Review Horizon

After just a few days of iPad’s big launch, Apple is working tirelessly to keep the news wheel hot. On April 8th at 10:00AM they will offer a look into what their next iPhone OS 4.0 will be. Of course, we can always hope that it will include support for front facing camera, 960×640 display, multi-tasking, but , at this point, the above mentioned features are just part of an ever-growing list of wishful thinking magic floating around the net. Only the time will tell, and the time is coming!

The event will take place at the Cupertino campus.

It is finally happening. Starting next month you will be able to have better reception inside your home using the new MicroCell device. What is MicroCell ? Well, nothing more than a wireless access point for cell phones that will provide 3G voice and data services routed through your internet connection. So you basically pay for the Internet and to AT&T for their MicroCell just so you can have the privilege of using your phone inside your house…where everybody knows – reception sucks! At least mine does, and I don’t think I am alone.

Let’s go into a bit of details:

Starting last September, AT&T started to test MicroCell service in collaboration with Cisco (which also manufactures the hardware). MicroCell is basically a box similar in size with your wireless router which, will re-route your 3G and calls and data from your cell phones through your phone network. The price will be $150 per device. One MicroCell supports a maximum of 10 lines and 4 people in the house can use it simultaneously.
This is all nice and fancy. The problem in my opinion though, is that AT&T is making you pay to improve their reception and to help reduce the usage of their spectrum. This strikes me as a bit unfair, but I am willing to bet that, if you call them and complain a lot about the reception quality inside your house, you can probably score one for free.

I just noticed that Yahoo! Search is available in iPhone’s App Store (for free, of course). I installed and played with it for a little while. The search is fast and the results are nicely structured including some local results based on your position (you have to allow Y! Search to use your current location). For restaurants for example, it will return phone number, address, pictures if available and ratings as well.

The application also allows you to input voice queries. To delete the last query just shake your iPhone.

Microsoft made the Windows Phone 7 SDK available online here. Based on what I’ve seen in terms of functionality, it will give Apple some reason to fight. The Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP  includes the following applications:

- Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone CTP

- Windows Phone Emulator CTP

- Silverlight for Windows Phone CTP

- XNA 4.0 Game Studio CTP

- Available as a separate application, Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone CTP was also revealed, and it looks like this particular version will be free.

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Many of my friends are scattered around the world so I was looking for a cheap solution to stay in touch for quite a while. I am a frequent Skype user for international calls due to their prices and high call quality, so I wanted something that could use Skype service , but without a computer. I used a Linksys Yahoo phone for a while, but I like Skype better for voice so I started to test WiFi Skype phones.

I ended up buying a two pack IPEVO S0-20 WiFi Phone, I kept one phone while giving the other to my parents. We’ve been using them for more than six month now and I want to share my experiences:

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Main features:

1. Call Quality – crisp and clear with only marginal latency.

2.Size – it is about the size of a cell phone and very light.

3.Keypad is lighted and usable in the dark.

4.Wireless – it can connect to an existing WiFi network, B or G and supports all the encryption standards (WEP, WPA, WPA2). I am using currently WPA2 and works like a charm. It will store the access keys for the networks.

5.Screen is very clear, bright and good resolution.The menus are simple and intuitive.

6. Battery life is very long, with at least 3 days between charges. I usually leave mine in the dock while not in use though. You can charge it from the supplied mini dock or directly via a mini-USB cable.

7. Features – most desktop Skype features are available, including adding new contacts, view call history, change status and the balance is always shown on the screen.

Cons/Issues:

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