Ice Cream Sandwich manual update for GSM Nexus S

I’ve already manually updated to Ice Cream Sandwich. Very snappy! Download the update here, copy into your Nexus S’ internal storage.

• Power off, then hold volume up and power to reboot to the bootloader.
• Using the volume key to navigate, select recovery, then use the power button to confirm
• When you see the warning triangle and arrow, hold the power button and tap volume up.  You'll see a menu.
• From the menu, select "apply update from /sdcard", and choose update.zip from the list.
• Reboot and Enjoy!

Mobile Wonder’s Curve & Bounce Speaker Review

Mobile Wonders has been around for a long time in the portable speakers market but I haven’t really tried their small and compact speakers until now. The speakers are compatible with almost all mobile devices that have a headphone jack like iPods, mobile phones, laptops, tablets etc. They are also into other mobile products like camera accessories and charging adapters.

For this review, I was able to try the Mobile Wonders CURVE and BOUNCE speakers. Will it be a nice Christmas gift? Check out my impressions on both after the jump.

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Best Extension Cord for Gadget Geeks

If you’re like me and in need of a multiple power strip for your devices then you’ll probably want Akari’s 5 Gang Extension Cord with 2-USB ports. I think this is one of the best extension cords for those who has USB charging gadgets simply because it provides two 5 volts USB charging slots.

So far I’m impressed with the quality. The buttons are easy to press using my feet toes :) and its using the standard 2-prong socket that fits into any electrical outlet without the need for a 3-prong adapter.  You can buy this at Ace Hardware for 900 pesos.

Note: the USB ports won’t charge the iPad or the TouchPad because of the higher power input requirement. You’ll need to use the included chargers for both device.

Samsung Galaxy S2 Specs and Impressions

The Samsung Galaxy S2 is Samsung’s 2011 flagship phone. Under the slim casing runs a dual core 1.2 Ghz Cortex-A9 Exynos processor. It has a 4.3 Super AMOLED display which is beautiful as seen on my Samsung Nexus S. The display is made of tough Gorilla Glass. There is also an 8 megapixel camera and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera.

The Samsung Galaxy S2 has Samsung’s own TouchWiz skin on top of Gingerbread Android. It actually looks more like iOS than Android besides the option to add widgets. What I like about the Galaxy S2 is the build and large display. The 8 megapixel camera also took superb images. If this came with vanilla Android I would’ve chosen this instead of the Nexus S. Overall. this is one solid Android phone by Samsung, probably the best this year, not including the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich update (which TouchWiz will mess up)

     

Windows 8 App Store is the key to Windows Phone success

Microsoft just detailed its plans on the Windows App Store coming built-in on its new Windows 8 coming in tablets and desktops possibly by next year.

It is no mystery that Windows holds a giant share in any OS distribution anywhere, ever. With figures amounting to 500 million users, it obliterates Android phones and tablets which only has a combined user of 247 million users.

While Windows Phones is steadily growing in terms of approved and published apps on the Marketplace, it is still currently lagging behind Apple and Google. But unlike Google’s tablet OS, large hardware makers (some with no Android tablets) are throwing their bet on Windows 8 like HP, Dell, HTC, Samsung and other Windows Phone OEM)

The game changer that is are the apps and the developers that will back Microsoft’s push into the tablet space that everyone has been in for more than a year.

Looking at it, Windows 8 tablets might help Windows Phones gain traction as Win8 developers can just easily port their Metro apps to run on Windows Phones. There is also that incentive of lowered Microsoft cut to only 20% from the standard 30% after an app makes $25,000 from sales and in-app purchases.

Looking at how multitasking dual-pane works on Win8, I notice the specs for the snap-on pane takes exactly 320 pixels wide. If you think about it, this is the same resolution that is purported to arrive on lower end Windows Phone Tango coming next year.

Who knows, maybe Microsoft will allow Windows 8 apps to run on Windows Phones. If that happens, you can expect to see more interest on the Windows Phone platform as app scarcity becomes a non-issue for new adopters and switchers.

2012 is looking to be a crucial year for Microsoft as they need to make sure Windows 8 does not repeat the stigma that Vista brought. If people enjoy Windows 8 on the PC, rest assured, they get the tablet counterpart.