By Humberto Saabedra on January 27, 2012
Kajeet might be an unfamiliar name to most, but the company has been around for the past five years, providing wireless service as a virtual operator in its own niche as a child-friendly alternative to other, more expensive services.
The provider has recently rearranged its lineup to include smartphones, but with the new additions comes added features to protect kids and teenagers from unsavory and potentially unsafe content as well as new features for child tracking and safety. Read more for the complete review.
Continue reading “Review: LG Optimus (Kajeet)”
Posted in Android, LG, Reviews, Virtual Operators (MVNOs) | Tagged Android, Kajeet, LG Optimus |
By Christopher Price on January 26, 2012
Clearwire confirmed to PhoneNews.com today that they have stopped activating new service for customers in pre-WiMAX markets. This does not affect markets that are selling CLEAR 4G WiMAX coverage, nor does it affect any customers who have already enrolled in Clearwire pre-WiMAX service.
The legacy, pre-WiMAX technology dates back to Clearwire founder Craig McCaw’s vision of delivering broadband Internet wirelessly, with a focus on delivering broadband to rural markets that do not have easy access or multiple choices for broadband Internet service.
Originally, Clearwire told PhoneNews.com that it expected all pre-WiMAX markets to get a quick upgrade to WiMAX. It’s a story, and timetable that we followed closely, being that this article is being written from one of the Clearwire markets that is still stuck in pre-WiMAX coverage. That coverage provides speeds up to 3.0 mbps, but lacks modern interfaces… like USB… or even ExpressCard. The only devices that work with the service, are bulky modems designed for fixed wireless, or a PCMCIA/CardBus card (we don’t even have a laptop that has that slot anymore).
Rural customers though persisted, we met multiple customers lined up at iPhone launches that ran their Clearwire pre-WiMAX gear in their car, powered into routers… all being driven by a DC power inverter. Unfortunately, the lack of a simplistic, consumer-friendly solution ensured that only the tech-savvy, and desperate, really took full advantage of these pre-WiMAX offerings.
The technology gap underscores Clearwire’s painful migration from pre-WiMAX, to WiMAX, and now to LTE. The changes in network hardware have prevented Clearwire from having one consistent technology to market to rural and urban customers alike. Clearwire’s majority owner, Sprint, pushed Clearwire to abandon its rural transition goals, in order to focus on rolling out WiMAX in coveted urban markets as quickly as possible.
Now, customers in these rural markets will have to wait until late this year, when Clearwire will unveil its LTE network. It is not even assured that these markets will be upgraded at that point. After missing its 2010 timetable for rural market upgrades, pre-WiMAX customers have been given no guidance from the company, other than to stay tuned to press releases and email updates.
Clearwire continues to struggle. While receiving a cash infusion of a billion dollars from Sprint, largely under pressure-and-observations that Sprint was betting on Clearwire to fail, the company now is working hard to develop an LTE wholesale network, as well as prepare to upgrade CLEAR 4G customers to an LTE Advanced-ready network platform.
Posted in Clearwire, LTE, WiMAX | Tagged clear, Clearwire, LTE, sprint, WiMAX |
By Christopher Price on January 25, 2012
HP today issued two updates on their new mobile open source initiatives.
The company made good on its commitment to open-source Enyo, its JavaScript framework that was announced alongside webOS 3.0 last year. In an effort to make Enyo more palatable for widespread use, Enyo 2.0 was released today, along with the source code for the previous Enyo 1.0.
Enyo, in addition to being updated to version 2.0, also got its own web site, enyojs.com. In addition, Enyo finally received a logo, pictured right.
What differentiates Enyo 2.0 from Enyo 1.0, is that it is now completely independent from webOS. It now embraces all modern HTML5 browsers, across mobile and desktop. This does come at a price, Enyo 2.0 has abandoned the webOS user interface elements that made Enyo attractive to developers who were looking for a robust user interface for their apps.
HP touted at the release that this is a known issue, but to offer Enyo quickly the company decided to release Enyo 2.0 without a UI library. A new UI library will be available for Enyo in the future from HP, which will likely facilitate development of apps across webOS and other platforms.
Future development for Enyo will also include drop-in plug-in support for Flash and Silverlight, allowing for quick embedding of YouTube, Hulu Plus, and other multimedia services.
For current webOS developers, HP pointed developers to continue using Enyo 1.0 in the mean time to embrace its UI library.
As to the roadmap for webOS, HP commented a bit more on its release schedule, providing more details, albeit less clarity. Read more for the details.
Continue reading “HP Releases Enyo 2.0 As Open Source, Provides Roadmap for webOS”
Posted in HP, Palm | Tagged enyo, HP, html5, javascript, js, leveldb, Palm, sql, webkit, webos |
By Christopher Price on January 24, 2012
While we’re not quite done yet running some of our coverage from CES, we did want to post this video that we quietly shot after the show. Essentially, it’s the first day of post-CES activity at the Las Vegas Convention Center, shot in time-lapse, at about one shot a minute.
It is our first production time lapse shoot, so while we welcome feedback, please do note that we put this together at the last minute. As such, the quality is only about 90% of what we would like it to have been (white balances, and other things could have been tweaked a bit better). That said, we liked the video so much, we felt it was worth the bandwidth to offer it in full 1080p HD.
Download links are below.
Continue reading “CES: The Morning After – Time Lapse Video”
Posted in Video & Software | Tagged CES, morning after, video |
By Christopher Price on January 24, 2012
Despite HP not delivering on a promised webOS 2.0 upgrade for all first-generation webOS devices, the webOS community is still at it.
While unofficially upgrading the Pre and Pre Plus to webOS 2.0 (via the webOS Internals’ meta-doctor project) is nothing new, progress stalled out at webOS version 2.1. Since then, webOS 2.2 has provided significant security and stability patches, which the Pre and Pre Plus have not matched.
Within the past few weeks, the webOS Internals community has taken apart the latest webOS 2.2.4 releases for newer devices, and backported it to the Palm Pre Plus and original Palm Pre.
webOS 2.2.4 was recently released for the HP Pre 3 and GSM unlocked versions of the Palm Pre 2. It has not been officially released for the AT&T Veer 4G or Verizon Wireless version of the Palm Pre 2. Many believe it may never be; both would require testing and approval from AT&T and Verizon, respectively. Both carriers appear to have abandoned webOS, in terms of software support. AT&T actually went as far as to force thousands of finish (and AT&T branded) Pre 3 units onto the grey market, rather than allow them to be sold as part of HP’s webOS device fire sale. Pre 3 units in Europe were sold by HP at $75 each, sans contract.
The notes for this unsupported upgrade clearly caution (and we can’t emphasize enough) that this is not only unsupported firmware, but unfinished unsupported firmware. You should not update your phone to this unless you are okay with frequent device issues, including a bricked phone, that may not be able to place or receive calls.
The good news is that testing does show significant stability, and continues the notion that HP had zero legitimate basis for not offering webOS 2 for, at the very least, all Pre Plus devices. Patches to the 2.2.4 build already have taken into account bugs with preloaded apps, even the Amazon MP3 Store now works properly on a Pre Plus running 2.2.4.
Upgrading to webOS 2 is almost essential for continued use of the Palm Pre or Pre Plus, at this point. webOS 1.4.5.1, the last official build for all first-generation webOS devices in the United States (including Pre and Pre Plus), has several known security issues. HP has only supported it by offering up an updated Maps application, which the company may have been contractually obligated to offer, as part of its migration from Google Maps to Bing Maps.
Ironically, AT&T still sells the Palm Pixi Plus, a device HP acknowledges has serious and critical security issues that it has no intention of fixing. The Pixi and Pixi Plus cannot be updated to webOS 2 at this time, due to HP not providing/leaking necessary enabler files. HP claims the Pixi and Pixi Plus are not powerful enough to run webOS 2, a statement many in the hacking community dispute. HP made the same statement about Pre and Pre Plus, only to have to later admit it was false. HP ultimately blamed carriers in the United States for not “requesting” the webOS 2 firmware update on Pre and Pre Plus.
AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint have all declined previous opportunities to comment from PhoneNews.com on the webOS 2 upgrade situation regarding their devices. HP did recently affirm that Verizon Wireless Palm Pre 2 units would continue to receive webOS updates, a topic Verizon did not return an answer on when we asked them directly.
It is widely believed that HP kickstarted the webOS 2 unofficial upgrade effort internally. Recent reports have shown constant feuding and disarray within the webOS Global Business Unit at HP, which ultimately led to the initial downfall of the platform. webOS 2 was leaked for the Pre Plus via an update to the European GSM version of the Pre Plus, providing the enabler files necessary to compile a version of webOS 2 for the Pre and Pre Plus in the United States. The webOS Internals group was able to combine the CDMA files from webOS 1.4.5, and transpose them onto the European GSM’s firmware. Additional evidence for this stems from HP pulling back on offering the update shortly after release, and even going as far as to confirm that they would not even issue bug fix releases for the upgrade.
Since then webOS Internals has turned much of its attention to the HP Touchpad, creating firmware builds that even support unreleased devices, such as the seven-inch TouchPad Go. Firmware have also been released for the never-launched TouchPad 4G, a version of the 10.1-inch TouchPad that featured an AT&T HSPA+ radio.
The development of webOS 2.2.4 for the Pre and Pre Plus does show one thing quite clearly; there remains an active and vibrant webOS community that is anxiously awaiting the release of the webOS source code from HP… as well as a strategic development path from HP going forward, for the platform. We’ve chimed in on that recently with our two cents.
Posted in HP, Palm | Tagged AT&T, firmware, HP, Palm, Pixi, Pixi Plus, Pre, Pre 2, Pre 3, pre plus, sprint, TouchPad, touchpad go, Verizon, webos, webos 2 |
By Humberto Saabedra on January 24, 2012
Following a December filled with changes to its business model in the wake of its forthcoming transition to LTE while continuing to support WiMax until its planned switchover, Clearwire has posted its preliminary fourth quarter 2011 financial results, which see slight improvements in terms of year to year revenue, immediate cashflow and operating profit but still have a long way to go before reaching a self sustaining level without relying on further debt sales, of which a new round of secured notes will be offered that will total $300 million. Read more for the breakdown.
Continue reading “Clearwire Posts Preliminary Q4 Results, Still Treading Water”
Posted in Clearwire, General News, WiMAX | Tagged Clearwire, WiMAX |
By Humberto Saabedra on January 23, 2012
Newly installed RIM CEO Thorsten Heins took to the press this morning to assure both investors and customers that RIM will continue to pursue its strategy of launching new devices with BlackBerry 10 and the forthcoming launch of BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 next month, while revealing surprising details, such as the possibility to license BlackBerry 10 to third parties and the reiteration of the commitment to its current strategy.
Continue reading “New RIM CEO Signals No Real Changes to Strategy”
Posted in BlackBerry, Editorials | Tagged blackberry, blackberry playbook, research in motion, rim |
By Humberto Saabedra on January 22, 2012
Reuters has confirmed that RIM co-founders Jim Basillie and Mike Lazaridis have confirmed in a hastily conducted series of phone interviews held on Saturday that they have stepped down from their shared CEO and Chairmanship roles from the company they founded with immediate effect.
Continue reading “Breaking: RIM Co-CEOs Step Down After Months of Pressure”
Posted in BlackBerry | Tagged blackberry, Jim Balsillie, Mike Lazaridis, research in motion, rim |
By Humberto Saabedra on January 18, 2012
The second tablet to receive the long awaited Android 4.0 update will be Motorola’s Xoom Wi-Fi tablet, with the update being pushed out as an OTA update.
The update pushes the software version to IML77 and takes full advantage of the new operating system, being that the Xoom was the reference device for the previous Android version in Android Honeycomb. The update is also notable for being available pre-rooted for those looking to maintain such access for maximum customization options and functionality not yet available officially on stock Android 4.0 or as the gateway to custom ROMs. of which many are also available.
Continue reading “Motorola Rolling Out Android 4.0 for Xoom Wi-Fi”
Posted in Android, Motorola, Nerds, Verizon | Tagged Android, Motorola, Motorola Xoom, Wi-Fi |
By Christopher Price on January 18, 2012
While SOPA and PIPA were already pretty close to being DOA before all the web site shutdowns you’re watching today… it shouldn’t be any question to PhoneNews.com fans that we would oppose them from day one.
It’s pretty clear why, we’ve been targets of the kinds of actions that SOPA and PIPA could (easily) rain down on a nearly-daily basis. We’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars in court, behind the scenes, to protect bloggers rights. What did we get for it? Losses in readership, downranks in search engines, and lost business opportunities. At one point, we were nearly bankrupted by these kinds of frivolous legal actions.
No, we didn’t play the victim card here on PhoneNews.com. In fact, we only mentioned it once or twice in times where we really had to pull together to keep things going. Those days are behind us, and we have enough legal guns, insurance, and backing at this point to stare down the largest of digital bullies.
Many however don’t have that support. And, with just a single typed page letter from a law firm, SOPA and PIPA would require Internet Service Providers to deny access to a web site. You won’t hear that in the mainstream media, as these two pieces of legislation are sponsored by the big media conglomerates. Not only can these companies use this legislation to shut down piracy, but their media/publishing wings can use shell companies to shut down their competitors… like us.
Don’t believe it? Just as there are advocacy agencies for just about everything, those agencies could hire big legal guns to create crafty challenges arguing that even a fair-use image on a site like this one, constitutes piracy. And, to get back online, a site like ours could go bankrupt just trying to get its day in court.
Again, we’ve been there.
So please, go to Wikipedia, go to Google.com, use the tools on those home pages today to find out how to contact your local representatives in Congress.
We aren’t shutting down our site today, but we are going to leave this post as the top article for the rest of the day. Don’t worry, just scroll down to see the latest news… we think SOPA and PIPA will fail, as they should, but if you don’t speak up with your elected officials, we can’t confirm it’s dead and done for.
The mere possibility that other, independent, members of the media could be even more easily brought to the brink of bankruptcy, is enough for us to ask for you to take the five minutes, to help out on this one.
Posted in General News | Tagged free speech, phonenews.com, pipa, sopa |
