News

Samsung I9000 Galaxy S will be with us soon

Recently the high end Android focus has been on other manufactures but Samsung are back with the I9000 Galaxy S which we hope to have our hands on in the next week or so thanks to our friends at Clove who will selling the device.

The I9000 Galaxy S is Samsung’s flagship Android device. The Galaxy S not only runs version 2.1of Android , but packs a feature set sure to rival that of any other Smartphone.

So what sets this handset apart from other Android devices on the market? First of all there’s the 4″ SUPER-AMOLED, touch-screen display. This new Super AMOLED technology developed by Samsung not only produces an amazing picture, it also saves on battery life, making the I9000 Galaxy S ideal for media playback and in-car satellite navigation.

iPad cases from mobilefun

Our friends over at mobilefun were kind enough to send us a couple of iPad cases this week to give a test drive. One being a kind of skin type case and the other being a more traditional fold over one similar to what I have had in years past for pocket PCs.

Which type of case you use with your iPad really comes down to personal preference. I would however suggest you have one. Scratching the iPad will result in tears I think!

The FlexiShield Skin case, as you can see below only offers protection to the outer edges and the rear of the iPad. Before I used it I thought to myself that I did not see the point of it but once the iPad was inside the skin I soon changed my mind.
The green colour case I was sent would not be my first choice of colour, or second, or third but the case does have some benefits apart from being able to change its appearance. Apart from the obvious benefit of offering protection the first thing I noticed was that it made the iPad feel a lot safer to hold. The naked iPad is rather sleek on its rear and although not slippery it’s brushed metal is very smooth. The FlexiShield skin case gives some extra grip which I felt offered some reassurance.

The only downside I can see is that if you use an iPad dock you will need to take the iPad out of the case.

iPad on sale in UK today!

So how many of you are planning to go and queue at your local Apple store today in a bid to get your hands on the much coveted iPad? Anyone reading this waiting in line?

Tracy, James and I have had our iPad’s for about a month or so now and I think I speak for all of us when I say that we love them. I rarely use my Macbook when I am out and about now, the iPad can do much of what I would otherwise use a laptop for, in fact I’m sitting on the sofa right now writing this post from the iPad and my recent HTC Smart review was written entirely on the iPad! And emails from James and Tracy almost always bare the phrase ‘Sent from my iPad’ in the footer.

If you care to share your insights in to the stock levels at local stores etc. then please comment over on the forum.

To those of you that have already been lucky enough to pick up your iPad; are you delighted with your purchase? Which model did you opt for and what apps did you buy already?

We’ll have more accessories and app reviews on site soon too. My must-have at the moment is the camera connection kit. I love being able to look at my just-taken photos on the large screen.

Enjoy playing with your new toys over the long weekend! 🙂

Posted by: Matt

Samsung team up with Vodafone once again

Following on from last years launch of Vodafone’s own 360 OS, the Samsung I8330 will be the successor to the Samsung H1, aptly named the Vodafone 360 H2.

Device specs are rumored to be pretty good with a Super AMOLED touchscreen, 8MP camera with LED flash as well as full HD video recording. Powered by a 1Ghz processor the Vodafone 360 will sport all the usual high end features such as GPS, Bluetooth and HSDPA.

The word on the street is that the H2 should be in your local Vodafone store in June or July although we have no official word from Vodafone at this point.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the original 360 H1. Not because of the hardware but I just couldn’t get over excited by the 360 software. Lets hope this one is more up my street.

Posted by: James

BlackBerry 9800 with OS 6

Here is some double bubble for you BlackBerry fans out there. theberrryfix.com have posted a great video of the BlackBerry 9800 slider running OS 6. 

As I have said before this new BlackBerry slider seems to be nicer each time we see it and now we can definitely see no clicking of the screen (like the Storm) things are looking even better for the device.

OS 6 appears to run smoothly on the 9800. The screen looks to be extremely sensitive and the OS reacts immediately to screen taps. A good sign all round.

Check out the video demo below and please feel free to air your comments on the forum.

Dell Streak to launch exclusively on O2

Dell and O2 today announced that the Dell Streak will launch exclusively on O2 early next month, bringing the internet, entertainment, easy turn-by-turn navigation and thousands of Android Market apps to customers looking for a big screen experience without having to carry a laptop around.

Available in early June through O2 stores and online at www.o2.co.uk and www.carphonewarehouse.com, the Dell Streak features a 5 megapixel camera, fast processor, built in Wi-Fi and can easily connect to a range of social networks.

"The Dell Streak is a bold new class of product, something we wanted to bring to our customers first," said Steve Alder, O2’s General Manager Devices. "This means we can continue to offer our customers a range of the very best devices to make their lives a bit easier."

"The Dell Streak hits the sweet spot between traditional smartphones and larger-screen tablets," said Ron Garriques, president, Dell Communication Solutions Group. "Its unique size provides people new ways to enjoy, connect, and navigate their lives."

O2 will be enhancing the Dell Streak experience with its intelligent network, great value tariffs and award winning customer service. This includes O2 Gurus in O2 retail stores and smartphone specialists in customer service to help customers get the most out of every product and service.

Pricing and tariff information will be released ahead of launch.

iPad ‘sold out almost everywhere’

If you’ve been following the progress of the Apple iPad in the USA then chances are you’ll already know that not only has it been hugely popular but so popular that, according to a recent survey, it’s sold out in almost three-quarters of all Apple stores in the US.

74% had none available, and 26% had some Wi-Fi models, but no stores had the 3G iPad in stock for immediate purchase. – Gene Munster, analyst.

Whilst I cant claim to have a sample size that’s anything like as large as Munster’s it does ring true with my own experience of trying to purchase an iPad whilst in Florida recently. Having visited the Apple store the day before the 3G model became available I was told that the WiFi version was sold out and that I would have to reserve one for store pick up if I wanted one. I decided to take my chances and try queuing for the 3G on launch day.

I did get lucky with the 3G and managed to buy the last one in the store and walked out a happy man with me 64GB model. Over the course of the next 8 days I tried several other stores to try and get another for a friend but everywhere was out of stock!

It’s going to be interesting to see if the iPad is met with the same demand when they go on sale here in the UK this coming Friday (28th May). Judging by the number of people willing to import them from the US I suspect that demand here will be just the same!

Posted by: Matt

Google preview Froyo

No it is not that little geezer from The Lord of the Rings!

If you are not aware, Google previewed the latest version of Android yesterday at their I/O event in the States.

Froyo certainly has some significant improvements over Éclair and also some nice new features.

I watched some of the live feed yesterday and what I saw was rather impressive. Google have once again been working their socks off to make the necessary improvements to the Android platform.

It just keeps getting better and better.

Rather than me bore you with the details, as I am really not an Android expert, please have a look at the official video after the break.

Pre order the HTC Wildfire

Devicewire have the HTC Wildfire available for pre order if you would like to be one of the first to get your hands on it.

If you are not familiar with it this low cost Android Device is a lower spec version of the HTC Desire but with that same great user experience. If you did not see our preview video you can do so here.

Windows Phone 7 interview

Thank you to everyone that has been following our interview with Microsoft’s Alex Reeve, Director of Mobile Business Group in the UK and to those of you that sent in your questions for Alex.

For those of you that were not able to join us live we had a great followup interview with Alex, it’s incredible to think that it was almost 3 months ago since our last interview with him!

Sorry that we were not able to get to everyone’s questions but below you will see the questions and answers that we were able to cover in the time available. It’s interesting to note that the same questions came from lots of you so those are the ones we made sure to include.

To those of you following live we apologise for the slow start, Twitter decided to fall over just as we got going!

Full Q&A session after the jump…