News

New and updated Official HTC HD2 Car Kit

Devicewire have just emailed me to inform of a change in design for the HTC HD2 car kit.

New HTC HD2 car kit

For whatever reasons they have changed the way the mount actually attaches to the phone. See original below.

HTC HD2 car kit – original

I’m not sure if this change is due to any defects on the original or if its just down to manufacturing costs but I’m sure this new version will do the job just fine.

Although you cant buy it yet you can pre – order from Devicewire. Its not cheap though, but neither is the iPhone Tom Tom mount.

Posted by: James

Windows Mobile 7 Rumours

The rumour police have been working hard over the past twelve hours. A few websites have reported Windows Mobile 7 leaks, although there are some big contradictions, so which rumours you believe, if any, is up to you.

Windows Mobile

WMExperts.com have reported that there will be two versions of Windows Mobile 7 or “Seven” as they are saying it will be called. A business edition and a media edition. The media version is believed to support HD video, a Zune-like music player and maybe even streaming TV, as well as integrated social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Mobilecrunch.com on the other hand have reported that there will be no business edition and the whole platform will be based around Zune.

There has also be talk of the first two devices to run “Seven”. These are from LG and HTC. The specs can be seen on WMExperts.com but please remember that Microsoft have not confirmed anything so everything above maybe completely wrong!

Fingers crossed we will get the opportunity to have an insight into the new OS or devices at Mobile World Congress next month. I will be the roving reporter tweeting live from Barcelona so if you do not follow us on Twitter now would be a good time to start.

Posted by: James

LG GW620 Android coming to the UK

The LG GW620 is reportedly coming to both T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile here in the UK.

LG GW620 with slide out QWERTY

The device which runs Android 1.5, Cupcake, will be known as the INTOUCH MAX. Running this early version of Android is not the best news but hardware wise it doesn’t look too bad. With Motorola recently releasing the Dext and soon to be releasing the BackFlip its nice to see LG are bringing some competition to the market.

The slide out five row QWERTY keyboard certainly looks impressive and not too dissimilar to that on the HTC Touch Pro2. It will however be smaller as the INTOUCH MAX screen is 3 inches.

LG GW620

The INTOUCH MAX has not yet made its way to the T-Mobile website but it is on the Virgin Mobile one, although showing as out of stock. The device will be available on Virgin for free for as little as £22.00 per month and as well as minutes this deal also includes unlimited texts and internet, although I’m not sure of their terms and conditions with regards to fair usage.

Here’s a quick run down on the LG GW620 INTOUCH MAX specifications:

• 3G Network: HSDPA 900 / 2100
• Dimensions: 109 x 54.5 x 15.9 mm
• Weight:139 g
• Display: TFT resistive touchscreen, 256K colours
• Size: 320 x 480 pixels, 3.0 inches
• Full QWERTY keyboard
• Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
• Internal Memory: 150 MB
• microSD, up to 32GB
• EDGE    Class 10, 236.8 kbps
• 3G    HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, HSUPA
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth: with A2DP
• Camera: 5 MP, 2560 x 1920 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
• Android OS, v1.5 (Cupcake)
• Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email
• GPS,  A-GPS
• Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
• Battery: Standard battery, Li-Po 1500 mAh

Doesn’t sound too shabby does it?

As soon as we get further news we will be sure to let you know.

LG

Posted by: James

Windows Mobile 7 News

With speculation growing that Windows Mobile 7 may or may not be announced at this years Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month, a piece of news has been leaked that leads us to believe it is a strong possibility.

Windows Mobile

While attending a LG Design Lab French tech blogger Eric of Presse Citron tweeted that LG would be releasing a Windows Mobile 7 handset in September 2010 and an Android 2.1 device in April.

The tweets were quickly removed, but not before they were cached and wmpoweruser managed to grab them!

So once again we are wondering if Windows Mobile version 6.5.3 (or as some people are calling it, 6.6) will be officially released by Microsoft or will they hold out for Windows Mobile 7. Either way I will be at Mobile World Congress to report on the news as it happens. If you don’t follow us on Twitter please do so, as that will give you instant access to what’s happening in Barcelona next month.

Twitter

Posted by: James

Acer Liquid now in Black

We reviewed the Acer Liquid recently and it was a pretty popular device among the T&M team, I think it’s one that we all enjoyed playing with and one that I myself decided to buy, I couldn’t resist as the spec and price made awesome value for money!

One criticism that we’ve heard about the Liquid though was that many didn’t fancy it in white, some feeling that it was ‘a bit girly’ (their words, not mine!). I personally like the white but realise that it’s not for everyone.

However, worrying about having a white handset is no longer an issue as the folks over at Clove Technology have just started selling the Acer Liquid in black. It’s the same good quality, high spec. device but in, perhaps, a more appealing colour.

So if you fancy getting your hands on the black Acer Liquid you can head over to Clove and place your order. I still think that the Liquid is one of the best bargains out there at the moment and it’s a great entry to Android if you’ve never had one before!

Acer Liquid specification:

• Operating System: Android 1.6 (Donut)
• Processor: Qualcomm 8250 768 MHz
• Memory: ROM: 512MB / RAM: 256MB
• Display: 3.5-inch touch-sensitive screen with WVGA resolution
• Network: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
• Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Internal GPS antenna
• microSDHC (supports up to 32GB)
• 5.0 megapixel colour camera with auto focus
• Talk Time: Up to 300 minutes
• Standby Time: Up to 400 hours
• Battery: 1350mAh Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
• Dimensions: 115 x 62.5 x 12.5 mm
• Weight: 135 grams with battery

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: Acer Liquid, Acer A1, Android, Snapdragon, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Google Nexus One price drop

Google’s new Nexus One phone only launched last week but already the price of the handset has dropped on T-Mobile. Anyone upgrading to the Nexus on T-Mo will now pay only $279 to upgrade, a reduction of $100 already! That’s about £61 to us. Furthermore, anyone in the US on T-Mobile that’s already bought their upgrade is being given the $100 refund.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the reported issues the Nexus One is having with T-Mobile’s 3G network or is that jut me being suspicious? 😛

The question now is how much the Nexus One is going to set us back in the UK when it becomes available on contract which we suspect with be within the next month or so.

Don’t forget to check out our Nexus One unboxing video too!

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: Google, Nexus One, Android, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Are you a Rugby Fan? How about watching it in 3D then?!

O2 are the sponsors of England Rugby and have just announced the live screenings of England’s home RBS 6 Nations games taking place at 40 Odeon and Cineworld cinemas across England. This is in order to celebrate 100 years of rugby at Twickenham Stadium, and as the title of this news item suggests – they will be in 3D!

I know this is a bit of a digression from technology (and I don’t even like rugby!), but I thought that this may interest some of you out there!

Posted by: Emma

iPhone launches on Vodafone

Today sees the launch of the iPhone on Vodafone. We now have three carriers and a supermarket selling the iPhone here in the UK so if you are looking to get one you now have a decent choice of carrier to give you the best network service in your area.

Apple iPhone

Vodafone UK CEO Guy Laurence confirmed that it would be delivering over 50,000 iPhones to customers on its first day of selling the device. He said the main reason for the exceptional demand was customers wanting to use the phone on its outstanding network.

The guys over at fonehomeuk have kindly posted a comparison chart allowing you to see which carrier will give you the best deal. The deals are pretty close.

Let the battle commence!

Posted by: James

Another Nokia N900 Update

We told you earlier in the week about an over the air update for the Nokia N900 that would allow access to the Ovi Store. Now Nokia are releasing another update today which brings some welcomed updates.

Nokia N900

This time around we’ve got full support for Swiss keyboard layouts, better compatibility with 3-branded SIM cards, support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 in the handset’s Mail for Exchange service, and a handful of performance and usability tweaks for Ovi Maps.

Good news for “3” customers. Will the network start selling the N900? Fingers crossed.

Posted by: James

T-Mobile USA Nexus One support tips

Yet more news relating to Google’s new Nexus One handset and yes it’s about the 3G issues!

It seems that T-Mobile USA are beginning to acknowledge that the Nexus One may have some issues when it comes to 3G coverage on their network.

Engadget have managed to get their hands on a screen shot from T-Mobile’s support procedure. One of the first things on the list is ensuring that the customer is not transferred to HTC support as they ‘will not be able to resolve this issue’ and goes on to suggest that the handset is rebooted.

It’s reassuring to know that T-Mobile have at least started to acknowledge the problems customers are having so lets hope that they are soon able to come up with a more permanent solution, otherwise I think we’ll start to see a lot of Nexus one devices returned or else appearing on Ebay!

Don’t forget to check out our Nexus One unboxing video too!

Posted by: Matt