US Army Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications program putting smartphones in soldiers’ hands this February
Earlier this year, DARPA put out RFIs with an eye on developing military apps and an app store for iOS and Android , and now the US Army's Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications (CSDA) program will put handsets, network equipment, and other equipment including tablets, e-readers, and pico projectors into the hands of the First Army Brigade this February. Additionally, the Army plans to start issuing Common Access Card (the ID cards used to log on to DoD computers and networks) readers for the iPhone in January and for Android in April
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: Capabilities, card, Common, equipment, integration, iphone, program-putting, rickey, rickey-smith, smartphones, smith, us army
Jim Balsillie says BlackBerry PlayBook has a ‘module cavity,’ hints at NFC capabilities
He unfortunately didn't have one on hand (or at least on stage), but RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie did make a bit of news about the BlackBerry PlayBook at the now-happening Web 2.0 Summit .
Categories: BlackBerry, Mobile Phone Tags: balsillie, BlackBerry, blackberry playbook, Capabilities, hints-at-nfc, jim, jim balsillie, least-on-stage, nfc, playbook
Sony earnings call entertains PlayStation Phone, reveals tablets are on the radar
Earnings calls aren't usually that interesting, and that's doubly true when trying to listen via official translators. Still, we couldn't help but give an ear to Sony's fiscals, and sure enough, someone asked about our ( still real ) PlayStation Phone leak . We're not sure who answered since it's through interpreter, either Executive VP / CFO Masaru Kato or Senior General Manager of Investor Relations Division Gen Tsuchikawa (we're assuming the former)
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: background, Capabilities, earnings, headquarters, interpreter, notion, phone, playstation, projectzeus, smartphone, sony, sonyericsson, station-phone
Warning, heavy users: T-Mobile just now turning on data throttling?
T-Mobile had become the only top-tier carrier in the US to endorse data throttling over capping back in April, and at the time, we'd thought the feature was being turned on immediately -- but new communication being passed around internally has us thinking that they're just now getting around to flipping the switch. A screen up on TmoNews says that the policy will start this Saturday, October 16, after which exceeding 5GB of data usage in a month will result in "web browsing capabilities...
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: Capabilities, data-throttling, datathrottling, engadget, feature, flipping, policy, rumor, Switch, time, turning-on-data
Apple Peel 520 up for preorder, from the man who brought you the MicroSIMCutter
"Dear Sir or Madam," the email began, and we almost deleted it at once, but then we realized the gentleman who wrote that line was hawking the Yosion Apple Peel 520 . A quick visit to his website did nothing to allay our lingering suspicions -- it appeared to be a hastily-cobbled cash-in through and through -- but still, the prospect of an iPod touch case with cellular capabilities sorely tempted our wallet
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: apple peel 520, Capabilities, engadget, formally-bring, gentleman, ipod, ipod-touch, ipodtouch, peel, pre-order, preorder, sorely-tempted, suspicions, touch, yosiontechnology
T-Mobile G2 comes out from hiding, pre-orders begin later this month
At last, T-Mobile just went official with its G2 QWERTY slider . As expected, this Android 2.2 device ships with Qualcomm's MSM7230 "Snapdragon" silicon optimized for T-Mobile's HSPA+ network with an 800MHz CPU and second generation application co-processor
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: Capabilities, flash, flashplayer, froyo, Generation, mobile, snapdragon, sometime-later
RIM averts BlackBerry ban in India… for now
It was facing an August 31st deadline before India banned BlackBerry service in the country, but it looks like RIM has now managed to avoid that scenario -- at least for a little while. According to India's Ministry of Home Affairs, "RIM have made certain proposals for lawful access by law enforcement agencies and these would be operationalized immediately," and that "the feasibility of the solutions offered would be assessed thereafter." Details are still a bit light beyond that, but India's assessment will apparently come after 60 days, and there's still no guarantee that we won't end up back at square one at that point. Interestingly, India is also still raising complaints about Gmail and Skype, with it now saying that it wants Google and Skype to set up servers in the country that would give it greater monitoring capabilities
Categories: BlackBerry, Mobile Phone Tags: affairs, Capabilities, engadget, entry, feasibility, india, servers, skype
New ARM architecture (likely Eagle) better suited for OS virtualization
Looks like that fake Pre with the iOS / BlackBerry OS split personality is a little ahead of its time, but ARM -- supplier of the architecture that underpins most of the world's smartphones -- likes the idea. In a recent talk at Stanford, ARM program manager David Brash talked up some of the highlights of new "extensions" to the existing ARMv7-A platform, and though he apparently never mentioned Eagle by name, it seems safe to assume that he was referring to the capabilities that Eagle would bring to the table when it launches in the next couple years. Notably, the extensions will break through ARM's current 4GB RAM limit by mapping 4GB windows of memory to each virtualized operating system, which dovetails nicely -- suspiciously nicely, in fact -- with VMware's recent talk of wanting virtualized phones capable of seamlessly switching between multiple platforms without any hacky bootloader solutions
Categories: BlackBerry, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: arm, black, Capabilities, Eagle, ios, operating, operating-system, personality, smartphones, the-extensions
RIM finally catches up to the competition with non-GPS-based BlackBerry ‘Locate Service’
It's hardly the first company to implement the technology in a smartphone, but it looks like RIM finally has an answer for folks not satisfied with the GPS capabilities of their BlackBerry. It's now announced the simply-named 'Locate Service' for developers, which relies on cell tower triangulation to to either augment the phone's built-in GPS, or completely replace it when a GPS signal isn't available. According to RIM, the service also includes a set of components that "integrate seamlessly" with the BlackBerry Maps and Contacts applications and, of course, the GPS capabilities of the device
Categories: BlackBerry, Mobile Phone Tags: BlackBerry, Capabilities, Cell Towers, celltowers, engadget, entry, locate service, maps, phone, result, signal, smartphone, technology, triangulation
Windows Phone 7′s October release casually mentioned in Microsoft ad presentation
"I'm gonna ask rock star Kostas...
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: after-the-break, Capabilities, conference, entry, lions, mathews, phone, star, video, windows phone 7, wp7