I was having trouble viewing the Avatar movie after I “formatted phone storage”. It seems after a factory reset the movie plays fine, even on another sd card. I copied the Movie folder from the 2gb memory card to an 8gb card I had and it plays fine. There must be a file within the phone storage that provides the license.

Some are upset about the Vibrant not having a notification light. I found an app which attempts to solve this issue. Just install this little app and it displays a small red dot on the screen.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=730692

Well it turns out there are many complaints as this kills your battery because in order to display that little red dot, it is actually turning on the whole display. This means that while the rest of the screen is black, it is still on and drawing power. I am not intimate with the Android API so I am not sure if there is a better way to do this.

I will continue to look for something similar without negative side effects.

**Use above application at your own risk. I have not fully tested it and do not know what it will do to your phone**

I have been reading numerous posts like this regarding Sprint charging an extra $10 for the Evo data plan. People are sending out Tweets like this. I think thy are all being a little unfair. Sprint has one of the most affordable plans at $69.99. With the $10 “fee” you’re just paying the same as with any of the other carriers. I think Sprint doing this A-la-cart for their customers is a good thing. They are not gauging they people who have “Smart” phones but with lower data usage.

I really do not think Sprint charging a premium for this Data Intensive phone is unfair. If anything it shows Sprint provides more flexible pricing for their customers.

  Monday Microsoft announced KIN. A new Windows^®Phone with emphasis on the social user. The phone are a made in partnership with Verizon, Vodafone and Sharp. It will be available via Verizon in the US next month and via Vodafone in Europe in the fall.

The KIN reminds me of the Sidekick. It has a very basic interface. The phone is not cluttered by application and icons. It has a interface which allows you to create your own interactions with others in your social networks.

KIN 1 is a Clam Shell, KIN 2 is a slider they have a 5 and 8 megapixel camera, respectively, and each has a bright LumiLED flash. They have touch screens with a slide-out keyboards.

Social interaction is the focus of these phones. The user interface is unique in how it allows you to use the KIN SPOT (a small circle in the bottom center of the screen) to drag things you want to share. First you select the people you want to share with and drag their icons to the SPOT, you then drag the Video, photos, web pages, text messages, etc which you want to share to the SPOT and it send off your transmission.

An interesting aspect of the services on this device is the “Timeline”. There is companion software (Website??) which allows you to look back at your entire history and all the interactions and communication you have had, laid out as a timeline.

I’m interested to see the plans on these phones. One challenge for Tweens, or their parents (I know, I have two of them), is the monthly cost of a data plan. If these phones require a $25+ data plan, I think they are dead.

There has been some confusion around the fact that these are Windows Phones. People were looking for Windows Phone 7 and this is what was presented. The Windows Phone 7 (Series) phones will be available later this fall. This is another version of Windows Phone OS, based on Windows CE and the Zune platform. This phone will ship with all of it’s software in the ROM. There will be no applications to download, similar to a Zune.

I’ll post more once I actually get my hands on one of these devices, that is, if I can get it away from my daughters.

Many developers and technologist are up in arms about Apple’s new policy which dictates the language programs are written in for iPhone OS.

I can understand the frustration from developers who want to pursue the write once run anyware model. Maintaing applications across many platforms can be expensive and for smaller companies, impossible.

While the use of such tools Titanium, Scheme Gambit, MonoTouch, and Unity3D allow users to do this. I believe the fear from Apple is that it dumbs down their platofrm and poses performance or experience issues.

If you look at a majority of application on the iPhone you can easily see the benefit the API and platofrm provide. I have used all of the major mobile platforms and the experience varies across them all. By using tools which allow you to have a consistent experience across many platforms you loose some of what makes that particular platform unique.

I don’t see Apple as evil here, I see them trying to keep their platform above the rest. I do wonder if this will cause other platforms to see more applications from more developers.

Will this type of restriction lead to lead to fewer applications submitted to the app store, or just less, low quality applications submitted?

Do you think their evil or just protecting their brand?

Why is it that we get the DROID and Korea gets this beautiful device?

  This phone has the following features:

          8 megapixel camera with Xenon flash

          720p HD camcorder

          HDMI™ Interface

      3.7 inch, high-definition WVGA (480X854) display

The device is expected to sell for $800. I look forward to seeing this device in action. It may be time to take a serious look at an Android device.

I suspect many of these releases are in an attempt to get the attention of consumers, as it is rumored that Apple will be showing the 4G iPhone at the end of this month.

Motorola Media Center – Press Releases – Motorola Introduces MOTOROI™, Korea’s First Smart Phone Powered by Android 2.0

I have a Droid which runs Google’s Android Operating System and have the ability to run applications from any source on my phone. After all I own it, I should be able to do with it what I want. There is however a notice which requires me to acknowledge that I am installing something from an unknown source and accept the associated risk. iPhone users do not have that same functionality. They have to use software provided by developers who provide “Jailbreak” software and usually an associated application to download software from some third party application source.

Enabling SSH is a common procedure for jailbroken iPhones, allowing a user to log in via a Terminal emulator and gives the user\software the ability to run OS level commands. Unfortunately, not all Jailbreak software provides that simple step of changing the default password. iPhones have a default root password which leaves this security hole that people are taking advantage of.

There are some simple steps you can follow to secure this particular vulnerability. Install some terminal emulator on the iPhone to access a command line. Enter “su root” to access root level, enter “alpine” which is your default password. From there change your password using the passwd command. You will be prompted to enter a new password. (Hint: don’t use apline).

I was wondering what the Jailbreak community thinks of their responsibility to the people they provide their software (Jailbreak services) to. Do they currently provide a warning to the user of the software about this potential issue? Should they release a patch which prompts the user to reset their default password? Could this be avoided if Apple would allow 3rd party applications on the iPhone? All software you install has some level of vulnerability but with the proper support from the vendor, I think it could be better managed than it is today for the iPhone.

Originally it was thought this was just about the Droid, it seems that most of Verizion’s smart phones, as well as some surprises like the Versa and Glyde are on their list.

I’m curious if other carriers will use this type of tactic to try to drive loyalty. This form of vendor lock in could be coming from AT&T and T-Mobile but no word yet.

http://support.vzw.com/information/advanced_devices.html

If you have used BlackRa1n and found yourself without Wi-Fi, YouTube and GPS then you will love to hear there is a solution.

From cydia and add repo “http://cydia.iphoneil.net/”
Then search for “ pushfix “ and install

Reboot and you are on your way.