It has been confirmed that Orange in the UK will be adding the Alcatel One Touch XTRA to their network.

The XTRA from Alcatel is a QWERTY slider phone that is aimed at those wanting to keep in touch through social networking. This means that Facebook, Twitter and other similar sites are all easily accessible on the phone and play a prominent part of the UI.

Technical spec wise the One Touch XTRA has a QVGA screen, a 2 megapixel digital camera along with Bluetooth connectivity. There is no mention of WiFi that I can find although the phone does connect over EDGE networks. [Read more…]

Although this maybe no surprise, it’s still good to hear that the FCC have approved the HTC EVO 4G for sale saying it complies with all technical requirements.

The HTC EVO 4G is the first phone that works on the 2500 MHz band from the Sprint/Clearwire network. What this means is that the EVO 4G will be capable of downloading data at around 10 times faster than current 3G devices. Of course this number depends on a lot of things such as Clearwire coverage in the area you are and also the conditions you are using the phone. If you manage to get full speed out of it, you’ll have some seriously quick downloading on your device.

The FCC filing also included the EVO 4Gs model number which is indicated as being the HTC PC36100 for those who are interested in that sort of thing. [Read more…]

We already know what the iPhone 4G will look like thanks to Gizmodo last month sneakily unveiling it. Apple [AAPL] in this next-gen model has decided to change the design of the phone by taking away the rounded corners that we have seen on all previous iterations and have given the phone a very different look.

The video below shows a capture of the screen and the middle section of the iPhone 4G. The video comes courtesy of Smartphonemedic who somehow have managed to get hold of some spare parts. When more parts are received they will be creating another video.

The video can be found below… [Read more…]

The DROID Eris is likely to get an update bringing the smartphone up to Android 2.1 by the end of this month.

The information comes from the support page for the DROID Eris where a mention of Android is detailed. No specific version is mentioned although delving in to the changelog it is clear to see that everything mentioned is included in Android 2.1.

On the support pages for the DROID Eris there has been no specific date mentioned although various people have indicated that the smartphone will get the update by the end of this month. [Read more…]

Google [GOOG] has updated their Google Goggles app for Android that now brings text translation in to the mix.

Gizmodo describe the new application as having a little multi-linguist living in your phone.

To get the system to work you simply load up the application, point the camera at the text you want translating (making sure you get a clear shot of it) and capture the image. Once captured the system is capable of detecting the language you are looking at in most cases, and after a short wait the English translation will appear on screen. [Read more…]

Visa and DeviceFidelity are working with Apple [AAPL] to bring mobile payments to Apple iPhone users. The new system works with the iPhone sat in a protective case that has a secure memory card that is home to a contactless payment application called Visa PayWave.

The system is only designed right now to work with the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS with no next-gen model being mentioned. When active, the system will allow users to easily pay for small products and items as well as make purchases at vending machines by simply waving the phone in front of a contact-less pay system.

In the US there are 1000’s of companies who already accept contactless payment that are compatible with this system. As well as working with the iPhone with a special case, any mobile phone with a memory card slot will also work as the Visa chip can also utilise a microSD card slot. [Read more…]

It appears that Verizon [VZ] are not going to be getting the Apple iPhone on their network this year thanks to Apple [AAPL] extending the exclusive agreement until the start of 2011.

Reasons for the extension are believed to be the way AT&T handled the Apple iPad 3G subscription charges and pricing structure.

The deal is claimed to have happened as follows…

AT&T had to do something dramatic to get the iPad. [AT&T’s negotiated a 50% discount on iPad data plans with Apple] For that pricing, AT&T was able to negotiate a six-month extension on the iPhone exclusive.

[Read more…]

When Google [GOOG] launched the Google Nexus One, the tax was calculated slightly wrong and rather than being based on the sale price it was based on the full retail price. So, if you overpaid the tax, Google are now returning the overpayment to you.

The money you over paid will be paid back to the card you paid on originally unless the card has expired and in those cases, it will be refunded to the same account on to the new issued card.

The letter reads as follows…

Hello,

We’re writing in regards to your recent Nexus One purchase. There was an issue with the way the sales tax was applied to your order. When your order was placed, you paid taxes on the full retail price of the phone. However, you should have only been charged taxes on the sales price of the phone. We apologize for this issue and wanted to let you know that Google will issue a partial refund for the difference in the amount of taxes you were charged.

The refund will be issued to the debit/credit card used to complete the original purchase. To verify which card will receive the refund, please sign in to your Google Checkout account at and click ˜View order’. The payment information for the order will be listed at the bottom of the order receipt.

If the debit/credit card used to complete your purchase has been closed, your card-issuing bank should forward these funds to your new account or mail a check to you for the amount of the refund.

If you have any questions about the refund, or if you need further assistance, please reply to this email and we’ll be happy to help.

Sincerely,

The Nexus One Team

[Read more…]

For those who don’t want to spend an extra $130 + monthly costs on an Apple iPad 3G, but want to still connect to the internet when there is no wireless signal around, an application can now convert your Apple iPhone 3G/3GS in to a wireless hotspot allowing a wifi iPad or other wireless device to connect up and share the unlimited data.

The application is called MyWi and is available for download on Rock, ie, you need to jailbreak your iPhone to get it to work. Once installed you can load up the app, enable WiFii Tethering by switching it to On and a wireless network is then created allowing you to connect up your iPad and share the data connection. [Read more…]

We are hearing rumours today saying that the HTC EVO 4G will be going up for pre-order in the next few weeks sometime in May. The phone will be launching on to the Sprint network and is one of the highly anticipated Android phones being launched this year.

With pre-orders starting towards the end of May it is expected that the official launch date of the smartphone on to Sprint will happen on June 6 which has been a date speculated previously.

Comments in a forum also indicated that HTC EVO 4G will be going to 1 staff member in each store on May 17 with training on the phone starting May 24 with a sale date of June 6. [Read more…]

Beta 3 of the latest iPhone OS 4.0 was released a couple of days ago which revealed a few new features not found previously. New features include a new iPod dock section that brings up basic controls in to the dock area. Also an orientation lock was found allowing you to prevent the iPhone screen from rotating when the phone changes orientation. The iPad has this function built in but uses a physical switch instead of a virtual button on-screen like the iPhone and iPod Touch devices.

A demonstration has been made that shows the new iPhone OS 4.0 in action along with the new features that Beta 3 brings to the phone. The OS was demonstrated on the iPhone 3GS due to the 3G and some iPod Touch models not allowing multitouch to function (unless jailbroke of course). [Read more…]

Good news for those of you in the UK who own a Motorola MILESTONE Android smartphone… Motorola has now released the Android 2.1 operating system that is available for install right now.

This update isn’t arriving OTA (over the air) at the moment, but it is downloadable from right here.

Requirements for the PC to download it are of course very low indicating you basically need a PC that works. Once you have that, make sure you have the right micro USB cable to attach the MILESTONE to your computer. There is some information to read about manually enabling your Google Account on your phone which is straight forwards and once the checklist is complete, the download will be ready for you to grab. [Read more…]