Ideal for any tourist that's inexperienced with hailing down a New York taxi, a new smartphone application does all the work for you.
Detailed by the Detroit Free Press earlier this week, a mobile application called ZabKab allows New York City residents and visitors to hail a cab by simply tapping a button that broadcasts their physical location. When a pedestrian launches the ZabKab application on an iOS or Android smartphone, they press the large yellow “hail” button on the screen and a signal is sent out to cab drivers within a four to five block radius. In addition to broadcasting a GPS location of the smartphone, the pedestrian can also let the driver know how many people will be riding in the cab and request a wheelchair-accessible taxi if needed. The user can watch the map on the screen and view the real-time locations of all the cabs in the area. The yellow cab icon indicates that a taxi is empty and the gray cab icon indicates that the taxi is currently being used.
The application is particularly noteworthy as it’s been approved by the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) and the organization is encouraging drivers to try it out. Ideal for a taxi driver, this allows them to get a good idea of the direction to head for their next fare. However, drivers aren’t allowed to communicate with the pedestrian in order to alert them that the cab is incoming.
Drivers also have to bring the car to a complete stop before using a mobile device according to the rules of the TLC. In addition, the ZabKab application has been specifically designed to stop working if it detects the driver traveling faster than 5 miles per hour. This is also the method used for removing passengers from the map after they have been picked up by a cab.
When asked about the driver regulations in an interview with an NBC affiliate in New York, ZabKab co-founder Martin Keikel stated “When they’re pulling over to drop a passenger off they have a little time, because the passenger is paying, and this is a good time for them to look at their mobile device. And now when they zoom off, they have an idea where that passenger might be, which could be just around the corner.”
In addition to launching ZabKab with 1,000 registered taxi drivers in New York, the company is also promoting use of the application with doormen around the city. This system would basically allow a doorman to start signaling a cab as a resident of the building is heading downstairs to street level.
According to the TLC, the organization is also planning on releasing a mobile application that will allow passengers to submit payment for a cab ride without having to reach for a wallet. The application could also include similar feature to the ZabKab app. In the meantime, it’s free for pedestrians to download and use the ZabKab application. Drivers are being offered a sixty day trial, but will eventually be required to pay a fee to continue using the application. While ZabKab has only officially been released in the NYC market, it’s likely that it could gain popularity in other cities around the United States.
Microsoft is planning to sell the most basic version of its new Surface tablet for just $199, a new report claims.
When Microsoft unveiled its new Surface tablet back in June, tech observers were, on the whole, pretty impressed with the device.
Concern was raised though over the company’s failure to release any information regarding its price tag, leading many to conclude that it was going to cost an arm and a leg, and possibly another body part, too.
However, it looks like we may be in for something of a surprise. According to an engadget report on Tuesday, Microsoft is set to launch the most basic version of the Surface – the 32GB model running Windows RT – for just $199.
An unnamed “inside source” furnished engadget with the pricing information, saying that it was discussed behind closed doors at the Redmond-based company’s recent TechReady15 conference.
So let’s recap – that’d be a 10.6-inch tablet with 32GB of memory and a touch cover that doubles as a keyboard. Loaded with Office. Made by Microsoft. For $199. At that price point, it could well dent sales of Google’s recently launched and reportedly big-selling Nexus 7 tablet, which has a smaller 7-inch display and just 8GB of memory (for $199), or 16GB (for $249).
The news will be a cause of concern for Amazon too, with sales of its 7-inch 8GB Kindle Fire device apparently already hit by the introduction of the Nexus 7. A new version of the Kindle Fire is expected in the near future, and by the sound of it it’ll need to be something of a head-turning update for it to make waves in the ever-crowded tablet market.
Even the folks over at Cupertino will be wondering how such a price point might affect sales of its iPad, as well as the expected iPad Mini, which many industry watchers believe will be announced next month. The Surface tablets, incidentally, are rumored to hit stores on October 26, though no official announcement has yet been made by Microsoft.
If Microsoft does go with such a low price tag for the most basic version of the Surface, we assume it’ll be selling it at a loss, in which case the company will be planning to make its money from the sale of apps and various media for the device.
Furthering Resident Evil 6's transformation into a mutation of Call of Duty, Capcom announces stat tracking network ResidentEvil.net.
Nothing says scary like statistics! For example: There were 20 recorded shark attacks in the United States last year, none of which were fatal. I bet you’re freaking out right now if you live in the United States. You have a 20 in 312,000,000 chance of being attacked by a shark! Pretty scary.
Naturally, Capcom is beefing up Resident Evil 6 with a juicy stat tracking service just to add to the abject horror of a zombie-infested melodrama.
ResidentEvil.net, announced at Gamescom 2012, will track a selection of data from your Resident Evil 6 games and give up rewards based on your performance. If it sounds like the free parts of Call of Duty Elite, that’s because that is precisely what ResidentEvil.net is. Because what Resident Evil 6 needed was more similarities to Call of Duty.
Performance in the extra Mercenaries combat mode will be logged as well, and ResidentEvil.net will automatically post details of your performance on Twitter and Facebook. There will also be smartphone and tablet apps.
Good. Great. Grand.
Let me tell you something, Capcom: The people that want big, dumb shooters with a community are already well served. They are playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. Chances are, come October, they’ll be saving their money for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Medal of Honor: Warfighter. That’s in addition to the bazillion other multiplayer shooters out there.
Now I know that Resident Evil 5 sold well, 7.9 million copies according to VG Chartz. Resident Evil 4 however sold better counting recent HD re-releases on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Stop ruining a once enjoyable series with your ceaseless need to be the prettiest girl at the prom. You will not beat Call of Duty. Stop trying to try.
Actually, statistics are often very scary. Not when they’re tied to something called Mercenaries mode though.
Microsoft and Adobe have unleashed a series of software updates today, plugging a ton of security holes. The latest Patch Tuesday consists of nine bulletins including five rated as critical and four deemed important. One of the bulletins, MS12-060, addresses a flaw in all supported editions of Office that is being exploited in the wild and allows remote code execution if a user visits a site or opens an email containing unsavory code.
Another bulletin, MS12-052, fixes four privately disclosed flaws in Internet Explorer that could also lead to remote code execution, while MS12-053 and MS12-054 solve issues related to the Remote Administration Protocol and the Print Spooler, and MS12-058 patches the recently-revealed KB2737111 flaw in Exchange Server 2007 and 2010. From what we can gather, none of these vulnerabilities are being actively exploited.
All told, the update addresses 27 bugs in Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 (minus x64 builds), SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, SQL Server 2000 (except Itanium editions), SQL Server 2005 (except the Express Edition but including Express Edition with Advanced Services), SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2, Commerce Server 2002, 2007, 2009 and 2009 R2, Host Integration Server 2004 SP1, Visual FoxPro 8.0 and 9.0, as well as Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime.
Meanwhile, Adobe's quarterly update brings a newer version of Flash Player for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users. The patch fixes a critical flaw (CVE-2012-1535) that is being exploited by attackers through a malicious Microsoft Word document that targets the ActiveX version of Flash Player for Internet Explorer. Other OS and browser users are still strongly encouraged to install the latest version, which can be downloaded here (don't sweat it if you're a Chrome user, as the browser updates Flash automatically). Adobe also offers updates for Shockwave, Reader and Acrobat.
Adobe surprised many late last year when developers were notified that the company no longer had plans to develop future builds of Flash Player for mobile browsers. Instead, they would be focusing all of their attention on HTML5 and other web technologies. The beginning of the end starts tomorrow as Adobe starts disabling new Flash Player installs on Android.
Adobe made a valiant effort to get mobile Flash installed on all handsets but met early resistance with Apple. The late Steve Jobs published an open letter in April 2010 that explained precisely why Flash wasn’t allowed on the iPhone, iPod and iPad. In no short order, Jobs criticized Flash’s reliability, security, impact on battery life and performance in addition to claiming that Flash was a proprietary web standard. His suggestion to Adobe was to focus more on creating great HTML5 tools.
Of course, that’s not to say that Flash is going anywhere anytime soon. There’s still a huge market for Flash on desktop systems as evident by Google recently adding better Flash support to their Chrome web browser.
Microsoft originally planned to ship Windows 8 without Flash support but apparently had a change of heart seeing as a lot of content still isn’t HTML5 ready. As such, Redmond will be bundling Internet Explorer 10 with a limited amount of Flash content to ensure security, reliability and battery life for Windows 8 style browsing.
But just how long Flash will remain relevant is anyone’s guess.
Starting this fall, Sony will bring the PlayStation experience to more devices than ever before with the launch of PlayStation Mobile, the company announced Tuesday.
Making it official at the Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany, Sony plans to introduce 30 new titles in nine countries this fall, including the U.S., U.K., Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Australia.
More than 50 different third-party developers in Japan and Europe, along with nearly 30 in the U.S., have already agreed to create content for PlayStation Mobile.
The new service will be tied to users' existing PlayStation IDs, and will allow them to purchase games directly from the PlayStation Store.
Game on mobile
Sony will also roll out the SDK for PlayStation Mobile after the service launches, with an annual licensing fee of $99.
It'll work on all Sony-brand devices, including the Vita, and phones such as the Xperia S and Xperica Arc S, as well as the Tablet S.
Of course, Sony products won't be the only devices to utilize PlayStation Mobile.
Sony partners with Asus and Wikipad for wider reach
Sony expanded their Certified License to Asus and Wikipad so they too can provide users with the PlayStation Mobile experience.
"Wikipad is the first true video game tablet built with an attachable gamepad controller that provides gamers with a mobile console experience," said Fraser Townley, president of sales for Wikipad, Inc.
"As we head into our upcoming launch, we are excited to be partnering with Sony Computer Entertainment.
"PlayStation's continued commitment to delivering innovative entertainment experiences that captivate gamers is unparalleled and we are thrilled to partner with them."
Unfortunately, with the launch of this new dedicated experience, Sony will no longer offer PS One Classics on PlayStation Certified devices.
Until PlayStation Mobile launches later this year, we won't know if that sacrifice is worth it, however Sony's focused effort has us interested in what lies ahead for the time being.
Sony served up a triple dose of horror, beauty, and the bizarre for PlayStation 3 during its Gamescom 2012 press conference.
Sony trotted out the PlayStation Vita’s future tender vittles at Gamescom 2012 in Germany on Tuesday but it didn’t leave the handheld’s big brother hanging. The Last of Us, Beyond: Two Souls, and other big guns announced at E3 2012 didn’t get a new selection of AAA heavy-hitters at the event, but Sony did take the time to announce a selection of offbeat, strange titles that are classically PlayStation.
The first of these is Rain (pictured), a PlayStation Network title from the Sony Japan studio. An adventure with a twist, Rain casts you as a boy that turns in invisible after he sees a young girl disappear in the rain. Running through dark city streets, the only way to follow the boy’s movements is by spotting his footsteps in puddles or watching his outline in the rain. Unsavory memories of Chevy Chase’s Memoirs of an Invisible Man aside, Rain has much of the same quiet beauty and melancholy that permeates most of the Japan Studio’s output in recent years. If it’s half as good as Echochrome and Gravity Rush, then it will still be better than 90 percent of other games.
Going from sweet to sour, Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn was also announced. Executive creative director Will Byles describes it as a “Teen Horror” experience where you use the PlayStation Move to try to figure out who’s trying to murder you all in a spooky old forest. Think I Know What You Did Last Summer but with a glowing ball on a stick. Supermassive said that it’s working with Hollywood writers and US television actors for the game, but since IMDBPro is still in the dark about the cast and credits, so are we. Hollywood and US TV could mean very good things or very, very bad things. That’s a pretty big tent.
Finally, there’s Puppeteer, a platformer with a flavor quite distinct. With a tactile, fabricy look akin to Little Big Planet, you control Kutaro, a boy transformed into a puppet by the Moon Bear King. After the king eats his wooden head, Kutaro’s off to find it with the help of a pair of magic scissors he uses to slice up his puppet theater world. Right. That is… hmmm… Intriguing.
Say what you will about Sony, it is fearless about funding peculiar games. The PlayStation 2 saw some of its best games come out 7 years into its life, titles like Persona 3 and God of War 2, but they were sequels. Kudos to Sony for developing weird originals so late in the PS3’s life.
Starting this fall, Sony will be bringing the PlayStation experience to more devices than ever before with the launch of PlayStation Mobile, the company announced Tuesday.
Making it official at the Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany, Sony plans to introduce 30 new titles in nine countries this fall, including the U.S., U.K., Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Australia.
More than 50 different third-party developers in Japan and Europe, along with nearly 30 in the U.S., have already agreed to create content for PlayStation Mobile.
The new service will be tied to users' existing PlayStation IDs, and will allow them to purchase games directly from the PlayStation Store.
Game on mobile
Sony will also be rolling out the SDK for PlayStation Mobile after the service launches, with an annual licensing fee of $99.
Of course, Sony products won't be the only devices to utilize PlayStation Mobile.
Sony partners with Asus and Wikipad for wider reach
Sony has expanded their Certified License to Asus and Wikipad so they too can provide users with the PlayStation Mobile experience.
"Wikipad is the first true video game tablet built with an attachable gamepad controller that provides gamers with a mobile console experience," said Fraser Townley, president of sales for Wikipad, Inc.
"As we head into our upcoming launch, we are excited to be partnering with Sony Computer Entertainment.
"PlayStation's continued commitment to delivering innovative entertainment experiences that captivate gamers is unparalleled and we are thrilled to partner with them."
Unfortunately, with the launch of this new dedicated experience, Sony will no longer be offering PS One Classics on PlayStation Certified devices.
Until PlayStation Mobile launches later this year, we won't know if that sacrifice is worth it, however Sony's focused effort has us interested in what lies ahead for the time being.
Love it or hate it, EA’s Origin digital distribution service is growing at a steady pace, with over 500 games available from more than 50 publishers. The publisher revealed in June that Origin has played host to more than 12 million downloads and hailed the service as a "huge success". Now, the company is looking to expand beyond the Windows and iOS platforms it currently supports.
During his opening keynote at Gamescom 2012 in Cologne, Germany, COO Peter Moore said Origin is coming to the Mac, Android, Facebook and Smart TVs. No specific dates were given, although EA did reveal in a separate announcement that next installment of the venerable SimCity franchise will be available through Origin on Mac in February 2013.
The company’s expansion plans were accompanied by the announcement of several new features for Origin. Namely, support for free-to-play games, exclusive digital content, live videos and a new dashboard. Social components such as achievements, challenges, and other improvements are also in the works.
Despite someinitialcontroversies it appears that EA is as committed as ever to compete with Steam in the digital distribution space. Meanwhile, Valve’s Steam platform is looking to break some new ground itself, with the announcement of a Linux client and the addition of non-gaming software titles to its library.
We pick the best iPad cases and covers on the market for your, iPad, iPad 2, or iPad 3.
Whether you have the original revolutionary iPad, the slimmer iPad 2, or the high-resolution third iPad, we’ve rounded up our favorite cases that fit them all. We have chosen our favorite iPad cases from the many that we’ve seen, and our list has something for everybody, whether you’re a cash-strapped minimalist or want your iPad to be wrapped in luxurious leather. Take your pick from the list below and give your iPad, iPad 2, or third-generation iPad the extra protection and style it deserves.
The iPad is such a great device for consuming content that it makes sense to get a protective cover that can also double up as a stand for reading or watching movies. Moshi’s iGlaze with VersaCover protects the back of the device and features a magnetic, textured front cover which can be folded to act as a stand for portrait or landscape mode. It is slim and stylish, and offers three stand positions which Moshi has dubbed movie angle, reading angle, and typing angle. The magnets also support the iPad’s auto-wake and sleep feature. Check out our hands-on video with the Moshi iGlaze VersaCover to see it in action. (This product is built for the third iPad.)
A dual layer case (for iPad 2 or third-gen) that can stand up to a busy lifestyle could just save your iPad from disaster. The Seidio Active case is made of an easy-grip polymer which is shock absorbent, but also has a hard skeleton to protect the corners and sides of your device. It looks good and offers great protection without adding too much bulk. The multi-purpose cover protects the screen and doubles up as a stand, which offers a variety of viewing angles in portrait or landscape mode.
This is a fairly simple molded frame case with a minimal profile. The focus is on making your iPad 3 more comfortable to hold. To that end, you have contoured grips around the edges and a neoprene strap on the back. Slip your hand through the strap and your iPad is snugly secured, which is ideal for a busy commute on the subway. Be warned, the strap is tight so it may not be comfortable for anyone with big hands. A bonus with this case is that all your ports and controls are accessible.
This luxurious leather case (for your iPad OR iPad 2) by Killspencer has plenty of pockets for a little extra storage and sleek black ninja styling that definitely suits our fancy. The case has a handy removable shoulder strap and also features a fabric-lined neoprene interior and water-resistant zippers. The case is also available in the brand’s signature waxed canvas.
For those who like a luxurious look paired with a simple design, we like the classic aesthetic of this case from Michael Kors. The envelope-style clutch case comes in red, camel, or black faux-leather and has a gold-plate logo as well as a two-snap closure. There aren’t any extra bells or whistles hear, but we like the classy look that this case offers.
We like this case, specifically designed for the iPad 2, for its simple sleek design and helpful functionality. The portfolio-style case features a an elastic band to secure the case, suede lining, and bumpers to prop your ‘pad up at three different angles for viewing or typing. The case also includes a precision-cut camera hole so that you can keep snapping away.
For something that’s simple but adds a little bit of coziness to your shiny, high-tech toy, this option from Rustic Case is the perfect compromise. Handcrafted in New England from wool and natural leather, the simple sleeve-style case offers great protection and will fit your iPad 2 with or without a smart cover.
This clever case for the iPad 2 is made from beautiful bamboo and includes an integrated leather smart cover that can be used as a stand and can also be engraved in a variety of fun and artistic designs. The precision-cut wood perfectly holds your ‘pad and the smooth suede inside cover will help keep your screen scratch-free. Choose a plain cover, an artist design, or custom-design your own.
A new Google patent aims to help those of us struggling to tell a smartphone's top from its bottom.
The patent outlines a smartphone with both a microphone and speaker at each end, allowing someone to hold the device upside down and still be able to talk normally.
Gyroscope or accelerometer sensors inside the device would detect the phone's orientation, allowing it to activate the correct speaker and microphone for how the handset is held at any given time.
The patent does not discuss how a device would cope with someone holding their smartphone sideways while lying down.
Smartphones do tend to have a rather symmetrical design so perhaps this is a frequent mistake when answering the phone, frequent enough that Google felt the need to patent the idea.
Google is generally more known for their software than hardware, so the likelihood of seeing this patent come to fruition is questionable. If nothing else though, it is an interesting idea for smartphones to implement, even if the convenience doesn't justify the cost of additional parts.
Sony brings relief to Vita owners in the form of new Killzone, PSone Classics, and Tearaway, a new game from Little Big Planet's creator.
Lo did the PlayStation Vita wander through its post release months seeking sustenance and finding only sand! Sony’s lonely handheld wandered to the occasional oasis of originals—Gravity Rush and Sound Shapes soothed parched lips—but it’s mostly suffered from a bad case of the ports (Mortal Kombat, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection). Hark, oh ye burned player that spent heartily at launch! Sony announced a veritable smorgasbord of new Vita games during its Gamescom 2012 conference on Tuesday.
Most exciting of the bunch is a brand new game from the crew at Media Molecule, those creative folks behind the Little Big Planet series. Its first Vita game is called Tearaway (pictured). Where Little Big Planet’s roots were in Super Mario Bros., Tearaway calls back to the Paper Mario series. Its hero Iota lives in a three-dimensional world made of paper but he’s trying to escape into ours. You help by peeling away layers of the paper world with the Vita’s touch screen. Need to attack some enemies? Poke your finger through the paper world by tapping the rear touch screen bopping them. It’s one of the few games that’s tailor built for Vita and looks great as a result.
The second original for Vita is less thrilling. Killzone: Mercenary from Guerilla is a first-person shooter like its console siblings and even runs on a modified version of the Killzone 3 engine. The hook is that, as a mercenary, you fight alongside both the good ISA soldiers and the bad, cool-masked Helghast. Missions provide portable friendly structure to the game, much like Zipper Interactive’s ignored Vita shooter Unit 13. Killzone: Mercenary feels like a missed opportunity to revisit the excellent, tactical overhead shooting game Killzone: Liberation, one of the PSP’s very best. Sony, stop trying to make Killzone an FPS institution. It’s not going to happen.
Finally, as promised at E3 2012, Sony announced details for bringing PlayStation games to Vita. PSone Classics will be available starting Aug. 28, but only in limited quantities it seems. The same initial line up announced at E3 was trotted out, including Final Fantasy VII, Tomb Raider, Arc the Lad, and others. It still isn’t clear if PSN members will have to repurchase these games on Vita or not.
Overall, Sony’s Gamescom line up for Vita is encouraging, albeit lacking in the third-party support that will be crucial to the device’s longevity. Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified is there, as is Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, but are they enough to bring in a game playing public whose wallets are already strained?
Sony has filed with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office for a two-screened tablet that rotates on multiple axes, meaning the screens can be configured a number of ways.
By utilizing some clever hinges and a pinch of magic dust, the new device would allow users to flip the screens around to have them next to or on top of one another.
In short, a "connection apparatus," as the patent filing puts it, allows two "casings" to be "rotated relatively in one of a first rotation direction and a second rotation direction orthogonal to each other between a first state and a second state."
The filing itself is filled to bursting with detailed and indecipherable technical descriptions, though suffice to say Sony's got all the bases covered in this patent.
You look familiar
Sony's hardly the first to come up with a folding dual-screened device.
Nintendo's DS line of handheld gaming systems, including the new 3DS XL, has been folding since 2004.
Even Sony's own Tablet P, released in 2011 to mixed reviews, features two wide screens on top of one another with a hinge in between.
But the Japanese company's new patent filing focuses almost entirely on the hinges themselves, and it may in fact be the first to feature the sort of "Jacob's Ladder" (as Engadget puts it) design.
But what's the actual use?
There are plenty of reasons to want to configure the screens one way or the other.
One configuration might be best for typing or playing games, for example, while the other will be preferable for reading or browsing the web.
Still, this new Sony patent comes across as fairly gimmicky and somewhat impractical, so it will be interesting to see if it ever comes to fruition.
The Boxfish Live iPad app searches every word spoken and trending on television and replaces your remote to bring it to your TV instantly.
Perhaps nothing has better demonstrated the disconnect between consumer wants and the current state of network television than this summer’s Olympics. We all watched as Twitter and NBC teamed up and made it crystal clear just how out of touch old media is. Clearly, live television isn’t sure how to adapt and interact with our new communications systems.
The great divide between the 21st century and network television doesn’t stop at its tension with social media. Search is another big, uncomfortable problem. While streaming services like Netflix and Hulu have implemented (to varying degrees) simple, highly visual hubs where you can find and discover content, live television is stuck in an excel-like hell. Anyone with a cable subscription knows that the TV guide channel and its excruciating roll are an exercise in torture not to be tolerated. And the channel surfing game of watching a show while bringing up the guide underneath is a barely improved alternative.
Enter the second screen. The world of personal mobile electronics has long promised to unlock cable television’s potential, to finally introduce the very real benefits of real-time to TV. While a few apps here and there have socialized or simplified network programming, search and discovery remains an issue.
Today Boxfish is officially throwing its hat into the ring after a soft launch earlier this year. At the time, Boxfish fully revealed its plans: Capture every word being spoken on television, load them into its database, make it searchable via its app. But this first iteration was more or less a Web test drive, where we could search and discover television content, but the operation stopped there. Now, the Palo Alto-based startup is lifting the curtain off its official product, an iPad app that allows you to search for TV content in real-time and then acts as a remote, changing the channel to the results as you want to view.
I had the chance to visit Boxfish headquarters in May, get my hands on an early iteration of the app, and talk to founder Eoin Dowling and Kevin Burkitt about Boxfish. Both emphasized the palpable and obvious frustration with the current system and the sad state of discovery – as well as how new consumer-facing technology was inching us closer to uniting how we consumer the Web with how we consume television.
“You hear it all the time – ‘there’s nothing on TV,’” Dowling told me at the time. “When in reality there is tons of content, users just can’t get to it.”
The Boxfish iPad app allows search and discovery in a variety of mechanisms that are becoming increasingly familiar to anyone who’s ever used a reader app – which is quite a few people. Apps like Pulse and Zite, and to a greater degree Trapit and News360, have done some hard work for Boxfish by getting us good and familiar with personalized content services. The concept is being applied to television, of course, but the interface and features are familiar.
The Boxfish Live Guide shows you a bar of currently trending television content, which can also be broken down by genre. Users can search and discovery what’s on by channel, topics, and words. You can set alerts, so every time “Lebron James” is mentioned, you get pinged with where you can tune in. Users are able to customize the feed to their liking, or simply keep tabs on what’s trending.
This is all novel and interesting and a remote-addict’s dream, but it’s not Boxfish’s big sell – that would be its ability to directly integrate with your provider to control your television. The app won’t only act as a disconnected second screen, but as a remote that will instantly connect you to what it’s surfacing for you. Right now, it works with DirecTV and TiVo. And while Dowling tells me he “can’t name names,” more multi-service operators (MSOs) are on their way in the near future. “We’re working on deeper integration for DVR functionality with a few [MSOs],” he says, so that users can get alerted away from home and auto-record shows.
Dowling gave me a demo of the app in action back in May, and it worked as promised. During the presentation, Dowling searched for a handful of terms, selected from the results, and immediately changed the channel to the respective show. The idea is to end channel surfing and get you into the shows you actually want to see.
The team has been putting the app through exhaustive user testing since I last saw them. “We didn’t want to launch until we had a product that visibly excited users. We wanted the ‘wow,’” says Dowling. “We still see the product as a validation of the overall Index of television, but it is a very cool, very engaging product.”
A new patent granted to Apple this week may further slim down your next iOS device
Apple doesn't always follow through right away with every patent they file, but this week's U.S. Patent No. 8,243,027 for a "Touch screen liquid crystal display" is one the company should implement sooner rather than later.
Despite the generic name, the new LCD technology patent will allow Apple to fuse the touch sensors into the actual display circuitry, which could have a dramatic impact on how thin a smartphone or tablet can get.
Apple's current method involves placing touchscreen sensors above the display itself and while the current iPhone 4S could hardly be called thick, it seems Cupertino is obsessed with shaving every millimeter possible from its iOS devices.
Integrated technology
Apple was granted the "Touch screen liquid crystal display" patent on Tuesday, which details how the company might implement the new technology for thinner devices.
"By integrating the layered structure of an LCD and a touch sensor, a variety of benefits can be achieved," the patent filing reveals. "Integration can further include eliminating redundant structures and/or finding dual purposes (e.g., one purpose for the touch function and another for the display function) for particular layers or structures.
"This can permit some layers to be eliminated, which can reduce cost and thickness of the touch screen LCD, as well as simplify manufacturing," the filing concludes.
Apple's patent applies equally to traditional LCD as well as in-plane switching (IPS) panels such as those used in the current iPhone 4S.
The so-called "in-cell" technology has been rumored for a sixth-generation iPhone, particularly as the company appears ready to move to a larger four-inch screen, with Sharp and LG on tap to provide the display panels.
Minority's PlayStation 3-exclusive downloadable puzzle-platformer Papo & Yo is just as much interactive work of art as it is video game.
Trying to review a game like Minority’s Papo & Yo in the traditional sense is an exercise in futility. It might be a work of entertainment, but there’s so much of the author’s personality ingrained in the experience, so much artful execution of the bigger thematic ideas, that the puzzle-platformer really has more in common with a painting or some other piece of visual art. It’s just that this one happens to be interactive, and sometimes even challenging. Ultimately, however, the game portion of Papo really plays second fiddle to its more experiential qualities. It’s a risky move, but in the end it turns out to be for the best. You’ll puzzle through Quico’s three-or-so hour “Adventure with Monster” in a surrealist take on Brazil’s favelas, and you’ll walk away with that rarest of all video game rewards: an emotional response.
In order to fully appreciate Papo & Yo it helps to understand where it comes from. The game is the brainchild of Vander Caballero, a AAA veteran from EA’s FIFA and Army of Two teams. Caballero and his siblings had a rough childhood at the hands of an alcoholic father. Papo & Yo is very much a response to that, with easily drawn parallels between the game’s Monster and its rage-inducing love of frogs. Many of the puzzles you encounter are built around keeping the Monster’s inner urges at bay, and escaping its clutches whenever a frog is consumed.
You accomplish these and other tasks by manipulating the environments in completely fantastical ways. There’s a surreal flavor to your surroundings, with reality-rooted imagery of the favelas sitting alongside misshapen tracts of land, chalk-drawn gears on walls that you can physically interact with, and buildings that come to life with the turn of an oversized phantom key. In one early puzzle, you’ll explore a large, open environment for small huts with keys protruding from them. Each time you turn a key, the building sprouts legs and scurries off like an insect to line up with the others. Finding and turning all of the keys assembles the buildings into a line, allowing you to jump across their rooftops and into the next area.
There’s definitely a rising challenge as the story unfolds and additional concepts such as the Monster, or your jetpack-bearing, piggyback-riding robot Lula, are introduced, but again, it’s the story that remains front and center. Your final minutes before the credits roll abandon the puzzle focus almost entirely, amounting to a powerful coda. Quico’s journey is largely driven by a push to guide Monster to the local shaman, who can cure it. The subtext here isn’t particularly tough to decipher, though there are truths revealed as the story unfolds.
The presentation in Papo & Yo is a standout. Not just the surreal art design, but also the execution of those ideas. The sun-baked landscapes you’ll explore — as well as the more out there locations — are remarkably well realized. There’s also something undeniably satisfying about pulling on a lever and watching as you manipulate a multi-story stack of buildings into a path that you can follow. The music and sound are also used to great effect, adding to the mood and the sense of place.
Functionally, Quico is as responsive as you’d want him to be. Perhaps overly so at times, such as when you need to negotiate narrow walkways, but this is nothing more than a minor quibble since there’s no real sense of failure in the game. You may become stumped on one puzzle or another, but any danger, even that which Monster represents, is of minimal concern. There’s no “death” or anything like that; at worst, you’ll be tossed around like a rag doll or warped back to a default location. Even the threat of being stumped is a minor concern, since every puzzle includes one or more cardboard boxes that you can wear, Solid Snake-style, to get some hints.
Conclusion
Papo & Yo is an exceptional experience, standing in equal parts as both a game and an interactive art piece. It’s the latest in a long line of truly adventurous publisher exclusives for Sony, following the likes of Journey, Flower, and Datura. The game that sits at the heart of Minority’s work is cleverly put together and fun to puzzle through, but the presentation is what sells it. Papo & Yo may be difficult to review as a video game, but it nonetheless amounts to a valuable and rewarding experience for anyone who harbors an interest in seeing the artful side of console play pushed forward.
Electronic Arts pledged its support to Windows Phone 8. What does Microsoft's new mobile platform mean for one of gaming's big publishers?
Electronic Arts, never one to miss an opportunity, announced on Monday that it plans to support the next iteration of Microsoft’s mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8. There’s no mobile operating system running on smartphones sold in the west that doesn’t carry EA’s games at this point. The company’s public commitment to Microsoft’s platform is significant if only because it suggests that EA has yet to give up on Windows as a viable venue for its mobile business.
“We’re working very closely with Microsoft to understand what their views on navigation are,” COO Peter Moore told Bloomberg, “Anything that allows more platforms to be adopted quickly that have a gaming element is good for Electronic Arts.”
That’s why Electronic Arts threw its support behind Windows Phone 7 as well. When Nokia and Microsoft began releasing Lumia phones around the world in late 2011, Electronic Arts was there. In October 2011, EA announced details of the EA Nokia partnership that brought mobile games like FIFA 12, Bejeweled, Dead Space, and NBA Jam to Windows Phone 7 devices.
Those games are, of course, familiar to anyone with an iOS or Android phone or tablet. Electronic Arts isn’t picky about where it sells its mobile wares, just that they’re as broadly available as possible. Peter Moore, who’s been rumored to be taking over John Riccitiello’s spot with the company as CEO, has talked at length about EA’s cross-platform gaming ambitions. “We think that the future of gaming is cross-platform play, always having something with that’s a gaming device, but everything you do connects.”
Is there a grand plan beneath EA’s support of Windows Phone 8? Xbox 720/Durango, Windows Phone 8, and the Windows 8 operating system are expected to unify Microsoft’s gaming business across three platforms. Even basic Windows games like Minesweeper will take on the Xbox brand when Windows 8 ships. EA’s cross-platform plans certainly tie-in with Microsoft’s, so naturally the two would want to work together even on the mobile platform.
EA also needs a way to grow mobile revenue. Mobile revenues for the April to June quarter totaled just $69 million, a drop of more than 20 percent from the previous quarter but a 21 percent rise over the same period in 2011. Windows Phone 8 might not represent a massive influx of new customers, but ubiquity is EA’s goal.
The next major release of Windows is set to arrive on October 26, roughly three years after Windows 7 saw the light of day, and yet chatter about what’s coming next is already starting to emerge. According to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft is already working on an update code-named "Blue," which is due to land sometime next year, perhaps during the summer.
Foley believes this will be an interim update rather than a full fledged Windows 9 release. However, she is unsure if it will simply include a rollup of fixes and updates in the form of a Service Pack, which Microsoft typically releases a year or so after a new OS launch, or a ‘feature pack’ containing a rollup of fixes plus some new features. Either way apparently Microsoft is making some changes to its release cycle.
The word seems to be, whichever it is, that Microsoft is moving away from the big-bang Windows release schedule to which it typically has adhered, and is now attempting to move toward something more like what Apple does, with point releases. I'll be curious if Blue eventually gets a version number, like Windows 8.1 or 8.5 or something.
In other words, Microsoft may decide to move away from the 3 year cycle of "big" Windows releases, in favor of smaller, more frequent and cheaper updates containing fixes as well as new features. This has been Apple’s approach over the last decade, in which they’ve rolled out eight major point releases since the launch of OS X 10.0, charging as little as $20 for the latest Mountain Lion release.
Foley also offers a little tidbit for codename buffs, noting that this isn't the first time Microsoft has used the Blue codename, as both the Azure folks and the MSN team have used it before.
Capcom takes a risk in Cologne and announces a brand new IP for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Remember Me will be out in 2013.
There are nowhere near enough spy ladies that can do flips in the rain. Look around your video games and JJ Abrams/Joss Whedon-made television programs, and you’ll agree: If there is one pop-culture figure who doesn’t get enough air time, it’s the spy lady that does flip kicks. Good thing Capcom is publishing Dontnod’s Remember Me, a science fiction spy game for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC due out next spring. How we will survive until then on our current meager diet of flip-kicking espionage chicks, I’m not sure, but we’ll make do.
Yes, I know, Capcom’s own library of games is chock full of spy ladies with impressive kicking skills. Ada Wong, Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield, and Sheva Alomar are just a few, and they’re just from the Resident Evil series.
Remember Me star Nilin recalls one of Capcom’s deeper cuts though, namely P.N. 03 lead Vanessa Z. Schneider. Based on footage Capcom showed of the game in action, Nilin is just as acrobatic Vanessa, but she prefers brawling in futuristic Paris rather than shooting. They do, however, have the same taste in clothing.
Remember Me is more an acquisition than a new Capcom game. The Japanese publisher behind Street Fighter and DmC: Devil May Cry announced it would publish the game next year during the opening day of the Gamescom Conference. That show actually played host to Dontnod’s game in 2011 though. Then it was called Adrift, but no publisher had signed on to distribute the game.
Dontnod’s got an intriguing staff. Art director Aleksi Briclot’s background is mostly in drawing comic books adaptations of video games, like the comics of Hellgate: London and Alone in the Dark 4. Creative director Jean-Maxime Moris formerly worked as business associate at Ubisoft, working on the Prince of Persia series amongst others. Narrative director Alain Damasio meanwhile has a background in science fiction novels most popular in France.
Familiar trappings or no, it’s encouraging to see Capcom take an interest in an original property so close to the end of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3’s lifespan. Hopefully the publisher will help in the next year of production though. Capcom’s picked up a number of original properties developed by western developers in the past half decade—Airtight Games’ Dark Void, Bionic Games’ Spyborgs—and each time these games have felt rushed to market and lacking in essential polish. Don’t let the same happen to Remember Me, Capcom.
Microsoft's feeling a little down if the latest Windows code-name rumour is true – we could be talking about Blue instead of Windows 9.
In fact, it may not even refer to Windows 9: Microsoft expert Mary-Jo Foley reckons that the company is moving away from major OS updates and instead focusing on smaller, more regular improvements.
So Blue could turn out to be Windows 8.5 or something similar and Foley's contacts tell her that it will land in the summer of 2013.
Even if Microsoft has only vaguely considered Blue as a codename, it's quite an interesting move for a company known for its blue screen of death.
Dabadee dabada
In other Microsoft naming news, the Windows Phone and Windows 8-friendly Metro UI looks set to be known henceforth as Modern.
That's if you can believe what you read on a registration page for Windows 8 DevCamp, where it's referred to thusly.
Microsoft had to ditch Metro after a German firm that owns the Metro trademark threatened Microsoft with legal action.
It's not the best name we ever heard, but it's certainly a preferable alternative to the other options, which include "Windows 8-style UI", "New User Interface", "Windows 8 design" and "Windows 8 application".
Sprint has announced that you can get a free ZTE Optik tablet with any smartphone purchase until September 30.
Sprint has begun offering a free tablet to everyone who buys a smartphone with a two-year contract. This may seem like a good deal, but like the free printers PC makers used to offer, it comes with a pricey catch. No, you won’t have to buy expensive ink for this tablet, but you will have to pay a hefty monthly fee. The tablet in question is the ZTE Optik, a 7-inch Android device, and to get it, you also have to sign up to a two-year contract for the tablet as well, which will cost you an additional $35 a month.
Here’s a rundown of the ZTE Optik’s specs. This is an Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) device, which means it’s two updates behind the current version of Android. It sports a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, has a 1.25GHz dual-core processor, 16GB of internal memory, and 1GB of RAM. It also has a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing webcam. It is an entry-level tablet.
The deal is available with any smartphone, from the Samsung Galaxy S3 to the iPhone 4S. If you’re with Sprint and preparing to upgrade, then now is probably a good time. Anyone tempted by the deal has until September 30 to take advantage. Sprint is also offering a “buy one, get one free” deal on the Samsung Galaxy S2, which will run you about $100.
The 7-inch tablet space looks to be heating up with rumors of an iPad mini and a new Kindle Fire to join the ranks of the Nexus 7 and the newly discounted Nook. This could be an attempt to shift some old, soon to be forgotten, inventory off the shelves at Sprint. The fact you have to sign up to a separate two-year contract for the tablet definitely takes the shine off, we have to say.
We highly recommend you try out the ZTE Optik for yourself before committing to a two-year contract. We don’t know if any tablet will be worth committing to for two years, especially a ZTE Optik.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the world's first phone to run Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich and comes with a plethora of top end tech, including a huge screen and now Android 4.1 too.
We're currently updating our review to reflect the improved functionality that Android Jelly Bean brings, but we've spent some time on video going over the key areas.
From Project Butter to improve smoothness of the UI to the increased power of the lockscreen, there's no doubt the new version of the OS is a step forward... so check out the way it looks in our quick walkthrough before we bring you our overhauled review.
There are some gadgets in geek-world that are announced and we just could not wait to touch. Nokia's N95, the original iPhone, the T-Mobile G1 and Palm's first Pre. And the Galaxy Nexus fits firmly in that category.
The big selling point here is not so much the handset – it's what powers the Galaxy Nexus. Google has redrawn its Android OS in probably the biggest overhaul since it launched exactly three years ago.
Ice Cream Sandwich fuses together last year's Gingerbread OS for phones and Honeycomb for tablets and gives us a whole new, futuristic Android device to get to grips with.
On top of that, the specs include a fantastic Super AMOLED HD screen, Dual-Core 1.2GHz processor, HSDPA, 5MP camera and NFC support, to name a few.
The Nexus itself is fairly big. With dimensions of 135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9mm, it's marginally bigger than Samsung's other flagship handset, the Galaxy S2. It's also a little bit heavier at 135g compared to the latter's 116g. Not that it feels larger although you can tell you are not using an iPhone 4S.
The front is probably as minimalist as you can get. All black with no buttons at all (we'll explain more in the interface section about that.)
In fact, all you have on the front is the screen, front facing camera and the brightness sensor plus a cheeky little light beneath the screen that you don't even know exists until you get an email and it begins to pulsate.
The sides are fairly unremarkable with power/standby on the right, volume on the left along with three charging pins (for a dock accessory), nothing up top and the bottom housing the charge/sync socket and headphone jack.
The whole handset has a curved shape we last encountered on the Galaxy S but it's not too severe.
The rear takes its design cues from the S2 with a snap on cover that feels slightly coarse to give a good grip. It has both Google and Samsung branding on.
You won't find an SD slot on the outside. Or indeed, the inside. Ridiculously, this – the flagship Google handset which is so set up as a media device – has been crippled by having NO expandable memory. Words fail us. And they may fail you when you realise that 16GB internal storage is your lot.
But the screen, when lit up, looks fantastic. Its 4.65-inches with a resolution of 720 x 1280, giving a ppi of 316. It really is super sharp. We would have expected nothing less with Samsung's mobile displays among the best out there but it's cracking for internet and video.
There is no doubt about it – this is a premium handset and is up there with the iPhone 4S and Nokia Lumia 800 in terms of marketing position.
If you want one, there's good news: the price has dropped to just £31 per month on contract and £430 SIM free.
It's still more expensive on a monthly deal than a Galaxy S3, which is ridiculous, but hey, we don't set the prices.
LG is planning to bring the Optimus Vu to the United States and Verizon may be its first home.
The era of massive phones is just beginning. Following the success of the Galaxy Note in the US, LG is planning to launch the Optimus Vu here in North America — it’s entry into the 5-inch smartphone market. In a translated press release, LG claims that Vu sales have surpassed 500,000 in Korea and that the phone will come to the United States in the third quarter (or next couple months) of 2012. The phone will also have 4G LTE connectivity and run Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).
No exact release date or carrier partners are yet known, but leaked images in recent weeks point toward a Verizon launch. It’s possible that the Vu will come to more than just Verizon, but probably not at first. US wireless carriers tend to prefer exclusive contracts on phones for at least a few months. It’s likely that the Vu may be renamed, perhaps as a Verizon ‘Droid,’ and feature Verizon coloring and other branding highlights.
The Optimus Vu, like the Galaxy Note, has been dubbed a ‘phablet,’ or phone + tablet, by the press because the device has a 5-inch screen that is somewhere between the average size of a smartphone and the smaller 7-inch tablets on the market today, like the Nexus 7. The Vu is unique, however, because it has a 3:4 aspect ratio instead of the the 16:9 widescreen ratio that is on most phones. This makes the screen shorter and fatter to hold in your hand.
More so than the Galaxy Note, in our hands-on time with the Optimus Vu, we found it to be too wide to hold comfortably. It also comes with a stylus, but the phone itself doesn’t have a slot to store it, so you’ll have to be careful not to lose it. That said, it does have processing power and storage that are on par with top-of-the-line phones.
Nokia's Windows Phones are moving, unlike the rest
Microsoft's Windows Phone platform has an equal amount of market share as Samsung's Bada OS.
According to Gartner's latest figures, Windows Phone and Bada hold 2.7 per cent of the global mobile device market each.
That's far less than RIM's 5.2 per cent share, although the BlackBerry maker has dropped 6.5 per cent while Bada is up 1.9 per cent and Windows Phone is up 1.6 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2011.
Doing the math
Microsoft's Windows Phone has sold just over 4.087 million handsets during Q2 2012: that's a little under what Microsoft reckoned it had shipped in the quarter (5.1 million).
Nokia reported that it had shipped 4 million Lumia handsets in the same quarter – shipping and physically selling handsets aren't quite the same but if you crunch the numbers then it's clear that Nokia's the only manufacturer shifting any significant numbers of Windows Phone handsets.
With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft went from being a non-entity in the world of modern smartphones to becoming an important player. The old Windows Mobile operating systems had their fans, but they weren't as consumer-friendly as the iPhone and Android devices.
WP7 changed all that, bringing integration with Facebook, a clear, touch-friendly user interface, slick multimedia functionality and Xbox Live games and connectivity.
Of course, Microsoft didn't forget its roots either. There's email and Exchange support, and it's the only mobile OS with official Microsoft Office apps.
And now every phone should be running Windows Phone 7.5 (or Mango to its friends) with a raft of improvements including multi-tasking, improved efficiency and better live tiles than ever before.
But already Microsoft is looking to the upcoming Windows Phone 8, which brings with it more customization for its live tiles, dual core processor support, proper multi-tasking and more.
Of course the competition hasn't stood still either. Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) has launched with the Google Nexus 7 and has begun rolling out to other devices. Android is already a formidable operating system and Jelly Bean makes it even better by including a host of tweaks and improvements which finally makes Android as smooth to operate as iOS.
Speaking of iOS, Apple is preparing to launch iOS 6 which is packed full of new features. These include improvements to Siri, smart reminders, Facebook integration, a new version of Safari and plenty more besides.
Not to be left out, RIM is also building a new version of its OS: BlackBerry 10 (or BB10). It's a huge overhaul that requires a re-write of all the existing apps and features a whole new interface. Given the problems RIM has faced in recent times it's got a lot riding on this- so expect them to pull out all the stops.
The competition is tougher than ever and that can only be a good thing for consumers as the smart phone overlords go all out to be on top.
How Windows Phone 8 will stack up remains to be seen, but in the meantime here's the very best of the current crop of Windows Phone handsets – although it's important to note these will not be upgraded to WP8, rather being given a fancy homescreen update to Windows Phone 7.8.
7. Nokia Lumia 610
Despite being at the bottom end of the Lumia range, the Nokia Lumia 610 still has a lot going for it. With a solid build quality, loads of social networking options, a long lasting battery - and of course a low price tag - it's certainly a worthy entry-level smartphone.
That said, it's a budget offering right down to its operating system: the stripped down Windows Phone Tango. It's only got 256MB of RAM, which has the knock-on effect of meaning that certain apps are incompatible.
It also only has 8GB of storage (with no option for expansion), and a poor video camera. What's even more problematic is that it's actually possible to get its big brother, the Nokia Lumia 710, for around the same price, which makes this a tough sell.
So why include it in the list at all? Well, Nokia Lumia 710 not withstanding this is still a good handset for the money. It's a price drop away from being the definitive entry level Windows Phone.
Despite being a relatively budget handset, the HTC Radar has a fantastic build quality, with a metal body that makes it look and feel much more expensive than it is.
Under the hood it's not too shabby either. The touch screen keyboard is one of the most precise around, battery life is good and it sports a solid 5MP camera.
Rounding out the package, the HTC Radar runs Windows Phone 7.5, which means that it's almost a given that contact integration is top flight.
But this isn't a top end handset, and that's reflected in the ever so slightly small 3.8 inch screen. HTC has also committed what almost seems like self sabotage by making it impossible to remove the battery and as standard with Windows Phone handsets there's no micro SD card slot.
The latter omission meaning that you're limited to a mere 6.54GB of useable storage. Still, for the price it's a solid little phone.
The ZTE Tania is interesting in that it bucks the trend of low cost equalling small screen by packing a large 4.3-inch screen into its fairly cheap shell.
That screen size combined with the mobile version of Microsoft Office makes this an attractive prospect for business users with most Windows Phone handsets having screens that are too small to comfortably edit on.
Even many comparatively high-spec phones such as the Nokia Lumia 800 find their screens dwarfed by the one on this.
While the ZTE Tania won't replace a tablet or laptop, the screen is big enough to make it a viable option for working on. Decent battery life means it also won't die on you while you're trying to work on the train.
Of course some corners have been cut to still achieve a low price. The screen while large isn't particularly great and can be hard to see in bright sunlight.
There's also only a paltry 4GB of storage, which for media or app hungry users won't go far at all.
Thanks to the bizarre pricing of the Nokia Lumia 610, this is currently the go-to handset for budget conscious Windows Phone buyers. Being able to remove the battery is always nice, while a tough 3.7-inch gorilla glass screen and 1.4GHz processor mark this out as a solid mid-range phone.
It does lack in some areas though. Storage is limited to 8GB and the screen is a downgrade from the one in the Nokia Lumia 800 (ClearBlack TFT rather than ClearBlack AMOLED).
It also looks and feels quite cheap and it's a good thing the battery is swappable as it's unlikely to last more than a day between charges.
There's nothing game changing here, but it's a mid-range phone at an entry level price, making it great value for money.
As if the name didn't already give it away, the HTC Titan is big. With a 4.7-inch display it stands tall as the biggest-screened Windows Phone handset available.
But its name is more than a statement of size; it's a statement of power, as this is also HTC's flagship Windows Phone. The Super LCD screen isn't just big, it's also vivid and vibrant.
The 8MP camera performs well and quickly for decent snaps, the build quality is good and happily the battery has a fair bit of juice in it too.
Storage of course isn't expandable but you do get a respectable 16GB to play with. Limitations with Windows Phone itself hold this handset back to some extent (lack of customization options, flaky multi-tasking etc).
But really the only complaints we have in comparison to other Windows Phone handsets is that it's just not quite as good as the other larger-screened player, the Nokia Lumia 900, and that some of the budget handsets listed here are arguably better value for money.
Another handset with a fairly small screen (3.7 inches), the Nokia Lumia 800 still does plenty to mark itself out as a real contender.
With 16GB of storage, a good 8MP camera, a physical design that's both attractive and comfortable to hold and a 1.4GHz processor it's certainly got a lot going for it. Screen size aside it ticks a lot of the same boxes as the HTC Titan.
But being smaller has actually allowed the AMOLED screen to have a greater pixel density than on the Titan, making it slightly sharper.
Its battery life is slightly disappointing, but otherwise much like the Titan most of its problems stem from Windows Phone 7.5- not from the handset itself. With similar specs to others in this list, the Nokia Lumia 800's beautiful build gives it the edge.
Here it is, the fourth Lumia handset to make the list and is it any surprise it's our number one?
The Nokia Lumia 900 is not just Nokia's flagship handset but the standard bearer for Windows Phone as a whole. Its 1.4GHz processor and 8MP camera are par for the course on a top end Windows Phone handset, as is its disappointingly limited 16GB of storage.
But it really is a thing of beauty and its stunning polycarbonate frame is as nice to hold as it is to look at.
Its screen is superb as well- a 4.3-inch AMOLED display with ClearBlack technology making it viewable outdoors at any angle, while gorilla glass ensures it stays protected.
It might not quite match the iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy S3, but it's not far behind and if you've been enticed by Windows Phone then this is as good as it gets, at least until Windows Phone 8 launches.
Although widely expected, there was no iPhone 5 in 2011 after all, though the company did announce the iPhone 4S.
So we'll surely see a total revision of the iPhone during 2012. We've gathered together all the latest rumours on the new iPhone 5 to give us a reasonable picture of what Apple's latest handset might be like.
Given the pattern of Apple's iPhone launches, we're expecting the new iPhone 5 release date to be mid to late 2012.
At Apple's WWDC 2012 event in early June we learnt a lot more about iOS 6, but there was no hardware (well, apart from new Macs). Check out the launch news as well as iOS 6: everything you need to know.
It seems that Foxconn will again be manufacturing the handset. It'll put the Samsung Galaxy S3 "to shame" according to the CEO of Foxconn, Terry Gou - though he didn't say how.
However, a "Taiwan-based supply chain source" told DigiTimes in early May that Chinese firm Pegatron Technology has the iPhone 5 order ahead of a scheduled September launch.
According to the report Pegatron has also received orders for a 10-inch iPad, which is due to launch at the end of this year - which sounds equally spurious.
And that seems to be 'backed up' by a report from App4phone.fr that the iPhone 5 release date will be September 21... although let's be honest, a Chinese accessory maker with no name to the source being quoted by a previously unknown site when it comes to Apple launches isn't the most reliable of sources.
Update: The latest rumour in the huge mill of new iPhone 5 release dates comes from another unknown source (*sigh*) - which claims we'll see Apple take to the stage on September 12 to show off the next handset, alongside the iPad Mini.
Update:Further suggestions that September 12 will be the iPhone 5 launch date have been made, this time via sources for Reuters and AllThingsD.
Update: Networks could be preparing themselves for the arrival of the iPhone 5, as the 32GB model cropped up in a drop down menu in O2's online accessory store - although the network was quick to stay it had nothing to do with the next iPhone and was purely "human error", hmmm...
Update: Adding more fuel to the September 12 iPhone 5 release date fire is the rumour which says pre-orders for the new iPhone will start on the same date - something we've seen Apple do with other products - with stock expect to ship on September 21.
Update:According to reports, US network AT&T has cleared its schedule in anticipation of the iPhone 5 release date falling in September.
iPhone 5 name
We reckon iPhone 5 is still the favourite for the name of the new iPhone, but it could follow the new iPad and end up being called, simply, the new iPhone. We really hope not. One thing is for sure, Apple has already filed a complaint over the ownership of the iPhone5.com URL.
Update: Apparently Apple is testing two versions of the next iPhone, which are known as "iPhone5,1" and "iPhone5,2" - so could handset number six for Apple actually be called number five?
iPhone 5 form factor
Unlike the iPhone 4S, the new iPhone will be a completely new design from what has gone before, so that means an entirely new casing as we saw with the iPhone 3G and, later, the iPhone 4.
Interestingly, someone who claimed to have seen a larger iPhone 5 prototype said in November 2011 that Steve Jobs canned the new size and opted for the iPhone 4S. According to Business Insider, it was feared that a new size would create a two-tier iPhone ecosystem.
Beatweek also claimed in November 2011 that the 5-inch was scrapped "because Apple wouldn't be able to do it properly" this year. However, the Daily Mail (make of that what you will) then suggested that a four-inch version was likely and that Sony has already shipped top secret demo screens to Apple.
A new iPhone 5 backplate leaked in early May - they were acquired by 9to5 Mac, but look like the combination of a lot of the other rumours we've heard about the shape and size of the new handset. These feature bigger speaker grills as well as a four inch screen and a two-tone back with brushed aluminum .
And there's a picture of the front been leaked too, with a lovely side-by-side comparison with the iPhone 4S for good measure, courtesy of KitGuru:
The two-tone back was also spotted in a video from eTrade Supply, which again showed the relocation of the headphone jack as well as a smaller connector and redesigned speaker grills.
A detailed video render of all the iPhone 5 rumoured/leaked images was also uploaded to YouTube in early June.
Update: Rumours surrounding that famous Apple 30-pin connector on the base of the iPhone have flared up again, with Reuters reporting that the dock connector is getting smaller to make room for a 3.5mm headphone jack on the base of the new iPhone 5.
Update: We've now seen a Chinese site claim to have a fully assembled iPhone 5 chassis - bringing together all the design aspects mentioned in previous leaks, including a smaller dock, relocated headphone jack, centralised front facing camera and two-tone back.
Update: More dock connector rumours, this time claiming Apple will opt for an even smaller 8-pin option over the current 30-pin port or rumoured 19-pin version.
Update:According to a video which claims to show off the front panel of the new iPhone, the handset will be the same width as the iPhone 4S, but will be taller and thinner.
Update: Apparently the new SIM trays for the iPhone 5 have leaked online, showing that they will be smaller and the ones found in the iPhone 4/4S - pointing towards the use of nano-SIMs in the new iPhone.
Update: The smaller dock connector rumour is refusing to die, and now we've been told that the new iPhone won't feature a 19-, 16- or 8-pin port, but instead a 9-pin offering will appear on the base of the device.
Based on the roadmap of mobile chip design specialist ARM (of which Apple is a licensee), we'll see a quad-core processor debut in the new iPhone 5 - probably called the Apple A6. We've seen other quad core handsets debut in 2012, so it's not too much of a stretch to say that the new iPhone 5 will be the same.
We had expected some kind of help in terms of predicting the iPhone 5 CPU from the launch of the new iPad, but the announcement of a slightly tweaked A5X processor really didn't help things there.
According to a tip to 9to5Mac, the CPU will be the S5L8950X. Again this could be a derivative of the A5, but as 9to5Mac points out, Apple is probably working on a low-power 32nm version of the processor. As we could well have guessed, that processor will be manufactured by Samsung but designed by Apple itself.
The same report suggests 1GB of RAM, which seems right to us.
In terms of other specs aside from the screen (more on that below), rumours are persisting that the new iPhone 5 may have a new dock connector. The leaked 9to5Mac iPhone 5 backplate has this smaller dock connector.
[Image credit: 9to5Mac]
TechCrunch reported in June that the sixth generation of iPhone will come with a 19-pin connector on its base, with Apple ditching the iconic 30-pin port which has graced previous iPhones, iPads and iPods.
Well, it had to happen sometime didn't it?
Update: According to a report from the Financial Times, mobile operators are stockpiling nanoSIMs, as they expect the iPhone 5 to support the latest, and smallest, SIM technology.
Update: Images of a range of internal gubbins, all claiming to be parts of the iPhone 5, have made their way onto the internet - revealing more about Apple's sixth generation handset.
After the new iPad's launch brought 4G to an Apple device, it's widely expected that 4G will come to iPhone 5. And with many 4G handsets already announced in the US, it can't be long before the iPhone supports 4G technologies - even if we won't even have a UK spectrum auction until late this year or maybe early next.
Because of the 4G fuss over the new iPad in the UK, we'd expect this to be played down in any UK handset - or the UK might get a different version entirely of course.
Many sites have reported that Steve Jobs was working hard on the iPhone 5 project, which will apparently be a "radical redesign". We shall see... but the fact the iPhone 4S was so similar to the iPhone 4 suggests that Steve was working on something pretty special before
The Wall Street Journal has previously reported that: "Apple is also developing a new iPhone model, said people briefed on the phone. One person familiar said the fifth-generation iPhone would be a different form factor than those that are currently available… it was unclear how soon that version would be available to Verizon or other carriers."
According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with Apple's plans, Jobs "had worked closely on the redesigned phone before his death".
Various sources claim the iPhone 5 will feature a larger, 4-inch screen. Digitimes quotes the source as saying that Apple is expanding the screen size "to support the tablet PC market as the vendor only has a 9.7-inch iPad in the market."
On 23 May 2011, we reported on rumours that the iPhone 5 could feature a curved glass screen. These rumours also came from Digitimes, which said that Apple has purchased between 200 and 300 special glass cutting machines because they're too costly for the manufacturers to invest in.
In March 2012, new reports suggested that the new iPhone 5 would come sporting a larger 4.6-inch retina display, while April rumours even suggested the next iPhone will use new touch technology.
Those of you who are keen Apple watchers will, however, know that he is wrong - the currently-available 3GS does not have the same resolution as the iPhone 4 and 4S.
Whatever, it seems Sony is involved with the display and it has been making the screen since February, ramping up production from May. A larger screen will also be welcomed by developers, as Mobilebloom points out.
Update:The Wall Street Journal reports that the iPhone 5 will use new in-cell technology to produce a thinner, lighter screen - which looks set to be 4-inches in size.
Update: Sharp has confirmed it will start shipping displays for the next-gen iPhone in August - although it didn't reveal what size, blast.
Update: Apparently the front panel of the new iPhone has made its way online in the form of a video, and reveals that the iPhone 5 will indeed sport a larger screen, 4.06-inches in size and with a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Update: After some digging around in the beta version of iOS 6 a scalable option to increase the OS to fit a 640x1136 resolution version has added more fuel to the larger screen fire.
However, with the tech being inside the Google Nexus S and Samsung Galaxy Nexus, as well as a host of other top smartphones, the time for NFC may finally be here.
On 24 June 2011 it was reported that the Google Wallet mobile payment platform could feature on the new iPhone. Eric Schmidt admitted that Google is looking to port the software to other manufacturers.
The developer in question has not been named, but is working on a dedicated iOS app which includes NFC reading for mobile transactions. When questioned how confident he was on the information he had received his reply was "Enough to bet the app development on".
Sony makes the camera for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Speaking at a live Wall Street Journal event, Sony's Sir Howard Stringer was talking about the company's camera image sensor facility in Sendai, a town that was recently ravaged by the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
According to 9to5Mac, he said something along the lines of, "Our best sensor technology is built in one of the [tsunami] affected factories. Those go to Apple for their iPhones… or iPads. Isn't that something? They buy our best sensors from us."
Sources have also suggested the new iPhone could have an 8MP camera. Indeed, Sony announced in January 2012 that it had developed new back-illuminated stacked CMOS image sensors which are smaller in size. It's also been reported that the new iPhone will have an HD front-facing camera as well.
An interesting titbit via MirrorlessRumors is around a removable iPhone back panel that would include the camera lens has been spotted in a patent document. It seems to show that the device would work either by swapping the panel, or rotating the panel to change lenses.
iPhone 5 price
If the iPhone 5 is an evolutionary step like the move from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S then we'd expect the price to stay more or less the same, although in the UK higher VAT rates may well mean a higher price tag.
It's pretty much nailed on that the new iPhone will cost around £500 for a 16GB / 32GB model (depending on the capacity Apple whacks in there) and unless the iPhone 5 comes with some truly next generation technology that pricing model should hold firm.
Apple has added a further two years onto its exclusivity deal for the Liquidmetal technology, which also includes future updates to the tech.
Liquidmetal is a metal alloy which is super strong and boasts a range of unique properties, apparently making it perfect for consumer products.
Apple has only used the technology once so far, and that was for the small SIM card tray ejector tool for the iPhone 3G. There are rumblings that iPhone 5 could sport a Liquidmetal chassis.
iPhone 5 review
TechRadar is renowned for its detailed phone reviews where we look at every aspect of a handset, and we'll be bringing you a full, in-depth iPhone 5 review when we get our hands on one.
As for the name, well it looks like it will be called iPhone 5. Apple has certainly been trying to protect the name iPhone 5 - and has even launched a claim over the iPhone5.com domain name.
