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Techradar |
- Reports: New MacBook Pro to have Thunderbolt connectivity
- Steve Jobs misses shareholder meeting on Apple successor plans
- Mark Zuckerberg: The Comic launches today
- Microsoft pulls Samsung Windows Phone 7 update
- Apple tops movie product placement charts
- Review: Dell Streak (Android 2.2)
- JVC GS-TD1 Full HD 3D camcorder: pricing revealed
- Wi-Fi-only HTC Flyer price unearthed
- Wi-Fi-only HTC Flyer price unearthed
- Apple iPad 2 launch confirmed for 2 March
- Android to get ad-free Angry Birds in March
- Motorola Atrix review: round up from the web
- More live sports heading to YouTube
- BBC iPlayer to soak up Olympics 2012 coverage overspill
- Razer Chimaera headsets for Xbox shown off
- HTC ChaCha and Salsa UK release dates revealed
- Buffalo unveils new USB 3.0 multi-drives
- White iPhone 5 rumours surface, the world sighs
- Android 3.0: full SDK now ready for developers
- HTC Desire update to Gingerbread incoming from Three
- Google planning further Nexus phones?
- Review: Quest Visual WordLens
- Updated: Android 2.3 release date: when will you get it?
| Reports: New MacBook Pro to have Thunderbolt connectivity Posted: 23 Feb 2011 03:28 PM PST  Apple's forthcoming MacBook Pro refresh could arrive tomorrow packing Thunderbolt, a super-fast new file transfer technology from Intel, according to reports on Wednesday. Purported spy-shots of the new high-powered notebook seem to show a Mini DisplayPort-sized slot next to the USB ports, accompanied by a give-away (but potentially photoshopped) lightning bolt icon. Thunderbolt is reported to be Apple's name for Intel's new Light Peak High Speed I/O technology which promises stunningly-quick transfer times of 10GBps over copper wire. Intel's new tech is seen as the eventual replacement for USB and is set to be unveiled to the media at an event in San Francisco on Thursday. 100GBps Intel reckon the technology has the potential to peak at 100GBps, which would make the woes of transferring your digital movie and music collection from one hard-drive to another a thing of the past. Other rumoured specs for the new MacBooks include Intel i5 and i7 processors and an integrated Intel 3000 graphics card. There's no official word yet on when Apple's MacBook Pro refresh will be on the way, reports suggest that it could be tomorrow, but there's a chance it could share the stage with the iPad 2 launch next Wednesday. Stay tuned, 
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| Steve Jobs misses shareholder meeting on Apple successor plans Posted: 23 Feb 2011 12:43 PM PST  Apple will not reveal its plans for future leadership of the company despite pleas from shareholders to give them a greater insight in to the process. With CEO Steve Jobs indefinitely sidelined by illness once again, Apple has come under pressure to disclose any plans to replace him as the head of the Cupertino-based company. However, shareholders voted down the proposal, which would have required Apple to produce an annual report explaining its future leadership plans. As expected, Jobs himself did not attend the annual shareholders' meeting, with COO Tim Cook once-again taking centre stage. Minor victory While the vote, instigated by the Laborers' International Union was defeated, shareholders did take one victory away with them. Thanks to a ballot brought by the California Public Employees' Retirement System, unopposed candidates to join the Apple board will now be required to gain a majority vote to secure their seat. iPad 2 launch With Jobs absent from the meeting, it seems to confirm what we already expected; that it won't be the man with the Midas touch unveiling the iPad 2 this time next week. We'd imagine that Jobs' able deputy Phil Schiller will take the stage in San Francisco, but will Apple's marketing guru to be able to deliver the announcement with the same pizazz as the CEO? We'll find out next week. In the meantime, get well soon, Steve! 
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| Mark Zuckerberg: The Comic launches today Posted: 23 Feb 2011 11:52 AM PST  Step aside Tony Stark! There's a new billionaire comic book hero in town in the shape of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. But whereas the Iron Man series tracks the evil-fighting adventures of red-suited, armed-to-the-gills playboy Stark, Zuckerberg's graphic novel chronicles the King of Social Networking's rise to renown. The 48-page 'Mark Zuckerberg: Creator of Facebook' trade paperback, from BlueWater comics, goes on sale today, written by freelance writer Jerome Maida Fairer than Fincher Maida says that his biographical story aims to be fairer to Zuckerberg than David Fincher's The Social Network film, which presented the Facebook kingpin in a less than flattering light. He says: "Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire on the planet and created something that has already had a profound impact on the world. Yet hardly anyone knows much about him. It's amazing. "Rightly or wrongly, Mark dealt harshly with some people on his way to where he is today. As we see, he left many people feeling betrayed. I try my best to be fair here." The comic is available now to buy from all good comic book stores and some rubbish ones too. Source: Mashable 
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| Microsoft pulls Samsung Windows Phone 7 update Posted: 23 Feb 2011 11:33 AM PST  Microsoft has halted a minor update to its Windows Phone 7 mobile OS for Samsung phones after reports that it was causing certain handsets to brick. Ironically, the software update launched on Monday was aimed at improving the software update process itself, but instead it has caused no end of problems owners of Samsung, LG and HTC WP7 phones. Following complaints from many Omina 7 owners, who say the update had frozen their device or, in many cases, rendered it completely unusable, Microsoft has been forced to backtrack. The company said in a statement: "We have identified a technical issue with the Windows Phone update process that impacts a small number of phones. "In response to this emerging issue, we have temporarily taken down the latest software update for Samsung phones in order to correct the issue and as soon as possible will redistribute the update." Barely an update The update problems are a major embarrassment for Microsoft, which was already facing criticism for the update not containing the new functionality it has promised users will be forthcoming. Many WP7 handset owners had expected copy-and-paste functionality and improved means of searching for apps in the Windows App Marketplace. After all of the fanfare, it has been an inauspicious start to proceedings for Microsoft's undeniably improved OS. Let's hope the influx of Nokia handsets coming later this year will help the platform get a bit of a leg-up in the battle to catch Apple and Android. Source: PC World 
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| Apple tops movie product placement charts Posted: 23 Feb 2011 10:58 AM PST  There's nothing like a piece of overt product placement to remove you from those intense cinematic moments and think 'Oh look, he's got an iPhone 4 now, he must have upgraded.' Well, somewhat unsurprisingly, Apple has been crowned the undisputed king of the unecessarily long and distracting close-up shot of a name-brand product featuring in hit movies in 2010. In the 33 films that topped the US box-office charts last year, 30 per cent of them featured MacBooks, iPhones, iPods or another items from the Cupertino-company's photogenic range of gadgety goodness. Apple beat out hot competition from Nike, Chevrolet and Ford who tied for second place with 24 per cent coverage. Dell and Sony slipped to featuring in just 15 per cent of top movies in 2010. A decade of dominance But Apple's attempts to not-so-subliminally tell us that we need the same MacBook as Shia LaBeouf in order to be cool isn't a new phenomenon. BrandChannel, which released the research, says that between 2001 and 2010, the famous Apple logo has featured in 114 of the 334 flicks to claim the number one spot. Fascinatingly the 2010 mark is down from 2008 when Apple goodies featured in a half of the top movies that year. What's your favourite instance of product placement in a movie? We can't see past Will Smith busting out a pair of "Converse All-Stars, vintage 2004" in the 90 minute commercial otherwise known as iRobot. Let us know your favourites in the comments section below... 
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| Review: Dell Streak (Android 2.2) Posted: 23 Feb 2011 10:20 AM PST  Just over eight months have passed since we first looked at the Dell Streak. An impressive five-inch device with 2GB of built-in memory, powered by a Qualcomm SnapDragon 8250 1GHz processor, the Dell Streak ticks all the boxes as far as specs are concerned. When it hit the scene, one of the glaring drawbacks we noticed was that it was only running Android 1.6. Even back in June, this was a puzzling decision by Dell. The Nexus One had led the way with Android 2.1 (Eclair) almost four months beforehand, and the HTC Desire had exploded on the scene, also touting Eclair, shortly afterwards.
Priced at £399 direct from Dell (unlocked), and found at only £20 a month on contract, the Streak is now in the ring with the Nexus S and the HTC Desire HD, so Dell has given it a fighting chance by giving the Streak an upgrade to Android 2.2. Not only has the base layer of the Android OS been upgraded, but the UI provided by Dell has been overhauled with Dell's own Stage Launcher interface.
So how big is it really? As mentioned, the screen is five inches from corner to corner, but this fills the front of the device pretty well – not a great deal of space is used for a bezel. The device is 153mm in width, 79mm high, only 9.98mm thick and weighs in at 220g.
You might think that sounds hefty, but when in your hands, it feels lighter than you expect it to, and the design is far from clunky. It has curved edges either side, and backlit touch-sensitive Back, Menu and Home buttons. The Dell Streak certainly is an attractive device. The Dell Streak comes with it's own, unique user interface called Stage Launcher. One great improvement this brings is that the Streak can now be used landscape or portrait, which wasn't previously possible with the 1.6 version.
As custom launchers go, Stage Launcher looks quite nice. It comes with a selection of Stage widgets that appear to sit on a large metallic shelf. These widgets resize well as you move the phone from landscape to portrait, which is more than can be said for most standard Android widgets. Most of those look a little odd when using the Streak in landscape mode (which is how we believe the Streak should be used), such as the YouTube widget being cut off three quarters of the way down.
One feature of the launcher is that you can tap slightly above or below the app drawer button and seven icons will pop up. They only sit there for a second before retreating from whence they came, so if you're quick, you can press one to jump to that particular Home screen. Home screens with Stage widgets on are represented as such with a relevant icon. Screens with third-party widgets on are simple a little Android icon.This is Dell's way of compensating for the lack of a similar feature to HTC's Leap View.
However, we actually found this quite annoying. Quite often we wanted to open the app drawer and found ourselves repeatedly bringing these seven icons to the bottom of the screen. Even when we wanted to use these icons, they drop down again so quickly that it took longer than just swiping to the screen we wanted. The dialler on the Dell Streak is a simple but effective affair. Hit the phone icon as you would on other Android 2.2 devices, and your dialler appears. On the right are nice big number buttons for dialling; on the left are answer phone, microphone, delete and call buttons.Along the top are your fairly standard Phone, Call Log, Contacts and Favorites tabs.
Although you might feel a little silly with something so large held against your ear, one thing's for sure: you'll have no trouble understanding whoever you're talking to on the Streak. Maybe an advantage Dell has with more space inside the device is room for a decent speaker, because the Streak has given is some of the clearest call quality we can recall for some time. An advantage Android has as a system is that it stores much of your information in the cloud. When you add a contact, it gets added to your Gmail account contacts. If something should happen to your phone and you get a replacement, you can simply log back into your Google account and all your contacts will reappear.
Another neat trick is that once you log into the Facebook app, you can select to sync contact information. Provided your contact names match your friends' actual names, their Facebook profile picture will be linked to the contact on your phone The messaging app on the Streak is a pretty standard deal. What perhaps sets the Streak aside from other phones is the inclusion of Swype as standard. This was a bit of an odd twist, though. We generally love Swype for thumbing in text messages at great speed, but the Streak just isn't a one handed device. If you hold it portrait and wrap your hand all the way round the Streak, in a firm grip, we challenge you to reach the Q with your thumb… Turn it landscape and you have even less reason to use Swype. If you happen to press a second letter while your thumb is still on the first, all kind of odd words will appear in your messages.
You do, of course, have the option of installing a third-party keyboard, or simply changing your input device to the standard Android keyboard. Once we'd done this, we found it to be a breeze to type on, either landscape or portrait with both thumbs or even flat on a desk, typing using multiple fingers at quite some speed. In the Messaging app itself, your text messages are grouped, or threaded, with the contact picture showing on the left.
Tapping on a thread will open the conversation up, allowing you to review what's been said so far and to type a response right there in the bottom. It does lack any kind of theme or appearance options, but these can be found in other messaging apps such as Go SMS in the Android Market. You can change your notification settings though, including the message tone and if you want your Streak to vibrate to alert you when a text is received. As with messaging, the email app included is the standard Android app. We found the extra screen real estate meant reading and replying to emails on the Streak was a comfortable operation.
The Gmail app wirelessly integrates with your Google mail account. We found it quite handy to allow access to other pop e-mail accounts and run them all through Gmail. By using auto-labelling, you have great control over your incoming emails. With plenty of online space for them, you can archive rather than delete, and always be able to find information people have mailed you. Should you prefer to manage your POP/IMAP accounts independently, use the standard email app for this. Usually you will just need to provide your username and password and possibly the mail server name, and the Streak will do the rest. Surfing the web is of the strengths of the Dell Streak. The huge screen lends itself to browsing, with no need to keep zooming in and out to see what's on the current page.
The browser used is the standard Android browser, which is simple but effective. We found it easily whisked us in and out of pages on a decent connection, including sites with Flash content (thanks to Froyo), provided you have the Flash plugin installed for free from the Market.
Not only is the screen large, but text shows crystal clear and images look vibrant. Should you want to zoom in on a certain area, simply double tap and text gets rearranged to fit into your new screen view. Double tap the screen again to come back to full page view. The standard browser doesn't technically have tabbed browsing, but it does allow you to open multiple windows. A few presses allows you to switch back and forth between pages.
Apple will tell you that Flash slows down your browser, but Android has the answer to this and its called 'available on demand'. Select this in browser settings and instead of loading Flash content as a page loads, it renders the page but leaves empty boxes where the Flash parts would be. A simple tap and the content is loaded for you. It's really quite an impressive system.
BBC's iPlayer ran very nicely in the browser, and looked and sounded fantastic on the Streak too with little slowdown, although it wasn't perfect all the time.
You can adjust white balance to counter the orange effect of flourescent light, for example. You can set the flash to auto, off or always on. In the app's settings you can also change the brightness, contrast, scene mode (such as portrait, sports, scenery and so on) as well as reducing the MP count to something smaller, making files easier to upload. The Dell Streak has a slight edge on most other devices in the camera department because it has a dedicated camera button, which seems to be a rarity these days. The only problem is that it's rather flush to the camera casing, and we found it hard to press it through its two-stage focus and shutter release without wobbling the phone a little. You can use the on-screen shutter button to avoid this, if you suffer a similar problem.
The camera itself is a 5MP sensor capable of 720p HD video. While this is quite impressive, we wouldn't suggest the quality of the video was comparable to even a cheap camcorder of a similar resolution. Close-up shots seemed to confuse the Streak a little. With something like the Desire HD, the camera app did a great job of adjusting the flash level to give a properly exposed photo. The Streak didn't seem to be able to do this, overexposing the close-up. We turned off the flash and it then did a reasonable job of the picture.
As well as the 5MP camera on the back, the Streak has a handy front-facing VGA camera. While we've not really had any need for a front-facing camera yet, there's no doubt that when the apps start appearing that make use of them, they'll become a must-have on new phones. Sample shots:
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See the full size image here. The Dell Streak should be a fantastic media device. With its five-inch screen, YouTube and other video files look great, with no squinting to see whats going on. Colours are nice and clear, and the display does a good job of even fast-paced video clips.
The speaker on the Streak is one of the best we've heard. Loud and clear, while not having a great deal of bass, its one of the best we've heard in some time for playing music and podcasts. As with most devices these days, there's a microSD card slot, which comes with either an 8GB or 16GB card in it, giving plenty of space for your music and video. This can be expanded up to 32GB if you wish. One addition Dell has added to the stock media apps is Dell Movie Stage. Within the app, there is a selection of movies available for download for $2.99. Granted, they all seemed quite old movies and there only seemed to be 15 available at this point, but it's good to see companies thinking about how to get content to mobile devices.
As well as Dell's own apps, there are, of course, the Android music and video players. The music player is reasonably simple to use. Note that if you have all your music ID tagged properly, it's a lot easier to find the music you're after.
You can search through your music by artist, by album, by individual song or you can create your own playlist with simple long-presses on the file to add to any given set.
Even with music playing, it's a reasonably simple looking affair and the app doesn't really scale to the Streaks huge screen too well. The album art sits up in the top-left corner, you have buttons for playlist, shuffle and repeat, some info about the current track and then quite a lot of blank space before you get to the progress bar at the bottom, just below the play and skip button. There is a button for HDMI, but unfortunately the Streak has no HDMI out, so this does nothing unless you go for the additional Streak Home AV dock to port the content to a bigger screen, which isn't included in the box and costs £53, which is a little expensive in our eyes. The built-in movie player seemed to struggle with most video files we tried to play on it, such as MPG, MOV and AVI files. The only types it played for us were MP4 and, of course, 3GP (the format the Streak records in). There are ways to get around these limitations – a variety of apps on the Market, such as VPlayer, mean you can play most formats.For some reason, though, VPlayer itself wouldn't work, force closing each time we tried to play a video. When the Android movie does player works, again, it's simple to use. Along the bottom is the progress bar, which drops out of view after a few seconds. Tap the screen to bring it back in to view. In the corner is the lone pause/play button.
Importing movies and music onto the Streak is easy enough to do as well. Plug it in via the USB cable, opt to transfer files and it will appear like a USB drive on your PC. Simply drag and drop files into whichever folders you want and they will copy over in a matter of minutes. There's one other way to enjoy video on your Streak: through the new iPlayer app, recently released on the Android Market.
Although this only works over Wi-Fi at this point, it provides fantastic looking BBC content right there on your huge 5-inch screen. It's a must-have for Dell Streak owners. Swing by any forum for pretty much any Android device and we'd be amazed if there isn't a lengthy thread discussing the battery life of said device. Something else you'll notice on these forum threads is that people with the exact same devices will have very different battery life experiences, be that because of different usage or different apps running that might drain more power than others.
Dell has done a good job with it, though. The Streak easily lasts us a full day with 40 per cent battery left. This includes an hour of music playing and an hour or two of screen-on time, plus half the day spent on a decent Wi-Fi connection, the other half on a 3G data connection.
There are many devices we've seen that would be struggling near the end of the evening (such as the HTC Desire), but not the Dell Streak. Organiser The Dell Streak comes with QuickOffice already installed. In theory, with QuickOffice you can view documents on your phone. In reality, we struggled to do this on many occasions.
In QuickOffice you get the option to log in to your Google Documents account, Dropbox account or many others. We had no problems here, but over half the files (Word and Excel files) on Dropbox wouldn't open on QuickOffice. Opening Google Docs was fine, but how much use is this really if you can't edit them? Of course, you can organise most of your life through the many great apps and mobile sites Google has to offer, such as the calendar and contacts, which will sync with your Google account, so you can look things up or add things through any computer browser.
The Streaks connectivity is as good as you would expect for a device of this nature. It has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, as does pretty much every other smartphone. The only real annoyance is Dell's decision to use a propriatory connection instead of micro USB, which is now becoming the standard.
This means, there will likely be a time you'll be away from your home and your cable with no method of connecting your Streak to a power source or a friend's computer. With the 2.2 upgrade also came a Dell Sync app for your computer. When set up, this synchronises and enables you to back up your device to your PC.
Once set up on your PC, it will allow you to sync certain folders from your PC to your Streak, be they for photos, video or otherwise.
The installation on our Windows 7 PC took around 15 minutes, including updates and reboots, and then another five minutes to check what's on your device. After that, it's very easy to use. It would seem to be a reasonably simple way to make sure you don't lose any important photos you take each day. According to the device's Settings, this can be done over Wi-Fi, but we couldn't seem to get it to do this, since the PC software failed to find the device time and again. The inclusion of Android 2.2 definitely means this latest version of the Streak beats its predecessor, but we can't help but think it should be a little smoother. It didn't seem as fast as you would want a Froyo device to be. Any time a selection box springs into view, it looks a little like a flicker book animation. Compare the smooth interface of the Desire HD or the Nexus S and the Dell Streak is left looking like the slower device.
Likewise, if you compare Dell's Stage Launcher next to HTC's Sense UI, the Dell version comes off second-best once again. It does look nice, but the polish just isn't as good as HTC's UI. There are no spinning dials to select a time, no fancy weather animations floating across your homescreen. Tap the weather on the Streaks Stage Launcher and instead of animations, a browser opens to load a weather website.
The hardware of the Streak stands up well to the current crop of top-end Android (and non-Android) devices. If a nice large, clear screen is very important to you, you'll probably be better off with this over the Desire HD. On the other hand, if you're not intending to use the device much as an actual phone for voice calls, you might be better off getting a Samsung Galaxy Tab with a SIM in it. Although it's two inches larger than the Streak, it will probably fit in the same pockets a Streak would, and you get even more screen real estate to play with. Also, Samsung devices generally play a little nicer with a wider variety of video codecs.
Dell Streak review: Official photography
The Dell Streak is a memorable device. It doesn't really have any direct competitors on the market, with the closest in screen size at this point being the HTC Desire HD, but even then the Streak towers over it. With this phone, you'll definitely be noticed. We Liked The screen is fantastic, videos look great and apps are large and clear. Coupled with a great speaker, the Streak proves itself a fantastic media device.
While it might sound dull that so many apps in the Streak are the stock Android versions, this is now a strength rather than a drawback. Google is working hard on improving its app stable. Gmail is now a great way to manage your e-mails, Google Maps and Google Navigation are killer apps that should make owners of rival phones green with envy, and there's more to come. We Disliked The Streak has a handful of characteristics that might be an issue to you, mainly based around its size. At 220g, it's probably the heaviest mobile you'll find anywhere right now. Its immense size does mean you may well be laughed at when you pull it out to answer a call.
Even for a big person, the Streak is a two-handed device. Trying to operate it with just your thumb may be tricky.This is, perhaps, the issue: the software lends itself to one handed thumb operation, such as with Swype, but the Streak's physical size moves it towards being a media tablet. Verdict Is this the device for you? The size really could be a sticking point for some people, so we strongly recommend trying it out yourself. Is the Dell Streak a good device, though? Definitely. Is it an improvement on the 1.6 version? Without doubt. It won us over in a lot of ways. Related Links
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| JVC GS-TD1 Full HD 3D camcorder: pricing revealed Posted: 23 Feb 2011 09:45 AM PST  JVC has announced the availability of what it is calling the world's first Full HD 3D camcorder, the JVC GS-TD1. Launched in the UK – and originally announced at CES 2011 – the GS-TD1 is currently the only camcorder in the market to offer Full HD 3D shooting with a fixed lens. While the Panasonic HDC-SDT750 was the first to bring 1080i 3D shooting to the UK, it did so with an additional 3D lens – the JVC on the other hand has all the 3D technology built into its chassis. Flash, a-ha The camcorder comes with 64GB internal Flash memory and an SDXC card slot. It also has a 3.5-inch touch panel LCD where you can view 3D content without the need of glasses. A dual lens is used to shoot 3D content and two back-illuminated CMOS Sensors mean that you can even shoot 3D in low light. JVC GS-TD1 Full HD 3D camcorder is out now and is priced at £1,599.99. 
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| Wi-Fi-only HTC Flyer price unearthed Posted: 23 Feb 2011 09:33 AM PST  A German retailer has revealed the HTC Flyer Wi-Fi only price as £423 (€499), having opened pre-orders for the 3G-less tablet model. Unfortunately, there's no release date listed on the page, although HTC has confirmed that the Wi-Fi only model will launch hot on the heels of the HTC Flyer 3G. At Mobile World Congress, Phil Blair, HTC's European Product Director, told us, ""We're going to launch a Wi-Fi variant of the HTC Flyer in the future, which should be offered at a more accessible price point. "It won't ship at the same time [as the 3G Flyer] but it will launch soon afterwards, although we don't have an exact date." Full fat Flyer There's no official release date for the HTC Flyer 3G at present either, but it has also hit pre-order in Germany on the country's Amazon.de site where it's listed for €669 (around £563). We don't think £560 is too bad a price tag for the 3G Flyer, but the HTC Flyer Wi-Fi only sneaks in under the all-important £500 mark, which makes it seem a lot more affordable for some. With no 3G connection, you'll have to rely on WiFi or Bluetooth tethering to connect to the internet, but you won't be saddled with yet another monthly data fee. 
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| Wi-Fi-only HTC Flyer price unearthed Posted: 23 Feb 2011 09:33 AM PST A German retailer has revealed the HTC Flyer Wi-Fi only price as £423 (€499), having opened pre-orders for the 3G-less tablet model. Unfortunately, there's no release date listed on the page, although HTC has confirmed that the Wi-Fi only model will launch hot on the heels of the HTC Flyer 3G. At Mobile World Congress, Phil Blair, HTC's European Product Director, told us, ""We're going to launch a Wi-Fi variant of the HTC Flyer in the future, which should be offered at a more accessible price point. "It won't ship at the same time [as the 3G Flyer] but it will launch soon afterwards, although we don't have an exact date." Full fat Flyer There's no official release date for the HTC Flyer 3G at present either, but it has also hit pre-order in Germany on the country's Amazon.de site where it's listed for €669 (around £563). We don't think £560 is too bad a price tag for the 3G Flyer, but the HTC Flyer Wi-Fi only sneaks in under the all-important £500 mark, which makes it seem a lot more affordable for some. With no 3G connection, you'll have to rely on WiFi or Bluetooth tethering to connect to the internet, but you won't be saddled with yet another monthly data fee. 
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| Apple iPad 2 launch confirmed for 2 March Posted: 23 Feb 2011 08:31 AM PST  Apple has sent out press invites confirming that the new iPad 2 will be revealed on 2 March. Confirming a rumour first circulated by AllThingsDigital yesterday, the press invites see an Apple iOS calendar icon peeling away to reveal the top right hand corner of an iPad. The UK event is set to take place at the BBC Television Centre in London - could this be a clue to some of the new functionality..? Faster, louder, thinner Rumours have been rife surrounding the mystery iPad follow up, with some analysts insisting that the new slate has been delayed. Apparently this isn't the case, although there's no guarantee that we'll see the iPad 2 hit the shelves hot on the heels of next week's announcement. There have been no leaks on the scale of the Gizmodo/iPhone 4 scandal of last year, but plenty of rumours have suggested everything from a USB port to a front-facing camera for FaceTime video calling, a thinner chassis and Retina Display visuals. No doubt the rumour mill will go into overdrive in the last few days before the reveal; but whether or not there is any truth to the rumours will be confirmed next Wednesday when we bring you all the breaking iPad 2 news. Stay tuned. 
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| Android to get ad-free Angry Birds in March Posted: 23 Feb 2011 05:17 AM PST  Ad-addled Angry Birds addicts on Android will be all atingle at the announcement that advert-free Angry Birds is on its way to Android. Rovio Mobile, the company behind the habit-forming game, has tweeted that the premium advertless version will be coming to Android at some point in March. Responding to a tweet asking if the ad-free version is coming soon for Android, Rovio replied, "Within a month is the current plan". Angry Androids Currently, there is no paid-for version of Angry Birds on Android, despite other platforms, including iOS, offering the game unsullied by marketing messages for a small fee. The premium ad-free version will hit Android at about the same time as Angry Birds Rio, an Angry Birds game featuring characters from Fox's animated film Rio. There's no word on what UK users can expect to pay for the ad-free Android app, but we don't imagine that it will cost you more than the 59p iOS version. 
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| Motorola Atrix review: round up from the web Posted: 23 Feb 2011 05:10 AM PST  When Motorola announced its dual-core Android 2.2 Atrix handset at CES last month, the collective jaw of the tech world dropped in amazement. With a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor under the bonnet, housing two 1GHz chips and 1GB of on-board RAM, it offers twice the power of current market leaders like the HTC Desire. The rest of the tech specs continue to promise greatness. With a 4-inch qHD display boasting a ridiculously high resolution 960x540 display, a mammoth 1980mAh battery and up to 48GB of storage, it looks like the Incredible Hulk of the smartphone world. When you add in the WebTop dock, which instantly brings your phone's browsing and multimedia capabilities to your television set, and the Laptop Dock, which allows you to plug into a laptop shell and user the device itself to power it, there's plenty of never-seen-before action on the accessories front too. With American Android fanciers already gearing up for Atrix 4G release (well before the slated May UK release of the 3G iteration), the verdict from across the pond is already in. Let's check out the best of the reviews from around the web. Engadget The guys at Engadget are giving the device a "yes, yes" in its review, while maintaining a few reservations about the 4G speeds and the usefulness of the expensive peripherals. "The Atrix 4G might be our favorite Android device that we've tested. It's got specs that run laps around most other devices.
"We're not saying the phone doesn't have its issues - and we're really not big fans of Motorola's skinning - but this is a powerhouse of a device in a sleek package, and Android's openness to customizing means you'll be able to turn it into a phone that feels like your own. So yes, yes to the Atrix 4G, because it is an awesome phone." Gizmodo Gizmodo's Apple-baiting blogstar Jason Chen calls the Atrix a "great phone, but a weak netbook" saying that he hopes the innovative laptop dock idea will inspire competitors. His review urges buyers to be realistic about what to expect from the laptop dock and its custom Firefox browser. As for the phone he says: "It's not a whole lot different from any other Android device, user experience-wise. The Atrix…. is an impressively fast Android phone… because of its dual core processor, and getting around the UI is as smooth or smoother than the Nexus S. "The Atrix is a great phone, and if you're going to be getting an Android on AT&T, you should be getting this one. Its high resolution screen, fast dual core processor and decent battery life smells great for Android folks." CNET US Of the design and feel of the phone CNET isn't 100 per cent convinced: "The Atrix is sleek and lightweight," says the review. "The handset's slim profile makes it easy to slip into a pants pocket, and the rounded corners and tapered edges make it comfortable to hold. However, compared with the company's other recent handsets, such as the Droid X, the Atrix doesn't quite have the same premium feel. On the comparisons with the iPhone's screen CNET added that the Atrix is "comparable to the iPhone 4's 940x640-pixel Retina Display, but since the Atrix has a slightly bigger screen, the pixel density isn't as great, so text and images don't look quite as smooth as they do on the iPhone." Boy Genius Report The guys at Boy Genius Report were far more positive about the incorporation of the laptop dock than many of the other reviewers out there. "The Motorola ATRIX 4G is a very impressive product that brings an impressive set of accessories and peripherals to market that extend the smartphone into something much, much more.
"The fact we're at a time where a phone can power a full computer is incredible, and it's great to see a fine device like the ATRIX 4G be the first to do it." USA Today Finally, USA Today's Edward C. Baig gives the device 3 out of 4 stars and says: "I give high marks to the Atrix phone. It was less successful pretending to be a laptop." "On its own, Atrix is a solid Android handset, running on version 2.2 of the mobile operating system, with two muscular 1 GHz dual core processors, 1 GB of RAM, decent and expandable storage, a long-lasting battery, rear and front cameras, and a splendid 4-inch screen. "Unlike the iPhone, the browser can handle Adobe Flash video. It's even got a fingerprint scanner you can swipe to unlock the device. "At $690 for the phone [$199 on a two-year contract] and both dock bundles, pricing is way out of whack. Atrix is an excellent phone, but it's not an excellent laptop substitute. Still, with a lower price and smoother implementation, Motorola may be on to something." Round up verdict So there you have it. The consensus from the US seems to be that the Atrix is undoubtedly a powerhouse of an Android phone, up there with anything the platform currently has to offer. However, and somewhat disappointingly, the expensive peripherals aren't yet functional enough to justify using your smartphone to power your laptop or TV browsing. We've currently got our hands on: Motorola Atrix review on TechRadar, and we'll be bringing you the full review as soon as we can get our hands on a device. 
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| More live sports heading to YouTube Posted: 23 Feb 2011 04:43 AM PST  Google is in talks with 'pretty much everyone' about streaming live sports events to YouTube. The video sharing site has already trialled streaming live cricket from the Indian Premier League, but now has its sights set on more universally appreciated sports fixtures. Over in the US, the search giant is said to be negotiating with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) to show live games on YouTube. Sports direct Gautam Anand, Google's director of content partnerships for Asia, says further talks are also under way regarding more games: "It's fair to say that there will be a lot more appealing sports content you'll see on YouTube. We have ongoing conversations with pretty much everyone." Brian Suh, head of YouTube Partnership at Google Korea, has also said that Google is in talks with "most pro sports leagues" and football leagues in Europe. Google isn't hoping to show live sports out of the goodness of its heart, however; users watching live sports streams spend longer watching YouTube content than those simply watching hosted videos. Longer time on the site means greater advertising revenue. 
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| BBC iPlayer to soak up Olympics 2012 coverage overspill Posted: 23 Feb 2011 04:11 AM PST  The BBC has briefly outlined its strategy for dealing with the thousands of hours of footage it will have for the 2012 Olympics, explaining that a lot of content that isn't broadcast on television will come to the iPlayer. Speaking at the Samsung European Forum in Budapest, with TechRadar in attendance, Daniel Danker, general manager of future media and technology at the BBC, said: "The world of applications gets exciting when you combine them with TV. "The 2012 Olympics will mean that we will have more content available than we can broadcast. So, the combination of on demand and TV is the only way we will be able to get all the content to consumers." Olympic challenge Danker explained that offering content through the iPlayer will mean that audiences will be able to direct their own version of the Olympics, picking and choosing what they want to watch and when. Samsung will be hoping that consumers will be watching the iPlayer through its Smart Hub service, which has been added to its latest range of connected TVs. Danker believes that the arrival of so-called smart TVs is great for the BBC, noting: "Smart TV is a liberating platform and we are now building to HTML, so we can express our programmes in new ways. "This brings together iPlayer and TV which is liberating." 
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| Razer Chimaera headsets for Xbox shown off Posted: 23 Feb 2011 04:07 AM PST  Razer has officially unveiled the Razer Chimaera Xbox 360 gaming headset, claiming its latest product "kicks Xbox gaming immersion into overdrive". Razer is a specialist at gaming peripherals, and the rise and rise of console gaming has meant the company increasingly looking to the likes of Xbox gamers as a market for its products. The Chimaera headset comes in both 5.1 and stereo editions – with both versions wireless and developed with the help of Dolby. Jaw-dropping "Putting on this headset may cause serious jaw-dropping aural intensity," said Robert 'RazerGuy' Krakoff, President Razer USA - a man never short of a bit of hyperbole. "With the Razer Chimaera 5.1, we're giving every gamer the opportunity to experience surround sound in complete wireless freedom. "We drew from our expertise in PC gaming audio and worked with Dolby to develop a headset that lets you hear everything with absolute clarity to pinpoint enemy locations, prevent backstabs, and just take your gaming enjoyment further. "I recommend using it with the Razer Onza controller for serious Xbox ownage." The 5.1 version has a UK release date of April and a price of around £170 and the stereo version costs around £110 and is available in March. 
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| HTC ChaCha and Salsa UK release dates revealed Posted: 23 Feb 2011 04:06 AM PST  Online retailer Expansys has revealed the UK release date of the HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa on its pre-order pages. The two Facebook phones are expected to be available from 17 June, but neither handset's UK pricing has been announced by the retailer. HTC itself said that the handsets' UK release dates would be in Q2 2011, which fits with Expansys' projected June launch date. Silly names Of course, HTC is quick to point out that these are not Facebook branded phones – but the two companies did work together on the handsets and both come with a branded Facebook key on the bottom front panel. Both handsets will launch running the latest version of Android Gingerbread, with the HTC Salsa a full-touchscreen phone and the HTC ChaCha providing a physical QWERTY for your hands to dance across. The Facebook key on the front provides instant access to the social network for those essential quick-fire status updates. 
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| Buffalo unveils new USB 3.0 multi-drives Posted: 23 Feb 2011 04:04 AM PST -200-200.jpg) Buffalo Technology has announced two new USB 3.0 drives – the DriveStation Duo and the DriveStation Quad. The two new multi-drives are billed as "high performance, multimedia external hard drives designed for demanding users." To that end they offer up faster transfer rates through the SuperSpeed USB and high capacity – including 2TB, 4TB and 6TB. RAID "The DriveStation Duo is available in 2TB, 4TB and 6TB capacities," states Buffalo's release. "It is a two-drive, two-bay RAID enabled drive with RAID 0 for performance and RAID 1 for redundant storage. "The DriveStation Quad is a four-drive, four-bay RAID enabled drive with RAID 0 for performance and RAID 5 or 10 for redundant storage. "Currently offered in 4TB and 8TB, the DriveStation Quad will also be available in 12TB later this year. " 
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| White iPhone 5 rumours surface, the world sighs Posted: 23 Feb 2011 03:38 AM PST  The saga of the white iPhone 4 may not yet be at an end, but the latest rumours are suggesting that Apple will be releasing a white iPhone 5 when the handset is announced. The Economic Daily News is reporting that white iPhone 5 glass is being shipped, with a supplier called Wintek reportedly being the sole touch panel vendor for the white version. Meanwhile, we still await the launch of the mythical white iPhone 4 with interest, set to launch in spring this year according to small print on Apple store signage spotted last year. Mythical We'll believe it when we see it though, with the launch of the white handset having been pushed back and delayed to the point of the ridiculous. Spare a thought for those who've been holding out for the colour variant since the iPhone 4 launched in June last year. Those poor iPhone 4-less people. Still, this latest rumour could be a sign that the iPhone 5 will ship in both black and white much sooner after launch; although whether its launch is on track for this summer is also a matter up for debate. 
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| Android 3.0: full SDK now ready for developers Posted: 23 Feb 2011 03:12 AM PST  Android developers can now start creating Android 3.0-specific apps, thanks to the release of Honeycomb's final SDK. The SDK means that Android developers can make use of Android 3.0's redesigned user interface and offer tablet-centric content. There are soon to be a number of Android 3.0 tablets on the market, with the Motorola Xoom packing the OS, as well as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the LG Optimus Pad. New updates The final platform includes updates to SDK Tools (r10) and ADT Plugin for Eclipse. A few of the tweaks, according to the Android Developer forum, are: a 'new palette' with categories and rendering previews, more accurate rendering of layouts, zoom improvements and layouts with gesture overlays. Honeycomb will bring a new UI specifically for tablets, customisable home screens, redesigned keyboard, improves cut and paste and an update to standard apps – which essentially modifies them for the big(ger) screen. 
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| HTC Desire update to Gingerbread incoming from Three Posted: 23 Feb 2011 03:08 AM PST  The HTC Desire Android 2.3 update is on its way to Three customers, according to a tweet from the numerical network. Although Three UK couldn't confirm when the update will hit, the network was quite clear about the fact that it is on its way. When asked if they will be releasing Android 2.3 for the original HTC Desire, Three UK replied, "Yes we will but we don't have timescales yet." Teaching an old dog new tricks All of HTC's latest releases shown off at Mobile World Congress, which include the HTC Desire S, will be shipping with Gingerbread at launch. It's not clear which legacy HTC handsets will see the latest upgrade, but the HTC Desire will definitely be getting the improved copy and paste, VoIP functionality and updated battery management that Android 2.3 brings. Although there's no concrete news, we've heard whispers that non-Three HTC Desires will also be getting the 2.3 update very soon; we'll keep you posted. We've had a word with HTC about possible HTC Desire updates to the Android system, but we're being told there are no timescales confirmed as yet. 
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| Google planning further Nexus phones? Posted: 23 Feb 2011 03:06 AM PST  Google has dropped a big hint that it will be adding to its Nexus range in the future as it rolled out the latest version of Android for smartphones. The Google Nexus S and Nexus One have both been updated to Android 2.3.3, and as part of that update Google moved to clarify the reasons behind removing Facebook contact integration from the ecosystem to Engadget. "We are removing the special-case handling of Facebook contacts on Nexus S and future lead devices." Hang on - future lead devices? We contacted Google to see if there was a plan to push the Nexus range in the future, and the search engine told us that there were still no plans at the moment. Nexus 3 next up? CEO Eric Schmidt previously said the Nexus line was dead after the launch of the Nexus One, but then went back on that promise with the launch of the Nexus S at the end of 2010. It makes sense for Google to keep partnering with handset manufacturers to create base specifications for new versions of Android, and more Nexuses (Nexii?) in the future seem likely for the release of Android 2.4 or Android 3.1. Of course, lead devices doesn't necessarily mean they'll be solely Google branded - new phones from other manufacturers, like the Motorola Milestone, can be launchpads for new versions of Android - but given the way Google is aiming to shape its own destiny, we wouldn't rule out new Nexus phones in the future. 
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| Posted: 23 Feb 2011 03:00 AM PST  When the first video hit the net, people thought WordLens was a joke. Instant, real-time translation via the iPhone. Just hold it up to a sign and not only will it tell you what it says (in English or another supported language), it replaces the text on what you're looking at, like a Babel Fish for your eyes. In practice, it's not quite that good. The letters flicker around as it adjusts to the movements of your hand, and there's not much intelligence in what it gives you. Still, it's a brilliant application, and one that's perfect for getting at least a rough idea of what you're looking at without you having to type in a single word. When it's finished its calculations, you can pause the recognition system, making it easy to read a translation without it changing its mind or losing whatever it was you shot. The freely downloadable version doesn't use translation as a demo though, instead reversing the words you point your iPhone at. Even that is damn impressive, though. If you want to use it as intended, only Spanish is supported and requires a $10 in-app purchase. More language options are due soon, starting with European ones and then moving further afield. We see it being particularly interesting when it can handle symbol-based languages like Chinese and Japanese, especially for tourist purposes, when you can't simply look something up in your dictionary. We hope there'll be more work on the recognition part too, making it as good as it was in those video demos. Not too good though, or the developers risk being burned for witchcraft. Related Links
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| Updated: Android 2.3 release date: when will you get it? Posted: 23 Feb 2011 02:56 AM PST  Android 2.3 has been announced by Google, and now owners of smartphones such as the Nexus One and the HTC Desire are eagerly awaiting the update. There's very little news on when Android 2.3 will roll out at this early stage, although we do know that the first phone to go on sale with Android 2.3 is the successor to the Nexus One, the Google Nexus S. Google Nexus One Android 2.3 update The Nexus One has already been confirmed as getting the Android 2.3 update in early Q1 2011. The following announcement over on the official Google Nexus Twitter page confirmed the upgrade: "The Gingerbread OTA for Nexus One will happen in the coming weeks. Just hang tight!" UPDATE: As of 23 February 2011, the Google Nexus One Android 2.3.3 update is rolling out. Google Nexus S Android 2.3.3 update UPDATE: The Nexus S is also getting its update to Android 2.3.3 as of 23 February 2011. HTC Desire Android 2.3 update We've contacted HTC to ask about an HTC Desire update to Android 2.3 (and one for the HTC Desire HD and the HTC Desire Z). HTC responded on 7 December to confirm that a number of its phones will be receiving Android 2.3. "We are excited about the OS update coming for Android, and while HTC will definitely have some phones running this OS, we do not have a specific timeframe for new phones or updates at this time. Please stay tuned for more details," said an HTC spokesperson. Still no official word on the Desire, but we have to wonder whether the smartphone star is included in "some phones". UPDATE: As we reported on 23 February, the HTC Desire Android 2.3 update is on its way to Three customers. Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.3 update We've also contacted Samsung to ask about the Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.3 update. Samsung replied with the following statement: "In case a new version of Android operating system is publicly announced and released, Samsung will review the possibility of implementation of such new version to the existing Samsung products with Android operating system ("Update"). "Such a review will be based on various factors including, without limitation, the overall effect of such Update to Samsung products, the system requirements, the structural limitations, and the level of cooperation from the component suppliers and the software licensors. "If Samsung decides to make the Update available to the users after such consideration, Samsung will use its efforts to develop such Update, which may be released to the users upon successful completion of such development." In other words: we'll check it out and make a decision then. LG Optimus One and Optimus Chic Android 2.3 update At first it looked like this one wasn't going to happen. In a post on Facebook, LG said: "The Optimus line won't be getting the Gingerbread update because they have a 600MHz processor, and the minimum requirements for Gingerbread require 1 GHz processor. In other words: it's not possible to update the processor, unfortunately." However, on 10 December, LG changed its mind, saying: "LG will upgrade all Optimus One smartphones currently using the Froyo OS to the next version of the Android OS, Gingerbread. Details of the upgrade schedule will be announced locally in due course." LG Optimus 2X Android 2.3 release date The 2X has been officially announced as a UK release, and while it will ship with Android 2.2, the Android 2.3 update will be winging its way to the handset soon. Stay tuned. We'll bring you more release dates as we get them. 
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