Author Archive: Gareth

100,000 reasons to buy iPhone

According to our calculations there is now 100,699 apps in the iPhone app store, but since each week few thousands new apps are being added, the exact number is not so important. Anyway today Apple has officially (!) announced that there 100,000 apps in iPhone app store.

What is important is this: no other platform has such big amount and variety of apps as iPhone. You can get iPhone app for everything: whether it is Sirius radio in USA, rent-a-bike service in Germany or Swiss Rail… while at the same time these apps are not available for any other platform.

Sooner or later hardware-wise all phones will have more or less the same hardware – accelerometer, multitouch, compass, etc – and ultimately the main difference between various platforms will be one: number and quality of apps…

HTC HD2 Ships in Europe and Asia coming to the US in early 2010, confirmed

TAOYUAN, Taiwan – November 4, 2009 – Today, HTC Corporation chief executive officer, Peter Chou, joined Microsoft Corp. chief executive officer, Steve Ballmer and Harvey Chang, chief executive officer of Taiwan Mobile to announce the availability of the highly anticipated HD2 in Europe and Taiwan. HTC and Microsoft also announced that the HD2 would be available in the United States with a major US carrier in early 2010.

“The HD2’s amazing customer experience is a testament to the close partnership between HTC and Microsoft and we’re excited to be bringing the HD2 to Taiwan and the United States,” said Chou. “The HD2 is the first Windows® phone with HTC Sense^TM, an HTC user experience focused on making the phone more simple and natural to use and by enabling people to personalise their mobile experience in their own unique way.”

“Working with HTC, we’ve delivered great phones that help customers connect to the people and information they care about, wherever they are,” said Ballmer. “The HTC HD2 shows what’s possible through our close partnership with HTC and it breaks new ground for Windows phones by delivering a beautiful multi-touch screen that people will love.”

The HD2 is the first Windows phone with HTC Sense, a customer experience focused on putting people at the centre by making their phones work in a more simple, natural and personal way. With its industry leading, high-resolution, 4.3-inch capacitive touch display, the ultra thin HTC HD2 delivers more visible content in a sharper, brighter and richer way.

Palm Pre With UK Qwerty on Pre-Order

If your one those people who don’t like paying O2 huges fees to own the latest mobile hardware, can afford to shell out for the phone upfront and your itching to get the Palm Pre with a UK Qwerty keyboard, then your wait is nearly over.

Available now for pre-order from SuperEtrader for the not so scary fee of £500. Supplies will be short initially but if you like to gamble, expect the price to drop nearer to the £450 mark after they start shipping.

Nokia N97 Mini Now Available

Nokia’s little brother to the N97 is now available across the UK in unlocked and contract flavours. Vodafone are first on the bandwagon with the N97 Mini but it looks like O2 will be along shortly.

Pick yours up for £399 at Mobilefun or for free with a £35pm, 24 months contract at Vodafone. If you want to save a few pennies, the smart option is to buy it through a creditable reseller like Mobile Phones Direct on a £30-35pm, 12-18 month Tmobile contract with a nice little bonus as most handsets from MPD come unlocked.

😉

NASA for iPhone – review

I gotta tell you something: American space organization NASA is not very impressive lately. But what about their iPhone app?

Unlocked Palm Pre, job done!

Engadget are reporting that the GSM Palm Pre has already been unlocked but its not a software solution, it relies upon a small insert that goes into the phone with the Sim Card and fools the phone into thinking it is on O2.

All 3G data and voice features are working fine and there is a video of it in action above. Unfortunately Engadget are also reporting that the European Pre does not have the radios for US 3G so if you do decide to import one into the US be prepared for Edge only data.

via Engadget Mobile

Acer s200 Neotouch unboxing

Only had it a few hours and decided to do a quick unboxing. Initial impressions are, its a nice sleek device, little plasticy but minimalistic and good value. Full review to follow in around a week.

Today is a sn0w day, unlock your iPhones

Today is the day a lot of iPhone users have been waiting for, after agonising over updating to 3.1.2 firmware in the fear of losing the ability to be able to sim unlock your iPhone in the future, that is all about to change.

GEORGE HOTZ is about to release blacksn0w which is the unlock for the latest 05.11.07 baseband, and will also enable official tethering. blackra1n, a jailbreak for 3.1.2, has been updated to RC3, with hacktivation support, 15 second speed improvement, Tiger+PPC support, and installation of the latest blackra1n.app

If you are a loyal blackra1n user who kept the blackra1n.app on your iPhone, run it. You will see Icy replaced by an option "ra1n". Install this to upgrade your app. After upgrading, run blackra1n.app again. You will see "sn0w". Install this, and enjoy your unlocked iPhone.

If you are new to the scene, just looking for an unlock, finally ready to upgrade to 3.1.2 and the accompanying baseband, willing to restore for the latest and greatest, or stuck on the "Connect to iTunes" screen, you are in luck. Jailbreaking and unlocking have never been easier. Go to blackra1n.com, click on the logo corresponding to your operating system, run the app, and click "make it ra1n". When your phone reboots, you’ll see blackra1n.app. Run this, install blacksn0w, and enjoy your unlocked iPhone.

Also, a note. This may be the best iPhone users ever have it. Be sure, if you have a 3GS or iPod Touch 3, to use Cydia’s "On File" or Firmware Umbrella in order to be able to restore to 3.1.2 in the future. And as always, the baseband cannot be downgraded, so be *super* careful with updates if you need the unlock.

via http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/

Orange / O2 iPhone comparison chart

Found a pretty handy price comparison chart at Mobile Computer. Can’t say there is much in it but I guess the majoy benefit is for those who have shoddy reception on O2 have another option.