Category Archives: Mobile OS
iPhone games ‘go Android’: Scoreloop launches porting platform
Developers of iPhone games now have yet another option for porting their product over to Android. Social gaming company Scoreloop has announced a new platform called “Go Android”, which will help developers with both the technical and financial help they need to get their game onto both platforms. And no, it’s not deja vu – OpenFeint did have an extremely similar announcement yesterday. Continue reading
Lost in the MWC hullabaloo Part 1 – WebOS
Rating: HP’s smartphones a farce to be reckoned with?
It’s always been the case that certain stories dominate Mobile World Congress reportage. At one point in time Google News was flagging up over 7,000 stories all about the same subject @ MWC 2011. (We’ll let you guess what it was). So who was one of the biggest losers? GoMo News would vote for WebOS, which was originally developed by Palm and has subsequently been acquired by HP. Our sources say that HP feels that is the fourth major player in the mobile OS stakes. However, here at GoMo News Towers we think it is seventh. Behind Android, Symbian, iOS, BlackBerry, WP7 and bada. And that’s not counting apps developed for Java J2ME. Continue reading
Hey, Google: I think Android 2.2.1 broke my Nexus One
Before we get started, let me say that I love my Nexus One. Ok, so Google made all sorts of wild claims about it (including that it wouldn’t be a smartphone, it would actually be a superphone… yeah), but it really is a lovely device. Except that since Android 2.2.1 rolled out, it just keeps crashing and crashing and crashing. Continue reading
Android Froyo users still waiting for SMS bug fix
Rating: Dangerous for those with illicit relationships
Although the issue was highlighted here by the BBC some four days ago [January 7th], there’s still no news on when and how Google intends to fix a bug in the Android OS that sends text messages to the wrong recipients. That could prove disastrous for anyone carrying on an illicit relationship if the text went to their current partner. While the bug was first reported months ago [June 28th 2010] it appears that Google has only just managed to confirm the bug’s existence. Continue reading
Can Windows 7 succeed asks Vgtelecoms report?
Rating: Clever comparison between Microsoft & Nokia
What a clever comparison to make. Both Microsoft and Nokia are struggling to retain market share in the smartphone sector. So if you’re going to produce a report entitled, ‘Windows Phone 7: Microsoft’s Smartphone Challenge 2010′ – like Vgtelecoms just has – then dedicating a chunk of it to a comparison between two old rivals makes a great deal of sense. Especially as there have been strong rumours – mentioned here – that Nokia and Microsoft might be planning to co-operate very closely. The report also offers some interesting stats – such as Microsoft’s decline in smartphone sector market share. It also mentions the “ultimate debacle” of Microsoft’s Kin – a subject that never really entered our radar. Continue reading
1/1/11 hits Apple’s iPhone 4 – Y2K revisited
Rating: No sign the smartphone’s clock is fixed by January 3rd
What a way to grab the headlines in the New Year! Droves of iPhone 4 users would have woken up on New Year’s Day to find there’s something wrong with their fabled smartphone. Except their alarms weren’t going off because there is something wrong with support in Apple’s iOS which causes the clock to get confused by the jump to 2011. A statement apparently put out by Apple to assuage iPhone 4 users’ worries claimed that the bug would be fixed by January 3rd. However, there’s little evidence to suggest that it s the case, so far. Continue reading
Adding the good bits from Nokia to an Android
Rating: Our adventures with the Motorola Defy
Given that as a mobile phone handset OS, Android is not only supposed to be ‘Open’, it’s also supposed to be free. Hence it follows that you shouldn’t have to pay anything to customise your Android phone. Having been a self-confessed Nokia fan for years, this particular hack has grown familiar with Nokia’s best handset features as well as its worst. It therefore struck us as a useful exercise to try to add all the best Nokia bits to our recently acquired Motorola Defy which it appears to lack. So far we’re doing quite well. Continue reading
We like Motorola’s Motoblur and Moto Phone Portal
Rating: Useful software to go with an Android handset
Most news sites review a handset by telling you what tin is inside the box; give you a brief description of its capabilities and may mention what software is preloaded. To break this mould, GoMo News thought it would describe what it has been like migrating from an Android handset updates to2.1 Éclair handset over to another 2.1 device with 2.1 already installed. Both handset are from Motorola – the Dext and the Defy respectively. The exercise showed how useful the Motoblur software is in real life. It also highlighted the fact that Motorola really ought to push the existence of its Moto Phone Portal software a bit more vigorously. Continue reading
First Android Gingerbread/2.3 update imminent in UK
Rating: Lots of action on the Android OS front
The blogs are buzzing with the news of the first ever OTA OS update to Android 2.3/Gingerbread is imminent and the lucky recipient will be the Google Nexus One handset. That’s not to be confused with the very latest Google handset, the Nexus S, which went on sale in the UK exclusively with the Carphone Warehouse yesterday (December 22nd). That particular handset doesn’t need an update to Android 2.3 because it is already running that version as standard. Not to be outdone, other blogs are spreading the rumour that a device running the next generation of the Android OS – v 3.0 or Honeycomb as it is codenamed – should appear at next month’s {January 2011′s] CES show. Continue reading
Lots of nuggets buried in Strand’s 2011 predictions
Rating: In 2011 operates will promote what service a handset can run
How about this for a brave quote? “Unlike many others, Strand Consult has no problem in being held responsible for what we said in the past would happen in the future.” This quote prefaces Danish analyst firm, Strand Consult’s predictions for 2010. As luck would have it, however, GoMo News published Strand’s predictions for 2010 precisely a year ago today here. And actually the company scored a couple of direct hits. Our favourite concerns entrenched handset manufacturers’ attitudes towards Android which proved to be spot on. Less luck on the Nokia front, though. “Nokia’s new UI for the Series 60 will be a positive surprise.” We must have blinked, then. Continue reading
T-Mobile Galaxy S users incandescent over Froyo delay
Rating: Asking if rooting will invalidate their warranties
The non-appearance of an OTA (Over-The-Air) Froyo/2.2 update for the Samsung Galaxy S phone has infuriated members of T-Mobile‘s UK support forum here. So much so that expletives had to be removed and some participants had to be threatened with removal. The latest news is that an update may be available next week [6th December 2010] but then only as a download via the Samsung PC software suite. The news has prompted many forum members to demand to know if upgrading the software themselves will invalidate their handset warranties. Continue reading
Apple iPhone and RIM Blackberry most popular smartphones in the US
What the Story?
The Nielsen Company announced today that during a survey conducted in October 2010 29.7 percent of US Mobile Subscribers now own Smartphones. Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s Blackberry range are the two most popular, sharing 27 percent of the smartphone market in the US whilst Android was the third most popular with 22 percent of the market.
Continue reading
Nokia E7 smartphone will miss Xmas, eXpansys says
Rating: Intriguing remarks about Symbian^4 in E7 report
What a shame! The smartphone which many regard as the obvious hit of Nokia World held in London back in September 2010, the E7, won’t go on sale officially in the UK until January 10th 2011 it seems. That’s what it says on the leading online direct handset sales site – eXpansys. The handset will set you back £584.99 inc taxes. The E7 will run the latest version of the Symbian OS – Symbian ^3 but GoMo News was most intrigued by remarks made by What Mobile magazine about the next version of the Symbian OS – Symbian^4. Continue reading
Nokia just isn’t sexy says Strand Consult
Rating: No-one ever mentions the iPhone’s flat growth either
Danish telecoms consulting expert, Strand Consult, has confirmed what we’ve long suspected. “A great deal of the global press corps have simply been totally uncritical about Apple and the iPhone market,” the firms says. Particularly US based hacks. How else could you explain the fact that iPhone sales experienced a flat growth for four quarters in a row from Q3 2009 to Q2 2010 but nobody wrote about it? Strangely, the Danes blame Nokia’s native language, Finnish, as the main reason why the company can’t paint itself as being sexier. Continue reading
Mobile payment by NFC built into Android 2.3
One of the really hot topics this holiday season is mobile payments. There’ve been a multitude of stories about it on GoMo, along with two feature interviews coming up. Google isn’t staying quiet on the topic, and has announced that the soon-to-be-release Android 2.3 OS will have mobile payment built into it. Continue reading
