Author Archive: Gareth

icon keyboard for iPhone released – free emoji!

There is no need to buy commercial emoji app to get emoticons on your iPhone. Now that iPhone has copy&paste one can compose the text in external app like this:

T-Mobile touts GPS Mission app for iPhone at gamescom 2009

Last week we have dropped by to the biggest gaming trade show in the world (over 3 times bigger than American E3 and also bigger than Japanese Tokyo Game Show): gamescom 2009 in Germany. While most of the stuff on that trade show was about gaming consoles, we have spotted also a stand of T-Mobile in form of a truck:

Samsung Omnia II screenshots emerge

While the US is still waiting on official word from Samsung, a carrier or anyone else in terms of when the Omnia II might touch down in the US, ai.rs blog has managed to score a whole host of screenshots from the sexy new handset. Why are we so interested in screenshots — how does TouchWiz 2.0 sitting on top of Windows Mobile 6.5 Pro sound? It appears as though Samsung has done a bang up job in covering much of the UI with touchy wizzy goodness, and ai.rs reveals a whole slew of screens — 37 in total. Truth be told, it doesn’t look bad at all. Hit the jump for a giant version of the image above along with a few more caps, and hit the read link for the rest. Mmm, UI band aids.

First Month In Europe, Samsung Sells 100,000 Galaxies

We’ve been wondering about the Samsung Galaxy… with most of its availability in regions with foreign tongues, English reporting on the device has been minimal. Luckily the guys at AndroidPub dropped me a tip to keep me updated – Korean website Hanooki.com reports (translated to English) that Samsung sold 100,000 Samsung Galaxies in its first month in Europe.

Samsung InstinctQ Pictures Leak!

When the Samsung InstinctQ was first seen getting its Wi-Fi certification, there was immediate Android speculation. With the Instinct brand the phone is obviously Sprint-bound but beyond separate release date rumors of October 11th and early November, almost nothing is known about the mysterious device… until today.

Twikini v1.3 hits

Version 1.3 (Aug 17, 2009)

• New: "I’m Here" feature that inserts a Google Maps URL of your current GPS location inside a tweet. You’ll find this under the tweet window’s Menu. With this feature, you can share your exact location on a map. See a sample tweet.

• Improved: Clicking on a Twitpic link will open it in the Web browser. Clicking on a Twitpic thumbnail will open it inside Twikini. This improves upon the previous version in which Twitpics always opened inside Twikini.

• Improved: You can now cancel GPS initialization if it is taking too long. Click Menu > Cancel inside the Tweet window to cancel a GPS action.

• Bug fix: Twikini would crash when opening some tweets containing the < or > characters.

• Bug fix: When clicking an @ link with a single quote (e.g. "twikini’s"), the quote would become part of the link.

Technorati Tags: Twikini,update,twitter

Apple responds to the FCC, everyone owes AT&T an apology

On June 28th Apple rejected Google’s Google Voice App, preventing it from entering the iPhone’s App Store. This set off a firestorm of protest among the technorati, and caught the attention of the FCC America’s telecoms regulating agency. This prompted the FCC to start an inquiry in to the rejection, and Apple’s App Store approval process. The FCC sent letters to Apple, AT&T, and Google requesting clarification as to what happened. Well today’s the day all the companies are required to respond.

Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition

Nokia today unveiled the ‘Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition’. The device ships with lifetime voice-guided drive and walk navigation licenses for Nokia’s Ovi Maps software and service. Included in the box is a Nokia self-mount car kit, consisting of a Nokia Car Charger (DC-4), Car Holder Pack (CR-103), Rotating swivel adaptor (AD-69) and Easy Mount (HH-17). The 5800 Navigation Edition will start shipping in Q3 and is expected to cost €285 before taxes and subsidies.

The phone itself is a standard Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, which has been one of Nokia’s best sellers since its release 9 months ago. The 5800 Navigation Edition is cosmetically different; it replaces the black plastic bevel around the upper outside of the phone with a silver plastic bevel, giving the 5800 Navigation Edition a unique look.

Google launches Listen app exclusively for Android

By now Google Android was making us yawn: capacitive display but no multi-touch? Come on! But when we saw this one, our jaw dropped to the floor and stayed there…

Wow, it looks Google has found a way to provide unique selling points (USPs) to Android powered smartphones: the Listen app (and service!) is available only for Android:

Blackberry OS 5.0 leaked

The next version of the Blackberry operating system was leaked several weeks ago, and has spread like wild fire. Exact specifications have been difficult to find, but those who have used it are reassured by the new and improved Blackberry experience.

The new OS is expected to be released with new devices this fall and holiday season, including the Storm 2 9550 and the rumored Bold 9700. The real upgrade will probably be available for all Blackberry users at the same time or shortly after these releases.