MobileSyrup.com » John Connors

Apple holding iPhone 4 press conference Friday

John Connors — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:33:52 +0000

Apple is holding a press conference that is starting at 10:00am (PST) Friday… the only details that have surfaced is that it has to do something with the iPhone 4. Early guesses are that they’ll be addressing the antenna issues.

What do you think will happen?

Via: Engadget

XM app for Android “will be available later this summer”

John Connors — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:39:35 +0000

XM Canada recently released an app for called XM online+ for the iPhone and BlackBerry and iPhone. This app gives you access to the all the music, talk, sports and entertainment shows on XM and will cost $7.99 per month or $2.99 a month when bundled it with a XM Canada subscription. They do have a 14 day trial available before you put your money down.

Today they announced an iPad app but more importantly for those who want to give this a go with your Android device, XM states that “an application for Android will be available later this summer”.

Check it here at XM

Opera Mini 5.1 for Android officially released

John Connors — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:45:13 +0000

Opera has officially released Opera Mini 5.1 for Android smartphones. They stated in a press release that it’s lightning fast and highly suggest you make it your default mobile browser. Some of the new features with this update are that it brings better kinetic scrolling, auto-saves your browsing sessions but unfortunately does not support Flash.

You can download this via the Android Market.
(On another note, Opera Mini is now used by over 61 million users worldwide)

Via: Opera

“Refreshed” iPhones arrive at Bell

John Connors — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:35:25 +0000

It’s been a long time since carriers started to offer refurbished/refreshed iPhones. Bell has now jumped on the bus and started to get rid off all inventory possible by throwing up their “refreshed” iPhone 3G and 3GS models. The prices range from $9.95 to $99.95 and Bell states that “Each phone carries a 90-day warranty from your date of purchase… If you are not satisfied with the phone, you can return it within 30 days of your purchase.”

Or you can just hold out for the new iPhone 4. (Just make sure you hold it in your right hand).
More here at Bell

Android Market to hit 100,000 app milestone this month

John Connors — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:04:36 +0000

There’s no doubt that Google’s Android platform is gaining popularity. In Canada we have several devices that run their OS. To name a few we’ve got the HTC Hero, Legend, LG Eve, Samsung Galaxy, Acer Liquid E, Motorola Milestone, Quench and Dext… and more coming such as the HTC Desire and Galaxy Vibrant.

When it comes to the Android Market, it was only a few weeks ago that Google’s Andy Rubin said they have over 65,000 available for download. It looks like this month the combined number of paid and free apps will cross over the 100,000 mark. According to AndroidLib (they gathers stats on the Android Market) they show that we are currently sitting around the 92,000 apps. Over the past few months there has been an average of over 14,000 new apps submitted. So this should take it just beyond the 100k milestone.

Source: AndroidLib
Via: AndroidGuys

Consumer Reports “can’t recommend the iPhone 4″, but says it’s the “highest rated”

John Connors — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:52:31 +0000

Consumer Reports boldly announced yesterday that they “can’t recommend the iPhone 4”. This is somewhat of a blow to Apple as many other countries are prepping to release this device soon. The reason for the slam was due to the antenna issues. When users hold the iPhone 4 on the left side they slowly start to see reception dwindle down to zero bars. Consumer Reports did say an easy solution was to put a piece of tape on the left side and it will somehow miraculously solve the issue.

However, in an odd and ironic twist Consumer Reports also has an online mobile phone rankings section where users can pay to see full details and breakdowns of smartphone ratings. Can you guess what device is at the top of the list: the new iPhone 4. This has been granted the “highest rated” smartphone and Consumer Reports gave it a ranking of 76 out of 100. The next highest ranking is the iPhone 3GS and the HTC Sprint Evo 4G with 74 points.

John Paczkowski of the WSJ “Digital Daily” said that “The product evaluation agency rated the iPhone 4 “Excellent” in its display, navigation, Web browsing, multimedia and battery life categories, “Very Good” in phoning and messaging and “Good” in voice quality.”

So if you take away the reception issues and only hold the iPhone 4 on the right side you’ve got a stellar top class device.

Check it here at Consumer Reports
Source: Apple Insider & WSJ

Samsung sells 1 million Wave devices in 4-weeks

John Connors — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:28:54 +0000

Samsung’s first Bada-powered device called the “Wave” just launched in Canada last week but the results are in globally. Justin Hong, project lead and architect of Bada stated on Twitter that it only took a quick 4-weeks to sell 1 million units. Very impressive and with the price points we can see why. You can get this for as low as $29.95 on a 3-year and no contract as low as $299.95.

For those in Canada who purchased the Wave are you liking Samsung’s Bada platform? Creating any apps?

Via: IntoMobile
Source: Justin Hong Twitter

RIM announces free security app called “BlackBerry Protect”, now in private beta

John Connors — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:41:12 +0000

RIM has announced that their “BlackBerry Protect” will be released in a “limited beta” next week and then officially available in an “open public beta later this year”. This is a free security application that basically give users the ability to wirelessly backup, restore, locate, remote device lock and remote wipe your BlackBerry device.

We’ve seen this in a leaked screenshot before so it;s nice that this is finally making its way to your Berry.

Check it out here over at BlackBerry
Via: CrackBerry

Video: RIM releases another look at the upcoming BlackBerry 6 OS

John Connors — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:17:37 +0000

RIM is scheduling the release of their new BlackBerry 6 for sometime this Summer. They have gracefully released another sneak peek into how the OS will work. It’s looks promising and we’ve seen many leaks of this over the past few weeks. However, it’s always good to get an “official” video. Check it out here… what do you think of it? Will it bring the BlackBerry up to date?

Via: InsideBlackBerry

Consumer Reports says “we can’t recommend the iPhone 4″

John Connors — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:38:48 +0000

With Apple selling over 1.7 million iPhone 4 devices – there has been much talk about the reception issues and screen discolourations. Many people have done video reviews, drop tests and some people have even gone to the length of taking a .50 caliber sniper rifle to it.

Consumer Reports has just released their review of the new iPhone 4 and they state that their engineers “have confirmed that there is a problem with its reception. When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone’s lower left side – an easy thing, especially for lefties—the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you’re in an area with a weak signal. Due to this problem, we can’t recommend the iPhone 4.”

Ouch… Consumer Reports does say they found an easy and affordable solution for the issue. Cover the antenna gap with a piece of duct tape or another thick, non-conductive material. It may not be pretty, but it works”. On a plus side they did give the new iPhone high marks for improved battery life, front facing camera, sharp display and the “best video camera we’ve seen on any phone”.

The kicker comes at the end when they write that “If you want an iPhone that works well without a masking-tape fix, we continue to recommend an older model, the 3G S”. The good news is that the older models have all be lowered in price.

Check out the full review here at Consumer Reports