Month: July 2010

Categories
Mobile Motorola Samsung

Download Source Code For Motorola Droid X & Samsung Captivate

Open source FTW! Motorola and Samsung have made the Android source codes used on their handsets – the Motorola Droid X and Samsung Captivate now available for public consumption. If you are a developer, you can now have an amazing weekend scouring through the several dozen batches of files from these two downloads.

But beware of the file sizes though. The source code for Motorola Droid X measures a good 280MB while that for Samsung Captivate measures 160MB in size. Thankfully, neither of these downloads require you to fill up lengthy developer sign ups. So, you can just click away for the download.

From what I’ve heard, the Motorola Droid X download appears to be currently missing some key pieces of information that is essential for developing rooting softwares. Nevertheless, a simple one-click solution is already available, in case you didn’t know.

Ok, so here are the download links. Click away
Motorola Droid X Source Code
Samsung Captivate Source Code

Categories
Gaming Sony

New Sony PS3 Firmware 3.41 Released – What's New?

PS 3 gamers take note. Sony has now released its latest firmware update to its Playstation 3 gaming console. The new Sony PS 3 firmware 3.41 brings with it a new recommendation system to the Playstation Store. As the name suggests, the new recommendation system will offer Playstation users a list of videos and gaming suggestions when they surf through the store database. The new recommendation list, which will be displayed under a section that reads, “You May Like It“, will show a list of games and videos that is automatically generated depending on the purchase behavior from other users who have made similar purchases.

The new firmware update is significantly smaller than earlier updates released by the company. Considering that this is only an incremental update, a file size of 40MB is understandable. Go ahead and download the new firmware update and let us know how you find the new recommendation system.

Categories
Mobile Samsung

Verizon Samsung Intensity II Features, Price & Availability Revealed

Verizon is launching a new feature phone from Samsung that is going to be targeted heavily at the heavy-texters. The new Samsung Intensity II will bring some great specs for the price – a horizontal slider QWERTY keyboard, a 1.2-Megapixel infrared camera that includes night vision functionality and a 2.2-inches screen that packs as many as 240×320 pixels of display resolution. The phone is also integrated with a lot of social networking features, music player and Verizon’s Navigator software. The handset will be available in metallic blue and deep gray colors and is made partly from recycled plastic.

The device is still not available in the market and according to Verizon, the phone shall be available in the “coming weeks“. Anyway, when it does, you may have to shell out $49.99. And that’s after a $50 mail-in rebate.

Categories
Mobile Samsung

Samsung Cetus Features Review – First Windows Phone 7 Handset From Samsung

There is not much to discuss about this upcoming handset from Samsung Mobile. For one, we have no clue about the form factor of this smartphone. Secondly, there is no word on the pricing or availability. Nevertheless, there has been some information available about this new handset thanks to a recently awarded Bluetooth certification.

The specs are definitely interesting. The Samsung Cetus is expected to come with a large 4-inches AMOLED display along with a 800×400 pixel resolution. Keeping with the recent trends, the phone will also offer a 5-megapixel camera though it is not clear if auto-focus and LED flash will be available. In addition to this, the phone will also include a second front-facing VGA camera, FM radio tuner and GPS apart from support for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Besides all of this, of course, the device will run on Windows Phone 7.

A more comprehensive tech specs and pricing details need to be available before you can pass a judgement over this handset.

Categories
Gadgets

FlatPad A10 Review Of Specs, Price And Availability

Yet another pad-suffixed tablet computer is out in the market now. Flat Computing has launched its low-cost Android based tablet that brings some pretty impressive specs and features at at sub-$300 price point. First about the display. The new FlatPad A10 tablet comes with a 10.2-inches resistive touchscreen display that packs as much as 1024×600 pixels in the display area. The Android 2.1 based tablet computer is powered by a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor along with a 256MB RAM and contains 2GB of internal memory.

Other specifications on the tablet include accelerometer support, Wi-Fi, microSD card slot, USB port, headphone jack and stereo speakers. The tablet is capable of running 1080p HD video playback and comes with a power back up of up to 7 hours. The manufacturers have claimed that an Android 2.2 update shall be made available as early as August.

At $285 a piece, this device is competitively priced. If you are interested, go ahead, the device is available starting today in the US market.

Categories
Tips and Tricks

Is iOS 4 Slow On Your iPhone 3G? Here’s A Simple Fix

Ever since the new iPhone and iOS launched, Apple has been facing one issue after another. Of course, we have seen issues with poor reception and proximity sensor. But there have also been several other issues including slow 3G upload, unreliable Wi-Fi network,etc. If this was not enough, several iPhone 3G users have been complaining since the launch of the new iOS 4 about facing an extremely slow system performance post the OS installation.

Recently, Apple acknowledged the issue and has promised to look into the solution. But before the company comes up with a solution few weeks later, here is a simple fix that will see your iPhone 3G start performing blazingly fast again. Here is what you need to do

1. On the iPhone home screen, tap Settings.

2. Navigate to Settings -> General -> Home Button -> Spotlight Search

3. Deselect all the options under Spotlight search

You are done. It is being noticed that the system sluggishness may be due to the presence of spotlight search and disabling it can temporarily solve the issue. Do you see similar improvements? Write back in the comments.

Categories
Accessories

Duracell Portable Universal Charger For Netbooks Announced

Netbooks are meant to be portable. But if your device fails to last the entire journey and the battery dies midway, there is no point in pulling out the traditional bulky chargers that do not offer enough portability. Add to this the prohibitive costs that will make it difficult to purchase a second charger to help you during travel alone.

Duracell has launched its new universal charger for netbooks that not only makes the charger portable, but at less than $50, is also quite affordable. This new portable charger is called the Duracell 40-Watt Universal Netbook Adapter and is priced at $49.99 in Wal-Mart, CompUSA besides several other online ecommerce portals.

To make the adapter universal, Duracell has offered four different plugging tips that automatically change the adapter voltage between 12V and 19V to suit the netbook being charged. Most of the popular netbooks from companies including Asus, Acer and Dell are supported.

Categories
android Samsung

How To Tether Samsung Vibrant Without Rooting The Handset?

The sad part about having unlimited 3G data plans is that most of these plans come with no option to tether. This is understandable considering that wireless bandwidth is really limited and so such carriers cannot afford such extensive use of wireless data without compromising on network quality. A lot of users though, root their handsets, to enable such functionality. The compromise lies in running the risk of bricking your mobile phone.

If you own a Samsung Vibrant however, you can enable tethering on your smartphone without having to actually root your device. Folks at SamsungVibrantHacks have come up with this simple trick that will enable you to do so. Do note that this method will only work with Windows XP and Windows 7 based computers. So if you are a Mac freak – sorry, wait longer.

To get started, you will need the USB cable that will connect your Samsung Vibrant to the Windows-based computer. You can use Samsung’s Kies software to enable the tethering functions. To reiterate that this will only work on Vibrant and not the other Galaxy S cousins, remember to connect to epc.tmobile.com for the APN name and *99# for the phone number. Don’t get it? Check out the video below.

Categories
Gadgets

LG Solar-Powered eReader Features Announced

South Korean tech giant, LG, has just announced a new solar-powered ebook reader that could help you make that small contribution to the environment by going green. The new solar-powered LG eReader is expected to come built with a 6-inches display screen that is powered by a tiny solar panel that measures 10 square centimeters in area. The device is pretty light-weighted and measures just over 20 grams, thanks to the extremely thin profile of just 0.7 millimeters.

According to a statement from LG, the solar eReader currently offers a 9.6% energy conversion efficiency though that number must rise considerably to 14% or 15% by the time the device is launched. That would effectively mean that a 4 or 5 hour of solar exposure should be sufficient to keep your eReader powered on for a complete day.
LG Solar Powered eReader
Sadly, no price of the device is available right now. That’s understandable though considering that the new solar powered LG eReader is not expected to launch commercially before 2012. I’m excited to get hold of one of these units though.

Categories
Gadgets

Clevo W860CU 3D Notebook Features And Price In USA Announced

Gamers looking for some extra action and real-time experience in their games are sure to be excited by the new crop of 3D notebooks that have been making their way to the stores of late. The most recent in this category is the new Clevo W860CU that brings 1366×768 pixels of visual goodness to their 15.6-inches 3D display panel.
Clevo 3D Notebook
Remember that this one is for the hard-core gamers and so the device is aptly powered by one of the best processors around – the Intel Core i7 mobile processor. Other features in the 3D gaming notebook include a PCIe x16 MXM-III Discrete graphics card, an integrated 2-megapixel webcam and a built-in Super Multi DVD reader/burner with read/write capabilities. Additional accessories include the 3D vision stereoscopic glasses.

The Clevo W860CU 3D Gaming laptop is definitely not for the budget conscious. The device is available on the stores at a price of $1844.29 (excluding tax & shipping). Are you “game” for it?