Thursday, March 15, 2012

Fone Arena

Fone Arena

Nokia Lumia 610 to ship with WiFi hotspot functionality

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 08:01 PM PDT


The most affordable Windows Phone from Nokia will ship with the Wi-Fi hotspot functionality on-board.  The other Windows Phones from Nokia such as the Lumia 710 and 800 do not have this functionality at this time and are expected to arrive as a software update at a later date. The product page for The Lumia 610 lists Internet sharing as one of the features. You can use the device as a WiFi hotspot for up to devices. I have seen this feature on the HTC Radar but little is known as to why Nokia left it out in the previous devices. Would you like to have this feature on your smartphone ? via Engadget

Amazon updates Kindle app to 3.0, adds support for new iPad’s Retina display

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 01:39 PM PDT


There is not much time left for the commercial release of the New iPad from Apple, and Amazon has announced the release fo its Kindle app, which is among the many apps to be updated recently to support the new iPad's high resolution retina display. According to the What's new section, the library layout has also been changed, and now includes on cloud and on device view at the bottom, which will show you the books which you have on the cloud and maybe read it online or enable you to download it onto your device. Previously they had an Archive menu where you could see your book on Amazon server and download it. I think the current approach is way better though. Also as it is now compatible with the Retina display on the new iPad, it will be interesting to see how beautiful the app really will look. The books with graphics and illustrations will be great to be read on the retina display. So if you are looking forward to update this app or download it, you can hit up this link here. Source: AllthingsD

Amazon celebrates one year of Appstore with a week full of discounted apps

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 12:31 PM PDT


It's one year since Amazon appstore for Android was launched and they are celebrating it with style by not only sharing the statistics of their app store till now but also by giving out discounted top paid apps from the Appstore. Last year the Amazon Appstore launched with around 4000 apps and today it has over 31,000 applications in its appstore, that is quite a growth in just a year. Cut the Rope is the most purchased app with Angry birds (Ad-free) coming in second, while the free Angy birds version still remains the top app downloaded fromt he appstore. Amazon also claims that if the Amazon appstore users downloaded every free app of the day they would saved up to $1000. As I had said before, it's not only numbers, Amazon also has a discount planed for some of it's famous paid apps throughout the week, the discount works like this, you get one discounted ap today, two tomorrow, three day after, and this pattern will continue for 7 days, seems like an awesome deal to me. Today's discount is the famous Plants Vs Zombies game which is being sold at the discounted price of $0.99, so grab it right now. Source: ...

Manually update your HTC Vivid to ICS

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 11:52 AM PDT


There was this rumor going on yesterday that the HTC Vivid from AT&T is going to receive the much awaited Android 4.0 update, but AT&T officially announced that this update is still not ready to roll out, and will not be updating the devices today. But some Vivid users were successful in updating their devices manually, read more to figure out how. Some HTC Vivid users were able to manually pull the update from the AT&T servers by dialing *#*#682#*#*. I am sure AT&T would have figured this out by the time you read this post but, if you are lucky you will still be updated with the lates Android 4.0.3 version which comes with Sense 3.6.If you are not able to get the update then be patient as the update is ready to get out and you will be receiving it officially any time soon. If you can't wait and still want the update you can head over to the XDA thread over here and learn more about the update. Source: Android Police

Finnish F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen to sport Angry Birds helmet

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:35 AM PDT


F1 Driver Heikki Kovalainen has inked a deal with Rovio and as part of the merchandising and webgame partnership , will be sporting an Angry Birds helmet on the race track. The new helmet will make its debut at the weekend's inaugural Formula 1 race in Melbourne. "This is a great partnership on many levels," said Heikki Kovalainen. "It's the first time that I've partnered with a gaming company, and it fits with my larger focus on partnering with unique brands. As a Finn, I'm also happy to be backing a Finnish company on a global platform. Most importantly, I'm a big Angry Birds fan!" The merchandise line will be available later this year alongside the webgame which will include Angry Birds in a racing themed level.  

Playbook to get Blackberry 10 post launch

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 06:14 AM PDT


Rob Orr , VP Product Management at RIM , confirmed that the next gen Blackberry 10 OS would be making its way to the Playbook eventually. The OS which is expected to be RIM's biggest attempt to regain their diminishing market share is expected to be rolled out later this year. "We've said publicly a number of times that our first BB10 handset will be available towards the end of 2012, and that's still firmly the case." said Orr. Post the initial handsets , the OS is expected to be rolled out to the Playbook which already runs QNX. RIM are expected to make use of their TAT acquisition to create a stunning UI for the platform. [Via - TechRadar]    

Nokia working on tablet confirms Marko Ahtisaari , Design Chief at Nokia

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 05:22 AM PDT


In an interview with Finnish newspaper Kauppalehti , Marko Ahtisaari has confirmed that Nokia is working on their own tablet computer. It would not be wrong to guess that the tablet computer would run on the upcoming Windows 8 operating system. Rumors already suggest that the tablet would include a 10.1" touch screen and would be powered by a dual core Qualcomm processor. Availability  is expected to coincide with the launch of Windows 8 and we can hope to see the tablet in action at Nokia World later this year. The tablet is expected to stand out from the thousands of tablets out there. We can expect great industrial design to be one of the key selling points. [Via - TNW]

Micromax Booklet running Android ICS gets priced

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 01:35 AM PDT


Micromax Booklet running Android ICS has surfaced in online store, Homeshop18 priced at Rs. 7,999. This tablet has 7-inch capacitive multi-touch display and runs on Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3. According to Homeshop18 it would have 0.3MP front facing camera, 512MB RAM, 4GB Internal memory, Wi-Fi, microSD card support, 3G (via USB Dongle) and A10 processor. The image indicates that the tablet would come with USB OTG and HDMI support. The tablet is out of stock, with no expected release date on the site but we are hoping something official soon. Hope we can see some high-end tablets from Micromax soon. via: AndroidOS.in

Archos G10 XS Android tablet teased

Posted: 14 Mar 2012 11:41 PM PDT


Archos has posted a new teaser video of the their upcoming G10 xs tablet on their YouTube page. They have also revealed some details about the tablet in the press Conference in Paris. They plan to launch 3 new range of tablets in 2012 . Arnova tablets starting from 50EUR(capacitive ones from 70EUR), Archos elements with Google certification and Archos G10 xs range with keyboard dock. The Archos G10 xs range of tablets would be  just 7.6mm thick and comes with keyboard dock. It would be 11mm thick with keyboard attached. There are no details about the Arnova and Archos elements tablets. Here is the Archos G10 xs teaser video from their official YouTube channel httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4ixn6h_gfg The Gen10 xs tablets will be selling at 200 to 400 EUR (~US$260-US$520) price range . The Gen10 tablets is expected to be available in September. Source: Arctablet, Ubergizmo

LTE and HSPA+ BlackBerry PlayBook passes through FCC testing

Posted: 14 Mar 2012 10:54 PM PDT


The LTE and HSPA+ BlackBerry PlayBook models have cleared the FCC testing. RIM has promised PlayBook with HSPA+ support last year, looks like the previous rumors of 3G PlayBook launch in April might be true. In addition to the 3G HSPA+ version, the LTE version has also passed the FCC testing. Looking at the bands the LTE version of the tablet might head to the AT&T and Verizon in the US or big three Canadian carriers. According to to previous rumor, the 3G HSPA+ BlackBerry PlayBook  might feature 1.5GHz dual-core TI OMAP processor and NFC support while retaining most of the other specs from the Wi-Fi version. Source: FCC (1), (2), (3) | via: Engadget
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