New Hack Lets Your Remap HTC Hardware Buttons, Make Sense of Your Life

Have you ever felt the need to press the Search button to go the Start page? Or what about slightly pressing-in the camera button to go to Bing search? Look we get it, sometimes buttons are just too limiting and even Nokia might agree with you. But for those of us with Windows Phones that still have those old-school buttons on them, what are we to do in order to mix things up in the relationship? Well if you have a HTC Windows Phone and some time to kill, then check out the new button mapping hack from XDA-Developers user YukiXDA. The hack itself isn't new per-say, as it has been done before with several HTC HD2s running Windows Phone, but it's new to the 'blessed' HTC Windows Phones. So in the thread they outline exactly where you need to go inside your phone's ROM in order to make the proper nips and tucks to get those buttons just right, and if you follow the instructions you can now finally make some sense out of those confusing controls. For more about the hack including diagrams to help, visit the thread here.

Via: PocketNow
Source: XDA-Developers Forum

Rumor: More Phones from HTC, Samsung, and LG Going Buttonless?

When we first saw the Nokia Sea Ray, we were totally stoked. Then we saw this mysterious photo of the Sea Ray using virtual buttons on the display and we were...confused. But now we're starting to hear from the venerable Eldar Murtazin that the upcoming wave of Mango phones won't be out of style next to Nokia's new digs. According to a recent tweet of his, the design guideline for manufacturers to follow while creating Mango-flavored handsets does not require hardware buttons. So therefore he assumes that other manufacturers like HTC, Samsung and LG may be joining Nokia in their boycott of buttons with at least a few phones when Mango releases this Fall.

While they may sound great on paper, we do fall in the same line of thought as others who think that buttons are there for a reason. They obviously work, they don't require you to look at your screen 100% of the time, and you control something digital through a tangible interface. Plus don't even get us started about what will happen to software if buttons are ditched for good. So far only the Nokia N9 and the Palm/HP WebOS devices have been able to woo us away from these cynical presumptions, but just because they could do it doesn't mean other manufacturers should follow their lead before actually thinking out the software. How would you feel about a buttonless Windows Phone?

Via: WMPoweruser
Source: Twitter (@eldarmurtazin)

Android Ice Cream to Come on Samsung Nexus Prime

 Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich flavor of the Android mobile operating system Come on Samsung Nexus Prime. 
Before 2011 is over, Google might bring to the market a new Nexus device, one that would run under the upcoming
flavor of the Android mobile operating system, and some more info the this device has just emerged.

Apparently, the same as the latest Nexus, the upcoming device will arrive on the market from Samsung, and should be a 'pure Google' mobile phone.

BGR reports that the mobile phone will arrive on the market with a 720p -resolution display, and that Samsung will call it “Super AMOLED HD.”

Moreover, the upcoming mobile phone should include an OMAP4460 application processor, the same as rumored not too long ago.

At the moment, the new handset goes by the name of Nexus Prime, and there is a great chance that it would arrive on shelves under this name as well, it seems.

One interesting piece of info regarding the upcoming mobile phone is the fact that it should be launched with more wireless carriers.

Previously, Google chose to have the Nexus smartphones available on the market only on the airwaves of one carrier at launch, but Nexus Prime should mark the shift in this approach.

Google is also rumored to be working with more OEMs on the release of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) mobile phones, which could launch at the same time.

This would be similar with Microsoft's approach towards the release of new hardware running under its Windows Phone platform, with new mobile phones being launched as soon as updated OS flavors are available.

What that means for Google, it remains to be seen, though it will certainly be interesting to see new, high-end Android phones being released from various handset vendors at the same time via more than just one wireless carrier out there.

For the time being, however, nothing was confirmed on the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich-based mobile phone, though it might not be too long before it will all be made official, so keep an eye on this space for more.

Update New Software for Nokia X6-00

One of Nokia's Symbian smartphones that have been arousing controversy for quite a while, Nokia X6-00 has just received a new maintenance software update.

Even though the Finnish giant has recently announced that it will hand over the Symbian support to a third-party company, namely Accenture, it appears that the software update calendar won't be hindered at all.

While the switchover is expected to take place in the early part of October, more Nokia smartphones are receiving more or less important software updates.


Officially launched on the market in December 2009, Nokia X6-00 is among the oldest Symbian smartphones to receive updates.

The update will bring Nokia X6-00 software from version 31 to 32.x.xxx, but an official change log has yet to be unveiled.

However, Nokia X6-00 owner who already updated their smartphones to the latest firmware report that the phone's performance has been greatly enhanced.

In addition, various applications have been updated, including Ovi Contacts, which hasn't been wiped from the device yet.

The stability of the phone has been improved as well by minimizing errors and lags.

Those who wish to update their Nokia X6-00 software can do so by using the handset maker's Nokia Software Updater application or Ovi Suite.

If none of the aforementioned software solutions is available, users can choose to update through the built-in software updater within the phone by simply going to Settings / Tools / Software Update.

On related news, it appears that Nokia does not intend to deliver the latest Symbian Anna operating system to older smartphones.

This means that owners of the X6-00 devices will be stuck on S60 5th Edition, or Symbian^1 as the platform was recently renamed by Nokia.

It is unclear whether the handset is to receive other major software updates in the future, as Nokia is trying to discontinue the Symbian mobile platform.

New LG Optimus One Tastes With Gingerbread in Romania

The Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system is now available for yet another popular mobile phone out there, namely the LG Optimus One, which has just started receiving it in Romania, if some of the latest reports on the matter are to be believed.

The handset was launched on the market last year with Google's Android 2.2 Froyo operating system on board as an affordable smartphone, and was said at one point to have been left out of the Gingerbread train.

However, its maker reconsidered the move and several months ago promised a software update to the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system flavor, which, apparently has already started to roll-out on devices.

LG did not make an official announcement on the matter until now, but users started to post on the company's official Facebook page various details on the new update.

The Android 2.3 Gingerbread update for LG's Optimus One has been promised about half a year ago, and it was about time that the deployments kicked off.

The platform version arriving on Optimus One devices out there is the Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread iteration, it seems.

Various Romanian owners of this mobile phone are reporting that they have already received the new software, and reports on the availability of this OS flavor for Russian users also emerged.

The V20G version of Optimus One started receiving the new OS flavor yesterday, and handsets in more countries should start receiving it in the near future as well.

The new OS flavor should bring all of the improvements that the Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread platform was announced with, along with some updates specific to Optimus One.

Among the other enhancements that Gingerbread brings forth, we can count a better proximity sensor, though it seems that the screen remains off even after ending the call.

Hopefully, it won't be long before LG decides to make the new OS version available for users in more countries, so stay tuned to learn the news.

Free Download Nokia Drop 1.1.1 - Now Available

Lets download now Nokia Drop 1.1.1 with new fwatures for mobility client!
Nokia Drop, the application that Nokia released not too long ago to offer users the possibility to easily push content on their devices, has just been upgraded to version 1.1.1 .

The development team behind the application notes that the new version is capable of offering users the possibility to do more than before, faster.

The new application release also increases the ease of usage, while adding Maps support, as well as better RSS support, and other features more.

The release notes for the new Nokia Drop 1.1.1 include:

New features for mobile client
- respects your choice of browser used for opening urls
- speaks your language (localization)
- uses kinetic scrolling capabilities
New support:
- adds add-on support for Firefox 5.0
Bug fixes:
- fixes problem with opening Place with latest Maps application.

With the new Nokia Drop 1.1.1 release, users will be able to push Places to the mobile phone straight from the Ovi Maps (maps.ovi.com).

As soon as that happens, the Map application will be automatically opened on the handset, so that users can see the exact place that was pushed.

With the new application version, users will be able to subscribe to RSS feeds which can then be viewed on the Nokia Reader or via the Nokia Browser web feed.

“No more writing wrong urls or remembering things. You will have it everywhere you are, on your phone,” the development team notes. And there are also the said language localization options that have been included in the new release, along with updated add-ons.

“Hi, Terve, Hola, 你好 in your language, respects your browser choice on your phone, and just got faster with kinnecting scrolling capability,” the team behind the app concludes.

For those out of the loop, we should note that the application was released for handsets running under S60 5th Edition and Symbian^3, and that it is compatible with Firefox 3.6, 4.0 and 5.0 and Chrome desktop browsers.

Download Nokia Drop 1.1.1
Download Nokia Drop extension for Firefox
Download Nokia Drop extension for Chrome

How to Custom Android Firmware to Gives Users More Control over Permissions

Android implement a security system called firmware WhisperCore. WhisperCore has implemented a system which allows the installation of apps with overly broad permission requirements without compromising actual data.

A big problem on the Android platform is that many developers don't really care too much about user privacy or security when creating their applications.

This leads to situations where apps request permissions they don't need or aren't supposed to have. For example, there are very few reasons for apps to request device identifiers, yet many of them do.

Users
who are not comfortable with this practice don't have any option except refusing to install these applications, even though they might otherwise be suitable for their needs.

The new WhisperCore 5.0 firmware tries to solve this problem by introducing a so-called "selective permissions" system that is more flexible and give users more power over what apps can access. So users can get more control over permissions.

"WhisperCore provides selective permissions in a way that doesn't take apps by surprise. Instead of denying access to resources, each permission revoked by a user creates a 'private resource' for that application," the firmware's developers explain.

"So if an application requests the phone's unique identifier, it will still get an identifier, but it will be a privacy-protected identifier generated specifically for that application," they add.

WhisperCore is a modified version of Android which contains a number of security enhancements like full disk encryption, firewall, encrypted backups and now, selective permissions. It is currently only available for Nexus S and Nexus One phones, but developers are working on adding support for other devices as well.

Whisper Systems, the company behind WhisperCore, also develops stand-alone applications for end-to-end encrypted voice communications and text messaging, as well as backup and network monitoring.