Young Steve Jobs looks a lot like Ashton Kutcher
Uncanny.
Have great weekend people!
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Specs of key upcoming HTC and Samsung devices leaked
Pictured here is the HTC Desire 2 (unconfirmed)
The Samsung Galaxy S, HTC Desire HD, HTC Desire and the HTC Wildfire — what do all these devices have in common? Well, all of them are aching for a refresh. In short, the time has come for the lot to be replaced.
Both HTC and Samsung didn’t have much to show at CES this year so all eyes are on the Mobile World Congress happening next week. What do they have in store? Samsung will be unpacking the new Galaxy S and HTC is expected to release a slew of new and updated devices to make up for the deficit at CES.
Ahead of the event, leaked specs for the new Samsung Galaxy S, HTC Desire HD, HTC Desire and the HTC Wildfire have surfaced and they are awaiting your reading pleasure right after the jump.
Nokia partners with Microsoft to adopt Windows Phone as primary platform
This is possibly one of the biggest piece of mobile tech news of the decade. In a joint open letter today Nokia and Microsoft announce that they will come into a strategic partnership to leverage on the respective strengths of both brands to build a new mobile ecosystem to compete with Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.
Just on the top level, here’s what the partnership will entail for both parties.
- Nokia will adopt Windows Phone as its primary smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader.
- Nokia will help drive and define the future of Windows Phone. Nokia will contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.
- Nokia and Microsoft will closely collaborate on development, joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.
- Bing will power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter will provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services.
- Nokia Maps will be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services. For example, Maps would be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and adCenter advertising platform to form a unique local search and advertising experience.
- Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements will make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low.
- Microsoft development tools will be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allowing developers to easily leverage the ecosystem’s global reach.
- Microsoft will continue to invest in the development of Windows Phone and cloud services so customers can do more with their phone, across their work and personal lives.
- Nokia’s content and application store will be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience.
On the up side, both brands definitely have strengths that each other can leverage on. Windows Phone is a good place for Nokia to start in developing a platform that can truly go up against Andoird and iOS. On Microsoft’s side, aligning with a capable hardware partner like Nokia — who are amongst the best in the world — will give the well received Windows Phone platform a much needed boost to his critical mass. But we’ve been down this road before.
Good intentions are, well, all good but at the end of the day it’s the results that matters. Both Microsoft and Nokia have similar pasts. Both were on top of their game, both got complacent and both got blindsided by the underdogs. Both have their fair share of flops and lemons. Have both learned enough of a lesson in making these lemons to make it stick this time around? On the surface of things, it is an indicative yes but a major change needs to happen.
With recent successes like Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7, Microsoft is showing that it has been invigorated with a fresh new way of thinking. It just needs that focus and stamina to sustain this positivity. Nokia on the other hand, has had it’s fair share of good ideas but has time and time again demonstrated its failure in the execution of these good ideas, let’s hope that Microsoft’s positive vibe rub on Nokia real good.
What will then happen to Symbian and MeeGo? For now our guess is Symbian will probably remain a staple for low-end phones that make up a sizable chunk of Nokia’s profit. As more and more people want smart phones and it gets cheaper and cheaper to produce, the adoption of Windows Phone in entry-level markets will happen but as far as Symbian is concerned, things will remain the same for little while more. As for MeeGo, let’s just say that it is as good as dead.
As for the manufacturers who were the early adopters of the Windows Phone platform. The likes of HTC and LG will obviously feel jilted by this announcement. Will manufacturers abandon ship? Considering current Window Phone devices are not really flying off the shelves, it might be a good idea for manufacturers to cut their losses and call it quits. We’re not sure about this but what is for sure, a single manufacturer scenario is not what Microsoft would want with its mobile platform.
But what will Microfost do to keep third party manufacturers interested in making Windows Phone devices? That is a question for Steve Ballmer to answer.
Microsoft press release and join open letter from Elop and Ballmer after the jump.
Maxis offers up a Valentine’s day promo just for couples
In conjunction with Valentine’s day Maxis is offering up a special promotion for the Huawei IDEOS U8150 Android phone.
Purchase a Huawei IDEOS U8150 (RM299 promo price with 24 months 3GB data plan) and sign-up for any Maxis Value Plus plan and subscribe to the Maxis 3GB data add-on plan for 24 months and you’ll get another IDEOS U8150 for free.
The catch is with the free phone, you will also have to sign-up for a Maxis Value Plus plan with a 3GB data add-on subscription for 24 months.
Our take on the offer. If you’re going to use that data, sure why not, but if you’re just signing up to get the free phone, it’s a case of short term gain, long term lost. Up to you.
The Maxis Valentine’s Day promo ends on February 15.
Book and pay for movies right from your phone with the Maxis Movies app
Update: Maxis tells us for users to make booking via the app they will have to key in their Maxis mobile number for verification.
Maxis has just launched Maxis Movies, a multiple platform app that allows users to make movie reservations, choose their preferred seats and pay for them right from their mobile device.
Beyond that, Maxis Movies is a one stop app for movie buff allowing users to check the latest movies that’s playing at their nearest cinema, get movie showtimes from all the cinemas in Malaysia as well as read up movie synopsis and watch trailers. To complete the features list, the app also allows users to share their favourite movie choices through Facebook and Twitter.
Maxis Movies accepts payments via PayPal and currently movie reservations can be made for TGV and GSC cinemas. To entice users to try out the app Maxis is offering a “buy 1 get 1 free” promo tie-up with GSC and TGV cinemas. How it works is, you book movies on Maxis Movies day (Tuesdays for movies after 6PM) and you get one movie ticket free. This promotion runs all the way to the end of the year.
Maxis Movies is available for Android (Android Market link here) and iOS devices (iTunes link here). Other smart phone users can access the Maxis Movies mobile internet site at m.maxismovies.com.
Official press release from Maxis right after the jump.
Twitter 2.0 for Android now available
The all new Twitter 2.0 which was previewed earlier is now available for download. It comes with a host of new improvements such as brand new UI, ability to scan your contacts for twitter accounts, autocomplete @username while tweeting, easier photo uploads and faster twitter actions.
You can download directly from the Android Market here.
[ SOURCE ]
Twitter 2.0 for Android Preview
EverythingAndroid has a quick preview of the upcoming official Twitter App update for Android. It spots a fresh UI but functionality wise it looks pretty much the same as the current version. According to the source, the new version puts great emphasis on speed and we can see that the new UI places most of the important areas such as twitter mentions and DM more prominently at the top.
Hopefully the new version supports multiple accounts which is absent in the Android version but available for other platforms. We don’t like however is the big note of “Pull down to refresh” at the top of the feeds which is quite wasteful in terms of screen use.
Watch the preview video after the jump.
Android Collectables Series 2 preview by Dyzplastic
Dyzplastic, the company that started off the original Android figurines is coming out with a fresh new series for 2011. According to their blog, there will be a total of 12 designs which is more than its previous 10 in the first series.
To kick start the new year, they had also released a special edition Chinese New Year God of Fortune shown below. If you’re interested in getting one, there’s actually a local retailer in Malaysia and the Chinese New Year Android figure is going at RM38.80.
As for the new series, it is already listed on the store as coming soon with the price tag of RM410. If you’re interested, you can check them out at TakenShop.