TechieGroups

FRUIT THEMED GADGET FLOGGER Apple will release a fix soon for the Iphone 4S battery problems that are plaguing its users.

It’s taken some time for the company to acknowledge the problems, which as with antennagate were discovered by users and not mentioned in all the fanfare surrounding the handset’s launch.

Users flocked to Apple forums to bemoan the problems however, and now Apple has promised that it will do something about it.

So, Iphone 4S users who parted with upwards of five hundred pounds can expect their device to meet their expectations in the next few weeks, as Apple expects to issue a software fix that will solve their problems.

According to the Washington Post, the cappuccino company is working on a software update that will remove the battery draining bugs that are affecting users.

Spokeswoman Natalie Harrison told the newspaper that the fix is likely to be released in the next few weeks, so perhaps users should keep their chargers close by until around Christmas time. µ

Reiterating what the company has been saying about Android 4.0, Google's Dan Morrill said today that the Ice Cream Sandwich source code would be made available to the general public "soon," after the software begins appearing on new and existing Android devices.

The source code for Android 3.0 was never made available – Google's official reasoning for this is that it didn't want the tablet-oriented Honeycomb code running on smaller screens, though others have suggested (as we noted in our review of the Xoom) that Honeycomb seemed to be a bit rushed at the time of release. Most of the focus on Ice Cream Sandwich so far has concerned what it will do for phones, but for tablets it's likely to represent an iteration of Honeycomb with more polish and fewer rough edges.

The lack of Honeycomb source code has been criticized by the open source community, which often takes advantage of Android's "openness" relative to iOS or Windows Phone 7 to develop custom Android distributions for all kinds of devices, including some (like the HP TouchPad) for which it was never really intended. Once its source code is released, Ice Cream Sandwich should give these developers a more modern and robust platform to start from.

Source: Ars Technica

MOBILE OPERATOR Orange has confirmed that it will sell ZTE’s Skate smartphone, which it has renamed the Monte Carlo.

We can confirm that the ZTE Skate is coming to the UK, and that Announced in February at MWC after ZTE announced it in May, Orange renamed the phone the Monte Carlo. It’s on Orange’s ‘coming soon’ web page, so we asked it for a more precise release date.

Orange told The INQUIRER, “I’m afraid all the detail we have on the Orange Monte Carlo is currently on the web page. We’ll be making an announcement soon and will make sure you are kept up to speed as soon as this is made.”

Orange has decided to lose the ZTE brand and its name for the phone, like it did with ZTE’s San Francisco phone, which ZTE called the Blade.

The San Francisco is exclusive to Orange so we asked if this was going to be the case for the Monte Carlo. Orange told us, “Absolutely, it’s exclusive.” Well, at least something’s definite.

The Monte Carlo will aim to be a bigger and better version of the San Francisco. It will come with an 800MHz processor and run Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Its 4.3in touchscreen with 480×800 resolution is bigger than the San Francisco’s 3.5in display. Other features include a rear facing 5MP camera, WiFi, Bluetooth and G-sensors. The Monte Carlo is 10.8mm thick and weighs 120g.

The San Francisco is a budget Android phone that Orange offered for as low as £79. ZTE revealed it has sold over 2 million of the San Francisco, er, Blade phones worldwide. We expect that ZTE and Orange will price the Monte Carlo very competitively, too. µ