Posts tagged mobile devices
BlackBerry gets it right with Curve 9360
Dec 7th
by Yale Holder
For fans of the BlackBerry Curve series, the 9360 model gets a decent grade for its purpose - a value based messaging cell phone. Its affordable at $50 on a 3 year contract or $350 without any contract or tab discount. Let’s review some of the key features of this phone as compared to its predecessor.
What I like?
The curve always seems to be short changed compared with the BlackBerry Bold models and always seems to have something missing – a camera with no flash – 3G with no Wi-Fi or vice versa, and the design wasn’t too slim or sleek looking. Well RIM fixes most of these issues with the Curve 9360, here are the key features that I do like: Read the rest of this entry »
NFC the next big thing? Do it right – embed privacy from the start
Dec 4th
by Dr. Ann Cavoukian
There was a lot of buzz about Near Field Communications (NFC) at The Future of the Internet Congress this week in Ottawa. NFC is an emerging short-range wireless technology being built into the latest generation of smartphones, allowing users to bridge the real and virtual worlds with simple “Tap ‘n Go” gestures.
Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
NFC holds tremendous potential to change the way we interact with our physical environments, acquire and share information, access facilities, and pay for goods and services (to name just a few interoperabilities), using now-ubiquitous mobile devices.
Illustrative Uses Cases
At the Congress, I made available a new paper, entitled Mobile Near Field Communications (NFC) “Tap ‘n Go” – Keep it Secure & Private, that examines the technology’s potential in four illustrative use cases:
Alleged PlayBook hack leading RIM to fork in the road?
Dec 1st
by Nestor E. Arellano
As if the ignominy of having to slash the price of its first tablet device where not enough, Research In Motion it appears now has to investigate reports that company’s supposed iron clad operating system has been cracked by a trio of hackers identified only as xpvqs, neuralic and Chris Wade.
Nestor Arellano
A Twitter post by Wade claimed that PlayBook had been rooted. “I will be releasing an installer for it in a week,” Wade tweeted.
neuralic, then posted a video of the root which they named DingleBerry, on YouTube. Here’s the video which shows what appears to be a PlayBook’s backlighting features being controlled through a laptop. Read the rest of this entry »
Securing the Ubiquitous iPhone
Nov 21st
by Claudiu Popa
According to popular expert opinion, there are seven areas in today’s mobile devices where vulnerabilities can create security or privacy breaches. Nowhere is this more rational than in the paragon of mobile digital success: the iPhone.
Claudiu Popa
Nothing short of a juggernaut, new versions of the quasi-ubiquitous device have all but evaded attempts at hacking it by consistently introducing innovative new features and by leveraging a strategy of built-in obsolescence.
It follows then that each of these areas corresponds to ways to specific security controls at that level, tactically building a ‘defense in depth’ approach to securing the iPhone. In the name of brevity, here are these safeguards: Read the rest of this entry »
Who needs a Quad-Core mobile device for work?
Nov 10th
by Joseph Fieber
Nvidia’s Tegra 2 dual-core processor powers many of the phones and tablets on the market, and it’s similar to the one found in Apple’s iPad 2. That could change soon, as Nvidia has announced its Tegra 3 quad-core processor, which makes its debut in Asustek Computer’s Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet. Generally, more is better, but does your company really need a quad-core mobile device?
Eee Pad Transformer Prime
The specs
With a design based on the ARM Cortex-A9 processor, the Tegra 3, code-named “Project Kal-El”, boosts by up to three times the graphics performance and five times the overall performance of its Tegra 2 predecessor. The graphics boost is largely due to a 12-core Nvidia GeForce GPU, which lends itself to dynamic rendering of textures and lighting in high-resolution 3D environments, and also makes possible 1080p high-profile video at 40 Mbps. Running at up to 1.3GHz, the extra horsepower comes primarily from the additional two cores, but is also helped by improving the memory bandwidth by three times and doubling the speed of the image signal processor.
Windows Mango – Nokia Lumia 800 and 710
Nov 8th
by Yale Holder
Let’s face it, Nokia and the North American market are like oil and water – they don’t go well together. In fact, Nokia has lost significant market share over the last 2 years largely to Apple and Android devices. But can its partnership with Windows turn these fortunes around?
Nokia, currently the largest handset maker by volume, is set to debut its latest devices from its new partnership with Microsoft. Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS hasn’t done too well either, losing significant market share in the US from 20 per cent market share in Sep’09 to about 6 per cent in Jul’11.
Windows recently released their new OS “Mango” which will debut in Europe and Asia before making its way toNorth America. Two phones are likely to be debuted by Nokia include the Nokia Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 both look impressive on first view (see specs below). Read the rest of this entry »
9 nifty apps for the BlackBerry Bold 9900
Sep 15th
By Nestor E. Arellano
Research in Motion’s BlackBerry Bold 9900 is probably one of the company’s finest smartphone in recent years. Although its look may not be as bold as expected and its operating system, the OS7 might be the last of the series before RIM moves on to the QNX platform, the 9900 has a lot going for it.
The new Bold is the thinnest BlackBerry ever and yet it packs a 1.2GHz, single-core
Nestor Arellano
Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm that leaves the processors in previous generations of BlackBerrys in the dust. The OS7 actually provides a better user experience than older versions of the operating system and the touchscreen works well with the BlackBerry 7 browser.
But to truly enjoy the phone you need to have the apps. Read the rest of this entry »
iPhone 5 coming October 7, reports say
Aug 18th
By Daniel Ionescu
More reports suggest the iPhone 5 will launch in October, with preorders beginning September 30. In Canada, there are reports that the much awaited smartphone will launch in Canada through Telus on Oct. 1.
Backing up a report from TiPB last week, 9 to 5 Mac claims it has independently confirmed Friday, October 7, as the launch date of the iPhone 5. Unlike with the iPad 2, Apple is also rumored to take preorders with the next-generation iPhone at the end of September. Read the rest of this entry »
Six-year-old kid sells $10K worth of Apple products
Aug 16th
By Kye Husbands
With all the attention recently about RIM’s struggles (i.e. the BlackBerry maker) the question many have asked, is whether or not RIM will be able to compete with the likes of Apple or Google going forward? I don’t have a crystal ball, however, I do have an interesting story.
I had the fortune of observing what I would call a sociological experiment, so let’s answer that question, by telling the story of a six year old boy that my family just wanted to keep a little more occupied during the summer, in a household of diehard BlackBerry users, supposedly addicted to BBM.
Couple quick notes. My aunty has eight kids all between the ages of 21-36, many of whom now have their own kids. With boyfriends, spouses, kids and friends the numbers get huge, so my observation is based on 25 family members linked to this household.
If you have a six-year-old boy, or you’ve ever taken care of a six-year-old boy, then you know how difficult it is to keep them quiet, especially during the summer months. Enter Sebastian, your “average” high energy six-year-old boy who pretty much hates reading, loves video games and is somewhat addicted to gadgets and technology.
So how do you entertain a six year old boy?
Read the rest of this entry »
5 reasons to check out the HTC Evo 3D
Aug 10th
The HTC Evo 3D
By Yale Holder
One of the latest “superphones” will be launched this August on Rogers’ network, the HTC EVO 3D.
What makes this cell phone one of the best Android phones to hit the market this season is it unique 3D enabled display (no glasses required). Even the HTC Sense 3.0 interface has a 3D feel to it. Here are 5 key features of the HTC EVO 3D: Read the rest of this entry »
