Windows Phone 8 Cortana voice assistant rumored for this April

Like Siri but sassier

Soon Windows Phone 8.1 users may get the chance Master Chief, in their head at least, when the Cortana voice assistant arrives to Nokia Lumia devices this April.

Infamous MS insider, MSFT reports that Microsoft's rival Siri voice companion, Cortana will launch into beta this April on Lumia for US developers. What's more, Jen Talyor, the voice of Cortana in the Halo videogame series, will lend her vocals as the smartphone assistant.

We don't know if Cortana will be her sassy self on phones, but this April release lines up with the expected Windows Phone 8.1 update. Soon after it's supposedly going to come wrapped into the iPhone Bing app this fall in the US.

Xbox One and Windows 8.1 PC users will get Cortana next in 2015 with Threshold. After that it seems the voice assistant will reach other English speaking shores for the remainder of 2015 year and into 2016.

In the interim, MSFTnerd says speech recognition improvements have already shipped out in the Bing Translator app for Windows.

Kinect intelligence

The Cortana voice assistant made her first appearance last September as a rumored app, but this is the first time we've heard it was coming to anything other than Windows phones.

On mobiles Cortana is reported to be a faster way of changing settings. The assistant could also be smart enough to anticipate appointments and automatically map out the route for users.

These features could be easily replicated and useful on Windows 8.1 computers, but who knows what sort of smarter Kinect integration Microsoft has cooking up for Xbox One.

Even with insider information, were going to take these rumors with a grain of salt until we can hear Cortana on our Windows phones.

• The first workstation ultrabook is here, we go hands-on with the HP ZBook 14!

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/windows-phone-8-cortana-voice-assistant-rumored-for-this-april-1216014

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LG Optimus F3Q with sliding QWERTY press image leaks out

A press image of an upcoming LG smartphone with sliding hardware QWERTY got posted on Twitter by @evleaks. The entry-level Android handset is headed to T-Mobile US as LG Optimus F3Q.

Alleged specs of the Optimus F3Q include a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU (likely a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 as in the non-QWERTY LG Optimus F3), 4” WVGA (800 x 480 pixels) display, 5MP camera unit, LTE connectivity, and 2,460mAh battery. The smartphone is said to boot Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

There is no word on pricing and availability of the LG Optimus F3Q just yet. We doubt it will be a long wait before an official announcement comes out from the Big Magenta.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_optimus_f3q_with_sliding_qwerty_press_image_leaks_out-news-7586.php

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LG G Flex pre-orders begin on Sprint in the United States

Sprint Wireless in the United States opened the pre-order books for the curved LG G Flex. The 6” top-end Android phablet is priced at $299.99 with a two-year contract.

Customers who pre-order the quirky handset can expect to have it in their hands by January 31. Pre-orders of the device will ship with a free QuickWindow Folio Case by LG, valued at $59.99.

The LG G Flex will be available to purchase from the carrier’s retail stores on February 7. Its commitment-free price is set at $649.99.

The curved LG phablet will also be available on AT&T and T-Mobile in the United States. Both carriers should announce their own pricing and availability any moment now.

You can check out our extensive LG G Flex review over here.

Source | Via

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_g_flex_preorders_begin_on_sprint_in_the_united_states-news-7585.php

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Vodafone confirms 'intermittent' network fault

At least you can still tweet...

Vodafone has confirmed to TechRadar that some users may be experiencing problems with their service this afternoon.

There's definitive reason as yet for this outage, nor a timescale for a fix, but when asked we were given the following statement from a spokesperson:

"We know that some customers may be experiencing intermittent issues when using their phone this afternoon. The issue will not affect all customers and we're working hard to resolve this. We apologise for any inconvenience."

All a-Twitter

NCGNetworks, a B2B telecoms provider tweeted: "Vodafone have a nationwide issue sporadically causing problems with voice, data and SMS services. Engineers are working on it."

Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest these issues can range from not being able to send to a text to not being able to pick up any signal at all.

Vodafone has promised us an update soon, and we'll bring you any changes as they happen.

Here's hoping that the problems aren't as severe as in 2011, when some little blighter broke into the Basingstoke site and stole the important bits needed to broadcast a signal...

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/vodafone-confirms-intermittent-network-fault-1215965

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Sony Xperia E1 and Xperia T2 Ultra to hit the UK this spring

Even though Sony didn't shed any light on the pricing and availability of the newly announced affordable Xperia E1 and mid-range phablet Xperia T2 Ultra, some information on their UK arrival became available.

According to a UK retailer's inside source, the Xperia E1 will be hitting the shelves across Britain in March. Sony Xperia E1 is already available for pre-order in Germany and it should go for €139 for the single-SIM model, and €149 for the dual-SIM version. This means the UK price should be around £120 or less.

The Sony Xperia T2 Ultra hasn't popped up yet on any retailer for pre-order, but rumor has it that the phablet won't cost more than €400 (about £330). According to the same inside source, the Xperia T2 Ultra will hit the UK in April.

So, the premieres of both gadgets are upon us, though we hope Sony comes up with better pricing for the Xperia T2 Ultra phablet. The already available, better equipped Xperia Z Ultra costs about €470 which isn't far off Xperia T2 Ultra's projected price tag.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_e1_and_xperia_t2_ultra_to_hit_the_uk_this_spring-news-7584.php

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Vodafone suffering nationwide service issues affecting calls, texts and data

Are you experiencing problems with your Vodafone service?

The UK's Vodafone network appears to be suffering from nationwide service problems, which have impacted customers' ability to make calls, send and receive texts and use data services.

Users have taken to Twitter in droves to complain about the issues while the down detector website currently displays 738 reports of service problems at 1pm UK time on Thursday.

Vodafone is yet to officially comment on the reports, but NCGNetworks, a B2B telecoms provider tweeted: "Vodafone have a nationwide issue sporadically causing problems with voice, data and SMS services. Engineers are working on it."

We've reached out to Vodafone for an update and will update this story when a response is forthcoming.

Ironically, the outage comes on the same date Vodafone demanded the right to publish government security requests in order to provide the public with a greater sense of transparency.

More to follow on this breaking story...

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/vodafone-suffering-nationwide-service-issues-affecting-calls-texts-and-data-1215963

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Screenshots reveal Nokia Normandy user interface

Fresh Nokia Normandy information made the rounds on Twitter thanks to @evleaks. The latest pieces of the puzzle are a couple of screenshots revealing the potential user interface of the phone. With live photos and press renders out and about, the Normandy looks to be a real deal after all.

The screenshots reveal what looks to be homescreen and notification area of the Normandy. The left screenshot is the homescreen, which is reminiscent of the Windows Phone 8 live tiles. At first, we were suspicious if this is Android at all, but the BBM app icon gave it away. The tiles look to be configurable and can either take a third of the screen (three on a row), or two thirds, like the Photo tile on the third row.

The notification area, which is on the right side of the photo, is a cross between standard Android notification area and the app launcher. There are alerts for the alarm clock, calendar, Skype, missed calls, gallery and SMS. In a true Android fashion, some of them are expandable, too, like the calendar, gallery, phone and SMS texts. They also give you quick action shortcuts with contextual menus for each notification.

Below the photo @evleaks states that there are "two ways to interact with Normandy", which could mean that those are the only two screens from the whole Android users are going to get. That's highly unlikely though, as it looks like those are two different views of the same thing - the homescreen with tile and list modes.

You can also see that the Nokia Normandy is going to be available in a dual SIM version, as shown in the status bar.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/screenshots_reveal_nokia_normandy_user_interface-news-7583.php

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