News

Why the British Government still uses IE6: it’s too expensive to upgrade

After reading the headline you may be wondering why money has anything to do with upgrading a browser – after all, they’re free to download and install. Well, 6000 government workers also think the same way, and so signed a petition to urge the government to upgrade away from the nine year old browser. However, the seemingly simply proposal has been rejected with this statement:

"To test all the web applications currently used by HMG departments can take months at significant potential cost to the taxpayer. It is therefore more cost effective in many cases to continue to use IE6 and rely on other measures, such as firewalls and malware scanning software, to further protect public sector internet users."

Hmm. We all know that IE6 is a pain to webmasters, and the government’s decision isn’t helping the situation. It also shows how poor the applications they use really are – how many web programs do you have that break upon an upgrade in your browser?  The excuse is that it’s not ‘cost-effective’  to upgrade, but does that mean that they expect it to get any cheaper if they leave it? Everyone knows that’s not the case – in fact it would probably get more expensive when newer applications are brought in. From that statement, we can only assume that if they’re not upgrading now, because its not cost effective, then it looks like the great leaders of our great nation will be using IE6 to infinity, and beyond.

Post by: Vince

Android FroYo update for HTC Desire has arrived

Just a quick note to let you know that the Android 2.2 update is currently being pushed to many HTC Desire here in the UK. Go check now!

Posted by: James

Milestone XT720 CPU speed confusion

If you’ve seen my unboxing video of the new Motorola Milestone XT720 perhaps you will have noticed that I stated that the CPU speed was 550MHz. You might be thinking that I’ve made a mistake in quoting the spec. In fact I too thought I’d made a mistake with it, I originally thought that the XT720 got it’s name from the 720MHz CPU.

There’s been a lot of confusion over the clock speed in fact. The original spec sheet we had from Motorola stated 550MHz but elsewhere on their website they go on to claim 720MHz and the main spec page says ‘Up to 720 MHz’.

So what does that all mean and what is the correct figure? Well I’ve not been able to get a proper answer from Motorola yet but I have discovered that some retailers are selling the Milestone XT720 have added comments like: “…the 550MHz processor (with free software update to 720MHz expected in August)…”

I can also tell you that our review XT720 definitely is clocked at 550MHz see below –

Samsung Galaxy S now available on Three

Samsung’s latest superphone, the Galaxy S, is now in stock and available at Three’s UK store. James wrote an excellent review on the Galaxy S, and if the wonder of a 4″ Super AMOLED display has you mesmerised, then it’s all yours, providing you sign two years of your life away. 

As well as a beautiful display, the Galaxy S also features a 5MP camera which also boasts HD video recording. And of course it runs Android, and its probably the best Android handset yet (but not for long probably).

Three offer the phone free on £35, £38 or £40 contracts which range from 500 inclusive minutes to a ridiculous 2000 minutes per month. All three plans include 5000 texts, yet only 1GB of data. It seems all UK operators seem to be moving down this route, away from the unlimited data we know and love. Still, 1GB should be more than enough for everyone but the most hardcore users – though I suspect you’ll spend most of your time drooling at the screen.

Post by: Vince

Another BlackBerry 9780 video

It was earlier today that we posted a video of the BlackBerry 9780 but bbleaks have published yet another demo, this time slightly more in depth.

What is really promising is that OS 6 only takes up about 180MB of the 512MB RAM, a lot less than on the 9800 Slider. Does this mean we may see BlackBerry 6 on the 9700. Fingers crossed. 

As we already know, the 9780 looks pretty much identical to the 9700 apart from the bezel around the phone which is gun metal in colour. I think I prefer the chrome on the 9700 to be honest but a small factor.

HTC’s official Desire FroYo update statement

News just in from HTC regarding the official update to FroYo for the HTC Desire:

“The Android 2.2 (FroYo) update for HTC Desire will start rolling out across Europe this weekend. As well as including the complete set of Android 2.2 features, the update will contain a few special additions of our own through the latest iteration of HTC Sense. The update will provide 720p video capture, HTC’s App Share widget, as well as our enhanced HTC Caller ID, and improved multi-language keyboard. Also, though the update, HTC Sync will allow HTC Desire users to sync their music with iTunes.

HTC Desire users will be notified that the over-the-air update is available to download when their phone automatically checks for software updates. The update won’t delete any of the phone’s content. However, due to the size of the update, we would advise using a WiFi connection to download it wherever possible to avoid additional data charges.

This update will initially roll out to unlocked HTC Desire handsets. Operator specific versions of the update are undergoing testing and we expect to make them available in several weeks’ time.”

More as we get it.

Posted by: Matt

BlackBerry 9780 caught on video

Driphter.com have once again released a rather interesting video. This one shows BlackBerry 6 running on the Bold 9780. We don’t know too much about this device but it looks like it will be the successor to the 9700.

As you will see in the short video, using BlackBerry 6 on a non touchscreen device looks to be as smooth and easy as I hoped.  The web kit browser seems to work beautifully and I personally cant wait to test this bad boy out. If you are a BlackBerry fan I think you are in for an exciting few months. The big question will be which new device to buy.

Video after the break:

Obama: my BlackBerry is ‘no fun’

Since the start of his presidency, Obama has made no secret of his love for RIM’s Blackberry. He certainly fought for the right to continue using it as president, but now Obama seems to have changed his mind.

Understandably, it’s super protected with encryption and so only 10 people are allowed to email him. Talking on “ABC The View”, Obama said, "I’ve got to admit, it’s no fun because they think that it’s probably going to be subject to the presidential records act, so nobody wants to send me the real juicy stuff."

Post by: Vince

BlackBerry Curve 9300 news

We have seen leaked photos of the BlackBerry Curve 9300 over the past month or so but nothing has been made official from RIM yet about the first 3G Curve.  A very reliable source has been in touch with us to let us know that an expected announcement will be made around the 8th/9th of August. Not long to wait but I think this one will be slightly over shadowed by the 9800 Slider.

Price wise, I am led to believe that this Curve will be a fair bit more expensive than the current Curve 8520 that we in the UK can get sim free for under £200 and as little as £148 on PAYG.

It will certainly be interesting to see if the UK carriers can offer the 9300 for as little as £20 per month on a contract like they can currently with the 8520.

BlackBerry 6 home screen evolution

I just found the below interview over on the official BlackBerry blog. If you are interested in BlackBerry 6 this one is worth a read.

As you may have already seen in the sneak peek video, the Home Screen in BlackBerry® 6 has undergone a makeover. To get the inside scoop on some of these changes, I reached out to Joey Benedek, Director of UX Research at Research In Motion® (RIM). Check out the interview below.

First, can you tell us a bit about what you and your group do at RIM?

I am a Director in the User Experience (UX) group, and I run the UX Research team. The UX organization is responsible for understanding user needs and desires and translating those into interface designs. We then work with the various software development teams to iterate those designs – with end-user feedback as our guide – prior to releasing to market. Bottom line, our team is responsible for defining the on-device experience that our customers interact with and making sure those experiences are not only usable but also desirable.