this week

Samsung Galaxy S4 goes official with new screen and CPU

Samsung just released its latest flagship - the Galaxy S 4. It packs a new 4.99" Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, which adds up to a pixel density of 441ppi. The screen still a new PenTile matrix, though it probably won't matter much at this kind of density.


The international version of the Samsung Galaxy S IV is going to be powered by the Exynos 5 Octa chipset, which features four Cortex-A15 cores clocked at 1.6GHz, four Cortex-A7 cores running at 1.2GHz and the PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU. There will be a second version for some markets, which will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset with its 4 Krait 300 cores and Adreno 320 GPU. Both versions will offer LTE connectivity and 2GB of RAM.


At the back, the Samsung Galaxy S IV will feature a 13 MP sharpshooter, while on the front a 2.1MP camera will take care of video chats and a host of new features that involve eye-tracking and hand-tracking.
The Samsung Galaxy S IV is slimmer than the Galaxy S III at 7.9 mm and even though its screen has grown it's actually narrower than its predecessor thanks to the slimmer bezels. The smartphone features a similar hyperglaze finish to its predecessor, though it has a different pattern on the back. At 130g the Galaxy S IV is also lighter than the Galaxy S III, despite featuring an ampler 2600mAh battery.
The new Samsung flagship will have three options for its internal storage (16GB, 32GB and 64GB) and they will all feature a microSD card for further expansion.
Just like the HTC One the Galaxy S 4 incorporates an IR blaster so you can use it as a remote control with your TV and various other home appliances.


Samsung Galaxy S 4 runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and has several cool new software features to go with. There's Sound and Shot, which captures 9 second clips with sound (similar to the HTC Zoe), Drama Shot, which captures a burst of photos and combines them into a single image. Cinema Photo mimics Nokia's Cinemagraph and lets you shoot a video and then select which part to be animated and which static, resulting in a GIF image.



You can erase objects from a picture and record video simultaneously from the front and back camera (1080p).
Samsung has included S Translator, which works with email and ChatON. It can translate all major languages at launch with further ones coming later on.
Smart Pause pauses the video you're watching if it detects that your eyes are away from the screen, while Smart Scroll can scroll a web page if you tilt the device while looking at it.
Health and Wellness is part of the Samsung Galaxy S 4 improved TouchWiz package too. The S Health app can measure steps, calories and even the confort of your surroundings - temperature, humidity, etc. These features require the S Band and Heart Rate monitor accessories.
The Samsung Galaxy S 4 will hit shelves in April in two colors - White Frost and Black Mist. Pricing is yet to be confirmed.

XOLO launches 2GHz Intel-based X1000 smartphone

Today XOLO announced its fastest phone up to date - the X1000. It is based on the Intel Atom Z2460 chipset powered by a single-core Intel Atom processor clocked at 2GHz with Hyper-Threading support, PowerVR SGX540 GPU and 1GB of RAM.

XOLO X1000
The rest of the XOLO X1000 specs include a 4.7-inch 720p TFT screen, an 8 MP rear camera with 1080p video recording, a 1.3MP front snapper for video chats, 8GB of internal storage expandable via a microSD card slot and the usual connectivity package (Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS, Bluetooth).
The X1000 runs on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich and there is no official word on planned updates.
The phone is already available for purchase and costs €285 (INR19999).

Samsung trademarks the term 'Hyper Bright Display' ahead of the Galaxy S 4 launch

A US Patent and Trademark Office filing reveals that Samsung has just recently coined the term Hyper Bright Display, and rushed to trademark it Monday so nobody can call dibs on the moniker.

We know what you are thinking - the leaked Galaxy S IV seems to sport a pretty luminant display that is unlike Super AMOLED panels we've seen so far on Sammy's handsets, including the Note II, which tops 400 nits of brightness. It may or may not be the case that the Hyper Bright Display term has been trademarked to indicate the Galaxy S IV screen, but we certainly hope so.

Even if it turns out wishful thinking, it's heartwarming to know that a maker of Samsung's magnitude has turned focus on display brightness, which is often one of the weak points in those panels, as they get to be used outside pretty often.

Google Closes The Book On Google Reader On July 1, Seven Other Products Also Get The Chop

Google just revealed plans to shut down eight of its services as part of what it’s calling an ongoing spring cleaning effort. Some of them are pretty arcane, but among TechCrunch writers, anyway, we’re pretty bummed to see that Google Reader will be shut down on July 1.
“We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites,” SVP of Technical Infrastructure Urs Hölzle writes in the blog post. “While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.”
As a result, we can probably expect another round of “RSS is dead” posts. RSS as a technology for publishers to distribute content probably isn’t going away anytime soon, but if nothing else, the comments about loyal-but-declining usage suggest that anyone hoping for RSS to become a significant consumer technology can stop hoping. And for folks who like to track lots of news sources, this really sucks. (Seriously, you should see the wailing and moaning in the TechCrunch chat room.)
Google’s declining interest in RSS was already pretty obvious given last fall’s shutdown of AdSense for feeds. At the time, TechCrunch’s Frederic Lardinois wrote:

RSS, as a mainstream consumer technology, is mostly dead today (though it still provides a lot of the backend plumbing for many web and mobile apps). Google itself is barely investing in Google Reader anymore and, as far as we know, pulled virtually all of the Reader team into other projects a long time ago.

Other products being shut down (with various nuances in terms of what will still be available to whom) include:

• GUI Builder and five UiApp widgets for AppsScript (September 16)
• CalDAV API for non-whitelisted developers (September 16)
• Google Building Maker (June 1)
• Google Cloud Connect (April 30)
• Google Voice App For Blackberry (next week)
• Search API for Shopping (September 16)
• Snapseed Desktop for Macintosh and Windows (today)

Google to 86 Reader starting in July

Reeder and Press promise to carry on without Google Reader

All of the journalists, news junkies, students and others who still use Google Reader will be unhappy to learn that the service is being shut down starting July 1st, 2013. While Google does admit that Google Reader still has a "loyal following," the Mountain View gang says usage has declined. Google suggests that users export their data, including the subscriptions they have with media content providers, to Google Takeout, but there might be another solution. News aggregation app Feedly is working on cloning the Google Reader API and other apps that used the Google Reader feed, like Reedy and Press, are looking for a way to keep going.

Also getting axed is the Google Voice app for BlackBerry. Google recommends that users switch to the HTML5 app which Google says is more secure and easier for them to update. Those running a 'Berry powered by BlackBerry OS 6 or higher, can use it. Another Google service getting sunset is Google Building Maker which will close on June 1st. This is used to help people make 3D buildings for Google Maps and Google Earth. By cutting some services, Google says it can focus its energy into fewer products.

Obviously, Google Reader will be missed the most, and even though Google likens this to an annual spring cleaning, it still affects those who feel comfortable using it. Below you will find a video of Feedly, which is one of the solutions for those that those who will miss Google Reader the most.

Firefox OS Simulator 3.0 is up, you can download it now

The Firefox OS

The Firefox OS has carriers, OEMs and even some smartphone users very excited. The OEMs and carriers love it because the OS allows them to back up the bloatware truck and dump it all in the OS. Unlike Android, the carriers and manufacturers won't face competition for their bloatware from Google applications. The HTML5 based OS has already been offered on a ROM by Sony for the Sony Xperia E and the Japanese manufacturer has already gone on record as saying that it will launch a Firefox OS powered phone next year.

Now available is Firefox OS Simulator 3.0 which lets developers and the plain curious check out the OS in a PC window. As an add-on to the Firefox browser, the simulator is easy to install and it takes less than a minute to do so. All you need to do is to run your Firefox browser, click on tools and go to Web Developer. From there, click on Firefox OS Simulator.

The most interesting of the new features is "Push to Device," which allows  apps being used on the simulator to be "pushed" directly to a device running the Firefox OS. A rotation simulator and a geo-location feature allow developers to test out their handiwork without using a physical device. Besides Sony, other manufacturers that have agreed to build a Firefox OS powered device include ZTE, LG and TCL.

Dual SIM Samsung Galaxy S IV images surface

There are several leaks of the upcoming flagship from Samsung that have surfaced over the last couple of days, and today, just hours before the launch event for the Galaxy S IV, we see yet another one pop up. This time it is a Dual SIM device, and is by several accounts a prototype, meaning that the final build might not look like the device pictured.

Otherwise, the specs sheet is largely the same as what we suspect will be in the Galaxy S IV:

• Android 4.2
• 4.99” AMOLED/PHOLED display
• Resolution 1080 x 1920
• 13MP camera
• Exynos 5410 1.8GHz Octa-core processor
• PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB internal memory
• 2600mAh battery
• 140.1 x 71.8 x 7.7mm
• Weight 138 gram
• Dual-SIM - one of which is likely hot-swappable

According to the source, the dual-SIM model will come with the standard carrier bloatware preinstalled. From a design standpoint, it has a cross-hatched texture rather than the brushed aluminum look of the S III, with a thinner bezel, embossed home button, and redone plastic back cover. The Air View feature is reportedly still buggy, but that's likely due to the prototype build.

This leak brings up an interesting question in regards to the validity of some of the leaks we've come across - is it possible that until now all we've been seeing have been test devices, perhaps even ones purposely leaked by Samsung to keep the real deal under wraps?

Sony schedules a March 18 press event, Xperia L and Xperia SP incoming?

Sony Mobile is having a press event on March 18, slated for its Russian branch, where it might eventually announce new handsets, otherwise why bother. The only things we are still waiting from Sony this season are the mid-range Sony Xperia SP (C530X) HuaShan and Sony Xperia L (C210X) Taoshan, so that might be it.

The Xperia L is actually said to be an affordable low-end device, with 1 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4, Adreno 305 GPU, 1 GB of RAM, 4.3″ 480x854 pixels display, 8 MP Exmor RS camera, 8 GB of storage plus microSD card, all brought together under the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean umbrella.

Sony Xperia SP (C530X) HuaShan is to be the real midranger here, with Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 at 1.7 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, 4.6″ 720p display, 8 MP Exmor RS camera, 16 GB of internal storage and memory card slot, plus 2100 mAh battery. There is supposed to be a souped-up waterproof version of this one, with a quad-core Snapdragon, 13 MP Exmor RS and 2600 mAh battery unit.

A lower midrange Xperia C360X has also been making the rumor mill rounds, at 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4, 1 GB of RAM, 4.3″ 720p screen, 8 MP Exmor R camera sensor, and 16 GB of internal storage with memory card.

The Xperia L is rumored to cost a bit more than EUR 200 ($260) without a contract, Xperia SP is to be around EUR 300 ($390), with the waterproof version likely more, while there's no word on the C360X pricing, but probably somewhere in-between. We'll see what is Sony going to bring March 18, but given the location scheduled for the press event, these handsets will likely be geared towards Europe and Asia.

Microsoft prepping Windows Phone 9 with the help of Nokia, HTC and Qualcomm, no Samsung mentioned

Not that it would come as any surprise, but Microsoft is already working on the next major Windows Phone 9 version, a job listing reveals. WP9 is expected to hit devices old and new in time for the holiday shopping craze. 

We know about Microsoft's Windows Blue project, but that seems to be aimed at ironing out the win 8/RT kinks, rather than bring WP convergence of sorts, so no hints so far on specific new features in Windows Phone 9 have been given.

The big story here is that in the job listing only Nokia, HTC and Qualcomm are mentioned to have provided reference devices, while Samsung seems to be left out of the equation. Given that Samsung actually identifies Android now, and is also developing its own Tizen OS, that omission might be the law of the land for Windows Phone 9 devices.

More details emerge about Verizon’s upcoming flagship Nokia Lumia 928

If the latest tips being passed along mean anything, it looks like Verizon will indeed have a distinctive device to offer on the Windows Phone front next month.

Two sources of information are coming together and revealing that the Lumia 928, codenamed “Laser,” will also be blessed with an aluminum body like the rumored “Catwalk” which is said to be on its way to T-Mobile USA.

For the Lumia 928, which was leaked to us earlier this month, in addition to the aluminum body, the camera has been augmented with a xenon/LED flash arrangement. The new body will make the 928 lighter and little thinner than its Lumia 920 cousin. The shape of the device may resemble the Lumia 720 more than the 920. Other internals, such as the CPU and memory are expected to be the same. The Lumia 928 will also support simultaneous voice and LTE.

There is some conflicting rumor information related to storage on the Lumia 928, The Verge is asserting that the device will have 32GB of storage with no microSD expansion, like the Lumia 920. A purported Verizon employee is leaking that the device will have 16GB of storage with microSD support up to 64GB. Moreover, the Lumia 928 will have the same color options we have come to expect from the new generation of Windows Phone 8 devices, black, white, red and cyan.

The Lumia 928 is apparently slated for a release in April, though no firm date has been offered. Pricing is not official either, but full retail might be $550 and the subsidized price will be $200 unless Nokia works a deal (which is possible given how long the Lumia 822 has been free with a two-year agreement). The tipster also provided some insight about Verizon’s excitement over Windows Phone.

Samsung Galaxy S IV might come with 'Green PHOLED' screen tech, but what is it?

The latest rumor about the Galaxy S IV is that Samsung might have used a new screen technology for the Full HD OLED panel on the phone, called Green PHOLED. We've been tipped that would indeed be the case, too, and the new technology offers about 25% better energy efficiency than the older one, which we've heard before about the S IV screen.

We hope someone is not confusing FOLED, which marks an OLED screen with a flexible plastic substrate, like Samsung's YOUM brand, and PHOLED, which stands for phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes, but let's assume it's the latter, as we've been hearing about Samsung experimenting with hybrid production methods for the different diode colors for a while now.

Phosphorescent diodes have the advantage to be up to four times more power-efficient than fluorescent ones, the type that Samsung has mostly been using so far, where the "Green" moniker of the technology might stem from. The problem, however, is that green and red PHOLEDs last magnitudes longer than blue ones, as you can see in the table below, and you need all of those to make a pretty picture that won't start deteriorating over time when the blue PHOLEDs start giving up the ghost.

That is why the reporting is that Samsung used the good old fluorescent material for the blue diodes, but decked up the rest with power-efficient PHOLED tech, thus ensuring consistent color quality, but overall lower power consumption by about a third or a fourth, depending on which speculation is to be believed. Given that the screen on our smartphones consumes the bulk of its battery charge, this would result in the Galaxy S IV lasting longer, too.

The Green PHOLED rumor actually ties up with the OLED Association observations last year that Samsung has developed technology to combine production methods for its AMOLED displays, using the costlier but easily scalable Fine Metal Mask method for fluorescent blue diodes, and the more advanced LITI for the green and red ones.

We probably have something similar in store for the Galaxy S IV, and Samsung is reported to adopt a new, diamond-shaped pixel matrix to achieve the rumored Full HD resolution. The company is no stranger to the PHOLED technology either - let's not forget that it entered in a licensing agreement with the PHOLED inventors from Universal Display back in 2011, which runs until 2018, letting them produce and sell devices with phosphorescent diodes.

A new Motorola smartphone leaks, isn't the X Phone

An unknown Motorola smartphone has starred in a hands-on video on the Vietnamese Tinhte blog, which has leaked several high-profile smartphones in the past.

According to the report, the yet unannounced Motorola smartphone carriers the XT912A model number, which leads us to believe it might be a replacement for the Droid RAZR (which carries the XT912 label).
The source claims that this isn't the enigmatic "X Phone" that we are eagerly looking forward to. The evidence to support thi is the leaked smartphone's 4" AMOLED display of HD resolution and Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset. Its CPU clock speed is yet to be confirmed, but we already know an Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB of RAM on board.


The specs sheet is also said to feature a 2,000mAh battery. As for the phone's XT912A's design, it shows that Motorola is taking a whole new design direction in 2013. The phone itself is on the thin side, and features a curved back similar to that of the HTC One.

Jolla partners with the designers of some Nokia models for its upcoming Sailfish OS smartphone

Jolla, the company created by a number of ex-Nokia employees, is currently hard at work on its debut smartphone, which is going to be powered by the MeeGo-based SailFish user experience. The company is convinced that it'll be able to release its very first handset by the end of the year, which is great news, but aren't you willing to know exactly how this handset is going to look?

Well, while we don't have the remotest idea about that, we've learned that Jolla is partnering with the company that designed some of Nokia 's models back in the day. What's more, Finnish design company Infinity has not only worked with Nokia on some of their phones, but has also produced industrial designs for various companies from the industry, including Huawei for its handsets for the Chinese market.

Now Jolla is joining forces with Infinity, as it's trying to come up with an appealing phone for developing markets - an area where Infinity obviously already has some experience. It's definitely good to know that Jolla's design is in good hands!

Do you care about the viewing angles of your phone's display?

The Samsung Galaxy S IV launch is fast approaching this week, and a rumor emerged it is currently available in different prototype versions - one with Samsung's staples, like AMOLED display and Exynos chip, and another with LCD screen and Snapdragon CPU.

Whether or not this will materialize as different versions for different regions, remains to be seen, but we were particularly intrigued by the possibility to have different display technologies. It's interesting, since Samsung brags AMOLED technology to have some areas where it sports an advantage before LCD screens, like much deeper blacks and excellent viewing angles.

If you take a good IPS-LCD display, or a similar liquid crystal panel technology, however, it will sport viewing angles pretty close to the AMOLED ones, and even the newest Full HD screen trend confirms that, despite cramming so many pixels per inch - the HTC One and the Optimus G Pro, for instance, have pretty good viewing angles. The Sony Xperia Z, on the other hand, sports a modern Full HD display, which, however, has the colors and contrast deteriorating significantly when you tilt the phone in any direction and look at it from the sides, but still that doesn't seem to be a deterrent for many. 

That's why we wanted to ask you, dear readers, how important are screen viewing angles on your phone - do you care a lot about those levels, or do you think it doesn't matter, as you usually look at your handset straight-on, and, besides, it makes it more difficult for prying eyes to tell what's happening on your phone's screen from the side? Check your answer below and sound off in the comments.

Mozilla: No Firefox browser for iOS

At SXSW, Mozilla's VP of Product, Jay Sullivan, told an audience watching a panel on the mobile browser wars that because of Apple's unwelcoming attitude toward third party browsers, there will be no Firefox for iOS mobile browser app. Apple stacks the deck to make third party browsers feel unwelcome. For example, mobile Safari uses the fast Nitro JavaScript engine while Apple forces third party browsers to use the slower UIWebView. This gives mobile Safari a big edge in performance.

The closest Firefox has been to having a browser on iOS was when it released Firefox Home for iOS back in 2010. Not a browser, the app brought to iOS bookmarks, browsing history and any open tabs from the Firefox browser on a home computer. Firefox eventually pulled it from the App Store last September.

The main reason for staying away from iOS, Sullivan said, was because the restrictions placed on it by Apple would prevent it from building the kind of browser that it wants to be for Apple users. But not taking the chance to at least try to capture some eyes will hurt Firefox in terms of market share. The new Firefox OS will allow Mozilla to grab market share from users of low priced phones using its OS. But right now, Firefox has less than 1% of the mobile browser market while mobile Safari has a controlling 55%.

Both Sullivan and Dolphin Browser Chief Software Architect David Dehgahn told the audience that by closing its web environment, Apple is making consumers suffer. But an informal poll taken with the panel audience found that a majority of them were using an iOS device and that very few were suffering. That is the realistic challenge that Firefox and other third party browsers face on iOS.

Nokia's SEC filing reveals manufacturer's worry over possible Microsoft Surface phone

An SEC filing (Form 20-F) made by Finish based handset manufacturer Nokia shows the concern that the company has about the possibility of it having to face Microsoft as a rival in the mobile phone business. Of course, Microsoft's mobile OS Windows Phone 8 is the software that drives Nokia's phones, which means that if Microsoft starts focusing on its own Microsoft Surface phone, it probably would stop taking the time to improve Windows Phone for Nokia's line, and for other handset manufacturers that make Windows Phone powered devices.

What makes a possible Microsoft Surface phone all the more worrisome for Nokia is that unlike other handset manufacturers that produce Windows Phone models, Nokia is largely dependent on the OS. For example, if a Microsoft Surface model were to, well, surface, HTC could just concentrate on Android as could Samsung, Huawei and others.

"Microsoft may make strategic decisions or changes that may be detrimental to us. For example, in addition to the Surface tablet, Microsoft may broaden its strategy to sell other mobile devices under its own brand, including smartphones. This could lead Microsoft to focus more on their own devices and less on mobile devices of other manufacturers that operate on the Windows Phone platform, including Nokia."-Nokia's SEC Form 20-F filing

Last October, pictures allegedly of a Microsoft Surface protoype leaked. The handset prototypes, codenamed Juggernaut Alpha, are supposedly kept in Studio H at Microsoft's Redmond campus, guarded with the same intensity as those alleged alien bodies that are said to be kept at Area 51. So far in 2013, we have not heard much about a Microsoft phone although some of the last reports last year hinted that such a device could reach the market in the first half of 2013.

Samsung to update the Galaxy S III with a better screen and battery

Samsung might be working on a refreshed Galaxy S III edition with a better display, a bigger battery and wireless charging. Reportedly, the new battery capacity will be 2400 mAh - 14% more powerful than the original unit.
There is no info on what "better display" means, while the wireless charging is self-explanatory.
The information comes from Eldar Murtazin, who despite not having the best of rumor records recently, accurately leaked March 14 as the Galaxy S IV announcement date.
If you followed Samsung closely, you'll already know the manufacturer has a tradition of refreshing its old flagships. It has already done this twice with the original Galaxy S (Plus and Advance) and the Galaxy S II (Plus). So, if the Koreans were to refresh the Galaxy S III (which is their most popular smartphone to date), it probably won't raise too many eyebrows.
We guess the updated Galaxy S III announcement will only happen after the Galaxy S IV hype has settled down a bit, though.

Confirmed: Samsung Galaxy S IV to use PowerVR SGX 544 graphics

Samsung unveiled the Exynos 5 Octa platform a while ago, but it didn't specify the graphics it used. With the Exynos 5 chipset (the one inside the Nexus 10) Samsung used the ARM's Mali T604 GPU chips.
Today Imagination Technologies announced its PowerVR SGX 544 graphics has been used in the Samsung 5410 Octa chipset, which will be powering the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S IV.
The Power VR SGX 544 GPU is available in three-core (544MP3) and quad-core (544MP4) configurations and AnandTech believes the first of those will be ticking inside the Galaxy S IV. We'll know for sure in two days' time when the official announcement comes.