AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Acer Iconia Tab A700 images leak, said to have 1920×1200 display and Tegra 3 processor

December 30th, 2011 byPrasad

Android, Tablets

We had heard about the Acer Iconia Tab A700 before but this is the first time we’re seeing actual images of the device. Well, not of the actual device because what you see below is just a dummy but that’s basically what the A700 will look like when it will launch.

As we had heard before, the A700 will have a 1920 x 1200 resolution display, the highest on any tablet so far and will be powered by the same quad-core Tegra 3 processor ticking inside the ASUS Transformer Prime. Other features include 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and HD camera on the front, Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 3.0, micro USB and micro HDMI port for connectivity and a SIM card slot for 3G.

The device is said to be a bit heavy at 1.43 pounds (649g) thanks to the large 9.800mAh battery inside, which it will be needing to power that high resolution display long enough. No word on what version of Android it will be running but hopefully it will be Ice Cream Sandwich. We should find out more about it at CES 2012.

Source (Russian)

View the original article here

BlackBerry Curve 9380 battery life test over, results are inside [TEST]

BlackBerry is the last of the major platforms to get a representative in our battery test. The BlackBerry Curve 9380 did the rounds at our battery test and we were as curious as you to find more about the BlackBerry OS 7 energy efficiency.

The BlackBerry Curve 9380 comes with a 3.2? screen of HVGA+ resolution, which should really take much less juice to run than the displays of any of the other smartphones we have tested. However, RIM only managed to squeeze a 1230 mAh battery inside the little fella, so we probably shouldn’t expect miracles here.

Unsurprisingly, the BlackBerry Curve 9380 didn’t set the world alight in our 3G talk time test. With the screen staying turned off the whole time, our first trial is all about which smartphone has the largest battery and as we said the Curve 9380 has the smallest battery of the phones we’ve tested. So, we should probably be happy about its achievement of 6 hours and 52 minutes.

The BlackBerry Curve 9380 may have come last but one here, but its achievement is just a few minutes short of three more smartphones and they all have notably bigger batteries.

We moved on to web browsing, knowing that this will be the BlackBerry Curve 9380 best chance to excel. With a smaller LCD screen, we expected it to handle the predominantly white pages with relative ease and, fortunately, it didn’t disappoint us.

The Curve 9380 endured 6 hours and 40 minutes of our automated script before it switched off, ranking 3rd out of 17 tested smartphones.

Sadly, the BlackBerry Curve 9380 couldn’t put on another similarly impressive performance in the video playback test. It used 90% of its battery in just 5 hours and 9 minutes of SD video playback and we’ve only seen a couple of smartphones do worse.

So, after two poor and one excellent result in the individual tests, we didn’t have high expectations about the BlackBerry Curve 9380 in the overall usage challenge. As it turned out though, the stand-by of the smartphone is fairly efficient and helped it secure the decent 39h endurance rating.

That rating suggests that you’d need to charge this one every 39 hours if you were to use it for an hour of browsing, talking and video watching per day.

Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V enters the battery test arena, leaves smiling

We’ve are done with the battery testing of yet another smartphone. The Sony Ericsson neo V might just be an emergency substitute for the injured star player, but that doesn’t mean it can get away with anything here.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V 3.7? WVGA LCD screen is coupled with a 1500 mAh battery, which led us to expect a performance somewhere around the middle of the pack. As it turned out later, the neo V exceeded our expectations and turned out one of the better performers we have seen.

Just like most of its droid siblings, the Xperia neo V started off with a solid 3G talk time score. Once fully charged, the smartphone went through 8 hours and 41 minutes of talk before it switched off. That’s even more than the 7 hours that its manufacturer promises.

Our automated web browsing script was the next challenge that we had in store for the Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V. Web browsing endurance is usually not that good with Android smartphones and, sadly, the neo V turned out to be no exception to this rule – with the modest 4 hours and 20 minutes it ranked 14th out of 17 tested smartphones.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V did better in the video playback trial. It took 7 hours and 45 minutes of SD video playback before the neo V battery dropped to 10%, which is quite notably better than what we saw from the Xperia Pro.

It’s even more puzzling, given that those two share the same battery and screen, but obviously Sony Ericsson did some optimizations over the past few months.

As usual, we conclude with the everyday usage test. The Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V turned out to be really efficient in stand-by mode, which helped it get the really good 42h endurance rating. This suggests that you will only need to charge this one every 42 hours, if you use it for an hour of each of the three activities described above per day.

Casio announces new G-SHOCK GB-6900 Bluetooth 4.0 watch, pairs with your phone to displays calls and messages

We’ve seen phone makers make Bluetooth watches before but now watch makers have started coming up with their own Bluetooth watches. Casio has announced the G-SHOCK GB-6900 watch that has Bluetooth 4.0 and makes use of an important feature in this new version, the Low Energy mode.

Thanks to this nifty addition to the Bluetooth feature set, compatible devices need only a fraction of the power of previous Bluetooth devices to stay connected and transfer data, which results in amazing battery life. In case of the G-SHOCK GB-6900, you can get about 2 years of battery life with a single button cell.

Other features of the watch include the ability to see your calls and messages on the watch’s display as well as the ability to synchronise the time between the two devices, set alarms and put the phone on silent all through the buttons on the watch.

Currently, Bluetooth 4.0 is available in only a handful of phones, so you won’t be able to pair the watch with just about any Bluetooth phone. But if you have such a device and you are into the whole G-SHOCK design then this should make a useful addition to your gadget collection.

Here’s how you steal a truckload of BlackBerry Playbooks

Times are just not good for RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook. First, they make the Canadian-based company lose quite a lot of money and now this.

A “well-orchestrated” heist, as the Police describes it, has taken place in Indiana. A semi-truck fully loaded with BlackBerry Playbook tablets has been stolen, while the driver was taking a refreshing break.

And the result? A total of 5,200 gone missing with a reported wholesale value of $1.7 million. That hurts.

The Police and FBI say this wasn’t just any robbery, but a professional heist that took only 13 minutes to pull off. The authorities are looking into a bunch of evidences, including a video surveillance footage, fingerprints and DNA recovery samples in hopes to solve the case faster.

And if you are tempted to get your hands on a stolen Playbook, hoping for a cheaper deal, don’t be. A RIM spokeswoman has said that all tablets have been blocked from downloading any updates from RIM and on top of that all the serial numbers have been entered into the US national law enforcement database.

Apple’s latest iOS patent application aims at face unlock

Another day, another patent to talk about, folks. Apple has applied for a fresh new iOS patent at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This time, it involves face unlock and presence detection.

In case this function rings a bell for you, you are most likely right – face unlock is a function, which is already embedded into Google’s latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, albeit far from perfect. It appears however, that Apple wants to add a new twist to it.

According to Apple’s patent application, its solution will utilize the location and distance between the user’s eyes, mouth and nose tip. It will then determine whether or not, the person involved is the owner of the respective device. Support for more than one user is also included in the filing. You can read the full scoop on it by hitting the source link below.

At a first glance, the feature which is subject to Apple’s patent application appears to be strangely familiar. Of course, we will need to see it in action before digging into further reflections.

So what do you think? Do you see more lawsuits coming in the world of mobile tech? Tell us in the comments section below.

Zephyr is $2.99 tweak that lets you have MeeGo-like gestures on iOS

The MeeGo way of handling multiple applications is so cool that it was always a matter of time before it found its way to other platforms. And iOS users are the first lucky ones who get to try it, thanks to a tweak created by the popular developer chpwn.

The tweak called Zephyr lets you manage apps by pushing them away from the screen, just like you would on a Nokia N9. And the smoothness is all there too.

Of course, it’s not exactly the same kind of deal that MeeGo users get, due to the different multitasking screen that iOS employs, but it comes close enough. Check it out.

The tweak costs $2.99 and can be purchased through Cydia. Naturally, users with non-jailbroken iDevices need not apply.

CMC Compiler lets you create a CyanogenMod ROM of your own

One of the best parts of an open system like Android is that you can modify it and tweak it as much as you like until you finally end up with something perfectly tailored for your needs (or brick your device). And if you have already tried all those custom ROMs that someone else created and found joy in none of them we have some good news for you.

Thanks to lithid-cm from the XDA developers’ forum you can now create a customized CyanogenMod ROM yourself. It’s all using command line interfaces and it’s not pretty, but it’s fairly effective, despite its alpha status.

If you know what you are doing, you may follow the source link and check out what the project is all about. You will also find detailed instructions on how to get the Cyanogenmod Compiler up and running.

Right now the tool doesn’t let you customize the CyanogenMod too deeply, but you can still play with themes, wallpapers, languages and plugins. And there’re plenty of new features coming up, so if you are into that stuff, you might want to bookmark the topic to keep an eye on its progress.

Facebook Messenger is now available for Windows

Facebook has just released the Messenger app for Windows 7. It’s been available for iOS and Android for some time too.

The app does exactly what it’s supposed to do – bring the Facebook chat outside Facebook. But there are a few more features too.

On the top of your online friends list you get their latest updates too – just like it’s on the Facebook’s Sidebar. There are also on-screen updates for your notifications.

Finally, you can dock the app at the left side of your screen and you will have a fully functional Facebook Sidebar outside of your web browser.

Frankly, if you are a Skype user, you have most probably connected your Skype with Facebook already, so you won’t need this Messenger. In any other case just hit this link for the installation package. You don’t have to worry about any updates, the app takes care of that automatically, in background.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus battery life fully tested, results come out disappointing [TEST]

The last battery test of the year is really something special. Samsung Galaxy Nexus is a key device for both Samsung and Android and as such there was no way it could avoid being subjected to our traditional battery test.

So far, smartphones with HD displays have really struggled to get good grades in our test – the LG Nitro HD is the worst performer so far and the HTC Rezound is just above it in the leaderboard. The Samsung Galaxy Note did manage to put in a pretty good performance despite its HD screen, but that one had a huge 2500 mAh battery.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus on the other hand has a slightly smaller, 4.65?, Super AMOLED, but notably less powerful 1750 mAh battery. That’s certainly one of the worst screen-size-to-capacity ratios we have seen, so we started the test knowing that anything but last place will be a success for the Nexus.

Telephony is how it all started and that was the Samsung Galaxy Nexus one chance to get a decent score. With the screen turned off for the duration of the calls, the Nexus had the chance to make its larger-than-usual battery count and that’s exactly what it did.

A fully charged Galaxy Nexus took 8 hours and 23 minutes of 3G talking to switch off. That’s exactly what the manufacturer promises and it was enough to secure the ICS pioneer a good mid-table position.

The second test was web browsing and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus was in for a rough ride. For comparison’s sake, despite its huge battery, the Galaxy Note phoneblet only managed 3:35 minutes of browsing, using a screen of the same technology.

The predominantly white webpages are really taxing on AMOLEDs and the Galaxy Nexus paid the price here. It only endured a minute over 3 hours of our automated script before it switched off and placed last of all tested smartphones. And it was some way of the pace, as you can see from the table.

The video playback test concluded the round of individual tests and the good news is that the Galaxy Nexus did fairly well in it. It wasn’t great, but after the web browsing fiasco, the 6 hours and 2 minutes seemed like good news.

Needless to say that after such results, we were having no illusions about the Galaxy Nexus real life endurance. The smartphone’s standby wasn’t particularly efficient either and it got a total endurance rating of 31h. This suggests that you’ll need to charge the Samsung Galaxy Nexus every 31 hours if you use it for an hour of 3G telephony, SD video playback and web browsing each day.

That’s tied second worst score we have seen so far, but as we told you, it wasn’t completely unexpected. On a positive note, the Galaxy Nexus matches the HTC Rezound and outdoes the LG Nitro HD and they have screens smaller by 17% and 7%, respectively.

HTC Flyer price slashed in the UK, 16GB Wi-Fi version costs £200 while the 32GB 3G version goes for £249

HTC’s first Android tablet – the Flyer – started off with a hefty price tag in the UK (£600!), but it has dropped significantly since then. The latest price cut brings it to a manageable £200.

The specs of the 7? aluminum-clad tablet won’t impress anyone, but with Android 3.2 already rolling out, it’s not a bad piece of kit.

The £200 price is for the 16GB Wi-Fi only version. Dixons have it in stock as do Currys, while Amazon UK list it but they are temporarily out of stock. Currys has the 32GB 3G version too, which will set you back £249. Dixons’ site also shows a link to the 32GB 3G version of the Flyer, but it’s redirecting to a general list of tablets (maybe they’re out of stock?).

All other online UK stores I could think of have the Flyer on an older price of £290 or more, which is unreasonable for a single-core tablet that might or might not see an Ice Cream Sandwich update (probably not, when HTC announced what devices will get ICS, the Flyer wasn’t mentioned).

If you find a store I missed, leave a comment below.

Action Movie FX for iOS is the funniest app you can get this holiday season [VIDEO]

Action Movie FX is a relatively new mobile app that allows you to add cinema-grade special effects to your own footage. It’s not about a new iMovie app for post-processing, instead, you choose a single special effect, you go shoot a short clip and the app adds its magic onto it.

The result… Well, it varies. I’ve had some really nice time experimenting with it and once you get how the effects work, you can get some really good footage.

The most impressive thing of it all is how real these explosions look bearing in mind the whole thing has been rendered on a mobile phone. Geez, you will be amazed.

Action Movie FX comes with a set of predefined special effects. The first two are free and include a missile hitting the ground and a car thrown around by a tornado or something. You can buy more, but just these two will give you hours of fun.

You can nuke big stuff such as a friend’s car at the parking lot and you can nuke small stuff, such as your colleague’s coffee cup (yeah, lame, I know).

The best thing about it is that everybody I showed the end result to was overwhelmed. The app and the videos I made with it were a smash hit among my friends and family this Christmas.

And honestly, it’s been a while since I last had so much fun with a mobile app.

I’m not really into games and content creation is a my preferred use of my iPhone. And while it is nowhere near serious videography, it’s just plain fun.

But words don’t merely describe what the app is all about, so instead I’m gonna show you some of the clips I shot around – made exclusively for this blogpost.

You like it, didn’t you? Here’s one more, made using the same special FX.

Now, switching to the other available free effect. Watch out, there’s a car coming!

Getting back to the previous scene, here’s the same Special FX but in a different place.

Action Movie FX is indeed a special app. And it would even work on the iPhone 3GS, the iPads and the iPod Touches 4Gen. And I’d really like to see more from where those effects came from.

You can download it from the link below.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 comes by, we take it for a spin [VIDEO]

The first ever released Curve with a touchscreen has made it to our office. The BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the latest RIM smartphone running on the OS 7. It’s quite similar with the Torch 9860, but comes with a smaller and low-res display.

The Curve 9380 packs a less-capable 800MHz processor, but offers variety of connectivity options – 3G with HSPA, Wi-Fi, GPS and even NFC. The camera is 5 megapixel fixed focus one and is capable of capturing VGA videos.

And now comes our unboxing and UI demo video.

Now that this blog post is done, you can bet we are already on our Curve 9380 review and you could expect it soon.

Intel planning to bring Thunderbolt technology to PCs by April 2012

The Thunderbolt technology, developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple, has great potential but so far has been limited to Apple’s computers. Soon, however, that will not be the case.

Digitimes is now reporting that Intel has notified its partners that the company will fully release the technology in April 2012, with several first-tier PC manufacturers already planning motherboards, notebook and desktop PCs to be released with Thunderbolt next year.

This is good news for the adoption of the technology. With more players coming in, we will see a higher number of devices that support this technology and also a reduction in prices for them.

In case you don’t know, Thunderbolt is the fastest I/O port available on consumer computers today, with a bandwidth of 10Gbps both ways, simultaneously and can supply up to 10W of power. With so much bandwidth and power being available through just one port, Thunderbolt allows you to easily daisy chain multiple compatible devices. Thunderbolt ports are capable of transferring data as well as high definition audio and video, all through one port. Being based on PCI Express, it is backward compatible with older interfaces such as USB and FireWire.

The current cost of Thunderbolt devices is quite high, with a 1TB LaCie Little Big Disk costing $499.95 and just the Thunderbolt cable itself costing $49. Hopefully, these prices will go down considerably next year.

Mysterious 3-inch Nokia device turns out a name badge

The long-awaited Consumers Electornics Show in Las Vegas isn’t due for two more weeks, but already Nokia gets us excited with a little something.

And by the leaked photos of it, it’s a 3-inch device, which doesn’t feature any hardware buttons at all. Excited? Don’t be.

Sadly, as it turns out, this mysterious device is just a fancy programmable name badge for Nokia representatives to flash around on the CES showroom floors. At first we thought it might be a new compact, button-less Windows Phone 7 device, but our hopes were quickly put to rest.

Undoubtedly, CES 2012 will be much more interesting than overly expensive ID badges and we expect the Nokia Labs team to not disappoint.

Samsung acquires Sony’s stake in S-LCD joint venture for $933 million

A few years ago, Sony and Samsung entered into a joint venture to develop S-LCD panels. Today, the two companies have announced that Samsung will be buying Sony’s stake (50%) in the joint venture for 1.08 trillion Korean won, which is roughly US$933 million dollars.

The new agreement allows both the companies to continue cooperative engineering efforts focused on LCD panel technology and for Sony to secure a flexible and steady supply of LCD panels from Samsung, based on market prices without the responsibility and costs of having their own manufacturing facility. The transferring of shares and payment is expected to close by the end of January 2012.

Due to this transaction, Sony is expected to incur a one-time loss of approximately 66 billion Japanese Yen (US$ 847 million) but expects things to get better after January 2012 due to the reduced costs of procuring the LCD panels, with an estimated yearly savings of 50 billion Japanese Yen (US$642 million). As for Samsung, whole ownership of S-LCD will be giving it higher flexibility, speed and efficiency and an advantage over its rivals.

JXD S7100 combines 7-inch Android tablet and gaming console into one, sells for $139.99

Ever wanted a 7-inch Android tablet that also had gaming keys on the side? Then JXD has just the thing for you. Although the company usually spends its time making PSP clones, this time they have gone ahead and made something original. Oh, wait. Never mind.

The device has a 7-inch display with a rather unimpressive 800 x 480 resolution. What is impressive, however, is the processor it runs on. The S7100 has the same dual-core Cortex A9 with Mali-400 GPU found under the hood of Samsung’s Galaxy S II.

Other specs include 512MB of RAM, 16GB internal memory, Wi-Fi and HDMI out. The device runs on the outdated Android 2.2 Froyo and has a claimed battery life of 4 hours of web browsing and 10 hours for music playback.

The controls on the side work only if you install ROMs of classic games but for titles found on the Android Market you will have to rely on the touchscreen. If you look at the interface you will notice that JXD has blatantly ripped off the icons from iOS. They even go as far as using names like Game Center to describe their apps. Even their website looks like a rip-off of Apple’s website. All of this makes their slogan “We are different…” all that much more hilarious.

If you’re interested then you would be delighted to know that it costs only $139.99. It may not be a PS Vita but what other device lets you play Angry Birds, Super Mario and Street Fighter?

iOS Devices Dominate Mobile Online Shopping

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The holiday season came a little early for Apple this year, but it's not as if the company didn't already know what it was getting. New statistics released this week from retail analysis firm RichRelevance indicate that iPads and iPhones are the top mobile devices that consumers use to make retail purchases.

By just how much, you ask? According to RichRelevance, 92 percent of all "online non-desktop sales" came from an iOS-friendly device during December. Better still (for retailers), those using their iPhones, iPads, and other iOS devices to shop online spent more, on average, than those shopping via other mobile platforms like Android: $123 for iOS devices versus $101 for Android devices. Even though desktop-based sales crushed mobile-based purchases in volume, the average order value of these purchases only reached $87.

"The numbers across our retailing partners sites demonstrate just how powerful the iOS platform is enabling mobile web shopping and, while still below 5 percent in total conversion, mobile traffic's doubling in eight months is a trend we only see accelerating," said David Selinger, RichRelevance CEO, in a statement.

In total, mobile device-based shopping hit around 3 percent of all online sales analyzed by RichRelevance—more than 3.4 billion sales in total, stretched across the months of April to mid-December. Translated out to raw dollars, mobile-based sales jumped from 1.87 percent of all U.S. online retail spending in April to 3.74 percent in December.

As mentioned, this news should come as little surprise to Apple, as the company has already seen snapshots of iOS mobile shopping dominance. Take, for example, Black Friday: According to IBM, the iPhone and iPad ranked first and second for consumer shopping on mobile devices on Black Friday itself (5.4 percent and 4.8 percent, with Android-based devices taking up third at 4.1 percent). That totals just over 10 percent of the mobile shopping market for Apple's flagship products.

IBM also indicated that the specific Black Friday conversion rates for the iPad—a comparison of online visits versus purchases made—were double those of the mobile device category as a whole (4.6 percent to 2.8 percent.)

Even though Android enjoys a healthy lead in overall global market share for smartphones versus the iPhone—no doubt a result of Android's ability to exist on multiple devices versus the single iOS smartphone product line—it seems that iOS users continue to carry the day for mobile shopping.

For more, see PCMag's Year in Review for Google and Apple.

For more from David, subscribe to him on Facebook: David Murphy.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

View the original article here

The Year in Review: Google

 

Late in 2011, Google's Eric Schmidt insisted that the company did not dominate in search or mobile, but a quick look at the tech headlines this year might suggest otherwise. Android devices are flying off the shelves, the company seems to finally be making headway in social, and companies still rely heavily on Google placement for online success.

But those victories did not come without controversy. Talk of Android fragmentation did not die down, while stories about Android malware seemed to pop up every few weeks. The company's search policies also prompted regulatory inquiries about possible anti-competitive behavior.

Oversight of these issues fell to Larry Page this year, who took over as Google CEO in April, leaving Schmidt to be executive chairman, or the public face of the company. And he was certainly never at a loss for anything to discuss. Let's take a look back at the year in Google.

A New Era

"In this new role I know he will merge Google's technology and business vision brilliantly. Larry, in my clear opinion, is ready to lead," Schmidt wrote in a January blog post.

That new leadership included a focus on products, particularly those that were no longer bearing fruit. Throughout the year, Page cleaned house and shut down everything from Google Labs to Google Buzz.In April, it was reported that Page would tie a quarter of Google employees' annual bonuses to the company's performance in social efforts. A week earlier, Google had unveiled the Facebook Like-esque +1 button, and by June, Google released its full-fledged social network, Google+.

Prior to Google+, the search giant had few successes in social. No one really understood Google Wave and Google Buzz ran into some privacy issues that eventually resulted in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. But after taking a page from Facebook, incorporating a few new innovations like Circles, and keeping initial access to a select few, users finally started to take notice, and a Google+ invite became the hottest ticket in town.

The social network opened to the public in September, and by October, Page said Google+ had 40 million users. That hardly compares to the more than 800 million Facebook users, but it wasn't bad given previous, lackluster outings; see the slideshow above for more.

Regulators Take Note

The Google Buzz FTC settlement, meanwhile, was not Google's only encounter with regulators this year. In June, the company revealed that the agency was conducting a "review of our business." The full extent of the inquiry has not been revealed, but the focus is believed to be Android and search.

In August, Google also reached a $500 million settlement with the Department of Justice over AdWords sales that allowed U.S. residents to access ads for online Canadian pharmacies.

Congress also wanted some answers. After some public wrangling, Schmidt finally agreed to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September, where he answered questions about whether or not Google favored its own products in its search results, among other things. Schmidt denied it, insisting that the search market is highly competitive.

Earlier in the year, however, Google ruffled some feathers when it changed its search algorithm to de-emphasize results from so-called content farms. The effort, dubbed Panda, was intended to surface more relevant Web sites but some businesses worried about how a drop in Google search rankings might affect their businesses. Demand Media, for example, reportedly experienced a 40 percent drop in traffic after Panda was put into effect.

In February, there was also a bit of a controversy over whether Microsoft's Bing was copying Google's search results. To test its theory, Google took a phrase that the average Google user was unlikely to search—like "mbzrxpgjys"?and manually paired it with an unlikely search result, like the homepage for RIM. These dummy search results were added to Google and days later, about 9 of the 100 tests added to Google were showing up on Bing. Microsoft denied it and accused Google of engaging in a honeypot attack and going after Bing because it was worried about its growth.

That was not the only time Google tangled with Microsoft this year. In March, Redmond joined an EU antitrust complaint against Google, accusing the company of restricting access to YouTube, content from book publishers, advertiser data, and more.

LG to showcase 55-inch OLED TV at CES 2012, claims it to be the world’s largest

LG has a special treat in store for CES visitors next year, a massive 55-inch TV that uses an OLED panel, the largest to be used on any TV yet. LG claims that the panel has a contrast ratio of 100,000:1.

Compared to other OLED TVs, the LG TV uses a White OLED or WOLED panel. Unlike AMOLED panels that use RGB subpixels placed next to each other, WOLED panels stack the subpixels one above the other, which results in lower error rate, clearer picture and low color distortion at wider viewing angles.

As with other OLED TV, the LG TV lacks a backlight, which makes it consume less power compared to a regular LCD TV and at the same time makes it extremely thin, as can be seen below.

No release date or pricing has been mentioned yet although to be honest, I’m not sure I want to know the price of a TV with such a large OLED panel.

iOS 5.0.1 gets untethered jailbreak, iPad 2 and iPhone 4S not compatible

Most of the iOS devices are finally going to stay jailbroken with the new untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1. It works on every iOS 5-compatible gadgets but the A5-based ones (the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S).

The exploit was discovered by pod2g and is now implemented into the latest redsn0w and PwnageTool.

If you are already using a tethered jailbreak, you must go to Cydia and search for Corona. Otherwise go here to get redsn0w. If you’ve never used redsn0w, you can check this step-by-step tutorial.

BTW: A4/A5 users, don't update to 5.0.2 when it's out, that would cut your jailbreak possibilities.

about 2 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone

@pod2g

pod2g

Once you jailbreak your device, it’s best that you keep away from any upcoming updates until the community is ready with a new version of the jailbreak for those.

Apple’s Newsstand app helped increase readership, Popular Science sees growth of over 13% in the first week itself

Some of you iOS users might think that the Newsstand app on your homescreen is absolutely useless but certain publications, particularly Popular Science and all its new readers will want to disagree with you.

According to the chart above, courtesy of Mag+, a division of Popular Science’s publisher Bonnier Corporation, you can see that sales of the magazine suddenly shot up in the second week of October this year, with a growth of over 13% in that week alone and also an increase in the growth of the magazine after that period.

If you remember, iOS 5, which introduced the Newsstand app was launched during the same week, on October 12, to be precise. This makes it clear that Newsstand is directly responsible for the boost in sales that Popular Science is enjoying at the moment. For now it is the only publication that has revealed its numbers but I’m sure other publications must have noticed the increase in sales too.

Can Apple pull an iTunes with the Newststand app? It remains to be seen but there is no denying the fact that it has got a lot more people into reading electronically distributed magazines, which can only be good news for the publishers.

Reno gets consolation prize Qualcomm

The Government gave AT & t consolation prize yesterday when approved the acquisition of a large carrier Qualcomm in unused wireless the refusal spectrum after its ingestion of T-Mobile.

Qualcomm is 6 MHz wide spectrum, plus additional 6 MHz in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco, will be used to speed up the AT & T 4 G LTE services. (The spectrum is the remains of Qualcomm's FLO TV Mobile TV failed services.)

The aim is, perhaps, it is not a direct hate at & T, the Government agrees with the embarkation of AT & t set custom frequency distribution, which will be more difficult (but not impossible) to roam on much to the dismay of rural carriers. Kevin Fitchard on GigaOm has really good explanation of the .

The FCC will discuss the complex question of 700 MHz roaming next year. It's time to fight it. LTE roaming is generally a mess, with 38 different bands, which are used throughout the world, according to the GSM Association. It would be another move phones from the carrier, the carrier and the country, the increase in prices for each.

This purchase and the recent purchase of Verizon's Cable company spectrum, are completely different than AT & t sentenced to buy T-Mobile. Rather than releasing the competition, these guys are spectrum fight that nobody uses. If you are really cruel, you could say the potential , crushing his competitors, but it really looks like these companies were going to use it.

There is one big problem with the purchase of Wachovia Spectrum, but it has nothing to do with the purchase, itself. Verizon seems to agree effectively stop to compete in a home broadband connection, already extending their FiOS optical system to new markets. It may perhaps be more anti-competitive?

Back to the wireless network is a great alternative universe where regulatory FCC would require a band compatibility for roaming and maybe even a request to fallow the spectrum to new or smaller players, but we really don't live there. Just be glad I have stamped out the T-Mobile.

And what about T-Mobile, by the way?
All of these spectrum to capture T-Mobile in a difficult situation, of course, as the spectrum, which the company could otherwise use gets sucked through the larger players. (Sprint has plenty of spectrum, as long as it maintains control over Clearwire.)

The company, without options, but it is not. Begins with some spectrum as part of the AT & T breakup fee, "together with preferential roaming agreement. Can a partner or merge with dish network (which owns its own spectrum) or smaller carrier as U.S. Cellular. If the FCC requires some sales for Verizon to buy cable firm spectrum, these airwaves could be directed to the T-Mobile or smaller players.

I've heard that T-Mobile operates on HSPA + 84, a technology that is as fast as many LTE systems but works in its limited range. It could keep it going for a while.

Note also that for the year is a long time in wireless. Within a few years we could be more auctions, or a radical extension of the new "white space" wireless technology that could upend the current business models. T-Mobile may also have in the meantime, the new owner. This story is far from over; T-Mobile is far from lost.

The spectrum of the balancing Act
Everyone in the mobile industry agree that data hungry 4 G phones are will need more and more spectrum. So it is good to see that unused spectrum is not only to be sat on that, what it is to be handed over to the by companies such as Qualcomm, who do not use it, wireless carriers, who will be using to build a network of 4 G.

The trick is balancing the most efficient use of spectrum with the requirements for competitive wireless market in the nation. The most effective use, of course, would be for one of the giant carrier check all of the wireless spectrum, but that would lead to high prices and incentives to innovation.

Could lead to more competition in more control of the precious spectrum? Yeah, I guess. At least they should be more about roaming and interoperability requirements. But for now, things aren't so bad. Verizon and AT & t will use unused spectrum had just purchased. T-Mobile and Sprint have options. With T-Mobile/AT & t merger, the dead probably we'll have four national carriers. We'll have a happy holiday and enjoy our new Smartphone.

Study: Smartphones placing seriously hurt on normal camera sales

Smartphone helped to kill a Flip Video Recorder earlier this year and a new study from the NPD Group suggests that it may one day take the low end of normal cameras. It is, therefore, that more and more people are photographed with mobile phones like Apple iPhone instead of using digital cameras, according to market research firm's latest "Imaging the confluence of the study."

NPD study, published this week, found that the percentage of the photographs taken smartphone increased to 27% in 2011, from 17% a year earlier, although the photographs taken on the camera all single-purpose fell from 52 percent in 2010, up 44 percent this year.

Smartphones are increasingly popular tool for pictures and videos on the fly, said company research, single-purpose cameras and video cameras, remains popular with consumers for more structured filming activities (see chart below).

"There is no doubt that the smartphone is becoming" good "most of the time, but thanks to mobile phones, more pictures are taken than ever before," said Liz cutting, the Executive Director and the head of the imaging analyst NPD, in a statement. "Consumers who use their mobile phones, pictures, and videos were more likely to do so instead of [] their camera to capture spontaneous moments, but important events, dedicated camera or video camera are still to a large extent the device of choice."

The rise of the Smartphone as go on filming equipment is apparent in the survey of American consumers, which NPD used as the basis for his study, but the actual numbers are tracked in the retail market. Research, the company said its retail monitoring service found that, in the first 11 months of the year 2011, the market dipped a normal camera 17 percent over the year in terms of units shipped and 18 percent in terms of revenue.

The grip also applied to the video recorder & # 151NPD said that the Pocket video camera and traditional flash camera unit shipments are 13 percent and 8 percent this year, while sales for product categories are 27 percent and 10 percent.

It seems that the more expensive cameras, however, that defied this trend. Research the company noted that the units and revenue for the separable camera lens each growth of better than 10 percent-over a year, with the camera boasts an average price tag of $ 863. Meanwhile, higher end point and shoots, defined as having an optical zooms 10 x or higher, grew by 16% in terms of units shipped, and about 10 percent in terms of revenue through November. These products are transported by the average price of $ 257, NPD said.

The Year in Review: Apple

Apple mela svuj podíl verzemi hodne produktu a vdecným spory v roce 2011, ale zpoždení na 5. ríjna, miniaplikací a dramatu zastínil predávání záhadný spoluzakladatel v Cupertinu. Steve Jobs byl pryc.

Zprávy zasáhla zkraje vecera na východním pobreží, jeden den po odhalila své nové 4S iPhoneApple. Pracovní místa opustilo rakoviny let, pricemž nekolik omluvené absence a dokonce prochází transplantace jater, ale od srpna 2011, nastal cas se rozloucit. Pracovní místa odstoupil ze své funkce jako CEO Apple, podal vládne nad Tim Cook, a o dva mesíce pozdeji zemrel obklopen rodinou.

Po vyslechnutí zprávy o jeho smrti, sešli fanoušci Apple obchody po celém svete zaplatit své ohledech a Apple pozdeji držel hvezdami posetá zádušní mši ve svém sídle v Cupertinu. Jeho život bylo zaznamenáno v biografii Walter Isaacson, publikovali asi tri týdny po jeho smrti, ale více, získáte je PCMag pohled na pracovní místa v život a kariéra.

Ale míst, pravdepodobne by si neprál jeho smrt zastíní vše, co jeho spolecnost vykonal v roce 2011, i když pravdepodobne by byl OK jde zastinující nekteré z faux pas, jako sledování umístení, iPhone baterie kanalizace a sporné patentové bitvy. Podívejme se zpet na dobré, špatné a ošklivá vycházet z Cupertina v lonském roce.

Produkty
Fanoušci Apple strávil velkou cást roku ceká na výrobek, nikdy arrived?the iPhone 5. Máme nový iPhone, ale to se nepodarilo zahrnout naprosto obnovené form factor, vetší obrazovku, 4 G nebo nekterou z jiné prehnané, povídá rysy , které se šírí v roce 2011.

Místo toho iPhone 4S dorazil, nejsou presne totéž jako iPhone 4 zvencí, ale s Siri, dychtivé fotoaparát a dvoujádrový procesor uvnitr. Zklamání nad nedostatek zarízení pro iPhone 5-branded prodej, ale nebolí. Apple prodal alespon 4 miliony zarízení v prvních pár dní, kdy byl k dispozici. Smartphone byla také pridána do dvou nových amerických carriers?Sprint a c vež.

Dríve v roce míst byl však stále dost dobre, aby fázi a odhalovat iPad 2?a slabší, rychlejší verzi svého predchudce s výhledem na prední a zadní kamery. To byl prodáván v breznu, dotazování dlouhé fronty na oblast Apple obchody. Do cervence Apple odhalila, že prodala 9.25 milionu iPads behem ctvrtletí, 183 % nárust od predchozího roku.

Souperi jako RÁFKU a HP se usilovne snaží konkurovat iPad. Nejbližší konkurenta se zdá být ohen Amazon zvedat, ale 7palce, 199 USD tabletu se skutecne objevily jako levnejší varianta iPad spíše než potenciální vrah iPad. Apple fofr nedávno bonmot, že ohen by mohly pomoci iPad prodeje; lidé nakupují ohne, si chtejí neco mnohem silnejší a obchodu.

S novými zarízeními, mezitím prišel obnovené operacní systém: iOS 5. Trvalo to stránku z jiné operacní systémy, jako Android v oznámení centrum a BlackBerry Messenger s iMessage. Byl tam také spuštení iCloud a iTunes zápas o the-go prístup k souborum a hudba. Mac a iPod vedení spolecnosti také dostal generálku, zatímco další iteraci Mac OS X, Lion, nakonec na plochu.

Volkswagen turns off after-hours BlackBerry emails

As more and more people accept the Smartphone and Tablet for work purposes, it becomes increasingly difficult to turn off these gadgets, as soon as the working day. One of the automaker, however, may have a solution freezes access as soon as you exit.

BBCby Volkswagen has agreed to stop his BlackBerry servers from sending e-mail to workers when they are not in service. The BlackBerry Eclipse applies only to German workers unions negotiated contracts.

Volkswagen is to do it out of the goodness of his heart, however. The result of the complaint that the switch policy "work and home lives are becoming blurred," he told the BBC.

Volkswagen is immediately did not respond to a request for comment.

Once in place, employees will stop receiving e-mails for 30 minutes after they have ceased to work; These reports starts again 30 minutes before they arrive at work.

Other companies have similar steps. Thierry Breton, the Director-General and Chairman of Atos Origin, the extensive information technology services company, said in February that would eradicate the company e-mail during the next three years in favour of the more useful tools. More about the is Email dead?

What do you mean? Let us know in the comments and answer our survey below.

RIM counter fee "lies about BlackBerry 10 delay

Research In Motion has confirmed that the new version of the operating system, his BlackBerry day "on track" for the issue of February, raising doubts about the claim that the company was unjustly reducing on Why it shifted to the issue of the new BlackBerry 10-based Smartphone in the second half of 2012.

The contribution from the Boy Genius report published, claimed Thursday that RIM co-CEO Mike Laziridis "lied" when he in the earnings call earlier this month said that the Canadian smartphone maker was waiting for LTE chip from another supplier than gigantic release 10 BlackBerry the next generation of phones.

Tech blog quoted an unnamed RIM employees like to say that the real reason for the delay was the BlackBerry software that 10 of the next generation, which blends the edge in the world, the BlackBerry platform for Smartphones with operating system, QNX, gained in the year 2010 and currently runs destroyed the tablet, is nowhere near ready for prime time and not during the coming months.

RIM denied the charges, calling the BGR report "inaccurate and uninformed" and "simply false." On Thursday evening, the spokesman said that RIM the PCMag "RIM said last week during a call to their profits, which prevented OS 2.0 is on the road to February 2012," in response to a direct question about the planned upgrade of the day.

Now with the edge of reaffirming their commitment to the implementation of the day, OS 2.0 as planned in February, it appears that the ball is in the BlackBerry maker Court to once and for all disproving his Prosecutor.

That's because the day OS upgrade has to incorporate the native email, BlackBerry Messenger, and other features that were missing on the RIM of the first consumer tablet when projected earlier this year, the company: # 151a was the main reason why his ideas by reviewers and to prevent the consumer.

Keep in mind that the meat BGR source accusations is that RIM is delaying BB10 on as long as a year because it was not able to integrate BlackBerry OS offers as a native email to QNX, which form the backbone of the BlackBerry platform 10 company develops for all future mobile devices.

What's it all mean? In essence, if RIM give an improved version of QNX, (which is now called the day OS) 60 days or less has all the promised features in place and functioning properly, it would go towards shows that Laziridis really "lie" in the end.

Dropbox for Android updated to version 2.0, adds offline storage, bulk uploads and ICS support

Dropbox released version 2.0 of their Android app and it promises to make the mobile experience much, much better. Storing files offline, bulk uploads and Ice Cream Sandwich support are just a few of the changes that the new version brings.

Dropbox 2.0 uses a tabbed interface and one of the tabs is Favorites – files marked as such will be stored on the phone for offline use (Dropbox for Android typically doesn’t store files in the phone’s memory).

You can also upload multiple files through the Uploads tab, which was reworked to make uploading images and videos easier with an improved Gallery view. Bulk uploads happen in the background (as long as you have background data enabled) so you can do other stuff, until they are done.

Here are the rest of the changes:

• Ice Cream Sandwich support: Optimized for the newest and tastiest Android release yet: Ice Cream Sandwich.


• Single-tap access to actions: All file and folder actions are available from a single tap.


• Lots of others: Export to (and upload from) local storage, as well as numerous bug fixes and stability improvements

If the 2GB of storage you get for free from Dropbox aren’t enough, there are several ways to expand it for free. For example, students with .edu emails will get 500MB per referral instead of the usual 250MB. Check out the rest of the ways to get extra storage.

You can grab Dropbox v2.0 for Android from the Market.

FCC approves Wachovia at $ 1.9b purchase Qualcomm spectrum

Federal Communications Commission did not look too kindly on Wachovia on offer for the purchase of T-Mobile, but the Agency has approved the acquisition yesterday at the Wachovia spectrum from Qualcomm with conditions.

The FCC Voiced concerns about the trade competitiveness.

"After the post-transaction, Wachovia would have a significant share of the available spectrum suitable for the provision of mobile voice and broadband services, in particular under the 1 GHz range, which has technical attributes that are important for other competitors to significantly expand their provision of mobile broadband services, or for new entrants to have a potentially significant impact on competition," said the Commission to your order.

As a result, the FCC imposed several conditions on the transaction, such as the requirement that Travelers to the new spectrum to stop rivals from the use of the spectrum of the neighbouring 700 MHz broadband services, and limits the ability of the company Qualcomm Wachovia Spectrum in a way which would deprive the opponents the advantages of the of the FCC rules is.

In a statement, Wachovia said it expects the conclusion of the transaction in the coming days.

"This spectrum will help Travelers continue to provide world-class mobile broadband experience to our customers," said Bob Quinn, Senior Vice President of federal regulatory issues at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, in a statement. "We, the Chairman of the FCC Commissioners and their staff for the completion of the review before the holidays."

In December 2010, , Qualcomm announced the , that sells its lower 700 MHz D block spectrum licences, and (e) on the AT & t for $ 1.925 billion. Qualcomm to use spectrum for its FLO TV mobile digital TV business last year announced the , but that will end in March 2011. AT & t plans to use the spectrum as a download for their 4 G networks through carrier aggregation technology.

"Spectrum is both the wireless industry, the US, we are very glad that the FCC does not reduce the range of the screen, however, continue to believe that any changes in the process, which is allocated should be open and transparent public debate and clear to everyone in order to ensure the health of our industry," said Quinn.

Reno has recently had a prickly relationship with the FCC. The Commission recently found that Wachovia had tried to purchase the T-Mobile would not be in the public interest and would result in massive layoffs. As a result, it recommended the agreement sent to the administrative law judge; the way to the FCC to reject. At the same time, the FCC also issued an evaluation report, which included a (redacted), his Office has received information about trade, prompting Travelers accuse the Commission that the biased and hypocritical.

Whereas the Ministry of Justice was also the action to block the merger of the T-Mobile, in the meantime, Travelers eventually decided to get rid of the agreement, with $ 4 billion charge in the process.

For more information on Chloe after her at @ ChloeAlbanesiusTwitter.

For the best stories in tech, follow us on Twitter @ PCMagon.

View the original article here

Republic of Wireless are indeed unlimited

Wireless. Republic, a new startup mobile operator from the VoIP provider of Bandwidth.com, took a lot of flack when users found that its unlimited talk, text and data plans just $ 19 per month means that it is expected that users rely mainly on Wi-Fi. But the carrier on Thursday blog post in announced that revise this plan and offer truly unlimited talk, text and data, without conditions.

According to the posts "rather than a revision of our fair use policy, we have decided to not have one at all. They will simply be no limits and no risk of loss of service. We do away with all of this have all active place to where he belongs: the creation of a new wireless future together ... We plan to update the page "what's the catch?" on our website, so it is clearly in accordance with our new and improved "unrestricted" position. Fair use policy will be removed, and revise our terms of service. "

Republic Wireless MVNO's Sprint, but it is based around a Wi-Fi instead of cellular. So rather than using a mobile phone as the underlying network with wireless hotspots as a replacement, the Republic of wireless has the opposite approach.

Technically, Wireless Africa is still in beta version. According to Porter, "everyone who has purchased or purchase the phone during the beta will be guaranteed the opportunity to benefit from the unlimited service, without the worries of the cancellation, and until the end of the beta. Beta, we will not stop until we achieve economic sustainability or become convinced that it is impossible. In the event that we finish the beta with the decision to give up or change our unlimited offer, we'll give you the option to cancel for a full refund for your device at the time. "

So it sounds like really truly unlimited plans are for the time being, although the decision to "Leave or change" that, when the beta period ends is always possible.

Right now, Wireless Africa offers one phone: LG with Optimus, which is a solid budget Android phone with a small screen, decent specifications and capable performance. Check out our Preview with Optimus for Wireless Republic for a closer look at the phone, as well as a more detailed explanation of its services.

Samsung Galaxy tab 8.9 is unofficially next to taste ice cream sandwich

The hacking community is on a roll. In the last few days and weeks we saw about a dozen ice cream sandwich ROMs for difference smartphones surface and we even play with one of them.

Samsung Galaxy tab 8.9 now enters the list of devices to get unofficial Android 4.0 support. Samsung promised that ICS update this an official, but thanks of the exalted devs on the XDA-developers you do not have to wait to try it out long.

Now is the port still in the alpha stage of its development, so that it is not ready for daily use, but judging by the rate of progress of the other such ports, a stable release should be long.

Here is the video proof that Android 4.0.3 ice cream sandwich already on the Galaxy tab 8.9 boots.

Support for Wi-Fi and camera are the two most important points on the developer's to-do list, but that sounds not how much, when you consider that developing only a few days ago. ROM ready for use are public in a few days, so if you are interested in, to keep an eye on the XDA forums thread , the progress.

Samsung Galaxy nexus GSM brings more ice cream of sandwiches to our Office, we party on video [VIDEO]

It's finally here folks-you all have for droid has finally arrived on our doorstep. We are naturally very well this year since how Santa sent us the most beautiful Christmas present given the Samsung Galaxy nexus (in fact, that he sent us two of these).

We have already rolled our sleeves and investigate the Android ice cream sandwich flagship and hopefully, again with the answers to all your questions are sometimes next week.

And as it has the tradition, we have prepared a short unboxing video for you and it garnished with to make our first impressions of the Smartphone that wait more bearable.

The Samsung Galaxy nexus outer had hardly any secrets, like us, a preview of the ice cream sandwich pioneer have been a while. The round shape with a nice pattern on the back, which beautifully sleek profile and incredibly large Windows make the heart itself respects everyone to melt tech-freak.

Samsung Galaxy nexus live shots

Fashionistas may be a few things on the forehead frown, but this phone not aimed at them anyway.

It will be really interesting if you explore the Android 4.0 ice cream sandwich. It is a fairly new experience and it certainly takes some time getting used to, but you learn your way through, how amazing find works the Android version. Add you the smoothness provided by the Galaxy get a nexus 1.2 GHz dual core CPU and you experience value write home about.

We are wasting our time now, and down to test. Feel free to post questions may be answered you in the final review in the comments section.