Mobile Phone News

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Android

unverified information have been swirling again this week that HTC’s first venture into the wide world of Android won’t be hitting the street until next year, seemingly started by an analyst at Global Equities Research who quotes alleged in-the-know contacts in a new report. Obviously, the company’s ability to deliver Android-powered devices depends as much on the Android team as it does on its own ability to execute, but HTC has released a follow-up statement to the report saying that it’s still “on track” for a Dream launch in the fourth quarter of the year. The proof is in the pudding, of course — and we have to believe there’s a lot of nervous hand-wringing continue during HTC / Google conference calls right about at this time — but we’ll take it as a good sign.

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Filed under: Handsets, Features, LG, ATT, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS, Announcements

After weeks of hand-wringing, we’ve finally settled on a winner of our contest for LG’s uber-limited $1,500 Iron Man edition Shine! We asked you to send in pictures of the busted-up pieces of garbage you call “phones,” and holy cow, did we get some doozies.

Without further adieu, our winner, Mark H., comes to us from Novato, California. in this place’s his story:

“I need a new phone as you can see. I have had this Nokia phone since 2001. I’m in the military service and my friends make fun of my old phone and at this time they’re really on me since my phone was run over by a car and I use electrical tape to keep the faceplate together. I don’t get payed enough by the service to buy a nice new phone.”

Congratulations, Mark! Even if this relic were in perfect condition, it’d still be time for an upgrade. Let’s try to keep this one a little less scuffed, because that solid gold battery cover definitely does not live up to the “Iron Man” name. Follow the break for some honorable mentions — you guys made it really hard to choose!

Continue reading Iron Man contest winner declare!

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Filed under: Handsets, Apple

The fact that the iPhone doesn’t securely erase user data when you chosen “Erase All Content and Settings” has prompted a lot of hand-wringing (and given rise to a lot of complicated manual workarounds) as people get ready to flip their old phones and upgrade to the iPhone 3G, but it seems like there’s a simpler solution coming: AppleInsider says the iPhone 2.0 software at this time securely erases user data. The process is apparently similar to Leopard’s Secure Erase Trash feature, and it’ll unlink Dat. and overwrite it with random bits, making your personal info impossible to recover. Of course, that’ll take some extra time — you’re looking at an extra hour of progress bars in your life. That’s not so bad — and if it keeps anyone from checking out our super-embarrassing 80s pop playlists, we’re all for it.

[Thanks, Mark]

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