HTC's HD2 carrying a secret stash of hidden RAM

 

Will this phone ever stop surprising us? Rumblings that all HD2 devices have 576MB of RAM inside them started developing in China a little while before T-Mobile unveiled its upgraded US-bound handset with, funnily enough, the same amount of memory. Now, those trusty souls over at XDA-developers have concocted custom ROMs for everyone else to free up the extra 128MB of operational headroom, and user feedback appears to corroborate the theory. We can hardly begin to fathom the reasons for HTC disabling part of its available hardware, other than to guess that a WinMo 7 upgrade was in the company's plans for this phone all along and it just wanted to keep its ability to handle the new OS under wraps. Video and pictorial evidence of cracking past the 448MB barrier after the break.

 

Thanks Engadget

Apple tablet could stir up video game business

Now, with the looming launch of a tablet-style computer -- already nicknamed the "iPhone on steroids," with a bigger screen that might have a place in the living room -- Apple could pose an even tougher challenge to established players in the video game business.

That assumes, however, that potential buyers aren't scared off by a price that might be more than the cost of a Wii, a PlayStation 3 and an Xbox 360 combined. Apple isn't commenting on its unveiling Wednesday.

Apple's iPhone and the similar iPod Touch brought a new look to games because they have an accelerometer inside that lets people control the action by turning or tilting the device. With a touch screen and the computing horsepower for high-quality graphics, the iPhone lends itself to pared-down versions of console games like "Assassin's Creed" and "The Sims 3." Its size, meanwhile, makes it easy to consume addictive puzzles in 5-minute increments while waiting for the dentist or riding the subway.

Now the iPhone, which costs $99, $199 or $299 plus a monthly service plan, rivals gadgets such as the Nintendo DS ($130-$170) or PlayStation Portable ($170-$250), known as the PSP, which were created solely for playing games on the go. It's unclear whether Apple has taken substantial market share away, but the iPhone likely introduced people to mobile games who wouldn't have played otherwise.

"We've seen the iPhone and iPod Touch as kind of a starter kit for video games," says John Koller, director of hardware marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment America. "When those customers are ready to graduate into a deeper experience, the PSP is there for them."

Soon a tablet may be there for them, too. A touch-screen gadget that is bigger than an iPhone could provide a larger playing field for gamers and give game developers a new way to push the limits of their creativity.

Thanks Tech Review

HTC Magic's Sense update ready for download

You've waited long enough, now today's the day that HTC releases ROM Version:3.05.401.3 that brings the Sense user interface to Magic owners. Just be sure and heed HTC's warning to backup your data since this update will overwrite whatever it is you've been doing. Now hit that source link and get to updating, heroes.

Thanks Engadget

Mobile Touch Screens Could Soon Feel the Pressure

Forget swiping or pinching--the next generation of portable touch-screen devices will be able to distinguish between a gentle touch and a hard poke.
Peratech, a U.K. company, has signed a $1.4 million deal to license its pressure-sensing touch-screen technology to Japanese screen manufacturer Nissha, which makes displays for companies including LG and Nintendo. Peratech's technology is one of several approaches that can be packed into portable devices. But it uses a novel quantum mechanism to sense pressure, and this promises to be more sensitive and more efficient than the other approaches.
Peratech, which was spun out of a research lab at Durham University in 1996, uses an electrically conductive material dubbed a quantum tunneling composite (QTC). Quantum tunneling occurs when electrons jump between two conductors that are brought close together, but remain separated by an insulating barrier. In Peratech's switches, a polymer acts as the insulating layer. It is embedded with spiky, conductive metallic particles, each about 10 nanometers in size.
"These are polymer materials that change their resistance as force is applied," says Philip Taysom, Peratech's CEO. So as force is applied, these particles are brought closer together. "As they come into proximity, they allow quantum tunneling," he says.
The approach allows Peratech's QTC sensors to be extremely thin: just 75 micrometers thick. The sensors line the perimeter of a display. When pressure is applied and the screen bends very slightly (as little as two micrometers), the switches detect this change. By comparing the readings from the sensors with sensory data from the touch screen, it is possible to tell precisely where, and how hard, the screen is being pressed

Thanks Technology Review