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HTC Desire HD rumour roundup

First confirmed in a Vodafone Germany stock system screen late July, HTC’s codenamed ‘Ace’ device has been building up a steady head of rumour, culminating in the recent leak of a rumoured prototype device (pictured here). You may be aware that James and Matt have been talking about the HTC Ace for several months but now we know that the new flagship handset will almost certainly be called the HTC Desire HD.

So, in a wheat/chaff sorting effort, let’s take a look at the whispers:

Real-time 3D from 2D promises Toshiba with new Cell Regza panels

Toshiba’s near mythical television, the Cell Regza is gaining a new string to its already impressive bow with 3D capability. However, this isn’t regular 3D capability, as the Cell Regza being the technological behemoth that it is, this is real-time 2D to 3D conversion that takes your common-or-garden 2D broadcasts and converts them on the fly by “recognising vectors of movement”.

This mind-expanding 3D comes courtesy of the processing power afforded by its PS3 cell processing power. But don’t worry, none of this is at the expense of the other features – it still has a massive 3TB hard disk space for acres of HD TV recording and it’s still capable of recording 8 different channels simultaneously. As you’d expect from Tosh’s highest-end kit, there is also a barrel full of image enhancing technologies, including “Block Noise Clear” that promises to deliver even clearer HD broadcasts. The Cell Regza line also uses a 9,000,000:1 LED backlit “mega” panel and is, despite all this technology, still only 2.9cm thin (although much of the real brains of the set are in the separate tuner box). Unfortunately there is no word on a firm date when UK eyes can expect to gaze on a 3D Cell-rendered Eastenders.

Posted by: Ian

Pioneer and ViaMichelin team up for NavGate

Upmarket audio manufacturer and erstwhile purveyor of lauded television sets Pioneer have announced a partnership with route planning service ViaMichelin. From the ViaMichelin service you can now export your route to your Pioneer NavGate GPS, joining other luminaries of the GPS world such as Garmin, Tom Tom and Navman. It’s a relatively simple process of searching the ViaMichelin for a destination and then exporting the details from the site to the NavGate’s SD card which shows up as a feed on the device in-car.

The NavGate software will add this function to your currently installed software via an update and Pioneer claim that the ViaMichelin feeds are available for all Europe.

Pioneer has helpfully provided a short video to explain the process.

Posted by: Ian

Sneaky Preview of iPod Touch 4?

A brazen or possibly foolish case manufacturer has maybe given the world it’s first glimpse at the expected 4th generation iPod Touch by sending this picture to a mac site.  Clearly sporting what appears to be a camera and flash, it lends further credence to rumours that Apple are pushing the iPod Touch as an all in one media player for those not quite needing (or affording) the iPhone 4. 

From the picture it appears the iPod is still maintaining the third generation’s rounded back, possibly forgoing the iPhone 4’s glass extravagances to keep costs down.  Beyond this however, nothing more is given away, and yes that iPod is still sporting the previous iteration of iOS.  The new devices are rumoured for a September refresh according to UK retailer John Lewis but as yet Apple confirm or deny nothing.

Posted by: Ian

Vonage – call your facebook friends for free

Vonage have announced their mobile app for facebook which will allow users to make free calls to their facebook friends who also have the application installed over Wi-Fi or 3G . And the calls are free!

The application currently supports iPhone and Android but I am sure other platforms are being worked on.

I have just downloaded the app and will be testing it out later so will update you on its efficiency etc.

Vonage Holdings Corp. today introduced the Vonage Mobile application for Facebook. This new service allows users to make free mobile calls to all of their Facebook friends who have the app, anywhere in the world, directly from their friends list, with a single touch.

oadable application is free to get and free to use. The new service enhances the ability to connect with Facebook friends through the addition of voice calling. It is available for iPhone, iPod touch and Android devices. And the service works over Wi-Fi and 3G /4G networks in most countries.

BlackBerry Torch 9800 keyboards – video

In the following video I give you a very quick demo of the keyboard options on the BlackBerry Torch 9800. As you will see, as well as the hardware QWERTY keyboard you have on screen options as well. What I don’t show though is that if you prefer you can have the onscreen keyboard set to suretype, meaning you have two letters on each key. I personally cant stand that one hence the reason that I didn’t think to test it!

As I mentioned in an earlier post the hardware keyboard is much the same as on the current BlackBerry Bold 9700. It did feel a little different to me but I am putting that down to the fact that the Torch feels totally different in the hand compared to the Bold 9700.

What I can tell you is that the onscreen keyboard worked perfectly. I managed to type 100% mistake free in portrait mode, something which I cant even to on my iPhone so overall i am incredibly impressed with the on screen typing options on the Torch. Nice work RIM.

BlackBerry Torch 9800 coming to Orange

RIM announced the BlackBerry Torch 9800 yesterday at a joint press event in London and New York. Our man James was there and during the Q&A session asked the question: “Will there be any kind of network exclusivity on the Torch when it’s released here in the UK?”  RIM said that they were unable to answer the question but that left us with a horrible feeling that it would be available on only one carrier initially.

However, our fears seem to have been somewhat unfounded as a little bird tells us that Orange will be stocking the Torch 9800 soon so will not be exclusive to just one carrier here in the UK as it is in the USA. Great news!

Posted by: Matt

The BlackBerry Torch – My thoughts after the press event

You more than likely saw that yesterday I attended a press event in London hosted by RIM to coincide with the event in New York City where RIM and AT&T announced to the world the beautiful BlackBerry Torch, the one we knew as the 9800 Slider.

As I had hands on time with the device I thought I had better give you my first impressions and a few facts.

At present the BlackBerry Torch is exclusive to AT&T in the USA. RIM have told us today that further press releases will be made in the "coming weeks" so at the moment we cannot say if the Torch will have an exclusive carrier here in the UK. I hope not but have a feeling it may well do.

IM+ Lite for BlackBerry updates

We recently showed you a video of IM+ on the  BlackBerry and I have today been sent the details of some changes to the free version of the client. These include:

• Completely redesigned user interface with new theme available.
• New UI elements with tabs, new message indicators etc.
• Convenient history review for all conversations.
• Improved group chat for MSN and Skype.

If you did not get a chance to see IM+ on our video you can do so here.

The full version of the app now has a new name. It’s now called IM+ Pro.

To see the details in more depth you can head on over to shape services or go grab a free download from app world. Enjoy.

Posted by: James

RIM the BlackBerry 9800 Torch

The BlackBerry 9800 gets named the ‘Torch’. Full press release of the BB 9800 follows. We’ll have some hands on time with this handset later and will post images and video shortly!