Got yourself a shiny new ? Jealous of the updated versions of found on the likes of the and ? Well, don’t be, because have confirmed that v2.1 is coming to to a Tattoo near you in the not too distant future.
The HTC Tattoo is the perfect device for those who want to get on the Android ladder. Boasting a cute and compact form factor, 2.8 inch and smooth curved edges, the Tattoo is loaded with high end features, from HSDPA and Wi-Fi, to GPS and social networking integration.
Best of all, despite these high end features, the Tattoo doesn’t have a matching price tag. This budget Android is designed to bring Google’s OS to the masses and can be picked up on a ?20 per month tariff with 200 minutes, unlimited texts and 10 months half price.
The catch? Well, the Tattoo has been left by the way side to an extent, stuck on version 1.6 of Google’s Android OS which is currently up to version 2.1 in other phones. But, have confirmed that a planned software update will bring the Tattoo up to speed and bring with it the likes of Google Earth for Android and Gesture Search for Android.
HTC have confirmed that they are currently working on the upgrade for the Tattoo to combine Android v2.1 with HTC’s own Sense UI and whilst they wouldn’t give away any concrete dates, they have simply stated that they “expect to have the upgrade finished and ready to go soon“. Keep an eye on the for more information as and when we get it.
The (SIG) have announced that the new low-powered Bluetooth 4.0 standard will start to be implemented before the end of the year, with devices likely to be available in time for Christmas.
Th current version seen in many and wireless headsets is 2.1, however v4.0 is already on the horizon and will bring benefits such as a low power mode which will help decrease battery drain
Low Power demands can now be implemented in a whole range of new devices; the current Bluetooth standard requires AAA battery power or more, where as the up coming v4.0 will easily run off a watch battery.
Version 4.0 also builds upon the increased data capabilities of build 3.0, by allowing equipped devices to connect to Wi-Fi networks at speeds up to 25Mbits per second.
Although we will be seeing a massive improvement in power consumption, v4.0 Bluetooth will still use roughly the same amount as v3.0 when data is streamed continuously.
for updates on when Bluetooth version 4 is likely to be making an appearance and what will be sporting this refreshed version.
Fancy being one of the first people to get your hands on new blower? Well, you may have missed the pre-order period, but even better, the is now in stock and ready to despatch today. Well, what are you waiting for, to see our best deals on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz or read on to see why you should be ordering this phone.
As mentioned in earlier posts, the Vivaz is built with Human Curvature in mind, meaning that it is not only one of the best looking handsets available today, but also one of the most comfortable to hold and use. Sporting a resistive means the Vivaz will react to your swipes, pokes and prods whether it be with your finger or a make-shift stylus. Navigating the phone is simple, thanks to the OS which will be familiar to most that have used a Nokia or previous Sony Ericsson Symbian handset.
The Vivaz’s party piece and it’s reason for being, is it’s camera, which it isn’t any ordinary unit. It’s an unit, sporting an LED flash and face recognition. But what’s so special about that, i hear you ask? Well, we’ve neglected to mention until now, that the Vivaz is capable of recording videos in High Definition. As you’ve probably guessed, the Vivaz is the natural successor to the and as far as we can tell, beats the Satio hands down in every respect unless you’re counting megapixels (which, as you probably know, doesn’t actually dictate how good a quality picture can be expected from a camera.) The Vivaz is a much better looking phone, easier to use, more responsive, offers more functionality and ultimately is perhaps everything the Satio should have been when it was originally released.
Interested? Well, to see all of our best deals and to see the full specification and feature list you can expect from this phone.
Google have officially announced the launch of Gesture Search, which is a new way of searching your content by simply writing letters on the screen with your finger.
Below is an explanation from Google themselves.
“Say you want to call your friend Anne. Just open Gesture Search and draw letter “A”, and Gesture Search returns a list of items that have words starting with “A”. If your handwriting isn’t all that neat, that’s okay. If the “A” you draw looks a bit like an “H”, as seen in the bottom left corner of the screenshot, “H” results will be brought up as well. If needed, you can also erase a query by crossing it horizontally: left to right erases the entire query, and right to left removes the last letter or space in the query. Now you can either scroll down the list to find Anne or write more letters to refine the search.”
Sounds like a pretty good and simple tool to use, and definitely a lot more convenient to use in public rather than voice search. If you fancy trying out the Gesture Search for yourself, search for it in the Android Market; it will only appear and be available to download for handsets running on Android 2.0 or higher. If recent rumours are correct, all Android phones will be upgrading to 2.1 meaning all Android users will be able to take advantage of the new Gesture Search tool.
Keep an for new Android releases which will be sporting Gesture Search.
For legal team, it seems three is the magic number. Not content with counter suing and being , Apple have launched yet another law suit this time against Taiwanese manufacturers HTC. The reason? Patent infringement. Or so Apple has alleged.
Yes, following ongoing legal wranglings with and Kodak, the Cupertino outfit have now filed suit against claiming the smartphone manufacturer has violated patents relating to the iPhone’s “user interface, underlying architecture and hardware”. Speaking about the legal action, Apple CEO Steve Jobs commented “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”
Some of the 20 patents Apple claim have been infringed include Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image, something that could quite easily cover any touchscreen phone without a hardware unlocking button, List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display which relates to how scrolling menus bounce when you reach the end (among other things) and Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices which refers to the proximity sensor turning off the screen when the is held to your ear on a call.
At this point, it’s very early days with HTC yet to answer to the claims and a court date potentially months (or even years away). We won’t see the end to this one just yet. At this point, you may be asking yourself why HTC? All 3 of the above features have all been seen in notable handsets from the likes of Nokia, Samsung and the so why are Apple only going after HTC? Well, that’s anyone’s guess, but the cynical amongst you may see this as a thinly veiled dig at Google. Whilst HTC manufacture both Windows Mobile and Android handsets, the Taiwanese outfit has been a major supporter of Google’s OS from day one.
With Apple and Google originally co-existing quite amicably (the iPhone uses Google Search and Maps after all), the relationship started to turn sour after the arrival and subsequent success of Google’s which has clearly moved into iPhone territory. Now, with the release of the HTC manufactured , Google have moved from software to hardware and it comes as no coincidence that Apple have decided that now is the time to act. Looking closely at the patents, we can see that it is Android that is mainly being implicated.
Google have even gone as far as to issue a statement following the law suit, commenting “We are not a party to this lawsuit. However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it.” Whether this means standing behind their partners with moral support or some financial clout remains to be seen but this one’s definitely set to run for some time. Keep an eye on the for more information on this as and when we get it.
have officially announced the first member of the new Cseries range; the . Having done the rounds in numerous spy shots and leaked images and hinted at way back when name, the C5 enters Nokia’s range as the phone to bring the Symbian operating system to the masses. Will it succeed? Read on for our first look at the new C5.
Aesthetically, the C5 bears a striking resemblance to the 6300, one of Nokia’s most popular and successful launches in the companies history. Sporting a candybar form factor, the C5 boasts a large finger-friendly keypad and sharp 2.2 inch display. So on the outside, the C5 could easily be mistaken for yet another candy-bar feature phone but on the inside it’s a totally different story.
The C5 runs series 60 pitching it as a fully functional smartphone only with a feature phone design, size and, most important of all, price. Download apps from Ovi Store, pull in Facebook status updates to your contacts list and launch instant messaging conversations from your home screen. As a Symbian smartphone, the C5 also benefits from with Ovi Maps pre-installed, offering free voice guided in-car and on foot navigation.
The premium features don’t stop there. The C5 includes HSDPA connectivity ensuring the aforementioned app downloads and web browsing are lightening quick. Nokia have also found room for a 3.15 Megapixel camera with Flickr support, MP3 music player and FM radio, a 3.5mm audio jack, Bluetooth and expandable memory. Throw in up to 12 hours talk time and a staggering 26 days of standby and it’s obvious Nokia are on to a winner with the C5.
Expected to launch in the second quarter of 2010, to register for updates and keep an eye on the for more information as soon as we know more.
and Skype have today jointly announced the release of Skype for Symbian, a Skype client for Nokia based on the Symbian operating system. The Skype for Symbian app, available free in the Ovi Store, lets Nokia smartphone users access Skype on the move over Wi-Fi or using the phones data connection.
In addition to the obvious, free Skype to Skype calls anywhere in the world, the new Skype for app lets users make cheaper international calls, send and receive instant messages to and from individuals or groups, share pictures, videos and other files, see when Skype contacts are online and available to call or IM and import names and numbers from the phone’s address book. Not bad for an app currently available for the princely sum of ?0.
Speaking about the Skype for Symbian app, Jo Harlow, Senior Vice President for Smartphones at commented “Symbian enables us to bring smartphones to more and more people and ensures scale for our solutions and compelling services, such as Skype. We’re seeing around 1.5 million downloads a day on Ovi Store now and believe that the Skype client for Nokia smartphones will have wide appeal to Symbian users.”
Russ Shaw, General Manager, Mobile at Skype said, “With Skype for Nokia smartphones, more than 200 million smartphone users worldwide will be able to take the Skype features they love with them on the move. Alongside Skype’s relationships with operators and handset manufacturers worldwide, making Skype available direct to consumers will help millions of users keep in contact with the people that are important to them without worrying about the cost, distance or whether they are away from a computer.”
Skype for Symbian app is compatible with the following Nokia : , , , and and the following non-touch devices: , , Nokia E90, , Nokia E66, Nokia E51, , Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N85, Nokia N82, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8 GB, Nokia N79, Nokia N78, Nokia 6220 classic, Nokia 6210 Navigator and Nokia 5320. Skype also plan to roll out the app to Symbian smartphones from other manufacturers, including , meaning the and upcoming can both join in the fun.
Cast your minds back to September of last year and you may recall the news that UK networks . The proposed partnership would result in the UK’s biggest network with almost 30 million subscriptions which makes for scary reading the UK’s other major networks.
Following the initial talks, in November further cementing their commitment to the proposed merger. But, from here, it was out of T-Orange’s hands. The deal would need to be verified and approved by the European Commission meaning there was still a major hurdle to jump. Well scratch that as, on Monday, the European Commission gave the UK networks the green light for the proposed merger.
UK consumer groups including the Office of Fair Trading had voiced concerns that the merger would have a negative impact on competition but the Commission claimed that “the commitments offered by the parties remedy the identified competition concerns.”
So, what now? Well, a statement from issued shortly after the European Commission’s announcement noted that Orange and would work on integrating their combined 19,000 workforce. Tom Alexander, currently CEO of Orange UK, will take the helm as Chief Executive whilst Richard Moat, currently CEO of T-Mobile UK, will take on the role of chief operating officer. The board of the new joint venture company will comprise representation from both Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom who own T-Mobile and Orange respectively.
But what does this mean to all you Orange and T-Mobile customers out there? Well, for the immediate future, not alot. It’s expected that the T-Mobile and Orange UK brands will continue to operate independently for at least eighteen months after the merger. Longer term, could we see the and Orange Wednesdays make the move over to T-Mobile customers? And most pressing of all, what new name, if any, will this new giant adopt? Our money’s on Orange-Mobile (sorry T-Orange) but what do you reckon? Let us know in the comments below and keep an eye on the for more news.
After being announced in the US just over a month ago now, those waiting on the news of the iPad in the UK will be pleased to know some prices have been confirmed…
For the 16GB Wi-Fi enable version this will cost you ?389, ?439 will bag you the the 32GB Wi-Fi variant, whilst if you have a spare ?489 why not splash out and go for the 64GB Wi-Fi Model.
At first glace, these prices appear to be rather high; if you convert the US prices directly into sterling, the prices for these devices come in at ?326, ?391 and ?456. If you consider that the US prices exclude VAT and international shipping costs, it doesn’t make our UK prices seem too bad.
There are no details yet about 3G device prices. Keep an eye on for updates.
As the title says, the is today, In Stock here at . For those that haven’t seen the handset before or even those that may have forgotten it was coming, here’s a little reminder of what you can expect from this -alike from Nokia.
The E63 bears a striking resemblance to the handsets produced by the aforementioned fruity named manufacturer and joins the Nokia’s E72 as a QWERTY touting text-a-holics phone. The E63 is to the what the is to the , a simple, low-cost means of enjoying what has become one of the fastest growing markets out there, but none-the-less, a trully praise worthy phone within it’s own right; primarily because this handset offers so much for so little.
Already mentioned is the QWERTY keypad, which is a four-row affair headed by answer/end call keys, a directional pad, selection key, two menu keys and shortcut keys for Home, Calendar/organiser, Contacts and Messaging. In addition to this the E63 has a 2.0 megapixel camera (With Flash) capable of capturing both images and videos, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an ARM 11 369 MHz processor to make sure that the E63 can keep up with even the most die-hard of typers.
Fancy having the functionality of the , but don’t want the premium price tag associated with it? Well, then you’ll be happy to hear that you can have the Nokia E63, absolutely free, starting from ?15 a month on an Orange Contract, which better yet, has unlimited texts included meaning you can fire off texts until your hearts content. to see our deals and more information.
