Samsung Intros Sprint Instinct S30 (a.k.a Instinct Mini)

No official words from Sprint yet, but Samsung Korea has released a press info and listed the Samsung Instinct S30 as one of the product showcase in CTIA Wireless 2009. Details info are not available except a confirmed 3.2-inch full touch screen. The Instinct S30 was leaked as Instinct Mini / M810 previously and said to be available in April.

OS 4.7.0.113 Firmware Update for Verizon's BlackBerry Storm

News from EngadgetMobile that Verizon Wireless is releasing a new BlackBerry Storm firmware updates soon. This will be the second official updates with version number 4.7.0.113 from Verizon Wireless and RIM. It also includes lots of bug fixes for the company first BlackBerry full touch screen smartphone.Check out the list of the changelog below: * Fixed bug where Mute and End buttons would work

New Design For Apple iPhone 2009

While a new Apple iPhone is expected to be revealed for year 2009, here is a concept design posted on dotdosh with a even slimmer body design. Is that good enough for current iPhone 3G users to upgrade their iPhone? [via gizmodo]

Microsoft to Release Facebook for Windows Mobile Next Month

Already leaked and extracted from a beta Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM in early March, Windows phone users can expect to see an official release of the Facebook Mobile for Windows mobile in April next month. According to Microsoft, the application is free for all Windows phones users, allows users to upload videos or photos to their Facebook account directly. It is also possible that the official

Skype for iPhone Appear in US and Japan iPhone Application Store

As expected, Skype has slowly rolled out its new iPhone application and you can now see the application listed on iPhone application store in Japan and US. The free application has a version number v1.0.0.63 and is free to download. The Skype application works only with WiFi connection, supports SkypeOut, Skype-to-Skype and SkypeIn VoIP calls.The application delivers core Skype capabilities

MySpace today announced support for Microsoft Windows Mobile

MySpace today announced support for Microsoft Windows Mobile and Microsoft Silverlight with its new MySpace mobile application. To be released in this summer, the application will run on Windows phones and utilize Silverlight. The MySpace application will be available on Windows Mobile 6.1 phones later this summer and then in the fall of 2009 through the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, directly

Motorola VE465 Now from Alltel

Alltel Wireless announced that it has start offering the MOTO VE465, a classic Motorola clamshell phone comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera. This phone also features a microSD memory port with 4GB max supported, stereo Bluetooth technology to play music on wireless headphones and speakers, an external speaker so you can hear all of your favorite music without a headset, access to Bluetooth and

Palm Treo Pro Now Available In Brazil

Palm today announced that Treo Pro by Palm is now available in Brazil on the Vivo network. With its streamlined design and Palm? innovations layered on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, Treo Pro is a unique combination of sleek simplicity and robust productivity — including email, Wi-Fi and GPS capabilities.Users can quickly respond to business and personal email, access the web, stay on top of

Motorola Introduces Touch Screen Phone Evoke QA4

Motorola today introduced Motorola Evoke QA4, a CDMA touch screen phone with a 2.8″ full touch-screen that keeps you constantly connected. Text inputs can be done through its on screen QWERTY keyboard and slide out traditional keypad. Customize the home screen content with integrated widgets and personalized RSS feeds, and use the full HTML browser to share pictures, videos and more online.

Another iPhone 3G in the Family

I've held out from buying a contracted iPhone for as long as I can. For the longest time, I've always bought my wife the original 8GB iPhone then upgraded her plan into the 3G iPhone. I wanted my freedom of a less expensive data plan (Media Max 200 for $19 including 200 text) as well as the ability to test out other smartphones (ie. my Nokia N95, Treo 680, etc...) by switching my sim cards around.

Ever since Nokia dropped the ball on updating a buggy firmware for my N95-3 and a refurbished 8GB iPhone I have been using stopped ringing in standby mode (unless I use a workaround), and my G1 having no 3.5mm audio output with meager battery life, I am running out of choices for a reliable smartphone. Factoring in that at this point, my personal computer is a MacBook Pro with a perfect tie-in to the iPhone, I finally caved and upgraded my contract via early eligibility discount and took home a beautiful black 16GB iPhone 3G. The $299 cost is not so bad but the monthly increase of data plan and incremental cost for $5 SMS plan is going to suck a little.

I thought about the potential that in June/July, along with the highly anticipated firmware 3.0, there may be a new iPhone coming out. I'll likely upgrade one of our iPhone 3G then since I know plenty of family members who'd gladly take an unlocked mint condition iPhone 3G off our hands. For now, mobile technology is my passion and for this blog site, its all worth it. Look forward to my future mobile experience coverage in this ever shifting mobile world!

Samsung propel phone with full QWERTY keypad

Samaung propel is another latest phone, actually it's a PDA device. the design of this phone is very similar to samsung Blackjack phone, but this has Slider QWERTY keypad.
propel is a 3G phone which supports HSDPA technology. it runs with Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard OS. according to it's OS Samsung propel has very powerful hardware. the processor has 528 MHz speed and RAM is 128Mb. it has 50Mb internal memory and supports up to 16GB memory cards.
the main camera is 1.3Mp one and it is enough for get clear pictures. Samsung propel has full featured GPS receiver with A-GPS support. also it has wi-fi and bluetooth.
when considering business features, there are lots of features in this phone. the Document viewer is special, you can open Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote,and PDF files. also it has good organizer and MPEG4 player.

How to: Nokia N95 and Apple Mac Users

If you own a Nokia smartphone (ie. the N95, N82, N96, etc.) and an Apple computer of some sort, you may find the lack of a complete sync'ing software for the OS X rather irritating. For Windows users, Nokia's PC Suite software pretty much takes care of all the sync'ing business (contacts, calendar, music, etc...). As matter a fact, when I bootcamped my MacBook Pro, part of the reason is because of non-Apple smartphones lacking OS X supported software.

While you can't go completely without a Windows setup for Nokia Phones (ie. GPS/Map application still requires a Windows machine for map installation), you can do about 90% of what you need on a Mac; and relatively painless, here is how:

Apple iSync, which is part of Leopard or can be downloaded here is an amazing native syncing software. For some Nokia phones, you'll need to download a quick Plugin. Once the plugin is installed. All you have to do is to pair up your Nokia smartphone via Bluetooth and click sync. This method allows me quickly and WIRELESS sync my N95-3 with my Mac Address Book, iCal, etc... Imagine this, wireless sync'ing your mobile device effortlessly!

For sync'ing multimedia material with iTunes, Nokia makes a cool little application called "Nokia Multimedia Transfer" which allows you to sync up with iTunes (audio, video, podcast, playlist) as well as iPhoto. The process does require a USB cable but it practically enables full synchronization with your Nokia smartphone.

I hope Nokia will release a Maps tool for Mac so we can also complete the map pre-installation on the OS X environment.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Gets New Firmware Update

Nokia has announced a software update for its 5800 XpressMusic handset, which is currently available for download at the Nokia Software Update site, and it’s going for free, of course. Some of the improvements of the latest software version include faster data download speeds from the Internet, faster user interface, new camcorder features, a mobile dictionary, application updates and a few

AT&T Nokia E71x Released

[CTIA 09] AT&T has announced its new line of smart phones for the Spring. All devices will be bundled with 200, 1500 or unlimited messages for $5, $15 and $20 respectively. Phones that were announced include:Nokia E71x: touted as the thinnest QWERTY smartphone and will be going for $99.99 (after a $50 rebate) with a 2-year contract.Samsung Propel Pro: powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 and has Wi-Fi.

Rumor: Palm Pre to be Available by April 30th?

It’s far from an official word, but then again, everybody is using Twitter nowadays. A Twitter conversation from Jim Van, CEO of Logicomm, indicates that someone (probably from Sprint) said that the Palm Pre will be released on 4/30. Of course, there isn’t any concrete evidence of this just yet, but considering that it’s not that far off, we’re hoping it’s true. In case you didn’t notice it in

AT&T LG Xenon Photos

There is yet another customary leaked photo of an upcoming device in all its blur glory - the LG Xenon. The AT&T LG Xenon cell phone has a 4 row qwerty touch screen. The full QWERTY keyboard brings a quick messaging phone boasting a full keypad for text messaging those who tend to fire plenty of emails and use texting as their primary means of communication via a cell phone.The upcoming LG Xenon

6 New Phones from AT&T

On Monday AT&T announced its new six-strong handset range will also include three phones from Samsung Electronics and two from LG Electronics. The fresh new lineup of smartphones and quick messaging phones will make it easier for customers to message with friends and family and manage their business and personal lives on-the-go.The other interesting device is the Nokia E71x. It’s a full QWERTY

LG GM630 does mobile TV

The FCC got their hands on the LG GM630 flip today and it seems this handset might just be making its way to the U.S. Specifications were not made official, but it is said that the GM630 is an update to the LG HB620T TV phone and maintains the same look and shape and with a TV tuner at the ready surely.The GM630 should support GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth, FM radio, microSD slot, 2 megapixel camera

Developer News

For no particular reason other than to celebrate this particular Monday, I wanted to update developers on two Android-related news items.

If you're a developer who will be in the San Francisco Bay Area at the end of May, I hope you'll join us at the 2009 Google I/O developer conference. You might have already seen the sessions we had listed for Android, but today I'm quite pleased to let you know that we've added a few more Android-related sessions. You can find the full list plus abstracts on the Google I/O site, but here are the titles:

• Turbo-Charge Your UI: How to Make Your Android UI Fast and Efficient
• Pixel-Perfect Code: How to Marry Interaction and Visual Design the Android Way
• Supporting Multiple Devices with One Binary
• Debugging Arts of the Ninja Masters
• Coding for Life—Battery Life, That Is
• Writing Real-Time Games for Android
• Android Lightning Talks

These sessions don't even include the "fireside chat" with the Core Technical Team that we have planned. We're working on still more sessions too; keep an ear to the ground on this blog and the Google I/O site for the latest info. I'm pretty excited about how the Android sessions for Google I/O are coming together. I think it's going to be a great event, and I hope to meet many of you there.

The other topic I want to mention is that our partners at HTC have uploaded a new system image for Android Dev Phone 1 owners. This new image is mostly the same as the one we mentioned earlier this month, but adds voice dialing. Note that not all features will work correctly in all countries, such as voice dialing and Google Voice Search which currently only work well for US English. Additionally, there are some features that we aren't able to make available at all in some countries. For instance, this build can't currently include Google Latitude due to privacy standards in some regions. We'll always keep the ADP1 builds as full-featured as we can, but it's important to remember that these devices are primarily intended for development, and won't necessarily have all the features included on mainstream builds.

I hope this news is useful to you. As always, happy coding!

Android Layout Tricks #3: Optimize with stubs

Sharing and reusing layouts is very easy with Android thanks to the <include /> tag, sometimes even too easy and you might end up with user interfaces that contain a large number of views, some of which are rarely used. Thankfully, Android offers a very special widget called ViewStub, which brings you all the benefits of the <include /> without polluting your user interface with rarely used views.

A ViewStub is a dumb and lightweight view. It has no dimension, it does not draw anything and does not participate in the layout in any way. This means a ViewStub is very cheap to inflate and very cheap to keep in a view hierarchy. A ViewStub can be best described as a lazy include. The layout referenced by a ViewStub is inflated and added to the user interface only when you decide so.

The following screenshot comes from the Shelves application. The main purpose of the activity shown in the screenshot is to present the user with a browsable list of books:

The same activity is also used when the user adds or imports new books. During such an operation, Shelves shows extra bits of user interface. The screenshot below shows the progress bar and cancel button that appear at the bottom of the screen during an import:

Because importing books is not a common operation, at least when compared to browsing the list of books, the import panel is originally represented by a ViewStub:

When the user initiates the import process, the ViewStub is inflated and replaced by the content of the layout file it references:

To use a ViewStub all you need is to specify an android:id attribute, to later inflate the stub, and an android:layout attribute, to reference what layout file to include and inflate. A stub lets you use a third attribute, android:inflatedId, which can be used to override the id of the root of the included file. Finally, the layout parameters specified on the stub will be applied to the roof of the included layout. Here is an example:

<ViewStub
  android:id="@+id/stub_import"
  android:inflatedId="@+id/panel_import"

  android:layout="@layout/progress_overlay"

  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:layout_gravity="bottom" />

When you are ready to inflate the stub, simply invoke the inflate() method. You can also simply change the visibility of the stub to VISIBLE or INVISIBLE and the stub will inflate. Note however that the inflate() method has the benefit of returning the root View of the inflate layout:

((ViewStub) findViewById(R.id.stub_import)).setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
// or
View importPanel = ((ViewStub) findViewById(R.id.stub_import)).inflate();

It is very important to remember that after the stub is inflated, the stub is removed from the view hierarchy. As such, it is unnecessary to keep a long-lived reference, for instance in an class instance field, to a ViewStub.

A ViewStub is a great compromise between ease of programming and efficiency. Instead of inflating views manually and adding them at runtime to your view hierarchy, simply use a ViewStub. It's cheap and easy. The only drawback of ViewStub is that it currently does not support the <merge /> tag.

Happy coding!

ModeLabs MyWay Touch available in France in April

French mobile phone maker ModeLabs has launched a new smartphone called the MyWay Touch reports French website mobinaute.com, but don’t expect too much from the MyWay Touch as its only entry level and certainly no Apple iPhone competitor.The MyWay Touch offers up a 2.4 inch touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, accelerometer, FM radio, WAP 2.0 browser, USB 1.1, microSD slot and a 720 mAh battery.The

Amazon GoldBox Deal: Plantronic 925 BT Headset

From what I have gathered, this Discovery 925 headset ranks up there with the best of the best (ie. Jawbone I/II, SmartTalk, etc.). Amazon has it today for the BlackFriday-like price of $49 shipped. If you are in the market for a BT headset, this is a pretty good deal. Enjoy!

LG Arena in Titan Black for T-Mobile UK

The new LG Arena will be exclusively available on T-Mobile in titan black, the company announced today. LG ARENA includes the latest DolbyMobile 2.0 technology for a globally released handset, to deliver an exhilarating surround sound experience for video content with its 3.0-inch WVGA screen. The LG Arena in titan black will be available from T-Mobile stores this month.LG ARENA’s 3D S-Class UI

HTC Magic aka T-Mobile G2 Got FCC Approved

Announced during the Mobile World Congress last month, the HTC Magic has been found approved by the FCC with T-Mobile branding. There isn’t an official name yet for T-Mobile but it would mostly use the T-Mobile G2. The HTC Magic has a 3.2″ QVGA touch screen display and features a trackball and navigational buttons for quick, easy access. The full touch screen does not have a physical QWERTY

Getting rid of the recession

Getting rid of the recession.Having a chat with local folks in my area I put an idea to them. If the government, instead of providing nearly £200 billion pounds to the banks, gave every adult citizen (lets just say 56-million adults in the UK) one million pounds in their bank account or open a bank account in which to put the money, we discussed and concluded:.a) this would substantially reduce

EA to release games for the iPhone this year

Several sites posted a few days back on iLounge’s sneak preview of the upcoming Tiger Woods PGA Tour game for the iPhone, from EA Mobile.iPhone Central (popular iPhone blog) has news of a slew of new big name titles that EA Mobile is planning to release for the iPhone this year.The games EA Mobile is planning to release include: FIFA Soccer, Madden NFL, NBA Live, and Command & Conquer. They also

iPhones Unlocked On Retailer Play.com

It appears that online retailer Play.com is now offering the British-buying public unlocked iPhones.In a move that seems a little strange, Play.com has order pages live for both 8GB and 16GB models.The 8GB model is offered in Play.com’s words as “Sim Free / Unlocked” and is up for grabs for £549.99 with free delivery. The 16GB model is priced at £649.99. Not cheap, but then again, unlocked

Rumor: Sony Ericsson Idou Getting Silver Skin too

Sony Ericsson Idou, the company first 12 megapixel camera phone, is said to be available in silver too according to semcblog. The full touch screen phone is announced last month at Mobile World Congress and will be available by the end of this year in most regions.

Ten One Design’s Pogo Stylus for iPhone Now Shipping from Amazon

Ten One Design announces today that its Pogo Stylus, a capacitive touch screen stylus compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch, is now available on and shipping from Amazon. Designed to give users greater control when typing and navigating their capacitive touch screen interface, the Pogo Stylus is a mobile solution for people with long fingernails, larger fingers and for those who wear gloves

Sony Ericsson Announces new T707 ClamShell

Sony Ericsson today announced its latest mobile phone, the T707, with a partnership with tennis star Maria Sharapova. The T707 lights up when you receive a call and you can personalise the light settings to each of your friends, so you always know who wants you. If you are too busy to answer, simply end the call with a wave of your hand over the screen. It also has a 3.2 megapixel camera,

Alltel Wireless expands “My Circle” calling feature to include five additional numbers

Starting tomorrow, Alltel is adding five more numbers for unlimited calling, for customers on “My Circle 10″ and “My Circle 20″ calling plans. The five additional numbers will be automatically available to existing “My Circle” customers on eligible plans.With the addition of five numbers to “My Circle,” Alltel customers in these 91 CMAs in 22 states will now have unlimited calling to more of the

Ulysse Nardin and SCI Innovations Introduces Its First Luxury Phone

Ulysse Nardin and SCI Innovations have joined to create the world’s first hybrid-powered smart phone under the Ulysse Nardin brand. The Chairman features a functioning mechanical watch rotor that is also incorporated into its aesthetic design. Similar to an automatic watch that receives power from the force of a rotor, the watch battery can be charged through the kinetic energy of the moving

Rumor: Upcoming Slim Samsung B7300 Windows Mobile Smartphone

Confirmed for a release on China Mobile network, a new Samsung B7300 smartphone has been leaked on a chinese forum. The slim smartphone is running Windows Mobile 6.1. Similar to the Samsung Omnia i900, it has the TouchWiz UI where you can customize your desktop with different widgets on the side bar. Unlike Omnia, the B7300 is using mini USB connector. It will be more convenient for you to charge

Sprint Unveils its 4G Network Expansion Plan

Sprint today announced the next markets in the national Sprint 4G roll out, which includes Atlanta, Honolulu, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Portland, Fort Worth and Seattle. Sprint also expects to launch service in multiple markets in 2010 including Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.Sprint has also several new 4G devices planned for 2009 and 2010,

Motorola to Update Moto Ming A1200 with A1210

Although Moto Ming has been replaced with the new A1800 and A1600, Motorola is said to be updating its Moto Ming A1200 with the A1210. The Moto Ming A1210 will be sold in China, comes with a 2.8-inch display screen at 240 x 400 WQVGA resolution. It will also have an upgraded 3.1 megapixel camera. However, the A1210 is only supporting EDGE data connection, can be used in GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz

Nokia Invests in Obopay Mobile Payment Company

Obopay today announced an investment from Nokia with an undisclose amount. Obopay has also named Teppo Paavola, vice president and head of Corporate Business Development at Nokia, to its board of directors. Obopay is capable for the person-to-person transfer of money on the mobile device and the ability to get instant access to money on the phone with a credit card.“This investment is a landmark

Nokia 7205 launched with Verizon

as my previous post, this is also some special kind flap design phone. the front display has made with blending to front face of Nokia 7205 and the look is very attractive. since this is a Verizon phone, it has Verizon V-Cast TV receiver with multimedia player.
Nokia 7250 has 2.2 inch internal memory and 176X32 PMOLED external display. the internal memory is 150Mb and it allows up to 16GB SD memory cards. the PMOLED display has touch sensitive area for music keys.
the camera is 2.0mp and it comes with LED flash.

New Moodle Presentation

It's been almost two years since I created a brief video presentation of Moodle, and now I finally took the time to update it with a new version. Initially, I just wanted to update the usage statistics, but I ended up doing a redesign, and I also added some information, so it's slightly longer than the previous version. In addition to that, the video is now available in better quality and in widescreen format. And now, without further ado, I present you the new, improved Moodle Presentation:

You can view the video presentation on YouTube, Vimeo, and blip.tv. I created the presentation in Apple's Keynote, so you can also view the slides that I used on SlideShare.

I hope you enjoy this presentation; and feel free to use it to spread the word about Moodle!

Sony Ericsson T707 Newest flap phone

Sony Ericsson announced about their newest phone in this march. Sony Ericsson T707 is a flap design phone which has many attractive features. the design of this phone is very attractive because of it's external monochrome display. the external display is 1.1 inch one and it behaves according to front colour. also this monochrome display has made with Scratch-resistant surface. when the phone is turned off, you can see the display separately because it has phone's front surface colour.
Sony Ericsson T707 is a 3G phone which supports HSDPA networks. you can get 7.2mbps speed Internet connectivity via HSDPA. T707 has good memory capacity. the internal memory is 100mb and it supports up to 16GB memory cards.
T707 has very good sound quality and it has Walkman technology media player with Track id music recognition feature. the main camera is 3.15Mp and it has LED flash.
Sony Ericsson T707 comes with Mysterious Black, Spring Rose and Lucid Blue colours.

Opera Browser w/ Skyhook Wireless Position Function

I have always been a big fan of Skyhook Wireless' technology. These guys powered the iPhone/Google Maps faux-GPS technology using WiFi address to triangulate your approximate location. I just received word today that Opera Browser will team up with Skyhook wireless to enable Geolocation API suuport which allows you to provide your location to websites; enabling customized content based on your whereabouts.

The first thing that comes to my mind was that how is this different than using my LAN IP address to get my geo-location? I am guessing Skyhook's technology differs in that it can hone in closer to your true location since there are way more WiFi IP addresses scanned in their DB. Take a look below for my comparison.

Using my Statcounter account, I can identify myself as being in New York when I visited my blog (first pic below), however, when using my first gen. iPhone's Google Map locate me service, it pin-pointed to the corner of 35th Street and 7th Avenue (where I am!).

This technology will enable some vendors or retailers to provide up to the minute inventory or location based services to help consumers make a sound decision on where to go.

Keep in mind that this is currently available for Opera's desktop browser. I hope to see this feature make its way to the Opera mobile browsers.

Correction: I was explained that this technology will be available on mobile browsers as well. Nice!

Rumor: Samsung S8000

While the new Samsung S8300 Ultra Touch is available soon in some countries this week, King Mobile has leaked a few photos of a new Samsung full touch screen phone. Called Samsung S8000, it looks like a S8300 Ultra Touch variant, which will be priced lower as it comes with a 5 megapixel camera module compare to the 8 megapixel camera on the S8300. The Samsung S8000 also has a much larger

LG Lollipop for Youth Available in Korea

Tagged with a codename ‘1723′, LG has introduced its new LG Lollipop clamshell phone in Korea. Featuring a nice external LED display, the company is promoting this model specially for Korean between 17 to 23 years old. Also known as LG-SV800, KH8000 or LH8000, there are a total of 220 LEDs outside for users to form different animations for fun. Up to 22 LED patterns are available by default,

Rumor: New Motorola i856 iDEN Phone

After the sexy Motorola i9 announced in Feb, here comes another Motorola iDEN phone in slider form factor. The Motorola i856 is said to have a 2.2-inch display screen, Bluetooth, microSD card slot and a 1.3 megapixel camera hidden in the slider. The keypad design is yet another Motorola usual trick. There are also quick access button to music player below the display screen and volume control at

Skype 3.0 Beta for Windows Mobile

Skype has released a new Skype 3.0 beta for Windows Mobile, adding the ability to send text message through the Skype client and send/receive files with your other Skype friends. With the new file transfer feature, you can send files wirelessly anywhere to others easily.For the new sms texting feature, the text message you are sending will be charged by Skype and is based on Skype’s rate

T-Mobile Launches the 3G webConnect USB Laptop Stick

Today T-Mobile USA announced the availability of the T-Mobile webConnect USB Laptop Stick, allows access to its 3G high-speed data network (HSDPA) network. Accommodating up to 8 GB of installable microSD memory card, the webConnect laptop stick also provides portable storage for documents, music or movies.With tri-band 3G connectivity, the webConnect laptop stick is compatible with mobile

Apple stops selling their Bluetooth headset

Apple this weekend appears to have discontinued its iPhone Bluetooth Headset, a possible sign that the company could be planning to introduce an updated model alongside new iPhones a bit later this year or cede the market segment to third parties.However: Reports are also filtering in with a couple of unconfirmed tips that suggest Apple may have recently recalled existing inventory of the iPhone

Rumor: New iPhone From AT&T

Is the annual new iPhone product announcement become a tradition? According to an insider info on BGR, AT&T and Apple is set to announced the third iPhone in mid-June for year 2009. The new iPhone 2009 is said to be faster in software processing and also the wireless HSDPA connection with the new wireless chipset. It is not sure how will Apple change the new iPhone 2009 hardware design, it would

Airborne Mobile And FOX Media Content

Airborne Mobile, a mobile media company, today announced the renewal of its agreement with FOX Mobile Entertainment to develop and distribute mobile content based on the FOX series Family Guy, as well as a new agreement to develop and distribute content based on FOX’s American Dad and King of the Hill.“With animated brands, the opportunities for creating a whole new world of creative content are

Motorola i580 Yellow Edition

Already available since year 2006, the Motorola i580 Ruggedized clamshell phone is now available in a highly visible yellow. This rugged clam shell design is certified to Military Standard 810 F, and performs in extreme outdoor environments and stands up to dusty environments, drops, exposure to vibration from heavy machinery use and hot/cold climates. Motorola i580 include rubber encasing,

We Love iPhone

People with different but share the same admiration for the smart phone by Apple: face they always have to associate with iPhone screen.

Rumor: New iPhone Announcing in June

Is the annual new iPhone product announcement become a tradition? According to an insider info on BGR, AT&T and Apple is set to announced the third iPhone in mid-June for year 2009. The new iPhone 2009 is said to be faster in software processing and also the wireless HSDPA connection with the new wireless chipset. It is not sure how will Apple change the new iPhone 2009 hardware design, it would

Betty Boop pictures all over a Samsung phone

Cell phones manufacturers are completely aware of the fact that kids are a very important segment of their public, whether they like or not. This is why they should always be careful when it comes to taking care of their interests, because, if you have kids, then you probably know very well how pretentious they are.Back in November 2008 I was writing about a new cell phone for children,

Griffin's Gift Guide for Moms and Dads

With Mother's Day and Father's Day coming up in the next few months, Griffin has prepared a simple gift guide for the two most important people that have brought you to this world. Get them a few things below to help them jazz up their iPods or iPhones.

For Moms
For the car, the TuneFlex Aux w/SmartClick is an easy way for mom to listen to tunes through the car stereo; the SmartClick remote control attaches easily to the steering wheel so that she can control her stereo without taking her eyes off the road. Also for the car, the WindowSeat, which mounts iPhones and 2nd gen iPod touches at eye level of the car's windshield or dashboard - great for easily viewing street maps and directions. When mom is at home or the office she can charge her iPhone and iPod simultaneously with the PowerDock4, a multiple docking base, allowing her to charge up to four iPods and/or iPhones at the same time.

For Dads or Grads
The Elan Form Graphite offers a sleek looking case for any dad or grad's iPhone 3G. With inner and outer shell layers, the Elan Form Graphite provides superior protection. Also great for dads and grads are TuneBuds Mobile, compatible with any iPhone or iPod, TuneBuds Mobile offer great sound and one-button control convenience. The iTrip Auto Universal Plus FM transmitter and car charger is an ideal fit for the dad or grad on-the-go. The iTrip Auto Universal Plus works with almost any portable audio device that has a standard headphone jack, as well as offering an additional USB charging port.

While these recommendations are great, I have to plug in my favorite iPhone cases: ClearBoost for iPhone and Clarifi for iPhone 3G. I love them for their form and function.

Popular videos of Sony Ericsson W508

Sony Ericsson W508 flap phone with 3G

There are very few flap design phone in Sony Ericsson Walkman range. therefore W508 is very special phone because it has number of features and it's a newest flap design phone. W508 is a 3G HSDPA phone and it has Accelerometer sensor for response rotating.
Sony Ericsson W508 has very attractive front design. there are three music control keys at the front and thy embeded to the front cover. also you can replace the front cover and there are number of cover designs are available.
Since this is a Walkman phone, they have given high priority for music features. W508 has Walkman media player with Track id music recognition feature. the internal memory is 100mb and it comes with 1GB memory card. W508 supports up to 16GB SD memory cards. it has 3.55mm audio jack and a FM radio with RDS.
The camera is 3.15mp and the maximum picture resolution is 2048x1536 pixels.

Whats the Deal with Mobile Roaming?

The year is 2009, cell phone technology for consumers has been prominent for 10+ years by now. Its hard to imagine that we are still limited to where we can use our mobile phones due to physical or financial restraints. Case in point: Roaming. The concept of roaming is for when you are in an area not serviced by your carrier; at which point, if another carrier's service can be used, you can jump on their network for an incremental fee per minute. Back in 1998 when I got my first "digital" cell phone, I would often get no signal on my drive from Los Angeles to Needles, California; friends with dual mode phone can switch to Analog signal for more coverage. In the beginning, the mobile market had more carriers in different market zones, and they tend to invest more along the coast and major cities throughout the country. As the cell industry morphed into four dominate players and as their technology improves, the coverage map starts to get bigger and more carriers started to overlap in serviceable areas. Today, its safe to say that if you are with one of the four large carriers in the U.S., then you should be able to make and receive domestic calls without incurring roaming charges since most plans offer a free roaming feature where they've worked it out amongst the carriers.

There are some roaming charges that you do have to worry about in today's mobile environment:

International Roaming
When traveling aboard, and if you use a GSM phone (AT&T and TMobile with a sim card) you are likely able to hop on a foreign carrier's network to make or receive calls. Sprint and Verizon are on CDMA network which is intended for the U.S. only; unless you have one of their newer world-phones (featuring a GSM slot for roaming purposes), you may not be able to use your phone in other countries.

Most phone companies offer an elaborate "world plan" which is a fixed fee plan for traveling abroad. Depending on how much you would use your phone, it might work out cheaper to pay for the fees/minute according to your plan. You should always call to confirm the roaming fee by country for voice minutes and SMS/Text.

Traveling tips:
* SMS/Text: I rely on SMS quite often when traveling abroad, its much cheaper than voice minutes and gets my communication needs done; just make sure you study up on the country code first if you have to text with a foreign friend or family member
* If your smartphone has a domestic data plan, unless you enroll in an international data plan, I would advise turning off the data function of the phone to avoid any accidental roaming fees. Some mobile applications may be running and refreshing in the background and you may not be aware that it is downloading data, it can be very costly upon your return

For more information on international roaming, here are the links for the big four carriers in the U.S.: AT&T, Tmobile, Verizon, Sprint/Nextel

Cruise Roaming
This is something interesting that I just learned from my friend Dan who'll be taking a cruise ship vacation soon. While you are on open sea, international waters, there are no cellular signals since you'd be too far away from any tower. Some cruise ships have been retro-fitted with cellular service by one of the four carriers. Chances are, the carrier is not going to matter since they are contracted to support all domestic phones (GSM and CDMA). You should inquire with your telecom to get a "cruise" rate per minute before use. Based on my research, its roughly $2.50 per minute while you are on a cruise. Most of the carriers have a list of supported cruise lines on their webpage. I am going to guess this will be similar for when they finally put in cell phone access in the NYC subway.

For more information on cruise ship roaming, here are the links for the big four carriers in the U.S.: AT&T, Tmobile, Verizon, Sprint / Nextel

Celebrating Ada Lovelace Day

If you haven't heard it yet, today is Ada Lovelace Day, "an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology". I must confess I haven't heard much about Ada before today, but I have of course heard much more about Charles Babbage, the inventor of the computer she was programming on. And that's a good indicator of how history often forgets to mention women's contributions. Let's all take a moment to remember who Ada was:

"She is mainly known for having written a description of Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine. She is today appreciated as the "first programmer" since she was writing programs—that is, manipulating symbols according to rules—for a machine that Babbage had not yet built. She also foresaw the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching while others, including Babbage himself, focused only on these capabilities." (Wikipedia)

Luckily, times are changing, but women in technology (and many other fields) are still a minority, and that's why I, as a woman in tech myself, can relate to the idea of Ada Lovelace Day. For me, today is about thanking the women in our lives, who have the power to inspire us all in unique ways.

And I'm glad that it's with the help of technology that I came in touch with several women, who use technology in inspiring ways. Today, I'd especially like to thank Angela Thomas, a researcher with a unique approach to digital media, Alanagh Recreant, who is using technology to promote sustainable development, Aliza Sherman, an unstoppable web pioneer, Chris Collins, a passionate educator and community builder, and Grace McDunnough, an innovative musician and explorer of new worlds.

And, last but not least, I'd also like to thank my mom. She showed me that it's ok for women to know about technology, and she brought computers and the internet into our home at a time when these things were still considered irrelevant by most people. It was thanks to her that I practically grew up with computers and that I saw the great potential of technology from an early age.

Thank you all, and keep up with the good work!

No more 16GB iPhone 3G's from Fido

If you're a Fido customer and wanted to get a iPhone 3G 16GB from said carrier, you'll have to do it quickly, as Fido will be dropping the device from its lineup. It is currently available for $299 on a 3-year contract.Note that the 8GB version will still be available.

Verizon Nokia 7205 Released

Verizon Wireless today introduced the availability of the Nokia 7205 Intrigue. The Nokia 7205 Intrigue will turn heads with its black exterior, hidden-until-lit external display, internal color keypad and support for exciting multimedia and music features.The Nokia 7205 Intrigue’s unique external display blends into its smooth black exterior; then when an incoming call or text is received, the

Alltel Wireless Launches the LG Banter

Alltel Wireless today launched the LG Banter, connecting with friends, co-workers and family is easier than ever. Featuring a full sliding QWERTY keyboard for fast and easy texting and a chat-style messaging interface, the LG Banter is a stylish slider that is the perfect handset for anyone on the go.To ensure customers never miss an important message, the LG Banter is preloaded with Alltel

YouTube goes native for S60 3rd Edition

YouTube has released a native application for Symbian S60 platform. It features a simple interface that lets you easily browse and search videos. The videos are displayed in full-screen, and the image quality is said to be good as it looks to have been optimised for QVGA screen resolution. The app is compatible with most S60 3rd Edition phones(5800 XpressMusic is not fully supported,

HTC Dream Available In Italy For €429

That first Android device, the HTC Dream has arrived in Italy. The phone can be bought in 2,600 outlets in Telecom Italia’s commercial network, with different service packages. There are 2 mighty good options for picking up the device in Italy. TIM will let you get one for FREE, or, they will let you run a prepaid option for €429 (just over $580 USD)The phone features access to some of Google’s

New Samsung C3310 Slider Spotted

Samsung is out with another of its entry-level phone called the C3310. Samsung C3310 comes with a sliding form factor and should come to the market as a rather simple phone. The phone will be introduced in China (via China Mobile), as well as across Europe, for an affordable price: around 110 Euros ($150). Samsung C3310 will be available in three color black, silver and blue.Samsung C3310 offer

Images of the Upcoming Samsung Trance

Samsung has announced that it plans to launch another music phone, Samsung SCH-U490 on Verizon. The Samsung U490 cell phone is a slider with a hidden numeric keypad and a touch control pad. The first pictures of the Samsung Trance show that it has a left soft key that allows users to move through menus and applications by selecting the choice shown on the lower left area of the display. The

At Least 3 Android Smartphones from HTC this year

Together with the newly announced HTC Magic and the leaked Android Hero, you will see at least one more Android phone coming from HTC this year according to HTC CEO Peter Chou. The HTC Magic is announced last month and will be offered by Vodafone first in Europe. It should also be released on T-Mobile as T-Mobile G2 later this year.

Scosche Goes Green with solCHAT Car SpeakerPhone

Scosche has introduced its latest Bluetooth speaker phone, the solCHAT. The solCHAT is powered by an integrated solar panel and lithium ion rechargeable battery combination. Utilizing voice announce technology, the solCHAT announces calls as they come in so users can keep their eyes on the road while driving.Designed for simplify uses, the speakerphone has only three visible buttons— volume up,

Interested in Moodle? Find a MoodleMoot to attend!

Moodle is a great open source and freely available online learning management system, but what really makes it special is the large community of teachers and administrators that are using it in many different and innovative ways. And that is why Moodle conferences called MoodleMoots (gatherings of wise Moodle users) are always great events to attend for anyone already using Moodle or trying to learn more about it. They are a great opportunity for people to share best practices and to find new connections and even friendships.

And it is with great pleasure that I'm now helping organize the 3rd International Slovenian MoodleMoot, which will take place on May 22nd in the lovely and sunny coastal city of Koper, Slovenia (my birth place!). I would like to invite you all to attend our Moot and present your experience with Moodle; and if you can't make the trip to Koper, you can even present remotely via Skype. If you'd like to learn more about our MoodleMoot, see the official Call for International Presentations.

In case the timing of our conference isn't right for you, I'd also like to encourage you to take a look at the list of other MoodleMoots that are being organized all over the world. So far I was only able to attend the Austrian Moot once, but I sure hope I get the chance to visit others as well! Moodlers are usually a really great crowd, and I'm already looking forward to seeing some great practical uses of Moodle and related tools at our Moot. I hope to see you there too! :)


P.S.: Speaking of great conferences... don't miss The Virtual World Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference this weekend (March 27-29) - it's a free conference taking place in the virtual world of Second Life.

Hackers are ready to hacking firmware iPhone 3.0

More recently, Apple announced the release of a new platform for iPhone OS 3.0. Developers are able to download the beta version of firmware, while the owners of iPhone and iPod Touch will be able to upgrade only in the summer. Among the main innovations is to provide support functions, copy and paste, MMS, and stereo Bluetooth.Hackers also probably have all read the beta version of iPhone OS 3.0

AT&T Going To Release Nokia E71X

Some 8 months after the launch of the Nokia E71, the AT&T-branded E71x (which made its unauthorized internet debut four months ago) is finally set to hit the shelves next Tuesday.According to BGR, AT&T locations from coast to coast began receiving boxes full of’em sometime in the past few days. Whispers from the inside are pinning the handset at $199 bucks after rebate, which seems a bit steep

Cool758 Razor Phone

Samsung Blue Earth Reviews

The Samsung Blue Earth is an innovative touchscreen device from Samsung with a number of "environmentally friendly" features that are worth a closer look.Something that we haven't seen before is a phone with a solar panel - and the Samsung Blue Earth has a relatively large panel on the back. Yes, we know you can get solar chargers for mobiles and a few manufacturers have announced concept designs

Lenovo Concept phone which has Transparent Screen

Lenovo released some new pictures of their concept phone. this Phone's upper part is Transparent because it has transparent screen. They says they still developing this Technology.

Videos of Samsung M7600 DJ Beat

Samsung M7600 DJ Beat phone for music

Samsung M7600 is a unusual phone and it has unusual design. as it's name this is a DJ music phone for music lovers. even it looks like a simple phone it has many features. the touchscreen is special, it's a 2.8 inch and it's a OLED touchscreen.
unlike Samsung classical firmware, they have used a special firmware for this phone. it is fully animated and has very attractive interface. also the media player interface is very colorful and it has colour bar display when playing musics. the main menu is almost copy of apple iphone but it has perfect quality.
Samsung M7600 is a 3G phone and supports 7.2Mbps HSDPA connectivity. also it has Accelerometer sensor and phone reacts when you rotate it. it has 50MB internal memory and supports up to 16GB external memory cards.
They named this phone as beat DJ because it has special application named Beat DJ. actually it is a mobile phone DJ machine which only comes with this phone. you can enjoy new DJ experience with it's touchscreen. also the media player supports DivX/XviD/WMV/MP4 file types and it has 3.55mm audio jack.
Samsung M7600 DJ Beat has 3.0Mp digital camera. Geo-tagging and face and smile detection features comes with camera application. as other features M7600 has GPS receiver with A-GPS support. you can open Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files with Document Viewer application in this phone.

Sony Ericsson T700 Rouge Now from O2 UK

O2 has decided to release to it’s customers a new colour for the popular Sony Ericsson T700 - the T700 Rouge. It comes in a stylish new red and gold look. A change of color and continent has made this T610 successor worthy of choice for a place on O2’s cell phone lineup. The compact and slick looking T700 is a multimedia phone appropriate to the person on the go. Its impressive feature list

Apple Accept Buy HD Movie On Itunes

Apple on Thursday expanded the movie offerings on the iTunes Store to include HD downloads. Usually, HD movies were available only for rental before. iTunes and iPod users can now enjoy the fruits of HD movies as offered by Apple’s iTune store. HD movies on iTunes will cost US$19.99 to buy and Apple’s also promising movie rentals for $4.99 within 30 days after new releases. Apple launched an HD

Three Samsung BOGO Now Available from AT&T

ATT has announced a limited-time buy-one-get-one-free offer after mail-in rebate for two of its newly released quick messaging mobile phones. It is an outrageous promotion as includes the brand new Samsung Impression (A877). Starting with next month, the carrier will start a BOGO promotion on April 7th and you will be able to select one of three new Samsung phones. This deal includes the new

How to use your iPhone on an Airplane

The prospect of using your iPhone on an airplane is difficult because of its dual nature as a phone and personal computing device. You may find it difficult to get your settings right so you don’t disturb the passengers or crew. Here are a few things to try out when flying on a plane.The first, and most obvious, thing to do is to switch it to Airplane Mode. This is the perfect way to begin going

Nokia 5630 XpressMusic another cool XpressMusic phone

Nokia 5630 XpressMusic is another newest phone in XpressMusic region. this phone will going to be launched in middle of year 2009. Nokia 5630 comes with Nokia updated firmware. 5630 is a 3G phone and supports 10.2Mbps HSDPA connectivity.
since this is a music phone, it has 3.55mm audio jack. also the dedicated music keys allows you to easily handle musics. Nokia 5630 XpressMusic has 150Mb internal memory and it comes with 4GB memory card. also it supports up to 16Gb memory cards.
5610 is a good 3G phone because it also supports HSUPA networks. you can get up to 2Mbps internet connectivity via HSUPA. also it has Wi-fi and bluetooth features.
The main camera is 3.15Mp and it has LED flash. the maximum picture resolution is 2048x1536 pixels.

The Difference between iphone and a Stone

Motorola Rokr EM35 with Linux OS

Motorola has their own operating systems for their mobile phones but sometimes they use other operating systems like windows mobile and Symbian OS. but after introducing Google Android OS, Linux based mobile phones are being popular. Motorola Rokr EM35 is one of the newest Motorola phone which has MontaVista Linux OS.
Motorola Rokr EM35 is music phone which has many music features for music lovers. it has 3.55mm audio jack and 110mb internal memory. also it supports up to 32GB micro SD memory cards. the design of this phone is very attractive. it mixed with red and black colours and music keys made with very attractive way.
Motorola Rokr EM35 has 3.1Mp digital camera with Geo tagging feature. also it has very good video recorder which has many features. this phone supports many formats to record a video. you can select one before starting to record a video. video formats ave H.263, H.264, MPEG4, RV v9, WMV v10, WMV and v9.
in addition it has embedded MSN and Yahoo messenger applications. also it supports Java MIDP 2.1 applications.

Nokia 3606 On Cricket

Cricket Communications, Inc. today announced that the Nokia 3606 is now available to customers. The Nokia 3606 is an ultra-thin and stylish flip phone optimized with popular features; including an MP3 music player with dedicated “hidden-until-lit” external music keys to provide instant access to your favorite songs and a 1.3 megapixel camera with an LED flash.Supported by Nokia’s renowned user

Samsung Movie Store

Samsung Mobile today launched Samsung Movies, a dedicated movie store for Samsung mobile phone users. Powered by Acetrax, the new store will allow customers to download and watch their favourite movies and TV shows whenever they like on compatible Samsung phones, laptops or PCs. Over 500 blockbusters such as The Dark Knight, RocknRolla and Ironman and hit TV series, including Gossip Girl, E.R.

Photo Uploader Software for T-Mobile Released Buy Photobucket

Photobucket has announced the availability of a mobile photo service for T-Mobile that enables users to send photos directly from mobile handsets to several destinations: a Photobucket album, a PC hard drive, or an email address.To utilize the application, T-Mobile subscribers can download the application for a free 21-day trial to select handsets, including Blackberry Curve, Blackberry Pearl and

Virgin Mobile Launches the Kyocera X-tc

Virgin Mobile USA has launched the X-tc from Kyocera Wireless, which comes equipped with a sleek, slide-out QWERTY keypad that's perfect for text fiends and fans. The X-tc keeps you connected with full messaging capabilities including IM and email support. The device will retail for $99.99 without an annual contract and will be rolling out to retail stores in April. The X-tc is scheduled to go on

Review: V-MODA Vibe DUO Headphones BASS Powerhouse!

[Update: 7/22/2009 Just got an email from V-Moda saying they are shipping out a replacement order for my defective headphones. V-Moda is a standup company and I would vouch for their

[Update: 7/7/2009 My Vibe Duo headphone started to having problems with the left ear bud cutting in and out; the behavior is strange because it would do it randomly, w/o any tugging or pulling or the cords. Feels like some sort of short; I'm going to see how V-MODA is going to handle my request seeing that my unit is a review, never-the-less, only lasted 4 months of light usage]

Few weeks ago, I did a review on V-MODA’s latest creation, the Vibe II stereo headphone with mic and I liked it a lot. But in the back of my mind, I’ve always wondered how it differs from the Vibe Duo (the original headphones that made V-MODA popular). Well, wonder no more, I have gotten a hold of a pair of Vibe Duo for a follow-up review.

BASS Powerhouse! V-MODA Vibe Duo

I’ll start the review by saying that the V-MODA Vibe Duo is an incredible set of headphones especially if you enjoy low frequencies. It has the best BASS response than any other headphones I have tested. Its full and rich with sounds as if you are having a dance club in your head. I love it! Other frequencies are decent but I believe the engineers at V-MODA tuned this headset to amplify it's BASS range (versus the newer Vibe II which has a sharp sound across the entire frequency band at the cost of weaker BASS response). Therefore, depending on your musical preference, you should choose between the Vibe Duo (for R&B, Rap, Dance) or Vibe II (Classical, Rock, Jazz, etc.).

Design - The Vibe Duo design is very elegant. I always liked its anodized-aluminum finish (in three colors: red, black and silver). The cords are enclosed in a nylon-cloth material which is soft and sturdy (and stain proof). V-MODA is always good about its in-ear design. It rests in your ear canals comfortably since they offer 2 sets of three bud sizes to swap out. Having that second set of ear buds is a very good touch incase you lose one of the sizes which has happened to me in the past on a Sony headset.

The built-in mic is great (and a must!) because as I mentioned in my prior reviews, its is very difficult to find premium headphones with mic integration. I find the conversations clear as any other high quality headset and the inline control (answer/end call) is very handy for when your iPhone is in your pocket.

Vibe Duo vs. Vibe II (the newer contender)
This review is actually taking place in reverse since I’ve reviewed the newer V-MODA Vibe II only recently. What was interesting for me is to be able to easily spot the areas where the new Vibe II has improved over the already-very-good Vibe Duo. Here is what I have noticed:

* Overall, the Vibe II feels more refined and ruggedized headphones compared to the Vibe Duo
* Cords on the Vibe II is thicker and uses Teflon as material
* More steel can be found on the Vibe II for a heavier-duty feel (around the ear buds, inline control) compared to the plastic parts used on the Vibe Duo
* Note! The first three points are purely speculations, I am not sure if one is actually more sturdy than the other, both are very well engineered in my book
* Vibe Duo is better suited for BASS, lots of it… I smile like a teenager with a fancy car stereo system when listening
* Vibe II has been tuned to project a very sharp and clear sound over it’s entire frequency range (less intense BASS)

Conclusion: I really like the Vibe Duo, even more than Vibe II

The Vibe Duo is an amazing set of stereo headphones with microphone. The design alone is enough to tell you the story. While the newer Vibe II(MSRP $119) is a bit more refined and ruggedized, the Vibe Duo still holds its own in terms of sturdiness and performance and can be picked up with a bit of discount $80 on Amazon.com. If you like your Music with a strong flare in the low frequency range, look no further, the Vibe Duo is hands down the best for your iPhone. Which is why I really like this set.

If you are just looking for a set of V-MODA headphone w/o mic (for MP3 players or iPods), you can pick up the V-MODA Vibe for about $50 on Amazon.com or wait for the up and coming V-MODA AVC line featuring the VoiceOver support on new iPod Shuffle.

Special thanks to Kat K. at formulaPR for arranging the review units.