Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Web, Web 2.0 / Social Networking  Facebook has revealed that of it’s 500 million users, 30%, or 150 million, use the site via a mobile application. 58 million of those access the site through iPhones and iPod Touches, with 29 million using BlackBerry smart phones. 4.3 million use Android, about a million use WebOS and fewer than 500,000 use T-Mobile Sidekicks. The remaining users likely access using applications on dumbphones or by using the mobile version of the site via their phone’s web browser.
I freely admit to being a heavy user of both the BlackBerry app and the iPhone app (on my iPod Touch!). How about you? Read [PCMag] Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Computers, Mobile Computers 
The Really Mobile Project is reporting that O2 will start rolling out the much improved Android 2.1 to all Streak users in the UK. One of the main complaints of the Streak is that it ships with an outdated OS (Android 1.6), and in the United States it is no different. Starting Wednesday, O2 should begin rolling out the OTA Software update, a process which could take a week or so for all users to receive the update. Android 2.1 brings to the Dell Streak many new features and performance improvements. Many applications in the Market run on devices running Android 2.x, so the Streak should be able to access them, 720p video recording, multi-touch, live wallpaper, edit documents using QuickOffice, dialer interface, speed and performance, and support for multiple accounts. Needless to say, Android 2.1 will be quite an improvement over Android 1.6, but we’ll have to wait for Wednesday or for O2 to officially validate this information. Via [The Really Mobile Project] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones 
How popular are the Samsung Galaxy S devices in the United States? Very popular, as Samsung recently issued a press release indicating the giant electronics company has shipped over a million units in only 45 days since its triumphant launch on T-Mobile. Currently, the only Galaxy S phones available are the Samsung Vibrant on T-Mobile and the Samsung Captivate on AT&T. However, the Epic 4G is due to launch tomorrow on Sprint with the Samsung Fascinate launching shortly on Verizon Wireless. After all four major carriers begin selling the Galaxy S, I’m sure we’ll see many more devices shipped. Some of the key features inherent in all four devices are the four inch AMOLED display, 1GHz Hummingbird Processor, and Android 2.1. Two of the variants feature LED flash, while the Epic 4G boasts a physical QWERTY keyboard, a front facing camera, and 4G capabilities. The full press release can be read below. SAMSUNG MOBILE SHIPS ONE MILLION GALAXY S DEVICES IN THE U.S. MARKET
Android 2.1-powered smart phones available at AT&T and T-Mobile and coming soon to Sprint, Verizon, U.S. Cellular and Cellular South DALLAS, August 30, 2010 —Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile)1, the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the U.S., today announced that it has shipped one million of its Android™ 2.1-powered Galaxy S devices in the U.S. market. Samsung Mobile began shipping the Galaxy S portfolio2 on July 15, which are currently available with AT&T and T-Mobile. Galaxy S devices will also be available with Sprint on August 31 and will be available with Verizon Wireless, U.S. Cellular and Cellular South this fall. Samsung Mobile has packed cutting-edge technology into its Galaxy S portfolio, including features such as a stunning 4-inch Super AMOLED display screen, 1GHz Hummingbird Application Processor and a multitude of entertainment, messaging and social networking capabilities. In addition, all Samsung Galaxy S devices will be upgradable to Android 2.2 in the future. "Bringing Galaxy S devices to multiple carriers has given Samsung Mobile the opportunity to reach millions of consumers," said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Mobile. "I am proud of the instant success of the Galaxy S line up and I am very pleased to announce that because of the support of our carrier partners and loyal customers, we have shipped one million Galaxy S devices in the U.S. market. Samsung Mobile looks forward to sharing additional Galaxy S milestones in the future." The roll out of Samsung's Galaxy S portfolio has been supported by a multi-tiered print, online, cinema and television advertising campaign, including major networks such as ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN and MTV and in cinemas such as AMC, Cinemark and Regal. Samsung Galaxy S was also a sponsor of X Games 16, which was held in downtown Los Angeles from July 29 to August 1. From September 30 to October 3, the Samsung Galaxy S lineup will be showcased at the World Cyber Games Grand Final in Los Angeles. In addition, Samsung Mobile has executed a comprehensive Galaxy S social media campaign, which included a Facebook promotion and daily content sharing on Samsung Mobile's social media channels, which include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube™. As additional Galaxy S devices become available, Samsung Mobile will continue to distribute key digital and video assets to sustain awareness of the Galaxy S. For additional information on the Samsung Galaxy S portfolio, please visit www.samsung.com/galaxys. 1 Number one mobile phone provider in the U.S claim for Samsung Mobile based upon reported shipment data, according to Strategy Analytics, Q2 2010 U.S. Market Share Handset Shipments Reports. 2 The Samsung Galaxy S portfolio of devices includes the Samsung Captivate™ at AT&T, Samsung Epic 4G™ at Sprint, Samsung Vibrant™ at T-Mobile and Samsung Fascinate™ at Verizon Wireless. Additional Galaxy S devices will be available with U.S. Cellular and Cellular South.
Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones 
T-Mobile announced the availability of the upcoming BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone through its personal Facebook account. While announcing a piece of information through Facebook isn’t as glamorous as a press release, it still gets the job done, and in a more efficient manner. The new BlackBerry Curve 3G—running OS 5—will be available September 8 for the inexpensive price of $80 on a two year agreement with T-Mobile USA. Even though the device ships with OS 5, it is important to note that it is OS 6 ready meaning RIM should update the device to the latest OS as soon as possible. Lastly, the device features a physical QWERTY keyboard, 2MP camera, optical trackpad, and microSD memory expansion. Read [T-Mobile on Facebook] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Video, Content, DVD/DVR/Blu-ray, HDTV, Portable Video, Video Providers  According to Financial Times (FT), Google’s YouTube unit is in talks with Hollywood studios to begin offering streaming movie rentals by years end. FT’s info suggests $5 streaming rentals (not downloads). The news fits nicely with Google’s already announced TV box that aims to bring Internet goodness to TVs.
FT’s news comes as the battle for your TV is expanding past cable vs. satellite. Today, Google and Apple are looking to become platform players while companies like Netflix and Pandora look to bring added features to a connected TV world. Google’s apparent move here moves their Google TV plans to be inline with Apples. Word is streaming rentals will be available on the day a movie’s DVD is released. Read: [FT.com] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Computers, Software / Applications  Microsoft filed a writ of certiorari in hopes the US Supreme Court will review their appeal against i4i. According to the courts, Microsoft infringed on i4i patent 5787449, a patent that defines a “system and method for the separate manipulation of the architecture and content of a document, particularly for data representation and transformations.” The courts awarded $290 million and a permanent injunction to i4i back in 2009.
Microsoft attempted to appeal the case to the Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit and also failed to get a rehearing of the decision by the Court of Appeals. The US Supreme Court is Microsoft’s last chance. Of course, the Supreme Court may or may not review the case at its discretion. Read: [i4i] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Computers, Software / Applications, Web, Web Apps  As of today, Quicken Online is no more. It’s been replaced by Mint.com, the financial service Intuit bought last year. The company says they’ve taken the best features from Quicken and folded them into Mint.com. Users will have to sign up for a new account with Mint if they want to continue to use the service, and many of them may be irate to discover Intuit is taking no responsibility for migrating existing Quicken data over to the new service and they admit there is no easy way to do so. Users can import a transaction list to Mint, but that’s it. Have a .CSV backup file? Sorry, they can’t be imported. Frankly Intuit is handling this quite poorly. They should have developed an easy way for users to migrate their data over. This may not be received well by users still stinging from the recent massive outage that knocked Quicken, QuickBooks, Turbo Tax and Quickbase offline for hours.
Read [PCMag Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Web, Web 2.0 / Social Networking  Facebook is reportedly trying to trademark the words “face” and “book”. This has already raised opposition from a company called ThinkComputer that offers a mobile payment app called FaceCash, and it’s likely Apple might have a problem with Facebook’s attempted trademarks as well, seeing they have apps called FaceTime and iBooks and oh yeah, the MacBook as well. Let’s face it, if Facebook really is trying to trademark “face” and “book” it’s absurd. Does that mean every bookstore and plastic surgeon offering facelifts is going to owe Mark Zuckerberg big bucks? Let’s hope the U.S. Patent andTrademark Office will set him straight fast.
Read [CNet] Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Gadgets / Other, ebooks, Reviews, Features The thought of having to bring my Kindle or iPad to the beach or pool unprotected was concerning. Luckily, both MEdge and Otterbox have created waterproof/shockproof cases that gets the job done. The Guardian. It’s definitely heavy and bulky, but after several trips to the beach, appears to successfully keep out water and sand. There are a few downsides to the case. The areas covering the buttons and joystick are soft plastic so you do lose any ability to search, type notes or jump pages. Also, if the kindle is left in the heat for too long, condensation forms on the outside of the case. However, the inside stays dry and after a good wipedown the screen is clear once again. Second, the case comes with a screen protector that sticks to the screen on the kindle. I have not quite figured out why only the screen needs added protection, but I am considering forgoing it. The protector is intended to be the same size of the screen but is not cut properly and is a little too large. As a result, air bubbles form, making it difficult to see the screen. Finally, the only way to turn the kindle on and off is to open the case. This involves opening the 4 latches that secure the case and is a bit inconvenient if you’ve just come out of the pool. However, if your goal is to protect your kindle from water and sand, this case does the job well.  On the other hand, the Otterbox Defender series case doesn’t protect from water or sand. It’s killer feature is the drop-proof protection that this almost 2 lbs. case offers. The iPad fits snugly amongst all the padding and protection on the defender. When in-use the screen and buttons are accessible, allowing complete functionality. But don’t fret, when you want to pack-up, put your iPad down, or walk around with it, the back of the Defender flips to the front, offering full 360 protection.There is also a built-in sand to make it more comfortable to work with. Last but not least, there the bottom and sides have rubber/silicone coverings to make sure your iPad doesn’t slip on any wet surfaces (though if it were to, you would be more than protected). While I wouldn’t recommend it to the beach (too much sand) I think this is a great addition to pool-side items. Full Story » | Written by Adam Berger for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Computers, Mobile Computers  It looks like the device that was once known as the Toshiba SmartPad now has a new name—Folio 100. And along with the new name, we have a new image of the device. Granted, the image is a render and not the real deal, but it is still enough to show some not so good news. First however, the good. The Toshiba Folio 100 is expected to coming sporting Android 2.2. That said, it does not appear to be a Google Experience device. In other words, no Android Market. Instead as you can see from the above image the Folio 100 will feature the Camangi Market, which for those unfamiliar, Camangi has their own Android Tablet and also their own Android app market. Which just for the record, is not nearly as full or nice as the official Android Market. With that, the Toshiba Folio 100 may be running Android, but it is not the Android most people want or expect. A shame because otherwise the specs look decent and include an 10.1 inch (1024 x 600) multi-touch display, Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, 16GB internal storage, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, HDMI, USB 2.0, SD card reader and 1020 mAh battery that should be able to offer up to 7 hours of run time. Read [Notebook Italia] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile It looks like Canadian retailer Future Shop has revealed the release date for the BlackBerry 9800 Torch with Rogers Wireless. The details are coming by way of leaked internal screenshots which show a “street date” of 2010-09-15. September 15th. With that, those waiting to get a Torch, or just looking forward to purchasing a BlackBerry 6 handset should hopefully be able to do so in just a few weeks. Now, lets just hope that $999.99 price tag is a place holder. Otherwise, it would be fairly safe to say that the BlackBerry Torch would not see all that great of sales. Read [TrustedNerd] Via [CrackBerry] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Computers, Mobile Computers  Viewsonic has release some details on its upcoming 7-inch tablet computer. It will run Android (specific version as yet unknown), and offer both 3G, and Wi-Fi, along with Bluetooth, and GPS. The device will also feature microSD memory expansion, microphone, speaker, 3.5mm headphone jack, mini USB, and two cameras (front and rear). Pricing and availability are still unknown.The company also has plans to release 10-inch dual boot model that will run both Android and Windows 7.
Read [CNet] Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Mobile, Computers, Mobile Computers And in addition to all of the leaks surrounding the Galaxy Tab tablet itself, we also have some accessories. The nice part here is that this group of goodies are said to be the official lineup from Samsung. That said, those who eventually pick up a Galaxy Tab tablet can rest assured in knowing that they can also spend some additional cash on a case, keyboard and charging station with HDMI and audio outs. Plus there is also the spare USB cable adapter, white or black ear-phones, TV connection cable and car power charger. As far as prices, granted these are still early and not officially confirmed, but they seem on the slightly expensive side. The leather case is showing as 41 euros (about $52 US), the charging station for 54 euros (about $68 US) and the keyboard for 82 euros (about $104 US). Via [OLED-Display.net] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Mobile Computers HP’s CTO Phil McKinney has recently posted some nice looking images on Twitter. Well, they would be nice if they did not have those big black boxes over the devices in question. Of course, that is why they are called teasers. That said, the images show McKinney holding a larger tablet sized device and a smaller smartphone sized device and come with the description that they are “mysterious gadgets.” Well, for those looking at more than the devices in hand, you may have also noticed that same blacking over what appears to be a wrist watch. And with that, let the speculating begin. How about a webOS powered wrist watch? Read [Hacking The Future] and [Twitter @philmckinney] Via [Gizmodo] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Web, Web 2.0 / Social Networking  A new wave of spam is hitting Facebook and exploiting the chat feature. It spreads by sending what looks like a chat from a friend with the words “LOL is this you?” and a link. Clicking on the link results in your friends getting the same spammy chats. It’s believed the link led to a malicious website at one point but it now leads to a 404 not found error. Similar chat spam featuring offers of free ringtones or iPhones is also hitting the site hard. To protect yourself, don’t click on any links in chat pop ups without verifying that it’s really your friend chatting with you. The fake chat windows take the user offline immediately after the malicious message is sent. This stuff is relentless. I had two friends fall for it and I was getting chat pop ups every 20 minutes! Be careful out there!
Read [CNet] Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
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