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Yet more Samsung Omnia II video goodness
02 Jul 2009
 Want more Samsung Omnia II video action? It's right here at hdblog.it. We've seen it before but this one is an 11 minute spectacular.
You know the deal by now, TouchWiz 2.0 UI, 3.7 inch WVGA AMOLED screen, WiFi and more besides.
Soak it up here or click on. Oh, and check out the pictures with more here.
Link - samsung.hdblog.it
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| Samsung Jet on the way to Orange too
02 Jul 2009
 A few weeks ago Samsung announced a range of new Omnia handsets at a big launch party. Most of their efforts however, were pushed into a new Samsung Jet handset which sadly isn't powered by WinMo. It's packed with a Samsung AMOLED 3.1" WVGA 800x480 screen, 800Mhz CPU, WiFi, TV-Out, microSD, 5 megapixel auto-focus camera, 3.5mm audio port, FM radio and that new TouchWiz 2.0 interface.
Today, along with the Toshiba TG01 it's taken up residence on the Orange website as coming soon.
We're hoping that this could possibly signal the arrival of other Windows Mobile-powered devices to the Orange network. Let's just wait and see eh?
Link - Samsung Jet (Orange.co.uk)
Credit - John Wilson
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| A week with the HTC Hero - Day 3
02 Jul 2009
 Day 3 of our week with the Hero is now online and we have some great news. I'm getting a tripod ! No, not that sort of tripod - one for the camera, so these one-handed wobble-cam videos could be a thing of the past very soon.
Today we take a look at the "scenes" available within the HTC Sense GUI and have a quick look at the programs available on the handset. There's more to come on this one, but catch todays episode down below or direct on this link and don't forget to whack that "HQ" button.
Link - A week with the HTC Hero (Day 3) - Get one unlocked
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| Toshiba TG01 shows as coming soon on Orange UK
02 Jul 2009
 Remember how we told you that the Toshiba TG01 was coming to Orange ? Well, we hate to say we told you so but here it is on the Orange UK Shop. A massive 4.1 inch W-VGA screen, Facebook, Youtube, WiFi, GPS, microSD expansion, 3.1 megapixel camera and a blistering 1Ghz CPU are on board and this is should be arriving very soon indeed.
Update - What the? It's vanished?!
Link - Toshiba TG01 (Orange.co.uk)
Credit - Kevin Ede
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| A week with the HTC Hero - Day 2
01 Jul 2009
 Day 2 of our HTC Hero video blog is now online. Today we took at the insides of the phone - the HTC Sense interface. I've got no manual and no instructions - this is all stuff I've learnt in the first few hours with the phone.
HTC Sense is more than just a flashy interface - this can be YOUR space. Put your pictures on, add your stuff, true drag and drop functionality, multi-touch and more. In this video we show you around this new interface and what you can do with it.
Click on to see the video here or click the link to see it on YouTube.
Link - A week with the HTC Hero (Day 2)
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| Toshiba TG01 heading to the UK July 9th?
01 Jul 2009
 Following our earlier news of a possible launch on Orange it also looks like the Toshiba TG-01 might be coming to o2 too. A Toshiba launch event has been set for July 9th and many believe it will mark the launch of the 1Ghz handset in the UK.
The TG-01 is a quadb-band GSM handset with HSDPA on 2100. It has a massive 4.1 inch screen running at 480x800 pixels, a G-sensor, microSD expansion, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth EDR and a 3.1 megapixel camera with autofocus. As usual we'll keep our eyes peeled for further developments.
Links - pocket-lint.com - slashgear.com
Credit - James McDonald (Picture courtesy of pocket-lint.com)
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| Micro USB agreed as the new charger connector
01 Jul 2009
 Back in February the GSM association and several handset manufacturers started discussions into a unified charger solution for mobile phones. Yesterday the decision was finalised, with 10 companies representing 90% of the European mobile market agreeing on the new micro-USB format.
The companies involved are Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Apple, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung and Texas Instruments, but we've not heard of an agreement from the likes of HTC, who currently use miniUSB sockets on their phones.
Link - Yahoo! News
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| More WinMo 7 shots? Sadly, no
01 Jul 2009
 Yet more "are they or aren't they" rumours started a couple of days back when pictures of what's believed to be Windows Mobile 7 appeared online. Whilst we still wait for 6.5 to appear officially on phones, these shots appeared with other sites stating that they were WinMo 7.
The reality? They're not. The designer has stated that these are merely show a mobile interface idea and aren't designed for Windows Mobile. His work is on display here at robinzhu.com and, if we had our way, he'd be getting a postion with Microsoft tomorrow.
Link - istartedsomething.com - robinzhu.com
Credit - Alex
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| A week with the HTC Hero - Day 1
30 Jun 2009
 Early next month the HTC Hero will be available to buy on networks and unlocked for £399.99. Just a few days ago we attended the launch event of this new Android-powered phone. It marks a significant shift for HTC, who have invested time and effort in the design of not just a Google Android phone, but a phone with a whole new user experience. The GUI, known as "HTC Sense" was shown off last week but we wanted to see more.
Security at the launch event in London was tight and a bouncer manned the door to stop light-fingered reporters making off with the Hero units on display. The phone itself isn't on sale for a while yet, but magically we've got one. Sadly we only get to play with the phone for a few days, but we'll be giving it the full video blog treatment and taking bags of snaps.
Today is day 1 of our video blog, so I drove out to the country to look at the rabbits and play with this new toy. Check the video or soak up the pictures below. Do get your questions in.
Link - Buy the HTC Hero Unlocked @ devicewire.com - A week with the HTC Hero (Day 1)
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| Kinoma Play updated yet again
30 Jun 2009
 It's only been a month since Kinoma Play was updated to include extra features such as Twitter and Facebook integration. Now they've updated it yet again with a faster experience when Tweeting and extra support for more online photo services. The Twitter search is now more reliable and adding Twitter updates is more secure with improved retweeting.
Extra features in this enhanced version include a configurable Close button, Live365 album art, a built-in clock, Bing search, a better YouTube experience and improved navigation. The Kinoma Play app turns your Windows Mobile into a complete multimedia viewer and social networking hub. The free version is still available, with the commercial app selling for $29.99.
Link - Kinoma Play
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| Android Marketplace continues to fill up
30 Jun 2009
 We're going to start covering Android news - this won't dilute our existing Windows Mobile coverage and it's merely branching out with additional information for our visitors. Over the next few days we'll be working on improvements to the site so you can visit the main URL for Windows Mobile news and a slightly different URL for Android news.
Today a couple of companies announced that their software would be available for Android. Wattpad, which isn't available natively on Windows Mobile devices (you might want to try the Java midlet though), are to launch a version of their ebook reader for Android handsets. It's available through the Android Market right now.
Also, CoPilot Live, which is already available for WinMo, is also available through Android Market. The sat-nav system boasts 2D and 3D views, turn-by-turn navigation, safety camera alerts, street maps, fluid map scrolling and will run in portrait or lanscape mode. Get more details here.
Links - Wattpad - CoPilot Live for Android
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| HTC Hero now on Orange Shop site
30 Jun 2009
 The HTC Hero has just popped up on the Orange Shop in it's exclusive graphite colour. Prices start from a big fat nothing depending on the contract. This is the Android-powered device that HTC revealed last week with the HTC Sense GUI.
THe specs include a 5 megapixel aut-focus camera, 3.5mm audio port, multi-touch, trackball control, microSD expansion, GPS, WiFi, G-Sensor, digital compass, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and a Qualcomm MSM 528Mhz CPU.
Currently the phone is "coming soon" but should go live in the next few days.
Link - HTC Hero on the Orange Shop
Credit - John Wilson
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| WinMo 6.5-powered Mio Amber approaching?
29 Jun 2009
 This is the Mio Amber - a touch-screen Windows Mobile 6.5 device with a 5 megapixel camera around the back and a VGA one up front for video calls plus a health 1500mAh battery. ai.rs also reports a 3.61" WVGA screen, 256MB RAM / 512MB ROM, FM radio, a G-Sensor, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, microSD and a Qualcomm MSM Turbo CPU running at 528Mhz.
No word on pricing or availability as yet, but we'll keep you posted.
Link and picture credit - ai.rs
Credit - Al
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| Toshiba TG01 Coming to Orange UK ?
29 Jun 2009
 When we get emails from anonymous sources we're always a bit sceptical. Take today for example, we've had a tip-off that the Toshiba TG01 is coming to Orange UK. Should we tell you about it ? Well, it'd be a shame not too really.
I'm due for an upgrade soon so this would be great if it's true, but we'll have wait for further confirmation. Until then there's a rather nice Toshiba website to drool over - check out the dreamy music and that video demo too.
If you know anything, give us a nudge anonymously on our contact form.
Update - OK, looks like this could indeed be legit - I'm getting a few more pings about this now!
Links - Specs - Toshiba Mobile
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| HTC Hero - What we know so far..
29 Jun 2009
 Confusion seems to be surrounding the launch of the Sense GUI on the Android-powered Hero last week, with rumours of it being made available on Windows Mobile already surfacing. Strange. We were at the press event and, from what we were told by HTC, the HTC Sense GUI is NOT coming to Windows Mobile. TouchFLO is the HTC GUI for Windows Mobile but parts of it include HTC Sense "ideas" and usability already. We noticed this when we reviewed the latest version in the Diamond2 - communication between your friends and colleagues gets grouped by contact, making it easier to manage.
HTC appear to be working towards a more "unified experience" across their handsets, which meant that we could use the HTC Hero fairly quickly last week. Sure, this isn't powered by Windows Mobile, but we feel that it's time to cover a slightly broader range of devices alongside our unrelenting WinMo coverage. What would be interesting, in my opinion, is to have one for a whole week - y'know, just to give it a real test. Maybe do a daily video blog too? That'd be interesting...
Link - Buy the HTC Hero (£419.99 unlocked)
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| Omnia handset get video hands-on - WANT!
26 Jun 2009
 Man, check out that screen! Look at the QWERTY keyboard, the blistering screen switching speed, the smooth zoom, the fluid GUI! Look at the scrolling .. just.. look at it. Berjeezus the Omnia II and OmniaPRO B7610 look good. HELLO ? SAMSUNG PR? WANT PLEASE. WANT.
You know the specs by now - the Omnia Pro II has WinMo 6.1 but it's tucked away under the TouchWiz 2.0 UI. There's a 3.7 inch WVGA AMOLED screen which looks crisper than a hot crisp packet, WiFi, HSDPA 5.76Mbps speeds, and bags more. The OmniaPRO B7610 (the one with the sliding QWERTY round the back) has a 5 megapixel camera, GPS and the AMOLED display too.
OK, time to stop reading now. Click on for the "want" video from hdblog.it. Really, watch it.
Link - hdblog.it (Watch the pop-unders)
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| Vodafone Access Gateway - Get a signal again
26 Jun 2009
 Arriving in just a few days, the Vodafone Access Gateway is designed to boost the existing Vodafone signal so you can get mobile reception. It plugs into your home broadband connection and transmits a standard 3G GSM signal so that up to four mobile calls can happen at any one time. Using femtocel technology it should let rural customers and anyone with low inside coverage get reception again.
The Gateway will be resticted to the mobile numbers of the phones you register, and you'll have to pay £160 for the unit, plus another £5 for the privilege of getting a reception in an area Vodafone can't be bothered to cover properly, we presume. Is it just us though? What's you opinion? How would you feel paying £5 per month just so you could get a signal on your phone?
Link - Vodafone Access Gateway
Credit - ccsnet
Picture Credit - slashgear.com
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| Unlocked HTC Hero - Free goody bag too
26 Jun 2009
 If you've got some money washing around an you fancy dipping your toes in the Google Android camp, we've got some news. The white unlocked handset (all the other colours are for networks by the way), will be selling from devicewire pretty soon, but if you get your name down now you'll also get a HTC Goody bag too.
We've just spotted this on the twittersphere, so if you'd rather spend £434.99 buying it now instead of gradually paying for a phone over 18-months on a contract, get your name down.
Link - devicewire.com
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| T3 Gadget awards get under way
26 Jun 2009
 T3 Magazine have just opened up voting for their 2009 Gadget Awards. There's spot prizes to be won just for taking part. HTC are up for "Tech Brand of the Year" and the HTC Touch Diamond2 is in the shortlist for "Drop Dead Gorgeous Gadget" and the "Phone of the Year", so get voting to take part.
Link - T3 Gadget Awards 2009
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| Nimbuzz - Interact, call, share - free!
25 Jun 2009
 An updated version of Nimbuzz is now available. Now, if I'm honest I've not come across this software before so I'll explain a bit more about it. For starters, it's free. Brilliant. It's a "mobile social messenger" which mixes VoIP, instant messaging (Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ, GoogleTalk, AIM), social networks (Facebook and MySpace), file-sending, location-sharing. The new version is nicer to look at too, with SkypeOut support, SIP calling and a dial pad. For a better look at it, watch this video.
This is well worth a try and could save you money on calls if you pipe everything through WiFi or a flat-rate data plan (presuming those nasty networks haven't blocked the ports). ;)
Link - Nimbuzz.com - Direct Download
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| Cheap USB Wall Charger
25 Jun 2009
 Here's another very useful accessory which will only set you back £2.92 (well, err.. £5.21 with the postage). It's for those of you who may have lost your normal phone charger or need an additional one elsewhere - just plug your sync cable between this wall charger and your phone to get instant power.
Available now from saverstore.com, we'd be interested in knowing if you've used one of these or have something similar.
Link - saverstore.com
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| HTC Hero - Video and overview
25 Jun 2009
 Yesterday we were in London to witness the launch of the latest Google Android-powered handset from HTC. The HTC Hero has a new HTC interface inside called "HTC Sense" and brings the smooth and quick interface we've seen on Windows Mobile with HTC TouchFLO 3D. Following the big launch we grabbed a few minutes with a friendly HTC guy for a full demo of this new phone. You can see the videos and more pictures below, or click the links to view them on YouTube.
Don't forget to press the "HQ" button for better quality video if you have the bandwidth. Thanks to everyone at HTC and the PR team.
Links - HTC Hero Demo 1 - HTC Hero Demo 2
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| HTC Hero to come with free massage?
25 Jun 2009
 Carl Paulsen has just mailed in after spotting this interesting option on the new HTC Hero Product Tour. If you wait for number 4 to pop up it shows an interesting option we've not seen before. Now, we don't want to be mean, and we KNOW the HTC Hero can do a lot, but will it be offering you a free massage too? ;)
Edit - Oh, and yes, it is me in this video. Check out how tired I look. :) Our son, Billy, kept us awake quite a bit during the night.
Link - HTC Hero Product Tour
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| HTC Hero to be available unlocked too. Specs confirmed.
24 Jun 2009
 Devicewire have stepped up to offer the HTC Hero unlocked. For those who don't want the usual contract tie-in, you'll soon be able to grab the handset from them for £378.25 exluding VAT or £434.99 with VAT. Stock will be arriving July 3rd.
If you're still wondering what all the HTC Hero stuff is all about and you've missed our coverage today, check out the official HTC webpage about it. We've already got pictures of the event online, plus you can get the graphics too. The full specs are...
CPU - Qualcomm® MSM7200A™ 528 MHz
Operating System - Android™
Memory - ROM: 512 MB / RAM: 288 MB
Dimensions (LxWxT) - 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm (4.41 x 2.21 x 0.57 inches)
Weight - 135 grams ( 4.76 ounces) with battery
Display - 3.2-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 320x480 HVGA resolution
Network - HSPA/WCDMA 900/2100 MHz (Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds)
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Device Control - Trackball with Enter button
GPS - Internal GPS antenna
Connectivity - Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), 3.5mm audio jack, HTC MiniUSB port
Camera - 5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus
Battery Capacity - 1350 mAh
Talk time - Up to 420 minutes for WCDMA / Up to 470 minutes for GSM
Expansion - microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
Special Features - G-sensor and Digital Compass
Link - Devicewire.co.uk - Official HTC Hero Page
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| Orange confirms HTC Hero availability
24 Jun 2009
 Orange have made their launch of the HTC Hero official with the press release below. It's going to exclusively retail the "Graphite" coloured Hero for absolutely nothing on plans 24-month plans costing £39.15 per month from early July. They also confirm that it's the first of "several" Android powered handsets coming to Orange this year.
Francois Mahieu, Director of Devices at Orange UK states..
“We’re really pleased to be launching our first Android handset in conjunction with HTC. The first of several Android devices you can expect from us this year, we believe the Hero is a great all round device which will allow consumers to get to grips with all the things they love about the internet, whilst on the move. We expect it to be extremely popular when it hits shelves this summer.”
Get the full press release below.
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| The HTC Hero phone and HTC Sense GUI - the low-down
24 Jun 2009
 Today was the HTC "Come See" event and we were in attendance down in Hackney. Upon entering the location we were
ushered into a large room for the main launch and placed near to the front. Shortly following this Peter Chou -
CEO at HTC took to the stage. We've been lucky enough to meet with Peter on a number of occasions and he's got a
great understanding of what customers want from a phone.
"The Smartphone is the new phone", said Peter, "People appreciate the Smartphone experience. For us, we have
four core Values to everything we do - it's all about people, surprise, simplicity and power."
HTC have spent the last five years recruiting a specialist software team in the US an Taiwan. They claim to have
the most amount of software developers working on Windows Mobile and Android outside of Google and MS.
Announcing the new HTC Sense interface Peter stated that it is designed to keep people close, to combine social
networks and to discover the unexpected. It's also what coolsmartphone.com was originally built for - making the
phone your own through plugins and custom applets. "Make it mine", said Peter.
Later, after asking a number of HTC people they all stated that this wasn't "simply an Android version of
TouchFLO 3D". It's hard not to find parallels between the two interfaces. The very latest TouchFLO 3D version
now lets you click contacts and find out what each contact is doing by grouping all the communication channels
into one panel.
The HTC Sense is to be introduced in a "line of upcoming handsets", the first being the HTC Hero, a Google based
device which will be available in July 2009 on T-Mobile and Orange. It's therefore clear that HTC Sense is a
Google Android thing, and TouchFLO 3D is a WinMo thing. The HTC Hero uses the HTC Sense interface to adjust to
your life patterns, it's personalisation in overdrive. Phones can now do so much that it can be a problem
juggling it all. "We carry a phone to stay close but we have to go in and out of various different systems to
see FlickR / SMS / Email etc.", said HTC. Predictive dialing is another feature of the HTC Sense. It'll also
automatically switch to the appropriate time zone and update which town you're in with the GPS. Multi touch is
included, a 5 megapixel camera is in the back (no flash, but auto-focus is there), there's a compass, 3.5mm
audio jack and on-screen text is auomatically formatted to fit. In the demo everything looked really smooth
apart from the screen orientation switching. Bookmarks in the browser are silky smooth and the GUI is as fluid
as a wet marble on a tray.
Outside the HTC Hero there's a Teflon coating to stop dirt and stains. The angled handset also stops the need to
polish the screen with an anti-fingerprint finish. This is also the first handset to feature the latest Adobe
Flash player out of the box. Plus, to make data entry easier, there's an advanced on-screen keyboard with error
correction. In my demo this worked well, with mistakes being corrected intelligently and quickly.
HTC showed video from people in London using the phone - all were impressed. The angled design of the phone and
the trackball interface seemed to prove popular. We'll have to see ourselves, but it has got us thinking. This
isn't Windows Mobile, but it is a Smartphone. This is something we need to follow.
Read on for the full press release.
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| Adobe Flash 10 - Coming to Windows Mobile
23 Jun 2009
 We've been hanging with the Windows Mobile crew for some time now. Heck, we remember when an animated GIF was a big deal! Now we're finally getting confirmation that Adobe Flash 10 will be coming to Windows Mobile. All we've now got to do is wait until October, when a Beta will be available for us all to fiddle with.
Shantanu Naraye, CEO at Adobe, stated..
"We are bringing Flash Player 10 to smartphone class devices to enable the latest web browsing experience. Multiple partners have already received early version of this release."
Link - adobe.com
Credit - Dan
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| The Vario V ! T-Mobile UK! Wait.. Not coming at all?
22 Jun 2009
 The MDA Vario V originally popped up in February and we all expect the branded Touch Pro2 to pop onto T-Mobile UK following the launch of the Compact V - it's keyboardless cousin. However, doubts started to surface after some people were told that the Vario V might not appear. Several of you chipped in with your experiences in the forum and now it appears that it could have been dropped all together. Coolsmartphone reader "Mr Sad" emailed in to say..
"The Loyalty team (Rebecca) called me, they've had an email to the team, its official... T-Mobile won't be offering the Vario V – its been dropped."
Now, there's rumours that it's failed some T-Mobile tests, but we're not so sure - it's selling on T-Mobile Germany so... what gives T-Mo UK? Let us know if you've heard anything.
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