News

BlackBerry World 1-3 May

BlackBerry World 2012 kicks off on Tuesday in Orlando and we will be there to cover any gossip or announcements that are made.

As well as the BlackBerry World taking place RIM are holding a developer conference called BlackBerry Jam at the same time.  It is common knowledge that the developers attending will each be given a BlackBerry 10 Alpha device. What this is likely to be is a touch screen device running the PlayBook OS to allow devs to prepare apps for the new platform later in the year. I’m pretty excited about trying the OS on a device smaller than the PlayBook although I would image that many features will be disabled so it wont actually be a working phone.

What we will see though is RIM’s vision over the next few years and how they intend to revamp their popularity in certain countries.

Stay tuned over the next four days as we should have a slurry of interesting news for you BlackBerry fans.

Posted by: James

BlackBerry Curve 9320 spotted in the wild

Over in Vietnam the unannounced BlackBerry Curve 9320 has been making an appearance. The device looks more or less identical to the 9220 that was released in India last week apart from it has a silver bezel as opposed to the black one on the 9220.

The 9320 is the 3G variant that I am certain we will see here in the UK to replace the 8520 and 9300. The OS 7 device gets a boost in the camera department and now a 3.2mp with flash, compared to the 2mp in the 9220.

I would image we would see some official announcements from RIM very soon on this one.

Lets hope the PAYG prices are good.

Source

Posted by: James

Archos to build gaming tablet

The idea of gaming themed Android devices is nothing new, especially since we have the Xperia Play along with a few other Playstation Certified devices along with GameStop tablets with their controllers. The fact is mobile gaming is a huge industry already and it is still growing. Archos sees this and is planning on developing a gaming-centric Android tablet to cater to mobile gamers.

In an interview with The New Ecomiste (French), the CEO of Archos, Crohas, goes on to talk about the company’s troubles in the past and how it has revitalized itself through Android tablet sales. Crohas goes on to say that they are developing the first Android tablet that will essentially be a gaming console. What exactly this entails remains to be seen of course but Archos recent additional to their line of tablets happens to be sporting some pretty potent hardware.

We will soon be certified a tablet-type game console. A first. I strongly believe in this market segment. Moreover, the classic game consoles will disappear." – Crohas, CEO of Archos (loosely translated from French)

Crohas goes on to say that he believes the death of the home gaming console is inevitable. While we don’t believe that will happen, especially with new versions of the Xbox and Playstation already in development, we do see a large chuck on that market switching to mobile gaming down the road as mobile technology catches up and quickly at that.

It will be interesting to see what this gaming-centric tablet from Archos will come with in terms of hardware and special features making it basically a gaming console. Of course we could speculate which is always fun but with Tegra 4 on the horizon, it could be a safe bet that the chip could appear in this upcoming tablet.

Posted by: Gareth

Google selling the Galaxy Nexus direct

This one looks a right bargain. It is just a shame it appears to be USA only. Google are now directly selling the Galaxy Nexus unlocked for the attractive price of $399 for the 16GB GSM version

That price equates to £274 which for a unbranded, Android 4.0 device with a beautiful 4.65 inch Super AMOLED screen is super cheap.

Let’s hope us good old Brits get to take advantage of this great offer soon.

Click here for the offer.

Posted by: James

Samsung Unpacked Teaser

In true Samsung style the company are already teasing us as to what lies ahead at the event on May 3rd where we can expect to see the next Galaxy S III. The following video doesn’t give much away (also typical) but it does have a dig at another what I can only presume is the iPhone stating ‘you can now stand out from….everyone else.’ Cheeky.

You can see the video below.

Skype for Windows Phone leaves beta

Good news if you use Windows Phone. Skype is now rolling out version 1.0 of the app which has been in beta for a few months. I’m not seeing the update here in the UK just yet but it is available in the US so be patient British people.

The update now brings the ability to search for contacts as well as call landlines. The app is still currently let down in my opinion by the fact it will not work in the background. This will be fixed in due course but Skype cannot give a time frame.

So as it stands the iOS and Android versions are still far better. Still, it is early days.

Posted by: James

BlackBerry Curve 9220 thoughts and images

With yesterdays announcement of the BlackBerry Curve 9220 over in India I thought it was worth bringing you some nice images of the device as it may well be one of Research in Motions best selling handsets in certain parts of the world. This 2G successor to the 8520 will not be suited to the UK market, in my opinion, and I would expect that we will see the BlackBerry Curve 9320 launched here instead, which is the 3G variant.

That said, the two devices are very similar in design and specs so if you are in the market for a new low cost BlackBerry in the UK it is still worth taking a look at the following pictures to give you a rough guide.

There is no doubt that the Curve 8520 is now out of date. It may have been the best selling smartphone in the UK for the last couple of years but it is time for an overhaul. The new Curves take the budget BlackBerry into the next era with the latest version of the OS (7.1), FM radio, a larger battery and a dedicated BBM hardware button on the left side of the device.

Remember last month when the likes of the BBC and The Guardian reported that RIM would not be supporting consumers? I said then that it was rubbish and that Thorsten Heins (RIM CEO) said no such thing. These new affordable BlackBerry smartphones go to prove that.

Anyway, you can see some nice high res images of the BlackBerry Curve 9220 below.

JCB Pro-Smart in stock at Clove

If you are in the type of business where having a smartphone is likely to end up in it getting broken the JCB Pro-Smart may well be the perfect device for you.

JCB’s first Android smartphone (discounting the limited edition of the DEFY+), the Pro-Smart, is now in stock at Clove.

Priced at £259 (£310.80 inc.VAT), the Pro-Smart features Android 2.3 Gingerbread and has an IP67 protection rating, as well as the usual smartphone features.

For some it might not always be feasible to have a nice smartphone because of the environments we work or find ourselves in, they are just too vulnerable to damage and the last thing you want is to spend large amounts of money replacing, protecting or repairing phones. You might have a smartphone you use occasionally or for personal reasons but for work it’s a basic phone that can cope.

JCB have been making phones for a while but they have still been fairly limited in capability, but they have been rugged.

Motorola have created waves with their water resistant and dust resistant DEFY, and it has become highly appealing to trades people or those who are a bit clumsy with phones.

The Pro-Smart is JCB’s answer to the Motorola DEFY. It is a fully fledged smartphone that is capable for calls, texts, web browsing, navigation video playback and more. However the difference is that the unit is IP67 rated meaning it will survive being dropped in water (for short periods of time). It will take a few knocks and will be more resistant to dust and dirt than many other phones.

Pre order the Nokia 808 PureView

If you are looking for the best camera phone around then you may want to consider the Nokia 808. Clove now have the device available to pre order but it will set you back a whopping £538.80 including VAT.

The price may seem like a high price tag for a handset that runs Symbian, but the PureView does have a 41MP camera to make up for its lack of a smartphone OS. It also comes with a Xenon flash, 4″ AMOLED display, 16GB internal storage (expandable via a microSD slot) and the range of connectivity features that can be found in current smartphones, including DLNA.

Samsung to announce new Galaxy on May 3rd?

The rumour squad have been working overtime for months now but it looks like that is set to end next month as Samsung have sent out a ‘Galaxy’ press invitation for May 3rd.

The Samsung Unpacked event to be held in London should have the media’s full attention. The invitation isn’t giving us any clues as to what we can expect, apart from a Galaxy, but as we are due the Galaxy III about this time I think it’s certain what we will see that night.

I think we can safely say that Samsung are going to give the HTC One Series a good run for their money. What do you want to see with the new Galaxy flagship?

Posted by: James