Microsoft has bowed to pressure from Google and pulled the YouTube app from its Windows Phone Store that earlier this month triggered a cease-and-desist letter from the search giant.
Computerworld News
Tag Archives: phone
Microsoft knuckles under, yanks YouTube app for Windows Phone
Posted by Gsurface
on May 25, 2013
No comments
YouTube gets Google agreement for Windows Phone 8: official after all
Posted by Gsurface
on May 24, 2013
No comments
After a bit of a quarrel between Microsoft and Google over what kind of application they thought they were building for YouTube, they’ve shaken on a co-developed final iteration. If you’ve been using the Microsoft-made YouTube app recently, you may have noticed a change: advertisements were dropped, and you were even able to download videos
Microsoft And Google Bury The Hatchet To Work On A Windows Phone YouTube App With Ads
Posted by Gsurface
on May 24, 2013
No comments
Once a upon a time, Microsoft saw fit to put together a YouTube app for Windows Phone and it was actually pretty great — it let users download videos straight from the app and there was nary an ad to be found. To absolutely no one’s surprise, Google wasn’t too pleased: after all, the features that made the app so appealing didn’t exactly jibe with YouTube’s terms of service, and the search giant demanded the offending app be removed.
Well, after a bit of back and forth (and a conciliatory update), it seems the two companies have finally come to an agreement. Microsoft and YouTube released a statement today affirming that the two companies will work together on crafting yet another YouTube app for Windows Phone that doesn’t fly in the face of Google’s and YouTube’s rules.
TechCrunch
Microsoft and Google make amends, will co-develop a YouTube app for Windows Phone
Posted by Gsurface
on May 24, 2013
No comments
We’ve gotta give it to Microsoft… building a YouTube app for Windows Phone that strips out advertising and allows users to download streaming videos was one hell of a way to get Google’s attention about the lack of an official app for the platform — even if it managed to attract ire at the same time. Now, multiple reports are coming in that both companies have reached an agreement of sorts, which will result in an app that’s fully compliant with YouTube’s Terms of Service in the coming weeks.
Developing…
Source: The Verge, The Next Web
Nokia brings LiveSight to Here Maps on Windows Phone 8
Posted by Gsurface
on May 22, 2013
No comments
The latest Here Maps update for Windows Phone 8 devices adds augmented reality features. [Read more]
     |
Spot expands lineup with satellite-powered Global Phone
Posted by Gsurface
on May 21, 2013
No comments
Spot unveils Global Phone satellite handset for near-global coverage
Posted by Gsurface
on May 21, 2013
No comments
Spot has introduced a satellite-powered global cell phone called – quite aptly – the Spot Global Phone. The handset offers connectivity almost anywhere in the world, making it ideal for trekkers, frequent travelers, sailors, or anyone else who ventures off into places unknown – or unserviced by your regular cell phone provider. As you might
New gadget can recharge a cell phone in 30 seconds
Posted by Gsurface
on May 20, 2013
No comments
Jolla Sailfish phone official with snap-on smart shells and Android support
Posted by Gsurface
on May 20, 2013
No comments
Smartphone startup Jolla has revealed its first device, the Sailfish-powered Jolla, expected to ship by the end of the year. Running the MeeGo-derived OS on a dualcore processor, the Jolla phone packs a 4.5-inch display and heavily gesture-centric UI, as well as 4G connectivity and an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash. There’s also 16GB
The first Jolla phone: 4.5-inch display, Android app compliant, 399 euros
Posted by Gsurface
on May 20, 2013
No comments
Jolla’s heavily teased launch day in Finland has already spilled some major news: pricing and specs for the first Sailfish OS handset. The phone seems to be called “The Other Half” — or at least that’s the working title for now — and judging from Jolla’s Facebook page it consists of a colorful plastic case, available in various shades including orange or green, which hooks onto the main chassis containing a 4.5-inch display (of unknown resolution), dual-core processor, microSD expansion with 16GB onboard, a “4G” modem, user replaceable battery and an 8MP rear camera. The chassis recognizes which case is attached and adapts the visual theme of the OS to match, creating “your other half, exactly as you want it to be.”
Perhaps more usefully, the Sailfish operating system will also be Android app compliant out of the box, and we’re currently on the ground in Helsinki trying to discover exactly how developers and users will be able to put that feature to work (while also chasing down the rest of the specs). Meanwhile, there’s an emphatic video message from Jolla co-founder Marc Dillon after the break, seeking the world’s assistance in taking the heritage of MeeGo into a new era.
Update: We now hear that the phone will simply be called the “Jolla.”
Update #2: Jolla has just clarified that 4G means LTE.
[Thanks, Toni]
Gallery: Jolla unites the halves
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Jolla
Finnish MeeGo Startup Jolla Reveals First Phone, With Customisable Shells, $513 Price-Tag, Coming At Year’s End
Posted by Gsurface
on May 20, 2013
No comments
Jolla, the Finnish MeeGo startup comprised of ex-Nokians building their own mobile hardware and Sailfish OS, has finally taken the wraps off its first handset, revealing what the hardware will look like on its website. The design is a clean looking, elegant slab, with the most stand-out feature being the coloured shell on the back that wraps around half the sides of the phone. The shell colours, which appear to be user-customisable, can also influence the theme colours of the Sailfish UI. This is a feature Jolla is calling “the Other Half”. “Attach the Other Half and your Jolla becomes alive and unique,” the text notes. “Magically, the software changes to match your selected colour and design. Your Ambience. Your Jolla.” The removable, customisable shells bring to mind Nokia’s Lumia 820 — a device for which Nokia has released the 3D print files so owners of 3D printers can design and print their own custom shell. The Lumia 820 shells, however, do not have any link to the Windows Phone software. Jolla’s handset will cost €399 ($ 513) and is slated to ship at the end of the year. Jolla notes: Expected availability by end of 2013 subject to demand in your local market. Sales will start in European countries with more countries to follow. If you join the Movement and get the pre-order number to buy the phone when available, you’ll pay no more than 399€; including applicable VAT in Europe, but excluding shipping costs, duties and any local taxes. Specs wise, the device has a 4.5″ Estrade display, a dual-core chip, 4G, 16GB internal memory plus a microSD card slot, an 8MP auto focus camera, a user-replaceable battery. The device is powered by Jolla’s Sailfish OS but can also run Android apps, giving it something of a leg up. Jolla is also encouraging developers to build native Sailfish apps too. The hardware reveal is also the start of Jolla’s pre-order sales campaign, announced last month. Jolla is due to hold an event in Helsinki today — dubbed the Jolla LoveDay — to promote the handset and encourage fans to pre-oder the device, having kept the design tightly under wraps up to now.
TechCrunch
Tech Q&A: How to buy refurbished gear, wipe a phone, stay healthy and more
Posted by Gsurface
on May 19, 2013
No comments
Fed. Appeals Court Says Police Need Warrant to Search Phone
Posted by Gsurface
on May 18, 2013
No comments
An anonymous reader writes “In a decision that’s almost certainly going to result in this issue heading up to the Supreme Court, the Federal 1st Circuit Court of Appeals [Friday] ruled that police can’t search your phone when they arrest you without a warrant. That’s contrary to most courts’ previous findings in these kinds of cases where judges have allowed warrantless searches through cell phones.” (But in line with the recently mentioned decision in Florida, and seemingly with common sense.)
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
CrowdOptic Raises Another $1M To Build Experiences Based On Where Your Phone Is Pointing
Posted by Gsurface
on May 17, 2013
No comments
CrowdOptic, a startup with technology for identifying where people are pointing their smartphone cameras, has raised another $ 1 million in funding.
When I’ve spoken to the team in the past, they’ve emphasized the ways this could be used to create new types of social interactions — if people are attending a live event and pointing their cameras at the same thing, they can start chatting and sharing content. However, the company’s website highlights a number of use cases, including “focus-aware” advertising, analytics, news reporting, social TV (live attendees can provide content to people watching at home), and security.
Google demands Microsoft pull Windows Phone YouTube app by next week
Posted by Gsurface
on May 16, 2013
No comments
On January 2, Microsoft‘s Vice President Dave Heiner posted a rather lengthy admonishment of Google on TechNet, claiming the company is intentionally trying to harm Windows Phone, with one of the biggest reasons cited being the lack of a full-feature mobile YouTube app, forcing the company to offer a weaker sub-par option. Not to be
Adaia talks up new rugged, seaworthy Android phone from team of Nokia vets
Posted by Gsurface
on May 15, 2013
No comments
It still doesn’t have a ton to show off, but we are now at least getting a better picture of what upstart Adaia has in store for its first smartphone. Speaking with AllThingsD, CEO Heikki Sarajarvi (just one of a number of former Nokia workers at Adaia) explained that he was driven to create the company after destroying one too many smartphones while sailing. Now, the company finally has a working prototype of its first device — one that’s not only rugged, but with both cellular and satellite connectivity to keep the more adventurous among us connected at all times.
As for the hardware, Adaia says that it’s partnered with BMW Group’s DesignworksUSA on the industrial design, which is said to be inspired by a topographical map, while Elektrobit will be handling the inner bits. The phone will be dubbed the Blackcomb according to the company’s website, and apparently won’t be available to the public until sometime next year. It will, however, be put to the test this summer when a team attempts to cross the Northwest Passage with it in tow. It also, unsurprisingly, won’t come cheap. As far as a price goes, Sarajarvi would only say that it’ll cost more than a high-end smartphone, but less than the four phones he’s had to replace put together.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: AllThingsD, Adaia
Windows Phone 8 update coming this summer with CalDAV and CardDAV support
Posted by Gsurface
on May 14, 2013
No comments
We already got word from Nokia about some new Windows Phone features that’d be trickling out in a forthcoming update, and Microsoft has now filled in some more details on what other phone users can expect. In addition to FM radio support, an update said to be coming to Windows Phone 8 devices “later this summer” will add the previously-promised support for CalDAV and CardDAV to ensure your phone will continue to work with Google’s new sync protocols. Otherwise, you can look for the company’s Data Sense feature to support more carriers (no word on specific ones yet, though), and also expect some minor tweaks to Xbox Music. We’ll keep you posted if we hear more about a specific rollout date.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft
Via: @BenThePCGuy
Source: Windows Phone Blog
Zact touts lower phone bills
Posted by Gsurface
on May 13, 2013
No comments
Google drops SMS Search, nudges basic phone users toward smartphones
Posted by Gsurface
on May 13, 2013
No comments
If you’re still wielding a basic feature phone, you may be familiar with Google SMS Search: it’s a handy tool that lets you text a search query and get a quick result. Or rather, it was a handy tool. Google now confirms that it quietly dropped the service within the past few days, delivering an automated shutdown warning to anyone messaging the short code. A Google employee explains the closure as a simple “streamlining” effort, although we’ve reached out for greater detail. It makes sense that Google would drop SMS Search when basic phones are quickly becoming the minority in a world full of web-friendly smartphones. However, the lack of advance notice could have some in that group upgrading their devices sooner than expected — if that’s even an option in the first place.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Google
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Google Product Forums
How to Mine Cell Phone Data Without Invading Your Privacy
Posted by Gsurface
on May 13, 2013
No comments
Researchers use phone records to build a mobility model of the Los Angeles and New York City regions with new privacy guarantees.
Researchers at AT&T, Rutgers University, Princeton, and Loyola University have devised a way to mine cell-phone data without revealing your identity, potentially showing a route to avoiding privacy pitfalls that have so far confined global cell-phone data-mining work to research labs.
Verizon Nokia Lumia 928 gets official: 4G 4.5-inch OLED Windows Phone
Posted by Gsurface
on May 12, 2013
No comments
Nokia has officially announced the Lumia 928, its Windows Phone 8 smartphone for Verizon, and the device it has been steadily teasing over the past week. Packing a 4.5-inch OLED display and an 8.7-megapixel PureView camera, along with Verizon LTE 4G support, the Lumia 928 also has three high-audio-amplitude-capture microphones for better audio recording. It’ll
Nokia teases “EOS” Lumia PureView phone ahead of Tuesday reveal
Posted by Gsurface
on May 12, 2013
No comments
Nokia has teased its next camera-centric Lumia, running a promo campaign on UK television this weekend for the “EOS” Windows Phone 8 handset it is expected to officially unveil on Tuesday, May 14. The commercial, which focused on the dual-LED flash of the new smartphone, as well as what looks to be its slightly protruding
Gingrich to world: Rename the cell phone
Posted by Gsurface
on May 12, 2013
No comments
Famed politician Newt Gingrich believes that the word “cell phone” is inaccurate. He wants you to help him find a better name. Quickly. [Read more]
| |
Google X Phone leaks converge: is Nexus done for?
Posted by Gsurface
on May 12, 2013
No comments
Here in the weekend days before Google I/O 2013, the company’s big developer conference for the year, two new clues leading to a new era in Motorola-made Android smartphones have been added to story called X Phone. The device in question has appeared as an AT&T-supported smartphone in the FCC this weekend as well as
Nokia’s colorful DC-18 portable USB charger matches your phone, shoes
Posted by Gsurface
on May 11, 2013
No comments
For the most part, battery packs have become what CD cases were in the late 90s — generic and utilitarian. Nokia’s new DC-18 portable chargers dare to be different. The sharp, tile-like designs house a modest 1,720 mAh cell, retractable micro-USB cable (that doubles as a a switch,) plus an LED battery level indicator that lights up when you extend the aforementioned appendage. It’s available in four colors (red, white, yellow and blue), but only in select regions right now. No word on when and for how much, but color-coordinators can keep pinging the source to find out.
Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile, Nokia
Via: Gizmodo
Source: Nokia
Why BlackBerry needs a budget BB10 phone ASAP
Posted by Gsurface
on May 11, 2013
No comments
A lower-cost phone running BlackBerry 10 could show up at the company’s BlackBerry World conference. CNET breaks down why it’s important. [Read more]
| |
Mystery Motorola Phone Passes Through The FCC, Looks Just Like Early X Phone Leaks
Posted by Gsurface
on May 11, 2013
No comments
Here’s a little noodle-scratcher for you fellow mobile hardware nerds to ponder this evening. This little Motorola Mobility beauty, brandishing the model number XT1058, recently passed through the FCC and left the customary paper trail in its wake. Alright, maybe calling it a beauty is a bit of a stretch, but here’s the kicker: the rudimentary sketch included with the listing looks bears a striking resemblance to a slew of earlier leaked images that purportedly showed off Motorola’s secretive X Phone. Consider the alignment of those three circular elements on the back — those bits match up rather nicely with the camera, LED flash, and Motorola logo/button as seen in images of an unreleased smartphone originally circulated by the team at Tinhte.vn. Even the seemingly curved section along the top edge where the device’s headphone jack lives and the placement of what appears to be the sleep/wake button are spot-on when compared to those leaked photos. Having a hard time visualizing all that? Here’s a side by side view to give you a sense of the similarities: Of course, this doesn’t bring us any closer to figuring out what the device is actually capable of — all the FCC’s listing reveals is that this thing sports radios for Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11ac and NFC. It could be that this is the first regulatory appearance of the so-called XFON, a device that noted gadget leaker @EvLeaks posted photos of earlier this month. After all, the XT1058 has been found to support AT&T’s particular LTE bands, and the XFON’s IMEI label clearly calls it out as an AT&T device. At this point no one (save for the lucky chump who snapped those photos in the first place) can definitively say whether or not the XFON and this curious AT&T device are the same, but it’s distinctly possible. There are a few cosmetic similarities between the two — namely the Motorola logo stamped on the top left corner, the shape of the speaker grille, and the placement of the indicator LED and the front-facing camera. Don’t pay too much attention to the chunky chassis though, as it’s not uncommon for non-final hardware to undergo testing clad in patently ugly shells. You may recall that BlackBerry’s Dev Alpha and Beta devices lived in similarly unflattering boxes before the innards were officially unveiled at a series of simultaneous launch events back in January. For all of
TechCrunch
Windows Phone 8 full-resolution media backup goes global
Posted by Gsurface
on May 11, 2013
No comments
This week the developer teams working for Windows Phone camera and photos have announced that users will soon be able to instantly save full-resolution photos and video to the cloud no matter where they are on our planet. Previously this feature had only been available to select users in limited areas, and a full roll-out
Ubuntu Touch Developers Aim for Daily Phone Usability Before June
Posted by Gsurface
on May 10, 2013
No comments
colinneagle writes with the latest Ubuntu Touch news. From the article: “The team behind Ubuntu Touch (aka ‘Ubuntu for Phones’) have committed to pushing forward to a ready-to-use version of the OS, one that the group will use to ‘eat their own dog food,’ by the end of May. What that means: Over the next few weeks, the team behind Ubuntu Touch is going to be attempting to implement enough functionality to make it possible to use Ubuntu on your phone (such as the Nexus 4) on a day-to-day basis. At which point their development team will be doing exactly that.” The developers are aiming just to have basic functionality working by the end of the month: calls, sms, data over wifi and cellular, a working address book, and preservation of user data across OS flashes.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
AT&T’s Year-Old Nokia Lumia 900 Finally Gets A Taste Of Windows Phone 7.8
Posted by Gsurface
on May 9, 2013
No comments
AT&T customers who took the plunge on Nokia’s Lumia 900 have had to sit idly by and watch Windows Phone 8 supercede the software loaded on their own devices, but they’ll soon be able to experience at least part of what WP8 brings to the table. Nokia announced earlier today via Twitter that the Windows Phone 7.8 update is not available to owners of the one-time AT&T flagship.
Dud alert: ‘Facebook Phone’ on sale for a dollar
Posted by Gsurface
on May 8, 2013
No comments
AT&T is practically giving away the HTC First, the first phone to come pre-loaded with Facebook Home. [Read more]
| |
Levitating bike powers your phone, creates Wi-Fi hot spot
Posted by Gsurface
on May 7, 2013
No comments
A futuristic concept bicycle that harnesses your pedal power does more than just get you where you’re going. [Read more]
| |
Foursquare updates app for Windows Phone 8, brings lock screen notifications and NFC check-ins
Posted by Gsurface
on May 7, 2013
No comments
Foursquare’s been rather attentive to the other mobile plaforms this year, releasing updates for Android, BlackBerry and iOS in 2013. The time has finally come for Microsoft mobile users as well, as a fresh WP8-compatible version has just hit the Windows Phone app store. Version 3.0 lets users pin people and places to Start screens, provides lock screen notifications and lets folks check-in and share via NFC. Oh, and should you grow weary of using swipes and taps, the addition of speech controls allows you to search and check-in using only your voice. Should you be among the socially-inclined Microsofties, you know what to do.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Microsoft
Via: The Verge
Telstra says Windows Phone 8 GDR2 update should reach testing in mid-May
Posted by Gsurface
on May 6, 2013
No comments
We’ve heard talk of a GDR2 update coming to Windows Phone 8, including more recent claims of restored FM radio support and a double-tap-to-wake feature, but it’s been unclear when the mid-cycle refresh would show up. Telstra may have just given us a better clue: the Australian carrier tells customers on its support forums that Nokia should deliver its version of GDR2 for testing sometime in mid-May. That suggests the upgrade is relatively close, although we wouldn’t make too many assumptions beyond that — Telstra is just one of many networks that needs to sign off on GDR2, and it’s likely neither the first nor the last. Nonetheless, it’s apparent that Microsoft is relatively close to delivering a big tune-up.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia
Via: WMPoweruser
Source: Telstra
Why cell phone locks and required data plans are unfair
Posted by Gsurface
on May 6, 2013
No comments
In this edition of Ask Maggie, CNET’s Marguerite Reardon answers questions about device unlock policies for consumers who travel abroad and why a smartphone used only for voice and text messaging needs a data plan. [Read more]
| |
Motorola mystery phone appears with non-Nexus fixings
Posted by Gsurface
on May 2, 2013
No comments
This afternoon a device has been leaked from the likes of Motorola and AT&T, bringing with it a mixed vision of the future for the hardware manufacturer as it grows ever closer to a pure Google Android experience. Google has owned Motorola for some time now, and as the company gets closer to the end
HTC expects revenues to jump 63.6 percent in Q2 2013, will continue to support Windows Phone
Posted by Gsurface
on May 2, 2013
No comments
HTC’s financial results released today don’t contain much good news — take a quick look at the unaudited figures we reported last month. But despite its worst ever quarterly profit earlier this year, it’s banking on a substantial turnaround over the next few months. During an earnings call today referencing its audited results, HTC said that its outlook for Q2 2013 includes a revenue jump to around $ 2.4 billion — a huge increase from $ 1.45 billion registered in Q1. HTC CEO Peter Chou said that the company was fine “in terms of cash flow,” and that it would continue to support both Android and Windows Phone hardware in the near future. How about those recent supply woes? “We are working as hard as possible to meet the demand everywhere.” The company, however, wasn’t giving away any handset sales figures, something that the competition does enjoy flourishing.
When asked whether he was concerned with its recent hardware being copied, Chou was frank: ” In this industry, everything can be copied. I think there’s no point [in] thinking you can prevent this… but whether they would get this original quality — I think the most important [thing] is that you are first.”
Richard Lai contributed to this article.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC
Source: HTC
Motorola X Phone rumors, benchmarks march on
Posted by Gsurface
on May 2, 2013
No comments
Newly uncovered Motorola XT1055 is the latest in string of rumors associated with the fabled Motorola X Phone. [Read more]
| |
A Motherlode of Cell Phone Data-Mining Research
Posted by Gsurface
on April 30, 2013
No comments
At conference starting Wednesday, huge trove of research papers point to enormous possibilities, but privacy issues remain.
Cell phones generate tremendous amounts of human mobility and other data that can be particularly useful in the developing world to redesign transportation networks (see “African Bus Routes Redrawn Using Cell-Phone Data”) and provide a boon to epidemiology (see “Big Data from Cheap Phones”).
Why Big Companies Are Investing in a Service that Listens to Phone Calls
Posted by Gsurface
on April 30, 2013
No comments
A startup that converts conversations to text so it can offer instant information gets financing from Telefónica, Samsung, and Intel.
Would you give your wireless carrier permission to listen in on your phone calls? Telefónica, one of the world’s largest mobile carriers, is testing a technology that can understand conversations and quickly pull up relevant information. If that info turns out to be useful, customers may want to invite it to listen in.
Clipr sends pasted text to your phone via SMS with a press of a button
Posted by Gsurface
on April 27, 2013
No comments
If you’ve ever wanted to send some text from your computer to your phone, you usually have to go with a dedicated app like Evernote, with a mobile app required at the other end. With the new version of Clipr for Mac, however, all you need to do is enter your phone number in the settings and the info will magically appear on your mobile device via SMS — just press the command key when selecting a clip and away it’ll go. Right now all major US carriers are supported, with the promise of more to come. For the uninitiated, Clipr is a clipboard manager that works with your computer’s existing copy and paste system without any special key combos. Bear in mind that while the app itself is free, the aforementioned SMS feature costs $ 0.99 extra. Still, at least this particular clip-inspired helper looks to be a lot better than, you know, that other one.
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Apple
Source: Clipr (Mac App Store)
LG’s first flexible OLED phone due before the year is out
Posted by Gsurface
on April 25, 2013
No comments
LG plans to launch a flexible OLED smartphone before the end of the year, the company’s VP of mobile has confirmed, though it’s unclear to what extent the work-in-progress handset will actually flex. The OLED panel in question is the handiwork of LG Display according to VP of LG mobile Yoon Bu-hyun, the WSJ reports, with
Sprint delays Galaxy S 4 in-store launch due to inventory issues, online and phone sales aren’t affected
Posted by Gsurface
on April 24, 2013
No comments
After T-Mobile said yesterday that it won’t be able to offer Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 through its online store quite as soon as it expected, Sprint has today announced a similar delay. The carrier originally planned to have Sammy’s latest flagship available through all retail channels this Saturday (April 27th), but “unexpected inventory challenges from Samsung” have meant that although online and phone-based sales will open on that date as planned, you won’t be able to wander into a Sprint store and pick one up until those supply issues are solved. When that’ll be is anyone’s guess, but we imagine Sprint will get them into consumers’ hands as soon as possible in the hope of improving its balance sheet. See Sprint’s full statement after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, Sprint
Via: AllThingsD
HTC Does What Google Wouldn’t: Sell an LTE Phone That Sidesteps AT&T
Posted by Gsurface
on April 24, 2013
No comments
schwit1 writes “You won’t see it advertised on billboards or television, you won’t hear it mentioned in a carrier store, and your less technologically-savvy friends most certainly won’t know about it — but quietly, HTC’s done something extraordinarily important this month: it’s broken AT&T’s stranglehold on its nationwide LTE network. It’s a move that even Google, for all its money, power, and influence, didn’t make with the Nexus 4. HTC is shipping both 32GB and 64GB versions of the One — an early contender for the best phone of 2013 — in a carrier- and bootloader-unlocked version that supports both T-Mobile and AT&T LTE. No strings attached.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
DirecTV adding voice search to its iOS and Android phone apps, beta coming this summer
Posted by Gsurface
on April 23, 2013
No comments
Now that it’s finally got an Android tablet app to speak of, DirecTV is returning its attention to phones: the company announced today that both its iOS and Android applications will be receiving voice search starting this summer. As the company describes it, the app is meant to address the age-old problem of there being “nothing on TV.” (And also, the fact that searching for things on your television is damn tedious.) In particular, you can use the app to search by person, title, channel show time or genre, using commands such as “find comedy movies,” etc. Like other voice-control services, too, you can give follow-up instructions like, “with Bill Hader” and it’ll know to narrow down your results instead of starting a new search. Considering DirecTV whipped up its own search algorithm from scratch, it seems to work intuitively. Still, the fact that the landing page is filled with sample queries suggests there’s very much a right and wrong way to ask for what you want.
If you’re using the app away from home, you can set your DVR to record different shows. When you’re on your home network, though, you can have the search results show up on your television, at which point your phone transforms into a remote you can use to scroll through menus and the like. With the TV, too, you can wade through various programs, as well as search for sports content or ask the app to switch to a certain channel (saying either the channel name or number will work). You can even tell the app to go back through menus, but you can’t use your voice to access features like the settings menu. No word on when the beta will roll out, except that it’ll happen sometime this summer.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD
Will Samsung’s next phone be metal like the iPhone?
Posted by Gsurface
on April 22, 2013
No comments
Rumors emerging from South Korea suggest that Samsung is concerned that the build quality of the iPhone and the HTC One puts its Galaxy Phone in a cheap light. [Read more]
| |
GoComics app released for iOS, Android and Windows Phone, digitizes the Sunday funnies
Posted by Gsurface
on April 21, 2013
No comments
If you’re an avid reader of the many comic strips on Universal Uclick’s GoComics website, you’ll be pleased to know the company’s recently released its first app for mobile devices. Optimized for tablets and smartphones running Windows Phone, Android and iOS, the company states that the free app serves as the “official home” on mobile for its syndicated comics. Notably, this includes the likes of the full Calvin & Hobbes archives, along with Universal Uclick citing it as the exclusive portal to Dilbert strips on mobile. We won’t keep you any longer now that you know, so head over to the appropriate source link if you’d like to download it for yourself.
Source: Univeral Uclick (App Store), (Google Play), (Windows Store)
Nokia Sweden tips official Instagram app is coming to Windows Phone
Posted by Gsurface
on April 21, 2013
No comments
Android users and iPhone users have been able to enjoy the wonders of Instagram on their phones for quite some time, but where is the love for Windows Phone 8 users? Well one concerned used decided to ask Nokia Sweden whether the Instagram app will be heading over to his Nokia Lumia 920 anytime soon,
Teardown looks at what goes into making an ultra-cheap cell phone
Posted by Gsurface
on April 20, 2013
No comments
Over at the Bunnie Studios blog, a $ 12 cell phone purchased from the Mingtong Digital Mall was given a complete (and relatively simple) teardown to see what exactly goes into making such an inexpensive cell phone. Unlike the ultra-cheap handsets that are available through various carriers, such as prepaid’s Net10 and Tracfone staples, the $ 12
Recent Comments