Samsung Note: It’s Not a Phone, It’s Not a Tablet, It’s a Phablet!

A few days ago, Samsung released a teaser for what they called the next big thing, in which they made fun of us poor Apple users. Today we found out what the next big thing is when Samsung showed off the Note, during the Super Bowl.

I was a bit confused while watching this. Is it a phone? Is it a tablet? It seems even Samsung isn’t sure what the Note really is. Turns out the Note is a phone/tablet hybrid, with – I’m not kidding you – a stylus…
The Galaxy Note sports a 5.3-inch 1280×800 screen, powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, and 16GB of built-in memory. Some nice specs, but is that enough?

I’m really not sure there is a market for such a device, but Samsung might prove me wrong when the device goes on sale in the US on February 19th.

What do you think?

‘ColoredKnob’ Updated With a Host of New Colors

ColoredKnob is a tweak that we covered in the past, and it was met with a fairly warm reception. We really liked it; in fact, the only thing holding us back from absolutely loving it was the limited amount of colors available in the initial release.

Apparently the developer heard our cries, because ColoredKnob has just been updated with a ton of new colors, making it much more appealing that it was before…
ColoredKnob is a wonderful way to customize your ‘Slide to Unlock’ nub because it doesn’t require any theming apps like WinterBoard to work; all you do is install it and go.

Best of all, even with the update and the bevy of new colors, it’s still free on Cydia’s BigBoss repo.

If you haven’t checked out ColoredKnob, check it out and let us know what you think about it in the comments below.


iOSOpenDev App for Creating Jailbreak Tweaks Now Available

Last week we told you about iOSOpenDev, an app aimed at lowering the learning curve for iOS developers looking to create jailbreak tweaks. The utility allows users to develop tweaks using Apple’s own Xcode software.

As promised, iOSOpenDev is now available for download. So if you have a little bit of a background in programming, and you’re looking for a way to get into jailbreak development, you might want to check it out…
Developing Cydia tweaks doesn’t get much easier than this. iOSOpenDev includes pre-made templates for Activator listeners, SB Settings toggles, and Notification Center widgets. It will even build the project into a .deb file, so it will be ready to submit to the repository of your choice.

All you need to use the application is a Mac computer, running at least Mac OS X 10.6 or later and Xcode 4 or higher. The developer warns that iOSOpenDev is still in beta, but he believes that it’s ready for public use.

If you’re interested in the application, you can download iOSOpenDev here.

How to Watch the Super Bowl On Your iPhone

Over half of the US population is expected to be in front of a TV set today watching the Super Bowl. But for those of you that for one reason or another can’t get in front of a television this afternoon, there’s other ways to catch the game.

If you happen to have access to a computer, you can watch it there. The game will be streamed live via NBCSports.com and NFL.com. No computer access? That’s ok, we’ve come up with a few ways to follow all of the action on your iPhone…
Verizon Customers
Verizon customers have it made. The carrier owns the exclusive rights to streaming Super Bowl XLVI to mobile devices, so all of its subscribers have access to the game. If you happen to own a Verizon-flavored iPhone, you can tune into the game by downloading the NFL Mobile application. You’ll need to subscribe to Verizon’s Video service ($3 day, or $10 month) and a hefty data plan, but this is by far your best option.

As a side note, Bell Canada customers can also watch the game live on their iPhones via Bell’s Mobile TV app.

Workarounds
Considering how strict the NFL is about copyright protection, finding a good workaround can be tough. If you own a SlingBox, that’s probably your best bet. The set top box can sling live TV to your iPad or iPhone, and we’re assuming it will work for the Super Bowl. Otherwise, you can try a VNC (Virtual Network Application) application. This isn’t the greatest solution, but it should enable you to watch the game on your iPhone or iPad via NBCSports.com or NFL.com on your computer. You’ll definitely want an app like Splashtop, which will stream both high resolution video and audio to your device.

If you’re really desperate to watch the game natively on your iPhone, you can try apps like Justin.tv or Ustream. Word on the street is that you can use them to catch live sporting event streams — but we wouldn’t know anything about that.

Non-Video Coverage
If you’re not looking to watch the Super Bowl live, there are several ways to keep tabs on the game from your iPhone. Apps like ESPN’s ScoreCenter or ScoreMobile will be providing play by play stats and score updates, and the official NFL ’11 app should provide some interesting content. Afraid you’ll miss out on the new beer commercial that everyone will be talking about Monday? No worries. Most companies will be uploading their Super Bowl TV ads to their YouTube channels. In fact a lot of them already have. Just use your iPhone’s native YouTube application to search for ’2012 Super Bowl ads.’

Know of any other ways to catch the big game on the iPhone or iPad? Share them with us in the comments below.