Author Archive: Gareth

Possible Ban on HTC products in the U.S.

Well here is some interesting and somewhat troubling news that was just pointed out to us. According to Fortune CNN, HTC could be facing a possible import ban here in the U.S. depending on the outcome of an appeal over two patents that Apple is going after HTC for.

Depending on the upcoming ruling, which will be handing down the final verdict of HTC’s appeal on Dec. 14th, HTC could end up facing an import ban of all their Android devices to the U.S. which would shrink their current market share of 25% down to 0%. This would happen right before the holidays no less when sales for mobile devices, as Christmas presents and what not, are generally at their highest.

The first Ice Cream Sandwich Tablet

Here’s a bit of a surprise… even though we have seen ports on several devices, the first Android 4.0/Ice Cream Sandwich tablet will not be what we expect. The first ICS tablet will be a $99 MIPS SoC enabled tablet called the NOVO7. 

Instead of the usual ARM-based chipset, the NOVO7 uses the MIPS-based XBurst processor called JZ4770, from the Chinese Ingenic Semiconductor. This chip runs at 1GHz and can handle 1080p video playback and 3D games with its Vivante GC860 GPU. Supposedly, this tech is very efficient with battery power and allows for 7 hours of browsing or 6 hours of 3D gameplay.

The tablet also has a 7" capacitive touchscreen, a USB 2.0 port, microHDMI ports, a 2MP rear camera, a front-facing camera and a microSD slot.

The NOVO7 tablet passed the Google Compatibility Test Suite certification. It will run pretty much all of Google’s services and can handle thousands of apps from the Android Market.

Remember about your BlackBerry freebies

RIM have a nice bundle of freebies for you on the App World. To make up for the outage a couple of months ago your Blackberry is about to get a little more crammed. You only have until the end of this month to get yours and there are a few that are certainly worth your attention!

Google Maps updated to 6.0

Google Maps 6.0 for Android was released last Tuesday with several enhancements, the most notable, airports and other public places. Users are able to search throughout floor plans too, which means a traveller can search for a coffee shop or the nearest toilet in an airport. Google Maps floor plans will grow when a user is zoomed-in fully on a building where mapping data is available. The differences between indoor and outdoor maps can be seen in the image to the right.
Indoor maps are currently available in selected locations in the U.S. and Japan. Click here to see the current list.

Maps will contain labels with store names, bathroom locations, ATM icons and airport gates, among other items. Google collaborated with the owners of the mapped venues in this first iteration of indoor maps. However, Google is making available a tool that any venue owner can use to upload floorplans for inclusion in the application’s database at http://maps.google.com/floorplans.

Google Maps 6.0 for Android will work on devices with version 2.1 and higher of the mobile operating system. At launch, the application includes floorplans for Tokyo’s Narita and 17 U.S. airports, including Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, San Francisco International Airport and George Bush Houston International Airport; stores of the retail chains Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Home Depot and Ikea; and malls including Mall of America, Times Square Mall in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, and Liberty Fair Mall in Martinsville, Virginia.

Posted by: Gareth

Acer ICONIA TAB A200 video

This leaked video shows the A200 containing the Acer Ring, the company’s overlay software to the Android operating system which has a customisable virtual ring. This is along with USB 2.0 connectivity, a micro SD slot and the Acer Clear.fi feature offering DLNA for the connecting, sharing and watching of media.

The site also has it that the Acer Iconia Tab A200 will arrive with a 10.1-inch 1280×800 touch screen, with an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and 1GB of RAM, whilst running from the latest version of Android – Ice Cream Sandwich.

You can see the video below.

Super funky stand type cover thing for Asus Transformer Prime

Here is an excellent accessory that was revealed for the up-coming Asus Transformer Prime. It’s a magnetic folding cover, similar to the one for the Apple iPad, but it looks vastly improved and far more impressive. In fact, its design looks inspired by the art of origami, although much simpler to operate. Although there is no word on when this accessory will ship, (just as we aren’t sure about the Transformer Prime either), you can already order the origami like add-on on Amazon.de for EUR 39.99.
There is no word on whether a version will come to the States, but perhaps that might eventually happen.