Author: Sajin Seethi

Google has just updated their mobile app for iPhone to give push notifications for email and calendar. Now this has been a long awaited feature. Most of the users have been syncing their google calendar with iCal to get alarm notifications on their phone and mac. With new update, users can receive notifications for new Gmail messages and Google Calendar events right on the home screen. Google announced it yesterday and it covers the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Hosted domain mail works too, so Google Apps users arent left out.

Google Operating System says it seems Google only shows a badge on the icon when a new message comes in, so dont expect a full alert for mail. We will test it and let you know.

Till now the official route was Google Sync over Exchange, since Apple had only ever allowed MobileMe and Yahoo to do real push for web mail. The update also adds as you type answers for flight info, weather, stock quotes and currency conversion. No Google Voice alerts yet, that app has been sitting in the App Store review queue for over a year now. Its rolling out slowly, so keep checking the App Store. If you try it, tell us in the comments how the alerts behave on your phone. Stay tuned.

Partly reconstructed with AI. This post’s full text was lost when the site went offline. Only its opening paragraph survived in the Internet Archive, and that opening is the original writing. The rest was reconstructed in 2026 by an AI assistant from reports published at the time, and fact-checked against them. Sources used: googlemobile.blogspot.com, macrumors.com, googlesystem.blogspot.com, fortune.com, silicon.co.uk.

HTC Desire HD has been the talk of Android world. The phone is rumored to have a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, 4.3″ WVGA capacitive touchscreen, Sense UI, 8MP camera with 720p video capture, dual LED, Android 2.2, and 4GB of internal storage. The features does not sound very tempting as most of the Android devices launching these days already come with almost the same specs. Its basically an EVO 4G lookalike, minus the front camera. But then a video of the phone popped up on YouTube today and honestly it looks way better than the specs read on paper.

The clip is surprisingly clear for a leak, nothing like the usual shaky cam stuff. You can see the 4.3″ screen, the dual LED flash next to the camera lens and the 3.5mm jack moved to the bottom like on the HD2. The back is half matte half glossy with rubber patches, and the optical trackpad of the original Desire is gone. Pics of the same phone had leaked over the weekend on a Hong Kong forum and this video seems to have come out of the same place.

HTC hasnt said a word officially yet and the phone is rumored to launch sometime in October. Watch the video below and tell us what you think. Is it too big?? Stay tuned for more.

Partly reconstructed with AI. This post’s full text was lost when the site went offline. Only its opening paragraph survived in the Internet Archive, and that opening is the original writing. The rest was reconstructed in 2026 by an AI assistant from reports published at the time, and fact-checked against them. Sources used: engadget.com, gizmodo.com, engadget.com, engadget.com, wirefresh.com.

Rules are rules in Saudi Arabia. India and UAE may be in talks with RIM about the BlackBerry service security issue, but KSA has it all sorted out. BlackBerry services was banned in the country this Friday after a short notice. Many users were in trouble due to this sudden ban. Saudi Arabia is RIM’s biggest market in the Middle East with more than 700,000 subscribers, and the CITC had told all three operators, STC, Mobily and Zain, to block the service or face a 1.3 million dollar fine. The commission said BlackBerry doesnt meet its regulatory criteria and licensing conditions.

Going by the reports the disruption lasted only about four hours and messenger was working again after that. An official at the commission told the AP on Saturday that RIM intends to place a server inside Saudi Arabia, and that the server would let the government monitor BlackBerry data. Nothing from the CITC or RIM themselves yet, so thats one official talking. Funny, because RIM keeps saying it has never provided “anything unique to the government of one country” and cant hand out a copy of a customers encryption key. All that data sits encrypted on servers in Canada.

UAE still has that October 11 date for messenger, email and browsing, and India is still asking. If KSA can settle it in a day, whats the hold up?? We’ll be watching, stay tuned.

Partly reconstructed with AI. This post’s full text was lost when the site went offline. Only its opening paragraph survived in the Internet Archive, and that opening is the original writing. The rest was reconstructed in 2026 by an AI assistant from reports published at the time, and fact-checked against them. Sources used: aljazeera.com, nbcnews.com, nbcnews.com, foxnews.com, france24.com.

It’s not been 48 hours since we read UAE’s plan to halt BlackBerry services from Oct 11th onwards, and here is now Saudi Arabia on board to do the same. But the ban in Saudi begins as early as this friday 6th August. The ban will affect its 7,00,000 BlackBerry users in the country, and going by Al Jazeera around 80% of them are individual users.

The regulator there, CITC, has asked the three mobile operators, Saudi Telecom, Mobily and Zain, to block the service, and officially all they’ve said is that BlackBerry service “in its present state does not meet regulatory requirements”. Thats all, and everybody knows what this is really about. Your BBM message doesnt sit on some server in Riyadh, it goes off to RIM’s data centre in Canada, so the authorities there cant read it even if they want to.

Most reports point at BlackBerry Messenger going down first. RIM hasnt said anything about the Saudi order so far. So if you’re in Riyadh or Jeddah, friday is the day to watch. And its not only the Gulf, India is still in talks with RIM over the same encrypted data access, and Bahrain has been warning people about passing news around on BlackBerry. Gulf News reckons the three operators stand to lose over 700 million riyals a year between them. Stay tuned !!

Partly reconstructed with AI. This post’s full text was lost when the site went offline. Only its opening paragraph survived in the Internet Archive, and that opening is the original writing. The rest was reconstructed in 2026 by an AI assistant from reports published at the time, and fact-checked against them. Sources used: aljazeera.com, deseret.com, nbcnews.com, gulfnews.com, gulfnews.com.

If you are one of the frustrated user of the facebook for Android here is something to cheer you up. Facebook for Android has been updated to version 1.3.0 on yesterday. The app has received some UI changes and many added features. These include, A done-up interface that comes with seven icons for your most used sections, plus a status box and friend search right on top of the home screen. Below that there is a new photo reel showing thumbnails of the photos and videos your friends shared recently, something even the iPhone app doesnt have. Notifications now sit in a drawer that you drag up from the bottom, so you can see who wrote on your wall, commented, liked or tagged you in a photo without digging through menus.

You can finally see Events and RSVP to them, accept or reject friend requests without leaving the app, and videos play right inside the app now. Messages can be read and replied to from within the app too. Chat still didnt make it in this version, and some folks are complaining that tapping a notification still kicks you out to the mobile site. But honestly the whole thing feels a lot slicker than the old one. If you havent got the update yet, head to the Android Market and grab it. Its free as always.

Partly reconstructed with AI. This post’s full text was lost when the site went offline. Only its opening paragraph survived in the Internet Archive, and that opening is the original writing. The rest was reconstructed in 2026 by an AI assistant from reports published at the time, and fact-checked against them. Sources used: techcrunch.com, techcrunch.com, androidpolice.com, forums.androidcentral.com, geeky-gadgets.com.

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That’s right people. Nokia India has been connecting us for over 15 years. We’ve seen plenty of devices and services from them which helped us stay connected 24/7. And as they reach 15th successful year, they wanna know our most interesting experience that we had with their device/service.

Top ten entries will get a Nokia N8 each and there are also goodies for other participants announced weekly. This includes Nokia C5 devices, and Bluetooth headsets. If that isn’t enough, they are also giving way 10 tracks for each registration.

Can’t Wait Right ?? Go on, hit the link and make your entry now. MyNokiaMoments.com

Eagle Eyed Blogger Clinton Jeff from Zomgitscj.com has found the TV advert from the Nokia Website. Please note it’s in Hindi.

http://zomgitscj.com/2010/07/30/nokia-india-celebrating-15-years-win-an-n8/

Nokia India is turning 15:And They Wanna Gift You N8, 9.5 out of 10 based on 2 ratings
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The Ovi Browser is powered by patented Internet compression technology that delivers advanced web pages to your phone. The result is that pages show up quicker than ever, plus over the air data is reduced by up to 90%. Now this is something what Opera Mini does and now you have a choice. Beyond that, Nokia says its got a new user interface that puts your favourite content right on the start page instead of making you hunt through menus. Three view modes, Full Page, Zoomed-in and Column View, search on the start page with a choice of engines, favourites, history, URL and form auto completion, speed scrolling on the numeric keypad, and it jumps straight to the main content of a page so you scroll less.

It went up on Nokia Beta Labs on the 28th, tagged as likely to graduate to a commercial product. Im guessing this is what Nokia bought Novarra for back in March, though thats only my hunch. Point your phone at browser.ovi.com to grab it, then look in your Apps or Games folder. S40 only, and the list names 19 models so far, pretty much every shop shelf here, 2700 classic, 5130 XpressMusic, X3. No Symbian version, so S60 users like me stay on Opera Mobile for now. Nokia says a next beta with more localised versions is coming, so stay tuned. And yes, normal operator data charges still apply !!

Partly reconstructed with AI. This post’s full text was lost when the site went offline. Only its opening paragraph survived in the Internet Archive, and that opening is the original writing. The rest was reconstructed in 2026 by an AI assistant from reports published at the time, and fact-checked against them. Sources used: web.archive.org, gsmarena.com, wapreview.com, web.archive.org, techcrunch.com.