HTC M4 arriving in June with 'metal-alloy chassis
The HTC M4 is expected to start shipping in June with wider availability in the third quarter of the year. But HTC is aiming to ship 700 000 devices in the second quarter as well.
Getting a large order like the one for the HTC M4 is a win for Catcher and the supplier forecasts a 10.5% to 15% sequentially growth in revenue in Q2 2013. It is also expected to ship 2.3-2.4 million units of the HTC One in the second quarter.
BlackBerry OS 10.1 available to developers, here are the changes it brings
Some of those who are using it have already starting making a list of all the new options BlackBerry OS 10.1 brings to the table, and while we’ve heard about some of them earlier, here is a richer feature list of everything new that’s coming:
- HDR option for photos
- PIN to PIN messaging in BlackBerry Hub
- APN editing is enabled
- 'Highlights’ for text are now green, instead of blue
- 'Text Picker' easily moves left and right between letters
- Sharing menu is now black like on the BlackBerry Q10
- New help demos and walkthroughs added
- You can now ‘Select All’ for broadcast messages
- You can now turn off alerts for specific applications
- Easier checks for updates in BlackBerry World
- Power button can unlock a phone directly
- Coupon redemption feature in BlackBerry World
- Paste phone numbers into dialpad
- Installed apps can be opened from with BlackBerry World
We for once are happy to see the HDR option for photos, and everything rest goes for a nice polish to the system but nothing major, what is your favorite new feature in this update?
Nokia Phablet Phone this year, similar in size to Galaxy Note but more advanced? EOS 40MP to have July launch?
Came across this story on ft.com whilst looking up stories about today’s Q1 2013 results. They discuss a Nokia phablet (phone/tablet merge) that is supposedly later this year. The size is said to be about the same size as the Galaxy Note but will be more advanced (Galaxy Note or Note II? Also is this size as in foot print or size as in Screen? We all now how much Nokia loves her Bezels, haha). It’s about time, no? As we said before, we don’t just want a bigger Lumia. We want something that takes advantage of that screen realty.
Although Apple’s largest phone is ‘only’ 4″, ft is right in claiming that Nokia is yet to move into the larger screened device market. They also mention a July launch for EOS
Dual-SIM Micromax Canvas A111 leaks online, pricing unknown
Micromax, the Indian brand best known for its cheap, but powerful A116 Canvas HD smartphone, has just had its latest mid-range Canvas A111 handset leaked.In a series of tweets, Twitter user MMXNewscaster has showcased the Canvas A111 from the front and back, while also sharing some of its key specifications.
Apparently, the A111 is built around a 5.3" display of qHD resolution (960 x 540 pixels). The leak suggests that the touchscreen is going to be usable even with gloves on, like many high-end Android smartphone out there.
At the back, there's an 8MP camera capable of shooting full HD video and is backed up by dual-LEDs; a 1.2MP camera is at the front. According to the leak, the Canvas A111 profile is just under 10mm (9.9mm to be precise) and packs a 2100mAh battery. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is at the driver's seat as well.
As you can tell by the photo above, the Canvas A111 is a dual-SIM phone and has support for microSD cards to expand its internal memory, which for now remains unknown. Pricing and availability are still anyone's guess, but the smartphone is said to hit India in the coming weeks.
ZTE N988 is a 5.7" Jelly Bean droid possibly powered by Tegra 4
ZTE is looking to expand its portfolio with a new huge device, according to a leaked image from China. Codenamed N988 the smartphone is said to be running on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, has a mammoth-sized 5.7" display of 1280 x 720 pixel resolution, 2 GB of RAM and could be running on either a Snapdragon or Tegra 4 chipset.
The front-facing camera is a 2 MP unit while the back one is said to sport a 13 MP sensor. There's Bluetooth, microSD card slot, FM Radio, GPS - the usual suspects.
The N988 will reportedly have a 6.9 mm waistline and weigh just 110 g. The body appears to utilize a unibody construction as there are two covers on the right side for the SIM and microSD card.
Finally the device allegedly was approved by the Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center MIIT in China. There's no word on either pricing, availability or the official name just yet.
Allwinner launches A20 SoC: world’s first dual-core A7 chip
Along the two A7 cores works a dual-core Mali 400MP2 graphical unit. The chip is capable of playing back 1080p video at 30 frames per second and can capture 720p videos at 60 frames per second. The chip supports
It works with Android 4.1 and 4.2, and integrates an HDMI transmitter, LVDS interface, and integrated TV decoder.
The release of the chip means that we’ll soon start seeing the first Android devices based on it, and judging from MediaTek’s recent success, we wouldn’t be surprised if AllWinner also starts having international ambitions soon.
Jolla to announce first device in May? Pre-Order for “special edition” variant
Jolla will announce its smartphone at beginning of May. Pre-order fees will work as funding and in exchange those who pre-order get to choose the looks of their phone. There are several levels of pre-order fees. At beginning of May we will get to know what first phone looks like and how it works.
We’ve been following Jolla rather closely here at the blog, both as they’re ex-Nokians and since they are building on the efforts of the N9. Thanks to a tip and translation by one of our readers Otto, we have exciting news.
Jolla is said to be announcing their first device next month. Antti Saarnio, Jolla Chairman has said their “phone will represent modern Scandinavian design”. What this exactly means, I have no idea, other than assuming its in reference to their partnership with a Scandinavian industrial design team, who worked alongside Nokia on many devices.
Jolla is reportedly going to begin pre-orders from mid-May, in order to start generating hype and provide eager fans with the opportunity to join a specific “club”. Apparently, the devices that get pre-ordered will come with “something unique”; “something special…that will not be available otherwise”.
“We want Jolla to be a movement. We want to involve fans already in early phases. Fans make sure that phone will be available and fans will be first ones to get their phones” said Saarnio.
We know Jolla doesn’t have a huge budget, hence this is most likely to be used as crowd-sourced funding as well as a marketing tactic. Either way, the prospect of having a limited edition device is awesome! It is reportedly going to be like many crowd-funded startups; certain tier “payments” provide certain benefits. Apparently the more you pay, the more unique the device you get. Especially for someone like me who wants a Jolla device anyway.
Pantech Vega Iron goes official with 5-inch full HD display
Pantech has officially announced its Vega Iron smartphone with 1080p display in South Korea. The latest addition to the 1080p club will be available from KT, LG U+ and SK Telecom in the upcoming days and unfortunately, there is no official confirmation on its pricing just yet.
Pantech Vega Iron comes out with a 5" 1080p display and features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset with 1.7GHz quad-core Krait 400 CPU, 2GB of RAM, 13 megapixel rear camera, 32 GB inbuilt memory with microSD support up to 64 GB and the latest connectivity options.
In addition to its powerful specifications, the Vega Iron impresses with it super thin bezels. The smartphone has a screen-to-surface aspect ratio of 75.5%, with its bezels measuring just 2.4mm on either side of the screen.
The Vega Iron is powered by Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and the device runs on a relatively small 2,150mAh battery. Pantech Vega Iron will be competing against the likes of HTC Butterfly, HTC One, Sony Xperia Z, Sony Xperia ZL and Samsung Galaxy S4.
Nokia’s Aluminum Bodied Catwalk Surfaced?
What we’re looking is supposedly the first ever pictures of Nokia’s lightweight answer to the Lumia 920; the catwalk, an aluminum bodied device that brings a fresh change on the fabula design. All I can say is I hope not; in my opinion this is one of the ugliest things to grace the internet; it reminds me of Huawei’s windows phone (yeah I forgot they had one as well):
Interestingly it seems to have a uni-body design without the wireless charging internals, instead it has the same 3 pin connector on the back that we see on the Lumia 720; obviously a weight cutting measure. Also note the re-positioned micro USB port at the top of the device, which would make this the first WP8 to NOT have a micro USB port at the bottom.
Microsoft’s Smartwatch Has Been in Development for Over a Year
Microsoft might not just be toying with the idea of building a smartwatch, but may already be well along in the development process. The Wall Street Journal said earlier this week that Microsoft is working on a smartwatch with a 1.5-inch display and now The Verge says it has learned that Microsoft’s Xbox team has already spent a year developing a prototype. The watch will allegedly employ a wristband that attaches to the watch face using a magnetic mechanism that’s capable of transmitting power and data, The Verge said.
Microsoft isn’t the only company planning to enter into the smartwatch wars. Samsung, Apple and Google all reportedly have similar devices coming down the pipeline. The ultimate question that remains to be answered is how they will benefit consumers. Will smartwatches simply serve as notification windows into our smartphones, or will they provide a unique experience that adds real value to our wrists?
This Chinese phone has a 1080p screen, quad-core processor, costs $230
Zopo is a smartphone manufacturer that you've surely never heard of. That's because its products – Android handsets that have a suspicious resemblance to Samsung,
LG, and HTC devices, are tailored for the Asian market. Then why are we
even bothering to write about a lesser known company like this? Well,
it's because their latest smartphone is a bit different from the rest.
Before we even get to its hardware
specs, we have to point out that the Zopo C2 runs Aliyun OS, which is a
Linux-based system "inspired" by Android. Well, a little too inspired,
maybe, since Google itself blocked the launch of an Aliyun OS smartphone
back in 2012. And it had its reasons for the system was built upon key
Android components without permission. How the argument between Google and the new platform's creators has been solved isn't quite clear.
What's
pretty clear, on the other hand, is that the Zopo C2 boasts some
droolworthy specs despite being priced at about $230. There's a 5-inch
1080p screen on its front, made using LTPS technology. Inside it runs a
MediaTek MT6589 quad-core chip, clocked at 1.2GHz and paired with 1GB of
RAM. A 13-megapixel camera with f/2.2 aperture rests on the
smartphone's back while a 5 (yes, five) megapixel front-facing cam is
placed above the screen for fabulous self-shots. Moreover, there are 4GB
of storage, a microSD card slot, a removable 2000mAh battery, and a
Yamaha audio chip. All of that goodness is packed inside a body that's
only 8.5 millimeters thick.
Latest video of Windows 8.1 in action goes over new tweaks and improvements
Wondering if the
"Start" button will ever return to Windows? Well, looks like that isn't
going to happen, or at least not in the upcoming version of the popular operating system.
Actually, not a whole lot seems to have changed in Windows 8.1, which
has just been leaked in an early form. There are a few improvements,
however, that should be pointed out.
As you'll
see in this video of Windows 8.1 build 9369 in action, the apps list can
now be accessed by clicking on a new button located in the lower right-hand corner
of the Start screen – a minor tweak that users on non-touchscreen
devices will appreciate. And speaking of the apps list, the apps can be
organized depending on how often they're being used. So for example
while the most frequently used apps will appear at the beginning of the
list, the ones that are barely ever opened will be listed last.
Furthermore,
the UI has undergone some changes, and we're not only talking about new
transitions and animations. The multitasking interface, in particular,
now allows the screen to be divided in half while the user can pick the
side of the screen where they want each additional app window to be
placed. Also, the Files application, which is used to browse through the
computer's storage from within the Modern interface, has been fused
together with the SkyDrive app.
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini user agent profile confirms qHD screen
The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini has been tentatively confirmed by two official sources – Samsung SVP Lee Keon Hyok and Samsung’s support page. We can add one more to the list, the User Agent profile.The profile confirms the qHD (540 x 960 pixels) resolution of the screen, which is 4.3" in diagonal according to rumors, working out to 256ppi. It’s most likely going to be a Super AMOLED screen, so here’s hoping it’s not the same PenTile unit used in the Motorola RAZR i or the HTC One S.
That’s all the info we can tease out of the profile, but the rumored specs of the Galaxy S4 mini include an 8MP camera, 1.6GHz dual-core processor (possibly a Cortex-A15 packing Exynos 5250 like in the Galaxy Megas), Android 4.2.2 and latest TouchWiz. Versions with LTE and dual-SIM should be available too.
Samsung allegedly working on a 10-inch tablet with 299ppi display
Samsung is allegedly working on a 10" tablet, which has been codenamed Roma. If latest rumors are to be trusted, the Samsung Roma will essentially be a TouchWiz version of the Nexus 10. The slate is said to come out with microSD card slot for memory expansion and 4G LTE support.
Samsung Roma is rumored to sport a 10.1" display with 2560 x 1600 pixels, making up for pixel density of 299ppi. The tablet will feature a 1.7 GHz Dual-core Exynos 5 processor along with 2 GB of RAM, 5 megapixel rear camera, 1.9 megapixel front camera, 16 GB inbuilt memory with microSD support up to 128GB and latest connectivity options.
The 10" slate allegedly measures 257x177.7x 8.4mm and weighs about 583g. Samsung Roma will run on the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean OS and the juice for the slate will be provided by a 9,000mAh battery.
Unfortunately, there is no official confirmation from Samsung yet, but the device is rumored to go official pretty soon.
Windows 8.1 may have a 'boot to desktop' option
In addition, many are also complaining of the absence of the traditional Star Menu, but while it isn't known if this one is going to return, there may actually be a chance for us to enjoy the good old desktop UI without always having to go through the process of booting into Modern UI and then making the switch. While some enterprising devs were examining the twinui.dll file in a build of the upcoming Windows 8.1, they found some pieces of code hinting at the possibility of setting the desktop UI as the default home screen. What's more, The Verge also reports that Microsoft is currently testing the feature.
While the Modern UI is easily the much more comfortable one when it comes to touchscreen devices, this isn't really true as far as non-touchscreen PCs and notebooks go. That is why it would be much-appreciated if users are given the option to boot directly into the standard desktop mode.
A leaked Samsung prototype does not hint at a new design language
The
leak of the day comes courtesy of popular Twitter channel evleaks,
which has gained a serious reputation for its reliable photo leaks in
the past.This time, however, even the author behind the account is not sure about what the image means and suggests it may be showing a new design language, which will be adopted by Samsung in the near future.
Now, we would be the first to cheer a move away from the pebble-inspired design language that has penetrated the whole Samsung mobile portfolio and is getting quite boring already.
However, this is hardly the case. We've seen devices like this before (a pre-release Note 2 being the last one) and it's nothing but a shell, meant to conceal the final design until the product is properly announced.
So even though we wish these photos were showing a real product with a fresh new design language, this time it's more like a case (literally) of misunderstanding.
So move along people, nothing to see here.
Apple iPhone 6 concept: 4.5 inch screen, no home button
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Concept Apple iPhone 6 (R) has a larger screen but a smaller body than the Apple iPhone 5
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The next iteration of the Apple iPhone is expected to come to market some time this year. One recent rumor has the phone being introduced at a special event on June 20th with a launch taking place a few weeks later. A low-cost version of the Apple iPhone, said to be coming to emerging markets, is expected to launch in July according to the speculation. Last week, Topeka Capital Market analyst Brian White said that his meetings with a "tech-supply chain company" has led him to expect the next iteration of the iPhone to be offered with two screen size options.
Firefox OS due to launch in June in limited regions
According to Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs who spoke at the AllThingsD Dive Into Mobile conference
today, Firefox OS will launch this summer, starting in Brazil,
Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain, and
Venezuela. As you can see from that list, Mozilla is still focusing on a
number of emerging markets for its launch.
HTC 606w with UltraPixel camera gets certification in China
The rumor mill has been expecting an UltraPixel-packing mid-ranger, dubbed HTC M4, and an approval from the Telecommunication Equipment Certification Centre in China confirms its existence. It looks similar to the HTC One with two speakers on the front, but the camera on the back looks different.This phone, which goes by as HTC 606w, packs a 4.3” 720p screen and is powered by a Snapdragon 400 chipset, featuring two Krait 200 cores, 1GB of RAM and Adreno 305 GPU, likely the exact same chipset as the one in the HTC First. The phone runs Android 4.1.2 with Sense 5 on top like the HTC One (it has just two capacitive buttons on the front too).
Of course, the headline feature is the UltraPixel camera on the back. Unfortunately, not much is known about it at the moment – the resolution will likely be the same as on the One, but the HTC 606w being a mid-range model might omit the Optical Image Stabilization. The front-facing camera has 1.6MP resolution.
Other known specs on the HTC 606w include 16GB of built-in storage (no word on microSD), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS + GLONASS and dual-SIM support.
We’ll have to wait until the official announcement for more info on the camera, but the HTC 606w should be hitting the Chinese market soon. We should also see some version of this phone, the M4 perhaps, hit western markets in spring if the rumors are to be believed.
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