Sony Xperia Z gets officially priced in the United Kingdom

It looks like the highly anticipated Sony Xperia Z is inching even closer to the UK market. The company's Android flagship has appeared for with a "coming soon" status and a price in Sony's official online store in the United Kingdom.

As you can see in the screenshot above, overly anxious users will have to part with £529 ($839; €617). The price includes all applicable taxes. Customers who pre-register will receive an email notification when the device becomes available.

The price tag surely appears eye-watering at a glance, but the Sony Xperia Z brings a lot of smartphone goodness to the table. You can see our hands-on impressions from the device here.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_z_gets_officially_priced_in_the_united_kingdom_-news-5458.php

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HTC M7 to go on sale from March 8, new color option revealed

HTC will be holding two press conferences simultaneously in New York and London on February 19. According to numerous leaks the Taiwanese company will reveal its latest M7 flagship smartphone at those.

Now a new rumor has it that the HTC M7 is expected to go on sale starting from March 8. Unfortunately, there are no confirmations on which carriers will have the device up for grabs. Earlier we heard the smartphone will be available in UK and the rest of Europe before it reaches the US.

The launch date aligns well with the earlier leaks and HTC is allegedly working on manufacturing about 4-5 million units of M7 in the Q1 of 2013.

If this new info comes out correct the M7 will be made available in Black and Silver/White color variants.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_m7_will_go_on_sale_from_march_new_color_options_detailed_-news-5457.php

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X Phone outed by Motorola LinkedIn job listing

Google's job poster needs to learn how to keep secrets, spell 'Management'

A Motorola job listing that requires experience is no surprise, but the same cannot be said if that ad includes another "X" word, the X Phone, Google's rumored Motorola smartphone.

Sure enough, someone from the company posted a LinkedIn ad looking for "Senior Director of Project Management, X Phone" candidates for its Sunnyvale, CA offices.

Google must have realized its mistake, as the job ad has been pulled and replaced with a simple message: "Sr Director Product Managment (sic), X-Phone at Motorola Mobility. The job you're looking for is no longer active."

A similar job ad, minus the revealing X Phone title, is still available via Motorola's official careers website.

Motorola X Phone rumored specs, announcement

The details of the LinkedIn version of the ad were captured by Phandroid. Sadly, compared to the blunt X Phone job title, the description remained vague, offering no hard specs or release date.

Be that as it may, this was the first, albeit unintended, admission from Google that the X Phone does exist. Previously, the codename for the Google-Motorola smartphone was only a rumor.

Conjecture has the X Phone's specs debuting the Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie OS update, and sporting a virtually bezel-less edge-to-edge 5-inch display.

With the Google I/O conference coming up in May, the mysterious X Phone could make an appearance along with Motorola's first tablet under Google, the X Tablet.

In the meantime, TechRadar will keep its eyes open for more X Phone or even X Tablet listings, and maybe even a Google human resources job listing, just in case this unintended reveal happens again.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/x-phone-outed-by-motorola-linkedin-job-listing-1128767

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iPad still dominates tablet sales, but Android makes some inroads

IDC has released its report on the state of the tablet market, and it’s showing some surprising growth for some companies, as well as stagnation for others.

IDC has released the latest report from its Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, which analyzes the performance of top vendors and manufacturers of tablets all over the world. According to the report, tablet sales are up 75 percent from a year ago, along with some serious growth from Samsung and Asus. Apple is still number one, and has seen its market share slide significantly since peaking last year.

Apple’s still holds 43 percent of the tablet market, which is still more than its four closest competitors combined. While the market share for the iPad Maker was nearly 65 percent last year, its market share has slid with the introduction of more tablets and an increasing number of competitors. Apple still sold 48 percent more tablets than during Q4 of last year, and is confident in its new iPad Mini and iPad 5 for 2013.

Despite Apple’s gains, it’s clear that both Samsung and Asus have been eating away at its market share. Samsung has been eyeing Apple’s spot at the top for some time, and has quickly jumped ahead of Amazon in 2012 to take the number two spot in market share. With a 263 percent increase in sales year over year, Samsung is working to close the distance between it and Apple. Another surprising amount of growth came from Asus, maker of Google’s Nexus 7. Asus saw a whopping 402 percent increase in sales year over year, which is certainly attributed to the success of Google’s Nexus series, which uses Asus hardware to fuel the  flagship product.

In the end this, data simply show it’s just the beginning for all of these tablet makers. Apple’s still, far and ahead, the leader, but its competitors are starting to show a little steam. Barnes & Noble has found its way back into the top five despite shrinking sales, which gives some faith into the future of the company amid Amazon’s stagnating market share. As 2013 unfolds, all of these companies, among dozens of others, will continue to adapt to win the hearts of consumers everywhere.

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/idc-q4-2012-tablet-market-share/

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