Tag: duncan geere
The lowdown on the HTC Magic – pricing, release dates and contract info
We’re eagerly awaiting the Vodafone HTC Magic, which is basically the G2, so that there’ll be a little more choice in the Android chunk of the mobile phone market. The G1’s all well and good, and I like it more the more I use it, but evolution – even if it removes the lovely keyboard – is good too.
The HTC Magic will go onsale in the UK on the 1st May. Before that, you’ll be able to pre-order the handset from the 17th April, though I’m thinking that it’s fairly unlikely there’s going to be queues around the block, so you’ll probably be able to get one on the day itself.
It’ll be only available on an 18 month contract for £30 a month (totalling £540). That’ll get you 600 minutes, though, as well as “unlimited” texts and “unlimited” emails. Those will have some sort of crappy and overly restrictive fair-usage limit, no doubt. I hope Vodafone’s prepared for G2 users to hit that internet limit.
(via UK Gadgeteer)
UPDATED: BlackBerry Storm II due in September
Although we weren’t massive fans of the BlackBerry Storm when it arrived in our office, we’re still pretty excited about this rumour. Sources suggest that RIM will be releasing a second iteration of the touchscreen BlackBerry in September this year.
One of the biggest failings of the original Storm, aside from the horrible touchscreen, was that it didn’t support Wi-Fi. The new version apparently will, which will make BlackBerry fans happy. If you ask me, though, they’ve got a long way to go before they can reach the user experience delights of Nokia or Apple phones or the G1.
(via SlashGear)
Sony Ericsson announces W205 and S312 entry-level phones
Are there really many people left entering the mobile phone market these days? Or is “entry-level” just another phrase for “cheap and low-spec”? Sony Ericsson’s just dropped us word of a couple of new “entry-level” phones that it’s bringing out in the middle of this year.
First there’s the W205, which is probably the snazzier of the two. It’s a Walkman phone, which means that it’s got some music-y features (though not a 3.5mm headphone jack). There’s an FM radio, a track identification system, as well as a fully-featured MP3 player with shuffle, loop, album art, playlists, etc.
It’s also got a 1.3-megapixel camera, memory card support – which you’ll need if you want to add music to it – and a 1.8″ screen. It’s 96g and measures 92 x 47 x 16.4 mm. It’ll be available in Q2.
Then there’s the S312, on which the biggest feature seems to just be that it’s got a dedicated video camera button. There’s a 2-megapixel camera, and a few photo uploading tools, but this really isn’t a seriously cameraphone, especially as the claimed 2.5X zoom is entirely digital. Anything taken at that level of zoom is going to look awful.
Again, there’s memory card support, a 2″ screen, and it comes in two colours – dawn and silver. It measures 100 x 46 x 12.5 mm and weighs 80g. It’ll also be available in Q2.
Sony Ericsson
OPINION: Don't forget about Facebook
With the tech world all a-twitter about, er… Twitter, and having little sexy accidents when talking about Spotify, it’s sometimes easy to forget about Facebook. In reality, Facebook is only a couple of years older than both Twitter and Spotify, and there’s still people out there who say things like “I don’t get all this Facebook malarky”.
Let’s start with the numbers. Facebook recently hit 175 million active users – if it were a country it’d be the 6th most populous in the world, between Brazil and Pakistan. More than 3 billion minutes are spent on the site every day – enough time to watch the extended edition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy 4.3 million times. Or read “War and Peace” 35,000 times.
Don’t forget that Facebook popularized the app store concept way before Apple, too. Sure, most Facebook apps are a load of old rubbish and their integration was an unmitigated disaster for the user experience (hence why they’ve mostly disappeared) but most iPhone apps are crap too. Seriously, how long does iFart sit on your phone before you delete it?
Despite being blamed for wanton destruction, Facebook even saves lives! News reached us this morning of a kid who was saved from a suicide attempt by a friend over Facebook chat. The power of having all you friends at your fingertips can stop people from doing silly things, and can rescue them when they do silly things.
So don’t forget about Facebook. Businesses – If you’re developing an Android app, stop and think – why not port this to Facebook, too? If you’re thinking of starting an ad campaign on Twitter or Spotify, remember Facebook’s userbase and think about using Facebook’s powerful ad tools to reach its bazillions of users. It’s not old hat.
The rest of you – go check in on your Facebook friends. Maybe you haven’t seen them since primary school, but that doesn’t mean you have nothing in common – on the contrary, you might have more than ever in common. Go poke that girl you ‘fancied’ when you were 13. She might even poke you back. The rest of the world is a little slower than you, mister early-adopter. Don’t forget about them.
Here’s a handy link. Click it, and spend half an hour remembering the web two years ago. You might even like it more: Facebook.
Spotify launching API
This is the big news that followers of Spotify have been waiting for for a little while. The revolutionary music service is launching an API “sometime this week”. It’ll give developers access to the raw workings behind the software, including its streaming facilities.
I don’t need to tell you that this is *fantastic* news. Freeing up the vast catalogue that Spotify has built up will energize developers and you’re going to suddenly see the service appearing everywhere – from phones to set-top-boxes and games consoles, but also on the web. The mobile aspect will be most interesting – anyone will be able to build their own mobile client for the service for any platform – BlackBerry, Symbian, iPhone, Android – whatever.
Also revealed by Spotify – 40,000 new users sign up each day, and users are spending on average 70 minutes listening to the service every day! That’s three lots of ads served to every user every day. Not bad!
When the API is out, we’ll scan the nascent developers scene and bring you the best of the user-built applications.
(via Guardian)
Run Ubuntu Linux in Windows with Portable Ubuntu
I know, I know – you keep meaning to install Linux and shake off the influence of “The Man” on everything you do, but every time you try it you get confused by partitions and command line worries. Well relax, we’ve got your back with the news of an app called Portable Ubuntu.
It sits on a thumb drive and provides a GNOME-based version of Ubuntu that’ll happily sit alongside all your Windows apps. In fact, you can totally ignore it if you want to, safe in the knowledge that if anyone ever sends you a tar.gz you’ll be sorted. Who knows, maybe you just prefer Ubuntu apps, but occasionally need to run the odd Windows program that doesn’t play nice with WINE.
In fact, I’ll buy a pint for anyone who uses this to run Windows apps with WINE and provides video evidence. My head’s hurting just thinking about it – send it to us at @techdigest.
Leaked: Archos 2 and Archos 4 portable media players
If you’re a fan of Archos’ brand of MP3 and video players – and lots of people are – then you might be at least moderately excited by the news that some pictures of new models have just leaked. Well, if you call ‘being put up on Amazon‘ leaked.
The specs aren’t anything to run through the streets, naked and screaming, about. There’s 8GB capacity for the “2”, MicroSD slot and 1.8″ display. It’s only .35 inches thick, though, and costs a similarly miniscule $60. I’d imagine that’ll probably translate directly over to £50 to £60, especially as a 16GB version has hit Amazon DE for €68.
(via Engadget)
Old viruses take note of Conficker's successes
Despite Conficker’s relative no-shown on April 1st, its impact hasn’t gone unnoticed in the virus creators community. An updated version of Neeris – which dates from 2005 – is now doing the rounds exploiting the same flaw as last week’s media darling.
Security experts don’t think that the creators are related, just that Neeris has undergone a redesign after seeing Conficker’s success. As ever, if you’re fully patched up with the latest versions of Windows, then you’re probably safe. The quickest way to check, though, is visit an anti-virus site. Most viruses will stop you doing that.
(via eWeek)
RUMOUR: Next gen iPhone to feature 802.11n Wi-Fi and video editing
From no video whatsoever to video editing? That’s the possibility rumoured today for the next generation of the iPhone, due in June. Screenshots from the beta have inadvertently revealed elements of the UI that suggest that video editing will be possible. It’s already looking like there’ll be recording and uploading on the 3.0 phone.
Also, digging into the new wireless drivers for the device from Broadcom suggests that the new iPhone may support low-power 802.11n Wi-Fi, which is considerably faster than standard b/g support if you have a compatible router.
Whatever happens, it’s unlikely that the new iPhone will do anything other than gain rave reviews from critics, but there’ll still be an increasingly growing market of people dissatisfied with Apple’s growing dominance in the sector, in a way which never happened with the embryonic MP3 player market.
(via MacRumours)
T-Mobile plotting Android home phone and tablet
Remember, before we all had mobiles, the days of the home phone. Having to drag the cable across the hallway and under your door if you wanted to have a private conversation without the rest of your family listening in? That mysterious ‘Mercury’ button?
Those days are mostly at an end, but there are a few people still buying landline phones. As a result, companies are still making them – including T-Mobile who, rumour has it, will be bringing out an Android version next year. There’ll be a docking station that lets you sync it and recharge the battery.
On top of that, there’s a 7″ Android tablet in the works too. There’s very little detail being shared, but it’ll apparently let you ‘check the weather’ or ‘manage data across a wide variety of devices’. Sounds good. More when we get it.
(via Electric Pig)
