Mobile Phones

Rumor: Android Ice Cream Sandwich to come October

2011-08-10T15:41:00.001-07:00

Google could push the latest version of Android - Ice Cream Sandwich to an early October release. The latest bit of online rumor has it that Google will try to steal some of the spotlight of the upcoming iPhone 5 (4S, etc.) by unleashing its newest mobile platform and the first batch of devices to run it.

No there's no official information on the mater so at this stage it would be wise to take those rumors with a pinch of salt, but they certainly make sense.
Ice Cream Sandwich is supposed to combine the best of both worlds - Gingerbread and Honeycomb. And it's supposed to be one OS for them all - no customizations and home-brewed UIs. But we'll have to wait just a bit more and see what exactly that will look like.

- Posted using my iPhone

BlackBerry Bold 9900 up for pre-order at Vodafone UK

2011-08-10T11:23:00.001-07:00

The BlackBerry Bold (Touch) 9900 is available for pre-order on the Vodafone UK website and will ship as early as August 16. The device can be yours for free on a £41 per month contract or £399 on the cheapest £20.50 per month deal

The box contains fairly little - the phone itself, a charger and the battery - quite modest. Depending on the tariff you choose you can get a different mix of minutes/texts/data.

The Bold 9900 runs on BlackBerry OS 7, a single-core 1.2 GHz processor, NFC support (via chip), has a 5 MP snapper with 720p video recording and a 2.8" VGA (640x480) 287 dpi capacitive touchscreen display.
We've heard the device will land in the US, Europe and Canada in September, while the Carphone Warehouse has listed a shipping date of August 12 for Vodafone UK. Also the price listed on the Carphone Warehouse (on the Vodafone UK network) is free on a £31 per month contract (the Vodafone UK site lists the smartphone at £199 on the same contract). A little miscommunication going on here perhaps - we'll see.

Posted using iPhone

Samsung Galaxy Xcover is one sweet-looking rugged droid

2011-08-10T06:26:00.001-07:00

Samsung has just unveiled the latest addition to their Xcover lineup of rugged phones and it is by far the most exciting to date. The Samsung Galaxy Xcover is an Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone with IP67 standard certification, meaning it's fully dust and water resistant, and it's also shock resistant so you won't need to worry about dropping it.

The Xcover series by Samsung have so far been only dumb phones with next to no functionality outside calling and texting, but this latest unit runs Android and aims to challenge the Motorola Defy and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Active.
We don't have the full specs sheet yet, but we can confirm that the Samsung Galaxy Xcover has a 3.2 MP camera with LED flash that doubles as a flashlight, Wi-Fi, GPS, HSDPA up to 7.2Mbps and, finally, a 3.65" scratch-resistant display of tempered glass. Oh, and the phone can stay as deep as 1 meter under water for 30 minutes.
So far we know the phone will hit Germany in October, but unfortunately, nothing on its pricing. Man we can't wait to take this one for a ride.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Nokia N9 release countdown pulled down from the website

2011-08-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

A few days back Nokia had put up a countdown on the Swedish version of the N9 website, counting down the last 50 days to the launch of the phones. But the countdown has now been pulled down, as noticed by a reader of My Nokia Blog.

There was no official announcement from Nokia when the countdown went live so expectedly there is none when it was taken down. Perhaps Nokia changed its mind regarding the launch of the phone on the aforementioned date or perhaps it’s just the countdown that has been taken down for now and they are still planning to go with the original launch date.
Whichever it is, we hope the phone is launched soon. We would certainly like to spend more time with the N9 than what we managed to do during our hands-on.