Mobile Computing News

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Google made a big gaffe. The company yesterday released a native Gmail app for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad that was pulled from the store soon after because it was underwhelming at best, or so buggy it didn’t even start up at worst. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: apple, smartphones, google

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The big feature of the iPhone 4S is the Siri voice assistant. As amazing as the service is conceptually, it does come with the one drawback that every query uses up mobile data, since all queries run through a data service before being sent back. Yes, even queries for tasks that happen natively on your phone, such as setting up calendar appointments and so on. Ars Technica investigated just how much data Siri consumes in total. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: apple, iPhone 4S, mobile data, Siri

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Research In Motion’s BBM Music service has gone live, the company announced in a blog post today. The service is currently available for BlackBerry users who reside in the US, the UK and Australia. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: blackberry, music

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The initial excitement of getting the iPhone 4S and talking up Siri was very quickly tapered by poor battery life, as reported by some users. Apple has publically acknowledged the problem, saying that an incoming software update would fix the problem. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: apple iphone, battery life, iOS 5, iPhone 4S, smartphones

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The benefits of high speed internet cannot be exaggerated, and BT has made a commitment to playing its part to boost the UK’s global competitiveness in broadband speed. The firm recently announced that it is on course to cover two-thirds of the UK with fibre by 2014. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: broadband, internet

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Online payments giant PayPal has been against NFC as a mobile payments platform, but that position may be changing. At a New York event where they are showing off mobile payment solutions including a tap-to-pay NFC setup. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Mobile Payments, NFC, PayPal

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Apple CEO Tim Cook has had the position for just shy of two months, and reports are already emerging that his leadership style – one that is quite different from that of Steve Jobs’ –  is having an impact on the company. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: apple, steve jobs

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Rumours of a Motorola Xoom 2 being in the works have been swirling for months now, and Carphone Warehouse appears to have become the first major retailer to confirm the existence of the tablet PC. In a new print advert, the retailer revealed that the Xoom 2 would be available throughout the UK, Ireland and Europe at a starting price of €399 before Christmas. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Motorola Xoom, tablet pc

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While there were rumours earlier in the year that a dual-core ST-Ericsson processor would power some Nokia Windows Phone 7 handsets, it has emerged that all Nokia WP7 handsets going forward will be powered by the company’s processor. This is both a major victory for ST-Ericsson, and a significant blow for NovaThor all at once. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Nokia, microsoft

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Consumer electronics giant Sony Corp has had a rocky 2011, with the company’s many setbacks looking set to take a heavy toll on its earnings for the year. The company has forecast that it will report an annual loss of $1.2 billion (£749m) as it has slashed sales target for its struggling television business, and the yen’s steady climb hits all time highs. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: sony

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Smartphone manufacturer HTC has been on a tear, posting record earnings and unit sales numbers every other quarter. The momentum has not slowed, with the company seeing a profit increase of 68 per cent and nearly double the unit sales it posted in the same period last year. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: smartphones, htc

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Electronic Arts has announced that internal estimates suggest that it has sold an astonishing five million copies of Battlefield 3 in just one week. The first-person shooter, which is available on the Xbox 360, PS3 and on PC, has quickly become the fastest-selling game in the venerable publisher’s history. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Electronic Arts, FPS games, pc games, videogames

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Hewlett-Packard chief technology officer Phil McKinney has retired from the company. McKinney, who was one of the most visible HP TouchPad evangelists, leaves the company in a time of great change, following the ousting of CEO Leo Apotheker and up-in-the-air strategic blunders. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: hp

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Novatel yesterday announced that its mobile WiFi device, the MiFi, had crossed a significant threshold of 3 million units sold over its lifetime. As impressive as that landmark is, there is reason to believe that the Novatel MiFi is living on borrowed time, as more and more mobile OS platforms allow WiFi hotspot sharing straight from a user’s smartphone. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: MiFi, mobile data, novatel, smartphones, wifi

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British mobile phones carrier Three has announced that data accounts for a remarkable 97 per cent of all traffic on the network. This leaves a maximum of 3 per cent for voice calls, which, only recently, was basically the only thing we did on mobile networks. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: mobile data

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In the Wake of the Nokia Lumia reveals, various tech writers and industry analysts have chimed in on whether it will be enough to save the Finnish mobile phones giant. Peter Bright of Ars Technica argues that beyond resurrecting the ailing company, it will also be a massive kick in the backside for the Windows Phone 7 mobile OS platform. He attributes this belief to Nokia’s strong carrier relationships. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Nokia, smartphones, microsoft