TECHNOLOGY

:: Gulam Zilani ::

HTC Desire HD gets Gingerbread
Good news for HTC Desire HD owners as the final version of Gingerbread is now available.  Most users may have already downloaded previously leaked version of the operating system, but as the final and official version is available you may want to get your hands on that instead.
If youíre worried about that your device is rooted and that you may loose it – well rest assured as you can easily regain this by installing Gingerbreak.  But before you proceed to install this, please take and make sure you back up ALL your data.  You’ll be amazed how many people forget the basics of this advice.

Optimus Black hits the UK
The title of this article may be something from the Transformers movie, or may even be seen like a movie review.In fact the title of this article is in true reference to LG’s Android handset – Optimus Black.  The Korean manufacturers may have come out with the such a name after a devout fan who had watched the movie one too many times, and given that the iconic symbol for Android is a robot, and that the lead robot in Transformers is Optimus Prime – why not associate the two and call it the Optimus.  And Black to associate with the device colour.  So begins the name Optimus Black.  But enough of the marketing strategy used here to sell the device.According to the Korean technology giants the device is set to be launched in the UK at the end of May.  T-Mobile had already signed up to stock the device upon launch and should be available from £35 month contract from the suppliers. No news if Orange or other networks have agreed to stock up the device, but will know surely closer to the date.The Optimus Black may not be anything like its older brother the Optimus 2x, but is fast enough to run those wide range of applications available through the Android Market.  The Optimus Black is packed with a 1 GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 5MP camera, 2MP front facing camera, and DLNA support and with other standards that we all have come to expect of Android based handsets.  The only disappointing thing from this handset is that it comes with Android 2.2 (Froyo) pre-installed rather than have 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) pre-installed given that the operating system is now widely available for other devices.  So owners of the device will have to wait for the launch of Gingerbread operating system for this handset when the Korean manufacturers are ready, and then wait for network providers to apply its usual bloat-ware that we all have to come to loathe before itís truly available for the owner to download and install.  But if youíre rich enough to simply purchase the handset from stock, then you will for sure be getting the update sooner than later.
That said LG also plans to launch a White, Pink, Silver and Brown version of the handset as well – which should be available around mid-summer.

Bold 9900 coming Vodafone
Good news to Vodafone subscribers, those who are Blackberry fans and upgrading this summer, and to those who are even defecting from O2 to Vodafone.  I’ll get on to that matter shortly. But first lets congratulate Vodafone for jumping in and cashing in (well will be) on the news of providing Blackberry services cheaper than their competitor O2 and will be selling the next generation Blackberry product.Sources from within Vodafone have said that the company intends to stock up on the device that not only is popular for business users and now widely popular with consumers thanks to its excellent Blackberry Messenger and Email services.O2 have recently been under the microscope due to its less than impressive services.  Users are now continually finding themselves without data coverage and huge delays when sending out BBM messages.  One known faulty “hot spot” is on the island where users have become accustomed to poor data services.Not only that, they have also increased their prices by £6 for the same level of service.  While there competitors like Vodafone and T-Mobile have kept there pricing plan affordable and reasonable for consumers and business users a like.I for one am switching and saving money.

BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930
Bank Holiday Monday was quite a special one for Blackberry users and abusers as Blackberry announced the launch of their newest device in the Blackberry Bold series.  The Bold 9900 and Bold 9930 (for US only).
The specifications are as follows:
1.2ghz processor768 MB RAM2.8inch touchscreenFull QWERTY keyboard8GB on-board memoryMicroSD slot supporting up to 32 GB cards5 Mega Pixel camera with 720p HD recordingBlackberry OS 7 (previously known as 6.1)NFC (Near Field Communication)Optical TrackpadOrientation Sensor (Accelerometer)Digital Compass (Magnetometer)Proximity Sensoruilt-in GPS / aGPSDual-Band Wi-FiÆ ñ 802.11 b/g/n at 2.4 GHz and 802.11 a/n at 5 GHzBluetoothÆ 2.1+EDR support Wireless Network support: Tri-Band HSPA+, Quad-Band GSM/EDGE1230 mAh removable, rechargeable batteryFull version of Docs To Go (Premium) with PDF ViewerModel: 9900Height 115 mmWidth 66 mmDepth 10.5 mmWeight 130 g
The release date for this device is set for this summer, around June or July as announced by Research in Motion.  One of the first carriers would be T-Mobile who was so far the initial carriers to announce their decision to sell the product.This is the first device from Research in Motion that supports the newly available 4G network in the US.  Granted we donít have this feature in the UK or in Europe but when this is available users should be able to browse at lightning speeds.  The device is certainly set to set newer standards in the Blackberry line up given that the NFC and higher processors are now available than the standard 624Mhz processors that were standardly built in to nearly all Blackberry devices.  So that is certainly excellent news for users who truly like to multitask and switch between applications.  And letís face it – although this was still possible in the previous versions, but did slow down the device due to the amount of memory on the devices.  Letís face it 128 and 256MB can only go so far.Needless to say when you compare your previous Blackberry devices – even those ones most recently launched and this new version, you can see a stark difference in what youíre bound to experience.

Google I/O Google I/OThis week marks the beginning of Google’s I/O (Input/Output) keynote in San Francisco, California.During this keynote Google have announced a number of upcoming features, improvementsí, developments for their Android platform.  And believe me there is quite a bit of developments and improvements that is to come from Google.Firstly, Google have announced Android@Home framework, whereby an Android device to control devices and appliances at a userís home. Android @ Home is completely open and developing with the framework requires no fees and no registration.Secondly, Google have announced Android Open Accessory; which allows developers to create accessories that can take advantage of the Android software. Again no approval process or fees required, and they will provide hardware and software support the accessory design kit.Thirdly, Google have announced Music (Beta) Services, which will be cloud based and in direct competition with Amazon Cloud drive, who only supports 1,000 tracks.  Google have said they intend to support up to 20,000 tracks.  That alone, and the desire to keep things in unification and to keep ‘housed’ with one service supplier is enough to tempt more users to keep things with Google.Fourthly, Google have introduced Google Movies for Android smartphones and tablets, rentals will begin from $1.99 downloadable from the Android Market store and is thereís a 30-day rental period and youíll have 24 hours to complete watching your movie once youíve started playing it.  The service is already available for Motorola Xoom owners and should be should be available to the rest of Froyo based devices in the coming weeks.Fifthly, Android has announced major Android updates to come in the fourth quarter of 2011. The next update to Android has been codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich which will combine handset and tablets units into a joint Operating System and support all devices.  A bold statement by Google.  They have already dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich as the One OS everywhere, and have the ability to adapt to the form factor on which it is running on.  This will be quite the cutting edge technology when this is launched.Sixthly, Google have announced the major update to Honeycomb Operating System to include new features such as resizable screen widgets, new and updated support for input devices, more fluid transitionís and of course Google TV support.In number seven, Google will finally be launched Google Chrome OS through launch partner Samsung. For those who havenít been keeping tabs on Google Chrome OS, Chrome OS is based around a lightweight Linux and is cloud based system with no user files stored on the device itself.  But we are sure this will change in the future to include features such as offline access – just as they had eventually made available to Gmail users.Lastly, Google also announced that they have activated over 100million devices worldwide across 36 OEM’s and 215 carriers, with 450,000 developers over 200, 000 applications, which have been downloaded and installed 4.5 billion times.