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.