this week

Report of Nokia EOS encounter describes Lumia 920 / 808 hybrid

Nokia announced three new phones just a few days ago, but unfortunately none of them were the fabled Nokia EOS. WMPowerUser received a tip from someone claiming to have seen the device in person (but didn’t provide any photo evidence).
The EOS phone is reportedly about the same size as the Lumia 920 but "much lighter". It is made of polycarbonate and while it's thick in the middle (as thick as the 920) it tapers off at the edges.

An early Nokia EOS mockup that doesn't look much like the device being described

There's an automatic lens cover that opens to reveal a round lens housing that protrudes slightly and is smaller than that of the Nokia 808 PureView (this sounds like the back of the Lumia 925). The resolution is unknown since the label read "XX megapixels" (Nokia does this with its prototypes).
Next to the camera was a xenon flash (smaller than the one the 808 has) and two LEDs – one white for video light and one red for AF assist (the 808 has the exact same arrangement).
A special app – Nokia Pro Camera – was on the device and provided goodies like manual focus. The regular app is still on board, so Pro Camera is probably a Lens just like the Smart Camera on the Lumia 925.
The display is reportedly the same as the Lumia 925 / 928 have – a 4.5" AMOLED of WXGA resolution.

Sony Xperia UL - codenamed Gaga - leaks online

Sony seems to have a lot going on in its labs. After the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL hit the market, the Japanese manufacturer announced the Xperia L, Xperia SP and Xperia ZR. Then, a mysterious new device - Xperia i1 Honami - entered our rumor mill that will supposedly revive the Cybershot lineup. The Xperia A and Xperia S39h followed suite not long after Honami.
Today we have another unannounced Xperia smartphone churning around the rumor mill - the Sony Xperia UL codenamed Gaga.

Sony Xperia UL
The Xperia UL (might not be released under that name) is powered by the quad-core Snapdragon 600 chipset (the same as what's ticking inside the Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4) and features a 1080p display, 2GB of RAM and 32GB expandable internal storage. The last known detail is the battery - a 2300 mAh unit.
Looking at the rubber isolation we can safely bet the Xperia UL will be water and probably dust proof.
That's all we know on the Sony Xperia UL so far, but we'll follow the news on this one closely, so be sure to check back soon.

Water-proof LG Optimus GJ headed to Taiwan

LG has supposedly sent invitations for the announcement of a new Taiwan-exclusive handset called Optimus GJ - an IP57-version of the popular Optimus G.
The IP57 certifications means the LG Optimus GJ will last for 30 minutes under one meter of water.

The rest of the specs are identical with the international Optimus G. NTT DoCoMo is already offering the same device on the Japanese market.
The LG Optimus GJ should be announced on May 22 in Taiwan.

Quad-core Panasonic P51 goes official , priced at $517

Panasonic has launched its first Android smartphone in India and has marked its entry into the overcrowded smartphone segment in the country.


Panasonic P51 sports a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and a 1.2 GHz quad-core MediaTek processor along with 1 GB of RAM. P51 also features an 8 megapixel rear camera with the ability to shoot 1080p videos, 1.3 megapixel front camera and 4 GB of internal memory that can be expanded via the microSD card slot.
The device measures 144 x 75 x 8.5mm and weighs 135g. Panasonic P51 runs on the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and the juice for smartphone is provided by a 2,500mAh battery.
Panasonic P51 is priced at INR 26,900 (about $517) and the retail package include a magnetic flip cover and a stylus. The smartphone will be up for grabs, starting from next week. It's unclear what other markets will be getting the smartphone.

China's MeituKiss phone boasts dual 8MP cameras, wants to be a girl's best friend

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Today we have a message for Oppo, Zopo, Vivo and Spice: 5-megapixel front-facing cameras are so yesterday for phones. Launched by Meitu, the developer behind the popular Chinese camera app Meitu Xiuxiu, the MeituKiss phone challenges the aforementioned brands with not one but two 8-megapixel f/2.2 cameras -- one on each side of the phone. The company makes it rather obvious that this Android 4.2 device -- available in pink or white -- is solely targeted at ladies, who in the Far East have a habit of taking self-portrait shots on the regular. So naturally, the MeituKiss does face beautification as well.
For CN¥2,199 or about $360, the rest of the specs aren't too shabby, either. The 9.3mm-thick phone comes with a 4.5-inch, 720p gapless IPS display, a 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589 SoC, a removable 1,800mAh battery, 8GB of built-in storage and microSD expansion. As for radios, you get the usual WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth 4.0, but there's only WCDMA 2100 for 3G. We're just as baffled by the fact that the MeituKiss can only capture video at up to 720p only, especially since each of the Sony sensors here has its own Fujitsu ISP. Regardless, pre-order starts today for the first lot of 18,888 units, followed by a full launch on June 6th should you miss the first round.

The Top 5 Announcements From Google I/O

Google revealed a windfall of changes at the Google I/O conference. The modus operandi, stated repeatedly today, was to “get technology out of the way.” That’s an interesting point of view, considering Google is often the company of choice for the geek set. But this line of thinking was pretty evident throughout the company’s announcements today, several of which follow below:
Google Play Games
Google Play’s gaming services will give Android gamers some welcome new functionality, with persistent cloud-saving, achievements and leaderboards, multiplayer matches and social networking through Google Plus.
Google Play Music All Access
All Access subscription music streaming service not only makes search and discovery simple, but also offers something for people who don’t want to fiddle around with settings. The service brings a user’s music library together with streaming, with plenty of auto-created playlist and radio station features. Curate your own genres or artists, or let the service do it for you, based the selections you already enjoy. And you can save tracks to your library too.
Samsung Galaxy S4 with stock Android
Google announced it will be offering a version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 on Google Play with stock Android. That’s right, if you don’t want TouchWiz, you don’t have to be saddled with it. The combination of leading specs and the most advanced Android software with a guarantee for timely Jelly Bean updates direct from Google will be excellent news for many Android fans. The 16GB device will be available in June.
Google Hangout App
Google has revealed a new dedicated Hangout app, springboarded from Google Plus’ Hangout feature. Group chats feature a spiffy new interface that focuses on interaction instead of grouping communications by contact. The conversations are saved and can be pulled from any compatible device or deleted and shut down. Group video chat has been finetuned for ease, so users can start a video hangout easily by tapping on an icon. Participants are then automatically invited to the vid chat, regardless of device, and all for free.
Google Photos
This could be the jewel in the crown of Google’s announcements. To say that the company offers some cool new Android and Chrome photo features would be an understatement. There is a huge set of tools available now, many of which are incredibly simple to use and extremely helpful for amateur point-and-shooters. The company says that using its cloud-based photo editing functions are like using its data centers as your new darkroom. Perhaps more accurately, it’s like having a darkroom equipped with a full-time photography assistant.
The service has several tools that can automatically make adjustments to your images. Just upload your photos, and Google can stitch together images for panoramas or create a time-lapse animated GIF with several similar shots. Auto-enhance and Auto-Awesome can automatically enhance colour and contrast, soften skin, save blurry pics and over-/under-exposed photos, and alter various other elements. And if you don’t like the changes, you don’t have to keep them.
Curation is another major benefit. Google can select the best pics by recognizing friends and noticing if they’re smiling, or choose based on aesthetic quality, landmark locations and overall image quality. It can even identify duplicates and smartly add only one. And once you have your photos and albums all set, you’ll have a whopping 15GB of cloud storage to house full resolution images.
Of course, there were many other announcements, including a new, rather “pinteresting” redo of Google Plus, as well as Maps, Search, Google Now, Google Play for Education, Android Studio and notification sync across all devices. But throughout the presentation, the message was clear — Google is turning its attention to the user experience. It seems to realize that most people don’t want to waste time endlessly tweaking things; they want seamless experiences and ease of use. And the company wants to give that to them across all of its products.
This is a good sign of maturity. Mountain View is moving forward from its geek roots and focusing with a renewed clarity on everyday users, as well as the developers who cater to them. The elegance and utility of the Android Studio environment looks like a step in that direction, and it could aid and inspire the Android devs to join the cause. Larry Page, during his surprise appearance, said to the crowd of 5,500+ developers: “Technology should do the hard work so that people can get on with doing the things they like in life.”

Google to start selling the Galaxy S4 running stock Android

At the annual Google I/O developer conference today, Google has announced the planned released of a Samsung Galaxy S4 running stock Android (AOSP).
Just as rumored earlier today, the phone will be free of TouchWiz modifications. It will be selling directly through Google Play and it will enjoy timely Android updates just like all Nexus devices. Best of all, it will have an unlocked bootloader for that extra flexibility.


This Google edition of the Galaxy S4 will be selling in the US starting from June 26 without a contract and with no carrier subsidy. The retail price will be $649 and it will work on both the AT&T and T-Mobile US networks (LTE included).
So far we don't know whether there are some changes in specs. We suppose that at least the proprietary "smart" software features designed by Samsung will be gone along with TouchWiz. For now we've been able to only confirm the 16GB of built-in storage along with a microSD slot to expand those.

ZTE Grand X2 announced with 2GHz dual-core Intel Atom CPU

ZTE has officially unveiled the Grand X2 smartphone at the MedPi conference in Monaco. The device features the Intel Atom Z2580 processor and comes with an advanced camera.

ZTE Grand X2 sports a 4.5-inch HD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The smartphones is powered by a 2 GHz Intel dual-core processor with x86 architecture along with 1 GB of RAM. ZTE Grand X2 flagship has an 8 megapixel rear camera, 1 megapixel front facing camera and 8 GB of internal memory, which can be expanded via microSD card slot.
The Grand X2 runs on Android Jelly Bean and the smartphone is powered by a 2,000mAh battery. The camera on the ZTE Grand X2 is capable of shooting up to 24 frames per second with no shutter lag and the real-time 2x axis stabilization allows you to get blur-free shots in challenging environment.
The ZTE Grand X2 will be available in Europe in Q3 2013, but there is no word on the pricing of the smartphone as of now.

Stock Android Samsung Galaxy S4 is almost like a Nexus experience, but not exactly

We are not big fans of the vague word that is ‘fragmentation’ around here, especially when it is applied only to Android. Matter of fact is fragmentation is present in many forms on Apple’s iOS as well. However it is also true that the situation with uniformity of experience and updates on Android could be much much better.

Yesterday, Google made a huge step towards that in two ways. The first one is that it did not announce a new Android version. The second one was the most exciting news of the night for gadget lovers - the 'Nexus' edition of the Samsung Galaxy S4 was announced with pure stock Android and without Samsung’s TouchWiz skin.

But at the same time, this was also a step down in terms of uniformity. This was touted to be a “Nexus experience” in a non-Nexus device. However it is not exactly that. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a great device but it differs from Nexus devices in one key area - it does not use on-screen buttons. Right now all current Nexus devices have on screen button - the Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 are all without physical navigational button.

Introducing the ‘Nexus’ Galaxy S4, though, Google breaks that uniformity. The lack of on screen buttons is not a major segmentation in anyway - it mostly makes accessing Google Now harder and changes little besides that. But it is segmentation, a slightly different ‘Nexus’ experience.

Will we miss the quick access to Google Now? For us personally, the freed space from the missing on-screen buttons is welcome news - we love every pixel and don’t want it go to waste for on-screen buttons. For others it might be different. But now that Google sells the ‘Nexus’ Galaxy S4 on the Play store, it will finally have a way to tell which one users prefer.

'Nexus' Galaxy S4 has no on-screen buttons	Nexus 4 on-screen buttons allow unique functions like quick access to Google Now

Meet the future of mobile display tech: Sharp's first phone and 7" tablet with Full HD IGZO screens

Apple was rumored to front Sharp a billion or two last year in order to secure access to the groundbreaking IGZO screen technology from the launching pad, as vultures were already circling the carcass of the troubled company, Samsung included.Now that the first phone and tablet with high-res IGZO panels are a fact, and presented as a part of the NTT DoCoMo summer portfolio,First in line is the Sharp Aquos Phone Zeta, codenamed SH-06E. It has all the prerequisites for a 2013 flagship - a 4.8" Full HD display panel (that's 460ppi for you), 1.7 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600, 2 GB of memory, 32 GB of internal storage, 13 MP camera and 2600 mAh battery, all wrapped up in a thin sub-10mm watertight package, which houses Qi wireless charging to boot.The details is where it gets interesting, though. IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) screens are much more energy efficient than even the best IPS-LCDs made with the LTPS method, like the one found on the iPhone 5. The IGZO technology reduces the amount of power required to drive liquid crystals during the display of still images, as you can see in a slide for the Zeta below.IGZO panels are on top of that thinner, brighter, less reflective, cheaper to produce and can be made with flexible substrates, plus they have tens of times the typical LCD refresh rate. The only problem with the technology seems to be yields, as in "not able to make enough", which was the chief reason for Sharp being late to the iPad franchise party last year.Due to the IGZO usage, the newest Sharp Aquos Zeta is claimed to boast two full days of battery life, which is a pretty svelte achievement for a big-screen phone, and hopefully a harbinger of things to come with handsets using this screen technology. After all, display time is what saps the most out of the battery on our mobiles, with cellular connectivity a distant second. The screen also supports the "hovering" finger mode that picks and previews before you've even touched it.

Not only is the display of the Aquos Zeta groundbreaking, but the phone seemingly features a 13 MP camera with f/1.9 aperture, like on the Lumia 720, and optical image stabilization, making it only the third with OIS tech, after Nokia's Lumia 92X range, and the HTC One. Here, however, we have much higher resolution and wider aperture paired with image stabilization, so low-light shots are definitely to be compared once Sharp's handset hits Japan next week on May 24th.The other notable IGZO warrior in the lineup is the Sharp Aquos Pad SH-08E tablet, with the same quad-core Snapdragon 600, 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, but 4200 mAh battery. It is a 7-incher, though, with the breathtaking for a small tablet 1920x1200 pixels of resolution, and voice calling feature.

Given Apple's push to steer its supply chain towards Sharp's IGZO panels that began last year, this is the type of display we might see in this year's iPad mini generation with a rumored Retina screen, as this one sports a record tablet pixel density of 323ppi. Given what Nokia managed to do with the 600 nits AMOLED display on the Lumia 925, and what Sharp is doing with IGZO, it seems that there will be much more to look forward to from mobile displays this year, and more meaningful stuff than the fairly uninspriring resolution war of 2012.

Jolla to announce its first Sailfish OS smartphone on May 20

We've been posting about Jolla and its upcoming phones for quite some time now, but since it's still a very young company, we always take the time at the start of each post to explain that 'Jolla has been founded by ex-Nokia employees who decided to take MeeGo, develop their own UI and start making smartphones,' just to make sure that we're all on the same page.

Jolla is a new smartphone company founded by ex-Nokia employees, who decided to take MeeGo and develop their own user interface, or user experience, if you will, and start making smartphones. So they've obviously been working pretty hard these last few months, because the company has just announced that they will introduce their first Sailfish OS (that's how they call their adaptation of MeeGo) smartphone in less than a week - on May 20.

Jolla has made this announcement using the artsy teaser video that you can find below. The video finishes with the words "I am the other half. All will be revealed on 20th of May." We presume that the first sentence is a reference to "hardware," which is the other half of "software." We think so because Jolla has already introduced its MeeGo-based Sailfish OS.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini leaks again, announcement expected on May 30

Boy, if we had a dime each time the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini made a premature appearance online, we'd now be... at least a dollar richer. Jokes aside, legitimate photos of the upcoming smartphone have appeared numerous times on the web, and now we're giving you the latest batch showing the device in perfect clarity. 

The source of today's leak notes that the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini lives up to its name. In other words, it is reportedly about as fast and awesome as the Galaxy S4 – with a great-looking display and a very capable camera. One noteworthy detail is that the Galaxy S4 Mini sports a built-in IR blaster, meaning that it will have remote control capabilities, allowing one to control a TV, set-top box, or a home theater system straight from the smartphone.

As for its hardware specs, rumor has it that the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini will be powered by a 1.6GHz Exynos 5210 SoC, backed up by either 1GB or 2GB of RAM. Its Super AMOLED screen is said to measure 4.3 inches, with a resolution of 540 by 960 pixels. The main camera should offer 8 megapixels of resolution, and a 2100mAh battery will keep the device running through the day. 

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is expected to be announced later this month – on or around May 30, to be more specific. That's also when we may learn more about the rumored Samsung Galaxy S4 Active and Galaxy S4 Zoom smartphones.

Microsoft confirms Blue will be Windows 8.1, and be released for free through the Windows Store

It wasn't until last week that Microsoft finally confirmed that Windows Blue was real and was on its way. Now, Microsoft has decided to make official another piece of information that we already knew: Windows Blue will be called Windows 8.1. But, the most important piece of information is one that is completely new, and that is the update will be completely free and be released through the Windows Store.

That last bit may seem like it should have been a no-brainer. Microsoft has never charged for an incremental upgrade before, but the difference is that Microsoft usually doesn't do "dot upgrades". Usually, there are simply a series of "service packs" for each Windows release, but things are different with Windows 8. 

There is still no info on when the update will be made available, but Microsoft has said that it will release a public preview of the update on June 26th, which is the first day of Microsoft's Build 2013 developers conference. The assumption is that 8.1 will be released in time for the holidays, so that Microsoft can finally get into the booming 7-8 inch tablet market. 

When speaking on Windows 8.1, it was also mentioned that the Windows Store has hit 70,000 apps, which is a respectable number given that we're only about 7 or 8 months into the Windows Store's life.

At 600 nits, the Nokia Lumia 925 display is the brightest mobile AMOLED panel to date

The developer specifications for the Lumia 925 yesterday that Nokia lists the 4.5" HD OLED screen as having a peak brightness of 600 nits, but thought that there's been a database mismatch with the Lumia 920, which is also listed at 600 nits, but has an LCD screen, and such peak brightness is achievable there.

After all, even Samsung doesn't boost its Super AMOLED panels beyond 300-400 nits, which, despite the low reflectance ratio of its displays, still makes them pretty bad for outdoor usage, especially in bright sunlight.Nokia, however, just outed a "Why the Nokia Lumia 925 is a screen idol" article, confirming that it is using a combination of technologies for the Lumia 925 panel, and its engineers have indeed maxed out the brightness at 600 nits, which is on par with the best LCDs out there, including the luminant iPhone 5.

Kenneth Majander from the display development team at Nokia, elaborates: "With the Nokia Lumia 925, we’re using a new laminated AMOLED display technology, which brings a lot of advantages. For one thing, AMOLED allows us to remove an air gap between the screen and the display."

This makes the panel thinner, brighter and less reflective, but Samsung is also taking advantage of these OLED-specific features in its Galaxy line displays, so what gives? It might have something to do with Nokia's ClearBlack layer that it puts on its touchscreens, reducing reflections and improving contrast further. On top of that, despite that we have the typical for OLED screens wide viewing angles and saturated colors, Nokia has provided a Color Profiling app that offers many levels of saturation to choose from, in addition to cool, neutral and warm options.

"Some people prefer more natural colours on their screen. Others want to make it more vivid,” adds Kenneth. “The new app offers a slider allowing 11 degrees of vividness.”

Add to all of the above an improved Synaptics technology for a super-sensitive touchscreen that can be operated with gloves, a feature that got introduced with the Lumia 920, and enhanced further on the 925, and, pending our review of the handset, this panel might be the best mobile OLED display to date, despite being a "mere" HD resolution.

Nokia Lumia 925 is the first phone with six-element camera lens, ISO 3200

Wondered why the newest Nokia Lumia 925 doesn't have a Xenon flash, whereas its Verizon sibling 928 announced last week has one? Well, it might just not be needed, as the camera on the 925, despite sharing specs with the Lumia 920, seems to be quite the improved beast, and not only in terms of new software algorithms,The Lumia 925 sports not two or three, but six lens elements, whereas the most reached so far on smartphones the rank of the iPhone 5 or the 808 PureView are five elements. In addition, the sensor can go as high as the staggering ISO 3200, which would play a big role in those low-light shots, if noise is kept in check, and should also lower the need of a Xenon flash.

WP8 Amber update to bring Smart Camera, FM radio to old Lumias

Nokia just announced the Lumia 925, which packs the Smart Camera app – the culmination of the company's acquisition of Scalado. The app will be released to current WP8 Lumias later on with a firmware update Nokia calls the Lumia Amber update.The app snaps a burst of 5MP photos (the camera uses an 8.7MP sensor) and does cool tricks with it. One is Action shot, which is similar to the Sequence shot in the HTC One and Drama shot in the Galaxy S4.You can also remove moving objects, which got its own video demo. The Smart Camera app can also pick the best expression for every shot.Another cool trick is Motion focus, which makes it look like you're tracking a fast moving object. There's no video for that one, but here's a photo taken with that mode:

Motion focus sample taken with the Nokia Lumia 925 (click for full size)
The Amber update packs a surprise too – it enables the FM radio that's hidden inside every Lumia phone to date, except for the Lumia 620.
There might be other features (including new Smart Camera modes and operator specific features), but Nokia is yet to announce the complete changelog. The update should be out some time in the summer.

Nokia Lumia 925 announced with aluminum frame, OIS camera

Nokia just announced its third phone in five days, its new WP8 flagship called Nokia Lumia 925.
It's similar to the Lumia 920 and Verizon's Lumia 928 in that it packs an 8.7MP sensor with Optical Image Stabilization and f/2.0 aperture. The flash is a regular LED flash, no xenon here.
The phone packs two IHF microphones that record distortion-free sound for the 1080p videos even in loud environments.

Nokia preloaded the Lumia 925 with the Smart Camera app - it features several modes including burst mode (10 shots at 5MP), Best Shot (picks the best of the burst), Action Shot (Sequence shot on the HTC One, Drama shot on the Galaxy S4) and Motion focus (adds motion blur to static objects, as if you're tracking the moving object with the camera). You can also remove moving objects and pick the best face for each person.
The screen is 4.5" in diagonal and has WXGA resolution – that's 768 x 1280. More importantly it's an AMOLED with ClearBlack and Gorilla Glass 2, instead of an LCD. Unsurprisingly, the Qualcomm chipset of the Lumia 925 packs a dual-core Krait processor at 1.5GHz with 1GB of RAM, which is the best that WP8 currently supports.
The phone has an aluminum frame around the side, while the back is polycarbonate. The body is just 8.8mm thick and weighs 139g - much more acceptable than the Lumia 920. Inside it is a 2,000mAh battery, same as the Lumia 920 and Lumia 928. The battery is non-removable and there's no wireless charging out of the box - you can enable that with a thin charging cover.
The built-in storage is 16GB (a downgrade from the 920 and 928) and there's no microSD card slot to expand it. Actually, the Vodafone version of the phone will pack 32GB of storage, which is better.
The Nokia Lumia 925 will be available in Europe (Vodafone Germany, Italy, Spain and UK, where it will also be carried by O2) and China (China Mobile and China Unicom) this June for €470 ($610) and will come to the US later on T-Mobile.

BlackBerry announces BlackBerry 10.1 OS update to Z10 owners

We already knew it was coming, but as of today, it's as official as it gets. At the BlackBerry Live 2013 annual conference today, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins announced the official availability of the BlackBerry 10.1 update to the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone.


The changelog was known from developer beta versions, which were available previously.
The update highlights include:

• Instant Actions - a set of predefined and expandable “action" shortcuts within the Universal Search interface
• Keyboard Shortcuts - the Q10 shortcuts will work on the Z10's virtual keyboard
• PIN to PIN messages for direct communication between BlackBerry smartphones
• Customizable notifications - you can tune the ringtone, vibration and LED response for the different accounts or contacts
• Finer cursor control - it's easier to place teh cursor exactly where it's needed
• High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode in the camera
• Landscape orientation support in the calendar
• Click to call any phone number mentioned in an email or message

Best of all, starting today, Skype will be available to all BlackBerry Z10 users who update their phones to the latest BlackBerry 10.1 OS.
The update should start seeding to most devices this week. Only US users will have to wait until the end of the month to get it.
If you don't have an update notification already, you can check manually for software updates via the software updates section in your phone's Settings.
Another news that came off today's CEO keynote is that the BlackBerry Appworld already has 125,000 apps (up from 70,000 in the end of January).

BB announces the BlackBerry Q5 for emerging markets

The start of the BlackBerry Live 2013 annual conference today in Orlando, USA, saw the announcement of the BlackBerry Q5 - a QWERTY device for emerging markets.
The Blackberry Q5 revolves around a 3.1-inch touchscreen and one of BlackBerry's classic physical QWERTY keyboards, which they are so proud of. The screen has an unusual resolution of 720 x 720px - the same as on the Q10, but this time it's an LCD unit. Inside the BlackBerry Q5 there's a dual-core 1.2Ghz CPU and 8 gigs worth of storage. There's a microSD slot to expand that, but the battery is not removable.

The new BlackBerry Q5 will be available in selected markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia (including the Asia Pacific region), and Latin America, with availability beginning in July. The smartphone will be offered in black, white, red and pink.
Another announcement that came from the today's keynote is that the BlackBerry 10.1 update is now ready to seed to the BlackBerry Z10 (later this month in the US). Not only that, but starting today, Skype will be available to all users who update their Z10s to v10.1.

Sony announces new waterproof Xperia ZR

Late last month, word leaked about Sony putting together a waterproof (well, highly water resistant) Xperia ZR which would be able to withstand being submerged in water for up to 30 minutes.

Sony just uploaded a video introduction to the handset, and has also shared many of the specifications for the device. As it happens, the leaked specs we learned about a couple weeks ago were pretty much spot on.

The CPU is a Qualcomm snapdragon S4 quad-core unit tuned to 1.5GHz, teamed with an Adreno 320 GPU. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is on board with 2GB of RAM and 8GB of storage (microSD up to 32GB). The display is 4.55-inches, TFT 1280x720 which works out to 323PPI. Although another part of the Sony website says it is a 4.6-inch display (319PPI), so we will take the spec-sheet as a work in progress. The main camera is a 13MP Exmor RS sensor. It features all the goodies with various settings including a burst mode allowing up to 10 frames per second at 9MP resolution.

The real attraction is the durability. The 4.9-ounce (140 gram) Xperia ZR is compliant with IP55 and IP58 for dust and water resistance. That means it can be used under water to depths of 1.5 meters (just under 5 feet) for up to 30 minutes.

The rumored battery is 2,300mAh, but that is not indicated on the Xperia ZR’s web page, nor is there any performance measurement about talk time or standby time. However, the device is 10.4mm thick (131mm tall, 67.4mm wide), so hopefully that space is filled with a good sized battery. LTE is supported, but it does not say which frequency bands. Outside of LTE, the Xperia ZR will support GSM/UMTS in all flavors, 850, 900, 1700, 1900, and 2100MHz at HSPA+ speeds. NFC is on board and the Xperia ZR will also support HD voice.

If you are hoping for an availability date or pricing, you are out of luck. There are no carrier announcements at this time either. Right now, the Xperia ZR is “coming soon” and will initially be available in black or white, although other colors are obviously in the works.

Smartphone users demand even larger screens according to Strategy Analytics

It seems that screen size may be more than just a numbers game played between smartphone makers, as the most recent poll from Strategy Analytics reveals that most users now prefer a 4.5-inch screen.

This is up from 4.3 inches when the last time the poll was taken, back in 2011.
Furthermore, users looking to buy their first smartphone show a preference for slightly smaller screens than existing smartphone users, while males prefer larger screens than females.
Screen Analytics warns that with this tendency to hike up screen sizes it is important for manufacturers to consider user interactions, particularly when it comes to on-screen key placement, as larger displays will be more difficult to operate with only one hand.
Now the demand for ever growing phones is something perfectly understandable given that smartphones’ ever increasing multimedia prowess. However we’d also like to remind manufacturers that focusing all their effort on large-screened devices leaves those that want a compact phone with no choice but to settle for dated hardware and sub-par screens. If you agree with us, you can join our petition, which will hopefully help OEMs realize that one size doesn’t fit all and they need to pay proper attention to all segments of the market.

Notion Ink Adam II tablet with interesting dual screen arrangement, specs leak

 

indian tablet maker Notion Ink has been working on a successor to its Adam tablet, released in 2011. Two years is a two lifetimes in the world of electronic devices, and given the specifications of the tablet, this update will be welcomed.

The release date of the Adam II tablet is not known, but a leak with several pieces of information and a supposed price point make for some interesting reading.

First, if the source is correct, the price may come in at only ₹12,000 ($220, £142, €168) which is perfectly reasonable for the hardware specifications that are purported to be part of the new tablet. That price is about half of what a first generation Adam tablet is selling for on Flipkart. The Indian government’s Science and Technology department is apparently funding some of the development of the tablet which may explain this price.

Specification-wise, the Adam II shapes up to be a solid mid-range tablet, Android 4.2.2 is handled by an ARM Cortex A9 dual-core 1.5GHz CPU and a 6,000mAh battery keeps the lights on. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are on board along with 1GB of RAM. There are a pair of cameras, each 2MP. The tablet will also accept a micro SIM for HSPA data.

The screen set-up is quite interesting. The main display is a 10.1-inch 1280x800 panel with a 16:10 ratio. The secondary display is on the edge of the tablet (like the spine of a book or magazine) capable of providing contextual data and notifications. It is a super-twisted nematic display which means it is a monochromatic LCD like can be found on old Nokia feature phones.

NEC Medias X has a water-cooled Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset

Well, this is a first – NEC just unveiled a phone, the NEC Medias X 06E, which features a water-cooled Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset. Yes, you read that right. It's a head pipe system rather than one with an active water pump, but still it promises to keep those four 1.7GHz Krait cores and the Adreno 320 GPU running cool with ease.

NEC Medias X 06E • the LED lighting and the charm * the water cooling system
If you're thinking this is some sort of niche phone for tech geeks you'd be wrong – the Medias X 06E is actually geared towards women. Its 3.5mm audio jack has an RGB notification LED and you can plug in a sort of jewel accessory to make it look cool (something like HTC Rhyme's cube charm).
That aside, the specs are actually pretty nice – a 4.7" OLED screen with 720p resolution, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, 13.1MP Exmor RS camera, and an IP58 certification, which allows the NEC Medias X 06E to dive deeper than 1m of water (IP57 phones can only go 1m deep).
The Medias X 06E will launch on NTT DoCoMo this June

Samsung announces 2020 goal for 5G, hits 1Gbps in tests

Tech firms are always looking ahead and while 4G LTE is all the rage these days, Korean giant Samsung has announced that 5G will be ready by 2020. In tests, Samsung was able to achieve 1Gbps speed, but it required 64 antennas to hit that mark. The tech giant conducted the test over the 28GHz waveband and exchanged real-time signals during the test. With 5G service, users will be able to download a feature film in less than a second with data speeds up to 10Gbps. That compares to 4G which offer speeds up to 75Mbps.

China and the EU both have been working on developing 5G standards and have been throwing money at the technology in hopes of  be able to write the international standards for the service. But no matter how much is thrown at 5G, it takes a tech company with the reach of Samsung to help commercialize those standards.

We're talking about 5G being available in seven short years. Until then, we still have a long way to go before the full potential of 4G LTE is achieved.

IP57-certified Panasonic Eluga P with 4.7" 1080p display unveiled

Panasonic unveiled an HTC One competitor in Japan – it's called Eluga P P-03E and it's for DoCoMo. The Panasonic Eluga P is an Android 4.2 phone with a 4.7" 1080p screen, which is optimized for one-handed operation.
The screen can detect a hovering finger for a feature called Touch assist that is very similar to Samsung's Air Gestures. The phone also features gestures to improve usability with one hand (a zoom slider in the browser, an upward swipe to bring content from the top of the screen into reach, etc.).


The Panasonic Eluga P P-03E is powered by a Snapdragon 600 chipset with a quad-core Krait 300 CPU at 1.7GHz. It also packs a 13.4MP camera and a 2,600mAh battery.
The Eluga P a bit thicker than the HTC One – it measures 132 x 65 x 10.9 – but weighs about the same, 146g. Better still, it has an IP57 certification making it water resistant (up to 1m for 30 minute).
The Eluga P supports NFC, Miracast, MHL, it has a barometer and an IR blaster, plus Japan-specific features like FeliCa and Seg.
The Panasonic Eluga P P-03E will launch on NTT DoCoMo in late June. It's not clear if this phone will have an international version.