IntoMobile - Cell Phone News, Information, and Analysis

HTC Incredible in the wild…. Again.

Blake Stimac — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:09:09 +0000

Are you sick of hearing about this thing yet? The HTC Incredible is still getting some more pre-release photo shoot love, and while the increased leaks of the device are a hint that the release should soon be near, I’m ready to see the thing on sale. More photos of the device have leaked, and while the screen is blurred out, these may be the best to date. Along with the pictures, some specifications have been revealed.

The Incredible has gone through a color change. Instead of the ‘in-your-face’ red color we are used to seeing, its been replaced with a black, soft-touch backing. Worry not though, when the back of the device is taken off, everything behind it, including the battery, is bright red. I’m glad they went with the black back, this makes it easier to look at, for me at least.

Along with the color change, more specs were revealed as well. This baby’s got a 3.7-inch AMOLED display, which was initially assumed, but we were hoping it would be something Supersonic size. The Snapdragon processor has been underclocked to 768Mhz instead of the 1Ghz it is capable of. The underclocking of the device shouldn’t slow it down too much, it’s still a decent speed for a smartphone today, with only a handful of devices actually running at 1Ghz speeds.

Available memory to the user is 320 Mbs, with more becoming available later on with an OS update. The Incredible bests the Nexus One by offering an 8 gig micro SD card opposed to a 4 gig SD card, which is assumed to be expandable to 32 gigs. Measuring at 117.5 x 58.5 x 11.9mm, we’ve got quite a slim beast of a device on our hands. More surprisingly, the Incredible is supposed to have an 8 megapixel camera, with a dual-LED flash, and of course, auto-focus. The only other Android device that sports a camera with that megapixel count is the X10.

The Incredible’s specs are surely impressive, and with HTC’s Sense user interface running atop of it, this will definitely make the Droid Eris run for the hills. Pricing and availability are unknown at this point, but the guys over at Android Forums are saying to look for this around April or May.

[Via : AndroidForums, Engadget ]

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Huawei’s SmaKit S7 Android tablet looks promising, sort of

Blake Stimac — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:59:29 +0000

With the slew of tablets in tow for this year, one has got to fit the bill for everyone, eventually. Some people are pissing themselves in anticipation for the iPad. Those who want better hardware, and you know, Flash support ( as unimportant as it may be to some), are looking to other tablets, such as Notion Ink’s Adam or Dell’s Streak. Yet another tablet has been announced, and was displayed at CeBit this year- Huawei’s SmaKit S7, another Android tablet coming at some point this summer.

The Huawei S7 boasts a 7-inch display (800 x 400 resolution), 2 USB ports, HDMI port, 3G option, expandable memory, and 720P playback. It will ship with Android 1.6, and upgrading options have yet to be announced, but it doesn’t sound too far-fetched that it could get some Android 2.1 lovin’ in the future. Huawei put a lot of work into the software, as it shows a lot of functionality, and is quite snappy. There is a row of ‘home screen options’ along the bottom of the display, which makes for easier navigation, and it’s implemented in a way that it does not take up too much screen real estate. Well done.

The competition is heating up in the tablet space, and there aren’t even that many out at the moment yet. Increased competition only means that the consumer wins. I just bought the HP Touchsmart TM2, one of their newest convertible laptops that turns into a tablet in hopes that later on I could not justify buying a tablet when more options are available. While this serve more functionality, I think I’ll still eventually find a need (want) to buy a tablet. Now the Huawei S7 may not be the biggest competition to the iPad, but gives the customer another choice, and will hopefully will not cost an arm and a leg.

[Via: MobileWhack ]

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Tap Tap Revenge rocks out to King Of Leon with new iPhone app

Will Park — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:48:48 +0000

Nimble-fingered fans of rock band Kings Of Leon will be glad to know that the popular Tap Tap Revenge franchise is back again with another artist-themed iPhone game. Tapulous has announced that it has joined forces with the band to launch the Kings Of Leon Revenge game on the AppStore. The game sports some interesting new features, and, more importantly, brings all the hottest songs from Kings Of Leon to the finger-tapping masses.

If you’re looking to play Tap Tap Revenge across a range of different bands’ songs, KOL Tap Tap Revenge isn’t for you. This here title is reserved for fans looking for a finger-stumbling Tap Tap Revenge game that comes bundled wtih 10 of KOL’s hit songs. The $4.99 entry fee gets you tracks like “Use Somebody,” “Sex On Fire,” “Be Somebody,” and “Crawl” to listen to as you try to match the beat with your fingers. And, as a bonus, Tapulous will give you 100 free credits in Tap Tap Revenge, good for music and merchandise purchases in the Tap Tap Store.

The idea behind to game is to tap your fingers on the screen as dots (synchronized to the beat) scroll to the bottom of your iPhone’s screen. As you hit more dots on time, the “multi meter” on the upper left-hand corner of the screen will fill up, giving you more points. The “tap accuracy” meter in the upper right corner shows you whether you’re hitting the dots too early, too fast, or just on time.

There are four difficulty levels, ranging from easy to extreme difficulty. Not to toot our own horn, but we fare just fine on the “hard” difficulty setting. The “extreme” setting, on the other hand, is just evil. No matter what kind of Tap Tap Revenge skillz you think you posses, you’ll find a challenge in KOL Revenge. The game also includes an online Battle mode that allows you to showdown with a buddy over a Bluetooth connection.

Here’s the complete track list:

Use Somebody
Crawl
The Bucket
Be Somebody
On Call
McFearless
Notion
Black Tumbnail
True Love Way
Sex On Fire

There’s also a news feed, band bio, band tour dates and a chat room to keep you up to date on the latest news from your favorite rockstars.

Check out the video below to get an in-game preview:

Kings Of Leon Revenge ($4.99) [iTunes link]

[Update]
The 100 free credit program is not yet available. We’ll let you know when/if the promotion comes back to life!

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webOS to Work with Unreal Engine 3

Simon Sage — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:19:08 +0000

Palm (NSDQ: PALM) has pledged that Unreal Engine 3, the beast which powers such popular video games as Gears of War, Army of Two, Batman: Arkham Asylum, BioShock, Mass Effect, Rainbox Six: Vegas and more, will work with Palm’s recently-announced plug-in development kit. This will allow for easy ports of established games, as well as a rich toolbox for game developers to use create new mobile game properties.

Epic Games’ interest in mobile has already been established with a few tech demos of the Unreal Engine running on the iPhone 3GS, but until now, we haven’t seen a lot of love for the other mobile platforms. The only big name 3D gaming BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) has managed to attract is EA, and even then, there aren’t any additional developer tools to ease production. Android has just recently released a native development kit, which will enable 3D gaming development similar to Palm’s PDK, but given Android’s advanced progress in the device market overall, it may be hard for webOS to keep developers interested.

In any case, you can download Palm’s PDK here, and check out the Unreal Development Kit here – interoperability in between the two should be available “soon”.

[via Palm Blog]

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Facebook, Google sued over mobile social networking patents

Marin Perez — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:50:12 +0000

Another day, another lawsuit. This time, Facebook and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) are being sued for allegedly violating patents on its mobile social networking services.

Wireless Ink Corp. is suing the two online giants because it claims Facebook Mobile and Google Buzz violate patents regarding delivering content to phones. In the complaint, Wireless Ink said Facebook and Google had to have known it was infringing and it is seeking monetary compensation.

Facebook and Google haven’t publicly commented on the case but it could put a crimp in the companies’ future plans. Google has said that smartphones are going to make desktops irrelevant in three years and it is integrating mobile into the core of every product. Facebook is wildly popular on most mobile platforms and it is expected to soon enable its mobile users to share their location.

Here are some direct links to the lawsuit PDF and the patent documents (PDF as well):
Wireless Ink Corporation v. Facebook, Inc. et al
US Patent #7,599,983

[Via BusinessWeek]

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iPhone OS 4.0 to Offer Multitasking?

Simon Sage — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:38:45 +0000

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) will continue its streak of “magical” “innovation” established by cut and paste and MMS in iPhone OS 3.0 by offering multitasking capabilities in OS 4.0, according to tipsters. The feature of running more than one third-party application at a time has long been a thorn in iPhone’s side, although workarounds have been available through jailbreaking. That being said, the limitations certainly haven’t been technical, but rather about maintaining an optimal experience on battery life and stability fronts.

The specific implementation of multitasking in iPhone OS 4.0 hasn’t been made clear just yet, as it’s still all a work in progress, but it will apparently leverage an interface already bundled in the operating system – something like the browser’s cards/tabs could work nicely. Whenever multitasking actually arrives, it will plug yet another significant hole in the iPhone experience, and bring Apple up to par with some of the functionality other smartphone platforms have been enjoying for some time now. Background notifications in iPhone OS 3.0 was a half-satisfying stopgap, but true multitasking is a feature many iPhone users have been hurting for, and will be happy to see.

[via AppleInsider]

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Google’s blue dot helps you shop

Marin Perez — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:45:08 +0000

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is trying to help mobile users shop by letting searchers know if products are in stock at local stores.

If you’re shopping for a specific product from Best Buy, Sears, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, or West Elm, there will now be a blue dot telling you where this is available nearby. When you click that link, you’re given pricing and contact information for the retailer. From there, you can click-to-call or get directions via Google Maps.

“If you have an iPhone, Palm (NSDQ: PALM) webOS phone, or any Android-powered device, and you’re in the U.S., just go to Google.com in your mobile browser, tap on the “more” link, and then select ‘Shopping,’” Google wrote on its mobile blog. “Or look for the ‘Shopping results’ section in Universal Search results when you search on Google.com”

It’s a small tweak, but it could be very useful.

[Via Google Mobile blog]

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Tvider lets you tweet videos on the go

Marin Perez — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:24:40 +0000

If you’re looking for a way to share videos and audio on Twitter while you’re out and about, go ahead and give the Tvider a try.

Made by parent company Unmundo, the application lets you send videos, pictures, and audios on Twitter from a desktop or mobile phone. You can use it with nearly any phone too because there are apps available for the iPhone, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), Android, Symbian, Java, and Brew.

“A picture is worth a thousand words and video is worth a billion,” said Prashant Parekh, Umundo CEO, in a prepared statement. “If we empower people to express themselves with rich media, that is worth even more.”

I downloaded the app this morning for my Droid and feel like it’s a good tool that just need to work the kinks out. The aesthetics are really well-done with little touches like a cute little bird while tweets are loading. It’s very simple to shoot out videos or watch other people’s videos. The film quality isn’t great, but it does get the job done for quick-hit videos. I think my main problem with the app is that it should be a full-blown Twitter client. There’s a timeline feature where you can see other people’s multimedia posts, but not text-only posts. My version also seemed a little buggy because I had to force close it twice today – that could be easily worked out with updates though.

I’ll be using this app on the expo floor at the Game Developer’s Conference this afternoon, so feel free to follow along by adding me on Twitter (@marinperez).

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Foursquare preps for SXSW with redesigned iPhone app

Will Park — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:52:36 +0000

This weekend will see all manner of tech geeks converging on Austin, Texas for the annual South By Southwest (SXSW) Conference, and that can only mean on thing – socialized mobile “check-in” apps are going to be getting a lot of attention as the traditionally iPhone-heavy crowd rushes to try out new features. Foursquare, one of the most popular location-based social networking apps out there, has just launched an overhauled version of their iPhone app on the AppStore. With the new app in hand, SXSW attendees will be able to more easily boost their Foursquare street-cred.

The new Foursquare app sports a completely redesigned UI to commemorate the app’s return to SXSW, where it first debuted last year. With the redesign, Foursquare now supports a pull-down-to-refresh feature that should make it even easier to keep tabs on what your friends are doing in your area. In fact, the new user interface as a whole is easier to use and just feels more responsive. Case in point, sending out shouts and the check-in process is faster than before.

It should be interesting how the battle for the check-in apps plays out at SXSW. Foursquare also updated its BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) app in order to cover its bases, but everyone knows that the “cool geek” party in Austin will be dominated by iPhones.

Foursquare is free to download and available now in the iPhone AppStore!

Foursquare (FREE) [iTunes link]

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T-Mobile’s first HSPA+ modem goes on sale

Marin Perez — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:52:08 +0000

T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) has tweaked the prices of its mobile data plans and introduced its first HSPA+ USB modem. This is cool stuff because it could potentially get you 21 Mbps on the go.

The webConnect Rocket USB laptop stick will be sold for $99 with a two-year contract and it will get you souped-up 3G and access to T-Mobile’s WiFi hotspots. The HSPA+ network is already live in Philadelphia, and the fourth-largest U.S. carrier is going to expand this technology to the rest of its 3G network.

The pricing will be:

Even More webConnect data plan (two year contract):
· $59.99/mo. for 5GB per month ($0.20/MB overage)
· $29.99/mo. for 200MB per month ($0.20/MB overage)
Even More Plus webConnect data plan (no annual contract):
· $49.99/mo. for 5GB per month ($0.20/MB overage)
· $19.99/mo. for 200MB per month ($0.20/MB overage)

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