News

Nokia ditch the Ovi brand

Yep, it looks like big change is happening in the Nokia camp. The Finnish company have decided to replace the brand Ovi with Nokia Services instead.

Nokia’s EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Jerri DeVard explains the shift:
“We have made the decision to change our service branding from Ovi to Nokia. By centralizing our services identity under one brand, not two, we will reinforce the powerful master brand of Nokia and unify our brand architecture – while continuing to deliver compelling opportunities and experiences for partners and consumers alike.”

“The reasons for this decision includes the fact that Nokia is a well-known and highly-loved brand the world over. Our mobile experiences are tightly integrated with our devices – there is no longer a differentiation. For example, if consumers want the best mobile navigation experience, they know it’s a Nokia that they can rely on. These last few years, and moving forward, our mission remains unchanged: we will continue our work to deliver compelling, unified mobile service offerings and next-generation, disruptive technologies.”

Nokia plan to start the transition in July this year with a view to re branding to be complete by the end of 2012.

Posted by: James

Consumers ‘held hostage’ by SIM-locked phones

Mobile users are being “held hostage” by their provider because of the cost of unlocking their phones to switch to other providers, a recent report claims.

The report shows that the majority of people using unlocked phones is due to “consumer confusion” surrounding the issue, with almost a third not sure if it is legal to change to a different provider.

The survey, which was carried out by YouGov amongst 2019 adults on behalf of MVNO GiffGaff, showed that consumers are missing out on the “best deals” and that they wanted more information on how to “unlock” their mobile when they bought them.

Our old friend Mike Fairman, chief executive of giffgaff, said: “Consumers risk being held hostage by their mobile network to the tune of £400 million simply to switch networks with their existing phone. The practice of selling mobile phones locked to one network, or Sim-locking as it is known in the industry, is having a big impact on consumers’ ability to get the best deal on the market.”

The report also claimed that consumers were currently charged around £17 to switch networks meaning this service alone could be worth millions to the mobile phone industry.

Posted by: Tracy

Sony Ericsson launches search for Football FANatics to win once-in-a-lifetime trip to the UEFA Champions League Final Wembley 2011

As part of Sony Corporation’s existing agreement 2009-2012 with the UEFA Champions League, Sony Ericsson, official mobile handset of the UEFA Champions League, today kicked off a search for Football FANatics keen on making the once-in-a lifetime trip to the UEFA Champions League Final Wembley 2011.
With the Final returning to Wembley Stadium for the first time in 20 years, Sony Ericsson wants to build support for both the Finalist teams across the UK.
The Football FANatic campaign will bring a Manchester United FC fan and an FC Barcelona fan to London to drum up support for their respective sides amongst Londoners, using their Sony Ericsson XperiaÔ smartphones. They will be paired with two London based Football FANatics who will use their local knowledge to help them reach as many fans as possible in London and beyond.
Football FANatics from Manchester and London interested in the role should visitwww.facebook.com/sonyericssonfootballfanatic to enter. They must explain why they are the biggest Football FANatic and why they should be chosen for this fantastic opportunity to go to this year’s spectacular UEFA Champions League Final Wembley 2011 in London.

Gingerbread to roll out May 16th for HTC Desire HD and Incredible S

It has not been perfectly clear exactly when HTC’s Desire HD and Incredible S were due to get the update to Gingerbread but thanks to a statement on the HTC UK Facebook page we only only have a few days left to wait.

This is what they said:

Hey guys, firstly we want to thank you all for being so patient about the Gingerbread update. We’ve been pushing this really hard and are pleased to announce that we are aiming to have the HTC Gingerbread update for unlocked HTC Desire HD and HTC Incredible S models available on 16th May 2011. For those waiting for their specific operator update, rest assured that we’re working very closely with each operator to get this just right and will update you as soon as we possibly can. Once again, we really appreciate your support and patience on this.

As an Incredible S owner myself I shall be eagerly awaiting the update. Roll on Monday.

Posted by: James

The worlds top rated news app ‘News Republic’ goes multi -platform

The hugely popular News Republic App is now launching on multiple new platforms including Blackberry, Symbian, Bada, Windows Phone 7 and webOS as well as Android Honeycomb tablets. The much awaited iPad version is due in a matter of weeks.

Mobiles Republic is on course to exceed all its previous download records in the coming months and expect ‘News Republic’ to become the news application of choice for millions of new users around the world.

First there was ‘Appy’ the acclaimed award winning service developed for feature phones that achieved an incredible 1 million downloads that was generating the buzz. Today its ‘News Republic’ the natural successor designed for smartphones with its ground breaking TagNav news tracking and navigation system, making the headlines, literally.

In little more than 4 months News Republic has attracted over 400,000 new iPhone and Android users with its English, French and Italian editions and this week saw the launch of a Spanish edition with a German language version to follow shortly. In March alone over 15 million news articles including breaking news headlines, in-depth features plus live updates on many popular subjects including Sport, Business, Technology, Celebrity, Entertainment and Hollywood Gossip were viewed on the app.

Mobile Tech Addicts Podcast Award reminder–Final night to vote

It’s the final night before voting ends and we just wanted one last push in the hope of securing another couple of votes. We have been nominated for a Northern Ireland Social Media Award and you can use the voting button below to add yours. We have been listed in Category 6 – Broadcast Media against local TV channels and radio stations.

An exciting time for us as we only do our little podcast as a hobby and for the pure enjoyment of it. To be listed alongside Ulster Television, Cool FM and Citybeat is an extreme honour.

Thanks for voting!!

Posted by Gareth

Chrome OS Gets a Huge Update and Chromebooks are Announced at Google I/O 2011

Google’s second keynote at it’s developer conference was all about Chrome. The browser got some cool features such as speed improvements, in-app payments and Angry Birds, but all the big news is about the operating system version of Google’s browser. Chrome OS was a definite experiment from Google but this announcement cements in the fact the Chrome OS is here to stay.

For those unfamiliar with Chrome OS, let me fill you in. It basically is an entire operating system based around Chrome. Instant web, 8 second start up, data stored in the cloud and built-in security are just some of the big attractions of Chrome OS but there were some concerns when it was announced; such as could it replace a fully-fledged laptop and would ever catch on.

The Chrome OS beta did have some pretty big omissions but Google has now listened and delivered. The first update announced by Sundar Pichai, the Senior VP of Chrome, is that Chrome OS will be getting a fully fledged file system. Accessed by a tab in the browser, the file system is just like any other, sans the fact that it is in the browser. It recognises document types for quick upload to the cloud, USB sticks and SD cards can be mounted and there is a new preview mode for media such as movies and media. The preview mode can be either in the bottom right hand corner and it remains there while you do other tasks such as email or you make it full screen for your viewing pleasure. As one of the biggest complaints from Beta testers, I am glad to see it added and I would say that this is the biggest feature that could enable migration away from full computers towards Chrome OS.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich coming to all device types in Q4

The pace of Google Android development won’t cease or slow down any time soon, and over at Google I/O there are some major changes being shown off in the successor to Honeycomb. First and foremost, the tasty new treat is dubbed “Ice Cream Sandwich”. It is a bit more of a mouthful than previous names, but it also comes with a slew of new features.

This version will run on both phones and tablets, intelligently scaling the UI for use on many different resolutions. This means that eventually we’ll see the same Android firmware across all types of devices, and not the phone or tablet specific versions we have now. Another major feature are the new camera functions, namely face recognition and tracking. For the homescreen, widgets are now resizable. USB host is now native, so USB devices from cameras to game controllers can be plugged in just like a traditional PC. Over in the US, film purchases and rentals directly from the Android Market is on its way, as well as cloud storage and playback for your tunes; it’s currently unclear whether these will be arriving at our shores here in the UK. Finally, the ‘Android Open Accessory’ program certifies Android compatible accessories from game controllers to exercise bikes. There’s even a demo of a real Labyrinth gameboard controlled by an Android device!

Perhaps one the most pleasing things Google is announcing however, are the new guidelines for post-purchase support. HTC, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and Vodafone are among partners in this scheme who will be committed to providing timely updates for at least 18 months after release (hardware dependant). This is huge news, giving consumers confidence that their device will be riding the newest OS for quite some time after purchasing.

Sounds super sweet to me!

Posted by: Vince

HTC Puccini: 10-Inch LTE Tablet

According to Pocketnow we will soon see the HTC Puccini, a rumoured 10-inch tablet HTC is preparing to follow its seven-inch Flyer. All fingers seem to be pointing at AT&T right now for release and the Puccini will be one of the first devices compatible with their "true 4G" LTE network. Specs for this model remain unknown, although it’s likely to run Android 3.x Honeycomb and support HTC’s Scribe capacitive pen input technology. Since Giacomo Puccini was a 19th and 20th century opera composer (La Boheme, Madame Butterfly), there may be a musical focus here as well.

Exciting stuff and it will be nice to see HTC release a hefty tablet to take on Motorola, Samsung and LG as the Flyer looks a little paltry in comparison.

Posted by: Gareth

HTC ChaCha and Salsa on pre order from Amazon

HTC’s two ‘Facebook’ phones look like landing with us next month. The two devices have shown up on Amazons UK site and are showing a release date of June 26th.

Now we know that these things are often subject to change so I wouldn’t get your heart set on that date. It may be sooner or later than June 26th. However, if you want to know what we think of the two new handsets we will have them for review prior to them going on sale so stay tuned (even though we are not on the radio!)

If you want a quick reminder of what the ChaCha and Salsa are all about you can find the details below.