If you’re clumsy, there’s no excuse to not have a quality case for your smartphone. Heck, even if you’re not clumsy, there’s no excuse to not have a quality case for your smartphone. The phones are as expensive as they seem to be fragile – read: very. Well, Trident Case has the remedy for your fragile gadget fear with their Cyclops series of cases:

Crafted in the spirit of the protective one-eyed mythical cyclops, today Trident Case announced the availability its latest new line of products named after the powerful giant. The Cyclops ™ line of protective cases and covers are designed to be sleek, protective and tough and come in nine stylish colors. Customized case designs are available for the iPhone 4, HTC EVO, Motorola Droid X and Samsung Galaxy S mobile phones.

The Cyclops line of protective cases provide a perfect, heavily-fortified sanctuary for the iPhone 4 and several other new mobile phone products. Constructed with highly impact-resistant polycarbonate wrapped with a shock absorbing silicone ring, and a bubble-free screen protector, the Cyclops envelops the device with a superb level of protection.

Best part? They’re available in multiple colors, feature a built-in protective anti-dust, anti-glare screen cover with the Apple iPhone 4 case at $24.95 and the HTC EVO 4G and Samsung Galaxy S cases start at $34.95, the cases are competitively priced and definitely look like they’re more than up to the task for protecting your gadgets.

[ Links: Trident Case ]

Microsoft has confirmed that as with previous Windows phones, Windows 7 phones will come with tethering enabled right out of the box. Brandon Watson, Microsoft’s Director for Windows Phone 7, confirmed the feature on the Windows Weekly Podcast, but noted that it will be up to the carrier whether the function is enabled or not. Since Windows 7 phones will only arrive for GSM carriers this year, that means AT&T and T-Mobile. AT&T of course cripples such functionality in Android phones to force you to pay AT&T an extra toll whereas T-Mobile does not.

The question then is: how hard will Windows Phone 7 make getting around these restrictions?

Update: Tethering may not come ready out of the box. More on this in a bit.

Link to the original article…

Looking more sinister than the previous keyboard enabled HTC G1, the HTC Desire Z is one slick looking piece of kit. Due to debut with Android 2.1 with Android 2.2 (Froyo) will be released shortly as a firmware upgrade.

Due to the Samsung supplied AMOLED shortage, this HTC will have an Super LCD instead. And the Desire Z will have the typical GPS, A-GPS, Wi-Fi and HSDPA connections. Disappointing bits, besides the Android 2.1 is that it comes with only a 5MP camera with a single LED flash. No word on which carriers will get this nor price yet.

Read further details about the HTC Desire Z.

I’ll admit. I’m a huge fan of textPlus by GOGII. It allows me to send texts to multiple users, groups and best of all… it’s free. textPlus just got better.

Texting has become a sight to behold. After reaching over 8 million downloads for its popular free group texting application textPlus, GOGII unveils today textPlus 4 Pics Edition, a visually rich social mobile application that uses the power of pictures to take texting to a fun, social level. Free to download and use, textPlus 4 Pics Edition is available on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

textPlus 4’s unique picture capabilities turn iDevice text exchanges into powerful photographic conversations. Here’s how:

• Picture Communities: It’s show and tell for texting – a group of users texting in one Community chatroom can easily send and receive pictures to illustrate their live discussions.
• “Face Text:” Eye-roll, giggle, growl or grimace. Texters get emotive by using iPhone 4’s front-facing camera to snap and post their own real-time facial expressions; make a face, click the button, 3, 2, 1 – it posts instantly into the conversation flow. It’s like texting from a photo booth.
• Real picture messaging: The #1 most-requested feature from textPlus users, picture messaging lets users send, receive and save photos in one-to-one, private, community and even app-to-SMS conversations – all for free.

Yep… you can finally send and receive photos from people within the textPlus groups or your Apple iPhone contact list… for free. Look for a review in a bit.

[ Links: textPlus 4.0 ]

Bamboo, Microsoft Windows Phone 7 and a seriously sweet design that makes the Apple iPhone look like a dinosaur… do want.

Following the success of original S-series Bamboo Phone I, Enever Design has developed a modern sophisticated version that uses bamboo casing to imbibe organic aesthetic that compliments the subtle detailing of an ordinary design. The S7 has been outlined with special emphasis on two things. Firstly, the unique camera oriented shape shape which also happens to be the best part of the phone to facilitate handy clicks and secondly, the ability to meet the demands of the soon to be launched Window Phone 7 mobile operating system.

Sporting microSD, micro SIM and micro HDMI, this little mobile monster comes with a 8 megapixel with Xenon flash and is due to come out later this year. Price is not known yet though.

[ Links: Enever Design S7 Windows 7 Phone via The Design Blog ]

Despite Verizon’s insistence that they should have plenty of phones in stock to meet demand, the Droid X has officially sold out, and users will now have to wait until July 23 if they want to get their hands on the latest Android smartphone. Verizon recently struggled to get the also-Android-based HTC Incredible into user hands due to a shortage in OLED display components.

“We have been successful at keeping up with early demand but at present inventory in some parts of the country inventory is either low or out,” acknowledges Verizon. “Since we have weekly shipments planned, customers can still order phones and can expect them to be shipped on or before July 23.”

But what about that news that the Droid X contained embedded systems that would brick the phone if it was tinkered with? Motorola responded to those concerns today:

The Droid X and a majority of Android consumer devices on the market today have a secured bootloader. In reference specifically to eFuse, the technology is not loaded with the purpose of preventing a consumer device from functioning, but rather ensuring for the user that the device only runs on updated and tested versions of software. If a device attempts to boot with unapproved software, it will go into recovery mode, and can re-boot once approved software is re-installed.

In short, the IBM-developed eFuse system will shut down a Droid X with an unapproved bootloader though it won’t actually damage the phone. Users simply need to re-install “approved software” to get the device up and running again. That’s certainly not-quite the type of openness many users would like to see, but it’s not Droid X Armageddon for modders, either.

Link to the original article…

Sporting stainless steel sides that act as antennas – hope this means less dropped calls – and a glass front and back, double the screen resolution (up from 480×320 to 960×640) that quadruples the pixel count and a forward facing camera that can be utilized for iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 video calls over wifi via an app called FaceTime.

And don’t forget the new Apple iPhone OS, iOS 4.0 that supports multi-tasking as only Steve Jobs would call it and supports 720p video recording via the improved 5 megapixel camera on the back.

Height: 4.5 inches (115.2 mm)
Width: 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)
Depth: 0.37 inch (9.3 mm)
Weight: 4.8 ounces (137 grams)
Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)
Talk time: Up to 7 hours on 3G
Video playback: Up to 10 hours
Audio playback: Up to 40 hours
Display: 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi

Also armed with two microphones for better signal-to-noise and an internal gyro, the Apple iPhone ups the ante on the competition in terms of increased resolution – it leapfrogged the Google Nexus One and HTC 4G EVO – and all for a starting price of (on contract renewal if you’re eligible) at 16gb for $199. Available June 15th for pre-order and available June 24th.

Not bad at all Steve Jobs and company. You just made the iPhone 4 into a DOWANT item. And the requirements point to an upcoming iTunes 9.2 update before June 24th.

[ Link: Apple, Apple iPhone 4 ]

Seems like the patient – or in some cases, rather impatient – owners of the Maemo 5 (Linux) based Nokia N900 cellphone has finally gotten the update they’ve been looking forward to for quite some time, PR1.2 or 10.2010.19-1.

New games join the veritable arcade already on offer in Ovi Store. Jurassic 3D Rollercoaster, Zen-bound, Angry Birds (level pack), Sygic, Kroll, Weatherbug, and GoGadget are all available to keep you entertained. Important to note though that Ovi Store will do a full switchover this week Thursday, May 27, so these games and other for-purchase apps will show up then.

The prior leaked version was 10.2010.12-9, so that’s at least 7 weeks of testing and bug fixes. Let’s see how the rest of the week shakes out. And lets see if the apps based on Qt 4.6 also start flooding out too.

[ Links: Nokia N900, Nokia Conversations, Nokia PR1.2 Leaked ]

RSUPPORT will present its web-based remote PC access solution RemoteView 5.0 Mobile at the upcoming World IT Show 2010.

World IT Show (WIS 2010, www.worlditshow.co.kr) is the biggest IT exhibition in Korea will be held for four days from May 25 to 28 with the theme, “Feel IT, See the Next” at COEX, Samsung-dong, Seoul, where cutting-edge technologies at home and abroad will gather and dominate the trend of future industries.

Link to the original article…

Despite announcing that Skype will debut group video calls for Windows users earlier today, Skype also announced that they will not be delivering a Skype application for the upcoming Microsoft 7 Phone platform, due for release later this year.

Things aren’t looking good for fans of Skype and the next generation of Windows Mobile software, that is expected to land later this year. Skype has announced that it has stopped developing for the coming OS.

This is really no surprise given that in February Skype pulled its Windows Mobile VoIP application for WinMo. Skype is focusing on developing for the iPhone, Symbian, and Android OS.

Say it ain’t so Skype.

[ Links: Slashphone, Skype Blogs ]

When Microsoft acquired Danger, the maker of the entry-level “smartphone” Sidekick, nobody knew what was going to come of it. Fast-forward 2 years, and the fruits of that acquisition finally come to light in the form of the Microsoft Kin One and Microsoft Kin Two. Both are aimed squarely at the “Upload Generation”, the teen to early 30′s group that uses their cameraphone and Twitter apps, alongside Facebook and even MySpace to chronicle their daily operations with their peers.

The Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two are now on sale via Verizon for $49.99 and $99.99 respectively after a $100.00 mail-in rebate once you sign a 2-year contract. Despite having questionable “smartphone” abilities, the Microsoft Kin platform does require the Verizon $29.99 a month data plan.

Despite having a somewhat “cool reception” in the blogosphere, these phones do come with pretty impressive numbers on the optics, Zune connectivity and playback, Bing search engine software which has been beefed up to include location aware portions as part of the new “Near Me” Bing functionality… it’s actually not an ugly phone and it’s still quite zippy performance-wise.

Let’s hope this paves the way to an even speedier Microsoft Windows 7 Phone release though. That’s the phone the more serious folks.

[ Links: Microsoft Kin Press Release, Verizon ]

Apparently the long-awaited update for the Maemo based Nokia N900 has been leaked as a global PR1.2 update and has finally updated a lot of stuff after the prior PR1.1 and PR1.1.1 updates; which ushered in a few updates and bug fixes. What’s been confirmed so far is:

• Qt updated to 4.6.2
• Portrait Browser Mode
• Updated Application Manager
• Skype and Google Talk video calling
• Improved virtual keyboard
• USSD call codes now work
• Improved camera options
• Build No: 10.2010.12-9

Among other UI and software updates, unfortunately there’s not an update for the Flash version but it’s not the 10.1 Flash Player (version 9.0.260.0). PR1.2 is apparently quite the update.

As it stands though, Nokia has not officially released the PR1.2 update and this build is 4 weeks behind the latest known PR1.2 update, but as it stands this leaked version is a global release that has plenty of bugfixes and features that many Nokia N900 owners have been waiting for. I’m impressed with the Skype video calls… that’s a killer app in my mind. More over at Talk.Maemo.org (TMO).

Update: Ovi Maps 3.0 also confirmed.
Update: Flash Player has been updated from 9.0.246.0 to 9.0.260.0.

[ Related Links: Maemo "PR1.2 Is Released" Thread, Nokia N900 PR1.1 Update ]