Hey Apple, Android Caught You

In the news today: Android has caught up to the IPhone in consumer interest. What does this mean? IPhone is all it was, back in 2007. Android has grown 7% from June, where 30% of consumers said that they were looking into buying and Android phone (A droid phone for the non techies, because they don't know Android, only droid.) On the other hand, IPhone interest has dropped down from 50% in June, to 38% now. Android has only a measly 1% of the market to influence to take the crown away from the IPhone, which should not be hard at all. But what surprises me about this data is that 0% of consumers showed interest in a Palm WebOS smartphone, which shocks me greatly. In my opinion, WebOS is one of the most polished OSs out there, right behind the IPhone. And the way those phone handle multitasking, that is sweet. Those little card things are so awesome, and just flick them up, and the app is ended. Don't forget to save, bookmark, and share!

NewTwitter, the Review

I have finally received the new iteration of the social networking service, which the call NewTwitter. Overall, this is a big improvement from the previous Twitter, but I was not as amazed as I thought I was going to be. Some things that NewTwitter didn't include and make harder: No auto shortening of links with t.co. Does not include way to add images withing Twitter's own website; must still go to TwitPic or YFrog for image uploading. Has a bit of a confusing look with the new two panel view. Also, this was the most annoying thing to me, and I bet a lot of other people is that all the custom backgrounds with the sidebar will now be cut off on the left side, and it has little room to fit an image or some information. I now need to work on a way to fit something that I'm me, and look more professional. Overall though, NewTwitter is definitely a step up from the previous, and will be good for the evolution of it. Don't forget to save, bookmark and share!

RIM Announces PlayBook: The Company's First Wow in Years

This actually shocked me, how awesome this thing looks. RIM has announced the IPad competitor, and in my opinion, it is cool. Yes, something RIM made is cool. This thing has a dual core 1Ghz processor, two cameras that record HD video, weighs only 0.9 pounds, WebOS-like multitasking, a great-looking OS, a sleek web browser, and much more. Yes RIM has finally redeemed themselves, with a device that actually makes a consumer say "WOW." The only problem is that there is no price, and no release date. If RIM can build on the OS of the tablet and implement them on their touch-screen phones, they can start to show the public that they still have it, they still know what the consumers want. The tablet has a 7-inch 1024*600 display, and also 1GB of RAM. This also runs flash, with their video, which will be posted below, saying "flash friendly." Take that Apple.

Google Rolling Out Paid Apps To 12 Countries

Google is making a strong push with it's Android market today as it is going to start offering the ability for developers to make paid applications that are submitted to them. This means that some people who are developing brilliant apps without making a single penny can finally be able to profit off their hard work. Hopefully this means that the app "Launcherpro" will start to be paid because that developer has worked his tail off to create the one of the best, if not the best home replacement application for Android to date. On the other hand, I do not know what country the dev lives in so he might still have to make profit from his launcherpro plus app that he sells through paypal, which offers Sense-like widgets for a stock android phone. Also, this might help the android market grow compared to Apple's app store which now has over 250,000 applications compared to the 100,000 in the Android Store. By the way guys, if I have not said it before, this blog is mostly related to mobile technology such as phones, tablets, laptops and so on, but I might include some interesting articles here and there that don't focus on phones, too. Don't forget to share, bookmark & subscribe, new post coming soon!

HTC Mondrian Ad Leaked!

Engadget reports the HTC Mondrian ad that shows the phone will be running on AT&T's network, and that the Mondrian will be sporting windows phone 7, with a possible launch date on October 23. Rumors also suggest that the Mondrian will be running on a 1.3 GHZ Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, blowing pretty every phone on every other OS away. This phone looks like its two close cousins, the HTC Schubert and the Mozart. Other specs say that the phone will have an 8-Megapixel camera and a WVGA resolution Super LCD display. HTC seemse to be a key player in the Windows Phone 7 Arena, and AT&T better step up their game if they want to bring customers from other carriers to experience these great Windows 7 devices. I wonder which devices will be using that Tri-core 1.5 GHZ  marvel processor. Hmmm.... Don't forget to bookmark, save and share! See you guys tommorrow!

Verizon Ends Unlimited Data Plans, Uh-Oh

Verizon Wireless has just announced they will be switching to "tiered" data plans instead of their monthly unlimited plan that they currently are using. What does this mean? THE END OF THE WORLD! why did they have to do this, why? This is not good! Now I'll have to CHECK my data usage! I don't know how much data I use, but I know it's more than the average Joe, which means if I go over, I'll have to pay a FEE! (dramatic music sounds.) Hopefully, they will have plans that are over 2GB, which is AT&T's current limit. Verizon hopefully will be releasing a 4G phone sometime soon, so if they want to keep the 4G network fast, they can't have people downloading movies everyday, BUT STILL! This is not fun! Will I at least get to keep my unlimited plan until my plan runs out? Hopefully, but if not, I'm going to be very angry! The lack of a data cap was a thing that I liked about Verizon, but now, I don't like them. I wonder when all the carriers have that, they're going to offer an unlimited plan for like 40.00, Instead of the 30.00 that I pay now. In other news, Target brand will start to sell IPads starting October 3rd, and the T-Mobile G2 will start to be sold on the sixth of the same month said in the previous sentence. Don't forget to save, share and subscribe!

Is this the Droid Pro?

An image posted by DROID-LIFE shows us what looks to be a white Motorola DROID. The website is claiming that this is in fact the Droid Pro, the successor to the Droid 2, which was only launched just over a month ago. The Droid 2 is said to be phased out with the release of this new device, and Droid 2 owners will et a special deal for the new Droid. The phone is rumored to have a 1.2 GHZ processor, and a supposed quadrant benchmark says that the device scored a 1709, which is above pretty much all devices, and the only close competition is the HTC Desire HD, which uses a 1GHZ second-genertation Snapdragon processor. Sadly, the Droid Pro is said to have the same camera as the Droid 2. Check out DROID-LIFE for more information.

Desire HD: Specs Are Crazy

The HTC Desire HD was announced last week at an HTC press conference in London, and recently HTC has put up a page on their site for the phone. The specs of this thing are ridiculous, and include things like Android 2.2, 1GHZ (second generation) snapdragon which does almost double the performance in quadrant, 8MP camera with 720P HD video recording, and a whopping 768MB of RAM. Yes, were talking about a PHONE here.This thing is crazy, and the fact that it is all wrapped around HTC sense makes it even better. The Desire HD will probably not be available in the US, though. But, there is always that mysterious Verizon HTC Device that has been leaked multiple times, which looks like a combo of the EVO and the Desire. One thing that I have noticed that no one, even HTC has mentioned about their new Sense is that that bar at the bottom of the homescreen can be interchanged out with different ones now. Also, did you see how fast the Desire HD and Z booted up? HTC said under ten seconds, I say under 5  seconds.


This photo is from HTC's website, no copyright infringement intended

Nokia Delays N8, Again

Nokia has delayed their N8 smartphone for a second time. They say that they need to make sure the user experience is nice, they need to make some final amends. The N8 is Nokia's flagship smartphone, and they even made some interactive video on their YouTube channel . Some specs of the N8 include a 12-Megapixel camera with xenon flash that shoots 720p, a 3.5 inch AMOLED display, 16GB internal memory, 680MHZ processor, and more. If Nokia was to do anything to make the N8 better, they should make the processor 1GHZ.

Internet Explorer 9 Beta, The Review

Microsoft has finally dropped a beta of Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft's newest take on the browser wars. The beta comes after many iterations of the platform preview, which shows of some of the HTML5 skills of this new browser. We have the review, and we will review it in 3 categories: Look, Ease of use, and speed.
Look: 8/10. Internet Explorer 9 takes a great step into the evolution of the look of browsers. It has the new "tab on top" idea (chrome), and a big back buttons ala Firefox. Internet explorer 9 is say is the second best looking browser, only to Chrome 6.
Ease of use: 7/10. IE 9 is fine, except for one thing: NO BOOKMARKS BAR. :-(. It may be there, I just can't find a way to activate it if there is.
Speed: 9/10. This is where IE 9 shines. IE 8 was the slowest web browser I have ever used in my life, and it just kind of felt, bloated and clunky. IE 9 is a giant leap forward.
Overall, I am impressed with what Microsoft has brought to the table with Internet Explorer 9, and I believe it will help them get back in the race for the best browser.

UPDATE: there is a way to add a bookmarks bar, just right click to the right of the new tab button and there is a option for a favorites bar. 9/10 new rating



all credit goes to favbrowser for the image

HTC Releases Desire HD and Desire Z

HTC has announced that they will be releasing the Desire HD, which is pretty much like a global EVO, and the Desire Z, which is exactly like the T-Mobile G2. These devices are pretty average in the processor department, but what I believe was not a smart move, is that the Desire Z and G2 have only an 800 MHz processor. If they could have given the G2 a processor clocked at around 1.1 GHz, that would have made the phone in my opinion the best Android device to date. On the other hand, the Desire HD was also slightly disappointing, not having a new kind of Qualcomm processor, only a Snapdragon. I an just waiting for a company to pull out all strings and put a phone out there that just makes the IPhone 4 looks like a kids toy. I'm talking Android Gingerbread, 10 MP camera with 720p at 60 fps, 1.5 GHz processor, 4.3 inch 1024*768 resolution. Front facing camera with LTE 4G. Able to launch a rocket...okay getting a little carried away now! Tell me what you think in the comments!

Kindle Ad: IPad, Meet Sun

A new Kindle ad targeting Apple's IPad is trying to show the IPad's problem as a book reader, the sun. It shows a man trying to read on something that looks as if it is a black IPad, struggling to see the text. He looks to his left to see a woman reading on the Kindle's bright screen. Then he asks, "how are you reading that?" and the woman responds, "it's a kindle, only $139 dollars." Two clear things Amazon was trying to prove: 1. The Kindle looks good, even in bright sunlight. 2. It is cheaper than the IPad, at the oh-so-low, $139 dollar price tag. Video below!

Apple Might Switch To Qualcomm..Verizon IPhone In the Works?

A recent China Times article stated that Apple may start to use processors made by Qualcomm to power their IPhones, IPod Touches and IPads, the whole IOS gang. Apple currently uses chips that are made by Infineon, which was recently bought by Intel. The funny thing is, Infineon chips only support GSM technology, which AT&T uses. Qualcomm processors, on the other hand, support both GSM and CDMA. Verizon IPhone, anyone?

"Fascinate Has Problems" Says Customer. "We Know" Says Verizon

The Samsung Fascinate, which is the 4th Galaxy S phone to reach the major carriers,  seems to have a few problems. Verizon seems to know, and they are keeping a list, which is unfortunately pretty extensive. Verizon hopefully is readying an Over-The-Air update that fixes these symptoms, which include ending calls when pressing the search button in a call, screen blanking when receiving another call while in one, email sync problems, GPS issues (shocking, right?) and more. Also, the one thing that annoys me the most about the Fascinate is that it use Bing Maps and Bing Search instead of Google. What!!!?? It is a Google phone that runs on Google software, and they put Bing?! It was like when AT&T used Yahoo on the Motorola Backflip, except this time, the phone has hardware that is up to pace with THIS decade. Verizon should have just added this to the Droid series and the phone actually might have sold well. Verizon kind of made a waste of a phone that has the best hardware of it's class, with a 1 GHZ processor, huge GPU, and more.



All Copyright goes to CNET for this image used above.

Google Instant: A New Way To Search

Wednesday was the day that Google unveiled it's widely hyped instant search box, so now instead of having to do individual searches, the search streams as you type in the search box. If Steve Jobs was making this presentation, he would say it was "revolutionary" and in my opinion, it is pretty cool looking. I am not one of the lucky ones to have been blessed with Google Instant yet, so stay tuned, and in a couple of days I will be giving a review of Google's new search tool: Google Instant.

Ping Draws 1 Million Users Within 48 Hours

Apple's new music sharing service that comes with ITunes 10, named "Ping" has reportedly drawn 1 million users in it's first 48 hours. The social service which has been reviewed multiple times has gotten the same verdict: "it's a great idea, but kinda stinks." Hopefully Apple will get the bugs out by the time of the next ITunes release.

TBWJ App: A No Go

Hello readers, I am sorry to inform you that the TBWJ App will not be coming. The night I made the post that said an app would be coming for you, I experimented with some test apps. I realized that since app inventor allows no way for a feed to be displayed in an app, and because of the fact that I don't know how to use JavaScript, making an app would not be possible. I apologize, but if you own a smartphone, be sure to look at my mobile site, that should do!

Twitter For IPad, the Full Review

Twitter has officially come to the IPad, and we're here to give the full review. We'll review it in 3 categories: look & feel, features, and ease of use. Based on 1/10

Look & Feel: 8/10. Twitter for IPad has a very smooth and simple UI consisting of one column with options on the side. The compose and settings buttons are located on the bottom left. The UI is very clean, but I feel that there is wasted space to the right of the timeline, which could have been used.

Features: 9/10. This app is one of the most Full-Featured apps available for the IPad. Pretty much everything that the Twitter website has is there. The one missing thing: A back button. There is no way to remove a window such as an in app-browser besides clicking on another button that is on the column to the left.

Ease of Use: 7/10. Menus are sometimes hard to find inside the settings tab, and it may not always be the easiest to find simple things, such as replies and retweets.

Overall: 8.5/10. Twitter For IPad was one of the best Twitter apps to
date for the IPad. It is replacing my current application: Tweetdeck. This certainly beats out other apps, such as Twitteriffic, also. I have some screenshots, check them out.