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Android apple Cellphone Uncategorized

Here’s how to install Android on your iPhone 2G


Last week, planetbeing claimed he’d ported Android to the iPhone. This week, Android A Lot says you can, too. If you’ve got an original iPhone 2G handy, there’s now a 68-step guide that can walk you through the entire process. In a nutshell, you’ll use iPhone Explorer to copy over the Android files, then turn your Mac or PC into an Ubuntu virtual machine to install the OpeniBoot software. When you’re done, you’ll probably have a dual-booting iPhone that can swap between iPhone OS and an experimental version of Android 1.6 at startup, but don’t quote us on that — we haven’t had a chance to test the unholy matrimony for ourselves. We’re going to try to give this a shot next week, and we’ll report back from the other side… if there is another side. Blurry video walkthrough after the break, useful step-by-step text at our source link.

Guide to Installing Android on iPhone 2G from AndroidALot on Vimeo.

Source Android A Lot

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apple Cellphone Gadget Handhelds Wireless

Official: Apple now offering iPhones contract free (updated: not unlocked)

We heard from 9 to 5 Mac that Apple was due to begin selling a contract-free variant of the iPhone in the near future “at list price.” And guess what happened when we inquired to an Apple store? That’s right folks — you can now pick one up for $499 (3G), $599, or $699 (3GS). We’ve confirmed this info at no less than five stores, so you should be hearing the same message at your local Appletorium. Given the current unfriendly climate between Apple and Google, this could be seen as nasty jab, though the devices are still carrier-locked to AT&T, so you’re not being given much freedom… and it’s certainly not much of a statement. In many parts of Europe (France and Poland, for example) you can pick up the carrier-unattached device (and we mean totally unlocked), but that doesn’t appear to be the case here.

These devices are still locked to AT&T — so you’re just looking at an off contract pricing scheme. Which is also totally lame.

Source:9 to 5 Mac

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Computer Handhelds

Apple sues HTC for infringing 20 iPhone patents

Looks like Apple’s going on the warpath, kids. Just a few months after Cupertino got into it with Nokia over phone patents, Apple’s filed suit against HTC, alleging that the company is infringing 20 patents “related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture, and hardware.” Steve, you have something to say?

“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

Okay then. We’re pulling the complaint filing now, we’ll let you know the exact details as soon as we learn them.

Update: HTC just gave us a statement — this is apparently coming totally out of the blue for them, since Apple hasn’t even served the complaint yet.

We only learned of Apple’s actions based on your stories and Apple’s press release. We have not been served yet so we are in no position to comment on the claims. We respect and value patent rights but we are committed to defending our own innovations. We have been innovating and patenting our own technology for 13 years.

Update 2: We mean it when we say this was all just filed in the past few hours — it’s not yet in the court’s systems. We just got the PDFs and put the full list of claims from the federal lawsuit below, but remember not to take the names of the patents literally or directly, since they don’t mean much. We’ll poke each one apart and tease out what’s really at stake as we go along.

Update 3: We’ve just learned that Apple submitted over 700 pages of exhibits to the District Court, which is a little nuts. In addition, the ITC complaint lists a number of specific HTC handsets as exhibits, including the Nexus One, Touch Pro, Touch Diamond, Touch Pro2, Tilt II, Pure, Imagio, Dream / G1, myTouch 3G, Hero, HD2, and Droid Eris. That’s really a full range of HTC phones, running both Android and Windows Mobile, with and without Sense / TouchFLO. Interestingly, the Android sets are specifically included because they run Android, while the WinMo sets are called out specifically for including DSP chips, not anything to do with Windows Mobile.

Apple, Complaint (PDF), ITC Complaint (PDF)

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Computer Handhelds Wireless

Google Buzz Explained

Google today announced a new service, Google Buzz, that automatically brings social networking into Gmail and the rest of the Google-sphere. Whether or not you’re big on social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook, Buzz offers a somewhat new and intriguing approach.

What’s Buzz All About?

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Cellphone Wireless

AT&T Insiders Report iPhone Exclusivity Going Away On Wednesday

It’s sort of hard to believe that all the hype from CES is already over and done with. Larger companies spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to introduce and showcase new products at the show, and now all anyone wants to talk about in the tech world is Apple. Must be nice to be Steve Jobs (or an investor). The company that gave the world the iPod and iPhone is planning a media event on the 27th of this month, and while the world tends to believe a tablet or slate of some sort is planned, there has been no definite proof of that to this point.

We really have no idea what’s next from Apple; we just know that it’ll be something to unleash one’s creative side based according to a tagline in the invite. According to an inside source close to the going-ons involved in all of this, a new tablet of some sort may not be the only thing on deck for next Wednesday though. We have been led to believe by an inside source that AT&T will lose their iPhone exclusivity on the same day, though it’s not yet clear what other carrier (or carriers) will be stepping in to also carry the phone. For anyone who has followed the saga, you may notice that you haven’t seen AT&T fighting to extend their original exclusive agreement of late. In fact, they have spent most of their time fighting Verizon’s negative ad campaign.

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Uncategorized

AT&T and Verizon Slash Their Prices in an All-Out Price War

If you thought AT&T and Verizon weren’t at war already, today will change your mind. In an effort to undercut each other, both networks have dropped the prices of their unlimited voice plans, including the unlimited plans of iPhone owners (but with a caveat).

Verizon was the first to strike. Earlier today they revealed a new set of nationwide plans for unlimited talk and text. An Unlimited Talk plan now costs $69.99, a full $29 cheaper per month. Unlimited Talk and Text now costs $89.99. Family plans and low-end data plans have also been overhauled (the $19.99 3G data package no longer exists). These new prices will not impact existing customers unless they change their plans (which requires no contract extension or penalty).

It didn’t take long for AT&T to respond, though. It just announced its own price cuts, matching the price of Verizon’s unlimited voice plan ($69.99) and unlimited talk and text ($89.99). The iPhone, labeled by AT&T as a smartphone, costs $99.99 for unlimited voice and data, while texting plans remain unchanged ($20 for unlimited). And just like Verizon, AT&T customers can switch to these new plans, starting on Monday, without penalty or contract extension.

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Uncategorized

London school children to get free loaner iPhones in experimental, educational trial

picsiphone-handIt’s not the first time we’ve seen the iPhone used as an experimental means of education, but a London school’s recent announcement of its plans has caught our attention. The Gumley House Convent School — a small, Christian School for girls ages 11 to 18 — in London has laid out its plan to use give Apple’s smartphone to a select group of 30 students as a test educational measure. Previous efforts we’ve seen to rope the iPhone into modern education have been mostly at the collegiate level, but Gumley’s plan is still a bit vague. The girls will have free access to all of the phone’s features with the exception of actual calls, and the trial will last until the end of the school year. Like we said — the school’s not given out details as to what the actual rules of use will be — but we have a feeling this will all end in some wild bout of texting overload.