News

Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO

Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.

“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple’s Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”

“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”

Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.

LG announce the Optimus Sol

LG’s latest mid range device, the Optimus Sol as been announced and looks to be a fine addition to their range. It also comes with some pretty good specs. Running Android 2.3 the Optimus Sol is sporting a 3.8? Ultra AMOLED display, at 480×800 resolution,which LG say delivers high clarity that is easy to view even under bright and sunny conditions. Battery life is supposed to be 20-30% better due to a new power system.

The LG Optimus Sol will be available in Europe mid September.

LG Optimus Sol main features:

• Qualcomm MSM8255 processor at 1GHz
• Network: Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900), dual-band UMTS (900/2100)
• RAM: 512MB
• ROM: 2GB
• Program memory: 150MB internal
• External memory: 2GB microSD card included
• Rear camera: 5MP with autofocus
• Bluetooth 3.0
• Wifi 802.11 b/g/n
• aGPS
• DLNA
• Dimensions: 122.5 x 62.5 x 9.8 mm
• Battery: 1,500 mAh

Posted by: James

Advent Vega gets honeycomb 3.2

Though the Advent Vega ships with a version of Android better suited for mid-range handsets than a decent tablet, for its price you really can’t complain. After Honeycomb was first ported to the budget dual-core tablet back in the Spring, the latest release of the OS has been shoehorned onto the slate, complete with native GPU acceleration. There are still some bugs in this unofficial Android 3.2 build, as should be expected, but weighing your options that seems better than nothing. You can check out the ROM and instructions at the the Tablet Roms site. There is a video demo after the break.

Eee Pad Slider detailed

It appears from reports that ASUS may be gearing up to release the Eee Pad Slider in September. Also, the full specs have been revealed:

• Android 3.1 installed, with a promised 3.2 upgrade later
• QWERTY-Sliding Keyboard
• 1280 x 800 WXGA display
• Dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
• 1GB of memory
• 5 megapixel rear-facing camera
• 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera
• USB 2.0, mini-HDMI, microSD card reader
• WiFi and Bluetooth

It will come in 16GB and 32GB "flavours" and will probably go for $400 and $550 models respectively. Asus is also throwing in one year of "unlimited ASUS Web Storage."

Posted by: Gareth

Xperia PLAY to showcase new content and functionality at Gamescom 2011

Here is one for you gamers out there. Sony Ericsson shows a strong selection of games from its ever growing ecosystem of over 150 optimised titles for Xperia PLAY at Gamescom in Cologne. As of result of Sony Ericsson’s ever expanding partnerships with top publishers and leading independent studios, Xperia PLAY now offers a broad and compelling portfolio of content including games of all genres and for all types of gamer.

At Gamescom Sony Ericsson is announcing and previewing a selection of new titles from Gameloft, EA’s Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and Dead Space, and the Android premiere of Polarbit’s driving game Reckless Getaway.

Sony Ericsson’s new developer programme “Stand Out” is also starting to bring innovative and award-winning content to Xperia PLAY. As such, Sony Ericsson will be hosting the cream of independent development talent at their booth. Among the titles available to try are Catfish Blue’s Hyperlight, Be-Rad’s Lame Castle and an enhanced new version of They Need To Be Fed from YoYo Games.

Another BlackBerry Press Event

Next Tuesday, 23rd August sees yet another BlackBerry press event being held in Central London. What we will see at the event if unknown although if you are a BlackBerry fan you can probably have a guess as we have seen numerous leaked pictures of more BlackBerry 7 handsets. Then again, it could be something unexpected.

We will be at the event so unless we are given an embargo you can expect some news and hopefully video footage later that day.

Roll on Tuesday.

Posted by: James

HP discontinues webOS devices!

HP have today announced they will no longer be developing webOS devices, such as the Pre and the TouchPad.

The press release said they would be "discontinuing operations for webOS devices”. This means they will continue to develop webOS as an operating system but will not manufacture hardware.

So, does this mean we will see webOS licensed and appearing on handsets from some of our favorite manufactures such as HTC, Samsung and LG? I do hope so. Since the release of the Palm Pre we here tracyandmatt have all said that the OS was great but sadly let down by hardware.

This news is a real shame but not one that is a total surprise.

Posted by: James

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray coming soon to Vodafone

The Sony Ericsson Xperia ray is certainly a nice looking handset. It has popped up on the coming soon page of the Vodafone site in the last day or so. If this one could be a contender for your next smartphone head on over to the Vodafone site and register for updates on when the ray will be available.

With a 3.3" screen and running the latest Android platform for smartphones (Gingerbread 2.3), the phone packs in a powerful 1Ghz processor, Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine, a 8.1mp camera with Exmor RT for mobile and HD video functionality. At only 9.4mm thin, XperiaT ray incorporates market leading design for which Sony Ericsson has become known.

To add to a full set of specifications, the phone incorporates a front facing camera and a scratch resistant screen with excellent resolution and brightness and integrated touch keys.  Sony Ericsson’s unique integration of Facebook inside XperiaT delivers a unique consumer experience for greater social interaction. In combination with the Google services, as well as access to over 200,000 Apps via the Android Market, it provides a solid and entertaining smartphone foundation.

You can see the Xperia ray specs below:

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini and Mini Pro available sim free from Clove

We posted earlier today that you can now pick up the Xperia Mini Pro from Vodafone. If you fancy getting it sim free you can now buy it from Clove as well as the Xperia Mini.

The Xperia Mini Pro is priced at £246 including VAT and the Xperia Mini is £210. Reasonable prices if you ask me.

You can see more details of both devices below:

HP Pre 3 Stock Arriving Tomorrow

We mentioned earlier in the week that the HP Pre 3 had appeared on the support section of the Orange website. If this one is your cup of tea then you can buy it sim free from Clove tomorrow.

At £360 inc. VAT the Pre 3 looks to offer pretty good value for money.

In 2010, HP took over Palm to become HP Palm, launching the HP Palm Pre 2. However, a new range of devices is now lead by the Pre 3, under the name of HP. Of course, the HP Pre 3 features the webOS platform that powered the Palm Pre and HP Palm Pre 2, but with a few improvements.

The HP Pre 3 is designed perfectly to help you cope with the fast pace of life that is created by a busy social and business schedule. Packed into the slim design of the HP Pre 3 is a 1.4GHz processor, email engine, slide out QWERTY keyboard and a robust battery.

With webOS, true multitasking is made easy. Keep multiple apps open once and flip between them using simple gestures. Once you have several apps open, they are arranged in stacks as if part of a deck of cards. Watch a video half way through composing an email, play a game in between texting, or check Facebook while on a call.