News

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S landing soon

Sony Ericsson are launching a new a smartphone in October and calling it the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S.  It seems the new Arc S is pumped with a 1.4 Ghz processor compared to its predecessor which clocked at 1Ghz. The Xperia Arc S has a 2d to 3d converter which lets you take photos and use ” 3d sweep panorama” application to display 2d photos in 3d if you plug it into a 3d TV or any other 3d display using a HDMI port. The phone will use Android OS Gingerbread 2.3 and have pretty much the same hardware features the original Arc did including ultra thinness at 8.7mm.  The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S is available in an array of colours :  pure white, gloss black, misty silver, sakura pink and midnight blue.

Posted by Gareth

Android 2.3.6 arrives on………

This morning I rolled over to my Nexus One to see an update message. How very exciting and unexpected. Not much is known about the contents of the software other than it includes ‘important bug fixes and security patches.’ It doesn’t allude to anything in particular so you’re just going to have to download it and see what it takes care of.

The Nexus S recently saw an update to 2.3.6 that included some sort of voice search fix. There have been some unconfirmed reports that the update was breaking USB and Wi-Fi tethering.

So, for those of you that haven’t seen it roll out OTA just yet, here is how to get Android 2.3.6 on your Nexus One at this very moment. The steps are pretty easy so even if you’re not proficient in tinkering with your device, you should be able to do this.

Could Google become a wireless carrier

There is some industry speculation that Google may be planning to take on the role of wireless carrier in parts of Europe soon. In fact, they may have already started testing a Mobile Virtual Network (MVN) in Spain. The images posted are of what appears to be a Google-branded SIM card and a Nexus S running on a network dubbed “Google_es”. According to the report, a few trusted engineers have started receiving this starter pack for testing purposes already. Here’s a quote with a few more details,

HTC and Dropbox to offer 5GB accounts for Sense 3.5 users

HTC has partnered with Dropbox to bring a deal to those who upgrade to an HTC Sense 3.5 device. While we mere peasants are entitled to a paltry 2 GB of free cloud storage, HTC Sense 3.5 devices will get access to 5 GB at no extra price. Pretty sweet deal if you ask us.

Currently, the only device with Sense 3.5 is the brand new HTC Rhyme on Verizon. If you happen to get this device, odds are that it will be through an upgrade or new contract. This means you’ll be hitching your wagon to data caps.

This isn’t exactly a new idea, companies like Asus have been doing it for a few years right back from their original Eeepc. Data caps from network providers do limit what you can do with your phone, Spotify and music and video streaming services are a fine examples.  If you plan to take advantage of those 5 free GB, you’d better keep that unlimited data contract. Your 2 GB will fly away in no time if you use cloud storage constantly. So be careful with those transfers! You can also use WiFi when transferring large files to/from your Dropbox account (or upgrade to a higher data cap).

There’s still no word on whether current HTC Sense users will also get this treat or not. Future Sense 3.5 smartphones will definitely get an extra 3 GB, though. It might not be a major decision factor when choosing your next smartphone, but it’s definitely a nice extra. These devices will also come with the Dropbox app pre-installed. Depending on how you see it, this could be great or just more bloatware.

Posted by Gareth

Microsoft phones to become interchangeable

BGR is reporting a patent filed by Microsoft titled “Mobile Communication Device Having Multiple, Interchangeable Second Devices” was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday. The patent it describes a device that consists of a display and “multiple second devices” that can serve as accessories to the primary screen. We have seen this design executed before: Verizon Wireless launched the LG Versa in 2009 that could be equipped with a game pad accessory, but Microsoft has bigger plans. The patent describes the additional accessories as “more game controllers, batteries, physical keyboards or mobile phone handsets with a display.” Users can detach the devices too, and use wireless communications to interact with the primary display. It is a compelling concept although we aren’t so sure consumers will want to carry multiple accessories at once and could prove costly to replace once misplaced.

Posted by Gareth

New Facebook integrated apps

With the changes to Facebook that were announced last night we will also see some big applicators integrating with Timeline.

The below list is the apps that have already partnered with Facebook however I am sure that many other will follow in the coming months.

• Spotify: As you listen to music on Spotify, your Timeline will populate with your listens, as well as your top albums, playlists and artists.
• The Guardian: Once you add The Guardian app to your Timeline and turn sharing on, you can broadcast the articles you read to your Timeline. If you decide you do not want to share an article, you can “X” it out from The Guardian app, or remove it from your Timeline through your Activity Log.
• Deezer: By integrating with Facebook Platform, Deezer has built a social music experience that makes it easy for people to share their taste in music with friends.
• Myvideo and Dailymotion: Discover new videos based on what your friends are watching so it’s easier to discover great virals and share them with friends.
• Cinemur: Discover new movies based on what your friends are watching. Friends who connect Cinemur to their Timeline will showcase movies as they watch them, so it’s easier to discover new comedies, documentaries, foreign films and obscure indie films through your friends, and watch them yourself.
• The Independent: Recently Read allows people on Facebook and on the Independent site to discover the articles their friends are reading,  By opting into the Recently Read Facebook application on any article on The Independent site, articles that people have read will be posted to Facebook for their friends to discover and interact with in real time. People can control what articles become part of their profile directly from the application, and also on Facebook.
• Mixcloud and Soundcloud: Through Facebook Platform, people can discover new music with their friends, making their online music experience more personal and relevant.
• Artfinder: People can add their favourite artworks from Artfinder to their Facebook profiles and connect with their friends around art online. People have controls over what and how they Artfinder with their friends – they can turn this functionality off at any time in multiple places on Facebook and on Artfinder.

Are these changes a good thing? Please let us know your thoughts in the forum.

Posted by: James

Archos 80 G9 available to order

Looking for a low cost but highly specced Android tablet? Well the Archos 80 G9 could be a contender. Available for only £199 the price is right. Running Android Honeycomb this 8 inch tablet could well be one to watch.

• 1GHz OMAP4 Dual Core processor
• 8 inch (4:3) capacitive touchscreen
• Android Honeycomb 3.2 with Google Mobile Apps Suite including Android Market
• ARCHOS made multimedia apps for extra format and codec support including H.264 HP support
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and upgradable to 3G via the ARCHOS G9 3G Stick (sold separately)

Order here

Full specs below:

Posterous’ last hurrah?

Simple (cough) blogging service Posterous has relaunched itself for what may well be the last time. Now called Posterous Spaces the the revamped offering has been given a complete redesign.

The old adage "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" clearly holds no truck at Posterous as the UI on the web and both iPhone and Android apps has been completely redesigned to the point of self-destruction.

Far from making the service easier to use for newbie bloggers they have managed to complicate the UI so much even I can’t figure it out, and I’m an experienced user. By comparison Tumblr goes from strength to strength precisely because they keep it simple. Features are removed rather than added. The new Posterous Spaces seems to have been designed by a committee of Word engineers. Ironic since the founders launched the product with the aim of making blogging simple for ordinary folks who only knew how to use email.

Amazon Android App Store back to the US

Yesterday I spent some time trying to get it to work, in the end it just wouldn’t work so I didn’t mention it again. It seemed as though Amazon had finally opened up the App Store for Android to the entire world making many people very happy. However, this was too good to be true to last and Amazon has shut down the service for everyone outside of the US once again.

Whether it was opened up by accident or it was a test run is unknown right now and there is no word from the Amazon camp as to why it was available for everyone for one day. The end result though today is that it is shut down and there is no indication as to when it will open back up for everyone outside of the US to use it.

It is possible they are getting ready for the official launch of the Amazon App Store for Android on a worldwide basis when they announce their tablet plans. It makes sense considering Amazon didn’t officially announce anything about the service becoming available worldwide yesterday so it could have been a test run.

So for those of you who got to use it for a day, we hope you enjoyed it. For those of you who missed out don’t worry, the fact that it was working worldwide is a good sign. Hopefully we won’t have to wait long to use it again. You can also just use the workaround to get by the blocking of outside countries if you really want to use the Amazon App Store badly.

Posted by Gareth

A BlackBerry secret party

Last night in Central London RIM held a party to promote their new BlackBerry 7 devices as well as the launch of BBM Music. It has been a while since BlackBerry have had a UK party on this scale and what a fun night it was.

There were plenty of celebrities on the guest list. As well as a host of actors and actresses there were musicians galore, most who I didn’t know as I’m not cool and down with the kids! I did get to chat to three of the guys from McFly though. Nice chaps.

The main attraction of the night was Jessie J who performed a fantastic set. She really is amazing live.

It is great to see BlackBerry hosting something of this scale here in the UK. Looking at twitter during the evening the party was clearly a big success. I dread to think how much the bar bill came too!

Nice one RIM. Let’s do it again soon.

Posted by: James