Posts in Mobile Phones
iPhone users say the 2.1 software update delivered
Kent German | Sep 29, 2008
Recently, I asked iPhone 3G owners to tell me if the 2.1 software update had fixed the widespread issues with dropped calls, short battery life, and faulty 3G connectivity. Now, just over a week later, I've wrapped up your comments.
At the time of this writing, we received 56 comments (I had to discount a few because they weren't on topic). While this is an entirely unscientific survey, almost half (48 percent) reported significant improvements in all areas, 20 percent reported no positive changes, and 32 percent said that it fixed only a few issues while leaving other problems unchanged. I've included a sampling of comments after the break.
As for me, I have to fall in the neutral camp. On the upside, backups on our iPhone 3G review model are quicker, contacts load faster and application crashes are nonexistent. I never had many dropped calls, so I didn't see a change there, but the keyboard lag has improved as well.
On the downside, however, I haven't seen much a battery life improvement at all. Still I can only get a day's worth of battery, even if I leave it resting on my desk for a few hours. Though one satisfied reader said he was happy that his iPhone 3G now lasted a full day rather than a few hours, I still think that's unsatisfactory.
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Adobe extends Photoshop to mobile phones
Stephen Shankland | Sep 26, 2008
The Photoshop.com Mobile beta lets people with Windows Mobile phones view and upload photos. (Credit: Adobe Systems)
Adobe Systems has gradually extended its Photoshop brand from its beginnings as high-end image-editing tool to its Elements consumer-oriented photo software and its Express online photo-editing site.
Now, the company has begun taking the next step with Photoshop.com Mobile. The software is the "easiest way to upload, view, and share photos online from your Windows Mobile phone", according to Adobe.
This software lets people upload photos from their phones to Photoshop.com and view photo albums stored online, according to the site. The beta software, a free download for people in the United States, works on several Windows Mobile-based handsets.
If your device isn't supported, Adobe recommends using Shozu mobile phone software, which lets people upload photos, among other things.
Personally, I'd like to see a mobile phone app that could perform some really basic adjustments--cropping or auto-fixing exposure, for example. But, so far at least, this isn't that application. However, Photoshop itself is about to enter its 11th major version, CS4, and mobile phones are getting more powerful all the time, so the possibility is there.
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China Mobile wants a slow iPhone
Tom Krazit | Sep 26, 2008
Apple and China Mobile have been flirting for some time over the prospect of bringing the iPhone to China. Now the South China Morning Post is reporting (via Cellular-News) that China Mobile wants Apple to ship an iPhone in China with the Wi-Fi and 3G chips disabled. Why take out the fast networking chips that make the iPhone shine, you may ask?
Competition. China Mobile plans to build out a 3G network based on a homegrown Chinese standard for third-generation networks that is not compatible with the widely used W-CDMA standard that is also expected to be used by China Mobile competitor China Telecom.
The thinking, according to the report, is that China Mobile doesn't want its customers buying an iPhone 3G compatible with the W-CDMA standard before it can complete its own 3G network. Otherwise, those customers may decide to unlock the iPhone and use it on China Telecom's network rather than staying tied to the China Mobile network. Unlocked iPhones are rampant in China; over 400,000 were estimated to be in use earlier in the year, and few think that number has gotten smaller.
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Visa's charge card concept goes wireless
Dawn Kawamaoto | Sep 26, 2008
The credit card processing giant announced Thursday several initiatives to allow its credit card toting customers the ability to transfer money, make payments, and receive real-time account notification alerts on their Nokia and Android cellular phones. Visa also struck a mobile deal with US Bank.
Under a pilot program with US Bank, which is scheduled to begin by the end of the year, Visa will offer mobile money transfers from one Visa cardholder's account to another. A U.S. Bank Visa cardholder would use a Web browser on their phone to access funds and transfer it directly to the recipient's account. The recipient could then withdraw the funds from an ATM machine, or use the money to make purchases.
Visa is also working with cell phone giant Nokia and new entrant Google's Android to offer mobility to its service.
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Google releases final Android programming kit
Stephen Shankland | Sep 25, 2008
T-Mobile G1, the first phone powered by Google's Android software (Credit: T-Mobile)
The kit lets programmers create applications that will run on Android phones, even before T-Mobile starts selling the first Android-powered G1 on October 22. The biggest difference from the previous Android SDK 0.9: Software built with version 1.0 will actually, not just probably, work on those real-world phones, according to the SDK release notes.
Google hopes its Android operating system project will help spur the mobile phone industry into a more enthusiastic embrace of Internet technology. Google of course profits from ads next to search results, and Google Maps opens up other advertising possibilities that are more closely tied to a phone user's physical location.
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