PocketHacks.com

Hexapod robot controlled by Android OS and iPhone

This video is a blatant example of having too many high-end toys but we love it anyway. Robert Stephenson is controlling a rather awesome-looking hexapod via a Bluetooth connection to his HTC Hero. The app allows on-screen selections to decide which portion of the robot will move as a result of accelerometer data from the handheld. The only thing we saw that was missing is a camera feed to the phone. But this hack doesn’t stop there. The Hero can be used to host a WiFi network while still connected to the hexapod. The second half of the video shows an iPod Touch connecting via WiFi and controlling the bot. Now head on over to the laser cutter to start that hexapod build, and finish up by getting elbow-deep into some Android development.

Via hackaday.com

Iphone, Android and Blackberry best games

Among the various communication gadgets available in the market, the iphone 4 takes the pride of place. The main feature available in this device is the multi-tasking facility, where one has the option of switching between apps without slowing down the speed of the app in the background. This iphone also allows one the option of switching to recently used apps from where they were left last. The multi-tasking facility on the iphone also allows one to receive skype or VoIP calls even when the iphone is locked. One can keep the conversation going even while watching TV or listening to music.

The blackberry offers hundreds of games many of which can be downloaded free from the net. Among some of the popular games is the “Fear of the dark,” a game which revolves around the story of a captive princess held by an army of dark creatures. The player as the prince must rescue the princess. The game involves avoiding various traps and killing all the monsters.

Another interesting blackberry games is Tomcat Dogfight which allows one to use machine guns and rockets. The idea is to shoot down as many enemy planes possible from the sky to move on to the next level. As the player plays the game it is advisable to look back at enemy planes that may be at the back. The Entity is an action based game with 25 levels. In this game, the player guides the alien which will enable it to change its shape and behavior. This game is considered slightly difficult and the idea would be to keep at it for one to improve.

Another important facility that the iphone provides is the GPS. This facility in the iphone keeps constantly updating one’s position even as other as other activities are on. It also provides voice turn by turn directions even as one continues to listen to music. When the directions are spoken, the music volume automatically lowers. The iphone therefore allows two people to know each other’s location even though they are not using the app actively.

Blackberry also allows one to load games like aces Solitaire which includes games such as free cell pyramid , Yukon and canfield. Another interesting game is par 72 golf which is a realistic 3-d golf game for blackberry users where one can compete on 18 holes. One of the famous card game is the UNO. For those who would like to improve on geography skills there are the smart educational games that are a pack of software games that introduce one to states, counties and capital cities. This game is the sign for kids as well as the grown-ups. The game can be changed by the press of a simple button.

The iphone allows one to do high definition video recording that can be edited with standing high definition. The iphone also has a provision to convert many of the small clips that may be taken during a vacation and using the iMovie app can be converted into a finished movie.

Android 2.3 is the next phone generation with lots of new application and games to compare with blackberry and iphone, so will iphone have the best iphone apps and the best iphone games? Or blackberry and Android can compare with the iPhone?

Capacitive screen smartphones will reach over 50% in 2011

Many of us are wondering why the smartphones market has welcomed with open arms the use of the touchscreen technology only since 2007, when Apple launched it’s iPhone. What did the producers before, maybe the market was not ready, or were they not want this market?

Anyway, on the market today there are two types of touch screens: capacitive and resistive. The second is composed of a film that rests on a surface when using a stylus. Currently occupies most of the devices on the market because it is cheap. The first, however, work through the electrostatic force of the fingers. The capacitive screen is much better looking and easy to use. According to a recent analysis, moreover, by 2011 the growth of this technology will occupy half of the smartphones market. This will certainly lead to lower prices and increased investment in the mobile sector.

S2U2 v2.43 – fresh new version

S2U2 (Slide2Unlock2) is a simple lock/unlock application which has the iPhone style slide unlocking. It can be used as a screensaver while you don’t use your device. It has a CallerID function (but it may not work on some devices, so try it before use it daily); S2P control plugin; and volume control. S2U2 shows many system information even without unlocking and highly customizable.

Changes of v2.43
- fixed some integration problem with S2P when S2P is installed on storage card.
- fixed no indication of which password key was pressed in v2.42.
- a few minor bugs fixed.

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Another iPhone 4 banned commercial

iPhone 3GS vs Samsung Taylor Windows Phone 7 – browser speed test

Samsung Taylor is one of the devices Microsoft is shipping to developers nowadays in order for the to test their Windows Phone 7 applications  in real life, on Device, instead of using emulators. Here we have a video comparing the Internet Browsing experience on the iPhone 3GS versus the new Samsung Taylor.

Zagg invisibleSHIELD solves the iPhone 4 antenna problem

The video shows us how the iPhone 4 simply stops handling packets when you touch the antenna. Then they test it with some of their clear shield and it seems to work just fine.

You can get your Zagg invisibleSHIELD from here:

HTC HD Pro Concept by Jukah

The whole point of the concept was to have a good keyboard while looking like a slate phone. OLED displays and digitizers strengthened with new composites could easily be under 4mm thick. Space could also be saved with a hinge mechanism that has dual purposes as part of the body of the phone.

The concept has a 4.3″ screen that is slightly thicker than 3.2mm, encased in a durable glass and extremely unbendable metal. The phone is no thicker than 11.5mm while still having a 5 row staggered keyboard. There is still plenty of room for components. Approx. 62165.95 cubic mm is still available for components. This is very close to the iPhone’s 62781.7 cubic mm (counting the space taken by screen and digitizer) volume. Along with the standard variety of ports (3.5mm jack, MicroUSB, and mini HDMI), the concept has a high capacity battery (>1500mAh) that is removable from the phone when the keyboard is opened. Pushing the capacitive volume slider on the device in allows you to access the keyboard (this works because the volume slider is part of the screen).

Author: Jukah

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Windows Mobile – a complete reshuffle

Mobile technology has evolved and progressed at a rapid pace that time just has flown by. Even 5 years doesn’t seem to matter now. Few years back, Smartphones were supported by only the Symbian OS and Palm OS. Microsoft too joined the league and created the Windows mobile. Seeing Microsoft come into the market, Palm decided to change to the windows format. But, the recent launches of Apple’s iPhone and Android OS mobiles have changed the world of Smartphones completely.

Many young professionals till opt for the windows mobile as it carries a clear-cut to the overfilled milieu of the iPhone and android. Other than that, the windows mobile comes in with whole different set of phone configurations such as phones with physical button, those that combine both physical buttons and touch-screen and finally the full-fledged touch screen. This is one reason as to why windows mobiles have enjoyed greater success than the iPhone as the latter doesn’t have any physical buttons to work with. Many android devices don’t have these solid keys to work with. For people more susceptible to texting on the phone, windows mobile can be a boon to them. Windows phones are not just restricted to the keypad format. They also come in flip-flop models, slider phones, vertical and horizontal layout and many other different features.

Microsoft is also planning on launching the Windows 7 mobile by the end of this year, 2010. For the first time ever, Microsoft scraped off its previous versions and built the mobile’s software from scratch. And, according to early reports, the latest version has kept its name to every other OS in the market today. In this version, there is also the option of getting windows updated by live update.
Bluetooth:

Choosing the best Bluetooth headphone will depend on what you’re looking for as a customer. Cost of the device will definitely play in your mind. You should expect to pay anywhere from $30 to up to $300 or more. You should feel comfortable while wearing the device as well as feel the money’s worth when you’ve purchased the device. Battery life is also another factor that you must take into account. You must also consider options such as the offering of handsfree answering and ending calls, easy adjustment of the volume and the range it possess. If you do a lot of teleconferencing, you might want to opt for the Bluetooth headset as it can be randomly used with your PC or Laptop.

A VPN is a protected, concealed communication channel connecting two or more devices transversely across an open public network. The Internet is a perfect example for this. These VPN devices can either be a special device like a VPN facilitated router or a computer running VPN software. It allows two home computers in diverse settings to connect to each over the Internet or can allow your home computer to be connected to your office network. VPN utilization is very processor oriented and demanding and most broadband VPN routers have to some extent slow processors in them. Broadband router based VPN servers are time and again restricted in throughput because of their microprocessors. Most of microprocessors have an utmost VPN throughput of approximately 6Mbps or 600Kbps.

iPhone 4 signal problems? Get a FREE case!

Many of iPhone users are really excited about the launch of iPhone 4, but like most people that queued up to get their hands on one we were extremely disappointed to find that there is a problem with signal reception when you hold the phone in a certain way. Apple have acknowledged that there is something wrong are being a little slow to get a fix in place. Their advice is to hold the phone in a different way or use an iPhone 4 Case.

Mobile Fun want’s everyone to be able to use their iPhone 4 without any worries over signal, so they’re doing what Apple won’t do and giving you a free case for your iPhone 4 to help resolve the signal loss issues.

To get your free case, go to - Mobile Fun iPhone 4 Case (click here) and add it to your basket. You’ll need to pay for delivery of the case, so if you need any other iPhone 4 accessories, now’s the time to get them! When you’ve finished shopping, click on the basket link at the top of the page and you’ll see a screen similar to the one shown below. More »

iPhone-like lockscreen skin for WVGA Windows Mobile phones

What’s inside:

The skin got a appointment area which shows the next appointment.
You are able to see how much notifications you got.
It looks a bit like the iPhone-Unlock-Skin (excluding the slider and the top informations).
The slider is located at the left side.

How to install:

1. Extract the .zip archiv with a program like WinRar, 7Zip or something similar.
2. Put the extracted folder on your Windows P0hone or Storage Card.
3. Backup following files to restore the standard skin:

/windows/htc_icn_mc_dn.png
/windows/htc_icn_mc_up.png
/windows/htc_icn_sms_dn.png
/windows/htc_icn_sms_up.png
/windows/htc_LS_LockSlider.png
/windows/htc_LS_LockSlider_Dwn.png
/windows/htc_LS_LockSliderLong.png
/windows/htc_LS_LockSliderLong_Dwn.png
/windows/lockscreen/LS_LockScene_480x800.cpr
/windows/lockscreen/sliderbg.png

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Android Market soon with 100,000 apps

The store has 90,000 apps in its library at the moment and many are predicting that if the growth rate continues Android Market will hit 100,000 apps before the end of the month. Additionally, if Android Market can sustain its growth, it will soon be able to catch up to the iPhone’s App Store.

Ebay for Android – now available in Australia, Canada and UK

BusinessWire is reporting that eBay has updated their popular eBay for Android app. It’s now available in Australia, the UK, and Canada, as well as the United States, of course. The eBay app has gone international with this update, adding these 3 fine countries to its repertoire.  With features like Voice Search, Buyer alerts, and Daily deals, the eBay for Android app is a sure catch for anyone looking to sell that old iPhone and get a new HTC device , download this app from the Android marketplace.

Firefox is dead on Windows Phone 7

Christopher Blizzard, Director of Developer Relations and Open Source Evangelist at Mozilla spoke to Gizmodo about the future of their browser in the new order, where they are facing competition from Google on the desktop and mobile, and are also seemingly excluded from many mobile platforms, such as the iPhone and Windows Phone 7. While the interview only touches on Windows Phone 7, it is clear the open source browser project has no love lost for the new OS.

Noting that they were going to do Windows Mobile because it “really needed a good browser”, he felt the restrictions related to Windows Phone 7 was too cumbersome to make it worthwhile.

“They’re gonna ship some version of IE, which is gonna be terrible.” He went on “The wonderful thing about the mobile web is the people like being able to use modern browser platforms and Microsoft’s gonna single-handedly gonna drag that back.”

Of course the slow progress of the browser on Windows Mobile has meant Mozilla lost any fanbase they may have had rooting for a Windows Phone 7 port, but it is still disappointing that they are not even expressing any desire to be on the platform, especially given Microsoft’s expressed willingness to bend the rules regarding native applications for significant players.

HTC Mondrian and HTC Mozart confirmed by HTC

Both the HTC Mondrian and HTC Mozart, both confirmed to be running Windows Phone 7 by the browser ID, which is listed as “Microsoft Internet Explorer Mobile 7”,

The HTC Mondrian’s XML is here and the HTC Mozart’s is here.

The MMS info does not reveal too much, except that both devices predictably have WVGA screens and also that they are both slates without keyboards. The XML also references supported Bluetooth profiles, and we can see support for A2DP, Object push and of course the various hands-free profiles. At least we know, unlike the iPhone, Windows Phone 7 will support A2DP and MMS at launch

Microsoft coins $1.2 billion on Xbox Live

Microsoft has one high-profile non-Windows related consumer success, that being the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.

Analysts now report that the Xbox Live aspect of the console raked in a cool $1.2 billion last year, up $400 million from the year earlier, and that for the first time the majority of this sum is from online purchases rather than subscription fees, indicating the various marketplaces associated with the console has caught on with owners, beyond just paying for online game play.

“Xbox Live has helped sell a lot of consoles and created a lot of loyalty,” said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland, Washington. “Everyone has been talking about Microsoft’s inability to innovate, but this is a pretty good example where they have innovated. They timed it just right with this one.”

Windows Phone 7 is set to be the first time Microsoft is extending its Xbox Live universe to other parts of the ecosystem, with the device having access to the compelling social network around game play, and also the 800 Xbox Live Arcade games being easily portable to the handsets.

With the iPhone (and especially the iPod Touch) rapidly challenging old handheld stalwarts like the Nintendo DS Microsoft should consider pushing the Xbox Live angle much harder that it is at present, and certainly work at bringing its most compelling feature -  multi-person online game play – to the handset as soon as possible.

Read more at Bloomberg here.

Toshiba TG02 first impressions

Here is the first hands-on video of the new Toshiba TG02, what’s new – the touchscreen technology has been resistive swapped with capacitive, the device has become a wee bit smaller while retaining the monster 4.1-inch display, and some 3D touches have been added to the SPB Mobile Shell – skinned Windows Mobile 6.5 OS. Like its older sibling, the handset is still a thing of beauty and the 1GHz Snapdragon does make the power – and while the UI isn’t really a custom one, we like the ability to flip between pages kinda like iPhone and Android do now.

Original source