Earlier, it migrated a better search result for business listings from Google.com for the desktop to Google.com from the phones. On Wednesday, the team rolled out changes to the way it shows image results when you search from some of those two smartphones.

The redesign’s objective is to squeeze more thumbnail images onto the page. To do this, Google has made thumbnails square instead of rectangular.

Swiping left and right keeps the header static while advancing through multiple pages of image results. You can also swipe through individual images if you’d rather view them one at a time.

Interestingly, Google has added an intermediate step for viewing image results. Tapping a photo pulls it up on a black backdrop and briefly flashes options to head back to the results page or to view the full-size image, along with a title and source information. The words fade after a few seconds, but be careful: tap the screen in the wrong place and instead of getting your options once again, you may find yourself directed to the source site.

Google’s redone mobile image results are available in 38 languages from Google.com on iPhone 3.0 and Android 2.1 smartphones.

Resource:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20003709-233.html

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Garmin plans to release through T-Mobile this year a navigation-focused smartphone that would be the successor to the long-delayed Nuvifone A50 that shipped late last year.

The new Garminfone, like its predecessor, would run Google’s Android operating system. Layered on top of the OS is Garmin’s navigation user interface.

The latest phone would offer voice-guided and on-screen directions with automatic rerouting. The device, which has a 3.5-inch display, can be mounted on a dashboard to provide directions to motorists. In addition, Garmin also offers maps and navigation to people on foot.

Other features offered through Garminfone’s UI include real-time traffic, weather, and gas prices. The Garminfone also has a 3-megapixel camera, built-in support for 3G and Wi-Fi networks, and some internal storage, although Garmin has not said how much.

The smartphone will be available through T-Mobile, which could release the device as early as this spring, according to reports. Pricing has not been disclosed.

Garmin is hoping for a smoother launch of its latest Android phone than its Nuvifone predecessor. Garmin introduced the device in January 2008, expecting to release the smartphone in the third quarter of the year. Instead, the Nuvifone didn’t hit the market until late last year.

The device was Garmin’s first attempt to combine its personal navigation service with a cellular phone and mobile Web browser. At the time, the strongest features were the personal navigation capabilities, such as turn-by-turn directions that weren’t available on Apple’s popular iPhone.

Since then, similar navigation capabilities have been made available on the iPhone using Apple’s GPS technology and applications built by third-party developers offering iPhone applications through Apple’s App Store.

Garmin has partnered with computer maker Asus for manufacturing the Nuvifone, Garminfone, and Windows Mobile-based smartphones.

Resource:
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2010/04/22/google_the_server_chip_designer/

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Responding to my email asking for confirmation of the new devices, a Dell spokesman said: “Dell continually develops and tests new products that extend the mobile experience. We have not made any product announcements and do not comment on speculation, rumor or unannounced products.”

Specs and design-wise the Lightning device that Engadget is showing looks rather sweet, as least on paper. According to Engadget it’s a “portrait slider” device that houses a robust Snapdragon processor and a 4.1-inch display based on thin and bright OLED technology. It has a five megapixel autofocus camera, 1GB of flash with 512MB RAM, plus 8GB of storage on a MicroSD card. It also has GPS, an accelerometer, compass, FM radio, and full Flash support including video playback.

Though the phone will apparently will tap into AT&T and T-Mobile 3G networks when it arrives later this year, Engadget says Lightning could also receive an upgrade that would let it run on faster emerging 4G so-called “LTE” networks, shorthand for Long Term Evolution.

The Thunder handset carries similar specs.

Resource:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2010/04/tech-site-dell-to-produce-slick-windows-and-android-smartphone/1

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The Sync in-car communications and infotainment system is currently standard on all 2010 Lincoln models and available on select 2010 Ford and Mercury models. The service allows drivers to operate most MP3 players, Bluetooth-enabled phones and USB drives using voice commands–additional features include turn-by-turn navigation, realtime traffic updates and business search tools

Resource:
http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/android-blackberry-apps-drive-fords-sync-applink/2010-04-20

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Microsoft has dabbled in social networking, but most of its efforts have resided in the desktop and online where it attempts to take on Google in search and advertising. Perhaps that’s why it’s so surprising that Microsoft is attempting to appeal to social-networking fans with the Microsoft Kin One and the Microsoft Kin Two.

The devices, which will be available on Verizon Wireless’ network in May, attempt to bridge the gap between the Web and mobile phones. But whether or not they actually do this successfully remains to be seen.

As excited as some folks are for the Microsoft Kin smartphones, others are scratching their heads. Both the Microsoft Kin One and the Microsoft Kin Two are lacking in several areas that should limit their appeal to the wider consumer market.

Considering there are so many other devices that consumers can choose from, it’s debatable just how much they will appeal to the average person.

A solid argument can be made that Microsoft Kin devices are ill-fated in a market where innovation and uniqueness are coveted above all else.

But simply saying that isn’t doing either device justice.

That’s why it’s time to take a look at why 10 important features missing from the Kin phones could mean trouble for Microsoft once they’re released.

Carrier ubiquity

According to Microsoft, the Kin One and Kin Two will only be available on Verizon Wireless’ network in the U.S. and Vodafone’s network in the U.K. That’s a problem. Although Apple has done a good job working with just one carrier, it’s the exception in the mobile market.

For any other company, providing phones on as many carriers as possible is always the best strategy. After all, limiting a target market for the sake of a business deal just isn’t smart.

Lack of Uniqueness

What makes the Kin unique in any way? The device features a multi-touch display, a slide-out physical keyboard, and a mobile operating system that lacks several key features that most consumers are currently looking for.

In order to be successful in the increasingly competitive mobile marketplace, companies need to develop phones that are unique. Apple’s iPhone is unique. Even Google’s Android platform is unique.

Unfortunately for Microsoft and Sharp, the devices’ designer, there’s nothing so unique about the Kin phones that would make users want to pick them over anything else.

Flash, anyone?

Apple has been getting hit hard by tech pundits and critics who say that its devices should support Adobe’s Flash standard. But if Apple gets that treatment, so should Microsoft. Neither of the Kin phones will support Flash (or Microsoft’s own Silverlight, for that matter).

Considering the device lacks an app store, that means that the vast majority of videos and games currently available on the Web will not be accessible from the Kin. Like Apple, Microsoft says that isn’t a big deal, but we all know that it is. And it’s a major omission.

It’s game-less

Part of the value of a next-gen mobile device is its ability to play games. And since Microsoft is marketing the Kin phones as social-networking devices, it would only seem to make sense that the devices would boast social games for users to play with each other. Think again.

According to Microsoft, Kin phones will not support games. And although they will have access to music, games are missing. Given the success of gaming on the iPhone, it will be extremely hard for Microsoft to justify that decision.

No app store

As mentioned above, the Kin phones will not support an app store. That means that third-party developers won’t be able to bring apps to the device and owners will only be able to use the applications that come bundled on the Kin out of the box. Microsoft should know better.

The company has spent years explaining why Windows Mobile devices lack in app support and now it’s delivering a product that lacks third-party apps? It doesn’t make sense. Mobile applications have quickly become a necessity in the mobile marketplace. Apple, Google, and RIM all offer apps.

Even Microsoft plans to offer an App Store with its Windows Phone 7 software. Why it wouldn’t have third-party app support with Kin is anyone’s guess.

Communication without IM

Part of being a social device is allowing users to communicate with each other. That means Kin owners will be able to correspond with MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter friends from the devices.

But in an odd move, Microsoft has decided that instant messaging doesn’t fit in its plans; therefore the company said that Kin devices will not support instant-messaging.

Since there’s no app store, third-party developers can’t bring clients to the device. If communication is what Kin phones are all about, instant messaging should have made its way to those devices.

Where’s the innovation?

Take a look at either Kin device and attempt to find something that shows innovation. The devices are rather boring compared to many of the mobile products currently on the market. The iPhone and Google Nexus One offer something innovative that other products on the market have yet to muster.

Because of that, any device that comes after them are expected to also do something innovative to make a mark. It might not be fair to those vendors, but it is an expectation that consumers have. The Kin phones do nothing of the sort. And it could hurt them when they hit store shelves next month.

No data tethering

This might not come as a surprise, but Kin phones lack support for data tethering. That immediately pushes the enterprise out of the equation and could conceivably annoy some consumer road warriors that like having the option of connecting to the Web through their mobile phones.

That said, a lack of data tethering support isn’t a deal breaker. Currently, the iPhone, like several other phones on the market, doesn’t support tethering. But if Microsoft had struck a deal with Verizon to bring tethering to the product, it might have helped it appeal to more customers that are looking for something new and fresh from the products.

Social, but no calendar?

Microsoft has gone out of its way to say that its Kin phones are designed for younger social network users. But a key component in social networking is planning events that friends can attend with each other.

Wouldn’t it have been nice to plan a get-together with Facebook friends and add that event to a calendar built into the Kin software? Yep. But it won’ t happen. The Kin doesn’t have a built-in calendar app, which means users will need to do scheduling somewhere else. It’s awfully counter-intuitive for a social-networking phone to not have a calendar app.

A cool factor

Microsoft is attempting to market the Kin devices to cool, hipster twenty-somethings that spend time at clubs and communicate with their friends on social networks. That makes sense. But it seemed to forget one element: to those people, a phone is an extension of who they are.

They want to look “cool” thumbing away on a Kin and sending messages to friends. The Kin doesn’t strike me as a cool device. It’s functional and it’s design is nice, but the cool factor is non-existent. The iPhone is a cool device. The Kin One and Kin Two just don’t seem to cut it.

Resource:
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/10-Key-Features-Missing-from-Microsoft-Smartphones-529371/

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The world’s largest mobile phone maker says it wants “to put better messaging and social networking tools in the hands of more people around the world at affordable prices.”

The new Nokia C3, Nokia E5 and Nokia C6 handsets have full QWERTY keyboards, enable instant messaging and give access to e-mails.

Their expected selling prices are euro90, euro180 and euro220 before taxes and subsidies.

The new phones will be available during the second and third quarters of this year.

Resource:
yahoo News

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Billed as Australia’s first smart home phone, the T-Hub is available only to Telstra customers.

The unit is an 18 centimetre touch screen device that allows phone calls and text messages, as well as internet applications such as news, sport and weather.

The phone plugs directly into a standard telephone socket and has access to BigPond and Sensis services, as well as online social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Skype.

Calls can be made with a cordless handset or handsfree via the portable touch screen.

Telstra chief marketing officer, Kate McKenzie, said that a phone will suit Australian families.

“T-Hub will suit Australians’ appetite for quick access to information, while enabling customers to perform many mobile phone-type applications on their home phone.”

The phone will be available on Tuesday from most Telstra dealers, selected additional dealers, online and over the phone.

The T-Hub can be purchased by Telstra customers as either part of 15 different bundle options, such as the Home Bundle 12 gigabyte plan at costs $109 a month plus $35 upfront, or for a flat upfront price of $299.

Resource:
http://www.current.com.au/2010/04/14/article/Telstra-reveals-its-iPad-rival-the-T-Hub-prices-and-dates/XMDHMNOSXB.html

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The new devices, based on a Microsoft development project code-named “Pink,” will be available later this month in the U.S. through a partnership with Verizon Wireless, the carrier owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC., one of these people said.

Microsoft’s new phones are the latest sign the software maker is getting more deeply involved in the hardware side of the mobile-phone business in a bid to create products that provide smoother experiences for consumers.

Microsoft designed the software, online services and hardware for the Pink mobile phones, while Sharp Corp. of Japan is manufacturing the devices, people familiar with the project said.

The approach is modeled on one used to develop a device called the Sidekick that was sold by wireless provider T-Mobile and designed by Danger Inc., a start-up Microsoft acquired in 2008, and which later worked on the Pink devices.

Still, Microsoft has stopped short of getting as directly involved in mobile phones as Google Inc. did earlier this year in introducing a smartphone of its own design called Nexus One, which is manufactured by HTC Corp. and sold directly to consumers through Google’s Web site.

Instead, Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash., decided to work more closely with wireless carriers to bring the Pink phones to consumers.

On Monday, Microsoft invited the media to an event April 12 in San Francisco with the slogan, “It’s time to share.” Though the company declined to disclose the event’s purpose, people familiar with the matter said it would be to introduce the new phones. Spokeswomen for Microsoft and Verizon Wireless declined to comment.

Microsoft needs a boost for its mobile business, which has suffered in recent years as its operating system for smartphones was eclipsed by technologies like Apple Inc.’s iPhone and devices that run Google’s Android operating system.

On Monday, research firm comScore Inc. reported that the share of U.S. smartphone subscribers running devices that use Microsoft’s software fell to 15.1% in February from 19.1% in November. Devices that run on Google Android, meanwhile, increased to 9% from 3.8% while the share of Apple’s iPhone slipped to 25.4% from 25.5%, comScore said.

Microsoft is betting bigger improvement in its position will come in the fall, when the first devices based on a new mobile-phone operating system, called Windows Phone 7, will become available.

With that software, Microsoft is working with a much broader set of handset makers than it is on the Pink devices, though it is still getting more involved in hardware design with those partners than it has in the past.

People familiar with the matter said the software on the new Pink phones resembles elements of the Windows Phone 7 software, but devices that run on the two technologies aren’t expected to be able to run the same applications.

Resource:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304017404575166180423089338.html

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LinkedIn for BlackBerry v1.0 was launched on Tuesday and lets professionals access the social networking site on the go.

Sales professional Matt Bush said the application was easy to use, although he added it offers a different experience to accessing the social network from a computer.

“When I access LinkedIn on my Blackberry, the home screen is network updates, a bit like Twitter,” said Bush. “Normally, I’m used to seeing my inbox first when I login.”

“I think the application will be useful if I’m out and about and I quickly need to access information on someone that I’m going to see. I also like it how it allows you to email your LinkedIn contacts easily. I actually find it easier to find a contact through the application than I do from my phone.”

Bush said he would use the LinkedIn application more than he does the Facebook application for Blackberry.

“It’s difficult to update Facebook from my Blackberry and difficult to find things,” he said.

However, Bush said he would not be using the application as much as he does the Twitter application for Blackberry. “The Twitter application is the best. I even access Twitter from by Blackberry while I’m at the office.”

Comments left on the LinkedIn blog in response to the announcement have been generally positive, but a few users have asked when the application will be available for the Blackberry Storm.

At the moment the free application is available immediately for owners of BlackBerry Tour, Curve and Bold series smartphones, and operates on devices running BlackBerry OS 4.3 or later.

“I’ve downloaded the app, spent some time on it, and think that it’s definitely a solid first addition. It’s easy to navigate, it’s easy on the eyes and it’s fairly fast — which is nice,” said a poster by the name of BlinkedIn.

Resource:
http://labs.v3.co.uk/2010/04/linkedin-app-ge.html

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In addition to email services, Seven will also deliver instant messaging services and access to popular social networks to Samsung users.

Financial details of the deal were unknown, but there are no doubts this is a huge win for Seven. Samsung, after all, is the world’s second largest mobile operator.

The question now is – how many people will Samsung entice to use Social Hub? Personally I like having a dedicated social networking clients, but I’m all for multi-network IM apps. If Samsung (and Seven) can pack all that in a single, easy to use app, they may have a winner. We’ll see where this goes…

Resource:
http://www.intomobile.com/2010/04/01/seven-to-power-samsungs-social-hub.html

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