fringsters, every wonder what lives below the shiny surface of your latest tech gadget?  You have?

Well wonder no more, thanx to the hard working boys and girls over at iFixit.com you can now virtually dive below the surface of the latest gadgets without voiding the gaurantee of your techno gear.

This weeks ‘teardown’ as they call it over @iFixit is non other than Apples latest little toy the iPad.

On a more serious note: Teardowns provide a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions.

Breaking news:

“Nokia today announced the long awaited arrival of the Nokia N97 Mini in South Africa” and the good news fringsters is that we already supports this sexy new device.

Sporting new homescreen widgets, this slim device packs 8GB of storage, a tilting 3.2 inch touch display and full QWERTY keyboard all within a 14.2mm thin frame.”

As with many of the latest Nokia smart phones the N97mini sports the new free to download and use Ovi Maps, which now works on the device without needing an internet connection.

Oh and for those of you thinking that Ovi Maps is the new mapping kid on the block, think again! “Ovi Maps covers more than 180 countries with car and pedestrian navigation for 74 countries, in 46 languages, and traffic information for more than 10 countries.”  Todate they have only mapped 27.6 million kilometers of the earths roads and Nokia also claims to have sold in excess of 80 million GPS enabled handsets so far.  Not bad if I may say so myself.

Anyway for for a better understanding of the N97mini and Ovi Maps see the video below.

Ps.  see if you can spot your favourite mobile app in the video.

Until next time..

The fring team

Great news for our Android fringsters- only a few months ago fring’s launched its 1^st Android version with the world’s 1^st ever Skype VoIP calls and the version is quickly catching up with fring’s other leading platforms. Today’s version includes a new buddy list look, brand-new profile screen and the long-anticipated dialer, among other improvements.

First, we’ve updated the buddy list and made it a lot friendlier. The new buddy list features your friends’ picture and mood line as does your call screen.

Personalize your profile! The new version comes with a new personalized profile, where you can upload a picture & edit your mood, your email address and phone number, all at the click of a button.

Then, you asked for it and you got it- we’ve added a dialer screen (including DTMF), so you can dial in numbers during a  call.

Lastly, you’ll love the voice improvements, Links support in the chat screen and other bug fixes we’ve added to this version, to make sure you get an even better communication experience.

So, now you have even more reasons to make sure you get the latest version today, because fring’s just gotten a lot more social on Android!

Download the new version here.

The fringTEAM

You wanted it, immediately after Apple allowed it, fring launches its 3G-friendly VoIP app.

With fring on 3G, users get unrestricted, mobile communication. Now iPhone fring users can call, video call, chat and more for FREE over 3G and wifi!

fring from anywhere from your iPhone. Take fring to beach, the ski slopes, or on the bus and enjoy the same always-on freedom millions of other fringsters on other platforms have enjoyed for years.

How do I get this update?

You don’t need to do anything to get this update. Just open fring on your iPhone and you are good to go!

If you still get the message that “voip calls are not allowed…” – Just click on “More” –> “Go offline” and open fring again.

Don’t yet have fring on your phone? Download it today and get on fun!

The fringTEAM

Note: Please check your cellular operator’s terms of agreement to make sure they allow voip calls on their network before using fring.

Listen up Symbian & Android fringsters!

As you know, at fring we keep listening to your requests and aside from bringing you the latest and brightest your mobile can offer- we work hard to improve what’s already out there.

Symbian users- pay attention…

• Changing your status is now as easy as 1,2,3. Let your friends know if you are online, offline, busy, or you can just stay invisible if you don’t want to be disturbed; all in the click of a button!

• And yes- you’ve been asking for it and it’s finally here- DTMF. Now dialing “#” (“pound”) and “*” sign (“star”) is possible to use within a call through the new fring dialer.

*Bonuses for our Nokia touch users…

• Twitter 2.0 just got a brand-new look, making it easier for you to post your tweets, re-tweet and follow friend’s, from wherever you are. See full tweets and links on one screen & easily navigate between them.

• Like your chats to be even livelier? You’ll love live links inside your fring chat.

Also as you may recall, we previously launched our in-chat advertising a few months ago. Now we are expanding our ads campaign into additional Symbian devices.

Android users- worry not, we are not leaving you out. A new and improved version is now out for you too. The new version includes voice, connectivity and stability improvements in addition to the following requested settings:

1. Hide/Show offline buddies
2. Hide/Show address book
3. Privacy settings for IM signature and mood message
4. A fix for the audio issues on Motorola DROID and Milestone
5. Better support for Google’s Nexus One
6. Bug fixes (thank you all for your feedback!)

See full list of new Symbian version 4.1 & Android version 1.2.0.25 features here.

Download the new versions today!

**Video update:

We know that some of you are still waiting for more devices to be supported with video calls (yes yes, E71 users… we know you’re out there), so the news is that we’re working on it. We’ll be supporting more devices soon so stay tuned.

We are kicking in the New Year with more customer satisfaction improvements that you’ve been asking for…so keep following our news for lots of surprises coming up in 2010.

Enjoy,

The fringTEAM

Hello fringsters,

We’ve just released a new version to the App Store (3.0.0.7). This is a small maintenance release for a better fring experience on your iPhone & iPod touch.

Main features:

• Video quality improvements
• Bug fixes
• New video test call

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your great feedback and kind words about the recently released video feature. We’ll keep on working to improve it and bring more features, coming early next year.

Enjoy,

The fring Team