'Worried' Samsung to embrace the metal with Galaxy Note 3?

Will the Galaxy Note 3 boast an aluminium chassis?

The near-universal standing ovation offered to the HTC One's aluminium body may have convinced Samsung to up its design game, according to reports this weekend.

The Korean company may have enjoyed a series of box office smashes with its Galaxy S and Galaxy Note devices, but each has been critiqued in some capacity for their plasticky, cheap-looking designs.

Now, according to Sam Mobile sources, the company is "worried" by how the HTC One raised the stakes and plans to strike back with an improved build material for the Galaxy Note 3, rumoured for later this year.

The site wrote: "According to SamMobile's famous insider, Samsung is planning to switch build quality for the next flagship device. He pointed out that the Galaxy Note 3 will not use the design guidelines of the Galaxy S4."

Taking Note

The report didn't elaborate on which material Samsung would be choosing for the Galaxy Note 3, but with the iPhone and HTC One going with aluminium, that would clearly be the favourite.

Sam Mobile said the company had experimented with a metal Galaxy S4, which was received very well internally, but would not have allowed Samsung to mass produce enough of the device in time for launch.

The perception that Samsung phones lack the build quality of some of its rivals has helped the chasing pack cling to its coat-tails in the last 12 months.

May the smartphone gods have mercy on their souls if Samsung really decides to go high-end with its design ethos.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/samsung-worried-about-build-quality-may-embrace-the-metal-with-galaxy-note-3-1144539

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Nokia Lumia 720 goes up for pre-order in India

The Nokia Lumia 720 has appeared for pre-order on Indian online store Flipkart for a price of ₹18,999, which is approximately $347. The interesting, thing though, is that Nokia is yet to announce the price of the phone officially in India, and so far it has only appeared on the Nokia India website.

A couple of days ago we saw the Lumia 720 go up for sale in Russia for approximately $485. Thankfully, the Indian pricing of the phone is more suitable for a device with its specifications.

To recap some of the specs of the Lumia 920, it has a 4.3-inch, 800 x 480 resolution display, dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, 6.1 megapixel camera with 720p video recording, 8GB internal memory with microSD card slot, 512MB RAM and 2,000mAh battery.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_lumia_720_goes_up_for_preorder_in_india-news-5854.php

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Facebook-loving HTC First now available on AT&T for $99

Some see at the HTC First as "the Facebook phon", others as one of the rare phones with stock Android. Whichever camp you’re in, you should know the First is now available on AT&T's website for $99 on a 2-year contract. If you don’t want to sign a contract with AT&T, you can get it for $450.

If you do get a contract, plans start at $40 a month plus a data plan of $20 or more a month. The HTC First has LTE connectivity to use on AT&T's 4G network.

The HTC First is available in four colors: White, Black, Red and Pale Blue.

The First will be coming to Europe in a few months, too.

Or you could get the Facebook Home experience on your current phone - the launcher should be hitting the Play Store some time today.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/facebookloving_htc_first_now_available_on_at_t_for_99-news-5853.php

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Short of luck again: iMessage, FaceTime slapped with second outage

Double trouble for FaceTime

It appears that Apple's iMessages and FaceTime outage earlier this week was not an isolated incident, as Apple users had no doubt hoped.

The messaging and video chat networks went down again for some users this morning.

Tuesday's iMessage and FaceTime outage lasted more than five hours and affected users on both iOS and Mac OS X seemingly on a global scale.

Today's service interruption was really more of a hiccup, lasting little over one hour according to Apple, though CNET reported that it was actually closer to two.

Does it really matter?

One of the things that attracts everyday consumers to Apple is the company's reliability. If there's an issue with a product or service, Apple is normally quick to help, and the "geniuses" in Apple stores can solve most problems with a quick visit.

Anything that tarnishes that image can't do Apple any good.

Granted, the lack of iMessages this morning and on Tuesday likely went unnoticed by the majority of iOS users, as all it meant was the little bubbles changed from blue to green as normal SMS messages were sent instead.

Some who found Apple's FaceTime video chat service down may have felt the outages more keenly, though.

In any case, Apple has yet to release a statement or provide a reason for the outage, despite our queries. We'll update this story if and when they do.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/imessage-facetime-go-down-again-in-second-apple-outage-1144317

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Alleged Huawei Ascend W2 specs appear, on sale for $289

Following the launch of its first Windows Phone 8 handset on the market in January, the Ascend W1 , Huawei is looking to expand its portfolio with the Ascend W2. The phone's specs have leaked at an online retailer, confirming its specs and price.

According to the listing, the Ascend W2 is built around 4.3" IPS display of 720p resolution (341ppi density) and makes use of a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset with a 1.5GHz dual-core Krait processor and 1GB of RAM. At the back, there's a 8MP camera with 1080p video recording, coupled with an LED flash.

Connectivity options include the the usual array of Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR, A-GPS, HSPA+ and Wi-Fi (b/g only though). The battery has 2,000mAh capacity with an estimated standby time of 150-200 hours.

The Ascend W2 is listed with a starting price of $289, but there's no mention of the amount of internal storage or whether there's a microSD card on board.

Source | Via

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/alleged_huawei_ascend_w2_specs_appear_on_sale_for_289-news-5850.php

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Samsung looking to sell over 1 million Galaxy Mega 5.8 units

Samsung announced the big-boned Galaxy Mega duo and according to industry sources plans to manufacture at least a million of the smaller Mega 5.8. Reportedly Samsung contacted several Taiwan-based display manufacturers to order one million 5.8" screens.

This optimism about the Galaxy Mega 5.8 sales stems from the good performance of the mid-range Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos. Sources state that in May the number of shipments of 5” WVGA screens for the Grand will reach 2 million.

Samsung has its own screen manufacturing facilities, but apparently the company will use them for the production of Super AMOLED displays, outsourcing mid-range screens to Taiwanese makers.

There’s no info on how many displays were ordered for the bigger Mega phablet, the Galaxy Mega 6.3, but Samsung obviously thinks there’s a market for large phablets.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_may_be_building_1_million_galaxy_mega_58s-news-5849.php

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Motorola X phone apparently delayed until late August

Xperiencing delays

The hotly rumoured Motorola X phone still hasn't been made official, but its expected release date has apparently already been pushed back.

Initial reports suggested the handset, tipped to run Google's next version of Android dubbed Key Lime Pie, would arrive in stores in around June/July after a May announcement at the search giant's annual I/O conference.

PhoneArena is reporting that's no longer the case, with its sources claiming the Motorola X smartphone will arrive in "August or later".

Failing to impress

The unnamed source went on to reveal the handset it due to sport a 4.7-inch, full HD display and a slender bezel - which would fall in line with the likes of the Motorola Razr i and Razr HD.

No reason was given for the supposed delay, but it's been suggested that Google wasn't particularly impressed with the early prototypes, resulting in Motorola having to go back to the drawing board to impress its parent firm.

It's not clear how well connected the source is, so we're not taking what's been said as gospel, but it may mean we won't see the Motorola X at Google I/O next month - we're just going to have to wait and see.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/motorola-x-phone-apparently-delayed-until-late-august-1144168

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