Gresso reveals Radical - Android-powered luxury smartphone

Luxury phone maker Gresso is jumping on the Android bandwagon with the Radical limited edition smartphone.

The Gresso Radical R1 is made of grade 5 titanium that is milled by high-tech machines for nine hours. The body is then handed off to someone to manually polish for 4 hours straight, resulting in the attractive texture on the phone's back. The back of the phone features Gorilla Glass insets that are tinted black using a special process.

More impressively, the capacitive keys on the front of the Radical R1 are part of the aluminum unibody, a unique design developed by Gresso. There's a manually polished Gresso logo that's made of titanium on the base phone, yellow or white gold on the higher-end model.

The phone measures 138 х 69 х 12 mm and weighs. Its smartphone credentials are a 4.5" touchscreen of qHD resolution (245ppi), Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, a quad-core 1.2GHz processor (no word on the core design but Cortex-A7 is likely), 8MP camera with 1080p video capture and 36GB of built-in storage.

Surprisingly, the Gresso Radical R1 is a dual-SIM phone. Perhaps not that surprising, considering the base model costs $1,800. The gold logo will set you back another $500.

A premium presentation of the device will be held at CES in Las Vegas early next year. Keep in mind it's a limited edition and only 999 units will be made. You can find out more about the Gresso Radical here.

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/gresso_reveals_radical__androidpowered_luxury_smartphone-news-7404.php

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Kantar: Windows Phone holds position in November

Kantar has an early present for Microsoft – the preliminary smartphone OS market share numbers for November (check the October numbers here). Windows Phone continues to show a strong presence in Italy, where it held 15.6% of the sales for the month, outselling iOS which only had 10.6% of the market.

The iPhone 5s and 5c brought some fresh blood to the iOS landscape, so the expectation was that other platforms will drop during the holiday shopping frenzy under pressure by the new iPhones.

Besides Italy, Windows Phone stood its ground in the important (for Microsoft) US market and in Germany too. It did drop a little over a percentage point in the UK and its position in China declined also.

As before, Android dominates most markets except Japan and the US, where iOS is still going strong.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/kantar_windows_phone_held_steady_in_november-news-7403.php

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BlackBerry commits to five more years of smartphones

Let's turn it around, BB

BlackBerry has just signed up for a five-year partnership with Taiwanese iPhone maker Foxconn.

The two will work together to create new devices, according to BlackBerry, which stated that the initial focus of the partnership will be Indonesia and "other fast-growing markets" with an early 2014 target.

The news comes on the same day that BlackBerry announced a painful third-quarter loss of $4.4bn, with the company only shipping 1.9 million smartphones last quarter compared to 3.7 million the quarter before. It's even had to cancel its annual developer conference, BlackBerry Live - an event which has been running for 12 years.

The better news is that over 40 million users have registered the BBM app for iOS and Android in the last 60 days.

New year's resolution

"Partnering with Foxconn allows BlackBerry to focus on what we do best – iconic design, world-class security, software development and enterprise mobile management," said BlackBerry Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackBerry.

Chen also made it clear that it's committed to hardware "for the long-term", despite the company's declining fortunes.

While it will be focusing on emerging markets for the time being, we could well see some Foxconn-built handsets winging our way in the near future.

For now, we just hope that BlackBerry's new partnership can help it to turn its fortunes around.

• We returned to the BlackBerry Z10 to see what's changed

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/blackberry-commits-to-five-more-years-of-smartphones-1210206

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Tablet or Phone: Which should you choose?

Which is best for you?

There will be a lot of you out there who are already rocking a smartphone and/or a tablet, but for those of your about to dip your toe into the technologic water you may be wondering if you need both or just one.

Luckily TechRadar is on hand to help you make that decision, whether it's picking up your first mobile device or perhaps it's time to upgrade and you're unsure which direction to follow.

Of course you could make things easy and plump for both a shiny new smartphone and a tablet, but they don't come and cheap and for many of us we only realistically need one or the other.

There are numerous things to consider when it comes to choosing between a phone or table, but the key questions you need to ask yourself are; who is it for, what will it be used for, how much are you looking to spend and what screen size do you fancy?

• Best mobile phones in the world today

The biggest difference in phones and tablets is obviously screen size. This distinction is forever becoming more blurred as supersized smartphones begin to encroach on the 7-inch tablet market.

Looking for the best of both worlds? Then you might want to check out the 6.44-inch Sony Xperia Z Ultra or the 6-inch Nokia Lumia 1520 - there's even the 7-inch Asus FonePad which is a tablet first and foremost, but also has calling and texting abilities.

The huge Sony Xperia Z Ultra

If plans for your new device centre around watching a lot of movies, reading books and magazines or browsing the web then we'd recommend buying a tablet.

While you can do all these activities on a smartphone, the smaller screen isn't as comfortable from a visual perspective, although phones are much better for music playback thanks to their portable nature.

We'd recommend a phone for those users who spend a lot more time on the go, for those who value portability as much as functionality. Tablets are becoming ever more portable, but nothing will ever replace the ease of being able to just pop something into your pocket.

• Best tablets in the world today

Phones are the better messaging devices, so if you're going to be sending a lot of texts, constantly checking your email or spending hours on instant messaging services then you'll want to lean towards a smartphone. Tablets are able to manage emails as well as run some instant messaging services, but phones win out overall here.

We love take pictures, so if you want your new mobile device to also double as a point and shoot snapper you'll once again want to be heading to the smartphone side, as they pack better cameras than tablets while also being a lot easier to carry around.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/tablet-or-phone-which-should-you-choose--1202489

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Glass half full of Christmas cheer

As rivals to Google Glass rise up, is wearable tech about to break through?

George Orwell was wrong. The future isn't a boot stamping on a human face forever; it's the human race so engrossed in Facebook that it walks off the end of a pier. Such - ahem - pier pressure will only get worse as computing becomes more pervasive and stuck-to-our-facey, and there's no tech more pervasive and stuck-to-your-facey than Google Glass.

Google's eyewear isn't on sale yet, but its early "Explorer" adopters have been given some new goodies just in time for Christmas. There's a new Upload To YouTube feature, a Weather app, news updates from the Wall Street Journal and Winkfeed, and Google Hangouts. Sadly there's no sign of a pier detector. Maybe next year.

Glass is also becoming more gregarious. This week the MyGlass app came to iOS, enabling iOS users to walk off the end of… OK, OK, we'll stop now. It's not all good, though. The latest Glass updates remove Guest Mode, which will make sharing and showing off the device more difficult.

A different view

Glass isn't the only intelligent eyewear that wants to get in your face. As Matt Swider discovers, there are several Glass rivals around - and some of them are an awful lot cheaper than Google's effort. One of the most interesting is GlassUp, which has an expected price tag of just $299.

Another interesting Glass alternative is Epson's Moverio, which we first saw back in 2011. It's been given a major revamp and rethink since, and it's now aimed at business users. Unlike Glass, it's binocular, enabling users to see in 3D space without interfering with their normal vision.

Maybe that's what Santa wears for a sat-nav system. As you might have noticed, it's nearly Christmas - and that means it's time for our super soaraway Christmas Gift Guide, which covers gifts for every conceivable interest.

Does the guide include tablets? Of course it does, and we reckon tablets of all shapes and sizes will be on many people's wishlists this Christmas. But will you want to kiss a MyTablet under the mistletoe? We think not - and our guide to the very best tablets to put under the tree offers 10 much better alternatives.

Appy Christmas

If you're giving or hoping to get a tablet or a smartphone as a gift, don't forget that the installed apps tend to leave a lot to be desired. Why not bookmark our guides to the best apps so that you can be excited and delighted on Christmas day? We have the 80 best free iPhone games on the planet, the 80 best free iPad games, the 90 best free Android apps, the 90 best free Android games, the best Android camera apps and the best camera apps for iPhone.

Once you've installed all your apps, there's more good news: you can take them travelling. This week BA became the first European airline to approve tech use during take-off and landing. There are conditions - the devices need to be in Airplane Mode or equivalent, so you won't be able to make calls (hurrah!) or use mobile data (boo!) - but it's nice to see air travel finally catching up with the rest of the world.

And that's all for this week. We hope Santa's good to you. Merry Christmas when it comes!

• Look back on 2013 with the Week in Tech archive

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/portable-devices/glass-half-full-of-christmas-cheer-1210104

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Samsung unveils Galaxy S4 mini La Fleur edition

Samsung has a tradition of releasing special versions of some of its devices with floral patterns, the so called La Fleur editions. The latest edition to the line is the Galaxy S4 mini La Fleur, which follows in the footsteps of the S III mini from January this year.

This version of the phone is based on the Red Aurora color but features a big floral pattern on its back and a smaller one on the front, above the camera.

Other than that, the specs are the same – 4.3" qHD Super AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 400 chipset, 8MP/1080p camera and a 1,900mAh battery.

The phone will be available in January next year at a €417 price point. The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini La Fleur was shown in Germany, but besides that there's no info on which countries will get it.

If you're looking for a Valentine's day gift, there's a pink Galaxy S4 mini too.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_unveils_galaxy_s4_mini_la_fleur_edition-news-7402.php

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GDR3 with Lumia Black now seeding on AT&T Lumia 1020

Microsoft and Nokia has just launched the GDR3+Lumia Black firmware update for the Lumia 1020 cameraphone on the AT&T network. The whole process requires downloading five Microsoft and one Nokia update and will take a while before the installation is over.

The Windows Phone GDR3 firmware build is 3051.40000.1346.0001, while the OS version goes at 8.0.10517.150. The update is available on all flavors of the Nokia Lumia 1020.

Windows Phone 8 GDR3 update brings option to turn the automatic rotation on/off, option to close apps from the app switching interface, Driving Mode, tethering over Bluetooth, better storage management, custom ringtone support for messages, and new accessibility options.

The Lumia Black update adds two new color options for the Glance Screen (green and blue), Glanc Screen notifications, Bluetooth 4.0 LE support, RAW camera support (DNG format), and new camera processing algorithm (same as 808 PureView) for better white balance and noise reduction.

We bet the international Lumia 1020 GDR3+Black update is just around the corner and will probably launch next month.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/gdr3_with_lumia_black_now_seeding_on_at_t_lumia_1020-news-7400.php

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Android founder admits iPhone really did change everything

All change please, all change

Former Android developer Chris DeSalvo has revealed that Steve Jobs' announcement for the first iPhone meant that Google had "to start over" after two years of development on Android.

At the time of Apple's presentation Andy Rubin, director of the Android team, was in a car on the way to Las Vegas for a meeting.

When the news hit he ordered the driver to pull over so he could watch the rest of the webcast, and turned to a colleague to exclaim "Holy crap, I guess we're not going to ship that phone" - referring to a BlackBerry-like handset Google had in the works.

DeSalvo manages to sum up the feelings of pretty much everyone at Google that day: "As a consumer I was blown away. I wanted one immediately. But as a Google engineer, I thought 'We're going to have to start over'."

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Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/android-founder-admits-iphone-really-did-change-everything-1210106

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iPhone 6 could arrive with a flexible wraparound display

Curve it, flex it, bend it

Samsung and LG have already got in on the curved game, and now Apple looks set to follow suit.

A patent for a flexible wraparound display, made using a powder liquidmetal process, has just been awarded to Cupertino and could be a strong hint at what's coming in the iPhone 6, or more likely the iPhone 7 or 8.

A wraparound display would of course mean that you could view content on the back, front and sides of the phone. The patent does suggest, however, that you'd still have non-touch surfaces on the top and bottom of the phone.

Aside from the touchscreen, the device would use rotational motion detection, using a number of sensors such as a gyroscope and accelerometer to adjust the display depending on your viewing angle.

Tilt it like you mean it

Interestingly, the patent also references devices of different shapes, including a hollow cylinder, a hollow tube with an oval, or even a triangular or rectangular shape.

In other words, there's a strong suggestion that the technology could also be used in other future Apple devices such as smartwatches (hint, hint, iWatch).

At the same time, another Apple patent has been published by the USPTO suggesting that Apple is looking at souping-up the colour accuracy in its displays.

The patent is for a "Quantum dot-enhancement display having dichroic filter", which is a very fancy way of saying that Apple is looking at a technology for creating colours that are much more precise and vivid.

• Here's everything we know about the iPhone 6 and iWatch so far

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/iphone-6-could-arrive-with-a-flexible-wraparound-display-1210091

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Android 4.4.2 KitKat now rolling out for the Moto G

One of the cheapest and best value for money smartphones is getting a KitKat treat. Motorola has announced that it has begun rolling out the Android 4.4.2 KitKat update for Moto G purchased from Motorola's website and Amazon in the US, with carrier versions and other regions getting it soon.

The KitKat update was originally planned to release in early 2014 but Motorola somehow managed to beat their target and released the update just in time for the holidays.

The company has shown excellent commitment in keeping their Moto X smartphone up to date and it's good to see that commitment extending to the cheaper Moto G as well. Hopefully, the other smartphone vendors learn a thing or two from Motorola.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/android_44_now_rolling_out_to_moto_g-news-7399.php

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