For long, it has been the order of the day that publishers do not invest in short stories because they do not generate enough revenues even if they flow from well known authors’ pens.
Ether Books is trying to redefine the dogma attached to short stories as it gears up to find a better place for the short stories in the form of iPhone platform rather than the hard copy.
Ether Books believes that short stories can weave magic as they are ideally suited for a mobile and they can act as a quick bite of fiction which users can enjoy over a small bus ride or a train ride.
The launch of the iPhone App from Ether was done at the London Book Fair and it hopes to be able to sign up an array of big names to its list while it already has the likes of Lionel Shriver(We Need to Talk About Kevin) and Alexander McCall Smith (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency).
The app is for essays as well as poems too. It comes with some free stories and will charge nominally for the rest. Let us watch out how Ether Books gets to do with this rather not so highly rated form of art.
The highly popular Android Operating System from Google has a problem formatting memory cards with higher capacities though they are declared compatible with the OS as per specs. The Google N1 product guide mentions that microSD cards upto 32 GB can be formatted using the device’s software.
As per reports from CNET, a CNET reader reported the issue with his Nexus One Smartphone. Google website declares the Nexus One to be compatible with microSD cards with capacities upto 32 GB, but the underlying Android platform’s inability to format 32 GB cards has been reported.
Google on the other hand confirmed the bug and claimed that it has been fixed. The updates would soon be available by Google over the air though they have not come up with a specific timeframe for the updates.
The background is that microSD cards need a a quick format often before using them in a new device. However, Android is limited to be able to format microSD cards with storage less than or equal to 16GB.
The bottomline is that any user who intends tp use a 32GB microSD card would have tp format it on a PC, and it implies that the user needs a Card Reader except in the cases where the computer comes with an in-built reader.
Sony Ericsson confirmed the news that its flagship Android platform Smartphone, the Xperia X10 would get upgraded to Android 2.1 from Android 1.6 this September.
As per reports from mobiles.co.uk, customers would also get to experience the Multi-touch feature which was conspicuously missing from the handset. Despite initial reports that the inability to Multi-touch was a hardware issue, there are hopes to the contrary and the old and obsolete Android is the major drawback for the Xperia X10 at present.
For the record, let’s have a sneak peek at the handset. The Xperia X10 carries Sony’s tradition of powerful embedded cameras by having 8.1 megapixel camera with all high end features like autofocus, compact digital camera, smile and facial detection, geo tagging and ‘send to web’ feature to instantly upload or share the pictures over flicker, Picasa or Facebook. The Xperia 10 also comes with all powerful connectivity features like Wi-fi, Bluetooth and 3G.
To view pictures captured with such a high end camera, Xperia X10 comes with 4 inch touch screen, large enough to view high quality images. Couple with 480×854 pixels, it has the best resolution for any Smartphone in the market. Precise dimensions of phone are 4.7 x 2.5 x 0.5 inches, while weighing 135 g.
We need to wait and watch how Sony Ericsson pulls off this upgrade given the fact that Xperia X10 is its flagship Smartphone and that they messed it up when it came to their recent update to PS3.
If you stayed away from the Nokia E72 because of its price, here is some interesting news to lay your hands on it for cheap, thanks to T-Mobile.
T-Mobile is offering the Nokia handset on an 18-month contract for just £20 per month. Powered by a QWERTY keyboard, Nokia E72 lets you access e-mails from as many as 10 email accounts, open the attachments, and reply to the mails.
E72 enables you to virtually be able to do most of the things that you could do by staying in office. The metallic case in which the handset comes packaged is stylish and the handset has a useful optical navigation key to browse through web pages, menus, photos, and maps in an easy fashion.
The 5 megapixel camera helps you capture crisp clear snapshots while the HSPDA and Wi-Fi connectivity options let you access internet at high speeds. To top it all, there is a £20 cash-back offer when you buy the package and you get 100 minutes free talk time, 100 free text messages and unlimited internet access with this £20 per month contract.
T-Mobile is now offering the Nokia X6 through its online store for as low as £10 per month.
Nokia X6 is powerhouse of power packed features as expected from Nokia. The handset comes with 3.2 inches wide touch screen and considerably large amount of storage capacity. It also has all preferred pack of features needed for a mobile phone and Vodafone will definitely increase that popularity of the handset in UK.
Radio with FM capability, Bluetooth, GPS receiver, Nokia maps and accelerator sensor are some of those packed features, which makes Nokia X6 to be most awaited release for this year.
With the basic £10 per month plan, you get 100 minutes, 100 texts and unlimited internet from T-Mobile and it needs an upfront payment of £128 for the mobile phone.
And if you pick the £25 per month contract, the Nokia X6 comes for free along with 300 minutes, 300 texts, unlimited internet, and the flexible booster.
JD power conducted an independent survey and came up with O2 as the best mobile broadband service provider from the voting. O2 beat competition from Orange and T-Mobile to be voted as the best with a customer satisfaction index which read 653 out of 1000.
Orange trailed very close at 650, and T-Mobile got 644 on a scale which measured reliability, performance, cost, promotions, offers and last but not the least, customer service.
Customers also voted it as amongst the best in the industry along with Orange. T-Mobile was the next one followed by Vodafone and 3.1
O2 topped the list in fixed broadband segment also with a customer satisfaction score of 766 out of 1,000, while Plusnet got the 2nd place with 703 points and Sky got the 3rd place with 676.
The sample used for the fixed broadband ISP customer satisfaction survey was 2048 residential customers with fixed line broadband and it was 1274 mobile broadband customers for the other survey.
To the impressive array of devices on sale already on Orange, there’s a new feather in the cap in the form of exclusive availability of the HTC Desire Black. The HTC Desire is being offered by various carriers in the UK, but Orange gets to be the only operator to offer the Black version.
The HTC Desire has a 3.7 inch touchscreen which give brilliant sharp images, it has with it a 5 megapixel The HTC Desire has a 3.7” WVGA AMOLED screen, 1Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (awesome for quick multi-tasking), a 5 megapixel LED camera and Android 2.1 operating system very similar to Nexus One. Albeit, there are subtle changes viz, the Optical joystick replacing the trackball, dual band HSPDA instead of triband (which makes it tough for WiFi connectivity outside Europe and Asia) and no noise cancellation.
The USP of HTC Desire can be its multi-touch functions (thanks to HTC Sense) and a unique user experience where one can pinch inwards on any home screen and it opens displays accessible with a simple tap. The Sense UI has got widgets on the Home screen and some of them sound damn cool; for example a Calendar widget which shows agenda (and not just the month) and includes tabbed emails. Browsing the Sense UI and widgets is lightning fast, thanks to the 1 GHz Snapdragon.
For those who cannot wait till the Windows Phone 7 comes up or cannot afford such an expensive gadget, there is some great news now that Microsoft and Vodafone have teamed up to bring the Kin1 and Kin 2 phones. The Kins are two of the first Smartphones from the Microsoft stable with social networking capabilities falling in the mid-range segment.
Despite the fact that they do not run on the Windows Phone 7 Operating System, they are powered by a similar variation which targets more of the Social networking space. People who are hooked to Facebook, MySpace or Wonderwall would surely be able to appreciate the stunning user interface which provides stylish organized view of all the updates.
Touch screen and QWERTY keyboards are common to both the handsets. The first Kin is named Turtle due to its shape and the other one with a sliding keyboard has got Pure as its nickname.
Blackberry and Palm users would not have any hiccups in transitioning to the Kin 1 because of the similarity it holds in the slide-out keyboard. Those who love the traditional Smartphone might appreciate the Kin 2. Both the handsets share similar specs except that the Kin 2 has a better 8 MP camera compared to the 5 MP camera on Kin 1. The caveat is that the phones are for those who are hooked to Social networking.
After T-Mobile, it is the turn of Vodafone to have run out of stock with the HTC Smart-phone, Desire. The brother of Google’s Nexus One, HTC Desire has seen unexpected demand in the UK and is fast being lapped up by enthusiastic gadget fans. It was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress officially and has since then got great reviews.
Vodafone has reportedly seen unexpected demand for the mobile phone and is not accepting orders from customers at least for a week as per Eurodroid. Reports indicate that a user who tried buying an HTC Desire from Vodafone got similar response from Vodafone.
The HTC Desire is surely one of the hot picks when we talk about the Smartphone segment.
The HTC Desire has a 3.7” WVGA AMOLED screen, 1Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (awesome for quick multi-tasking), a 5 megapixel LED camera and Android 2.1 operating system very similar to Nexus One. Albeit, there are subtle changes viz, the Optical joystick replacing the trackball, dual band HSPDA instead of triband (which makes it tough for WiFi connectivity outside Europe and Asia) and no noise cancellation.
EuroSmartz, a UK and NewZealand software company has come up with version 1.2 of the popular PrintCentral application, which caters printing capabilities to iPhone and similar devices. PrintCentral is an application that can be installed on an array of devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad; however most of what has been developed in this new version is for the much hyped tablet PC, Apple iPad.
Document sharing feature of the iPhone OS 3.2 can be leveraged by PrintCentral with this version. And thus PrintCentral gets a chance to get shown in the “Open in … ” option which comes up when you tap a file to view it in supported applications. A file can thus be received over mail and sent to the PrintCentral application so as to print it or save it. You can send the file to other applications on iPad as well using PrintCentral.
The app can also be used for syncing documents (two-way) with a computer by using the apps tab in iTunes similar to the way the Apple’s iWork app does. PrintCentral can also open files from a WebDAV cloud storage without any need to download them first hand.
PrintCentral at $10 on the App store works with iPhone and iPod Touch with iPhone OS 3.1.3 and above and with iPads with 3.2 or higher version.
The S8000 Jet mobile phone from Samsung boasts of and intuitive 3D UI, stunning imagery, and impressively fast connectivity. And to get to experience all these on the splendid 3.1 inch AMOLED touch-screen is heaven.
The 5.0 megapixel camera allows you to click stunning images on the move, thanks to the auto-focus and LED flash. All multimedia files can be stored with ease on the in-built 2 GB memory which is further expandable to 16 GB.
HSPDA allows you to browse the web space at lightning fast speeds and the in-built GPS support helps you with directions. The handset has Wi-Fi connectivity and can be used at any Wi-Fi hotspot.
The Samsung S8000 Jet is a promising handset set to surprise you with its capabilities and now it is available from Vodafone at just £10 per month with an initial price of £50 via E2Save. The 2-year contract comes with 75 free minutes and 250 text messages.
As the Apple iPad received a thundering welcome from gadget fans across the US, its launch in other countries has been delayed. All the three major operators, Vodafone,O2 and Orange have confirmed the sale of the tablet PC in the UK from May.
Apple confirmed the news that higher demand in the US hit the launch dates of the iPad in other countries. Apple is to open pre-orders and announce the prices on 10th May.
The iPad is available with just Wi-Fi connectivity or with WiFi connectivity and 3G. The iPad uses MicroSIMs, though. None of the three operators in the UK announced the mobile broadband charges for iPad.
T-Mobile have not yet made any announcements about the iPad being made available, though it has also been running from pillar to post to get into a deal with Apple along with the other major UK telecom players.
O2, Vodafone, and Orange are expected to offer pre-paid plans as well as contract based plans for the iPad. For US customers, Apple’s network partner, AT&T is offering 250 MB data for just $14.99 and unlimited data for $29.99 with no long-term contracts from the customers
Smartphones across the board are becoming increasingly business-friendly and HTC Desire seems to beat them all even as Google’s own Nexus One is left reeling with missing features like ability to support exchange calendars though it has a large screen which helps with web browsing and reading documents.
The Taiwanese handset giant has been in the forefront in delivering many of the best Smartphones and by providing native support for Exchange mail, calendar, and contacts in the HTC Desire, it has struck the right chord with all the business users.
HTC Desire however is missing one of the nicest features of N1 – voice recognition. Voice based search has been common with Android phones, but the N1 has taken a step further in letting the users dictate emails and text messages with good results. HTC Desire delivers mails fast trying to match Blackberry standards.
The USP of HTC Desire can be its multi-touch functions (thanks to HTC Sense) and a unique user experience where one can pinch inwards on any home screen and it opens displays accessible with a simple tap. The Sense UI has got widgets on the Home screen and some of them sound damn cool; for example a Calendar widget which shows agenda (and not just the month) and includes tabbed emails. Browsing the Sense UI and widgets is lightning fast except the weather widget (always sluggish on HTC phones) thanks to the 1 GHz Snapdragon.
And then the Desire has got stunning looks which are always welcome.
Apple has got the distinction of not approving any applications which deal with the core functions of the iPhone. However, it was a different story with Opera’s iPhone specific web browser and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise for the users. The competition to Apple’s own Safari web browser is now available on the iPhone app store.
Given its data compression feature to compress content before delivery to handsets, downloads can be faster in comparision to other browsers and thus there can be savings on data usage bills. Opera has hence got a huge number of loyal mobile phone users.
Opera is clearly delighted over this development as it gears up to offer unmatched web browsing experience with the Opera Mini browser.
This development becomes all the more interesting as other software developers like Microsoft, Google and Mozilla may not be far behind from developing such apps and applying for approvals.
With more than 50 million users on various platforms across the globe, Opera Mini has clearly made a mark, thanks to its speed and ease in tab navigation. Synchronisation of bookmarks between the mobile and desktop browsers is all the more useful. Let’s wait and watch how the Opera Mini browser fares in the iPhone world.
You could soon get to see the 4G enabled iPhone from Apple which will be a lot more suave, slim and sleek compared to its predecessor. Given the fact that the recently released iPad is facing competition from too many quarters, Apple is apparently not interested to reveal details about the 4G iPhone which stands a good chance to eat into the iPad market. Rumours are agog that the release would be sometime in June or July.
Powered by a 5 megapixel camera with front facing, the pictures are going to be crisper than ever and the OLED backlit display will help HD quality display. Video chat would be all the easier with the front facing camera. The larger 64GB memory will be able to store a lot of things and GPS will be in-built.
4G is all about lightning fast internet speeds over the mobile phone and there are only some handsets which are 4G-enabled.Video and audio streaming will be possible and so will be video blogging.
iPhone users across the globe will now be looking forward to the 4G phone so that they could upgrade to the sleeker high quality device and be a part of the latest thing. Apple has kept its cards closer to its chest and only time will tell how it goes.
HP Slate will mark the beginning of the tablet wars between the competitors which will only get fiercer if not murkier with time. The Apple iPad is the undisputed monopoly when it comes to tablet PCs today and HP Slate is all set to crash into to the party very soon.
The HP Slate comes with a front facing webcam and thus suits video-conferencing on the fly. The Slate runs on Windows 7 and it will be compatible with all the PC components that we use day in and day out.
The HP Slate comes with Flash support, a USB port and SD Card Reader. One needs to use iTunes or email to transfer pictures on the contrary which is tedious.
Gadget geeks are surely waiting with eagerness for HP Slate. So, when does this tablet get out on to the shelves? There are good number of pointers which indicate the Slate to get released this Fall and if it does, then it would be on many people’s Christmas lists.
The entry price of $549 stands well to counter the $499 price of the 16GB Wi-Fi iPad. All in all, the entry price for the tablets seems to hover around $500.
The much awaited Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and the HTC Desire are being sold by Virgin Media from today as per its announcement. The positive thing about these handsets is that both Virgin as well as non-Virgin Media customers can go with these phones.
As per the news, you can avail the HTC Desire on a two year contract deal by paying £30 a month along with a free phone. However, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 which is offered with a similar deal on PAYG plan costs £50 more than that of the HTC Desire.
Additional offers
Virgin Media is also offering its existing customers few additional benefits like free calls to any Virgin mobile, free calls to Virgin mobiles from their home phones. Customers can also go with either the same monthly plan for a shorter period of 18 month deal or with a low cost plan of just £5 for the same term of the contract.
Virgin Media with an intention of increasing the number of its cutting edge Smartphones, is coming with an attractive deal by offering the BlackBerry Bold 9700 to its customers exclusively for one month deal.
Virgin Mobile is killing UK mobile market with simple mobile tariffs, which otherwise is crowded with most complicated tariffs.
Under new “Quadplay” offering, Virgin Mobile comes with new range of simple tariffs with more benefits to its existing customers. These new tariffs apply for both mobile and landline phones. These tariffs provide its customers with simple pricing patterns with simple and easily manageable contacts.
It has come up with SIM only tariff, which allows customers to enter into contract without buying handset. This allows customers to enter into contract with their current phones for customers who are happy with their current phones.
Second option is allowing home phone customers to make free calls to its mobile numbers. This tariffs allows its home phone subscribers to make free calls to their mobile numbers under their home phone inclusive periods.
Third option is simple 8p tariff. Under this tariff, customers can call to either mobile or landline at unbelievable low cost 8p across UK. This tariff, known as Simply 8p, also allows customers to make 50 free minute calls to other mobiles also.
