Why is FoneFrenzy talking about routers? Well, because yesterday Cisco Systems unveiled hardware that will greatly speed up the delivery of data over broadband networks and will serve as the foundation for a next-generation Internet. The new Cisco CRS-3 triples the capacity of its 2004 predecessor, delivering up to 322 terabits per second. With that capacity, Cisco said the entire Library of Congress could be downloaded in one second or every movie ever created could be streamed in four minutes. That’s insane! But why is that important to use mobile tech freaks? Because now the carriers like AT&T are adding more mobile backhaul routers to the their cell towers this year. AT&T recently tested the Cisco CRS-3 between New Orleans and Miami in its first trial of 100-gigabit backbone network technology. Now do you get the picture?
With the creation of such tremendous speeds, we will actually have the real internet ability right in the palm of our hands.
So there I was, sitting in front of my desk gripping my phone, contemplating throwing it against a wall. Actually, let me step back a bit. I got my phone in November 2009. Initially I noticed a bit of lag while switching screens and going through settings and such, after a while it was atrocious. So I decided to Root my Hero and install Modaco’s custom rom, which at the time was based on 1.5 still. At first it was bit snappier, but after a short time I noticed that lag again, in fact it had gotten even worse.
I dealt with it for months, all the while contemplating buying an unlocked Milestone or maybe a Nexus One. A 2.1 rom leaked back in December 2009, but it was buggy to the point of being useless, so I never even toyed with it. recently however, a much more stable 2.1 rom has been leaked from the Eris, and was quickly ported over to the Hero. So now I am happily running Villainrom 3.2, with 3.3 having just been released.
Game On! That’s right. Microsoft is not holding back but instead SETTING the rules for cell phone gaming and the future of it is near. Engadget reports:
There is no fast track for porting OpenGL games to the Direct3D environment, but that’s not stopping regular suspects like Oberon, Sega, Glu, EA, Popcap, Hudson Entertainment, Namco, Konami and Microsoft Game Studios from signing on.
But hey, anything Redmond can bring ala Xbox is fine with us (and a few million other gamers as well). And remember, we own a gazillion gaming patents. Don’t forget! Apple, can you hear us now? I bet you can.
So Google earth hit the Android Market a few days ago. It is available for free in the Android 2.1 market only. The app is pretty straight forward and similar its iPhone counter part. Performance wise it seems to actually struggle a bit compared to the iPhone version in my experience, though both are very close. The feature set is just about identical to that of the iPhone so if you are an Android lover you finally have your Google Earth. Though with the newest version of Google’s Maps, Google Earth feels a lot less appealing to me. Anyway we have some video for you to enjoy, a simple walk through of Google Earth in the Android Market. It is available only for Android 2.1 devices (Nexus One). Hopefully the Droid and others will receive their juicy Android 2.1 update soon so they can join in on the party.
There have been arguments back and forth, left and right, and all over the place about multi-touch keyboards and their implementation or lack there of on Android handsets. As we all know now Google decided to put some native multi-touch support on their new Nexus One just a few weeks ago. There is now a pinch and zoom gesture in the Maps, Gallery, and Browser applications. We expect this to ring true on the Droid very soon. Where the question lies is in the keyboard. Joshua Topolsky of Engadget asked the project leader of the Android team numerous times why multi-touch isn’t being implemented and he actually argued that the keyboard does have multi-touch. So I put it through some tests to see what I can find.
Prior to Android 2.1 there is no multi-touch on Android keyboards no matter how you look at it. If you want to type without errors than after each letter you press you have to lift your finger completely off the screen before putting your other finger down on the screen to press the next letter. The Android 2.1 keyboard mechanics are a bit different. If you put a second finger on the keyboard before lifting the first, the letter that was being pressed by the first finger will pop up in the text field and the letter your now pushing with your second finger is being highlighted. This is actually a subtle but huge difference when typing quickly on the touchscreen keyboard. You can type much faster without worrying about the keyboard not picking up the letter you were just tapping because you put your second finger down to fast. Just describing this doesn’t help so much in text so I have put together a short video for you. I hope you enjoy!
Well that didn’t take too long? If you want to introduce a product to the masses, there are two days to do release your commercial: 1) Superbowl and 2) Oscars. So Jobs and company decided to take the latter (and probably less expensive) Oscars. Now that we know the release date is around the corner on April 3rd, who is going to be in line to buy one? I think I will save my money for the new MacBook Pro.
Windows Phone 7 news was wide spread at MWC and shortly there after. Though somewhat satisfied with the many answers Microsoft gave for their new platform, even more questions followed. MIX is the big event we are all waiting for to get an even deeper look at the platform. That is of course if Microsoft can stick to their guns. Though MIX is coming very soon, Microsoft has made some appearances to help show off their new platform.
They made a quick appearance at TechEd Middle East where they demoed what looks to be a fairly boring game on all 3 of their platforms. The game was just your standard side scroll-er similar to that of Mario or Sonic from SNES and Genesis. What was impressive is how that same game worked on X-Box 360, the PC running Windows 7, and the Windows Phone 7 Series device. The demo showed the guy playing through the level on a PC, pausing and exiting, then resuming the game on his Windows Phone, then exiting once again, and resuming for the last time on his home X-box 360. The game remembered his progress and he could continue on any device. This is what we have been waiting for Microsoft to do with all of their platforms for years. These same features can be translated to apps like Office 2010, Photoshop, or anything else developers are willing to work on. I for one am definitely excited to see where Microsoft developers take this when we actually have Windows Phone 7 in our hands.
Microsoft may be announcing some new features of it’s forthcoming Windows Phone 7 Series at MIX in a couple weeks. CNET managed to take a short demonstration video of Microsoft’s Charlie Kindel. How many of you are looking forward to this phone?
Apple® today announced that its magical and revolutionary iPad will be available in the US on Saturday, April 3, for Wi-Fi models and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.
Beginning a week from today, on March 12, US customers can pre-order both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple’s online store (www.apple.com) or reserve a Wi-Fi model to pick up on Saturday, April 3, at an Apple retail store.
Why is FoneFrenzy talking about routers? Well, because yesterday Cisco Systems unveiled hardware that will greatly speed up the delivery of data over broadband networks and will serve as the foundation for a next-generation Internet. The new Cisco CRS-3 triples the capacity of its 2004 predecessor, delivering up to 322 terabits per second. With that capacity, Cisco said the entire Library of Congress could be downloaded in one second or every movie ever created could be streamed in four minutes. That’s insane! But why is that important to use mobile tech freaks? Because now the carriers like AT&T are adding more mobile backhaul routers to the their cell towers this year. AT&T recently tested the Cisco CRS-3 between New Orleans and Miami in its first trial of 100-gigabit backbone network technology. Now do you get the picture?
