Apple’s just announced iOS 4.1 for iPhone and iPod Touch devices, coming up free of charge via iTunes sometimes next week. According to Steve Jobs, the new update is going to fix a few bugs (including Bluetooth, proximity sensor and some iPhone 3G issues) along with some pretty neat add-ons such as High Dynamic Range photos, HD video uploads over WiFi, TV show rentals and the most anticipated Game Center which proved to be very impressive and will match you up with other players on the net.

Next on Apple’s future plans is the iOS 4.2 version, which was specifically designed for iPad devices and is supposed to bring in the entire iOS 4.1 features along with additional dedicated capabilities including the AirPlay feature which lets you stream music and video content over WiFi, or the wireless printing option that enables to remotely manage your entire print jobs. This new iPad iOS edition is claimed to go live somewhere around November.

Android media player – that apparently looks like the latest greatest trend among audio-video gadgets across the pond, and the new joiner within that sphere is Philips and its most awesome GoGear Connect PMP. The slick silver device which you can find listed in online retailer store Argos, priced at €264.99 (about $340), boasts a 3.2-inch 480 x 320 display, running Android 2.1 platform and tucked with 16GB of flash storage, an integrated GPS navigation system, an FM tuner, a microSD, a 3.5mm headphone jack and battery pack delivering up to 25 hours of audio playback and 5 hours of continuous video work. It should already be available throughout the European continent while US release is yet to be determined.

Update: Philips just went official with its brand new 3.2-inch GoGear Connect PMP which apparently supports a very wide range of audio and video formats, including mp3, wma, .m4a (AAC), ogg, and flac audio; wmv, mp4, H264, and avi video; or JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF images. It is also said to have a built in camera inside, paired with microSD slot, android 2.1 for the OS and an integrated GPS platform to navigate your way on the go. Worldwide release (including the US) is scheduled for October of this year, with prices at €249 (about $315) for the 16GB flavor.

[Argos via Engadget]

Hey! What’s this…A new Samsung PMP running Android OS inside? Though not official yet, it still looks and feels like the real thing for us, and judging from the rumors, it’ll probably make an official debut soon – South Korean style. For a nondisclosure price you would get yourself a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, paired with 1GHz processor, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3mp camera and last but not least – Google’s Android OS platform swiftly running inside. The name is YP-MB2, in case you wondered, and y’all should stay tuned  for more juicy details to come.

[via Samsung Hub]

We knew it was just a matter of time before the Dev-Team fellows would eventually catch up with iPhone 4 jailbreaking technology and make it widely open for everyone to use. While not perfect yet (probably due to servers overload), the iphone 4 jailbreaking process has been making some significant strides, and yesterday was a big step, as the team (Comex) has finally released a very handy tool for all iOS devices, including both iPad and iPhone 4 running iOS 4.0 and 4.01 platforms. To get it, just go to www.jailbreakme.modmyi.com (via Safari Mobile) and start the “JailBreakMe 2.0 star” process, at your own risk. One thing’s for sure, it’s already legal to be used, now that a new DMCA exception was approved by the Library of Congress, specifically allowing jailbreaking Stateside.

Update1: Looks like the good guys at 9 To 5 Mac has managed to pull it off, and guess what…it works! Check out the video after the break.

Update2: Already going through the iPhone 4 jailbreaking process? Mind you there might be some issues with FaceTime video calling and MMS messaging, at the end of the road. But fret not, boys and girls, because those cool and very useful features can be easily and quickly restored, thanks to this iPhoneDelivery app which you can find on Cydia, in your phone. According to RedmondPie, it would automatically fix those problems and make them run again in a matter of seconds or just a little bit more.

Update3: And to fulfill completely their commitments to the Apple fanboys community, Dev-Team has just released a new ultrasnow app version that would easily unlock your new magical iPhone 4 device (with 01.59 baseband) or any 3G/3GS mobile phones running 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.12.01 and 05.13.04 basebands. To learn more about how to jailbreak and unlock your handhelds (at your own risk) just hit the jump and watch the step-by-step video (the second one).

[Jailbreakme]

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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.”

So now that Apple’s iOS 4 is officially out, it was just a matter of time until Dev Team guys will eventually jailbroken it and make this platform even more available for everyone out there, especially those with iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G devices, who generally seem to be left out in Cupertino’s cold (3GS phones are not compatible with this one). At your own risk, simply download redsn0w 0.9.5 beta and start the installation process right away. Once finished, you can finally begin unlocking your mobile handheld, for baseband between 04.26.08 and 05.13.04, using Ultrasn0w 0.9.3 from the Cydia store. Be careful there, eh? If you need more help, just follow these step-by-step instructions on twittown.com.

Update: PwnageTool 4.0 has just been released as well, so you can now jailbreak your iPhone 3GS devices, in case they have the old bootrom installed, along with previous models like iPhone 3G versions and 2nd gen iPod Touch players. Once again, careful there.

You know you want this one, and it’s already been like two and a half months since Apple officially announced it, but today the OS4 (build 8A293) is finally out and you guys can go ahead and start downloading it if you own the following iPhone devices: 3G, 3GS, and soon to come out – iPhone 4. Yes, it’s free of charge ladies and gentleman, with all the new-cool features that Cupertino has stuffed inside, so get it now, it’s surely worth a try. Happy Multitasking, ya all!

Update: Turns out that latest iPod Touch devices are also compatible with Apple’s iOS4

Color us unsurprised, but it’s still notable to hear that Lenovo is stopping investment in its OS capability to support the Skylight smartbook and U1 Hybrid devices, we’ve first seen at CES, and instead seek to replace it (the sluggish Linux Skylight OS) with a far-faster Google Android one. In a written statement, the company says it has shelved the Skylight smartbook for the time being and refers to the U1 hybrid as a concept.  Who said that Apple’s magical iPad is not a game changer, who?

After careful consideration of market conditions and user feedback, Lenovo has decided to focus its resources on building a family of next-generation mobile internet devices based upon open technologies such as (but not limited to) the Android kernel, similar to the Lenovo smartphone, which is available for sale in China now.

As a result of Lenovo’s strategic shift towards open standards such as an Android kernel based environment, the Company has shelved its plans to release the initial version of the Skylight smartbook that featured a proprietary Linux-based OS.

Lenovo remains committed to working with our strategic partners to deliver innovative products in the growing mobile internet space, including the aforementioned smartphones and smartbooks, as well as exploring innovative new concepts that continue to “push-the-envelope” like the U1 hybrid PC.

[via LaptopMag]

With the growing prosperity of netbook devices from one side, and rapid increase in tablet consuming from the other, one should be questioning himself/herself  if there’s enough room for any type of media player to fit today’s market. Korean company Viliv, still thinks positively regarding this matter, and rolls out its latest Prime P3 PMP, which packs a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen on top, and dual booting platform, running both Android 2.1 and Windows CE 6.0 for the OS. The new player also packs up to 32GB of internal storage, while CPU wise you get the 800 MHz ARM Cortex flavor, capable handling your entire 720p content, stutter free. Other than that, for a non-disclosure price or availability, you get a built-in accelerometer, paired with WiFi connectivity, TV out and microSD slot expansion – all offered in variant of colors to choose from. a quick video demo is right after the break.

[Viliv via I4U News]

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Looks like it didn’t take long to turn Apple’s  i – devices jailbreak from a nice video demo into a real tangible hack which can be downloaded right away, no matter if you’re a PC user or a Mac. The untethered jailbreak works pretty well on iPhone, iPad WiFi, iPad 3G + WiFi, and iPod touch devices while jailbreak process is very quick (takes few seconds only), and should apply to activated iPhone/iPad OS devices running 3.1.2, 3.1.3, and 3.2 versions, without including the carrier unlock. Mind you, it’s still in beta mode, so make sure you have everything you need as a backup, before getting it installed. Download is available in here, but regretfully, not all Cydia apps will eventually work.

[Spirit Jailbreak]

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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Well, well, what do we have in here…Looks like another episode of “It didn’t take long to jailbreak it” has been unofficially demoed by Apple’s fearless nemesis Geohot ans his counterpart fellows from @comex. See that Cydia app on that iPad device, implying a blackra1n jailbreak? No doubt, it happened, but still no downloadable version to ratify that (rest assure it won’t take long, though). Until then, please checkout the iPad-N64 console video after the break.

[Geohot]

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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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The latest and not so greatest iTunes, version 9.1, is now available to download either via Apple’s website or through the software itself, offering iPad syncing support that would probably become efficient for many of you starting this Saturday morning. Additionally, it now has the iBook support which organize and sync books you’ve downloaded from the iBook store to your iPad or your iTunes library, while the Genius Mixes add-on that Apple has pushed out couple months ago, now allows users to rename, rearrange, or remove audio mixes, if that’s your thing. The new version weighs 97.3MB, in case you wondered. Happy updates!

Remember this daring Google Chrome OS that got official only three months ago? Well, according to Australia’s Channel News, quoting Samsung’s IT manager, Phil Newton, things finally start moving forward in the right direction and we’re likely to see  Mountain View’s snappy platform installed on Samsung netbooks in the near future. Although there’s nothing concrete at the moment, the manager confirmed that his company plans to roll out a new N210 ultra-portable series, packing a 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor with 64GB of flash storage, 2GB of RAM, WiFi, built-in 3G, a solid 12 hour battery life and a 10.1-inch screen display on top. Prices and dates are yet to be determined, so stay tuned.

[via engadget]

We’ve already seen a glimpse of Compaq’s latest and greatest Airlife 100 netbook machine, last month at Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, but now it finally seems to get official with all the pride and glory involved. Within, you’ll find a nice 10.1-inch touchscreen display, which stunningly works in collaboration with the Android OS, preloaded inside the box. And to make things even better, under this tiny smartbook  lid you’ll find a strong Snapdragon chip, paired with Intel’s latest Atom processor, 16GB SSD, WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G connection mode – offered in partnership with Telefonica for an undetermined price as a subsidized mobile broadband deal, in Europe, Latin America and hopefully some other places across the world. Stay tuned.

Update1: Battery wise, this bad boy will boast a powerful package, which suppose to provide 12-hour of continuous work or up to 10 days in standby.

Update2: The good guys at Engadget have managed to catch up with HP for a video tour of this intriguing Snapdragon powered netbook. Check it out after the break.

Update3: Not much happened since we first met HP’s Android-powered Airlife 100 netbook, back at the MWC conference in Barcelona. That said, it seems the 10-incher netbook has now turned official on HP’s website, packed with a non-capacitive touchscreen, which hides underneath a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor along WiFi, 3G connectivity, 512MB of RAM, and 16GB of flash. We’re still waiting for price and availability details to finally show up.

Update4: Looks like the Android-powered Compaq Airlife 100 will be exclusively available through Telefonica Movistar this coming May with base price of 229 euros for the mini laptop itself, and another 48 euros for a monthly internet package. Expensive?

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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.

So Google has finally launched the most anticipated Nexus One, and if you happen to live in one of the following 4 countries – the US, UK, Singapore or Hong Kong – you can get it right away from Google’s website, priced at $529.99 without a contract or merely $179 including a T-Mobile two year plan (in the US). Other people will have to wait at least until Spring 2010, when it believes that Google will be adding more countries to its smartphone lineup. The phone itself is an HTC brand, coming with a 3.7-inch 800×480 AMOLED display, which regretfully doesn’t support multi-touch at the moment, although Google says it’s not an hardware issue but a software tweak and it’d consider adding screen gestures capabilities in the future. Besides that, you get a fast 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor,paired with a 5 megapixels camera including an integrated LED flash that can shoot MPEG-4 video and have it uploaded directly to Youtube. Additionally, this 11.5mm thick device has a built-in compass, GPS, WiFi, A2DP stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, a multicolored LED under the trackball, an accelerometer for landscape view and two mics, positioned on front, for complete noise cancellation. It runs all common frequencies and compatible with HSDPA 7.2Mbps, UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900), HSUPA 2Mbps and of course, GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz). The 1400mAH battery inside is claimed to provide 5 hours of 3G browsing and 7 hours of 3G talk time, while storage wise, you receive only 512MB of internal flash along with a 4GB micro SD card, expandable up to 32GB. See the full specs here.

Moving forward with the details, the Nexus One packs Google’s “latest greatest” Android 2.1 platform – also known as Eclair – which crams some nifty stuff inside, like the voice recognition feature that works throughout the entire UI and activates almost any feature in the phone. That way, you can use your voice to write SMS messages and notes (speech-to-text), or tell the Google Earth search engine where should it go. Other than that, Google has implemented a Cooliris technology into the Nexus One gallery app, so you get 3D visualization whenever looking at images in landscape mode. It has a lot of widgets to offer, such as weather and news RSS, and the smartphone’s homescreen customization is interactive and houses 5 panels to store your apps and shortcuts. Stay tuned. Video is right after the break.

Update1: And looks like Adobe is now jumping on Google’s bandwagon by demoing its Flash 10.1 beta on a Nexus One superphone. Check it out after the break.

Update2: Well, what do you know, the European version of Nexus One, apparently supports multitouch capabilities out-of-the-box, while US devices don’t. We’re not so sure why, but as someone suggested, the trigger for the abyssal differences might be the fact that Apple has a US Patent on multitouch which doesn’t apply on European countries. Maybe. Google says it’s carefully reviewing this issue at the moment.

Update3: Different from what has been reported, Google’s Nexus One seems to be incompatible with “n” draft wireless connectivityand official specs state it supports only 802.11b/g WiFi frequencies. We’ll have more about this soon.

Update4: You knew it had to happen sooner or later, did you? No? then get this – iFixit guys have taken Google’s Nexus One on a mission and disassembled it into small pieces of technology craft. See the results here and after the break.

Update5: We’ve added two more stunning videos right after the break, in which you can watch Nexus One’s manufacturing process with stress tests such as bending, slamming, dropping, and cracking, all over the place. A must see creation!

Update6: Turns out Google now has live person phone support in case your Nexus One has problems that need to be solved. It’s 888-48NEXUS (63987) and said to work from 07:00am to 10:00pm PST. Right now the line will handle only status and shipping issues while tech problems can find answer via Google’s support forums, FAQs pages, email support and HTC/ T-Mobile customer care departments.

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Truth is that holidays season can be very boring, tech wise, but here’s something that might catch your eye during this time of quiescency, as latest news apparently indicate the first netbook to include Google’s Chrome OS platform will presumably boast some nifty specs inside like NVIDIA’s Tegra chipset for graphics handling and Arm-based processor, instead of Intel’s popular Atom flavor. Other than that, the rumor suggests it would pack a 10.1-inch 1,280 x 720 resolution with multi-touch display(!), along 2GB of RAM, 64GB SSD, WiFi, Bluetooth, an integrated webcam and 3G connectivity module. Battery is claimed to offer 4 or 6-cells versions while buyers will be able to pick an optional GPS system as part of the deal, which suppose to be very attractive and stand at somewhere below $300. Stay tuned for a lot more to come.

Update: We hear that Google will be selling those netbooks directly. More on that, hopefully soon. Still, no official confirmation from Mountain View to these rumors.

[via Netbook News]