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 The latter has been replaced by 42Mbps HSPA+ connectivity.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.