BlackBerry 10 no longer coming to BlackBerry Playbook Tablets

Well Blackberry certainly have pulled a fast one!

Back in January the former RIM announced its next generation of BlackBerry OS, in the form of BlackBerry10, the new operating system was supposed to re-invigorate RIM’s (the company changed their name to BlackBerry at the same time) future and was looking set to offer a new Smartphone and Tablet experience. BlackBerry was so keen on their new OS that they even announced that they would be bringing BB10 to its older range of Playbook tablets.

Well, as of today you can officially forget that promise. BlackBerry’s CEO Thorsten Heins has stated (at the company’s annual update) that BlackBerry were no longer planning on bringing the BB10 operating system to the 7inch Blackberry playbooks.

Heins stated that he was “not satisfied with the user experience” that BlackBerry 10 provided on the PlayBook, which led him to make the “difficult decision” to stop the production on the Playbooks software update.

This will come as a blow to Playbook fans who have held out upgrading away from the Tablets to see what the newer operating system would bring to the table.

BlackBerry currently have no Tablet devices available on the market with BB10 although a new range is expected (more likely assumed) by fans of the OS.

Now it certainly was a surprise when BlackBerry originally announced the Playbook’s update to BB 10 as the Tablets are nearing on 2 years old at the time, but with BlackBerry promising the update its going to be a big blow for anyone with a Playbook.

However with Tablet prices dropping a competition being raised, there are plenty of great Tablet devices about to replace the PlayBook.

Source: Gadget Helpline

Google Edition of the Huawei Ascend P6 coming?

Its looking like Huawei are set to follow in Samsung and HTC’s footsteps by offering their latest Huawei Ascend P6 smartphone up with a Google Edition of the Android Jelly bean OS in the coming months, if a report from Pocket-Lint is to believed.

This week Google have placed on sale “Google Editions” of the flagship handset from HTC and Samsung, the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 on the Google play store where users can buy the top notch handsets minus all of the Samsung/HTC user interfaces (called Samsung TouchWiz and HTC Sense).

What users then get is a pure form of the Google Jelly Bean OS, which will have more speed and memory allocated to it, but lacking some of the top features that Samsung and HTC bundle with their devices.

Huawei’s president of the handset product division, Kevin Ho, has been speaking to Pocket-lint where he has said that the company is collaborating with Google to create a Google Edition of the company’s new P6.

He states: “We are working with Google to analyse the possibility of bringing out a Huawei Ascend P6 with Google Edition,”

Huawei’s sleek and slim Ascend P6 was launched in London on June the 18th and the Device is the Chinese companies answer to the flagship handsets from Samsung, HTC and Apple’s current iPhone. It features a sheet of tough Gorilla Glass 2 covering a 4.7-inch 720p HD display sporting a resolution of 1280 x 720. Huawei’s own processor that is a quad-core chip clocked at 1.5GHz. That’s paired with 2GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, the latter of which can be expanded upon by up to 32GB via micro SD.

Plus it’s got the same 8 megapixel f/2.0 Exmor R sensor that Sony uses in many of its own smartphones. The P6 will come with Jelly Bean 4.2.2 on board and will have the Huawei’s Emotion UI built in, which will be dropped for the Google Edition.

It’s a great smartphone that will be a bit cheaper than the HTC One and Galaxy S4 in price, so a Google Edition could be a great bargain handset.

However Huawei have previously stated that the company isn’t interested in a Standard edition of the Google Os, which offers a conflicting report.

We will wait out and see if the Ascend P6 will become the latest Google Edition handset in the coming weeks.

Source: Gadget Helpline

Google blocking Blogger sites with porn adverts from June 30th

Google has issued a warning today to users of its Blogger platform, stating that they will be cracking down on the usage of pornographic content for monetization purposes. Google advised that from June 30^th that posts or blogs will be removed if they deem a sites to that have links to adult content and advertisements for pornographic websites.

The use of adult adverts has always been prohibited by Blogger’s current content policy but this does not mean that users cannot post images and videos that contain nudity and sexual activity, provided they categorise their blog appropriately in the settings panel. The policy just means they cant make money from them!

However, this has been happening on the platform (possibly due to a lax attitude from Google) and now Google is putting its foot down to stamp out this money making scheme.

Google has sent an email out to all Blogger users where they state:

“You are receiving this message because you are the admin of a blog hosted on Blogger which is identified as having Adult content”

“Please be advised that on June 30^th 2013, we will be updating our Content Policy to strictly prohibit the monetization of Adult content on Blogger. After June 30^th 2013, we will be enforcing this policy and will remove blogs which are adult in nature and displaying advertisements to adult websites.”

“If your adult blog currently has advertisements which are adult in nature, you should remove them as soon as possible to avoid any potential Terms of Service violation and/or content removals.”

“Sincerely, The Blogger Team”

So that’s it for those making a bit of cash from advertising adult related websites on Blogger, as Google is cracking down and making sure that they are the only ones making money from porn!

So if you do have adverts of adult nature on your Blogger site then now is the time to remove them before the Google Police get you.

Source: Gadget Helpline

Google said to be developing Android games console and smart watch

Google has its very first Android powered games console and smart watch in the works, according to the Wall Street Journal.

According to sources familiar with Google’s secret projects, WSJ believes that Google is getting ready to expand beyond just Android software and into hardware. The Mountain View company is also said to be working on a “digital wrist watch”, which to us sounds very much like a smart watch.

Google has been in the hardware game for a while with Nexus phones and tablets, but these are often manufactured on its behalf by other companies such as Samsung, HTC and LG. The console and watch will be made by Google itself, featuring Google branding.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the story is Google’s reasoning for the development of a games console. According to sources, Google is acting on the belief that its main rival Apple will also break into the games area. According to WSJ the company has “expectations that rival Apple will launch a videogame console as part of its next Apple TV product release.”

Until now we’ve not heard anything of Apple’s plans to move into the gaming space, although recent additions to iOS 7 do hint at a much bigger emphasis on gaming with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, with game controller accessories planned. If Apple and Google really do go head to head with gaming we could be seeing some awesome innovation coming our way.

In addition to reports of a games console and smart watch, we’re also hearing that Google has a second generation Nexus Q in the works. This mysterious device was revealed at I/O 2012 as a media streamer, but didn’t get much attention from the public or Google and seemed to disappear off the radar. Now an upgraded model has been spotted going through checks at the FCC and looks set to arrive later in the year.

Google is said to be launching a new version of Android – dubbed Key Lime Pie – later this year, alongside at least one of these products.

Source: Gadget Helpline

Motorola debuts a new Google and Nexus-styled company logo

As part of Google’s ongoing assimilation and kick up the bottom for its now acquired Motorola, Moto has officially changed its logo for the first time in years, including a new “a Google Company” tagline.

In May 2012 Google purchased Motorola for a massive $12.5 billion and has since then set about selling off unwanted areas of the electrical manufacturer’s business and sorting out some of the ongoing issues the company had – the lawsuit with TiVo, for example) and minimised the massive workforce and closed down many of Motorola’s 94 offices.

Seemingly though, Google and Motorola are ready to step into a new era for one of technology’s oldest companies, as the new branding will not only update the Motorola image but it brings the brand in line with Google’s own brand management. The old style red surrounded M has been removed and it is now circled by a host of colours in a much more cheery Google fashion.

The rainbow circle and grey M logo are then capped off with the “a Google company” tagline to make sure everyone knows who is now in control of Moto.

The logo made its debut on the website for the Techweek conference which is taking place in Chicago from Friday onwards and it’s where we are sure to learn more on what Motorola and Google have to offer in the coming months.

The logo has since been removed from the website, presumably so as to keep things secret a little while longer.

We hope that Motorola can see a re-birth in the smartphone market in the months to come and if anyone knows much

Source: Gadget Helpline

EE rolls out 4G to 11 more towns today – Aldershot, Bracknell and Weston-super-Mare

Everything Everywhere’s EE network has once again announced a host of new towns that will be getting 4G/LTE coverage on the network. EE has turned on a further 11 towns today which means that the 4G network will now be offering the super-fast mobile internet to over 55% of the UK’s population.

The 11 towns activated this week are:

• Aldershot
• Basildon
• Basingstoke
• Bracknell
• Hitchin
• Horsham
• Leatherhead
• Letchworth
• Stevenage
• Warrington
• Weston-super-Mare

All of these locations will soon be receiving access to the 4G signal and if you weren’t already on EE then now may be the time to swap over to the latest network. Users on T-Mobile and Orange should especially consider the switch as EE shares these networks, so there will be very little change involved.

With this launch EE has said: “Today’s launch sees us continue to extend the reach of superfast 4G mobile to more consumers and businesses across the UK, from Warrington to Weston-super-Mare,” EE said. “With double-speed 4G launching this summer, as well as shared 4GEE plans and Pay-As-You-Go 4G Mobile Broadband, we continue to innovate and enable the best possible digital experience for our customers.“

EE is still on a fast track to turn on its 4G services as rival networks will be launching their own 4G networks in the next few months, with Three, O2 and Vodafone all getting ready, but as EE will by then have nearly a year’s start, it’s going to take a big roll-out for Vodafone, O2 and Three to catch up.

You can check out EE’s current coverage map here to see if you are within a 4G coverage area.

Source: Gadget Helpline

Sony Quietly Removes Camera From Final PS4 Bundle to Allow £349 Price

When Sony revealed the full details on its new PlayStation 4 at the recent E3 expo we were all pleasantly surprised when we heard the price, which would undercut the ownership of rival Microsoft’s Xbox One by around £150. Reports now suggest that the original asking price for the impressive PS4 was going to match up with competitor console but a quiet sacrifice was made, allowing the price drop.

You might remember back in February when Sony first spoke of the PS4 we were left hanging as to the appearance of the console itself, but what was seen was the Dualshock 4 controller and a camera accessory called the PlayStation Eye. With the distraction of new hardware and dazzling new software and games at the PlayStation presentation at E3 we might have lost sight of this extra and it seems since February Sony has decided to quietly remove the PlayStation Eye from the final retail bundle.

Sony has now made sellers aware that the camera has been removed from the initial PS4 retail package which will include 500GB console, DualShock 4 controller, HDMI, USB and power cables and a stereo headset and is reported by Toys ‘R Us to go on sale on December the 13th.

The PlayStation Eye would feature two movement sensing cameras and would affix to the top of the TV and was set to work together with the DualShock 4 controller offering advanced motion control in the style of Sony’s previous efforts the PlayStation Move. The PlayStation Eye will still become available as an individual purchase but a price for the solo product is yet to be announced.

This is a sneaky, sneaky move by Sony as the console wars really kick off. The PS4 still has a great deal to offer and we’d like know if the omission of the PlayStation Eye will affect our readers decision to buy the console when it’s released?

Source: IGN

Source: Gadget Helpline

How to fix your bricked console from the 4.45 PS3 update with 4.46

Sony has finally issued a fix for the 4.45 update which ‘bricked’ a number of PlayStation 3 consoles last week, leaving gamers without access to their consoles unless they were able to swap in a new hard drive.

It took the company several days to give an update on the situation, with Sony tweeting at the end of last week that an update would arrive on the 27^th. That day has arrived, and version 4.46 is now ready to roll. Here’s how to install it if you have a bricked PS3.

Step 1 – Downloading the update

1. You’ll need a PC or Mac of some description with a connection to the internet and a USB stick of 256MB or more of storage space free.
2. Download the 4.46 update to your PC from Sony by following this link
3. Use ‘Computer’ on Windows or ‘Finder’ on Mac to access your USB stick. Create a new folder and name it ‘PS3’
4. Within that folder create another folder and name it ‘UPDATE’
5. Once downloaded, copy and paste the update file into this folder
6. Rename the file itself to ‘PS3UPDAT.PUP’
7. Unplug your USB stick

Step 2 – Put your PS3 into Safe Mode

1. Firstly, ensure your PS3 is turned off and the power light is red
2. Hold the power button – you will hear 1 beep. Keep holding the power button until a second beep is heard, followed by a third beep 5 seconds later. At this point the console will turn back off again and the power light will become red once more
3. Release the power button
4. Press and hold the power button. You will hear a beep followed by a second 5 seconds later, followed by a quick double beep – release the power button now
5. This should have successfully put your PS3 into Safe Mode, which is signified by a message on screen asking you to connect the controller by USB and press the PS button in the centre.

Step 3 – Update software to 4.46

1. Connect your USB stick to the PS3 console
2. In Safe Mode, select Option 6 which is System Update
3. Press Start and Select together on the controller for 2 seconds
4. The PS3 will now reboot itself and detect the update file stored on the stick. If it does not detect the file, you need to connect it into your PC again and ensure the files and folders are named correctly
5. Scroll to the end of the User Agreement and press X to accept
6. Press X to confirm you wish to install the update
7. Wait patiently whilst the update installs and your console reboots!

That’s it! If you encounter any problems along the way, try formatting your USB stick to clear it out and ensure the folders are set up and labelled correctly and the update file itself is renamed ‘PS3UPDAT.PUP’. If that fails we’d suggest deleting the file from the stick and re-downloading it!

If that still doesn’t work, get in touch with Sony for further help.

Source: Gadget Helpline

HTC 8XT announced – HTC 8X gets BoomSound and an extra letter

 

Whilst we wait for the rumoured HTC One with Windows Phone, the Taiwanese company has decided to take its current Windows Phone flagship and pump up the volume. The result is the HTC 8XT.

Based on the Windows Phone 8X by HTC, or HTC 8X for simplicity’s sake, the new 8XT features the same design and much of the same internal specs, but with a couple of upgrades to improve the phone throughout.

For starters, the 8XT features HTC’s favourite new buzz-feature BoomSound has been added. Squeezed in underneath the phone’s three touch buttons is a second speaker, combining with the larger speaker above the display to create dual speakers and a more immersive sound for gaming and movies on the go.

The other main change is unfortunately a downgrade. Whilst the screen size remains the same as on the 8X — 4.3-inches, for those who can’t remember — it has a lower resolution of 800 x 480, dropping down from the HD resolution of 1280 x 720 on the 8X.

HTC is keeping the same 8 megapixel rear camera in the 8XT fortunately, although the front facing sensor has been downgraded slightly to a 1.6 megapixel one. Inside there’s a 1.4GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor paired with 1GB of RAM, Beats Audio, 8GB of expandable internal storage, 4G LTE connectivity and a 1,800 mAh battery.

The HTC 8XT will launch this summer but it’s unclear just how many networks will support the phone. Currently the only provider to step forward is US network Sprint, who is already taking registrations.

Source: Gadget Helpline

41 megapixel Nokia EOS to launch as Nokia Lumia 1020?

The true identity of Nokia’s not-so-secret 41 megapixel Windows Phone appears to have been uncovered, putting an end to those rumours of the Nokia EOS that we’ve heard so much about.

Indeed, come July 11th when Nokia takes to the stage in New York City to unveil its big secret, we’ll be seeing a device called the Nokia Lumia 1020. Well, that’s according to Twitter tipsters @evleaks, who, as our frequent readers will know, have an excellent track record when it comes to digging up new information about unreleased smartphones from around the world.

A recent tweet merely reads “EOS = Nokia Lumia 1020“, suggesting that Nokia has a different name for its new smartphone to the one we’ve all been referring to in recent months. @evleaks doesn’t mention a source – they rarely do – but usually their information comes from insiders at various mobile phone companies, including manufacturers and networks.

As for the phone itself, it’s said to offer the same large 41 megapixel image sensor as Nokia’s experimental 808 PureView phone, along with Xenon and LED flash modules, Carl Zeiss optics and Nokia’s new PureView technology. To complement the camera we’re told there will be a new app from Nokia called Pro Camera which will offer a host of advanced tweaks and settings to suit the huge rear camera.

Asides from the camera the phone is said to run Windows Phone 8 and mimic the design of the Lumia 900 and 920, including the same 4.5-inch 720p LED display. We’ll find out more next month!

To get an early glimpse of the phone from all angles, check out this early review of what appears to be a prototype unit.

Source: Gadget Helpline