A look at gadget, game and geek happenings in the week ahead.
Although there were no real surprises at the WWDC 2010, the biggest news of the gadget week is still the iPhone 4. As expected, it has video chat, a new form factor and a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, so Apple was focusing on the new bits: the fact that this iPhone is the thinnest smartphone on the market at 9.33-mm and had the highest resolution screen of any smartphone, too, coming in at 78pc of the pixel quality on the iPad.
The good news for Irish iPhone fans is that the fourth-generation phone will be available here at the end of July and for those sticking with their 3GS the iPhone OS 4 will be available as a free update via iTunes and has lots of new features, including the long-awaited multitasking plus folders and extra support for Exchange mail.
Another smartphone making headlines this week is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini – the smallest Android handset on the market. No bigger than a credit card, the X10 mini has a 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi and all the bits you’d expect to find on an Android phone, including Android Market for apps.
The X10 mini is on sale now through O2 and Carphone Warehouse, and is available from free on O2 bill pay.
Meanwhile, a smartphone exclusive to the US is doing quite well in first-day sales. The HTC Evo, available exclusively through Sprint, has broken the network’s first day sales records that was previously set with the Palm Pre and Samsung Instinct before it.
The 4G phone also runs on a 3G network seeing as how 4G coverage is still quite limited across the US. Sprint didn’t give any figures on how many were sold but said that more went on sale in the first day than in the first three days of the Pre or Instinct.
In the gaming world, we’re all app happy as FarmVille and Guitar Hero finally head to the iPhone, with a release date of around 19 June for FarmVille.
Guitar Hero also has something new on the Xbox 360/PS3/Wii front: the upcoming Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock game is going to have a new guitar controller called the Battle Axe and not only does it look pretty damn cool to begin with – it is also customisable so you can basically go for Dave Mustaine or if you’re feeling more adventurous, Axel Rose. Rock on!
By Marie Boran
Photo: The iPhone 4
