As more and more people keep talking about Cupertino’s iphone 4 mobile device and this all antenna reception issues, it seems that Apple, the mother company, is finally realizing the time has come to start doing something about it – the sooner the better. And one of the steps the company has just taken in order to try and extinguish the flames is the new iOS 4.0.1 that Steve Jobs and the rest of his fellows has officially released to the pond (updating iOS4) and that apparently “improves the formula to determine how many bars of signal strength to display.” The platform itself is already available for a download via iTunes and supports only iPhone 3G, 3GS, and iPhone 4 machines.

Update: So Apple has urgently called a press conference to speak about the “Antennagate” reception issues and the good news is that everyone, I mean EVERYONE is going to get free bumpers (case) when buying a new iphone device. If you already bought one, just go straight into one of Apple stores next to your house and get a full refund. Here’s what Steve Jobs had to say about it:

“You know, we’re not perfect. We know that, you know that. And phones aren’t perfect either.”

Antenna reception problems are well known in the smartphones world and make a “challenge for the entire industry”

“.. the iPhone 4 drops less than one additional call per 100 than the 3GS. Less than one.”

“A free case for every iPhone 4 buyer.”

The hottest news of the day: Apple is reporting that 1.7 million iphone 4 devices already sold in last three days, since official debut. That’s pretty impressive if you have a moment to think about it. And needless to say, a new world record. Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs said:

“This is the most successful product launch in Apple’s history. Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply.”

Update1: Read the PR after the break.

Update2: At that note, the guys at iSuppli claim that Apple’s iPhone 4 costs somewhere around $188 to make.

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Well, hello there! Looks like the iPhone 4 is now up and ready for your pre-orders on Apple’s website. Actually it’s only the black version at the moment, while whitish flavor is set for later this month. Prices are at $199 (16GB) and $299 (32GB) in the US (with a 2 years contract), while Britons can get their own piece of mobile craft – SIM FREE – for £499 (16GB) or £599 (32GB). Only two pieces per customer.

Update1: Apparently, Canadian users will be able to buy a SIM FREE iPhone as well, from carriers like Rogers, Bell, or Telus. Way to go Apple!

Update2: And after Apple’s unsteady servers collapsed, turns out that iPhone 4 pre-orders are sold out! both in Apple and AT&T. Next shipping is scheduled for July 2. Here’s AT&T’s official statement:

“Because of the incredible interest in iPhone 4, today was the busiest online sales day in AT&T history. As of Tuesday afternoon, customers who preorder iPhone 4 moving forward will receive their device on June 25 or later, depending on when the order is placed. We’ll email customers with confirmation once their order is placed, and again when it ships. In addition, we will have devices available on a first-come, first-serve basis in our stores beginning on June 24.”

Update3: Apple says that white iPhone 4 devices won’t be available until second half of July due to “proven more challenging to manufacture than expected.” Here’s the official statement:

White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.

[Apple]

Apple has just introduced its brand new iPhone 4 at the WWDC 2010 event in San Francisco, CA, with CEO Steve Jobs telling the open-eared crowd “Now, stop me if you’ve already seen this” and adding “This is one of the most beautiful designs you’ve ever seen.” But we’ve already seen it before, due to recent unpleasant leaks, and all that left is for Cupertino to finally make things official.

Basically, the new iPhone 4 is firmly constructed from a stainless steel band, used for structural support and works as dual-antenna, while both front and back are coated with real glass cover. The screen is sized at 3.5-inch, with 960 x 640 points of high resolution (x4 more) and 1:800 contrast ratio – Apple calls it “Retina Display” for its super-sharp display, boasting 326 pixels per inch. The good news is that Apple has apparently added that strong A4 processor it first planted inside the iPad, into the new iPhone. Despite its 9.3mm thick, Apple has somehow managed to stuff up the iPhone 4 with a pretty impressive battery which can literally deliver 7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music, and up to 300 hours of standby – did we say impressive already? Connectivity wise, you get a 802.11n WiFi, paired with Bluetooth and equipped with GPS capabilities.

Beyond that, one of the things that is talked about a great deal  is the FaceTime video calls feature that Apple has finally tossed into the four-gen iPhone, with future plans to make it an open industry standard. In general, there are two different cameras onboard – the rear one, is at 5 megapixel with a backside illuminated sensor, x5 digital zoom, and a LED flash, featuring 720p HD video recording at 30FPS (Portrait or landscape), while the second is a front facing camera that lets you conduct smooth video calls through your iPhone – the suspense – it can only be made over wifi networks at the moment. At that note we should mention Apple’s new iMovie app that gives any iPhone user the opportunity to edit his/her video content without the need to leave your mobile device in favor of your desktop platform. iMovie is said to be available at the App Store right away for a small $4.99 price tag.

As expected, the new phone is going to run on Apple’s latest OS4 (AKA: iPhone OS 4) that includes all the good stuff we’ve already written about, such as folders, multi-tasking, iBook, iAds and more.

Other than that, the iPhone 4 also houses a microSD slot and a a three-axis gyroscope.

The new iPhone will be available in June 24th, both in white and black flavors, running for $199 (16GB) and $299 (32GB), with Pre-orders start a week from tomorrow in 5 countries: US, France, Germany, UK, Japan, and 18 more following in July. The 3GS, on the other hand, will now be $99 only. PR and videos after the break.

[Apple]

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Another day, another iPhone 4G update, this time coming from Portugal (yes, Portugal), as the techie guys from iPhone Portgual have managed to obtain some iPhone 4G parts, which apparently include an aluminum chassis mold and a silver body case – both said to be acquired from china for a non-disclosure price. Unfortunately, there’s no way for us to authenticate this leak at the moment, and the possibility of it being a fake job is still there. For the meantime, you’ll have to settle with the pair of videos after the break – watch them and judge for yourself

[via iPhone Portugal]

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The closer we get to Apple’s Annual WWDC Event on June 7th, the more likely it is that we will see random iPhone 4G photos emerging out of the Asian Savanna, claiming to portray the real next iPhone HD prototypes. Clearly there’s no way to confirm those images at this early stage, but guess what, It won’t take long before we’ll know whether they are real or just a fake. One more image after the break.

[via Apple.pro]

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Another day, another Apple’s fourth-gen iPhone spotted in the wild, this time by the Vietnamese guys from Taoviet.com who’ve managed to purchase a prototype of Cupertino’s future device on the black market for a whopping $4,000. And while Gizmodo’s acquired phone had no capacity numbers behind its back, besides the “XXX” caption, this one, on the other hand, indicates a 16GB of internal storage, housing the usual “Bonfire” testing interface, instead of Apple’s coming OS 4 platform – what a pity. Other than that, it apparently packs the same line of hardware (minus the two external screws) we’ve already seen before with a micro SIM slot stuffed to the right side of the box and these dual silver volume buttons placed to the left, while rear and front-face cameras adorn this “magical” bad boy as well, providing a clear evidence to support future arguments about authentication. Hands-on video after the break.

Update1: The guys at Chipworks claim that the “339S0084″ serial number etched on top of the big chip (the one with Apple’s logo) found in Cupertino’s next-gen iPhone during last teardown session, is actually THE Apple A4 chip, fabricated by Samsung as a result of Apple’s design acquisitions of PA Semi and Intrinsity. And if that allegation should be taken seriously, it means that Apple’s fourth generation iPhone will share the same micro-processing capabilities you can find inside the iPad – huzzah!

Update2: We’ve just added two more videos of Apple’s alleged iPhone 4G, posted by the same group of the Vietnamese guys. Check them out after the break.

[via Tinhte]

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So here’s the thing guys, you still have a 2G iPhone and finally want to make a change, something new, refreshing that would literally turn your good old stuff into a current, up-to-date smartphone. Up until now it’s been really difficult to carry out, but today, it’s actually possible. To do so, you’ll need to follow very cautiously a 68 step guide that would walk you through the long and tiresome process which includes the use of an iPhone Explorer to initially copy the Android files, then a stage where you have to turn your desktop into an Ubuntu virtual machine to install the OpeniBoot software, that would eventually create a dual-booting iPhone with iPhone OS and Android 1.6 systems hanging around. Definitely exhausting but hey, users are seldom willing to sacrifice well- established standard technology for a new and “more open” one, even if the latter don’t necessarily promise increased functionality, right? If you’re still in for it, you can checkout the video after the break or the entire guideline frame after frame (at your risk!).

Update1: Looks like David Wang, the guy who wrote the code that enables Android installation on first-gen iPhones, has now managed to go even further and make Google’s magical platform work on Apple 3G devices. Checkout his video demo after the break.

Update2: Apparently, the iPhone 3G port of Android is now available to download for your iPhone 3G devices. At your own risk, you can get in here, grab it and install.  Here’s another good guide how to install it, courtesy of PC World.

[via Android A Lot]

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Apple has officially filed a claim to receive its lost/stolen gem – and apparently, got it back. But before retaking possession, it looks like Gizmodo guys have managed to put the fourth-gen iPhone through a non-intrusive dismantling process in order to make us believe the gorgeous piece of craft they were holding in their hands is not just another Cupertino knock-off, but the real thing. And judging by their findings, they were probably right on spot. In general, there’s not much info to share at this point (no one wanted to cause further damage to the phone), still we find it fascinating to have a very early opportunity to take a closer look at what we may be seeing take center stage this summer – the iPhone 4G. Regretfully, the juicy parts of Apple’s next phone were hidden well behind a tight metal plate, so for the time being, there is no detailed information about the work of those sections, and it can hardly be expected that significant components will soon be available across the blogsphere (it would be for iFixit guys to unveil them). Still, without a concrete info, one might assume it would probably include this A4 processor (like the iPad’s), paired with the double sized 5.25 WHr at 3.7V battery which we’ve already had a chance to learn about before. One thing’s for sure, it took Giz ages, and between 40 to 50 screws to be able to open this crank, so pay them a courtesy visit to see more of this brat.

[via Gizmodo]

It was just a matter of time before someone would act on the unthinkable and nab Apple’s fourth-generation iPhone prototype, few months before its time. And the one missing piece, reported by Apple to be lost (or stolen), has found its way to Gizmodo that took photos from every possible direction, examined and even shot some videos – and if they were to be real (and we have no way to verify them at this stage), they sure look amazing. On the positive side, the new phone does show up in iTunes, Xcode, and System Profiler, not to mention the original Apple components found inside. Regretfully, it wasn’t possible to activate the device itself and get impressions of how the pre-loaded OS4 actually works – someone remotely destroyed it before Gizmodo guys first started tackling with it. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of detail to suggest this device is the real deal and not just a hoax.

For the time being we’d settle with the exterior, which unveils a thinner device version compared to the iPhone 3GS, but at the same time 3 grams heavier, thanks to a 5.25 WHr at 3.7V battery which is 16 percent larger than the one you’ll find inside the predecessor. Other than that, the 4G prototype (AKA: iPhone HD) boasts a front-facing camera and a bigger back camera tucked with a flash kit, while screen size remains unknown at this point but said to deliver higher resolution – about 960×640 if you really must know (3GS’s stands at 320 x 480 only). Besides that it packs a second mic for noise cancellation, dual volume buttons to the left and a Micro-SIM slot, similar to the one included in the iPad, placed to the right side of the box. Next, we have the flat back surface that appears to boast either glass or ceramic coat (instead of the 3GS’s rounded plastic cap) and a lavish Aluminum stripe surrounding the elegant squarish edges of Apple’s new phone. Storage capacity is yet to be determined, as etched caption indicates “XX” at the back of this premature model. Hit the break to check Giz hands-on video or go through the link for plenty more additional shots. You can also check out the list of 29 things we personally think that Apple should add to its coming four-gen iPhone.

Update1: Apparently it’s the real deal and the prototype has been confirmed to be original Apple device, lost by one of its talented iPhone Baseband software engineers, 27 years old Gray Powell, who lost the phone on the night of March 18, at Gourmet Haus Staudt, a nice German beer garden in Redwood City, California. The person who found the desirable gadget handed it over to another person and weeks later Gizmodo acquired it for an undisclosed price (rumors say that Gawker, the mother company of the tech blog paid either $10,000 or $5,000 plus percentage from revenues).

Update2: Apple’s legal department has filed a claim to receive the lost iPhone 4G , and Gizmodo guys now say they’ve handed it over, back to the place it really belongs.  End of chapter 1.

[via Gizmodo]

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The iPhone OS 4.0 event we’ve all been anxiously awaiting, just ended with Apple delivering some striking news to the world. But before getting to those shocking news we just heard, here’s some other details that might be worth considering: As of today Apple sold about 450,000 iPads throughout the States (along 50M iPhone devices), while users have downloaded about 600,000 books and over 3.5 million apps, thus far. The iPhone OS 4 which suppose to get official release this summer, is said to provide more than 1500 new APIs for developers, who can now actually download the fourth SDK Beta package from the iPhone Dev Center, and start shaping their magical crafts.

Moving the focus point over the main buffet, it’s all about the multitasking (Finally!). Yes, you’ve heard that right folks, Apple’s OS 4 is said to include multitasking (…and I’ll repeat myself again: ‘multitasking’). Of course it will work if you have an iPhone 3GS in your bag. Earlier devices, according to Jobs, amongst you’ll find “The iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd generation will run “many things”, but they will not get multitasking”.  In that note, Apple says it’d actually provide seven multitasking services including: background audio streaming like Pandora playing music all day long without the need to be stopped, Voice over IP apps like Skype taking calls even when you browse, background GPS and location apps, push and local notifications, task completion like Flickr image uploaded i background, and last but not least, fast app switching – all to be safely activated without the worry of battery draining.

Next in line is the new form of Folders, which aims to organize, and make sense out of the dispersed field of applications. With iPhone OS 4, users are said to be able to drag and drop apps onto one another to create folders, that from now on can hold up to 2160 apps instead of 180 apps you used to see over 11 pages.

Cupertino is also pushing forward today the Unified Inbox function, which gathers multiple email accounts (like MobileMe, Yahoo, Gmail, etc) into one single box, and thus eliminates the need to jump from one window to another. Apple has also enabled in this session the possibility of getting third-party email attachments straight into your phones – Yay, attachments are on!

iBooks gets to the iPhone OS 4 as well, with Apple taking advantage of recent iPad e-book galore.

Gaming Center. Another big news, especially for the gamer geeks between us. With Apple, building a social iPhone gaming network, which basically allows you to challenge your friends, compare achievements, leaderboards, match making  and more. In other words, it’s like the Xbox Live, but for the iPhones.

iAds. Suddenly everything that starts with the letter “i” is an Apple related product, eh? But seriously now, it was Steve Jobs who was quoted saying that free apps “Developers need to find a way to start making their money”… so far so good, but how? Apparently, Apple will sell interactive in-apps mobile ads, that everyone can create, not only ad agencies but also iPhone app developers that will split revenues with Apple (60/40) in exchange for selling and hosting their ads. Apple is said to use HTML 5 format to create those ads – interesting!

More coming up  features to include: Home screen wallpaper installation, Bluetooth keyboard support, 5x digital zoom, Spell check like in iPads, Playlist creation, Map overlays, Video playback and capture, and more.

So this is it guys, it’s huge and in some parts very surprising. A short multi-tasking OS 4 hands-on video is just after the break and you can also watch the full iPhone OS 4 keynote event on video on Apple’s website right here.

Update: Full PR announcement after the break.

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Word on the street is that Geohot, the guy that makes Apple challenges look like kids game, has finally managed to jailbreak Cupertino’s latest iPhone and iPod Touch versions. In other words, new machines such as iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 2G/3G and even iPad slates, are now said to be available for a jailbreaked, based on a software hack he’s about to release, and without the need of tethering. In his blog, Geohot says:

“The jailbreak is all software based, and is as simple to use as blackra1n. It is completely untethered, works on all current tethered models(ipt2, 3gs, ipt3), and will probably work on iPad too.”

And considering his record, it would be hard not to believe. See the video for yourselves, after the break

[Geohot]

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Big news for all of you Apple fanboys out there, as we now get to hear across the blogsphere that Apple is finally about to offer unlocked iphones – yes, you’ve heard that right, free, open, no contract attached – you name it. The list of iPhone devices that people will be able to pick up immediately and pay-to-go includes the $499 3G model, $599 16GB 3GS or $699 32GB 3GS, at your choice, courtesy of Mountain View, California and the latest greatest Nexus One (competition, you know). Stay tuned for more to come.

Update1: The guys at Gizmodo have managed to get the official internal doc that confirms the rumors. Check it out after the break.

Update2: Reports are very confusing. Apparently, there wasn’t enough reason to party at this point and the bottom line is that iPhone devices are still locked to AT&T when you buy them in the US. Bummer!

[via 9 to 5 Mac]

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Word on the streets is that Apple plans to announce a new iPhone machine, its fourth generation, somewhere around April of this year. A quick look at previous models, compared to what we think a good, viable and essential smartphones should look these days, made us realize there’s A LOT to be accomplished. Checkout the list we’ve made and feel free to add yours:

This is NOT the new iPhone. Please click this link and read all about the new iPhone 4.

1) A 5 megapixel camera (At least) – I mean seriously, 3.2mp camera isn’t enough these days when most mobile devices pack 5mp and even stronger.

2) A better auto-focus camera with a better optical zoom – People hate carrying around so many gadgets in their pockets, so a better camera that can deliver better focus would definitely save most of us the hassle of taking a digital camera with us.

3) Front facing camera (for video chat/skype) – Every simple phone has it, so why not? From one hand, I can hear the mobile companies getting intimidated from the fact that users will actually have live video chats in their phones, something which would probably make them speak less than before, but on the other one, we’d tell them: don’t fight with it, deal with it! (And same goes for the Google voice app).

4) Xenon flash – And closing the camera session, a good flash system would completely make a differece, don’t you think so? Bring the light!

5) Record video in HD 720p – The world is changing, and so does video quality. HD videos are part of our lives now, so a 720p video recording feature, integrated in phones, should be too (period!).

6) Hide app icons – Different people use different apps, and customized platforms are getting very popular these days, so having the ability to make apps like youtube, calender, calculator or others disappear, can definitely be a useful add-on.

7) Revamped design – Some would argue about this one, as the iPhone is hands-down one of the most good looking devices we’ve seen in years, but still there’s a plenty of room for a change, like maybe a bigger display (4-inch anyone?), or a squarish frame – less rounded on the edges.

8 ) Multitasking – Multitasking, multitasking, multitasking. Said enough. everyone’s been yelling this for years and yet nothing. C’mon Apple, we need this one ASAP! In an online environment where most users do several tasks concurrently, it’s crucial to allow apps (IM, music, photos, etc) to run in the background.

9) Silverlight support – Yeah, yeah…we all have our pride here, but lets make things a bit different. The more plugins our phone supports the better it would be – is there anybody listening?

10) Flash support – Same as Silverlight. Enough with the kindergarten games. Both Apple and Adobe should finally seat together and work things out. At the end of the day, it’s about us, the users and how we surf the internet nowadays, and lets face it Cupertino, flash is needed, whether you want it or not.

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Mobile gaming is still in primeval stages – that’s unquestionable – but the foreseeable future is likely to be promising. In a rapidly growing market with over 20,000 iPhone and iPod Touch games available on Apple’s App Store, it’s not that hard guessing this is just a matter of time until portable games will start dominating our very own smartphones while overpowering desktop platforms. Especially now, when Cupertino teams up with more developing companies and Redmond that finally joins the party with Windows Phone 7 Series which suppose to integrate Xbox Live architecture in Microsoft’s coming machines. Still, it would probably take some time until substantial changes will eventually become real  – a year or two in our humble opinion. Anyway, ’till then, if you already play games on iPhones or iPod touch players, but  feel short in cash to start funding all those neat apps that show up in big numbers, every day and after, here’s a list of twenty one games, free of charge, for you to download. Please feel free to add your favorite “cost-nothing” apps, down in the commenting section.

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Are you eager to replace your old crappy mobile device with a brand new multi-touch compatible smartphone? If you do, and already considered buying either Apple’s iPhone 3GS or Google’s Nexus one, then get this – according to a 3D frame rate video test initiated by the guys at Distinctive Developments, it appears that Cupertino’s iPhone device achieved better results than Mountain View’s latest mobile hit. The test, which included a series of finger pinching gestures, has indicated that iPhone 3GS received an average of 30 frame rates per second, while Nexus one has managed to get only 20-21 rates for that same video segment. The reason for that gap between the two is due to the lack of use of Neon floating-point optimization in the Nexus One. You can see it for yourself right after the break, in hope that someone in Google would take things into consideration and make the essential changes.

Update: It was brought to our attention that Nexus One supports a 800 x 480 screen resolution which is bigger than iPhone’s 480×320. However, in their test DD guys actually changed the Nexus One viewport size to match the iPhone’s 480×320, and by doing that they received a frame-rate improvement from 30fps to 40fps. Still, with 8 characters on screen there was no difference; with the frame-rate remaining the same at 21fps.

[via phonesreview]

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It’s hot at the Mobile World Congress 2010, in Barcelona, as Microsoft officially unveils its latest and probably biggest Windows Phone 7 series, a new and pretentious Windows Mobile rendition, identical to all carriers and future device brands, with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon architecture onboard, handling smoothly the featured (unsized) capacitive touchscreens, built into those dev demo prototype phones. Basically, it’s a a whole new mobile system Redmond has literally built from the scratch and tweaked to be used on mobile machines in a way that you’ve never seen before. True, it would likely take time to get used to the 7 series, but its harmonic look and feel is surprisingly refreshing and conveniently flows. Yes, if you had this “deja vu” feeling of a Zune HD interface control, you’re probably not alone, but Microsoft has taken it few steps forward and created more in-depth platform with many new features like Xbox Live integration, social networking interaction, myriad of apps and widgets installed. “Every Windows series phone will be a Zune”, that’s what we’ve been told, and synchronizing your handheld  music with PC computers is claimed to be very easy and simple to work.

The home screen itself includes dynamic vertical tiles, with customizable shortcut links to variant apps, contacts and other in-house modes, designed in a way you can flip them down from head to toe, but also pan left and right to sub-directories and other hidden rows. It boasts that same big and bold Zune HD  text style, which relatively changes and gets magnified the moment you slide the screen and start to scroll. And navigating between the menus makes you realize that Microsoft completely revamped the OS code, making it concentrate in four major segments: People, Games, Pictures, Music plus Video hub homes. Each hub is an independent unit that’s responsible for different tasks, where you can watch and share your personal stuff (images/videos) via hub or cloud,when it comes to ‘pictures’ window, or in other case connect with friends and get updates from family/other contacts through social media services in the ‘People’ spot and the most fascinating thing – play Xbox LIVE games, create avatars, and profiles, at the ‘Games’ area zone – Cool. At the end of the day it’s a new platform that suppose to serve our next-gen phones, so naturally it would also include a non-supportive Adobe flash Internet Exploder browser and Outlook email app to handle mails on the go. Oh, and don’t forget, there’s a dialing phone somewhere inside.

Hardware wise, Microsoft mobile phones will include 3 buttons each: Start, Search and Back, while capacitive displays will have 4-points multi-touch compatibility, with flipping, panning and pinch to zoom gestures support. As mentioned, Microsoft has partnered with Qualcomm, which means we’re likely to see Arm Snapdragon chipset, tossed inside the bowel.

Microsoft as you may know, teamed up with worldwide carriers like AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, while manufacturers partnerships include Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC, HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm.

It would probably take time to realize whether Windows 7 series is a game changer or not, but we’re glad to see that Microsoft is finally raising the mobile OS bar and placing it in a whole new and distinguished level that would likely make many people across this realm start scratching their heads and rearrange their thoughts. When will this crazy and exciting software go out and hit the roads? I guess you’ll have to be patient here and wait ’till it gets to the market somewhere around the end of the year, right next to holidays madness season days.

Update: We’ve added the full hands-on walkthrough video, right after the break. A bit long but definitely worth a try.

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[tweetmeme]

The mystery behind Nexus One’s multitouch disparity between Europe and the US is finally about to end, as Google reports in its blog, suggesting imminent roll out of a software update, specifically tailored for the Nexus One and which apparently boasts some major add-ons inside, amongst you’ll find Google Goggle app that lets you take pictures through the integrated webcam and then generate search results about them, improved version of Google Maps with a special night mode and useful suggestions, general fix of 3G connectivity and last but probably the most important one, multitouch support, that would likely offer “a new pinch-to-zoom mechanism in the phone’s Browser, Gallery and Maps applications”. In case you were wondering about the timing of this update, here’s Google official statement, given to ReadWriteWeb:

Looking around the mobile industry, from Apple to Palm to HTC and Motorola – it’s clear that pinch-to-zoom technology has become a standard and popular way for users to interact with their mobile phones. Likewise, Android users can now truly benefit from this capability with the availability of Android 2.1, which powers a new class of devices with larger touchscreens and more interactive features. Unlike past devices, these phones have the processing power to deliver pinch-to-zoom, while still providing a great user experience. Based on these new capabilities and numerous requests from Android users, we decided to provide pinch-to-zoom capabilities with this new over-the-air software update for Nexus One devices.

Update: We’ve added a video that shows Nexus One new features in action, check it out after the break.

[Google]

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Apple just issued iPhone/iPod Touch OS 3.1.3, available on your iTunes right away, offering bug fixes to some of the few problems users were moaning about like improved battery level indicator, or third-party applications that failed to launch in some of the occasions. Other issues this update resolves include a Japanese Kana keyboard fix and security breaches related to CoreAudio, ImageIO, Recovery Mode and WebKit.

Update: And those of you, Mac OS X users, who’ve been patiently waiting for a hack ‘n crack to go out, it appears like Dev-Team’s new Pwnage jailbreaking tool is now officially up and ready to grab. As usual, proceed with caution.

Have you heard the joke that claims you can turn your iPhone into an iPad once looking at the screen from close range? Well, you don’t really need to, that of course in case you have jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch machines at your disposal. But even if you don’t, just think about it, the idea of carrying at the back of your pocket a mobile device that packs iPad capabilities like 3D interface, iBook reader, neat photo display or other cool functions sounds pretty cool, isn’t it? If so, maybe you’d like try it yourself, after all, getting it is as simple as taking your favorite vanilla cookie out of the jar, just get into Cydia app store and look for the “Simple iPad Theme”, exactly as shown in the video, step-by-step, right after the break.

[via PMPtoday]

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