Welcome to The 411, my column dealing with all your questions about cell phones and cell phone accessories. At times, I might solicit answers from readers if I’m stumped. Send your questions and comments to me at [email protected]. If you prefer to remain anonymous, let me know. It’s been a long time since I’ve answered …
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April, 2010
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12 April
iPhone OS 4: Multitasking, finally
The latest version of the iPhone‘s software will give you 100 new features, including the much-wanted multitasking. Steve Jobs, looking more like Montgomery Burns with every announcement (“Schiller! Unleash the hounds.”), launched iPhone OS 4 at an event at Apple’s headquarters in California this evening. Launched this summer on iPhone 3GS and third-gen iPod touch, it’ll come to the iPad …
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12 April
Project Pink phones out next week: Microsoft takes on Microsoft
Microsoft, never a company to do anything the easy way, looks set to start a mobile operating system war next week — with itself. CNET’s Ina Fried has confirmed that a launch event on 12 April in San Francisco will see the debut of the Pure and the Turtle, the first phones to spring from Microsoft’s Project Pink. The Pure …
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11 April
Boingo apologizes for subscription
Boingo Wireless executives are a bit red-faced this weekend after mistakenly informing the company’s customers of a radical billing plan change being instituted apparently without their input or consent. The Wi-Fi hot spot provider sent an e-mail to its customers Saturday informing them that the company was immediately canceling their flat-fee monthly subscription plans and replacing it with a “Day …
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10 April
Comparing smartphone operating systems
Apple’s announcement of iOS 4 and the iPhone 4 in just the last three months shows that the smartphone wars aren’t cooling yet. Just consider everything that has happened in the space of the last year. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 is a top-to-bottom overhaul of the Windows Mobile OS, and Google continues to aggressively roll out updates to Android. Palm …
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9 April
The iPad’s screen: To protect it or not?
Before the launch of the iPad, Apple removed all the plastic and film screen protectors from its online and brick and mortar stores, even though they are among the most popular accessories for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple didn’t seem to give any particular reason for this move, but as iLounge noted in an article, “One vendor speculated that …
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9 April
Would a Verizon iPhone trigger a price war?
Rumors of the iPhone coming to Verizon Wireless may have some consumers in the U.S. wondering about resulting cost savings for the device. But will more competition really mean lower prices? Six months after the iPhone market opened up in the United Kingdom for the iPhone, prices have only dipped slightly. But compared to prices from AT&T, the iPhone’s exclusive …
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9 April
RIM acquires QNX, eyeing in
Research In Motion is making a play for the automotive market, announcing Friday its acquisition of QNX Software Systems from Harman International. QNX brings an open-platform operating system to the game and RIM is looking to advance it in the automotive world. In a statement, RIM President and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said: RIM is excited about the planned acquisition of …
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9 April
Hands on with iPhone OS 4
Now playing: Watch this: iPhone OS 4.0 4:52 Now that you know the highlights of iPhone OS 4, we offer you the chance to see the new features for yourself. We’ve loaded the developer release on Brian Tong’s iPhone 3GS and took it for a spin. As we mentioned, it’s not quite the update that OS 3.0 was, but it …
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9 April
Watch live and on
MobiTV offers eight channels of live TV and more than 30 on-demand channels. Rick Broida Hulu who? If you’ve been waiting to watch your favorite shows on your iPhone, wait no more: the new MobiTV app streams both live and on-demand television content. What kind of content? Oh, let’s see, there’s “Caprica,” “Castle,” “The Colbert Report,” “Community,” “Cougar Town,” and …
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