News

RIM announces BlackBerry 6

Following on from the BlackBerry press event in London which was supposed to be a live link of events from New York (it went pear shaped) we have the following BlackBerry 6 announcement for you:

BlackBerry press event coverage

As we mentioned yesterday, RIM are holding a BlackBerry press event today in New York starting at 11am EST (4pm UK time). What we didn’t tell you though, as it was a bit of a guarded secret, is that there is also going to be a press event here in London that will be timed to coincide with the New York event.

Now, we’re still not 100% sure what the event will be about, we can make several guesses of course but to find out for sure we have roving reporter James en-route to the event. James will be tweeting throughout the event and I’ll also be publishing updates to this post as things unfold so be sure to come back after 4pm and to keep refreshing this page for updates!

James’ coverage follows:

Android leads the growth in smartphone market

The smartphone market has grown 64% this year, though it’s Android who steal the show. Although its development rate has been rapid to say the least, with some analytics suggesting it’s too fast, the consumer market seems to suggest otherwise. Canalys reports that Q2 shipments of Android devices are up by, wait for it, 886%! That’s compared with the same quarter of 2009, and the epic sales growth has no doubt been helped by the release of high end smartphones coming left right and centre from HTC, Samsung and Motorola to name a few. With countless Android beasts rumoured for release in the near future, we can only expect Android sales to continue rising.

Post by: Vince

BlackBerry press event tomorrow

You may remember that last week we mentioned that RIM had asked some members of the press to a special event in New York which takes place tomorrow. RIM have not said what the event will entail and it could be made up of several things.

We may get an official release date for BlackBerry 6. The same applies for the 9800 Slider. Could it be the 9670 Clamshell? The Bold 9780, or even the Curve 9300? I really do hope it is not just the Curve 9300 as frankly that is not very exciting at all.

Fingers crossed that the people attending will be able to get their hands on the 9800 Slider and with it running BlackBerry 6 get a good feel for where BlackBerry devices are heading in the future.

We will have all the latest news right here so please be sure to keep checking back with us tomorrow or follow us on twitter for updates.

Posted by: James

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