JetLib News

itwbennett writes “Starting this month, mobile carriers in China are requiring people who set up new mobile phone accounts to register with their real names as part of a new government measure to reduce anonymity among the country’s 800 million mobile users. And within 3 years, the carriers must also register the real identities of all existing users, said China Telecom spokesman Xu Fei. The new policy comes as China has been pushing users to register with their real names online. In August, online gamers had to begin real-name registration under regulations that are meant to protect minors from Internet addiction and ‘unhealthy’ content.”

Source: China Demands Real Names From Mobile Phone Users

Folks at Pocketnow have compared the boot up (startup) time of iPhone 4 (running iOS 4) with HTC HD2 and Nexus One (running Android 2.2) and LG Panther (running a beta version of Windows Phone 7).

Since I hardly restart my iPhone, I must admit that I had never paid attention to boot up time until I watched the video comparing the boot up times of the iPhone with other smartphones.

Pocketnow reports:

In this video we compare the startup time of Windows Phone 7 with Windows Mobile, iPhone, and Android. As a reminder, we're testing on non-final Windows Phone 7 hardware and software […]

Since most people leave their phones turned on all the time, startup time is not that big of a deal […]

Checkout the video to find out which smartphone boots up the fastest:

So as you might have seen, Windows Phone 7 is the fastest when it comes to the boot up time.

Were you surprised by the results? Let us know what you think in the comments.

[via Pocketnow]

Source: Boot Up Speed Test: iPhone 4 (iOS 4) Vs. HTC HD2 Vs. Nexus One (Android 2.2) Vs. LG Panther (Windows Phone 7)

Google took its two newest steps on the march toward world domination this week, first rolling out a feature that lets people make free phone calls from Gmail, and then introducing real-time searching of fast-updating information, like tweets.

The first initiative is off to a hot start. Gmail users placed more than a million phone calls through Google on the service’s first day Wednesday.

Calling from within Gmail, by contrast, requires nothing more than installing a small plug-in program (available for Windows XP or newer, Mac OS X 10.4 or newer and some versions of Linux) and logging into Gmail. Click the “Call phone” link to the left of your inbox, type in a number, click the big blue “Call” button and things proceed as if you had just finished spinning a Bell System phone’s rotary dial [Washington Post].

And more importantly, the phone service is free as long as you dial within the United States or Canada (it costs a few cents per minute to dial elsewhere). Google hasn’t said whether the service will remain that way (though they did promise not to record or listen to phone conversations).

With its new Realtime Search, the search engine giant is trying to keep pace with the blistering rate that information moves on networks like Twitter.

Conventional search engines, such as Google’s, aren’t very good at capturing down-to-the-second postings on such sites. Google and other search engines “know these are the sources people are going to” and they want to keep them on their pages longer, said Larry Cornett, a former executive overseeing Yahoo’s search engine and now product-strategy consultant at Brilliant FORGE. The challenge for Google and others it to organize the real-time information so it’s more relevant to users, rather than just a blast of messages “without meaning on top of it,” he said [Wall Street Journal].

Follow DISCOVER on Twitter and .

Image: Flickr/ Manfrys

Source: Google’s Latest Moves: Free Phone Calls & Real-Time Search

The Japan Sumo Association is handing out about 60 iPads to training stables to help the wrestlers communicate because their fingers are too fat to use a regular mobile phone. From the article: “The iPad was chosen because the sumo association believed the device was big enough to cater to wrestler’s fat fingers, unlike the smaller keys on mobile phones, according to reports.”

Source: Fat Fingered Sumo Wrestlers Given iPads

Tootech writes “Google could be adding the ability to make phone calls from the Google Chat interface. Google is testing a Web-based service within Gmail that will allow users to place phone calls from their in-boxes. It’s launched from the Google Chat window on the lower left-hand side of a Gmail page and allows users to place and receive calls from within their contacts through a user interface that strongly resembles the one used in Google Voice.”

Source: Google Testing Voice Calling In Gmail

aarondubrow writes “Researchers at MIT have created an experimental system for smart phones that allows engineers to leverage the power of supercomputers for instant computation and analysis. The team performed a series of expensive high-fidelity simulations on the Ranger supercomputer to generate a small “reduced model” which was transferred to a Google Android smart phone. They were then able to solve engineering and fluid flow problems on the phone and visualize the results interactively. The project proved the potential for reduced order methods to perform real-time and reliable simulations for complicated problems on handheld devices.”

Source: Supercomputing, There’s an App For That

There has been a lot of outcry over several issues relating to iPhone 4 in recent weeks like iPhone 4's antenna problem and also the proximity sensor. One issue though has managed to stay relatively under the radar so far.

Some iPhone 4 users have been noticing poor quality voice output when their phone is paired up with a Bluetooth device. 

One of our readers, Greg has written to us about his experience:

"I received my iPhone 4 and paired up my Bluetooth devices. I have two Motorola mono headsets, a Jawbone, a stereo Altec Lansing, and a stereo Motorola Bluetooth. I have tried all the devices and everyone I talk to exclaims they can not understand me. They say the sound is muffled, weak and distorted. If I answer the phone and then connect the Bluetooth device the audio is even worse. I use Bluetooth exclusively and my iPhone 4 is of no use to me. I had to switch back to my 3GS so I can use Bluetooth."

A thread on Apple's discussion board about this issue has been seeing a lot of activity in the past few days. Apparently, folks at Apple Genius bar too have been unable to solve the problem. A forum member from Singapore complains:

I'm having the exact same problem. Ever since iPhone 4 was released in Singapore on 30th July, i've tried in vain to use my Plantronics Discovery 925 with it. This is the same Bluetooth earpiece I used with my previous phone, which was the iPhone 2G

Problems include..

1. Very muffled

2. Distorted signal

3. Dropped calls. 

None of this happens when i'm off my earpiece, and it is very frustrating while driving. 

Another forum member writes:

"Yesterday, myself & a Genius Bar Tech tested several BT headset brands & two iPhone 4s. We both witnessed that turning the BT headset from OFF to ON durning a call and then switching from phone to BT will cause poor sound quality 100% of the time. He simply said this will have to be something fixed in an a future update."

It is not clear whether the issue is with the hardware or with the iOS. While Greg tells us that he does not face the issue on his iPhone 3GS running iOS 4, some users seem to have started noticing this issue on their iPhone 3GS only after upgrading to the new version of the operating system. Also, while the latest iOS 4.0.2 update does not seem to have fixed this issue, Apple Support staff appear to have however acknowledged the problem and have indicated to a few customers that an update is on the way.

Are you facing similar issues with Bluetooth on your iPhone 4? Tell us your experience in the comments below.

Thanks Greg for the heads up!

[via Apple Support]

Source: iPhone 4 Users Reporting Bluetooth Problems

Engadget is running a preview of Microsoft’s attempt to bring Xbox Live to upcoming Windows Phone 7 devices. Launch titles will include Guitar Hero, Castlevania, and Halo: Waypoint, and many of the features from the console version of Xbox Live will make the transition intact. Quoting:
“Live on WP7 will allow for full avatar integration (we’re talking fully rendered, interactive avatars) along with customization (clothes, accessories, and more). The company has even crafted an avatar-centric version of familiar phone utilities like flashlight apps and levels, adding some whimsy to what would normally be pretty staid affairs. Additionally, messaging, friend lists / status, achievements, and leaderboards (with friend comparisons) are all here as well, making for a pretty complete mobile Xbox Live experience. And also just like the console, every game will have a try-before-you buy demo to check out before spending your hard-earned cash.”

Source: Windows Phone 7 Gaming and Xbox Live

jhernik writes with this excerpt from eWEEK Europe: “Vodafone has backed down in the face of angry opposition from Google Android customers, who last week received a software update thinking it contained Android 2.2, but instead found it contained Vodafone’s branded 360 service. The Vodafone 360 service was launched in October last year. Essentially, Vodafone 360 is a user interface that puts social networking on the front screen of the phone, and arranges the users’ contacts so you can reach any person with a phone call, IM, text or other call — or send a location message to meet up. However it also installs irremovable Vodafone-branded apps and bookmarks, including links to dating sites.”

Source: Vodafone Backs Down In Row With Android Users

imblum writes “So my dad’s antique handheld GPS unit just went toes up and I was considering replacing it for him with an old Android Smartphone. All he really needs it for is hunting and camping (no navigation), so I don’t want to pay for cell or data service. I found the program Mobile Atlas Creator to download map files onto the SD card, and an app called Maverick Lite to view them. Now all I need is to decide on an Android phone. I was considering a Samsung Behold II ($100-200 on Craigslist), but thought it would be nice to get some input from the Slashdot community. It seems like I can get a lot more functionality for the money out of an old Android than I could from a big name handheld GPS. Does this plan sound reasonable? Is there anything I’m overlooking?”

Source: Recycling an Android Phone As a Handheld GPS?