Netflix Android Application, expand for support three more phones

Netflix just got itself a little update in the Android Market. First and foremost, new phones are officially supported, with the LG Revolution, Motorola Droid and Casio G'zOne Commando getting access. That brings the total number of supported devices eight, including the Droid Incredible, Nexus One, EVO 4G, T-Mobile G2 and Samsung Nexus S.
There also are a few bugfixes, including:

• Fixed application failure on startup when phone's embedded storage space is almost full.
• Removed check that prevented attempt to playback on unsupported devices.

And we've noticed that the volume's not as low as it used to be, so that's nice, too. If you've got one of the supported phones, get your download on in the Android Market. We've got links after the break.

Souce

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Cellphones, Mobile Handsets KDDI haptic smartphone prototype promises up to seven layers of touch, only shows off two

Today at Wireless Japan KDDI introduced the “New Haptic Smartphone” prototype based on Kyocera technology and display. While we all know what haptic feedback bring to a smartphone nowadays we all have to agree that this pretty much sucks as it is and does not leave up to our expectation, so Kyocera decided to bring something rather different here and unveils at Wireless Japan their first prototype on KDDI’s booth with their multiple Layer Haptic screen.
Like the shutter button of a Camera, you will have the possibility to “feel” several layers when you are now pressing your smartphone screen, giving you are real sensation of how much pressure you are apply to your smartphone screen.
If the demonstration model on KDDI’s booth only showed a screen featuring two haptic layers, Kyocera however confirmed us that this technology is capable to offer up to seven layers on all over the screen surface.
If KDDI did not really gave us a time frame on how soon we will see such products on the market, Kyocera however confirmed us that, this technology will be available in the near future on a Smartphone near you!.


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Gingerbread-running Samsung SPH-D600 spotted in the wild, has WiMax on board

FCC has just spilled the beans on another unannounced Android smartphone by Samsung. The SPH-D600 was caught running the latest phone-oriented version of the Google OS – 2.3.3 Gingerbread.

The Samsung SPH-D600 is a mid-range device headed to Sprint. Its HVGA screen and back panel suggest a close relation to the Galaxy Ace, but the 1GHz Scorpion CPU and the WiMax connectivity put the D600 higher up the pecking order.
A front-facing camera is the last known detail about the smartphone, but seeing that it’s already powering on we might see an official announcement soon.


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Windows Phone 7.5 Mango bringing over 500 new features to the platform, tasty [VIDEO]

Steve Ballmer was speaking at the Japanese Microsoft Developer Forum 2011 and on his run through of all things Microsoft, the subject of Windows Phone naturally cropped up. What he actually spoke about was the upcoming iteration of Windows Phone, version 7.5 aka “Mango”.

Ballmer promised two very exciting things. Firstly, that Mango will be bringing over 500 new features to the platform. This isn’t to say each one will be as useful an addition as cut, copy, paste, but like all big OS’s, there are a lot of tweaks that can be made, so lets hope for the better. Secondly, Windows Phone 7.5 Mango handsets will be arriving later this year in Japan.
Tomorrow, there’s an all Mango event where Microsoft will reveal a host of OEMs and carriers and with this, rumor has it that we will get to see a lineup of around 9 new devices from an array of different names, including Samsung and HTC. For the developers out there, the Mango development tools will be available by the end of the week too.
I’m sure we’ll be back tomorrow to find out what secrets Ballmer and the rest of the Microsoft team divulge, so until then here’s a video snippet of Ballmer talking about the overall potential of Windows Phone and more specifically, Mango (be aware, you might need to up your volume).




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New details on the QWERTY slider Motorola DROID 3 for Verizon

The DROID 3 is another Motorola upcoming smartphone that keeps leaking ahead of its official announcement. We first met it this March along with the already available DROID X2 and the still unannounced Tagra.

Today an anonymous tipster revealed a few more details about the DROID 3.
First and most important it appears that the DROID 3 won’t be an LTE-capable device. Despite Verizon’s aggressive promotion of its LTE network, it seems the DROID 3 won’t join the elite group of LTE smartphones in its portfolio.
The other spicy info concerns the DROID 3 chipset – according to the tipster it should be either NVIDIA Tegra2 or the TI OMAP4430 one, both featuring dual-core processors.
Finally we have some info on the camera department – the smartphone will supposedly pack an 8 megapixel snapper at the back and a 1.3 megapixel front camera for video calls.
We already know from the previous leaks the DROID 3 packs a 4-inch qHD screen, 5-row sliding-out QWERTY keyboard, HDMI port and Android 2.3 Gingerbread ticking inside.
Motorola DROID 3 is supposed to hit Verizon’s stores in June, so I guess its announcement should happen in the next few weeks.


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Dual-screen LG US760 Genesis with QWERTY keyboard headed to US Cellular

LG has made official the US760 Genesis – a dual-screen Android smartphone with flipping 5-row QWERTY keyboard.

LG US760 Genesis packs a 3.5-inch WVGA external and a 3.2-inch WVGA internal display, Snapdragon QSD8650 chipset with a 1GHz processor, a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, standard connectivity package (EVDO Rev.A, Wi-Fi with DLNA, GPS, Bluetooth) and microSD card slot (8GB card included). The Genesis runs on Android 2.2 Froyo.
LG spilled the beans on the Genesis before the US Cellular announcement. The device has already leaked before both for US Cellular and Verizon (VS761), but its Verizon’s fate is still uncertain.
According to a previous leak, the Genesis will cost $250 with a contract from US Cellular or $450 on a pay-as-you-go basis (mind you, the handset is still locked for US Cellular). There is still no official information on the release date.


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Motorola Defy official Gingerbread ROM leaks

Good news, Motorola Defy owners, your Gingerbread is on the way. What’s even better is that a leaked image coming straight from the Motorola dev center will allow the most knowledgeable among you to bring their handsets to Android 2.3.3. right now.

Of course, even though it’s an official image, it’s not the final thing (or Motorola would have released it themselves). The number of bugs reported by early adopters isn’t too big so far, but the signal issue might make you wait for an official release or another leak , particularly if you live in an area with less than stellar coverage.
Here’s the list of major bugs compiled by the helpful guys over at XDA-developers.
• Data Manager does not show the volume of traffic
• Signal problem (calls and SMS seem to work, but “searching for signal” warning appears often and phone gets hot)
• 720p video recording does not work
If they don’t bother you enough too much and you aren’t afraid of flashing a ROM on your Defy manually you may proceed to the forum thread for download of the image and detailed instructions on the updating process.
Alternatively you can just have a look to see what you will be getting when Motorola finalizes the code and makes it publicly available.


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T-Mobile G2x (a.k.a. LG Optimus 2X) overclocked to 1.5GHz scores 4570 in Quadrant

I guess overclocking dual-core CPUs in mobile phones to 1.5GHz is normal now – a brave soul pushed the Tegra 2 chipset inside their T-Mobile G2x (a.k.a. LG Optimus 2X) to the breakneck speed, 50% up from the stock frequency.

A week ago we saw a Galaxy S II reach 1.5GHz though the G2x manages to beat its score at some benchmarks.
The T-Mobile G2x was running CyanogenMod 7 with a custom kernel – the Trinity CM7 EXT4 1.5GHz kernel. It posted a whopping 4570 score on Quadrant, while on stock frequencies (1GHz) it only does around 2400. The switch to EXT4 probably contributes a good portion of that sizable increase though, it’s not just the CPU.
Others using the same kernel have reported Linpack scores of 54 – up from the 36.85 we got from our Optimus 2X at stock speed. That’s major improvement in pure CPU performance.
The Galaxy S II results from last week – the ones that had the phone running at 1.5GHz – pushed the Quadrant score to 4062 up from 3467 at default 1.2GHz speed (Note: the S II is using EXT4, it’s the default for Gingerbread). Going to the CPU-only Linpack benchmark, the Galaxy S II was ahead with a score of 59.
You can read up on how the T-Mobile G2x was pushed to 1.5GHz over here. Also check out the Trinity kernel thread.


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Finally! Motorola DROID X2 is official

Today Motorola finally unveiled the DROID X2 for Verizon – a dual-core droid running on Android 2.2 Froyo that leaked more than enough times in the past few months

The DROID X2 goes on sale online tomorrow, while it will hit the retails stores on 26 May.
Verizon offers the DROID X2 for $200 on two-year contract. You must choose both talk and data plans starting at $40 and $30 respectively. There is also a contract-free option, but you’ll have to pay $600.
Motorola DROID X2 is based on the Tegra2 chipset with a 1GHz dual-core processor and 512 MB RAM. The rest of the specs include a 4.3-inch qHD display with Gorilla Glass, 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and 720p@30fps video recording, all the connectivity you may need, 8GB internal storage plus 8GB pre-installed microSD card.
Motorola DROID X2 runs on Android v2.2 Froyo, but Motorola promises 2.3 Gingerbread later.


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BlackBerry Travel for the frequent travelers out there

The ultimate travel app for Filipino BlackBerry users is now available in the Philippines. This new app is an all-in-one integrated tool to plan, book, manage and share travel activities quickly and easily.

The BlackBerry Travel app offers convenient push notifications and seamless integration of travel itineraries and flight status updates into the familiar BlackBerry Calendar.  When a new booking confirmation or itinerary arrives in the user’s email inbox, the BlackBerry Travel app is automatically updated with the relevant itinerary details, which makes travel planning and management easier than ever. With the BlackBerry push technology, the BlackBerry Travel app can keep users informed and in control of their itineraries by monitoring flight statuses and promptly providing notifications about changes to their flight information. The app can even identify potential omissions or scheduling concerns with the itineraries, such as missing accommodations or timing conflicts, and provide users with suggestions.
The BlackBerry Travel app also brings together tools that travelers need while planning on the go, including:

• Hotel booking
• Currency converters
• Weather forecasts
• Local search functionality

In addition, BlackBerry smartphone users can share their travel information with colleagues, friends and family over email or through LinkedIn®, directly from the BlackBerry Travel app. The LinkedIn integration allows users to search for people in their network who will be in the same city, send messages to contacts and update their status. Why no Facebook?

The BlackBerry Travel app also features a web component that allows users to book flights and car rentals, as well as print and edit itineraries, from their computer.
The BlackBerry Travel app was built in collaboration with WorldMate, a leader in mobile travel platforms.  WorldMate and RIM are working together with leaders in the travel industries such as Continental Airlines, Expedia Affiliate Network, Hilton Worldwide, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, United Airlines to provide BlackBerry Travel app users with an amazing mobile experience.
The BlackBerry Travel app will be available as a beta download today from the Test Center category on BlackBerry App World(www.blackberry.com/appworld). The app is free and works on select BlackBerry smartphones running the BlackBerry® 5 OS (Device Software) or higher.*
For more information please visit http://www.blackberry.com/ph/travel
* BlackBerry Travel is available at launch for the BlackBerry Bold, BlackBerry Curve, BlackBerry Storm and BlackBerry Torch series of smartphones.

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Showdown: Samsung Galaxy S II stars in our browsing battery life championship, not so brightly

If you have been keeping track, you’d know that we are currently extensively testing the Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II battery life. Today’s discipline is web browsing endurance, which, as our recent survey found out, is one of the key usages of modern day mobiles.

And just for the fun of it, we decided to make this one more competitive by including some other handsets we found lying around the office. So here are the contestants – we’ve got the iPhone 4 with its Safari browser, as well as some more droids – the original Galaxy S, the LG Optimus Black and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc.
Here’s how we tested – we created a special script that would go through several static pages with no Flash elements (so that each handset was treated equally), loading a new web page every 10 seconds. We served the web pages off a local server and over a local Wi-Fi connection to prevent any disparities due to poor signal or high network latency. We set the brightness of each handset to 50%, made sure the auto-dim and auto turn-off features are disabled and waited for the battery of each handset to die.
At the end of the day the Apple iPhone 4 turned out to be head and shoulders above its competitors. The smartphone lasted the incredible 7 hours and 40 minutes on a single charge. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc came in second achieving 5 hours and 25 minutes, while the LG Optimus Black grabbed a podium finish with 4 hours and a half.
The main subject of our test, the Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II, ranked forth with 4 hours and 22 minutes of web browsing enough to bring its battery from full to flat. It still managed to outdo its predecessor by 16 minutes though.
However since Samsung are using GPU acceleration for the I9100 Galaxy S II default web browser we thought this might be reason why it fares worse than its peers in this test. That’s why we loaded an alternative browser on the device and repeated the test. It could or could not be the GPU, but the fact is, the Galaxy S II scored a a minute under 5 hours of the same test when we used Opera Mobile instead of the stock browser. Of course you won’t be able to enjoy 1080p video content with that one, but it’s good to know that you have the choice.

Here are the formal findings from the test:
Web browsing battery life test:

1. Apple iPhone 4 – 7:40 h
2. Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc – 5:25 h
3. Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II – 4:59 h (Opera Mobile browser)
4. LG Optimus Black – 4:30 h
5. Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II – 4:22 h (stock browser)
6. Samsung I9000 Galaxy S – 4:06 h

So what do you say? Do you browse for hours on end on your cell phone?

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Motorola Droid X 2 turns up on Moto and Verizon sites, confirms qHD screen and 1GHz dual-core processor

Hey Motorola, your unannounced phone is showing. The Droid X 2 is spending this morning hanging out on the bright and airy support pages of motorola.com, though you may also spot it sneakily listed alongside some compatible accessories on vzw.com as well. Yes, the leaks are now happening from official sources, too, indicating an imminent landing for what we've confirmed to be a dual-core 1GHz Android smartphone with qHD resolution on a 4.3-inch display. Those long-rumored specs were revealed by the Droid X 2's user guide, which Moto has kindly provided at the link below. So thoughtful!

Motorola, Verizon

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Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II does 8 hours and 5 minutes of video playback on a single charge

We’ve just completed the first of our dedicated Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II battery tests. We decided to start with the dedicated video playback test and we have to admit, we are pretty pleased with the results.

The new Samsung flagship went through the pretty good 8 hours and 5 minutes of video playback before its battery level dropped to 10%, at which point the video player automatically switched off.

To put this in perspective the original Galaxy S endured 7 hours and 25 minutes, when we put it to a similar test a year ago, so obviously there’s quite a notable improvement.

The 4.3” Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II even nears the Samsung S8500 Wave achievement of 8 hours and 40 minutes, but still neither of those is able to match the category champion – the iPhone 4 – with its whopping result of 9 hours and 40 minutes.

Here’s how we tested in case you want to try this at home – we loop a standard definition Xvid video with a bitrate of 384kbit/s. The screen brightness is set to 50% and the speakerphone volume at 10%. The movie we picked had a moderate amount of dark scenes, so the result will probably vary if you pick a particularly dark or bright one, due to the specifics of the Super AMOLED Plus display.

We’ll be bringing several more Samsung Galaxy S II battery tests over the next few days so if you happen to take any interest in the topic – stay tuned!

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