When big companies collaborate - especially within tech circles - the initial hype generated seldom equates to good products, and two companies which appear to be perfect partners "on paper" often cannot unite in discovering the magic formula required to push successful products.
We have seen in the past that developers who push their packages to Cydia seem to go through trends relating to the parts of iOS that they enhance with their creations. We have seen this with Notification Center and Siri based tweaks, with the trend seem to be erring towards the iOS device lock screen in recent weeks, with developers launching tweaks such as Unfold, Unlockize and PaperLock.
According to a report by DigiTimes, Facebook and HTC will once again collaborate to bring a new handset to the market later this year. Unsurprisingly, it will be mainly focused around the world's foremost social network, although further details are somewhat scarce.
It's certainly been a great past week for those who like modding their devices. Two separate rooting methods have allowed boatloads of Samsung and Motorola devices running Gingerbread to be rooted using the same simple methods, and now, those running almost any HTC Android device can unlock their bootloader without jeopardizing that all-important warranty.
The level of interest and passion that is associated with mobile devices, especially those running the iOS and Android operating systems, is something that has skyrocketed over the last couple of years. With the imminent release of the new iPad and Google making some noise about future versions of the Android OS, it seems that consumer interest is only going to increase in the near future.The release of the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android was made public in the final quarter of 2011, but due to the way Google handles allowing manufacturers to update their firmware, it has seen a relatively tiny uptake, with approximately 1% of Android devices in existence running version 4.0.
Apple makes a big deal of its iCloud service, and it has put considerably more clout behind it since the switch from MobileMe. The company freely admits that iCloud is to become the cornerstone of everything it does moving forward, with seamless syncing and the like very much expected to be part of how we run our digital lives. At least, that's how it is going to work in Apple's iOS and Mac ecosystem.
Profits of HTC have dipped for the first time in two years, with Android Community citing pressure from Apple’s iPhone as the main cause for the decline.
Developer frigid over on XDA has put together an awesomely powerful program which puts together functions like unlocking bootloader, gaining root access and achieving S-OFF (among others). The tool, which is called HTC Super Tool v2 and you can check out which devices it supports and how you can unlock the bootloader of, gain root access and achieve S-OFF on your HTC smartphone after the jump!
These are worrying times for HTC, with a hearing tomorrow set to decide whether the company did indeed violate two of Apple's patents. If the ruling goes in the iPhone maker's favor, then the repercussions could be felt far and wide.
With Apple currently locked in a vicious legal battle with Samsung over various patents it is clear that the people behind the iPhone are serious about keeping their edge over the competition.
