Random reboots continue to plague the Galaxy Nexus, how about yours?

News

  • January 16, 2012 at 1:56 pm

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Galaxy Nexus back - close-up on Google logo

When we thoroughly reviewed the Galaxy Nexus, the buggy launch of the device was one of its sticking points. While both the GSM and LTE versions of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus are now running Android 4.0.2, there are a number of bugs still plaguing both devices.

One of the most annoying issues plaguing the Galaxy Nexus are random reboots. I’ve been having them on my first Galaxy Nexus and now the same situation has been going on with the second Nexus I’ve got my hands on. They could happen at any time and a couple of times the Galaxy Nexus rebooted while charging during the night. If you have a PIN number set, your device will be ‘off the hook’ when it restarts, until you punch in the PIN number. I also had my first reboot yesterday after updating to 4.0.2 on a GSM/HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus last week.
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Fujitsu planning to enter the US smartphone market with ‘special’ devices

News

  • January 16, 2012 at 8:02 am

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Fujitsu Arrows F-07D views

It was about time for major Japanese phone manufacturers to start looking outside their home market. As I’ve mentioned in a previous article, except from Sony, all other Japanese giants have been absent from the world market for some time. In the past, the big stumbling block was software — it was very hard for Japanese companies to design and market handsets specifically for overseas markets, as their existing line of phones catered to the idiosyncrasies of their local market. With the advent of Android however, there was no longer any excuse, as they could finally focus on hardware, something they can do very well, and simply use stock Android on top.

Thing is, Japanese companies are now being more or less forced to expand. While in the past Japan had been a very closed market, other international players are now coming in dynamically and eroding the hold that local companies had. The iPhone specifically has been killing on sales with the Samsung Galaxy S II trailing far behind.
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Olympus starts teaser campaign for OM camera system, registers Olympus OM-D trademark

News

  • January 15, 2012 at 4:18 pm

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Olympus OM-1 creative

The Olympus OM system was introduced in 1972 based on compact 35mm SLR camera bodies. The system proved a hit and Olympus released a large number of consumer and professional cameras under the OM system until 2002. There has been a lot of speculation that Olympus is staging a comeback (or at least cashing in on the past success) of the OM system with a new digital camera.

We’ve already reported that Olympus is expected to make an announcement in early February, probably coinciding with the big CP+ 2012 Camera & Photo Imaging Show in Yokohama, Japan running on February 9-12. Well, a quick search on the United States Patent and Trademark Office brings up that on January 3rd 2012 Olympus Corporation registered the “Olympus OM-D” trademark, which also mentions interchangeable lenses:
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How to: recover a wireless network (Wi-Fi) password on your Mac

Guides

  • January 15, 2012 at 8:11 am

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Back of Wi-Fi router showing aerial

My scenario, I have my MacBook Air connected to a wireless network and I want to give the password to a friend to connect. Now I can go over to my Wi-Fi router and look under its casing where I have the password written on a post-it, but there must be a smarter way around this that would save me the trip. Obviously, there could be tons of reasons why you wound need access to the Wi-Fi key, e.g. you’ve misplaced or forgotten it. The easy instructions below would work on any MacOS X computer that can already connect to the wireless network in question.

MacOS stores passwords in what is called the Keychain. Bear in mind that the Keychain holds a lot more than Wi-Fi passwords, like passwords for websites and FTP servers, networks passwords and certificates.

So here is what you do on your Mac:
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GSM Galaxy Nexus updated to Android 4.0.2; we test: some fixes, many bugs still remain

News

  • January 14, 2012 at 10:13 am

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Galaxy Nexus Android Ice Cream Sandwich keypad

An over-the-air (OTA) update to Android 4.0.2 has been rolling out to the GSM/HSPA+ version of the Galaxy Nexus — the Verizon LTE Galaxy Nexus is already at version 4.0.2. We’ve been testing it out on our device for the past 48 hours and here are the initial results.

As we mentioned in our full-length review of the Galaxy Nexus, it has had a buggy launch and some of the well published bugs have been plaguing my device as well. Mind you this is the second Galaxy Nexus I’m burning through, since the first one had an unfortunate accident.

Specifically, I’ve had the occasional random restart, the Wi-Fi hotspot won’t work with my MacBook under MacOS X and while in a call, after pressing the speaker button the other person can’t hear me. You could also consider the screen’s yellow tint as something of an annoyance. I’ve experience a couple of occasional minor issues, like hangs on 3G data connectivity and a confused volume rocker tht would change media instead of the ringtone volume.
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CES 2012 best concepts: Sony VAIO Slate & VAIO Hybrid and Samsung’s Smart Window (video)

News

  • January 14, 2012 at 4:46 am

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Sony VAIO Slate concept with morphing soft back

We really want consumer technology manufacturers to take big risks and to surprise us this year. After all it’s in their best interest to do so, big successes come from thinking out of the box.

So, in this frame of mind, we’d like to share with you a couple of concepts, which we wish they would soon become actual products, that really peaked our interest.
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The Motorola Droid Razr Maxx is a smartphone with staying power, coming January 26

News

  • January 13, 2012 at 7:20 pm

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Motorola Droid Razr Maxx - all views

We like the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, no, we really like the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx for one specific reason, it comes with an immense 3,300mAh battery and it remains ‘razr’ thin. As we saw when we initially covered the Razr Maxx, the smartphone is pretty much the same as the standard Droid Razr, with a bigger battery.

Thanks to Motorola, we now know that it’s coming on January 26th on Verizon for $299 with a two-year contract. To recap, you get a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD (540 x 960) display, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front camera, 16 GB internal storage with an additional 16 GB microSD card pre-installed, it has Kevlar backing and splash-proof coating. The 3,300mAh battery give the Razr Maxx over 21 hours of talk time, and makes us grin in bliss. The extra battery adds a bit of girth to the device, the original Razr measures 7mm thick, the Razr Maxx is still just 8.9mm.
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Google in talks with LG for a ‘Nexus’ TV set running Google TV 3.0

News

  • January 13, 2012 at 9:09 am

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LG LM9600 Cinema 3D Smart TV

Google could be tying up with LG to introduce its next version of connected/smart TV software, Google TV. Though we would normally take such news with a grain of salt, the report comes from Bloomberg, based on accounts by two people familiar with the project. The deal between Google and LG would be similar to the ones the search giant had made with HTC for the Nexus One and Samsung for the release of the Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus, giving LG early access to software.

Web-connected TVs were big news at CES this year, with Samsung introducing several new models in its Smart TV line. Apple is also said to be preparing its own connected and perhaps, talkative TV set.
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Sony Xperia S Android handset gets UK pricing and March 5 release date

News

  • January 13, 2012 at 8:22 am

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Sony Xperia S camera landscape

Sony announced its latest Xperia S Android handset at CES this week and we now have UK pricing and availability. The Xperia S (a.k.a. Nozomi) will be released on March 5th in the UK for £468 ($719 and €560) for the 32GB version, at least according to mobile device online retailer Clove.

The Xperia S has a 4.3-inch 1280 x 720 gap-less optically laminated display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and a impressive 12-megapixel Exmor back-lit sensor rear camera.

It will be sold in both white and black, though initially the white Xperia S will be a Phones4U UK exclusive. The Xperia S includes NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and HDMI, together with GPS and GLONASS navigation support. There is no external microSD card slot — so it would probably mean no mass storage support — and it will ship with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Sony however promised that it will be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich in the second quarter of the year. Did we mentioned it’s also PlayStation certified.

HP TouchPad now seen running Android 4.0 thanks to CyanogenMod 9 (video)

News

  • January 13, 2012 at 7:36 am

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HP TouchPad running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

The CyanogenMod Android custom ROM may have just reached an important milestone of 1 million installs, but as we’ve said before, it’s getting ready for even bigger things to come. One of these, is to liberate the HP TouchPad from the uncertainties and lack of app support of WebOS.

We’ve already seen CyanogenMod 7 (CM7) running on the tablet. But the install was plagued with a bunch of issues and CM7 is based on the not so tablet-friendly Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The CM team has been fiendishly working on the latest version of the ROM, CyanogenMod 9 (CM9), which is based on the spanking new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Although a final stable build of CM9 has not yet been released for any device, the aftermarket ROM has already found its place on the HP TouchPad. It also seems that significant progress has been made since the last time we saw the TouchPad flirting with Android and CM. As you can see in the preview video below, everything is working pretty smoothly, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Only key sticking points remain the camera and video playback.
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The iPhone 4S getting a warm reception in China despite freezing temperatures

News

  • January 12, 2012 at 4:51 pm

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Beijing Apple Store iPhone 4S launch queues

China is quickly becoming a very important market for Apple. The most populous country in the world has a burgeoning middle-class hungry for technology and of course Apple is carving out a nice piece of the pie for itself. In fact, China contributed to roughly 13.3 percent of Apple’s third-quarter revenue.

Friday 13th of January marks the day when the iPhone 4S goes on sale in 26 new countries, including China. Well as is typical of big Apple product launches, people had already started lining up the night before outside Apple’s two Beijing and three Shanghai stores. Despite the freezing temperatures, hundreds lined-up outside the five official Apple Stores.
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CyanogenMod breaks 1 million installs mark

News

  • January 12, 2012 at 1:54 pm

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CyanogenMod ROM

Android’s real strength is in its developer community. If you want an additional feature not included in stock Android or if you like customizing your devices to death, Android’s developers and aftermarket ROMs will come to your rescue. Aftermarket ROMs can also give old devices new life, and even though manufacturers may take their sweet time updating Android devices, you may find a custom ROM for your device based on the latest version of Android.

One of the most popular Android aftermarket ROMs comes from the CyanogenMod team, which has today reached an important juncture. CyanogenMod had now been installed on over 1 million devices. We’d like to congratulate the team on their success and wish them all the best on their future developing exploits. We are sure that with the advent of the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich based CyanogenMod 9, the number of installs will really skyrocket.
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Apple’s MacBook Air line about to get even faster Samsung SSDs

News

  • January 12, 2012 at 7:31 am

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MacBook Air (mid-2011)

One of the key factors that make the user experience of Apple’s MacBook Airs great is the fast data transfer speeds, which rely on the thin-and-light laptop line’s speedy solid state drives (SSDs). When we reviewed the mid-2011 MacBook Air (MBA) we found that startup and resume was incredibly fast, applications launched quickly, while overall, the operating system was very responsive. This is in no small part because of the transition Apple had made to SSDs.
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