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.