News

Woman Sues Mall after CCTV captures her falling in fountain

Ok this isn’t the kind of story you would normally get from us but when I saw this on CBS News it made ma laugh so much I had to share!

The woman was walking through the mall where she works texting on her phone as she went, not looking where she was going falls head first in to one of the mall fountains. This was all captured from more than one CCTV camera and the security guards monitoring found it so funny that they decided to post the video online.

Now the woman as come forward and is threatening to sue the mall as she claims that the security folks should have come to her rescue more rapidly and should also not have released the video. Not sure why she feels that the mall is negligent for her own daft mistake but what makes this story funnier, I think, is that no one even knew who the wamon in the video was until she came forward and now she is claiming that she is embarrassed! LOL

Video after the break.

HTC Smartphone profits rises 160%

HTC, the Taiwanese smartphone maker that has emerged as a major rival to Apple’s iPhone, saw net profits rise 160% during the October to December quarter compared with a year earlier.

HTC was the first smartphone maker to use Google’s Android operating system.

Net profits rose to New Taiwan dollars 14.59bn ($500m; £315m) on the back of NT$104bn sales.

The company sold 24.6 million phones last year, more than double the 2009 figure.

Growth is expected to remain rapid this year, with the company predicting some 8.5 million handsets to be sold during the January to March quarter this year.

The company will also start making tablet computers to challenge Apple’s iPad.

"It’s a new market with many competitors, and we don’t want to rush into it," Peter Chou, HTC chief executive, said.

"We hope the product we eventually unveil will be one that meets consumers’ needs."

Via BBC

Posted by: James

Samsung teases us again

Those cheeky teasers at Samsung have got the media all in a kafuffle again. Like Samsung did with the Galaxy Tab they have updated the Samsung Unpacked website to show an image of the Galaxy S sitting beside what they will be unveiling at Mobile World Congress next month.

They say ‘”Something big is coming” so one can only presume it is the successor to the Galaxy S.

Our man Gareth will be at MWC to cover all the new announcements and gets hands on with the devices so you had better be ready for some good stuff from February 13th.

Posted by: James

Does this crush the 7 inch iPad rumors?

There have been plenty of rumors about whether Apple will release a 7 inch version of the iPad and like always the company have been very tight lipped about the whole thing.

Apple COO Tim Cooks recently spoke on the subject of Android and Windows tablets and like Steve Jobs has said previously he characterized the small sizes and lack of optimization as “bizarre”.

[With] the variety shipping today, the OS wasn’t designed for a tablet; but Google said this," Cook said. "So you wind up having the size of a tablet that’s less than reasonable, or one that’s not even a real tablet experience. It’s a scaled-up smartphone; that’s a bizarre product in our view. Those are what is shipping today. If you do a side-by-side with an iPad, some enormous percentage [is] going to pick the iPad. We have no concern there."

On the subject of Windows tablets Cook said that current designs are “fairly big, heavy and expensive, with weak battery life. They also need to have a keyboard or a stylus for input and were largely irrelevant in the market. From our point of view and what we’ve seen, people just aren’t interested in them.”

I cant see Apple turning round and saying that a 7 inch in now not bizarre so maybe we should put the rumor to bed?

Posted by: James

Blackberry Playbook to have no Calendar and Email?

Playbook’s Sr. Product Manager Ryan Bidan seems to stand behind the decision that the device will be shipping without independent calendar and e-mail features. He states the device is a “great standalone tablet” with just using WIFI and “this is not a device that is reliant on a Blackberry.” This still doesn’t address the concerns of the Playbook missing many of it’s popular BlackBerry features such as calendar, e-mail, blackberry internet and messenger services without a tethered BlackBerry phone.

This may be addressed in firmware update after the launch of the device but would have prevented the 1Q 2011 release date of the Playbook to include these on day 1 without being tethered to a Blackberry. Another consideration is that keeping personal data secure to the phone allows for non-secure data to be on the Playbook and this added benefit may be to prevent the data from being publicly accessible which has long been one of RIM’s strongholds in the market of keeping data secure.

Posted by: Gareth

The Maestro of Operating Systems

Not satisfied with one operating system? How about two? That’s been done. Three? Okay! The current concept device of the Evolve III Maestro only runs Windows 7 and Meego however they are reported to be delivering Android as the third OS when hitting production. Which version of Android is still being debated but 2.2 on the specs below will be whizzy. Version 3.0 is mentioned in the video but not confirmed.

The Maestro will have:

• Intel Atom N475 CPU (although a dual core Oak Trail update may be in the works)
• 2GB of RAM
• 32GB solid state disk
• 10 inch display
• WiFi
• 3G
• weighs 1.8 pounds

Check after the break for some videos:

White BlackBerry Torch coming to Vodafone

If you are a fan of having a white smartphone and you are in the market for a new BlackBerry why not consider the White Torch 9800 from Vodafone? The device has shown up on the Vodafone website as ‘coming soon’ over the last few days.

Now I may be wrong but I don’t recall seeing the white version for sale on any of the other UK networks so if you have to have it then head on over to the Vodafone site.

You may want to read our extensive BlackBerry Torch 9800 review before making up your mind. You can do so by clicking here.

Posted by: James

Is this the BlackBerry Torch 2?

We posted earlier today that BGR.com had reportedly got the specs of the next BlackBerry Curve and it was seem that they have done the same for the next BlackBerry Torch.

If the photo here is correct there are not any noticeable changes on the outside of the device but when it comes to the inside we can expect some impressive improvements, although certainly not groundbreaking. It would just bring the Torch inline with all the other smartphones out there right now.

BGR has reported the the Torch 2 can be expected in Q3 although we have no official word from RIM.

See the alleged specs after the break:

BlackBerry Curve “Apollo” info hits the web

The guys over at Boy Genius Report appear to have scored a bit of a scoop – information about the next generation Blackberry Curve codenamed Apollo – including the image on the right.

According to BGR the new device is going to have a 480×360 screen, a 5-megapixel camera, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and tri-band HSPA 7.2Mbps radio with NFC capabilities.

Other highlights include Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS, 512MB of eMMC, 512MB of RAM, a 1050 mAh battery, a Tavor MG-1 800MHz CPU all running BlackBerry OS 6.1 and squeezed into a unit just 11mm thin.

For the full article head over to BGR at http://www.bgr.com/2011/01/13/exclusive-next-generation-blackberry-curve-appears-brings-specs-with-it/#

Posted by: Iain

T-Mobile change their minds about data usage

After absolute uproar yesterday when T-Mobile slashed their data allowance from 3GB to 500mb they have today back tracked a wee bit and decided that this will only apply to new and upgrading customers!

 

“On Monday 10 January 2011 we announced that, in line with the rest of the industry, T-Mobile would be reducing its Fair Use Policy for data usage to 500MB a month for all mobile phone customers. Following a further review of our policy, these changes will now be introduced from 1 February, to new and upgrading customers only – not existing customers.

There will be no change to the data packages for existing customers  for the duration of their contract and we apologise for any confusion caused. The revision to the Fair Use Policy is designed to ensure an improved quality of service for all mobile internet users."

Lysa Hardy, VP, T-Mobile UK

So my understanding of this is that if you were thinking of joining T-Mobile don’t bother. And if you are an existing customer and use a lot of data you had better start shopping around for a new network. Sounds harsh but they have nobody to blame but themselves.

Posted by: James