Despite these promises, the platform has continually failed to flourish, and a new rumour is circulating, which states that HP are now looking to cancel work on the platform, and close down the WebOS division as soon as possible.

The story is being reported in The Guardian, where it is stated that because HP have reversed their earlier decision to spin off their PC business (and thus, they will be keeping that side of the business), the WebOS division is instead facing closure. The Guardian quotes unnamed sources from within the division itself, who state that they expect it to close in November.

If this rumour is indeed true, it is still possible that another manufacturer could look to buy the platform from HP, as HTC have previously expressed a cautious interest in potentially going down that road, while Sony Ericsson have not denied rumours that they would consider making WebOS phones. One manufacturer who will definitely not be in the running to buy WebOS, however, is Samsung, who have stated categorically that they would not be willing to make such a move, and buy an OS to develop into their own platform.

The largest part of the problem is that HP continually failed to produce hardware that was competitive with their rivals. The HP Pre 3 sank without a trace, as it was beaten by ultra-desirable phone such as the HTC Sensation, and the HP TouchPad, their WebOS tablet offering, was firmly trounced by rivals such as the iPad and the Android-powered Motorola Xoom.

With the latter, in fact, HP virtually had to bribe customers into buying one, by dropping the price to levels that can’t have been profitable.

As expected, HP have strenuously denied this rumour, stating that they are still evaluating how best to utilise this “phenomenal software”. More cynical commentators have of course noted that if HP had done that in the first place, WebOS would not be in the mess it is in, now. Thus, the official word is, for the moment, that this rumour is unsubstantiated, but it is curious to note that HP have merely commented on the rumour in the most vague terms possible, without directly saying, “No, we are categorically not cancelling WebOS.”

More details will surely emerge in November, at which time, we will know more about the ultimate fate of WebOS.

Source: The Guardian

Two phones were announced, as part of their new Lumia range, which will presumably be the range all of their future Windows phones fall under. Both phones also include a key feature, which is not available in any other Windows Phone 7 device.

The Nokia Lumia 710 seems to be aimed at a more mid-range market, as it includes a smaller 5 megapixel camera, although it shares the same 1.4GHz processor and 3.7 inch screen as its higher spec “sibling”, the Nokia Lumia 800. It should be noted, however, that the screen on the Lumia 710 is an LCD screen, so it is not as impressive as the ClearBlack AMOLED screen found on the Lumia 800.It also has less internal storage, at 8GB, while the Lumia 800 has 16GB.

The big difference between the two phones, however, is in the body shell; the Nokia Lumia 710 is a brand new design, while the Lumia 800 uses the same polycarbonate body shell as the MeeGo-powered Nokia N9, albeit with the addition of a dedicated camera button.

Both phones use the latest “Mango” version of Windows Phone 7, which brings all the latest updates that Microsoft have included in the platform, but on top of that, both of these Nokia phones include an enhancement which will not be found in any other Windows phones, such as the HTC Titan.

This feature is Nokia Drive, and it can perhaps best be described as a new version of Nokia Maps, with free turn-by-turn navigation (with voice directions), and map updates.

Both Nokia and Microsoft are banking on the success of their partnership; for Nokia’s part, they have dropped two pre-existing platforms to focus solely on Windows Phone 7, and for Microsoft’s part, they have been looking for a dedicated hardware partner to really push their brand. In addition, they have given Nokia a lot of money (£20 million, by all accounts), to advertise their phones.

With so much riding on these two phones, all eyes are going to be fixed firmly on them in the coming weeks.

This situation is about to change, as Nokia will be unveiling their first batch of Windows phones at the Nokia World conference, happening in this week. What phones can we expect to see?

The first is the Nokia 800. This is the phone which has previously been leaked as the Nokia Sea Ray, and which is best described as a new version of the Nokia N9, running Windows Phone 7 instead of MeeGo. The exact specifications are not yet known, but all the evidence seen so far points to the Nokia 800, from a hardware point of view, being identical to the N9, albeit with the addition of a dedicated camera button.

It seems fairly safe to assume it will use much the same hardware internally, as well, with a 1GHz processor, 3.7 inch screen, and internal memory rather than a memory card expansion slot.

The second phone leaked so far is known as the Nokia Sabre, but given Nokia’s new number-based naming scheme, “Sabre” will not be its final product name. It is said to feature a 1.4GHz processor, although it is rumoured to have a smaller 3.5 inch screen and 5 megapixel camera. As such, despite the faster processor (assuming that the Nokia 800 doesn’t get the same 1.4GHz processor as the Sabre, of course), it is a less appealing prospect for phone enthusiasts, than the Nokia 800. However, both phones seem to have inferior specifications to the more powerful HTC Titan.

The big rival for Windows Phone 7 is, of course, Android, and as such, it is likely that these phones will be compared to the new batch of Android superphones, such as the HTC Sensation XE. With a lot riding on the success of Nokia’s strategy of supporting Windows Phone 7, it will be very interesting, indeed, to see how they compare with the best Android has to offer.

Source: PocketNow

In addition to the new phone, made by Samsung, a new version of the Android OS was formerly announced, and the Galaxy Nexus will serve as the showcase device for this new version. It is called Ice Cream Sandwich, and it is the most advanced version of the platform ever released.

The most notable feature of the phone is its curved screen, as it measures 4.65 inches, and has a full HD resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. As such, it is one of the sharpest and most beautiful screens currently available on the mobile market, a fact which is sure to make the Samsung Galaxy Nexus stand out from the crowd. However, some critics have voiced disappointment with the screen, as it uses an underlying screen technology, as well as a graphics processor, which are slightly inferior to the already available Samsung Galaxy S 2.

These small issues aside, though, the screen on the Galaxy Nexus truly is a thing of beauty.

The processor within the Galaxy Nexus has also come in for some criticism, as it is a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, making it slightly slower than the current fastest phone available, the HTC Sensation XE, which features a 1.5GHz dual-core processor.

While this is true, it should be noted that the Galaxy Nexus still outperforms the vast majority of phones on the market, and given that it has been optimised specifically for Android Ice Cream Sandwich, there should be no worries about how well this phone will perform.

As for the operating system itself, Ice Cream Sandwich brings many of the features which made Honeycomb (as seen on tablets such as the Motorola Xoom) such a compelling version of the platform to the phone-version of Android. In fact, the new version is designed to be scalable across both classes of devices, so future Android phones, and future Android tablets, will share the same great feature set that Ice Cream Sandwich includes. These go from simple things such as new widgets and menus, up to features such as the ability to create a panoramic photo simply by sweeping the phone in an arc, and recording full 1080p HD video.

There is little doubt, then, that in spite of the criticisms levelled at the phone, it is easily one of the most accomplished and powerful Android phones ever made; it sets a new benchmark for the platform, which is precisely what it was designed for.

This week marked the beginning of a new era for Android, and it is going to be exciting to see what other phones do, to try and top this. One thing is certain, though: consumers are going to see some truly incredible phones, now that the era of Ice Cream Sandwich has begun.

For several days, the service was down, and RIM are now offering free apps as a way to compensate users for the downtime. However, will this really be enough to placate users?

Another important question is: how could this even happen? Surely the company would have multiple redundant systems, to prevent just such an event occurring? According to RIM it was caused by a “core switch failure”, and after this problem, the system did not switch over to the redundant failover system. It seems that RIM are only running one redundant system alongside the primary system, although this would still have been enough, if the failover system had worked properly.

It did not.

The primary system failed, and the data flow didn’t switch over to the backup system, and thus, the service as a whole failed, leaving users worldwide (the outage began in Europe on Monday, before the USA and Canada started suffering problems on Wednesday) unable to use their Blackberry phones as intended. This has led to something of a backlash against RIM, who, as many say, should know better than to have a system unprepared for problems like this.

As Apple have just announced a new iPhone, the iPhone 4S, this data outage could not come at a worse time for RIM, and although the actual cost is currently not that high (in relative terms; the cost is estimated to be around $350 million), this could have a disastrous effect on the Blackberry’s chief market: business users. Business users demand that their service is unimpeded, and failures like this have a huge potential for seriously tarnishing the Blackberry brand in the eyes of corporate customers.

Corporate customers are unlikely to be appeased by a selection of free apps, so although the current actual cost is lower than it could have been, the long term, knock-on effects could be disastrous for RIM.

Source: ZDNet

As the name suggests, and as can be seen in the video above, this allows real-time translation between languages, using the phone’s microphone, to allow users to easily converse with people who don’t speak their own particular native language.

To use this new feature, it is simply a case of opening the Google Translate app, selecting the two languages that needed to be translated between, and hitting the microphone icon. The user then speaks into the phone, and it will recognise what is spoken, before translating it into the language selected, with the phone speaking what was said, out loud, translated into the recipient’s language.

This could prove to be an invaluable feature for people who travel a lot, but aren’t familiar with the language where they visit.

The best part, though, is that the app is offered through the Android Market, completely free. Although the phone shown in the video is Google’s own Nexus S, it will be usable on all Android devices (version 1.5 upwards), whether they’e made by HTC, Samsung or any other device that has access to Android’s built-in app store.

The updated Google Translate app is available to download now.

If the rumours are to be believed, the Nexus Prime will be the most advanced mobile phone ever made.

It begins with the processor, which is a dual-core chip, running at 1.5GHz, and although this would be impressive enough on its own, the hardware excellence does not end there. The Nexus Prime will also have a curved screen, similar to the one seen in its predecessor, the Nexus S; it will be a concave curved screen, curving inwards toward the body of the phone, as opposed the convex screen seen in the Nokia N9.

The specifications of the screen, however, are the most impressive part about it. The screen is said to measure 4.65 inches from corner, and to have a full HD screen resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, something that is very rare in mobile phones.

The Nexus Prime will also feature a button-less front fascia, as (as can be seen in the video above) the new version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, uses full gesture and onscreen controls. Thus, manufacturers can now do away with buttons on the front of the phone, allowing for sleeker designs. Samsung, as manufacturer of the Nexus Prime, have done this with that phone, and this, combined with the curved body, should definitely make the phone stand out from the crowd.

The Nexus Prime was due to be announced on October 11th, but this launch event has now been postponed, out of respect for the death of Steve Jobs. Thus, there is no confirmation of when the phone will formally be announced, but one thing is for sure.

If the rumours surrounding its specifications are true, then the Nexus Prime is going to be a serious contender for phone of the year.

It is news that has shocked the entire technology world, as it has lost a man who was most definitely one of its leading lights. In this situation, it almost seems crass to talk about Apple’s latest phone, but such was Steve’s dedication to making the tech world a better place for everyone, it also seems somehow fitting to talk about it, now.

It is, essentially, everything to be expected from an iPhone; the iPhone 4S takes everything that people loved about the previous model, and makes it better. Thus, it now includes a dual-core processor, with a dedicated dual-core graphics chip, and the camera resolution has been increased to 8 megapixels. In addition, a new 64GB model will be available to buy. How it will be able to compete with such new powerhouse phones as the HTC Sensation XE, however, remains to be seen.

However, for good or ill, this phone, the iPhone 4S, stands as the final Apple device released in Steve Jobs’ lifetime, and although some have expressed disappointment with the incremental nature of its upgraded features, but the iPhone range as a whole shows just what a profound effect Steve Jobs had on the technology industry in general, and the mobile industry in particular.

Regardless of anyone’s personal thoughts on the phones themselves, the iPhone range has always been an important series of phones, more for their effect on the rest of the industry. Without the iPhone, touchscreens may not have become as popular as they are now. Without the iPhone, Android would quite possibly not exist in its current form. Without the iPhone, the rest of the mobile industry, the likes of Samsung and HTC, would have had nothing to push back against, and in that arms race, the very existence of Steve Jobs and the iPhone did indeed make the mobile world better for everyone.

In addition, the iPad redefined the tablet market, and without this device, tablet devices would be nowhere near as big as they are now becoming.

This fact is not lost on the other big names in the industry. Bill Gates issued a personal message stating just how important Jobs had been in the technology world, and saying how much he would be missed, while Google and Samsung have postponed the announcement of the upcoming Nexus Prime, as a mark of respect for the Apple co-founder.

As bad as this news is for Apple, and for us in the mobile world, it is far worse for the members of Steve Jobs’ family, and thus, as a the most important part of this post, our condolences go out to his family.

However, a new competitor has now entered the fray, with their own Android powered tablet. That competitor is Amazon, and the tablet in question is the new Kindle Fire. What sets this apart from other Android tablets on the market?

The hardware specifications seem to be fairly standard for a 7 inch tablet device. It has a screen resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, the same as the HTC Flyer, and uses an OMAP4 dual-core processor. Although Amazon have not officially given the processor speed of the Kindle Fire, the OMAP4 CPU that it uses can run between 1 and 1.2 GHz, so it is logical to conclude the Kindle Fire will run at this speed. The Kindle Fire also has 8GB of internal storage.

What really sets the Kindle Fire apart is the software running on it. Although it uses Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the user interface installed on top has been built from the ground up by Amazon themselves, in much the same way as HTC put their own interface on Android phones such as the HTC Sensation XE.

This interface appears to be built on the idea of a set of shelves, displaying the content on the device, and with extra tabs for things such as the web browser. Naturally, the device includes Kindle software right out of the box, as well as direct access to the Kindle Store, and the Amazon MP3 Store. It also includes the Amazon Appstore, which is the only disappointing thing about the Kindle Fire, as it does not include the full Android Market, only the apps aggregated through the Amazon Appstore.

Although this means it will still have a wide selection of apps, it is disappointing that it will not include everything that other Android tablets have access to, but this fits with Amazon’s business plan, so it is not a particularly surprising move.

There is currently no word on when this device will be released in the UK, or what price it will be, but we can perhaps glean some clues from the US version. It is priced at $199, so it seems logical that the UK version will be around a similar price point, although this still does not give us a possible release date.

Hopefully it will not be too long.

However, as good as its specifications are, it will soon be outshone by a brand new phone from HTC. It’s currently known as the HTC Vigor, although this name may well change when it is released, and it is quite simply the most powerful mobile phone ever made.

The processor is even more powerful than the CPU found within the HTC Sensation; in that phone, the dual-core processor runs at 1.2GHz, but in the HTC Vigor, it is still a dual-core chip, but it is clocked to run at 1.5GHz. However, the increased processor speed is not unprecedented, and is in fact shared with the recently announced HTC Sensation XE, but the high speed processor is not the most exciting part of the Vigor.

With the HTC Sensation, the 4.3 inch screen had a qHD resolution of 960 x 540 pixels, making it one of the highest resolution screens on the market, even higher than rivals such as the Samsung Galaxy S 2 or the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. This in itself is already impressive enough, but the HTC Vigor takes things further, with a 4.3 inch screen running at an incredible 1280 x 720 pixels.

To put it another way, the Vigor has a full HD screen.

Interestingly, the photo shown above also shows the phone having wallpaper which is very similar to the wallpaper found on the HTC Sensation XE, and the logical conclusion from this is that the HTC Vigor may include Beats Audio technology, similar to that phone. This would be a very welcome addition, as it would take the already exceptional HTC Vigor and make it into a true world-beater.

The HTC Vigor is expected to be formally announced this month, so we should find out, soon, just how incredible this phone really is.

Source: Android Central