India vs. Apple’s Needs: iPhone 4G / HD and 3GS

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We always assume that Apple knows what they are doing, but we are baffled as to why they only offer the iPhone 3G with the 3GS coming soon. The rest of the world has had the iPhone 3GS for around 8 months now with rumors of a 4G / HD version coming very soon. So why is India so far behind, especially when they aim to take on the likes of Nokia – who has a stronghold in the country.
Maybe it has something to do with the lack of interest of the iPhone in India, which is due to the high price. There are rumors that the new iPhone 4G / HD will be cheaper than the 3GS – so why not bypass the current model altogether?
As we mentioned above, Nokia is the market leader in India – so we know that the potential is there, Apple just needs to tap into it. Nokia has been able to create handsets that fulfill market needs, something that Apple struggles with.
Apple is all about offering the best in technology, but the company should have different strategies for different countries. There is one problem with that though; Apple will never change for the need of others.
Techie Buzz tells us that we should not expect the iPhone 4G / HD anytime soon in India, so residents will just have to make do with the 3GS for now.
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Confirmed: Airtel Will Sell iPhone 3GS In India

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Good news iPhone fans, the iPhone 3GS is indeed coming to India. Bharati Airtel, which recently submitted its bid in the 3G-spectrum auction, has confirmed that it will be bringing the latest iPhone to India in the coming months.
It is a real shame that Indian users have had to wait so long for the latest and the greatest iPhone. Mobile telephony is exploding in India but the infrastructure is still below par in most of the country. Forget about internet connectivity, most service providers are struggling to ensure decent call quality. Now, while the rest of the world is preparing to adopt 4G, India is gearing up to welcome 3G.
Airtel did not provide any time frame for the introduction of iPhone in India. However, if it doesn’t hurry, the iPhone 3GS will become outdated even before launch. Moreover, the lack of exclusive license also implies that they may be facing competition from the likes of Vodafone, Reliance and Aircel.
In spite of being widely acclaimed and selling like hot cakes in the US, the iPhone has failed to have any major impact in India. Outrageous pricing by the distributors pretty much ensured that the iPhone was out of reach for a significant percentage of the youth. Let us hope that the carriers will be more sensible this time around.

Google forced to delay British launch of Nexus phone

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Setbacks with the launch of Google's first mobile phone, the Nexus One, have delayed its expected release in the UK till mid-April. Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters
Google's attempt to break into the mobile phone market has hit serious problems in Britain with the launch of its flagship Nexus One device understood to have been delayed until the middle of next month.
The setback means that by the time Google's first own-branded foray into the market this side of the Atlantic is available to consumers, its local network partner Vodafone will have launched a competing product, which analysts say is better, called the HTC Legend.
While Google has been working with the industry on the Android mobile phone software for several years, the Nexus One, made by Taiwan's HTC, is the first handset over which the search engine group has had complete control. But launching a new phone has proved more difficult than Google expected.
It was released in the US in January, but Google's decision to sell it solely through its website immediately came in for criticism as buyers struggled to get help with technical problems, and Google, which has traditionally relied on email for consumer contact, was forced to introduce telephone helplinessupport and the problems it has experienced in the US has given it reason to pause over the phone's launch outside the US, to make sure it has its customer service operations in place. Last week Goldman Sachs slashed its estimate for Nexus One sales this year from 3.5m units to 1m worldwide.
In the UK, Google will not only sell the phone at full price to any customer who wants to put their existing sim card into it, but it has also teamed up with Vodafone, which will offer the device free to anyone willing to sign a £35 monthly contract.
But the delay in the launch of the Nexus One, which under Google's original plan would have been available earlier this month, means that it will come after the launch of rival Android devices that analysts reckon are at least as good, if not better. Vodafone, for instance, will be offering the HTC Legend in April which has the same operating system as the Nexus One but is more stylish: being built from a single piece of milled aluminium. Orange and T-Mobile, meanwhile, will both be stocking the HTC Desire – which is exactly the same as the Nexus One, but has an optical trackpad instead of a trackball – from next month.
The delay also means the Google device will be available in the UK only weeks before another hotly anticipated gadget, Apple's iPad. Several of the UK's mobile phone companies are finalising deals with Apple to sell the tablet computer to British consumers. Unlike its last mobile device, the iPhone, which was offered through just one exclusive partner for the first two years, the iPad is expected to be available through multiple network operators from the start.
Apple will ship two versions of the iPad in the UK, one that can access the internet using short-range wi-fi networks and one that can also access 3G mobile phone networks. But Apple needs to sign deals with at least one UK mobile network, because the iPad makes use of micro-sims, meaning that buyers cannot just put the sim card from their existing handsets into it. In fact, it will be the first device launched in the UK that uses micro-sims.
Apple said earlier this month that the device will go on sale in the UK towards the end of April but the mobile phone companies believe that the 3G version of the iPad will not be available until May. Orange, T-Mobile, O2 and Vodafone all expect to be selling the iPad to customers and they are all locked in talks with the Californian company. Apple, however, has made it plain that it does not want iPad users to be tied to long-term contracts with any mobile phone operator. Instead it wants users to be able to pay for mobile network access on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Vodafone refused to comment. A spokesperson for Google added: "Our plans for launching the Nexus One in the UK are on track and in line with our statement in January that we would launch in spring 2010."

Aircel ties up with British handset maker

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To introduce mobile phones that integrate key features of social networking sites
Aircel on Tuesday tied up with British phone manufacturer INQ Mobile to introduce first-of-its-kind ‘dynamic social' handsets that help users stay connected on popular social networking sites. The mobile operator will also be participating in 3G and WiMAX spectrum auctions.
3G-ready
The two dynamic social handsets, INQ CHAT 3G and INQ MINI 3G, which will be available in 55 cities and sold from Aircel retail outlets, have been priced at Rs.7,599 and Rs.5,399, respectively.
“These multimedia phones are 3G-ready that will deliver superb value-added service (VAS) experience,” Aircel COO Gurdeep Singh told journalists here.
“We at Aircel have consciously focussed on VAS which is the future of telephony to be able to provide our consumers a rich and valuable experience and introduce to them a world of possibilities on their mobile. We are completely in sync with INQ's philosophy and devices which are built with the Internet at the core for a new generation with a different attitude to communication. That means a never before, rich and authentic Facebook, Twitter and email experience along with Aircel innovations,” he added.
Advantage
According to INQ Mobile Chief Executive and Founder Frank Meehan, “these attractively priced phones will soon become popular with Indian youths who want to remain constantly in touch. It will give them true Internet experience while on the go. The advantage with these handsets is that they integrate key features of social networking sites into the phone's address book, removing the need to separately log on to the service.”
Future plans
On Aircel's future plans, Mr. Singh said it would participate in the 3G and WiMAX spectrum bids. “We will begin our services in five more States — Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan — within the next couple of months, thereby covering the entire country. So far we have invested $5 billion while a similar amount will be invested in the next two years to expand reach and built infrastructure,” he added. With presence in 18 circles, Aircel today has over 3.5-crore subscribers.

AT&T announced 4 new Quick Messaging devices, new services

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AT&T announced a line-up of four new Quick Messaging Devices, which according to the company’s David Christopher are among their most popular and fastest-growing phones, offering consumers a great value for the money.
The new phones announced include:
Samsung Strive – highlights include a 2-megapixel camera and vertical sliding QWERTY keyboard. It will be available in two color combinations, black/silver and purple/charcoal, starting from March 21st, when interested users will be able to grab it for just $19.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and with contract.
Samsung Sunburst – GPS, widget-friendly user interface (TouchWIZ?), large touchscreen, quick access to social networking services. It will also be available on March 21st for $39.99 after a two-year agreement and $50 mail-in-rebate.
Pantech Link – ultra slim and light, it comes with a full QWERTY keyboard, social network integration and a GPS. The Link will be available in AT&T stores and online in the coming weeks. Pantech Pursuit – combines a full touch screen with a vertical sliding keyboard and GPS. Available in the summer in green or blue, the Pursuit will also support face recognition software and geotagging.
In terms of the services announced, here’s what’s new:
AT&T Address Book – which allows users to sync their contacts to an online address and access and manage them from both a mobile phone and PC.
Next Generation Messaging – a suite of apps/services that packs group messaging and “reply all” functionality for up to 10 contacts, a threaded conversations format, and a consolidated inbox.
AT&T Mobile Share – Helps customers quickly transfer photos and videos captured on their mobile phone to other destinations (social networks) and allows for managing of that content across the mobile and PC screens. It is sold either as a bundle of 50 media transfers for $10 per month or $.35 per transfer. Standard data charges apply for browsing the online media locker from the mobile handset.
And that’s about all we go from AT&T. You can check out the official press release, if you care.
[pictured above are Samsung Strive and Sunburst - AT&T hasn't provided photos of Pantech-made devices]

Google sees mobile ad rates passing PC rates

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Google Inc said that it expects the rates that companies pay for search ads on mobile phones could surpass the rates of its existing PC-based ad business thanks to the growing popularity of powerful smartphones.
Google Engineering Vice President Vic Gundotra did not say when he expected the crossover in the so-called cost per click of its search ads to occur, during a webcast to analysts about the company's mobile business on Monday. But he said that mobile ad rates have increased "dramatically" in recent years.
And he noted that the number of Google searches on mobile phones have increased five-fold in the last two years.
"We hope and believe that there's even a chance that we could exceed desktop in the future," Gundotra said in reference to the cost per click of mobile ads.
He cited the availability of technology, such as the GPS data that can tell Google a phone user's physical whereabouts, as helping the company create more "relevant" online ads.
Google, the world's No.1 Internet search engine with $23.7 billion in 2009 revenue, has stepped up its mobile efforts as consumers increasingly access the Web from smartphones like Apple Inc's iPhone.
Google offers its own Android operating system that handset manufacturers like Motorola Inc and HTC use in their devices, and in January, Google began selling the Nexus One phone directly on its Web site.
In November, Google announced plans to acquire mobile advertising firm AdMob for $750 million, though the deal is currently facing regulatory review.
The mobile briefing comes as Google is in a standoff with China, the world's largest Internet market by users, over the future of its Internet search website in the country. Google has said it will no longer censor search results in China, a move that some analysts believe could mean the end of its Chinese language web site Google.cn.
Asked what the search situation might mean for Google's mobile plans in China, Google CFO Patrick Pichette said on the webcast on Monday that Android was an "open source" platform that's available to everybody and that the company thought China represented "another great market in which Android should flourish."

Apple starts taking iPad orders

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Apple began taking pre-orders for its much-hyped iPad tablet computer Friday, some three weeks before the sleek new device goes on sale in the United States.
The first version to be made available on April 3 is a wi-fi-only iPad that will sell for 499 dollars. Later in the month, Apple will release versions that feature the ability to connect to the internet over cellphone networks.
The level of pre-orders for the iPad should provide strong indications of whether it will mirror the popularity of the iPhone, which came to redefine and dominate the smartphone market following its launch in 2007.
Apple is not expected to release information about the level of pre-orders, but the order line was so busy early Friday that callers were placed on hold for some 10 minutes before being connected to sales staff.
“I ordered an iPad anticipating new ways to experience education,” student Kevin Paffrath told PCWorld.com. “I am hoping to use the iPad to take advantage of new innovations such as e-textbooks, magazines, word processing and presentations.”

Pre-orders brisk for Apple's new iPad

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Neither recession nor gadget overload shall slow the mania surrounding the introduction of Apple's iPad mobile computer.
On Friday, the first day that buyers could pre-order the device (it arrives in stores next month), Apple racked up an estimated 91,000 sales in just the first six hours of availability, putting temporarily to rest the Internet's persistent "iPad fail" meme. Analysts predict the first-year sales could reach 5 million.
Still, despite the avalanche of pre-release hype (the media-tracking firm O'Leary Analytics found 25,000 news mentions of the then-unnamed product in January alone), Friday's pre-order mania was tempered by considerable ambivalence among the geeked-out on discussion boards and on Twitter.
"Early adopters," scoffed a poster on Appleinsider.com about the early buyers.
"I was all set to buy one this morning, but I guess cold feet set in overnight," read a post on TUAW.com (The Unofficial Apple Weblog). "I've decided to wait a while, maybe for the 2nd generation. Now I just have to see if I can hold out for the next gen iPhone. . . . Sometimes I think I should be going to gadgeholics anonymous meetings."
A Twitter poster named Mash187 offered: "Avoiding the rush to pre-order an iPad today. Going to wait until the [basic] version is in the wild to see how people really like it."
Engadget.com asked its tech-savvy readers whether they planned to buy an iPad, which starts at $499. The result: Nearly 19 percent of 60,000 respondents said yes; 65 percent were negative; and 16 percent clicked "What's an iPad?"
Enough with the iPad hype? We probably haven't seen anything yet. The product arrives in Apple stores April 3. Which can only mean one thing: TV reporters doing stand-ups in front of long lines of buyers camped out in front of the stores -- including the untold numbers who'll be there just to appear on TV news reports about people camped out in front of Apple stores.

Motorola to pre-load Microsoft’s Bing on Android smartphones in China

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Motorola has announced that it’s pre-installing Microsoft Bing services on its future Android smartphones that will be launched in China starting this quarter.
More exactly, Moto’s China-bound Android handsets will use Bing’s Search and Maps capabilities by default, instead of Google’s ones.
Motorola says the collaboration with Microsoft was made to enable users “to customize their devices and select their own Search provider”, but this probably also has something to do with Google’s problems in China.
Motorola’s Android phones that are already available in China (like the Motorola XT800 seen above) will be able to get Bing services, too, thanks to over-the-air updates.
Interestingly, Motorola has also chosen not to use Google as the default search engine for the AT&T BackFlip, preferring Yahoo instead.

Samsung e-Reader with Slider Form Factor Announced

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Samsung has announced its E6 e-Book reader in U.S., almost two months after it was first showcased at the 2010 CES - along with its bigger brother, the E101. The latter is yet to be announced though.
Samsung has tied up with Barnes and Noble bookstore to offer the E6 owners a sizable section of titles in the e-book format. The E6 has in sight the likes of the Amazon Kindle and even Barnes and Noble's own e-Book reader, the Nook. It is interesting to see Barnes and Noble tying up with Samsung to offer content for the E6 which competes with it's own Nook.
That said, the E6 is quite a looker - for an e-Reader that is. It has a very unusual slider form factor - probably a first for any e-Book reader on the planet. It has a 6-inch e-Ink display with a very crisp 600x800 resolution. Easily readable both indoors and outdoors, it also happens to be quite compact. The E6 comes with 2GB of internal memory, which should be sufficient for storing lots of data. However, if you feel 2GB isn't enough for the kind of reading you do, you can always use a microSD card to increase the memory to a colossal 16GB.
The E6 supports Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) and Bluetooth 2.0 and can also act as a wireless music player if you have lots of free memory and a pair of Bluetooth headphones that you can wirelessly connect using Bluetooth. There is a headphone jack as well as built in speakers. The speakers can also be used to listen to Samsung's text to speech ability in which the reader actually reads out content for you.
The E6 comes with an electromagnetic resonance (EMR) stylus pen. This gives the user the freedom to add annotations and "writing" on the e-Book screen.
Samsung is yet to reveal the price if the E6 and it is largely expected to be priced nominally compared to its competitors.

Books overtake games as most numerous iPhone apps

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In what is predicted to be a pivotal year for ebooks, with next month's iPad launch, the number of books available as iPhone apps now exceeds the number of games
The electronic book passed another milestone this month, with the number of books available on the iTunes App Store passing the number of games for the first time. According to data released earlier this month by the mobile phone advertising company Mobclix, there are more than 27,000 books now available as apps. Games lag behind, with 25,400 published this year, followed by entertainment, education and travel.
It's a trend that seems to be gathering momentum, with the number of book apps outnumbering games almost two to one over the past month. Next month's launch of the iPad, Apple's new tablet reader, alongside a dedicated book store, is set to accelerate the shift to electronic reading still further.
"The iPhone has always been perceived as a games-centric device, said Canongate's digital editor, Dan Franklin, "so the idea that books are outranking games is very exciting."
Franklin, who moved into digital publishing a year ago, said that his first thought on getting the job was, "When are Apple going to do something?" because "they have form". A move from Apple into the ebook market will "bring new people to reading like they have brought new people to music with the iTunes store", he added.
"It's a very exciting time," agreed Penguin's digital publisher, Jeremy Ettinghausen. "It's very exciting that people are using iPhones to read books."
"I travel on the tube every day," he continued, "and you do see people reading books, reading newspapers and playing games. As publishers we need to be on the things that people are using during that distraction time, that commuter time."
But he argued for caution in focusing on the number of titles being published, stressing that "it's very easy to produce books for the iPhone".
"It's interesting to see what's selling," he said, "rather than what's being submitted – quite a lot of the books are free downloads, whereas the games tend to be paid for. I'm more interested in what's going out than what's going in."
A significant proportion of these apps are free downloads of out-of-copyright books, but according to Franklin the recent surge in book apps can also be attributed to improvements in Apple's approval processes.
"Initially books weren't seen as being top of the pile," Franklin explained, but with the launch of the iBookstore imminent, "Apple are now taking more notice of book submissions".
"With the iPad due next month, and Google looking like they're going to launch their Google Editions, this is the key year for electronic books," he said.

A Closer Look at Sony’s New Skin for Android Phones

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Sony Ericsson’s new Android-based phone interface, like those from other cellphone manufacturers, integrates Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and other social networking services into one unified portal on your portable. The difference is that Sony Ericsson’s interface — UXP, formerly known as Rachael — actually looks useful.
The company plans to launch a slew of new Android-based phones this year. Top of the list is the Xperia X10 — which confusingly carries the same codename that UXP used to have: Rachael. It’s a device with a 4-inch touchscreen, a 1-GHz Snapdragon processor and 8.1 megapixel camera that will be available this quarter. The company will also introduce the Mini, a compact phone with a 2.6-inch display that will be available in a touchscreen-only version as well as one with a slide-out keyboard.
But it’s UXP that forms the heart of these phones’ experience. Sony Ericsson has been working on the UXP interface for more than two years, the company says.
“We have done extensive skinning of the Android platform. because we really wanted to make it a bespoke experience,” says George Arriola, head of user experience for Sony Ericcson.
Sony’s UXP interface attempts to do the same thing as rivals like Motorola’s MotoBLUR: namely, aggregate social networking feeds such as Facebook and Twitter into one stream, integrate that data with your phone address book and contacts, and personalize the multimedia experience.
“We took a very sophisticated PlayStation middleware and shrunk it to fit the Android OS,” says Arriola.
Palm was the first of the smartphone makers to kick off the trend of integrating social media updates and contacts with the launch of the Palm Pre, though the Pre was based on Palm’s own operating system webOS, not Android. But the Android phones launched since then have tried to follow the path blazed by Palm.
Motorola has the MotoBlur interface that’s now a part of most of its phones, including the Cliq, Backflip and Devour. HTC has introduced Sense, its custom UI that’s available on phones such as the HTC Hero and upcoming phones including Legend and Desire.
But Sony’s UXP interface is the most visually attractive implementation that I have seen so far.
At the heart of Sony’s experience is a widget called Timescape. Timescape collects social networking feeds and presents them in a card-like view. A bar at the bottom of the screen has little icons that lets users filter the information stream by network such as Facebook, Twitter or Flickr.
The phone also updates the address book with a contact’s latest social networking update. That means if you click on a name in your address book, you can see their last social-feed post and use it as a reference point while making the call.
What makes this experience slick is the way the cards rain down on the screen, offering an almost 3-D–like effect as they scroll past. Clicking on one of the cards pulls up the contact and their status update.
Rather than contribute to info clutter, Sony’s attempt to jazz it up by using better visual effects actually does make it easier to handle the information stream.
The UXP interface also introduces a concept called “infinite pivot” — an infinity-shaped icon that helps you drill deeper and pull up related views Sony is also trying to offer a better experience for music, video and photos. The widget that controls this is called Mediascape. Click on the Mediscape icon and you get three options: My Music, My Videos and My Photos.
Music and videos are divided into recently played, recently added and favorites. There’s also access to PlayNow, Sony Ericsson’s music-downloads service.
A recommendation engine can suggest other artists or songs based on the music preferences of a user. Clicking on the infinite-pivot icon next to an artist’s name in music and videos offers suggestions and even searches the web.
And in a bid to keep the custom look throughout the phone, Sony redesigned the interface to services such as the phone dialer, calendar and alarm, says Arriola.
Overall, Sony Ericsson’s UXP skin for Android is not as confusing as the MotoBlur interface and more polished than the HTC Sense UI. Instead, UXP is a snappy, sophisticated treat. It works, though, only if you buy into the premise that instead of checking your Facebook and Twitter when you want to (as in the iPhone), you would like these services streamed and updated constantly to your phone.
Now if only they could get U.S. wireless carriers to offer Sony Ericsson phones on contract — and at prices slim enough to match the hardware.
Check out the candid photos of the Sony UXP interface on the Xperia X10 phone below.
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Apple Now Blocking Wi-Fi Finding Apps, Sparks Debate Over Competition

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People don't pay much mind to the fact that Walmart, Sears and loads of other retailers shy away from selling wildly explicit material, but when it comes Apple, it seems that everyone is keeping a close eye on what they do. Just a few months after the company announced that it would be yanking some sexually-related apps from the App Store (and taking a sufficient amount of heat in the process), the company now seems to be doing a similar thing to apps of a much less risque description.
According to a new report, Apple has begun to yank Wi-Fi finding applications from the App Store, which is curious on a number of levels. For starters, we have always heard that Apple was quick to ban/block apps that basically served the same function as an app that was built into iPhone OS. This is the reason why you really won't find any additional Mail apps on the App Store. In a way, we can understand that logic. But we still can't quite wrap our heads around this one.
Wi-Fi finding apps were extremely helpful for those who needed to sniff out an open access point just to download a large file attachment or send a large e-mail. Now, it seems that those who haven't already downloaded one will be out of luck. We did notice that Apple's iPhone OS provides this functionality on a very, very basic level. If you go into the iPhone's "Settings" pane, you can then switch "On" the Wi-Fi and watch as it searches and displays whatever Wi-Fi access points are nearby. But there's no additional detail or extra search options; it's the bare minimum, but apparently Apple isn't too keen on people making this better via their own app.This all brings us to a very important question: why can't Apple developers, who pay hard-earned money to be a part of the program, develop apps to compete with Apple's own? Does Apple really think that no one can ever out-do their own apps? Do they simply not want their own apps to look paltry in comparison to third-party alternatives? It's hard to say what Apple's thinking here; they'll let people download apps that turn the iPhone into a flashlight, but they're blocking sophisticated Wi-Fi finding apps that actually boost productivity and make the iPhone itself a more attractive smartphone option. Will anyone ever truly understand how Apple ticks?

Sony's baked Apple: New gaming smart phone and iPad challenger said to be in the works

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The hottest tech development of the year has been Apple's disclosure of its iPad, a tablet computer set to debut in just a few weeks.
But consumer electronics giant Sony is reportedly aiming to outdo Apple.
Sony has two competing devices in development that will be ready to go sometime this year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
One Sony device in the works is said to be a new smart phone that can play PlayStation games. Sony already produces smart phones under the Sony Ericsson name, but none that offer gaming capability.
The second device could go even futher to blur the lines between function. It will reportedly be a tablet that combines elements of an e-reader, netbook and Sony's existing portable gaming device.
Sony is believed to be working with Ericsson on the device. The companies have a long history of developing handsets together, and recently launched the Xperia X10 smart phone, which is built with the Android OS.
Sony did not comment on the leak about new products.
The two gadgets would work with a new Sony platform slated to launch this month designed to rival Apple's iTunes.
Sony, which also makes TVs, laptops, e-readers, cameras and its PlayStation gaming systems, may leverage its power in the video game space to help compete against the iPad.
Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch have already made inroads into the gaming market, where they compete for customers alongside Sony's PlayStation Portable.
Reports indicated that the upcoming Sony Online Service will offer a broad catalogue of games, including older issues originally designed for Sony's PlayStation, in addition to more standard music and television fare.

New Rumors on PSP Phone and Other Sony Gadgets

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Back around the mid-90’s when on-the-go music still came courtesy of the Discman and the original PlayStation was the only way to game, Sony was the top canine in the electronics world. Then Apple came along what with its fancy iPod and revolutionary iPhone and Sony was relegated to a back seat. According to a Wall Street Journal article, Sony is more determined than ever to get back to the glory days.
The article cites two devices within Sony’s workshops that will be pitted squarely against Apple. The first, and perhaps most interesting, is a PSP phone being developed by Sony Ericsson. If the name didn’t spell it out, it is a smartphone capable of playing PlayStation games. Sony is reportedly pumping significantly more effort into this one than other SE projects.
The second device is described as a cross between a PSP, netbook and e-reader–basically a PSP iPad that may or may not be in tablet form.
Given the PlayStation’s strong brand position in the gaming arena, these two devices would make intriguing alternatives to Apple’s offerings. The report indicates that they could be ready later this year.

Buzzie: The First Native Mobile App for Google Buzz

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It looks like Google has decided against releasing new iPhone apps for the time being and has focused most of its mobile development efforts on web apps instead. While the Buzz web app is very good, however, it can't quite rival the speed and comfort of using a native iPhone app. Fiam's Buzzie is the first Buzz app for the iPhone ($1.99 - iTunes link) and even though it is still missing some features,it already gives us a good idea for what developers can achieve by using the Buzz API.
Posting to Buzz
Posting to Buzz from Buzzie is as easy as hitting the compose button, choosing if you want to attach your location to the post and hitting "send." You can use the app to send both private and public messages.
One feature that is missing here, however, is the ability to attach photos and links. Sadly, you can't set any defaults for the editor, which means that - by default - it always wants to attach your location, for example.
Photos and Links
The app handles posts with photos beautifully. You just tap on the photos and they appear in full-screen mode. Photo sharing is one of Buzz's best features and this app rightfully puts a lot of emphasis on making the photo browsing experience as seamless as possible.
The way the app handles links takes some getting used to, though.Instead of just tapping on the link, you have to push the little paperclip icon at the bottom of the screen. That's not a deal breaker, but it will surely confuse some people.
Verdict
Google is betting on HTML5 and web apps to deliver its products without having to go through the App Store approval process. Buzzie, however, shows that there are still some clear advantages to developing a native app. The app just feels a lot snappier than Google's web app for Buzz and even though it doesn't offer any new features, it makes using Buzz on the iPhone a lot more fun. A few features - like attaching photos to your posts or browsing the map for messages - are still missing, though chances are that the developers will add these in one of the next revisions.

Samsung Corby Folder Now Official

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It looks like Samsung has no plans to stop the influx of new Corby branded handset. After flooding the mid-range segment with feature packed touchscreen phones, it had launched non-touchscreen, full QWERTY phones that had the Corby label. Now, it has turned its attention to yet segment, which, so far, had been untouched by Corby with the announcement of the Corby Folder which happens to be a clamshell device.
The Corby Folder range will be first seen in Korea where they will come in different variants the W930/W9300/W9350.
The Corby Folder will feature a large QVGA display (measuring 2.6 inches) and a 3 megapixel camera. There is also a separate video calling camera. At 15.9 mm the phone is quite slim. It s not that heavy either tipping the scales at just over 113 grams. The phone, like all other Corby branded devices would be social networking ready and except for Wi-Fi, will feature most other connectivity options.
There is no word on how much internal memory the Corby Folder would come with. However, that shouldn t be an issue since it does support microSD cards for memory expansion.
As of now, the Corby folder seems to be a Korea specific product. However, we have reasons to believe it might see a global launch in the not too distant future. The pricing is yet to be revealed.

Apple admits using child labour

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At least eleven 15 year-old children were discovered to be working last year in three factories that supply Apple.
The company did not name the offending factories, or say where they were based, but the majority of its goods are assembled in China.
Apple also has factories working for it in Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, the Czech Republic and the United States.
Apple said the child workers are now no longer being used, or are no longer underage. "In each of the three facilities, we required a review of all employment records for the year as well as a complete analysis of the hiring process to clarify how underage people had been able to gain employment," Apple said, in an annual report on its suppliers.
Apple has been repeatedly criticised for using factories that abuse workers and where conditions are poor. Last week, it emerged that 62 workers at a factory that manufactures products for Apple and Nokia had been poisoned by n-hexane, a toxic chemical that can cause muscular degeneration and blur eyesight. Apple has not commented on the problems at the plant, which is run by Wintek, in the Chinese city of Suzhou.
A spokesman for Wintek said that "almost all" of the affected workers were back at work, but that some remained in hospital. Wintek said n-hexane was commonly used in the technology industry, and that problems had arisen because some areas of the factory were not ventilated properly.
Last year, an employee at Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that is one of Apple's biggest suppliers, committed suicide after being accused of stealing a prototype for the iPhone.
Sun Danyong, 25, was a university graduate working in the logistics department when the prototype went missing. An investigation revealed that the factory's security staff had beaten him, and he subsequently jumped to his death from the 12th floor of his apartment building.
Foxconn runs a number of super-factories in the south of China, some of which employ as many as 300,000 workers and form self-contained cities, complete with banks, post offices and basketball courts.
It has been accused, however, of treating its employees extremely harshly. China Labor Watch, a New York-based NGO, accused Foxconn of having an "inhumane and militant" management, which neglects basic human rights. Foxconn's management were not available for comment.
In its report, Apple revealed the sweatshop conditions inside the factories it uses. Apple admitted that at least 55 of the 102 factories that produce its goods were ignoring Apple's rule that staff cannot work more than 60 hours a week.
The technology company's own guidelines are already in breach of China's widely-ignored labour law, which sets out a maximum 49-hour week for workers.
Apple also said that one of its factories had repeatedly falsified its records in order to conceal the fact that it was using child labour and working its staff endlessly.
"When we investigated, we uncovered records and conducted worker interviews that revealed excessive working hours and seven days of continuous work," Apple said, adding that it had terminated all contracts with the factory.
Only 65 per cent of the factories were paying their staff the correct wages and benefits, and Apple found 24 factories where workers had not even been paid China's minimum wage of around 800 yuan (Pounds76) a month.
Meanwhile, only 61 per cent of Apple's suppliers were following regulations to prevent injuries in the workplace and a mere 57 per cent had the correct environmental permits to operate.
The high environmental cost of Apple's products was revealed when three factories were discovered to be shipping hazardous waste to unqualified disposal companies.
Apple said it had required the factories to "perform immediate inspections of their wastewater discharge systems" and hire an independent environmental consultant to prevent future violations.
However, Apple has not stopped using the factories.
In 2008, Apple found that a total of 25 child workers had been employed to build iPods, iPhones and its range of computers.

Conde Nast Magazines on the Apple iPad

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In a deal that I personally foresee as mutually beneficial to both parties, Conde Nast just announced its intention to take “leadership position” on the new Apple publishing business for the iPad. Charles H. In an email by Townsend, president and chief executive of Condé Nast, he shared that “[Conde Nast] feel confident enough that consumers will want our content in this new format that we are committing the resources necessary to be there… How large a revenue stream digitized content represents is an answer we hope to learn through this process.”

GQ will already be available in April, Wired and Vanity Fair in June and The New Yorker in summer. Much of the magazine costs come from paper and printing. With the new iBookstore and iBook e-reader from Apple, serving issues of TNY, GQ, Vanity Fair, is likely to be much cheaper. How the advertisers will like it is another matter.
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