The recently leaked LG Optimus G Pro is now official. The 5" 1080p display toting Android beast will be part of NTT DOCOMO's Spring lineup of Android smartphones in Japan when it hits the shelves in early April.
Along with the eye-grabbing display we mentioned above, the LG Optimus G Pro features a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset with 1.7GHz quad-core CPU and 2GB of RAM. The battery has increased significantly compared to the LG Optimus G we already know - it is now a 3,000mAh unit. A 13MP camera, 32GB of built-in storage, microSD card slot and, of course, LTE connectivity complete the highlights in the handset's spec sheet. The LG Optimus G Pro will boot Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box.
We are yet to find out about international availability of the LG Optimus G Pro. The upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona seems like a safe bet to us for a global unveiling.
LG has announced that it will launch its Optimus G smartphone in 50 more nations this month.
It looks like LG is going global with its Optimus G smartphone. The electronics maker officially announced that the Android-powered device will make its way to more than 50 countries this month.
“As 4G LTE availability expands on a global scale, we will leverage our strong LTE technology and expertise to offer consumers the best 4G experience through our devices,” Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company said in a statement. “With the latest Jelly Bean OS and improved software, Optimus G will make a strong case for the title of ultimate premium 4G LTE smartphone.”
LG has not unveiled any formal plans specific to any country, but Gizmodo Australia reports that the smartphone will arrive in the continent “down under” this March. However, it will be exclusive to Telstra upon launch.
The 4.7-inch device made its official debut in the United States, South Korea and Europe this past fall, and it will soon expand around the globe. LG appears to be touting its 4G capabilities as the flagship feature of its Optimus G.
“LG’s long history of LTE know-how is evident in the DNA of the Optimus G,” Dr. Park also said. “As such, we hope consumers will take a deep, hard look at Optimus G when deciding which smartphone will give them the best 4G experience.”
This news comes just as excitement begins to mount for the Optimus G’s rumored successor - simply dubbed the Optimus G Pro. Just last week, a tipster sent Engadget what appears to be images and a potential specifications list for the Optimus G Pro. The forthcoming LG device is expected to come with a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and a 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor. Other rumored specs worth mentioning include a whopping 3,000mAh battery, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of memory and 4G LTE connectivity.
The LG Optimus G marked a significant step for LTE, seeing as it was the first device to incorporate this speedier connectivity with the Snapdragon S4 Pro processing unit. Check out our review of the handset here.
Recent rumors have indicated that RIM could launch the N-Series of its BlackBerry 10 phones this month in addition to the L-Series.
Research In Motion is gearing up to make its comeback with BlackBerry 10 at the end of this month, and anticipation is clearly building among the tech community. While we’re largely certain that RIM will unveil the BlackBerry Z10 L-Series on January 30, recent rumors indicate that another line of new devices will premiere on that same day.
The BlackBerry X10 N-Series may make an appearance at RIM’s New York City event this month, according to BlackBerry news blog N4BB. Furthermore, RIM will announce two flavors of the L-Series BlackBerry phones – 3G and LTE models. The blog didn’t cite any specific sources to back this claim, but BlackBerry fans will have to wait until the end of the month to see what RIM has in store.
No specific pricing information has been released, but we’ve heard whispers that RIM could be targeting value smartphone buyers with at least one of its devices. The company is allegedly planning to launch the BlackBerry Z10 at a price point below its standard $200, an inside source reportedly told BGR on Monday. We’re expecting this to fall into the $150 cost range, but this information has yet to be confirmed.
These rumors come amidst a string of BlackBerry 10 clues that have mounted in recent weeks. Last week Verizon allegedly leaked the product page for the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone before quickly removing the listing. Just before that, a video surfaced online showcasing a detailed walkthrough of the new touch-centric BlackBerry 10 OS. Now, that same website has posted footage of the Z10 battling head-to-head with Apple’s iPhone 5.
The video, which was initially posted on telekom-presse.at, showcases features such as voice command and social notifications. The German clip’s narrator gave both devices the same task via voice control at the same time, and BlackBerry’s variant smoked Apple’s offering. In addition, the Z10 seemed to beat the iPhone 5 when it comes to checking notifications, receiving text messages, switching between apps, and more.
The size difference between the two competing phones was also evident in the video. The narrator places Apple’s iPhone 5 on top of BlackBerry’s handset, outlining the discrepancy in length and width between the two smartphones. To no surprise, the purported BlackBerry Z10 was the larger contender here.
It’s clear that the video is partial to BlackBerry, but we’ll be looking forward to what RIM has to offer this month. Take a look at the video below to see for yourself.
The Z10 gets its first look at its soon-to-be nemesis
RIM's yet-to-be-announced BlackBerry Z10 handset has come face-to-face with the iPhone 5 in a new comparison video.
The all-touchscreen BB10, which is all set for a grand unveiling at the end of January, has been leaked more times than we care to remember, but never in this much deal and never next to its chief nemesis.
German blog telekon-presse.ak has provided a hands-on with what is all-but-certain to be the Z10, comparing design, build, software and features with Apple's latest and greatest mobile handset.
According to the hands-on comparison, the BB10 voice control system does a better job than Siri during a request to send a message. It was more accurate and faster on the Z10 than the iPhone 5.
What's left to see?
The video also shows how the respective operating system deals with incoming text messages and offers a neat look at BB10's Peak View feature, which gives users a quick look at items in the BlackBerry Hub.
Other highlights include a look at the different ways multitasking is handled by the OS, and how app icons are presented while it also shows how to kill active apps and offers a look at the respective Twitter apps.
You can check out the interesting video comparison below. At this rate RIM will have nothing left to reveal on January 30, when it holds launch events around the world.
What do you think? On that evidence can the Z10 challenge the iPhone 5 on a level playing field? Let us know in the comments section below.
Huawei has announced its financial report for 2012 and the company has ended the year on a high note with its profits up by 33 percent. The company claims to have achieved the effective growth in 2012 by focusing on customers, streamlining management and improving efficiency.
The overall net profit is reported at CNY 15.4 billion won, which is a 33 percent increase from the previous year. Furthermore, the Chinese manufacturers expect their global sales revenues to reach CNY 220.2 billion, an 8 percent year-on-year increase.
More than 70 percent of Huawei's revenue was reportedly generated from serving leading telecommunications operators, including 45 of the world's top 50. However, Huawei's three business groups have contributed to its revenue with steady growth.
Huawei's carrier network business group has resulted in revenue of CNY 160.3 billion, while the consumer business group generated about 48.4 billion. Huawei's enterprise business group has developed its portfolio and has reportedly generated revenues worth CNY 11.5 billion.
Astonishingly, Huawei's overall revenue worth about 66 percent has been generated from outside of their home country of China, suggesting their global establishment. All in all, the firm seems to have bounced back from a disappointing 2011 and expects its overall revenue to grow by 10 to 12 percent by the end of 2013.
Firstly, Pocket Now has picked up a new render of the purported device, very different to the one that appeared last week, which, according to two HTC sources who've seen the device, is "spot on."
The new render appears to look a little like the HTC Windows Phone 8X handset, although the M7 is expected to be slightly smaller, with a 4.7-inch 1080p display.
The real deal?
Following the leaked render on Monday, the Android Police site joined the party, claiming to have laid its paws on snaps of the real thing.
Both leaks seem to show a very similar handset, although the 'real' hardware photo, doesn't appear to be as complete as the elaborate render.
It is possible, that the picture is of an earlier version of the handset, while the render shows what will be the finished article.
Other specs are said to include a 1.7GHz quad-core processor and a 13-megapixel camera. It looks like we'll find out for sure at MWC in a month's time.
What we have today is a long line of screenshots detailing most of the upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS. As if we didn't see it in enough detail in some of the previousleaks.
The screenshots however reveal from up-close the look and feel of the different parts of the interface and they show some of the curious new features.
First, there are the new gestures, which we've seen already. There's one for getting to the homescreen, another one for opening the alarm clock (of all things!) and yet another one for checking out the notifications for the various services set up on the smartphone.
The new gestures in BlackBerry 10 OS
RIM's new UI design language is really pleasant and above all, entirely revamped. Just look at the context menus, the dialer or the calculator.
BlackBerry 10 OS is a successful revamp of the BB 7 OS
Some of the other new features detailed in the screenshots are the voice control and voice-to-text functionality; the parental controls (a kid with a BlackBerry, right!); the option to access files on the device both over the USB cable or over Wi-Fi.
The Voice control options and the parental controls
We don't know who made BlackBerry Maps but the mapping app on BB 10 is a product of a company called Telecommunications Systems Inc. A quick research told us that two years ago TCS signed a deal with Tele Atlas to use their map data in its solutions, so BB 10 OS will probably rely on Tele Atlas map data. Tele Atlas is a wholly owned subsidiary of TomTom since 2008. TomTom also provides the map data to iOS Maps app so essentially, we may be looking at the same map data used by competing Apple and RIM.
Maps on BB 01 OS is probably using TomTom's map data
All that aside, RIM certainly isn't able to keep its unannounced stuff under a lid, but then again, it doesn't need to either. The extra publicity before the BlackBerry 10 OS announcement event on January 30 can't be bad, right?
Check out more screenshots over at the source link below.
Google's combination of hardware and services are what Microsoft still lacks
Microsoft has a lot of catching up to do. While there's no doubting the company's might, it seems increasingly ossified and unimaginative compared to its rivals.
Last November, it posted a 22 per cent fall in profit. Although that still left a not-inconsiderable profit of $4,47bn, the question remains: can Microsoft change its strategy before it's completely eclipsed by Google?
When Google launched its first own-brand mobile device, the HTC-made T-Mobile G1, there was a lot of scepticism about the search giant's ability to build a competitive smartphone.
However, as Android matured, improved devices such as the Nexus One began to present a serious challenge to the iPhone at a time when Apple offered one of the few viable smartphone options.
Up until recently, Google has only had limited success in selling hardware directly on the Play Store, as most of the vanilla Android-bearing Nexus phones had only really appealed to the Android army or app developers.
Nexus 7 has changed that. Delivered by Asus with an astoundingly low price-tag and excellent specs, it's really caught on with those seeking a more affordable alternative to the dominating iPad. More recently, Google's LG Nexus 4 has been almost permanantly sold out - as you'd expect for a very desirable phone at half the price of the iPhone 5.
Through all of these devices, there has been one constant principle: Nexus devices are fully approved by Google and sold directly as well as through network partners. By taking this route Google has shown itself equal to the only other major phone manufacturer to sell its devices directlto the consumer - Apple.
Microsoft plays it safe
So what has Microsoft been up to while Google has built a solid foothold in the smartphone market? Not as much as you'd think - tentatively allowing established partners to develop phones with their fledgling software on board, and then allowing networks and retailers to do as they like with them.
When it re-imagined Windows Mobile with Windows Phone, MS had the perfect chance to launch its own phones or tablets and go for broke. But for reason it has never disclosed, Microsoft failed to take control of its own product range.
Instead of putting the Microsoft name on the hardware, it looked to long-term partners HTC and Samsung to help deliver new Windows Phone-powered handsets to market.
Although many were excited by the new design direction of Windows Phone 7 (which has continued with Windows Phone 8), the initial hardware selection was truly uninspired. Microsoft languished behind the competition.
As far as tablets were concerned, Microsoft was still trying (and failing) to convince people that the traditional desktop experience was really usable on a smaller touch-screen.
Unfortunately, most of the equipment manufacturers were doing little to help Microsoft, with silly ridiculous price-tags attached to hot, heavy disappointments.
With the arrival of the Microsoft Surface RT tablet and Windows 8 however, Microsoft has taken a step in the same direction as Google and started selling the devices directly. But MS has not been able to match the success of the Nexus devices, and the Surface has had only modest sales in its first month on sale, with projections for a million units shipped in Q4 2012.
Contrast this with the Nexus 7, which is said to be topping a million sales per month. While it may not be as profitable as the Surface, at this stage Google is happy to do all it can to gain market share safe in the knowledge it has a well established store and advert model.
Where does Microsoft go from here?
So why is Microsoft still flagging? Firstly, because MS doesn't really offer anything exclusive on its Surface Tablet that couldn't be done by other manufacturers such as Dell or HP.
Sure, the keyboard options are innovative, but not really ground-breaking considering what Asus was doing with its Transformer tablets 18 months previously.
There aren't any software exclusives to draw in the early adopters, and so it's left having to convince people that it has made a great piece of hardware as the main selling point.
And while many will agree that the Surface is indeed a great bit of hardware, it's not accompanied by a smartphone sibling that would give MS the unified range of devices it so sorely needs to compete directly with Google.
It must be said there are some excellent Nokia Lumia and HTC Windows Phone 8 handsets out there, such as the HTC Windows Phone 8X. But without MS branding on the devices, it is yet again relying on third-parties to deliver the results, and MS isn't directly benefiting from any of it.
All about the ecosystem
For the mainstream to jump ship and embrace the Surface as well as Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8, Microsoft needs to offer an ecosystem that's recognisable across multiple devices, much like Google's.
With Microsoft, it's hard to know where to start. Hotmail is still a hugely successful webmail service (although Gmail finally overtook it last year), but Microsoft has been trying to rebrand it as Outlook in order to tie it in more closely to Windows 8.
Cloud service SkyDrive is also a distinctly average affair - possibly deliberately so in order to protect Office. And as for media, it's hard to know exactly what is on offer.
The only exciting thing MS has up its sleeve at the moment is SmartGlass integration with Xbox. If implemented properly, this could be a really attractive feature for Windows Phone and Surface users, acting as a second screen and user interface extension for the hugely popular Xbox Live gaming platform.
Microsoft are still a long way from offering a consumer-friendly cloud service that unifies files, settings and other stuff across all Windows devices. Windows Phone 8 takes further strides towards this - and alongside Windows 8 certainly lays some of the groundwork for a brighter mobile future - but you can't help feeling that Microsoft is trailing in Google's wake.
A Samsung executive has apparently confirmed the rumored Galaxy Note 8.0 will be announced during Mobile World Congress. The tablet is the latest S-Pen equipped device from the manufacturer, and was initially expected to arrive at CES.
Samsung’s mobile division boss, JK Shin, has apparently confirmed the existence of the Galaxy Note 8.0, and that it will make its official debut at Mobile World Congress. Initially rumored for CES 2013, the latest addition to the Galaxy Note family was a no-show in Vegas, but provided Shin has been accurately quoted, the new tablet will be with us next month.
The news comes from Korean website inews24, which as you’d expect is written in Korean, so some of the details are a little hard to follow once Google Translate has worked its magic. However, it’s clear the Galaxy Note 8.0 is one of the devices which Samsung will unveil at the Barcelona show. There is some discussion of the Galaxy S4 too, and as far as we can make out, the highly anticipated phone won’t be making an appearance at MWC.
As for the Galaxy Note 8.0, previous leaks have hinted at two models, one with Wi-Fi and the other with cellular connectivity, and that the tablet will have an 8-inch screen and a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution. Of course, the headline feature of Samsung’s Galaxy Note devices is the S-Pen stylus, which has improved considerably since its release with the original Galaxy Note smartphone/tablet hybrid.
The Note 8.0 has been linked to a set of benchmark figures for a device with the model number GT-N5100. The Galaxy Note, Note 2 and Note 10.1 all have N series model numbers, so this is logical, and if it’s correct, the Note 8.0 will probably use a 1.6GHz Exynos 4 Quad processor. Google Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was installed on the benchmarked machine, leading us to wonder if the Note 8.0 will come with the Premium Suite of features recently added to the Galaxy Note 10.1.
It’s all still speculation on the specs, but thanks to JK Shin, it looks like we can put a tick in the box next to the Galaxy Note 8.0 arriving during Mobile World Congress.
Huawei Ascend W1 was announced back at CES, a day after company's Android flagships got official. The Ascend W1 runs on Windows Phone 8 but relies on attractive price tag, rather than high-end specs to impress customers.
The Ascend W1 is now available in China, Huawei's home country, and is the cheapest WP8-powered smartphone there. It costs ¥1599 (about $260), which is good ¥400 cheaper than the Chinese version of the Lumia 620 (about $320).
If you are on to the Ascend W1 you can have it even cheaper - if you order it right now you'll automatically get a ¥100 discount while supplies last.
Huawei Ascend W1 will become available in other countries, including the UK, before the end of Q1 of this year.
In a fun nod to the emerging geek community around 3D printing, Nokia has released the 3D specs for its Lumia 820 shell, allowing anyone with the right tools to create a 3D case for their phone.
3D Printing is beginning to take off and Nokia wants in. Whether or not you have a professional 3D printer, or a $1,500 do-it-yourself hackjob made of spare printer parts, Nokia is jumping onto the fabrication bandwagon and has offered up special 3D schematics that allow you to make cases for your Nokia Lumia 820.
In an online blog post, Nokia has says “[we] have become the first major phone company to begin embracing the 3D printing community and its incredible potential, and continue to be the leading phone company in this exciting field,” and gives hints that this is just the beginning for the merging between the Finnish phone manufacturer and the community of printers. This is great news for those who wish more companies would interact with their communities. While offering a 3D schematic for a case is nothing compared to more in-depth developer relations, it certainly is a good start for Nokia.
In reality, anyone can already make a case for their phone if they really wanted, but the process would be extremely difficult as you’d need to (probably through trial and error) make a case based on your own measurements, and not those from the manufacturer. While Nokia has only released a schematic for a basic (and perhaps not even cost efficient) phone case, it won’t be long until communities play with the design to make their very own cases with crazy things like E Ink displays built into them, crazy new colors and designs, or something even more amazing. Though we don’t yet have our own 3D printer, we hope this becomes a trend.
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S III mini back in October, but the promised NFC-capable version didn't launch along with the vanilla one. It seems though that the company has resolved whatever issues prevented it from launching the NFC-enabled mini and has already begun the mass production of the smartphone.
According to the latest reports, we'll only have to wait until the end of the month (that's just 10 days away) to see the NFC Galaxy S III mini in the stores. The new Galaxy S III mini version is going to to carry the I8190N model number (as opposed to I8190 for the plain Galaxy S III mini). Naturally, the NFC connectivity will be garnished with Samsung's S Beam app for quick and easy multimedia, bookmark and business card transfers between compatible devices.
So far only UK has been confirmed to receive the Samsung I8190N Galaxy S III mini, but the availability should spread to other markets soon enough. Currently the Galaxy S III mini costs about £270 (€320) in the UK, but we are yet to see how much its NFC sibling will go for.
The company behind BlackBerry has hinted that it could sell off its handset division if things continue on their downward trajectory.
Thorsten Heins, who has been CEO at RIM for a year now, said that although the company is confident in BlackBerry 10, it is keeping its exit strategy options open.
He told German paper Die Welt, "We do not want to limit our options… including the sale of the hardware production as much as licensing our software."
Cash rich
"The strategic review is still running," he went on, adding that the pressure is off now. Despite poor PR to the contrary, RIM is doing pretty well as Heins tells it.
In fact, rumours of RIM's demise seem to have been somewhat exaggerated: he said that RIM is "debt-free" and has "$2.9 billion cash available" - so, er, hey, lend us a fiver will you, RIM?
Heins has talked about potentially licensing out BlackBerry's OS before; but then again, he's also rejected the idea of selling out before too so who can say what the future holds.
One thing it definitely does hold is BlackBerry 10, apparently still on schedule for release at the end of the month.
Research in Motion has rebranded its application store, now named BlackBerry World, and given it a makeover in time for BlackBerry 10′s launch. Company CEO Thorsten Heins remains realistic ahead of its debut on January 30.
While Research in Motion puts the finishing touches to BlackBerry 10 ahead of its launch, CEO Thorsten Heins remains realistic about the company’s future, having not entirely discounted the idea of selling its hardware division or licensing the BlackBerry 10 software to another company.
In an interview with the German publication Die Welt, Heins said once the release of BlackBerry 10 is all done he’ll be looking at, “Strategic alliances with other technology companies,” where a deal could cover both eventualities. However, he remains committed to the new operating system, saying, “The main thing for now is to successfully introduce BlackBerry 10.”
This isn’t the first time a buyout or partnership deal has been talked about to help save RIM, but Heins has never publicly confirmed either as an option for the future before. It’s down to you whether you take his comments as an admission that BlackBerry 10 will probably fail, or as the outlook of a grounded company director willing to explore different options. However, for either a partial sale or licensing of BlackBerry 10 to become a viable option for RIM, it first requires the OS to go on sale and, certainly for the latter option, to be well received by the media and public.
As we all know by now, RIM has a global launch event planned for January 30, where we’ll finally meet BlackBerry 10 and the phones on which it will debut; but in the meantime it’s all change inside the BlackBerry App World store. The first thing visitors will notice is the name change, as the store is now known simply as BlackBerry World, followed by a more light and open design. The name change isn’t a surprise though, as RIM announced its plans to alter it during BlackBerry Jam Asia last November.
For now, only apps are available to download, but film and music will soon be offered too, turning the store into a more robust competitor to Google Play and iTunes. You can visit the new store online now, and the changes will also go live on the PlayBook and BlackBerry smartphones soon.
The Micromax A110 (a.k.a. Canvas 2) is the most popular phone in our database and it just got a successor. Meet the Micromax A116 Canvas HD – a dual-SIM Android phone with a 5” 720p IPS screen, quad-core processor and affordable price.
The 5" screen is a marked improvement over the A110 – the new model has 294ppi pixel density, up from 196ppi. The chipset is a big step forward too, the MediaTek MT6589 packs a quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM and the PowerVR Series 5XT GPU.
The Micromax A116 Canvas HD runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (with a 4.2 update to come), packs an 8MP main camera and VGA front-facing camera and has 4GB of built-in storage (plus a microSD card slot). Connectivity is handled by 3G GSM, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth and GPS. The battery capacity is 2,100mAh.
The Micromax A116 will launch in India next month for 15,000 rupees ($280) in brick and mortar stores and online.
The LG Optimus G Pro looks more and more likely to be the Korean firm's next flagship handset, but don't go thinking it will be full of groundbreaking tech.
According to a couple of Korean news agencies, LG has confirmed that the Optimus G Pro will arrive in Asia during the first quarter of this year.
Dazzling resolution and larger screen aside, the Optimus G Pro looks to offer little more over the original LG Optimus G, quashing rumours that it could be the much talked about Optimus G2.
The Optimus G Pro will apparently run the same quad-core processor found in the G, but user experience will be ramped up – whatever that means. Hopefully it means a bigger battery to keep that bigger, snazzier screen going but who knows.
We've contacted LG to see if we can garner any official comment regarding the Optimus G Pro and details on its availability and price.
Here's a sneaky first peek of Jelly Bean on the Xperia S
We already know the Sony Xperia S will be updated to Android Jelly Bean and that day looks to be edging closer as screenshots appear online.
Launched almost a year ago, the Xperia S was the first in a new wave of handsets from Sony after it ditched Ericsson to go solo.
The screenshots in question popped up on the XDA Developers forum showing the LT26i (that's the Xperia S' model number) running Android 4.1.2.
Look, new stuff!
There's a new lockscreen to play with as well as some new features such as Find My Xperia, Screen Mirroring and Power Management to get your teeth into.
A powerful device it impressed in our Sony Xperia S review and there was no surprise when Jelly Bean was confirmed for it, but an upgrade date is still unknown.
The folks over at Xperia Blog reckon the Android 4.1 rollout for the Xperia S will begin in April, but we're still trying to get some form of confirmation from Sony.
Apple could be readying an even bigger smartphone to launch alongside the iPhone 5S in June, apparently called the iPhone Math.
According to the hit-and-miss China Times wesbite the iPhone Math will carry a sizable 4.8-inch display and an 8MP camera.
Instead of replacing the iPhone 5S the iPhone Math will be part of a dual release by the Cupertino-based firm as it looks to offer consumers a wider array of handsets.
iPhone Math = iPhone 6?
If the larger screen size is to be believed then the Math may make it to market under the moniker iPhone 6 sporting Apple's usual premium price tag, while the widely rumoured iPhone 5S may carry a more attractive price.
Of course this is speculation from us on a report which has questionable sources and it would be a massive shift for Apple to launch two handsets side by side – although we were initially sceptical about the iPad mini and look where that ended up.
That's not all though, as the same report suggests Apple will launch further iPhone models throughout the year, with a handset sporting a 12MP camera arriving just in time for Christmas. We're not convinced, are you?
Huawei introduced a new quad-core Android phone to the German market, the Huawei Ascend G615. It’s very similar to the Ascend D quad in terms of specs – 4.5” IPS LCD screen with 720p resolution (326ppi), Android 4.0 with an incoming Jelly Bean update, HiSilicon K3V2 chipset (4x Cortex-A9 at 1.4GHz, 1GB RAM and HiSilicon GPU) along with an 8MP / 1080p camera.
The G615 is cheaper than the Ascend D quad XL – it will be sold at €300, while the older model goes for around €380. The battery is not quite as big though (2,150mAh vs. 2,600mAh) and it’s slightly thicker and heavier, the Ascend G615 measures 134 x 67.5 x 10.5mm and weighs 145g.
The rest of the specs include 8GB of built-in memory, microSD card slot (take that, Nexus 4), Dolby Digital Plus audio tech, 3G with 21Mbps HSDPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0. The G615 will be available in Black and White and uses old fashioned miniSIMs.
If you’re interested, the Huawei Ascend G615 will be available in Germany starting early next month for €300. Initially you’ll be able to get it from Amazon, Conrad or Cyberport, but in March other stores will start offering it too.
A report published in China suggests Apple is to produce three new iPhone models this year, including the iPhone 5S and a device named the iPhone Math, which is said to have a 4.8-inch screen. No, we don’t believe it either.
Everyone loves a good Apple rumor, so here’s a particularly juicy one to enjoy over your morning coffee. According to the China Times, Apple will release not one, not two, but three new iPhone models this year, based on information received from sources working with Apple’s suppliers. The report continues to say the first two new phones will arrive in June, followed by another around October.
So far, not all that juicy. However, here’s the fun part: The already rumored iPhone 5S will arrive in June and will be accompanied by another model named the iPhone Math, and it’ll have a 4.8-inch screen. Yes, despite only just increasing the size of the iPhone’s screen to 4-inches, Apple has apparently seen the light and will join arch-rival Samsung by offering a device with a 4.8-inch display. Except, of course, it almost certainly won’t.
If, in some bizarre twist, Apple does have a phone with a nigh-on 5-inch screen in the works, it makes sense to give it a striking name. But would anyone – let alone Apple, a company which takes an incredibly conservative approach with its nomenclature – call a phone the Math? Quite apart from the word sounding completely wrong to everyone outside of the U.S. and Canada, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Calling it out as either an odd, lost-in-translation error or a weirdly creative ruse seems almost redundant.
Production to begin in April
Towards the end of the year Apple will supposedly launch another iPhone, which hasn’t been named in the report, so in keeping with the theme we’ll call it the iPhone Geography, and its claim to fame is a 12-megapixel camera. A future iPhone being given a higher megapixel camera is quite logical, and the rumor is certainly more credible than the iPhone Math. No mention was made of a cheaper iPhone, which has been rumored by several other sources over the past month, however the similarly mythical Apple iTV was discussed by the China Times’ sources, and it’s said to arrive before the end of the year.
The report goes on to provide some surprisingly precise information on the companies building the components for the three new iPhone models. For example, Foxconn and Coxon will produce the chassis, Hon Hai Precision will take care of the manufacturing, Largan Precision the camera modules (as it does with the iPhone 5) and the circuit boards will come from Flexium, Zhen Ding and Fujikura. Components will start coming together in March and production is rumored to begin in April.
For a rumor, the talk of an iPhone 5S built by these companies for release in June doesn’t sound too crazy, but all the while it’s accompanied by the iPhone Math, we just can’t take any of it seriously.
We already lost count of all the rumors, confirmations and denials of the Windows Phone 7.8 update. The update itself got so overhyped that we are sure some users we'll be left disappointed, when it arrives.
Anyway, according to Windows phone Columbia official Facebook page, the Windows Phone 7.8 rollout will begin on January 31.
The date coincides with Microsoft's promised Q1 launch, as well as the fact that there are already updated Lumia smartphones with it, ones that are sold updated and even Samsung fans recently learned that the Omnia updates are complete.
We already got our hands on the Lumia 510 officially running on Windows Phone 7.8 and we've extracted the new features we found so far for you.
Resizable Live Tiles
Bluetooth File transfer
Bing Picture for Lockscreen wallpaper
New theme colors
Wi-Fi tethering
You can set Google as default search provider in Internet Explorer
New boot screen
Office 14.5
Updated system and Nokia exclusive apps
Ringtone maker (also available in the Marketplace)
Counters app (also available in the Marketplace)
The full review is already in the works, while you should expect your phone to get the update itself in 10 days.
A massive 45 out of the top 50 network operators in the world rely on telecommunication services from Chinese mobile giant Huawei.
Then stat was mentioned during the Chinese firm's annual financial results, where it also announced that it's doing pretty well for itself.
In fact 70 per cent of Huawei's profits came from its work with network operators, while its consumer smartphone business accounted for just 22 per cent.
Are you Apple in disguise?
Several firms have been battling to balance the books recently including the likes of HTC, LG and Nokia, but Huawei is on the up with net profits raising 33 per cent year on year – the sort of performance we've come to expect from Apple.
Huawei wants to become one of the top three smartphone manufacturers in the world and while handsets such as the recently announced Ascend D2 and Ascend Mate show the firm's drive, it still has a way to go before it can properly challenge Samsung and Apple.
Looking to the future Huawei predicts that data traffic will be the big sticking point, so it's focussing efforts on improving the system by creating pipes with larger bandwidth allowing for "massive date flow."
Google's showing no signs of slowing its pace of Android development, with Android 4.0 appearing on the Galaxy Nexus late in 2011, followed in July of 2012 by the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean release that arrived powering the super Nexus 7.
But, forward-looking, update-obsessed people that we are, we can't help but imagine how Google's going to maintain the pace of innovation in its next version of its mobile OS, Android 5.0.
All we know so far is that Google's working away on the K release of Android, which it's developing under the dessert-related codename of Key Lime Pie. Regarding the version number, it's likely that the Key Lime Pie moniker will be given to Android 5.0. We thought we might find out on 29 October but as yet there is no official word from Google.
Rumours of a new Nexus handset started trickling in during the third quarter of 2012, as we reported on 1 October 2012. There was speculation that this phone would be sporting Key Lime Pie, but sources who spoke to AndroidAndMe correctly claimed that the handset, which turned out to be the Google Nexus 4 would be running Android Jelly Bean.
So now as we wait on official news of the Android 5.0 release date and features, we can start to pull together the Key Lime Pie rumours from around the web, with the first sighting of Android 5.0 on a benchmarking website, apparently running on a Sony smartphone. There has previously been speculation that Sony is in line to produce the next Nexus phone, which may lend some credence to this rumour.
While the Nexus 4 didn't appear with a helping of Key Lime Pie, speculation that we reported on 21 January 2013 suggests that the Motorola X Phone is the Android 5.0-toting handset that will break cover at Google IO. According to a post on the DroidForums website, the phone will also feature a virtually bezel-free, edge-to-edge, 5-inch display.
Android 5.0 features
Key Lime Pie features are yet to revealed, but as we scour the web for more Android 5.0 news, we've been thinking about what we want to see in Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. Hopefully the new mobile OS will feature some of these things...
1. Performance Profiles
It's bit of a fuss managing your mobile before bed time. Switching off the sound, turning off data, activating airplane mode and so on, so what Android 5.0 really needs is a simple way of managing performance, and therefore power use, automatically.
We've been given a taste of this with Blocking Mode in Samsung's Jelly Bean update on the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Note 2 but we'd like to see the functionality expanded.
Something like a Gaming mode for max power delivery, an Overnight low-power state for slumbering on minimal power and maybe a Reading mode for no bothersome data connections and a super-low backlight.
Some hardware makers put their own little automated tools in, such as the excellent Smart Actions found within Motorola's RAZR interface, but it'd be great to see Google give us a simple way to manage states.
Another little power strip style widget for phone performance profiles would be an easy way to do it.
Set telephone to BEDTIME SLEEPY MODE
2. Better multiple device support
Google already does quite a good job of supporting serious Android nerds who own several phones and tablets, but there are some holes in its coverage that are rather frustrating.
Take the Videos app which manages your film downloads through the Play Store. Start watching a film on one Android device and you're limited to resuming your film session on that same unit, making it impossible to switch from phone to tablet mid-film.
You can switch between phone and web site players to resume watching, but surely Google ought to understand its fans often have a couple of phones and tabs on the go and fix this for Android Key Lime Pie?
3. Enhanced social network support
Android doesn't really do much for social network users out of the box, with most of the fancy social widgets and features coming from the hardware makers through their own custom skins.
Sony integrates Facebook brilliantly in its phones, and even LG makes a great social network aggregator widget that incorporates Facebook and Twitter - so why are there no cool aggregator apps as part of the standard Android setup?
Yes, Google does a great job of pushing Google+, but, no offence, there are many other more widely used networks that ought to be a little better "baked in" to Android.
4. Line-drawing keyboard options
Another area where the manufacturers have taken a big leap ahead of Google is in integrating clever alternate text entry options in their keyboards. HTC and Sony both offer their own takes on the Swype style of line-drawing text input, which is a nice option to have for getting your words onto a telephone. Get it into Android 5.0 and give us the choice.
UPDATE: Google heard us and this feature appeared in Android 4.2.
P-U-T T-H-I-S I-N A-N-D-R-O-I-D 5-.-0
5. A video chat app
How odd is it that Google's put a front-facing camera on the Nexus 7 and most hardware manufacturers do the same on their phones and tablets, yet most ship without any form of common video chat app?
You have to download Skype and hope it works, or find some other downloadable app solution. Why isn't there a Google Live See My Face Chat app of some sort as part of Android? Is it because we're too ugly? Is that what you're saying, Google?
6. Multi-select in the contacts
The Android contacts section is pretty useful, but it could be managed a little better. What if you have the idea of emailing or texting a handful of your friends? The way that's currently done is by emailing one, then adding the rest individually. Some sort of checkbox system that let users scroll through names and create a mailing list on the fly through the contacts listing in Android Key Lime Pie would make this much easier.
Make this a destination, rather than a never-used list
7. Cross-device SMS sync
If you're a constant SIM swapper with more than one phone on the go, chances are you've lost track of your text messages at some point. Google stores these on the phone rather than the SIM card, so it'd be nice if our texts could be either backed up to the SIM, the SD card, or beamed up to the magical invisible cloud of data, for easy and consistent access across multiple devices.
8. A "Never Update" option
This would annoy developers so is unlikely to happen, but it'd be nice if we could refuse app updates permanently in Android 5.0, just in case we'd rather stick with a current version of a tool than be forced to upgrade.
Sure, you can set apps to manual update and then just ignore the update prompt forever, but it'd be nice to know we can keep a favoured version of an app without accidentally updating it. Some of us are still using the beta Times app, for example, which has given free access for a year.
Let us keep older versions. Many people fear change
9. App preview/freebie codes
Something Apple's been doing for ages and ages is using a promo code system to distribute free or review versions of apps. It even makes doing little competitions to drum up publicity for apps much easier, so why's there no similar scheme for Android?
It might encourage developers to stop going down the ad-covered/freemium route if they could charge for an app but still give it away to friends and fans through a promo code system.
10. Final whinges and requests...
It's be nice to be able to sort the Settings screen by alphabetical order, too, or by most commonly used or personal preference, as Android's so packed with a huge list of options these days it's a big old list to scroll through and pick out what you need.
Plus could we have a percentage count for the battery in the Notifications bar for Android 5.0? Just so we know a bit more info than the vague emptying battery icon.
Sony has announced the Xperia Tablet Z, a very slim 10.1-inch tablet with a quad-core processor, which is currently headed only for Japan. However, this could change when Mobile World Congress begins next month.
The rumors surrounding a new Sony Android tablet were on the money, as the company has announced the Xperia Tablet Z, a device to which we were only recently introduced and few expected to be made official before Mobile World Congress. Sony has a good reason not to save the Xperia Tablet Z for MWC though, as so far it only lined up a Japanese release.
Sony has abandoned the unusual, folded paper-style design seen on the Xperia Tablet S, deciding instead to make the Xperia Tablet Z a more traditional slate with an extremely thin profile. It measures just 6.9mm thick, which is noticeably slimmer than the 9.4mm thick iPad and 8.9mm Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1; plus at 495 grams, it’s at least 100 grams lighter than both its primary rivals.
The screen measures 10.1-inches and has an impressive resolution of 1920 x 1200. Billed as a Reality Display it uses Sony’s Mobile Bravia Engine 2, a feature introduced on the new Xperia Z, Xperia ZL and Xperia V smartphones. which enhances contrast, sharpness, colors and brightness while reducing noise on still photos and video.
A quad-core, 1.5GHz processor powers the Xperia Tablet Z and although it’s not stated in the brief press release, it’s most likely the same Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro used in the Xperia Z phone. Previous Sony tablets have used Nvidia’s Tegra chip. The tablet is water and dust proof, plus it’s also equipped with an 8.1-megapixel camera, NFC, LTE connectivity, S-Force surround sound and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean as its operating system.
Sony will release the Xperia Tablet Z in Japan in the spring, but no exact date has been provided, and the price remains unknown too. Despite announcing it before MWC, the tablet should still be at the show, when Sony may pleasantly surprise us all by providing an international release date. Sony’s announcement of the Xperia Tablet Z follows the unveiling of the Xperia Z smartphone at CES 2013.
