News - SlashGear

Posts Tagged ‘news’

Palm threatening unlocked GSM Pre retailers with legal action

By Chris Davies on Friday, Sep 18th 2009 1 Comment

Palm has been apparently been busy warning UK retailers that it is less than happy with pre-order pages for SIM-free versions of the Palm Pre, informing them that the webOS smartphone will only be available in locked form (presumably to O2, the company’s UK carrier partner). Our sibling site MyPre.com has been informed by one affected retailer that Palm’s legal team “requested” in no uncertain terms that they take down their listing, where the Pre had been tentatively offered for £450-500 ($737-819).

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Nokia N86 8MP NAM Edition arrives in US (at long last)

By Chris Davies on Friday, Sep 18th 2009 2 Comments

Nokia’s N86 NAM edition has finally shown up for sale in the US, offering S60-loving photography addicts what could be the perfect smartphone for their dual desires. Announced all the way back at Mobile World Congress in February, the N86 packs an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and Carl Zeiss optics, and is priced at $468.99.

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mintpass mintpad finally gets general release

By Chris Davies on Friday, Sep 18th 2009 No Comments

It's been some time coming, but mintpass have finally seen their mintpad 2.86-inch touchscreen PMP and WiFi internet tablet arrive for general release. The palm-sized mediaplayer boasts 4GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot, together with a 1.3-megapixel camera, audio, video and picture playback, and an ebook reader.

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Microsoft remote software “kill switch” confirmed

By Chris Davies on Wednesday, Sep 16th 2009 2 Comments

Microsoft have been spilling the beans on more Windows Marketplace for Mobile details at Tech.Ed New Zealand, including confirmation that the company will install a remote “kill switch” for removing software from users’ smartphones. The backdoor access will be used, apparently, should Microsoft approve and then later remove a title from the Marketplace; not only will it be stripped from the virtual store shelves, but automatically removed from any devices that have installed it.

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HTC Hero firmware upgrade goes live on UK site

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, Sep 15th 2009 38 Comments

It's taken them a while to catch up, but HTC have finally added the new Hero firmware to their UK download page. The English 2.73.405.5 ROM brings with it a new lease of speed and general perkiness to the Android smartphone, together with adding touch-to-focus to the Hero's 5-megapixel camera.

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Sony Ericsson Pureness gets £530 UK launch in November

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, Sep 15th 2009 No Comments

Sony Ericsson’s Pureness cellphone has been confirmed for the UK, but the company is not going for the usual pile-’em-high strategy. Instead, when the handset – which has a translucent-display – arrives in November, would-be buyers will need to trek to Selfridges and design museum shops; that’s because, according to SE spokesperson Cathy Davies, the Pureness is an “iconic niche product, not mass market.”

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LG reveal 15-inch OLED TV to cost $2.5k-$3k

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, Sep 15th 2009 No Comments

LG have confirmed that their 15-inch OLED TV will be priced at between $2,500 and $3,000 when it launches in Korea this November. A senior executive from the company has told OLED-Info that, while the flat-panel's final price is yet to be decided, it will be in the same bracket as the existing Sony XEL-1 OLED TV.

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Zune 4.0 Software released; Zune HD to get 3D gaming, Twitter & Facebook

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, Sep 15th 2009 No Comments

It comes as no great surprise, given our unboxing video and hands-on with the new PMP is already live, but Microsoft have officially announced the Zune HD. As well as reconfirming the specs we’ve already heard – NVIDIA Tegra processor, 720p HD playback, OLED multitouch touchscreen and either 16GB or 32GB of storage – Microsoft have also revealed that yes, the Zune HD will play 3D games such as Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition and Audiosurf Tilt together with getting Twitter and Facebook clients later in 2009.

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iPhone OS 3.1 blocks tethering on all unlocked handsets

By Chris Davies on Monday, Sep 14th 2009 5 Comments

Apple's latest iPhone OS, version 3.1, may bring along with it Genius recommendations for applications and ringtone downloads, but it also takes away tethering functionality with non-Apple-partner carriers. While that may not come as a great surprise, given Apple's dislike of jailbroken and unofficially unlocked iPhones, the new firmware also blocks tethering for those using "official" unlocked handsets.

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Intel tip Jasper Forest embedded Xeon CPU ahead of IDF

By Chris Davies on Monday, Sep 14th 2009 No Comments

Intel have been teasing with some pre-show chip information in advance of their IDF (Intel Developer Forum) kicking off September 22nd. As well as talking up their manufacturing expertise – Intel describe themselves as “by far the most advance of any semiconductor manufacturer in the world” – they’re also tipping their upcoming Jasper Forest embedded processor platform.

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