Hands on: Acer Liquid Z2 review

So the Acer Liquid Z2 is not going to set the mobile world alight, but we quite like it all the same.

It's designed primarily as a first baby step into the smartphone world and comes with some helpful features to make the transition as painless as possible.

It's a fairly dinky little thing to look at and comes with a 3.5-inch 480 x 320 display, 1GHz single-core processor, and a 3MP camera.

As a resolutely budget device, it does not feel like a premium smartphone, but it's small and light and certainly isn't horrible to look at and fondle in the hand. There are uglier phones out there that cost twice as much. That said, it is quite a fat device for something so small, but at least it's not heavy.

The great thing about this little phone is that even your mum's silly friend who dresses too young for her age and pretends not to understand the TV remote will be able to use it. It comes with an app called 'Quick Mode' which is essentially an app launcher designed for people who don't know what Android is and don't want to know.

Open it up and it gives you all of the main settings, functions and apps in one menu. Things like Bluetooth on/off, camera, browser etc. All of the things a technophobe needs to make use of a smartphone without trying, basically.

This all runs on top of a mostly vanilla-flavoured build of Android Jelly Bean 4.1, and even though it has low-end specs, it still manages to be nippy and responsive to the touch. There was no sluggishness, and the camera - which "launches in just one second" - was able to fire off snap after snap without any focus or save lag.

Early Verdict

OK, so it's not going to win any awards but we like the Acer Liquid Z2 and look forward to putting it through its paces in a full review. We give it a tentative thumbs up for the time being and encourage you to check it out if you have a technophobic friend or relative who quakes at the thought of touching anything with silicon inside it. Just don't tell them it has silicon inside it.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/acer-liquid-z2-1133179/review

Read More

Huawei Ascend W1 UK release and price confirmed alongside electric colours

Low cost and good looks for Windows Phone 8

The Huawei Ascend W1 will be gracing the UK with its presence on March 7, as the Chinese manufacturer confirms an exclusive deal with O2.

Available for £119.99 on PAYG and free on contacts starting at £13.50 per month the Windows Phone 8 toting Ascend W1 is priced at the affordable end of the market.

There's nothing to particularly write home about in terms of specs, with the Ascend W1 packing a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 4-inch 480 x 800 display, 4GB of internal storage, 5MP rear camera and a 1,950mAh battery.

Electric

Price and feature wise the Huawei Ascend W1 stacks up pretty well against the Nokia Lumia 520, with the duo set to do battle at the bottom end of the Windows Phone market.

Initially only available in 'Electric Blue' from March 7, the 'Electric Pink' version of the handset will arrive a little later on March 18.

Huawei hasn't revealed how long the exclusive deal with O2 will last, or whether any other networks are planning on ranging the Ascend W1 in the future.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/huawei-ascend-w1-uk-release-and-price-confirmed-alongside-electric-colours-1133847

Read More

Sony announces Firefox OS mobile device in development

Sony announced that it will be launching a Firefox OS mobile device in 2014. Bob Ishida - the company's deputy CEO has confirmed that Sony's engineers are currently working with Firefox OS Mobile and HTML 5 evolving technologies which show great potential.

The news was delivered during a joint event between Sony and Telefonica, where the Spanish carrier announced that it will carry the Xperia Z Android flagship and the Xperia Tablet Z. Telefonica, together with other Sony carrier partners will also be involved in the development of a Firefox OS handset.

All in all, the announcement is great news for Mozilla. Now that Sony has joined the ranks ZTE, Huawei, Alcatel, and LG, Firefox OS has increased chances of carving a slice out of today's ultra-competitive market.

Source | Via

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_announces_firefox_os_mobile_device_in_development_-news-5612.php

Read More

Google apparently has Android angst, thanks to Samsung

Is the X Phone a buttress against Samsung success?

There's reportedly a disturbance in the Android force, one that's got Google shaking in its Chrome-toed boots.

Samsung is said to be the progenitor of Mountain View's angst as the Galaxy maker continues to overshadow the rest of Android market.

Great news for the operating system and mobile ad revenues, but not so much for Google.

The news comes from the Wall Street Journal, which cited a 2012 meeting in which Andy Rubin, head of Android, extolled Samsung's success on the platform but warned that Google could find itself in an undesirable position if Samsung got a little too far ahead of its competitors.

What gives?

Samsung accounted for 39.6 percent of the global smartphone market last year, with most of those devices running some version of Android. Other Android makers - HTC, to name one - are struggling to stay afloat against the South Korean manufacturer and Apple.

According to the Journal, the fear is that as the top dog, Samsung may see space to demand more of Google than it would as a junior player.

Even more worrisome is the possibility that, like Amazon, Samsung could develop a homemade OS that borrows heavily from Google's system, creating a direct and likely gutsy competitor.

However, Google has a plan in place to slow Samsung, one that centers around Motorola Mobility. Rubin went so far as to call the purchase a hedge against Samsung's growing power.

Products made by Motorola under Google don't yet hold a candle to Samsung, yet there is hope, especially if future additions to the Nexus line and rumore X Phone give Google an edge on hardware.

How much longer these two are able to play nice will make for good viewing, too.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/google-apparently-has-android-angst-thanks-to-samsung-1133796

Read More

Apple's iOS 6.1.3 update set to kill evasi0n untethered jailbreak

Evasion is not an option

The iOS 6.1.3 beta 2 update from Apple won’t work with evasi0n, according to one of the developers behind the untethered jailbreak for iPhone 5 and newer iOS devices.

Apple’s latest beta, which the company began pushing to iOS developers late last week, patches one of the five bugs that the evasi0n jailbreak exploits, evasi0n creator David Wang told Forbes.

“If one of the vulnerabilities doesn’t work, evasi0n doesn’t work,” Wang said.

“We could replace that part with a different vulnerability, but [Apple] will probably fix most if not all of the bugs we’ve used when 6.1.3 comes out.”

Untethered jailbreak cat-and-mouse game

Apple’s undoing of the three-week-old untethered jailbreak doesn’t mean this is the end of the jailbreak store Cydia or custom software on iOS devices.

Wang told Forbes that his team of “evad3rs” found other bugs in the iOS platform besides the aforementioned five exploits, and could build an entirely new jailbreak based on them.

Yes, Apple’s move looks like it will be just the latest update in the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between the Cupertino company and the jailbreak community.

iOS 6.1.3 lockscreen fix

As the first untethered iOS 6 jailbreak, evasi0n was downloaded 270,000 times as soon as it went live. It continued to break records with almost 7 million downloads over the next four days.

While avid users of Cydia will want to avoid updating, the iOS 6.1.3 patch may be essential for other security-focused iPhone and iPad users.

Besides patching one of the five exploits used by the evasi0n untethered jailbreak, the iOS 6.1.3 update is set to fix the persistent lockscreen bug.

Even though Apple knew about this lockscreen bug before it released the iOS 6.1.2 update, users can still bypass the not-so-secure lockscreen without entering the “required” four-digit keycode.

Once again, the benefits of jailbreaking an iOS device come with giving up a little bit of security.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/apples-ios-6-1-3-update-set-to-kill-evasi0n-untethered-jailbreak-1133800

Read More

Qualcomm and doubleTwist bond over Android media streaming

The doubleTwist music player for Android

As much as you might love using an Android phone, there are a few things which as still easier with Apples. Media streaming is a prime example, thanks to Apple's AirPlay protocol.

This could change, if a new project partnership between chip-maker Qualcomm and music player doubleTwist bears fruit. Together they have created MagicPlay, a new open-standard streaming protocol which they are hoping OEMs will incorporate into the next generation of Android smartphones and tablets.

The MagicPlay technology is actually based on an older Qualcomm wireless concept called AllJoyn, which connects compatible (read: Qualcomm) chips creating peer-to-peer networks over short distances.

Wireless connectivity is something doubleTwist knows a thing or two about, having created th successful AirTwist wireless media syncing tool to complement the standard doubleTwist media player for Android phones. AirTwist connects with a client installed on PCs and updates the media library on your phone, so that you always have the most up-to-date music to listen to.

Any takers?

From here, Qualcomm will begin the uphill battle selling MagicPlay to the manufacturers and trying to convince them to use MagicPlay in their media apps rather than the older (and clunkier) DLNA protocol and the new (and considerably more streamlined) Miracast.

Either way, it's a win for consumers. After years of wishing the latest droid could dock and stream like the iPhone, we may finially see something resembling a standard that all the manufacturers can embrace; both in phones and in their home theatres and TVs, too.

Via CNET

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/qualcomm-and-doubletwist-bond-over-android-media-streaming-1133792

Read More

Shazam celebrates 300 million users with new tablet apps

There's something satisfying about pressing that giant 'Shazam' button

Shazam, the music-tagging app that tells you what you're listening to so you don't have to Google the lyrics, has surpassed 300 million users worldwide, the company announced on Monday.

That's no small feat - according to a report from Strategy Analytics, smartphone users totaled just over one billion as of October.

Any app used by almost a third of smartphone users can probably be considered a success.

To celebrate, Shazam announced plans to release redesigned apps for iPads and Android tablets "in the coming weeks."

More social than ever

We still use Shazam mainly to find out the names of whatever annoying new songs are playing on the radio and in bars, but the company announced that the new Shazam tablet apps will make social and mapping features more prominent.

Users of the new Shazam apps will be able to view activity streams to find out what songs and TV shows are being tagged most often and see what people are tagging in any city in the world.

Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher called it "the most efficient way to experience more of the media around you" in a press release on Monday.

The app will include a newly redesigned home screen that emphasizes social features, an interactive map that shows tags around the world, improved friend features, faster tagging, automatic re-submission if your initial tag attempts fail due to poor reception, and better integration with other social networks for easier sharing via Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Gmail.

Free users get some too

Shazam also announced that users of the free version of the app will be getting some nice bonuses soon as well: faster tagging and lyrics display for tagged songs.

The press release also mentioned that the iOS Shazam app is universal, so it seems as if the incoming iPad update will work on iPhones and iPods as well.

No word on whether the same applies to Android devices, but TechRadar has reached out to Shazam to find out. The company has yet to respond.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/shazam-celebrates-300-million-users-with-new-tablet-apps-1133755

Read More