AT&T announces pricing and availability of Sony Xperia TL

AT&T announced pricing and availability of the Sony Xperia TL. The LTE smartphone will be available for purchase next week, on November 2 for $99.99 with a two-year contract.

As its name mildly suggests, the Sony Xperia TL is almost identical to the globally available Xperia T, which we recently reviewed. The only major difference between both devices is the presence of LTE connectivity.

Traditionally, the availability announcement of the Sony Xperia TL is accompanied by a promo video from AT&T. See it below.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/at_t_announces_pricing_and_availability_of_sony_xperia_tl_-news-4998.php

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Pricing and availability of the ASUS Padfone 2 detailed

Now that the ASUS Padfone 2 is finally official, it's time to get a detailed idea of the device's pricing and availability. As we already told you, the smartphone is initially going to be available in 32GB and 64GB variations, with a 16GB coming out later (we assume by Christmas).

ASUS will launch the Padfone 2 and its tablet station first in Europe (Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sweden) and Asia (Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and U.A.E). The smartphone/tablet should be available there in the beginning of December.

The US hasn't been mentioned in the official press release, but we got a word from an ASUS manager at the event, saying the Padfone 2 will debut in the US by the end of the year as well.

As for pricing, the 32GB Padfone 2 (including a the 10.1" tablet station) will retail in Europe for €799, while the 64GB model will be €899. We guess once the 16GB version comes arounds, it'll cost around the €699 mark.

In Asia, the Padfone 2 tablet station will be sold separately for NT$8,990 ($310). There, the unsubsidized Padfone 2 smartphone will retail for NT$17,990 ($620) and NT$21,901 ($750) for the 16GB and 32GB models, respectively. However, should customers purchase the Padfone 2 together with the tablet station, the latter will be sold at NT$6,000 (around $210).

Information on subsizided US versions isn't yet available, and we are yet to see which US carriers will pick the device up. We are also yet to see how the Padfone 2 will compete with the upcoming LG Optimus G in Europe too.

The Padfone 2 is powered by a beefy 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) chipset with Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB of RAM. This awe-inspiring chip helps the Padfone 2 run Ice Cream Sandwich with absolute ease. Naturally, an update to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is planned, too.

For more information and first impressions, check out our full ASUS Padfone 2 hands-on.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/pricing_and_availability_of_the_asus_padfone_2_detailed-news-4958.php

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LG Optimus G will land on AT&T's shelves on November 2

AT&T Wireless announced pricing and exact availability of the LG Optimus G. The LTE smartphone will be available on November 2 for $199.99 with a two-year commitment to the carrier.

The quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro packing smartphone will be available for pre-order beginning tomorrow over here. You can check out our initial impressions of the AT&T branded LG Optimus G in this blog post.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_optimus_g_will_land_on_at_ts_shelves_on_november_2_-news-4952.php

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Samsung announces a beefed up Galaxy S III for Japan

Today NTT DoCoMo announced the upcoming availability of a few smartphones including Samsung’s Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II.

You’ve probably heard all there is to know about those two, but NTT DoCoMo’s version of the Galaxy S III, called Alpha, will be slightly different. Its chipset is pretty much the same as the international version of the Galaxy Note II - with the quad-core processor has been clocked on 1.6GHz instead of 1.4GHz and 2GB of RAM.

The faster CPU speed should help turn an already impressively fast smartphone into a real beast. What's even better, the Japanese Galaxy S III will run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean at launch.

Samsung Galaxy S III Alpha will be sold in Titanium Gray and Sapphire Black and will launch in December.

Source | Via

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_announces_a_beefed_up_galaxy_s_iii_in_japan-news-4932.php

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Apple iPhone 5 sales prediction for the weekend set at 8 million

The Apple iPhone 5 is already here and just about every analyst out there is busy trying to predict how it will do in its first weekend of availability. One of them, however, really impressed us with its non-traditional research methods.

Gene Munster and his team at Piper Jaffray based their prognosis on, among other things, the lengths of the lines in front of the Apple stores today. The survey of lines at Apple stores in New York, Boston and Minneapolis showed that crowds are 83% larger than those for the iPhone 4S used to be.

That has lead the analyst company to predict that Apple will sell 8 million iPhone 5 units in the opening weekend, which is just in the middle of its previous 6-10 million forecast. The expected sales for the first full quarter of iPhone 5 availability - the upcoming holiday quarter - should reach 49 million, which should help Apple close the gap to Samsung in the smartphone race.

If Apple sticks to its habits, we'll all know the exact number on Monday, when a press release will be issued. One things is certain though - the iPhone 5 will set a new record for fastest selling smartphone.

Via

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_5_sales_prediction_for_the_weekend_set_at_8_million-news-4842.php

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Vodafone offering nano-SIM cards ahead of iPhone 5 launch

Vodafone pulled a blog-post about the availability of nano-SIMs

Vodafone says it has 500,000 nano-SIM cards in stock and ready to be dished out to customers, on the eve of the iPhone 5 launch.

The network has stocked up on the new SIM standard, which is likely to make its debut in the new iPhone, which is all-but-certain to be announced in San Francisco on Tuesday evening.

Vodafone made the announcement in a post on its official blog, which Pocket-Lint points out has now been removed as nano-SIM-enabled devices are not yet available.

The post from Vodafone comes a week after T-Mobile Germany informed retail partners that the next-generation of SIM technology will be winging its way to them.

Handle with tweezers

"They're so slim and tiny you might only be able to handle them with tweezers - but imagine the extra space the new nano-SIM card frees up inside your handset," Voda's post read.

"The first devices have now been announced – and Vodafone has now got 500,000 of the new 12.3 mm x 8.8 mm nano-SIMs in stock."

The nano-SIMs, which became the new European standard after a legal battle involving Apple, Motorola, Nokia and RIM, are 40 per cent smaller than the micro-SIMs that live within the iPhone 4S.

We'd say there's a very good chance Vodafone will republish this post as soon as the iPhone 5 is announced in tomorrow evening.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/vodafone-offering-nano-sim-cards-ahead-of-iphone-5-launch-1096358

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