Brian O'Toole
Having learnt his writing techniques reading e-Books of Sherlock Holmes, Brian now spends his time /kicking, lurking, SSHing and encoding.
20
Sep
image

Total Equipment Coverage/Insurance For Verizon Customers Now Includes Free Mobile Recovery Software

Posted by in Applications, News, Verizon Wireless

Good news for those of you with Verizon phones and a 'Total Equipment Coverage' insurance plan. VZW have just let us know that they are partnering with Asurion to provide some useful security functions for Android owners. The free Mobile Recovery application includes the ability to remotely:

  • Sound an alarm on the phone, even when on silent
  • Locate the phone using GPS, with maps and directions to the handset
  • Lock or wipe the phone, if it is irretrievable

Sounds pretty great for a free service (if you have the qualifying insurance, obviously), and may help to soothe any envious pangs you felt following the demonstration of HTCSense.com’s new security features.

20
Sep
image

Leaked HTC Lexikon Stock ROM Points Towards A Future On Verizon

Posted by in Devices By Manufacturer, HTC, News, Verizon Wireless

It’s difficult to keep track of all the leaked device names out there, we know, but if you can cast your mind back a month or so you may remember the mysterious HTC Lexikon and HTC Bee phones whose details were sourced from the 911sniper blog. Well, the same guys over in China have just posted what is believed to be a copy of the Lexikon’s operating system, complete with “VERIZON” in the filename, and a render of the phone to keep you hooked.

image

From the image alone, the Lexikon looks to be similar in styling to the still extant Droid Incredible.

18
Sep
image

Zune Home Gives You That Zune HD Vibe, Tegra Sold Separately

Posted by in App Reviews, Applications, Reviews
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Apart from SlideScreen, it seems like pretty much every alternative Android launcher out there is a slightly different version of the same thing; namely, the stock Android launcher. Well, SlideScreen is no longer alone. With Zune Home, we have something rather familiar but entirely different to what we’ve seen before on Android.

image

As the name would suggest, Zune Home is an homage to the laudably sleek interface found on Microsoft’s Zune HD portable media player. What it does is replace your standard homescreen with a simple list of clickable text labels: phone, contacts, etc. These link to applications of your choosing (apart from phone and marketplace, which are preset), meaning you can have the “internet” label open up your preferred browser, eg Fennec.

18
Sep
image

HTC Desire HD Look-A-Like Coming To Verizon?

Posted by in Desire HD (Ace), Devices By Manufacturer, HTC, News, Verizon Wireless

A couple of weeks back, Boy Genius Report got their hands on some photos of a very svelte looking, EVO-esque HTC phone that is supposedly coming to Verizon.

Now they have a suspicion that it is in fact Verizon’s model of the Desire HD, announced a few days ago in London.

There are one or two things to say about this - firstly, the handset they obtained images of has a kickstand, a feature notably absent in the super-slim Desire HD. Also, there have been no announcements as yet of a CDMA version at all, although that may well come in the future.

15
Sep
image

HTC Developing Tablet, In Cahoots With Google, Expected Release Q1 2011

Posted by in HTC, News

From the Unsurprising But Still Exciting department comes this fresh tip, via everyone’s favourite rumour rag, Digitimes. With a suitably vague allusion to “Taiwan component makers”, Digitimes claims that HTC will be leveraging their strong partnership with Google in releasing a tablet worldwide.

Much like the Galaxy Tab, HTC’s take on the new tablet market will be powered by smartphone components and will feature similar performance and design quality. This doesn’t really give us much to pin our hopes on, but as AndroidCentral points out, the supposed Q1 2011 release date aligns with the previous release of the Nexus One, and we know how special that was.

15
Sep
image

Change Keyboard Automatically With Orientation, Using KeyboardManager [Root][Tutorial]

Posted by in Applications, Tips & Tutorials

One of the more obvious settings missing from Android is the ability to use one keyboard, say Swype, in portrait orientation, and then automatically switch to another keyboard when the phone is in landscape.

This feature has been oft-requested, and is something that is strangely missing from many mobile OSes. Well, the clever clogs over at the XDA-Developers Nexus One forum have managed to figure it out with a little workaround.

However, the hack only works for those on rooted phones with access to the /system partition as Read-Write. Thankfully that is most phones, nowadays. In the words of the hack’s creator, ne0fhyk:

The application is rather simple so far.

15
Sep
image

HTC Finally Acknowledges Existence Of G2, Posts Tech Specs

Posted by in Devices By Manufacturer, G2 (Vision), HTC, News

While the teaser site for the T-Mobile G2 has been up for quite some time now, HTC, the company actually manufacturing the device, have been quite reticent about its specifications and what’s driving that stock Froyo goodness. Of course, we’ve known of its MSM7230 and various other details for a couple of weeks, but it’s nice to see the official specs solidified on HTC’s website. There are no surprises contained within, but something about the confirmation of what was once nebulous rumour can’t help but bring a warming pulse to every Android’s circuitry.

image

Source: HTC via Engadget

13
Sep
image

Let The Price Wars Begin : RadioShack Knocks $50 Off T-Mobile G2's Contract Price

Posted by in G2 (Vision), News, T-Mobile

It’s not uncommon to see the big chains try to get a piece of the smartphone launch action with price reductions by mail-in-rebate. However, the hassle that this process usually entails doesn’t make things all that enticing to customers. Thankfully pre-orders for the G2 aren’t yet open on T-Mobile’s website, so prospective buyers now have the pleasure in knowing they’ll be able to get in instant discount with RadioShack, bringing the price down to $149.99 on a two year contract.

image

Of course, this is all window-dressing in reality. The real money is made on that brutal 24 month “agreement” you’re signing yourself up for.

09
Sep
image

GPS Fix For CyanogenMod 6 On The Nexus One

Posted by in News, Nexus One (Passion)
Last Updated: September 15th, 2010

One of the most common complaints about the recent builds of CyanogenMod 6 has been that Nexus One owners’ GPS would suddenly take ages to get a fix or wouldn't get a fix at all. The most frequent solution posted has been to change your Mobile Network APN type to “default,supl” to enable A-GPS through your cellular network. However, for some people this still didn’t solve the problem, including myself.

Well, today on the CM forums, user kursed posted a fix that may be the end of many frustrated N1-ers’ woes. The fix involves resetting your location data using GPS Status with your SIM card removed, getting a fix, and then restarting your phone with the SIM inserted and getting a fix again.

09
Sep
P9060174_1

Motorola Charm Review: The Pixel-Faced Killah

Posted by in CHARM, Eclair 2.1, Motorola, Phone Reviews, Reviews, T-Mobile
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

 P9060178_1 P9060204

Getting my hands on the Charm was no mean feat. Motorola didn’t seem keen to send out review units to anyone in a hurry, so I took it upon myself to go buy one, under the pretext of it being a gift for my girlfriend (she has a Nokia 1661 for chrissakes).

That in itself was quite a quest, as not a single store in the state of Maine seemed to have one in stock. Several broken promises later, and I was on the bus to Boston, having been assured that there were “less than 10” units in stock in T-Mobile’s downtown store.

Page 14 of 18«First...1213141516...Last»