Virgin Atlantic passengers will soon be able to use their mobile phones while flying with the airline, thanks to its new Aeromobile initiative.

Rather than use the onboard satellite phones that tend to put a serious dent in your credit card, passengers will be able to use their own mobiles for around the same price as it costs to roam abroad.?

Initially being trialled on Virgin Atlantic’s Airbus A330s, mobiles will automatically connect to the aircraft’s own network, which ensures there’s no interference to its onboard electronics.?

Passengers will need to activate international roaming on their handsets and the device must be switched off for takeoff and landing. As well as making calls and texts, BlackBerry users will be able to receive emails for little extra charge, though the airline recommends other smartphone users turn data roaming off so as to avoid racking up the pounds.

Virgin Atlantic is adamant that there’s no risk to the aircraft – though we’d like to think that goes without saying – and hopes to have Aeromobile in place on 13 aircraft by the end of 2012.

Virgin Atlantic recently showed off its new Upper Class Suite with its virtual reality Planeview tour.

Tags: Phones Virgin Atlantic Roaming Data roaming

Virgin Atlantic to allow mobiles to be used in flight originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 14 May 2012 15:28:00 +0100

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Toyota has launched a piece of software that turns the humble Nintendo DS games console into a remote control for its Smart Navi satnav system.

Called?Kuruma de DS (“DS in the car”) the game card contains Bluetooth connectivity that hooks up to the company’s proprietary in-car kit, allowing the DS to set and store destinations, view maps and get tourist information along the journey.

Designed for a passenger, in front or back, Kuruma de DS talks aloud through an on-screen Mii and even has quizzes about the immediate surroundings to keep kids and adults alike entertained during the journey. Its sound can be piped through the car’s own speakers too.

As with standard DS games and software, the interface is cute and cuddly,?so, as Toyota Marketing Japan told 4Gamer.net, it’s really been designed for families who want to keep their kids away from just staring at an in-car TV screen when travelling.

Currently planned just for Japan, Toyota’s Kuruma de DS will cost?7,329 Yen (?57) on its release on 1 June. It will work only with the company’s own system,?Smart Navi NSZT-W62G, which will be launched at the same time.

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Tags: Toyota Car And GPS Gaming Nintendo Nintendo DS

Toyota releases car navigation remote system for Nintendo DS originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 17 May 2012 09:24:00 +0100

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An iPhone accessory that enables you to capture both 360-degree stills and video before sharing them online will soon be available.

Pocket-lint saw the BubbleScope camera accessory in person at the Digital Summer event in London and – after years in the making – it’s arrival in July was confirmed by?BubblePix,?the company behind the kit

We say years in the making, as way back in July 2011, BubbleScope creator Tom Lawton spoke in depth about the technology used in the accessory. Then it was simply a device that could capture 360-degree photographs, but Pocket-lint can now confirm that the gadget will also be capable of recording video too.

The BubbleScope accessory is small enough to fit in your pocket and, rather than clip on to the case (included with the camera lens) that encompasses your iPhone, it screws on giving it a tighter grip – particularly useful should you be filming while in a moving vehicle, for example..

The lens itself rises out of the tube-like container before being stowed away once you’ve finished snapping, which should help avoid any accidental scratches to the lens while in your pocket or bag.

The device can be turned to any position, which not only enables you to capture snaps at any angle, but also doubles as a useful desk stand.

Because of the poor lighting in the showroom, it was difficult to get a true feel for how well the BubbleScope captured imagery, but we were treated to a sample shot taken outside earlier which looked great, albeit a tad unusual.

To capture your 360-degree stills and video you only have to press the camera key once, but just be wary of how you’re holding the phone to avoid a sudden close-up of your face.

Once you’re happy with your snaps (or “Bubbles” as they’re known) you can share them online via bubblepix.com (you need to download the free BubblePix app) to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram et al.

Though the BubbleScope accessory will initially be compatible only with the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, BubblePix says it is working on other leading smartphones and platforms.

The BubblePix app is available now free from the Apple App Store (it will be updated once the device lands) while BubbleScope itself will be available for ?69.99 from the BubbleScope website as well as other major retailers from July.

Tags: Phones iPhone 4 iPhone 4S iPhone accessories Cameras Bubblescope

Hands-on: BubbleScope 360-degree iPhone camera accessory originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 11 May 2012 17:21:00 +0100

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HTC looks to be working on another “affordable” Android Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone, after specs for an HTC Ville C were leaked on the net.

Described as being an “ultra-slim PDA phone”, sources are proclaiming the HTC Ville C to be a cheaper alternative to the HTC One S, which itself was called the HTC Ville in pre-production.

Whether it will have quite the same venom in terms of speed as the One S we will have to wait and see, but with regard to processing power we’re looking at a Qualcomm MSM8260 dual-core 1.7GHz chipset.

Something that is worth noting is that the leaked document also suggests the phone will run on HTC Sense 4.5. No word on what this upgrade might bring, but we were rather taken with 4.0 so a tweak here or there could make for an even better UI experience.

Slap bang in the middle of the handset is a 4.3-inch qHD AMOLED touchscreen and 16 million LCD display.

HTC looks set to kit the phone out with an eight-megapixel camera with the same BSI sensor as found in the One S, as well as a 1080p HD video recording and a VGA front-facing camera for video calls.

In terms of memory, the specs state there will be 16GB of onboard storage and 1GB RAM. There’s no mention of whether this can be topped up via a microSD card.?

HTC’s insistence that consumers would rather a slim phone than one with a long battery life looks set to continue with the Ville C fitted with a lower-end 1,650mAH capacity battery.?

Yet overall there’s enough here to get us hoping this rumoured handset becomes a reality.

One cheaper alternative to the Ice Cream Sandwich experience that will definitely be arriving on these shores is the HTC Desire C.

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Tags: Phones HTC HTC Ville C HTC One S Ice Cream Sandwich Android HTC Sense

HTC Ville C specs leaked: Cheaper alternative to the HTC One S? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 17 May 2012 12:08:00 +0100

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The cruise was a 60th-birthday gift from her children. But Nicole Servel ended up receiving the gift of life from her husband, Francis, who died that night. After the cruise ship Costa Concordia crashed on the rocks, he gave their only life jacket to his wife, who couldn’t swim.

According to Emirates247.com, the widow of the sacrificing Frenchman told RTL radio, ”I owe my life to my husband.”

Just hours into the Mediterranean cruise, the Italian luxury liner hit rocks. Passengers were told to abandon ship, but the survivor said that the mentality was every man for himself. CNN reported that the scene was chaotic, with “a frantic rush by passengers to get on lifeboats, while the crew appeared helpless and overwhelmed to cope.”

Servel’s husband didn’t make it. He told his wife to “jump, jump!” and added, “Don’t worry, I’ll be all right.” She didn’t see him again. The Toulouse native floated on her back in the frigid, 8-degree water until she washed up on rocks and was rescued by local villagers.

With 4,200 passengers having been aboard the doomed ship, many harrowing stories of survival are emerging. A South Korean couple narrowly escaped death when rescuers heard voices from a cabin two decks down on the half-submerged ship late on Saturday. The newlyweds were on their honeymoon. The BBC reports that the couple, both 29, are in good health.

Shortly after the honeymooners were helped, an Italian crew member, Manrico Giampedroni, was found in the ship’s wreckage with a serious leg injury. Following his cries for help, rescuers located the 57-year-old near a submerged part of the ship; he had been trapped there for 36 hours.

According to Italian news reports, the cabin-service director had stayed behind to assist with the lifeboats, but when the ship began to lean, he fell and broke his leg. The senior crew member said he “never lost hope of being saved.”

A massive search of every cabin is ongoing, with teams of divers deployed to check the underwater rooms. Police are investigating the nature of the accident, given the calm conditions. Evacuating the ship in life boats was made “almost impossible” because the ship listed to one side so quickly, the president of Costa Cruises noted.

See a clip of the Italian crew member being airlifted by helicopter.

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Just how important is a good battery life on a smartphone to you? Very according to Motorola. With that in mind its been busy working away at its Motorola RAZR MAXX, a smartphone that doesn’t skimp on features, but most importantly won’t die on you before the day’s out.

The Motorola RAZR MAXX is no shrinking violet. It’s got a huge 4.3-inch display with a thick border surrounding it, meaning you almost have to stretch you hand around the device when making a call and you’ll certainly be aware of it while it’s in your pocket.

Yet Moto has managed to keep the waistline down to an impressive 8.99mm, which helps explain why it feels far lighter than it looks – 145g.

There’s a slight chin at the top of the rear of the phone in order to accommodate the 8-megapixel camera and LED flash. The power button is located on the right hand side of the phone – as you look at the display – just around the point your forefinger would rest when taking a call in your left hand. Perhaps we’re being pernickety but we have concerns that we might inadvertently switch the phone off mid-conversation.

There’s no removable back cover with the SIM, micro at that, being inserted in the bottom left side of the phone. The protective door, which also leads to the microSD card slot, felt a little flimsy especially as you need to pull it right back to access either port.

Found on the top of the phone is an HDMI, microUSB and 3.5mm headset jack neither of which comes with cumbersome pullout door, so despite Motorola protecting the phone with a splashguard coating we wouldn’t recommend putting it in too much proximity to any fluid.

A headset jack positioned at the top of the phone is always preferable because it makes it easier to take the phone out of your pocket without damaging your plugged in headphones.

Fire up the phone and an impressively vibrant Super AMOLED Advanced display greets you. It’s protected by Corning Gorilla Glass and has a resolution of 540×960 pixels. It really is quite stunning, especially when you turn the brightness to full, which you can afford to do thanks to the mammoth battery life, right?

So far so good. Now for the not so good. Once switched on it’s immediately apparent that this is no Android Ice Cream Sandwich phone. Well not yet anyway. Running on Gingerbread 2.3 from launch, Moto hopes to upgrade the phone to ICS by the end of Q2 2012.

The processor is also only dual-core 1.2GHz. It seems ridiculous to baulk at a processor of this magnitude, but the truth is with more and more smartphones featuring quad-core processors the bar has been raised. To be fair when playing with the phone it was a far from lethargic experience, though it did take a while for images to appear on any shortcuts we set.

Motorola has also included its innovative “Smart Actions” feature, also found on the previous RAZR. You can set the RAZR MAXX to administer specific functions depending on where you are and what you’re doing.

For example, have a meeting scheduled in your Google Calendar and the RAZR MAXX will automatically put itself in silent mode. What’s more should you have… erm…. a wife who’s about to go into labour for example, you can set a VIP number (ie, your wife’s) which will overrule the Smart Action and ring as normal. There are plenty of other actions to have a play with, such as automatically firing up the music player as soon as a pair of headphones are inserted.

The MotoCast app is also on board which enables you to access music, documents and photos from a remote computer either by streaming or downloading it to the Motorola RAZR MAXX. The files will then be stored locally on the phone, meaning you can access them even when offline. The remote computer will have to be switched on in order to access the files originally, but it makes for a useful alternative to cloud storage.

In terms of memory we’re looking at 1GB RAM and 16GB ROM, with a 16GB microSD card also included, though it can support cards of up to 32GB, which we’d recommend investing in especially if you plan to use the MotoCast app.

Yet, as Motorola kept telling us, the Motorola RAZR MAXX is all about a long battery life. So all that’s left to say, according to the manufacturer, is that the 3300 mAh capacity battery should provide up to 1,056 minutes talktime, the “longest of any smartphone” according to Moto, and over 25 days standby.

We’ll be bringing you a full in-depth review of the Motorola RAZR MAXX before you have time to run one out of juice.

The Motorola RAZR MAXX is available now from Clove, Expansys and Amazon.

Tags: Phones Motorola RAZR Maxx Motorola Android Ice Cream Sandwich

Motorola RAZR MAXX pictures and hands-on originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 17 May 2012 17:33:00 +0100

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This week the movie “Red Tails” flies into first place with Yahoo! users. Searches on the George Lucas-produced film about the African-American Tuskegee fighter pilots of World War II rose 148% in the last week. A third of the lookups are ages 30-44, and expect to see more men than women at this action flick starring Terrence Howard and Ne-Yo.

Kate Beckinsale can sure pull in a crowd. The beautiful actress again takes on the role of the vampire fighter Selene in “Underworld Awakening,” opening this week. The sci-fi adventure in 3-D buzzed up the search box 23% in the last 7 days, drawing in men in their 20s to this horror tale. In this fourth installment, Selene escapes imprisonment to find that humans are waging all-out war on the immortal Vampire and Lycan clans.

Finally, the thriller “Haywire” is packing a punch with Yahoo! users, with about a 15% bump in searches from mostly men, ages 30-35. Gina Carano, the former mixed martial arts fighter, stars as a covert agent who is double-crossed. The action-packed movie directed by Steven Soderbergh also features acting heavy-weight actors Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, and Michael Fassbender.

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