A leading Google advisor has dropped a subtle hint to suggest the much-vaunted Motorola X Phone may allow users to customise hardware features based on their own needs.
Rumours have been circulating in recent weeks that the X Phone will let buyers pick processor speed and and memory specs at the point of sale in much the same way as buying a laptop computer.
Now Guy Kawasaki, the former chief evangelist at Apple who joined Google-owned Motorola as in an advisory role in February, has offered the clearest indication yet that this May indeed be the case.
In a post on his Google+ page, Kawasaki added a video of a Porsche Exclusive sports car with the caption: "Wouldn't it be great if you could personalize your phone like this?"
Dream phone?
These super-fancy Porsches (not that we'd know) allow users to choose from over 600 different options, allowing the wealthy to custom-build their dream sports car.
The inference this could be applied to a smartphone will lead to all manner of speculation regarding the options Google/Moto would offer beyond processing speeds and memory and existing choices such as colour and storage size.
It sounds pretty great doesn't it, giving the customer exactly what they want? However, it also seems fair to suggest that it could lead to a manufacturing nightmare.
If reports recently are to be believed we'lll find out Moto's plans for sure at the Google I/O event in May. What would you choose to customise on an X Phone? Let us know in the comments section below.
Rumor has it Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 could go as big as 6.3 inches
Samsung's Galaxy Tab 3 and Note 3 could be packing their tiny bags for Berlin this summer as the Korean tech giant prepares to unveil them at IFA in September.
That's what reports today seem to point toward, with an anonymous "insider" tipping off SamMobile, and the Tab 3 gaining a DLNA certification.
According to Softpedia, the Galaxy Tab 3 popped up in the trade organization's database with three model numbers: GT-P3200, GT-P3210, and GT-P3220.
The Galaxy Tab 3 is expected in both 7-inch and 10-inch (possibly dubbed the Galaxy Tab 3 "Plus," and with LTE, as well) flavors, and the third model number could refer to a Wi-Fi only version. Appearing at DLNA suggests a release could be approaching.
Oh, the suspense
We were half-expecting Samsung's new range of 7- and 10-inch tablets to debut at MWC last month, but our hopes were dashed when the company's only new arrival was the Galaxy note 8.0.
These three model numbers could represent the tablets we've been looking for - but will we really have to wait until September to try them out?
That nugget comes from a source trusted by SamMobile, but we have no way of confirming its veracity. We've reached out to Samsung for more info, but we're not anticipating much of a response.
Either way, it's hardly set in stone; even this "insider" only said the Tab 3 and Note 3 "may" appear at IFA.
Is bigger better?
Samsung's Galaxy Note 3, for its part, is rumored to go even bigger than its predecessors, with a 5.9-inch or, on the outside, 6.3-inch screen.
If either size turns up, the Galaxy Line will basically zoom past phablet straight into pure tablet territory. Those are huge screens we're talking about.
The evasi0n untethered jailbreak wasn't able to evade the fixed exploits in this week's iOS 6.1.3 update, but at least Apple is giving the hacking team some credit today.
A security note released by the company acknowledges the evad3rs team for being the to first discover four of the six vulnerabilities that were patched in iOS 6.1.3.
"Apple gives hat tip to @evad3rs for 4 of the 6 security fixes in 6.1.3 :)" tweeted MuscleNerd, one of the four hackers who took advantage of those bugs to create a way for users to install non-Apple-approved software.
The evasi0n untethered jailbreak team is credited in the Apple document for being the first to come across the dyld, Kernel, Lockdown and USB.
The two other exploits patched in iOS 6.1.3 are WebKit and Passcode Lock, the latter being a bug that allowed someone to bypass the four-digit passcode screen without entering numbers.
Untethered 'Jailbreakers stay away'
Now that iOS 6.1.3 is available to download, faithful users of the untethered jailbreak should avoid updating to the new version of the mobile operating system.
"IOS 6.1.3 is out. Jailbreakers stay away! There's no coming back to 6.1.2 JB even if you saved blobs (except iPhone4 and ipt4g)" exclaimed MuscleNerd is a tweet.
The evasi0n jailbreak was significant because it was the first legitimate untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.1 and 6.1.2, and the first to work with newer devices like the iPhone 5, iPad 4, and iPad mini.
There is good news those searching for an untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.1.3.
Evasi0n creator David Wang has previously stated that the evad3rs team has found other bugs in the iOS platform and could create an entirely new jailbreak based on them, ensuring the cat-and-mouse game between Apple and iOS jailbreakers continues.
Nokia is currently suing HTC in Germany on 22 cases, but one of them is finally coming to an end. The court has ruled that HTC used a battery-saving patent, owned by Nokia, in three of its smartphones.
The patent is about some battery-saving procedures while a device is connected to a network. It was infringed by three HTC phones, but all of them are already discontinued in Germany so the ruling won't affect HTC sales in the country.
Nokia expressed its satisfactions via an email statement:
"Nokia is pleased with this decision, which confirms the quality of Nokia's patent portfolio."
HTC is preparing to appeal the decision while continuing its efforts for invalidation of the patent in German and English courts.
Samsung and Apple better beware – the HTC One combines stunning design, a supreme screen and explosive power to offer one of the best smartphones around.
It's got a full HD screen crammed into 4.7-inches, which brings a 468ppi – well above what's needed for the eye to discern, and it does definitely bring sumptuous sharpness throughout the use of the phone.
On top of that there's a CPU and RAM combo that is barely bettered, a more-than-enough 32GB of storage and top-end Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G / 4G connections, all topped off by a completely re-imagined version of HTC Sense. What's not to like?
It's at the sharp end of the smartphone price scale, although can be had for around £34 per month on a two year deal in the UK, which isn't too bad at all compared to the competition.
The design of the HTC One is something that you simply have to experience in the hand. Where those that pick up the Samsung Galaxy S3 will go ' Oh, it's a bit plastic, isn't it? But ooh, it's quite light' and those who encounter the iPhone 5 will, to a person, say 'Ooh, it's very light isn't it? You don't expect it to be that light!' those that try the HTC One will simply intone: 'Oh, that's really nice. Really, really nice.'
And do you know why? Simple: the HTC One is one of the best-designed phones on the planet. Not content with inventing a new machining process to allow the body to be all aluminium, the Taiwanese firm has extended the screen to the edges of the chassis further than ever before, meaning you're getting a 4.7-inch Full HD display without the additional heft you'd probably expect.
It's even thinner than its predecessor, the HTC One X (we know, that naming strategy leaves a lot to be desired) and as such slides nicely in the pocket. It's not light either, weighing more than most of the competition, but rather than feeling overweight, combined with the metallic chassis is oozes a premium build. Samsung is probably hoping not a lot of people hold this phone side-by-side with the new S4 as otherwise the buying choice is going to be a lot more of a worry for the Koreans.
On top of that, there's a whole host of little design wins that delight when you first try the HTC One. For instance, the machined holes that allow sound toe emanate from the dual front-facing speakers (can you say BOOMSOUND?) looks amazing, and the lines on the back of the phone give a nice textured movement to things, helping to break up the constant greyness of the aluminium.
You could argue that straight on it looks far too much like either an iPhone 5, with its chamfered edges, or a BlackBerry Z10 front on, and you'd have a good point as this phone doesn't reinvent the rectangle-with-rounded-edges formula that we're so used to, but in the hand the curved back brings a whole new dimension to things.
There's a zero-gap construction at work here as well, which means that you won't find any gaps, holes or light leakages to make you feel like you've not spent your hard-earned cash on something wonderful.
The volume control on the right-hand side of the phone is in the same dazzling metal, and contrasts nicely with the rubber/plastic that makes up the sides. Our sample actually showed a fair amount of wiggle in this area, and slightly detracted from the overall premium feel.
The power button resides on the top, and doubles as the infra-red blaster - however, this is one of the poorer points as it doesn't have a whole lot of travel.
Similarly, the placement of this button, even on a phone that's been shrunk down while accommodating a larger screen, is still a bit inconvenient. We had to shuffle the phone around in the palm to turn it on and off on many occasions, and a lot of the time we couldn't use our thumb to hit the whole of the screen without jiggling the phone up and down.
That's another problem with the design: it's pretty slippery thanks to the metallic chassis. We thankfully only ever suffered two serious drops when we were about a foot off the carpet (basically scrabbling for it to turn off the alarm in the morning) and a more alarming one stepping out of a cab, but there have been a few near misses when trying to manoeuvre around the screen.
If only that power button was on the side, or a physical home button unlocked the phone, this whole issue would be negated for a large part.
But as we mentioned, HTC has wandered away from the physical buttons - where once it put a trackpad in the Nexus One, now it's stripped the capacitive buttons down from three to two, with the multi-tasking option going the way of the dodo. You can still get the same functionality by double tapping the home button, but it's not the same.
Overall though, you can guess we're impressed with the construction and design of the HTC One. We're not even looking at final hardware here - although we appear to have got lucky with our sample, as there are few design flaws in sight - so the chances of metallic chipping ('because that's just what it does....' OK, Apple) are slight to say the least - providing you don't fling it on tarmac. Seriously, we tried that... don't do it.
We thought we'd scuffed it so many times during our test, but each time it was simply a slight amount of dirt or dust that wiped right off. Tick from TechRadar on the design front, HTC.
Samsung has already confirmed the Galaxy S4 flagship will ship with Snapdragon 600 chipset in the USA, Canada and Sweden. Today the UK joins the markets where the Galaxy S4 won't be powered by the company's own Exynos 5 Octa platform.
Since its announcement we knew Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available in two flavors - one running on Samsung's latest and greatest Exynos 5 Octa chipset and another based on the Qualcomm's Snapdragon 600 platform.
The Exynos 5 Octa chipset features two processors (which can't operate simultaneously) - a quad-core 1.6GHz ARM Cortex-A15 CPU used for heavier loads and a quad-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A7 CPU for lighter tasks. The Exynos 5 Octa also features a tri-core PowerVR SGX544MP3 graphics.
The Qualcomm's Snapdragon 600 chipset is already available on the market and utilized by a few smartphones out there. It comes with a quad-core Krait 300 processor and Adreno 320 graphics. In the Galaxy S4 models to use it, the four Krait 300 cores are clocked at 1.9GHz and as we saw in our preview that was enough to beat every other phone we've tested so far.
Still we expect the four Cortex-A15 cores to do even better and beat those four Krait 300 cores.
We suspect the LTE-enabled Galaxy S4 model (I9505) is the one based on the Snapdragon 600 chipset, while the Exynos 5 Octa one (I9500) won't feature LTE connectivity. That's probably why those key markets (USA, Canada, UK) are getting the Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S4 - because of the LTE availability in those countries.
Do you find this is a fair trade (LTE for inferior CPU) or would you rather get the Octa core version? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Today the earth shattering realisation hit us: the UK won't, repeat WON'T, be getting the octa-core (yes, eight processing chips) Samsung Galaxy S4, with the Korean firm deeming us suitable for only four cores.
But you know what Samsung? Good. As instead of a stupidly overpowered handset which may swiftly see you from one homescreen to another and back again, you're still going to be stuck with a crummy 3G data connection.
While the quad-core Galaxy S4 may not seem quite as fancy it holds a key trump card - 4G.
Now 4G itself is still a bit of a moot point in the UK, what with the service only being available via one network, and at substantial cost, but by the end of this year every carrier will offer the superfast service and everyone will want a slice of the action.
You can keep your cores
When the 4G network does kick in fully the last thing you'll want is to be stuck with a handset which forces you to miss out until your contract is up in 18 months time, or makes you pay a hefty fee to upgrade to a capable handset.
So if anything Samsung has done us a favour by not dangling the octa-core handset in front of our greedy eyes as lets be honest, we'd so plump for that over the quad-core version out of sheer lust.
We're yet to hear a convincing argument as to why a smartphone even needs an octa-core processor, it's not like we're going to be running a small empire off the back of it and that many chips makes us fear for the battery's life.
All your battery are belong to us
Of course people will point towards ARM's new big.LITTLE technology but we still don't know for sure just how much of a difference it will make. It could mean an improvement, thanks to being able to efficiently manage tasks between high and low power, but we're a long way from seeing apps optimised for such things.
We seriously worry about the battery life in the eight-core toting Galaxy S4, especially when you consider the 5-inch full HD display it's got to power alongside the processor.
Samsung has stuck a larger, 2,600mAh battery into the S4 to compensate (up from 2,100mAh on the decently lasting Galaxy S3), but we're not sold just yet.
In short the octa-core Galaxy S4 doesn't need to exist, just give us all the 4G, quad-core version and be done with it - and if you even consider throwing such temptation our way in the future there will be hell to pay.
That said, nothing would give us a bigger feeling of smug satisfaction then asking our friends, "so how many cores does your phone have?" only to hear them mutter "four" while we casually shrug our shoulders and go "well, mine has eight..."
