News

LG confirms Optimus One will get Gingerbread update

After what seemed to be some confusion, LG have officially come forward to reassure us that all LG phones that carry the Optimus One branding and are currently on 2.2 Froyo will get the 2.3 update. Arguably the more important question is when, but LG have only said that the details will be announced in ‘due course’. This makes the Optimus One one of the first phones that are confirmed to be served up Google’s new pudding (apart from the Nexus One and Nexus S of course). Then again, it may have to go through carrier certification and testing on branded phones even after LG have give the go ahead, adding more delay. Click through to see the full statement.

BlackBerry PlayBook video demo

BGR.com have been lucky enough to get together with RIM and film a demo video of the BlackBerry Playbook. We have seen the PlayBook on video several times now but as you will see this is probably the best video yet. What is even more interesting is that it turns out that the whole bezel around the PlayBook is touch sensitive and can be used within apps.

Enough talking. You much check out the video after the break.

WP7 with copy/paste in new dev update

One of the shortcomings of Windows Phone 7 is apparently drawing nearer – a recent update that’s been showing up on developer Windows phones includes copy and paste as a headline feature. Microsoft has always promised that it was coming but now we are getting closer to that semi-confirmed “early 2011” timeframe.

It seems to work as you’d expect it to, with a similar method to Android and iOS (how different can it be?) See a short video of it after the break.

Orange PAYG sale now on!

If you are thinking of buying a phone for somebody for Christmas then today might be a good day to do it. Orange have a 48 hour sale on and all pay as you go phones are reduced by 15%.

That means you can get a silver BlackBerry Curve 8520 for £109.65 + £20 top up! Or the Orange San Francisco for just from £84.00 + £10 top up!

Click here to visit the page. Thanks Orange.

Posted by: James

O2 launches hunt for the world’s favourite Angry Bird

O2 today launches the biggest bird search since Tweety and Sylvester to discover just which Angry Bird is closest to the country’s heart.

The vote, being run via text, Twitter, Facebook and the O2 Blog, will determine one of the biggest questions of our time: does the yellow bird’s turbo boost outweigh the blue bird’s ability to split, or are the pigs in the right after all?
Voters can choose between the red, yellow, green, blue, black and white birds as well as the pigs. To have their say, voters can use any of the following voting methods:

• Twitter: to tweet their choice, voters should write a tweet with their vote and include the hashtag #angrybirdso2. Tweets without this hashtag will not be counted
• Facebook: Facebookers can vote by visiting www.facebook.com/o2uk and hitting Like on the picture of their bird
• O2 Blog: to vote on the O2 Blog, voters need to visit the O2 Blog and add a comment with their favourite bird
• Text: To vote by text, send a message to 60600 with the word ANGRY followed by RED, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, BLACK, WHITE or PIG. Votes cast by text will cost the standard network rate and can only be sent in the UK.

There are also Twibbons available for voters to show their support – to download them, head to the O2 Blog.

The search, being run to coincide with O2 selling Red Bird, Yellow Bird and Green Pig Gear4 Angry Birds cases for iPhone 4 in store and at www.o2.co.uk/angrybirds, finishes at lunchtime on Friday 10 December. The results will then be announced in time for worldwide Angry Birds Day on Saturday 11 December with one lucky voter for red bird, yellow bird and pig each winning a case featuring the character they voted for.

Posted by: James

BlackBerry PlayBook demoed in more detail

With nearly every gadget manufacturer wanting to out a tablet of their own, RIM and their PlayBook is one that seems to be grabbing the headlines, and rightly so. At a Rogers demo, David Neale showed off a demo of a PlayBook with a newer OS build, which was capable of showing the operating system’s multitasking system, though on only one of the two cores of its processor. The interface is very webOS-like with swiping gestures used to manage running apps. Another tasty treat was a full HD 1080p video clip playing very smoothly – it seems like one of the most promising tablets for the future!

Posted by: Vince

On screen keyboard found on webOS

The chaps at precentral.net have been playing about with the Palm Pre 2 and have come across an on screen keyboard which has not been seen before. Having this keyboard on the Palm Pre or Pixi is fairly pointless but what is does make us think is that HP/Palm must be working on some touch screen only devices for the near future. This is pretty exciting stuff as WebOS is a great platform sorely let down by some not so great hardware from Palm. I suspect things are going to change now that HP are running the show.

Video after the break:

Gingerbread enhancements revealed, rolling out to Nexus Ones

Google have finally come clean about the newest release of Android. As the rumours suggested, Gingerbread is indeed version 2.3. It isn’t a huge overhaul of Android, but rather many refinements under the hood and more UI tweaks and enhancements; Honeycomb 3.0, expected early next year, is the one that’s supposed to be the next major release. As well as officially announcing the release, Google have also seen it fit to already begin rolling over the air updates to Nexus One owners, so watch out for the update if you’re a lucky enough to own one. If not, there’s the Nexus S expected to be on sale on the 20th of December. Click through to see a brief summary of the tweaks and improvements over Froyo:

Google Nexus S arrives

Carphone Warehouse have updated their site with details of what you can expect to pay for the new Nexus S. Sim unlocked the high price of £549.95 is being demanded. You can of course grab it on PAYG on Vodafone by adding £10 to that. To get it free you’ll be paying £35 a month for 600mins, 500 sms and 500 mb data on a 24 month contract. There is also a £40 option at 900mins, 500 sms, 750mb, again for 2 years.

It’s a tall order and roughly equivalent to what early adopters had to pay to get their hands on the Nexus One on it’s initial release. Delivery is roughly estimated as the end of December.

Posted by Gareth

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The Nexus S is coming!

Google’s new flagship Android device will be with us in a matter of weeks. The joint effort from Samsung and Google will be the first Android device to come pre loaded with Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

After December 16, Nexus S will be sold unlocked and carrier-independent initially through Best Buy stores in the U.S. and after December 20 at Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK.

See the specs and the press release after the break: