Gadget and Techno Updates
Posts tagged phone
Time Warner Cable may have WiMAX 4G phone in store
Apr 2nd
Time Warner Cable might dip its toes into its own high-end WiMAX smartphone after an inside leak was corroborated late Thursday. The unnamed hardware was in testing and would use Sprint’s CDMA network for voice with Clearwire’s network handling the WiMAX for 4G data. Few details were available to FierceWireless’ sources, though it’s presumed this would be an Android device.
A company spokesperson took the rare step of acknowledging that at least one mobile device with a phone component was being worked on with a partner company, but he wouldn’t say more.
Time Warner has talked about mobile WiMAX for two years More >
Microsoft rejects Windows Phone 7 app in ironic block
Apr 1st
Microosft in a rare step not only rejected a Windows Phone 7 app but did so two weeks after it had been published. Imagewind, a Twitter photo scraper app, was approved on March 3 and again with an update on March 16. Early last week, however, Neowin notes Microsoft was at first silent on a pinch-to-zoom update, and on Friday told Imagewind it had to be taken down for lacking a filter to screen out the “too graphic” content that sometimes populates Twitter.
The decision came despite Imagewind loading up with a warning for possible graphic material.
Microsoft hasn’t commented on why More >
Windows Phone 7 may get NFC in 2011 in five-way fight
Mar 30th
Hints that Microsoft might add NFC to Windows Phone 7 gained corroboration Tuesday with a pair of tips from insiders. The feature would be used for the expected role of mobile payments and would have the feature baked into the OS itself. NFC may come early, however; it could be in shipping devices before the end of 2011, Bloomberg was told.
Earlier tips had NFC likely woven into the Qualcomm chips Microsoft would use as the reference design for the next wave of WP7 devices. Little has been said of how the software would work, but Microsoft already has commerce systems More >
T-Mobile G2x only phone to support AT&T bands
Mar 28th
The T-Mobile G2x is the first and only phone that, should the deal between AT&T and T-Mobile be approved, will support AT&T’s 850 and 1,900MHz bands. It otherwise has support for T-Mobile’s 3G/4G bands and the global roaming 2,100MHz frequency. AT&T plans to use T-Mobile AWS network for its future LTE-based 4G network.
This switch would make all other current T-Mobile 3G and 4G devices into much slower ones, offering speeds not much faster than those on EDGE networks.
The deal will not go through without changes, if it goes through at all, however, according to an FCC official. [via More >
Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac 1.1 adds Apple Lossless
Mar 27th
Microsoft gave Mac users more parity with their Windows peers late Friday with the 1.1 update to Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac (free, App Store). The new version now lets Apple Lossless (ALAC) tracks sync to Windows Phone 7 or, likely, Zune HD devices. Those using the desktop Zune app on Windows already had Windows Media Audio support and thus an edge if they wanted higher quality sound.
The upgrade also now has the option of starting the app whenever a WP7 device plugs into the Mac; it previously had to either be open or running in the menu More >