Phones

Motorola Droid not coming to T-Mobile or O2 in the UK

According to reports this morning by T3 Magazine here in the UK, the Droid won’t be launching on mobile networks O2 or T-Mobile, with Nicola Shenton, Head of Handset and Device Marketing at T-Mobile UK, confirming to them today that they passed up the Droid some months ago.

According to Shenton, they tested it six months ago, though it wasn’t running Android’s latest version of software, Éclair 2.0, at the time. She recalled that it was a “great phone, had a lot to offer” and that the software, even back then, was still used to the Droid’s advantage. Why T-Mobile passed up the Droid is unknown, but with the network already selling the G1and Hero (both manufactured by HTC) and the Huawei-made Pulse, there’s a chance that it just didn’t sit right amongst their portfolio, or for their target customers. T-Mobile’s become known as the destination for Android devices here in the UK, thanks to its early involvement with the Open Handset Alliance and the launch of the G1 last October, where it was the first company worldwide to release an Android mobile.

With T-Mobile and O2 out of the Motorola Droid race, it’s up to Orange, Vodafone or 3 Mobile to bring this innovative Android device to the UK.

On a slightly brighter note, Superetrader have just opened up Pre-Orders for the European version of the Droid, which will be called the Milestone at a price of £439.99 inclusive of Vat, but no idea yet on the availability.

via T3

Speed improvement coming to Pre in 1.3

The biggest concern with the Pre so far is speed. Every single update has shown us a tiny speed bump which seems to quickly fade away after a week or two of use. Well the UI is set to receive a huge speed bump in one of the next updates very soon and it may be because Palm has finally decided to use the powerful GPU inside the Pre. According to Everythingpre Ben and Dion of Palm were quoted at a London event saying,

"On ease of use, multitasking has been great; UI latency is still an issue even though the hardware is comparable to 3GS. The problem is the path to the GPU didn’t exist, but now with CSS transforms, that will be solved in the immediate future."

Google Mobile Search adds Voice to S60

Google’s S60 ‘portal’ search utility, ‘Google Mobile App’ just got itself an update to v2.03(8), bringing voice searching – and it works rather impressively.

You can get Google Mobile App for yourself by going to m.google.com on your phones browser, after a quick install, you’re results are shown by distance from your current location. Update today!

Via

Firefox on the N900

The N900 hits the shelves on the 14th November, to keep you going until then, heres a quick look at Firefox on the N900. Jay Sullivan, Mozillas VP of Mobile shows us how its done. Tabs, weave and add-ons are all here.

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