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Apple Posts iOS 4.2.6 Firmware – Verizon iPhone Ahoy!

That’s right all ye shipmates, as the pre-order stage for Verizon’s version of the Apple iPhone is only a few days away, it seemed almost inevitable that at any time now, there’d be a firmware update to all iPhone across the universe. Turns out that time was now, and the update is here. It’s iOS 4.2.6 (8E128) and you’re just gonna love it.

Of course, you’ll not see very many changes (if any at all, whatsoever) if you do grab this update, but you’re encouraged to look for it anyway as it is the next in line for the device. When the Verizon iPhone was demoed earlier this month, it featured iOS 4.2.5, so changes and tweaks to the system since then are probably minor.

UPDATE: apparently only the Verizon version of the iPhone (yes, there are some floating around out there already) will be getting this update, at least in the near future as far as we know.

[Via MacRumors]

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• iPhone firmware 2.0 has already been jailbroken!

The Daily Slash: January 31 2011

First let me tell you what you can have for free. Win a gigantic television, and there’s not much you’ve gotta do to grab it – SlashGear’s Final Football Matchup Toshiba TV GIVEAWAY! Next, have a peek at our Full Macworld Roundup including all of the Best in Show winners. Have yourself a read of a column by Tim Bajarin entitled Technology meets the History of Jazz. See why today’s the day Apple Fears Honeycomb. Get your bees knees out and read about Android 3.0 Honeycomb in our two full guides: [USER FEATURES] and [DEVELOPER FEATURES]. See Ben Bajarin’s review of the Dell Streak 7 and his on-time analysis by the name of What Honeycomb Means for Tablets. See our FIRST EVER SG Comics comic – SG Comics Presents: Angry Turds.

R3 Media Network

Editor’s Choice
What Went on at Macworld This Weekend? [Best of Show Winners Listed]
Google recruiting for internal devs as App Store war escalates
LG G-Slate makes second video tease; ports & flash on show [Video]
Canalys stats show Android became world’s leading smartphone platform in Q4 2010
MLG Vault case makes your Xbox 360 look evil
Developer Programs Android Toy to Move, Send Morse Code
Android Toys Series 2 Tiny Preview

SlashPhone
Nokia E7 Available For Pre-order in Indonesia
Amazon German Offered LG Optimus 2X and Optimus Black For €499
Lenovo May Partner up With NEC on Smartphone Project
Samsung Introducing Four Varieties of Galaxy Smartphone

Android Community
LG’s Optimus 3D caught in wild?
Dell Streak 7 $200 from February 2 confirms T-Mobile USA
Enspert E201 7-inch Android tablet breaks cover
ASRock to enter Tablet market with Android offerings
Canalys reports Android is the top smartphone platform in the world
Motorola Xoom may land as early as February
Google pushing internal app development in play for mobile software market
LG gives G-Slate another video outing
AT&T to Launch Massive Amount of Android and 4G Devices in 2011
Notion Ink Adam touchscreen damage means Valentine’s delay for some tableteers
Android 3.0 Honeycomb Full Preview Guide [USER FEATURES]
Android 3.0 Honeycomb Full Preview Guide [DEVELOPER FEATURES]
Why Has Honeycomb Disappeared?
Japan Brings Android Tablet-Based Home Phones to Market
Android 3.0 Honeycomb Running on NOOKcolor [VIDEO]
What Android Fans will be Doing on February 3rd at 3AM [LOL]
Boku and Zong Partner Up With Verizon to Offer BilltoMobile Payments
Angry Birds RIO Coming Soon! [With Movie Tie-In!]
NOOKcolor Receives Android 3.0 Honeycomb
Android Honeycomb Event Announced by Google
Dell Streak 7 Review by Ben Bajarin [REVIEW]
Developer Programs Android Toy to Move, Send Morse Code
Sony Ericsson Hallon to be Called Xperia Neo
Ben Bajarin Analyzes what Honeycomb Could Mean for Tablets
Android Toys Series 2 Tiny Preview
Samsung Backtracks on Galaxy Tab Sales Figures – Shipments, Not Sales
Samsung Galaxy Player Pre-Order Starts February 4, Launch Mid-Month
Google IO 2011 : Key Developers Being Sent Early Registration Invites
Why Apple Fears Honeycomb [FEATURED]
HTC ThunderBolt Simultaneous Data and Voice Over 3G Confirmed, Again
Android Tablets Gaining on Apple Quickly
Nexus S Heading To Vodafone Germany
LG Optimux 2X Dump – Live and Static Wallpapers, Ringtones, More [FROM THE FORUMS]
HTC ThunderBolt unofficially unboxed and given a walk-through
Motorola XOOM Super Bowl Teaser Ad Hits the Internet
Nextel Motorola i1Q Spotted
LG Optimus 3D, Are You ready for 3D in the Mobile Space?
Atrix HD Multimedia Dock Retailing for $59?
Which Verizon devices have had rebate changes?
Droid Bionic Appears on Amazon for $149

SlashGear
SlashGear’s Final Football Matchup Toshiba TV GIVEAWAY! [GIVEAWAY]
Apple Xserve axed today
LG Optimus 3D leaks ahead of MWC 2011 debut?
Nintendo 3DS browser & eShop delayed until May
Intel Medfield smartphone prototype gets brief preview
T-Mobile Dell Streak 7 due February 2 for $200
Samsung adds LOVEFiLM streaming to Blu-ray players in the UK
HyperDrive for iPad updated with more storage and features
Bullet counter leaps off PC FPS shooter screen and lands on real weapon
SunBook netbook ships with Pixel Qi transflective display
Nintendo Battle & Get! Pokemon Typing DS keyboard surfaces
Canalys stats show Android became world’s leading smartphone platform in Q4 2010
MLG Vault case makes your Xbox 360 look evil
MeeGo UI update goes covert ahead of “feature complete” reveal
Angry Birds Rio Coming to smartphones and tablets in March
Blind man drives tech laden Ford Escape around race track alone
Active Media Products SATA Disk-on-Modules are first to hit 64GB
Google recruiting for internal devs as App Store war escalates
LG G-Slate makes second video tease; ports & flash on show [Video]
Apple too closed and Steve Jobs ego-led rants Netgear CEO
Facebook Places Deals hits UK and Europe
iPad 2 uses 1.2GHz dual-core, 30-35% slimmer display, tips analyst
AT&T leak: 12 new Androids in 2011, 20 4G devices
What Went on at Macworld This Weekend? [Best of Show Winners Listed] [FEATURED]
SlashGear Week in Review- Week 5 2011
Nokia E7 hits Indonesian pre-order with big promotions push [Update: Scans!]
Technology meets the History of Jazz [COLUMN]
Dell Streak 7 [REVIEW]
SG Comics Presents: Angry Turds [SG COMICS]
Preview of Android Toys Series Part 2!
HTC Thunderbolt Will Function as Mobile Hotspot
Smart’s First Electric Car in the U.S.
Al Jazeera Puts Egypt Coverage Under Creative Commons License
Apple loses VP of Global Design to PayPal
RIM Releases New BlackBery PlayBook for Business Video
People Use Apps Once 26% of the Time
Ericsson achieves three HSPA records
PS3 taking on the cloud
LG Plans to Push NFC Technology in 2012
Android Tablets Take A Bite Out of Apple in Latest Numbers
Nintendo Sticks Head in the Sand, Pretends Social Media isn’t Happening
Sprint 4G International Roaming
What Honeycomb Means for Tablets [ON TIME ANALYSIS]
Samsung backtracks on Galaxy Tab figures: customer sales “quite small”
Intel design error scuppers Sandy Bridge chipset: recalls ahead

To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash] or here: [SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up]

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• News Corp’s “The Daily” iPad App Landing January 19th
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• Windows Phone 7 update coming January says preview page URL

Dell Streak 7 Review

Coming to T-Mobile as their first 4G tablet, Dell is set to launch its foray into the 7-inch tablet market with the Dell Streak 7. Packed with NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 dual core processor and a 7-inch 800×480 Gorilla Glass touch screen. Is it poised to take on the Tab? Check out the full review.

Hardware / Design

The hardware design for the Streak 7 is vastly improved from the Streak 5. I was one of Dell’s harshest critics of the Streak 5 as the back battery panel came to easily detached from the device.

Like the Tab the back of the Streak 7 is a solid non-removable panel. The back also contains a small diamond texture design similar to the texture feel Dell has been putting on more of their consumer notebooks.

One of the things that stands out the most with the design of the hardware is that it appears to be designed with landscape mode in mind as the major way the product will be used.   From the camera positions, to the power and volume buttons and most noticeably the orientation of the side buttons.

The design of the Streak 7 is much like the design of the Streak 5 where the sides of the device, if you are holding it landscape, have a slight curve. On the top of the device there are only two buttons, off and one and volume up and down. The Home, Menu and Back buttons are on the front. One thing that is noticeable is the absence of the search button so commonly found on other Android hardware. This could mean Dell intends to make the move to Honeycomb quickly where search is integrated more into the core operating system, or it could just frustrate users.

There are two speakers on the Streak 7 on both ends of the device, which gives it a true stereo experience with applications that use audio. In comparison the Tab has two speakers but they are both at the bottom of the device.

The tablet itself is 7.9 x 4.7 x 0.5 and weighs 1lb compared to the Tab which is 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.5 inches and 13.4 ounces.  In this side by side comparison you can see the Streak 7 is slightly longer.

Software and Performance

The Streak 7 comes loaded Android version 2.2. The only additional software Dell has pre-loaded on to the device is their own Dell Stage widgets which consist of a contacts, email, gallery, home, music, social and web widgets.

I did find the Streak 7 to be a bit more snappy than the Tab. Going in and out of applications, browsing apps from the menu and even browsing the web. Overall I found the speed performance to be better than the Tab.

Further from a performance standpoint the Streak scored a 1918 on Quadrant where the Tab scored a 980.

Even though Tegra 2 is a dual core processor, Android version 2.2 is multi-threaded however there is room for improvement.  Along those lines not all applications are multi-threaded as well. So the full power of the Streak 7 and the Tegra will not be unleashed until either Gingerbread or Honeycomb are made available on the Streak 7.

4G

The Streak 7 is T-Mobile’s first 4G tablet.   In many areas of the Bay Area where I live I got strong 4G signals and tested speeds in the 2.5 to 3.5 mb range of download speed. In full 4G areas web pages loaded quickly and more importantly when I was out and about using things like maps or other location based services applications.

Camera and Multimedia

Since NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 processor is capable of 1080p capture I was excited to test the video capabilities for both playback and capture. For 1080p video playback the Streak 7 performed admirably. The video played back flawlessly without skipping and with smooth frames. Capture however was a different story all together as 720P was the highest resolution option capable to capture video.

Graphics and games looked incredibly fantastic.   I expected this as Tegra 2 coming from NVIDIA with their deep graphics expertise.   I was able to play a few pre-release Tegra optimized games that NVIDIA provided me.   One was a Tegra optimized version of Dungeon Defenders and the other was Galaxy On Fire 2.   Games in particular shined on the Streak 7 and when it came to fluid and rich graphical gameplay it was much better than the Tab.

Here are some photos I took of my goats with the camera.

Battery

The battery life on the Streak 7 has to be my biggest complaint. Over the weekend I took it with me on a day trip to Berkeley and after a full nights charge it was dead by 5 PM. The next day faired a little better but just barely made it through a day.

The culprit is the Streak 7 only has a 2780 mAh battery while the Tab has a 4000 mAh battery. The bottom line is expect more frequent charging if you plan on heavy usage.

Wrap up

Having used the Tab for over a month and now after using the Streak for five days, the performance advantages of the Streak 7 give it the edge in my opinion.   The Streak 7 will perform and in some cases outperform other tablets in the 7′ inch range with its capabilities as a rich multimedia device largely thanks to NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 super chip.

The battery life is my biggest complaint with the Streak 7 and in terms of battery life the Tab is a better option.

I want to see how the Streak 7 performs when either Gingerbread or Honeycomb become available as an update.   From things like multi-threaded support, more tablet centric OS and speed / performance gains all things that will add value to not only tablets in general but the Streak 7 as well.

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• Dell Streak available unlocked in UK
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• AT&T Dell Streak due Monday July 19th?
• US Dell Streak on sale July 28th [Update: pre-sale is back]

SG Comics Presents: Angry Turds

Game developers, Apps Genius Corp, recently released a new game called Angry Turds available now at the App Store. No joke, you get to be a monkey flinging poop, bananas, and coconuts at island invaders.

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• Gear4 offers Angry Birds cases for iPhone 4

Preview of Android Toys Series Part 2!

Google is getting to release the second generation of its popular Android toy robot line. The first series was designed solely by Andrew Bell, but this time around the 3” vinyl robots will don the designs of three designers. Andrew Bell is back but we also have designs from Gary Ham and Google themselves.

The rarity of each figure is decided by their ratio and the ratios for the known designs so far are: Hexcode by Andrew Bell: 2/16, Cupcake by Gary Ham: 1/16, and Greeneon by Google, Inc.: 2/16.

Expect more of the suspected twelve designs to be revealed as we near the release date of early March. The series will be blind-boxed once again, meaning purchasers of the tiny guy won’t know which design they will receive until its opened. Just like opening up a pack of trading cards.

The new series will be arriving in stores and online at Dead Zerba in early March at will retail for $7.50 just like last time. Get ready to collect all of the little guys. What design would you like to see?

[Via Android Community]

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HTC Thunderbolt Will Function as Mobile Hotspot

The HTC Thunderbolt is shaping up to be one hell of a powerhouse. The next-gen 1 GHz Snapdragon processor is blazing fast. I spent a lot of time with this phone at CES, and found it just as zippy as any dual-core option at the show. It feels like magic and cold molasses in your hand- HTC’s best design by far. Today we’ve received further confirmation that the LTE smartphone will offer simultaneous voice and data- and we’ve learned that the ThunderBolt will launch with mobile hotspot functionality.

We’d originally heard that mobile hotspot functionality would not be in at launch. But there’s apparently been some sort of turn-around at Big Red. “While it was not previously communicated that the HTC Thunderbolt was not Mobile Hotspot capable, at launch, customers will in fact be able to turn their HTC Thunderbolt into a wireless hotspot.”

This leaked internal document also echoes the rumor that the ThunderBolt would have simultaneous voice & data even while not in LTE mode. That fact would not be advertised, due to the service not meeting Verizon’s quality standards. This document re-asserts that claim in the same words. Which is pretty compelling evidence of veracity.

Verizon employees started training on the ThunderBolt last week. Employees who attended report the device having simultaneous voice and data capabilities. There have been rumors that the ThunderBolt will see a February 14th launch at MWC 2011.

For an in-depth look at the ThunderBolt, check out our hands-on or this side-by-side with the iPhone 4 and Bionic.

[Via Android Community]

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Smart’s First Electric Car in the U.S.

An electric car just made its American debut, but not in LA for some movie star proving their “green”. Smart’s first electric car, the Smart ForTwo, has landed in Silver Spring, Maryland. Yup, Maryland. Mindy Kimball, a Major in the Army, is the lucky recipient. Smart is leasing out a fleet of the cars to individuals and corporate/municipal fleets to refine the technology.

The Smart ForTwo houses a 30 kilowatt electric motor that produces 40 horsepower and a 16.5 kWh lithium-ion battery. A full charge takes eight hours and is claimed to get you 98 miles on the LA4 test cycle, but the EPA estimates it’s closer to 63 miles in actual commuting.

“This is a groundbreaking day for Smart in the United States,” Smart USA President Jill Lajdzik said. “We are extremely excited to add the Smart ForTwo electric drive to Smart product lineup, solidifying our position as a key player in transportation electrification.”

Like the rest of Smart’s arsenal of cars the Smart ForTwo is tiny and looks like it belongs on a golf course rather than a high way. But its lack of speed and size look to be well suited as an environmentally friendly option for urban commuting. The car is one of 250 EV’s (electric vehicles) that Smart is bringing out this year; major roll-out and production is expected in 2012.

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Al Jazeera Puts Egypt Coverage Under Creative Commons License

Egypt may be offline for the time being, but that hasn’t stopped footage of the unrest in Cairo from finding its way onto cyberspace. The much-maligned Al Jazeera is one of the few news agencies with a heavy presence in the country. And they’re releasing their coverage under a Creative Commons license.

Though the local government has shut down their offices and labelled their reporters “Traitors”, the Arab news agency remains extremely active in-country. They only require an attribution to use any of their content. Other news agencies are even allowed to use it for commercial purposes.

Despite having almost sole access to the scoop of the year, Al Jazeera is opening their information up to as wide a spread of people as possible. Are they just dedicated journalists intent on getting the truth out? Or is this just a cunning plot to build goodwill in the Western world and maybe get picked up by a TV network?

I’d guess on a little bit of both. If you want to see crowds of angry people getting sprayed with fire hoses and doused with tear gas, click here. Prepare to feel furious, then triumphant as the crowds force the police back, then furious again as an armored vehicle starts running protesters over. The footage is disturbing, but at least this isn’t going unreported.

[Via TechDirt]

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