Author Archive: Gareth

Windows Phone 7 shows off Office

One thing that the competition will have a tough time topping is Office integration. Microsoft has put out a couple of rather nice videos showing you just how easy it is to work from your phone. The interface seems to lend itself very well to the office environment. Check after the break for the videos:

Kins get specced

Gdgt have listed an almost complete spec list for both the Kin1 and Kin2. The specs are quite high for the SideKick market that they are more than likely to be targeted at, well the inclusion of Exchange might jostle that idea. They should prove to be terrific phones for a pre-iPhone/Android era. Had they hit the street some time ago, even last year when the pictures first emerged they probably would have been raved about.

No pricing as yet but this will play the most instrumental if they devices are to have any degree of success. We would expect to see pricing before the end of the week.

[Gdgt Kin 1, Kin 2]

No Google Maps Navigation for iPhone users

Google recently announced that their free turn-by-turn navigation on Google Maps will become available on other platforms aside from Android, and since that the iPhone already has Google Maps on-board, one would think that it will also be released on Apple’s dear little mobile phone. That’s what we thought too, but unfortunately, it won’t be happening. Google has gone on the record and stated that Google Maps Navigation will not be available on the iPhone in response to rumors that it has been confirmed for release on Apple’s top-selling device. Is this the first sign of Google’s desire to end support for the iPhone?

Only time will tell, but as far as the here and now is concerned, it’s confirmed that there won’t be free Google Maps Navigation available for iPhone users across the globe.

[Source]

Vodafone Nexus One coming soon?

Vodafone updated their Nexus One page, now showing under the “Coming Soon” tag that “soon” will be April. Interesting, considering April is a little over a week from coming to a close. Does this mean the handset will be available to those waiting for its release in a matter of days? Or could this be a case of simple error.

Dell Lightning slider features Windows Phone 7

Most, if not all, of the current Dell mobile phone run on Android, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be offering one that’ll have a different OS as an alternative to non-Android aficionados. In fact, this leaked Dell Lightning touchscreen QWERTY slider just proves that they’ve got a Windows Phone 7lined up for this year for interested consumers.

The Dell Lightning packs a large 4.1-inch WVGA OLED display (slightly larger than the one found on the XPERIA X10), 5-mp AF camera, 1GHz QSD8250 Snapdragon processor, GPS, 512MB RAM, 1GB flash ROM, and an 8GB microSD card. ETA for the AT&T and T-Mobile 3G compatible Dell Lightning is in Q4 of this year with an LTE variant possibly hitting the scene a year later in Q4 2011.

Review: HTC Legend

In the last month HTC have pumped out a couple of rather high end devices. Whilst the HTC Desire is the flagship, the HTC Legend, an update to the popular Hero, is no slacker. Here we are going take a look at the Legend and see if it’s worth your time.

Motorola making 3D Android phone

Yes I know a physical phone is three dimensional, and they have been this way over a few years and I would imagine will continue to be for a little while yet, however in a recent patent Motorola have described something interesting:

“A cover is mechanically coupled to the housing and may be moved to overlie the display. The cover includes an optical element, such as a transparent lenticular material, through which the display may be viewed. The display presents images in two dimensions, and when the cover is “open“, the operator sees the displayed images, for example, diagrams and text, in two dimensions. However, when the cover is “closed“, the operator perceives the images presented through the optical element as three dimensional.”

A rather astonishing technological revelation that could very well change the way we do things, I’d even go as far to say, on all electronical device. If implemented well then all will jump on the band wagon to have it pretty quick.

Gizmodo get their hands on the new iPhone

So the super secret Apple infrastructure looks like it has been blown apart this year after a guy managed to leave an iPhone 4G or G4 in a bar in Redwood City.

Sure we have seen fakes come and go but the evidence that Gizmodo have dug up after getting their hands on this points to it being the real deal.

What’s new

• Front-facing video chat camera
• Improved regular back-camera (the lens is quite noticeably larger than the iPhone 3GS)
• Camera flash
• Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad)
• Improved display. It’s unclear if it’s the 960×460 display thrown around before—it certainly looks like it, with the "Connect to iTunes" screen displaying much higher resolution than on a 3GS.
• What looks to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, at the top, next to the headphone jack
• Split buttons for volume
• Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallic

What’s changed

• The back is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. Tapping on the back makes a more hollow and higher pitched sound compared to tapping on the glass on the front/screen, but that could just be the orientation of components inside making for a different sound
• An aluminum border going completely around the outside
• Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution)
• Everything is more squared off
• 3 grams heavier
• 16% Larger battery
• Internals components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for the larger battery

via Gizmodo