.::REALITYRECALL::.

Parents should encourage children under 18 to limit the time they spend talking on cellphones, Health Canada says in new advice on mobile phone usage.

It seems that not everyone was happy with the iPhone 4S announcement. Upon the announcement of the iPhone 4S, Apple stocks dropped as much as 3.5% whilst Microsoft was up to 3.3% at close. Read more…

Now that we know how the iPhone 4S stacks up against the iPhone 4, let’s take a look at how Apple’s latest smartphone compares to its mightiest competitors on the other major platforms — Android and Windows Phone. In Google’s camp we chose the superlative Samsung Galaxy S II models (focusing on the announced US variants) along with the Motorola Droid Bionic for its qHD and LTE chops. We then picked the upcoming HTC Titan to bat for Microsoft’s team. RIM’s not included here since it’s still stuck in the junior leagues. We left out the intriguing Nokia N9 because it’s a niche player. Check out the fancy table after the break — the results are pretty clear cut!

Continue reading iPhone 4S vs. the smartphone elite: Galaxy S II, Bionic and Titan

iPhone 4S vs. the smartphone elite: Galaxy S II, Bionic and Titan originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In contrast to many manufacturers such as RIM and HTC, who have answered the successful introduction of Amazon’s Kindle Fire by reducing the price of their tablet PCs to remain competitive, ASUS appears to remain unfazed. CEO Jerry Shen says there will be no price change for their current Eee Pad Transformer, nor will there be any delay in the Transformer 2 (which will pack that sweet NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor).  Shen also adds that the upcoming PC tab will sell for $499, a hundred bucks more than its predecessor.

ASUS’ confidence is quite understandable if you consider its 2011 shipment forecast, which projects the sale of 1.5-2 million tablet PCs and of which one million units have already been moved in just the first three quarters of the year. The Transformer 2 would undoubtly put them on track to meet or exceed their projections.

ASUS Unfazed By Kindle Fire; No Delay For Transformer 2

The show’s founders, Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, say they’re ready for other pursuits after six years.

With Star Trek: The Next Generation coming to Blu-ray next year, we’re going to be rediscovering the Enterprise-D all over again. And with all that new picture quality, we’ll be able to notice all sorts of details we missed the first time. More »

Who said it was iPhone day? Here we have what looks like the first leaked photo of the next Nexus device, the Samsung 'Nexus Prime', powered by the next version of Android, codename Ice Cream Sandwich. The shot, obtained by GSMArena, appears to confirm rumors of a device with Honeycomb-style software buttons in place of the traditional hardware keys used by current Android phones.

The leaked photo would also seem to back up reports of the Prime shipping with a 720p (1280×720) display, apparently in a 4.6-inch chassis, according to GSMArena. As you'll see in the image, that makes for an ample DPI of 320, all but matching the iPhone 4's Retina Display, which manages 326 DPI.

That's about all we can tell for sure given the small size of the image. If we were to speculate further, we might say the trim around the chassis seems more metallic than that of the Nexus S. Perhaps it'll ship with a metal or plastic chrome back, or maybe it's just a trick of the light. Only one thing's for certain — all will be revealed at Samsung's Unpacked event next week at CTIA.

Source: GSMArena

I guess it’s better late than never. Microsoft just released the official Hotmail app, and they loaded it with features:

• With push email get messages on your phone without delay
• Synced calendar and contacts
• View your folders in Hotmail, including sub folders
• Send pictures from your phone using Hotmail
• Supports multiple Hotmail accounts
• Send, receive and view attachments

Android Market Link

Microsoft delivers official Hotmail app to Android Market

Like Zune’s own Business Development Manager once said, all consumer electronics products have a lifespan, and today the (not so long) lineage of dedicated Zune hardware expires not with a roar, but with a promise to honor its warranties. Tucked away in the inner chambers of the Zune support site lies a page spelling out Microsoft’s final words on the device, “Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy,” it says, “we will no longer be producing Zune players.” The Zune HD is survived by the Zune music service, which will continue to function with straggling standalone media players, as well as the Windows desktop, Windows Phone and Xbox platforms.

Zune is dead, long live Zune originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Later tonight Adobe Flash 11 and AIR 3 will hit the tubes delivering with it a host of new features, including hardware acceleration for 2D and 3D graphics — at least for desktops. Stage 3D support will be added to the mobile variants for Android, iOS and BlackBerry at a later date. AIR 3 will also be sprucing up connected entertainment devices, like Samsung SmartTVs, with the ability to deliver Flash-based games and content to your home theater system. What’s more, Adobe has baked in support for both Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound. That means both 5.1 and 7.1 sound can be built into an AIR app, whether it be a game or streaming video, and pumped out at up to 512Kbps though your Blu-ray player or other connected theater component. For more, including a demo of a Flash app on a phone and a TV communicating, check out the trio of press releases and video after the break.

Continue reading Flash 11 and AIR 3 landing tonight and delivering 7.1 surround sound to connected home theaters

Flash 11 and AIR 3 landing tonight and delivering 7.1 surround sound to connected home theaters originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adobe has some pretty sweet Photoshop-esque iPad apps in Eazel, Cover Lava and Adobe Nav but they’re not quite Photoshop. However! Adobe will soon be bringing Photoshop Touch to tablets, first on Android tablets and then on the iPad. More »

It looks like Regina could be host to the Grey Cup again in 2013.

For all the Royal Bank customers who have an Android device your day has finally arrived. The official RBC Mobile for Android is now available to download, it’s free and only compatible with devices that run OS 2.1 or higher. The basic banking features are available, such as checking account balances, transferring funds, finding ATMs and paying bills. The app is available in both English and French and you can grab it here via the Android Market.

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1. TD Canada Trust poll says only 8% of Canadians use mobile banking
2. RBC Mobile Banking app for Android coming this Fall
3. ING DIRECT Android app now available for download

Apple has iMessage, Samsung has ChatOn and there are a boatload of other 3rd party Instant Messaging apps out there, namely Kik, Whatsapp, Beluga, Beejive and Fuse. One of the more popular Instant Messaging services is RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger, which is used by over 55 million on a daily basis.

A few months ago a report in the Wall Street Journal noted that Google didn’t want to be the only without a native messaging app and was rumoured to be deep in development, “Google Inc., whose Android software is the most popular operating system on smartphones, has also recently worked on a messaging application, a person familiar with the matter said”. Since the report no other news has surfaced. However, Techradar has posted a few screenshots of what looks to be RIM’s BBM ported to an Android device. As you can see by the images there’s the famous BBM icon, the users display name, PIN, message and status. Apparently the images came from a RIM employee who says the BBM for Android app is currently in beta testing, estimated to be launching by 2012.

Techradar did state that “As far as the screengrabs go, there’s no real way for us to verify them until BBM for Android launches so it’s possible that someone is giving our leg a good yank – but with the app almost certainly in development, we’re cautiously optimistic about the whole thing being legit.”

What do you think? Real or Fake? Good move for RIM to have BBM on other platforms?

Update: Looks like this is fake, the same image was featured on the BlackBerry site, specifically for BBM SDK Demo. Sucks.

Source: Techradar
Updated via AC Tweet

Related posts:

1. Unreleased BlackBerry 8980 images surface
2. Images of the LG “B” Android leak out… thinnest smartphone on the planet?
3. Images of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 surface online again

As of this past September, the Galaxy S II sold more units on contract than any other Android device ever. It’s no wonder, seesing as how the Galaxy phone has taken the weekly sales lead for the past thirty successive weeks (February 21st – September 16th). Samsung is now planning to further the gap, launching a £12m ”Galaxy Family” marketing campaign this week in preparation for this holiday season. Samsung UK and Ireland Mobile MD Simon Stanford said in a statement:

We’ve seen phenomenal sales of the Galaxy S II globally [10 million units] and in the UK specifically we’ve achieved record sales of Galaxy S II in recent weeks – ahead of all other Android devices. We have ambitious plans for the Galaxy family over the coming months evidenced by a £12m marketing campaign which will launch next week.

Samsung’s ramping up of advertising just adds to my  excitement for what we may see at their unpacked event October 11th. We’ll be serving up plenty of news about that you can be sure.

Samsung Galaxy S II is the reigning Android king