The week in gadgets


9 Aug 2010

A look at gadget, game and geek happenings in the week ahead.

Windows phone 7 (WP7) is back in the news again this week and it looks as though the first device from mobile manufacturer HTC will be the HTC Schubert.

While HTC is better known for its popular Android devices such as the Desire, Legend and Nexus One, it has a legacy in Windows Mobile devices and most recently came out with the HD2, best known for its whopping great 4.74 x 2.64 inch WVGA screen.

The HTC Schubert is going to be an aluminium unibody handset like the Legend and it is expected that it will have a 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Why the moniker Schubert has been chosen we do not know. Let’s hope it is not because it is an ‘Unfinished Symphony’.

More mobile news this week: extra details emerge on the iPhone 4 and ‘Antennagate’. The Wall Street Journal writes about the departure of Apple’s VP in charge of the iPhone Mark Papermaster and discusses the circumstances leading up to this event.

The publication writes: “Mr. Papermaster had lost the confidence of Mr. Jobs months ago and hasn’t been part of the decision-making process for some time,” according to sources, pointing to the fact that it may not have been the iPhone 4 antenna problem alone that prompted this departure.

Here’s the thing, though: it may seem as though departure of Papermaster equals the end of antenna problems but blogger John Gruber, known to have close Apple connections, writes that Apple knew about this antenna problem two years ago.

“The bug on the ‘touching it wrong’ signal loss issue was filed two years ago,” Gruber says, according to an informed source.

“This is not a problem they didn’t catch, or caught too late. So, on the one hand, clearly the fundamental antenna design predated Papermaster’s time at the company. But on the other hand, there was plenty of time to find a solution to the problem.”

sonic colours

Sonic Colours is headed to the Wii and DS this November

Well let’s go back considerably longer than two years and reminisce about classic video games. Sonic the hedgehog was an undisputed classic and you can welcome him back with open arms this autumn!

Sonic creator Sega is set to release Sonic Colours this November. This is the official word from Sega Europe on the matter: “a brand new high speed action adventure in which Sonic the Hedgehog races through incredible theme park inspired worlds, will hit stores across Australia on November 11th 2010 and New Zealand on November 12th 2010 for the home video game system Wii and Nintendo DS system.” W00t!