News

Android deal-a-thon continues

So today marks Day three of the huge sale going on with the Android Market to celebrate 10 billion downloads on the market. Just like yesterday, there are some prime titles available for a measly 10 pence once again. Some are apps while others are games but all are top notch.

So here is today’s list of 10p deals for you to snatch up as Google celebrates 10 billion downloads:

• Fruit Ninja
• Beautiful Widgets
• Reckless Racing
• Read It Later Pro
• AirSync
• NFL Rivals
• Flick Golf
• Star Charts
• Christmas HD Live Wallpaper
• BB – Bedtime Battle

Posted by: Gareth

Everything Everywhere to invest 1.5 billion on network improvements

Everything Everywhere CEO Olaf Swantee has today announced that the network is to invest £1.5 billion on the network over the next three years.

The scheme will see the operator further integrate its T-Mobile and Orange networks, upgrade existing network technology and start preparations for the role out of 4G technology.

Everything Everywhere has been involved in 4G trial with BT Wholesale since September providing the technology to consumers in rural areas of the UK.

Everything Everywhere stores outperforming Orange and T-Mobile

Everything Everywhere stores are giving better customer service than Orange and T-Mobile shops, according to customer exit polls.

The EE stores are rated as at least 10 per cent better than the single-brand outlets say polls covering customer satisfaction, customer experience and their dealings with staff.

The figures were revealed last month at the launch of an EE concept store at Westfield London Shopping Centre. EE head of store format Alan Howard and vice president of retail Andrew Coull said the roll-out of 21 EE stores this year had increased EE brand awareness.

They claimed the survey was proof that new layouts in EE stores were effective.

BlackBerry 10 to be the name of the the next generation of devices

We all now know that BBX was to be what RIM’s QNX device software was to be called. Well, it appears to have changed. Research in Motion have tweeted from their developer account and stated that BlackBerry 10 will in fact be the name.

I suppose for the general public, and not us phone geeks, this is a good thing and less confusing. What happened to the 8 and 9 though?

Posted by: James

Ice Cream Sandwich on Archos G9

Charbax gives us a quick demo of the Archos G9 running Android 4.0.1 Ice Cream Sandwich on the OMAP4 based tablets. This is to be finalized during Q1 of 2012. They still have to finish the hardware acceleration for video support, Samba/Upnp, 3G stick support and all of the other specific features that Archos provides on top of Android.

A £250 tablet with 100% GPU acceleration will be a very tempting option for those out there shopping for some Ice Cream Sandwich action.

Twitter for BlackBerry updated to support multiple accounts

Great news, Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.1 now has multi-account support-the top user requested feature. As of today, the app is leaving beta and will be made available for download in the BlackBerry App World storefront (please note it may take up to 24 hours for the app to appear in BlackBerry App World for some users).

There are also a couple of cool multi-account support features available for BlackBerry 6 and BlackBerry 7 OS users in Social Feeds for effectively managing multiple Twitter accounts. Let’s take a closer look at Share with BBM and multi-account support in this updated version.

MIPS $100 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet – Video

We brought you news yesterday of the MIPS tablet that is launching with a price tag of under $100 while still running Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

A video is now available to view on the MIPS YouTube channel. As you will see this new tablet really is a game changer in the tablet wars. The price will make it available to so many more people and businesses.

You can see the video of the device below:

Possible Ban on HTC products in the U.S.

Well here is some interesting and somewhat troubling news that was just pointed out to us. According to Fortune CNN, HTC could be facing a possible import ban here in the U.S. depending on the outcome of an appeal over two patents that Apple is going after HTC for.

Depending on the upcoming ruling, which will be handing down the final verdict of HTC’s appeal on Dec. 14th, HTC could end up facing an import ban of all their Android devices to the U.S. which would shrink their current market share of 25% down to 0%. This would happen right before the holidays no less when sales for mobile devices, as Christmas presents and what not, are generally at their highest.

The first Ice Cream Sandwich Tablet

Here’s a bit of a surprise… even though we have seen ports on several devices, the first Android 4.0/Ice Cream Sandwich tablet will not be what we expect. The first ICS tablet will be a $99 MIPS SoC enabled tablet called the NOVO7. 

Instead of the usual ARM-based chipset, the NOVO7 uses the MIPS-based XBurst processor called JZ4770, from the Chinese Ingenic Semiconductor. This chip runs at 1GHz and can handle 1080p video playback and 3D games with its Vivante GC860 GPU. Supposedly, this tech is very efficient with battery power and allows for 7 hours of browsing or 6 hours of 3D gameplay.

The tablet also has a 7" capacitive touchscreen, a USB 2.0 port, microHDMI ports, a 2MP rear camera, a front-facing camera and a microSD slot.

The NOVO7 tablet passed the Google Compatibility Test Suite certification. It will run pretty much all of Google’s services and can handle thousands of apps from the Android Market.

Remember about your BlackBerry freebies

RIM have a nice bundle of freebies for you on the App World. To make up for the outage a couple of months ago your Blackberry is about to get a little more crammed. You only have until the end of this month to get yours and there are a few that are certainly worth your attention!