Author Archive: Gareth

T-Mobile and Orange to merge, say sources

Merger could be announced tomorrow

Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile and France Telecom’s Orange are to announce they are in exclusive talks to form a joint venture, according to sources close to the deal.

Three sources told Reuters today that the two firms will announce as early as Tuesday that they are in exclusive talks on forming a venture. However the sources said the deal is not sealed yet.

The news follows rumours that bids by Vodafone and Telefonica for T-Mobile last week, valued at around £3.5 bn, were deemed too low by Deutsche Telekom.

Any merger of T-Mobile and Orange will come under close scrutiny by the Office of Fair trade. A joint venture would capture 37% of the UK market, compared to O2’s share of 27%, Vodafone’s 25 percent, and Hutchinson Whampoa’s 3 with 8 percent.

The news will cast a shadow over staff at both companies, as any joint venture will see departments merged and staff numbers slashed.

[Source Mobile Magazine]

Fennec Alpha 3 online now

Alpha 3 of the rather foxy looking web browser Fennec is available for download and it’s pretty smooth. I have to say It’s looking to be one of the contenders for best browser. There is a lot of competition on Windows Mobile now, browsers appearing all over the show but this one has to be on of the most interesting. I urge you to give it a whirl

This is third alpha milestone of our mobile version of Firefox, codenamed Fennec, on the Windows Mobile 6 platform. This release is provided for for testing purposes only, intended to:

• get wider feedback on our approach to the user experience;
• engage Mozilla community teams, including localizers, and testers;
• get feedback from Web developers;
• encourage add-on developers to port existing add-ons and invent new ones for mobile.

HTC Touch HD 2 – Android rumour

It appears that HTC has decided to venture down a new road and offer up the Android platform on one of their existing lines already. What are we talking about in particular? Well, the latest buzz on the internet is that HTC is working on a follow up to their Touch HD phone, aptly named the Touch HD 2, and will have Android as its OS replacing Windows Mobile. Aside from that, it will also get an added boost in speed with a faster Qualcomm 628MHz processor now onboard. So far, so good, but unfortunately, that’s all we have for now. We still haven’t got a clue as to what its other specs are, when it’ll be released and how much it’ll cost.

Anyway, as it most likely is still in the early development stages, why don’t we help them out and chip in our suggestions. What do you guys thinks should the upcoming HTC Touch HD 2 come with?

[reghardware, phonearena via PMPtoday]

Shopsavvy coming to Windows Mobiles

ShopSavvy is a popular Android app that allows users to scan the barcode of any product using their device’s built-incamera. After the barcode is scanned, the app will quickly search the internet for the best prices and list the results. This is a great way to compare prices while you’re out shopping. With a little convincing, you could probably even use it to get some stores to price match certain products.
I’m sure most Windows Mobile users are well aware of such shopping apps available on other platforms. Aside from ShopSavvy for Android, the iPhone app store also has a plethora of these apps available to users. Unfortunately, barcode scanning apps are hard to come by for Windows Mobile. There’s Barcorama, but its interface is dull and development seems to have subsided for it. So where’s the Windows Mobile love?

Nokia declines MWC stall

Nokia will not buy a stand at the Mobile World Congress in 2010, instead using the funds to support its product marketing

Nokia has said it will not have a stand at next year’s GSMA Mobile World Congress.

Nokia will instead use the capital put aside for the Congress to inject finance into its marketing for the latest announcements.

Nokia will however still feature at the GSMA’s event through seminars and customer and media activities.

A Nokia spokesperson said: "Nokia absolutely will be at Mobile World Congress in 2010 however we will not have a Nokia stand at the event.

"Instead, we’ll be focusing on the congress programme of seminars and speaking opportunities, customer and media activities. 

"In the last few years at Mobile World Congress, we get the biggest benefit for the infrastructure part of our business and therefore in 2010 Nokia Siemens Networks will continue to have a stand in the exhibition area."

[Source Mobilenews]

Apple event September 9th, 2009 – what will be announced?

In September 2009 (i.e. this month) Microsoft is releasing Zune HD – their first device with multitouch … so Apple wants to preempt Microsoft with iPod touch related announcements – most notably Zune HD does not have camera and iPod touch will be getting it for sure this week…

Another big event from Apple will take place on Wednesday this week and this is the time of the year when Apple usually releases new iPod-related stuff, so here is a round-up of rumors about what will be presented at this event and what will not be shown:

Commodore 64 emulator app for iPhone released!

A lyrics from Aqua song “Back to 80s”:

When M&M was just a snack
And Michael Jackson’s skin was black
Back when the coolest thing in store, oo-oh-oh
Was a Commodore 64

O’Reilly eBook reader for iPhone – review

Previously we were reporting that recently O’Reilly started to release their books as iPhone apps. Shortly speaking: each app is an eBook content plus O’Reilly eBook reader for iPhone (for that given eBook). Here we are reviewing this eBook reader on the example of the only free (but lame) O’Reilly eBook available in app store:

N900 Video Roundup

With so many hands on videos coming out of Nokia World this week, its been hard to keep up with all the goodness from Germany. The Nokia N900 hasn’t been shy either and was voted the most anticipated device from Nokia World and is without doubt the best thing to come out of Nokia since the N95.

Is the N900 the device for you?

More after the break…

Nokia X6 Video Roundup

Next up for the video treatment is the X6, the Capacitive screened touch phone is sure to be a hit with media and social users. It packs live widgets, 32GB of storage and unlimited music downloads, looks like Nokia is going head to head with the iPhone.

More after the break.