Fun Facts about New Nokia’s

Well, it’s quite a ways off the November 2009 launch date the company initially promised, but Dual Electronics is now saying that its XGPS300 navigation cradle for the iPod touch will really, honestly be available sometime in “late February.” The price presumably remains at the same $179.99 as before, which also includes a bundled NavAtlas navigation app and, of course, an adjustable windshield mount. Not exactly the easiest sell, to be sure, especially considering how much the GPS market has changed in just those few short months.

Apple.

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

Hot on the heels of the release of Truphone’s VoIP enabled Truphone for Android application earlier this month, Truphone announces that its VoIP software for Android is compatible with the Nexus One. In addition to compatibility with the Nexus One, the update (version 3.0.2), ensures compatibility with the T-Mobile Pulse, meaning that Truphone is now Wi-Fi compatible with a total of five Android devices.

Karl Good, Director of Applications for Truphone said: “Google has been very helpful in working with the Truphone team to allow us to provide our awardwinning
solution to the growing number of Nexus One owners. Once again it is a testament to Truphone that we are the first to be able to offer this technology to consumers.”

Truphone for Android (version 3.0.2), is available now as a free download in the Android Market.

All credits and information was found on slashphone.com

This generation of Android phones is faster, more powerful and generally awesome-er than anything before. But for whatever reason, they don’t have one thing other smartphones take for granted: multitouch. Here’s how to fix that, and so much more.

Google’s Nexus one and Verizon’s Motorola Droid are, in a sense, miles ahead their competitors in terms of hardware specs, but moreso because they’ve got much newer versions of Android’s software, with 2.1 and 2.0, respectively. In the midst of a slew of new software features and despite base-level hardware and software support, Google, who has always been cagey about the multitouch issue, continues to leave it out of their core apps.

This is especially weird in the cases of the Droid and Nexus One, which don’t just support multitouch on a hardware level, but fully support it on an OS level, too. It’s really just the apps, like the browser, the photo gallery and the maps app, which exclude support for multitouch gestures such as pinch-zooming. Why can’t all Android users have use the same gestures that iPhone, Pre and HTC Hero owners can, if their phones can already accept multi-finger input? Only Google knows. But there’s something you can do about it. Actually, there are two things:

Rooting

Rooting is most intensive method, and can actually do a lot more than add multitouch to your phone. What this does, basically, is give you deep, system-level access to all your phone’s software and parameters, which lets you run unsanctioned tethering apps to writing apps to your SD card (by default, Android phones restrict you to the device’s limited, onboard memory), modify the device’s stock apps, and most importantly, swap your phone’s software out completely, with what’s called a new ROM. To get native multitouch apps on your phone, you can opt for an entire flash ROM, or just a more narrow set of hacks. But you will need to root your device.

So here’s how to get multitouch on your new Android phone, natively:

• Google Nexus One

• Verizon Motorola Droid

Now, if the above instructions seem like overkill for a relatively minor feature, don’t have any need for the other goodies that rooting promises, or aren’t satisfied with the current state of Nexus One and Droid homebrew, you have another, easier option:

Downloadable Apps

As I mentioned before, the Droid and Nexus One’s shared dirty secret is that they support multitouch out of the box, but don’t support include the gestures necessary to get any use out of it. This means that unless you’re willing to hack your phones, as seen above, you’re not going to be able to get multitouch in your native browser, or for that matter any of your native apps. The easy solution? Download Dolphin, a browser that include multitouch gestures (and a lot more cool stuff, like swipe gestures, RSS feed subscriptions and a built-in Twitter client.

For photos, try Multi-Touch for Gallery, which is a full photo gallery replacement, or PicSay, which is a combination gallery/photo editor. All you’ve got to do is search for these apps in the Android Market, install them, and designate them as your default web and photo browsers.

There are other mulitouch apps in the App Market, from games to utilities to simple tech demos. Drop your favorites in the comments, and I’ll add them to the post.

That’s pretty much it! If you have any tips to tricks for getting the most out your phone’s hardware, please drop some links in the comments-your feedback is hugely important to our Saturday How To guides. And if you have any topics you’d like to see covered here, please let me know. Happy pinch-zooming, folks!

All credits and information was found on gizmodo.com

Verizon Wireless made official the leaked prices on the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus that emerged this weekend. Big Red is going to match Sprint dollar for dollar on the price of  each webOS handset with the Pre Plus coming in at a cool $149.99 and the Palm Pixi Plus at a mere $99.99. Both quoted prices are after a $100 mail-in rebate and require a new two-year customer agreement. The Pre Plus also includes the new Wi-Fi hotspot software that is exclusive to Verizon Wireless. Usage of the Pre Plus as a 5-device Wi-Fi hotspot will come with a high price tag, though, as Verizon is going to tack an additional $40 charge for 5GB of data with this 3G-based Wi-Fi connectivity. The $40 charge is levied on top of your calling and data plan so a Wi-Fi mobile hotspot-activated Pre Plus on a 450 minutes Talk and Text plan would cost you a whopping $129.99 per month ($59.99 for calling plan, $29.99 for Email and Web data plan and $40 for the Wi-Fi feature). Those that are ready to jump on the webOS bandwagon Verizon style can score a Pre Plus or Pixi Plus starting January 25th.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Some interesting tidbits came out of Motorola’s DEXT launch in Singapore today — CNET Asia had a chance to sit down with Moto’s Asia Pacific VP Spiro Nikolakopoulos, who said that the company would launch between 20 to 30 Android phones globally in 2010. Spiro also said that not every phone would make it to every market, so we’re guessing the true number will be more like 10 if you count regional variants like the Motorola CLIQ and the DEXT as one model. Just by our count, Moto’s already pretty close: off the tops of our heads we’ve heard of the Shadow, the Devour, the Backflip, the Ruth, and several others destined for China — rather impressive for a company that was on the brink of collapse just a short while ago. No wonder it’s reconsidering that spinoff, eh?

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

With little over a week before launch, the pricing for the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus has apparently been leaked. According to an anonymous tipster, Verizon Wireless will be matching the prices of the Sprint Palm Pre and Pixi by offering the improved Palm Pre Plus for $149 after a $100 mail in rebate and two year service agreement with the Pixi Plus coming in at a mere $99 after an undisclosed rebate amount and a two year agreement. Making the deal even sweeter, the tipster claims that the Pixi may launch as part of Verizon Wireless’ popular BOGO promotions. Not bad, Palm. Not bad.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Despite the incredible realism of the drawing above to the left, we’re probably not looking at iPhone OS 4.0 right here. Instead we’ve got Apple doing what Apple does: applying for a patent for some pretty vague functionality that may or may not end up in a device someday. No harm in that game, but it looks like Google’s already done the “put a contact on the home screen with their picture” thing before Apple got a chance, as demonstrated on the right. There are other little tidbits to Apple’s approach, however. Apple is naturally showing that little numeric badge we know so well, to show what sort of new activity the contact has (hopefully that pulls calls, SMS and email into one pretty little package, like we’ve seen on other modern operating systems), but Apple also mentions that “an icon associated with an entity can be temporarily displayed on the mobile device based on the proximity of the mobile device to the entity.” So, Stalking 2.0. We like it, and hope to see it in some future iPhone software, but between the crazy broad claims in the rest of the patent and Android’s prior art, we’d say Apple’s chances of getting this 2008 submission approved are pretty slim.

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

LG today unveiled a raft of ambitious plans for its mobile business, including a goal of selling 140 million units in 2010. Plans also include details of a concerted drive into the global smartphone market in an effort to become one of the top two mobile device manufacturers in the world by 2012.

This year, LG plans to unveil about 20 smartphones based on operating systems including Android, Windows Mobile and Linux. Hopes are especially high for Android phones, which, with their user-friendly and open-access OS, are expected to make up more than half of all LG’s new smartphone releases. In the first half of 2010, LG will focus on producing easy-to-use smartphones aimed squarely at first-time owners before moving into premium handsets with cutting-edge designs later in the year. Through these efforts the company is confident it can introduce its first 10-million-unit smartphone sometime this year.

This eagerness to adapt to consumers’ needs is a theme running through LG’s entire push into the smartphone market. With its 3 Screen Service, set for release this year, users will be able to view identical content on their handsets, PCs and TVs without converting to different formats. LG will unveil its new device supporting 3-Way Sync technology in February, which will allow seamless viewing of all mobile, PC and web content over a wireless network.

“We are facing another revolutionary change in the mobile industry thanks to the rapid growth of smartphones and demand for more content and better services,” said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “We will continue to make breakthroughs in 2010 as we strive to maintain our trendsetter status and become one of the global top two by 2012.”

All credits and information was found on slashphone.com

Some thought Sprint was teaming up with LG to launch a killer WiMAX smartphone at CES but the big press event came and went with nary a mention of an LG-branded WiMAX handset on the horizon. A leaked inventory list from Sprint reveals that we all might have been barking up the wrong tree. First on the inventory list is not an LG phone but the HTC A9292, an Android-powered WiMAX handset with a candy bar form factor. HTC already has one WiMAX phone in its portfolio, perhaps the A9292 will become the second. Our unknown friend, the LG LS680 makes its second appearance on a Sprint inventory list. The LS680 will be an Android handset which the tipster claims is similar to the GW620 Eve. Also making a second appearance is the Palm C40, an unknown device that was originally spotted in Sprint’s inventory last August. The tipster leaked additional information about some new handsets that do not appear on the inventory list above, too, so hit PhoneArena for the details.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Not exactly the most surprising news, but in short, the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus got official moments ago, with Verizon Wireless signing on to carry both devices (at a rumored 200,000 initial units each) starting January 25th. Pricing was not announced. In addition to the two refreshed devices, which add more memory, a refined and refreshed look as well as Wi-Fi on the Pixi, Palm also announced some SDK improvements. First off, there’s a new PDK (plug-in development kit) that will allow game developers to start making great 3D games, and starting today, you’ll see games start appearing in the App Catalog from publishers like EA Mobile.

Switching gears, Palm also said that Flash support via a plugin would be appearing shortly in the App Catalog and there are more goodies like video recording (with Apple-stolen) video editing capabilities, and additional sharing functionality. Thoughts?

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com