HTC have used numerous operating systems in their phones, ranging from the popular Android to  the less know Brew MP. One thing we’ve never seen is a HTC OS, made by HTC, well this looks like it’s going to change. The chairwoman of HTC, Cher Wang snnounced today that HTC were looking at buying an operating system and had discussed it within the company.

Wang told the Economic Observer of China “We have given it thought and we have discussed it internally, but we will not do it on impulse.” So it looks likely that the Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer will be looking at for a suitable OS to purchase for use on their smartphones in the future.

Wang pointed out that HTC can use ‘any OS they want’ and their selling point is how they modify that OS for the ease of use for users. The HTC Sense UI is where HTC currently excel, the second and third layer of a platform. The Sense UI gives users better software integration and incredibly friendly features than other phones running Android, Wand pointed out. This would allow HTC to get rid of Android more easily than other smartphone manufacturers.

This news may come as a surprise to Google as the majority of HTC smartphones currently run Android. If HTC were to create their own OS it would allow them more freedom with what features were available and possibly a more efficient operating system.

Samsung is currently pushing their Bada platform, leaving Android and Google. Does this mean that Google need to release their own phones if so many manufactures move away from Android?

There are a lot of things to look forward to in the New Year. Some phones have generated more interest than others. The phones have been particularly talked about because their features that have set them apart from other possible phones. Here’s a list of some of the phones and their corresponding features that have been generating a lot of interest amongst mobile enthusiasts and experts.

1. Samsung Galaxy S2

Expected Features of Samsung Galaxy S2:

• Operating system: Gingerbread Android 2.3
• Camera : 8 Megapixels, 720p and 1080p full HD video recording, Geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection
• Display : 4.3-inch Super AMOLED touch screen display, Gorilla Glass display, 16M colors
• Dimensions : 9mm thickness
• Processor : 2 GHz
• Internal/External Memory : 32GB flash storage, 16 GB storage, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of ROM
• Battery : Standard battery, Li-Ion
• Colors : Black
• Officially launched believed to be in February at the MWC 2011 in Barcelona

2. Motorola ATRIX

Expected Features of Motorola ATRIX:

• Operating system: Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo)
• Camera : 5 Megapixels, 2592х1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, Geo-tagging, image stabilization
• Display : TFT capacitive touch screen, 16M colors, Gorilla Glass display, Multi-touch input method, Biometric fingerprint reader
• Dimensions : 117.8 x 63.5 x 10.1 mm, 135 grams
• Processor : 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 AP20H Dual Core processor
• Internal/External Memory : 16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM, microSD, up to 32GB
• Battery : Standard battery, Lithium 1930 mAh
• Standby Time : Up to 264 h (2G) / Up to 250 h (3G)
• Talk Time : Up to 8 h 40 min (2G) / Up to 9 h (3G)
• Colors : Black
• Official launch believed to be in first half of 2011

3. Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc

Expected Features of Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc:

• Operating system: Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread).
• Camera : 8 Megapixels, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, Touch focus, image stabilization, geo-tagging, face and smile detection.
• Display : LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touch screen, 16M colors, Scratch-resistant surface, Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, Multi-touch input method, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Timescape UI.
• Dimensions : 125 x 63 x 8.7 mm, 117 grams.
• Processor : Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon 1 GHz processor; Adreno 205 GPU.
• Internal/External Memory : 512 MB RAM, microSD, up to 32GB, 8 GB included.
• Battery : Standard battery, Lithium 1500 mAh.
• Standby Time : Up to 430 h (2G) / Up to 400 h (3G).
• Talk Time : Up to 7 h (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G).
• Colors : Midnight Blue, Misty Silver.
• Official launch believed to be in first quarter of 2011.

4. Apple iPhone 5

Expected Features of Apple iPhone 5:

• Camera : 10.2 megapixel.
• Display : OLED screen, Scratch proof and shatter proof screen.
• Dimensions : 9.3 mm thick.
• Processor : may have A8 Processor, Qualcomm Radio Chip.
• Internal/External Memory : 32G and 64G memory.
• Battery : Extended and new age battery life.
• Standby Time : 600 hours.
• Talk Time : 14 hours talk time on 3G and 7 hours on 4G.
• Official launch believed to be in second quarter of 2011.

5. HTC 7 Pro

Expected Features of HTC 7 Pro

• Operating system: Microsoft Windows Phone 7.
• Camera : 5 Megapixels, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, Geo-tagging, face detection.
• Display : Capacitive touch screen, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Multi-touch input method, QWERTY keyboard.
• Dimensions : 117.5 x 59 x 15.5 mm, 185 grams.
• Processor : Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz processor.
• Internal/External Memory : 8/16 GB storage, 448 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM.
• Battery : Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh.
• Standby Time : Up to 360 h (2G) / Up to 420 h (3G).
• Talk Time : Up to 5 h 30 min (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G).
• Colors : Black.
• Official launch believed to be in first quarter of 2011.

6. Nokia E7

Expected Features of Nokia E7

• Operating system: Symbian^3 OS.
• Camera : 8 Megapixels, 3264×2448 pixels, fixed focus, dual-LED flash, Geo-tagging, face detection.
• Display : AMOLED capacitive touchscreen,16M colors, Nokia ClearBlack display, QWERTY keyboard, Multi-touch input method, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Scratch resistant Gorilla glass display.
• Dimensions  : 123.7 x 62.4 x 13.6 mm, 104.9 cc, 176 grams.
• Processor : ARM 11 680 MHz processor, 3D Graphics HW accelerator.
• Internal/External Memory : 16 GB storage, 256 MB RAM, 1 GB ROM.
• Battery : Standard battery, Li-Ion 1200 mAh (BL-4D).
• Standby Time : Up to 432 h (2G) / Up to 480 h (3G).
• Talk Time : Up to 9 h (2G) / Up to 5 h (3G).
• Colors : Dark Grey, Silver White, Green, Blue, Orange.
• Officially launched believed to be in first quarter of 2011.

7. LG Optimus Black

Expected Features of LG Optimum Black:

• Operating system: Android OS, v2.2 Froyo, upgradable to v2.3.
• Camera : 2Megapixels front-facing camera, Geo-tagging.
• Display : Capacitive touch screen, 16M colors, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Optimus UI 2.0, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off.
• Dimensions : 121 x 63.5 x 9.2 mm, 109 grams.
• Processor : TI OMAP 3630, 1 GHz.
• Internal/External Memory : 2 GB, microSD, up to 32GB.
• Battery : Standard battery, Lithium 1500 mAh.
• Colors : Black.
• Official launch believed to be in first half of 2011.

8. Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Expected Features of Sony Ericsson Xperia Play:

• Operating system: Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread).
• Camera : 5 Megapixels, 2592х1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash.
• Display : LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touch screen, 16M colors, Touch sensitive gaming controls, PSP like gaming buttons, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate.
• Processor : 1 GHz processor.
• Internal/External Memory : 315 MB, 378 MB RAM, microSD, up to 32GB.
• Battery : Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh (BST-41).
• Colors : Black.
• Official launch believed to be in Feb – March of 2011.

9. Samsung Galaxy Ace

Expected Features of Samsung Galaxy Ace:

• Operating System: Android 2.2.1 Froyo.
• Camera: 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash.
• Display: 3.5-inch HVGA TFT display.
• Processor : 800MHz processor.
• Social Hub, TouchWiz interface, Swype; document viewer/editor.
• Connection : Quad-band GSM, HSDPA, A-GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi.
• Official launch believed to be in first half of 2011.

10. Nokia N9

Image credit: Baidu

Expected Features of Nokia N9:

• Operating system: MeeGo OS
• Camera : 12 Megapixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash, Geo-tagging, face detection
• Display : 4.0 inches super AMOLED capacitive touch screen with 16M colors. Sliding FULL QWERTY Keyboard, multi-touch input method and scratch-resistant surface
• Dimensions  : 160 grams
• Processor : Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz
• Internal/External Memory : 64 GB storage, 512 MB RAM, 1 GB ROM
• Battery : Standard battery, Li-Ion 1320 mAh
• Standby Time : 430 hours
• Talk Time : 540 mins
• Colors : Black, Silver, Blue
• Officially launched believed to be in February at the MWC 2011 in Barcelona

According to a report by GFK Retail and Technology, a global consumer market research firm, Google’s Android OS has successfully managed to surpass Symbian as the most popular smartphone OS in Asia for the third quarter of 2010.

The survey considered on the 3^rd quarter of 2010 and split the sample into North Asia and Southeast Asia. Northern Asia included Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan. Southeast Asia comprised of Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Mr Gerard Tan, Regional Account Director for Telecommunications, GfK Asia Pte Ltd said

Smartphones are the key drivers of the telecommunications industry at this moment. GfK’s retail audit findings are showing impressive, almost three-fold increase in value of the industry when we compare sales figures from the latest quarter to the same quarter* a year ago. He added that ‘While only 1.27 million smartphones were sold in the third quarter of last year, over 4.7 million units were sold in the same quarter this year, signifying a growth of nearly 270 percent’ One visible criticism of the survey was that India was not added to the survey sample. The criticism being that India is also a very important player in the smartphones market, considering its steady increase in demand.

One visible criticism of the survey was that India was not added to the survey sample. The criticism being that India is also a very important player in the smartphones market, considering its steady increase in demand.

Adobe AIR 2.5 is released at the Adobe MAX 2010 and new version concentrates on expanding the availability of mobile platforms along with Television. Other updates remains for desktop users and tablets.  Adobe AIR 2.5 for TV is the first full-blown attempt at bringing Adobe-powered content to TV sets.

On the release Adobe blog says –

Adobe is pleased to announce at the Adobe MAX 2010 conference the availability of Adobe AIR 2.5 for televisions, tablets, smartphones and desktop operating systems,

In the last few years, many of the major manufacturers in the TV space have started to bring applications to the TV screen, including video and audio streaming applications such as Netflix, Pandora, Vudu, Blockbuster, Rhaposdy, and Napster, but also news and infotainment applications, Adobe says about version available for TVs.

Adobe already had a version of Flash Lite for TV devices, but this newly launched brings in full Flash support along with support for all AIR platform capabilities. You will find a new APIs been added and others have been optimized for the specifics of these devices. We’ve built a tuned and optimized version of AIR that is designed to work on TV hardware,” Adobe said.

For now, the announcement of AIR 2.5 for TV concerns majorly developers as no devices are shipping with support for the platform. While AIR for TV aims to offer an experience on par with what it brings to the desktop and devices such as tablets, there are some specifics to consider.

The first device with support for Adobe AIR is supposed to come from Samsung next year.

With the introduction of AIR 2.5 for TV, Adobe is super excited to have Samsung as a launch partner, bringing the best platform for building rich content together with the largest TV and Blu-ray maker,” Adobe wrote.

Samsung launched the two series of smart phones in India, Android powered Galaxy S and bada powered Wave. Both Galaxy S and Wave are the the most advanced and powerful smartphone today available worldwide with 1Ghz processor and AMOLED screen (AMOLED screen is 20% brighter than normal screen and has larger life and resistance power).

Amir Khan in Samsung Mobile Launch

Snaps from the event

Samsung Wave phone. One of the phones that was launched.

In the event Mr. J S Shin, President & CEO, Samsung South West Asia, Mr. Ranjit Yadav, Director – Mobile & IT, Samsung Electronics and Mr. Aamir Khan, brand ambassador, Samsung mobile, were present.

According to Mr J.S. Shin, President & CEO, Samsung South West Asia, the two phones are different in terms of Operating system and price. Samsung Wave is based on BADA operating system which is own proprietary of Samsung (BADA means Ocean in Korean). Whereas Samsung GalaxyS is based on Android open source operating system.

• Samsung Wave is priced at Rs. 18000 and Samsung Galaxy is priced at Rs 31000.

According to Samsung Officials most of the applications will be available free of cost to the users. Samsung is encouraging developers to make BADA apps. Goal of Samsung is to encourage developers and collect a huge number of BADA apps so that users don’t need to go for any other place in search of apps. Currently Samsung introduced  apps for reading books, locating petrol pumps, waking application, office and many more.

According to Mr. Ranjit Yadav, Director – Mobile & IT, Samsung Electronics “We are focussing more on OS based phones because users get more option to customize the phone and add killer features with the help of strong third party application. The main reason to launch the Samsung’s own BADA platform to give the choice to the customers.”

What do you do when someone splash water (by mistake) on your favorite mobile, or when it get drenched in rain even after through security and you get a shock of your life that it isn’t working. Well, we all face it sometime, may be kids at home drops the phone in water or you getting splashed on road when it is raining heavily. At times, the situation is just not under control and we find ourselves helpless, but then if you believe there are only few steps that could save your mobile after water damage.  Check out!

Act Instantly -

As soon as you discover that your phone is attacked by water, remove every part possible of it. I mean cover, SIM card, memory card, battery, back cover, etc. Then use a thin cloth to take out water from it– toilet paper could be best. As you blot away the water your phone might work now in case it was dipped for a short span of time, that is if you dropped it in a sink or similar and if not then check the below options.

Use Your Hairdryer –

You think hairdryer can only help soaking your hairs? Well, not really, they can helpful drying your phone too. So switch on the hairdryer towards your phone with utmost attention to the phone battery that allows air into the phone. But make sure that your dryer is not too close to the phone and maintaining enough distance that doesn’t burn your hand. Try this for about 10-15 minutes, if still doesn’t work keep reading.

Drying For Long Time -

Locate some linen closet or a warm place in house and put your phone there. Airing closets and placing near boilers can be even good. Make sure your dear mobile is not in contact directly with intense heat. By letting it soak there you are allowing the water to gradually evaporate without much of trouble. Take out battery and covers when you perform this.

Additional tips

• You can also use high velocity fan in case you don’t have hair dryer ready.
• Disassemble the phone is all possible ways, take out front if allowed.
• Try to point the back of the phone up with the screen facing down. This would let the moisture to soak easier and faster.
• Don’t panic and get insurance next time!

It is actually quite easy to fix your mobile after water damage, before even going to the service center. Many people also believe that once water gets in, you need to say bye bye to your lovely phone. But then remember your phone is just made up of a screen, few circuits and some bits and bobs. The chief reason why it is not working is because they’re wet on the board or at the battery is causing it to short circuits. So use this quick fix method when you find yourself in trouble due to water damage on phone.

The last of the major smartphone operating systems, RIM’s BlackBerry, has finally received support for SlingPlayer Mobile. Not only can stock brokers, businessmen, bankers, analysts and other jerks email their co-workers at their lunch meetings, they now can catch the game at the same time. We demoed this earlier in the week for ourselves, and saw that the quality was actually very good, even over EDGE.

The last of the major smartphone operating systems, RIM’s BlackBerry, has finally received support for SlingPlayer Mobile. Not only can stock brokers, businessmen, bankers, analysts and other jerks email their co-workers at their lunch meetings, they now can catch the game at the same time. We demoed this earlier in the week for ourselves, and saw that the quality was actually very good, even over EDGE.
If you have a SlingBox and a BlackBerry, get ready because on December 30th you’ll be able to download SlingPlayer Mobile in a free public beta. The public beta supports BlackBerry Bold, Curve 8900, 8820, Curve 8320, Pearl Flip 8220 and Pearl 8120. Firmware must be version 4.5 or higher.
“SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry has been a top customer request since we launched the original Slingbox Classic in 2005, and being a BlackBerry addict myself I am particularly excited about this announcement,” said Blake Krikorian, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Sling Media. “Combining the best of breed email device with the ability to watch and control your living room TV is a killer combo.”
SlingPlayer for BB is only available and certified for one particular European BlackBerry Pearl version with Wi-Fi that’s not even available in the US right now, but you can try loading it onto other phones and see if it clicks.
What does it all mean? You can carry a TV around in your pocket! The SlingBox set top box captures your home cable or satellite signal and allows you to watch it via the internet using the SlingPlayer software. I generally use mine while traveling – my parents don’t have cable at all – so at their house I can snuggle up with my laptop and watch whatever is on at home.
The personalized mobile TV experience for BlackBerry smartphones is enabled by the award-winning Slingbox which allows customers to watch their home TV on an Internet-connected Mac or PC as well as a number of mobile phone platforms including Windows Mobile, Palm OS and Symbian OS.

SlingPlayer Mobile does not require a monthly fee or other recurring charges. Slingbox customers simply need to purchase SlingPlayer Mobile for a one-time charge of $29.99. All versions of SlingPlayer Mobile include a 30 day free trial.

Sling Media products and services will be on display in a number of places at the 2008 International CES show. In addition to the Sling Media booth located in the Sands Convention Center, Sling Media products can be found in several other partner booths including EchoStar Communications, Central Hall Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), booth 9021 and Microsoft, Central Hall LVCC, booth 7144. In addition all new Sling Media products and services will be on display at the Digital Experience press event on Sunday night at Caesar’s Palace.For more information on Sling Media or the Slingbox, visitwww.slingmedia.com.
If you have a SlingBox and a BlackBerry, get ready because on December 30th you’ll be able to download SlingPlayer Mobile in a free public beta. The public beta supports BlackBerry Bold, Curve 8900, 8820, Curve 8320, Pearl Flip 8220 and Pearl 8120. Firmware must be version 4.5 or higher.
“SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry has been a top customer request since we launched the original Slingbox Classic in 2005, and being a BlackBerry addict myself I am particularly excited about this announcement,” said Blake Krikorian, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Sling Media. “Combining the best of breed email device with the ability to watch and control your living room TV is a killer combo.”
SlingPlayer for BB is only available and certified for one particular European BlackBerry Pearl version with Wi-Fi that’s not even available in the US right now, but you can try loading it onto other phones and see if it clicks.
What does it all mean? You can carry a TV around in your pocket! The SlingBox set top box captures your home cable or satellite signal and allows you to watch it via the internet using the SlingPlayer software. I generally use mine while traveling – my parents don’t have cable at all – so at their house I can snuggle up with my laptop and watch whatever is on at home.
The personalized mobile TV experience for BlackBerry smartphones is enabled by the award-winning Slingbox which allows customers to watch their home TV on an Internet-connected Mac or PC as well as a number of mobile phone platforms including Windows Mobile, Palm OS and Symbian OS.

SlingPlayer Mobile does not require a monthly fee or other recurring charges. Slingbox customers simply need to purchase SlingPlayer Mobile for a one-time charge of $29.99. All versions of SlingPlayer Mobile include a 30 day free trial.

Sling Media products and services will be on display in a number of places at the 2008 International CES show. In addition to the Sling Media booth located in the Sands Convention Center, Sling Media products can be found in several other partner booths including EchoStar Communications, Central Hall Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), booth 9021 and Microsoft, Central Hall LVCC, booth 7144. In addition all new Sling Media products and services will be on display at the Digital Experience press event on Sunday night at Caesar’s Palace.For more information on Sling Media or the Slingbox, visitwww.slingmedia.com.

A personal mobile communication device which lets you be free and fun. It is light, simple and carefree. You can change its form according to your needs during the day.

Now, you’re not going to see this in stores any time soon. But if you’d like to get an idea of what Nokia thinks the future of communications will look like, take a look at the Nokia 888 communicator, a concept design that recently won Nokia’s Benelux design contest.

It is targeted to the young consumers who are likely to be active and take place in a lot of different activities.

Because they move and change place too much. They do a lot of different things during the day. So that’s what my design offers : to adjust to the moment, the place and the function.

The bracelet-like 888 is envisioned to use a liquid battery, feature speech recognition, a flexible touch screen, and a touch sensitive body cover. A video showing off the device’s potential features shows off close to a dozen functions, including an alarm clock, PDA, GPS, phone, push email receiver, digital wallet and, of course, jewelry. And, other than the “liquid battery,” we can actually see this in the not-too-distant future.

how the user interacts

E-motions… It means electronical motions that 888 has. You can send and receive forms from / to friends. You can send a heart shape to your girlfriend, so her telephone turns into an icon of heart. Or you can send a dancing form to your friends to call them to the party tonight. This is the fun side of the product. If we look from the functionality side, 888 is quite flexible. You can put it into your pocket, roll it and make it smaller, or put on your wrist when you want to make a video call on the go. If you want to talk like a normal telephone, there you have your telephone shape. We go through a lot of places and situations in the daily life, so it seems like one form is not enough.read more

[http://youtube.com/watch?v=W53W_zOwG4k]