Shortly after its tablet siblings got the treatment, the Nexus 4 also received its fix of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. The update is currently seeding to Nexus 4 tablets over the air.
Along with the changes which the update brought to the Nexus family of tablets, Android 4.2.2 has added a unique wireless charging and low battery sound to the latest Google smartphone. The unofficial LTE support has also been taken away by Google.
There's only one i in "iPhone," and it doesn't belong to Apple in Brazil anymore, according to a reported ruling by the country's trademark regulators.
The Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) in Brazil told the BBC that, instead, it has awarded the name's exclusive rights to Gradient Eletronica, ironically an Android-handset maker.
Gradient Eletronica had trademarked the iPhone name back in 2000, well ahead of Apple's first iteration of the smartphone in 2007.
Apple has already begun to appeal the decision, the INPI told the BBC, arguing that Gradiente had not used the name until December 2012.
For Apple, it gets worse
Gradient Eletronica now has the right to sue Apple for using the iPhone trademark on handsets in Brazil.
Worse, the Brazilian company launched an "iPhone" smartphone of its own this past December, and it runs rival mobile operating system, Android.
Adding insult to infringe-ry, Gradient's "iPhone Neo One" has paltry some specs: a single-core 700MHz processor, a 5MP camera, and the outdated Android Gingerbread OS.
Its low-resolution 3.7-inch screen at 320x480 pixels is far from a Retina display, and the phone has a meager 2GB of storage inside.
Then slightly better
Not much of a consolation prize, Apple can still use "iPhone" on products besides handsets. The California company retains exclusive rights to the name on clothing, in software, and across publications.
The good news for Apple is that it appears as if Gradient executives are keep their iPhone Neo Ones charged in case the company decides to call.
"We're open to a dialogue for anything, anytime," said Eugenio Emilio Staub, chairman of Gradient parent company IGB, to Bloomberg this month. "We're not radicals."
Staub said that Apple hadn't reached out to the company as of that Feb. 5 comment.
TechRadar reached out to be Apple and Gradient Electronica for comment on the matter, both companies didn't respond to media requests today.
Depending on how Apple's appeal process goes, however, Gradient may have a Cisco-style payday on its hands.
After having incredibly wild success with the S3, a new iteration is a no-brainer for Samsung, which is believed to be readying the Galaxy S4 for 2013.
Though Samsung hasn't officially announced any plans for such a device, that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from churning out bit after bit of supposed Galaxy S4 information.
Today we have a few more data points to add, though by no means is any of this confirmed. Samsung, like most mobile companies, likes to stay close-mouthed about its new products, but we may have a jump on what to expect from the S4 thanks to all these squeaky wheels.
Home is where the button is
The Galaxy S4 has reportedly been in production since late last year, and a great many reports share similar details about what the insides will look like.
The Android-powered smartphone is routinely expected to include a 5-inch full HD screen with 440ppi, and feature the new 1.8GHz Octa processor.
Oddly enough, even after some images of the S4 were leaked, people still can't seem to agree on whether or not there will be a home button on the smartphone.
A new report from Korean news outlet D Daily seems confident the the Galaxy S4 will feature a home button like the S3, as well as touch keys.
Though the supposed images of the S4 featured a streamlined front screen with no visible buttons, it's still quite possible that's what the smartphone will look like.
Stylin' and profilin'
In January, it was reported Samsung made a $58.9 million (UK£37 million, AU$56.4 million) investment in Wacom, earning the company a 5 percent stake in the stylus maker.
It was then believed future Samsung devices would include the company's proprietary S-Pen, including the rumored Galaxy S4.
Sadly, the D Daily also indicated Samsung would be dropping the S-Pen stylus from the Galaxy S4, adding that the phone would still include "non-contact gesture."
What that means is the phone may be able to recognize fingertips from a small distance away from the screen, allowing users to keep the display free of smudged fingerprints.
There seems to be a lot of "fact or fiction" surrounding the Galaxy S4 at the moment, but we should discover very soon just what Samsung has in store for the next generation of the S series.
The HTC One name has hit the big stage after it popped up on advertising boards during the Real Madrid vs Manchester United football match.
Hype surrounding the Taiwanese firm's next flagship handset is building and the originally touted M7 name looks set to be usurped by the simpler HTC One handle, but that's not the reason behind the ad in question.
During the first half of the match we noticed the branding appear on the boards surrounding the pitch and it made us wonder if this was the beginning of what we'd expect to be a worldwide marketing campaign for the upcoming device.
Game on?
However having spoken to HTC, TechRadar can confirm that this particular advert is not connected to the firm's next flagship handset and is instead referring to the umbrella brand which covers the likes of the One X, One S and One V.
The timing of this particular campaign is interesting though, considering the firm has an event lined up on February 19 where it will unveil its next flagship smartphone.
Until then we're going to enjoy the second half and for those of you who are not one of the 200 million fans watching the game there's always a countdown timer to ogle.
While Google and Motorola's rumored X Phone remains a mystery, it is already making waves by impressing Australian wireless carriers.
Hugh Bradlow, the chief technology officer for Australian carrier Telstra, is very enthusiastic about the new smartphone.
Reportedly Bradlow told senior mobile staff at the firm that X Phone is a "real breakthrough, a game changer that will put pressure on Samsung and Apple."
An anonymous Motorola source added while speaking to Smarthouse, "Google has been working on this device for a long time. It has software features and capabilities that are not available on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone or Apple iPhone. The software is really powerful and it pulls together Google services like no other manufacturer has done in the past."
X marks the spot
Concrete details are still scarce about the much-mentioned X Phone, which appears to be the handset's official codename thanks to a LinkedIn job listing.
The X Phone's specs are said to include a debut for the Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie OS, along with a virtually bezel-less edge-to-edge 5-inch display.
Rumors have also hinted at a new Nexus-like UI for the X Phone, which is said to bring new features to rival Samsung's S-Beam, S-Voice, and other UI enhancements.
With the Google I/O conference coming up in May, the event could make a fitting unveiling for the mysterious X Phone. Motorola has been rather quiet since its buyout by Google in 2011, so TechRadar will keep a keen eye out for any developments on the firm's Google debut.
The Micromax A116 Canvas HD, one of the popular smartphones in our database, is finally launching in India.
Starting from tomorrow, February 14, Micromax will start selling its latest flagship smartphone for RS13,990 ($260) and not $280 as reports were suggesting recently. According to the company, shipments will arrive in 5-7 days, after the order has been placed.
The A116 Canvas HD is competing with the almost twice as expensive Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos I9082, which is also on sale in the country. Considering that and the more capable hardware the Canvas HD should be able to make easy work of its competitor.
To celebrate the launch of the smartphone, Micromax has also put together a promo video for it. You can check it out below.
Gartner, the popular analyst company has released its quarterly report, which shows that Samsung and Apple continue their domination in the smartphone market, while the third place is up for grabs.
Sales report of Q4 and 2012 respectively
The top two manufacturers have a combined market share of 52% with Samsung accounting for 64.5 million shipments, while Apple managed to sell 43.5 million units. The South Koreans saw an increase of 85.3% in their sales, while at the same time Apple's sales were up by 22.6% from the last year.
Android extended its lead over other operating systems by adding 145 million units, out of which Samsung accounted for 42.5%. Meanwhile, Apple's iOS market share dropped from 23.6% to 20.9% in the last quarter, but remains ahead of other rivals.
According to the Gartner's report, the third place in the smartphone game is currently held by Huawei, who managed to sell more than 27 million handsets in 2012. However, the Chinese company only holds the spot by the skin of its teeth and the competition for it remains fierce.
There's a new Jelly Bean in town, and it's on its way to an Android device near you - but first, a quick stop at the Android Open Source Project (AOSP).
Android Community reported Tuesday that the latest flavor of Android Jelly Bean is now rolling out to users everywhere in the form of version 4.2.2.
As part of the rollout, the minor Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update has been pushed to AOSP as build number JDQ39, with files tagged as "android-4.2.2_r1".
Don't be too surprised if your device isn't seeing the update yet - history has shown that such updates often take time, but if you're impatient, you can manually check for Android 4.2.2 via the Settings page on your device.
Update in motion
Android 4.2.2 is a modest update for improved performance and stability, but the custom ROM community appears eager to get their hands on it regardless.
Now that the update has landed on the Android Open Source Project, developers like CyanogenMod and AOKP can get to work tweaking their ROMs to support the latest and greatest version Google has to offer.
Android enthusiasts are also eagerly awaiting a post from Android's chief release engineer, Jean-Baptiste Quéru, which is typically posted to the Android Building Google Group shortly after a release hits AOSP.
Finally, a full changelog for the Android 4.2.2 release is also expected, which could detail any small revisions that early adopters might not have noticed.
There's a new Jelly Bean in town, and it's on its way to an Android device near you - but first, a quick stop at the Android Open Source Project (AOSP).
Android Community reported Tuesday that the latest flavor of Android Jelly Bean is now rolling out to users everywhere in the form of version 4.2.2.
As part of the rollout, the minor Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update has been pushed to AOSP as build number JDQ39, with files tagged as "android-4.2.2_r1".
Don't be too surprised if your device isn't seeing the update yet - history has shown that such updates often take time, but if you're impatient, you can manually check for Android 4.2.2 via the Settings page on your device.
Update in motion
Android 4.2.2 is a modest update for improved performance and stability, but the custom ROM community appears eager to get their hands on it regardless.
Now that the update has landed on the Android Open Source Project, developers like CyanogenMod and AOKP can get to work tweaking their ROMs to support the latest and greatest version Google has to offer.
Android enthusiasts are also eagerly awaiting a post from Android's chief release engineer, Jean-Baptiste Quéru, which is typically posted to the Android Building Google Group shortly after a release hits AOSP.
Finally, a full changelog for the Android 4.2.2 release is also expected, which could detail any small revisions that early adopters might not have noticed.
Fame and Young? Sound more like accountants than hot smartphones.
The Samsung Galaxy Fame and Samsung Galaxy Young have been announced in South Korea and the budget devices will be heading to the UK.
Update: Three has confirmed it will be offering the Samsung Galaxy Fame, although the network was unable to give us a release date or price with "coming soon" the only thing we have to go off.
Design wise, both handsets borrow heavily from the Samsung Galaxy S3, as do all the new Galaxy handsets - probably in an attempt to get away from any potential law suits with Apple.
The Galaxy Fame sports slightly better features than the Young with a 3.5-inch 480 x 320 display, 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB internal storage, 5MP camera, VGA front snapper, NFC, 1,300mAh battery and Android Jelly Bean (version 4.1).
Jelly Bean for all
Probably coming in slightly cheaper than the Frame, the Samsung Galaxy Young has a smaller 3.27-inch display, the same 1GHz processor and Jelly Bean OS - but surprisingly more RAM at 768MB.
NFC doesn't feature on the handset and you only get a 3MP camera round the back, while the Bluetooth technology is version 3.0 instead of the Galaxy Frame's 4.0 offering.
TechRadar spoke to Samsung regarding pricing and availability of the Galaxy Fame and Galaxy Young, with the manufacturer confirming that "availability for the UK will be week commencing March 25."
Both handsets will likely be knocking around MWC 2013 at the end of February, and we'll be there to get hands on with both of them, so stay tuned for our early findings.
The HTC One is almost upon us as a teasing countdown has appeared on the Taiwanese firm's website, complete with candid flashes of its new flagship device.
Give the HTC homepage a couple of seconds to properly load and you'll notice short video clips will begin to play behind the timer, offering up the briefest of looks of the HTC One.
It's the final countdown
There's little to be gained from these snapshots, with HTC going heavy on the flare effect to conceal the majority of the handset.
What you do see is a rather imposing camera lens, rumoured to support new ultrapixels technology, and various flashes of a curved chassis and the metallic HTC logo on the back of the white One.
TechRadar will be present at the event on Febraury 19 where we expect to see the flagship device officially unveiled, so keep a look out for our hands on HTC One review.
TCL has just unveiled its latest smartphone. The Alcatel One Touch Star is a mid-range handset with a stylish design and extremely attractive price tag that we are hoping to see showcased at the MWC in two weeks.
The One Touch Star sports a 4" display, 1GHz dual-core processor along with 512 MB of RAM, a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, a front-facing VGA camera, 4 GB of internal memory with microSD support and a 1,500 mAh battery.
Surprisingly, the device will run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which is still pretty rare to be found in the mid-range.
Alcatel One Touch Star will retail for around 2,000 SEK (about $315) in Sweden and is expected to be available in European markets very soon.
INQ, the erstwhile mobile phone manufacturer, has decided to get into the content game by using social media-powered info.
The Material app, which is currently in beta and only available on Android, doesn't just involve a list of news – it actively seeks to curate the news you look at based on your Facebook and Twitter profile.
At the entry page you're asked to log in to Facebook and Twitter, and from there a profile is built. As you read more items, the app will learn what your preferences are, and will deliver a curated 'magazine' twice daily based on what it thinks you'll want to scroll through.
The future on your phone
It's very much a beta release at the moment though, with no functionality for tablets or the ability to 'unlike' things based on what you're seeing as targeted for your interests. However, INQ CEO Ken Johnstone told us that the tablet version was coming soon.
He also pointed out that this 'discovery engine' was based on the power of the original INQ Cloud Touch mobile that launched a couple of years ago, which was also centred on using social graphs within Facebook to promote the content and people you cared about the most.
The current iteration is middling in its ability to provide you with the information you really want, with elements like football bringing in both the European (proper) and American versions of the sport – and with no way to discard content from your feed, it can get annoying.
Getting involved
Also, once you click on a story it can take an age to load within the app – which uses the standard Android web interface – but once in, it's great that you can continue scrolling down and get to the next article instantly.
You can also add topics you think might be interesting, and twice daily the list will refresh based on what your Twitter following is doing. Johnstone told TechRadar that the idea was to work out what you cared about – so pulling up the author profiles of any writers you follow, for instance, will mean the app will try to offer content within their genre.
It's a novel and ambitious idea, and if it can be done will be a great app for serving up the content that really matters – which is what we all want, after all, given our dependency on smartphone content when bored – but it could be a good few months of refining before this app is ready for the mainstream.
According to recent reports in South Korean newspaper Korean daily, Samsung has decided to keep the physical Home button for its Galaxy S IV upcoming flagship. If the reports are true, this means that Samsung will indeed keep the two capacitive buttons (back and menu) on the both sides of the home key.
Moreover, the speculations regarding the inclusion of an S-Pen in the Galaxy S IV have been refuted by this latest report. However, they confirm that the smartphone will come with some sort of non-contact gestures.
More details regarding the Samsung Galaxy S IV will be known at the end of March, when the company is rumored to hold an Upacked event, dedicated exclusively to its next flagship. The device itself is expected to hit the shelves only a couple of weeks later in April.
It's thought that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is being developed under the codename Project J, but apparently the project doesn't just cover the firm's next flagship smartphone.
According to the folks over at SamMobile, Project J actually consists of three devices, with the flagship Galaxy S4 (also referred to as GT-I9500 or Altius) being joined by Project J Mini and Project J Active.
The Project J Mini, or Serrano as Samsung is calling it, looks set to the be the Galaxy S4 Mini following in the footsteps of the Galaxy S3 Mini.
Tick tock
Things get a little more interesting when we look at the Project J Active (or Fortius, if you prefer) which appears to be a slightly different device with accessories such as an arm band, bike mount and pouch listed.
This has lead people to speculate that Samsung may be working on a wearable piece of tech, possibly to rival the rumoured Apple iWatch.
Of course it could just be another tough phone to follow on from the Galaxy XCover 2, and apparently Project J Active is yet to be finalised unlike the others which have already been given the green light.
S4 spotted again
The Korean version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 has supposedly popped up in a benchmark test over at GLBenchmarks.
According to the results for a handset going by the model ID SHV-E300S, it out performs the Galaxy S3, Nexus 4 and HTC Butterfly during off screen tests, while only the Nexus 4 comes out better from the on screen benchmarks.
We're not getting too carried away with any of these reports as it's not clear where the Project J information came from and benchmarks can be easily forged.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 release date is currently thought to be scheduled for May, so we're going to have to wait a couple more months before we start getting anything official from the Korean firm.
Belkin has produced another solid product with the Belkin Lightning Car Charger for the iPhone 5.
Some companies have made a good living out of making peripherals for Apple's old iPod, iPhone and iPad connections. However, the launch of the iPhone 5, iPad mini and iPad 4 introduced the new Lightning connector, that's smaller and faster than the older port. It's undoubtedly a nice feature, but it can render the peripherals we've bought for our older Apple products obsolete.
You can buy an adaptor so that you can use a Lightning port with an older device, though it's a rather inelegant solution that removes almost all of the benefits of the new port. It does mean you get to keep your old peripherals, and is also useful if you have a number of Apple devices, with some of them still using the older port, since it enables you to use all your devices.
The second option, as Belkin took with its Lightning Connector Car Charger, is to make a device that works from the ground up for Lightning connections. It's small, good looking and charges the device quickly, thanks to its 10 watt power output. There's no need for an adaptor, and it can be easily stored in the car when not in use.
Rubber grips around the head of the adaptor make it easy to insert and unplug the adaptor, and the included 1.2m (4ft) lead is a decent length.
Verdict
Overall this is a good product to buy if you only have an Apple product with the new Lightning connection. However, if you have other Apple devices with the older port, then this car charger will be of limited use, and you might be better off getting an adaptor.
Nokia witnessed its global mobile phone market share drop significantly over the course of last year while Apple and Samsung continued to grow.
According to analyst firm Gartner the Finnish manufacturer saw a year on year drop of 4.7 per cent, with a larger 5.4 per cent decline in the final quarter of last year.
Apple and Samsung on the other hand managed to increase their dominance in the market, with the firms now controlling 52 per cent of all smartphone sales.
Record breaking smartphones
Smartphone sales were at a record high during the fourth quarter of 2012 with 207.7 million units being snapped up by consumers, which is up almost 40 per cent over the same period in 2011.
On the flip side feature phones continue to decline, partly due to the swath of affordable Android smartphones now on the market, with sales down almost 20 per cent year on year.
Possibly the biggest winner from these results is Chinese firm Huawei which now sits comfortably in third place in the global smartphone sales ranking, although there's quite a gap between it and second place Apple.
Rumors of a Windows RT powered Nokia tablet have been going around since at least March last year and a potential slip-up at a Nokia event in Pakistan will only fuel that fire. An image shown during the presentation featured a Windows RT tablet sandwiched between a Nokia Lumia 620 and a desktop monitor displaying the Windows Start screen.
Measuring the ratio of the Lumia 620 screen and the unknown tablet, we arrived at around 11.6 inches screen diagonal. That’s a fairly popular diagonal for Windows RT tablets.
Nokia has literally bet its house on the Windows ecosystem succeeding, so a tablet might help push things along. Microsoft is quiet on Surface RT sales, but with Nokia having established itself as the Windows Phone maker, it might have better luck selling a Windows slate.
According to a rumor from December last year, the Nokia tablet will have USB and HDMI ports plus a sheet battery with two extra USB ports and a kickstand. The MWC is fast approaching and it might be the launch venue for the Finns' first tablet. We’ll be there, holding a pinch of salt.
Apple made the screen bigger last time. Is an even bigger iPhone on the way?
When Apple unveiled the iPhone 5, the reaction was a bit muted: where previous phones were massive leaps forward, the iPhone 5 was a bit longer and a lot easier to scratch.
So what can we expect from the next iPhone, the iPhone 6 or 5S? Let's see what the crystal balls are saying.
The iPhone 6 and the iPhone 5S are two different phones
The rumour mill doesn't seem too sure whether the next iPhone is going to be the iPhone 5S or the iPhone 6. Given the iPhone's history - from the 3G onwards, there's always been a half-step S model before the next numbered iPhone - we'd bet on an iPhone 5S first and an iPhone 6 a few months later.
The iPhone 6 might have a plastic case
Multiple rumours say Apple's working on plastic cases for its next iPhone, mixing plastic and metal in such a way that "the internal metal parts [are] able to be seen from outside through special design."
It's unclear whether such cases would be for the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, or if Apple is simply considering making cheaper iPhone 4s to sell when the iPhone 3GS reaches the end of its life.
Pretty, yes, but also horrifically scratch-prone. Will your next iPhone have a plastic back?
The iPhone 6 will finally do NFC
That's what iDownloadblog reckons, quoting Jefferies analyst Peter Misek: it'll have a better battery too, he says.
The iPhone 6 will run iOS 7 and the iPhone 5S probably won't
Developers are seeing new iPhone model identifiers in their server logs: the device identifies itself as the iPhone 6,1 (the iPhone 5 is 5,1 or 5,2) running iOS 7, and its IP address is an Apple one. If the two-phones strategy is true, we'd expect Apple to unveil the next major revision of iOS at its WWDC conference in June, with it shipping on the iPhone 6 a few months later.
The iPhone 6 release date is September 2013, probably
Some pundits predict a spring release for the iPhone 6: Money Morning reckons that the iPhone 5's lack of NFC and Jumbotron display is because Apple's got a proper iPhone ready for a springtime release.
It's quite likely that Apple is moving to a two-phones-per-year upgrade cycle, but we'd bet on a springtime S model and a bigger update in the Autumn.
Even Digitimes reckons a springtime iPhone 6 is unlikely: it's predicting a summertime reveal for Apple's next generation phones, which again fits with a WWDC unveiling.
Apple may have a new roadmap, with new phones every spring and autumn
The iPhone 6 will have 128GB of storage, and it'll cost a fortune
We've already seen a 128GB iPad, so why not a 128GB iPhone 6? Yes, it'll cost a fortune, but high-spending early adopters love this stuff.
The iPhone 6 may not have a home button
According to Business Insider, of the many iPhone 6 prototypes Apple has made, one has a giant Retina+ IGZO display and a "new form factor with no home button. Gesture control is also possibly included".
The iPhone 6 screen may be bigger
Take this one with a pinch of salt, because China Times isn't always right: it reckons the codename iPhone Math, which may be a mistranslation of iPhone+, will have a 4.8-inch display. The same report suggests that Apple will release multiple handsets throughout the year over and above the iPhone 5S and 6, which seems a bit far-fetched to us.
You'll probably still be able to see the camera lens in the iPhone 6
The iPhone 6 processor will be an Apple A7
Not a huge surprise, this one: the current processor is a dual-core A6, and the next one will be a quad-core A7. The big sell here is more power with better efficiency, which should help battery life.
Expect to see it in the 2013 iPad first, and expect to see an improved A6 processor, the A6X, in the iPhone 5S.
The iPhone 6 camera should have more megapixels
Apple's bought camera sensors from Sony before, and this year we're going to see a new, 13-megapixel sensor that takes up less room without compromising image quality.
The iPhone 6 will have better 4G LTE
On its UK launch, just one UK network had 4G LTE: Everything Everywhere, which currently offers 4G on the 1800MHz band. In 2013, all the other big names will be coming on board, offering 4G in other frequency bands. International iPhones already work across different 4G bands to the UK, so you can expect the UK iPhone 6 (and possibly the iPhone 5S) to be more promiscuous than the iPhone 5.
The iPhone 6 Wi-Fi may be 802.11ac
Apple likes to lead Wi-Fi standards adoption - its Airport really helped make Wi-Fi mainstream - and there's a good chance we'll see ultra-fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi in Apple kit this year. It's faster than Lighting, and not very frightening.
The iPhone 6 may get wireless charging
Wireless charging still isn't mainstream. Could Apple help give it a push? CP Tech reports that Apple has filed a patent for efficient wireless charging, but then again Apple has filed patents for pretty much anything imaginable.
The tasty bit of this particular patent is that Apple's tech wouldn't just charge one device, but multiple ones.
