Showing posts with label Nokia maps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nokia maps. Show all posts

Tuesday, 13 November 2012

13/11/2012: Nexus 4 and 10 sell out in minutes! HTC Droid DNA for Verizon, Sinofsky quits Microsoft, Nokia launches their mapping brand 'Here' and much more!

Nexus 4 and 10 hit shelves today and they sell out in minutes!


   Google's Nexus 4 and 10 went on sale today and across the world they sold out within minutes. Unfortunately, it seems that only a lucky few were able to order their devices, amid the numerous issues and errors Google's Play stores threw up under the pressure across the world. If you missed out today then we expect Google will have some more stock in soon; the the devices are now marked as 'Coming soon' in the UK, the USA and Australia.

   IntoMobile said that the devices sold out within 50 minutes in the UK and within 24 in the USA! People have taken to Twitter to say it was even faster than that in Australia!

 At the moment it's hard to know quite how well the device has sold; we're not sure if Google had limited stock or whether there was just huge demand. Hopefully Google will be able to get some more stock in soon and shed some light on issues we had today! Did you manage to get one or did you have errors when you tried to order? Let us know and we'll update the post with your experiences!

Sources embedded in the post.

HTC and Verizon announce the Droid DNA! The 5" Full HD monster.




   HTC and Verison have today announced the Droid DNA and this is certainly a powerhouse! Before we get into specs you should know that this is not a 'phablet' according to HTC and it will set you back $200 on a two-year contract!

   Now for the important stuff, there's: 

  • 5" 1080p S-LCD3 display (1920x1080, 440DPI)
  • 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor
  • 2GB RAM 
  • 16GB internal storage, no micro-SD slot.
  • Android 4.1 with Sense 4+
  • 8MP rear camera / 2.1MP ultra-wide angle front facing camera
  • 2020mAh battery (yikes)
  • Wireless charging

   There's two things which make us slightly worried about the phone and they're the small 2020mAh battery, but hopefully HTC can make it last and the lack of expandable storage, especially given there's no SD slot! If you're interested in picking one of these up then you can get one from November 21st! You can find more information about it on Verizon's website here.




Steven Sinofsky quits Microsoft!




   Steven Sinofsky, the President of Windows and one of the key orchestrators of Microsoft's new Windows 8 has announced his resignation from the company. At the moment we are unsure of the reasons for his departure and where he intends to work next.

   Although, it was seem as though Sinofsky departed on good terms though with Ballmer saying that:

   “I am grateful for the many years of work that Steven has contributed to the company... The products and services we have delivered to the market in the past few months mark the launch of a new era at Microsoft. We’ve built an incredible foundation with new releases of Microsoft Office, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Microsoft Surface, Windows Server 2012 and ‘Halo 4,’ and great integration of services such as Bing, Skype and Xbox across all our products.


   Sinofsky was also very complementary saying: "It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at Microsoft. I am humbled by the professionalism and generosity of everyone I have had the good fortune to work with at this awesome company." 




Nokia launches 'Here', the company's new mapping brand set to debut on Firefox OS next year!


   Nokia has launched their new mapping solution called 'Here'. The 'Here' brand will essentially be an umbrella name for all of Nokia's mapping and location solutions. Stephen Elop has said that with this announcement Nokia wants to offer "everyone with any type of device the ability to use this, the best location platform in the industry." He also believes that availability across platforms and the general "openness is what sets Here apart" from all the other mapping services.

   The company even took to Twitter to show emphasise how committed they are to offering great location solutions:



   It seems the first people to benefit from this will be those of you who pick up a device running Mozilla's upcoming Firefox OS. This is a deal which Nokia considers 'a strategic partnership with Mozilla to bring new location experiences to the Firefox OS. Nokia plans to debut a mobile Web version of HERE Maps for the new Firefox OS next year. The companies are working together to give people the best mapping experience on Firefox OS.' This would seem like a logical partnership given the HTML 5 standard Mozilla is using on their web-based platform and will give a solid alternative to Google Maps.

   Nokia also demonstrated an Android OS-based reference application and there are currently plans for the availability of a HERE SDK for Android to arrive in early 2013. Nokia said this 'is aimed at enabling partners to create location-based applications for Android devices with Nokia's leading content.'

   At the moment we're not entirely sure what this will mean for the naming of Nokia Maps, Pulse and Transit and personally we don't know if those names should be changed now that they are starting to develop a good reputation. If we hear more on naming schemes and how this will all tie in we'll let you know. In the mean time you can have a look at the online maps 'here'!



In other news:

  • Google has released Android 4.2 to the AOSP today. The only issue is that the Nexus 7 3G isn't yet supported by AOSP because of licensing issues, the Nexus 4 isn't yet functional with the release and there's no Android 4.2 support for the Nexus S or Motorola Xoom yet. But, on the plus side if you're a lucky owner of the "takju" variant Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 7 or Nexus 10 then you can find the factory images here.
    Via Android Central.
  • Samsung is reportedly considering updates to Android 4.2 for it's Galaxy range of handsets. ZDNet got a statement from Samsung which read, "We will announce rollout plans for Android 4.2 to our Galaxy portfolio of devices in due course." That seems as good as a confirmation to us!
  • Talking of Android updates HTC has released a Q&A website about Android 4.1 Jelly Bean updates. The main things on there are the issues with updating phones with 512MB of RAM, that means One V and Desire C owners won't be getting an update. HTC does make a point though that they will continue to support those devices with security updates, patches and enhancements through their life cycle. We do find it slightly strange though that Samsung's Nexus S has the same amount of RAM and has no issue running the software. We'll have to take HTC's word for it!
    HTC Q&A Via Android Central.
  • AT&T is reported to have a big push to draw in Sprint's Nextel customers as they close down that service! AT&T have been promoting their push-to-talk phones which can use their LTE network, devices such as Samsung's Rugby Pro.

    The company's senior vice president, Chris Hill, said in a statement:
    “For workers in industries like construction, manufacturing and public safety, mobile devices that can withstand harsh conditions are essential... We’re offering AT&T Enhanced PTT on a variety of rugged devices to give our customers the performance and durability they need to get in touch quickly on the job — no matter what conditions they face.”
    Via AllThingsD.
And finally, Sprint have today announced a new budget phone with a great set of specs called the Sprint Flash. There's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a 4.5-inch HD display, 12MP rear and 1MP front cameras, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of storage, a rather small 1,730mAh battery, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0 amongst other things! For $129 on contract we can think of worse ways to spend your money! But, you can pick it up for $99 at Wirefly!
Source: Sprint via Phone Dog.

Sprint Flash ZTE official

Friday, 28 September 2012

28/09/2012

Tim Cook does the unthinkable! Suggests using other maps!

   
   The last few weeks since the release of iOS6 have been interesting to say the least. There's been various issues reported by iOS users especially with regard to dropping wifi signal. The other huge complaint has been about Apple's new Maps. The company chose to drop Google maps after Google refused to offer turn-by-turn navigation for Apple's products.

    The new solution has been nowhere near on par with the rest of Apple's historically excellent offerings. Today Tim Cook posted a message on Apple's website apologising to users for the poor performance of the new maps and he even suggested using alternative solutions until the team has had a chance to get them up to scratch! The full comment is just below:
"To our customers,
At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.
We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.
There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you.
While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.
Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard."
Tim Cook
Apple’s CEO

 In other news:

  • Microsoft has been complaining that there are not enough highly-skilled workers coming into the technology world. The company publicly announced that they have had a lack of suitably qualified  applicants and the situation is reaching the point of being a “genuine crisis.” Microsoft has announced they are going to lobby the US government in an attempt to boost applicant numbers in a bit to fill some of the thousands of vacant technology and engineering jobs within the company.

    The company also wants to boost the number of visas available for foreign workers with technology skills to fill its vacant positions. On top of this the company is happy to pledge millions of dollars to help get school children into the field! 
  • HP has reiterated to their investors that they are going to 'aggressively tackle' the smartphone and tablet market in the near future!
  • Sony have invested $640m in Olympus. The deal involves buying 11% of Olympus with the primary aim to acquire new 4K medical camera technology.
And finally, is this picture below the upcoming HTC One X+ for O2? It may very well be and it might be coming without a charger to save on costs too!

Friday, 21 September 2012

21/09/2012

iPhone 5 'teething problems'?


   The latest iPhone has again been greeted with huge queues in London and Tokyo today, as well as having over 2 million people pre-order and have the device shipped to their homes today, but is all as rosey as it seems? Now the title might be slightly misleading here, but those of you who have got an iPhone 5 and or iOS6 on your device will have noticed a couple of issues.

   The first of which will impact anyone with a device that will be running iOS6! You may have noticed that since the update you've lost Google Maps and it's been replace with Apple's own solution, aptly named, iOS Maps. Now, we know this is a new solution, but some of the things we've been hearing throughout the day have been nothing short of ridiculous. Lets start with Stratford-Upon-Avon, the town where Shakespeare was born, well that's not even in the maps at the moment. 

   To the right you can see for yourself how Apple's Maps see Colchester, in Essex. 

   But, there's an almost endless list of bloopers; for example Luton is apparently soon to become a popular tourist destination, having been relocated to the coast!

   Someone on the London Underground is obviously a tech fan and put this little announcement up at Hackney Wick station. (Right).

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 Apple, in recent times have also been huge proponents of uniqueness and creating your own designs. But, it seems they are dismissing their own advise today after iOS6 featured one of the world's most famous clock faces, which appears to have been lifted almost straight from Switzerland. The clock itself is so important because it was originally designed by Hans Hilfiker and is described as an icon for the Swiss railway and Switzerland. The clock design is trademarked and copyrighted so Apple may well find themselves in some hot water for this slightly hippocritical blunder. The two designs are just below, in a nice side by side comparison and to quote Apple it does seem like this is a 'slavish copy' of the frequently licensed design?

 The final issue only affects the iPhone 5 and it's not so much of an issue as a feature. Basically your new 8mp camera can only take 4mp stills in low-light conditions. The reason for this is because Apple has boosted low light performance, they've had to implement 'quad-pixel oversampling' to make the pictures clearer and just better. So it's a fair trade and many of you will be a lot happier with the new pictures than the old ones.





ZTE announce the Blade III!

image

   Today ZTE have released details of another successor in their budget line of Blade smartphones. This time around everything gets slightly updated, but there's nothing mind blowing! We'll have to wait and see what price this phone comes in at before we jump to any conclusions though!

   The full specs include:
   
  • 4 inch WVGA (800×480) 262K TFT Capacitive Touch Screen
  • Weight: 130 gram
  • Size: 123 mm x 63.5 mm x 10mm
  • 1GHz Qualcomm MSM 7227 A processor
  • Android 4.0
  • Memory: ROM 4 GB, ca 2.5GB accessible to the user, RAM 512 MB
  • Supports Micro SD memory card up to 32 GB
  • 5.0 MP AF camera
  • HD-ljud, Dual Mic
  • Mobile standards: HSDPA (7.2Mbps) /UMTS/ GSM/GPRS/EDGE
  • Audio standards: MP3, AAC, AAC+, midi, wav, AMR-NB
  • Dolby, DLNA
  • Video standards: MPEG4, H.263, H.264
  • Wireless communications standards: Bluetooth™ 2.1, A2DP, GPS, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Battery capacity: Li-ion1600 mAh
  • FOTA (Firmware Over-the-Air) – funktion som används för att pÃ¥ ett smidigt sätt uppgradera smartphones
  • FM radio

In other news:

  • Jelly Bean has arrived for Verizon's version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus!!!
  • Both Samsung and HTC have confirmed that their flagships, the Galaxy S3 and the One X respectively, will be getting Jelly Bean updates in October!
  • Nokia, has been rather scathing of Apple's new Maps today. It's not surprising given that Nokia has a very capable mapping platform which they've built up themselves!
  • The US Senate today accused Microsoft of skipping out about $6.5billion worth of taxes. We'll let you know how this story progresses!

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