Not quite sure what Pepsi was thinking here, but they’ve done it, and now they’re apologizing for it. The other day Pepsi apologized for their new ‘Before you Score’ app for iPhone, an app that breaks women down into 24 set ‘types’ and provides pick up lines, info, feeds and more on each. There’s even built-in Facebook and Twitter integration, allowing you to boast about your successes as a result of using the app.
Granted, I believe the app was launched with only humorous intentions in mind, but things seem to have gone off course here. At least Pepsi has acknowledged and apologized for their ‘bad’ here.
Need help stereotyping women? Yep, there’s an app for that!
Note: Just checked the App Store, and can’t seem to find it. Perhaps it’s already been pulled.
Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) was on hand at CTIA WITE 2009 to give various demos of their new Windows Mobile 6.5 OS. Part of that demo included an in-depth look at the free Windows Phone backup service known as “My Phone.” For those of you net yet familiar with the new Windows Mobile 6.5, let me tell you it’s basically what you’d expect from a Windows Mobile update that is only meant to bridge the gap to Windows Mobile 7. The fundamental problems with Windows Mobile are still there, but it’s been skinned with a decidedly more finger-friendly UI and some nifty cloud-based services (My Phone and Marketplace). It’s a good compromise until Microsoft can launch Windows Mobile 7.
So, how does My Phone work? We had a chance to get a hands-on demo from the Windows Phone booth at CTIA. My Phone backs-up your Windows Phone data (contacts, calendar, SMS text messages, photos, etc.), and it also allows you to manage your photos and media directly on the web. Think of My Phone as a backup utility that helps you offload media for distribution to social networks. Best of all, it’s free (mostly)!
My Phone also offers some MobileMe-like premium features for $4.99. My Phone can be used to remotely ring your phone (even if it’s set to vibrate only), locate your Windows Phone on a map, lock your smartphone to prevent use or even remotely wipe the data on the handset. Each $4.99 purchase is good for 7 days and allows you to use each feature a handful of times. We’d like to see the premium services offered for free, but considering that most people will probably never use any remote management features, $5 sounds like a good enough deal.
Because My Phone was only meant to backup data and offload media to the web, Microsoft gives My Phone users just 200MB of storage space. Remember, My Phone isn’t a storage solution, it’s a backup sync solution.
The Motorola MOTOBLUR service/UI is about to give HTC G1 fans a taste what Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is cooking up for their Android-powered CLIQ. Thanks to a clever Android hacker with access to the CLIQ’s firmware, the MOTOBLUR UI has been ported to the G1- the CLIQ’s keyboard-wielding Android cousin.
Motorola launched their Motorola CLIQ Android phone last month with a unique user interface, called MOTOBLUR, as a new way to keep tabs on your social media. Using Motorola’s servers, MOTOBLUR automatically pulls information from your social networks and RSS feeds and splashes that data onto the CLIQ’s homescreen. MOTOBLUR also keeps your contacts’ status updates and photos up to date.
What you see here is the HTC G1 running MOTOBLUR. You may remember Google (NSDQ: GOOG) throwing a bit of a fit over Cyanogen’s distribution of Google’s licensed Android apps. We have to wonder what Motorola thinks about their entire MOTOBLUR getting the “mod” treatment.
Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) didn’t have a CTIA booth this go around, so they sent their Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 with the “Windows Phone” booth to keep things interesting. There was no way I wasn’t going to get my hands all over the X2’s improved arc-slider and 3.5-inch OLED touchscreen. The X1 launched Sony Ericsson’s high-end XPERIA brand with high-end style last year, leaving some big shoes for the X2 to fill. We just had to find out if it did.
Changed from the X1 days is the touchscreen. The XPERIA X2 boasts a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen that’s flush mounted. No more recessed resistive nonsense here. The arc-sliding keyboard is more comfortable and feels less cramped than the X1’s. And, of course, there’s the 8.1-megapixel camera tucked into the curvy shell.
The Panel UI still allows you to change your homescreen to fit your changing needs and moods. There are new Panels available too: a kind of cheesy Sim City-esque Sony Ericsson panel, new Windows Mobile 6.5 panels and more. The new Slide View feature takes center stage in the X2’s interface, serving up an inspired shortcut menu design that makes it easy to hop around oft-used phone features like missed calls, messages and panels.
We’ll let the video and photo gallery do the rest of the talking.
CTIA Fall 2009 isn’t the biggest show we’ve ever been to. In fact, this particular conference might be the smallest CTIA we’ve ever attended. But, that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of cool hardware to ogle on the showfloor. Take the Nokia N900 for example. It’s Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s latest Nseries smartphone, and the first of the Nseries lineup to run a non-Symbian OS. Nokia tapped its Maemo development team to craft a version of the Linux-based operating system for the new Nokia N900 smartphone, and we have to say it’s light-years better than S60. Say what you want about Symbian, just don’t say it’s “good.”
Anyway, enough ranting about Symbian. The Nokia N900 is a true multi-tasking powerhouse. The N900 is powered by the same 600Mhz ARM Cortex A8 processor that you’ll find crunching numbers inside the iPhone 3GS. Nokia uses that awesome processor to bring serious multi-tasking to the Nokia N900. Take a look at the video below and you’ll see that the N900 we were playing with was running no less than six apps at the same time – no saved-state nonsense, this was legitimate multi-tasking. One of the apps (a game) even displayed an animated thumbnail showing the game in action while running in the background.
The UI is smooth and lag-free. Flick your finger on the touchscreen and you’ll be treated to a bit of kinetic scrolling. Maemo 5 supports widgets too, which means you can fill your three homescreen panes with all sorts of little info-windows that pull social-network information in real-time. And, as an added bonus, Maemo 5 runs a Mozilla-based web browser that boasts full Flash 9.2 support. This isn’t the crappy Flash Lite that some folks have been saying is a good alternative to real Flash support (even though it really isn’t). This is real Flash, running real fast and real smoothly.
As for the hardware, here’s a quick rundown. The Nokia N900 features a 3.5-inch WVGA capacitive resistive touchscreen, 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera (with dual-LED flash), 32GB onboard storage, 3G data, GPS, WiFi, FM radio and that speedy 600Mhz Cortex A8 processor. In a nutshell, it’s everything you’d expect from Nokia’s latest Nseries flagship.
You can pre-order the Nokia N900 from NokiaUSA.com for $649. Have at it!
That’s it. Game over. After spending some quality one-on-one time with the HTC HD2 (Leo) today, we’re convinced that the HTC HD2 is the “baddest Windows Phone” of the year. In fact, the HD2 might be strong enough to carry that title through much of next year. The powerful-yet-slim HD2 packs a 1Ghz Snapdragon chipset into a shell no thicker than your standard yellow No. 2 pencil, basically killing any hint of the lag we’re used to seeing with Windows Mobile.
What makes this new Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone so great? Well, aside from its power-packed chipset and sexy design aesthetic, the HD2 is the only Windows Phone (so far) to sport a capacitance-based touchscreen (like on the iPhone and Android smartphones) that throws out pixels at WVGA resolutions across a whopping 4.3-inches of real estate. Then, add in the fact that the HD2 features a 5-megapixel camera (with dual-LED flash), integrated GPS, WiFi, microSD slot, FM radio, digital compass and a 3.5mm headphone jack, and it’s easy to see how the HD2 dominates the competition.
HTC also baked in some of their Sense design philosophy into the HD2’s TouchFLO 3D UI, focusing on personalization/customization, intuitive finger-based interface and media consumption. That all translates into a user experience that we’d frankly never expected from a Windows Phone.
We’re expecting to see the HTC HD2 make its US debut in Q1 of 2010. As for the US price, we’re not sure. But, we’re still willing to offer a kidney in trade.
[Update]
Photos color corrected and updated. Apologies for making your eyes freak out.
Rock Band is on its way to the iPhone! Forget everything you thought you knew about beat-matching music games on the iPhone, EA Mobile’s Rock Band is by far the best in its class. We had a chance to sit down with EA Mobile at CTIA WITE 2009 to get a sneak-peek at Rock Band for iPhone, and it’s looking good. The game gives you the option of playing on your own, taking a world tour (as you unlock points for new songs) or jam with up to four of your iPhone friends in person or over the internet. Linking up for 4-way multi-player mode is done over Bluetooth, so you don’t even have to worry about finding a hotspot to get your jam on!
The iPhone port of Rock Band gives the gamer the same look and feel as the console version – graphics, gameplay and sound effects are all very familiar. Just like the console version, Rock Band for iPhone offers four different instruments to play – bass, guitar, drums and even vocals. The game comes loaded with 20 songs, all of them master versions from the real-life band (no cover songs). And, with in-app purchases now supported on the iPhone OS 3.0, Rock Band for iPhone will allow you buy new song packs directly from EA Mobile. How sweet is that?
[Update]
There’s no hard launch date set, but the game is going in for AppStore approval within a week. After that, it’s up to Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) to pull the trigger.
Keep reading for our sneak-peek video of the upcoming Rock Band iPhone game!
The Pre is coming to Mexico? What? Yep, at least according to a few tasty videos I noticed this morning. The videos clearly show a GSM Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre running on the Telcel network. There are a few ‘fishy’ things about the videos including a mention that the Pre has expandable storage space. Really? Could this be the first Pre with expandable storage? I wish they’d pop off the battery door to let us take a look-see…Check out the videos for yourself (another video after the jump) and tell me what you think in the comments.
Note: Of course this is all rumor at this point… Should be interesting if we start to see more rumors coming to us from Mexico… Tip me if you find anything! Read the full article »
It’s been a long time coming, and they’ve had to trudge through a veritable gauntlet of bad press related to Global Verge and Buzzirk Mobile, but Zer01 Mobile is finally ready to show that they’re not just full of hot air. Zer01 CEO Ben Piilani was on hand at the Fall CTIA WITE 2009 conference to prove to the media that Zer01 service is indeed real and does work.
For those of you not aware, Zer01 hit the scene earlier this year with a revolutionary new wireless calling service that used some sort of patented VoIP technology to provide unlimited voice and data service for just $70 per month, sans contract. It’s an intriguing offer, to be sure.
Piilani explains the Zer01 service as a “VoIP carrier” of sorts that treats all network traffic as data. Zer01 says that their service piggybacks on partner GSM networks in the US, but stops short of mentioning just who those partner carriers are. Getting started with Zer01 service is as easy as popping in a Zer01 SIM card into a Windows Mobile smartphone. The handset will automatically download a Zer01 VoIP dialer that is required to place voice calls. Once that’s all setup, you can talk and surf without limits.
The Zer01 service was demonstrated on a T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) HTC Touch Pro2, and the service works on the 1700Mhz 3G frequency. Even our feeble minds can make the logical connection that T-Mobile may very well be Zer01’s partner GSM carrier. But, we could be wrong.
As for retail availability, Zer01 says they will have their retail channel setup through established retailers in about a month. For their sake, we hope this launch window holds.
We’re expecting our own Zer01 SIM in about a week, so keep an eye out for a more in-depth look at Zer01 Mobile’s service.
AT&T (NYSE: T) launched the HTC PURE late Sunday evening as the first Windows Phone (get used to seeing that more) to sport the new Windows Mobile 6.5 OS, and it’s taken us this long to get a proper hands-on video together. Our bad. To make it up to all of you, here’s a quick(ish) look at the AT&T-branded HTC Touch Diamond2, interestingly branded the AT&T PURE. As a bonus, you also get to check out some of the cool new features in Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional.
A few things about the AT&T PURE. It sports a glossy black finish and metallic accents that highlights the 5-megapixel camera. The front-facing camera is gone. It’s compatible with AT&T’s 3G network. And, it’s got curves. We like the curves.
Under the hood, we find the same GPS, WiFi, microSD slot, gobs of RAM and 3.2-inch WVGA touchscreen that made the Touch Diamond2 a formidable Windows Phone. As for the PURE’s resistive touchscreen, it almost feels more responsive than the Touch Diamond2. Maybe it’s just in our heads. Maybe Windows Mobile 6.5 makes it feel more responsive. Whatever it is, the PURE is pure finger-flicking fun.
Stay tuned for more AT&T PURE and Windows Mobile 6.5 coverage. In the meantime, enjoy the hands-on video.
CTIA Fall 2009 isn’t the biggest show we’ve ever been to. In fact, this particular conference might be the smallest CTIA we’ve ever attended. But, that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of cool hardware to ogle on the showfloor. Take 
Rock Band is on its way to the iPhone! Forget everything you thought you knew about beat-matching music games on the iPhone, EA Mobile’s Rock Band is by far the best in its class. We had a chance to sit down with EA Mobile at CTIA WITE 2009 to get a sneak-peek at Rock Band for iPhone, and it’s looking good. The game gives you the option of playing on your own, taking a world tour (as you unlock points for new songs) or jam with up to four of your iPhone friends in person or over the internet. Linking up for 4-way multi-player mode is done over Bluetooth, so you don’t even have to worry about finding a hotspot to get your jam on!
It’s been a long time coming, and they’ve had to trudge through a 
AT&T (
