Software
In Part Two we looked inside the Touch and at connectivity and multimedia functions.
TouchFLO
HTC have redesigned the Windows Today screen, with a moody dark finish displaying the time in big LCD-style numbers, and three thumb sized buttons giving quick access to basic weather updates, a program launcher and a link back to the home screen.
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In Part One we gave you an outline of the phone took a gander at the look and feel.
Opening up the Touch
The phone may be elegant on the outside, but it’s not such a pretty picture when you need to get inside.
Opening the phone was tricky enough, requiring a fair bit of energy to slide the back off to install the battery, but worse was to come when we looked to install the SIM and MicroSD card.
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Manhunt 2 has been hanging around the news all week long.
It started off with being banned by the BFFC for sale in the UK, now it’s being called a “fine piece of art” by the game’s publisher, Take-Two.
The game, written by Rockstar Games, must be liked by the chairman of Take-Two, as he is now on record say that he “Fully” stands behind the game.
More extensively he release a statement saying
“The Rockstar team has come up with a game that fits squarely within the horror genre and was intended to do so,” he continued, “It brings a unique, formerly unheard of cinematic quality to interactive entertainment, and is also a fine piece of art.”
So there.
We were recently invited to the launch of the HTC Touch phone – a new slimline WM6 phone sporting ‘TouchFLO’ touchscreen technology – and the assembled herd of head honchos told us that HTC was hoping to steal some of Apple’s thunder ahead of the release of their (over) hyped iPhone.
Now we don’t go in for all this ‘unpacking video’ nonsense, but we feel that HTC’s packaging was especially noteworthy, with the Touch coming in a stylish black box containing a large, full colour manual, which made a very pleasant change from the usual multi-language folded leaflets instructing us to, “Read the PDF file for more.”
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The British Board of Film Classification (BCCF) have ruled that Manhunt 2, the second version of the game from Rockstar Games, has been banned in its current form from sale or rental in the UK.
Originally scheduled for release during July 2007, the BCCF today made it pretty clear that they really didn’t like it – at all. David Cooke, Director of the BBFC said, “Rejecting a work is a very serious action and one which we do not take lightly. Where possible we try to consider cuts or, in the case of games, modifications which remove the material which contravenes the Board’s published Guidelines. In the case of Manhunt 2 this has not been possible. Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing. There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game.”
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Global mobile gaming end-user revenue is set to skyrocket from $2.9 billion in 2006 to $9.6 billion in 2011, with popularity growing as consumer awareness increases and more games are released.
The figures were released in a new report from research analysts Gartner who calculated that worldwide mobile gaming revenue looks set to hit $4.3 billion in 2007, up nearly 50 percent from 2006.
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Speculation is growing that YouTube will be launching local versions of their video sharing service for European countries.
The rumours come in the wake of YouTube owners Google announcing a mass herding of top executives in Paris for an international press conference next week.
Elementary
France 24, a French public TV channel, confirmed on Friday that it’s been sitting on the chatty sofa and getting chummy with Google, leading pundits to predict that the search engine giant could be lining up local content for its video-sharing service.
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Looks like there’s a danger of some of the open-source software world and Microsoft breaking out into a huge big love in.
Linspire, which started life as Lindows in an effort to antagonise Microsoft, has announced an agreement with the Redmond giant to co-operate in a number of areas.
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In Part One, we looked at some of apps which prove on the Treo, in this final part we cover entertainment and working on the move.
To keep me topped up with the latest news, I also fired up QuickNews to speedily download some RSS feeds as our train hurtled through the East Sussex countryside.
Miraculously, apart from a few phone calls and texts, I managed to leave my phone well alone for most of the evening, but after my girlfriend had retired to bed, weary of my Adnams Ale-fuelled waffling, the Treo was on hand to provide some entertainment.
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With the unexpected offer of a weekend away at the coast suddenly popping up, I quickly packed my bag with my gadget essentials – Palm Treo 650, GPS unit, Ricoh GX100, Nikon D80 and various chargers – and headed to the station.
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