Way back in February, when iPhone OS 3.1 was but a distant “dream,” we posted 8 Little Things We Still Can’t Stand About the iPhone. More than half a year has passed and we can finally knock #7, “Arranging applications sucks something terrible,” off the list with the release of iPhone OS 3.1.
Looks like the never-ending “sync war” between Apple and Palm continues to rage on. According to numerous PreCentral forum contributors, iTunes 9 does NOT sync with their beloved Pres. What now, Palm?
Generally speaking, the preferred method for procuring a 1UP Power Up is collecting 100 golden Mario coins to smash your fist into a giant question mark block. BUT, if you’re really in need of a quick (and less painful) pick-me-up, grab yourself a shiny new radish, a paring knife, and maybe a Sharpie (for the eyes?!). Follow the visual instructions above and…voila! 1UP! Power Up!
After months of speculation (and frustration) MMS for the iPhone 3G and 3G S is officially arriving on September 25, AT&T has confirmed. This is a full 3 days after summer officially ends (AT&T’s original deadline was “late summer”) as our own MG pointed out earlier today, but like a lot of things with Apple/AT&T, better late than never.
Spotify, a free and increasingly popular music streaming service available on the other side of the pond (and currently by invite only in the US), has yet to launch an official Android Market app.
But not to worry. A group of Spotify fans have developed Droidify, an unofficial Spotify client for Android. The free app:
If I was the FCC, I’d start my own gadget blog in light of the fact that I’d have first dibs to all the new gear. Er, wait…nevermind. Scratch that, stick to your federal duties and leave the blogging to us.
Sony Ericsson’s newest (T-Mobile-bound) slider phone, the Cyber-shot CS8 (known elsewhere as the C905), has received approval by the FCC.
You gotta hand it to the marketing/PR peeps in the mobile gadget space for figuring out how to announce phones, yet hold back just enough to get some coverage out of the details disclosed months later.
Mario and Luigi must be working some incredible overtime these days, what with all the leaks that keep springing up across the Interpipes. Lucky for us, until they get around to fixing all these holes, we all get to enjoy some exciting unknown product rumors.
According to the leaked info, Toshiba has 5 new 1 GHz Snapdragon + WinMo 6.5-based devices (2 smartphones/3 MIDs) planned for release over the coming year.
On Wednesday, CTIA – The Wireless Association released its Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey results for 2008.
According to the Survey, Americans sent over 1 Trillion text messages in 2008, almost triple the number (363 million) from 2007. That works out to roughly 3.5 billion txts per day, or almost 13 messages per wireless user (the survey reports that there are “more than 270 million wireless users” in the US) per day.
In an unprecedented move, Palm has revealed its heretofore ultra-secret WebOS-based smartphone – the Palm Post – at CTIA 2009.
While the mobile world has been patiently waiting for the Pre since it was first teased back in January, Palm has apparently been hard at work on the (clandestine) Post as well.
Although Nokia had previously promised to bring its gaming service to the firm’s hot N73 (they’ve sold roughly 20 million of these badboys), as of today, all bets are off.
Samsung Mobile has launched “a dedicated [online] movie store for Samsung customers” aptly named, Samsung Movies.
Attention existing AT&T customers who have been eyeing an iPhone 3G. Stop whatever you are doing, grab a red Sharpie, and circle March 26, 2009 on your calendar.
Why? Because according to BGR (who got their hands on some internal AT&T slides), that is the first day you will be able to purchase a “No-Commit” iPhone 3G for the economy-boosting price of $599 (8GB) / $699 (16GB).
According to Gartner’s final 2008 “Worldwide: Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System” stats, reigning mobile OS champ, Symbian, remains on top of the world with a whopping 52.4% majority market share. Although that number is down over 11% from 2007, Symbian still maintains a healthy 35.8% lead over its nearest competitor, Research In Motion.
Fire up the r-mill. An anonymous tipster has it that AT&T will launch the (dragon-scale green) Samsung A877 on March 29, 2009. According to PhoneDog, said A877 (possibly codenamed “Jackfrost”) is quite the non-smartphone (like the Samsung Memoir, it runs the smartphone-esque TouchWiz OS), and could be a solid replacement for the recently deadpooled Quickfire.
One thousand nine hundred ninety-two – what a year: Bush, Sr. booted in the Japanese Prime Minister’s lap; Boris Yeltsin announced that Russia would no longer (publicly) target the United States with nuclear weapons; the Washington Redskins (Go Hogs!) beat the sad Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI; Microsoft released Windows 3.1, complete with Minesweeper; EuroDisney opened in France; Wayne’s World and Basic Instinct hit the silver screen (among other “classics“); the Mall of America was built; William Jefferson Clinton was elected 42nd POTUS; and, last but not least, Dr. Dre released The Chronic.
Beejive has announced a $5 discount off its popular BeejiveIM for BlackBerry app (regularly $19.95) in an effort to thank its “loyal BlackBerry community.” The sale starts tonight at midnight and lasts until midnight (PST) on Sunday, March 1.
Verizon Wireless launched its creatively named CDM8975 Push to Talk handset today. This new business-meets-multimedia walkie-talkie mobile phone was developed by Personal Communications Devices and comes dressed to impress, er, ready for the job site as it’s wrapped in an “industrial clamshell.”
The CDM8975 will be available beginning March 9th, online and in good ol’ fashion meatspace, for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year customer agreement.
Can’t you just feel the excitement building?! Specs after the jump…
Earlier today, the GSMA announced that it has successfully brokered a deal with leading handset manufacturers and network operators to standardize mobile chargers by 2012 (for most, but not all cellular phones).
The primary goal of this new agreement is to cut down on the environmental impact created by trashing old chargers.
Is there anything worse (ok, maybe our current economy) than having to get out of your glorious warm bed to turn up the thermostat? Clearly, the answer is a resounding NO.
Well, if you have a Proliphix (who?) thermostat, hate installing software, and have a connected web browser then you are in luck my lazy friends!
Archos, best known for its line of hard drive-based portable media players, has announced plans to “extend its product line with a new ultra-thin Internet Media Tablet combined with a mobile phone, by merging Google’s Android telephony stack and the ARCHOS’ multimedia framework,” according to IT News Online.
It seems like only yesterday (although technically, it was 48+ hours ago) when Qualcomm’s Snapdragon remained a mythical (mobile technology) beast, yet to be discovered by the modern (handset manufacturing) world. However, all that changed after Toshiba shocked the cellular industry by unleashing Snapdragon from its proverbial cave with its TG01 announcement.
Move over FAD (”for a day”), it’s time for FAFYs (”for a few years”). Thanks to Apple’s lead, touch screen mobile devices have just about consumed the entire mobile industry. The bad news – including a touch screen just for the hell of it is like putting lipstick on a hockey mom pig. However, the good news is, more competition helps everything: prices drop and innovation increases.
