Nokia World 2010 is round the corner and we decided to bring you this list of what you can expect Nokia to launch at London next week. FoneArena will be covering the event live from London and we shall bring you exclusive coverage. But for now , this is what we expect to see in London on Sep14th .
N9 First MeeGo handset
This might be the biggest announcement to come from Nokia World 2010 as the N9 pics which were leaked seemed legit.
The first MeeGo from from Nokia is due for release this year and it should be announced unless Nokia has other plans
E7 Symbian
Nokias latest flagship device, which is known as the Nokia N8 is one of the most anticipated handsets in the market. Nokia fans are waiting from a long time for the N8, and finally Nokia has gave some words related to the launch of Nokia N8. Nokias Senior Manager, Tapani Kaskinen is saying that Nokia will begin the shipping of the Nokia N8 by September 30th. So folks you will be able to see the Nokia N8 in the first week of October. Stay tuned with us, well keep you updated with the Nokia N8.
via Engadget
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Samsung recently added a new fellow in Samsung Galaxy line, the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Samsung Galaxy Tab is a 7 inch tablet, and its running on Android 2.2 and a lot of other features. The tablet is made to compete with the Apple iPad, which is currently known as the one of the best tablets in market, and expensive too. If we talk about the features of the Galaxy Tab, then its somehow better than the iPad, but only one thing can make a difference between them, and its the price tag.
Samsung didnt gave any words on the pricing of the tablet yet, but Samsung is hinting that the Galaxy Tab will cost between $200 and $300 on contract no words on which carrier is picking the Galaxy Tab in USA, but according to rumors, Verizon is most likely picking the Galaxy Tab.
But what do you people think about unlocked price? The Galaxy Tab appears on Amazon Germany site, with a huge price tag of �799, which is around $1000. I hope that itd be around $700 to $800 in USA.
The first carrier to pick the Galaxy Tab is the Vodafone UK, but Vodafone is only telling us that the tablet is "Coming Soon". Samsung has an aim to ship more than 10 million units of Samsung Galaxy Tab, which is a very huge aim.
So folks, thats all what we know about the Galaxy Tab. Well keep you updated, so stay tuned
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The Samsung Galaxy S series is the line of one of the best smartphones available in the market. Samsung Galaxy S is currently available on all major US carriers except Verizon, and now according to a new leaked screenshot, wed be seeing the Verizon Galaxy S a.k.a Samsung Fascinate on Verizon shelves this Thursday, Sept. 9.
Samsung aired the Samsung Fascinate commercial a few days ago, and it was showing that the Fascinate is "Coming soon" to Verizon. PhoneDog is the one who spotted the release date in the commercial and they are saying that the "Coming Soon" is replaced by Sept. 9, but I checked the commercial on Youtube , and its still saying "Coming Soon", which means that Samsung has removed the date from the video.
Well folks, we finally have a date now for the Fascinate. So Verizon folks, watch out for the Samsung Fascinate this Thursday in your local Verizon store.
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It seems that the Galaxy brand from Samsung will soon be getting more devices in near future and the latest news suggests it will be a portable media player. Upcoming portable media player from Samsung named Galaxy Player 50 will have lots of features to offer and will also be powered by Android too.
The Samsung Galaxy Player 50 comes with a 3.2-inch display that will be able to handle all sorts of video files, and speaking of video files, Galaxy Player 50 will support DivX, H.264 video file formats as well as your standard audio and video formats.
As for the storage space, there will be two models of Galaxy Player 50 available on the market, the one with 8 GB of internal memory and the one with 16 GB of storage space. In addition, this device will feature a two megapixel camera and it will have 802.11b/g/n WiFi connectivity.
Of course, Galaxy Player 50 will have all sorts of Google apps available on it such as Google Maps Navigation and Gmail. In addition, there will be a ton of many other apps available as well since Galaxy Player 50 will have access to the Android Market.
As you can see, the Samsung Galaxy Player 50 will have plenty of premium PMP functions, there are not many portable devices at the moment that boast a combination of all these, probably the iPod Touch is one which will come to everyones mind. Unfortunately there arent many other information available just yet, therefore price and its release date will remain unconfirmed until later on.
[via Ubergizmo]
Speed has never been a limit for mankind and when it comes to processors that speed up your machines then the likes of IBM, Intel and AMD to some extent have always been breaking their own records. Well, it has happened again and this time it is IBM that claims to have come up with worlds fastest processor namely z196. This chip is said to be of 5.2 GHz capacity and hopefully delivers its top notch speed.
From a performance standpoint, the zEnterprise System is the most powerful commercial IBM system ever. The core server in the zEnterprise System � called zEnterprise 196 � contains 96 of the worlds fastest, most powerful microprocessors, capable of executing more than 50 billion instructions per second. Thats roughly 17,000 times more instructions than the Model 91, the high-end of IBMs popular System/360 family, could execute in 1970.
z196 wont require any liquid nitrogen based assistance which could be an added advantage as its capacity wont be due to super cooling systems. The chip is said to handle over 50 billion instructions per second whereas it has been claimed that Fujitsus Venus CPU can handle over 128 billion calculations per second. It is clear that IBM will have to face tough debate before z196 is officially the fastest.
[via Engadget]
BullGuard Mobile Anti-Virus
Introduction
BullGuard Mobile Anti-Virus is developed by the security company BullGuard which also develops other security and utility software such as BullGuard Internet Security, BullGuard Backup and BullGuard SpamFilter.
It is a unique solution developed by BullGuard to fight the viruses, Trojans, worms etc that are now affecting mobile phones just as they were affecting our PCs and laptops. The viruses, Trojans and worms not just increase in quantity but also increase in their types making it difficult to fight against them in order to protect your device.
This is where BullGuard Mobile Anti-Virus steps in and makes sure your mobile phone is up to date in order to fight even the latest and most dangerous threats.
Requirements
The BullGuard Mobile Anti-Virus require the following OSes Operating Systems to run on:
- Windows Mobile 5 or Newer
- Symbian S60 v9.x
- Symbian UIQ v3.x
The space required for installation is also minimal at 4MB. The installation destination can be either on the phone memory or the memory card.
Set-Up
After installation, you have to run the BullGuard Mobile Anti-Virus. Upon launch, you will be prompted to register online on the BullGuard database. You have to give your email id which will also be used as your username. You can register online using your network connection or over Wi-Fi.
After registering, you will have to choose a password. This maybe your own personal password or one that is automatically generated by the application. Once this is done, you will be given access to the application. You can then customise the various settings such as auto-login, access point, launch at start-up, minimise at start-up etc. You can also enable or disable auto-update and also the interval before each auto-update of the application takes place in hours.
Features
The mobile anti-virus is not just simple and easy to use but offers a wide range of security measures. It not just scans all the local files and folders for threats but also scans any incoming messages, emails, downloads etc. Apart from the scans on incoming items, you may also launch on-demand scans to make sure your device is in perfect safety.
Automatic updates ensure that you always have the latest definitions to fight against the threats. Finally you also have 24/7 tech support in case you face any difficulties or errors.
BullGuard Mobile Anti-Virus acts as a firewall too by blocking the wasteful and unwanted material.
In the on-demand scanning category, you have two options- scan all and scan folder. Scanning all features examines all the fields on your device whether its on phone memory or memory card. Scan folder allows you to choose the particular folder which you wish to scan.
You can choose what to do with the threats detected- whether to auto-delete them or to add them to quarantine. The Activity log gives you detailed information on the viruses scanned, found and deleted.
The tech-support team can be contacted using email or chat facilities.Customers are also provided access to online guides and forums.. The FAQ section contains a list of frequently aasked questions and may already contain your question. So it may help to solve your problem more efficiently and effectively in case it does occur.
The User Interface sticks to the basic but by doing so it makes navigation all the more easier. It allows you to access all the features of the application within a few clicks and so is ideal for mobile phones.
The amount of RAM taken up by the application is quite less and it is also not that power hungry. So you dont have to worry about your mobile phone hanging/lagging or battery going down.
Conclusion
BullGuard Mobile Anti-Virus is a powerful yet lightweight application that makes sure that your phone is protected against any threats whether it is a trojan, worm or any other kind of virus. We think it is among the best out there and that you should definitely give it a try.
Purchase
The BullGuard Mobile Anti-Virus can be purchased online here at a price of 39.95 US$. You can also download the 14 day trial version from the same link if you wish to see it in action before purchasing it.
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Weve been excited for the Parrot AR.Drone since we first heard about it early this year. After a few different hands-on opportunities at various conventions, it was hard to not see the amazing potential the device had once you got it outside of the little 10 foot by 10 foot tent that was home to its demonstrations. After spending an entire week with the Parrot AR.Drone, it does have some down sides, but is still the coolest RC toy Ive had a chance to play with.
The Parrot AR.Drone is a quadricopter that is piloted using an iPhone, iPod touch, or even an iPad. When the device is powered up, it starts broadcasting its own WiFi network. Using the companion Free Flight [Free] app, you connect to this wireless network and begin controlling the unit. The network it creates isnt encrypted at all, but the AR.Drone does bind itself to the first device that connects to it to prevent other people from hijacking your flight session. Unpairing your phone is as simple as pressing a small button on the underside of the device.
Once youre connected to the AR.Drone via the Free Flight app, youre immediately shown whatever the front facing camera sees. The top left button cycles through what is displayed on the screen between the front facing camera, the bottom facing camera, or a mixture of both. With both displayed you can continue pressing the button to swap whether the front facing or bottom facing camera is shown in the corner or filling the screen.
Just below the camera cycling button is a button that allows you to edit the settings of the device. From here you can tweak nearly everything such as how quickly it will climb, how much it will bank on turns, how sensitive the iPhone controls are, and even the SSID the AR.Drone broadcasts. Also in the settings is what kind of shell youre currently using and whether or not youre flying outdoors.
Included with the Parrot AR.Drone is the large indoor shell which protects the propellers from bumping in to things as you fly it around your house as well as the much sleeker outdoor shell. Swapping these is easy, they fit over the front facing camera and are secured on the back with a magnet. Outdoor hulls are available in three different colors for $20 each, and a replacement indoor hull will run you $30.
The first thing you notice with the AR.Drone when you pull it out of the box is just how incredibly light and fragile the whole unit feels. The two different hulls and the body of the unit itself are made of EPP, or Expanded Polypropylene, a material that is widely used in most RC aircraft. Its able to bounce back and retain its shape, but just like other RC aircraft, I dont see the AR.Drone being able to handle much abuse. Thankfully, Parrot has an entire online store with every part youd need to completely rebuilt your AR.Drone if you had to.
Flying the device itself is very easy, although doing anything more than just basic maneuvers requires a bit of getting used to. In the Free Flight app, tapping the button at the bottom of the screen causes the AR.Drone to either take off or land. From there, holding your thumb on a button on the bottom left side of the screen allows you to move the unit forward, back, or side to side by tilting the device youre running Free Flight on. Turning side to side and adjusting your altitude is accomplished using a virtual joystick of sorts on the right. If you get in trouble, an emergency button on the top of the screen immediately kills power to the propellers.
Its amazing just how much the AR.Drone does for you. It comes packed with some fairly advanced circuitry that will do everything it can to keep the device level. If you ever lose your connection to the AR.Drone WiFi, it just stops itself then slowly lands. Using sensor data from the bottom of the device, it can keep itself hover in place, even outside in a light breeze. Aside from actually running into something, the AR.Drone is also very difficult to crash, even when youre intentionally trying to get it to lose control. If it senses that its about to tilt too far to one direction or otherwise lose control, it will abruptly correct itself.
Its really cool to see all these systems working in tandem, and if youve ever fiddled with other RC helicopters before, how idiot proof the AR.Drone is in comparison will amaze you. Unfortunately, because flying the device is such a cool experience, the first thing you immediately come to grips with is just how short the battery life is. On a full charge, I was able to fly the unit outside for around a half hour or less depending on wind conditions and indoors I was able to juice an additional 15 minutes or so out of the battery for a total flight time of about 45 minutes. Charging the battery back up takes an hour and a half.
Another unfortunate drawback to the AR.Drone is just how mediocre the cameras on the device are. The forward facing camera sports a resolution of 640�480, and Parrot claims it delivers this video feed at 15 FPS, but in my testing the frame rate was rarely anywhere near that, or very constant for that matter. The bottom camera is a much lower 176�144, but can display 60 FPS according to Parrot. In my testing, video from the bottom camera is a lot smoother, but it is very difficult to fly the unit using only the bottom facing camera. Because of this, more often than not I just flew the AR.Drone like I would any other RC toy in that I just watched it in the air and used my iPhone as an incredibly elaborate controller.
Without a shell on, the AR.Drone can lift very light loads, allowing for things like high definition helmet cams to be strapped to it for some better video. For instance, I found this video on YouTube of an AR.Drone with a Contour HD 1080p camera onboard:
Once you spend more time with the AR.Drone, other limitations begin to become increasingly noticeable. For instance, with the height limiter enabled in the options, the AR.Drone will only climb to around 20 feet off the ground which is as far as the sensors under the craft can detect. With the height limiter disabled, you can climb much higher, but flying the unit becomes incredibly difficult as its no longer capable of hovering in place once you exceed the capabilities of its bottom-fancing sensors.
Testing the vertical capabilities of the device was the only time I had to use the emergency button. Once you take away the AR.Drones ability to figure out where it is in relation to the ground, it loses its ability to correct its location. Flying the device on what Id call a fairly calm day resulted in it almost being blown into some trees when a small breeze picked up. In comparison, in similar conditions closer to the ground the AR.Drone barely moved at all.
Also, since the whole device operates on WiFi, youre constrained by the range limitations of both the AR.Drone and the iPhone. Parrot is claiming you can operate the device from 150 feet away, which seemed a little optimistic in my testing. Thankfully, all the cool auto-pilolting stuff I mentioned earlier comes in to play when you lose your connection to the AR.Drone and it just flies in place waiting for you to get back in range and resume flight.
Overall the Parrot AR.Drone seems like a very 1.0 device with loads of potential both in future hardware revisions and in future development with the AR.Drone API. Improved battery technology, higher resolution cameras, and more powerful sensors to allow for higher flights are all things I would love to see in future models. Currently the only companion app available for the AR.Drone is the Free Flight app, but Parrot has promised other apps such as augmented reality games where two players with their own AR.Drones can have virtual dog fights, and other similar things. None of these were available at the time of this review, but I definitely can see the amazing potential for future software development.
Parrot is boasting a completely open API for developers to program their own apps to interface with the AR.Drone. While Id love to think that there are going to be all kinds of different third party apps for the device, I really cant imagine many developers devoting resources to projects that not only require you to own an iPhone or iPod touch, but also a Parrot AR.Drone Especially considering the mediocre uptake that iPad-only games have seen, and the iPads market is likely exponentially larger than that of the Parrot AR.Drone.
However, if youre interested in RC aircraft and have dabbled in iPhone development, I really cant think of a much better toy to own than the AR.Drone. Throughout all my testing, I kept thinking "The AR.Drone would be cool if it did _______." If youre capable of utilizing the API to build an app that fills in the blank for whatever awesome functionality you come up with, $300 for the AR.Drone seems like a worthy investment for hobbyists.
While the Parrot AR.Drone is the coolest RC Toy Ive ever played with, its hard to give it a strong general recommendation given the current lack of software. It also would have been nice to see Parrot bundle a second battery in with the unit since additional batteries are pretty much required if youre serious about flying the device. If youre OK with waiting to see what additional apps get released, and youre patient enough to deal with 90 minute recharge cycles, flying the AR.Drone will likely be one of the most awesome things youll ever do with your iPhone.
The Parrot AR.Drone is currently available at Brookstone for $299.99. They offer a number of accessories with it, including extra batteries for $29.95 and both two- and three-year service plans although its not entirely clear if crashing the device in to a tree constitutes as "normal wear and tear" in the eyes of Brookstones warranty department.
Weve posted a few times about the Fighting Fantasy, Gamebook Adventures, and Sorcery series of interactive fiction and have gotten a surprisingly positive response every time. Those books are like the Choose Your Own Adventure novels you may remember reading as a child, with an element of randomization thrown in by needing to complete various dice challenges throughout the books to determine which way the story forks. Choice of Games abandons this dice-based gameplay model for a much more traditional and in depth multiple choice system for each decision that I actually enjoyed quite a bit.
Under the hood of all these games is something Choice of Games calls "ChoiceScript". ChoiceScript allows for works that are much more complicated than your typical two decision fork that leads off to two different pages as it supports things like variables in the story. These variables not only allow you to sometimes name characters yourself, but are often used as character statistics, with some decisions leading to gaining a particular stat which could potentially open up areas later in the book.
Choice of the Dragon in Mobile Safari on the left, Choice of Broadsides app on the right.
The coolest part about all this is that Choice of Games has a guide on how to use ChoiceScript, and its actually quite simple. If youve got the time to invest in to building a piece of interactive fiction in ChoiceScript, theyll even host it for you on their online game portal and App Store listing, sharing 75% of the profits.
The presentation of these games is very bare bones, and are little more than black text on a white background with UI elements that just consist of basic form components. They play the same both in the browser on ChoiceOfGames.com as they do in app form, so if youve got constant internet connectivity you can just make a home screen bookmark for the game youre playing. If youve got an iPod touch or a non-3G iPad, the apps are totally worth downloading if you find yourself getting in to them.
Just like the other interactive fiction weve posted about, these works are completely independent of each other and reading one isnt required to enjoy the rest:
Choice of the Vampire, $1.99 Begin your two-hundred year journey as a vampire in New Orleans, 1814; choose whether you will seek love, power or redemption as you negotiate the growing-pains of the young Republic.
Choice of Romance, $1.99 Play as a young courtier who catches the monarchs eye. Will you find true love? Gain a crown? Lose your head? A text-based multiple-choice game of romance, deception and court intrigue.
Choice of Broadsides, Free Multiple-choice swashbuckling naval adventure, in the spirit of C. S. Foresters Hornblower or Patrick OBrians Aubrey/Maturin books, with a dash of Jane Austen.
Choice of the Dragon, Free Play as a fire-breathing dragon who sleeps on gold and kidnaps princesses for fun. Dominate the local kingdom, loot and pillage, and inspire terror in the hearts of your enemies
Paranoia, Free By Kie Brooks. When you think your doctor may be trying to kill you, life gets complicated. Survive this multiple-choice game if you can.
What Happened Last Night?, Free By Kie Brooks. "What Happened Last Night?" is a dark but occasionally humorous action murder mystery multiple-choice text-based game.
The Nightmare Maze, Free By Alex Livingston. "The Nightmare Maze" is the story of a 19th-century Bostonian plagued by strange nightmares. Lose yourself in the depths of a tormented psyche and try to find the logic to the night terrors in this haunting text-based multiple-choice game.
Popcorn, Soda ... Murder?, Free By Pauzle. "Popcorn, Soda ... Murder?" is a thrilling text-based multiple-choice murder mystery. Can you find all the clues at the murder scene and piece together who must have done it and how?
As you will have read, Toshiba officially entered the Android tablet arena at the IFA Berlin this year. They officially brought out the Folio 100 a 10.1-inch iPad like slate device. On paper, the onboard tech makes the Folio 100 one of the most powerful tablets offering a screen also with multi-touch support.
Check it out in the hands on video by the folks over at IntoMobile�
Find out more about the Toshiba Folio 100�
Logitech has created a new set of noise isolating earphones that they are set to launch soon. The earphones promise to give up to 24 dBs of noise isolation so that your music will be the only thing you hear, no other sounds distracting or ruining the sounds. The earphones are supposed to be very durable and also have a comfortable silicone ear cushion on each of them. The ear cushions range from sizes XXS to M.
This is the design specifications on each different model of the new earphones, telling you the colors and whats on each earphone. Also refer to the picture above to get a better understanding of what they look like.
Designs:
- Ultimate Ears 100 Green Cells shiny black casing accented with vibrant green silicone ear cushions and urban-flavored artwork
- Ultimate Ears 100 Red Blossom inspired by the distinct imaginative concepts that songwriters use to compile new songs
- Ultimate Ears 100 Purple Splatter a crisp white casing thats accented with purple ear cushions and matching artwork, influenced by synthesized, electro tracks
- Ultimate Ears 100 Grey Industry reflects the strong rock chords, take cues from the stage presence of bands such as Switchfoot and Sugar Ray
- Ultimate Ears 100 Blue Robots a blue robot on each earphone, deep blue cable and aqua blue ear cushions
These earphones are available for purchase on Amazon for $19.99, but you can also find them at any audio / recording retail store near you.
[via iTechNews]
We spoke of the Samsung Galaxy tablet and its hardware specs in the recent weeks but there were never any actual confirmation of its pricetag throughout this time not even when Samsungs official announcement took place last week.
The UK gadgets retailer Expansys is now offering the Galaxy tablet for sale for 700 euros or �679 for the 16GB and 800 euros for the 32GB. The device is supposed to ship on 11 October and certainly Expansys states if you order now, youll receive the tablet in 37 days. Its expected the first European country to get the Samsung Galaxy tablet will be Italy and this is likely to take place as soon as this month.
The Samsung Galaxy tablet will likely become one of the most influential device among all other tablets to be launched in the recent months. This has partly been due to the major success of the Galaxy S. Find out more about the so called Galaxy series here�