Mobile Phone News

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

We’re still trying to figure out precisely how Nokia intends to position the N85 slider in its Nseries lineup, and frankly, the FCC documentation that’s been outed for it isn’t helping much. Seems there are two versions of the thing: one with no 3G — likely for China — and another with WCDMA on the 900, 1900, and 2100MHz frequencies. That little dose of 1900 in there will be enough to give owners partial access to 3G while out ‘n about in the colonies, but by and large, the phone appears destined for europ. where 2100 (and to a lesser extent, 900) is the name of the game. Bot. do quadband EDGE, so at the very least, you’ll be able to roam the better part of the globe and get some semblance of coverage — just don’t expect it to be particularly speedy everywhere you go. To be fair, Espoo’s been getting pretty good about crafting special versions of its hottest handsets that are ripe for North American use, so we’re not giving up hope just yet that there’s a third version floating out there.

[Via Cell Phone Signal]

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Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

We’re still trying to figure out precisely how Nokia intends to position the N85 slider in its Nseries lineup, and frankly, the FCC documentation that’s been outed for it isn’t helping much. Seems there are two versions of the thing: one with no 3G — likely for China — and another with WCDMA on the 900, 1900, and 2100MHz frequencies. That little dose of 1900 in there will be enough to give owners partial access to 3G while out ‘n about in the colonies, but by and large, the phone appears destined for europ. where 2100 (and to a lesser extent, 900) is the name of the game. Bot. do quadband EDGE, so at the very least, you’ll be able to roam the better part of the globe and get some semblance of coverage — just don’t expect it to be particularly speedy everywhere you go. To be fair, Espoo’s been getting pretty good about crafting special versions of its hottest handsets that are ripe for North American use, so we’re not giving up hope just yet that there’s a third version floating out there.

[Via Cell Phone Signal]

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Filed under: Handsets, Software, Apple, OS X

According to iPhone Atlas and iPhone hacker-extraordinaire Jonathan Zdziarski, Apple has readied a blacklisting system which allows the company to remotely disable applications on your device. Apparently, the new 2.x firmware contains a URL which points to a page containing a list of “unauthorized” apps — a move which suggests that the device makes occasional contact with Apple’s servers to see if anything is amiss on your phone. In Jonathan’s words:

“This suggests that the iPhone calls home once in a while to find out what applications it should turn off. At the moment, no apps have been blacklisted, but by all appearances, this has been added to disable applications that the user has already downloaded and paid for, if Apple so chooses to shut them down.

I discovered this Makea forensic examination of an iPhone 3G. It appears to be tucked away in a configuration file deep inside CoreLocation.”

at this time honestly, we don’t expect the folks in Cupertino to suddenly start turning off apps that you’ve paid for and downloaded, but if Apple is indeed monitoring iPhones or touches (even passively) for applications it doesn’t want or like, it signals a problem deeper than a company clearly wanting to sign-off on software for the device. Even on platforms like Symbian — which calls for apps to be signed and traceable — the suggestion that a process of the OS would actively monitor, report on, and possibly deactivate your device’s software is unreasonable, and clearly presents an issue that the company will have to deal with sooner or later. Oh, and Apple — we’re not plan to buy the “for your security” angle, so don’t even bother.

[Via Mac unverified information]

Read - iPhone can phone home and kill apps?
Read - Apple’s URL with “unathorized applications” string

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