Tag: mobile
Ofcom releases 3G coverage maps
Spare a thought for people living in Scotland or Wales, or if you live in Scotland or Wales spare a thought for yourself. The 3G coverage maps released by Ofcom show a distinct lack of a 3G network in those areas. In fact there is a distinct lack of coverage in any rural area in the UK.
The maps show that 3 is the network with the most 3G coverage, closely followed by Orange. O2 comes last – supporting our theory that O2 is, in fact, a bit rubbish.
Ofcom said: “For 3G network coverage there is still a noticeable difference between rural and urban areas, and also between different parts of the UK, with coverage problems a particular issue in the devolved nations.”
3G is becoming ever more important, especially with the new generation of smartphones which rely on good coverage and fast connections in order for their features and apps to run smoothly. The maps paint a bleak picture of a network that isn’t really supporting the smart devices.
What’s the answer? Well, see these related posts for possible alternatives and solutions: Will WiMax or LTE win out? | Femtocells – much more than a signal booster
(via The Press Association)
LG Chocolate II: the hugely popular handset is back for 2009
LG is comin’ right back attcha this August with the second incarnation of their most popular mobile phone of all time, the LG Chocolate. The Chocolate II (TD working title) is described by the Korean tech giant as a “disruptive force in conventional mobile screens in an effort to maximize usability while inheriting the original minimalist-inspired style and iconic design of its predecessor”. Make of that what you will.
What we do know is that original LG Chocolate sold 21 million times over since its launch in 2006 and that they’re aiming for the new version to be just as special which is why they’re naming it as their fourth Black Label (top of the LG range) mobile phone after the Shine, Secret and the original, of course.
More details, pictures and prices ahead of next month’s launch. For now, we’ll have to satisfy ourselves with a picture of the old model. Still looks good but not very satisfying. Sorry.
Leaked: Image of the HTC Hero, aka the 'G3'
An image has surfaced on the internet, on the ‘Code Android Singapore’ website, of the HTC Hero. This device is a followup to the HTC Magic, and is referred to by many as the G3 because it runs Android – Google’s mobile phone operating system.
It’s a lot squarer than the HTC Magic, and it looks like the infamous chin from the G1 has returned. There’s no trackball, either, which could indicate that G1 users haven’t been overly fond of it as a control mechanism. Also in the shots, though, may be a slot for a 3.5mm headphone jack. That would be a fantastic addition to the handset.
(via Code Android Singapore)
Samsung announces Tocco Lite
Samsung’s Tocco did rather well last year, but its touchscreen interface hasn’t been a hit with absolutely everyone. Since then, though, it’s released the Tocco Pro and today it’s launching the Tocco Lite in an attempt to widen the market that give it a try.
The Lite is very much just a downgrade of the original handset. For starters, there’s no mention of 3G connectivity, which in 2009 is rather surprising. The 5-megapixel camera has been downgraded to 3.2-megapixel, and the onboard memory is now just 50MB. That’s still upgradable via an SD card to 8GB.
Alongside the spec decrease, the price will have gone down too. But Samsung hasn’t told us how much that’ll be just yet. I’ve emailed them. If they let me know, then you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll tell you, too.
Samsung Mobile
Nokia 5800 Star Trek edition beams down
It’s a handset, Jim, but not as we know it. Nokia are releasing a limited edition version of the 5800 ‘Tube’ with Star Trek branding all over it, to coincide with the release of J.J. Abrahms’ Star Trek movie.
Available exclusively from Phones 4U stores, the handset will include four special animated screensavers, three wallpapers, eight ringtones, including ‘red alert’ and ‘phazer shot’, and there’s also a special ‘Phazer’ application.
It’ll come in blue, red and black/silver, and will be free on £25/month contracts from May 1st. No word on how much they’ll be charging for Data, or whether it’ll have N-Gage functionality. Beam me up, Nokkie.
Apple will sell 1,000,000,000th App Store download on 24th April 2009
Lovers of large numbers and Apple shareholders will be getting together this Friday to celebrate the App Store’s 1,000,000,000th download. How does Apple know that it’ll hit a million on Friday? Maths and stuff, I assume.
If you change the date on your computer to the 24th April and visit the Apple homepage, then you’ll see a massive graphic saying: “Thanks a billion. Over 1 billion downloads in just nine months.” Or you could earlier, I can’t seem to reproduce it now, so maybe they’ve fixed the exploit that lets users display it.
It does beg the question: “WTF?”. A year ago, mobile apps were a murky world full of incompatibilities and random crashing. Apple has managed to do to the world of mobile applications what it did to MP3 players and arguably the smartphone market. It begs the question of where it’ll turn its attention to next. My guess? Tablet PCs.
(via Geek.com)
Championship Manager heading to the iPhone
Girlfriends, prepare for a long lonely summer. Championship Manager is coming to the iPhone. The life-destroying football management sim game will appear on Apple’s handset very shortly, as it’s reportedly currently going through the approvals process.
It’s not the only football management game on the handset, there’s also one called “Manage Your Football Club”, but the arrival of the best-selling franchise on the device will certainly excite fans who get cravings on the bus or in doctor’s waiting rooms.
There’s still not too much detail about what effects porting the game onto such a small device will have, but a “2D match engine” has been promised, as well as real team and player names.
(via Pocket Gamer)
LG Viewty II out in June on Orange
Word has just landed that the LG Viewty II will hit the UK in June. The news trickled through Orange that the 8-megapixel snapping, 3-inch WVGA touchscreen device was to get a Q2 release and it’s since been refined as just two months’ time.
The original Viewty, which is still available, is one the most successful handsets to come out of the company quickly pushing their way up the mobile phone ladder and this handset with its 32GB storage and 3D LG Arena-like interface could be their next big push in the mould of the Chocolate, the Cookie and the first Viewty itself.
No word on price or network exclusivity as yet but expect news soon as the companies involved look to settle the talk.
LG Viewty
(via Electric Pig)
Digging in Spotify's cache – can you get MP3s out of it?
Since Spotify arrived on the digital music scene last October, people have been flabbergasted by how fast it works. How could it possibly be able to search and index millions of files and then deliver you the music stream quicker than searching your own MP3 collection? The answer is three-fold. A peer-to-peer infrastructure, fantastic coding, and a massive cache.
The cache is the most interesting bit. By default, the program uses up to 10% of your hard drive for storing the music that it downloads. You can have a poke around in it by going to C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataLocalSpotifyStorage on Vista, or the equivalent directory for other operating systems.
The files residing within are the music that plays when you double-click a track name in the software. Stuff you play gets saved to this directory, so that when you play it in the future, there’s a local copy and it can find it faster. So can you pull out the tracks in a usable form to copy to your MP3 player?
The short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer is yes, with a lot of difficulty and if you don’t mind breaking the law. For most people, it’ll be beyond them – you’ll need to use source code provided by dodgy open-source client Despotify, and you’ll need to have a Premium account – because Despotify doesn’t work with free ones.
In reality, it’s not worth the bother. You’ll eventually end up with a 160kbps OGG file. That’s fine for streaming but when you convert it to MP3 to put on your MP3 player you’ll lose even more quality. Even if you’re not an audiophile you’ll be able to hear the difference.
Simply put, if you’re intent on breaking the law then in reality it’s much easier to go to The Pirate Bay and get the tracks you want there. But why bother? As actually-quite-useful piss-take website Spotibay illustates, if people have fast access to music in a user-friendly way, then they won’t bother with piracy.
Where that argument falls down is mobile access – even though Spotify’s rolling out the mobile clients, what happens when you go out of coverage, on the tube or in rural areas?Then you’re screwed, right? Well, if hints on the company’s support forum are followed-through, then maybe not.
A post on the support forum requesting that the company provide cache-only playback for offline conditions met with a surprisingly positive response with the company, stating:
“An offline play mode is a feature we’re looking at implementing at some point in the future. I think any feature we develop would likely have the option for the user to decide what is available for offline play.”
If that functionality is extended to mobile, and there seems no reason to believe that it wouldn’t be, then that could have massive positive implications for mobile clients – pick the albums that you want while in a Wi-Fi area and then while on the tube or even when you just have a 3G connection you can still enjoy music, as well as streaming when available.
Samsung launches "Solid Extreme" handset
Rugged phones are a quite specialised market and even if their biggest markets are builders and extreme sports enthusiasts, there’s still a competition for features that mirrors the main phone market.
The Solid Extreme is Samsung’s first entry into that market, and it’s a pretty good one too. There’s your regular temperature insulation, dust and water resistance and protection from drops of up to 2m.
On top of that, there’s a torch, extra-loud speaker, noise cancellation features, and glove-friendly keypad. Spec-wise, there’s a 1.3-megapixel camera, MP3 and video player, FM radio, Bluetooth, microSD support and Li-ion battery. It weighs just 103g.
The handset will launch in red and black from April, and will be available on Vodafone and O2.
Samsung Mobile
