Mega Woot

Apple iPhone SMS vulnerability hack: Will patch fix problem

Apple’s iPhone has certainly been surrounded with huge amounts of hype, that we are actually quite pleasantly surprised that there hasn’t been more holes discovered over the recent years. The last major iPhone exploit to hit the surface actually happened two years ago, but now according to OS X security expert Charlie Miller there is another storm coming to light.

At the SyScan conference in Singapore Mr Miller disclosed that another hole was about to emerge and that this would allow attackers to run a software code on the phone that which is sent by SMS over a mobile operators network in order to monitor the location of the phone using GPS, you can even turn on the phones microphone to listen in on conversations, or force the phone to join a distributed denial of service attack or a botnet.

The vulnerability in detail is expected in to be disclosed in full at the Black Hat conference, but Apple are confident they will have the matter all patched up by the end of the month.

Source - engadgetmobile.com

BlackBerry Tour WireFly Pre-order: Current customers $199.99, New customers for $179.99

In the CrackBerry forums it has been noted recently that there has been some very keen interest from people wanting to have a look at picking up the BlackBerry Tour from Verizon.

Wirefly, who it appears sells lots of devices for Verizon, have put the BlackBerry Tour up for pre order, new customers get the price of $179.99 which indecently is a saving of $20 from Verizon’s direct price.

However, existing customers are able to upgrade to the Tour for a sum of $199.99. For more information go to crackberry.com

Raised taxes of 14-percent on mobile phones squashed by EU

There has been recent legislation in the EU which could have seen mobile phones reclassified as “multi functional devices” and would have raised taxes by a staggering 14%, the delightful news is that this was only proposed and this has not happened.

Mobiles being shipped with TV receivers would have also received an increase of 14%, and the cost of a mobile containing GPS would have had its cost price increased by around 3%.

A spokesperson from Nokia (NYSE:NOK) has said “Nokia is very pleased that the commission is taking this view and that the uncertainty surrounding the issue has now been removed”. Swedish Trade Minister Ewa Bjorling said in a recent statement that we are in need of more products and businesses free of tariffs, and that the backing received is a very promising and positive signal.

Questions are still being raised around the fact that a Nokia E71 is $300 on Amazon.com yet in Finland the same model retails for 370 Euro or $518.63, so where do you live? if you live in the EU what would the cost of a Nokia E71 cost you?

Source - intomobile.com

Can HTC Hero 3G work with Rogers or AT&T, plus FCC news

There was absolutely no mention of a Hero with 3G during its announcement a few days ago, however HTC have been getting better and better at making mobile phones that work correctly and as expected around these parts.

So that leads us to no surprise that there has been a Hero approved for WCDMA on bands II and V gracing FCC today. Indecently the bands are 1900 and 850MHz, respectively which is the exact combo AT&T subscribers would need to flip the switch to on high speed data.

There are also rumours that the Hero would be shortly coming to Sprint, but if we can wait until this version is released then maybe all we need to wait for is a little more clarity.For more information please visit engadgetmobile.com

Pantech C570 with preloaded Paty Cantu content launched in Mexico

The easiest way to make sure a mobile phone launch gets noticed is to have a celebrity put themselves behind the handset and that is exactly what has happened in Mexico as mobile-review reports that Telcel has launched the Pantech C570 with local star Paty Cantu and her content preloaded on the C570 handset.

The Pantech C570 is a fairly basic GSM handset with FM radio with RDS along with dedicated music controls, a remote with music controls, a 3.5mm jack and microSD expansion up to 8GB.

And that’s about all there is on the Pantech C570, no word on actual availability or what pricing the C570 will command, but we expect it shouldn’t cost too much.

LG plans to overtake Samsung for Number 2 by 1012

According to an article on unwiredview, LG has made several big steps in mobile phone marketing over the past few years but they aren’t going to stop there.

Word has it that LG’s president for mobile business, Ahn Seung-kwon, during an interview with the Yonhap News Agency has said LG plans on becoming the number 2 mobile phone manufacturer in the world by 2012.

This then mean that LG is planning to overtake rival Samsung within the next tree years to grab that number 2 slot behind number 1 Nokia.

TerreStar-1 satellite Launched

TerreStar has successfully launched their TerreStar-1 satellite, one of the largest commercial satellites ever to be deployed and should bring data service to mobile phones virtually anywhere across the United States and Canada.

On the 1st of July, TerreStar-1 was launched by Arianespace from Kourou, French Guiana, and the CTO of TerreStar, Dennis Matheson, says… “With the successful launch of TerreStar-1, we are redefining the mobile communications landscape.”

This sits well with the previous new that TerreStar is partnering AT&T to offer their service later on in the year, although what it will mean cost wise is yet to be confirmed.

Samsung Omnia II in Austria in September

The Windows Mobile 6.5 toting Samsung Omnia II will become available via Mobilkom Austria in late September, and Mobilkom will be the first Austrian mobile operator to have the new operating system according to an article on gsmarena.

Apparently the official announcement states the Samsung Omnia II will become available with Windows Mobile 6.1 but will be upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5, which means the Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade will become available no later than September.

Quick spec reminder…3.7 inch OLED WVGA display, 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, 5.76 HSUPA, WiFi, 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and D1 video recording, 16GB internal storage and expandable up to 32GB via microSD.

Samsung release SCH-W760 with Night Vision Camera

Samsung has now released the Samsung SCH-W760 mobile phone which is the first mobile phone to be equipped with a night vision video camera reports akihabaranews.

According to Samsung, the Samsung SCH-W760’s infrared camera is perfect for video conferencing in the dark. Now I’m not too sure why anyone would want to make a video conference in the dark but there you go.

Spec wise the Samsung SCH-W760 is a 3G slider with that 3 megapixel night vision camera, 2.8 inch AMOLED display at 240 x 400 resolution, and will be available first in Korea, and Samsung hasn’t said whether the mobile phone will be going elsewhere.

Video: Acer X960 Hands-on Review

Acer has just stepped into the smartphone arena and one of their mobile phones is the Acer X960 which has just received a hands-on video review, and we have that video review for your viewing pleasure below.

The Acer X960 sports a 2.8 resistive touch screen at 65,000 VGA colours resolution, Windows Mobile 6.1, HSDPA, ambient light sensor, home key, GPS button, circular D-pad, 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus and LED flash, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, and microSD slot.

The Acer X960 measures 106 x 59 x 14mm and features the Acer Shell user interface. So make sure you check out that hands-on video and enjoy.