Archive for August, 2010
Nokia RSA is giving away 8 Nokia N8′s over 8 weeks. The competition for the first N8 runs from today till Sunday 5 September. To enter the competition head over to the link below and guess number of the box containing the N8.
http://ringaz.nokia.co.za/mobile-devices/you-can-be-the-first-in-sa-to-own-the-new-nokia-n8/
My Palm Pre is now running at 1GHz! And as you can see from this photo, it is doing this speed at a very cool 21 degree celcius. Get the latest versions of Govnah and UberKernel via Preware and your Pre can also.
Last week I overclocked my Palm Pre to 800MHz. Today my 500MHz Motorola Milestone is clocking 1.2GHz. Does that make it the fastest Android phone on the planet? Close, if not. You need two apps to achieve this, both available from the Android Market: Easy Root and Milestone Overclock. Easy Root from unstableapps.com lets you root your phone without having to do any techie stuff. Will cost you a dollar or two, payable via paypal at unstableapps.com, in order to get your registration key, but definitely worth the money. Milestone Overclock is free and lets you set your phone’s cpu at various speeds all the way up to 1.2GHz.
Google today released the Chrome to Phone extension to the Chrome web browser. It works together with the Android Chrome to Phone app (available for free on the Android Market on your phone), by letting you send stuff from Chrome on your pc to your phone, via Wifi or cellphone network. The main features are:
* Send browser links from Chrome to your phone.
* Google Maps links launch the Google Maps application on Android.
* YouTube links launch the YouTube application on Android.
* Selecting a phone number will automatically launch the dialer with the number populated.
* Selecting text on a Web page will copy the clipboard to Android (long press a text box to paste on Android).
It is way cool. Give it a go. Download the chrome extension here.
The Android Market is not available in all countries (yet). South Africa is one of the countries still left out in the cold. As a result SA Android users (HTC Magic, Dream, Hero, Desire, SonyEricsson X10, etcetera) can get only free apps from the Market. Some of the paid apps are available outside of the Market, usually by going directly to the developer, but some developers do not have payment mechanisms outside the Market. Enter the MarketEnabler. This clever bit of code fakes your rooted Android phone’s location (as seen by the Market). I have tried it on my HD2 running Android 2.2 and it worked. The Market now thinks my phone is on T-Mobile in the US and is happy to show me paid apps and let me buy them using my visa. Priceless.
Download MarketEnabler here (free of charge of course): http://code.google.com/p/market-enabler/
The Blackberry Torch was launched yesterday. I can already see the word plays on that name: Will it set the mobile world alight? Torch keeps RIM’s flame going, etcetera. Palm Pre-ers will recognise the familiar form factor with portrait slide-out keyboard. Nevertheless I think the Torch is a step in the right direction for RIM – keeping the physical qwerty keyboard that BBs are renowned form while adding a capacitive touch screen a-la iPhone/Android/Pre. The version 6 of BB OS also looks like a solid improvement on the old one, with web browsing and social networking on par with the competition. Initial indications are that RIM hasn’t succeeded in surpassing Android or iPhone in any way, but has at least done enough to prevent more high-end BB users from jumping ship. On a related note, it is ironic that the Blackberry’s famed security has resulted in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE banning BB Messenger, emails and even internet access on the BBs in those countries. Reason being that the high security provided by the Blackberry prevents these governments from spying on their citizens’ communications. Crazy.
If you are like me, and you have a Palm Pre, but cannot get any full WebOS apps from Palm’s app store, because Palm in their infinite wisdom has opened the store to users in selected countries only, then I have good news for you. Mosey on over to the website of India’s Reliance Mobile, check out the forums, and you may just find a bunch of full WebOS apps and 3D Games ready for download. Download the ipk files and install using WebOSQuickInstall. I have been desperate for a Twitter app that will give background notifications and lo and behold I manage to find the full version of Tweed at this website. Am still trawling through the forum pages, but have so far seen a long list of games and a few useful apps. Go crazy starved Palm people!
By now you may have heard of MeeGo, which is the new OS that Nokia is planning on using as a replacement for Symbian on its top-end phones. It is apparently being developed as a joint venture between Nokia and Intel (?) and is based on Maemo, which you may also have come across if you happen to be one of the unlucky owners of the N900. Seems Nokia has decided to Maemo is not good enough, and MeeGo is the answer. Time will tell. I think they should have bought Palm’s WebOS when it was up for grabs, but anyway, have a look at this video showing what looks like the MeeGo UI on Nokia devices. Looks quite cool.
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