In the World of Tablets, key differences or similarities can help you against the competition. Barnes & Noble has taken this on board and has reduced its Nook tablet from 16GB to 8GB. The smaller size will put it firmly within Amazon’s Kindle range and with the new aggressive pricing it is hoped this will bring the Nook more success.  The launch of the new Nook comes with the price drop of $50 bringing the 8GB tablet to $199 directly matching the price of the Kindle. However, Nook carries the facility for a microSD card and that will greatly appease those who may miss the 16GB.

“If you want to re-configure the internal memory of your Nook Tablet 16GB for additional personal storage, you need to visit your local Barnes & Noble on or after March 12 for help in doing so”, B&N states in a footnote that you might not notice when checking out the webpage at the source link.

Source BarnesAndNoble

Barnes & Noble Nook 8GB Edition originally appeared on UK Mobile Review on February 23, 2012.

Twitter android and iPhone users received an update yesterday. The update brought back many loved features that customers were utterly confused as to why Twitter removed them in the first place. Twitter has brought back swipe shortcut so that you do not need to leave your own timeline to reply, retweet or view other profiles. The update brings some new features to speed up the process of finding friends via email and phone contact lists. Optimisations are in tune for Android Ice Cream Sandwich and Amazon’s Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Nook Color tablets.

However, it is the iOS iPhone users who will receive the most benefits. iPhone users will get press and hold to copy tweets and user profiles. A new read-it-later option will save links. To activate the service, go to settings menu, click advance and choose one of the services available or sign up for one of the accounts if you do not have one.

An option to change font size is very admirable and I was quick to take up that option alongside the ability to mark all messages as read.

I have yet to check whether the app now synchronises to show that I have read a tweet across my devices. But, so far I am happy with the changes that have been added.

What things were you hoping to see and are you happy with what is now available or could Twitter have done more?

Source: mashable

New features for iPhone and Android Twitter users originally appeared on UK Mobile Review on February 22, 2012.

Social messaging networks are in ultimate heaven after causing uproar in the traditional phone network companies raiding them of $13.9bn in revenue. The costs come as networks reveal a loss of $13.9bn £8.8bn) SMS revenue and I, for one am very happy about it.

For far too long the networks have been unyielding with their price of text messaging and have now been undercut by services such as WhatsApp, PingChat, BlackBerry Messaging and now iMessaging.

Analysis firm Ovum stated that mobile operators need to sit down and work together to face the challenge from major internet players”.

In my opinion ‘poo’ to that. They had ample opportunity over the many period of years to reduce pricing even on a conservative term for customers but resisted the urge and continued to rake through consumer pockets only to now feel the sting of the backlash. Deals such as unlimited text messages with the small quote 3,000 per month has no sway with customers. iMessages are free from iPhone to iPhone and other Apple devices such as the iPad and iPod Touch with a move to bring the service to Mac laptops and computers. Teenagers have shunned away from these so-called lucrative contracts by opting for the cheap BB Ping (BlackBerry Ping) service again with free messages from one device to another. If, you don’t have friends with an iPhone or a BlackBerry do not worry, as WhatsApp and PingTouch will cover you as both these services allow you to text across devices and WhatsApp is available for the iPhone, Android, Symbian and BlackBerry devices.

Needless to say this is one film I would like to watch. Grab your popcorn and let us see how the networks react.

Source: BBC

Social messaging snatches $13.9bn from network revenues originally appeared on UK Mobile Review on February 22, 2012.

Apple built on the success of iTunes with the offer of The Beatles albums last year. To complement the relationship the company has today released a set of ringtones released from the band’s most popular albums. Title’s such as ‘A Hard Day’s Night and ‘Let It Be’ span some of the ringtones on offer. The tones are available for $1.29 each or the whole collection is available for $12.99 which includes 27 ringtones from the band’s twelve studio albums and 22 singles. Go get your ringtones now.

Source: tuaw

iTunes offers Beatles ringtones originally appeared on UK Mobile Review on February 22, 2012.

Microsoft has joined Apple in filing a complaint with the European Commission about Motorola’s stance over Wi-Fi and H.264 video patents. The companies argue that Motorola is demanding excessive royalties and trying to stop sales that rely on those standards. The companies argue that Google as the new owner of Motorola should reign in its new sibling. Motorola is demanding Microsoft pay a 2.25 percent royalty on products that use H.264, $22.50 on a $1,000 laptop with this sum doubling for a $2,000 laptop. The ongoing court battles over patents is increasing between Motorola v Apple and now Microsoft v Motorola. No one yet knows where it will end but it is hoped that the disturbance does not lead to the killing of video on the web as per Microsoft’s please with their latest blog post.

Google as the owner of Motorola acquired some very important patents. However, some of these included use of these patent as an industry standard to be offered in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory way. Google, may find that the ugly eye of the European Commission may now intercede in these disputes.

Source: verge

Microsoft and Apple file disputes over Motorola’s Web Patents originally appeared on UK Mobile Review on February 22, 2012.

The LG Optimus Vu has been caught on camera a and here is a short run-through of its first moments in front of the camera. The LG Optimus Vu will be officially revealed during Mobile World Congress but as is normally the way, somehow this video has seen the daylight. The Optimus Vu will arrive with 5-inch IPS display but unlike the Galaxy Note it will not incorporate a stylus.

Source: androidcentral

MWC 2012: Hands on with LG Optimus Vu originally appeared on UK Mobile Review on February 22, 2012.

The on-going dispute over the Apple iPad name is growing into a media circus with over 100 reporters at the recent hearing. Addiitonally, ordinary people took to the streets to complain about government bureaucrats and their own greviency’s over council behaviour. However, at the centre of it was Apple’s lawyer Hu Jinnan who made a passioned plea:

“Proview has no product, no markets, no customers and no suppliers. It has ‘NOTHING”. “apple has huge sales in China. Its fans line up to buy Apple products. The ban, if executed, would not only hurt Apple sales but it would also hurt China’s national interest.”

Proview’s parent, Hong Kong-listed Proview International Holdings Ltd, was the first Taiwanese technology company to list in Hong Kong and by the end of the 1990s numbered itself among the top five computer monitor makers.

In 1999 it partnered with U.S. chip maker National Semiconductor to launch the I-PAD, a stripped-down desktop computer whose main selling points were its Internet connectivity and ease of use.

Proview continued to grow, shifting from computer monitors to become the world’s third-largest OEM manufacturer of flat panel TVs. But by August 2009, when Apple began trademark talks through a proxy, Proview had been badly hammered by the financial crisis.

Trading of its stock was suspended in Hong Kong in August 2010 after creditors in China went to court to recover assets. The company faces delisting in June if it cannot provide the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with a viable rescue plan.

The court has yet to give their decision but officials say that negotiations are still open between the two parties. Proview has had some success in having the iPad removed from some stores. However, a ban on imports is unlikely due to the popularity of the iPad with over a 76 percent market share in the Chinese market.

Source: reuters

Apple ongoing iPad name dispute: Proview has ‘nothing’ originally appeared on UK Mobile Review on February 22, 2012.

Japan has become the latest country to get iTunes in the Cloud. The service allows iOS users to automatically download iTunes song purchases on their devices. In addition, users can make use of the automatic downloading of Music on their iOS device along with applications and books.

With iTunes in the Cloud, the music you buy from the iTunes Store automatically appears on all your devices. And for music you haven’t purchased from iTunes, iTunes Match is the perfect solution. iTunes Match is built into iTunes on your computer and the Music app on your iOS devices. It lets you store your entire collection in iCloud, even music you’ve imported from CDs or purchased somewhere other than iTunes. When it’s in iCloud, it’s available on all your devices. So you can enjoy all your music anywhere, anytime — on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC or Apple TV

It is hoped the news of iTunes in the Cloud is a sign that iTunes Match will be brought online very soon. iTunes match launched last year enabling customers to store and match music already purchased or that is part of their music library.

Source: Apple

Japan: Apple launches iTunes in the Cloud originally appeared on UK Mobile Review on February 22, 2012.

Nokia Siemens are looking to implement a new feature called HSPA+ Multiflow. The service would ease the connectivity problems associated by poor connectivity between cells. If you are one of the unfortunate to suffer from living or working at the edge of a ‘cell’ you will know the pain of your smartphone struggling to hold on to that connection and the dire battery life or dropped calls that can be part of the problem. HSPA+ Multiflow aims to offer relief by delivering double the data speed and up to 50 percent faster response in comparison to existing HSPA+ networks. The technology works by allowing devices to use the edge of a cell to connect to two sites simultaneous, allowing data to switch between two base stations at one time.

“With 100 million smart devices being added every month, we see a consequent increase in ‘smart’ applications that make use of their advanced capabilities. Not only is network traffic rising dramatically, much of it is also unpredictable in nature, and this can impact user experience,” said Keith Sutton, head of the WCDMA business line for Nokia Siemens Networks. “This is where HSPA+ Multiflow helps operators – it reduces imbalances that typically occur in network resource usage, and increases HSPA+ speed and capacity.

HSPA+ Multiflow will be demonstrated during MWC 2012 (Mobile World Congress) and if successful could be working on a cel near you in the latter half of 2013.

Nokia Siemens press release

Source via 2dayblog

Nokia Siemens HSPA+ Multiflow to ease your connectivity problems originally appeared on UK Mobile Review on February 22, 2012.

The rumoured LG successor to the Optimus 3D is is official. LG finally confirmed that the LG Optimus 3D Cube as it will be known in South Korea and under the name LG Optimus 3D Ma elsewhere will run Android 2.3 Gingerbread at launch with a follow-up to Android 4.0 ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) at a later date. The Optimus 3D arrives with a 4.3-inch 3D WVGA Gorilla Glass display and a 5-megapixel camera. The Optimus 3D will carry a 1.2GHz TI OMP dual-core processor and 8GB of internal memory.

The Optimus 3D Max and Cube will be announced during MWC 2012 alongside a row of other LG smartphones including the Optimus Vu, Optimus L7, Optimus L5 and Optimus L3.

Source: [via] Press release

MWC 2012: LG Optimus 3D Max / Cube with Android 4.0 ICS originally appeared on UK Mobile Review on February 22, 2012.