Maybe I’m dumb, maybe I need new spectacles or maybe my mind just switched off itself.
Today, the 19th June 2009, a big day for Apple, because they are releasing a so called “major update” for their new phone, the iPhoneGS. I’ve been reading all about it for days.
The new specs are actually good in general. The CPU spec:

• ARM1176JZF chip with TrustZone (enables trusted computing environment for media, apps, network, OS, etc. — very bad for hackers)
• Can vary in clock speed up to 700MHz or more, depending on implementation
  
• ARM Intelligent Energy Manager (claimed to reduce power consumption 25-50% in portables)
• 16K / 16K cache
• Features vector floating point coprocessor (”for embedded 3D-graphics”)
• ARM Jazelle enabled for embedded Java execution (hmm…)
• SIMD, high perf integer CPU (8-stage pipeline, 675 Dhrystone, 2.1 MIPS)
• 0.45 mW/MHz power draw (with cache)

Sorry, the reason why I’ve talked about its CPU only is because all the other hardware specs are available on its website, while the CPU bit is what Apple doesn’t talk about.

Well, there was indeed a leak from T-Mobile Netherland, where they did accidently published the full hardware spec of the iPhoneGS. Its CPU is rated at 625Mhz with 256 Mb mobile RAM and a GPU which support OpenGL 2.0 for mobile devices. The drawback with OpenGL 2.0 is that it is not compatible with version 1.0 which is on the old iPhones, meaning game developers will have to re-write the whole game from scratch to make it compatible with the iPhoneGS GPU.

Now the funny marketing ploy which I’ve noticed today on the apple store UK website is….

Generally when a product is new, you label it as new to catch people’s attention. But not only have they labeled the new  iPhoneGS as new, but they’ve also labeled the old iPhone as new. Is is a mistake or a marketing ploy?

Apple normally pays loads of attention to details and I doubt it was a deliberate mistake. I’m sure it was there on purpose jsut to temp people in accidently buying the old one.

Don’t worry as if you are among those who have accidently bought the old one, you can still get a refund as per some UK laws for online shopping which gives you a period of 14days to get a full refund. NOTE: DO READ APPLE’S POLICY AS THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS!!!!

As for the prices… That’s a complete different story.

The prices in UK are nearly doubled as to the one in the States. Why?

It is the same hardware, USD is cheaper than GBP, so why it is more expensive in UK that in the states?

Below is a snapshot of Apple Stores US with their prices:

O2 has finally launched the windows Mobile 6.1 update for the XDA Stellar aka HTC TyTn II.

You will need to have an O2 mobile to be able to access the download page: http://www.my-xda.com/software_updates.jsp

The install process is straight forward.

Download, plug in your PDA to your PC. Establish a connection active sync (XP) or sync center (Vista). And run the file. Its as simple as that. Oh yeah, dont forget to back up your files as everything on the PDA’s onboard memory will be wiped out. The process takes about 10 minutes.

I have not idea how to execute this using linux. I guess that using WINE to emulate active sync and run the updater should work, but I haven’t tried it. If someone has tried updating their PDA using Linux or different platform, please do let us know the steps and the results.

Thanks!

I had to hard reset my HTC Wizard today (not for the first time). I normally use Option 1 (see below). Then I remembered that these devices do have a hard reset option by having a sequence of keys pressed at the same time. Oh… I have used an iPAQ Pocket PC previously.

So here are the two ways to hard reset your HTC wizard:

Option 1:
Start > Settings > Clear Storage (then enter in the magic number it gives you and tap ‘YES’)

Option 2: [A bit complicated]

The sequence: Press the Comm Manager button (top left) + Voice Command button (top right) + Soft Reset button (middle right, below the IR Receiver).

The tricky part: Continue to hold the two side buttons (Comm Manager + Voice Command) and don’t let go. Release the Soft Reset button only and quickly press the Down button of the navigation pad for a few seconds until you find a prompt on the screen.

That’s it: Once you get the prompt, release all buttons and press the Talk Button (send button).

Follow the instructions on the screen and you should be ready to go with a refreshed device.

Please do add a comment below to say whether this worked for you or not. Thanks!