Tag: cupcake

Tech Digest Podcast #5

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We are not infected. Actually, I can’t say that for certain. Duncan has a cold and I travelled in on the Tube before we started talking about all the Swine Flu panic on Twitter, the internet maps and the spread of the virus.

Thankfully, Swine Flu cannot be transmitted over podcast and, at the least, we’ve had time to talk about the imminent release of the Palm Pre; Cupcake on the second UK Google Android phone, the HTC Magic; holographic storage and the one billionth iPhone app download.

This week in, er, hard/soft (please help us) it’s all about the cloud-based antivirus program Panda and I try to persuade Duncan to run down to Aldi and buy a Medion laptop. Easier than it sounds actually.

I think we’ve managed to sort out the buzzing problem but the new issue this week is that I’m a lot louder than Duncan. As it goes, I am, but even trying to balance the inputs and some levelling software doesn’t seem to have solved the trouble. Next time. We’re getting there.

Send all your comments, topics that you’d like us to talk about and any requests or words of wisdom to me at [email protected] or throw us a tweet at @techdigest.

Duncan Geere Podcast

HTC Magic Video: Hands on with the UK's second Android phone

I met up with Vodafone this morning to take a look at one of the hottest handsets of the summer, the HTC Magic known to some as the G2, known by all as the second Google Android phone available in the UK.

Straight up, it’s obvious that this handset is the looker of the two Android siblings at the moment. It may not be a particularly orginal form with the iPhone two years old now but I like the way they’ve taken “the chin” and turned it from a jutting Jimmy Hill to a more handsome Robert Redford. Take a look.

This missing flash will wind you up if the camera is the most important feature for you but otherwise there’s very little to complain about. It comes loaded with Android 1.5, aka Cupcake, meaning you can take video and upload straight to YouTube and Picasa, and there’s no longer the need for a hard keyboard. The virtual one seems certainly no worse than the iPhone’s.

The battery’s a slight improvement on the G1 with a 1340 mAh capacity which should see you out a a full day of heavy use before it’s time to plug in again.

A single small USB port at the bottom means you’ll have to use the in-box 3.5mm adaptor to fit your preferred headphones in, but it’s good to see they’ve had the issue in mind.

All in all, an A1 phone. Still time to get a fiver off the monthly tariff if you order today. £30 a month for 18 months grabs you a free handset, 600 mins and “unlimited” data and texts to the tune of 500MB per month and around 3,000 messages.

The handset is only available in white in the UK but that’s no bad thing until you dirty it up with your muddy paws.

HTC Magic spec sheet

Daniel Sung Mobile phones, Previews

Android 1.5 to hit G1 owners in May

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T-Mobile G1 owners yearning for an onscreen keyboard, video recording and Latitude for Google Maps need yearn no longer. Well, not much longer anyway. Android 1.5, better known as ‘Cupcake’, will be hitting handsets in May.

T-Mobile has sold 100,000 G1 handsets since its launch in October, six months ago. That might not seem like much compared to the iPhones dominance of the smartphone sector, but it’s not bad for a completely new OS, brand and device. It’s T-Mobile’s most popular handset, too.

The Cupcake update will be delivered over-the-air to phones, so you won’t have to do anything except maybe hit ‘yes’ once or twice. The onscreen keyboard should help ease complaints that you have to flip out the QWERTY to enter even small bits of text.

T-Mobile has also announced that it’ll be releasing a second Android handset in 2009. This isn’t the G2, or the HTC Magic, which is coming out on Vodafone and will be available this weekend to people who’ve preordered.

No, it’ll be completely new device. A device that we know absolutely nothing about – because T-Mobile won’t tell us anything. Damn them. When we find out, we’ll let you know.

T-Mobile

Duncan Geere Mobile phones