Screenshots showcasing a forthcoming MeeGo interface have been released, offering a taste of what to expect when the Nokia N9 goes on sale later this year.

The MeeGo interface appears to be a mix of the Android and Windows Phone platform, judging by the images posted on the Nokia Conversations Blog.

The screenshots show what core applications including Contacts, Calendars, Maps, Messaging and Facebook will look like on the high-end device.  

Nokia Maps will allows users to get directions and will also highlight places of interest and public transport links nearby. Prominent buildings appear to be shown in 3D, following in the footsteps of Google Maps 5. There will also be a dedicated in-car navigation app called Drive.

The Calendar app looks straightforward and will allow business users to keep track of meetings and tasks. Reminders can be added to any day by pressing the '+' key. The app also integrates with Nokia Maps, making it easy to find meeting places. It's a very useful feature.

Interestingly, messaging input looks very similar to the stock Android Honeycomb keyboard, but this isn't a bad thing. The N9 is set to come with a large 3.9in screen, so typing on the device should be reasonably comfortable.

The Notifications application also looks to be an interesting feature, displaying the profile picture of contacts to give the interface a more personal feel, like the Windows Phone operating system.The Nokia N9 is set to launch later this year, and V3.co.uk will post a video demonstration and full review when a handset is available.

V3.co.uk got some hands-on time with the forthcoming Archos G9 tablet range at the launch event in central London last night.

There are two sizes being offered by Archos - the 8in and 10.1in - the only difference being the weight, screen size and resolution.

Both G9 models are powered by an ARM Cortex dual-core A9 processor with a clock speed of 1.5GHz, making them 50 per cent faster than tablets currently on the market. However, it remains to be seen whether this will still be the case when they are launched in September.

Although performance of the G9 tablets was quick, navigating around the Honeycomb interface didn't appear any faster than existing tablets. The main performance gains are likely to be in the video output (the device ia capable of playing back full 1080p content) and internet performance.

The 8in G9 features a display with a resolution of 1,024x768, whereas the 10.1in model has a slightly sharper 1,280x800 resolution. Archos will offer the choice between 16GB of Flash memory or 250GB of HDD space, depending on requirements, the latter likely to appeal to business users.

In terms of design, both versions of the G9 did feel a little bulky. The 8in has a starting weight of 465g if users opt for 16GB of Flash storage, rising to 599g if the 250GB HDD is chosen.

Although the basic 8in device is only slightly heavier than the 7in BlackBerry PlayBook (425g) the Archos has a much larger chassis and cannot fit into a jacket pocket, unlike RIM's device.

The 10in model has a starting weight of 649g with 16GB of memory, or 755g with the 250GB HDD. This makes it heavier than the similar sized iPad 2 (613g) and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (589g).

One of the unique features is the 3G USB dongle, which fits into the back of the chassis. This is incorporated into the design well, and allows the use of a SIM card from an existing dongle to connect to the internet.

The trademark kickstand has also been retained in both models, but there is only one position that can be used, unlike the previous Archos 101 tablet, which had two fixable positions.

Archos claims that the devices will ship with the updated Android Honeycomb 3.1. This will be the standard version of the operating system, with no overlay provided. Access to the Android Market is expected to be included, as are the traditional Google applications.

It's fair to say that the French manufacturer offers some of the best budget tablets on the market and the G9 series looks to continue this trend. We slightly preferred the 8in device and, with prices starting at £199 for the 16GB model, it looks like a solid offering for business users on a budget.

The 10in device could attract those who watch a lot of multimedia and is reasonably priced at £279.

Watch our hands-on videos of the 80 G9 and the 101 G9.

IBM has been piloting a real-time analytics tool that tracks players' movement, stamina, distance covered and style of play during the 125th Wimbledon championship, with the aim of having it up and running next year.

V3.co.uk was invited to the IBM Bunker at Wimbledon to get a sneak preview of the SecondSight system being trialled on Court 18.

The system uses technology orignally developed for military use, and works by capturing player data via multiple cameras located behind the umpire. This information is analysed using IBM's algorithms and rendered to display a real-time 3D graphic.

"We've been able to collect statistics about individual points up till now, and have extended this to collect statistics about player fitness," Alan Flack, IBM's Wimbledon client and programme executive, told V3.co.uk.

"We can track speed, stamina and distance covered over the course of a match. It is also possible to map player movement to see their style of play and to see who is tiring, for example."

The SecondSight system is pending approval from Wimbledon officials, and if accepted is likely to be available on the official web site for next year's tournament. Flack also noted that the dashboard could be used as a broadcast overlay so that viewers can see statistics during matches.

The main screen simulates point-by-point action and shows stats including player speed and distance covered.

All player movement is mapped, the red areas indicating the most used part of the court.

IBM also demonstrated its PointStream service, which was launched in time for this year's tournament. The information graphic is available on the official Wimbledon web site, which had over five million unique visitors and over 180 million page views in the first five days of the tournament.

PointStream uses predictive analytics to generate three key things that a player has to do to win a match, and monitors how well these are being fulfilled during the match, explained Elizabeth Hammer, IBM project manager for Wimbledon.

"We are using this for tennis, but there is no reason that the analytics technology cannot be used to analyse data in the financial or biomedical industries where they have a wealth of data," she said.

The 'three keys' are updated throughout the match, so viewers have an idea of who has the upper hand.

It's pretty contentious to say that Windows 8 will change tablet computing entirely, especially considering that the operating system isn't even due on the market until next year. But despite doing the mirror opposite of Apple, we can't help but think there's a lot of sense in Microsoft's newly announced tablet interface.

Firstly, it's inclusive and universal, so all platforms could access the tablet-oriented interface. This is going to be important with Windows 8 supporting both x86 and ARM platforms. Manufacturers can build devices with touch screens using any hardware they like, but still give consumers the same interface.

Microsoft will also provide the likes of Office for ARM devices. While Apple does this for the iPad, it's fair to say that business users are far more likely to use Windows and Office than they are a Mac.

Familiarity with the operating system and office suite will surely serve as a driver for tablet adoption in businesses. After all, IT departments will be able to support these devices more easily, and retraining will be unnecessary.

The decision to provide support for ARM is also crucial. Windows-based tablets have dreadful battery life because they are based around a processor that's designed to be put in desktops, or large laptops with big, heavy batteries. Apple has been laughing, though, because its processor uses less power and still provides a great user interface.

But it's fair to say that Windows 8's tablet interface looks even more impressive than Apple's icon-based approach in iOS. While the iPhone makes perfect sense, on the iPad you can't help but feel the space is wasted. Where are the smart tiles, where are the widgets that feed you information from stock markets or your contacts' social media feeds?

Apple's iOS might be stable and brilliantly designed, but it's not keeping pace with advances led by Windows Phone 7 and Android.

What remains to be seen is how many app developers will port existing x86 apps over to the ARM platform.

Microsoft has always relied heavily on third-party developers, and Windows Phone has suffered because of a lack of them actively developing new software. Without developers co-operating and designing apps in the new tablet-style interface there's no hope for Windows 8 tablets, and an increasingly grim future for Windows as a whole.

Hopefully, Microsoft is readying good developer tools that make porting apps to the ARM version of Windows very straightforward.

It's your move, Apple. With iOS 5 being announced formally in a few days, has Apple realised that it needs to offer more to tablet users or will it continue with its existing attitude of doing everything its own way?

If you haven't already seen the early demo of Windows 8, have a look here:

V3.co.uk has had some precious hands-on time with Ford's in-car hands-free Sync technology ahead of its release in 2012.

The latest version of Sync was announced at CeBIT in March and the software will make its debut in the forthcoming Ford Focus.


The main aim of Sync is to allow drivers to plug a smartphone or MP3 player into the car and control them using voice commands. However, Sync is more than a one-trick pony, and is set to come bundled with other features including hands-free navigation, climate control and an emergency assistance service.

During our hands-on, the voice commands were the stand-out feature. Sync supports up to 10,000 phrases so we could pretty much tell the car to do anything, except pick up our laundry.

Giving voice commands was intuitive and it was a matter of seconds before we were confortable with the system. To start playing a song from an iPod, we simply hit the paddle on the steering wheel, waited for the beep and then said "play song" followed by the name of the song or artist. The software was also capable of recognising playlists and genres.

Our favourite bit, however, was the playback of text messages. Although not as nasal as the female droid from Google Maps Navigation, the first lady of Ford Sync did sound a little creepy when reading text messages, especially those that ended with her saying "smiley face" or "LOL".

Another handy feature is the ability to connect devices via the USB ports, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or old-fashioned RCA cables. Files can also be read from SD cards, which will be quite handy for many people. The Wi-Fi connectivity also means that users can plug in a mobile dongle and turn their Focus into a mobile internet hotspot, useful on long trips.

The plug-and-play nature of the software means there is no hefty installation, aside from the need to import contacts from a mobile phonebook or tracks from an MP3 player on first sync.

Although it was impressive, Sync is not perfect. When sitting in the driver's seat, we did find it very difficult not to be distracted by the 8in touchscreen located in the centre console. Even though the car was stationary during our tests, it remains to be seen how off-putting this will be when driving.

We also found the touch-screen main menu a little too cluttered at times. The main screen shows too much information and some simplification would go down well. Its resistive panel also means that it is not the most responsive to touch.

The software is powered by an ARM Cortex A8 processor running at 600MHz along with 512MB of RAM. Making this car far less powerful, in computing terms, than most new mobile phones.

Some might be put off by the Microsoft back-end, although we can confirm that it works fine and is far from a disaster. In fact, the interface resembles the somewhat old-school Windows 3.1, giving it a retro feel.

Jason Johnson, lead user interface design engineer at Ford, told V3.co.uk that the company is working hard to bring all the features of Sync to Europe in 2012.

"Work needs to done on converting 19 languages, as we have to test dialects. We're also adapting the navigation for Europe and adding support for the Emergency Assistance feature," he said.

Being a software man, Johnson was able to dodge the question of how much the service will cost. It has been available for around $395 in the US as an optional extra. Some models will see it included as a standard feature, though, but firm UK pricing has yet to be announced.

Nvidia has released a new graphics demo that the firm believes showcases the capabilities of its upcoming quad-core Tegra chip codenamed Kal-el.

The quad-core chip was first demonstrated at Mobile World Congress (MWC) back in February as a showcase for Nvidia's next-generation technology. At that time Nvidia did not allow journalists to play with the tablet that housed the Kal-el chip, but the firm was looping a game demo to show off its impressive power.

Now Nvidia has shown off a new demo named Glowball running on Android Honeycomb that it says highlights the dynamic lighting capabilities of Kal-el. While the demo may lack the cut and thrust action of a game scene, dynamic lighting is a significant draw on chip resources. Something that was apparent when Nvidia showed how the demo would falter if running on a dual-core Tegra chip.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Nvidia's Glowball demonstration is that the four Kal-el cores were not maxed out at any point in the demo. It bodes well for games developers who are looking at tablets based on Apple's IOS and Google's Android operating system as the next big gaming consoles.

Back at MWC, Matt Wuebbling, senior product manager for Nvidia's notebook products, told V3.co.uk that "tablets are an interesting avenue for high-end technology". At the time, Wuebbling said that Kal-el was still a "technology preview" but added that developer devices were expected by August 2011.

Wuebbling said Nvidia's Kal-el chip will feature 12 GPU cores, adding that it is likely the firm will use TSMC to fabricate Kal-el chips, but that no final decision had been made.

The Glowball demo showcases just how far gaming has come on portable devices. Nvidia, by using its considerable history in producing gaming oriented graphics chips, has shown that consumers can expect tablets to become fully fledged portable gaming consoles when kitted out with multi-core chips.

What's more, Wuebbling told V3.co.uk that Kal-el can support numerous operating systems aside from Google's Android, including Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.

Nvidia's Kal-el chip should give Nintendo and Sony cause for concern as it tries to fight against casual gamers who prefer smartphones and tablets to dedicated games consoles.

Details of the 'Mango' Windows Phone 7 update have been available for some time now, so Microsoft's briefing in London on Tuesday mainly acted as a way for us to see the system in action. The rollout is also frustratingly distant and, with many crucial features being added, we're impatient to actually get our hands on a handset with the new OS.

That's partly because the developer tools were released this week, and within them are a fair number of clues about what the update will contain. Interestingly, Microsoft calls this Windows Phone 7.1 in the developer software, but was keen to point out that this will not be the final name for the update (7.5 is more likely, as this is a major release).

The firm did tell us that Mango will roll out to all Windows 7 handsets in the autumn, and that it will be completely free. New handset manufacturers are signing up too. There's the obvious addition of Nokia here, but Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE are also signed up to produce phones.

Microsoft is excited in particular about ZTE as it has the power to produce excellent phones at very low prices. This could be important to Microsoft, which it is claimed has only sold around 600,000 Windows Phone 7 handsets to date.

The new features are worth waiting for, though. Take, for example, the new unified inbox. It's a lot smarter than those on other platforms. Its main advantage is that you can link accounts together.

This allows someone to have their work email in one place, but to bundle their Gmail and Hotmail accounts. Most other operating systems take an all-or-nothing approach, with no way to keep work and play separate. Microsoft is also allowing contacts to be grouped together, so users can send emails or text messages to lists of people they define.

The ability to use Office 365 from the phone for cloud-based storage and as collaborative tools with other people in your team is likely to impress business users. The support for standard Word, Excel and PowerPoint files remains a key selling point too, and Microsoft was keen to point out that third parties can also add support for their file types.

Also interesting are the alterations to Bing search, which now recognises barcodes, and DVD or book covers. Simply take a photo, and the device will find out what it is and offer you information about it, or the chance to buy.

Business users will continue to love the Exchange support, and Office integration is improved too. There's the ability to communicate with Microsoft's Skydrive and Office 365 for cloud-based storage and collaboration.

There are also some very interesting developer stats. Microsoft says that there are 1,000 new applications being launched each week, coming from around 42,000 developers. The developer toolkit has been downloaded some 1.6 million times, indicating a fair amount of interest in the system.

The headline stat for Microsoft, though, has to be the fact that it will soon have more applications in its marketplace than rival RIM. But 18,000 doesn't sound like all that many when you compare it to the 100,000 for Android and 500,000 on Apple's iOS platform.

But it's the features that will entice users to adopt the platform, and it's good to see that Microsoft has remembered this. We're certainly impressed by what we've seen so far, although we think the wait until the autumn is going to hamper the company which is already struggling to attract customers.

Some weeks ago, Samsung announced that an update for the Galaxy Tab would start appearing in its Kies update and media sync program. Any Android update usually generates a lot of excitement among certain people, especially us Labs bloggers.

Samsung doesn't make it easy, though. When we connected our Tab to a laptop running the latest version of Kies it detected an update, but it wasn't the 2.3.3 we were hoping for. Instead it was a minor security fix. No matter how much opening and closing of the app, or pressing the 'check for upgrade' button, Kies wouldn't play ball.

But Kies isn't the only way to get an update to 2.3 on your Galaxy Tab. There is a more risky process that forces an update of your choosing onto your device. We had done this before with a Samsung Galaxy S, so felt confident having a go.

We shouldn't have been confident, because it was our ruination. The update didn't go well, and we ended up with a device that was essentially 'bricked' (it wouldn't boot up). It's lucky for us that Samsung makes kit that's well designed and resilient to this sort of thing. Recovering a tablet or phone in this state is possible but, even when we thought it was fixed, the tablet would reboot every time it was put into standby mode, rendering it unusable.

So, more online instructions were needed. Thankfully thegalaxytabforum.com came to our rescue. A thread on the site explains how to install Gingerbread on your Tab and gives detailed information about each step.

We wouldn't recommend that anyone tries this themselves (it's a heart in mouth moment even if everything goes well) but, if you're someone who needs to test security or other features before updates hit the mass market, updating before everyone else can be handy.

It was all worth it, too. The interface tweaks of Gingerbread and the increased battery life have given a new lease of life to our trusty 7in Galaxy Tab.