One of the key elements of Apple’s iPhone is the App Store. Let’s face it folks, ultimately when I’d have to choose between similar phones in terms of hardware and performance, I’d probably go for the one that has the most content available. And in this case that’s the iPhone, whether you like it or you really really hate it. Come to think of it, if you do hate the iPhone you also have to love it. After all your current smartphone is probably filled with content and applications coming from an Apple-like app store. Without the iPhone we wouldn’t have had the app store idea just yet. And with 50,000 available apps Apple outranks anybody else. Sure it helps to be the first to come up with such an idea but what if it wouldn’t have become that popular? Would others have followed Apple’s app store?

I guess Apple was kind of trying to make this point at the WWDC 2009 as it has displayed in the Moscone Center lobby a 5 by 4 matrix of Cinema Display monitors filled with thousands of application icons. The best part? Check the video above! Although not exactly in real time, the gianormous screen is pulsating everytime someone purchases a certain application.

via TechCrunch

Tags: 2009, 3gs, App Store, Apple, iPhone, Mobile News, wwdc

The WWDC 2009 started with the new MacBook updates and continued with Snow Leopard and iPhone 3.0 presentations. But after about 90 minutes the audience received what it came in to see, the new iPhone 3GS. So let’s see what the iPhone 3GS is all about!

The 3GS has the same design as the 3G. There’s no front-facing camera and it does not come in different colors. The 3GS comes in two versions, a 16GB and a 32GB version. Apple didn’t unveil any other iPhone version but the company decided to keep the “old” iPhone 3G and sell it for cheaper prices ($99 for the 8GB 3G and $149 for the 16GB 3G.)

Since S stands for speed, this new iPhone will offer a faster processor, A2DP support and 7.2Mbps HSDPA connectivity. Will AT&T be able to offer everyone a stable 7.2Mbps network?

The camera has been bumped to 3.2 megapixel and there are new features like auto-focus, auto exposure, auto white balance, geotagging support, VGA video recording at 30fps, video editing and video sharing.

There’s a compass which you won’t really really use and voice control support which will let you dial your family and friends and manage your playlist by simply talking to the phone. Speaking of calling your friends you also have to know that MMS is now supported. Unfortunately AT&T won’t bring it to you immediately and you’ll have to wait for this summer to send MMS messages.

Another thing AT&T won’t immediately support is tethering. About 22 carriers will let you use that feature so make sure you check back with your local carrier to learn more about the tethering feature. Since we’re talking about limited features you’ll also have to know that now there’s a Find My Phone feature which is only available to Mobile Me customers. In case you won’t be able to find your lost/stolen phone you can always choose to remotely wipe the phone and restore it to the initial factory settings.

The battery is much better too. It will get you 9 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of 10 hours of video, 30 hours of audio, 12 hours of 2G talk and 5 hours of 3G talk. How does that sound?

By August about 80 countries will be selling the iPhone 3GS. Some will begin selling it in July while others will probably get it by the end on August.

Tags: 2009, 3G, 3gs, Apple, Apple, iPhone, Mobile News, Portable Devices, wwdc

Sure you could always choose one of its direct competitors, the Adamo from Dell or one of the X-Slim laptops from MSI, but for those of you with a bigger wallet, the Air is probably the best way to go.

Apple decided to offer everyone a $300/$700 price drop depending on what model you choose but the MacBook Air it’s still expensive with prices starting at $1,499. The cheapest version will offer you a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB DDR3 RAM, a 9400M graphics card and a 120GB HDD. For $1,799 you get a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB DDR3 RAM, a 9400M graphics card and a 128GB SSD.

Tags: 2009, Adamo, air, Dell, Laptops, Laptops, MacBook, Mobile News, MSI, Portable Devices, wwdc, X-slim

We’ve done the virtual live coverage of this year’s WWDC keynote and now we’re going to break it down for you. First up it’s the 15-inch MacBook Pro.

And here’s what Apple added to that unibody 15-inch laptop:

• 7 hours of power out of a non-replaceable battery similar to the one in the 17-inch version; lasts for about 1,000 charges or 5 years
• a new display capable of getting 60% more color gamut
• an SD Card slot instead of the Express Card slot
• up to a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo CPU
• up to 8 GB of RAM
• up to 500GB HDD or 256GB SSD

The 15-inch is even cheaper now! The $1,699 version will get you a 2.53GHz processor and 4GB of RAM, the $1,999 version will get you a 2.66GHz processor and 4GB of RAM and a 320GB HDD while the $2,299 version will deliver a 2.8GHz processor, 4GB RAM and a 500GB HDD.

Tags: 15-Inch, 2009, Apple, laptop, Laptops, MacBook, Portable Devices, Pro, wwdc

That’s the iPhone 3GS coverage for this year, we’ll bring you more specific details about the iPhone 3GS in the following days. What will you pick now? The Pre of the 3GS?

12:03PM PT: There’s a new ad for the 3GS which we will try to get as soon as possible and that concludes this WWDC. Those actually present in San Francisco will have lots of things to discover on their own during the WWDC sessions this week and the rest of us will only have to wait for the new iPhone to arrive in a store near us. And the new MacBooks for that matter.

11:59AM PT: The 16GB version will cost $199 while the 32GB version will cost $299. They will be available in black and white. The iPhone 3G price will drop to $99 which we kinda knew already. The iPhone 3G will cost $99 starting today while the 3GS will be available on June 19 in the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the UK and over 80 countries will receive the phone in July and August.

11:58AM PT: Battery-wise the 3GS will get you 9 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video, 30 hours of audio, 12 hours of 2G talk and 5 hours of 3G talk.

11:54AM PT: Built-in compass is present in the 3GS, just in case you get lost in the city. Support for Nike+ is also included. Zooming, inverting audio, panning audio, instantaneous data wipe and encryption in iTunes is available too.

11:53AM PT: There’s voice control now. Call people from your contacts or dial a number. You can play songs and ask the iPhone what’s playing now.

11:51AM PT: You can share all those videos and pictures through email, MMS, YouTube or MobileMe. The APIs are available for developers to use in future applications.

11:48AM PT: The 3GS brings you a 3 megapixel camera with autofocus and video recording VGA at 30 fps, 7.2Mbps HSDPA and OpenGL|ES.

11:47AM PT: Launch messaging is 2.1x faster, load SimCity is 2.4x faster, view Excel attachement 3.6x faster, load NY Times 2.9x faster.

11:46AM PT: The new iPhone 3GS, the name we mentioned earlier today, is here. S comes from Speed which means the 3GS is much faster than the 3G.

11:44AM PT: Phil Shiller is praising the iPhone again. 65% of all mobile browsing si done on an iPhone or iPod touch with the Android on second place with 9%.

11:41AM PT: It would be time for someone to actually unveil the new iPhone wouldn’t you say? The iPhone OS 3.0 will be available worldwide June 17, free for iPhone owners and $9.95 for iPod touch. All those paid developers in the developer program will get the GM Seed today. So the iPhone itself should arrive about now.

11:27AM PT: ngmoco:) is stepping up to present their game: Star Defense, a $5.99 tower defense game. PASCO will let you connect sensors to your iPhone to record various data. zipcar will help you rent cars. You get to check them out and make reservations. You can even unlock the car and press the horn from your app. Line6 will help you connect your guitar to your iPhone and play with some cool audio effects.

11:23AM PT: TomTom needs special attention. It’s going to bring you the first navigational turn-by-turn app in the app store. TomTom will even provide a handy car dock. It recharges the iPhone while you drive around. Pretty convenient.

11:14AM PT: Some developers are presenting their new apps. gameloft will keep launching games, Airstrop Technologies focuses on medical apps. Scroll Motion will bring digital books to the table: 1million books, 170 daily newspapers and 50 magazines. Watch out Amazon.

11:11AM PT: Hardware accessory developers can build various companion accessories. Google Maps will be available into any application like we expected.

11:09AM PT: The SDK comes with 1,000 new APIs ready for developers. There’s even In App Purchase which lets you renew subscriptions or buy game packs straight from the paid app. There’s peer to peer support.
(more…)

Tags: 2009, Apple, Apple, iPhone, wwdc

We’re waiting for the WWDC 2009 since that’s where we’re going to see the new iPhone. But besides the new handset it’s rumored that another important Apple product is going to get an update. We don’t know what to expect since Apple has released the new MacBooks just a few months ago and it would be to early to release any important updates. We’re probably going to see built-in 3G, larger hard drives and faster processors. However new OLED screens would be quite welcome and they would represent quite an important update. What would you like Apple to install in your future MacBook?

via 9to5mac

Tags: 2009, Apple, iPhone, Laptops, MacBook, Mobile News, Portable Devices, wwdc

When is the new iPhone coming? Well folks, WWDC 2009 has been announced for June 8-12 in San Francisco which means that’s when we should expect the third generation iPhone to appear. We already have confirmation from AT&T that the iPhone is coming but we’re also hoping that Apple is doing the best it can to keep surprises secret until June. What do you want from the Apple besides the iPhone third generation? Any suggestions?

via Apple

Tags: 2009, Apple, Apple, At&T, At&T, iPhone, Mobile News, wwdc

Sprint seems ready to take its WiMAX network to the next level. If you want fast mobile broadband you should either move to Baltimore where the service is active or wait for 2009 and to 2010 for WiMAX to arrive in your city. This year Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland and Seattle will get the 4G upgrade while next year Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C. will receive the WiMAX. And according to Sprint “several new 4G devices planned for 2009 and 2010, including a single-mode 4G data card, embedded laptops, a small-office-home-office broadband modem and a tri-mode phone.”

Tags: 2009, 2010, 4G, Mobile News, Sprint, Sprint, wimax

We’ve shown you HTC’s 2009 line-up way early in January. At that time we only had pictures and names but now we have more details about some of those phones. We’ve already seen HTC announce the Diamond2, Touch Pro2 or the Magic but there are still a lot of HTC handsets waiting to be unveiled.
So here are the features I was telling you about:

Whitestone:

• 3.6-inch WVGA display
• GSM and EVDO
• Qualcomm 7600 at 528MHz
• 256MB RAM / 512MB ROM
• 5 megapixel camera
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• ETA: September on Verizon

Firestone:

• 3.6-inch WVGA display
• GSM/HSPA
• Qualcomm 8250 at 600MHz
• 256MB RAM / 512MB ROM
• 8 megapixel camera
• Windows Mobile 6.5
• ETA: September

Thor (aka Athena 2):

• 4.8-inch WVGA display
• Qualcomm 8250 at 1GHz
• 256MB RAM/ 512MB ROM
• 5 megapixel camera
• Windows Mobile 6.5
• ETA: September

Twin:

• VGA display
• Qualcomm 7501A at 528MHz and TI Locosto processors
• GSM/CDMA
• 256MB RAM / 512MB ROM
• 3.2 megapixel camera

Maple (aka Excalibur 3G)

• 2.4-inch QVGA display
• Qualcomm 7228 at 528MHz
• 156MB RAM / 256MB ROM
• 2 megapixel camera
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard

ETA: May

Via EngadgetMobile

Tags: 2009, Features, HTC, HTC, Line-up, Mobile News, Mobile Software

Samsung isn’t the only one thinking eco friendly thoughts when it comes to its future cell phones. LG is also prepared to launch eco friendly phones at the MWC 2009. A phone capable to charge directly from the sun and coming in green packaging is expected to arrive in Barcelona. The solar battery will get you 3 minutes of talk time for every 10 minutes of sun love, so I guess you’ll have to avoid talking on the phone on the rainy days. Will we see more than one device? LG also says that its manuals are going to be printed on recycled paper with ink made out of soy. We have no idea when the phone is going to arrive but it’s expected this year for an undisclosed price.

via Press

Tags: 2009, eco-friendly, LG, LG, Mobile News, MWC, Samsung, Samsung, solar charger

Is Nokia preparing for lots of touchscreen phones this year? According to some sources Nokia has increased the orders for March as it is going to “launch several 3G and 3.5G products with multi-touch and multimedia functions in 2009″.

Well Nokia has sold plenty of 5800 XpressMusic phones so far and the N97 is coming soon. What else has the Finnish manufacturer been cooking? What are we to expect from future Nokia touchscreen phones?

via digitimes

Tags: 2009, 5800, Mobile News, N97, Nokia, Nokia, touchscreen, XpressMusic

We’ve shown you that blurry picture of the LX 2009 which was filled with specs and pictures. Well we have a better quality picture showing the same features and pictures. The logical conclusion is that this LX 2009 is real and it’s coming. So is T-Mobile going to launch it soon? Will anyone else pick it up? Is it going to be called the Sidekick 2 or the Blade?

via hiptop3

Tags: 2009, Blade, Mobile News, Mobile Software, pictures, sidekick lx, T-Mobile, T-Mobile

Is the picture real or is it fake? Is this the Sidekick LX? Is it going to be available soon? How much does one cost?

Here’s a list with the specs from the picture here:

Social Networking Suite of Apps
- Facebook
- MySpace w/ video upload
- Twitter
- YouTube Mobile Access via browser

GPS Location Based Search
- Turn by Turn Navigation
- Microsoft Live Local Search and Maps

Content Creation
- Blog publishing, editing, and management client
- Photobucket Upload and Management
- Video recorder and upload to MySpace/Photobucket

Communications
- Signature Sidekick IM/SMS/E-mail Experience
- Microsoft Outlook/Exchange synchronization

Hardware
- Large (3.2 inch WVGA) screen with sharp 854×480 resolution
- Thin design
- 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and video recording
- Large QWERTY keyboard
- Expandable memory up to 8GB via MicroSD

We can’t help but notice concepts like 3G, GPS and YouTube. Is this what the 2009 Sidekick is ready to bring to the table? Looking forward for someone to confirm all of this!

via Hiptop3

Tags: 2009, 3G, GPS, LX, Mobile News, rumor, sidekick, T-Mobile, youtube

We knew Samsung was going to deliver Android handsets this year but we didn’t know for sure what carrier was going to get them. Now we hear Samsung confirmed their Android smartphones and they are indeed destined to arrive in the USA via Sprint and T-Mobile. Are we going to get an Omnia- or Instinct-like Samsung Android smartphone soone?

Is the MWC 2009 going to be the place where Samsung is unveiling the new handsets? We’ll see about that in February.

via newsoxy

Tags: 2009, Android, Google, Google, instinct, MWC, OMNIA, Samsung, Samsung, Sprint, Sprint, T-Mobile, T-Mobile

2008 hasn’t been a great year for various companies and especially Sony Ericsson. The company reported a loss of 187 million Euro for the last quarter of the past year which means that overall Sony Ericsson lost 73 million euro in 2008. Sony Ericsson sold 24.2 million handsets in the Q4 and 96.6 million overall compared to 103.4 million handsets sold in 2007.

Sony Ericsson’s President, Dick Komiyama, said:

In economic terms, 2008 has been a tumultuous year with world markets experiencing a serious downturn. The mobile phone market has been greatly affected by this and as expected, the fourth quarter continued to be very challenging for Sony Ericsson. Our business alignment is progressing as planned, with the full effect of annual savings of around Euro 300 million expected by the second half of 2009. We foresee a continued deterioration in the market place in 2009, particularly in the first half.

Will the company manage to stay afloat? Are we to expect a flagship phone to revive its business? So far we know that a PSP Phone will not arrive this year but a secret Android phone will be launched. We have no details about it and there are no leaks yet. What is certain is that Sony Ericsson confirmed again once again its interest in the Android platform. We’ll be close by when the first Sony Ericsson Android handset will be announced.

via Press

Tags: 2009, Android, Ericsson, Google, Mobile News, PSP, Sony, Sony Ericsson

So are you interested in what smartphones 2009 will bring? Well? Are ya? We have discovered HTC’s 2009 all over the web. Was the list leaked intentionally? What about the pictures there? Will HTC be mad? Follow the list below and you will spot quite a few new smartphones to arrive from various carriers. And there’s only one Android device so far, maybe that’s why they call it Hero. And after the list you can enjoy more photos. With 25 models two go we should have at least two new HTC handsets released every month.

Whitestone W

Magnet (Iolite II)

Jasper C (for Sprint)

Firestone

Beryl (Jade 2)

Twin (CDMA + GSM)

Willow W

Thoth (Athena 2)

Sapphire (VF)

Saphire 2.0 (TMO)

Sapphire 1.5 (DCM)

Memphis

Hero (Android Hero)

Tungsten W (Sprint)

Rhodium

Rhodium W (VZW)

Topaz

Topaz (AT&T)

Topaz C

Tungsten (TMO, TMUS)

Barium (AT&T)

Cedar W

Iolite

Maple (3G Excalibure)

Citrine

via wmpoweruser

Tags: 2009, HTC, HTC, Lineup, Mobile News

The Palm pre has just been announced and it will be wearing that new Palm platform so many people have been waiting for. And that’s the webOS platform we’re talking about. Palm says that anyone who is familiar with CSS, HTML and XML will have no problem developing stuff for webOS.

The UI is simple and it supports multi-touch. That’s flick scrolling and gesture support that works beyond the screen. You can quit application by swiping up and you can bring the launcher over apps without having to quit them.

There’s a Synergy sync system which manages your contacts. You can simply connect to your Facebook, Google and Outlook accounts for your contacts and there’s IM support for multiple services.

One of the coolest thing about the new OS is that keyboard. When you start typing on it the instant search will get you the apps, contacts and it will even search the web for your answers. So when can we try it Palm guys? Particularly if we’re not present at CES 2009?

Tags: 2009, ces, Mobile News, Mobile Software, Palm, Palm, pre, webOS

T-Mobile’s Shadow might not be the most interesting smartphone for you to enjoy this year but it can be an alternative to everything else the carrier has to offer. The Shadow 2009 could do justice to its predecessor. The phone is expected to arrive on January 28th but we have no idea how much it will cost yet.

Here’s what you can expect from the Shadow 2009, and if you think we’ve omitted the 3G support, well we didn’t. The Shadow 2009 simply doesn’t have it:

• Wi-Fi – including @Home (Hotspot Enabled)
• Large, vibrant 2.6″ screen with reflective surface
• 20 key slide out keyboard with spin wheel navigation
• Large battery capacity
• Windows Mobile 6.1
• myFaves 1.5 W
• work and personal e-mail
• Music and video multimedia player
• Instant messaging
• Stereo Bluetooth
• Mini USB SD expandable memory slot (4GB max)
• Speakerphone
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Audio postcard
• Mp3 Hi-Fi ringers
• HTML Web browsing
• Quad-band world phone
• Picture messaging
• Text messaging
• EDGE/GPRS
• t-zones/ web2go
• T-Mobile address book
• Mobile Office and OneNote
• Enhanced device help

Tags: 2009, Mobile News, Shadow, T-Mobile, T-Mobile

We’ve heard all the news and we’ve read all the facts about the future of USB. USB 3.0 is what we want in our future computers. And we’d like it to arrive as soon as possible. Are we going to find out more about the new technology at CES 2009?

It looks like the USB-IF or the USB Implementers Forum will have at least two standards at the next CES. USB 3.0 will be definitely shown around, and we were expecting that, but there’s also a new product we’re curios to see. USB TechZone will be displaying their latest wireless USB. Is it any good? Could it be actually used? We’ll know more this January.

via Engadget

Tags: 2009, ces, Mobile News, USB 3.0, Wireless USB

In case you were wondering what cell phones is T-Mobile going to release next we have the answer for you. The release schedule got leaked and now we know in advanced when certain phones will be arriving. The list below contains the upcoming handsets for the months of January and February only but it’s still better than nothing. Check out below what T-Mobile has planned for you and remember that February 18:

• January 21: Sony Ericsson TM506 in scarlett
• January 21: Nokia 7510
• January 28: T-Mobile Shadow
• February 4: Motorola Renew
• February 4: Samsung t119
• February 18: RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900
• February 18: Samsung Memoir

Ready to get your New Year’s resolutions on paper? Is buying a T-Mobile phone one of them?

via BGR

Tags: 2009, February, January, Mobile News, T-Mobile, T-Mobile