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Chrome OS conundrum: can one survive with a browser-only Chromebook?
Motorola VIP1853 changes the DVR game with user accessible click-in storage
Five things Windows Phone must steal from MeeGo
Nokia N9 hands on: Nokia’s greatest phone is also its greatest mistake
Audio Technica AT-SPB30: an ultra durable and affordable JamBox replacement
iOS 5 beta axes firmware downgrading, untethered jailbreaks
myTouch 4G Slide unveiled: promises to deliver most advanced smartphone camera
Best Android apps of the week
Tricks of the trade: How viruses are invading smartphones
Google Nexus Prime, Acer Chromebook and Duke Nukem hits up the Mac: Lunchtime Lowdown

Chrome OS conundrum: can one survive with a browser-only Chromebook?

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 11:08 AM PDT

With Samsung's Series 5 Chromebook now on sale in the US and UK and the Acer AC700 joining shortly, doubts have been raised over whether one can survive by Chrome OS alone. This largely this depends on individual usage patterns, Internet availability and applications. Can you survive with a Chromebook?

As the name implies, Chrome OS finds its bread and butter in the Chrome browser. Unlike conventional operating systems, a Chromebook lives and breaths in a full screen browser without the slightest inkling of a minimize, maximize or close button.

As simple as this sounds, this also presents one of the first challenges in Chrome OS: how do we multitask? As a journalist by day and web developer by night, my personal usage requires multiple windows spanning across several screens. If you're familiar with Mac OS X Spaces, you'll be right at home with Chrome OS. New windows can be created by pressing Ctrl + N and you can navigate these virtual "spaces" by using the switch window button.

This works great for having multiple browser instances, but where are the apps? Other than a basic music player and file browser, "apps" are downloaded from the Chrome App Store. Installed apps appear on a new tab screen in your browser, but the takeaway here is that these "apps" are really just web pages.

How do we print? One of the most glaring weakness in the mobile space has been the lack of printer support. Other than HP ePrinter support on select smartphones and tablets, for the most part, a void still exists. This weakness lives on with Chrome OS. You'll need to have a HP ePrint printer or configure the wireless service using Chrome on a Mac or PC to print docs.

Data is king. Depending on which flavor of Chromebook you choose, a WiFi and/or 3G data connection will be included. In the US, 3G data is handled by Verizon Wireless. Each Chromebook offers a complimentary 100MB of data per month for two years. Alternatively, unlimited data may be purchased for $9.99 (£6.24) per day or you can choose from a tiered data plan: $20 (£12.50) for 1GB, $35 (£21.87) for 3GB or $50 (£31.24) for 5GB.

With the majority of a Chromebook's functionality requiring a data connection, relying on a browser-only OS could prove costly. It's safe to say you'll want to limit your video streaming usage if you opt for a 3G Chromebook.

After reviewing the capabilities of Chrome OS it's clear that the true draw for the platform is the Wi-Fi only Chromebook. The ideal user would be one who relies heavily on Google web services such as Google Docs, Gmail and Picasa. Ultimately determining whether a Chromebook is right for you can be answered by simply monitoring your daily computer usage — what percentage of time do you spend in a browser?

If most of your time resides on the web, a Chromebook could be the perfect supplement to your primary computer. The biggest obstacles facing widespread Chrome OS adoption will be similarly (or lower) priced netbooks and budget-tablets which offer even more functionality.

Motorola VIP1853 changes the DVR game with user accessible click-in storage

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 07:59 AM PDT

Tired of footing the bill for upfront DVR storage capacity on your set-top box? Motorola has heard the message loud and clear with the upcoming release of its VIP1853. The IPTV set-top box comes standard with a modest 8GB DVR module, but features opt-in DVR capacities of 160, 320, or 500GB.

By way of Motorola's new 'click-in' DVR module, the VIP1853 can transform from a basic set-top box to full-fledged DVR at a moment's notice. The ingenious approach to user-controllable storage represents a paradigm shift in service provider set-top boxes.

If the box looks familiar that's because it's based on the same hardware platform and software as the Motorola VIP19x3 and VIP 1003. The VIP1853 will be available globally in Q3 2011 and launched by a major European operator by the end of 2011.

Coming 2011 | Motorola | TBD

Five things Windows Phone must steal from MeeGo

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 07:54 AM PDT

Nokia may be making Windows Phone its primary smartphone operating system, but if it doesn’t pester Microsoft to stick some of MeeGo’s greatest features into the Mango update or future versions, how shall we put it? We’re going to have a problem. Read on as we look at the best bits of MeeGo on the Nokia N9 we’d really like to see copied. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

Swipe to unlock
While we like the ability to take a photo while the handset is locked with Windows Phone 7, we love the Nokia N9′s buttonless unlock. You just double tap the screen, swipe and you’re in.

Multitasking cards at a glance
Android (on mobiles, not tablets) and iOS both use boring stock icons to show which apps are open when you jump to their respective task bar/multitasking bars. In other words, you can’t see what web page you’re looking at.

Windows Phone does use screenshots, but you have to roll through them all one by one – MeeGo stuffs plenty onto one screen, and you can see them all at a glance just by swiping vertically from the top or bottom of the screen. More of this please Microsoft.

Intuitive copy and paste
Select some text. Swipe back (left( to copy. Swipe forward (well, right) to paste. Jobs a good’un. Microsoft’s implementation arrived far too late, and while it’s farily elegant, it’s still not as fast and easy as this.

Mobile Wi-Fi hotspot
Windows Phone needs the ability to use a 3G connection as a Wi-Fi hotspot pronto. Android has it. iPhone has it. Even Symbian has it – and of course, MeeGo does to.

TV-out. Somehow. Anyhow.
The Nokia N9 doesn’t offer HDMI-out TV connectivity, but it does kick it old school with TV-out through the 3.5mm headphone socket, like many Nokia Symbian phones before it. Want to do the same on Windows Phone? You’ll have to use the Play To app exclusive to LG’s Optimus 7 phone, and hope it streams your file.

Nokia N9 hands on: Nokia’s greatest phone is also its greatest mistake

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 07:31 AM PDT

We’ve just hot footed it from Nokia’s London offices, where we got to grips with the Nokia N9, a MeeGo smartphone that the company appears to be treating like a red headed step child. It’s a crying shame, because what we’ve seen is nothing short of delightful.

Why’s that bad? Allow us to explain.

From the polycarbonate shell to the 3.9-inch, 480x 854 screen, the Nokia N9 is a beautiful, functional piece slab of smartphone. At 12.1mm deep, it isn’t remotely thin, but it doesn’t need to be, and somehow it feels lighter than its 135g weight.

But it’s the operating system itself, MeeGo, with Nokia’s Harmattan user interface, that’s the most mesmerising – and also tragic – thing about the phone.

You see, it’s everything we’ve been calling for from Nokia for years. It’s a spruced up interface that’s easy to grasp. It’s a touchscreen keyboard that isn’t awful. It makes sense. Hell, it’s innovative, something we’d never thought we’d say about Nokia software.

Nokia’s swiping controls for unlocking the phone are a buttonless revolution: the screen shows the time in standby, but only uses power for the few pixels lighting up the numbers since it’s an AMOLED screen, and lights up when you double tap it. Then it’s just a swipe to take you to the home screen.

The three screen interface is easy to get around, with an iPhone/Android like grid of icons to apps and internet bookmarks (It nicely uses website favicons as icon art automatically) holds no surprises. Swipe one way however and you get your feed of Facebook and Twitter updates, but a look in the settings shows the Nokia N9 supports all sorts of account syncing, from Flickr to SIP internet calling (Something also offered in Android 2.3).

Swipe the other way, and you get to the multitasking screen, which shows screenshots of your open apps. A long press lets you close what you see, and a prod takes you straight to them. The 1GHz CPU is actually a little behind the curve, not that you’d ever know it from how fast the Nokia N9 zips along.

Even better though: this can be accessed from any app just by swiping up or down on the screen – even while a video is playing you can roll it down smoothly and seamlessly. It’s the best multitasking UI we’ve seen on any phone, though we can’t imagine Google and Apple will stick to stock icons for apps in their task bars for long.

We also got to test out the Nokia N9′s camera, though it should be stressed it was a prototype model. The eight megapixel camera didn’t take thrilling shots, but the Carl Zeiss optics and auto focus mean the final model should grab much more impressive stills than Nokia phones with EDoF sensors (extended depth of field), which are useless for macro shooting.

So yeah. The Nokia N9 is genuinely great.

Which makes it all the more devastating that Nokia is quite clearly trying to wash its hands of the phone as it moves to Windows Phone. A company representative would not confirm if the Nokia N9 would be going on sale in the UK – though stock indicators on Nokia’s website suggests not. Last week’s highly suspicious “leaked” footage of CEO Stephen Elop revealing the Nokia Sea Ray Windows Phone was likely no coincidence either: with almost identical hardware on board, it was a clear snub to MeeGo.

Ah well. We can hope but Nokia comes to it senses and pushes both platforms when the Nokia N9 goes on sale later this year.

Audio Technica AT-SPB30: an ultra durable and affordable JamBox replacement

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 07:29 AM PDT

The Jawbone Jambox set the bar for portable speakers packing a decibel punch. Audio Technica hopes its AT-SPB30 Boogie Box speaker has what it takes to capture some of that market. Replacing the AT-SPB5 released in 2009, this year's solution packs 40 hours of playback on four AA batteries and a very attractive price point.

Priced at £54 (7000 Yen), the AT-SPB30 Boogie Box is more than £100 cheaper than the Jawbone JamBox. While it lacks the streamlined designed of its competition, it more than makes up with its durability. Inside is a 2.1 channel speaker setup (2Wx2CH+3.6W) and 47k? impedance which delivers crystal clear tunes. The Audio Technica AT-SPB30 weighs just 630g and launches next month in Japan. No word on a UK release just yet.

Coming July | Audio Technica | £54

iOS 5 beta axes firmware downgrading, untethered jailbreaks

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 07:03 AM PDT

iOS 5 beta has officially become the iPhone jailbreaking community's worst nightmare. A post on the Dev-Team Blog has confirmed the latest build prevents both downgrading firmwares and untethered jailbreaks.

Without diving too deep into the technicalities, the LLB and iBoot stages of iOS 5 depend on the authenticity of APTicket. Since APTicket is uniquely generated at each restore (and boot), Apple alone holds the keys to properly sign a pre-restore APTicket. Bottom line: a firmware downgrade or untethered jailbreak with iOS 5 is near impossible.

One of iOS 5's killer features is the addition of over the air (OTA) updates. A side effect of this transition is that updates will only change certain aspects of iOS 5 and not the entire OS. This means that unlike current installations, a firmware restore to a specific iOS 5.x build will not exist. Jailbreakers will be forced to use that last complete iOS 5 build, likely version 5.0.

With that being said anything is possible, especially when you factor in the determination and will power of an avid jailbreaking community. The Dev-Team has managed to jailbreak iOS 5 beta via a tethered data connection while using a previous version of iTunes, but don't expect a long shelf life.

via Ars

myTouch 4G Slide unveiled: promises to deliver most advanced smartphone camera

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 06:27 AM PDT

The latest in T-mobile USA's long line of myTouch smartphones has been made official this afternoon, the myTouch 4G Slide. With it comes "the most advanced camera of any smartphone" thanks to zero shutter lag, a backside illuminated sensor and premium digital camera features. Will the 4G Slide make point and shoot cameras obsolete?

As the name suggests the myTouch 4G Slide supports T-mobile's speedy HSPA+ network. A network which now extends to 190 markets, reaching more than 200 million people. While data speeds are important, the focus here is the 8-megapixel shooter with dual LED flash.

The backside illuminated sensor improves low-light performance thanks to a wide aperture lens (f/2.2). Another interesting feature making its way to the 4G Slide is SweepShot; a tool for capturing panoramic shots by sweeping across an entire scene in a single motion. Joining the panoramic capture are ClearShot HDR and BurstShot.

At the end of the day the myTouch 4G Slide is an Android smartphone running 2.3 Gingerbread and HTC Sense 3.0. A 1.2 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, 3.7-inch WVGA super LCD touchscreen display, slide-out QWERTY keyboard and Swype round out the features. The 4G Slide goes on sale this July in two color choices: black and khaki.

Coming July | T-mobile USA | TBD

Best Android apps of the week

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 06:02 AM PDT

If you listen very carefully, you can hear the sound of the best Android apps of the week approaching. This week's boisterous quintet is made up of killer games, a surprising social networking update and even a solution to your car-buying needs. In short, there's something for (almost) everyone, and the best thing is that we've tested all of these downloads to destruction to ensure they're fit for your beloved mobile's internal storage.

As always, there are two options for grabbing these lovely items. The first involves downloading Barcode Scanner from the Android Market and pointing your phone's camera at one of the QR codes scattered liberally below. The second is clicking one of the links using your old-fashioned web browser and accessing the goodies that way. Whichever choice you make, you're certain to gain a must-have download at the end of the process. Enjoy!

Cut the Rope

Free (GetJar exclusive)

Cut (pun absolutely intended) from the same cloth as Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds, Cut the Rope has already gained a sizeable following on the iPhone. This addictive puzzle title is focused around feeding a piece of candy to an adorable little monster by the name of Om Nom. Each level has a sweet suspended by ropes, and slashing these with your finger causes all kinds of physics-related fun. Of course it's rarely as straightforward as that, and before long you'll be scratching your head at the fiendish challenges. Elements such as bellows (which blow the candy in a certain direction) and bubbles (which allow the candy to float majestically upwards) are introduced, and these make things a little more complicated. It's amazingly addictive stuff, and it's available absolutely free from GetJar. Essential.

The best Android apps of all time: Top 100

Auto Trader

Free

With the rising cost of petrol, cars are in danger of becoming something we (and are wallets) could well do without. Sadly, it looks as if we're stuck with them for the time being at least, and if you're on the lookout for a new set of wheels then you could do much worse than download this official Auto Trader application for Android. You can browse listings, view detailed descriptions and even contact the seller directly through the app itself. The one thing it can't guarantee is that the £500 Vauxhall Nova that you've got your eye on won't turn out to be a death-trap rather than the sale of the century, but that's the risk you take.

Cubo

Free

Remember Simon from your ill-spent youth? Not the annoying ginger kid from your old primary school who could burp the alphabet from start to finish and smelt of rotten apples, but the battery-powered game with big, friendly buttons that challenged you to remember a sequence of colours. Portable entertainment has thankfully improved a bit since then, but Memory Puzzle Cubo does at least allow you to wallow in nostalgia. The basic premise is the same as Simon, but it's all dressed up in some gorgeous 3D visuals. iPhone owners have to pay for the privilege of this colourful memory challenge game, but the Android edition is ad-supported and as free as the air you're breathing right now (unless you're currently reading this whilst scuba-diving, in which case the air you're breathing will have cost you actual money).

The best Android keyboard apps: Every QWERTY tested

Facebook (Update)

Free

We're usually loathe to report on updates for apps like Facebook – after all, everyone has it pre-installed on their phone already, so it's not like you have to go hunting for it, right? However, it's equally true that we sometimes just flippantly update core system apps without really knowing what new features are being introduced, so listen up. Facebook 1.60 introduces the ability to upload videos direct from you phone. That's right – you can now embarrass your friends by making THAT footage from THAT drunken night out available to the public! This addition is enough to make Facebook qualify as one of our Best Android apps of the week, but there's more – the news stream has been improved, and you can also view Facebook pages from within the app itself. Bet you 'like' the sound of that, right? Snigger! Chortle! Humph. Never mind.

N.O.V.A. 2 (Update)

Approx £4.37

Gameloft's Halo wannabe N.O.V.A. 2 has been dazzling iPhone and Sony Ericsson Xperia Play owners for a while now, but it's finally available for the rest of the Android multitude. Although the lack of the Play's great physical controls is an issue, it can't prevent N.O.V.A. 2 from offering one of the most polished and playable FPS experiences on mobile. The visuals are razor-sharp, the action is hectic and the online multiplayer is so addictive that you'll wonder where the hours went to. You'll need a reasonably powerful handset to run it, but then you didn't expect such quality to come easy, did you?

Tricks of the trade: How viruses are invading smartphones

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT

Last week an Android virus called GG Tracker emerged, a nasty little critter that fools you into thinking it's the Android Market. But it's just the latest in a line of viruses designed to steal data from your smartphone, as outlined in Symantec's new whitepaper, A Window into Mobile Device Security.

So how can you spot it and similar nasties on your smartphone, and make sure your private info stays private? Find out after the jump.

You wouldn't even know if you were infected, that's the scary thing. The new virus, called GG Tracker, is lurking, ready to hack your Android phone and steal your details. It bypasses Google's security protections and signs you up to multiple premium-rate SMS services without you knowing, so not only will you be bombarded by spam, you'll be paying for the privilege. It's like being handed a load of pizza leaflets in the street, then being charged for them.

It's spread though in-app adverts. When you click the ad, you're taken to a site that looks exactly like Android Market. You're prompted to start the Android installer, then once installed, the app sends out your number to lots of dodgy premium rate text services. It even intercepts the usual registration messages and fills them for you, so the first you'll know about it is when you start receiving the unwanted texts.

And it's not the first time something like this has hit Android Market. Back in March Google pulled some apps which contained malware, and just a couple of weeks ago Norton warned that the virus threat to Android is just beginning.

Now the latest whitepaper from Symantec (developer of Norton anti-virus software) has pinned down the biggest threats to your mobile over the last year, including games that access your credit card numbers, and the Holy F***ing Bible app that sent unsavoury texts to people in your address book.

So what can you do avoid getting stung? Because of Android's open source nature, spotting the dodgy apps can be tricky, as there are a lot of genuine (if slightly ramshackle) applications cobbled together by boys in their bedrooms. Symantec's whitepaper’s advice includes setting passwords, activating a remote wipe if you enter the incorrect your password so many times, and not keeping sensitive data on your mobile.

"Mobiles haven't been a big target up to now, but now adoption is widespread and we're doing more with them, there's more to be had from attacking them," says Sian John, Mobile Security Expert from Norton. "Phones actually have more security built into them than PCs. But because Android is open source, it's easier for people to write malicious apps."

She advises seeing what the app wants to do with your phone. "Look at the permission it's asking for, and question it. If it says it's a game, think 'why would it need to access my contacts?', for example."

Others echo this sentiment. "Match what it's asking to do to the app's functionality," says David Emm, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky. "If it's asking to access your messaging and it's a traffic app, it doesn't make sense.

"Often these apps are Russian or from the Far East, so only download from official app stores," he adds. But with some invading, or in GGTracker's case, impersonating Android Market, that's still no guarantee. "What you can do is look at the list of running programs on your Android phone and make sure you know what they all are. If there's anything you don't know about, get rid of it."

He points out that because iOS isn't open source, there are far fewer viruses than on Android. "People have modified apps in the App Store, and targeted jailbroken iPhones, but generally there's much less scope." But Apple users shouldn't feel too smug though. Earlier this year Digital Trends reported that Stonesoft and MacAfee predicted iOS would be increasingly targeted by hackers in the coming years, due to its growing popularity (Macs were traditionally virus-free because of their low market share). So it seems if you've got a smartphone, you need to stay vigilant.

Pic via alancleaver_2000 at Flickr.

Google Nexus Prime, Acer Chromebook and Duke Nukem hits up the Mac: Lunchtime Lowdown

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 04:27 AM PDT

Stop what you’re doing! Unless you’re reading this, that is. In which case, as you were. Anyway, as ever, we’re here with your lunchtime lowdown roundup of all the headlines from this morning. Read on and fill up!

Let’s talk Google first, and its mobile operating systems. On the Android side of things, we heard a rumour about the next Google phone, the Nexus Prime. And boy does it sound tasty. On the Chromebook side of things meanwhile, we got a look at the Acer Chromebook heading our way, with a lower pricetag.

Elsewhere, in computing, Duke Nukem Forever was confirmed for the Mac, while Sony’s new VAIO Z machine was unveiled, complete with Thunderbolt connectivity – of a fashion.

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

Made for Life

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

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