Categories
Mobile Samsung

GPS Lock Problem On Samsung Vibrant – Fix Now Available

If you own a Samsung Vibrant, you will be aware of the GPS related problem that has affected the users since the phone launched. Apparently, the GPS radio on the phone fails to lock to a particular location many a time. And if it does, it fails to relock when the user location changes. Samsung had acknowledged the issue last month and had offered a fix soon.

Finally, the company has now announced that a fix for the GPS lock issue on Samsung Vibrant is now available for download. Affected users will need to have the Kies program installed on their device. Launching Kies will prompt the users about the update that can be installed. It is not clear whether T-Mobile shall send an OTA update to users since having them to install Kies just to fix this issue does not sound fair enough.

If you are a Samsung Vibrant user, don’t forget to write in the comments about your experience.

Categories
Mobile Software and Apps

Firefox Home App For Blackberry And Symbian Coming Soon

Firefox loyalists owning an iPhone were in for disappointment yesterday when the company announced that a full fledged Firefox browser for the iPhone was not coming anytime now. But their situation is still better if one were to be reminded of the fact that other platforms like Blackberry do not have any Firefox integration in place. That might soon change since it is now learned that the Mozilla foundation may be working on bringing the Firefox Home app for Blackberry and Symbian platforms. As you may already know, Firefox Home is unlike a typical mobile browser and instead offers tight integration with the Firefox browser on a desktop with the help of Firefox Sync. The app will help in seamless transition of platforms as the user switches from a computer to their mobile platform.

Now, if you are wondering about what’s cooking on the Android front, it may be worth noting that Mozilla should soon be launching a full-fledged mobile browser on this platform soon. Android and Maemo/MeeGo users should be late to the party, but it is going to be well worth it.

Categories
Mobile Verizon

Exchange Old Mobile Phone For A Verizon Gift Card With Trade-In

If you have an old mobile phone that you are looking to dispose of  soon, here is something you should be interested in looking at. Verizon has launched a new Trade-In service that lets people to exchange their old mobile phones for a Verizon Gift card. This gift card can be used towards the purchase of your next mobile phone – on Verizon.

Visitors to trade-in.vzw.com shall be asked to input their device model as well as answer several questions regarding the condition of the device like whether it can make calls, if the screen is cracked, etc. and the website shall return an estimated worth of the card. Of course, you shouldn’t be expecting to make a lot from this service. An 8GB iPhone 3G that is in excellent working condition has an appraised value of $12.60. Right, close to nothing. But if you think that’s better than throwing it away, then this new plan is for you. Alternately, you can also donate the phone to charity. Hop over to www.trade-in.vzw.com and let us know how much value did Verizon put on your phone.

Categories
Google Mobile

Compare Android Phone Features With Google Phone Gallery

Looking to purchase a new Android smartphone? Google has now introduced a new Google Phone Gallery section that will users do a side-by-side comparison study of the the features on the various Android powered smartphones. This new section replaces the older Nexus One page that was available on Google.com/phone. At this point, the Google Phone Gallery is not expanded to all countries. Countries that the Phone Gallery will cater to right now include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Singapore, Spain, UK and USA.

Announcing the launch on the Google Mobile Blog, Ben Serridge, Android product manager wrote,

“All the phones in the gallery include Android Market, Google Search, and other Google Mobile services such as Gmail, Maps, and YouTube. There are tools that make it easy to compare phones side by side: you can filter phones by country, manufacturer, and carrier; view and compare technical specifications and features; and find where each phone is available for sale.

We’ll continue adding phones and countries over time, both to round out the gallery and as new phones come to market.”

Do that fast, Google.

Categories
Jailbreak

GreenPois0n Jailbreak For iOS 4.1 To Release Shortly

There has been a lot of anticipation surrounding the jailbreak solution that is to be built with the recently discovered SHAtter exploit on the latest iOS 4.1. According to a tweet posted by Pod2G; the iOS hacker who was the first to discover the exploit, a comprehensive jailbreak solution for iOS 4.1 should be ready in a matter of days rather than weeks.

This is significant considering that this is the first ever exploit that is capable of jailbreaking your iDevice for life. Recently, folks at the iPhone Dev team had posted a proof-of-concept video of the new PwnageTool that could make use of the SHAtter exploit to jailbreak iPod Touch 4G.

Meanwhile, Clayton Braasch, another popular hacker who is involved with the jailbreak project has noted that jailbreak could take more time and not necessarily days. Check back for an update on this soon.

[via Redmond Pie]

Categories
News Product Issues

HDR Photography On iPhone 3GS May Come In Future Update

Apple is always known to intentionally block features on older devices in order to push people to graduate to newer devices. One such functionality that is available on iPhone 4 but is not provided on the older iPhones is the HDR capability. As you may already know, this functionality delivers effective contrasts on pictures by superimposing three pictures that are taken in normal, under-exposed and over-exposed modes.

Now, there are jailbreak apps that will let you enable this functionality on the older iPhones. From what we’ve heard in the past, the functionality works perfectly on the older models and there is no reason why Apple shouldn’t have offered the feature to the older iPhones as well. Nevertheless, if ever Apple had decided to block this feature on older models, it appears that this could have been a last-minute decision. Folks at 9to5Mac have uncovered a couple of HDR icons from the iPhone SDK that reference to iPhones with retina display and those that do not have this display. The difference can be noted in the nomenclature that usually contain a @2x in case of documents pertaining to the  retina display.

HDR on iPhone 3GS

If you were to stay an optimist, what this could mean is that Apple could bring the HDR functionality to the older iPhone; iPhone 3GS primarily, via a future software update. The question is however whether Apple would want to.

Categories
Gadgets

Get Free Repair For Distorted Videos On MacBook Pro, Dell, Compaq & HP Notebooks

Seeing those distorted videos and blank screens on your MacBook Pro? It’s not your fault. Rather, it appears to be because of a problem with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M graphics chip that is embedded on the notebook. Following a class action lawsuit filed against NVIDIA, the company has agreed to offer free repair to any user that has an 8600M embedded notebook and is facing these issues. The litigation website is here and you may check if your notebook model is covered on this website. Basically, the list includes the MacBook Pro, Inspiron, Latitude, Precision, XPS, Vostro, Presario and Pavilion notebooks.

Do note that the replacement does not start immediately. The website notes,

“The Court will hold a hearing on December 20, 2010 at 9:00 a.m., to decide whether to approve the settlement. If Judge Ware approves the settlement, the processing of replacements is expected to begin shortly afterwards. Reimbursements will be paid after all claims are filed.

Please be patient.”

Categories
Gadgets RIM

Kobo eReader App For Blackberry PlayBook To Be Pre-Loaded

The Blackberry PlayBook already appears to have attracted business users and heavy gamers into its fold. Now according to an announcement from Kobo, the device is also expected to cater to the book lovers. The company has revealed that the new Blackberry PlayBook device shall come pre-installed with Kobo’s eReader application that will instantly give users access to over 2.2 million books on the Kobo digital library. In addition to the access to the library, the Kobo app for Blackberry PlayBook will also feature a social eReading functionality that will let users interact with the Blackberry Messenger social platform while reading books from Kobo. I’m not sure how useful this “industry first” functionality is going to be, but nevertheless, it does sound interesting.

The Kobo application will come with sophisticated search functionalities that will let users search, buy and download books right from the PlayBook without the need to connect to a computer to do so. Can’t wait for the PlayBook to launch!

Categories
Gadgets

Wi-Fi Enabled Kobo eReader – Price And Availability Details Revealed

Kobo has announced the launch of a new version of their popular eReader that brings support to Wi-Fi connectivity. The new device is pretty similar to the model introduced a few months back and the support for wireless network is the one big addition. Another significant enhancement is in the processor performance, but in the absence of specifics, it is difficult to take this addition seriously.

The price of the new Kobo eReader is not very different from the old model. In fact, it is available at $10 lower than the older model and retails at $39.99. The eReader manufacturer has partnered with Borders and is available for pre-orders starting today. Expect the launch to happen by the end of October – by November 1 according to some reports.

Kobo Wireless

Ready for a pre-order? Hit the link here to make your purchase.

Categories
Gadgets RIM

Price Of Blackberry PlayBook To Be Under $350?

Research in Motion unveiled their new PlayBook tablet computer earlier this week. The tablet is reported to come with twin 1GHz processors, a 1GB RAM, a 7″ display with 1024×600 pixel resolution, 5MP and 3MP camera on the rear-side and front, a QNX mobile OS and HDMI output features. With these splendid features on board, the price is definitely going to seal or break the deal.

According to John Jackson, an analyst at CCS Insight, the new Blackberry PlayBook could be priced between $300 and $350. Now let’s be fair; this is his personal speculation. But if Jackson’s statements turn out to be true, then the device could find itself to be aggressively positioned between the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the iPad. While the Wi-Fi only versions of the iPad are priced close to the $500 mark, the 3G-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab is expected to be available at $300 after a carrier subsidy. With the PlayBook though, it could end up being all the more attractive considering that the device does not come with an independent data plan and is supposed to come paired with the user’s Blackberry plan. From that viewpoint, a $300-$350 price range is very attractive.