Palm Pre now with a VoIP Application

A new Palm Pre app has just been announced by VOXOFON. The application will be the first VoIP app designed for the Palm Pre and as it will use VoIP it will allow international calls to be made starting at 1.3 cents per minute.

The application makes use of your data plan, so if you intend to use this then go careful if you are not on an unlimited plan. The VoIP app will use a 1 – 2KB data stream to establish the phone calls.

When making a call the Voxofon account will get charged for the international portion of the call. So that you are not left in the dark as to how much that will be, the Pre App will display a message with the call rate on screen when you are ready to dial.

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iPhone 3G S unlocked?

Just two days for Apple's next-gen iPhone to hit shelves and iPhone Dev team, the group responsible for jailbreaking iPhone and iPhone 3G, has claimed it can jail break Apple's new device iPhone 3G S.

iPhone Dev Team has stated they have a fully-working software carrier unlock ready for the 3.0 firmware ahead of its official release on Wednesday.

The team has put up a live demo of carrier unlock working on the official iPhone 3.0 firmware with UltraSn0w. The team has posted on its blog that it has successfully unlocked an iPhone running 3.0 software. This, according to them, will unlock every version of the iPhone running from 3.0 and lower.

More significantly, this also means that the device will be able to run on any network without a hitch. In US, Apple sells its iconic device exclusively with AT&T. In India, Apple has partnered with Airtel and Vodafone to sell its second generation iPhone 3G.

The team, however, hasn't revealed the details of its unlocking for fear of Apple fixing it at the last hour. They said the new hacking software should be out by Friday (the day iPhone 3G S goes on sale) for unlocking the iPhone 3G S.

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WolframAlpha Hits the iPhone

It's not a native app, but it's a start: WolframAlpha has introduced an iPhone-formatted Web page that lets users browse the site, watch the intro video, and run queries.

Normally an iPhone-specific Web page isn't earth-shattering news--for that, you'll have to read about Venus crashing into Earth, or maybe Earth getting sucked into a black hole. But with WolframAlpha it's different, because of the layout of query results. They're nothing like the mostly text-only lists of links you see with, say, Google or Yahoo, as MediaPost reports.

The company is currently soliciting feedback on its blog, and announced that it is considering creating a more robust native application for the iPhone as well as other mobile device platforms.

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Chips for iPhone, Palm Pre

ARM, the company that designs chips for the world's smartphones, said handset makers will deliver the first models using more than one processor core next year, as high-end mobile phones begin to mimic the hardware attributes of PCs.
Palm Pre

And that means top smartphone suppliers such as Apple and Palm, which both use ARM-based processors, will likely deliver models packing at least two cores inside the main processor--referred to as an application (or applications) processor.

This is a natural progression for high-end smartphones like the iPhone and Palm Pre as the software those phones run gets increasingly sophisticated.

"You'll definitely see handsets shipping with a dual-core A9 in 2010," James Bruce, wireless segment manager for ARM, said in a phone interview earlier this week, referring to the next-generation Cortex-A9 processor from ARM.

The Palm Pre uses a processor based on the current-generation Cortex A8. The iPhone also uses an Apple-branded chip that is based on an ARM design.

"The A8 is just a single core while the A9 will be dual-core, all the way up to quad-core to give smartphones an even bigger performance boost," Bruce said.

He said the move to dual-core phones should happen relatively quickly. "It's very aggressive. It's only going to be in a year's time that you're going to get these phones," he said.

And what about power consumption, a critical concern for smartphones looking to deliver all-day battery life? "What we've done on the A9 is actually make it more power efficient than the A8. The dual-core A9 will be coming out on 45-nanometer rather than the (current) 65-nanometer process," Bruce said. Generally, the smaller the geometries, the faster and more power-efficient the processor is.

Bruce continued. "With the dual-core running at maximum load there's probably going to be an increase of about 10 to 20 percent in power consumption but in general day to day use you're actually going to see better battery life."

Manufacturers are very strict about power-consumption caps, he said. "The manufacturers lay down the law that maximum power consumption of the processor is 300 milliwatts. In the mobile space, this is one of those golden rules that we have to live within," he said, speaking about the upcoming Cortex A9 processor.

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Slacker Unveils Version 2.0 of BlackBerry App

Slacker's popular BlackBerry app, which has already exceed one million downloads since its launch in January, is now up to version 2.0. The new version features improved performance, for near-instantaneous song transitions and skip times, compared with taking several seconds in version 1.x.

That's never a guaranteed thing with today's cellular data networks--even 3G. But every little bit helps. Slacker also took this opportunity to remind us that the app plays in full stereo and allows access to "4x as many songs as our leading competitor," which I presume is a thinly veiled jab at Pandora. (Check out the brain on Jamie today!)

Slacker recommends BlackBerry OS 4.5--though it will work in OS 4.3--along with an unlimited data plan or Wi-Fi, and a 500MB microSD card if you plan on taking advantage of the app's station caching feature.

Slacker Radio for BlackBerry 2.0 is now available for free download at BlackBerry App World.

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Air Writing: Your Killer Mobile App?

This one is still a bit far off, but a prototype of a new mobile app lets cell phone users write short messages in the air and send them to an e-mail address, reports Live Science.

The idea is that instead of having to text someone, or take out a stylus, you could simply hold your cell phone like a pen and just "write" the note or even draw simple diagrams, said Sandip Agrawal, an electrical and computer engineering student at Duke University in North Carolina, in the report.

The air writing app--dubbed "PhonePoint"--takes advantages of accelerometers found inside devices like the iPhone, according to the article. At the moment, users of the app have to pause between each letter and can't write cursively, either. But in the future, researchers expect to improve that situation as accelerometers get more sensitive--and hope to add the ability to snap a picture and then write a note on it before sending it off.

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Six Cool Android Apps

There might only be one Android phone out there (for now), but that doesn't mean that there aren't any cool Android apps. In fact, we've rounded up a half dozen.

The iPhone and BlackBerry aren't the only phones backed up by great app stores brimming with helpful add-ons. The T-Mobile G1 also has an app store, the Android Market, full of nifty apps to soup up the Google's platform. The Android has a ways to go before it catches up to the iPhone or the BlackBerry, but it's already got a decent stable of apps. We reviewed a half dozen recently, and we were (mostly) impressed.

chompSMS is a messaging app that spruces up Android's stock messaging client. Texting with chompSMS is a more pleasurable, user-friendly experience. It provides you with a very cool on-screen keyboard that lets you type messages without whipping out the G1's keyboard. It also gives you threaded SMS conversations and lets you customize the interface to your liking. What's more, you have the option of sending texts via your carrier or buying credits from chompSMS for 10 cents a message. This could come in handy if you need to send more-expensive international texts. The one downside: chompSMS doesn't support multimedia messaging, so you can't send or receive picture or video text. Still, it's well worth the install.

If you want to turn your G1 into a mobile jukebox, imeem for Android can get the job done. It comes preloaded with stations that let you discover new music and hear what's hot in the imeem music scene, but you can also save stations based on your favorite artist to listen to later. Better yet, you can upload up to 100 of your own tracks, which you can then stream on your Android phone and listen to without any skip or rewind restrictions. It also plays in the background, so you can do other things on your phone without stopping the music. When it comes to customizing your own stations, the imeem for Android lacks the depth you'll get with an iPhone radio app like Slacker but it still gives you an easy, fun way to enjoy your favorite songs.

You can also use Last.fm for Android, which offers features like unlimited track skipping and the ability to listen to other Last.fmer's favorite stations. But be wary: Though these extras make Last.fm for Android appealing, slow performance, unresponsive controls, and constant error messages outweigh any of the positives—at least until Last.fm irons out the kinks in this app.

Of all the mapping apps we've seen in the Android Market, none (even Android's own Google Maps) quite compares with the TeleNav GPS Navigator for Android ($9.99 per month). It features advanced features like voice entry, live traffic, and text-to-speech functionality that effectively turns your Android phone into a midlevel GPS device.

For the price conscious, SnapTell's Android app makes a handy shopping companion. This app delivers prices and product information on CDs, DVDs, books, and video games with just a snapshot you take of the product cover. Unlike the iPhone version, SnapTell for Android can also scan bar codes. So if you ever find yourself on the go and need to do some price comparisons, this app does it in a snap.

With Google Sky Map you can use your phone to explore the cosmos. The app syncs with your G1's GPS locator to pinpoint your location and provide a labeled map of the night sky. Just aim your phone at a particular patch of sky and the on-screen map will show you the corresponding planets, stars, and constellations. If you're looking for an app that can satisfy your astrological curiosity, Google Sky Map for Android is the way to go.

Pretty soon the G1 won't be the only Android phone on the block: T-Mobile is planning to release a new Android-powered phone this summer, so you'll have another option for enjoying Android apps. Click the links below for full reviews, and check back soon for more app reviews at our Android App Product Guide.

Featured in This Roundup:

T-Mobile G1 (Google Android Phone)

$179 list
The T-Mobile G1 is a basic introduction to what could be a blockbuster mobile platform. While it lacks key features right now, it's a decent smartphone that will surely grow with time.

chompSMS (for Android)

Free
chompSMS lets you spruce up Android's native SMS client with a colorful, user-friendly interface, a touch-screen keyboard, and enough customization options to personalize the SMS to your liking.

Google Sky Map (for Android)

Free
Google Sky Map is a cool piece of technology that turns your G1 Android phone into a detailed window looking onto the night sky. Point your phone in the direction of a patch of sky and the app will show you what stars, planets, and constellations are visible in that area.

imeem (for Android)

Free
The free imeem app for Android gives you an easy, fun way to listen to your favorite tunes on your Android-powered mobile phone.

Last.fm (for Android)

Free
Last.fm for the Android platform has the makings of a nifty mobile radio app, but too many kinks still need ironing out.

SnapTell (for Android)

Free
Feed it a snapshot of a CD, DVD, book, or video-game cover and SnapTell will deliver product information, prices, and shopping links. It's an efficient way to make your Android phone a handy mobile-shopping platform.

TeleNav GPS Navigator (for Android)

$9.99 direct
TeleNav's newest mobile app lets you turn your T-Mobile G1 into a midlevel GPS device, complete with voice entry, live traffic, and text-to-speech functionality.

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GPS War on the iPhone

As we saw in yesterday's Apple WWDC keynote, GPS maker TomTom is going to market with turn-by-turn navigation for the iPhone, which will be available in the iTunes store for an as-yet-undisclosed price The company will also sell a hardware kit that includes a window mount and charging cable.

This morning we learned that rival GPS maker Navigon, which recently stopped producing standalone GPS devices for the U.S. market, is also entering the iPhone arena. Even though TomTom hasn't given a release date for its app, Navigon says it's app "takes off first." That's some GPS smack talk.

Navigon will actually offer two navigation apps, including a lite version with maps but no active routing. The full version will include Navigon's excellent Reality View and lane assistance features, which help you navigate tricky highway exits. It will also deliver day and night viewing modes, a POI database, portrait and landscape orientations, and the ability to navigate to saved contacts.

Sources say that the app will be available with North American, Western European, or Australian maps. There's no release date or pricing yet.

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Processor of the iPhone 3GS

From a chip standpoint, this is one of the key questions of the iPhone 3G S launch. And one which Apple doesn't seem too inclined to answer, at least at the moment.

Which processor is in the iPhone 3G S? Odds are that it's an ARM chip, as the Samsung ARM 11 was the chip used by the previous iPhone 3G. But the real question is whether or not it's a chip from the PA Semi team that Apple acquired for $278 million in 2008.

The issue is the instruction set. Apple's iPhone OS is written for the ARM architecture, will be available for the iPhone 3G and the new 3G S; if Apple planned to move to a new processor architecture, the iPhone OS 3.0 would not straddle both phones. So we can assume that the 3G S is an ARM phone.

Unfortunately, Apple wasn't talking. I interviewed Bob Borchers, senior director of iPhone worldwide product marketing, who declined to comment on the chip's speeds, architecture, which company designed it, or even if it was an ARM architecture. "Within the mobile space we're mainly talking about what you can do with it," Borchers said.

Linley Gwennap, principal analyst at The Linley Group, which covers the embedded processor market, said he doubts Apple and its PA Semi team had had enough time to develop a chip for the iPhone. "I would think it's a safe assumption that it's another ARM processor they're working with," he said.

But, Gwennap added, it's impossible to say with certainty which processor is inside the new iPhone, or which vendor it was purchased from. "I would guess it's another Samsung processor with a faster CPU," he said. "It's possible that they switched [vendors], however."

What we don't know, as phone analyst Sascha Segan points out, is what particular flavor of ARM chip it is. Is it a Freescale Cortex chip?A more prosaic ARM derivative, merely clocked higher? To my knowledge, PA Semi was never an ARM licensee.

My notes showthat Apple's characterizations of the iPhone 3G S performance focusedon four key"benchmarks": the ability to lauch messages (2.1 timesfaster than the 3G), loading SimCity (2.4 times faster), viewing anExcel attachment (3.6 times faster) and loading the The New York Times.

According to Borchers, those metrics indicate "real-world things thatmake a difference". The software's new voice control options and theability to edit video on the fly are two other indications of thesoftware's performance, Borchers said.

On the plus side, the new iPhone 3G S also includes substantially more battery life, as Sascha Segan captured with his camera in our liveblog story:nine hours of Wi-Fi time for the iPhone 3G S versus six hours for theiPhone 3G; thirty hours of audio versus twenty-four for the iPhne 3G;and twelve hours of 2G talk time for the 3G S versus ten for the older3G. That seems to indicate a process shrink, or shrinks, as well assome improved power management capabilities.

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Quickoffice Announces Major Update for iPhone Suite

I recently reviewed Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite 1.1.1 for the iPhone, and found that it's a capable first stab at a document editing program--with some serious omissions. It turns out that Quickoffice has been listening. The company just announced version 1.2, which includes a number of additional features--including some that should have been there in version 1.0.

For Quicksheet, the Excel file editor, users can now edit cells in landscape mode. In addition, Quicksheet now supports direct double-tap cell editing in both landscape and portrait mode; copy and paste for columns, rows and cells; improved formula building; and the ability to add a new sheet within a worksheet.

Meanwhile, Quickword (the Word document editor) adds auto-correct--hooray!--along with auto-capitalization; a search function; indentation level adjustments for bulleted lists, numbered lists and paragraphs; and double tapping space bar to enter a period. Finally, Quickoffice Files now lets you run slideshows of images for remote and local folders, and you can also bookmark the last viewed position in a given document.

The updates are free to all current owners, and will apply both to the full $19.99 suite as well as the individual $12.99 apps. Quickoffice already submitted the updated versions to Apple and are just waiting for approval before they can appear in the App Store.