News

Windows Phone 7 Launch Event

Monday is the big day for Windows Phone 7. Microsoft are holding an event in London, that we have mentioned before, to officially launch the new OS. I will be there at the event and will be tweeting the news as it happens so please keep an eye out in your Twitter timelines for me.

At the event I would imagine we will get a confirmed date for when we can expect devices to be available to buy. I know the 21st has been knocking around the web as a strong possibility.

Fingers crossed we will also get to see some devices from the manufactures that are supporting Windows Phone 7. It will be interesting to see how many each are unveiling and on which networks.

If you don’t follow us on Twitter you can do so by clicking here.

Oooh, it’s so exciting!

Posted by: James

ÜberTwitter gets an update for BlackBerry users

If you use a BlackBerry then chances are you may use UberTwitter. The app has received an update today to bring you the below features and improvements.

• Map Provider – Allow users to select either MapQuest (default) or BlackBerry maps to display users locations. User action to retrieve a map You now have to click the ‘Retrieve Map’ button after opening a tweet in order for the map to be retrieved. This will result in substantially lower bandwidth requirements and improved battery life.
• UberChannel date display bug fix – Fixed a bug where tweets in UberChannel streams had the date incorrectly displayed.
• Resetting tweets to retrieve bug – Fixed bug where on an upgrade the number of tweets to retrieve would reset to 60.
• Highlight color in Midnight Theme bubble layout – The highlight color in the Midnight theme when using the bubble layout is now much easier to discern.
• Text Ad color -  We changed the color of the text ads to conform to the them colors. The ads are still clearly marked as an advertisement.
• GPS Radio Activation -  The GPS radio will now only be activated when you open the compose tweet screen IF you have selected to use the GPS radio to determine location. This should greatly reduce battery drain, but may result in the location mechanism falling back to the cell tower method on some occasions.

ÜberTwitter is a free Twitter app but there is a paid version if you don’t want the adverts on it. You can subscribe by clicking here.

Posted by: James

Firefox beta available for Android and Maemo devices

Firefox is the latest alternative browser now available for Android as long as you are running version 2.0 and and above. The Nokia N900 is also supported.  Want to check it our? just click here.

Here are the all important features you will get with Firefox beta for Android:

Greenpois0n Jailbreak Coming 10/10/10 at 10:10:10

Put it in your calendar people, the greenpois0n jailbreaking solution for iOS 4.1 has been announced to be among us on 10/10/10 at 10:10:10 am GMT. The tweet below by @p0sixninja, the jailbreak should be available when by mid-morning on October 10th. So get ready for greenpois0n so you can have all of the jailbreaking treats, alongside all of the great stuff in iOS 4.1.

Start the countdown ladies and gentlemen.

HTC Sense online goes live

If you are lucky enough to have pre ordered the HTC Desire HD or Desire Z you will be pleased to know that the online HTC Sense webpage is up and running ready for when you get your new device later this month, hopefully!

Although the web portal is currently restricted to these two new devices we hope that the service will be rolled out to slightly older devices at some point in the near future.

The online service will allow you to manage your phone online as well as track and even wipe everything from it in the event of loss/theft.

Sounds pretty sweet and a big selling tool if you ask me.

Lets hope the devices don’t take too much longer to arrive in stock. We of course will have full reviews of both the Desire HD and the Desire Z as soon as we can.

You can register for HTC Sense online here.

Posted by: James

HP confirm new WebOS devices are coming in 2011

Once a contender but currently a side note in the mobile OS world, Palm’s WebOS looks like it’ll be finding its way onto handheld devices next year, according to HP senior VP Eric Cador.  This of course come of the back of another HP VP, Todd Bradley, confirming the existence and release of the “PalmPad” earlier in September, plus news of WebOS 2.0 hitting beta. So while WebOS may not be the great white hope it was a couple of years back, it’s not the dead-and-buried OS others may think.  Will one of these devices be the rumoured Palm Mansion?  With new rumours of an 800×480 screen and touch only interface it certainly marks a change in direction for the OS (maybe at HP’s insistence?) although the WebOS 2.0 screengrabs haven’t yet served up an on-screen keyboard.  A screen with that size would likely be bigger than the Pre (and certainly the Pixi) to enable a decent QWERTY keyboard on there, unless Palm fancy still-birthing another great OS with shoddy hardware.  Lets hope not, WebOS could still be a tour-de-force with decent hardware, especially in the tablet arena.

Source: Mashable

Posted by: Ian

Is the Motorola Droid Pro a BlackBerry killer?

I have not been hugely impressed with recent Android offerings from Motorola but this Droid Pro that was announced recently caught my eye for the obvious reason that it has the BlackBerry form factor.

Although us BlackBerry addicts now have the Torch I would love RIM to give us a front facing qwerty with a nice big touch screen. The Droid Pro is headed for Verizon in the States so I’m not sure if we will ever see it over here in the UK but I think that Motorola would be mad not do.

Anyway, here is the official word on the street:

BlackBerry Torch 9800 sim free from Clove

Some weeks ago we posted that the BlackBerry Torch 9800 was expected in stock soon and as usual it didn’t happen due to a delay from RIM. Good news today as stock as arrived at Clove and all existing orders will be processed Wednesday for delivery Thursday.

If you have not seen our BlackBerry Torch review you can do so here.

Here’s a run through of the key features of the BB Torch:

Spotify Comes to Windows Mobile, WP7 Version Coming Soon

For all 19 people still using Windows Mobile and want Spotify, your prayers have been answered. As Spotify announced Spotify for Windows Mobile alongside Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer at Stockholm’s Royal Institute of Technology event. Spotify is going to be available for all Windows Mobile phones 6.0 and onwards, and the features are per usual.

You can now:

• Search, browse and play millions of tracks
• Stream them over Wi-Fi or 2.5/3G
• Play your playlists offline
• On-the-fly sync. So every track you add to a playlist appears on mobile and computer
• The What’s New tab
• Wirelessly sync your local files to your phone
• Starred tracks so you tag all your favorites into a special list

Check out the video below.

Microsoft reveals October event is indeed for WP7, and we’ll be there!

Just as we and no doubt all of you expected, the event we are attending in central London on the 11th is indeed going to be the launch of Windows Phone 7. It will coincide with another event over the pond where Steve Ballmer himself will unveil the first crop of retail devices. Our lucky man James has already had a toy with the new operating system, and he’s also going to be at the event on Monday tweeting live. Over in NYC they’re expecting some hands on with the new phones, and I hope we’ll get the same treatment here!

So what can we expect? Starting with the HD7, it looks to be a monster of a phone with a 4.3 inch display, 8GB storage, 1GHz processor and maybe ‘Dolby Mobile Sound’! The second device circulating the interwebs is the HTC Mozart – this is perhaps more mainstream with a 3.7 inch display, an 8MP camera and more or less every extra you can think of, all wrapped in a 11.9mm thick body. Just as important as the devices is the fact that it looks as if all five main UK operators will carry a WP7 device of some sort, with a Phones4U leak suggesting a release of late October!

So with the dates so close, have you started saving the pennies for a Windows Phone?

Posted by: Vince