News

BBC Trust approves plans for mobile apps

The BBC have been planning to create apps for quite a while, but only now have the BBC Trust approved those plans. There will be iOS, BlackBerry and Android apps, and currently the BBC News app should be available this afternoon for iOS in the App Store. There will also be similar apps for BBC Sport and finally an official BBC iPlayer app. The BBC News app will be available for other platforms as well later on this year. They were supposed to be available back in April, but the BBC Trust had to postpone them while they ‘assessed the proposals’.

Posted by: Vince

A new BlackBerry Bold

Salomondrin.net has done it again. They have shown us a new BlackBerry Bold, this one is allegedly the 9780!

Specs are sketchy but it is believed to have 512mb of flash memory.

Clearly running BlackBerry 6 this is good news and possibly bad. The good news is that RIM are also focusing on non touch screen devices as well as the touch screen ones we have already heard about.

The bad news is that is it possible that the current Bold 9700 will not be upgradable to BlackBerry 6? If this is the case I will be very disappointed.

Lets hope we get to see this new Bold on video soon.

Posted by: James

UberTwitter Update

If you are are BlackBerry user and also use Twitter than you will more than likely be aware of UberTwitter as it is, in my opinion, the best BlackBerry Twitter app available.

The good news is UberTwitter have just released a new version if their beta which includes different coloured themes, something we have not seen before, and a slightly different user interface style. If you fancy giving it a try just click here from your BlackBerry browser and download for free.

I’m loving the new green logo UberTwitter!

Posted by: James

Apples white iPhone4 launch delayed

Those of you waiting for the release of the white iPhone4 are going to be bitterly disappointed. Apple have said the launch will now not be until later in the year due to manufacturing of the white version being more complicated. You would have thought they new about this a while ago!

An Apple spokesman has said the following:

“White models of Apple’s new iphone 4 battery have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.”

Could they be looking at a new antenna design I wonder?

Just had an email from the guys over at eXpansys letting us know that they have a great deal to offer on cases for the iPhone 4 and 4S.

We are running a clearance on a range of iPhone 4/4S battery cases – each now only £9.99 – saving up to 83%

Pretty good when you consider they were up to £60 a few weeks ago.

http://www.expansys.com/powerjackits/

KEY FEATURES

Very slim; smaller than many ordinary cases
Elegant, ergonomic form-fitting design
Choice of luxurious leather-effect finishes
Built-in high power 1450mAH ultra-slim battery
Up to 7 extra hours talk-time
Up to 10 extra hours video playback
Up to 40 extra hours music playback

Posted by: James

webOS v2 landing later this year

Since HP’s acquisition of Palm, HP have said that they will continue development of the promising webOS platform and put it on consumer devices, such as phones, tablets and even printers. Jon Rubenstein, the Palm CEO who nurtured webOS’s birth, has said that webOS 2.0 is ‘on track for release later this year’ in an interview with Fortune. It is praised more or less across the board for being one of the nicest, most intuitive and modern mobilie OS’s made, and it would be a great shame to see it go. Luckily, HP have also seen it’s potential and have decided to carry on developing it. Hopefully the next major version of webOS will also bring new cutting edge hardware to match, something Palm seemed to lack, and also something that we hope HP can help out with. 

Google halts direct sales of Nexus One, Nexus Two anyone?

The Google Nexus One was launched only 7 months ago but now Google have stopped selling their Nexus One, at least through their own online store. Despite not moving a great number of handsets, they did admit that they didn’t expect huge sales numbers – the Nexus One was supposed to raise Android’s presence and mind share whilst being easily accessible.

Back in May, Google announced that after the last batch of Nexus Ones, that would be it. Now that day has come, and checking in at their store greets you with a message saying that it’s no longer available. That doesn’t mean you can’t buy one via other means though – it’s still available via Vodafone here in the UK, and Google will also be happy to sell you one if you’re a developer. So, are we disappointed? Well, not really as there’s still it’s superbrother, the HTC Desire, and other current and future Android competition like the Samsung Galaxy S and maybe a Nexus Two?

Posted by: Vince

Motorola and Huawei in legal battle

I suppose it has been a few days since we last heard about one mobile phone company suing another so it was about time for another one.

This time it’s Motorola versus Huawei. US based Motorola filed a complaint against Hauwei with the federal court in Chicago and claim that of of their former engineers leaked information to Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei.

Huawei said the lawsuit was groundless.

"Huawei will vigorously defend itself against baseless allegations," the company said in an emailed statement.

Even if there is any truth to the claim, obviously I have no idea, I’m really not sure how far Motorola think they are likely to get with any kind of lawsuit as if the case goes through the courts in the US any decision that’s may be made cannot be enforced in China where Huawei are based.

Since at least 2006, Motorola had required its engineers to sign a confidentiality agreement, according to the filing.

Posted by: Matt

BlackBerry 9800 set up video

solomondrin.net has released yet another video of the BlackBerry 9800, this time of it booting and going through the set up process. If you are not a BlackBerry fan then this may not sound very exciting but if like me you are a bit of a BlackBerry addict then this video will have you salivating at the lips. The boot up screen is absolutely awesome.

Check it out below and please let us have your thoughts on the forum.

Skype updated for iOS4

If like me, you have Skype installed on your iPhone but tend not to use it much due to it not running in the background your worries are over. Skype have released an update to fix this issue. Now iPhone iOS4 users can have Skype running in the background all the time if they so desire. Bonus.

Head into the app store on your iPhone and check for updates for the download.

Posted by: James

New giffgaff iPhone app

We may have mentioned giffgaff once or twice in the past and we quite like the way in which they operate, offering their customers, or members in their lingo, rewards for helping other members or for referring friends that then become members.

Today giffgaff launched a new iPhone app that allows you to look after your giffgaff account, refer your friends and to read and participate in their forums.

confidence has created an iPhone application called Mygiffgaff which is a beautiful execution of a very useful program that allows you to check your giffgaff balance as well as see which goodybags you have active and which one you have queued up.

Check it out!

Posted by: Matt