Entries tagged with “accessories” from WIRELESS AND MOBILE NEWS

You may want to trade in your Nokia charger for a new one. Nokia is recommends you exchange chargers made by one of their vendors for free replacements.

During a routine quality control process, Nokia identified a potential product quality issue. The plastic covers of the affected chargers could come loose and separate, exposing the charger's internal components and potentially posing an electrical shock hazard if certain internal components are touched while the charger is plugged into a live socket. Nokia is not aware of any incidents or injuries related to these chargers.

The models that should repalced are the AC-3E and AC-3U models, manufactured between June 15, 2009 and August 9, 2009; and the AC-4U model, manufactured between April 13, 2009 and October 25, 2009.

For more information, including how consumers can check to see if their chargers are part of this exchange program, Nokia has established a website. Consumers are asked to visit http://chargerexchange.nokia.com or their local Nokia website.

Nokia recommends consumers with chargers within the scope of this exchange program to stop using the charger and exchange it for a free replacement.

Zagg will be offering an invisibleSHIELD for the Motorola Droid. It's a clear shield that uses a Scratch-proof. The ultra-thin film is precision cut and won't bulk up the Droid while adding increased grip.

ZAGG obtained a working model of the Droid and has already created an invisibleSHIELD design for it. The Company began accepting orders for invisibleSHIELDor the  for the Motorola Droid today, November 2^nd, and expect to start shipping to key retailers prior to the advertised availability date for the device on Friday, November 6^th.

The InvisibleSHIELD is ZAGG's military-grade, virtually invisible and indestructible film that protects smartphones and other gadgets from bumps, scratches and dings with a lifetime guarantee.

"ZAGG continues to lead our industry by creating the world's finest protection and enhancement for all of the hottest new devices," said Robert G. Pedersen II, President and CEO of ZAGG. "We are excited about the combination of the Motorola Droid and the invisibleSHIELD, and we are certain customers will see it as a perfect fit."

We'd like to give you a heads up to the Jabra STONE the newest shape in Bluetooth headsets sold through AT&T.

It may be the "shape of things to come." The Jabra STONEwraps behind the ear eliminating the standard on-face microphone.

The wireless portable charger functions as a compact carrying case that fits into the palm of your hand. Plug your headset into the charger and power-up whenever and wherever you want.

The Jabra STONE features Noise Blackout Extreme while taking the microphone arm off your face.

The Jabra STONE features discreetly placed controls that are easy to operate. With a nearly invisible touch-controlled volume pad on the outside of the headset, users can slide their finger up or down to control the volume while on a call. The headset's flexible frame is lined with soft rubber padding for optimal comfort. An ultra-soft ear gel around the speaker ensures a natural feel and the headset is flexible for a perfect fit.

According to a recent study from ABI Research, sixty six percent of revenues earned from mobile handset accessories are generated in the aftermarket. This percentage is only expected to grow with time, following a market trend to move more and more accessories "out of the box" and onto retailers' shelves.

"Mobile operators and mobile phone vendors see that the only return from including a subsidized accessory included in the handset box is customer satisfaction," comments industry analyst Michael Morgan. "While that isn't without some intangible value, on the retail shelf an accessory is a high-margin product that will generate actual income."

Because of that, aftermarket accessories will also show faster growth rates than those included "in-box."

The currently most popular aftermarket accessories are memory cards and protective silicone carrying-cases or sleeves. Both result from the popularity of smartphones: their multimedia capabilities often demand extra memory capacity, and their high value encourages owners to take better care of them. This latter trend has clearly been initiated and driven by Apple's iPhone.

The Android Market allows comments from users and some of them are offensive.

According to Mobile Web User Google plans to make changes to their policies dealing with defamers.

A spokesman Mobile Web User that they are "taking this seriously" and have already taken several steps to to eliminate inappropriate comments.

He also said they "have been aggressively taking down offensive comments" since early December and the had improved tools to make scanning and removing comments much faster and easier.

"We've made the policy decision to disallow profanity in general.   Serious repeat offenders will be banned from making comments."

"We'll be adding the ability for consumers to report questionable comments in the next release of Android Market.  Comments that receive more than some number of spam flags will be removed from view, until they are reviewed by Google."

Signs of economic crunch has hit Google, just in time for the holidays.  Last year, employees received bonuses with some in the thousands of dollars for the holiday.  This year, the Santa Google Clause is giving them is G1 Android phones, which they call "Dream Phones."

An internal email said:

This year, we've decided to give Googlers a different kind of present - a Dream phone (this is the same device T-Mobile markets as the G1). We're really excited about getting the phone to more Googlers in more countries, and also seeing all the cool new things you do with it"

Here's the fun news, they don't come with a SIM card and the are unlocked. Due to fancy footwoork they will work with Wi-Fi immediately.

Android developers will be able to distribute content through Android Market—an open content distribution system that will help end users find, purchase, download and install various types of content on their Android-powered devices.

It will be powered by Google’s expertise in infrastructure, search and relevance to connect users with content created by developers like you.

Developers will be able to make their content available on an open service hosted by Google that features a feedback and rating system similar to YouTube.

Eric Chu at  Android blog wrote “We chose the term “market” rather than “store” because we feel that developers should have an open and unobstructed environment to make their content available. Similar to YouTube, content can debut in the marketplace after only three simple steps: register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it. We also intend to provide developers with a useful dashboard and analytics to help drive their business and ultimately improve their offerings.”

Google announced the release of a new iPhone application that integrates its multiple services into a single interface, making it easy for iPhone users to find, use and switch between Google search, Gmail, Calendar, Reader, and more. To use the application, iPhone users simply point their web browser to http://www.google.com.

To accomplish this, Google is taking advantage of browser technologies (like AJAX) that made Gmail and Google Maps possible on the desktop. In supporting these advances in web technology, the iPhone’s Safari browser not only delivers an excellent mobile Internet experience; it enabled our product and engineering teams to create an optimal Google experience on a mobile device.

Google is acquiring Finnish social mobile microblogging service, Jaiku. Tony Hsieh, Product Manager manager at Google said “We’re excited to announce that we’ve acquired Jaiku, a company that’s been hard at work developing useful and innovative applications for staying in touch with the people you care about most — regardless of whether you’re at a computer or on a mobile phone.”

Jaiku has been compared to industry leader Twitter, where friends always know what their friends are doing via mini mobile posts.  Analysts are saying that this is a yet another move by Google to be the master of all media including IM, mobile Web and microblogging.

Social networking service, Zingku that links mobile phones with a personalized website that allows users to zing things back and forth between the web and mobile, is being acquired by Google.  All new subscriptions are frozen for now.