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Copyright: Copyright 2008, Situation Publishing

Parlez-vous GoogleTalk? Er, no

Android developers have admitted that Google's mobile phone platform won't support GoogleTalk in its first version, and that Bluetooth support will be severely limited.…

  Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:25:35 +0200

Handset sales continue to soar

Global mobile phone sales will exceed 1.2bn handsets this year, although tough economic conditions are already biting into phone sales, market watcher Gartner has warned.…

  Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:02:23 +0200

But UK punters still protected

The Mobile Marketing Association has published its guidelines for advertising pushed over Bluetooth connections, and considers anyone who hasn't opted out to be fair game for spammers.…

Push two keys to bypass password

iPhones protected by a password aren't actually protected at all, as just by pressing a few keys a miscreant can access all the phone's functions without needing the password at all.…

'You want savings? Pay us an extra hundred'

US telco giant AT&T has announced two new international data plans for the Jesus Phone, saying they'll save Americans "hundreds of dollars" on journeys abroad. But we all know this is just another way for the company to hold your wallet hostage.…

  Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:00:32 +0200

Murders Murderdrome

Murderdrome is a comic published exclusively for the iPhone and iPod Touch, which makes its removal from iTunes something of a problem for publishers Infurious and bodes badly for their comic-rendering application.…

  Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:21:08 +0200

All the features, and two keyboards

The design of HTC’s latest slider handset may hark back to early smartphone formats, but the S740 still packs in all the technology necessary to make it a leading contender in the modern mobile market, its maker claims.…

Delivers media browser for all

A team of former Apple engineers are promising to bring TV-like simplicity and some iPhone touches to the task of finding and consuming media on any smart phone.…

A phoned-in performance

Mobile phone carrier Orange Poland admitted today that it hired actors to stand in line for the country's iPhone debut.…

  Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:14:14 +0200

Still no unlocking for 3G iPhones though

The iPhone-dev team has announced the availability of the latest tools for the iPhone, allowing even the most technically illiterate iUser to install unapproved applications.…

Swearing won't make that page load any faster, you know

Feel a pressing need to shout at your phone even when no one's listening? Openstream's Cue-me browser, launched yesterday, implements the latest draft of the W3C Multimodal Interaction Activity, allowing you to do just that.…

  Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:46:31 +0200

Address harvesting all too easy

Apple has inadvertently made it easy for spammers to create a database of MobileMe email addresses.…

  Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:08:45 +0200

Built like the proverbial brick dunny

Review Asus has clearly decided that if it can't distinguish its phones from others in the market by way of software or styling, it'll do so by forging them out of solid granite.…

Mobile platforms merge with wireless

The announcement this week that Ericsson would merge its Mobile Platforms division into the ST-NXP Wireless business sent shock waves around the industry.…

Exec talks up touchscreen handset

Nokia’s eagerly anticipated Tube phone could appear before Christmas. One of the Finnish firm’s executives has certainly confirmed that the company plans to launch a touchscreen mobile by the end of 2008.…

  Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:13:31 +0200

Where there's blame there's a writ

An Alabama woman is suing Apple for claiming its latest iPhone offers 3G connectivity when she can't get connected most of the time, despite AT&T having decent coverage where she lives.…

  Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:42:38 +0200

Mobile remote control

Nokia has admitted that the security flaws exposed by Adam Gowdiak of Security Explorations are genuine, and that a miscreant exploiting them could do whatever they like to a Series 40 phone just by knowing the phone number.…

  Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:36:06 +0200

HSDPA, GPS, Wi-Fi on board

It's only a day later than anticipated, but Palm has now launched the Treo Pro. Available SIM-free or from Vodafone, the new-look smartphone is somewhere between the Centro and the iPhone 3G.…

  Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:55:12 +0200

Online retailer slips up

Details of the first BlackBerry clamshell format phones have appeared online, following a mistake made by online retailer Expansys.…

  Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:54:18 +0200

It's a bug's life

Version 2.0.2 of firmware for Apple's iPhone was made available yesterday, offering improvements on 3G reception for some, but not fixing the crashing applications Steve is promising to sort by September.…

  Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:30:46 +0200

Company agent says as much

Palm looks set to announce the Treo Pro today, according to an email sent out by one of its media agencies.…

  Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:17:13 +0200

You just can't give it away

Apple has added 60 days onto the end of every MobileMe subscription, in another attempt to pacify punters still unhappy with the online synchronisation service.…

  Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:25:19 +0200

By as much as 40 per cent

Vodafone will jack up its prices next month, it said today. Standard call charges will rise from 15p to 20p per minute for pre-pay customers and contract minutes outside monthly inclusive packages.…

  Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:59:13 +0200

Wi-Fi certificate granted too

Production of the first mobile to use Google’s Android platform has taken a step forward, following the US Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) approval of HTC’s Dream handset. The Wi-Fi Alliance has given it the thumbs-up too.…

Bonanza for some, kill switch for others

Analysis Apple is as usual dazzling the market with stunning headline figures that frequently overshadow underlying problems and dissatisfaction with its iconic iPhone and associated services. As bullish analysts say the device is set to sell almost 4.5 million units this quarter on the back of aggressive international expansion, CEO Steve Jobs crowed that the AppStore, launched a month ago with the 3G iPhone, has already processed 60 million downloads and is generating $1m a day in sales of paid-for software, and could crack the half-billion dollar mark within a year of opening.…

SCC subsidised

Orange will tomorrow offer Brits Asus' newly announced Eee PC 900 16G for... well... nothing at all. Orange will expect however, punters to sign up for a two-year, £25-a-month airtime contract.…

  Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:04:00 +0200

HSDPA version of Treo 800w?

Palm's upcoming Treo Pro, the smartphone formerly assumed to be the Treo 850, has made an early appearance on the web - courtesy of the manufacturer itself.…

  Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:36:34 +0200

Eclipsed, again?

Sun Microsystems has open sourced its Java toolkit for building mobile applications just as the role Java plays on handsets comes into question.…

  Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:37:46 +0200

T-Mobile and O2 still fighting their corner

Ofcom has admitted it will not start the auction of three chunks of 2GHz spectrum in October as promised, pushing the date back as litigation from T-Mobile and O2 drags on.…

  Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:44:43 +0200

Fire Eagle takes off

Yahoo's punter-locating database officially launched yesterday and already has privacy advocates in a flap, despite offering users complete control as well as expecting them to lie every now and then.…

  Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:57:31 +0200

A-maize-ing

A mobile phone with a case made entirely from an eco-friendly material has been unveiled by Samsung.…

  Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:54:38 +0200

Free service cuts off SMS delivery

Twitter has stopped sending SMS updates to UK customers, thus leaving them unaware of the latest important updates on what their friends had for breakfast.…

  Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:14:33 +0200

Firm's first Windows Mobile smartphone

Sony Ericsson's eagerly anticipated Xperia X1 Windows Mobile-based smartphone looks set to be released early October.…

  Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:09:57 +0200

Olympian outlay

China Unicom says it will splurge $14.5bn on network infrastructure over the next two years, as the company rushes to deploy its 3G network.…

  Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:34:18 +0200

Networks place the blame at Apple's door

Eager punters cooing over their 3G iPhones are finding the third generation connectivity not quite what they had hoped, and according to some reports Apple's super-phone is failing to meet the requirements of the 3G standard.…

First 'independent' US retailer

Best Buy next month becomes the first “independent” US retailer to start selling the iPhone, as Apple looks to establish the shiny device as this year’s tickle me Elmo.…

  Wed, 13 Aug 2008 02:27:15 +0200

T-Mobile asks $399, Google demands your soul

This week, another unnamed source told TmoNews - a T-Mobile obsessed blog - that the American wireless carrier will offer up the first Android phone for pre-sale on 17 September.…

  Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:16:00 +0200

Prudes Congressmen pledge support for porn-free spectrum

When it comes to filtering adult content in the US things are due to get that bit more um, sticky. Two Democrat members of the US congress have sent an open letter to FCC Chair Kevin Martin, supporting the agency's goal of a nationwide wireless service suitable for family viewing and accusing detractors of playing for time.…

  Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:35:24 +0200

Nobody's watching

Despite billions invested in turning mobile phones into pocket TV sets, the public continues to find it all a giant yawn. A study by TMC Media published earlier this month suggests that peak-time viewing of direct broadcast TV on phones in Korea barely exceeds the pollsters' margin of error.…

Phones down, site owner 'missing'

A Dutch online reseller who promised customers simlock-free iPhones has apparently gone missing, leaving coworkers bemused and hundreds of consumers a total of €700,000 in the hole.…

  Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:08:52 +0200

Beat the iPhone 3G network tether

Easy handset unlocking has come to the UK courtesy of online supplier SIMable which is now offering a 20 quid kit to let any SIM work with (almost) any network-locked mobile.…

  Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:17:05 +0200

As long as Apple likes the recipe

Apple has been selling $1m worth of iPhone apps every day, Steve Jobs told the Wall Street Journal. He also confirmed Apple's ability to reach out and disappear applications previously installed on punters' iPhones.…

Gimme €20k and I'll show you how

Updated A lone researcher claims to have discovered a raft of security issues with Nokia's mid-range handsets, allowing him to remotely install malicious applications with unprecedented capabilities - but he's asking for €20,000 for the details.…

  Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:45:49 +0200

Rnwy 3 clr, lndin gr dwn, prepr 4 lnding

In what could be a world first, an air-traffic controller (ATC) in Ireland has used text messaging to successfully bring home a stricken plane.…

  Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:44:53 +0200

A rare moment of openness for Google's open OS

Defying Google's pathologically closed approach to its open mobile platform, someone has posted video of a top-secret Android phone to YouTube.…

  Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:02:03 +0200

So they can watch the London Olympics?

Analysts EJL Wireless Research estimate that more than 12 million Chinese will be using TD-SCDMA handsets by 2012, though they also claim that Huawei won't be providing much of the infrastructure to support them.…

Membership has its privileges

LinuxWorld For all its talk of openness, just a quarter of the code in the LiMo Foundation's mobile platform is open source, making it a minefield to navigate in terms of protected patents - 300,000 patents to be precise.…

'I blame everyone but myself'

An American man has accidentally spent $999.99 on an iPhone app that does nothing but display a glowing red ruby.…

  Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:36:51 +0200

RIM's first HSDPA 3G BlackBerry coming next month

T-Mobile will launch RIM’s first tri-band HSDPA 3G handset into the UK next month. Also dubbed the Bold, the network provider will release this on its Business 1-Plan.…

  Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:52:45 +0200

Cloak-and-dagger app wipes imminent?

A researcher has discovered a URL buried in the iPhone hardware that appears to point to an application blacklist - potentially allowing Apple to retroactively remove applications it decides no longer fit the bill.…