Review: Spectronics iMainGoX #imaingox

Portable speakers for things like mp3 players and cellphones are generally not worth the trouble (or sound quality). So when I was presented with an iMainGoX by Spectronics, I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy. Yeah, I love getting new gadgets to review. I’ll never get tired of that. But tiny portable speakers generally sound like junk, are cumbersome, and all too often are overpriced. And for someone who cherishes audio quality, such a combination doesn’t bode well. But alas, I entered into this adventure with an open mind. The iMainGoX review awaits…

Three UK Joining Orange, Subsidizing iPad. #ios #ipad

It looks like another UK cellular carrier is going to be following in Orange UK’s footsteps. Competing UK carrier, “Three UK” has voiced plans to carry subsidized iPads of their own in the upcoming months. At this time, no official pricing for either the iPad or accompanying data plans have been mentioned. But common knowledge points to a couple hundred pounds slashed off the iPad’s retail price in conjunction with a five to ten pound higher monthly payment. Also, an 18-24-month will obviously be required for the lower purchase prices.

As is the case with Orange’s plans, giving customers whom aren’t able to pay the high up front costs of iPad ownership should find these new subsidized plans quite the opportunity. With that said, anyone holding out for a subsidized iPad?

Cellular South Teaming Up With Samsung for LTE and VoLTE in 2011. #lte #cellularsouth

Customers of Cellular South have an exciting future ahead of them. The southern regional carrier will be teaming up with Samsung to roll out a 700MHz-based LTE network in 2011 . But even better than just your typical LTE rollout, Cellular South is pursuing VoLTE (Voice Over LTE) too, meaning that they won’t have to worry about falling back on 3G for voice calls.

Accompanying the network launch will be two, new LTE-capable phones as well, ensuring customers can get an early jump on this new speedier network. As for those two handsets, no information is known yet. But rest assured, you’ll know once we do. Cellular South customers, can we get a what what!

iOS 4.2.1 Memory Optimizations Graphed. #ios

The chief goal of iOS 4.2.1 was to bring the iPad up to iPhone 4 spec feature-wise. While the media was consumed by the bigger talking points such as folders, multitasking/quick app switching, and AirPrint/AirPlay, memory optimization was perhaps of even greater importance due to the rather quick jump in standard memory (128 -> 256 -> 512MB).

The image above is taken from Italian Apple site ipadevice and shows the shrinking memory footprint of several iOS apps as Apple worked through the latest betas. The optimizations aren’t too surprising though. With three memory sizes to deal with currently, Apple had to do something to make the masses happy.

On that note, how is 4.2.1 treating iPhone 3G users?

Happy Thanksgiving From Gadgetsteria!

I just wanted to take a moment to stop and say thank you to all of you. The readers are what keep Gadgetsteria open and filled with new content. While it’s my personal passion, I also enjoy sharing this passion with others. So thank you, again.

Kick back, relax, enjoy the food, and spend time with those that really matter. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Another Nexus S Leak Shows GingerBread Front and Center. #android #gingerbread

Well Happy Thanksgiving to us! What you’re looking at is another claimed shot of the upcoming Nexus S running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). From the looks of things, the phone is definitely sleek and borderline sexy. The specs are still a crapshoot, but include an ArmV7 CPU (possibly dual-core), 4″ 800 x 400 Super AMOLED 2 display, 720p video recording and plenty more. Though of course, staring at Gingerbread’s homescreen is the biggest draw at this point.

What do you guys think? I’m not digging the new notification bar if that is in fact stock Gingerbread. Anyone care to disagree?

Angry Birds Day: December 11th. #angrybirds #rovio

Angry Birds fanatics will most certainly want to mark December 11th on their calendars, for it is the greatest day of the year — Angry Birds Day. On this day, Angry Birds fans around the world are asked to plan meet-ups to talk, laugh, and play their favorite game in hordes. However, the real party will be going down in London’s Trafalgar Square.

It is there that Rovio’s executive team is rumored to be announcing among other things, console versions of Angry Birds, Angry Birds 2, and/or an Angry Birds Movie. Though fellow tech blog TechCrunch thinks something even bigger and better will be dropped on us.

Whatever it is, I can’t wait. Anyone out there doing something special for Angry Birds Day?