People often talk about “killer apps” for their smartphones,but a new Android phone from Sharp actually has a feature that’s designed tohelp detect a silent killer. The Pantone 5, which will launch in Japan, comeswith a built-in radiation detector, for those worried about the aftermath ofthe Fukushima nuclear meltdown, and the consequent radiation spread around thecountry.
A piece on the Pantone 5 at the Register is wary of thephone’s rad-sniffing feature’s actuallysaving any lives, suspecting that it may simply be playing on the public’s fear(and distrust of the government). On the other hand, if it gives people somepeace of mind, perhaps that’s worth something.
If that’s not quite the killer app you’re looking for, howabout Facebook? Oh sure, you can put the Facebook app on your phone, but whynot have an actual Facebook phone?
According to the scuttlebutt, Facebook is bringing peopleonboard to roll their own customized version of Android…with a Facebook layeron top, of course. For people that really want to live their entire lives in asocial networking mode, this could be just the thing. Just be prepared for yourphone’s interface to completely change every ten minutes. Oh, and it’llautomatically let all of your friends know who you’re calling. Awkward!
In other handset news, there are more stirrings in the worldof Ice Cream Sandwich updates.
There have been rumours for a while that ICS will be comingto more Motorola phones, and with sightings of videos showing the Droid Razrand Razr Maxx phones running Ice Cream Sandwich, it would appear that actualavailability of ICS for these phones is is imminent….or at least more imminentthan it was before.
Elsewhere, while Ice Cream Sandwich has been spotted runningon Sony’s new Xperia S, it’s not been scheduled for launch to the public untilcloser to the end of June. Worse, it’s just been confirmed that thegame-centric Xperia play will not, repeat NOT be getting the Ice Cream Sandwichtreatment at all, owing to its inability to, y’know, run the new operatingsystem in a stable manner. D’oh!
And so it goes.