Wireless Archive

Nielsen: Desire for iPhone Slips as Android Gains

Thom Holwerda 2011-04-26 Wireless 15 Comments

A common argument has always been that the only reason Android is as popular as it is in the US is because people are buying Android solely because they can't buy an iPhone (i.e., because they don't want AT&T, or because Verizon is their only carrier, and so on). This line of thinking would imply that now that the Verizon iPhone is here, Android would be in trouble. Well, it turns out that might not be true, exactly. For the first time, more people desire Android for their next smartphone than iOS.

B&N Nook Color Update Brings Froyo, Applications, Flash

Thom Holwerda 2011-04-25 Wireless 11 Comments

"We've been waiting for this day: our little reader would finally become a big boy tablet - without having to resort to any sort of hackery. We knew it was coming and, as of now, owners of the Barnes & Noble Nook Color should be receiving notices that their devices are ready to drop those training wheels and run some proper apps. Flash web browsing, downloads, games, e-mail, it's all here."

Nokia Market Share Falls But Microsoft Deal Confirmed

Thom Holwerda 2011-04-21 Wireless 3 Comments

"Mobile phone maker Nokia has posted better-than-expected profits for the first three months of 2011, down 1% to 344m euros. But its market share fell 4% to 29% as cheaper rivals and the popularity of competitors' smartphones ate into Nokia's dominance. Nokia also said that it had struck a long-awaited deal to develop smartphone technology with Microsoft. Investors welcomed the news, sending Nokia shares up almost 3%."

Regarding the BlackBerry PlayBook

Thom Holwerda 2011-04-15 Wireless 41 Comments

I couldn't get into it yesterday, but today is a new day, and I've got my coffee ready. So, let's dive into reviews of RIM's new toy, the PlayBook. Since my overall opinion on the whole tablet thing can be best summarised as 'meh', my interest regarding the PlayBook focusses mostly on its QNX operating system. As a long-time fan and even regular user of this wonderful piece of technology 'back in the day', I'm interested in what the reviews have to say about it.

RIM Launches New PlayBook

Thom Holwerda 2011-04-14 Wireless 13 Comments

"BlackBerry maker Research In Motion launched its new PlayBook tablet computer Thursday amid poor reviews and a scramble to make more third-party applications, big hurdles to overcome if it is to compete in the hot market dominated by the iPad. The Waterloo, Ont., firm is pulling out all the stops to encourage development of apps - the games and tools that tie users to their tablets. Steps include loosening the company's own strict app-building rules, as well as the recent decision to support applications built for Google Inc.'s Android platform."

Sony Ericsson Launches Bootloader Unlocking Site

Thom Holwerda 2011-04-13 Wireless 29 Comments

Wait, is this for real? The company that striketh console jailbreakers with smite and other things that sound Biblical now actually launches a site specifically for unlocking its Android phones? Yes, Sony Ericsson just launched a website where owners of the company's latest Android phones can go to to unlock their devices. It's unreal - but a very welcome move, and hopefully a sign of things to come for other companies.

Symbian ‘Anna’ Official

Thom Holwerda 2011-04-12 Wireless 41 Comments

The long-rumoured Symbian update, called Anna, has finally been made official by Nokia today, bringing with it a new browser, new icons, an on-screen portrait qwerty keyboard, and more. The Finnish Windows Phone OEM (sorry) also launched two new Symbian phones today.

CyanogenMod 7.0 Released

Submitted by Coldfirex 2011-04-11 Wireless 11 Comments

"After over 4 months of work, many sleepless nights, and contributions from people all around the world, I am proud to release CyanogenMod 7.0 into the wild! CM7 is based on the 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) release of Android from Google. We’ve added most of the great features from CM6 you know and love, and many new ones including support for several tablets. We are currently providing support for 30 devices! I continue to be amazed with this community and the dedication of everyone involved."

Nokia: Symbian Is Not Open Source

Submitted by Ooliebol 2011-04-08 Wireless 14 Comments

We've got a little correction to make - although this time, it's kind of Nokia's fault for an ambiguous choice of words. We said in a short item that the source code to Symbian had been published online by Nokia, but this is, in fact, not exactly the case. They're not open as in open source, but open as in open for business.

Review: MID M80003W Tablet with Android 2.2

Eugenia Loli 2011-04-07 Wireless 50 Comments

Geeks.com sent us in an Android 2.2 tablet, the MID M80003W. They recently populated their store with a number of cheap tablets, so we thought it was a good idea to see what one could expect from these products that seem to have flooded the market recently.

Woz: Tablet is the PC for ‘normal people’

David Adams 2011-04-05 Wireless 41 Comments

"Tablets are the culmination of what Steve Jobs wanted to create at Apple from the beginning", Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has said. During a keynote session at Storage Networking World in Santa Clara, California, Wozniak was asked how tablets would change the computer industry. He compared them to TVs. "The tablet is not necessarily for the people in this room," Wozniak told the audience of enterprise storage engineers. "It's for the normal people in the world."

30 Years of Portable Computing

David Adams 2011-04-05 Wireless 13 Comments

There's a fascinating post at the StormDriver blog comparing the first mass-produced portable computer, the Osborne 1, with today's hot-selling portable computing device, the iPad 2. The Osborne was launched 30 years ago this week, and of course the comparison with the iPad is about as stark as you would expect. The iPad is literally thousands of times better in some measurable aspects, costing about one eighth as much in inflation-adjusted dollars.

Submitted by eml.nu 2011-04-04 Wireless 14 Comments

Nokia has just posted that it has completed putting the Symbian source code online at symbian.nokia.com. This means that both company-supported and independent developers can now access the Symbian source code again, after the effective closure of the Symbian Foundation. This follows the interim measure of FTP access to Symbian Foundation hosted content being given out on request.

Windows Phone 7 Development by the Numbers

David Adams 2011-03-31 Wireless 14 Comments

a Windows Phone developer takes a look back at the past year, and looks at some of the numbers, to try to measure how the new mobile platform is coming along. Example: "1,200 - While the 36,000 registered developers are nice to talk about, the 1,200 newly registered developers we are adding every week is incredibly encouraging. Developers are pragmatists and they are going where there is ample opportunity."

Submitted by JCinSpain 2011-03-28 Wireless 51 Comments

I'm still reeling from the unrivalled epicness and awesomeness that is Sucker Punch in IMAX (just got home - do not miss this film), but now I'm back to boring old reality where we apparently care about pieces of plastic that go beep. So, anywho. The deal between Nokia and Microsoft has many Symbian and Qt developers worry about the future of their platforms. To address these concerns, Purnima Kochikar, vice president of Forum Nokia, has published an open letter describing Nokia's plans for Symbian, Qt, and Java for Series 40 devices. While the letter doesn't deliver any hard dates, the transition phase to Windows Phone 7 is set to 2011/2012.

Google Withholds Android 3.0 Source

David Adams 2011-03-25 Wireless 36 Comments

The company revealed Thursday that it will delay publication of the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) source code for the foreseeable future - possibly for months. It's not clear when (or if) the source code will be made available. The decision puts Android on a path towards a "draconian future" of its own, in which it is controlled by a single vendor - Google. The Ars link linked above is a pretty inflammatory editorial, so see also: Businessweek, GigaOM, The Register.

Android Applications Coming to PlayBook

Thom Holwerda 2011-03-24 Wireless 14 Comments

Research In Motion has just dropped a pretty major bombshell about its PlayBook tablet. Rumours were heard before, but now it's official: the PlayBook, which runs QNX, will be able to run Android applications. On top of that, and less surprisingly, support for BlackBerry Java applications has also been added, as well as a native C/C++ SDK alongside the already supported HTML5/AIR/Flash environments.

Motorola Developing Its Own Operating System?

Thom Holwerda 2011-03-23 Wireless 42 Comments

All hail the omnipresent people familiar with the matter.This time, these patrons of the internet have told InformationWeek that Motorola is not satisfied with Google's Android, and that the company is working on its own mobile operating system.

AT&T To Buy T-Mobile USA

Thom Holwerda 2011-03-20 Wireless 74 Comments

A major deal just went down in the United States, which seriously shakes up the mobile industry on the other side of the pond: AT&T has announced it plans to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom.

Wave 533 and bada Review 2: Booting bada, Overall UI

Neolander 2011-03-19 Wireless 12 Comments

Having reviewed the Wave 533's hardware in the last article, it's now time for us to have a look at the most interesting part: the bada OS itself. In this article, I'll have a look at the boot procedure of bada (how long it takes, what happens on first boot), and then will discuss the app-independent UI concepts introduced by Samsung in this OS before going in more details about specific apps in upcoming articles.