It looks like the Android 4.4 KitKat statue is not the only thing revealed by Google today. A mysterious smartphone, sporting a large Nexus logo on its back has made an unscheduled appearance as well.
The mysterious smartphone you see in the photo above appeared in the video which showcases the Android 4.4 KitKat statue's placement in Google's campus. Google has subsequently made the YouTube video private, thus further strengthening the feeling that we are indeed looking at the real deal. You can see a copy of it obtained by The Verge below (the smartphone appears about 38 seconds into the video).
The yet to be revealed device sports a look which closely resembles that of the latest Nexus 7. It includes a large, landscape-oriented Nexus logo, as well as similar matte finish and camera placement. Furthermore, a Google employee with a Nexus 4 standing beside the person with the unannounced handset helps us notice the size difference between the two devices.
Rumors suggest that the next Nexus smartphone will be made by LG using the powerfulG2 as a base. We doubt it will be a long wait before we find out.
The iPhone 5C is rumored to come in a rainbow of colors, including white (credit: SonnyDickson)
Apple is expected to reveal its cheaper iPhone this month, but in the meantime video footage allegedly showing the iPhone 5C in action has appeared online.
Chinese site C Technology, which BGR claims is at least somewhat reputable, posted the video yesterday, claiming it came from "some friends" (thanks, Google Translate).
The video shows what looks like the iPhone 5C in hot pink or red (the lighting is not great) running iOS 7, with someone tapping around, pinch-and-zooming, and more.
Head to either link above to watch the footage, but do so with a pinch of salt - the haphazardly translated version of C Tech's report makes it clear that even they're not sure if the video is real.
New iPhone release dates
Apple today confirmed that it will hold an event on Sept. 10 at which it's expected to unveil the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C and announce the full release of iOS 7.
The LG G2's rear-mounted buttons might give it an edge
LG has finally announced the LG G2's release date outside of South Korea, and as we expected it's right around the corner.
The G2 will arrive in the U.S. and Germany this month before continuing on to the rest of the world, the phone maker revealed today.
"The positive market feedback after the initial launch in Korea proved to us that the LG G2's consumer-oriented innovation does resonate with customers," LG President and CEO Dr. Jong-seok Park said in the announcement.
"The LG G2 was developed as a global device for a global audience, beyond the scope of any smartphone we've introduced to date. I'm confident consumers will see the difference."
The key to a comeback
Formerly known as the Optimus G2, the G2 is LG's hope for a comeback in the world of mobile phones.
Its most notable feature is what LG calls the "rear key," a rear-mounted button set that turns the device on and off and controls the volume.
LG says the rear key is supposed to be "intuitive and highly functional," though TechRadar wasn't convinced when the phone was unveiled.
Besides that we're looking at a 2.26 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip, 5.2-inch 1080p IPS display, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage, 13- and 2.1-megapixel cameras (the rear with Optical Image Stabilization), a 3,000mAh battery, and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
The LG G2 arrives in the U.S. and Germany this month, and elsewhere some time afterward. Expect more news soon.
The Xperia Z1 has leaked so frequently over the past several months that we can almost consider it virtually announced. Now, just a day before its expected announcement at IFA in Berlin, the press materials package has been posted online.
Here's an at-a-glance look at the features confirmed for the upcoming "Honami" flagship:
16GB internal storage, with microSD card support for up to 64 GB
2GB RAM
1/2.3-inch 20.7MP Exmor RS CMOS image sensor with 27mm wide angle and bright F2.0 aperture
3000 mAh battery
144 x 74 x 8.5mm, 170 grams
IP55/58 dust and water resistance
Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
Available in Black, Purple, and White
The specs sheet doesn't have any major surprises, but fitting in a 3000 mAh battery in only an 8.5mm frame is quite an impressive feat. We can't wait to get our hands on one.
Speaking of hands-on, be sure to check back with us tomorrow for our live coverage of the Xperia Z1 announcement event, where we'll have plenty of pictures and videos of the new Sony flagship.
Meanwhile, you can check out the full set of press papers in our source link.
Apple has sent invitation to the press for a special event, whcih will be held on September 10 at the Apple's Campus in Cupertino. There is no actual clue on the invitation besides the slogan "This should brighten everyone's day."
It's safe to assume the conference will be about the two new iPhones that have been doing rounds in the rumorland for quite some time now.
Apple is expected to unveil the next generation iPhone 5S there with a faster processor and a better camera, accompanied with a dual-LED flash. Also, there has been lots of leaks confirming the new colors of the iPhone 5S - Gold and Graphite in addition to the Black and White flavors.
A cheaper model called iPhone 5C is also supposed to be announced at the event. The device is rumored to pack the same specs as the current iPhone 5, which should be discontinued after the 5C hits the shelves. The iPhone 5C should come in even more colors including pink, yellow, blue and green.
September 10 is just a week ahead, so all those rumors will be put to rest.
Now we know for sure when the iPhone 5S and, potentially, the iPhone 5C will be unveiled attention will doubtless turn to when the next-gen Apple handsets will actually go on sale.
Those two dates, mentioned in The Telegraph's report on Tuesday afternoon, have been mooted in the past but the paper's sources in the courier industry (of all places) appear to add a little more credence.
If the Telegraph's stories come to fruition, the smart money would be on the iPhone 5S being first to arrive on Friday September 20.
That would mean the heavily-tipped, cheaper iPhone 5C would be a safer bet to go on sale a week later on Friday 27.
The dual release dates would likely be great news for Apple, virtually ensuring two huge retail days with the traditional lines-around-the-block at its official stores around the world.
It's highly unlikely that the company will confirm the release dates before its keynote event at the Moscone Center in San Francisco next Tuesday, so we'll have to wait and see.
Although Nokia has negotiated an excellent deal, with a combination of cash up front, loans from Microsoft that it gets even if the deal falls through and ongoing licence fees for both its Here maps and the large number of patents it isn't selling to Microsoft, it's also giving Microsoft the skills it needs to make the reorganisation work – with few drawbacks.
The most obvious disadvantage that could have blocked the deal has already happened; Nokia's success in selling Windows Phone was discouraging other OEMs, interim Nokia CEO Risto Siilasmaa admitted in the press conference.
Microsoft still believes that making Windows Phone more successful with its own phones makes it more attractive to OEMs (and Steve Ballmer claims that "OEMs are more enthusiastic about Windows Pone today than they were yesterday", but it wants to be a successful hardware maker itself.
Nokia sells over 80% of all Windows Phones at the moment; that's better than the 50% of Windows tablets Microsoft wants to sell itself. And Microsoft gets technology for far more than phones: Terry Myerson has already teased us with the idea of combining the Lumia 1020 camera with the Kinect 2 sensor.
Is Elop the next man for Microsoft?
There's plenty of speculation that this is Microsoft buying its next CEO, but that's not what this deal is about. For one thing, Microsoft needs Elop to run the devices business if it's going to make a success of selling its own phones, tablets and the "new form factors" hinted at in the Microsoft presentation. For another, it's buying a lot more than one person.
Devices and services, as outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer has been saying for over a year now, are Microsoft's future, and that's a combination that Nokia is already good at. The Lumia handsets, both premium and budget, and the big-selling Asha phones are complemented by services from HERE maps, navigation tools, Nokia's extensive music service, dozens of utilities – including Nokia's own data-saving Xpress web browser and augmented reality tools.
Nokia has been running an app store for a lot longer than Microsoft and it has its own developer evangelism team, which has been at least as successful as Microsoft at bringing key apps to Windows Phone; Angry Birds, Words with Friends, Draw Something, Hipstamatic and other important apps have come to Nokia phones as exclusives months before other Windows Phone users got them.
Will Stephen Elop end up at the helm of Microsoft?
When he ran the business division at Microsoft (which included Office), Elop was an early convert to the principle that grew into the devices and services mantra. Software plus services as Microsoft used to call it – apps that worked well on their own (like Outlook) but got better when you were online with access to extra services (like contact information from Linked In or Facebook). Back in 2009 at the Web 2.0 conference, he was bullish on the importance of the combination of devices, apps and cloud services.
"Some people say it will all be in the cloud; I think that is hogwash," he claimed (and the less-than-stellar sales of Chromebooks suggest he wasn't wrong). "How many people here have an iPhone? And how many of you are using the Facebook app on iPhone? Just as many. The device, the operating system, and the rich app – that's the Facebook app combined with the Facebook service - is a better experience."
That's as good a definition of the promise of devices and services as Microsoft has ever given, and it's something Nokia has been doing itself – especially with Here Maps and Lumia handsets.
Elop also has experience of the way Microsoft can improve in one area by learning from its own products in other areas; something that's key to making the 'one Microsoft' reorg succeed. Again, in 2009, he pointed out that "Xbox is cool but when you play around it there is all sorts of stuff you learn from it – and what we learn from enterprise search transfers to the Live team."
Microsoft had bought FAST to improve SharePoint search (both part of Elop's division) but the same expertise turned the disappointing Live Search into the much more effective Bing search engine.
What Microsoft must do next
Microsoft needs to do much more of that transfer between teams – and it needs to keep moving away from its tendency to Redmond insularity. Both companies have spoken in the past about how well their design ethos and ambitions match up and the Windows Phone tem has managed to work well with the Nokia teams in Finland.
Unlike Microsoft, which builds every service for the US first and the rest of the world much later, Nokia is hardly a US-centric company; it's used to building services for other countries around the world – the countries where Windows Phone is actually selling. Bing Maps is very accurate in the US but try searching for businesses in London using Bing Maps and Here Maps on Windows Phone; Nokia has a far better database of locations and you're much more likely to find what you're looking for.
The 30,000 Nokia employees who become Microsoft employees won't be moving to Redmond; they'll stay in Finland where they design the phones and in Silicon Valley where Nokia has its research labs – and in the production facilities around the world where they build phones.
Elop is coming back to Microsoft as part of the deal
Using Nokia's expertise to sell other devices
Nokia has decades of experience in building phones – and in running a supply chain that sources components, builds things like the image stabilisation modules that make the cameras in the Lumia 920, 925 and 1020 so good, manufactures the devices and then gets them into stores.
Microsoft has spent a lot of money building up its own supply chain for building the Surface tablets, but it was slow to make devices available outside the US; Nokia has that scale already. It's also used to working on multiple devices at once; Microsoft didn't have a large enough team to design Surface and Surface Pro at the same time, let alone get a smaller tablet ready to compete with the iPad Mini and Nexus 7.
To compete in devices Microsoft needs to move faster; having one division rather than two separate companies should help there. It also needs to learn to sell products better and get marketing working better with the product teams.
Nokia still has strong relationships with mobile operators around the world, a sales team that Microsoft doesn't have – and far better marketing. From genuinely funny ads like the wedding fight to guerrilla campaigns like paring ad vans next to Samsung billboards, Nokia can teach Microsoft to sell its products.
Can Microsoft really save money over the deal?
Microsoft says it will also save money, not just from the extra efficiency and scale but also from the 60-plus patent licenses from companies like IBM and Motorola Nokia is handing over, which have what Microsoft calls "attractive royalty arrangements" – and Microsoft can use them for tablets and other devices as well as phones.
Plus the deal means Google-owned Motorola can't sue Microsoft over smartphones in future for any of those patents; neither can companies like Samsung and LG who have already cross licenced patents to Microsoft.
Not everything in the Microsoft Nokia deal fits in with the 'one Microsoft' plan though. As well as the Lumia handsets, Microsoft is taking over Nokia's Asha Symbian phones and featurephones like the newly launched Nokia 515.
Microsoft has only just finished transitioning Windows Phone and Xbox to the Windows kernel and now it's going to have multiple platforms again – in a market where it has little experience and none of it good. Even if Asha doesn't turn into another Sidekick or Kin – Microsoft's last phone acquisition didn't go well – it could be confusing for customers.
On the other hand, Microsoft can't afford to only develop for Windows and Windows Phone. Steve Ballmer promised that "we're not holding back services from other vendors." Making Microsoft services available on the first phone people buy as well is an opportunity to get them before they start in the Google or Apple world.
Apple has confirmed the date of its iPhone 5S launch event as September 10 - with it seeming virtually certain the iPhone 5C will appear too.
Bright and colourful invitations have hit inboxes inviting journalists to an event at Cupertino HQ in San Francisco, with the spotty clues pointing to the release of the new iPhone.
Obviously Apple hasn't confirmed whether we're looking at the launch of the iPhone 5S and the cheap and cheerful iPhone 5C as well, but we'd say it's pretty certain.
"This should brighten everyone's day"
We're also expecting Apple to announce the full release of iOS 7 to existing iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices as well.
The event kicks off at 10am PT on September 10. Join us, we'll be going big on it.
A screenshot has leaked online, which allegedly was taken from the rumored Nokia (for now) Bandit, or otherwise Lumia 1520. The screenshot sports the fine resolution of 1920 x 1080 - that's FullHD in layman's terms - and gives a glimpse of what the WP OS might look like when finally breaks the 720p barrier.
The Xiaomi Mi3 has been leaked a few times before and the specifications of the upcoming flagship device have been in the rumorland for quite some time. Now, the smartphone has appeared on the GFX bench database and reveals the presence of a NVIDIA chipset inside, clocked at 1.8 GHz.
The benchmark results also confirm that the smartphone will indeed sport a Full HD display with a 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, as rumored before. According to the GFX Bench database, the Xiaomi Mi3 will run on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean, but we expect the device to feature the later versions of Android during the time of its launch.
The potential GPU scores of Xiaomi Mi3 are quite impressive, rubbing shoulders against the top notch smartphones on the market.
GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt (1080p off-screen)
Higher is better
Sony Honami 60
Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa) 43
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600) 41
HTC One GPE 41
Xiaomi Mi3 38.9
HTC One 37
Samsung Galaxy S4 GPE 33
Google Nexus 4 32
Sony Xperia Z 31
Sony Xperia ZL 31
Sony Xperia SP 31
Apple iPhone 5 30
LG Optimus G Pro 30
LG Optimus G 21
Samsung Galaxy Note II 17
HTC One X 11
GLBenchmark 2.7 T-Rex (1080p off-screen)
Higher is better
Sony Honami 23
Xiaomi Mi3 18.1
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600) 17.1
Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa) 17.1
Apple iPad 4 16.8
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active 16
Samsung Galaxy S4 GPE 15
HTC One GPE 13.9
LG Optimus G 13.9
Sony Xperia Z 13.5
Sony Xperia Tablet Z 13
Sony Xperia ZL 12.8
Samsung Galaxy Note II 4.9
Furthermore, the alleged specifications of the third-generation Xiaomi smartphone include a 13 megapixel rear camera, 2 GB of RAM and a 3,000mAh battery.
Someone managed to get their hands on the Samsung Galaxy Note III, make a list of all its APKs take a couple of screenshots and even run an AnTuTu test ahead of tomorrow's announcement. The phablet reports itself as Samsung N9005 running Android 4.3.
The AnTuTu score is around 24K, which is low for a Snapdragon 800 chipset (which is one of the two rumored chipsets for the Note II), it's about as much as what the Snapdragon 600 in the Galaxy S4 scores. The Exynos 5 Octa version of the S4 is even faster and the Note III is supposed to come with the updated version of that chipset.
We'll chalk this up to early software. Speaking of software, the list of APKs reveals KNOX features (Samsung's enterprise security platform, approved by the US Department of Defense), a FingerprintService, a "digital pen" service (S Pen), a ANT+ service (a low-power wireless tech for sports sensors), a cover lock service (for flip covers ala Galaxy S4), Evernote, along with some custom Samsung apps (the custom camera app, the S Planner, etc.).
List of APKs installed on the Samsung Galaxy Note III
Have a close look - you probably have one of these in a drawer
It's official — as long as shareholders and regulators approve, Microsoft is buying Nokia's phone and services division for £3.2 billion, taking on the development of its Windows Phone series and giving the company a stronger foothold in the fight against Google and Apple in the mobile marketplace.
While Nokia's star may have waned in recent years (though the latest batch of Lumias have made at least a few sit up and take notice again), this is a company responsible for a galaxy of classic handsets — so we've looked back and picked the devices, past and present, gave Nokia the power and momentum that saw it manage to stagger on through some tricky times, and expertise that Microsoft couldn't resist getting its hands on.
1. Nokia 3310
The Nokia 3310, responsible for millions of hours on Snake II
Cast your mind back to late 2000: Bush and Gore were battling for the keys to the White House, and Nokia replaced its hugely successful 3210 with the 3310, which went on to scale even greater heights.
Not everyone had a mobile phone in the early 2000s, but if you did, chances were it was a 3310 or its immediate predecessor.
It made Snake II the most popular game of the age, came in a variety of colours and all-encompassing cases, let you customise the ringtone and even let you send texts above the 160-character limit.
It was one of the first phones to match the blueprint for any successful handset: powerful, versatile, and a pleasure to use.
2. Nokia N95
The N95 was one of the first true powerhouse mobile phones
Get into a conversation with anyone who once owned an N95 and you won't have to do much prodding to get them singing its praises.
This was the most feature-packed feature phone in existence before the iPhone turned up, offering cutting-edge capabilities such as GPS and online mapping, an MP3 player, Wi-Fi and 3G support (something the first iPhone lacked), and a 5 megapixel camera that was ahead of its time (recording both images and video).
It had a big, bright, colourful screen and a slide-out design that meant you could hide away the keypad when you didn't need it – in short, it was everything that the iPhone wasn't and caused throngs of users to fly all over the globe to pick it up.
Sadly, it was also the start of the downward trend for Nokia, as the brand failed to recognise that consumers would become less interested in power, and more about ease of use… but it still remains an iconic phone nonetheless.
3. Nokia 1110
The simple mobile phone that's sold more than any other in the world
The Nokia 1110 remains the company's best-selling phone of all time. In fact, at 250 million units shifted, it's the best-selling handset in history (unless you want to lump all the editions of the iPhone together), so keep that in mind for your next pub quiz trip.
Like most of the classic Nokias, it was user-friendly and simple to operate, and it helped the company expand worldwide into developing countries that it previously hadn't touched.
You didn't get much besides the basic functions with the 1110, and it ran out of juice after five hours or so, but it remains one of Nokia's most important devices in terms of spreading the company's influence and getting its name recognised across the globe.
4. Nokia N9
The Nokia N9 - we hardly knew ye
The N9 wasn't the most successful mobile phone handset that Nokia ever launched — its chassis was stolen from it in the UK market to be used for the Windows Phone-powered Lumia 800 — but it provided evidence that the company could still innovate and provide fresh ideas of its own given half a chance.
The MeeGo mobile OS appeared just as Nokia switched focus to Windows Phone and actually had a lot going for it (including intelligent multi-tasking, a really slick UI, decent Web browsing and a combined notifications system), and it was all wrapped in a stylish-looking chassis that gave a few nods to where Nokia would be heading next (from the brightly coloured casing to the high-spec Carl Zeiss integrated camera).
We doubt Microsoft is going to ever want to fragment its mobile phones operations at all, but at least is shows that Nokia knew how to make a decent OS, and that's going to be gold dust when it looks to polish Windows Phone.
5. Nokia Lumia 925
The Lumia 925 is the poster child for Windows Phone.
Back to the present day, and while Nokia has been caught out by the explosion of iOS and Android devices, the Lumia range — and the Nokia Lumia 925 in particular — shows clear signs that Nokia is ready to fight back.
Impressive build quality, a great camera and a top-notch suite of integrated apps (particularly for managing your contacts and social media accounts) makes it the best Nokia phone of the moment.
The only piece of the puzzle missing is third-party app support, and if Microsoft can solve that problem, then hardware like the Lumia 925 and its successors should give it more than half a chance of making Windows Phone a mainstream mobile operating system.
Sony Xperia Z1, previously known as Honami, leaks once again ahead of tomorrow's announcement. This time we get to see its face on a printed upcoming brochure of the UK's EE carrier.
The leaked brochure reveals the carrier's pre-order campaign kickoff. Supposedly, you will get a free Sony SmartWatch 2 if you place your order with EE.
There is no new information about the Xperia Z1 itself. The device will be unveiled in about 24 hours in Berlin in a pre-IFA event.
The Xperia Z1 is rumored to sport a 5-inch FullHD display and a 2.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 20.7 megapixel camera and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
We'll be in Berlin to cover the event and anything that comes out of it, so you can expect our hands-on impressions and the beast's first camera samples very soon.
The LG G2 will be officially launched in the USA and Germany this month, following its release in its home South Korea.
There's no word on official pricing or carrier availability, but it should flaunt its edge-to-edge 5.2" FullHD screen on all four major US carriers.
So far we've seen pre-order prices in Germany of €500 for the device without a carrier commitment so it's only natural to see lower prices with a contract.
Of course, all of this is merely an educated guess, there is no official info about pricing just yet.
At least the Apple store already has plenty of room
It's tough to get excited about how shops visually merchandise phones, but we'll give it a stab:
Phone sellers have reportedly been told to clear space to display three iPhones, instead of just the two they currently showcase (iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S).
Three iPhones, eh? What, like, the iPhone 5S, iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S? Perhaps, but the same retail sources say they've also been told to prepare for two separate deliveries.
So could it be that shops are gearing up to showcase the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C alongside the iPhone 5?
Leak city
Well, it sure seems likely since the leaks this year have centred around the two separate iPhone handsets where they usually just focus on the minutiae of one.
Of course, the shadowy 'retail sources' could just be making stuff up for a laugh, so let's not get carried away.
There's been no word from the Apple camp about a launch event just yet, but we're all expecting Cupertino's invites to land in inboxes on Wednesday just as a Samsung exec opens his mouth to announce the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch.
Get all the iPhone 5S rumours and updates you could ever possibly want or need here.
Stephen Elop is a safe bet - but is that was Microsoft needs?
Stephen Elop's return to Microsoft as part of the deal to buy Nokia's mobile phone business has made him the new front-runner to take over Steve Ballmer's CEO role when he leaves.
But he won't be everybody's choice of appointment following his time at the Finnish phone giant.
Elop's move to Nokia always had a whiff of Microsoft scheming about it. Elop was always billed as a potential Ballmer successor, after leading the company's business division, and his move to Nokia certainly never had the ring of a successful exec turning his back on his former colleagues.
Indeed, the special relationship between Microsoft and Nokia has led to the company's being aligned in such a way that Elop's most important relationships remained firmly rooted in Redmond.
Elop now returns as a direct report to Ballmer, heading up the devices division that will now include Nokia phones as well as the likes of Surface and, of course, the Xbox division.
Ballmer - who's next?
The speculation about who will replace Ballmer when he steps away from a company he has led in his own inimitable fashion has now been replaced with an overwhelming suggestion that Elop will now be the man.
Well-worn process
Microsoft and Ballmer, as you would expect, are still playing their cards close to their chest. In an interview with The Verge, the current CEO was predictably cautious.
"Our board is going through a process open to internal and external candidates. It's a process that they wanted well-known so they could consider everybody internal and external," he said.
"Stephen Elop happens to be going from external to internal but our board will consider everybody. They will do it in private - that's the right way for the board to conduct its business."
Elop was always likely to be on a very short list of people being considered for the role; his track-record at Microsoft, his experience at taking charge of a large company that needed a significant shift of focus and his relationship with Ballmer all pointed to him as a serious candidate.
But don't for a second doubt that there will be many dissenting voices should Elop take on the top job.
Elop, it seems, represents a safe choice for the Microsoft board - and many, myself included, believe that this is a company that simply cannot afford to spend the next few years in its comfort zone.
Nokia - some decent phones are getting traction
Windows Phone has become a significant third player in the mobile phone market, largely due to some increasingly decent Nokia phones that use the company's OS - but it needs desperately to compete harder with Android if it is to avoid fading into obscurity.
Xbox One's launch has been far from ideal for Microsoft, with the Sony PS4 managing to edge ahead by simply taking the safest route to market.
And, perhaps most critically, Windows 8 has been a damp squib - bringing the necessary touchscreen love, but not giving enough of the existing market a reason to upgrade, at a time when Apple and Google are offering alternatives to Microsoft's most famous product.
Rare chance
Ballmer has been far from a failure at Microsoft during his tenure, but the end of his time at the helm represents a rare chance for Microsoft to make some major changes necessary to align the company's ambition with the future.
Elop's time at Nokia - whether as a Trojan horse or not - has done little to suggest that he is a man that will make drastic changes. And the Brave New World of Microsoft could well look very similar to the crumbling empire that has come before.
You might recall that when Stephen Elop moved to Nokia from Microsoft, some observers suggested that he was a Trojan Horse: he'd bring Nokia to its knees so Microsoft would end up buying its phone business.
This is a very different acquisition to Microsoft's earlier phone firm buyout, which resulted in the ill-fated Kin.
This is much bigger, and much more significant: it's Microsoft admitting that its business model, in the consumer space, is broken.
If Steve Jobs were still around, he'd be chuckling today.
Microsoft's magic money machine
Microsoft's business model has always been pretty simple. Other people make hardware and Microsoft makes the software that runs on that hardware.
There have been a few exceptions - Microsoft mice, for example, and of course the Xbox - but for Microsoft the big money has always been in software.
The margins on software are massive, because once you've written the code the cost of duplicating it is effectively zero. Once you've covered your basic costs - development, marketing and so on - selling software is effectively a magic money machine.
That only works if you're actually selling software, though, and in mobile Microsoft isn't.
If it weren't for Surface RT, most of the planet wouldn't even know what Windows RT was. Windows 8 tablets aren't doing brilliantly.
And if it weren't for Nokia, Windows Phone wouldn't have significant market share either: manufacturers such as HTC and Samsung are merely paying lip service to the idea of supporting Microsoft's OS.
They're much more interested in Android (and in Samsung's case, Tizen) and likely to become more so now that Microsoft is a competitor as well as a licensor.
Micromobile
Microsoft wants to make a bigger impact in mobile, and it has decided that the best way to do that is to do what Apple does: going vertical, making not just the hardware but the software and services that hardware runs.
Microsoft, quite sensibly, wants to make the forty-dollar margin Nokia gets on its handsets, not the ten dollars Microsoft makes from selling an operating system license. It wants to sell you the hardware, provide the OS and operate the app store, just like Apple does.
The big question is whether it'll work. Microsoft's track record in mobile isn't superb - Windows Phone was desperately overdue when it finally launched and the aforementioned Danger acquisition was an utter disaster - and Nokia's smartphones haven't been doing as well as Microsoft had hoped.
Microsoft may be hoping to emulate Apple here, but Apple isn't the only example of vertical integration in the smartphone business: there's another famous firm that makes the hardware, makes the OS and runs the App Store - a firm that isn't doing nearly as well as Apple.
And by "isn't doing nearly as well", I mean "is currently circling the drain".
Google recently dropped the price of the Nexus 4, bringing the 8GB model to a tantalizing $199 in the US. As one could have guessed, however, this was just to clear the stock of the device and that is exactly what has happened.
The 8GB model has permanently gone out of stock on the US Play Store and won't be sold hereafter. The device would be available in other markets until stock lasts.
The 16GB model, meanwhile, will continue to sell for $249 and is your next best bet if you want the Nexus 4. In fact, it has always been your best bet as the 8GB model had far too little storage space for all but the most undemanding users.
With Google striving to clear the stock of the Nexus 4, it seems a successor isn't far off now.
Once synonymous with the high end, HTC's Desire brand now speaks of the mid range with handsets the new HTC Desire 601 which hopes to bridge the gap between feature- and smartphone with aplomb.
It comes with high-end bits and bobs like LTE connectivity and a 4.5-inch screen coupled with mid-range display quality (qHD), RAM (1GB) and processing (a Snapdragon 400 dual-core 1.4GHz affair).
HTC has packed its latest in-house features into the Desire 601 too, including the three-second HTC Zoe video maker and the excellently-named BoomSound audio set-up, which basically means it has dual front-facing bass-friendly speakers. It also features Beats audio enhancement, thanks Dre.
It's all gone a bit 601
Storage-wise we're looking at 8GB on board plus microSD support, which is just as well since the 5MP camera can shoot 1080p video and that takes up a fair bit of space.
The 4.5-inch device weighs a fairly standard (for this level) 130g, which is about the same weight as the Samsung Galaxy S4.
HTC Desire 601 pricing is yet to be revealed but we're HTC is pushing it as "affordable" so it shouldn't be too harsh on the bank balance, particularly on network deals.
The handset will be released in Europe in September, with US and Australian availability yet to be confirmed.
The HTC Desire 601 aims to bring some high-tech specs to the mid-range, while the new Desire 300 is an entry level smartphone.
HTC Desire 601
At first glance, the HTC Desire 601 with its 4.5-inch screen seems really closely related to the HTC Desire 600 dual sim, however this one only has a single SIM slot. At 9.88mm, the Desire 601 is thicker than the Desire 600 dual sim but it has a beefier battery at 2100mAh. Not only that, but it also has a speedier 1.4Ghz dual-core Snapdragon 400 chipset with 1GB RAM.
Thanks to the faster processor, the Desire 601 offers LTE and HSPA+ 42Mbps connectivity, as well as HTC's proprietary software features - HTC Zoe and the Video Highlights in the Gallery - which were first introduced on the HTC One family of smartphones. HTC Zoe automatically captures short 3-second video clips to accompany each still shot, while the Video Highlights in the Gallery automatically creates 30-second video montages of the clips and stills taken at a particular place or event.
Funnily, the 5MP camera on the HTC Desire 601 has higher resolution than that of the HTC One flagship, but this one doesn't make use of the much touted Ultrapixels. The regular 5MP camera however has some of the One's tricks such as Sequence shot, Always Smile, Object Removal and VideoPic. It uses a 1/4" BSI sensor with a wide F/2.0 aperture and a 28mm wide lens and is helped by HTC's in-house image processing chip, called HTC ImageChip.
In terms of video recording, the Desire 601 offers capture up to 1080p, but lower resolution video can be shot in slow motion with variable speed playback.
The smartphones has a VGA front facing camera and a microSD card slot. Unfortunately, the battery is not removable.
The HTC Desire 601 will launch in October 2013.
HTC Desire 300
The HTC Desire 300 has a 4.3-inch WVGA screen and a 1Ghz dual-core Snapragon S4 chipset with 512MB RAM.
HTC Desire 300 may not use HTC Zoe, but it comes with Blinkfeed, which turns your smartphone's homescreen into a dynamic list of titles and social network updates.
HTC Desire 300 has a 5MP camera as well, but this one has a F/2.8 aperture and a 34mm lens.
The user available built-in storage is about 1.2GB but the Desire 300 has a microSD slot to expand that. There is a removable battery on board, but it only has a capacity of 1650mAh.
