Jamster - Ringtone Download Services

Jamster ringtone download service develops, markets and distributes the latest digital content and applications for the newest generation of high tech mobile handsets.

Jamster can turn your cell phone into a mobile entertainment and communications hub with services that give you access to shopping, downloads, graphics, ringtones, multimedia messaging service (MMS) greeting cards and more.

Jamster has a quick reference tool that makes it easy to browse a complete list of the ringtones performed by a particular artist—very nice. Or, use the search box to help you quickly and efficiently track down a certain song by keyword.

You can customize the Jamster website by country including Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, China and more and view the site in 13 different languages. This is just one of things this service does to cater to your needs.

Feature Set:

You can fully customize your handset to become a mobile office, a game console, a portable music player or a media center. Jamster is one of the first ringtone services to offer video ringtones–when your phone rings you'll not only hear the ringtone but see the video as well.

Selection:

Jamster offers 2 different membership plans, the value plan and XXL plan. With the basic service plan includes two ringtone downloads, one game and three graphics a month. The larger plan includes six ringtones, 10 graphics and four games. Jamster still honors their "Legacy Plans;" however, new members are only given two plan options.

Jamster has one of the largest databases of ringtones and downloads and it is orderly, so you can find just what you need. However, games and applications are not available to Verizon or Virgin Mobile subscribers.

Help/Support:

Jamster prefers that you contact them with any questions by email, but they do offer customer phone support and a FAQ section.

Summary:

If your cell phone provider is Cingular, T–mobile, Sprint, Cellular One or Cincinnati Bell, Alltel, Virgin or Dobson, Jamster will turn your ringing cell phone into a rocking cell phone. The thousands of ways this service can customize your phone will impress you.

Motorola Droid 2010

Let’s say it right off the bat: the Motorola DROID is the based Google Android based smartphone phone to date. It’s the first device to run using the greatly improved Android 2.0 operating system and Motorola has gone a long way to address most of the shortfalls that were inevitably leveled against previous Android phones in comparisons to the competition. To make things even better, it offers some of its very own unique features that should put the DROID on anybody’s short list when considering a smartphone purchase.

Standout Features

• 3.7-inch touch screen
• Superior call quality
• 3 keyboards: 1 physical, 2 virtual
• 5.0-megapixel camera
• Multitasking capability

On first glance, the Motorola DROID seems just a little bit clunky by today’s standards. It’s black and square (well, rectangular) and a trifle thick and weighty. Not huge issues but sort of uninspiring. Turn it on, though, and the impression is changed radically. The device is almost completely covered by a huge, by cell phone standards, 3.7-inch touchscreen that is nothing short of beautiful. It boasts a bright and sharp 440x854 pixel resolution capable of displaying 16 million colors. The touch screen works well with the notably improved user interface for the Android 2.0 OS and features haptic feedback for some functions but still lacks of the most popular features of a multitouch screen like the pinch to zoom function.

It comes equipped with a built-in accelerometer so rotating the device changes the screen orientations from portrait to landscape and there’s a full QWERTY keyboard in both modes. Better yet, there’s a slide out physical keyboard. That feature isn’t important to everyone but many users find the real keyboard preferable to the virtual one for all but the quickest of typing tasks. That said, this keyboard isn’t among our favorites in that it’s generally flat and there’s little to separation between keys making touch typing pretty tough. Still, it’s not bad and as we get accustomed to its feel, we find it less objectionable.

There’s a lot to say about the overall performance of the DROID and it’s based on a number of factors. The phone has a 600MHz processor at its heart and 256MB of RAM. Memory can be expanded by up to a 32GB SDHC card but it comes packaged with a 16GB card which is already pretty impressive. The Android 2.0 OS also provides a substantial performance boost compared to previous Android devices, especially when taking advantage of the devices enviable multitasking capabilities. The Verizon Wireless EVDO Rev A network also gets a lot of the credit for the phone’s top-notch performance when using web based functions.

Android’s open-platform application format has always been at the heart of the OS’s appeal. At this point, the Android Market boasts about 10,000 applications which is an awful lot compared to little more than a year ago when the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1 became available. Still, it pales in comparison to the Apple App store which has recently crossed 100,000 apps. The good news for Android users, when making the comparison, is that most Apple apps are self-serving and primarily promote a particular business. Android apps tend to be more useful.

Google Maps is among the most usable web based features around, both for computer and mobile devices. The DROID successfully leverages the relationship with Google to offer perhaps the single coolest unique feature of this phone…a terrific, turn-by-turn GPS navigation system that doesn’t require a monthly subscription.

Pretty much every email platform is supported by the DROID including MS Exchange synchronization for enterprise users. It’s worth noting that only Exchange and Gmail get true push delivery with this phone. It can be set to check IMAP and POP3 accounts at user specified intervals from 5 minutes to an hour. Users for whom true push email is a priority will still be best served by BlackBerries. On the other hand, the DROID does a great job of integrating contacts and calendars much like the Palm Pre and other Palm webOS based devices.

The Motorola DROID comes equipped with a 5.0-megapixel camera with LED flash and also features video recording. It also has a very good multimedia player which offers direct downloading from the Amazon MP3 store.

Expert Reviews:

We don’t love the fact that every new smartphone on the market has to be compared to the Apple iPhone but that is today’s reality. Just about everybody agrees that the iPhone sets the bar very high for the largest spectrum of users…not the best phone for every single individual, but generally best for most consumers. Other devices are often cited as preferable for specific groups, e.g. BlackBerries for enterprise users or Android devices for serious techies. Perhaps the nicest and most realistic comment that prevails regarding the DROID is that it gives a very viable option for an awful lot of buyers.

Reviews praise the DROID’s multitasking capabilities, its generally quicker performance and the free location based services.

Several of most important advantages associated with DROID are a direct result of its use of the Verizon Wireless network. We rated it first in both our Cell Phone Providers Review and our Mobile Broadband Review sites…ratings that, by the way, were made independently and by different reviewers. Other reviewers have generally echoed these sentiments.

Summary:

With the Motorola DROID, the Android OS comes a major step closer to realizing its potential. As a handset manufacturer, Motorola finally has a real winner and even Verizon Wireless, the country’s largest wireless provider, has a real contender in the smartphone race. The DROID is a great option for users who like most iPhone features but want an alternative to it and AT&T. In the long run, everyone, consumers and the wireless industry, win big by the presence of genuine, valid choices at the head of the pack.

The Taste Of The iPad. UrbanSpoon Makes Its HD Debut

Before there was even an App Store, I knew there was something to UrbanSpoon. Several million downloads and a sale to IAC later, I can safely say I was right. Now the team behind it is trying to capture the magic all over again with its new free iPad app.

On the face of it, UrbanSpoon for the iPad may not seem as useful as it is for the iPhone. After all, most people don’t just whip out their iPad on the street when they’re looking for a restaurant (though some may when the 3G version hits, who knows). But plenty of dinner choices are made right before you leave the house — and that’s what UrbanSpoon for the iPad is perfect for.

The app, which just went live in the App Store, looks beautiful. It’s like the iPhone version except there is a persistent map below the regular “slot machine” area where you pick and choose (or have the app pick and choose) your options for food. Once you make your selections, you can either hit the red “Spin” button or shake the iPad — yes, just like the iPhone. The choices will be highlighted on the map. Or you can choose a “List” view which then shows the details about each place, including their UrbanSpoon rating.

Add It To The List: You Cannot Club Seals To Death On The iPhone

Look, I get the porn thing. Well, sort of. But now Apple has gone too far.

iSealClub is the latest app to be rejected from the App Store. In it, you yes, club seals. I’m shocked — shocked! — that Apple would reject such an app.

Developer Matthew Smyth writes:

So I decided to develop a game based on the seal hunt (with a club). You play a seal hunter armed with a club against an unlimited number of seals. Tilting the device in the desired direction moves the club around the screen, and making a flicking motion causes the club to hit a seal or the ground. I tired to keep the game light hearted as possible with no blood, or clubbing baby seals. Well… you can try and club the baby seals, but you lose points and they just take off really fast.

Smyth emailed Apple before ever writing the app to see if they would find it questionable, and they responded that they didn’t pre-approve apps. So Smyth built it. And yes, it was rejected on the grounds that it contains “content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, sounds, etc.) that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable.”

Actually, I thought the whole thing was a joke when Smyth emailed it to us, but it turns out his app is actually based on something real: the Canadian Seal Hunt. Yes, it’s real — and awful.

But actually, Smyth has something of a point with the following:

I looked at other apps in the app store which have been approved.

Here are a few examples of games available on the app store:

• Turkey Hunt, iHunt, Deer Hunter 3D, iFishing, Ace Hunter, iHunt 3D, Big Buck Hunter, 3D Hunting, Trophy Hunt… All games about hunting animals for sport.
• Pocket God… Play God, torture and kill Pygmies
• iMob, iMobsters…. Create a mob, arm your mob, perform crimes for profit, etc.
• Various Assult rifle/gun apps.. shoot/build weapons to kill.
• Various War based games… Kill.
• Grand Theft Auto… Steal Cars, run people over, shoot and kill people (including cops) in cold blood… Watch them lie in their own pool of blood.
• The list goes on.

He goes on:

The Canadian Seal Hunt may be controversial, but it is in-fact sanctioned (unlike stealing cars and shooting cops) by the Canadian government. People also make a living from the seal hunt (ie not a “sport” hunts). The game itself rewards the player with seal based products (such as seal oil, or seal skin jackets), and not “trophies.”

Given the “objectionableness” of the game’s content compared to the above games, I can’t help but think that Apple has taken a less then neutral position on the topic of the Seal Hunt. If Apple is truly against the seal hunt, I respect that. I wouldn’t kill an animal (non-virtual of course) myself. But… I don’t respect Apple for restricting content based these views(when the other side is still socially acceptable). I can understand not allowing games with the cold blooded murder of police officers….. oh wait…. They do.. never mind.

Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/27/club-a-seal-theres-an-app-for-that/#ixzz0mNJ7hx6t

Nokia To Half 2010 Smartphone Releases

Yesterday, Nokia made the startling announcement that they would be cutting next year's smartphone offerings in half (Reuters). This shocked some in the industry, and has lead to a number of bloggers cheering at Nokia's perceived weakness. While it's true the mobile giant has been losing ground lately, I don't think it's fair to label this decision a panicked retreat or desperate, last-ditch measure.

What this decision represents is the fact that the people in charge at Nokia are finally starting to get with the damned program. Nokia released twenty freaking smartphones in 2009. How many of them can you name, right now? No looking on the Internet. The N900, the N97...has anything else made a huge splash this year? Nokia has put some great smartphones out. They are and probably always will be a major fixture of the mobile industry. Unfortunately, right now they're a bit of a dinosaur. The smartphone industry is different than the regular cell phone industry. The same tactics don't work. Apple has three different smartphone models in their whole line, and they don't seem to have suffered any from the lack of variety. Nokia needs to focus on delivering a few, high quality handsets that can generate buzz at several different price points. For an example of how this is supposed to look, take Motorola. They create the very popular, uber-cool Droid and then put out the budget LaJolla. It's hard for gargantuan companies like Nokia to adapt swiftly to changing trends. Their management deserves kudos for recognizing a problem and working to fix it before it can lead to bankruptcy and ruin.

DocsToGo for webOS at a "standstill" is bad news for Palm

Palm is really feeling it these days as DataViz, a staple company in the mobile software space, has publicly admitted that due to the "current environment at Palm" the popular DocsToGo for webOS is at a "standstill."

Kathleen McAneany of DataViz wrote on the company's blog:

"We are continuing our efforts to work with Palm to clear the path for a full editing version of Documents To Go. However, given the current environment at Palm, as well as the necessary collaboration with the device manufacturer that is required to bring an app like ours to a platform like webOS, our Documents To Go editor product for webOS is essentially at a standstill.

As soon as we have any additional information, we will inform you immediately.

Thanks for your passion surrounding our solution."

If DataViz is on hold with DocsToGo, that doesn't speak well for Palm at all. In conjunction with the departure of Palm's SVP of Software and Services, Mike Abbott, the many rumors of Palm on the hunt for a buyer, it appears that Palm is on the brink of disaster.

The company continues to keep a stiff upper lip and project confidence that they can make it through these hurdles, but it seems that only bad news continues to trickle out. Where is the good news for Palm?

Get some better hardware Palm, and get a seasoned CEO with a proven track record. You've got the best OS in the mobile space but too many mis-steps have cost you.

The Tale of Apple's Next iPhone

We've taken a close look at Apple's next iPhone and it's been quite a ride. Here's what happened:

Apple lost the next iPhone which they had cleverly disguised to look like an iPhone 3GS. We got our hands on it and shared all the details with you, including a dissection. In the meantime, our servers melted and our tech team worked overtime.

We discussed how Apple missed chances to get the next iPhone back and cleared up some conspiracy theories by explaining why Apple didn't leak the iPhone to us. (Heck, it's not even about the iPhone!)

In the end, Apple asked to get their phone back and we returned it.

BlackBerry 6.0 Revealed

After reviewing the new devices we saw yesterday—the Blackberry Bold 9650 and the Pearl 3G—RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis revealed what we've been waiting for at this year's WES: BlackBerry 6.0. Updated: Video!

The OS will be launching during the next quarter and it apparently has completely redesigned core apps, a brand new home screen, a stunning new UI, a WebKit browser, and more. The best part though? Older devices will be able to update to OS 6.0.

Google Nexus Will be available soon...

Representing the next stage in smartphone development, Google Nexus One phone that offers supercharged power with one of the fastest processors currently available in a smartphone, a 3.7-inch AMOLED touch display, and access to all your contacts and most important data from a variety of Google tools via the Android 2.1 operating system.

Display
Type AMOLED capacitive touchscreen
Size 480 x 800 pixels, 3.7 inches
- Accelerometer sensor
- Touch-sensitive controls
- Trackball navigation
- Proximity sensor for auto turn-off

Sound
Alert types Vibration, MP3 ringtones
Speakerphone Yes
- 3.5 mm audio jack

Memory
Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call records Practically unlimited
Internal 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM
Card slot microSD up to 32GB, 4GB included, buy memory

Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g
Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0

Camera
Primary 5 MP, 2560E1920 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Features Smile detection, geo-tagging
Video Yes, D1 (720x480 pixels)@min. 20fps
Secondary No
Features OS Android OS, v2.1

CPU
Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz processor

Messaging
SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM

Browser
HTML

Radio
No

Games
Yes + downloadable
Colors
Brown (teflon coating)

GPS
Yes, with A-GPS support

Java
Yes, MIDP 2.0
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated microphone
- Digital compass
- Dedicated search key
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail
- YouTube, Google Talk, Picasa integration
- MP3/eAAC+/WAV music player
- MP4/H.263/H.264 video player
- Voice memo

Battery
Standard battery, Li-Ion 1400 mAh
Stand-by Up to 290 h (2G) / Up to 250 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 10 hours (2G) / Up to 7 hours (3G)
Music play Up to 20 hours

Nokia N8 Symbian^3 Smartphone Officially Unveiled

The Nokia N8 (formerly known as Nokia N87) is finally official, and we take an in-depth look at what this high-end Symbian^3 smartphone has to offer.

The Nokia N8 (formerly known as the Nokia N87) is Nokia's first Symbian^3 smartphone to be announced, and it'll be available for EUR 370 in Q3 2010. The phone will come in a slim uni-body, all-touch design and sports a 3.5-inch nHD capacitive touchscreen. Nokia demonstrates a range of the Nokia N8 and Symbian^3 capabilities

Larger camera sensor and HDMI connector

There's no Nseries phone without heavy camera functionality, and the Nokia N8 sports a 12-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon flash. It also features a larger sensor than previously found in a Nokia phone, aiming to compete with point-and-shoot cameras when it comes to image quality. The phone's photo viewer offers pinch-to-zoom and photos can be shared to popular social networking services.

The Nokia N8 also shoots 720p videos at 25 fps, and most importantly, supports the H.264 and MPEG-4 codecs. Symbian^3 supports storage of large HD video files of up to 2GB, and the Nokia N8 offers 16GB built-in storage. There's also a microSD card memory slot with support for up to 48GB cards. Additionally, your footage can be played back on your HDTV through a HDMI cable, courtesy of the Nokia N8's HDMI connector. The Nokia N8 also boasts video editing software.

HD video playback and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound

Taking advantage of its HDMI connector, the Nokia N8 can be connected to a HDTV for playback of 720p HD movies, and supports Dolby Digital Plus surround sound when played with HDMI and a home theater system.

For watching content on the Nokia N8's 3.5-inch nHD capacitive touchscreen, there's for instance pre-loaded on-demand WebTV widgets to watch local and global internet streaming TV. Furthermore, the Nokia N8 supports Flash video, YouTube browsing and streaming, as well as regular WebTV. Supported streaming codecs include H.264, Flash Lite 4, Flash 10 compatibility for video, On2 VP6 and Sorenson Spark.

Homescreen, Symbian^3 and Qt integration

The Nokia N8 homescreen offers three customizable homescreens that can be loaded with applications and widgets. The Nokia N8 will also deliver live Twitter and Facebook updates directly to the homescreen, where users can comment, read and send messages, make status updates and share locations and photos.

Powered by Symbian^3, the Nokia N8 supports Qt applications, Nokia's new cross-platform app framework that will enable users to run the same apps on both Symbian^3 and MeeGo devices. There's also multi-touch and support for gestures such as pinch-to-zoom and flick scrolling. Moreover, Symbian^3 provides improved 2D and 3D graphics to enable a faster and more responsive UI, greater memory management and a visual task manager.

Gaming and Ovi Maps

The Nokia N8 is powered by a dedicated graphics processor unit (GPU) with OpenGL 2.0 support. A built-in accelerometer and the phone's touch UI can be used to improve the gaming experience. Games can be downloaded from Nokia's Ovi Store as well as third-party app stores. Like all new Nokia smartphones, the Nokia N8 offers free Ovi Maps for turn-by-turn navigation.

Phone capabilities and connectivity

The Nokia N8 will support Quad-band GSM networks, and will connect to AT&T and T-Mobile's 3G networks. As far as data speed is concerned, the phone supports 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA. There's also Wi-Fi Wireless-N and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity. Nokia promises a talk time of up to 5.8 hours, using a 1200 mAh Lithium Ion battery. The video playback time via HDMI to HDTV is claimed to be up to 6 hours for H.264, 30 fps playback. Lastly, the Nokia N8 sports a 3.5mm AV connector as well as a microUSB connector.

Price and release date

The Nokia N8 will be available in Europe in Q3 2010, selling for EUR 370 before subsidies. There's no word on whether AT&T or T-Mobile will pick up the Nokia N8 in the U.S., so expect to buy this one through online stores such as Nokia's own.

AdMob Report: 11 Devices Account For 96 Percent Of Android Traffic, Motorola Droid Takes The Lead

Mobile Ad Network AdMob has released its monthly mobile metrics report for March, which takes a close look at Android OS traffic. In March 2010, there were 34 Android devices from 12 manufacturers available to consumers. In AdMob’s network in March 2010, 11 devices accounted for 96 percent of Android traffic, up from two devices in September 2009. The three primary versions of the Android OS all drove significant traffic in March 2010 – Android 1.5 (38 percent), Android 2.0/2.1 (35 percent) and Android 1.6 (26 percent). Motorola and HTC were the leading Android device manufacturers with 44 percent and 43 percent of respective traffic.

According to AdMob, Motorola Droid was the leading Android handset in March 2010 generating 32 percent of Android traffic, while the Google Nexus One drove only two percent of Android traffic. It’s surprising that Google’s Nexus one generates so little traffic, considering Google’s claims of profitability and success from the device.

At least 54 percent of Android traffic came from devices with a QWERTY keyboard, says the report. Of course, only three devices – the iPhone 3GS (39 percent), second generation iPod touch (25 percent) and iPhone 3G (20 percent) – generated 84 percent of total iPhone OS traffic. iPhone 3GS traffic share has increased from 30 percent in September 2009 to 39 percent in March 2010. The 1st Generation iPhone only generated 2 percent of iPhone OS requests in March 2010. Total worldwide traffic in AdMob’s network increased 18 percent month-over-month.

The report of course highlights that diversity of devices in the Android ecosystem, with manufactures each creating and launching devices with diffferent form factors, capabilities, and OS versions over the past seven months. In contrast, the iPhone OS runs on devices from a single manufacturer, a single form factor (until the launch of the iPad in April), and all devices have the ability to upgrade OS versions.

The Android ecosystem is steadily growing, with the App market now counting 38,000 plus apps, up 8000 apps from a month ago. Of course this pales in comparison to Apple’s booming App Store.

The small share of traffic from Google Nexus One phones isn’t surprising, when you take into account this report from Flurry, which reported low Nexus One sales. In fact, there’s been a lot of talk about how the Nexus One’s initial roll-out has been a flop. But only weeks ago, Google claimed profitability for the device and painted a rosy picture for the Nexus One’s growth and future.

AdMob and Google may be in a bit of a pickle. The FTC is reportedly gearing up to challenge the Google-AdMob deal, due to anti-trust regulations The search giant acquired the popular mobile advertising network for $750 million last Fall. Reports emerged a few weeks ago that the FTC’s lawyers will recommend that the Commission block the deal. We’re not surprised, considering that we heard that Google was taking the unprecedented step of reaching out to AdMob competitors to rally their support around their acquisition of the company, in response to rumors that the FTC could block the deal. Consumer groups have also lobbied to block the deal.

Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/27/admob-report-11-devices-account-for-96-percent-of-android-traffic-motorola-droid-takes-the-lead/#ixzz0mIphfFla

The Nokia N8, Nokia’s New Flagship Phone, Is Official

Every year, like the swallows returning from Capistrano or the tourists returning to Disneyworld Paris, Nokia releases a flagship phone. Sadly, the boatwrights at Nokia haven’t dropped a winner in nigh on three years now and, if early reports are to believed, their new N8 is not looking seaworthy.

The N8 looks like the Motorola Devour and has a 3.5-inch OLED, capacative touch screen, and all of the fun things you expect like compass and accelerometer. On paper, it seems great. It also uses Symbian^3 which, again, according to early reports, its just like Symbian^1 and Symbian^2. In other words, the more things change at Nokia, the more they stay the same.

Granted Nokia sells mores phones a second than Apple sells in a year and if you’re a big Nokia fan you have reason to be excited. After all, it’s not every day that Nokia releases a phone that apparently takes design cues from the real world as opposed to the muted expectations of a surly Finn. We’re going to try to get our hands on this thing but until that day let’s just stare at her ageless beauty.

Size: 113.5 x 59 x 12.9 mm
Weight (with battery): 135 g
Volume: 86 cc
12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics
Fullscreen 16:9 viewfinder with easy-to-use touchscreen parameters
Xenon flash
Face recognition software
Autofocus
Focal length: 5.4 mm
F number/Aperture: F2.8
Still images file format: JPEG/EXIF
Zoom up to 2x (digital) for still images
Zoom up to 3x (digital) for video
Secondary camera for video calls (VGA, 640 x 480 pixels)
Internal memory: 16 GB
MicroSD memory card slot, hot swappable, up to 32GB
High-Speed microUSB to PC connectivity
Physical keys (Menu key, Power key, Lock key, volume keys, Camera key)
Finger touch support for text input and UI control
On-screen alphanumeric keypad and full keyboard
Dedicated camera and volume keys
Possibility to use capacitive stylus
Handwriting recognition for Chinese