Author Archive: Gareth

Windows 8 Tablet optimised

Some pictures have been released for what looks to be the Tablet interface. This new UI known as Immersive is a locked down feature, operating at 640×480 and cannot be resized. Something else notable is the addition of an Immersive version of Internet Explorer designed for the platform. Most of the features do not work so I think is safe to say we won’t see this for some time, or if we do it might have that rushed feel some developers like to go for.

iPad and Lovefilm: Awesome

I have no idea if this has been announced elsewhere, but here is some great news!

For Americans, one of the pleasures of the iPad has been the ability to stream movies via Netflix, in the UK we’ve been poorly served since our equivalent, LoveFilm, has been slow to get their act together. The issue has been that iPhones and iPads don’t run flash, and LoveFilm’s streaming service relies on it to work. So your LoveFilm subscription has been useless on Apple iOS devices.

Well down at the Ideal Home Show this weekend, where I often go hunting for a story (?), I brought up this issue at the large LoveFilm stand. The staff were fairly clueless but put me through to someone senior who told me that as part of their expansion plans (which recently involved streaming on the PS3 etc), they will be iPad and iPhone friendly from mid-April. He also mentioned that the number of movies available to stream is about to increase dramatically thanks to the company being bought by Amazon a few months back.

Posted by Gareth

Acer tablets up for preorder on Amazon

Acer’s Iconia Tab A500 10" and A100 7" tablets have shown up for pre-order on Amazon UK, for £449.99 and £299.99 respectively. Amazon has a release date of April 20.
The 7" A100 looks to be the first 7" Android 3.0 Honeycomb equipped tablet to be shipping. Both tablets are listed with Nvidia Tegra 2 Cortex A9 dual-core processors. The 7" A100 has only 512MB of RAM and 8GB onboard storage to go with the significantly smaller form-factor, though it is expected to have a nice WSVGA (1024×600) display. The 10" A500 looks to be the usual 1280×800 display with 1GB RAM for Honeycomb devices. It shall also ship with 32GB of onboard storage Both tablets are wifi-only tablets that also come with Bluetooth connectivity.
Acer Android products have seen limited success compared to the likes of HTC and Motorola in the past. Their lack of support and history poor response to GPL source code requests does not bode well with the end-users, despite their competitive pricing schemes.

Posted by Gareth

New version of the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro pics appear

Sony Ericsson will soon be launching a new smaller devices with a keyboard. Another crop of images have surfaced showing what looks to be the successor to the X10 Mini Pro. Things look pretty much like they always have, but these new shots confirm they’ll be sticking with a rendition of their custom overlay used on the first generation of Xperia devices (which differs from what’s on the Arc and Play) and will have Android 2.3 Gingerbread at launch. Perhaps this is why Sony Ericsson only announced the 2.3 upgrade for the X10.

Posted by Gareth

Asus Eee Pad Transformer gets priced

Today we’ve learned that the Eee Pad Transformer – the one compatible with the optional detachable keyboard – can be had for just £379 for the 16GB version. Alternatively, you can get the keyboard and 16GB tablet bundled together for £429. The 32GB version will cost £429 alone but there is no word on whether or not it’ll be getting a keyboard bundle, as well.

The Eee Pad Transformer is a 10.1-inch Android 3.0 tablet that will have a lightweight detachable keyboard to become one of the most flexible Android tablet offerings to date. Other specs include both front-facing and rear-facing cameras as well as a nice Tegra 2 processor sitting inside.

Posted by: Gareth

The Samsung Galaxy S Plus 1.4ghz stirs up some chatter

Rumours has it that Samsung are going to be pushing out a new version fo the Samsung Galaxy S in the near future, probably to contend with the new Dual Core phones from LG, HTC and Motorola. However, a Samsung Galaxy S 2 is likely to be a good few months away, so to keep the Galaxy name fresh in peoples minds the Samsung Galaxy S Plus has now been rumoured to be making an appearance.

Details include a 1.4GHz processor (no word on which chipset exactly), Android 2.3 (we’ll assume TouchWiz 4.0 will sit on top of that), 8GB of internal memory, a 1650mAh battery and a 4-inch super AMOLED display.

Posted by: Gareth

Android introduces In app Billing

Great news from the Android Developer Blog for all you developers, Android in-app billing went live yesterday. This means you can now charge for little extras in your apps. Be it a feature, or a function. In a game, an upgrade or equipment. Loads of potential here. Whether this will make apps more expensive in the long run, or will see more free apps with paid access to premium content remains to be seen.

Today, we’re pleased to announce the launch of Android Market In-app Billing to developers and users. As an Android developer, you will now be able to publish apps that use In-app Billing and your users can make purchases from within your apps.

In-app Billing gives you more ways to monetize your apps with try-and-buy, virtual goods, upgrades, and other billing models. If you aren’t yet familiar with In-app Billing, we encourage you to learn more about it.

Several apps launching today are already using the service, including Tap Tap Revenge by Disney Mobile; Comics by ComiXology; Gun Bros, Deer Hunter Challenge HD, and WSOP3 by Glu Mobile; and Dungeon Defenders: FW Deluxe by Trendy Entertainment.

Posted by Gareth