had a long conversation with my good friend over at GSmart. She is the GSmart PR guru based over in Taiwan. We spoke for a while about upcoming handsets etc. and she confirmed to me that the images and specs we all reported last week are fakes, they aren’t anything to do with GSmart.

She went on to say that the next few handsets to be released by GSmart will run Windows Mobile and although there will be an Android OS handset from them at some point it would not be until later in 2010 at the earliest and the prototypes they are working on at the moment look nothing like the fake images in circulation. GSmart have promised to keep me informed and will let me know when they are able to confirm specs of both the new Windows Mobile handsets and the Android one.

Perhaps a bit of a shame that we’ll have to wait a while to see what GSmart can do with Android but I’m not disappointed to learn the the images we have are fakes and I thought the handset looked pretty naff and dated!

Posted by: Matt

Multitouch on Nexus One without waiting

As I mentioned last night, Google have released an official update for the Nexus One that enables multitouch on the Nexus One. This is an over-the-air update that should be pushed to all Nexus handsets but the problem is it’s a gradual process so you just have to wait for your handset to tell you that the update is available.

If, like me, you hate waiting for something like this and want multitouch right now then there’s an option where you can download an update ZIP file and apply this through the recovery mode on the handset. You do not need an unlocked or ‘rooted’ handset to be able to do this and the good news is that it wont wipe any of your existing data!

You can find the full details on Android Forums.

The procedure:
1. obtain the update.zip file
2. reboot into the bootloader
3. select recovery
4. apply sdcard:update.zip

Specifics
Obtain the file from here:
https://android.clients.google.com/updates/passion/signed-passion-ERE27-from-ERD79.a487b405.zip -Thanks Fabolous

OR

signed-passion-ERE27-from-ERD79.a487b405.zip – Thanks DEMO_BURN

Rename the file to update.zip (in Windows, just rename to update – it is already a zip file)
-Make sure the update.zip file is on the root of your sdcard (not in any folders)
-To reboot into the bootloader, turn off the phone. Then power on while holding down the trackball.
Navigate to the option ‘recovery’
When the Android w/ caution logo pops up, hold down the power+volume up
Select ‘apply sdcard:update.zip’
Thanks chief99 for the bootloader specific instructions.

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: Google, Nexus One, multitouch, dolphin browser, Android, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Google adds Multitouch to the Nexus One!

This was an unexpected news item and thanks to all of you that tipped us on it for today Google have announced an official update for the Nexus One that, among other things, adds multitouch capability to the Browser, Maps and Gallery applications.

If you saw my Nexus One review, which I hope you all did, you’ll know that this was one of the things that I found to be slightly disappointing about the handset, pinch to zoom is one of those things that’s just become second nature for many of us!

There’s also good news for anyone experiencing problems with 3G connectivity, this update promises to address your problems too!

What’s even better about this update is that it’s being pushed out ‘over-the-air’ to all Nexus One handsets so if you see a message in your Nexus One’s notification bar about an update there’s a good chance it could be this!

More from Google:

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

New Software Update for Nexus One phones

Starting today, Nexus One users will begin to receive an over-the-air software update on their phones. This update provides some great new features, and fixes a few problems that some users might have experienced, including:

Google Goggles: this mobile application will now be available directly on your device by launching it from your All Apps menu. Just use your Nexus One camera to start searching the web

Google Maps: the Maps application with be updated to a new version, Google Maps 3.4, which will include:

• Starred items synchronized with maps.google.com – access your favorite places from your phone or computer
• Search suggestions from your personal maps.google.com history – makes it easy to search for places you’ve searched for before
• Night mode in Google Maps Navigation – automatically changes your screen at night for easier viewing and driving

Pinch-to-zoom functionality: devices will now include a new pinch-to-zoom mechanism in the phone’s Browser, Gallery and Maps applications

3G connectivity: we will provide a general fix to help improve 3G connectivity on some Nexus One phones

In order to access the update, you will receive a message on your phone’s notification bar. Just download the update, wait for it to install, and you should be all set. This update will be rolled out gradually to phones – and most users might not receive the notification until the end of the week. We hope you enjoy these new features and look forward to your feedback.

I’m just off to check my Nexus now, will report back later!

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: Google, Nexus One, multitouch, dolphin browser, Android, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]