Music lovers can now check out new artistes with downloadable mobile music albums that stream the music to them smoothly by adapting the quality to either online or offline use.

Called Orastream, the technology was first tested by Techgoondu back in December 2011. It will play back at a lossless CD-like quality if a track is streamed, say, over Wi-Fi at home, but it will switch to a less demanding compressed quality if the user decides to stream the tracks over a cellphone network while on the move, for example.

Three artistes, including award-winning composer pianist Tze from Singapore, have now signed on to release their music on these mobile albums, which come in the form of downloadable iOS apps. The Singapore firm behind the technology, MP4SLS, calls these albums or apps digital catalog LPs (DLPs), in a tribute to the old record format. …

A couple of weeks ago, we got our hands on the HTC One X, the Taiwanese phone maker’s best effort in a while and probably the Android phone to beat right now.

We can now say that the One V, a low-cost model launched together with the flagship One X, is also highly impressive. Indeed, with a solid build, useful Sense 4.0 interface and a very fast camera, the One V feels like a premium phone belying its entry-level price tag. …

It had to come in pink sooner or later.  Samsung’s surprise hit of the season, the Galaxy Note, is arriving in town this Saturday, dressed in pink and following in the footsteps of the smaller Galaxy S II.

The pink Galaxy Note will cost the same - S$948 - as the white and black versions sold in Singapore so far. Adding pink to the mix surely won’t hurt sales, as the Korean phone maker readies its upcoming high-end line-up in the coming months for a mid-year launch.

Despite having a rather large 5.3-inch screen for a phone, the Galaxy Note has surprised many sceptics by selling some 5 million units in the first five months. In Singapore, it’s a hit with the ladies, thanks to a stylus that lets them sketch anything they like easily on the go.

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The new Nokia Lumia 900 is reportedly selling very well in the US, and currently sits comfortably in the No. 1 spot on Amazon’s “Cell Phones With Service Plans” category.

But Windows Phone 7.5 isn’t getting all the fun, as Nokia has revealed that native Microsoft Office Mobile apps are now available for its Symbian Belle devices.

Wait, Symbian?

Yes, the “burning platform” – as Nokia CEO Stephen Elop so eloquently described – is indeed getting a mobile productivity boost, and the Nokia 603, 700, 701, C6-01, C7, E7, X7, and Oro will all be getting Microsoft Office Mobile suite through an upcoming software update. …

Just hours ago, Facebook bought the popular photo service Instagram for a cool US$1 billion in cash and stock, making it one of the biggest deals for a mobile app developer of late.

This comes, of course, just before Facebook starts trading as a public company next month, when it is expected to cash in even more. That may make buying Instagram, a two-year-old company that started off creating Polaroid-style pictures for iPhone users, seem hardly costly.

Yet questions abound regarding the acquisition. Here are five that are being asked now: …

Over the weekend, against the advice of many, I bought my dad a Nokia Lumia 800.

I know, not many phone buffs are giving Windows Phone devices much chance after a somewhat disappointing holiday season last year, when the Finnish cellphone maker was estimated to have sold a modest million or so Lumia phones.

But it is a little early to write off Windows Phone devices, and they can still go places, if only they can get some traction. My dad had bought an LG Optimus 7 a couple of years ago and it had provided a nice, easy way to join the smartphone bandwagon with the operating system’s tile-based system.

The Lumia 800 was thus a natural upgrade. Again, the large tiles make for easy navigation. The updated Windows Phone 7.5 provides for multi-tasking. The interface is fast, and the 8-meg camera, based on Carl-Zeiss optics, is no slouch.

Indeed, folks like my dad are the type of users that Microsoft and Nokia need to convince, even as many reviewers and techies glowingly praise both Windows Phone and Nokia’s Lumia range, including the latest Lumia 900 shipping in the United States this weekend.  …

Compliance labels that stick out like a sore thumb on your shiny new gadgets could become a thing of the past in Singapore, after the government infocomm regulator said on Wednesday that it is allowing electronic versions that are less costly and easier to show to consumers.

These labels are meant to show consumers that the equipment are allowed for use in Singapore, without interfering wirelessly with other gadgets using the frequency spectrum in the country. Currently, dealers have to paste their stickers either on their phones or on the instruction manuals.

Now, instead of the traditional stickers, dealers can now show these labels electronically either on the phone or tablet’s screen or by including it in a soft-copy of the instruction manual. 
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Always wondered how your iPhone-toting friends shot such nice pictures on their phones? Well, that Instagram camera app that lets them create, transform and share photos with friends is now coming to Android phones for free.

The company just said on its blog that it is releasing a version for Android users, after some 30 million iOS users have uploaded more than a billion photos since October 2010.

The move means yet another top iOS app is going on the Android bandwagon, following in the footsteps of the likes of the previously iOS-only Tweetdeck, for example.

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An overwhelming majority of Singaporeans bring their personal devices to work, with half of them using the devices for work-related tasks, a new survey has found.

According to the VMware New Way of Work study released today, 88 percent of workers in Singapore remain tethered to their personal devices in the workplace. Those who use them in their jobs tend to enjoy greater job satisfaction, lower stress levels and increased productivity. …

When Sony unveiled its new XBA balanced armature earphones in February, it made sure to include an iDevice compatible cousin to four of its models, leaving the rest of us who wanted a pair of XBA earphones with a built-in microphone for our mobile phones out in the cold.

Fortunately, that can soon be remedied, as Sony just announced two new additions to the XBA line, the XBA-1VP and XBA-2VP. Sony didn’t specifically say which mobile phones these earphones can work with, but was confident that BlackBerry and Android smartphones in general should work fine. …