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Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note to get ICS in March

2012-02-01T12:32:00.001+05:30

The development of the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note is obviously progressing according to schedule. The Norwegian branch of the South Korean company just confirmed that the update is due to arrive at the end of this quarter, which means that there are just a couple of months left before the wait is finally over.
The Ice Cream Sandwich update will bring lots of new features to the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note, including a new task manager, better notification manager and vastly improved browser in terms of both functionality and performance.
You may remember that we got to play with one of the leaked ICS ROMs for the Samsung Galaxy S II a while ago and we were quite happy with its functionality. Unfortunately it was still quite buggy and not really suitable for everyday use.
Since that moment several new Samsung-made (but not meant for public release) ROMs popped up for the Galaxy S II and they show that the Samsung R&D engineers are actually advancing quite rapidly.
The latest version available is I9100XXLP6 and it's arguably the first one ready to fill in as your main ROM. It does lots of bug fixing and performance tuning and while it's some way off perfection, it's good enough for most geeks. Plus, it enables the Face unlock feature, which is one of the coolest (if not particularly functional) parts of ICS.
If you feel like taking the ROM for a spin and you know what you are doing you may download the necessary files by following this link. The rest of you should at least sleep better knowing that there are just a couple of months remaining now until the official update hits.

Samsung I9070 Galaxy S Advance goes official, confirms rumors

2012-01-31T10:47:00.002+05:30

Samsung just introduced the latest dual-core addition to their lineup of Android smartphones. Dubbed Samsung I9070 Galaxy S Advance, the new handset promises to become the most affordable dual-core smartphone by the Korean company.
Samsung I9070 Galaxy S Advance is built around a 4" Super AMOLED, which is the unit we came to know from the I9000 Galaxy S. The Android 2.3 Gingerbread-running smartphone sports a 1GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU, 768 MB of RAM and 8GB or 16GB of internal storage.

amsung I9070 Galaxy S Advance
The Galaxy S Advance main snapper can capture 5 megapixel stills and 720p videos. There's also a 1.3 megapixel front-facing snapper for video calls and chats on board.
As is to be expected from a modern-day smartphones, connectivity is quite well covered. The Samsung I9070 Galaxy S Advance comes with support for 14.4 Mbps HSPA, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, A-GPS, Bluetooth 3.0 and USB 2.0. There's no 4G radio support, but given the mid-range targeting of the device that was to be expected.
Samsung is yet to provide pricing details or release time frame for the Galaxy S Advance, but we guess it will only take a month or two for this one to hit the shelves, and it should cost about as much as the Galaxy R.

Windows 8 now stable on ARM processors

2012-01-30T14:21:00.001+05:30

Multiple sources have reported seeing impressive demos of Windows 8 running on high-profile devices from key manufacturers already and the word is developers are expected to receive a stable build of Windows 8 suitable for ARM architecture come February.
"In October of last year, it [Windows 8 on ARM] scared the industry because it was unstable. But what we are seeing now is quite stable," one industry insider told the team at CNET.
"We haven't heard this directly from Microsoft, but we've heard this from the hardware partners that [Microsoft] is working with. We've been promised something in the February time frame."
There are a number of key reasons why bringing Windows 8 to ARM is so significant. For one, Windows 8 using ARM architecture would be far less costly than with an Intel equivalent. An Intel-based Windows 8 device showcased at CES this year, would have been considerably cheaper as a cosmetically identical ARM-based unit.
"The bigger implication is, with [Intel-based] ultrabooks you're popularizing the idea that you have this thinner design that turns on faster, that lasts longer [battery life]--but then you have Windows 8 on ARM that's built at a price point that's much lower. And does all of those things too. This is setting up the ultrabook to head right into the teeth of their [ARM] competitor," said the same source.
Despite claims over Windows on ARM coming later to market than Intel, some expect their releases to occur almost simultaneously. The likes of Texas Instruments, Qualcomm and Nvidia are the largest suppliers of ARM chips today and Windows 8 has reportedly been seen running stably on at least two ARM platforms.
With ARM chip designs being the most widely used globally, Windows 8 could be the most significant release of Microsoft's operating system, since Windows 3.0 as it would be able to run across Intel, AMD and ARM architecture.
There are however, some reservations about ARM's readiness to support Windows 8. A question mark still hangs over one important Microsoft application, Office. Despite one person stating that, "Office is fine [on ARM]", we've yet to see any demos or hear anything official from Microsoft on its compatibility.
Intel too are quick to point out the inclusion of legacy applications, one area where their chips still hold the advantage over ARM. One source said "I'm not aware of any third-party legacy applications running on Windows 8 on ARM. Of course, some of the Metro apps that Microsoft has demoed will be available on ARM. These are mostly HTML5 apps," they explained.
Microsoft know they need a diverse library of applications available on any architecture by the time Windows 8 launches officially. This is the reason some think Microsoft are being cautious to demonstrate their next operating system on ARM and why developers are no doubt itching to get their hands on it now.

Upcoming Qualcomm MSM8960 GPU benchmark score surfaces

2012-01-29T14:00:00.001+05:30

Qualcomm's upcoming 28nm based Snapdragon SoCs, codenamed Krait, are expected to arrive later this year. But a NenaMark 2 benchmark score on an unidentified device has leaked ahead of launch.
In this benchmark, we see this unidentified device, probably just a reference unit, running the MSM8960 processor with the Adreno 225 graphics. The device has a display resolution of 1024 x 600, same as 7-inch tablets but despite the higher resolution, it posts a rather impressive score of 54.90 in NenaMark 2.
To put that number in perspective, we compared it to our own score of the Galaxy S II running the same benchmark. In case of the Galaxy S II, with its Mali-400 GPU and 800 x 480 display resolution, the phone managed to score 46.2. Considering the fact that the Krait processor was running on a higher resolution display, its higher score gains even more significance. Having said that, the Qualcomm reference unit was running on Android 4.0.3, which may have helped it in getting higher scores.
The Mali-400 is one of the most powerful GPU available on the market today, overshadowed only by the PowerVR SGX543MP2 in Apple's A5 processor and Nvidia's new Tegra 3. If the new Krait processor can outperform the Exynos in terms of graphics performance, we are really looking forward to see what it can do in games and also how it stacks up against the rest of the competition when it comes out later this year.

Leaked RIM roadmap reveals a really boring 2012

2012-01-28T10:21:00.001+05:30

A recently leaked RIM roadmap reveals all the upcoming BlackBerries for 2012. Unfortunately there is nothing really interesting scheduled before November this year.
Notice you should consider the mentioned months, not quarters
RIM is preparing two new mid-range Curves for the spring season - 9220 and 9320 - for Q1 and Q2 release respectively. White Bold 9790 and Curve 9380 will hit the market in March or April as well.
Curve 9220 and 9230 specs
The BB OS 7.1 update is already out for all compatible devices, while RIM is expected to demonstrate the newly announced OS 10 at the upcoming MWC.
Speaking of OS10, the first smartphone to run it - codenamed London - is scheduled a bit later than expected - November 2012 or later.
Finally, if you have been waiting for a 3G-capable PlayBook tablet, it's coming in Q2 2012 quarter.
PlayBook 3G+ specs
As you can see there is nothing really impressive on the roadmap (and Milan is expectedly absent), but we should have been prepared for that already. Whatever the next OS is like, RIM is still the RIM we know - always behind the others.

Bada 2.0 update seeding to the Samsung S8500 Wave

2012-01-27T21:24:00.002+05:30

The Bada 2.0 update certainly took its time to arrive, but it's finally seeding to S8500 Wave smartphones. So if you have resisted the temptation to flash it by yourselves from one of the leaked ROMs, you time has come.
The release isn't officially announced by Samsung just yet and there is no information about its rollout schedule, but we suspect it will go global quite quickly. Bada is not too widespread a system and while the Wave was a pretty popular smartphone, Samsung servers should handle it quite easily.
You can check if the update is already available for your region by hooking up your Samsung S8500 Wave to your computer and launching the Samsung Kies software suite. Then you should follow the steps to backup your data and flash it on your smartphone.
Just don't forget to drop us a line in the comments section below, sharing how do you find your newly updated phone.

Is Samsung delaying the launch of Galaxy S III until after MWC?

2012-01-26T13:27:00.001+05:30

It is needless to say that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S III is one of the most anticipated Android devices, which are going to break cover this year - one of the brightest stars of the MWC which is set to kick off next month in Barcelona.
Or not? According to a fresh new rumor, the yet to be revealed Korean flagship might break cover after MWC, but before the summer. The reason for this shocker is the company's consideration for the U.S. market - one of its most important ones. Apparently, Samsung wants to avoid a huge gap of availability as in the case of the Galaxy S II last year.
Reportedly, Samsung will try to fill the giant void by focusing on tablets, as well as Windows Phone sporting devices.
Since we're talking rumors here, don't forget the usual pinch of salt. As always, we'll keep you posted, should we find out more on the subject.

Galaxy S III to hit shelves in April with 12 MP camera and HD screen

2012-01-25T10:07:00.001+05:30

The MWC is fast approaching and one of the main reasons for us to expect it so eagerly is the announcement of the next Samsung flagship. The Galaxy S III has some huge shoes to fill, but if those latest rumors are to be believed, it might just have what it takes.
The rumors come from Eldar Murtazin, who hasn't had the most accurate series of predictions lately, but who we are willing to believe now as he claims he has played with the smartphone already. So, according to the Russian, the Samsung Galaxy S III will indeed be unveiled at the MWC and will go on sale in April, exactly a year after its predecessor.
The Samsung Galaxy S III will, reportedly, come with an HD resolution screen (of larger size, we assume), a 12 megapixel camera and a quad-core CPU, running at 1.5-1.6 GHz. The beast will be running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and, according to Mr. Murtazin its two extra cores will be more than just PR materials - the smartphone feels really fast.
Here's hoping that these rumors turn out true as we'd really love it if we could play with the powerhouse we just described in a just over a months' time.

Nokia Lumia 900 will hit UK's Carphone Warehouse in June

2012-01-24T10:41:00.002+05:30

Nokia Lumia 900 is yet to hit AT&T's shelves (presumably in March), dressed in the mantle of exclusivity. However, in a rather surprising fashion, the UK availability of the Finnish range topper is also all but confirmed, courtesy of the major retailer Carphone Warehouse.
As you can notice in the picture above, the retailer has put up a "coming soon" page for the Nokia flagship, where a June 2012 availability is mentioned. Price is yet to be announced though.
While Nokia executives specifically commented that the device has been developed specifically with the North American market in mind, it would have been a major surprise to see such an appealing piece of hardware get confined to only one continent.
Of course, we can't help but notice the asterisk, which states that the availability is subject to change without notice. In any case, Carphone Warehouse is a big enough retailer, so we can take its claim for availability seriously enough.
Also, there is a handy pre-register form for the overly anxious, allowing you to get an email alert when the device becomes available. In the meantime, you are welcome to check out our first impressions of the Nokia Lumia 900 from CES here.

Upcoming Sony smartphones to support the Russian GLONASS

2012-01-23T15:46:00.001+05:30

Sony has announced that their newly announced Xperia smartphones, the Xperia S and Xperia Ion, will come equipped with the GLONASS satellite navigation system built-in.
What's more, they have also revealed that some of their previous smartphones on sale right now have had GLONASS support built-in since launch. These other handsets include the Xperia arc, Xperia arc S, Xperia ray, Xperia neo, Xperia pro, Xperia PLAY, Xperia active and Live with Walkman.
In case you weren't aware of it, GLONASS is to Russia what GPS is to America. Most of the phones have just GPS on-board, which restricts them to 31 satellites but having both, GPS as well as GLONASS on-board, you have access to 24 additional satellites, which not only speeds up lock-on time but also ensures you get a lock-on in trickier places, such as when you're surrounded by tall buildings.
Sony is not the only company to have GLONASS along with GPS built-into their phones. Apple, Nokia, Samsung and Motorola too have a few models that include this functionality. Hopefully, more phones will include this feature in future.

Sony Ericsson ST25i Kumquat emerges in a photo

2012-01-22T09:43:00.001+05:30

While this is not the first time we've heard of this exotic fruit name bearing handset, we haven't had the pleasure of seeing it in a clear picture yet. Until today that is. Sony Ericsson ST25i "Kumquat" has emerged in a spy photo and it looks, well, quite familiar.
The upcoming smartphone looks a lot like the highly anticipated Sony Xperia S flagship, which got announced at CES this year. Its specs however, have been toned down a bit.
The device is rumored to feature a dual-core CPU, clocked at 1GHz and a 5MP snapper. The screen is reportedly in the 3.5" range, and has FWVGA resolution.
Expect to see the Sony Ericsson ST25i "Kumquat" get unveiled at MWC in Barcelona next month under a Sony name. As always, we will be covering it live, so expect the full scoop on the device as soon as we get it.

White Samsung Galaxy Note hits UK stores in three days

2012-01-21T15:08:00.001+05:30

We first saw the Galaxy Note in white in South Korea and were secretly hoping for it to become available in Europe as well. So, if you've been patiently waiting for a white version of the Samsung Galaxy Note now is your time to rejoice.
UK store John Lewis will be the first to offer the white Galaxy Note on January 23 with other major retailers joining in the fun later. Some of them include Clove.co.uk and Play.com
Earlier in the month at CES 2012, Samsung announced white and black versions of the Galaxy Note for AT&T. You can check out our hands-on of the AT&T version of the Note here. Don't forget to check out our in-depth review of the Galaxy Note as well.

HTC to unveil its first quad-core smartphone on February 26?

2012-01-20T12:11:00.001+05:30

We just got an invitation for the next major HTC event and it will take place on February 26. This means that the Taiwanese manufacturer will change its usual policy and will announce its new smartphones the day before the MWC starts, rather than at the event itself.
Perhaps HTC really has something special to share with us and they just can't wait. The rumored Android-running HTC Edge with a 720p screen and a quad-core CPU might just turn out to be the large scale announcement that mandated the different approach.
And seeing how things shape up, this better be the case, as there will be plenty of action going on that Sunday. Sony and Huawei already confirmed that they will be holding their own events on the same day, while Samsung is expected to join them too.
We are yet to see if Nokia will hold an event on the MWC eve as they did last year. In any case, the MWC marathon is bound to start a day early this year, so get you geek goggles ready.
aturally, we'll be on site, covering the whole MWC for you as it unfolds.

Samsung Galaxy S II HD getting a UK release?

2012-01-19T10:16:00.002+05:30

An ad spotted on UK retailer Mobicity’s website lists an upcoming release of what is most likely a Galaxy S II HD LTE, except without the LTE designation.
For those of you unfamiliar with the HD version of the Galaxy S II, the main improvement is, you guessed it, a bigger screen—4.65in@720x1280px to be exact. It also features an upgraded 1.5GHz processor, and a more robust 1850 mAh Li-Ion battery.
The ad (now gone from Mobicity’s UK site) is found as a full-fledged listing on Mobicity’s Australian site, although it is listed as pre-order when we last checked. Whether the ad was shown in error or Mobicity jumped the gun by promoting a UK release remains unknown, but a UK release is not out of the realm of possibility, especially considering Samsung could unveil the Galaxy S III at MWC next month.

Unannounced Sony smartphone prices and launch dates leak

2012-01-18T13:49:00.001+05:30

We have with us the prices and approximate release dates of upcoming and yet to be announced Sony handsets. This information was allegedly leaked through Sony's sales report in India. The prices and dates, as such, are for the Indian market but should be applicable in most European and Asian countries as well. Though we received the prices in INR, we've converted them into Euro for your convenience.
First of all, we'll talk about Nozomi, which as we saw at the CES, turned out to be the Xperia S. The first Sony branded phone after a long time will be getting released in March for €462. The information aligns nicely with the currently available pre-order listings by Clove UK. You can find out more about the Xperia S in our hands-on.
Sp with the Nozomi out of the list, what remains is the rest of the models listed below, which are yet to be announced. Some of them, such as the Nypon and Kumquat are familiar names but some of the others, such as Hayabusa and Atlas are something we are seeing for the first time. As usual, these are code names and not likely to be called the same after launch. All the phones listed below run on Android.
*Prices compiled in a table and converted to Euro by our staff
It looks like Sony is going to have a very busy 2012. And judging by the prices, it seems Sony will have some cool high-end announcements ready at the next month's MWC.

Check out the first Sony Xperia S 12MP camera samples

2012-01-17T07:29:00.002+05:30

Surely lots of people wonder about the quality of the 12MP ExmorR sensor on the Sony's Xperia S.
Unfortunately, photo quality is not stellar at this early stage. The way we see it, the resolved detail is good enough, but it could have been even better. Noise levels are quite high too, but at least the colors and contrast seem OK.
suggest we don’t pass any judgments just yet because the Xperia S is still two months ahead of its release and a lot could happen until then. And there is an ICS update on the way to be released a few weeks after the launch in March as well.

Skype integration in Windows Phone

2012-01-16T11:33:00.001+05:30

Skype for Windows Phone, along with Skype for Windows 8 and Xbox, is coming soon, says Skype's VP of Products, Rick Osterloh.
Although it's been eight months since Microsoft acquired Skype, we still haven't seen proper Skype integration in Windows Phone or even a Skype app for the platform yet. However, if Rick Osterloh is to be believed, the Skype integration is coming soon.
It is generally believed that the proper Skype integration in Windows Phone will arrive with Appolo, which is the next major version of Windows Phone and will arrive after Tango (which will be a minor update). However, in the meanwhile, Microsoft could just release a Skype app for the platform through the Windows Marketplace for the few Windows Phone 7 devices that have a front facing camera built-in.
Also expected, is integration with Windows 8 and Xbox 360. Admittedly, video calling on your TV with the Xbox Kinect is going to be pretty cool. Hopefully, Microsoft sticks to its word this time and really does release it soon.

Nokia Lumia 900 expected to launch on March 19

2012-01-15T12:44:00.001+05:30

When Nokia announced the new Lumia 900 at CES they only said it will be released in the next few months without giving a proper date. WMPoweruser has now learned that the phone will in fact be launched some time in March.
If that's too vague for you, then Windows bloggers Paul Thurrott has gone one step ahead and pinned March 18 has the actual date of launch. Considering Thurrott's track record with Microsoft-related news, we would take this news with far fewer grains of salt than we usually do.
So there you have it then. March 18 seems to be the day you would be able to get your hands on the Lumia 900 in the North America. If you think that's too long from now then Nokia has some new videos of the phone to keep you entertained till then.

CES 2012 is over, find the highlights inside

2012-01-14T10:54:00.001+05:30

The tech mirage in the middle of the desert is over with the end of CES 2012 in Las Vegas. This was our first time visiting the Consumer Electronics Show and, boy, did it treat us well. Sadly, it's time to leave and head back home. Before that though, we are going to give you a recap of the most important highlights that happened at this year's CES.
First, here are some interesting numbers for you. More than 2,700 companies took part in CES 2012 using up 171 963 net square meters of showroom floor where over 20,000 new products were exhibited.
Probably the most interesting announcements came from Sony. Their Xperia lineup got two more additions in the face of the Xperia ion and Xperia S. Don't worry, we did a hands-on of both of them. We also got some personal time with the highly anticipated PlayStation Vita, expected to arrive in Europe in February.
Nokia also introduced a new member of the Lumia range, the Lumia 900, which looks to be the most complete Lumia smartphone to date. We loved its big screen and the LTE speeds were the icing on the cake. Here's our Nokia Lumia 900 hands-on.
Next up is Samsung, which announced a plethora of 4G phones for AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. AT&T got the LTE Galaxy Note, the Exhilarate and the Skyrocket HD. Our hands-on of the LTE Galaxy Note for AT&T awaits you. Verizon and Sprint didn't get so much attention from Samsung and got only the Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE (hands-on)and the Galaxy Nexus LTE respectively.
HTC on the other hand announced only one new device - the HTC Titan II for AT&T. Its monstrous 16MP camera came out of nowhere and we quickly took it for a spin and got these camera samples for you. What's more, we also did a hands-on of the Titan II
Naturally, Motorola was also at CES and showed off the RAZR MAXX and the Droid 4. The RAZR MAXX was created with battery endurance in mind and, carrying a massive 3300 mAh battery. Read more in our MAXX hands-on and while at it take a look at our first encounter with the Droid 4 as well.
Next, LG announced a couple of phones - the LG Viper and the LG Spectrum. Our first impressions of the LG Spectrum are here.
One of the surprises at CES 2012 was Huawei. The Chinese company announced two Android smartphones - the Huawei Ascend P1 and Ascend P1 S. Both phones are aiming directly at the big Android players out there and we recommend you check our extremely positive first impressions on them.
Of course, CES 2012 had way more to offer than the announcement above. You can find our complete coverage by following this link.
nd the best part is that CES was only the warm up to the mobile industry's biggest event. The MWC 2012 is just around the corner (it starts February 27) and, naturally, we'll be there covering it live for you. Here's hoping that it lives up to the expectations!

Samsung unveils Galaxy Tab 7.0N Plus

2012-01-13T11:04:00.001+05:30

Samsung has redesigned their Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus to sidestep the European courts' ban on its shipment in Germany.
Earlier the court ordered that the Galaxy Tab lineup design is too close to that of the Apple iPad and banned their sales, so Samsung had to alter them before it could reintroduce them to the German market.
The redesigned tablet comes with a new name - Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0N Plus and should be released later this month for the whopping 600 euro.
The major design difference is the stereo speakers mounted at the front of the device. It still features the 7" PLS-LCD display of WSVGA (1024 x 600) resolution, 345g weight, Android 3.2 Honeycomb (with ICS coming later on) and the GSM/HSPA combo for true phone capabilities.

PR1.2 update spotted on Nokia N9, to bring video calls and folders

2012-01-12T18:11:00.001+05:30

Sometimes you're just lucky - like this guy who found out his Nokia N9 is already running the upcoming PR1.2 update. The changelog for the update promises video calling support, app folders, improvements for the camera and gallery (we've already gotten a taste of the refreshed interface for the camera and the face recognition in the gallery).
Tamerbatar, a Talk Maemo forum member was kind enough to share some screenshots with the rest of us who are still running PR1.1 and here they are.
The copy/paste functionality in the browser is new too, although it wasn’t mentioned in the changelog.

Consumer Electronics Show 2012 as it unfolds

2012-01-11T12:45:00.002+05:30

The Consumer Electronics Show 2012 is going in full swing and you'd be forgiven if you got lost in the flurry of announcements. That's why we prepared this list of all the new announcements that took place, along with our coverage, neatly organized by company.
We'll be updating this article as new info becomes available.
CES 2012 overview


LTE-packing Nokia Lumia 900 is finally official, exclusive to AT&T
HTC Titan II vs. Nokia Lumia 900 vs. Samsung Focus S – the ultimate WP showdown [TABLE]

Nokia Lumia 900 - specs • hands-on


New Samsung Series 9 ultrabook comes in 13.3″ and 15″ versions, the small one weighs just 1.16kg
Samsung and AT&T unveil Note, Skyrocket HD and Exhilarate
Android-powered webcam-like device, the Samsung inTouch, adds Smart TV magic to your boring HDTV
Sprint unveils Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE
Verizon debuts Galaxy Tab LTE

Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE- specs • hands-on
AT&T Galaxy Note LTE - specs • hands-on
Samsung Skyrocket HD - specs
Samsung Exhilarate - specs
Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE - specs



Sony Ericsson LiveView successor spotted at CES, announcement seems imminent
The Sony Xperia ion coming to AT&T in Q2 2012
Sony announces Xperia S with a 12MP camera and HD screen

Sony Xperia ion - specs • hands-on
Sony Xperia S - specs • hands-on


LG brings a ton of new HDTV stuff to CES, 3D is everywhere, and there’s a motion-controlled remote with voice input
LG Spectrum goes official, joins the Verizon LTE gang on Jan 19
Sprint unveils LG Viper

LG Viper - specs
LG Spectrum - specs


HTC Titan II vs. Nokia Lumia 900 vs. Samsung Focus S – the ultimate WP showdown [TABLE]
LTE HTC Titan II with 16 MP camera revealed, heads for AT&T

HTC Titan II - specs • hands-on • camera samples


Acer announces Aspire S5 and Aspire Timeline Ultra Ultrabooks, claims the former to be the world’s thinnest
Acer showcases the new Iconia Tab A700, comes with a quad-core processor and a full HD display



Verizon announces several Droid RAZRs

Motorola RAZR MAXX - specs • hands-on
Motorola Droid 4 - specs • hands-on


Lenovo continues CES invasion with IdeaCentre B-series all-in-ones and refreshed desktops
Lenovo announces IdeaPad S200 and IdeaPad S206 netbooks, will launch in June
Lenovo IdeaPad U310 and U410 new Ultrabook laptops get under the spotlight
Lenovo unveils Ideapad S2, the S2 smartphone and K91 TV


Huawei Ascend P1 and Ascend P1 S droid beasts announced

Huawei Ascend P1 - specs • hands-on
Huawei Ascend P1 S - specs • hands-on
Misc

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update starts rolling out for the ASUS Transformer Prime
ASUS and NVidia CEOs show a 7-inch Tegra 3-powered tablet with ICS for $249
Gigabyte keeps Atom dream alive with Cedar Trail powered T1006M convertibe netbook and tablet, Windows 7 on board
In case of emergency: The new SpareOne mobile phone promises to hold its charge for up to 15 years
Fujitsu showcases quad-core Tegra 3 smartphone at CES
Parrot shows AR.Drone 2.0 at CES – now with 720p video recording, easy sharing and sturdier hardware
OCZ Lightfoot SSD boasts Thunderbolt connectivity, speeds beyond belief
Canon PowerShot G1 X is a 14MP compact with a DSLR-sized 4:3 image sensor • Canon G1 X hands-on
Fujifilm announced rangefinder-style, mirrorless X-Pro1 camera, to cost $1,700 at launch
SanDisk unveils the world’s fastest SDXC card, promises write speeds of up to 45MB/s

Galaxy Tab LTE and several DROID RAZRs for Verizon debut

2012-01-10T12:30:00.002+05:30

Verizon joined AT&T and Sprint by making several major announcements at this year's CES. The biggest player on the US carrier market unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, Motorola DROID RAZR Purple edition, DROID RAZR MAXX and Droid 4, while the HTC Rezound Beats-powered beast is getting a $100 price cut on its two year deal.
Verizon Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE
The 7.7" Super AMOLED Plus-packing Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE is finally about to land in the US. But for the LTE connectivity, bothing has changed specs-wise - it features the same 7.7" 1280 x 720 super AMOLED display, dual-core 1.4 GHz Exygnos chipset and Android Honeycomb with TouchWiz UI.
The popular DROID RAZR received a shiny new purple paintjob that should appeal to the nerdettes out there. But don't think you boys aren't covered too - Motorola and Verizon also unveiled the DROID RAZR MAXX. It measures 8.99 mm, has 32GB of onboard storage and an insanely long-lasting battery. Moto says that the 3300 mAh monster of a battery can last for around 21 hours of talk time on a single charge. It will retail for $299 on a two year deal with Verizon, which is quite pricey. Still you can't put a price on stellar battery life these days.
Motorola DROID RAZR purple version
he powerful battery and added girth aside, the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX is identical to the DROID RAZR. It features the same 4.3" Super AMOLED display of qHD resolution 8 MP camera, dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, etc.
Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
Both the DROID RAZR and DROID RAZR MAXX will run on Verizon's LTE network. Motorola also confirmed that the RAZR devices will come out running Gingerbread but will be updated to Ice Cream sandwich eventually.
The Motorola DROID 4 offers a 4" qHD (540 x 960) display, a slideout QWERTY keyboard for enhanced texting, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, LTE connectivity for fierce data speeds and Motorola's business-minded email, calendar and contacts encryption.

Fujitsu launches ARROWS ES IS12F smartphone in Japan

2012-01-09T11:06:00.001+05:30

Fujitsu has taken a bit of a liking for making ultra thin smartphones. After the Arrows F-07D announced back in November, the thinnest smartphone in the world with just 6.6mm thickness, the Japanese manufacturer is back with the new ARROWS ES IS12F Android smartphone.
Unlike the F-07D, the ARROWS ES IS12F is not exactly the thinnest smartphone, losing that title by a mere 0.1mm. It does however manage to be water resistant and has a sturdy Gorilla Glass on the front.
As for the specifications, the ARROWS ES IS12F will run Android 2.3 on a single core 1.4GHz CPU, 800 x 480, 4.0-inch AMOLED display and a 5.11 megapixel camera that can capture 'Hi-Vision' videos, which we assume means high definition in plain English.
The phone will be sold in two colors: Ruby Red and Gloss Black and is on sale right now in Japan.

AT&T to get their own flavour of the Samsung Galaxy Note

2012-01-08T12:28:00.002+05:30

CES looks to play host to AT&T's suspected unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy Note for the US market. The Pocket Now team have some pretty sharp looking images that could at least demonstrate how the Galaxy Note would look if it joined AT&T's lineup.
The key difference is expected to be in the layout on the front, especially with their previous flavors of Galaxy S II and Galaxy S II Skyrocket devices in mind. Both of which follow the more typical four button layout for Android devices, at least over the twin capacitive, single hardware key layout used by the likes of the European Galaxy S II.
AT&T's Note is said to utilize a 5.3" Super AMOLED which displays at a healthy 1280x800 pixels, sport Android Gingerbread and offer LTE functionality too. Once CES has kicked off, we can apparently expect to see the SGH-I717 Samsung Galaxy Note by February 14th.

Is Apple planning to soon ship iPhones with quad-core chips?

2012-01-07T12:13:00.002+05:30

Some reliable people have discovered quad-core processor support into the iOS 5.1 beta code. So, we could expect quad-core iPhones and iPads in the near future.
Shocker? Of course not. But it’s good to know Apple is already working on the next big hardware jump.
core.0 means single-core, core.3 means quad-core
A few months ago other skilful developers discovered the iPhone5,1 reference into the first iOS 5.1 beta code. It might turn out Apple is indeed gearing the next iPhone with a quad-core A6 chip.
So, what do you think - will the next iPhone be a quad-core gadget or Apple will stick to the dual-core technology for one more generation?

Corning to showcase their next gen Gorilla Glass at CES 2012

2012-01-06T11:51:00.001+05:30

Take a look at any manufacturers' flagship smartphone and chances are its display of choice is protected by some very, very tough glass developed by glass and ceramic specialists, Corning.
They pride themselves on making some really tough stuff, their glass being so durable and versatile in fact that it's made quite a name for itself as the choice for mobile devices.
But Corning know they can do better and they've been spending a lot of their time in R&D to bring the next generation of their famous Gorilla Glass to the world.
This Monday at CES, Corning will be unveiling the fruits of their labors in the form of Corning Gorilla Glass 2 (catchy we know), designed, as always for electronic mobile devices.
For those of you lucky enough to be heading to CES, you'll be able to find Corning in the Central Hall at booth #12642, for the rest of you, carry on reading and the press release below will give you the gist of what we can expect from this next-gen product, as well as the companies other projects and ideas.
Corning to Showcase Glass Innovation for  Consumer Electronics Design at CES 2012

The iPhone 4S comes to 22 new markets, January 13th

2012-01-05T12:26:00.001+05:30

On January 13th, the iPhone 4S will touch down in a number of new markets including the likes of China, Jamaica and Kenya along with 19 others, across the globe.
Apple's CEO Tim Cook has a lot to smile about, especially with a yet untapped market like China (with regards to the iPhone 4S at least). Tim states that,
“Customer response to our products in China has been off the charts. With the launch in China next week, iPhone 4S will be available in over 90 countries making this our fastest iPhone rollout ever.”
What's more, Chinese New Year hits on January 23rd with sales events not too dissimilar to that of the US's Black Friday. As such, Apple can expect very healthy figures once the shoppers hit the stores in coming weeks.
Here's the full list of new markets about to receive the iPhone 4S from Apple's official press release:
Beginning Friday, January 13, iPhone 4S will be available in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, China, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guam, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and Uganda.ow what gets unveiled as quickly as possible.

New Sony Ericsson smartphone coming up next week?

2012-01-04T10:17:00.001+05:30

Sony Ericsson is going to start the New Year with an announcement. The company will be unveiling a new smartphone at CES, which starts next week in Las Vegas.
he company mentioned on its Twitter and Facebook accounts that it's going to make a major announcement in exactly seven days and urged users to guess what it will be all about. And, seeing that the attention of everyone in the teaser image is focused on that large-screened smartphone the girl in the blue shirt is holding, that's not quite so hard a challenge.
hat's a bit trickier is to guess what exactly Sony Ericsson is going to announce. Currently two of its smartphones are doing the rounds in the rumor mill - the Nozomi and the Nyphon.
Logic dictates that it will be the Nozomi, as last year Sony Ericsson announced their Arc flagship at CES and it'll make sense for its successor to appear there, too. Plus the Nyphon is said to be the first smartphone to make do carry the Sony logo, instead of the Sony Ericsson one. And since the merger won't happen before the middle of the year, it's probably too early for this one.
In any case, we'll be there and covering the whole thing live for you, so you will know what gets unveiled as quickly as possible.

A press image of the AT&T bound Samsung Galaxy Note emerges

2012-01-03T09:32:00.001+05:30

It has been a good three months since the first time we discussed a U.S. bound Samsung Galaxy Note. Finally, the first press photo of the AT&T branded phoneblet has broken its cover, along with some specs.
As you can see in the picture above, the U.S. version of the Samsung Galaxy Note will sport the same four-button configuration as its local siblings. LTE and NFC connectivity are rumored to be on board as well.
There is no information yet on the CPU and chipset of the handset. We won't be surprised if Samsung passes on the beastly Exynos chipset, found in the Galaxy Note which we already know, and opts for a Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 one instead. After all, the aforementioned is currently featured in the entire LTE lineup for AT&T.
The AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note is expected to launch in the first half of 2012. An announcement at CES next week is likely, so stay tuned.

Motorola DROID 4 hands-on images leak

2012-01-02T09:57:00.001+05:30

This is not the first time we're seeing the Motorola DROID 4, which has been a long time coming. First it leaked through some hands-on images and then we saw an official press image leak. Today we have something different; hands-on pictures of a dummy unit of the smartphone.
These dummy units are the same ones you find in stores and built to scale and move and behave just like the real thing, except you can't actually use it.
With the dummy unit, TechnoBuffalo noticed that the device has a soft-touch plastic surface. The keyboard on the DROID 4 is larger than the one on its predecessors and was found to be a lot more comfortable. As for the rest of the design, we already knew that the DROID 4 had a slightly thick RAZR look to it.

Bada 2.0 update not making it to older Wave phones before 2012

2012-01-01T12:59:00.001+05:30

We thought we would be bringing smiles all-round, when we posted back in early September that Samsung were on track to provide nearly every one of their devices bearing the 'Wave' name with a nice dose of Bada 2.0 before the year was out.
Of course alongside the likes of the Wave 3, which came running the latest iteration of Sammy's OS out of the box, it was also expected that users of all older Bada handsets would receive the gift of 2.0 by Q4 2011. Now however, it would appear that Samsung aren't quite up to the task as they first promised.
The likes of Samsung Spain and Samsung Italy have confirmed a delay on the Bada 2.0 upgrade to all expectant devices until Q1 2012, meaning you won't be able to ring in the new year with the update (if you haven't already depending on your time zone). Samsung Italy expanded on that explaining that software won't be available before March, so not exactly nailing a date down, but providing a new deadline with which patient users will have to wait for.
At the time of writing, there are some 8.1 million Bada-running handsets out there, with 2.0 only currently available on the aforementioned Wave 3, as well as the Wave M and Wave Y.
Users who opted for either the Wave 525 or 533, sadly won't be seeing any 2.0-goodness past March or any other time in fact, as these devices aren't up to the task of running Bada 2.0 due to hardware limitations. Assuming you're packing any other Bada device however, keep the March deadline in your calendars and hope that this presently fresh disappointment won't be prolonged.

Android nears 50% mark in the US, comScore reports

2011-12-31T10:02:00.001+05:30

comScore has just published their new report on the US smartphone market and it turns out that there are no dramatic changes to be witnessed. Android continued to be the fastest growing mobile platform around and even the launch of the iPhone 4S wasn't enough for iOS to match its growth.
In the three months ending on November 30, 46.9% of the smartphone users in the US had a Google OS device. That's 3.1 percent points higher than the Android market share for the previous three months.
iOS came in a fairly distant second - Apple's proprietary platform gained 1.4 percent point and had a market share of 28.7%. RIM's struggles continue as BlackBerry OS lost further 3.1 percent points and now only powers 16.6% of the US smartphones.
Symbian and Microsoft didn't have a particularly good time in the market either, the two platforms dropping 0.5 and 0.3 percent points of their respective market shares.

Apple might be getting $10 for every Android device sold

2011-12-30T13:22:00.001+05:30

Kevin Rivette, the managing partner at intellectual property firm 3LP Advisors LLC, shared his professional opinion on the ongoing legal wars in the smartphone world. In a chat with Bloomberg, the expert revealed that he believes Apple could be earning some good money if it was to stop with all the court action and instead concentrate on licensing.
Rivette believes that the Cupertino-based company owns patents that could secure it as much as $10 for every Android device sold if it licensed them. That's twice the amount Microsoft receives from their current licensing contracts with Android manufacturers.
Yet, Apple doesn't seem interested in renting out its technology and prefers to try and ban as many Android products as possible from as many markets as it could manage. And while a potential triumph in this crusade will certainly bring in lots and lots of cash, it seems highly unlikely that it will ever be achieved.
Instead Apple will probably force the companies to find workarounds for their technology (as HTC and Samsung did after the two minor victories that Apple had) and while that certainly wins time for the iOS products on the market, it deprives the company of the revenue that could be had if a licensing contract has been signed instead.
Not to mention that all those lawsuits aren't helping Apple make friends and now it's facing a few patent infringement lawsuits itself. Maybe it would be much wiser if Apple just listens to Rivette and end this whole legal battle, while it is still in a somewhat favorable position.

Argentina bans iPhone and BlackBerry sales

2011-12-29T16:10:00.001+05:30

The Argentinian government has banned the import and sales of Apple's iPhone and all BlackBerry smartphones, among others. The ban also extends over all foreign-made phones, but it seems Apple and RIM among the few of the major phone makers who don’t have factories in Argentina, so their ban is in focus.
Nokia, Samsung, LG and Motorola have already built plants in Argentina, so they all escape the recent Government ban.
Apple and RIM though aren’t so lucky. Their only option is to build a factory in Argentina. RIM is already looking for a partner to do so, while we don't have any info on Appleplans.
This ban is part of the government's anti-crisis policy and is temporary, until the Argentinian economy heals. Apple and RIM reportedly hold about 60% of the Argentinian smartphone market so this is no minor blow and we guess we will see some kind of response rather quickly.

Redesigned next-generation iPhone to launch next year in fall

2011-12-28T14:10:00.002+05:30

It was just a couple of months ago that the iPhone 4S was launched and the rumors for the next iPhone have already started crawling out of the woodwork. This newest one is courtesy BGR, who reports that they have heard from a close source that the next generation iPhone will launch in fall of 2012, which around the same time the 4S was released.
They also have information about the design, which is said to be completely new. The next iPhone will have an all-aluminum back which will be mated to the front glass surface by a combination of rubber and plastic sides, which is also where the antenna system will reside.
The shift to aluminum seems logical since the iPhone is the only Apple product to not use it in the construction of the device. Of course, aluminum will block the transmission and reception of signal, so the sides had to be made with a non-interfering material such as plastic or rubber.
We'd like to say we'll find out soon if this information is correct or not but there is still almost an entire year to go before the next iPhone comes out.

Nokia 801T gets unveiled in China, sports a TV antenna

2011-12-27T12:16:00.001+05:30

Quite frankly, our first thought when we saw the freshly announced Nokia 801T was that we are looking at a skillfully made Chinese clone. The above thought did not go to rest until we saw the device featured in Nokia's official Chinese blog.
Nokia 801T is a TD-SCDMA newtwork device. Its known spec sheet is rather scarce for the time being. We know that it runs the ageing Symbian^3, has NFC connectivity and a 4" display, packed in an all-metal unibody. The icing on the cake however, is the presence of a telescopic TV antenna on board. It allows the device to receive TV signal without tapping into the mobile network, thus saving a small fortune for its users.

A Windows Phone running LG Fantasy leaks out

2011-12-26T10:13:00.001+05:30

LG has been quiet on the Windows Phone front this year. The only entry we've seen from the Korean giant was the LG Jil Sander Mobile. The latter is hardly a new product as it is entirely based on the Optimus 7 from a year ago.
It appears however, that the company has a brand new device in the works. A member of XDA Developers has obtained a pre-production unit of a yet to be announced, Windows Phone 7.5 Mango sporting, LG smartphone, dubbed (at least for the time being) Fantasy. Check it out in the photos below.
We know practically nothing about the specs of the smartphone, save for the fact that its sports a 4" IPS screen, and Microsoft's latest mobile OS on board.
The LG Fantasy will reportedly be unveiled sometimes during Q1 of 2012. We guess that a CES or MWC announcement is likely. We will cover both live, so expect an update as soon as we get the full scoop on the device.

Porsche Design BlackBerry P'9981 comes to the UK

2011-12-25T12:32:00.001+05:30

At first glimpse, we weren't sure what to make of the strange metal-clad QWERTY bar, bestowed with the all-important BlackBerry logo atop its display. We at first, speculated its legitimacy, whether it was ushering in a new design language for the brand as a whole, or if it was some strange custom or special edition device.
It so happens that we didn't have to wait long to find out its true intent. The hard lines and custom font etched onto that futuristic keyboard were the result of Porsche Design partnering up with the Canadian smartphone manufacturers to create something rather different. The result proved striking to say the least, but left many a 'Berry fan somewhat lost or at least unsure at how to react.
Porshce BlackBerry P\'9981 Porshce BlackBerry P\'9981 Porshce BlackBerry P\'9981
t wasn't until a month after its first appearance that we were given the true explanation for this peculiar device, but then everything made a little more sense. Dubbed the BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981, it closely mirrored its everyday counterpart the Bold Touch 9900, with a 1.2GHz single core processor under the hood.
ther specs include a gig of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, a 5MP camera on the back with 720p HD video recording and of course BlackBerry OS 7, which in fact could make this the last BlackBerry out the gates before RIM focus their attentions on the BBX-laden 'Colt', or at least something like it.
The Porsche Design P'9981 was given its very own launch event in Dubai, back in late October with the choice of venue eluding to its luxury-focused target market. The P'9981 was expected to retail for around $2000 and now it comes to the UK market too. If you want one with the intention of giving it as a present for the big day, you only have a short window of opportunity left, but it's available for a cool £1275 at the world renowned Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, London. Reports from the store themselves saying that demand is high and the device is selling fast.

Is this the Nokia Lumia 900 first official picture?

2011-12-24T12:11:00.001+05:30

When we first saw this picture of a Nokia WP-running smartphone a few hours ago we thought it was depicting some new color version of the Nokia Lumia 800. A closer inspection and a few helpful tips later and we know that we are looking at a completely different device.
It appears that the photo is the first official image of the upcoming Nokia Lumia 900, which is to become the next Nokia WP flagship. Notice how the touch-sensitive keys are located much closer to the bottom edge than they were on the Lumia 800 - a clear indication for the larger screen.
And if you look really carefully, you'll notice there's a front-facing camera at the top left corner of the smartphone - something that's not available on the Lumia 800. So we are looking at a Nokia smartphone with a larger screen and a front facing camera that has a design similar to the Lumia 800. It will be a major surprise if this turns out to be anything but the upcoming Nokia Lumia 900.
The smartphone will obviously take a leaf from the handbook of its younger sibling and will come in a variety of colors ranging from conservative black to youthful purple. Let's hope that Nokia will announce the Lumia 900 officially right after the holiday shopping spree is over (we can't realistically expect any announcements before that) and we won't have to wait long to know more about the smartphone's specs

Samsung explains why Galaxy S and Tab 7.0 won't get Android ICS

2011-12-23T18:22:00.001+05:30

When Samsung announced the list of phones and tablets to get the Android Ice Cream Sandwich update, there were many questions of why certain models didn't make the cut. The original Galaxy S for one was quite a surprise, since the nearly identical Nexus S is already getting the update.
Samsung issued an official statement explaining why the the I9000 Galaxy S and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 won't get to taste official ICS.
Both feature Samsung's TouchWiz customizations which run pretty deep (they include things like custom widgets, video calling and so on), and they also have country-specific customizations (like the ISDB-Tb Digital TV tuner for Brazil) along with carrier-mandated changes.
All those customizations will not run smoothly on the older hardware if ported to Ice Cream Sandwich, with limited RAM and ROM storage pointed out as problematic.
Samsung's statement talks only of the Galaxy S and the Tab 7.0, but other Galaxy phones that are not on the ICS update list most likely suffer from similar restraints so they'll remain on Gingerbread too.
Of course, there are plenty of third-party ROMs available out there that will put an unmodified Ice Cream Sandwich (that is no TouchWiz) on your Galaxy droid - we already tried one out and it worked rather well.tible HTC device by clicking on the source link below. As always, beware of the potential risks which come with the operation.

Here is how Android 4.0 with HTC Sense looks like

2011-12-22T08:16:00.001+05:30

The first HTC Sense-d Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich ROM broke cover, folks. Thanks to the effort of a team of developers over at XDA, we now have a chance to see what changes are coming to the HTC devices, which are bound for upgrade. In this particular case, the ROM has been flashed to an HTC Sensation.
As you can notice from the screenshots above, the HTC Sense 3.5 dressed ROM will offer a significantly different experience than the stock UI, which we've experienced on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. It will be closely related in terms of look and feel to the HTC Sense UI.
You are welcome to try the ROM on your compatible HTC device by clicking on the source link below. As always, beware of the potential risks which come with the operation.

Sony Ericsson showcases Android 4.0.1 ICS alpha ROM on video

2011-12-16T11:50:00.001+05:30

When Sony Ericsson explained how hard it is to release a major software update, we got the feeling that we're in for a pretty long wait. Yet, it seems that the company's developers are progressing faster than expected as they just released an alpha preview, which can be used by devs to start working on apps for Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) right now.
The preview ROM isn't suited for a day-to-day use - major features like telephony, Wi-Fi and Google apps aren't functional just yet. Also, only the Xperia arc S, Xperia neo V and Xperia ray are getting ICS preview ROMs. The rest of the phones will still get ICS when its finalized, of course, but if you want to check out the alpha you need to use one of those three.
If you're a developer, who wants to flash their compatible phone (again, this really isn't suited for daily usage), you need to be running software with build number 4.0.2.A.0.42 (that's the latest available).
Also, you need to unlock the bootloader, but keep in mind that if you do that, some issues may arise when the proper release of the Ice Cream Sandwich starts seeding to your phone.
Anyway, there's a good deal of things that are already up and running and here goes the complete list:

    New “Roboto” font
    New “Holo” theme is supported (you are able to test apps written to make use of the Holo theme)
    Music player control from lock screen
    Updated UI in the Settings menu
    Updated UI in the web browser
    Updated UI and interaction with the new messaging action bar
    Updated UI for improved multitasking
    Swipe to dismiss notifications, tasks and browser tabs in the Notification menu
You may want to check out the following video, showcasing these new things. Much like with the leaked Ice Cream Sandwich ROM for the Samsung Galaxy S II, the custom interface covers most of ICS but you get to see a glimpse of Android 4.0's cool new elements here and there.

Android ICS ROM for Galaxy S II leaks, T-Mo's S II gets an update

2011-12-15T09:28:00.001+05:30

There are some exciting software news about the Samsung Galaxy S II - an Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) ROM leaked for the international version of the phone and T-Mobile USA's phone is getting an update that adds Wi-Fi calling right now.
The ICS ROM is still a work in progress and has issues but it's an interesting look of what we can expect when Samsung finishes up it work. It's interesting because you can hardly tell the phone made the jump from Android v2.3 to v4.0 (actually, the ROM is v4.0.1).
The most impressive bit is the new task switcher - actually, you can dismiss apps with a single swipe, which turns it into a task manager. The web browser has been slightly redesigned and there's a face unlock feature.
Check out this demo video to see the differences yourself:
You can download the firmware from SamMobile, and of course, proceed at your own risk.
As for T-Mobile's update, it brings Wi-Fi calling and some bug fixes relating to the battery and caller ID. The update will bring the firmware to build version T989VUVKL1 and Android 2.3.5.

HTC Wildfire S gets to Android 2.3.5 as well, no Sense 3.0 though

2011-12-14T08:03:00.001+05:30

HTC continues its series of Android 2.3.5 for its lineup of smartphones with the entry-level Wildfire S. The Taiwanese company is now seeding the new Gingerbread release to the most affordable of the trio of smartphones that it announced back at the MWC in February.
Much like the HTC ChaCha, though, the Wildfire S won't be getting to taste Sense UI 3.0. We suspect this has something to do with the hardware of these not being unable to handle the latest version of the HTC home-brewed UI.
Early user reports suggest that the update fixes the Wildfire S bugs with unlocking and call answering, but there's no detailed changelog provided just yet. We also don't know if it's already available globally or if it's only available to some markets for now, so if you happen to own a Wildfire S, feel free to drop us a line in the comments mentioning if you got the update and your country.
Details about further updates for the HTC lineup are also scarce for now, but we guess we will know more in the following weeks.

HTC Desire HD, Incredible S and ChaCha getting Android 2.3.5

2011-12-13T10:29:00.001+05:30

We reported a couple of days back that HTC is seeding the 2.3.5 Gingerbread update to the Incredible S with the Desire HD in the waiting list.
TC UK have confirmed that the 2.3.5 update has been released in the UK for the Incredible S and Desire HD, which will get some good Sense 3.0 loving along with all the bug fixes and optimizations in the update.
While the update has been confirmed for the UK only we've received reports from other European countries as well, so be sure to check your Desire HD for an update even if you live outside the UK.
Reportedly the HTC ChaCha has been also getting an OTA update to 2.3.5 (at least in New Zealand) but its Sense version has remained on 2.1. We'll update as soon as we get some official information.

Huawei U8860 Honor gets an official "demo" Android 4.0 ROM

2011-12-12T11:42:00.001+05:30

We are surprised to say the least, but a fact is a fact, folks - Huawei has released an official Android 4.0 Ice Cream

Sandwich ROM for its U8860 Honor handset (you can check out our hands-on impressions of it here). This makes the

Chinese maker of budget devices the first manufacturer to release the latest version of the Google OS to a

non-Nexus device.
The ROM, which is dubbed as a "demo" (we are not sure what this term stands for) is readily available for download

on the Huawei Honor's official product page. It is in simplified Chinese, and comes with instructions about reverting

back to Gingerbread in case the new OS experience doesn't float your boat.

HP to contribute webOS to the open source community

2011-12-11T14:14:00.001+05:30

The long silence regarding webOS has been broken but in a different way than what most people expected. Instead

of shutting down the project once and for all, HP has announced that they will be contributing webOS to the open

source community.
This means that HP will make the underlying source code of the OS available to developers under an open source

license. You can take it, customize it and use it for free as long as you give back to the open source community.

This is similar to the way Linux and Android operate. HP itself will also be investing and supporting the project, so

those with webOS devices right now can breathe easy.
Regarding making webOS device, HP made it clear that they have no intention to get back to the mobile phone

segment ever again, but according to The Verge they may look into making webOS based tablets in the future.
What has happened here is simple. HP realized the potential of webOS and found it too useful to shut it down

completely. However, they do not want to invest more into the platform to make it competitive enough to go

against established players such as iOS and Android. So they chose the only option that they had: open sourcing it.

This way they are hoping that others would step in and help develop the platform so that they don't have to.
In a way, it is a win-win for almost everyone. HP does not have to spend much on webOS, other device

manufacturers such as HTC (who once were interested in webOS) don't have to spend a dime to use it and even

small-time developers can take it and run it on devices other than what HP/Palm have been selling for now.
Whether this is good for the platform, is something only time will tell.

Samsung launches white Galaxy S II HD LTE for South Korea

2011-12-10T12:31:00.001+05:30

Back in September Samsung announced it would release their flagship Galaxy S II device in new flavors. The South Korean exclusive Galaxy S II LTE and the Galaxy S II HD LTE were just released on the local market and guess what, they now have white as an optional color in tune with the holiday season.
The HD LTE comes in all of its 4.65" Super AMOLED 1280x720 glory with a dual-core 1.5 GHz and, naturally LTE connectivity speeds. The Galaxy S II LTE has a 4.5" WVGA (480x800) display, which is about the only difference between the two. They should both be available on SK Telecom as previously told but on HSDPA and LTE, sans the CDMA.
The phones look stunning and do bring a lot of bang for today's standards. Still we're eager to see what the upcoming CES and WMC will bring - they did bring us the Galaxy S II this year after all.

The elusive white Nokia N9 is now available

2011-12-09T16:04:00.001+05:30

Nokia has just released the white color version of its MeeGo flagship. The white Nokia N9 was officially announced

at this year's Nokia World, but it's only now that you can actually purchase one.
We were contacted by one of our readers, who found white Nokia N9 units in a couple of Finnish retail stores. For

now these only come in 64GB flavor but at least cost only as much as their black siblings - €629.90.
The white Nokia N9 shares most of its hardware with the black version, but its non-painted unibody is made from

glossy, rather than matte plastic. It turned out that the white matte plastic was too easy to get messed up in

everyday use, so Nokia went for plastic instead.
We are yet to see if the WP-running Nokia Lumia 800, which shares the N9 body will get a white version, too.
Check out those live shots of the new Nokia N9 that we took at Nokia World 2011 and don't forget to drop us a line

in the comments, sharing your thoughts on this beauty. And if you are planning to actually get it and you happen to

live in Finland you might follow one of the two source links below to place your order.

Software update for Nokia Lumia 800 now up online and ready

2011-12-08T14:14:00.001+05:30

The Nokia Lumia 800 was released just couple of weeks ago and the Finnish company already rushes a software update for its first Windows Phone 7 smartphone.

The software update should roll out completely over the next two weeks in the countries blessed with Lumia 800's availability. As with any update this one brings some notable performance and usability goodies such as:

    Improved charging
    Voicemail notification improvement
    Replying to mail improved for Microsoft Exchange 2003 users
    Improved display switching in bright light
    Improved audio quality

The software will be made available through Microsoft Zune and will roll-out on stages, because of simultaneous download limitations. Another update is expected to hit the Lumia 800 in the first months of 2012 with another batch of improvements and fixes.

Google's Android Market reaches 10 billion downloads

2011-12-07T13:04:00.001+05:30

Google announced an impressive achievement for its mobile OS today - the ten billionth app download in its Android

Market.
While the milestone is impressive enough on its own, it is the rate of growth which is truly staggering - four billion

of the downloads have taken place in the last six months alone. See the graphic below.
To celebrate the accomplishment, Google put a number of popular apps and games on sale in the market for only

ten pennies, so if you are an Android OS user, go ahead and start shopping!

HTC Flyer is getting Android 3.2 Honeycomb, finally

2011-12-06T11:55:00.001+05:30

Flyer is HTC's first tab announced back in February and released in May with Android 2.2 Froyo. Later, it became

clear the Flyer will be getting Honeycomb treatment later this year.
Well, the long wait is over. The Android 3.2 Honeycomb firmware has started rolling out. It is available as an OTA

update and weighs in at 210MB, so downloading it over a Wi-Fi connection is probably a good idea.
Currently, the update is available in France for the 32GB Wi-Fi+3G version, but users from the Netherlands are

reporting they are getting it too. We guess the process won’t be simultaneous but the update should be heading to

every Flyer out there in the next couple of days (or weeks).
Got an updated Flyer, hit us up with what's new after the update in the comments below.

Rotten Core: Nokia lose huge market share in their homeland

2011-12-05T12:02:00.001+05:30

There's a state of unease within Nokia at the moment and unsurprisingly so. With the first Nokia-Microsoft lovechild

now out in the market (the Lumia 800, you might have heard of it) and an aggressive marketing strategy in place to

drum up interest in Windows Phone-laden Nokia's coming fresh out of the factory, the Finnish company have been

waiting with bated breath to see how consumers will receive this new-era Nokia.
They've shown a resilience to the tough times they've faced already and since the partnership announcement in

February, many wondered just how this shift would affect the company's image. By bringing Microsoft in, they've

inherently changed the way they operate and the way fans of the brand expect them to operate. Sure they brought

the Asha lineup to maintain support for their Symbian products and the N9 is taking point in markets where the

Lumia 800 isn't, but now Windows Phone is Nokia and as Stephen Elop so boldly said at Nokia World, the Lumia 800

is "the first real Windows Phone device."

Not only could a statement like that upset the likes of HTC, LG and Samsung, all of whom license Windows Phone

from Microsoft, but the hardcore fans of what we could call the 'old' Nokia also might not welcome the change, and

that is a notion that has the potential to hold water in this case.

The Finns have been proud of the globally recognized giant that is Nokia and it's probably one of the key things

those from outside of the country associate with it, but a recent report from Helsinki's Taloussanomat shows that

pride only takes support so far. In the last 12 months, Nokia have lost 45% of the market share taking their

dominance from 76% right down to 31%.
Of course they still have the top spot, but the gap has dramatically narrowed, with the majority of their sales now in

the possession of Samsung who have risen sharply from a mere 3% to 25% in the same amount of time. Apple then

take third place with 16% in Q3 2011, with Sony Ericsson and Huawei sharing 11% each, leaving the remaining 6% of

the market currently to ZTE.
This doesn't automatically spell the end for Nokia of course, far from it, but it still must be unnerving for them. The

financial quarter in question actually precedes the announcement of the Lumia and Asha handsets, but as such, it

does indicate that the change was necessary. It makes more sense for Nokia to have changed tack altogether, than

continue along the road they were currently on and let's not forget the Finnish market is important for Nokia, but

relatively speaking, it's a small one, with Finland's entire population around the 5 million mark.
Once the holiday season and the final financial quarter conclude we should get at least an initial indication of the

impact the Lumia 800 is making. Until then however it's a case of crossing fingers and seeing if Nokia are able to

reassure the old fans, as well as attracting new ones.
What would you say Nokia should do to maximize their potential in 2012, ideas in the comments. Read the full

Taloussanomat report here (Finnish) and why not check out our new review of the Nokia Lumia 800 as well by

clicking here.

Next Prada phone by LG to land December 14, we'll be there

2011-12-04T12:51:00.001+05:30

It's always a good thing to open our mailbox and get a surprise invite to a hot new event set on announcing

something new and exciting. Well we just got surprised today by an invitation to an event held by Prada and LG on

Wednesday, December 14 in London.
To get right down to it - we expect to see the chic LG Prada K2. It should feature a 4.3" IPS LCD capacitive display

of WVGA (480 x 800) resolution, 8 MP sharpshooter on the back, Android under the hood and a thin profile of 8.8

mm.
We're waiting to see what kind of processor it will utilize and the exact number of cores . The Prada phones were

among the first non-Apple devices to use capacitive screen technology back in 2008 and 2009, you know.
We'll be there to cover the event, so be sure to check back in 12 days from now.

Android distribution in November: Gingebread gets a 50% share

2011-12-03T14:50:00.001+05:30

Google updated the Android versions distribution charts and confirmed that the second Gingerbread release

(covering versions 2.3.3-2.3.7) extended its lead at the top. Over half of all droids are now running on Gingerbread.
Back in second place, Android 2.2 Froyo continues to lose ground as most of the handsets that used to run it are

getting Gingerbread updates. Still, Froyo retains a 35.3% market share, and it will take quite some time before it's

completely gone.
Just look at the long outdated Android 1.5 Cupcake, 1.6 Donut and 2.1 Eclair releases. Those account for 0.8%, 1.3%

and 9.6% of all droids, respectively, which means that one out of ten Android smartphones is running software that's

over two years old (which is like a century in smartphone terms).
The fact that the trio fails to get off the map as quickly as expected is probably partially attributed by the evening

out Android growth - the share of devices left with no support and future updates is harder to be disposed of than

the software itself.
Finally, the trio of Android Honeycomb distributions continues to make baby steps forward. Android slates now

account for 2.4% of all droid devices. We shouldn't expect that share to grow much further though - with Ice Cream

Sandwich just around the corner Honeycomb might become the Android version with the shortest lifetime ever.

White Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket coming these days

2011-12-02T14:30:00.001+05:30

AT&T and Samsung just announced that a white version of the 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket is to make its

way to the stores for the holiday season. This is a great opportunity if you want to get your hands on the 4G

monster, but black is just a tad too serious for your liking.
Underneath the white shell, the Galaxy S II Skyrocket is the same as its black-suited twin, featuring a 4.5-inch

Super AMOLED Plus display, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and a gig of RAM. Here are some official photos for you to look

at.
The price for the Skyrocket remains the same, as before - $250 with a two-year contract on AT&T's new and fresh

4G LTE network. Expect the device to show up on December 4, but you are more than welcome to check out our review while waiting.

Galaxy Nexus to get Adobe's Flash Player in December

2011-12-01T15:11:00.001+05:30

Paid a pile of cash for the top-notch Galaxy Nexus? Found out there is no Flash support for you? Don’t worry, according to Adobe, it’s coming in a few weeks.
Surely it was disappointing to discover that the Google’s latest and greatest has no Flash support. But it was even more shocking, although a bit expected, to learn that Adobe is abandoning the mobile Flash in favor of HTML5.
Anyway, Adobe has previously stated that it will add support for the Galaxy Nexus in its Android Flash runtimes and now we know when – this December. So, Galaxy Nexus users, your money are still well spent and you will get your Flash support very soon. And it will be your last one.

Google Maps 6.0 with indoor navigation lands on Android

2011-11-30T14:29:00.001+05:30

Google just announced the new version of its Maps app for Android. The mapping and navigation software got

indoor maps and navigation, allowing you to find your way around malls, airports, IKEAs and whatnot.
Google Maps 6.0 is also said to be able to detect on what floor of the building you are and adjust the map data

appropriately, so you will only be seeing what's around you. According to the developers, the location algorithm is

finely tuned, so it should work as well indoors as it does outdoors.

Samsung S8600 Wave 3 launches globally today, live pics inside

2011-11-29T12:07:00.001+05:30

Today Samsung announced that its new Bada flagship, the S8600 Wave 3 is hitting the shelves around the world.

The smartphone, which was announced at the end of August is making its market debut just in time for the holiday

shopping spree.
Samsung didn't quote the price of the Wave 3, but a quick search around online shops did the trick. The Samsung

S8600 Wave 3 is currently going for about €280 after taxes in Europe, which seems like quite a decent bargain

considering the package you are getting.
The Samsung S8600 Wave 3 is built around a 4" Super AMOLED of WVGA resolution and runs Bada OS 2.0 on a

1.4GHz Scorpion processor. A 5-megapixels auto-focus camera with LED flash and 720p video recording @30fps

should cater for your photography needs, whila VGA front-facing snapper enables video-chatting.
If you are still unsure if the Wave 3 is a good match for you, you are welcome to check out our preview on the

smartphone. And stay tuned for the full review, which is already in the works.

Samsung GT-S7500 leaks in live pictures, is Galaxy S mini version

2011-11-28T15:15:00.001+05:30

Here we go again with yet another mid-range phone from Samsung. This time it's the GT-S7500 which has leaked in two live photos showing us how the droid will look like.

And from what we are seeing it's not that much different from the other phones in Samsung's mid-range line-up. Although the photos aren't as detailed as we'd like them to be, it's clearly visible that the phone is like a pigmy Galaxy S with the shiny plastic outline and Samsung's usual big home button with two capacitive ones on each of its sides.

Keeping true to it's purpose of being somewhat an affordable device, it is highly likely to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread. And with that come a bunch of features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, microSD slot (we hope) and more. Rumors are this fella will sport a 5MP camera with LED flash on the back.

Other key features such as display and resolution, battery and measurements are still unknown, but we bet this phone won't stay in the shadows for long. Stay tuned.

IPCom seeking to ban sales of HTC 3G devices in Germany

2011-11-27T12:02:00.001+05:30

Things are surely now going well for HTC at the moment. First we saw that HTC lost the S3 patent leverage and

then came the news that their Q4 revenue actually fell. Now we are hearing that patent firm IPCom, who had sued

HTC back in 2009 and managed to get an injunction against them could end up banning the sales of HTC 3G devices

in Germany.
As it happens, HTC was found guilty of infringing on some of IPCom's patents on UMTS 3G technology, which is how

IPCom managed to get an injunction against HTC in the German court. HTC tried to get the injunction suspended

but the court declined to do so. So now as it stands, HTC will either have to pay big bucks to IPCom for using their

patents or get their devices banned from selling in Germany.
In either case it seems HTC is loosing but if it takes the latter approach a lot of people in Germany will end up in

the losing camp as well, although it is unlikely that they will do that.

LTE-flaunting Galaxy S II Skyrocket gets 2.3.6 OTA update

2011-11-26T12:35:00.001+05:30

The AT&T-branded Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket is in the moment receiving and OTA update to Android

Gingerbread 2.3.6. The itself doesn't specify what's new but we're guessing the run of the mill array of bug fixes is

included.
It could also address the Google voice search issue some users have reported but that isn't specified either.
The update is available now via the settings menu under software updates, it's an over the air update so all you

need is a stellar connection to the internet and enough battery juice to go through the p

Unlocked Samsung Galaxy Nexus hits online US shelves

2011-11-25T12:08:00.001+05:30

Hide your kids! Hide your wife! But more importantly, hide your wallet! Because the Galaxy Nexus has just hit US

stores and it ain't cheap.
Currently, we are only hearing about one retailer in the US named Expansys USA who claims to have the device in

stock. The phone will be sold unlocked to anyone willing to part $750 of their hard-earned (or otherwise) cash and

will work on AT&T and T-Mobile network.
That is quite a steep price but not for those who just can't wait any longer and don't have a problem spending that

kind of money on a device that, let's face it, will be outmoded when the next big thing in the Android world comes

out, like, say, the Galaxy S III. Which will be just a few months from now.
Of course, you do have an option to wait for the Veizon version of the phone. Which should be out, one of these

days. Probably.

LG Optimus 3D Gingerbread now rolling out to users

2011-11-24T11:52:00.001+05:30

Well, after the LG Optimus 2X got its Gingerbread treat now it's time for the company's 3D enabled device to taste

the sweetness of Android 2.3, too. Many owners are reporting that the Gingerbread update for the LG Optimus 3D

is now rolling.
Unfortunately though, the majority of owners don't see any of the improvements LG promised to make in the

Gingerbread update, such as 3D video editor (which works for 2D videos as well), image stabilization for 2D

shooting, and faster download 3G speeds.
Make sure you check the update center on your Optimus 3D for the latest Gingerbread update and if you are rocking

with it already drop us a line. Tell us in the comments section what of the promised features have been or have not

been included in the update.

T-Mobile US to launch a white version of the Galaxy S II

2011-11-23T12:01:00.001+05:30

T-Mobile US just announced that it will be launching a new version of the highly popular Samsung Galaxy S II. The carrier will be making the flagship droid available in white for this holiday season.
The white Samsung Galaxy S II will seemingly be using a different kind of plastic. If the official photos are anything to go by, it will be built from some new glossy plastic, rather than the opaque one used on the black version.It's hardly a surprise though - the white version of the international Galaxy S II had to go glossy, too. The thing is, white opaque plastic would be too easy to get all messed up and too hard to clean.
Right now there's no saying when exactly T-Mobile US will release the white Galaxy S II, but they promised to
provide more information on it in the following weeks.

Amazon Wireless drops mobile phone prices to a penny

2011-11-22T11:28:00.001+05:30

Black Friday is just around the corner and the deals are coming in thick and fast. All the major retailers in the US

are offering heavy discounts on consumer electronics and Amazon Wireless has just joined in with a very compelling

offer of their own.
Starting today, Amazon Wireless is offering all the Verizon, AT&T and Sprint devices for a penny (that's $0.01), on

a contract, of course. Along with that you also get free Two-Day Shipping from Amazon. Also, if you buy one of the

eligible hotspot-ready smartphones and activate the hotspot feature you get a $100 Amazon gift card for free.
This offer ends on Cyber Monday (November 28). Click the source link to check out all the devices that you can

purchase for a penny right now.

Quad-core Exynos 4412 chipset revealed in kernel patch

2011-11-21T19:20:00.001+05:30

Guess who just committed a patch for quad-core chipset support in the Linux kernel repository. Samsung did, for

their (yet unofficial) Exynos 4412 quad-core chipset.
The comment for the patch says it adds support for up to four Cortex-A9 cores. The cores will be running at

1.5GHz, same as the dual-core Exynos 4212. As you can expect, details on the new chipset are pretty scarce.
There's no mention of the GPU at all and we can only guess when the gadgets with the new chipsets will be out. Still,

Samsung is probably aiming for a time-frame that lets the Exynos 4412 compete with Qualcomm's and NVIDIA's

upcoming quad-core chipsets.
From the looks of it, this isn't the next-gen Exynos chipset (rumored for the Galaxy S III) that will use ARM's new

big.LITTLE technology and operates as a dual-core (switching between a pair of powerful Cortex-A15 and a pair of

energy-efficient Cortex-A7 cores). There's talk that those new chipsets will be labeled Exynos 5xxx.

Samsung releases the Galaxy Ace Hugo Boss edition

2011-11-19T08:52:00.001+05:30

After the successful collaboration with Giorgio Armani on the special edition of Galaxy S, Samsung is now friends again with Hugo Boss as back in the days of Samsung F480. The fruit of the their new cooperation is the Galaxy Ace Hugo Boss edition.
After taking a look at it you can clearly see why Samsung and Hugo Boss dub this device as being specially tailored to the lifestyle of the fashion brand's customers. The smartphone has a matte black finish abd the back cover has been given special treatment from the designers over at Hugo Boss.
But the modifications don't stop on the outside. The Ace Hugo Boss also features special wallpapers to make your Hugo Boss stand out from the crowd of Samsung Aces even further.
Unfortunately, that's about the changes the special collaboration between the two companes brings to the table. Hardware-wise, the Ace Hugo Boss has not changed a bit from the original. The smartphone still features a 3.5-inch 320x480 pixels screen, 800MHz single-core processor, 5MP autofocus camera and the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and microSD slot found on most Android smartphones.
Happily though, the Samsung Ace Hugo Boss runs Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread and will be available pretty soon at selected Hugo Boss stores as well as on their website. There's no official pricing but we spotted a store that has it for about 280 euros taxes included. If you can afford Hugo Boss costumes, that sort of cash should be pocket money to you.

Samsung confirms the Galaxy S II will taste Ice Cream Sandwich

2011-11-18T10:15:00.001+05:30

Samsung UK announced via its Twitter feed that the Galaxy S II will be updated to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s hardly a surprise since the Galaxy S II lineup is based on top-notch hardware and the latest Android Gingerbread.
Unfortunately, there is no information on release dates or any details on the other Galaxy S II members (besides I9100). Still, we guess all the Galaxy S II phones should be eventually upgraded to ICS.
Also, the information comes from Samsung UK, but we guess it should apply for all the countries the Galaxy S II is available in.

Qualcomm announces new Snapdragon S1 and S4 chipsets

2011-11-17T09:45:00.001+05:30

Qualcomm is expanding its Snapdragon lineup - adding chipsets to both the entry-level S1 line and the Krait lineup. Krait is a brand new design that will scale to up to 2.5GHz with one, two or four cores. It promises better power efficiency than current architectures.
The S4 badge will be carried only by the best of the best Snapdragon chipsets with Krait CPU architecture and next-gen Adreno graphics (dual or quad core GPUs).
There are eight new chipsets, which are joining the already announced MSM8930 and MSM8960 (single and dual-core CPUs respectively) and the Snapdragon APQ8064 (with a quad-core CPU and Adreno 320 GPU), which will supposedly power the rumored HTC Zeta.
he first products with Snapdragon S4 chipsets are expected to show up in early 2012 - starting with the single and dual core versions but we'll be seeing quad-cores later on too.
Qualcomm also announced four S1 chipsets, which are aimed at entry-level smartphones but have been upgraded to offer better performance than we're used to see in this segment. Specs for the S1 line are scarce but we can expect up to 1GHz CPU clock speed and Adreno 200 GPUs. There's a focus on 3G connectivity too, to bring entry level smartphones out of the 2G era.

Google finally releases Ice Cream Sandwich source code

2011-11-16T09:13:00.001+05:30

After a few weeks of waiting, Google has finally released the source code for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This means you will soon be able to get the latest update running on your Android devices, assuming you have the programming skills. Or you could just wait for your favorite custom ROM to be made available in Ice Cream Sandwich flavor.
But before we get all excited, there are a few things to note. Google is saying that the code is still being pushed due to its large size and if synced at the moment it will end up being useless. Their advise is to wait for them to tell you when it's ready to sync.
The code is actually the 4.0.1 update, the exact same one that the Galaxy Nexus will be running on. This code will have to be modified in order to run on other devices. It also comes with a full history of the Android source code tree, including Honeycomb, which was till now unavailable. However, Google wants developers to concentrate on ICS instead, for obvious reasons.
We guess it won't be long now devices other than the Galaxy Nexus will be running ICS.

BlackBerry London leaks out in a single picture, raises questions

2011-11-15T08:39:00.001+05:30

It is no secret, that RIM is going through difficult times these days. The Canadian company's recently announced BBX platform is expected to change its current state of affairs for the better by (finally) integrating BlackBerry OS and QNX.
Today, we have the first leaked shot of a BlackBerry device sporting the new OS. Dubbed "London", the smartphone is likely to become the company's flagship sometimes next year.
In terms of specs, the handset reportedly packs a dual-core TI OMAP CPU, clocked at 1.5GHz and a gig of RAM. The expected built-in storage is 16GB. An 8MP camera is on board, accompanied by a 2MP front-facing unit. The device is rumored to be thinner than iPhone 4S.
While we were preparing the news for you, another report popped up on the web, confirming the existence of the above shown BlackBerry. Q3 of 2012 is expected to be the launch time for the device.
Since we are talking rumors here, we advise you to take all the information with a tiny pinch of salt. As always, we will keep you posted on any developments on the subject.

Ice Cream Sandwich's Face Unlock duped using a photograph

2011-11-14T10:08:00.001+05:30

Ever since Google announced the new Face Unlock feature in Ice Cream Sandwich, people have been concerned about whether it can be fooled using just a photograph of the user instead of the actual face. One of Google's employees himself commented on this saying "Nope" and to give them some credit. Well, it seems he was wrong.
As you can see in the video above, the Face Unlock feature was easily fooled using a photograph of the user. Not just any photograph but a photograph on a Galaxy Note's glossy display taken using its camera. While this points out to the extreme sensitivity of the Face Unlock feature it's also what's causing the problem here. This tells us that unless Google fixes this feature in the final build of Ice Cream Sandwich, unlocking the phone with this feature by an unauthorized user will be only slightly more difficult than swiping on the default lock screen.
If you remember, this is not the first issue faced by Face Unlock (excuse the pun). The feature famously refused to work on stage during the unveiling of Ice Cream Sandwich at Google's event. Perhaps Google should slap this feature with one of their famous 'Beta' logos at the time of launch, just to be on the safe side.

Apple continues to investigate remaining issues in iOS 5.0.1

2011-11-13T09:30:00.001+05:30

It has just been a day since Apple released the iOS 5.0.1 update, which among other things, was chiefly aimed at solving the battery life bug in iOS 5 that Apple acknowledged last week.
However, even though a majority of the users are reporting an improvement in battery life (while some saying they never had any issues to begin with) there are a certain number of users who are still complaining about poor battery life post-update. When AllThingsD wrote about this issue, Apple responded to them with the following statement.
“The recent iOS software update addressed many of the battery issues that some customers experienced on their iOS 5 devices. We continue to investigate a few remaining issues.”
It's clear Apple wants to leave no stone unturned and wants to take care of this issue once and for all. You can probably expect another update soon that should take care of the remaining battery life issues on your iOS device, if any.

Apple US starts selling unlocked phones, here are the prices

2011-11-12T08:55:00.001+05:30

Great news for everyone who's been patiently waiting for an unlocked iPhone 4S with no contract attached to it. From today the Apple US store will offer you spanking new, contract-free, factory unlocked iPhone 4S's.
Prices aren't that bad either, starting at $649 for the 16GB version. A 32GB iPhone 4S will cost $749, while the 64GB will sell for $849. Before you head up to the Apple store though check what Apple has to say about it.

The unlocked iPhone works only on supported GSM networks, such as AT&T in the U.S. When you travel internationally, you can also use a micro-SIM card from a local GSM carrier. The unlocked iPhone will not work with CDMA carriers such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint.

In related locksmith news, Sprint started SIM-locking all iPhone 4S handsets purchased from today, November 11 onwards. All devices bought and activated before today's date will remain unlocked, but how long will this last is still anyone's guess.

HTC Ville specifications leak, will run Ice Cream Sandwich

2011-11-11T08:33:00.001+05:30

BGR has received information on HTC's upcoming Android smartphone. The device will be officially announced at next year's Mobile World Congress along with the HTC Edge.
The HTC Ville, as is its codename, will be HTC's first phone that will come with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box. But that's not the only version 4.0 software it will be running. It will also be the first phone to run on HTC's upcoming Sense UI 4.0. This may cause some people to cringe but there is no getting away from the fact that custom skins are here to stay and one of the ways Android manufacturers differentiate themselves from one another.
Other specifications include a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display. It would have been nicer to see a HD display but qHD is pretty good too. However since it is a Super AMOLED display, there is a good chance that it will have the dreaded PenTile matrix layout for the sub-pixel.
Inside, the phone will be running on a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Series 4 (Krait) processor. Lastly there will be an 8 megapixel camera on the back with a back-illuminated sensor and 1080p video recording, Beats audio, HSPA+ and a 1,650mAh battery. There apparently won't be any NFC on-board due to the metal construction. Hopefully it won't give rise to the Sensation-like deathgrip issue.

White Nokia N9 is now available for preorder, will cost you €699

2011-11-09T15:00:00.001+05:30

If you've been patiently waiting for your special white edition of the Nokia N9 to become available since we showed

it to you during Nokia World, now it's your time to rejoice.
The white N9 is simply grgeous and is priced at €699 by the Finnish online store Verkkokauppa. Mind you, this is the

price for the 64GB model and sadly there's no word on specific date of arrival. All we know is it's going to be ready

for direct purchase by the end of the year.

The quad-core HTC Edge leaks, has monster specs

2011-11-08T12:15:00.001+05:30

The first quad-core smartphone has leaked out, folks. We are still fresh off the first benchmarks of the NVIDIA

Tegra 3 and, now, we have the HTC Edge, reportedly featuring the same monster CPU, to lust after.
Each of the four Tegra 3 cores of the HTC Edge will be clocked at 1.5GHz. A gig of RAM will be at your disposal,

along with 32GB of built-in memory. The device will offer a 4.7" screen with HD resolution.
An 8MP camera unit with f/2.2 lens, capable of capturing 1080p videos will be present as well. Bluetooth 4.0 is

expected on board, along with the rest of the usual connectivity. The HTC Edge will, reportedly, be only capable of

21Mbps HSDPA network speeds. We will, however, be seriously surprised if we don't see an LTE version of this

beast.
In the software department, we can be all but certain to see Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box. A

number of new HTC content services are also expected.
The HTC Edge is expected to hit the market in late Q1, or early Q2 of next year. We are still to find out where are

we going to see it go first.

Galaxy Nexus to be priced at $289 at Costco

2011-11-07T13:08:00.001+05:30

A leaked picture of Costco's inventory screen reveals plans to launch the Galaxy Nexus in the US. The device will be

sold for $289.99 on a two year contract. The pricing is bit on the higher side but is on par with the other high-end

LTE devices from Verizon.
No details regarding the availability on the other carriers in the US or whether the device will be available on other

carriers at all.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Nozomi LT26i leaks in live pictures

2011-11-06T12:34:00.001+05:30

It's been a good five months since the first time we heard a rumor about a dual-core handset by Sony Ericsson. By

the time the Nozomi name popped up in late August, we were seriously anxious to catch a glimpse of the upcoming

Android powerhouse.
Well, folks, here it is - after months of expectation, we have the first live shots of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Nozomi

LT26i out in the wild and, boy, it looks like it has been well worth the long wait.
In terms of specs, not much is known at the moment. The smartphone is rumored to pack a dual--core CPU, clocked

at 1.5GHz and a gig of RAM. The device's 4.3" screen is bound to be a thing of beauty with its 1280x720 pixels

resolution. We still don't know the capability of the camera units of the Nozomi.
As you can notice in the pictures above, the device in the leaked shots is running Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread. Given

the phone's design however (the hardware buttons can be barely seen on the device), don't be surprised if you see it

ship with Ice Cream Sandwich on board.

Android distribution in October: Gingerbread takes the lead

2011-11-05T13:10:00.001+05:30

Google updated the Android versions distribution charts and confirmed that the second Gingerbread release

(covering versions 2.3.3-2.3.7) is now in the lead. 43.9% of all droids are now running on Gingerbread, which turned

out enough for the platform to surpass the previous leader, Froyo.
Way past its peak, Android 2.2 Froyo continues to lose ground as most of the handsets that used to run it are

getting Gingerbread updates and there are barely any new devices with Froyo out of the box available on the

market.
Far behind, Android 2.1 Eclair is now powering 10.7% of the droids out there, losing one percent point of its market

share over the past month. The stubborn Android 1.5 Cupcake and 1.6 Donut still refuse to get off the Android map,

but at least now they only account for just 2.3% of the Android smartphones out there.
In the tablet world Honeycomb continues its slow growth, its three versions now running on 1.9% of the Android

devices. The good news there is that the 3.0 release, which felt more like a beta version is only responsible for

0.1% of the market share and it should be completely gone really soon.
Naturally, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich isn't present in the charts yet, as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is yet to hit

the shelves.

HTC Rezound with Beats Audio officially announced

2011-11-04T12:03:00.001+05:30

HTC officially unveiled the HTC Rezound at a dedicated event it held in New York today. Leaked numerous times

before, the HTC Rezound with Beats Audio is the company's new Android flagship. The Verizon-exclusive

smartphone will be the first US droid with Beats Audio and will come with LTE support.
The HTC Rezound runs Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread with Sense 3.5 on its 4.3-inch 1280x720 pixels display and HTC

promised that it will be updating it to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012.
The Rezound will be the first smartphone with a 720p screen to hits the big Red (the Galaxy Nexus will actually

become avalable a few days later), and is the only one on the market to boast a pixel density of 342 ppi.
Powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Scorpion processor and sporting 1GB of RAM, the HTC Rezound shouldn't have any

issues in the performance department. Storage is covered, too, with 16GB of on-board storage and a 16GB micro SD

card included in the retail package.

Apple acknowledges battery life issue in iOS 5, promises a fix

2011-11-03T13:18:00.001+05:30

Ever since Apple released iOS 5 to users there have been a lot of complaints, particularly from iPhone 4S users,

regarding the disappointing battery life on their iOS devices. It has been more than a couple of weeks now but

Apple refused to comment on the situation, until now.
In a statement given to AllThingsD, Apple acknowledged the issue and promised to release a software update in a

few weeks to solve the issue.
At about the same time that Apple acknowledged the issue, they also seeded iOS 5.0.1 beta to developers. Among

many things, this update the battery life issue in iOS 5. Other changes include addition of multitasking gestures in

the first generation iPad, resolved bugs with documents in the Cloud, improved voice recognition for Australian

users using dictation and other securit improvements.
You can get the update from Apple's developer site if you're a developer or wait for a while till it becomes available

to you.

Nokia kills the Nokia 600, no need to call the CSI team

2011-11-02T19:23:00.001+05:30

Remember that there was a third Symbian Belle smartphone that was announced along with the Nokia 700 and 701?

If you do, Nokia might have to kill you as the company has obviously pulled the plug on the Nokia 600 and is

determined to pretending that it never happened.
Nokia 600 was announced in August and was expected to hit the shelves before Q3 ended, but that obviously never

happened. We got no official comment from Nokia about the delay and now it appears that the phone has been

cancelled.
All pages dedicated to the Belle-running Nokia 600 are now gone from the Nokia servers and even the Nokia

developer website has no mention of it. Videos, featuring the Nokia 600 have been removed from the Nokia

YouTube channels and if we hadn't actually seen the announcement we'd really be inclined to believe that the phone

never existed.
Update, November 2: The official Nokia Facebook channel confirms the fact:
"The thing is, after careful consideration, we have decided not to ship the Nokia 600."
We can't figure out what happened in the past two months that lead to the cancellation of a smartphone that was

just weeks away from actually hitting the shelves, but seeing how Nokia handles things we'll probably never know.
It could be that there were some issues with its mass production or that the Finns want to focus more of your

attention to their WP-running Lumia smartphones. Either way, if you had your sight set on the Nokia 600 you'll need

to move along and find another device that suits your needs.

Gingerbread is coming to LG Optimus 2X, 3D and Black

2011-11-01T13:52:00.001+05:30

LG Optimus 2X, Optimus 3D and Optimus Black are finally getting Android 2.3 Gingerbread this November. The

schedule below applies for the European and carrier-independent Optimus models.
    LG Optimus 2X - update rolls out on November 1
    LG Optimus 3D - update rolls out in the week commencing November 21
    LG Optimus Black - update rolls out in the week commencing November 28
The update schedule for other market and carrier-locked models will be announced later or you can ask your local

service representatives.
The information comes via the official LG page on Facebook. There is really no more info beyond that

Siri successfully ported over to other iOS devices

2011-10-31T12:50:00.001+05:30

Ever since the launch of the iPhone 4S people have been wondering why on earth is Siri not available on other iOS

devices. Several attempts have also been made to make it work on devices other than the iPhone 4S but so far the

result was disappointing, their efforts often being thwarted by Apple's servers who were determined not to let any

thing other than the iPhone 4S through.
But after a few weeks of hard work, developers Steve Troughton-Smith and chpwn have finally managed to crack it.

As you can see in the video above, Siri is now fully functional on a device that is not, for a change, an iPhone 4S.
But before you get all excited, this news does come with a catch. The thing is that the developers cannot release

this hack to users without Apple's legal team coming after them. It requires the manipulation of Apple's code in

order to get it working on other devices, which is a violation of the EULA. They may eventually find a way to

distribute it legally but till then you will have to use your iOS device the ol' fashioned way.

US Samsung Focus S and Focus Flash launching on November 6

2011-10-30T14:00:00.001+05:30

In case you liked the Windows Phone 7.5 running duo of Samsung Focus S and Focus Flash from last week's live shots, we have some good news for you. AT&T announced the upcoming availability and pricing of the two smartphones on its Facebook page today.
As you can see above, the two devices will hit the shelves on November 6. The better equipped Focus S will set you back $199.99, while the entry-level Focus Flash will cost $49.99. Both prices will require a two-year commitment with AT&T.
While the price of the Focus S is hardly a surprise, the Samsung Focus Flash looks like a serious bargain for the fifty bucks you will spend on it. It may not have a Super AMOLED screen or an 8MP camera on board, but the rest of its specs are very much in line with what its bigger brother has to offer.

Samsung announces Galaxy Nexus and Note roll-out schedules

2011-10-28T13:42:00.001+05:30

Tonight at the Battersea Powerstation in London Samsung officially announced their plans about the European

roll-out of the Galaxy Note and Galaxy Nexus.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus got some air time at the event. The Samsung reps talked about ICS and the features of

the Galaxy Nexus. It will begin its roll-out on November 17 in Europe and then move on to global availability.
The Galaxy Note will start its roll-out from Germany on October 29 with the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK and

France following in the next few days. By the end of November most of Europe should have already received the

Gingerbread-running tablet-slash-phone.
Samsung also announced that there will be a white version of the Galaxy Note, complete with a white S Pen. The

company will also be releasing a bunch of nice accessories for the Note, including a cool-looking leather carrying

case.
Finally, Samsung mentioned that it will be releasing the S Pen SDK to developers in December so we should be

seeing more apps that interact with the S Pen at the start of 2012.

Ice Cream Sandwich is officially a no go for Google Nexus One

2011-10-27T13:12:00.002+05:30

As the first device to bear the Nexus moniker, the Google Nexus One is still a highly revered Android smartphone.

Sadly however, its owners will not be able to (officially) enjoy an update to the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream

Sandwich.
According to Hugo Barra - Android's product management director at Google, the hardware of the device is "simply

too old to run the new operating system."Google Nexus S on the other hand, will get the ICS update shortly after the

Galaxy Nexus hits the shelves.
While this is undoubtedly a disappointing piece of news, in case you happen to own a Nexus One, there is always the

possibility of porting Ice Cream Sandwich to your device unofficially. After all, we've already seen this happen.

Apple granted 'slide to unlock' patent for touchscreen devices

2011-10-26T13:50:00.001+05:30

Back in December 2005, more than a year before the first iPhone was announced, Apple had filed for a patent for

their revolutionary 'slide to unlock' gesture for touchscreen devices. The patent was described as follows.
“A device with a touch-sensitive display may be unlocked via gestures performed on the touch-sensitive display.

The device is unlocked if contact with the display corresponds to a predefined gesture for unlocking the device. The

device displays one or more unlock images with respect to which the predefined gesture is to be performed in order

to unlock the device. The performance of the predefined gesture with respect to the unlock image may include

moving the unlock image to a predefined location and/or moving the unlock image along a predefined path. The

device may also display visual cues of the predefined gesture on the touch screen to remind a user of the gesture.”
Apple has now been granted this patent, six years after it was originally filed. But this could mean trouble for

Android OEMs and Android itself, which makes blatant use of this patent.
Having said that the patent is very specific and if you read the highlighted portions above you'll find that it only

talks about gestures performed in a 'predefined path'. This exempts Samsung's TouchWiz, HTC's Sense (3.0 onward)

and the Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich because they don't require you to make a gesture in a predefined path.

Sony Ericsson, Motorola and all the older versions of Android till Gingerbread won't be so lucky, however.
Of course, we are assuming here that Apple will be going after them in court and so far they have given no

indication of doing so. Also, we're not sure if Apple can go after them because even though Apple filed for the

patent back in 2005, it was only granted today.
It remains to be seen how this will be played out but it must be said that Apple now has the upper hand here. Unless

the Android OEMs come up with new ways to unlock their devices (of which there are plenty) they'll be putting

themselves squarely in Apple's crosshairs.