Telecommunications
The all-conquering iPhone is a pretty impressive gadget out of the box - but it's the fantastic App Store that really keeps the honeymoon going, giving users access to literally thousands of downloadable third-party applications. From the sublime to the ridiculous, they're only a few taps away - and a large number of them are free. Useful? Sometimes. Perfect? Rarely. Addictive? Hell yes, show me an iPhone user that hasn't thumbed through the app store late at night and I'll show you somebody who should have bought a Nokia. Here's a few of our favorite freebies - and a couple of things we want to know why we can't have! Read More
The latest metrics data from advertising firm AdMob provides an interesting snapshot of the continuing rise of smartphone usage in the global marketplace. Smartphones now account for more than a quarter (25.8%) of worldwide traffic according to the company's August figures with the Nokia N70 leading the pack with an 11.7% share. In the US, the BlackBerry 8100 is the weapon of choice garnering 14.7% of traffic but the big mover - somewhat unsurprisingly, is Apple's iPhone, which the report found to be the fastest growing device in the world last month putting it into fourth spot in the US where its traffic doubled (7.8%) and ninth globally ( 3.8%). Read More
DonateBandwidth, a project in the alpha phase of testing, will allow users to download data for each other in a fashion similar to BitTorrent. The project aims to establish a communal cache in order to streamline Internet browsing in countries where ISPs are not yet up to the task. Read More
BlueAnt Wireless has launched the V1 Headset, a totally hands-free unit billed as the "world’s first fully voice controlled Bluetooth 2.1 headset". The new headset allows users to dial and control other call functions on their phone without even looking at it. Read More
The Hand-held Portable Universal Cell Phones Jammer allows users to block a range of mobile phone frequencies to provide a 32 foot (9 meter) radius cone of silence... but before whipping out that credit card be warned that these devices are illegal in many parts of the world, including the US. Read More
Here's a handy iPhone application that's set to launch tomorrow when the iPhone 3G drops around the world: G-park is a very simple program. When you park your car, you hit "park me" and it drops a GPS flag on your current location. When you can't remember where you parked, you just hit "where did I park?" and Google maps gives you turn-by-turn directions back to your car. Read More
Sharp has released a new clamshell mobile phone in Japan that boasts a swiveling 3.3-inch, 480 x 845 resolution AQUOS LCD display. The Sharp 923SH can be used as a traditional clamshell handset when making calls, then transformed into a mobile widescreen TV by turning the screen on its side and taking advantage of the in-built 1Seg, (Japan’s mobile terrestrial digital broadcasting service), tuner. The phone’s battery is good for around 4 hours and 45 minutes of continuous digital TV viewing or approximately 240 minutes of continuous talk time. Read More
July 8, 2008 The folks at Boy Genius Report have got their hands on a new Motorola smartphone codenamed the “Napolean”. It’s a CDMA EV-DO Rev. A Q9 with full GSM world roaming capabilities, including the U.S. 850MHz/1900MHz bands. Features of the phone revealed so far include a fingerprint scanner, Windows Mobile 6.1, quad-band EDGE, 2 megapixel camera with flash, stereo speakers, 320×240 resolution screen, Wi-Fi, and a 1500mAh battery. BGR report the full QWERTY keyboard isn’t as good as the first Q9 or Q9m, and the d-pad is a little on the stiff side and difficult to use but the sound was good, and the screen seems to be the same as the original Q9s. The leaked phone is Verizon branded and will launch on Verizon, but BGR confirmed the phone also worked fine with an AT&T SIM. Read More
