By Satish |

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

• webOS 1.4 now available for the Palm Pre and Pixi on Sprint, O2, Movistar, but not Verizon
• Grooveshark app now available for the iPhone … if it’s a jailbroken one
• Verizon to launch 4G in up to 60 markets by mid-2012
• Nexus One for Verizon takes one big step closer to reality, clears the FCC
• Symbian^4 shown off on video, seems.. uninspired
• Sprint Pre and Pixi owners: Expect Palm webOS 1.4 today with video recording and Flash 10 in tow

webOS 1.4 now available for the Palm Pre and Pixi on Sprint, O2, Movistar, but not Verizon Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:33 PM PST Good news, Palm fans! If you’ve taken a break from jamming on the “Update” button, it’s time to go tap it one last time: the rollout of webOS 1.4 has just begun. The catch: it seems that it’s only for Sprint handsets right now (Update: In the US, that is – it’s also available on O2 UK, O2 Germany, O2 Ireland, and Movistar in Europe), with the Verizon Pre Plus and Pixi Plus still reporting that 1.3 is the latest release. We knew it was coming in February thanks to Palm’s announcement at CES — and thanks to the rumor mill, we were all lead to believe it was coming a few weeks ago. All false starts and false hopes aside, it’s available now. We’re seeing reports (thanks Twitter!) that it has gone live on Sprint handsets. Curiously absent, however, are any reports of the update hitting Verizon Pre/Pixi Pluses. With the update going out this late in the evening (a bit after 10:30 pm PST), I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there were some last-minute snags; might the Verizon update have been held at the last minute? The biggest new feature in webOS 1.4 — at least, of those available right this second — is its new found ability to record and edit video. webOS also lays all the necessary foundation for Adobe Flash support, though that bit will come as a download from the App Catalog at a later time. There are other smaller features and bug fixes throughout — for those, check out the full change log below. (Update: Palm has just released an even bigger, more in-depth change log here) Changelog: Enhancements: - Updated SMS and chat features. − Tap and hold on an email address to send an email or add to contacts. − Forward SMS messages to email. − Dial a number from chat view without opening a contact card. − Press and hold a phone number (identified via smart text) to get more options for calls and SMS. - New camera support for video capture. − Record and edit videos right on your device. − Upload videos to YouTube® and Facebook®, or send them to friends via email or MMS. - Expanded calendar and task functions. − Set custom alert sounds for calendar events. -View times with added AM/PM and Now indicators. − Dial phone numbers shown in the appointment subject. - More email options − Customize your email alerts by specifying a distinct ringtone or selecting mute or vibrate. − Tap and hold on a phone number or email address to either dial or send an email or add to contacts. − Once emails are sent, you’re taken back to the inbox view. − More sort options for messages, including by date, sender, and subject. - Mobile Hotspot application is now preloaded on the device. – Enhanced universal search now includes Global Address Lookup, i.e., corporate address book. - The light bar in the gesture area now blinks whenever there are pending notifications. Improvements: - Better MMS functions and support. − Support for sending an MMS message when connected to Wi-Fi now included. − MMS messages with multiple audio and picture attachments now allow you to open all attachments correctly. − MMS display updated so messages no longer appear to overlap each other. - Faster performance in several areas of the phone and calendar applications-

Grooveshark app now available for the iPhone … if it’s a jailbroken one Posted: 26 Feb 2010 04:51 PM PST When Jason Kincaid tried out the iPhone app online music streaming startup Grooveshark built and showed off in July 2009, he wrote that it was great but that he "wouldn’t expect this to pop up in the App Store any time soon". He was right on both counts. Grooveshark now says it has given up on its ambitions to get approved for the official App Store, claiming that Apple has been "ritually rejecting" the app for "primary selfish reasons". We've heard that song before.

Verizon to launch 4G in up to 60 markets by mid-2012 Posted: 26 Feb 2010 12:25 PM PST Everything moves at a lightning pace in the mobile world – everything, that is, except network rollouts. Where as handsets can go from announced to old news in the blink of an eye, network upgrades.. can’t. Take Verizon’s upgrade to 4G technology, for example: they announced the move to LTE in February 2009, and began testing in one small market nearly half a year later. They’ll be firing it up for commercial use for the first time later this year, with plans to launch in 30 markets before the year is out. Fortunately, things seem to be speeding up. Verizon has just disclosed plans to double their LTE footprint, just a bit over 1 year after launch. In an interview with Network World (as first noted by the guys at FierceWireless), Verizon CTO Tony Melone says that their LTE network should be up and running in 60 markets 15 months after the initial launch. As we mentioned above, the initial launch should go down sometime in late 2010 – and by our count, “15 months after” that means some time around mid-2012. Alas, they’re not specifying exactly which markets they’re talking about here, though it’s probably safe to assume that major cities are pretty close to the top of the list. Interestingly, some areas that currently lack 3G will get bumped directly from the super-slow and pretty dang old 1XRTT network up to LTE. That’s like going from not having fire to being able to shoot magma out of your hands.

Nexus One for Verizon takes one big step closer to reality, clears the FCC Posted: 26 Feb 2010 11:05 AM PST Google has made it absolutely no secret that the Nexus One is heading to Verizon. They announced it the very same day they announced the T-Mobile version that’s already floating around, and have had it listed as “Coming Soon” ever since. Alas, neither Google or Verizon is willing to spill the beans on when it’s coming. “Spring 2010!” they say, as if that satiates our desire for mundane details. But wait! There’s good news: the VZW Nexus One just took a huge step toward hitting retail. Earlier today, a CDMA-friendly Nexus One (model PB99300, where the GSM version is PB99100) successfully fought its way through the FCC’s testing labs. Somewhere out there, there exists a fully functional, Verizon-compatible Nexus One, just waiting to be stuffed in a box and thrown on the shelves. FCC clearance isn’t a surefire indication that a launch is near, but we rarely ever see it more than a month or so before sales begin. If the CDMA Nexus One launches any time soon, it ought to be Verizon’s first Android phone powered by a 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor. Excited? You should be. FCC Clearance Doc:

Symbian^4 shown off on video, seems.. uninspired All around the world, the Symbian-loving chunk of the population is waiting on the edge of their seats for Symbian^4 (pronounced “Symbian Four”). Intended as a complete overhaul from Symbian past, it could very well slingshot the visibly aged Operating System into modern times. The first videos of Symbian^4 have just been released for public consumption, and we can’t help but notice that they seem very.. uninspired. Actually, perhaps that’s inaccurate. They’re very inspired. Directly inspired. By the competition. I’m never one to shout that such-and-such handset is a clone of another, but the influences here are undeniable. The widget screen/mechanism is similar to that of Symbian^3, but nearly identical to Android’s. The photo screen looks damn close to the iPhone’s, though they did come up with a fairly slick way of switching from photo to photo. It’s certainly a big step up for Symbian — it’s just less revolution, and more emulation. Hopefully they’ve got some tricks up their sleeves planned for the next year of development.

Sprint Pre and Pixi owners: Expect Palm webOS 1.4 today with video recording and Flash 10 in tow   Sometime today, Feburary 26, 2010, Sprint Pre and Pixi owners should get a nice little surprise on their handsets. It seems like Sprint and Palm are ready to deliver the latest webOS update, which should bring the aforementioned updates along with a bunch of other enhancements conveniently listed for your perusal after the jump. Fixes: * Time Zone bug fixed * Network time sync bug fixed to reflect accurate Network time * Bluetooth car-kit transition to device corrected * No EV icon bug fixed (random) * Random browser formatting bugs fixed * Fixed bug that incorrectly displayed Sprint when actually was Digital Roaming * Missing Contact issue specifically with swap down to 1.2.9.1 or less Feature Updates: * Phonebook Transfer (import & export) * Adds Video Capture capability & edit * Calendar Enhancements * Messaging Enhancements * Improved Performance (Phone & CAL) * Email Enhancements * Notification Enhancements * Adds Adobe Flash 10.0 (Pre Only) * NOTE: The 1.4 software adds the ability to use the Flash 10.0 Adobe plug-in which will be available shortly from the Palm Appl Catalogue.