Maemo 5 gets Firefox Mobile, no flash on board

Firefox is the most popular desktop browser among gadget nerds. With that in mind, you can imagine the amount of excitement Firefox on a smartphone can create. Finally Mozilla ports its robust desktop browser to a mobile platform and Maemo is the first to get it. Though with anticipation comes some disappointment. Users are reporting that the default browser not only seems to be faster and more consistent, but also Firefox Mobile does ‘not’ have Flash. The default browser in Maemo has Flash and the default option is a more than capable browsing experience. So are N900 users going to ditch their stock option for this? Not just yet. We do want to see Firefox mobile on other platforms though and hopefully Flash will eventually be implemented.

[via Fone Arena]

Microsoft CFO confirms something’s up at World Mobile Congress for WinMo 7

We here at FoneFrenzy just love mobile OS’s. We also love it when the OS we would really, really like to see actually working in the flesh (or circuit boards) and find out that we may just get an early Spring surprise, a prelude to the summer tsunami of phones.

Microsoft’s CFO Peter Klein did an interview with Fox Business channel and discussed, among other things,  the keys to driving up profits and his outlook for online services and business. Oh ya, and Mr. Klein mentioned the following information when asked about WinMo 7:

At about 4:06 in the interview, “Ya, we’re heads down working on Windows Mobile 7 and we’ll have much more to say about that at the Mobile World Congress…in Barcelona in February.”

So this is first word we heard about WinMo 7 actually being released, considering the NDA’s that are a-party to each high level employee at Microsoft. In a story written by Brier Dudley yesterday in the Seattle Times, former chief financial officer, Chris Liddell, “In addition to the $1.9 million sayonara payout disclosed last month, Liddell’s Dec. 1 “resignation agreement” bars him from ever writing, speaking, blogging or podcasting anything about Microsoft and its executives covered by a confidentiality agreement he signed in 2005.”

The penalty section explains in detail the cost of such transgressions can cost you dearly:

If Microsoft establishes a breach of these obligations, I agree that Microsoft shall be entitled to recover from me, at Microsoft’s
option, either the sum of $285,000 as liquidated damages, or actual damages, but not both types of damages, as well as reasonable attorney’s
fees and costs incurred to enforce the Agreement.

Now that explains a lot. But hey, at least we know something is right around the corner at MWC.

Gates vs. Jobs Part Duex

Vodpod videos no longer available.

In all the news, comments, posts regarding Steve’s newest creation, the iPad, sometimes all the nonsense is just plain stupid. We ran across this video depicting Jobs and Gates in a battle to the death.

So sit back, have a laugh and try to understand that we ALL are technology fans – we just choose different vehicles to get to where we all want to go, techno-nirvana. That’s all. So stop bashing and start laughing!

Dual Boot WinMo and Android 2.0 on Windows mobile devices

Got a Windows 6.5 or 6.1 device but feeling a hankering for a little Android love on your handset without giving up your WinMo OS? Well, thanks to the guys over at xda-developers.com have put together a nifty little loader that does it all nice and sweet for you. Called Gen.Y DualBOOT, the application is free and has been published over in xda’s forums.

“This release is made for VGA devices, and supports booting Android both from Internal Storage (moviNAND, e.g. Touch Diamond) & Storage Card (SDMemory, e.g. Touch Pro). WVGA version and QVGA version is also ready. This app has been tested on WM6.1, but will work perfectly on WM6.5.x as well.
Keep in mind that your android setup must be installed already at the root of your storage card in order for this app to work correctly (e.g. \Internal Storage\haret.exe or \Storage Card\haret.exe respectively).”

[via PocketNow]

AT&T to get Nexus One love? You betchum!

Today a label bearing FCC information was unveiled in a new FCC filing for a phone with  FCC ID NM899110 while the N-One has an FCC ID of NM899100. That is only one digit off of the phone in the new filing which could lead a suspicious mind to think that the new filing is a variant of the Nexus One. And the suspicions could be fed by noting that the new filing covers a device that includes 3G coverage on WCDMA bands I, II and V. Those bands cover AT&T in the U.S. and Bell, Rogers and Telus in Canada. Now what would a suspicious mind think?

[PhoneArena]

Are you ready for some Football? Gameloft sports brings NFL to Palm Pre

Well this has made  my day for sure. Gameloft Sports has released a video touting their new NFL 2010 app for the Palm Pre. Interested in viewing more information, visit NFL2010game.com for more information.

Video: Prototype Android tablets with 2 multi-core NVIDIA Tegra processors

With all the talk of Apple’s iPad this week, there are many more new tablet-like systems coming to the market soon.

The video you see here shows two tablets. The black tablet on the left is made by a company called ICD and features a 7-inch resistive touchscreen. The beige tablet on the right is made by FoxConn – the same company that manufactures iPhones for Apple – and boasts a generous 10-inch resistive touchscreen. More importantly, though, both tablets are running on the NVIDIA Tegra2 1Ghz multi-core processor. Thanks to the dual-core Tegra2 CPU and the dedicated GPU core, both tablets made quick work of web surfing, Flash animations, HD (true 1080p) and high-resolution photos.

Notice how quickly high-res photos load and the smooth HD video playback. My new MacBook Pro was prone to dropping frames when playing Star Trek in 1080p, but the Tegra2 had no problem handling the huge video file. An NVIDIA Tegra2 developers kit was also hooked up to play Unreal in full 3D. The game played as smoothly as I remember playing on my desktop computer some years ago. That’s a testament to NVIDIA’s pedigree in graphics processing.

The prototype tablets were still getting some Adobe Flash-related kinks ironed out, so I couldn’t show you Flash video playback. But, you can clearly see that other embedded Flash content works like a charm. Both tablets will e fully Flash 10.1 compatible by launch time, which means that all embedded videos and interactive content will play straight from the web. Try to do that on your iPad.

If you want to play with the NVIDIA Tegra2 platform for yourself, or you feel like trying your hand at manufacturing a Tegra-powered tablet, you can grab the Tegra hardware developers kit here.

[via IntoMobile]

Windows Mobile 7 UX prototyping caught in the wild

Stephen on MSFTKitchen found some interesting yet sweet info about Windows Mobile 7’s UX Flow prototyping. He ran across a profile on a social network and decided to peruse the guy’s personal website and found the following in his portfolio:

“NDA dictates I keep this vague. For a leading cell platform I created UX flows of common controls and usages. After client review I created flash demos. Those demo’s were then reviewed and passed on to SectionSeven development to create interactive prototypes. This process allowed for very efficient UX development. Nothing really exciting, but you just had your daily does of WM7 news, so don’t complain!“

With all the talk around the interwebs regarding a possible Project Pink Zune (not branded, but running a Zune-Phone-like OS), we can only make an assumption that Microsoft has something huge planned for the MWC or thereafter.

iPhone decides VoIP fring allows others a chance to sing on 3G

In a statement released today, Co-Founder & CEO of fring, Avi Shechter said,  “fring users and our team alike are very excited that Apple Inc. have allowed independent iPhone VoIP applications over 3G networks, letting users make voice and video calls over whichever internet access suits their needs at any given place and time.”

Now that VoIP is officially allowed on AT&T’s 3G network, we’ll surely see more iPhone users adopting VoIP apps as their voice call method of choice, with lowered plan minutes and unlimited data, one price AT&T and other carriers can keep steady and control. Although this could cause additional stress to the current network but AT&T isn’t sitting on their laurels either.

In an investor update today, AT&T is making huge investments into their networks. AT&T said they will add 2,000 new cell sites and upgrade existing cell sites with three times more fiber links than it had in 2009. This will increase capacity for the backhaul network that connects the cell towers to AT&T’s main network. The backhaul portion of the network is a critical component to AT&T’s network. With these upgrades in place, Stankey said the company will be able to easily upgrade in the future to 4G wireless technology.

AT&T will begin testing its 4G network using LTE, the same technology Verizon Wireless is using for its 4G network, starting in 2010 with a few commercial deployments ready in 2011 and more commercial deployments in 2012.

Now the question remains, where is Skype, the granddaddy of VoIP in this whole equation?

Skype, which says it often has as many as 20 million users online at once, recently signaled its intention to submit its own 3G VoIP application to the iPhone. “We’ve got one up our sleeves,” the company said this month on its Web site.

fring for iPhone (FREE) [iTunes link]

Motorola to offer the Nexus 2?

Motorola had their earnings call today and CEO Sanjay Jha let us know that they will be bringing a direct to customer Android phone. We’ve heard there will be a Nexus 2 but we weren’t sure if it would be an HTC phone or otherwise. With Motorola stating today that they will bring a Google phone through the Google portal makes us believe this may be the physical keyboard version of the Nexus One. Despite your take on the Motorola Droid or Cliq, Motorola is known for their quality hardware. If they do bring a Nexus One style phone with a keyboard you can bet I will be one of the first in line. Well in the digital line at Google.com/phone.

[Via Boy Genius]