James Richardson
Five year veteran of the site. BlackBerry specialist, but experienced in most operating systems. Enjoys flower arranging and cross stitch.
I have been using Windows Phone 7 for some months now but here in the UK we have only had one method of text input and that is with a touch screen. Not anymore though. The HTC 7 Pro has arrived and brings us an alternative, a slide out QWERTY keyboard.
Now, although I am a BlackBerry user I did use the HTC Touch Pro 2 for a year so I am no stranger to a horizontal keyboard. So I set myself a challenge. To write all the text for this review on the 7 Pro.
How did I get on and how impressed am I with the HTC 7 Pro?
You will need to read on to find out.
O2 announces that it has switched on a new superfast 3G network across London this week, having gained permission to reuse the 900MHz spectrum for 3G services from Ofcom, the UK Communications Regulator, back in January. O2 is the first UK operator to take advantage of the change to its 900MHz network licence and the new 3G900 network layer in London is expected to deliver a 50% increase in capacity to O2’s existing 3G network.
The 900MHz frequency band was previously only licensed for 2G services in the UK, but it offers the capability to significantly improve the potential of 3G services. Since being granted its new network licence in January, O2 has already deployed 3G900 services in key cities across the UK, including Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester, with other cities set to follow in the coming months.
Rigorous customer experience testing has shown that, on average, O2 customers on 3G900 compatible devices* are now receiving data 30% faster than before the new spectrum was allocated for 3G use. Network capacity in the areas where 3G900 has been rolled out has also increased by 50%, allowing more people to take advantage of O2’s high speed data services and in more places.
That little cutie, the HP Veer could be with us earlier than expected. HP said when the device was announced that they expected a Q3 release. It turns out that O2 Germany have said via Twitter that they will have the device in May.
If they are ahead with the Veer lets hope that the same applies for the Pre3 and the TouchPad.
See a reminder of the Veer specs can be found below:
BlackBerry Protect v1.0 has launched in App World Test Center today (Saturday, March 19th) for all European, Middle Eastern, and African users. Users in these regions can now download and install the released version of the BlackBerry Protect 1.0 client at http://www.blackberry.com/protect or via App World.
I have been using BlackBerry Protect for quite some time now as a beta tester and in my opinion it is the most vital application you can have on your device.
As well as backing up all your contacts and calendars to the cloud BlackBerry Protect will allow you to find your BlackBerry if it is lost or stolen.
If you have a BlackBerry you have to download Project. Do it. Do it now.
Posted by: James
RIM yesterday released Facebook 2.0 via the BlackBerry Beta Zone and we have some nice new stuff which I am rather pleased about.
You can now check to see which of your Facebook friends are online and start a Chat conversation from within the Facebook application or within the unified mailbox on your BlackBerry smartphone.
On Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones, as long as your status is set to online, you still receive notifications even if you are not using the Facebook app.
More details below:
Sky News today launches Sky News for iPad, a completely new way to experience breaking news and live video.
The interactive news service was designed specifically for iPad and has claimed the top spot in the charts for news apps on the Apple platform.
A dedicated editorial team produce real-time updates, expert analysis and interactive graphics for those who want to keep up with breaking news on the go.
Users can select from live and on-demand video and then dive deeper through supporting graphics, photo galleries, graphs and articles that provide extra context and analysis.
One of the key features of the app is the ability to rewind live video, even if users have missed the beginning of the story.
The live video is immediately available to replay once it finishes.
Clove have dropped us a line today to let us know that they are expecting the HTC Flyer to be in stock mid April. The Android tablet is currently priced up at £600 including VAT but this has yet to be confirmed. More details when we have them.
You can pre order from Clove here.
HTC Flyer specification:
- Processor: 1.5GHz
- Platform: Android with HTC Sense
- Memory Internal storage: 32 GB RAM: 1 GB Micro SD memory card extension (SD 2.0 compatible) Dimensions (LxWxT) 195.4 x 122 x 13.2 mm
- Weight: Around 415 grams with battery
- Display: 7 inch touch-sensitive TFT screen with 1024 X 600 resolution
- Network: HSPA/WCDMA: 900/AWS/2100 MHz Upload speed of up to 5.76 Mbps and download speed of up to 14.4 Mbps
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- GPS: Internal GPS antenna Sensors
- Ambient light sensor
- G-Sensor
- Digital compass
- Bluetooth: 3.0 with A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
- Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n 3.5 mm stereo audio jack Micro-USB (12-pin micro-USB 2.0)
- Camera: 5 megapixel colour camera with auto focus, 1.3 megapixel front camera"
- Audio supported formats: Playback: .aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .wav, .wma (Windows Media Audio 9) Recording: .amr, .aac
- Video supported formats Playback: .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv (Windows Media Video 9), .avi (MP4 ASP and MP3), .xvid (MP4 ASP and MP3)
- Rechargeable battery Capacity: 4000 mAh
- Standby time: Up to 820 ~1470 hours
- Video Playback: Up to 4 hours
- AC adapter: Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz DC output: 9V and 1.67A
Posted by: James
Research In Motion (RIM) today announced the BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) Social Platform, giving developers the tools to build applications that take advantage of the social aspects of the popular BBM service.
“The BlackBerry developer community has been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to integrate BlackBerry Messenger with their apps. BBM is a very popular service with over 28 million users and opening its real-time social connectivity to third party applications presents incredible opportunities,” said Alan Brenner, Senior Vice President, BlackBerry Platform at Research In Motion. “Access to BBM services from within apps will revolutionize gaming, enhance multimedia experiences, and add a new dimension to location based applications.”
intomobile.com have this week filmed a rather interesting video with the BlackBerry PlayBook. We have known for a while that the PlayBook will sync media just like any other Blackberry using the BlackBerry Desktop Software but we have not seen it in action.
As you will see in the video below the syncing process is just the same as it is currently with BlackBerry Smartphones, but where the PlayBook comes into its own is with its superb multitasking skills. If you currently use an iPod or iPhone for example you will be familiar with the fact that when you sync you must wait for the process to be complete before you can do anything else with the device. Things are a little different with PlayBook. Once the sync starts it will carry on syncing in the background allowing you to carry on using the PlayBook for other tasks. Nice.
You can see the demo below:
Three UK today announced it will offer iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G and also dedicated data plans for iPad 2 in the coming weeks. iPad 2 is the next generation of Apple’s magical device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading ebooks and much more. The amazing new iPad 2 improves on the original iPad by being thinner, lighter and faster, all while maintaining the same incredible 10 hours of battery life. For more information about iPad 2 please visit www.apple.com/ipad/.
Posted by: James
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