9 out of 10 smartphones sold in China are powered by Android

China is a very important market for smartphone makers and mobile software developers with its vast cellphone user base. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reported that there are nearly 1.1 billion cellphone subscribers as of October.
Mo?? importantly, according to a report by Analysys International, 9 out of 10 smartphones purchased in Q3 2012 was running Android. Apple's iOS had 4.2% market share, while Symbian accounted for 2.4% of all purchases.
Part of the reason Android devices are so popular in China might be their aggressive pricing. The average price of an Android device for Q3 2012 was approximately $223 USD (CNY 1,393) compared to the average of $726 (CNY 4,523) that iOS devices cost. Symbian devices are the cheapest of the bunch, retailing for an average $178 (CNY 1,114) per device.
It's quite astonishing that 80.6% of the country's population is using a cellphone, resulting in 71.83 billion text messages sent in October alone. Overall, the usage of feature phones is declining and during Q3, just 63.73 million "dumbphones" were sold, a 4.1% decline from September, and 7.5% year-over-year.

Windows Phone 7.8 previewed on video on a Nokia Lumia 900

Hot on the heels of the leaked Windows Phone 7.8 features from a few days back, a short clip of the update has emerged online, running on Nokia Lumia 900. See it below.
The short clip surely doesn't reveal much, save for the resizable tiles, a la Windows Phone 8. In any case, Windows Phone 7.8 is scheduled to arrive in early 2013, so the wait for the Apollo treatment of your first-generation Lumia shouldn’t be too long.

Samsung Galaxy S Advance to get Jelly Bean in January

Samsung Germany used its Facebook page, to share some valuable info, regarding the Galaxy S Advance Jelly Bean update. The device will receive Android 4.1.2 in January. The update will be supplied both through the Kies software and over the air.
Previously the update was rumored for November. Samsung announced that the Galaxy S Advance will skip ICS altogether and move straight to Jelly Bean instead. The company has also committed to delivering Jelly Bean to a long list of devices in the "coming months".
It seems Samsung is really keen on keeping its customers happy and bringing the latest software to them. And given that after the update the S Advance will probably cannibalize some of the S III mini sales, the company deserves some recognition for this.

Samsung Galaxy Note II for Verizon goes on sale tomorrow

Verizon raised a few eyebrows when it put its logo on the Home button of the Samsung Galaxy Note II, but if you can live with that, you should know that the phablet goes on sale tomorrow, November 29.
The price is the same as it was during pre-orders - $300 if you sign a 2-year contract, or $700 if you prefer to go off-contract. The Note II for Verizon is available in Marble White and Titanium Gray.
By the way, if you've already pre-ordered Samsung's fast-selling phablet, you should have a shipping confirmation email in your inbox.
Verizon's Samsung Galaxy Note II is the same 5.5" Super AMOLED-packing, Jelly Bean-running, Exynos-powered device as the international version, but also gets support for Verizon's CDMA and 4G LTE networks.

Google Nexus 4 to go back in stock in the US today

Today Google sent notifications to those who registered their interest of buying the smartphone. The offer applies only for the United States and starts at 12:00 PST time.
Last time around, the available stock was depleted in less than an hour and it will probably be the same now. So if you really want to get yourself a shiny new Nexus 4, you might need to do some serious refreshing when the time comes.

Huawei Ascend D2 GLBenchmark score confirms quad-core CPU

In late October at an event in China, Huawei announced its first phablet - the Ascend D2. At the time Huawei stayed mum on some of the key specs of the device. Thankfully, GLBenchmark comes to save the day, confirming the chipset and screen specs of the device.
At the front the Ascend D2 features a 5-inch LCD display of FullHD (1920x1080 pixels) resolution, matching the screen of the HTC DROID DNA (and the upcoming rumored Lenovo and LG F240 smartphones).
Unlike the Ascend D1, which Huawei stuffed with a dual-core TI OMAP 4460 chip, the Ascend D2 is powered by a quad-core chip operating at 1.5GHz.
Presumably, that's the company's home-brewed K3V2 -the chipset powering the Huawei Ascend D quad. The Huawei custom designed chip turned out to be quite hard to manufacture, though and caused several delays in the availability of the D quad, which was announced back at the MWC in February. Hopefully, Huawei will have resolved all issues with the production by January 2013, when the Ascend D2 is expected to debut.
GLBenchmark reports the Ascend D2 is running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with Huawei's Emotion UI on top. There's also a very high chance of an update to Android 4.2 coming shortly after the official launch.
According to a tipster of ours, the Huawei Ascend D2 is going to also be dust and water-proof and is going to sport a 13MP snapper at the back. Additionally, he suggests the phablet is going to be powered by a quite beefy 2920mAh battery. Take this with a pinch of salt, however, since Huawei hasn't confirmed any of it officially.
Pricing and availability are still anyone's guess. Huawei is known for its competitive pricing, but the Chinese tend to take their time bringing their smartphones to the market.

HTC Deluxe DLX not actually coming to Europe?

When we caught a glimpse of the first official photos of the HTC Deluxe DLX a couple of days back , we were all but certain that it is only a matter of time before the quad-core beast with 1080p display makes its way to Europe. Therefore, the news from HTC Germany that the device won't make it to the Old Continent came as nothing short of a surprise.
As you can see in the translated message above, the 5" relative of the HTC J butterfly and the Verizon exclusive DROID DNA will not make it to Europe according to the message posted by HTC Germany's official Facebook account. There were no specific reasons given by HTC for the unfortunate occurrence.
Of course, the message might simply mean that the top shelf smartphone will make it under a different name and design to Europe. For HTC market share's sake, we hope it does.

LG Nexus 4 benchmarked, Android 4.2 confirmed

The LG Nexus 4, under the codename Mako, has surfaced in the GLBenchmark scoreboard, securing itself a top 4 place, just behind the Pantech Vega IM-A850, Asus PadFone 2 and the Xiaomi MI-2. All of these, like the Nexus 4, are rocking a Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset with the Adreno 320 GPU.
The published information on the GLBenchmark website cites Android 4.2 as the OS running on the Nexus 4, which all but confirms the next Nexus will come with it out of box.
There's also a new picture of the LG-made Nexus device courtesy of @evleaks on Twitter.
The Nexus 4 got 30.4 frames per second in the offscreen 1080p Egypt test, which coincides with what we achieved on the Optimus G in our review.

Japanese court rejects Samsung's case against Apple

Samsung had filed a case in Japan back in September asking to block the sales of all the iPhones. According to Samsung, the iPhone 4 and the 4S were infringing on their patents regarding the technology used in the downloading of apps and the airplane mode.
The Tokyo District Court has thrown out Samsung's case, stating that the technology used by Apple for downloading apps was sufficiently different from Samsung's and that the airplane mode is an extension of past innovations.

Oppo Find 5 has a FullHD 5-inch screen, pics and specs emerge

The Oppo Find 5 is no stranger to us, we've already heard the rumors. And this time around they seem to be confirmed to the letter.
 Oppo Find 5 has a 5-inch screen of FullHD resolution with a narrow 3mm bezel. It runs on 1.5Ghz Qualcomm's APQ8064 quad-core chipset with 2GB RAM. The aluminum unibody has a thickness of merely 6.9mm and the 12MP camera with a Sony backlit sensor allegedly doesn't bulge at all.
But that's not all, as there is also a nice and hefty 2500mAh battery inside to power the thing. Oh, and there's Android 4.1 Jelly Bean pre-installed.
Oppo Find 5
A 5-inch screen with Full HD resolution, now that does ring some bells, doesn't it? The recently introduced HTC J has similar specs but it's for Japan only.
The Oppo Find 5 will be available in 16GB and 32GB versions, priced at 3000 Chinese yuan (about US$475) and 3300 Chinese yuan (about US$520) respectively. Those are unsubsidized prices, but the Oppo Find 5 is reportedly coming with support for GSM and UMTS (with HSPA) networks, so it's compatible with China Unicom's network. This is also good news if you are planning to get one imported to Europe or America, as there are plenty of carriers to support those standards there.

Google sends out invites for an Android event on October 29

Google has just sent out invites to the media for an Android event to be held on October 29. The event will be in New York at 10:00 AM and will be streamed live on YouTube.
As far as the purpose of the event is concerned, our psychic powers tell us it is going to be a new Nexus device, the same LG manufactured unit currently known as the Nexus 4 we have been seeing for a while now. There is a possibility that there could be multiple Nexus phones this year but other than some rumors we have seen zero proof to confirm that, so we won't be holding our breath for them.
It's likely that Google will launch this new Nexus device with a new version of Android, most likely the Android 4.2 that has been floating around these days. Other than that we expect to hear some updates on the Nexus Q, which has been an unmitigated failure since it was launched during Google I/O, enough for Google to pull it off shelves and go back to working on it. Google could also announce the 32GB Nexus 7 that we have been hearing about recently.
You may have noticed by now that the October 29 date coincides exactly with the Windows Phone 8 launch date and it would be naive to think that's a coincidence. Google must be pretty confident in its product(s) if it thinks it can go head to head with multiple Windows Phone 8 devices on the same day. We'll just have to wait and see how things turn out.
Brace your wallets cause next week is going to be a doozy.

Android 4.1.2 update now seeding to Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus

Following the footsteps of the Google Nexus 7, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S got their own treatment of Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. The 15.1MB update is currently seeding to GSM/HSPA versions of both smartphones over the air.
The update is a minor improvement over its predecessor. It includes the usual performance and stability fixes. Landscape mode however, will remain reserved for the Google Nexus 7.

Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 will hit Germany on November 1

It appears that the Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 duo of Windows Phone smartphones will descend upon Germany on November 1 - only a few days after Windows Phone 8 becomes officially available. The country's largest retailer MediaMarkt has listed the launch date on its pre-order page for both devices.
The Nokia Lumia 920 flagship is priced at the hefty €649, while the mid-range Nokia Lumia 820 will set overly eager users back with a more bearable €449. Both prices include the applicable taxes and will secure the buyer a handset with no contract commitment.

ASUS PadFone 2 emerges in press shots and video footage

With its official announcement scheduled for October 16, the ASUS Padfone 2 leaked out in a number of press shots, thus leaving nothing about its design to our imagination. The upcoming Android device with dual personality also emerged in video footage, where it was shown off by no other but the CEO of ASUS - Mr. Jerry Shen.
The photos of the device reveal the brand new design of its tablet docking station. Gone is the covered housing for the smartphone seen in the original PadFone - the newcomer will slide into its slimmer and better looking tablet dock instead.
The video footage of the ASUS PadFone 2 revealed that the device will sport a 4.7" HD screen and a 13MP camera. Rumored specs for the device include a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset and 2GB of RAM.
Here goes the video itself. The footage of the PadFone 2 begins around the 1:40 mark

UK carriers start taking Galaxy S III mini pre-orders

The Galaxy S III mini was announced just yesterday, but it’s already available for pre-order from three of Britain's major carriers.
This means that you can get the Samsung smartphone for free as long as you are willing to sign a two-year contract. The cheapest Vodafone contract that gets you a shinny new Galaxy S III mini for zilch costs £25/month. If Orange or O2 are your carrier of choice, you need £26/month or £27/month contract, respectively, to get a free mini.
There are cheaper plans, too, starting from £15.50/month, but you'll have to pay £199.99 to have the Samsung Galaxy S III mini on them. You can always opt for the SIM-free device, but it will set you back £300.
To sweeten up the deal, Phones 4U is throwing free Pebble MP3 players for the first 350 pre-orders.
The Samsung Galaxy S III mini is expected to start shipping in the beginning of November.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus US injunction gets reversed

The injunction banning the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the United States has been reversed by US appeals court. According to the decision, Apple could not present sufficient evidence, relating consumer demand for the Android smartphone to its universal search patent.
The injunction, banning the sale of the device was awarded to Apple back in June. The patent case itself was initiated in February.

Galaxy S III mini specs and photo leak - dual-core CPU and JB

Well that was fast - the Samsung I8190 Galaxy S III mini leaked in full before tomorrow's official announcement. These specs are not official so they might be inaccurate, but they look right for a 4" Samsung Galaxy S III mini device.
The screen is 4" big (which we already knew) and it's a Super AMOLED unit of WVGA resolution (so likely the same screen as on the original Galaxy S). The phone is powered by a ST-Ericsson U8420 chipset with a dual-core CPU clocked at 1GHz and 1GB RAM.
The Samsung Galaxy S III mini will launch with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with Samsung's traditional TouchWiz customizations on top. The main camera will be a 5MP unit with LED flash and there will be a front-facing VGA camera, though there's no info on the video recording (fingers crossed for 1080p, but it might be 720p too).
Samsung I8190 Galaxy S III mini official photo
On the connectivity side we have quad-band 2G and tri-band 3G with 14.4Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 HSUPA, dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, DLNA, Bluetooth 4.0, optional NFC and a microUSB port. The built-in storage is set at 16GB, expandable with a microSD card.
The Galaxy S III mini will measure 121.6 x 63 x 9.9 mm and will have a plastic exterior that looks like the Galaxy S Duos (a small S III/Note II lookalike). The weight was not included in the leaked specs. The battery inside it will have 1500mAh capacity.
The pricing info puts the Samsung Galaxy S III mini at €400 ($515), which isn't much less than a full-sized Galaxy S III. We'll wait for the official pricing info during tomorrow's official unveiling.

Google releases Android 4.1.2 to the Nexus 7, brings minor updates

Google has silently launched an update to Jelly Bean AOSP bringing Android to version 4.1.2.
The update is currently slowly making its way to the Google Nexus 7 units around the globe, but it shouldn't be long until it reaches the Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus S and the Motorola XOOM.
As with any software update, the Android 4.1.2 release brings its fair share of bug fixes and promises a boost in performance. However, Google Nexus 7 owners will be happy to know it also enables landscape orientation to both the homescreen and lockscreen.
Other than that, Google doesn't say much about the update, which is 31.3MB in size and sports a JZO54K build number.

Samsung Galaxy S III is T-Mobile's best-selling device of all time

Samsung Galaxy S III T999 for T-Mobile US has become the carrier's best-selling device of all time. The fourth largest US carrier announced the impressive achievement on its official Twitter feed.
The Korean flagship accomplished the feat after less than four months of commercial availability. With the holiday shopping season right around the corner, we can reasonably expect the device to solidify its position even further.
While this is great news for both the Big Magenta and Samsung, we must point out that the Galaxy S III T999 has enjoyed a relatively easy ride on its way to glory - the carrier offers no other smartphone whose specs, stature, or marketing budget came even closer to the Korean device. T-Mobile's lack of a subsidized Apple iPhone has further boosted the appeal of the device.
Official sales' numbers were not disclosed by the carrier. We will update you should we hear about them

Intel Lava XOLO X900 gets Ice Cream Sandwich update

The first Intel Medfield based smartphone, the Lava XOLO X900, has finally received the Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich update that was it was promised.
The update is now available for download over-the-air or you can also download it from Lava's website (link in the source below). After updating, your phone will have Android 4.0.4 and the build number will be V2.190-CRAK-user.
We haven't had a chance to use this build yet but if the previous Gingerbread build was any indication, it will mostly be stock ICS with some minor customizations.
The XOLO X900 is now selling in India for ?17,500 (approximately $338) unlocked, making it quite a good deal. You can read our preview of the phone here.

Galaxy Note II firmware update brings split-screen multitasking

Samsung has released a firmware update for the Galaxy Note II, which enables the much anticipated split-screen multitasking feature.
Multi-View enhances the multitasking capabilities of the Galaxy Note II, allowing you to run two apps on the screen simultaneously. Mind you, not all Android apps are supported, but unlike the Galaxy Note 10.1, where only Samsung apps could be brought up to the screen, Multi-Window supports Google apps as well (Gmail, YouTube, Chrome and Talk).
The update version is XXALIJ1 and comes with a new baseband, as well as an update to Google Chrome.
If you own a Samsung Galaxy Note II, you can check for the new firmware from About device -> Software update. While waiting to download, you can see Multi-Window in action on the official Samsung Galaxy Note II ad below (around the 2 minute mark).

AT&T unveils Samsung ATIV Smart PC with 11.6" display

AT&T added the Samsung ATIV Smart PC to its lineup of 4G tablets. The Windows 8 slate features an imposing 11.6" display, which makes it one of the most formidable around.
Samsung ATIV Smart PC official photo
The Samsung ATIV Smart PC is powered by an Intel Clover Trail 1.5 GHz dual core processor, and features 64GB of built-in memory, which can be further expanded via microSD card slot. With an optional keyboard docking system, the slate is able to transform itself into a capable notebook.
The Samsung ATIV Smart PC boots Windows 8. It will come preloaded with a trial version of Microsoft Office 2013.
We did spend some quality time with the imposing looking tablet. Its build quality and finish struck us as practically identical with what we saw in the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. With an 11.6" display on board, the slate is definitely not from the compact crowd - we guess that most users will choose it along with the keyboard docking system.

Google to cut even more jobs at Motorola Mobility

Google continues the plan to bring its newly acquired Motorola Mobility back to profitability by optimizing the way the company operates. Unfortunately, for the Motorola employees, who still haven't been given the boot, Google plans to continue with the job cuts.
This means that the budget Google will have to set aside for severance packages will also increase. In fact, it'll go up to $300 million from the $275 million the company initially planned it'd need.
The search giant will spend another $90 million on closing down Motorola facilities and exiting non-profitable markets.
Here's hoping that the painful measures, along with the newly released RAZR line-up will do enough to bring Motorola back in the black.

AT&T will offer HTC One X+ and One VX in the near future

Shortly after the international HTC One X+ broke cover, AT&T Wireless announced that it will offer the Taiwanese powerhouse in the United States in the "coming months." The LTE flavored top dog will be joined by the HTC One VX mid-ranger.
The HTC One X+ for AT&T will finally bring NVIDIA's 1.7GHz quad-core Tegra 3 chipset and LTE network connectivity under the same roof, thus turning the dreams of many into reality. The rest of the smartphone's specs are no different that the ones found in the international version. The AT&T branded HTC One X+ will only be available with 64GB of built-in memory.
HTC One X+ for AT&T
The HTC One VX on the other hand, is a well-heeled mid-ranger, which sports a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset. The handset features a gig of RAM and 8GB built-in memory, which can be further expanded via microSD slot. A 4.5" qHD Super LCD2 screen, 5MP camera, full connectivity suite, including NFC and LTE, as well as Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich complete the highlights of the spec sheet.
HTC One VX for AT&T
Exact pricing and availability of the HTC One X+ and HTC One VX are yet to be known. We doubt it will be a long wait for these two to hit the shelves though.

Garnet Red Galaxy S III lands in UK, costs £429

If you're a UK resident and want to get a flashier Galaxy S III but can't be bothered with tedious long-lasting contracts you could get the Garnet Red version in UK now for £429.99.
The Samsung Galaxy S III Garnet Red international availability was announced in August alongside the Amber Brown, Sapphire Black and Titanium Grey variants. Originally an AT&T exclusive it's now available on UK shores as well.
You can order the device from Expansys's website and expect the device to arrive between 3 and 5 business days or opt for the express delivery for an additional 7 pounds.
Carphone Warehouse is also offering the red Galaxy S III and we expect more sellers to follow suit in the next few days.

Specs leak for Verizon-bound BlackBerry Laguna

RIM is completely renovating its BlackBerry OS in its BB10 release and its new gesture-based UI. The Canadians also developed hardware that should stands up to BB OS 10’s biggest competitor, Windows Phone 8.
A leaked specs sheet details the BlackBerry Laguna for Verizon, an L-series device (those are the touch-only ones) that seems to be the CDMA version of the oft-leaked BlackBerry London.
According to this sheet, the Laguna will pack a 4.2” screen with the non-standard 1280 x 768 resolution (only the dev units and the London are supposed to use this one instead of 720p). The pixel density works out to the impressive 355ppi.
The phone will be powered by a dual-core Krait CPU and feature 1GB RAM (Qualcomm MSM8960 chipset), the same that powers the upcoming crop of WP8 flagship devices. Other specs on the BlackBerry Laguna include LTE (with GSM 2G and 3G for roaming), dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n with mobile hot-spot and Wi-Fi direct, NFC and microHDMI port.
Then there’s an 8MP camera capable of shooting 1080p video, 16GB of built-in storage and a hot-swappable microSD card. An 1800mAh battery is set to power the whole thing.
We’ve already had a look at what BlackBerry OS 10 is like from the Beta 3 demos, but these leaked tutorials give even more detail on the new touch gestures.

Motorola cancels ICS update for certain devices

Back in February, Motorola released a chart with names and dates that told us when each of its Android devices will be getting upgraded to Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. Unfortunately, it seems the company won't be able to keep its promise for all the announced devices.
The updated chart now showws that the Motorola Atrix 4G, Photon 4G and the Electrify do not qualify for the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade and will remain on Gingerbread. Other devices remain unaffected, with perhaps some minor changes in dates at most.
Hopefully, this will be the extent of the changes, with no more devices (and their owners) being forced to suffer on Gingerbread.

HTC One X+ makes an appearance in an O2 UK brochure

The previously rumored HTC One X+ seems to be right around the corner, folks. The upcoming smartphone has made an appearance in a brochure for UK's wireless carrier O2.
The newcomer boasts a notable bump in specs over the original HTC One X. The plus version will pack a speedier quad-core CPU, clocked at 1.7GHz and 64GB of built-in memory. Additional 25GB of Dropbox storage will also be available. The device will boot Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
Furthermore, according to the brochure, the HTC One X+ will be priced at £479.99 on a pay as you go plan when it hits O2's shelves.

BlackBerry 10 beta 3 released, shows revamped UI

At a special event yesterday RIM unveiled the BlackBerry 10 beta 3 running on the company's new test device, the Dev Alpha B.
The UI look and feel of this latest BlackBerry 10 build is what RIM will be putting on its final BB10 devices in early 2013. And according to those, who've tried it, it really has the potential to grab people's attention.
Let's start with the new UI features. Starting with the new beta, to wake the device, you simply swipe from the bottom of the screen. Then, you are welcomed with the traditional batch of homescreen panels.
However, there's a twist. The first homescreen isn't really a homescreen in the sense that it holds widgets and app shortcuts. Rather, it houses the so called "Active Frames". You can have up to 8 of them and they represent currently running applications. Mind you, only four fit on one screen, so to view the other four, you'd have to scroll down.
RIM has done good job of backing in gestures in its OS.For example, you can jump straight to the homescreen from any app by swiping from the bottom up. Making the opposite swipe (top down) brings up the settings menu or another contextual menu, depending on the app you're in.
BlackBerry 10 SDK Beta 3 in action • Photos by TheVerge
What's really interesting is the new BlackBerry Hub. This is RIM's unified messaging service. It integrates all your email accounts, messages from social networks (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) and puts them in one place.
It's accessible by a sort of weird gesture - swipe up and to the right (think of it as a reversed L). Once you access it, you can see your notifications alongside the aforementioned emails and messages.
Back to the homescreens, swiping right of the Acitve Frames, reveals the classic list of App icons. They can be manually moved around and sorted to your liking. RIM has integrated an interesting feature allowing you to switch the device into personal or work mode when you swipe down from top of the screen when viewing the App icons screens.
Choosing Work mode allows you to launch an app in a secure mode. For example, a company might restrict copy and pasting in certain secured apps.
TheVerge was at the developer event, and made a user interface video of the latest BlackBerry 10 SDK Beta 3 build. Check it out below.

DisplayMate tests the displays of the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III

Popular display analyzing company DisplayMate has decided to put the iPhone 5 through its various highly scientific tests and pit it against the Galaxy S III. The 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD display of the Samsung flagship faces the 4-inch IPS LCD screen of the iPhone 5, as well as the 3.5-inch display of the iPhone 4 for good measure.
DisplayMate tested many characteristics of the displays, such as screen reflections, brightness and contrast, colors and intensities, viewing Angles and display power Consumption, running time on battery. So what's the verdict?
According to DisplayMate's lab measurements, the iPhone 5 has a "state-of-the-art-accurate" display, and is the best one they've ever seen, even if there's room for improvement in some areas. Compared to the iPhone 4, the IPS LCD display of the iPhone has lower screen reflections and much higher image contrast. The color gamut is also significantly improved and more accurate than before. But what about the Galaxy S III?
In a word - the OLED technology isn't able to produce the same kind of accuracy that the iPhone 5 IPS LCD does. That's because OLED is a relatively new technology that isn't yet as refined as LCDs are. As a result, it doesn't perform as well as the iPhone 5. However, DisplayMate promises a very bright future for OLEDs as they've been evolving and improving at a very rapid pace.
The display brightness of the Galaxy S III is about half of the iPhone 5 due to OLED's low power efficiency resulting in power constraints. The image contrast and screen readability of the Galaxy S III in high ambient lighting is also poorer than that of the iPhone 5.
As far as the color gamut is concerned, Apple has made a noticeable effort in making the colors as accurate as possible, while Samsung hasn't really done this in their OLED displays. As a result AMOLED displays have inaccurate color representation and over saturated colors.
here's one thing that you should keep in mind however - the DisplayMate tests only judge the screens based on its accuracy. In reality, many people prefer the extra punch offered by the over saturated colors on AMOLED screens, even if they are not as accurate.
Check the source link below to see the the full comparison table with included measurements and assessments.

Galaxy S III Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update now seeding

The moment Samsung Galaxy S III owners have been waiting is upon us, as the rollout of the the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update has begun. After many leaks, the software update has started its official march to your Galaxy S IIIs.
The first country to start receiving the update is Poland, but the rest of Europe should join the fun soon. The firmware can be obtained OTA or via KIES. Samsung recommends you are on a Wi-Fi connection with at least 50% battery when you apply the update.
Jelly Bean does a lot to improve the Galaxy S III user experience. While you are waiting for your smartphone to finish updating itself, make sure to check out our extensive preview of the Jelly Bean update and the new features it brings to the S III.

Apple sells 5 million iPhone 5's in the first three days alone

Flagship smartphones sell by the millions and that's a given. Some 2 million people pre-ordered the new iPhone 5 and the total number of sold devices in the three days since the launch on September 21 has reached and surpassed 5 million units.
Sales predictions were a bit higher (standing at around 8 million units), but as you know, market predictions are not what you would call an exact science.
Last year the iPhone 4S sold in over 4 million units over its first weekend of market availability, while the iPhone 4 sold just 1.7 million units in its debut weekend back in 2010.
Yet again however, the demand has exceeded the initially available supply and some of the people who made pre-orders will have to wait for their deliveries until October.
The iPhone 5 launched on September 21 in 9 countries - the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK.
Another 22 countries will get it come September 28. The list includes Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
The total number of markets where the iPhone 5 is available should reach 100 by the end of the year.
As usual, tempting carrier deals aside, the iPhone 5 remains one of the most expensive smartphones on the market with official SIM-free prices in Europe running around the €670 mark.
If you are interested whether you would be able to make use of the iPhone 5 high-speed LTE connectivity in your country, check out our list. If you are not among the lucky ones, you can still count on HSPA, of course.

Samsung to pursue iPhone 5 sales ban over LTE patents infringement

It was a long time coming, but now it has been officially confirmed - Samsung is going to pursue a ban on the US sales of the Apple iPhone 5. The Koreans believe that the latest iOS smartphone infringes on at least 8 of their LTE patents.
Apple is not sitting still either. The lawyers of the Cupertino-based company have identified Android 4.1 Jelly Bean as their next target and will try to deal a major blow to the platform, by proving that Android's core functionality infringes Apple-owned patents.
Judge Koh, who is in charge of the lawsuit, will hold a hearing on Wednesday (September 26) to discuss its further management.

HTC's upcoming 5" smartphone emerges in an alleged press shot

With its likely unveiling less than 48 hours away, an alleged press shot of HTC's long rumored 5" smartphone has emerged. When official, the Taiwanese Android powerhouse will likely be called HTC One X 5.
The rumored specs of the HTC One X 5 include a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset and a 1080p display. If this is the case, the handset will easily top the current crop of Android top dogs.
The device in the press shot also looks a lot like the one which leaked out in a blurry image a couple of weeks back.
We will likely find out all about the new device at HTC's event in New York City this coming Wednesday. We will be covering it live from the spot, so be sure to stick around.

Verizon Galaxy Note II allegedly gets pictured

The Galaxy Note II has long been rumored to be in the works Stateside for both AT&T and Verizon, and some images of what looks to be a Verizon version have popped up.
The images look legitimate save for the Verizon logo on the home button, which looks a bit like overkill if they indeed turn out to be the real deal.
The back sports a less pretentious “Verizon 4G LTE” logo, which, of course, indicates that it will run on Verizon’s hyperfast LTE network.
No word yet on when a Verizon-branded version will go retail, but we’ll be sure to let you know when we hear more.

Apple iPhone 5 expected to sell 10M units this month alone

The Apple iPhone 5 is barely out the door and pre-orders haven't even started yet, but analysts have already come up with the first forecasts for its market performance. RBC Capital Markets is expecting the new iOS flagship smartphone to ship 8 to 10 million units this month alone.
The iPhone 5 will only launch on September 21, but it will already be available in 31 countries before the month's end. Given that the iPhone 4S managed 4 million sales across just 7 markets in its first weekend alone, you can see that the RBC Capital Markets predictions are quite realistic.
The total iPhone shipments (including 4 and 4S) for the third quarter are expected to reach 33 million, which would be an improvement over the 26 million sold in Q2. However, should this predication come true, the company won't be able to beat its record-setting holiday quarter last year. That should happen in Q4 though, as the iPhone 5 reaches over 100 countries.
Some might argue that the Apple iPhone 5 isn't the biggest upgrade imaginable, but then again, neither was the iPhone 4S and that didn't stop it from becoming the most successful iPhone, as well as the best selling smartphone to date.

Samsung Galaxy Note II goes on pre-order in India

The Android smartphone everyone's talking about this week has got a price and a release date in India. Online

retailer Infibeam has put the Galaxy Note II on pre-order for 38,500 INR, which is about $694.
According to our tipster, who has had a word with the online retailer, the Galaxy Note II will be available as early as

September 22. Initially, the phone will be available in its grey and white versions, but later the device will be

available in brown as well.
Still, the release date is earlier than Samsung's announced launch date in October, so don't get your hopes up.

There's always the outside chance that the Samsung engineers just completed the development a bit earlier than

expected and manufacturing started ahead of schedule, but this seems a bit hard to believe.
Don't forget to check out our Samsung Galaxy Note II preview to get the answers to your questions on what's

arguably the hottest Android smartphone right now.

Apple files another lawsuit against Samsung, adds more devices

You didn't think Apple is done with the lawsuits after its victory against Samsung last week, were you? The

Cupertino company has filed another patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung, adding an additional 22 devices

to the list of alleged offenders.
The new list of smartphones and slates includes Samsung heavy hitters such as the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note

10.1. They were not included in the lawsuit Apple won last week - that one actually involved mostly products which

are hardly available on the market these days. There are some devices, which were part of the original suit. This

time however, they are listed for infringing different patents.

Here goes the full list of devices:

Samsung Galaxy S III
Samsung Galaxy S III (Verizon)
Samsung Galaxy Note
Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket
Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch
Samsung Galaxy S II
Samsung Galaxy S II (T-Mobile)
Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T)
Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Samsung Illusion
Samsung Captivate Glide
Samsung Exhibit II 4G
Samsung Stratosphere
Samsung Transform Ultra
Samsung Admire
Samsung Conquer 4G
Samsung Dart
Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0
Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9

It must be noted that the structure of Apple's complaint leaves an open possibility for more devices to be added to

the above list. As always, we'll keep track on the whole affair as it develops.

The Samsung Galaxy Pocket Duos goes official

Samsung keeps expanding its Duos lineup of Android smartphones with two SIM slots. The latest addition goes by

the name Samsung Galaxy Pocket Duos and should be the most affordable dual-SIM droid offering by the company.
Running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the Samsung Galaxy Pocket fella sports a 2.8-inch QVGA display, a 832MHz

single-core CPU and 2GB of internal memory. If you feel like it you can expand that further via the microSD card

slot. At the back, there's a 2MP fixed-focus snapper.
Measuring 103,9 x 57,9 x 12,98 mm and weighing just over 100 grams, the Galaxy Pocket Duos is among the most

compact droids on the market. Popping the battery cover will reveal a 1,200mAh battery, which Samsung says is

good for 15 hours of talk-time in 2G and 6 hours in 3G.
The pricing and availability of the Galaxy Pocket Duos are yet to be confirmed. Still, we expect it to be priced below

the Galaxy Y Duos, which is currently going for about €120.

Apple identifies the Samsung products it will seek to ban

Flying high on the heels of their victory against Samsung, Apple's legal team have identified the Samsung products, whose bam will be sought. The list includes eight smartphones and has been filed as a court notice.
The devices in question are members of the Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy S II families. Here goes the full list of smartphones:

Samsung Galaxy S 4G
Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T)
Samsung Galaxy S II (Skyrocket)
Samsung Galaxy S II (T-Mobile)
Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G
Samsung Galaxy S Showcase
Droid Charge by Samsung
Samsung Galaxy Prevail

Apple iPad mini to allegedly launch in October

AllThingsD is reporting that Apple will announce the iPad mini in October, according to several of their sources.
The launch event will take place only a month after the iPhone event, which is supposed to take place on September 12, although Apple is yet to confirm that.
Initially, some postulated that the iPhone and the iPad mini events will take place simultaneously, although that seemed unlikely considering Apple has historically kept the two product events separate.
This latest news tells us that although Apple might not be willing to merge the iPad events with the iPhone's, they are also not going to wait till next year's main iPad event to release the smaller variant.

LTE-version of Samsung Galaxy S III headed to Germany

We've got some good news to our Galaxy S III-loving European friends with a thing for 4G networks. According to the (usually very reliable) SammyHub, Samsung is preparing to bring the LTE version of its flagship smartphone to markets outside Korea and US.
The next stop of the Samsung Galaxy S III LTE tour will reportedly be Germany, where the device is said to come in October.
The European LTE-enabled Galaxy S III unit will take after their Korean cousins, keeping the Exynos 4 chipsets. As you might know Samsung opted for the Snapdragon S4 chipsets in the US version of the smartphone.
According to the source, the expected retail price of the LTE-packing Samsung Galaxy S III is going to be around €749. That's quite a premium to pay, considering that the regular version is currently retailing for about €499.

European HTC One S receives OTA update to ICS 4.0.4

We received a few reports that the European variant of the Krait-packing HTC One S is getting an over the air update. The new firmware brings Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 and the latest Sense version 4.1 to the HTC mid-range smartphone.
As you may remember the bigger, quad-core, brother of the One S, the One X, got the same update about two weeks ago.
Sense 4.1 is a big improvement in terms of speed - there's no longer lag when using a live wallpaper, most of the app drawer 3D effects have been removed to speed things up even further and it's using a new kernel, which is faster all round. Sense 4.1 is also supposed to be less taxing on the battery life.
Don't forget to stop by the comments section if you've already received the OTA update on your European One S.

Xperia 2011 smartphones get an update, it's still ICS

Sony will push a new update for the Xperia 2011 smartphones in the upcoming days. It will keep the Android version at 4.0.4 but will bring some "bug fixes, performance tweaks and other improvements".
In case you’ve missed the news, the entire Xperia 2011 lineup - Xperia arc, Xperia arc S, Xperia neo, Xperia neo V, Xperia mini, Xperia pro, Xperia active and Xperia ray - is already upgraded to Android 4.0.4 ICS.
The phones will get the new firmware update over-the-air, but those who are still running on Gingerbread will need to use PC Companion or Mac Bridge for the process.

Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G appears on the company's website

Samsung's freshly renamed and yet to be announced Galaxy S Relay 4G made a brief appearance on the Korean company's official website. The images of the smartphone reveal its physical hardware in full detail, thus leaving nothing to imagination. They are currently taken down from the website.
Sadly, the smartphone's full spec sheet is yet to be known. Current rumors peg the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G as a close relative to the Galaxy S III with added five-row QWERTY keyboard.
With so many leaks of the smartphone this far, it is safe to believe that the official unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G will happen any moment now. As always, we'll let you know as soon as we hear about it.

Lenovo announces LePhone K860 quad-core Android smartphone

We reported back in June about the Lenovo LePhone K860 when it was spotted for the first time on a Japanese

mobile blog. The phone has now been made official by Lenovo, although there is no pricing or availability info to go

with it.
On paper, the K860 comes across as a rather formidable device. It has a massive 5-inch HD display, quad-core

Exynos 4412 processor, same as the one under the international Galaxy S III, 1GB RAM, 8 megapixel camera with

100 shot burst mode and 1080p video recording and Android 4.0.4. The K860 will be powered by a 2,250mAh

battery.

Sony Xperia S will get vanilla Android as a Google experiment

All the fans of Sony Xperia S have a darn good reason to smile today. Google has launched an experiment to bring

plain vanilla Android to Sony's top shelf smartphone. Jean-Baptiste Query (JBQ), Google's Technical Lead of the

Android Open Source Project delivered the good news.
The reason for selecting the Sony Xperia S was simple according to JBQ: "it's a powerful current GSM device, with an

unlockable bootloader, from a manufacturer that has always been very friendly to AOSP." Sony of course will have to

play a role in the project as well, but given the company's good record with AOSP involvement, we doubt it will be an

issue.
Google's project will essentially bring the Sony Xperia S into the privileged fold of the Nexus family of devices - a

mighty great perspective, which is bound to make the handset a lot more attractive.

Samsung Galaxy S II to get Jelly Bean in a month or two

While Samsung Galaxy S III users are enjoying their leaked official Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean ROM, Galaxy S II owners got some good news too. Insiders tipped SamMobile that the former flagship is getting JB soon too.
Currently, the update is undergoing testing and it will be released via KIES when it passes. That's expected to happen in the September-November timeframe.
he original Galaxy Note (which uses pretty much the same hardware as the S II) will most likely get the JB update around the same time.

Official Jelly Bean ROM for Samsung Galaxy S III I9300 leaks

Another proof that Samsung is hard at work on the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update for its Galaxy S III flagship has emerged. An official Samsung Jelly Bean 4.1.1 ROM for the I9300 has surfaced in an ten-minute long video, thus showing us what the TouchWiz-ed version of Google's OS looks like.
As you have probably noticed, the visual change is not overly dramatic, compared to the current ICS interface of the I9300. The notification area has been improved at a first glance, along with the expectedly smoother scrolling and integration of Google's latest additions to Android.

Alleged Samsung N7100 Galaxy Note II official photo surfaces

The official announcement of the Samsung N7100 Galaxy Note II is just a couple of weeks away now, but only now we see what the new phoneblet might actually look like. We just got an alleged photo of the upcoming device, which reveals its front panel.
Now we wouldn't bet the house on this turning out to be an official image as even our tipster wasn't able to confirm its origin. Still, the image aligns nicely with previous rumors that suggested that the Samsung N7100 Galaxy Note II will have a Galaxy S III-inspired design, so even if the image is fan-made, it shouldn't be too far from the truth.
Along with the link to the alleged Samsung Galaxy Note II photo, our tipster also sent us some of the specs of the phoneblet. As expected, the 1280 x 800 pixel Super AMOLED screen will measure 5.5" and will utilize a regular RGB matrix. As for those FullHD screen rumors - according to the tip, it did indeed undergo testing, but it was found to be putting too much strain on the battery to make it to the final device.
The chipset inside was once again tipped to be Exynos 4 Quad, with quad-core CPU clocked at 1.5GHz. while the camera will use the same 8MP sensor as the Galaxy S III.
The Jelly Bean update for the Galaxy Note II is still being developed, so it's likely that the hybrid droid will launch with Android 4.0 ICS. There is an outside chance that Jelly Bean will be ready in time for the announcement, but it's more likely to come out later on.
Finally, some good news for the Galaxy S III users out there. The Jelly Bean update for the flagship smartphone is almost ready and will be released alongside the Galaxy Note II at the Samsung press conference on August 29.

Black Galaxy S III goes up for pre-order in the UK

When a black Galaxy S III appeared on Samsung's 2012 Olympics Facebook page, many people, us included, were having doubts about its existence and eventual availability.
UK retailer MobileFun, however, has put everyone's doubt to rest with its pre-order page for the black version of the Galaxy S III. According to it, the smartphone will start selling in four to six weeks' time.
The price of the black Galaxy S III will be the same as on its blue and white versions, which currently sell for £499.95 (for the 16GB variants).
This is the fourth color version of the Samsung Galaxy S III, after the initially available Pebble Blue and Ceramic White, and the AT&T-exclusive Garnet Red, which came out later.
So was the lack of the traditional black color what prevented you from getting the Samsung Galaxy S III? Or do you still prefer one of the other available versions.

Black Samsung Galaxy S III popped up in retailer's database

It looks like those pictures of Samsung Galaxy S III in black color scheme which we showed you a couple of days ago are indeed the real deal, folks. A black Samsung Galaxy S III has also appeared in Carphone Warehouse's inventory database, thus reaffirming the notion that the new color scheme is coming our way.
Since this is the same way we exclusively found out about the white and blue versions of the smartphone prior to its launch, there is hardly any reason to doubt the legitimacy of the above screenshot. Besides, we do believe that quite a few people will pick up a Galaxy S III in black given the opportunity.
As always, nothing is final until an official word comes from Samsung. We don't think it will be long before it happens - especially with IFA around the corner.

HTC One X gets Android 4.0.4 with Sense 4.1 OTA update

The international version of the HTC One X is getting an over-the-air update bringing it to Android 4.0.4 and updating its Sense UI to 4.1.
In addition, the update also optimizes the performance of the stock web browser and enhanced the image quality of the camera. Sense UI 4.1 itself brings smoother homescreen animations and an updated notification bar. The new bar now features the old "Quick Settings" tab from Sense 3.0.
The OTA rollout has started in Germany, as you can see from the screenshots and the update is 148MB in size, so make sure you use a Wi-Fi network to download it.

Samsung says it didn't even think about licensing BlackBerry OS 10

A rumor surfaced recently, saying that Samsung will be licensing RIM's BlackBerry OS 10 (and even buying RIM). It's not a new rumor, there was one just like it last year. Even so, the rumor proved to be believable enough for RIM's shares to rise (a welcome change in direction, as they have slid down to 2009 levels).
Anyway, Samsung killed the rumor with a terse "Samsung Electronics has not considered the acquisition of Research in Motion or licensing BB10".
Even overlooking that BlackBerry OS 10 won't be out until next year, Samsung already has four OSes to work with - Android (which dominates the market), Windows Phone (which expands quite rapidly), bada OS (which seems to be reaching the end of its shelf life) and Tizen OS (which will probably replace it).
Analysts from Jefferies, who kicked off the "Samsung will license BB10" rumor claim licensing its OS would be a good move for RIM. That may be so, but it's not happening, or at least for now.

IDC: Android and iOS control 85 percent of the smartphone market

We've already seen IDC's numbers on tablet market share for Q2 2012, but now it's time to see how they judge the performance of smartphone OSes. It comes shortly after the Canalys' take on the situation and there are no surprises, just a better look at what's going on.
Android and iOS combined are squeezing the alternative OSes into an ever tighter corner. Together, they hold 85% of the smartphone market, a new high. The former leaders - Symbian, BlackBerry and Microsoft have all slipped under the 5% mark.
ndroid is by far the most popular smartphone OS - shipments doubled quarter on quarter and the OS now holds two thirds of the market. IDC reports Samsung is the leader of the droid pack, 44% of all Androids shipped in Q2 of this year carried the logo of the South Korean company. That's more phones than those of the next 7 Android vendors combined. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich grew in relevance and was a major driver in Android's growth.
Market share of iOS declined compared to last year's second quarter, but it's the number two OS. Alone, it has more market share than all remaining OSes combined. Of course, the quarter wasn’t very strong for Apple (actually, it was still good, it's just that Apple standards are so high) as the iPhone 4S has aged and demand for it has declined and everyone is looking forward to the new iPhone. Event at number 2, Apple and iOS snatched 77% of the profits in Q2.
BlackBerry managed a distant third place, with decrease in sales to both enterprise users and consumers. RIM's shares have fallen to early 2009 levels, but BlackBerry 10, which is the company's big hope, was recently delayed so its prospects for the rest of the year are pretty bad.
Symbian was the leading smartphone OS for many years, but is currently in fourth place. Poor sales and Nokia's decision to jump to the next OS on the list led to a huge 62.9% drop in shipments of Symbian smartphones.
indows Phone 7 still gets listed alongside with Windows Mobile. Even so, Microsoft only has a 3.5% chunk of the market share. The good news is there was a healthy 115.3% jump in shipments, mostly coming from Nokia, so they are moving in the right direction. All eyes are on the upcoming Windows Phone 8 now.
Curiously, "Linux" isn't far behind with a 2.3% market share. It turns out this category is mostly populated by phones running Samsung's bada OS. The market share declined compared to last year, as Samsung and other Linux phone makers focused on Android.

iOS 6 new beta is out, brings along some new features

Apple has just seeded a new beta version of its iOS platform to developers. The new release brings the usual batch of bug-fixes and performance tweaks, but also several cool new features.
We told you about the first of those earlier today - the preinstalled YouTube app is gone, to be possibly replaced by a separate app, which will be available from the AppStore later on. We now also learn that one of the most heavily advertised features of the iOS 6 has been improved as well.
We are talking the 3D Maps app, which has now gained support for several new regions. Those include Boston, Atlanta, Portland, Phoenix, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Houston and Dallas (US), as well as Toronto (Canada), Lyon (France) and Birmingham and Manchester (England).
Developers also unearthed a new Bluetooth Sharing sub-menu in the privacy settings of the iOS 6 beta 4. It allows apps to share data with other devices even when you're not using the apps and speculations are that it might be used for the Passbook app, which is Apple's response to the Google Wallet. The new entry might also suggest file sharing over Bluetooth, but knowing Apple's stance on the matter so far, it sounds unlikely.
Since we don't have an official changelog from Apple for the new release, this is about as much info on the new beta as we have. If some other important thing pops up, we'll make sure to keep you posted.

Apple removes YouTube app from iOS 6 due to licensing issues

Those who downloaded the latest iOS 6 beta 4 yesterday were in for a bit of a surprise when they found out the YouTube app was no longer part of the OS.
Turns out, Apple will no longer be including the YouTube player app in iOS 6 because their license has expired. However, those using iOS 5 and older versions can continue to use this application as long as they don't upgrade to iOS 6.
Apple has also revealed that Google is working on its own separate YouTube app for iOS, which will be released on the App Store some time in future, hopefully by the time iOS 6 is released to the public.
In case you are wondering how you will watch YouTube videos without the player, there is no need to worry as the videos can easily be played within Safari. You can also access your subscriptions and favorites by logging into the YouTube mobile website from your iOS device, which works similarly to the iOS app.

The iPhone was born off the corner of a concept iPad's screen

The Apple/Samsung court battle is in its full swing and this week saw Apple's VPs Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall take the stand. Lots of intriguing information came out of their testimonies. To our greatest surprise not only was Apple already working on an iPad prototype when they went about conceiving the iPhone, but the first concept iPhone UI was born in the bottom corner of what was back then the iPad's prototype touchscreen.
Scott Forstall is Senior VP of iOS Software at Apple and he is one of the people responsible for the creation of all generations of iPhones, including the very first one.
In his testimony at the Apple vs. Samsung trial earlier this week, Forstall went on to explain how the first iPhone was born.
Reportedly, the engineers at Apple have been working on the iPad concept from as early as 2003 - that's fours years before the first iPhone was announced and seven years before the iPad itself was announced and released. Back then, they had set off to build "a beautiful tablet without a keyboard, without a hinge, where you have to fold it like a laptop."
In 2004, Apple's top brass was having a casual conversation about phones and it came out they all hated their phones. So, in Scott Forstall's words, that got them wondering...
    "Could we use the technology we were doing with touch that we'd been prototyping for this tablet, and could we use that for a phone... So we took that tablet and took a small scrolling list... We built a small corner of it as a list of contacts.... You could tap on the contact, it would slide over and show you the information... It was just amazing. We realized that a touchscreen of the size that would fit in your pocket would be perfect for these phones."

Apple did not invent the touchscreen phone by all means. Windows Mobile phones had touchscreens way before that. LG even claims the title for the first feature phone with a capacitive touchscreen - the LG Prada, announced days after the first iPhone but released way before the iPhone made it to the market.
Yes, the iPhone was not the first touchscreen phone around but it surely revolutionized the industry, eventually leading to the demise of physical keys and keyboards. And the most amazing thing is that not only was it born off a prototype tablet, but it was the iPhone eco-system that paved the way for the iPad, which along with other tablets is now revolutionizing the personal computing as we know it.

BLU announces the VIVO 4.3 dual-core, dual-SIM smartphone

Following the (large) footsteps of the Studio 5.3 Android smartphone BLU Products announced the VIVO 4.3. The Android Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone offers dual-core, dual-SIM functionality, to go with good looks and low price tag.
The BLU VIVO 4.3 features a dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU and MediaTek MT6577 chipset. The GPU is PowerVR SGX531. There's a gig of RAM and 4GB of built-in memory which can be further expanded via microSD card.
One of the most pleasant surprises in the BLU VIVO 4.3's spec sheet is the presence of a 4.3" Super AMOLED Plus display with WVGA resolution. An 8MP camera with 720p video recording, 1600mAh battery and customizable Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich complete the highlights of the device's spec sheet.
The BLU VIVO 4.3 will hit the shelves of major US retailers in September, priced at the sweet $249.99 without contract. Latin America and parts of Asia will soon follow.

Sony LT30i 'Mint' to be called Xperia T, certification reveals

The Sony Xperia LT30i Mint is yet to become official, but it has been a frequent visitor to our news section, it even got a lengthy preview. While it wore its unofficial guise in those appearances, it went in for DLNA certification under its official name.
DLNA's web site list the phone as Sony Xperia T - making it a member of the single letter Xperia club. Just a quick reminder, the phone has a 4.3" 720p screen, 1.5GHz dual-core Krait processor and a 13MP camera.
We tried to figure out if there's any pattern behind the letters, but gave up pretty quickly - T comes after S (as it should, being the newer model), but then comes U and that is a lower-end device than either of those two. Things get even more confusing when you consider the upcoming Xperia SL, which has two letters.
Anyway, the DLNA certification doesn’t give us much other than the name - DLNA capabilities are common among Android phones, Xperias included.
So, we'll probably just have to wait until August 29, when Sony is holding an event just before IFA starts. The Sony LT30i Xperia T is one of the likely candidates to be announced at that event, along with a few others.

Samsung Epic 4G Touch receives Ice Cream Sandwich

Users of the Samsung Galaxy S II for Sprint, also known as the Samsung Epic 4G Touch, are reporting that they are receiving an update to Android ICS.
There have been reports of the IMM761.FF18 build being pushed to users for a few days now, and it seems there are enough people getting it to make the whole thing seem like a legit carrier-wide update.
If you own a Epic 4G Touch and haven't received an update notification yet, check for updates from your phones' settings menu.
The ICS build should improve performance and stability, as well as add improved multitasking features. Remember to turn on your WiFi connection for any OTA updates.

Early screenshots of Firefox OS revealed

You may already be aware of Mozilla's upcoming mobile operating system based on HTML5. We now have some new screenshots of the UI, courtesy of Mozilla evangelist Robert Nyman.
The UI looks markedly different from some of the previous screenshots we have seen and draws heavy inspiration from some of the other mobile operating system. You can see the iOS influence in the homescreen UI and some Android influence in the settings app and notification drawer.
Still, we wouldn't dwell too much on these because, as Nyman has pointed out, the OS is still being developed and a lot can change by the time it reaches its final stage.

An Apple event on September 12 confirmed by Reuters, AllThingsD

We were seriously considering turning a deaf ear to yesterday's rumors about Apple shifting their expected launch date to September 12, much like we did with that August launch rumor.
Still, we decided to run the story and today, the rumor is getting even more supporting evidence thanks to Reuters and AllThingsD, who claim independently that unnamed sources of theirs confirm the speculated date.
Yesterday, we heard both from iMore and iLounge that come mid-September we'll see Apple unveil their next iPhone, their next iPod Touch, an update to the iPod Nano and a refresh of the iPad, including a smaller, sub-8-inch version of the popular slate.
Mockup by BlackPool Creative
Today, AllThingsD are adding that a source of theirs has also confirmed there will be an event in the week starting on September 10. A Wednesday event is highly probable, so the date of September 12 is a safe bet.
Reuters too, chime in with a confirmation, thanks to "a source familiar with the plan", but they also add that the date is not set in stone and is still a subject to change.
The announcement of the next iPhone is one of most anticipated industry events and the next iteration (be it called iPhone 5 or else) is expected to have a larger, 4-inch screen, a new, smaller connectivity port and an audio jack shifted to its bottom.

Samsung Galaxy Note will hit T-Mobile USA on August 8

T-Mobile and Samsung announced the retail availability of the Galaxy Note. Starting on August 8, the Big Magenta's customers will be able to pick up the phoneblet from the carrier for $249.99 with a two-year contract, after a $50 mail-in-rebate.
In terms of specs, the Samsung Galaxy Note for T-Mobile is practically identical to its AT&T relative, save for the lack of LTE. The latter has been replaced by 42Mbps HSPA+ connectivity. The spec sheet's highlights include a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 CPU, clocked at 1.5GHz, 5.3" Super AMOLED display, 8MP camera, and 16GB of built-in memory.
oftware wise, the T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note will boot Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Google's OS has been further enhanced by Samsung's own "Premium Suite" of S-Pen applications.

More photos of the alleged next generation iPhone emerge

I looks like we have caught a glimpse of the alleged next generation iPhone in its full splendor, folks. More photos of Apple's upcoming smartphone have emerged, revealing a fully assembled device, to go with shots of some of its components.
The fresh spy shots are in line with previous leaks on the subject, and therefore as legit as they get these days. They do confirm the smaller dock connector, as well as the relocated 3.5mm audio jack.
Now that we know the alleged looks of the next Apple iPhone, together with the OS it will boot, all we need is an announcement date. We doubt that it will be a long wait for this one.

LG Nitro HD for AT&T will get Android 4.0 on July 31

LG Nitro HD owners have a good reason to smile these days, as the handset's Android Ice Cream Sandwich update is finally coming their way. Starting this coming Tuesday, July 31st, AT&T will begin seeding the long awaited release of the Google OS.
Along with the typical for Android ICS functionality, the LG Nitro HD will get updated to the company's latest Optimus 3.0 UI. This will bring its software in line with what we saw in the quad-core LG Optimus 4X HD.

Samsung full report for Q2 is out, sales and profit increase

Samsung's full report of its Q2 performance is out (there was a preliminary report earlier this month) and gives us a more detailed picture of how the tech giant did in the second quarter. Sales for the company as a whole reached $41.8 billion (up 21% year on year), operating profit was $5.9 billion (up 72% YoY) and net profit was $4.6 billion (a 48% increase YoY).
Just the handset division of Samsung accounted for $18 billion in sales, a 75% increase from the sales from Q2 last year. IT & Mobile communications (of which the handset division is a part of) reports $21.1 billion in sales and an operating profit of $3.7 billion - a massive 145% jump up year on year.
During Q2 of this year, Samsung shipped an estimated 50 million smartphones, compared to Apple's 26 million iPhones. According to Reuters, Samsung broke a smartphone sales record in Q2.
Demand for Samsung's smartphones increased QoQ by a "low single digit %", while feature phone sales cooled off. The newly launched Galaxy S III flagship and strong sales of the Galaxy Note phoneblet along with higher demand for other high-end Samsung smartphones are behind the increased profit. The Average Selling Price also went up.
Samsung predicts better smartphone sales in Q3 and expects feature phones to bounce back. There will be new "products with diverse price ranges" and tablet competition will continue with "new product launches" (we'll see what they deliver on August 15).
Samsung, of course, makes a lot more than just phones. You can read their report for all the details, but here's a quick summary. Sales of LTE network equipment decreased quarter-on-quarter. TV sales increased a bit and now over 60% are LED TVs (up from mid 50%), 3D displays are also in demand. Mobile/server DRAM is selling better than desktop DRAM, NAND demand improved due to new mobile product launches.

HTC One X+ with 1.7GHz Tegra 3 might be headed to T-Mobile USA

So far, AT&T has been enjoying exclusivity of the HTC One X in the US (theirs is a renamed Krait-powered One XL), but now a rumor based on a leaked shot of T-Mobile's inventory shows that the carrier will be getting the "HTC One X+".
So, what's the difference between One X and One X+? Apparently, the plus version will use a Tegra 3+ chipset. The updated version of the Nvidia SoC will have its quad-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz (instead of 1.5GHz like in the international One X) and a GPU that's 25% faster.
According to the leaked shot, the HTC One X+ for T-Mobile USA will arrive in late September. Of course, this is based on hearsay, so take it with a pinch of salt. Also, whether or not the X+ will go international is an interesting question, but unfortunately one that can't be answered just yet.

Snapdragon S4 Pro benchmarked, crushes older chipsets

The lucky geeks at Engadget got their hands on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro MDP (Mobile Developer Platform) and managed to run several benchmarks on it. The Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset in question is APQ8064 - with a quad-core Krait processor and Adreno 320 GPU. It should come as no surprise then that it managed to beat current chipsets quite easily.
Krait is a newer architecture than Cortex-A9 (which powers the likes of Tegra 3 and Exynos 4 Quad chipsets) and even dual-core Kraits usually come close to quad-core A9's in tests. The brand new Adreno GPU turned out quite powerful too - it's a new design compared to the 2xx series.
he processor offers double the performance of a dual-core Krait CPU according to CF-Bench (no surprise here) and a big improvement on the quad-core Cortex-A9 chipsets. The SunSpider results also improved even though JavaScript isn't exactly multicore-friendly.
GLBenchmark shows GPU performance has more than doubled since Adreno 225 and easily beats Tegra 3's GeForce GPU. The Mali-400MP in the Exynos chipset comes closer, but is still over 30fps behind.
Those are some very impressive results, but it will be a while before we see the beastly chipest inside a consumer product. S4 Pro chipsets will probably debut on tablets, seeing how every major smartphone maker has already unveiled its flagship phone (besides Apple, but they’ll use their own design anyway)

Apple reports third quarter results, makes $8.8 billion in profit

Apple today announced the results of the third financial quarter of the year and as usual the numbers are impressive.
The company reported a quarterly revenue of $35 billion, with quarterly net profit of $8.8 billion. Compared to this, last year Apple made $28.6 billion in revenue and $7.3 billion in profit, in the same quarter.
But even though the year-over-year growth is impressive, this was a slow quarter for Apple, as numbers dropped from the second quarter this year.
The major reason for the drop is due to the iPhone sales, which although sold an impressive 26 million units this quarter, could not match the 35.1 million from the last quarter. And since Apple earns a big chunk of its revenue from the iPhone, the drop in iPhone sales has also resulted in a drop in the overall revenue and thus the profits. It has also resulted in Apple missing the analysts target, even though it surpassed its own.
The reason for the drop in the iPhone sales is speculated upon the arrival of the next generation model in the coming months. As usual, consumers are doing the smart thing of waiting to see what Apple comes up with next before signing that two-year contract for their next iPhone.
Due to this behavior, it is predicted that the next quarter will also be slow for Apple, until the first financial quarter of next year when it finally gets back in the game due to the holiday sales and the release of new products.
As far as other products are concerned, the iPad is the only one that showed growth, with a stunning 17 million units sold this quarter. The Mac sold 4 million units this quarter, same as the last one and the iPod continues its slow decline with 6.8 million units sold.
Below you will find a table detailing this quarter's results compared to the previous one this year and the one last year.

Samsung Galaxy S III sales have hit the 10 million mark

Samsung Galaxy S III has reached the 10 million units sold mark. Shin Jong-kyun, Samsung's president of information technology and mobile communication division broke the news about the impressive milestone, which is hardly a surprise, given the 9 million preorders for the device from carriers worldwide.
The mark has been reached earlier than the initial prediction, which pointed at the end of this month as the likely timeframe, at the approximate rate of 190,000 units sold every day. It was also accomplished a lot quicker than the time it took the Galaxy S III's predecessor to find 10 million owners.
Samsung expect strong demand for the Galaxy S III to continue in the coming months, as the launch of Apple's next iPhone is not likely to take place before this Fall. Furthermore, the sales of the Galaxy S III for the entre 2012 could reach 40 million units, thus making the smartphone the most succesfull one to come from the Korean company.

Samsung will announce a new Galaxy device on August 15

Samsung Electronics America sent out "Save the date" notes to the press that they will be announcing a new Galaxy device on August 15. They kept the note all mysterious and offered no info on the device, but the words "major announcement and unveiling of the newest GALAXY device" are enough to draw plenty of interest on their own.
So, what's it going to be? The Samsung Galaxy Note II has been going around the rumor mill for a while now, but the latest rumors put its announcement two weeks later - August 30, just before the IFA start.
The other Note - the Galaxy Note 10.1 - is a likelier candidate. It has gone through a redesign (its CPU got updated to four cores and a slot was added for the S Pen stylus) and even briefly popped up (by mistake) for pre-order on J&R. The pre-order deal was $499 for the 16GB version and $549 for the 32GB version, but that page has since been pulled.
It has been pointed out that the note comes from Samsung Electronics America, not Samsung Telecommunications America (who usually handle phones), which lends some credence to the Note 10.1 theory.
Then there's the possibility of something new (or new to America at least). Anyway, the full details will be revealed during the August 15 press conference, but maybe the upcoming invitation for the event will give us some more info.

Stephen Elop suggests an October release for Windows Phone 8

Speaking to the New York Times, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop let it slip that the upcoming successor to Windows Phone 7, namely WP8, will be coming in October of this year.
This would make perfect sense because of the imminent October 26 release of Windows 8, so it's within the realm of possibility that there could be a simultaneous launch of both operating systems.
Elop did not go on to confirm that the launch would coincide with the release of new WP8 devices, despite the fact that he was was discussing Nokia's Q2 earnings when he said that WP8 would further lift sales of Lumia devices.

Jelly Bean update in the works for HTC One XL, One S says Telstra

Australian carrier Telstra let it slip that HTC is working on an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update for at least two of the One series smartphones - the One XL and the One S (those are the two Snapdragon S4-based One droids).
Owners of the Tegra 3-based One X shouldn't worry - Telstra Australia carries only the XL version, so they wouldn't list update info on the One X anyway.
The info on the carrier's site is pretty scarce - HTC is preparing the update but even Telstra doesn’t know when it we will get it. And when they do get it, they'll put the update through a testing phase before pushing it out to its users.
You can keep an eye on this page for any updates on the release date of Android Jelly Bean for the HTC One XL and One S.
There still isn't an official roadmap from HTC that details which phones will get Android 4.1 and when. As for the unofficial channels, XDA-Developers is already showing results.

Dual-SIM Acer Liquid Gallant Duo leaks

An upcoming dual SIM device from Acer was briefly posted on a web retailer 's website, before being taken down quickly as it turned out the device was not slated for official announcement yet.
Not soon enough, however, for its key specs to be known to one and all:
    4.3 inch qHD display
    5MP camera
    1GHz dual-core processor
    4GB of internal memory
    1GB of RAM
    1,500 mAh battery
The smartphone has the usual slew of connectivity options, which include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a microSD slot. It's set to hit retail on August 8th for about £148.99, at which point you'll probably be able to get it from Expansys.

Meizu MX 4-core global release not official yet, apparently

Yesterday we reported that the quad-core Meizu 4-core is now available in various stores around the globe, but it turns out that the smartphone hasn't officially gone global just yet. Meizu reached out to us and clarified that it hasn't yet released its top-dog smartphone outside of China and what we saw is "probably someone in Hong Kong buying from our stores and listing it on Amazon".
The phone is also available through eBay and through a few private online shops. The fact that the listings are from unofficial sellers probably also explains why the 32 gig variant was priced at the steep $650 (up $180 from Meizu's native price). The 64 gig 4-core will set you back $750 and since Meizu itself is yet to release the phone you won't even get international warranty.
It seems then, that waiting for the official international debut of the smartphone would be a smarter move at this point.