The first consideration is probably the price. While iPhones are likely to be the more expensive, it’s not certain which phones offer the best value for money. The tens of thousands of apps that can be downloaded to extend its usefulness for example enhance the iPhone, making it an even more useful device. While the Blackberry has a similar scheme, its app store is lightly stocked compared to the iPhone. So although you may consider a Blackberry to save a few bucks, this might actually be through serious compromise to functionality.

We should also consider the Blackberry OS7 operating system that the new RIM handsets will run on. This is a definite improvement over previous operating systems, but it’s actually not that much different to OS6 found in last year’s original Blackberry Torch phone. The new operating system was originally called OS6.1, but RIM revised this to the OS7 with claims that the upgrade was so big it deserved to be labelled as a brand new operating system. Whether this is true or not, RIM could be accused of using marketing techniques to sell it’s devices based on inflated software advances.

Regardless of whether RIM actually did create a new operating system, or merely upgraded an existing one – it really doesn’t matter that much, because it won’t be around when RIM move to their new “next-generation” OS called QNX. This software is already in use on the Blackberry PlayBook tablet computer, so it won’t be long before it replaces OS6, OS6.1 or OS7, whatever they want to call it. So, buying a Blackberry today may seem almost like buying old technology.

Meanwhile the Apple iPhone seems to just gain in popularity, despite blunders from Apple. A few years ago, when boarding a train or a bus, every other person had a Blackberry. It was the in thing to have for a businessperson. But now, the roles have reversed and now everyone is sporting a new iPhone 4, complete with its seemingly easy to use interface and multiple exchange server connections. No longer is the Blackberry a work phone and the iPhone a mere plaything. The iPhone has become a full-blown need to have device for many executives.

So has RIM fallen behind the times with its Blackberry phones? Have they failed to move ahead with technology quick enough? Some seem to think so, and even the die-hard Blackberry fans of old are seriously considering whether they are planning to be true to their faith, or whether they are willing to jump ship and sail off to new frontiers.

The touch interface reacts to touches. It is possible for instance to left-click and right-click by taping the finger in the right locations on the mouse surface. Microsoft states that it can do everything that a normal mouse can do which would indicate that there should be an emulation of a middle-mouse button as well. That’s however not confirmed and not shown in any of the videos.

The video demonstrates the capabilities of the touch features of the mouse. It is possible to use one, two or three fingers to activate features on the screen.

One Finger lets you manage the content of a document or webpage – moving one finger lets you precisely scroll in any direction and hyperscroll through long documents with a quick flick of your finger, while using your thumb lets you move back/forward easily through your internet browser.

Two Fingers lets you manage multiple windows by maximizing, minimizing, restoring, and snapping them side-by-side.

Three Fingers lets you navigate the whole desktop – three fingers up to display all of your open windows for easy task switching or three fingers down for clearing the desktop entirely.

It uses BlueTrack Technology to work on virtually any surface without difficulties. The USB Nano transceiver can pick up signals at a 30-foot range.

The mouse has been designed for Windows 7 exclusively and it is likely that drivers are shipping with it that enable the functionality on the operating system. It is not likely that the touch feature will work on other operating systems.

Microsoft concentrated solely on the touch capabilities of the mouse, avoiding other relevant information that users may want to know. This includes the mouse’s dpi and whether a middle-mouse button is emulated or not.

The Microsoft Touch Mouse will be available in May 2011 for a price of $79.95. (via)

Would you buy, or use, the Microsoft Touch Mouse?

I’m going to share my findings about a few of these fantastic gadgets here and my hope is that those of you who are gadget geeks like me, will write about your experiences with these and with the other ones that I haven’t had a chance to try out yet. There’s just too much cool technology for any one man to try it all.

So, what exactly constitutes a gadget. A gadget is any sort of ingenious thing-a-magig that performs a useful or interesting purpose. Any gadget lover will tell you that what makes a great gadget great isn’t so much what it does, as how it does it. That’s why a gadget that automatically cleans and folds your clothes with electricity might not be as great as a gadget that uses hot air to clean out your ears, because it is the technology behind the gadgets that makes us love them. Hot air is much more interesting than electricity – in terms of my gadget mind.

Here is some of the greatest of the many gaggles of gadgets that I’ve come across recently. Maybe you will want them, maybe you will hate them, but one thing is for sure, they are interesting.

Here’s a gadget that got may attention. My American and Canadian colleagues often have to travel to the UK for business, technology conferences, and IT workshops. Of course, they always bring their laptop, PDA, and smart phone with them. The problem is that while the technology has gotten smaller, the plugs in the UK remain some of the biggest in the world. Someone had to come up with a gadget to fix this problem…and they did.

The folding plug. Yes, you heard that right. A plug that folds up into a smaller plug. The technology behind this one actually breaks my interesting technology rule, but the fact that I never thought of folding the plug but only making it smaller is what makes this gadget great.

So, how does it work? The plug body actually has two swivel pins on it that fold out to be horizontal or vertical. What that means is that when you are traveling, you don’t have those big awkward pins sticking out. You just have a simple and easy to pack plug.

Not bad as gadgets go. Not completely necessary so it qualifies but it does have a useful function.

Another odd technology gadget is the development of zinc paper which doesn’t need ink. This is a massive invention. Devices like the Polaroid PoGo Digital Instand Mobile Photo Printer (whew!) can make your photos on the go without having to worry about ink cartridges. It’s small enough to carry with you and get this, they were smart enough to make it work with not only digital cameras but also with just about any cell phone that has a camera.

How does it work? There are dye crystals in the zinc paper which only come out when they are heated to a certain temperature. So, the device uses focused heat (from lasers!) to cause the different parts of the paper to expose different colors. Wow! That is cool technology. Anything with lasers has an automatic plus in my geek mind. Each print takes less than 60 seconds to be complete. Geeks love to time gadgets too.
One big problem with gadgets is that they usually need to have batteries. I can tell you from experience that I hate throwing batteries out. They are made of cool materials like lithium and nickel and it’s just a shame to toss them. I’ve been a fan of rechargeable batteries for a long time, but the problem is that when I use rechargeable batteries not only do I need to have a big heavy charger, but I also need to have plugs, adapters, and in most cases electricity.

Energizer has hit the nail on the head with the Energi To Go package. It can be used to provide power to my netbook, laptop, phone, pda, and my battery charger. It uses a wide collection of tips, sockets, and adaptors. Not only that, but they promise that they will cover and charge any device and to prove it they offer to make new tips and adaptors for any gadget, machine, or electronic device they missed out on. So maybe I can get them to make a tip that will recharge my robot! We’ll have to see about that one though. One problem is that Energi To Go still has to be powered by something…

Don’t worry though, I have the solution. Voltaic Solutions offers you the ultimate in solar backpacks that can charge anything (including an Energi To Go). These backpacks harness the power of the sun to charge all your items and to make sure that you don’t get caught out in the wild with no way to charge your cell phone. Of course, with this gadget, suddenly you don’t need to have the folding plug or the Energi To Go adaptor, so maybe you should just cut to the chase and get one of these awesome trekking bags that doubles as your power source.

You just never know if you are getting VHS or Betamax anymore. It might be a Commodore 64 or more likely it will be a Tandy.

And that’s the problem with gadgets and being obsessed with them. Just as soon as you think you have the perfect gadget, someone comes along and makes a better one or makes the perfect gadget unnecessary for you. Too bad, anyone want to buy my solar calculator collection?

This lovely little device is a mouse with a built-in calculator.  While the idea might seem a little silly to some, it certainly has merit.

It’s features include…

This is no cheaply made device either, it’s a precision laser mouse and a great way to reduce desktop clutter.  You don’t for instance need to be using your mouse when working out a calculation, so why have two devices?

This is a product destined for a niche market, especially given that most people will be concerned what happens when they’re constantly pressing buttons while using it as a mouse.  For some people though this is an excellent and inventively simple solution to a problem that’s plagued the PC for the last twenty years.

On the face of it this PC is pretty normal netbook fare with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom 330 dual-core, between 2Gb and 4Gb of Ram, a 160Gb to 500Gb hard disk and on board graphics.

Externally there’s the now customary HDMI port and support for wireless 802.11n networking.  But what is it that will give this media centre it’s unique selling point?

 I have a small media centre under my TV through which I experience all of my television, video and music.  It’s a small Acer that’s pre-netbooks and, thus considerably more powerful than this HTPC and probably just as quiet (at least from across the room).  It’s about the same size too and most importantly wasn’t too expensive.  So what’s my point?  While I can easily see the market for large screen all-in-one HTPCs, this I feel will be a bit of a gimmick and owned only by a few people who feel it will be cool to have a lime green computer in their life, Bridget Jones springs immediately to mind.  :)

It’s a truly lovely piece of design though, nice and simple all round and easy on the eye.  In fact it’s not what I’d expect a PC to look like at all so on that score it’s going to win.  Should it make to Europe and the Americas though it’ll all come down to price on whether this one’s a winner.

The process is a bit involved, but not too difficult. I will walk you through the steps, some of which are command based, and some are not. And without further adieu, let’s get to the installation and configuration. NOTE: As with anything, use caution and ALWAYS back up your data. It is never guaranteed that you won’t lose data. You’ve been warned. ;-)

The installation

There are numerous tools to install. I will be doing this on a Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop box, so you will have to adjust your steps according to your distribution.

The first thing to do is add a repository to your apt sources. Do this with the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pmcenery/ppa

Now you need to update with the command:

sudo apt-get update

Once apt has completed the update issue the following to install the bulk of what is needed:

sudo apt-get install gvfs gvfs-backends gvfs-bin gvfs-fuse libgvfscommon0 ifuse libgpod-dev libgpod-common libiphone-utils libiphone0 python-iphone libplist++1 libplist-utils python-plist libusb-1.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-dev libusbmuxd1 usbmuxd

Quite a bit to install eh? And it’s all necessary. Let that process complete.

Edit fuse.conf

The next step is to edit the /etc/fuse.conf file so that your user will have access to the gvfs file system. Do this by opening the /etc/fuse.conf file in your favorite editor and changing this line:

#user_allow_other

to:

user_allow_other

Save that file and you are ready to move on.

Fuse group

Now you have to add your user to the fuse group. To do this go the User and Group entry in the Administration sub-menu of the System menu. When this tool opens click on the Key button to unlock the tool for administrative purposes. Now click the Manage Groups button and then scroll down until you find the fuse group. Double click the fuse group and then click the check box next to the user you want to have access to the fuse group. Click OK and then close out all of the User and Group windows.

Log out

The next step requires that you log out of your desktop and then log back in. This will ensure that all changes have taken place. Once this happens plug in your iPhone (or iTouch) and see if it automounts to your desktop. There will be two devices mount. The first device will show up as a camera, the second as a phone. Once you see both of these, you know you are nearly done.

Gtkpod

Unfortunately there are some bugs in Rhythmbox that prevent the user from writing to the iPhone/iTouch. That’s fine because there is always Gtkpod. You will need to install this with the command:

sudo apt-get install gtkpod

Once this is installed you will find the entry for it in the Sound &  Video sub-menu of the Applications menu. Fire that tool up and you are nearly complete.

Figure 1

The last thing you need to do is to configure Gtkpod to mount your device. In the Edit menu you will notice a Repository/iPod Options entry. You have to configure your device as a repository for Gtkpod.

As you can see (in Figure 1) you have to configure where the device will be mounted. This is where it might seem a bit more complicated than need be.

Because of having to use gvfs, the mount point will be in ~/.gvfs/ and will be listed as the name of your device. You will have to open up a terminal and change into that directory to find out what it is called. In my case it was ~/.gvfs/Jack Wallen. So I would enter that in iPod Mountpoint configuration section.

The next option to configure is the Model. Make sure you select the correct model. Do so by clicking the drop down and choosing your model from the list. Once you have done this, click the Add button to add your new device repository. You can then OK the Options window and you are ready to load your iPhone.

Back in the main Gtkpod window click the Load iPod(s) button and eventually your device will show up. You can now add music to your device! Make sure, when you are done adding music, to click the Save Changes button.

Final thoughts

It’s taken long enough, but the ability to add music to an iPhone has finally arrived. The next step, hopefully, will be the syncing of apps and contact/calendar data. I have a feeling that’s going to be another long wait.

According to a news article on ce.cn, local manufacturers in China have been stealthily getting ready to explode on to the Android market. And explode they are going to even if only by their sheer numbers.

Apparently, these companies have actually been hiring Android experts in order to make sure that they know what they are doing. These experts come from companies like Samsung in order to lend their in-depth knowhow to these small manufacturers.

R&D is apparently happening rapidly because the phones are expected to hit the markets some time in 2010. So you can expect a flood of Android phones in 2010 that range from boring to bizarre and beyond.

This is something I love about Chinese manufacturers. They hardly sell outside their premises and yet no technology is too big or too new for them. If it is technically possible, they will do not. So what if you don’t need 4 cameras on your mobile handset or slots for 4 SIM cards? It is technically possible and they are here to give you the best that modern technology has too offer. Besides, you will have to throw it away after a few months anyway.

Dell's Mini 3i

My question right now is this – with so many companies working on a platform that is essentially freely available to them, can we expect at least one decent phone that breaks the mould in some way and manages to run alongside the big players? [read]

LG GT540: Another Android From LG

They just keep on coming and leaking. I am talking about these latest Android phones. They have such a propensity to leakage that you would think multinational companies need someone to educate them about keeping a tight lid on things.

Or may be everyone wants free advertisement like Apple tends to generate with their high levels of secrecy.

The latest to be leaked is another Android phone from LG, called the GT540. We haven’t heard how well the last one is doing so far but it looks like they are already quite far ahead into the second one.

LG did say that a Snapdragon model was headed for Q2 2010 and that a non-QWERTY handset is also destined for 2010. With a screen size is 320×480, it can be any one of those. Which one do you think it is?  [read]

Dell Mini 3i Starts Selling In China

The much talked about Android smartphone from phone-newbie Dell is finally going up for sale in China. They have put up a press release that details on what exactly the phone has inside it.

The PR highlights the fact that has a 16:9 ratio 3.5” screen that displays 640×360 display. Other than that, it is a quadband GSM/EDGE phone that also has GPS on it. You get a 3.5MP with auto-focus, flash, video capture, etc. Dell is probably going to launch it in Europe and the US only when they are confident that the phone will be able to hold out in front of the fast moving competition in those markets. [read]

Sony Ericsson’s XEPRIA X10 Might Go To AT&T

A lot of us were hoping that Sony Ericsson’s new Android superphone – The XPERIA X10 – would arrive on a decent carrier. Those hopes are now dashed. Based on the intel gathered by Phandroid, the radio bands on the X10 are the same as the ones on the iPhone.

QED – even though the X10 has a lot of bands listed on the website the US version will only work with the carrier who carries the iPhone. Say hello to the blue beachball all over again – AT&T. The iPhone is the iPhone, so being on AT&T has not stopped it from going viral. Will the X10 have something similar to help it sell? Only time will tell. [read]

Spotify Exudes Symbian Love

Spotify is spreading its clout over to the mobile OS that holds the largest International market share – Symbian. Spotify has just been released for the Symbian S60 OS. In doing so, they are suddenly up from supporting only a handful of phone models to supporting a long list of phone models manufactured by different carriers. Most of them are by Nokia and others include Sony Ericsson and Samsung. [read]

Spotify, despite its critics and problems, is fast becoming a large rival for other commercial services like iTunes. Spotify has also officially surpassed last.fm in user polls – this after Last.fm was adamant about Spotify not being a competition for them. Now to wait for the true competition to break out. [read]

Get over to the other side and get updated in the mean time.

Nokia X6 To Land In The UK This Friday

If you have been eyeing Nokia’s latest touchscreen music phone – the X6, it is coming to the UK Friday. As is usual with many phones there, it has found a carrier who will be offering it for free against a long-time contract. This time it is Orange for £35/month.

For the SIM-free version you will have to pony up £449, which is roughly around $670 at today’s exchange rate. You can pre-order it from shop.nokia.co.uk from today. [read]

Skype Nokia N900 Demo Video

Nokia N900 comes with Skype built-in. So now you have more reason to buy the N900 for $649, that is if you can wait for the next shipments to arrive. The last I heard of it was that it was pre-ordered to capacity and new orders were behind huge queues. At least now you can get one for $480 on Amazon ($530-$50 mail in rebate). [read]

Skype has demoed Skype for Maemo on an official video. Since Skype is already available on Linux, this port could not have been all that hard to execute. [read]

UK Retailers Pull Satio, Big Bugs Need Squashing

Bad news folks, Sony Ericsson’s Satio is now as good as off the shelves right now. This decision had to be taken after numerous customers came in with complaints about freezes, mysterious powering down of the phone and other problems. The two major retailers of the Phone in the UK – Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U – have decided to offer replacements to customers who are returning the Satio.

Official word from Sony Ericsson is that the issues will be fixed before Christmas. The bugs are apparently to deep for normal updates to tackle. Well, I guess that’s what we get for lusting after a too-good-to-be-true 12MP camera phone.

Kurara Reviewed, Is OKAY

Like he promised, the man behind mobile review has posted a more detailed look at the Kurara. From Murtazin’s post, it is clear that the phone sounds good on paper but it is pretty ordinary in person. It definitely fits the bill for an understudy of the Idou and should be priced somewhere around half of the high-end offerings. That said, if this phone is priced right, it could become a hot-selling phone for those who are looking for an entry-level touchscreen experience that is slightly better than the Samsung options.

The ARM Cortex Ab with 256MB RAM still is powerful enough to breeze through the Symbian UI. So that part is covered I suppose. Read the extensive review of it right here.

O2’s ‘Free’ HTC HD2

The Brits are at it again. They are really good at giving away phones for free as long as you promise to pay them a hefty sum. If you are in the market for the HTC HD2 and if you are in the UK, you can get it for free from O2 against a long-term contract. You will have to pay a nice £45 per month on it though. So far, I do not think the HD2 retailing SIM-free there. So O2 looks like the only option right now. [read]

Next we have a flip phone, the S5150 Olivia. Olivia has a slim body, smooth interiors and a stunning face. Yes, I am talking about the phone. It has the same diamond shaped texture on its front as the S7070 and there it has a camera and a secondary (looks like OLED) display. Just look at the live photos gathered by GSMArena. The main display on the inside is 2.2inch with a QVGA resolution. The camera is 3MP. It is likely to appear around the same time as the S7070.

As you can guess from a name like Diva, these are phones that are designed to attract the fairer sex. Yeah so you might think about gifting one of these to your lady love. Or if you are the lady, just talk a lot about how much you like the phones. If he still does not get it, hit him on the head with your netbook with this webpage open. Let him figure it out with an icepack over his head. You got time though, the release does not happen till early next year. No word on the pricing yet but I have a feeling that they would be priced similarly. [read]

It was a fine day in October and everything was humming along as usual. Then, a leak happened.

In October this year, an internal roadmap was leaked which showed Motorola’s plans for the next two quarters. It had the Sholes on it and the Motus too. Thus far, that leak has turned out to be quite accurate. [read]

And then, a day came early this month when a new Motorola phone hit the FCC. Of course, it made its way to the blog world like all other big findings before it. It is a triband HSPA device and it carries the name Motus. As we all know by now, the Droid was already already looming over us at that point. [read]

Then yesterday, we had the first leaked photo. So lets take a close look at it. It is a typical candybar smartphone with a slide-out full QWERTY keypad. The keys look flatter than even the Droid’s keys if anything. It reminds of the chemically etched keypads of the RAZR days. They used to be pretty flat out too. The picture is quite hazy, so there isn’t much more to talk about, except that it somehow looks pretty thin. [read]

And just a while ago, we had more news of this. The details have been leaked and it is apparently heading for AT&T. It is triband alright – 850/1900/2100MHz, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 3.1” capacitive touchscreen display with 480×320 resolution. There’s also an expansion slot supporting microSD cards and a Qualcomm CPU clocked at 528MHz. And this is an Android phone. Motorola is on a roll here. I wonder what the Zeppelin is going to be like.

it also has been named as the Backflip, probably. There has been a tip off that the phone includes features such as a reverse flip keypad and rear directional touch pad. With all this ‘rear’ I wonder what it will look like in person. [read]

Still, I think Motorola has gotten stuck in a rinse-repeat routine. They are constantly bringing out phones that are not really all that different from each other. Some are just better made with better features (like the Droid) and some are simply stripped down versions of those better ones. The overall design concept remains the same – put in candybar form factor, add slideout keypad, use Android OS, decide on how expensive it will be, done. Droid, Cliq, Dext and now Motus/Backflip.

According to the report published by Arrington, Google has been in the process of making a smartphone that follows the company’s directions to the T. That basically means they have a handset manufacturer who is working with them and following their specifications. In fact, the latest buzzword there is probably ‘Google Says’. So what does Google say?

That is something we don’t know yet but we do know that this new phone is not going to compromise on anything at all. It is being made to deliver what Google thinks a modern smartphone should be like. So this is not just a Google Experience phone but the true Android vision that Google has. It is meant to show their customers exactly what Google means by a smartphone.

But therein lies a problem. Google is not supposed to make an Android phone. They have too many partner companies who are making their own Android phones. Google’s handset would compete with theirs and that is not how you maintain a healthy relationship. So how do you maintain it and still get what you want?

Arrington has an idea. He suggests that the device will not be a true phone but merely a VoIP device. That way, it will get to have everything awesome that Android has to offer and yet will not compete with the offerings from their partner companies. If they are really making such device, why not just make a tablet? I am sure they see the vast potential in that. What is the use of giving someone a phone shaped MID that has VoIP instead of GSM or CDMA?

May be this is Google’s idea of the future – everything based on the Internet. It does tie in with what Google has to say about practically everything that involves technology and communication of some sort – move it online! Case in point – the Google Chrome OS. It takes your standard Linux OS and turns it into a mere client for all sorts of cloud services. As a result, you get to forget about backing up, maintaining, cleaning and generally thinking about how to get it to work and stay working.

However, the viability of such device depends greatly on one thing. This is that one thing that Google cannot move online – the very means to get online! You have many other carriers all over the world who have the fasted 3G network just like AT&T does and also the spottiest coverage, against just like AT&T does! And worst of all, they may be the best carrier in some countries! What use will be the phone then? We are still far away from a truly global coverage on mobile data networks, especially in countries that are no fully developed.

The current Android Super phone

However, if Google chooses to work with an existing partner who agrees to play ‘Google Says’ – will it harm them all that much? We already have Google Experience phones. So now we can have the Über Google Experience phone. In any case, Google has at least realized the age old truth – if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. Dear old Steve knew that decades ago and now look where he is. Google has done things their own way so far (Search, Ads, Mail, Wave, etc.) and that has led to exponential growth. So why stop now? They have done it with the Chrome OS, where they will be strictly controlling what hardware it is running on. And I am sure they have been disappointed with some of the recent Android phones. So it makes sense logically to make their own version of the Android phone. Wouldn’t you agree?

The HTC Dragon AKA HTC Passion, is going to be the toast of the Android community if it really has everything that it seems to have. Even though details have been scanty, imaginations speculations have been running pretty wild after the screenshots and live shots were revealed.

Now, Techcrunch claims that the phone has been on the prowl at Android headquarters for quite some time now and top Android people are already using it. It has been undergoing a lot of testing and it is likely that a release is imminent.

It is said to be a lot slimmer than either the Droid or the iPhone. Of course, it won’t have a keyboard so being slimmer than the Droid is nothing to talk about. But the 1GHz Snapdragon processor is. It will blaze through everything that the OS has to offer and will certainly help you with multi-tasking. HTC has recently shown with the HD2 that they are really good at making phones. If they can make Windows Mobile into that good a phone, they should logically be able to make a killer Android phone.

So Techcrunch is of the opinion that this is the next super phone that will carry Android and we agree. If Google is taking a personal interest in it, it has to be something special. I don’t think the top Android players carry and test every Android phone that comes out.

I am referring to the fact that it is carrying an ARM Cortex A8 chip inside or so the rumor mills say. That chip is supported with a hefty Dose of RAM – whole 256MB of it. Then there is the PowerVR graphics processor – Kurara has one inside it.

All of this has been made possible by the machinations of one Mr. Eldar Murtazin, the one who runs the Mobile Review website. He promises greater details will follow soon. But his overall impression of the Symbian 80 OS on the Kurara is that it is extremely fast.

Well, if you intend to run a slightly older OS on a comparatively newer processor, you are likely to get good results.

Kurara was previously taken to be the little brother of the Sony Ericsson Aino, having a smaller camera size and over all slower components. But now it looks like the Kurara is poised to take over the higher end of the mid range section. If the UI is palatable and the phone runs without problems, a lot of people will snap it up as a budget phone because logically it shouldn’t be as expensive as the Aino or the XPERIA phones. Over all it is likely to be closer to traditional phones than the modern smartphones even though Symbian has third party apps and this is a full touchscreen phone. Whatever happens, we will be watching you Kurara. [read]

According to the rumor, Apple has pushed back the Tablet launch schedule from early 2010 to later. The original schedule, apparently, was around March 2010 and the new schedule is sometime in the 2^nd half of 2010.

The reason behind the delay is cited as a last minute decision to use OLED screens. This new decision adds a bit more development time and hence the launch has been rescheduled.

But OLED screens are expensive and according to certain estimates, the OLED version can cost around $2000 for the customer. The OLED screen is supposed to be around 9.7”, which is pretty big. There is a normal TFT LCD version in the works apparently, that will cost a more manageable sum of around $800-$1000. The LCD screen will be bigger too – around 10.6”.

There is another dimension to the rumor – OLED prices are expected to drop massively in the next year. So Apple is likely to wait till the prices come down so that the OLED version can retail at a lower price. And since this will need a data connection on the go – it will probably be sold by carriers who will subsidize it. So the price will become more manageable for the consumers.

The manufacturing partners have been identifies as Foxconn, Quanta and Pegatron. [read]

Magellan Sails Over To The iPhone, Finds It Flat

Magellan has finally gotten in on the whole iPhone game with their new Magellan iPhone app. And it works for the iPod Touch too! It does so in the same way that the Dual XGPS300 works to give the iPod Touch aGPS. Magellan has a car kit like the one from TomTom that does same the trick for the iPod Touch.

Also, while your iPhone or iPod Touch is plugged in they will be charged. Plus, you will be able to enjoy a sound that is slightly louder than the ones on your device thanks to the built-in ones on the car kit.

And so Magellan begins sailing the seas of iPhone turn-by-turn navigation. But will it and the others be able to stay afloat as Google continues to follow their ‘get it for free’ business model? Stay tuned. [read]

TouchDJ

So here’s another thing that you can do with your iPhone – dj-ing. After some problems getting approved for the app store, the Touch DJ app is finally here. There’s a lot do on the app. For example — you can get your mixing done visually, do live remixes with the onboard sampler, drop fx and you also get to pre-listen tracks before dropping – full on professional dj style. And what if you suck at putting tunes together? You will suck in a more sophisticated way than you ever have through your iPhone. [read]

Star Wars Trench Run Game

Do you want to relive every moment of the climactic sequence of events that led to the destruction of the Death Star? Better yet, do you want to be the one who destroys it? Well guess what? Now there’s an app for that! Called Star Wars Trench Run, this game drops you right into the thick of the action with hordes of TIE fighters chasing you.

You are to steer the X-Wing and make that narrow route through the thermal exhaust port to hit the weak spot. In the mission mode, you are led through the cinematic effects with dialogues from the movie. In the arcade, you get to choose your poison and take on the baddies in a classic space dogfight. Go ahead, knock yourself out and may the force be with you! [read]

Google Earth Update For iPhone

Google has been rolling out the 2.0 update to their iPhone Google Earth app and the new features are pretty exciting. Of the many new things, you can finally make custom maps on the app by syncing Google My Maps to it. [read]

ShopSavvy For The iPhone

ShopSavvy has been Big in Japan where everyone uses their phone to do everything including shopping. ShopSavvy has also been on Android for over year now, letting the green robot’s followers shop at ease through their phones. Now iPhone owners can do the same.

Okay, so the developers are called Big in Japan but ShopSavvy does scan the barcode of an item to give you all the relevant information and also deals. So if you are in a shop, hunting for a big pack of wipes, you might be informed that a shop two blocks away has a better deal. But even though that means shop owners might lose business it does make shopping easier for their customers, so they are supporting this app. [read]

Fit Or Not

Here’s a lesson in why you should just skip some of the apps in the app store. This new app called ‘Fit or Fugly’ passes judgement on your beauty. Yes, it actually tells you if you look good or bad or fugly. Yet another app that taps in to the everlasting well of human vanity. Meh.

Ravensword: The Fallen King

Fans of RPGs, gather round your respective monitors. This is the story that you are all familiar with. A really great RPG game is now on the iPhone as Ravensword: The Fallen King. This is one game that RPG geeks cannot afford to miss on their iPhones. And if  you have never played an RPG before, this can be a great one to start with. This is not a classic RPG board game like Settlers of Catan for the iPhone but a well made 3D Fantasy RPG.

iPhone App For In Store Appointments

Apple has declared that they will be making an app that will allow iPhone users to schedule in-store appointments for Apple Stores from wherever they are. Now that’s a nice way to integrate the shopping experience with the iPhone. [read]

The N900 has intrigued the tech community and people in general with its bevy of features ever since it was first announce. But when you look at it closely enough, it seems like it is too little, too late yet again. Reminds me of the N97 really.

On the surface, N900 is an attractive package. When it was first announced, the decent sized capacitive resistive touchscreen, the new interface, large internal storage, QWERTY keypad and TV out features made quite a splash.

From the images, it also seems like there are sensors in the front. So far I have not found out what they are meant to do but they are likely to be a front facing camera and related sensors for video conferencing.

Maemo5’s interface looks good, I will tell you that. If you are looking for something that that really catches the eye and something that is different from everything you have seen so far – you have got to try this out. It supports gestures but in a few instances Nokia has gone too far in its bid to be different from the rest. Take the spiral gesture for zooming for example. I would say that the pinch-to-zoom is simple enough and if you are only mimicking a gesture, there should be no shame in it. After all, you are only making a phone like this because of the entire computer-in-touchscreen-mobile-phone craze that hit the market post the iPhone.

The way you switch between things makes me think of Exposé in the Mac OS. You get to see thumbnails of the of the things you have open and you can touch to switch to the one you desire.

Feature-wise, N900 has everything you might want. Well, almost everything. You get a 5-megapixel camera with dual LED flash that takes video. FM-tuner is built-in. The screen is 3.5inches with a resolution of 800×480, which is very nice. That should make watching movies a pleasure. Talking about watching movies, you get a kickstand too for propping it up when you want to. The TV via Nokia’s proprietary cable is the feature that may of use have wanted ever since our phones could carry multiple entire movies and play them back smoothly.

It supports the full meme of a formats for both audio and video, including – AAC, eAAC, mpeg4 , etc.  You get full data connectivity support via GPRS Class A, EDGE, multi-band WCDMA and HSPA, WLAN (802.11b/g). Network-wise it is a quadband GSM and tri-band WCDMA phone. Full specs at the website.

But my enthusiasm starts to wear off when I look deeper into the hardware specifications. It is powered by an ARM Cortex A8, which they clock at 600MHz. Application memory is a combination of 256MB RAM and 768MB of virtual memory. If you ask me, for a phone that is so very multimedia rich, 600MHz is going to be sluggish at multitasking. There’s a reason why the iPhone restricts full multi-tasking. N900 will allow you to multitask but it will definitely slow you down. And with 1GHz Snapdragon-toting phones already in the market, this is going to seem real slow real soon. Also, the new big screen is 4″ or more. But at least it has OpenGL ES 2.0 for graphics. I guess they will be pushing it for handheld gaming.

Next is the OS that fails to excite me. It is good looking and sounds promising too but any new mobile OS that comes out now – after 2.5 years of the iPhone OS and about 2 years of the Android OS – is going to be dealt with a healthy bit of skepticism. Can Nokia’s toddling Maemo5 or Samsung’s newborn Bada match up to the raw numbers of Android and iPhone users? Then why should developers bet on them? I found 50 applications on the Maemo website. There’s obviously more but only 50 chosen applications? May be Nokia is betting too much on the openness of the OS.

Developers want to sell as much as possible, so they are going to look at the user numbers and the future growth potential. The two giants are already in top gear. So the late starters are likely to stay that way.

The Nokia N900 Maemo5 phone is now on preorder from the website for $649. Availability is at end of this month (November ’09). Comes only in Black.

Update: One of our readers  has identified one of the sensors as a way to turn off the touchscreen when you are talking on the phone. So it’s basically a proximity sensor like the one on the HTC Touch Pro 2. Also, the touchscreen is not capacitive but resistive, I stand corrected. Thanks Daniel and Manojlds.

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What do you think about the N900. Would you choose it over a similar Android phone or the iPhone 3GS?

Apple Pen-Based Input Patent Re-fuels Tablet Rumors

This will certainly be of interest to the Newton Pad revivalists. A new patent filed by Apple in July 2009 has gone public. It improves on pen-based computer systems through an advanced ink-recognition application, which is the objective of the patent. Steve Jobs has been known to dislike digital styluses (or so he says) but even he has to recognize the fact that the pen is what gets art on paper and makes a lot of other things happen. Fingers can only type but they can hardly create artwork (except brilliant finger-painting of course). So will the tablet have a stylus and the rumored multi-point hand recognition (another Apple patent)? What do you think? The tablet rumors are officially on again! [read]

Apple Tablet Knock Off, Already?

Looks like handheld makers are launching into a pre-emptive strike against Apple. We are suddenly seeing an influx of tablet devices that are trying to be like the rumored Apple slate/tablet.

Admittedly, the tablet concept is nothing new but this sudden rise in the number of such devices can at least partly be attributed to everyone’s fear of Apple doing to the tablet/ebook reader market what it did to the smartphone market.

I would really love that if it happens and I am quite sure it will. I will love it not because I am an Apple addict but because it will fuel innovation in the competition. Just like the iPhone pushed everyone to think along different lines.

Anyway, the device that got me saying all this is the Boeye MID 700 tablet. The styling is distinctly reminiscent of the iPhone but it is running on the Android. Best of both worlds? Not until they start producing it commercially and people get to use it. [read]

Apple’s New Store Press Previewed, ‘Tis BIG

If you want to know what the new 67^th Broadway store looks like, you can take a look at the pictures taken by various press folks at a recent preview. Apple opened the store for an invite-only press meet, public opening to happen today (Saturday). To sum up the experience in short – it is BIG! To give you an idea of how big – the walls are some 42 feet high! The vast expanse of the store is all stone and glass and the gadgets glow like life beacons. You just have to take a look at the pictures yourself. Gizmodo has pretty good ones. [read]

And if you want to read some interesting Apple Store data, Gizmodo has that too. [read]

Apple has Cash, A Lot Of It

Apple’s cash reserve has come to the attention of the public again. In case you hadn’t noticed, Apple has a LOT of cash. It is somewhere around $35 billion and no one really knows what apple intends to do with all that money. But knowing Steve and Apple, they will surely be doing spectacular things with it. When you have clarity of thought, vision and the power to execute that vision – great things are bound to happen. [read]

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If you want to catch up on all the important Apple related news of this week, remember to check in at Otaku Gadgets for the Saturday Apple Pie.

As for the iPhone of the present, we now have the first truly malicious iPhone malware going around while Apple continues to grow in the smartphone business, posting more profits that the Finnish giant Nokia.

iPhone Malicious Code Now A Reality

For those who paid no heed to the first ever iPhone worm, here’s a much scarier piece of a news. While the first worm never really did much other than change your wallpaper to rickroll you, there’s a new piece of code that has truly malicious intents for your iPhone.

It attacks the same way as the last one does but instead of making its presence known, it will silently steal all the personal data that it can find on the iPhone and inside the apps. Thankfully, just like the last worm, this malicious program can only infiltrate jailbroken iPhones that have open SSH sessions and have not changed their default root password. So to all those who are jailbreaking their iPhones, do take your time to understand exactly what you are doing and close this gaping security holes. [read]

New iPhone May Be Verizon Only

After the rumors of the next generation iPhone going worldmode surfaced, we now have rumors about the iPhone being made solely for Verizon. This is the result of a confusion regarding reports from chip-maker Qualcomm who have been making new CDMA chips for their parters, including Verizon. [read]

Famous iPhone Dev Quits, First Of The Many To Follow?

After enduring Apple’s shenanigans with the app store approval process, the famed developer Joe Hewitt (creator of the Facebook app)  has officially declared that he is quitting iPhone development. And he makes no bones about being vocal about why he quit, clearly stating that his decision “has had everything to do with Apple’s Policies”.

With so many other developers also complaining about Apple’s policies, Joe’s move may be taken as an example and followed. And if that does happen, Apple will be losing the most important part of what makes the iPhone tick — great apps from great developers. [read]

iPhone Now Has 17% World Smartphone Market Share

Apple is fast closing in on the others in the global mobile Handset Market. After being in the market for barely two and a half years, Apple now constitutes 17.1% of the total global smartphone market.

This is a 50% growth for Apple in recent times, showing exactly how fast a company can grow with the right steps and a brilliant product. The other reason why Nokia is so very important is because it is also one of the largest sellers of smartphones. Its smartphones are the reason why Symbian still holds such a large share of the market. Blackberries may have been very popular in different pockets (RIM is on the wane) but nothing beats Nokia’s worldwide reach. Nothing until now it seems. [read]

Want More Bang For Your Buck? Try The App Store

Analysts have shown that iPhone users have more than just the highest number of Apps to choose from. They also have more value for money when calculated on dollar for dollar. [read]

Apple Creates More Profit Than Nokia

In the last quarter (Q3), Apple made much more money than the world’s number one mobile handset maker – Nokia. And the difference is significant too. While Nokia made $1 billion, Apple made $1.6 billion. [read]

Apple Adds App Approval Status Tracker

Apple now allows app developers the peace of mind of at least knowing what stage of the approval process their app is in. A new feature added by Apple gives the status of apps as they go through the approval process.

You and I might not think much of it but this translates to a bit more clarity for the developers. They have always complained about how tough it is to communicate to the iPhone app reviewers. So instead of leaving them in the dark, this tracking feature tells them how tantalizingly close they are to approval. Hopefully, Apple is feeling the pressure to streamline and organize the process now that the app count has reached 100,000. As more developers race to get a piece of the action, Apple will be forced to make the process easier on them to and that means having to handle less complaints and queries and clarifications. [read]

Punch Him In The Face With Your iPhone

We all have that annoying friend who we would love to haul over and roundly beat up. But you obviously cannot do that in real life without falling out with your friend and/or getting thoroughly beaten up yourself in the process. The answer is in a new stress/anger/frustration management iPhone app called FaceFighter.

The app lets you kick, punch and block your opponent, all the while seeing bruises and bandages appear on his face. You can also knock out his teeth. To get started, you have to take a picture or choose one from your camera roll. Then you follow the app’s instructions to line up the face with the cut out, zoom in, zoom out and all that. Then you are ready to knock the living day lights out of that guy, virtually of course.

This is not much of a game although it is not as simplistic as that app that lets you shoot things that your camera is seeing. Still, if you do not want to spend $0.99 for the paid version, you can download Face Fighter Lite, which is free. [read]

Universal Studios Can Has iPhone App Too

Universal Studios Home Entertainment is the latest big name to have released its own iPhone app. This is not a stand-alone app that lets you borrow their titles online but it will enhance your Blu-ray movie viewing experience.

The latest group of Blu-ray releases from the company – American Pie Presents, 9, Inglorious Basterds, etc. are going to come with two BLU apps. These BLU apps can be used by iPhone and iPod touch users in conjunction with certain Blu-ray players.

The pocket BLU app allows you to remotely interact with your Blu-ray player through a sleek iPhone interface. It features advanced remote control features, a pop-up keyboard and more. Social BLU allows you interact with Facebook and Twitter if your Blu-ray player is connected to the Internet.

Premiere League On iPhone Via Sky TV

You can now watch the Premier League and more on your iPhone through the newly launched Sky TV app for the iPhone. For £6 per month, users will be able to access live TV channels that are part of the Sky Sports bundle including Sky News, Sky Sports channels and ESPN channels.

The app currently works only over WiFi and not 3G and that is because O2 forbids its customers from using any such app in its T&C. That’s because the carrier has their own similar services to protect. Existing Sky subscribers will have to pay separately for this service and new customers will have to apply for a Sky customer ID. [read]