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Hey! They turned the lights back on! This week: Facebook Home, iOS 7, and a major webOS
contest. This is the Mobile Nations Monday Brief!
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Greetings mobile delegates, I’m Ashley Esqueda, and you’re tuned into the Mobile Nations
Monday Brief. I’d like to apologize for the show’s abrupt ending last week; since
then, HP chose to spin us off into our own company, and then made the show open source
and gave it back to us. Now, we’re just hoping LG doesn’t buy us and stick the show
into your washer/dryer combo by next CES. Speaking of things HP’s treated terribly,
webOS is back in the news... or at least webOS Nation is. Derek unveiled a stockpile of webOS
devices on the site last week, and decreed they shall all be given away in an unprecedented
giveaway extravaganza starting this week. Pixis, Pres, Touchpads, and Touchstones are
all in the mix, so if you missed out on the Touchpad fire sale or always wanted a Pre
3, now’s your chance to get one. Official contests and giveaway rules will start popping
up on webOS Nation dot com this week, so head on over if you’re interested.
Android Central was buzzing last week about Facebook’s official event, with many ideas
about what the social media giant might be bringing to the table. It wasn’t a forked
Android, but it was something interesting: Facebook Home. Home, technically a launcher
and suite of social apps for Android devices, claims to shift the focus of your device from
apps to people. At the event, Facebook showed off a lockscreen filled with the adventures
of your Facebook friends, and also revealed the HTC First, the...uh, “first” Android
phone to have Facebook Home preloaded on it. If you have a different Android phone and
want to get in on the action, Facebook’s good with that, too, with a slew of devices
getting access to Facebook Home on April 12th. Installing Home is just like any other launcher:
just hit the Google Play Store and install the app. Oh, and FYI, Facebook does plan to
introduce advertisements to Home at some point, though they won’t be present at launch.
If you’d like to pollute your Android phone with posts from your conspiracy-loving family
members, that friend who can’t stop taking pictures of herself, and emo shots of rain
with “forever alone” typed across them, head over to Android Central dot com to see
when your phone can install Facebook Home.
CrackBerry had some interesting documentation to discuss last week, with the specific BB10
point 1 changes for the BlackBerry Q10 detailed in a document that seems to be intended for
retail store training. If you’ve been living under a rock, or haven’t otherwise heard
of the Q10, it’s the BB10 phone with the quintessential BlackBerry physical keyboard.
The post is specifically about the Q10 software tweaks, so don’t read it and get mad you
don’t see love for your BlackBerry Z10. Among the updates there are some interesting
things: Type N Go, which seems to function as a command feature for your universal search
bar; corporate features, including the ability to remove the Personal half of Balance and
program the phone as work-only; and mnemonic phone dialing, for those keyboard-obsessed
users. And speaking of keyboard-obsessed, looking at the comments on this particular
article seems to reveal a big chunk of Z10 owners already prepared to swap devices when
the Q10 is released. It’s a nice slate of features for the Q10, and Crackberry dot com
will be putting them to the test when the phone makes it to their doorstep.
Windows Phone Central took some time last week to unbox the Nokia Lumia 520, the highly
affordable, cute little Lumia destined for emerging markets. At around 200 bucks off
contract, it’s worth a look: VIDEO: Lumia520Unbox.mp4
Unfortunately for the U.S., it doesn’t look like Nokia has any plans to release the 520
on any carrier -- but if you’re in a location where the 520 is available, it’s a solid
little phone that shouldn’t be overlooked. I gotta hand it to Nokia, they know how to
make even the most inexpensive model in the Lumia line perform respectably, and look great
while doing it. Hit up WP Central dot com to check out the 520’s full specs.
iMore spent the week talking about a rumor from Daring Fireball’s Jon Gruber that iOS
7’s development is behind schedule, and OS-TEN engineers are getting pulled off of
that project and put onto iOS 7 to help play catch up. We all know there are some big changes
happening behind the walls at Cupertino, specifically since Jony Ive began heading both hardware
and software design as Head of Human Interface at Apple late last year. Rene Ritchie and
Jon Gruber are both hearing that we’ll likely begin to see the end of the texture-rich,
skeuo-morphic UI we’re all familiar with. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for iOS
which, according to some critics, needs a hefty dose of visual updates, and added functionality
to go along with it. While Apple hasn’t needed to change as quickly or as drastically
as Android, it does seem like it’s time for some updating to the OS, and it looks
like it’s all hands on deck for some big iOS changes to appear starting with iOS 7.
We usually see a preview of iOS 7 at WWDC, so perhaps Apple is putting in extra hours
to ensure they’ll have the newest version of iOS to show us at Moscone Center this June.
That’s it for your Mobile Nations Monday Brief. You can subscribe to our YouTube channel
at youtube.com/mobilenations, check out our dazzling and informative podcasts at mobilenations.com/shows,
and you can follow me on Twitter @ashleyesqueda. Nations, you have been briefed!