FreshPhoneNews.com

Those who have tried Layar, swear by it, those who haven’t, well get with the times already. Layar works by using the camera on your Android handset to show the world to you with an extra layer of location-based content. If you’re using Google search or Yelping for a restaurant, the Layar browser will plot results in a 3D layer above the live video displayed on your screen from your camera. But the fun doesn’t stop here, Layar is actually a platform, an OS if you please. And many developers have seized the opportunity to make the OS more functional, Currently available content includes Flickr, Wikipedia, Yelp, Google local search, Qype, Britekite, Twitter and more. The augmented reality browser in now globally available on the Android OS, it even comes pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy. AND, there are talks that the makers of Layar are eyeing the iPhone 3GS with intentions of launching a browser for the iPhone by next year. In the words of Homer Simpson; Woohooooo!

Demo video

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News and rumors about RIM’s upcoming web browser have been up and around. The latest and soundest of these has it that RIM is planning on putting full Flash integration and Silverlight support on its new browser. That’s right, no tricks, for-real full Flash support, not crummy Flash lite. Of course the time line for when you can get your hands on this browser isn’t a short one. for RIM ‘planning’ means something that takes a year to implement, and we are looking at a possible release near summer next year. There’s no denying RIM needs the faster and better equipped ‘Berrys to capitalize on HSPA and LTE that carriers are working to strengthen.

BlackBerry fans have reason to celebrate, you can now get your App World groove on, sitting comfortably at your computer. The first thing you’ll note when you get there is how awesome the App world is on your computer and how lame the on-device experience feels in comparison. RIM’s newly launched Web-based version of its App World offering allows users to browse the catalog in its entirety from any desktop browser (or even a decent mobile browser). That’s all very nice and all, but really to think that RIM’s been holding back on us with the on-device portal is heartbreaking. At present if your browsing from your computer and you find an app you like, you email the link to your ‘Berry, thereby giving new meaning to the word ‘corny’. How about coming to the present times and letting us mark an app on the website and have it saved so as to appear on our page when we open the store on our ‘Berry huh? That would be modern. So who else has check the new App World out? What do you think?

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And Skyfire for BlackBerry comes back to life. The Alpha version 3.5 of the browser is up and kickin’ with testers. Below are the release notes for the new Alpha;

“We are coming back with a new iteration for the Blackberry Alpha.

As you are aware we temporarily closed the Blackberry Alpha. We planned for a certain number of users on our Alpha system that was quickly exceeded with the leak of the client outside the Alpha community. Please stick to the understanding of the Alpha program and NDA – it is NOT for open distribution. It just creates hassle for all people involved and spoils the experience for our Alpha participants.

This Alpha 3.5 is still targeted for Blackberry Bold mainly firmware 4.6.0.167 and 4.6.0.247 devices. , Feel free to try out the build as well on Blackberry 8900 and 5.0.xx firmware versions of Bold.

The version of Alpha 3.5 is 1.0.0.12799.

What got removed in Alpha 3.5 (vs. Alpha 3.1)?

Stream Mode: We are actively working on an alternate method to provide streaming for Blackberry that will provide better performance and reduces the number of errors during streaming. This work has not been concluded yet. In the meantime we removed the existing stream mode. Stay tuned!

Thus please focus feedback for Alpha 3.5 on page load experience and basic browsing vs. the media experience.

What’s new in Alpha 3.5?

• Inline Text Entry: You can now edit/enter form elements directly within the page, without being interrupted by a dialog box. Makes it more direct, convenient and retains the context.
• Click-to Call: The Blackberry client now will utilize tags in websites that trigger a phone call, when clicked (e.g. callto: and tel: links). You have to confirm before the call is initiated.
• Set as Default Browser: when set, links will open Skyfire
• Downloading of Files: you can now invoke the download of files to your device.
• Improved Scrolling: Further tweaking since the last Alpha.
• Reduced Checkerboard occurrences
• Alpha limit: We implemented a simple mechanism to limit the number of new users in our system. Once reached you see a message. If you encounter this and are part of this Alpha group then please contact us.

Known bugs in this Alpha:

• Clear cookies: When you clear cookies in advanced settings it will not work. Will be addressed in the next release.
• Inline Text: We are seeing several issues.
• Sometimes old text is visible (Issue 331 & 409), when re-entering text box, the cursor is positioned at the beginning of the text field (Issue 333).
• Download: timeout when downloading large files (Issue 435)”