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Acer W4, Nokia Play To, T-Mobile pay as you go plans: US Update
T-Mobile UK rolls out three new pay as you go plans
How Android is testing the limits of British IP law – with T-shirts [Feature]
Samsung eyes 30nm class DDR3, begins mass producing 32GB memory modules
Nokia Play To challenges AirPlay: wirelessly streams media to your TV [video]
Apple iPad competitors axe build plans: tablet bubble ready to burst?
Last chance saloon: Enter now to win a BlackBerry PlayBook
Acer W4 fails to impress, ships with Windows Phone Mango update
HTC ChaCha out tomorrow: UK launch price revealed
Meet the exclusive Electricpig Android phone [Video]

Acer W4, Nokia Play To, T-Mobile pay as you go plans: US Update

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 09:45 AM PDT

After Monday's holiday we're already half way through the work week and once again ready to deliver up that tasty bit of goodness we like to call the US Update. Kicking things off this morning is the new Acer W4, a Windows Phone Mango device with an average feature set — where's the new WP hardware? We jump on over to see Nokia's solution to match Apple AirPlay and then we wrap up with three new pay as you go plans set to debut today on T-Mobile UK.

The Acer W4 was unveiled today at Computex, but unfortunately the mid-range smartphone features the same 1 GHz Qualcomm processor, 5-megapixel camera, and WVGA-resolution display as the smartphones it looks to replace. A fresh report from J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz suggests we could be looking at a tablet bubble, set to burst in late 2011. According to Moskowitz, the iPad competitors have failed to gain traction and have significantly reduced production volumes for this year.

If you're a Nokia user who wants an AirPlay solution, Beta Labs has come to the rescue with its latest creation, Nokia Play To beta. To begin streaming make sure you have a DLNA-capable TV and open up the Play To app. Just make sure all your devices are on the same wireless network. Samsung announced it is the first in the industry to start mass producing 32 GB memory modules using 30 nanometer (nm) class four gigabit DDR3 chips. The 30nm-class 4Gb DDR3 chip offers an approximate 50 percent increase in productivity over a 40nm-class 4Gb DDR3.

Last up this morning are three new plans from T-mobile UK: Text plan, Talk plan and International plan. If you're a new or current T-mobile pay as you go customer, simply top up £10 in a month and choose a plan — trust us, there's some nice perks. That wraps up the latest and greatest in the fine world of tech news. As always I'm Nick Marshall and I'll see you tomorrow.

T-Mobile UK rolls out three new pay as you go plans

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 08:15 AM PDT

Starting June 1st T-Mobile UK will begin offering text, talk or international calling benefits for all customers who top up £10 in a month. The offer extends to both new and existing pay as you go customers and promises big rewards. There's three plans to choose from — let's take a look at what T-Mobile has cooked up for us.

Simply choose between one of the following three plans to rake in rewards:

Text plan: top up £10 in a month, get unlimited free texts to UK mobile to use in the following month. Plus 100 extra free texts to use straight away the first time you top up £10.

Talk Plan: top up £10 in a month, get 100 free minutes to call UK mobile and landlines at any time to use in the following month. Plus 25 extra free minutes to use straight away the first time you top up £10.

International Plan: top up £10 in a month, get 60 free minutes to call abroad from the UK to use the following month. Plus always-low rates on calls and texts from the UK to over 60 countries, whatever you top up.

The new plans are available starting today. Not a bad bonus for being a new or existing pay as you go customer, don't you think? In addition to these plans, you can still personalize each plan with talk, text and Internet 'Booster', based on your needs. Life is good in the world of pay as you go.

June 1 | T-mobile

How Android is testing the limits of British IP law – with T-shirts [Feature]

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:42 AM PDT

Google’s insanely cute Android mascot has, in the space of just a few short years, become a pop culture icon. In fact, sometimes we think it might be the source of Google’s success in the smartphone space, giving legions of developers and Android fanatics a symbol to get behind, not some dull typeface or a monochrome fruit.

Case in point: a group of designers, who work tirelessly to craft hilarious riffs on the Android mascot, merging it with everything from Dangermouse to Alex DeLarge of A Clockwork Orange – and then sell their creations as T-shirts.

We’ve been chatting with the founder of the movement: read on to see the incredible pop culture droid mashups it’s created, find out how you can get involved, and how it’s testing uncharted legal waters.

Head on over to Redbubble.com, and you’ll see hundreds of T-shirts designs, all featuring Google’s mascot. There’s the Android mascot as Marvin the paranoid android, as Garfield, as Boba Fett, a Care Bear, an Angry Bird, Judge Dredd. The list goes on. All of these can be bought to order individually or even as a quite epic montage, painstakingly put together by British web developer and part time designer Rob Wood.

Hansdroid - the mascot mashup that started it all

The whole movement began when Wood knocked up a mashup of Hans Solo and the Android mascot, Handroid, in his spare time – from there, a collective called the RedBubble Crew formed online, collaborating on all sorts of insane parody designs, from Portalmon (“Gotta test’em all”) to Doctor Pooh, with Winnie dressed as Tom Baker.

“These things just pop into my head,” Rob tells us. “The whole side of the pop culture thing is a great interest to me, I love just mashing these things up. Hans Solo’s always been a very popular character – it just seemed the mashup of the name worked so well I thought I’d give it a go.”

From there, a new group emerged on the site, which allows artists to sell their designs in various forms with no overheads, for a percentage of the revenue. Called droidarmy, the movement amounts to hundreds of riffs on the mascot, combining a love for all things sci-fi with US and British comic culture.

Click the images to enlarge

Wood has contributed thirteen designs so far, including ones fusing Tron, C-3PO and Optimus Prime. They’re making him money, too. From a twenty percent cut, Wood says that “we’re not talking about hundreds and hundred of pounds a month, we’re talking pocket money – but it’s pretty good. Obviously I wouldn’t mind turning it into something much bigger in the future, I’d love to do it full time.”

Surprisingly, Wood isn’t wholly enamoured with the Android OS itself. He has a Samsung Android phone, but says “it’s absolutely bloody awful”, and he’s much more taken with the emblem. “The logo is kind of iconic now. It’s fantastic, it’s recognisable from miles away, you can see that little green blog anywhere, it’s such a smart design.”

Its high visibility raises another issue though: copyright and intellectual property. Does Wood think that he’s safe? Chris Davies of Android Community points out that Google allows the mascot to be used and modified under a Creative Commons License, but of course it’s not just Google’s original designs that are being used here – and British law is far from clear when it comes to parody and fair dealing.

“It always sits there in the back of my mind that somebody is going to turn round and say take it down or we’ll take all your money off you, and your house,” Wood says. He consulted lawyers but drew a blank. “Nobody knew what actually fell under the parody blanket so I just went ahead and did it anyway. It’s a bit of a gamble, but at the same time, if you don’t do this sort of thing you’ll never find out.”

Oh well. We’re quite happy for Wood and his fellow designers to carry on testing the waters while we can walk around wearing Kubrickian twists on our favourite smartphone OS on our chests. Anyone for a spot of the old ultra-violence?

[Thanks for the tip Chris!]

Samsung eyes 30nm class DDR3, begins mass producing 32GB memory modules

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:29 AM PDT

In the world of cloud computing and advances server systems, memory reigns supreme. Today, Samsung announced it is the first in the industry to start mass producing 32 GB memory modules using 30 nanometer (nm) class four gigabit DDR3 chips. If you think that's impressive, the company also plans to release more energy-efficient 4Gb DDR3 DRAM based on 20nm-class process technology later this year.

There's only two things you need to know about memory: more is better and green is good. As part of Samsung's goal of delivering the greenest memory products with optimal performance for customers, the 30nm-class 4Gb DDR3 chip offers an approximate 50 percent increase in productivity over a 40nm-class 4Gb DDR3. More memory on smaller chips which help the environment is definitely an initiative we can get behind.

To find out more about Samsung's 'Green Memory' efforts head on over to their site. Samsung expects to have more than 10 percent of its total DRAM chip production in 2012 at the 4Gb (or higher) density.

Coming Soon | Samsung | TBD

Nokia Play To challenges AirPlay: wirelessly streams media to your TV [video]

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:03 AM PDT

Think Apple has the only wirelessly streaming game in town? Fear not my Nokia loving friends, Beta Labs has come to the rescue with its latest creation, Nokia Play To beta. The free software, available now, allows wireless streaming of all your media: photos, video and even music.

How does it work? Simple, just open up the Play To app on your Nokia handset and make sure all your devices are on the same wireless network. You'll also need to make sure you have a DLNA- capable TV, A/V receiver, Blu-ray player or PS3 gaming console. For those familiar with DLNA technology, Nokia is supporting push and server functionalities with its current implementation.

The video below shows off just how clean the implementation is and with a price that's just right, we'd say Play To looks like a hit. If you need some additional help setting up the application or passing your content along to your TV, hit the detailed instructions here.

Out Now | Nokia | Free

Apple iPad competitors axe build plans: tablet bubble ready to burst?

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 06:23 AM PDT

The iPad has been available for less than two years, but at least one analyst from J.P. Morgan believes an "increasing risk of a bubble burst" to the tablet market awaits in the second half of 2011. Based on exaggerated build plans from tablet makers and a lack of a high-volume tablet competitor to the iPad, the firm has slashes its tablet sales forecasts for 2011 by 20 percent to a 65 million unit estimate. Are we sitting on a tablet bubble, ready to burst later this year?

According to JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz tablet build plans by Apple's competitors have declined by approximately 10 percent since early March, a sign he believes means, "non-Apple tablet hopefuls have adjusted to the weak showing so far". He described the trend as an "early dos of reality" and that in order to avoid the risk of a bubble burst, the market needs a high-volume competitor. So far the Asus Eee Pad Transformer, Motorola Xoom, BlackBery PlayBook and Samsung Galaxy Tab have "failed to gain traction" and "consequently reduced build plans".

The chart above paints the grim picture. Keeping in mind these are J.P. Morgan estimates, the build plans still represent cause for concern since only HTC, Lenovo and Apple appear fixed on meeting previously forecast estimates. Moskowitz went on to explain that soon we will "see how the back-to-school reception is," while others are waiting to roll out 4G LTE tablets. Unfortunately the "limited upward pressure" in build activity this summer will likely come from the tablet leader, Apple.

Sounds like a tough pill to swallow, don't you think? Last time we checked Asus Eee Pad Transformer inventory was becoming akin to the white unicorn — impossible to find. The upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1 given to attendees at Google I/O last month also received a strong reception and BlackBerry PlayBook sales should pick up following the software update coming this summer.

via AppleInsider

Last chance saloon: Enter now to win a BlackBerry PlayBook

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 06:10 AM PDT

Last month, we gave you the chance to win a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet ahead of its UK launch in an exclusive competition – and the closing date is almost upon us. You’ve got until just tomorrow to enter, but don’t worry, because getting your name in the draw is simple: all you have to do is head over and tell us why you deserve to win one. Good luck!

Click here to enter now

Acer W4 fails to impress, ships with Windows Phone Mango update

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 05:48 AM PDT

Acer's foray into the world of Windows Phone Mango (v. 7.5), the OS's first major overhaul scheduled for an autumn release, will begin with the Acer W4. This modest smartphone graced the floor at Computex in Taiwan, but other than the updated software, fails to deliver any ground breaking hardware.

Traditionally you'd expect a serious software refresh to be accompanied by faster, more advanced, hardware. This is not the case for the Windows Phone Mango-powered Acer W4. The mid-range smartphone features the same 1 GHz Qualcomm processor, 5-megapixel camera, and WVGA-resolution display as the smartphones it looks to replace.

After seeing a glimpse of the 12-megapixel HTC Mazaa earlier this week, expectations for updated hardware mounted. Unfortunately it appears the Mazaa is a test-only device, destined for developer testing, never intended to reach retail outlets. Let's hope the upcoming hardware from Fujitsu, ZTE, HTC, Samsung, LG and Dell deliver the hardware refresh. Will software bring Windows Phone back into the conversation with Android and iOS handset sales?

Coming Soon | Acer | TBD

HTC ChaCha out tomorrow: UK launch price revealed

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 05:23 AM PDT

The HTC ChaCha may not be the Facebook phone, but it’s the first with a big ol’ F button on it – and it’s going on sale in the UK tomorrow, four months after it was first revealed at Mobile World Congress.

Phones4u will be selling it online and in stores from tomorrow, and pre-orders are open now. It’s available on Orange and Vodafone contracts free on £20 per month two year contracts, and will sell for £299.95 on Pay As You Go, although this option is not yet listed on the online store.

Needless to say, we’re chasing for more about the Android 2.3 phone with a BlackBerry-style QWERTY keyboard, and will have a full review for you shortly, but in the meantime check it out in the videos below.

How does that price sound? Too much? Sound off with your thoughts in the comments!

Meet the exclusive Electricpig Android phone [Video]

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 04:59 AM PDT

Is it an Electricpig phone? Is it a Vodafone Smart? Actually, it’s both!

We’ve had our eyes on the low price Vodafone Smart Android 2.2 phone and its 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen for a while now, and this morning, our review unit rocked up in the post. But it wasn’t just an ordinary Vodafone Smart: it was one complete with our logo branded on the back. And we’re suckers for Electricpig branded gear.

UPDATE: Vodafone says you can customise your own back covers. Great news!

Sadly you won’t be able to modify your own back case (although other publications have nabbed their own themed phones too – see Fonehome‘s here) but we’ll be bringing you a full review shortly to let you know what else you can do with the phone, which Vodafone tells us will cost £70 on Pay As You Go.

Got any questions? Drop them in the comments here and we’ll bring you the answers in our review, coming this week.