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HTC Desire Froyo update: The secret new features
Windows Phone 7 UK launch set for October
ITV pay-TV channels: you may be asked to pay for Simon Cowell
LG Cookie: LG Wink line for teens gets new name for UK
HTC Desire Froyo update on Orange due this month
iPhone 4 jailbreak: hackers begin countdown to Apple retaliation
China beats Jonny Ive to white iPhone 4…
Lunchtime Lowdown: iPhone 4 jailbreak out, Samsung Windows Phone 7 deets and HTC Desire Froyo update arrives
Windows Phone 7 Samsung Cetus revealed
Halo 2600: play Master Chief on the Atari!

HTC Desire Froyo update: The secret new features

Posted: 02 Aug 2010 08:45 AM PDT

The HTC Desire Froyo update has begun rolling out on unlocked versions of the phone, and with it come a clutch of new features, not least proper Flash video support. But it’s not just the stock Google extras: there’s a whole bevy of secret tweaks Android aficionados have already discovered, and we’ve got the best of them here. These might just put the HTC Desire ahead of the slimmer, sexier HTC Legend, and even the Samsung Galaxy S.

As always, the place to go for the full list of improvements, features and flaws of any individual Android handset is the XDA Developers forums, where HTC Desire owners are crowdsourcing a change log of everything the HTC Desire Froyo Android 2.2 update brings. You can check it out here, but we’ve rounded up the most exciting additions below:

Better battery life
This one will be a boon to any heavy use HTC Desire owners. While we loved the phone with Android 2.1 Sense, it’s also one of the biggest battery gannets on the market today. We can’t confirm this yet, but multiple tipsters are now saying their HTC Desire Froyo phones are seeing better battery life than under Eclair – though of course mileage varies greatly. Let us know how you’re finding your HTC Desire holds its juice.

Improved social networking
HTC Sense is already one of the best customised Android skins for Facebook and Twitter addicts. The Friend Stream app now shows much more details on posts, including comments on a Facebook updates and the number of thumbs up. HTC Desire Froyo updaters are also reporting that bugs preventing linking to Twitter contacts properly have now been fixed too.

Multimedia overhaul
While the HTC Desire Froyo update doesn’t bring native video support to rival the Samsung Galaxy S, it does flick on 720p HD video recording, something we knew was possible from previous Android 2.2 HTC Desire custom ROMs. The big news though is Flash 10.1 support in the browser, which should mean you can play just about any streaming video found online, even if there isn’t a HTML5 friendly version (Which the iPhone 4 requires). Just remember to turn it on in the settings! The BBC has also updated iPlayer to Flash 10.1, so while we can’t confirm yet, it should run just fine in the browser.

Extra HTC apps
While some people might genuinely rejoice at the addition of a custom calculator widget for HTC Desire Froyo phones, the one we’re most happy to see reports of is WiFi Hotspot, which uses the phone’s 3G connection and shares it out to other devices around you, like laptops or iPads. True, other Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S already have it, but the more the merrier, we say. HTC Share, the app for sharing Android Market links introduced on the HTC Wildfire, has also made the cut – it sounds pointless but if you and a friend own Android phones, it’s much easier than recommending someone navigate the Market’s awful UI.

Have you got the HTC Desire Froyo update yet? Notice anything else? Shout up below in the comments.

Windows Phone 7 UK launch set for October

Posted: 02 Aug 2010 08:05 AM PDT

Windows Phone 7 will hit Europe in October, ahead of a November launch in the US, according to Microsoft COO Kevin Turner who spilled the schedule at the Worldwide Partner Conference last week. His comments went unnoticed until a video of his Windows Phone 7 presentation hit the web earlier today…

Turner's Windows Phone 7 talk was caught of video and found its way to Engadget. The clip finds him pretty frank mood admitting that Microsoft has made plenty of mistakes with its mobile business (did someone just whisper Microsoft Kin?).

He says: "This is a lowlight. For me, the company, it's touch. But you know what, in the October/November timeframe – October likely across Europe, November in the US – we are back in the game."

Reiterating the kind of talk we've heard from other Microsoft bosses including the big boss Steve Ballmer, Turner states: "When you look at this phone and see some of the UI, it is not like any phone you have seen from Microsoft."

We had mixed feeling about the Windows Phone 7 UI but it certainly is a major change of direction for Microsoft. Hopefully we'll see some impressive hardware to go with the radically redesigned software.

Specs for the Samsung Cetus broke cover this morning and a Desire-style HTC Windows Phone 7 handset was spotted in the wild last week.

Will you be waiting for Windows Phone 7 to hit the UK in October? Or has another OS already snagged your affection? Hit the comments to argue it out…

Out October | £TBC | Microsoft (via Engadget)

ITV pay-TV channels: you may be asked to pay for Simon Cowell

Posted: 02 Aug 2010 07:40 AM PDT

ITV is rumoured to be launching a paid TV service, and is expected to announce details tomorrow. The pay-TV strategy will affect ITV's HD channels, which include HD versions of ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4, and might involve the roll out of a whole new channel.

Not so long ago, Archie Norman, former Asda chief, said: “Speculation we might take ITV 2, 3 or 4 onto a pay-tv platform is not realistic. Were we to develop a proposition in the pay-TV market we would need a very different product than we have at this time."

But nevertheless, a pay-TV model would appear to be on its way. It's thought to be a tactic designed to give the company a cash boost, as 2009 was a particularly bad year for ITV. Since then though, advertising has started to turn around, and profits are on the up.

The move probably has something to do with ITV's new CEO Adam Crozier, who left Royal Mail back in January to move to ITV, pocketing £3.5million in bonuses and pension in the process, and Archie Norman, the ex-Asda chief, being shipped in as chairman.

What a new channel might look like we cannot bring ourselves to imagine, given the biggest successes of ITV’s current offerings generally involve Simon Cowell.

What do you think? Is ITV shooting itself in the foot with a charging scheme or could raised revenues up the quality of its offerings?

LG Cookie: LG Wink line for teens gets new name for UK

Posted: 02 Aug 2010 07:02 AM PDT

This morning, a new line of LG phones popped up on a Korean site. The series was called the LG Wink, but didn't look like they would be available here in the UK. Now though, LG UK has announced new phones for the UK under the LG Cookie line, which look suspiciously like the Wink line up leaked this morning…

The LG Cookie line-up is aimed at a younger demographic, with the new devices marketed as "the first touchscreen phones for Generation Z".

That's children and young adults born between about 1991 and the mid noughties to you and me, although it looks like the target age is the younger end of that scale, with the cartoonish interface, and the focus on 'first time touchscreen users' not really ringing true when aimed at older teenagers.

There are three handsets in the range, the LG Cookie, LG Cookie Style and the LG Cookie 3G. Functionality is focused around social networking and music, and is brightly coloured, to make it 'fashionable'.

Although pricing on the LG Cookie line up is to be confirmed nearer the release date, to reach its target demographic LG will have to better the appeal of Blackberry's BBM on the yoof of today, and be cheap and affordable to boot.

HTC Desire Froyo update on Orange due this month

Posted: 02 Aug 2010 06:30 AM PDT

The HTC Desire Froyo update bandwagon rolls on. Orange has offered up a time frame for delivery of the frozen OS treat to HTC Desire owners on its network. While its rivals are promising the HTC Desire Froyo update within the next few weeks, Orange has been a little more definite…

In a statement tweeted by Orange PR Manager, Conor Maples (@conorfromorange), the networked confirmed its HTC Desire Froyo update plans: "We are working with HTC to bring the 2.2 Android update to Desire customers as soon as we can. This process takes about four weeks."

According to our EP-branded calendar, that means HTC Desire owners packing an Orange SIM should get their update this month. O2 and Vodafone are both aiming to release their Android 2.2 Froyo upgrades within weeks, T-Mobile predicts it'll set HTC Desire Froyo update free in September.

If you're packing an unlocked HTC Desire, your HTC Desire Froyo update is already up for grabs. If you haven't got it yet, hit Settings on your phone and manually scan for it.

Let us know: are you happy to wait a few weeks for your HTC Desire Froyo update? Or are you irritated that operators can't get their updates out sooner?

Out TBC | £free | Orange

iPhone 4 jailbreak: hackers begin countdown to Apple retaliation

Posted: 02 Aug 2010 06:02 AM PDT

The iPhone 4 jailbreak has finally arrived through a Safari browser exploit that Jailbreakme.com takes advantage of. But don't expect that chink in Apple's armour to be around for long. Comex, the main brains behind the iPhone 4 jailbreak, has already predicted that Apple will be working hard to plug the hole…

On Twitter, Comex revealed that the iPhone 4 jailbreak relies on a bug in Safari and said he believes Apple will consider that a big issue: "They'll consider it a remote security hole (which it is) – high priority."

In the run up to releasing the iPhone 4 jailbreak, coders discovered Apple anti-tampering code nestled within iOS. It's now sure to be hard at work on patching the hole that allows the current iPhone 4 jailbreak.

The iPhone 4 jailbreak doesn't work on handsets running the iOS 4.1 beta and there's a good chance that when Apple unleashes the full version it'll come with code included to frustrate the jailbreakers.

The success of the current iPhone 4 jailbreak is only the latest twist in an ongoing battle between Apple and the hackers. We expect to see tales of bricked iPhones and closed loopholes when the next iOS 4 update arrives.

Let us know: have you taken the plunge and installed the iPhone 4 jailbreak? Or are you waiting to see how Apple responds before you do?

Out TBC | £free | Apple

China beats Jonny Ive to white iPhone 4…

Posted: 02 Aug 2010 05:20 AM PDT

If the wait for the white iPhone 4 is just getting to be too much, then why not stave off the hunger for now, with a shonky knock-off white iPhone 4 clone? It appears China is managing to make knock-off white iPhone 4's before Apple has managed to manufacture more than an exclusive handful…

The white not-quite-an-iPhone 4 E9000 runs on an OS called MediaTek, and has a resistive 3.5 inch touchscreen, with a below par 1.3 MP rear camera. Size wise it's almost spot on, with the finickty of you maybe wanting to note that in fact there's just a 0.5-0.8mm discrepancy between the two devices.

Unfortunately, those of you wanting something close to an iPhone will be (unsurprisingly) disappointed. The phone has a measly MediaTek chip inside it, which is too weak for its white iPhone 4 knock-off to be classed as a smartphone.

By the looks of things though, they've done a pretty good job of replicating the look of iOS 4 interface. Google translate does a sterling job of the Chinese to English too: "Every human heart there an aristocratic life of the dream, when can become a reality?"

When indeed…

Lunchtime Lowdown: iPhone 4 jailbreak out, Samsung Windows Phone 7 deets and HTC Desire Froyo update arrives

Posted: 02 Aug 2010 04:30 AM PDT

It’s hard to believe that August is upon us already – unlike us human folk though, gadget news and gossip doesn’t take a holiday. It’s been flowing on in like always, and we’ve got the best bits of it rounded up for you right here in your lunchtime lowdown!

The big news is on the mobile front, first up. Android fans will be pleased to hear that the HTC Desire Froyo update is already rolling out for unlocked owners, while those awaiting the second coming of Microsoft with Windows Phone 7 can tuck into the rumoured specs for Samsung’s first smartphone running the software.

But we’ve saved the best for last: the first readily available iPhone 4 jailbreak has arrived. You can now unleash your handset’s true potential, so tinkerers, get cracking!

Finally, sticking with mobile computers of a sort, don’t forget to enter our Electricpig tablet survey – tell us what you make of the iPad and its cohorts and you could win!

Still want more news? Bounce on over to the homepage and help yourself to it all as it breaks.

Windows Phone 7 Samsung Cetus revealed

Posted: 02 Aug 2010 04:01 AM PDT

Details of one of Samsung’s first Windows Phone 7 devices have been leaked, thanks to a Bluetooth certification. The Windows Phone 7 device will be called the Samsung Cetus, and comes with a four inch 800 x 480 AMOLED screen, GPS, plus a VGA front facing camera, on top of a 5MP camera.

The Cetus will also be carrying Bluetooth, a Micro USB slot and Wi-Fi.

Because of the Windows Phone 7 minimum hardware requirements, we already know quite a bit about the phone’s vital statistics. Whether it will exceed any of the minimum standards set by Microsoft earlier this year will wait to be seen.

Microsoft demand that every Windows Phone 7 device must have 8GB or more built in flash storage and 256MB RAM, a high-end processor (ARM v7 Cortex/Scorpion or better), capacitive multitouch, FM radio tuner, accelerometer, 5MP camera, six specific hardware buttons (home, back, search, camera, power and volume buttons).

There are no images of the Windows Phone 7 device as of yet, but perhaps it's no surprise that Samsung will be one of the first to the game, since the prototype Taylor device we played with a couple of weeks back was a Samsung.

(via FoneHome)

Halo 2600: play Master Chief on the Atari!

Posted: 02 Aug 2010 03:30 AM PDT

If our Halo: Reach first play got you itching for more space combat, you don't have to wait until next month to get your fix. You can play Halo 2600, a clever Atari 2600 demake of the Halo games online or download it to play on your Atari emulator of choice. Read on for more on this retro gaming triumph…

Created by Ed Fries, former VP of Xbox game publishing, Halo 2600 puts you in control of a pixellated Master Chief, navigating him through four regions and gunning down Covenant forces along the way. It's pretty tricky, you only get two lives and a single shot from the blocky bad guys will take you out unless you grab a shield power up which'll let you take two shots before perish.

Fries programmed Halo 2600 to use just 4k of space. You can read his explanation of how he created the game over at the Atari Age forums where you can also grab the ROM if you've got a Atari emulator to play it on. If not, you can play a Flash version of the Halo 2600 at the link below.

When you're done enjoying the retro gaming glory, further feed your Halo cravings by feasting on the rest of our Halo: Reach coverage.

We think Fries has done a pretty impressive job squeezing the essence of Halo into a neat Atari sized package but what other modern games would you like to see demaked? Hit the comments and let us know…

Out now | £free | Halo 260o (via Bogost)

Made for Life

Tuesday, 3 August 2010

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