Android Logo
On friday we wrote about the Android Market finally being launched in August. HTC have just notified me that the August launch will only give users access to free applications and not the paid applications as yet.
We assume this has to do with payment methods but are unsure at the moment and will update you when we know more.
What this does mean is that the local market is really missing on some of the premium applications that have been developed for the Android system.
Android Market
Finally, any person with their hands on an Android powered mobile phone will no doubt know that they have been missing out on the Android Market, Google’s mobile application directory. However the wait is over. From August 2009 it will be available to all South African Android users.
When HTC launched the HTC Magic and HTC Dream in South Africa, the local users did not have access to the Android Market which led to developing their own application directory which proved to be highly successful. This resulted in Google deciding to launch the Android Market in South Africa.
Now all HTC Magic and HTC Dream users will have access to a multitude of free and paid for applications which range from improved office and business functionality to fun and games.
To get access to the Android Market you will need to get a software upgrade by visiting a Leaf regional office, a Leaf retail store or visiting the Leaf website. All future HTC Android models will already contain the latest software giving you instant acces to the Android Market.
So it is official, there will be a Warcraft movie. Now for those people who have played the legendary game you will be asking many questions but I am sure you will be very excited. This is how official it is.
World of Warcraft Movie
Sam Raimi, the man who directed Spiderman and is actually finishing Spiderman 4, has been signed on as the director of the movie and will start on it as soon as he is finished with Spiderman 4.
There is a huge debate going on here at the Tx Daily offices about whether the movie will be animated or have real actors with a whole lof of CGI. We are hoping that it is animated especially looking at the World of Warcraft intro movies.
Another chat about the movie also led to some questions on what the actual story line of the movie would be, we are leaning towards the Alliance being dubbed the good guys and the Horde being dubbed the baddies of the movie.
Nothing official for release dates and cast have been released yet.
Nokia N86 8MP Indigo
Nokia have not really had any phone that was a true multimedia viewing and capturing device but with the Nokia N86 8MP it is all set to change.
First off let’s start with the capturing. With a 8 megapixel sensor coupled with a wide-angle Carl Zeiss lens you are starting to performance comparable to a stand alone camera. The phone also comes with a built-in dual LED flash which gives you great battery life and allows you to shed some light on those dark situations.
Once you have created a quality video clip or snapped a few images you can easily share your work with high speed connectivity a standard feature on the phone. This is something I really think that a whole lot of manufacturers have left out and it is something that Nokia have got perfectly right.
With data being so important these days and with more information wanted from every little place giving users as much as possible is a must. The N86 8MP saves all location data into images such as longitude, latitude and the direction you were facing so that this data can be passed onto the people who view them allowing them to know exactly where the photo was taken. Geo-tagging has grown in popularity especially with Google Earth allowing you to view media from a specific location.
Nokia N86 8MP White
Other than a great imaging device the N86 8MP comes standard with all the great bells and whistles that a new phone should have. 3.9 hours talk time, 8 GB internal memory extendable to 24 GB with a 16 GB microSD card, WLAN support, bluetooth and a 3.5 mm stereo jack which is both the headphone plug and supprts TV-out.
The N86 8MP also comes with a built in GPS device which works brilliantly with Ovi Maps and has voice navigation making sure that you get to your destination quickly and on safely.
The phone is already available in South Africa and will cost a little shy of R7000.
Knowing what your target market is doing is always a great advantage before launching any product or website. Ruder Finn have create a tool called the Ruder Finn Intent Index. What it basically does is survey what a internet users reason to browse would be.
What it then does is display it in a nice graph on the screen (screenshot below) and then drill down on the data to get a better idea of who is doing what on the web.
Ruder Finn Intent
You do have to go and look at how it works yourself to get the full effect of how intricate it really is. From what we can see the 3 main reason people go onto the internet is to learn, have fun and socialize.
What is really scary for us is the data on doing business and shopping online. The survey was done in America where one would think internet users do a lot of shopping and business online. This is not the case, a mere 33% of them actually buy online and a whole lot less actually go online to sell something (19%).
Even though this data is mostly relevant to America, we can really take a lot out of it in terms of global trends and certain gaps in some markets and segments, don’t think you should rely on it though.
Google Chrome OS
I am sure you have heard of the latest product news to come from Google, that being the Google Chrome OS. If you have not heard, the Google Chrome OS is initially destined for Netbooks and the likes because of it lightweight architecture.
However the aim of the new OS to the market will be simple, Speed, simplicity and security, so there is no doubt that Google will be aiming to bring a totally new operating system that will compete on all levels including using it on powerful desktop machines.
What is even more important about the OS is the security issue. Linus Upson, Google’s Engineering Director, has promised the company is “Completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.”. This sounds really great but with anything out there when someone wants to get into something they inevitably will especially when it is open-source and the popularity increases.
Never the less I am pretty excited to get my hands on the first Chrome OS powered netbook and see how easily my web addiction can be eased.
Windows vs Linux
What exactly would your thoughts be if I told you that Microsoft contributed 20, 000 lines of code towards the Linux Kernel? Mine would be Microsoft are peppering Linux for a purchase.
Don’t worry Linux is not going to be a Microsoft product anytime soon, allow me to explain what has happened. The code Microsoft is releasing isn’t to help Linux compete better with Microsoft. The drivers are really geared at making Windows a better host for Linux.
“The Linux device drivers we are releasing are designed so Linux can run in enlightened mode, giving it the same optimized synthetic devices as a Windows virtual machine running on top of Hyper-V,” Tom Hanrahan, director of Microsoft’s Open Source Technology Center, said in a statement. “Without this driver code, Linux can run on top of Windows, but without the same high performance levels.”
Microsoft will be releasing three drivers for Linux licensed under the GPL that governs Linux.
Microsoft has released open-source code in the past, but licenses other than the GPL have been favoured by Microsoft. That said, the GPL is the way into the Linux kernel and Microsoft wants this code in Linux.
Ok, so it seems the reason Microsoft added code to Linux is just to make their hosting environments run Linux better. I can’t help but feel there has to be something more to this? Why add code to your oppositions OS?
Is this a foot in the door for Microsoft to try and obtain Linux?
New Yahoo Frontpage - news.cnet.com
Yahoo has decided to redesign their home page, Yahoo.com which is one of the most traveled destinations on the internet.
On this afternoon, people from the United States can start selecting a more personalized version of the Yahoo.com home page. “Visitors will be able to use basic applications from other websites not just Yahoo sites, such as eBay, Facebook and Twitter”, said Tapan Bhat, Yahoo’s senior vice president for consumer experiences. The change will arrive in the U.K., France, and India later this week, in Spain and Mexico next month, and in Asia next year.
On the left side of the new Yahoo design there will be a tab called My Favourites. When navigating there you will see all the applications available to you. Hovering over them will make each application and its accompanying advertising pop up. “There are about 60 applications available now, and more are being added daily”, Bhat said.
“Also coming in August will be the ability to select what type of news people can see, with a slider that moves on a spectrum between “fun” and “serious”,” he said.
“We’re pulling together everything about the user they care about, be it on Yahoo or off, to create a personally relevant experience,” Bhat said. “In a world like this, Yahoo needs to make the user experience come first.”
This could be Yahoo’s last grasp at staying along side the internet leaders and could actually put them ahead.
HTC Magic
The HTC Magic was the first phone I had on review and it quite simply blew me away. I have played around a bit with the iPhone so I had a good competitor to compare it to!
The first thing I noticed was the elegant design and sleek look of the phone. HTC have taken the simple looking HTC Dream and packed all it goodness into a smaller phone. Put simply I was very excited to get started with it.
Much like the Dream the Magic has your active desktop with the ability to flick between 3 desktops allowing you to group shortcuts together to suit different “lifestyles”. This includes the ability to add the GMail, YouTube, GTalk and Google Maps icon to the standby screen so that you can easily access your favourite Google applications.
Now for those who don’t know, the HTC Dream is running on the Android system which is Google’s mobile OS. It has really taken the mobile market by storm because of it’s Open Source heritage and with the ability for developers to create apllications quickly and easily.
Back to the phone. The Magic does not have much on the Dream in terms of functionality. In fact, the Dream has most of the functionality the Magic except for 1 thing. As this is not the first phone from HTC that has the Android OS they decided to take it a step further and offer Exchange Active Sync. This means that HTC are now not only offering a OS phone but also extending on it’s functionality with propriety apps like Active Sync.
The phone is really great, messaging is a dream with the threaded messages which allows you to read and respond to an sms without every changing screens. The on-screen keyboard did take a while to get used to though and was very irritating in the beginning which had me pressing characters I didn’t want to. However once you get used to it is a real dream to type with.
Just like the Dream the biggest flaw of the Magic is the lack of a flash with the camera. The camera is really great but there is no way you can get a good shot in bad lighting with out one. A phone that comes bundled with so many multimedia applications like YouTube and GMail having a great capturing device is a must.
The phone is great though and by the sounds of it we can expect a whole lot more from HTC this year.
DataTraveler 300
It was only just recently when I read about the 128GB USB Memory Stick from Kingston and already they have a bigger 256Gb version already. To put this amount of data in perspective that is the equivalent of 54 DVD’s fitting comfortably in your pocket.
This is an amazing amount of data and it is perfect for graphic designers, architects and database designers who continuously work with large files.
This memory stick comes with the title DataTraveler 300 and is already available. Check out the Kingston website for more information.
Washable Keyboard
How irritating is it when you have have bits of food and/or dirt in between the letters of your keyboard? Well I hate it! I often find myself trying to get bits of dirt out with a tooth pick or the end of my clutch pencil.
Just by chance I came across this gem, a keyboard that can withstand your bucket and cloth and allow you to really give your keyboard a great scrub down. Yes, this keyboard is washable. You can completely submerse it in water, even soapy water at that. Then if you think that is not enough how about a session in the dishwasher, yes the keyboard is dishwasher friendly!
If you are intrested in it, get it at firebox.com, couple it with the desktop vacuum cleaner and your desktop will be clean for ever.
HTC Dream
So I’ve been testing out the HTC Dream for about two weeks now and I have 1 word for it, awesome!
The first cool feature of the HTC Dream is the “swappable desktops” which you can access by touching the display of the phone and either dragging your finger to the left or to the right. As with any desktop you can add shortcuts of your most used applications such GMail or YouTube as well as some cool “widgets” like a clock and Google search bar. This coupled with the “swappable desktops” allows you to divide your desktop into different sections which can change as and when you feel like it. Adding shortcuts to your “desktop” was an easy feat; once they are there how do you get rid of them? I Only found out by accident that you had to press down and hold your finger on the shortcut, then your menu button changes to a trashcan. Drag and drop and the shortcut is history.
Let’s get to sending messages, oh boy. So you’d think “Ok, I use a QWERTY keyboard on my pc, how hard can it be to send messages?”. It’s not that easy to start of with but after a few messages I soon became used to the QWERTY keyboard on the phone.
Your messages are broken down into threads. All your messages are stored under one name of the person who sent or who you sent a message to. This is a nice way of storing the messages, no more do you have to scroll through twenty messages on your phone looking for something. Just go into your message application, select the name of the person of the message you want to go through, and scroll through the thread.
HTC Dream
The HTC Dream has a built in 3.2 mega pixel camera. The one thing I found disappointing is that the camera does not have a flash. When you are in a well lit room, the picture quality is awesome but when the light in the room is not sufficient, don’t even try to take a picture.
There’s a neat little notification area in the top left corner of your desktop that displays small icons of the events that happen on your phone. Be it getting a message, email, or event failures, all you do is touch the upper left corner with your finger tip and drag the area down to get a detailed description of the event that occurred. From there you can click on the notice to open up the email, read the message or resend the message that did not send.
The HTC dream comes preloaded with Gmail, Google maps and the Gtalk application. Setting up email and Gtalk it is just a matter of signing in and it works exactly the same as if you were using it on a desktop computer.
Getting your HTC Dream setup on a wireless network is a piece of cake. Enable your wireless on the phone, let it scan for available networks and connect.
I copied some music to the phone to test out the music player and sound quality. I was very impressed with the sound quality and how loud the speaker actually can go without distortion. The one thing I could not figure out was how to stop the music after it started to play. The only buttons available to you are previous, pause and next. You eventually end up pausing your music when you are done listening to it.
I found the battery life of the phone surprisingly long. I had to recharge the phone every four to five days and I was using the phone a lot during the day, sending messages, browsing the internet, and chatting on G-Talk. When I did have to charge the phone a awesome feature I found was being able to charge my phone through the USB port of my car radio.
All in all the HTC Dream is a very nice and sleek looking phone. Definitely replacing my old phone with one of these.
Brand Keyboard
Every now and then we get a really cool gadget that graces our blog. This however must be one of the coolest and one of those pure ingenious ideas to date. Meet the brand keyboard!
The person who created this idea really captures how powerful brands have become and how instantly the human brain car figure out F for Facebook and Z for Zippo. Check out the “artists” site.
It is a pitty that it is actually not real but I would definitely take one. It would be a bit hard for those single finger typers who spend half the time already looking for the key to push.
Brand Keyboard
Sony Ericsson T715
The Sony Ericsson T715 is a sexy looking slider phone with some really nice features. It comes with all the bells and whistles you expect from a mobile phone these days including 3G connectivity, MMS, SMS, 3.2 megapixel camera and a nice 2.2″ screen.
However, the phone does not only offer all those features but a few extra features that you would not expect. The T715 comes with Google Maps™ which includes local search and directions, AccuWeather.com® which gives you 3 days access to weather forecasts.
Then for the person who has a busier lifestyle, much like the Nokia “Desktop” you are able to get direct reminders of appointments, notes and those important notifications of birthdays.
The 3.2″ megapixel camera also sounds great and comes with Photo Light which allows you to snap up pictures even when the light is not so great.
Like it, well unfortuneately the phone won’t be reaching the South African shores at anytime but will be on the international markets later this year.
These are the websites that we think will be useful to you
