this week

Windows Phone 8.1 to power 10″ tablets, swallow up Windows RT

Windows Phone and Windows RT might merge but a new rumor suggests it will be more like Phone displacing RT. Microsoft is working on a Windows Phone 8.1 update, which will allegedly add support for 7 to 10 inch screens to enable WP8.1-powered tablets and merge parts of the API so developers can easily create apps for both platforms.

Multitasking is reportedly the biggest issue ahead of this plan – the GDR3 update will let users close apps manually, but apps running in the background are still a no go. Not until the 8.1 update that is.
Microsoft is working on “universal binaries,” which combine the WP8.1 and RT code in one package. At the moment only 33% of the APIs between the two OSes match, but with WP8.1 that will increase to 77%. This will make developing apps for both platforms much easier.
And it’s exactly apps that are Microsoft’s problem, the rumor claims. User satisfaction with Windows Phone handsets is at 53%, behind iOS and ahead of Android. Apparently, the majority of unsatisfied users claim lack of apps is their biggest issue, but Microsoft thinks it needs only about a dozen key apps to satisfy most complaints.
Finally, an interesting change that will affect the UI is the removal of the back Button – Microsoft will allegedly drop that button and have users exit apps with the Home key instead, as some find the Back button confusing (it’s a common problem on Android too).
There’s also the leaked notification center.
Keep in mind that this is all an unconfirmed rumor, but with the massive underperformance of Windows RT, I won’t be terribly surprised. In fact, I was surprised to find Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 were separate OSes when they were announced – Microsoft hit the reset button after WP7 anyway, having a combined OS made sense.
Microsoft is reportedly looking to expand Surface 2 availability with trials starting in Australia, so that the company doesn’t repeat the Surface RT fiasco.

Pantech Vega Secret Note goes official, packs a ton of features

As expected, Pantech took the wraps off its latest Android phablet. The Pantech Vega Secret Note packs a chock full of top shelf specs headed by a fingerprint reader, stylus, and LTE-Advanced support.

The specs of the Pantech Vega Secret Note allow the phablet to easily go head to head with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The latest member of the Vega family packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 5.9” 1080p LCD display, and 13MP main camera coupled with front-facing unit capable of capturing Full HD videos.
The phablet has 32GB of built-in memory which can be further expanded. Full connectivity suite is unsurprisingly built-in. The OS on tap is Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
The Pantech Vega Secret Note measures are 159.4 x 81.5 x 8.85mm, while its weight tips the scale at 190 grams. The device is powered by a 3,200mAh battery.
The phablet will be available on all three major carriers in Korea in black or white. The estimated off-contract price is around $839.

Samsung Galaxy Round with curved display goes official

Samsung took the wraps off the Galaxy Round – the world’s first smartphone with curved display. The peculiarly designed handset will be available in Korea on October 10.

Undoubtedly, the biggest highlight of the Samsung Galaxy Round is its curved display. The latter is a 5.7” Super Flexible AMOLED unit with Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels). You may remember that back in the day the Samsung-made Nexus S also had a slight curve going on, but in that case it was just the screen glass that was curved, and not the panel itself.

The rest of the Samsung Galaxy Round are quite Note 3-ish: there is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC with quad-core Krait CPU clocked at 2.3GHz, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in memory, and microSD card slot. There’s a 13MP camera on the back of the device, a 2MP front-facing unit, as well as full connectivity suite on board.
The Samsung Galaxy Round measures are 151.1 x 79.6 x 7.9mm, while its weight tips the scale at 154g. The handset is powered by a 2,800mAh battery.
The Samsung Galaxy Round boots Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, dressed in Samsung’s latest TouchWIz UI. Samsung has naturally added a couple of tricks to utilize the curved screen of the device. They include Bounce UX for controlling the device’s music player by tapping on its sides, and Gravity Effect for interacting with the display by rolling it. You can check out the latter in action at the video below.
The Samsung Galaxy Round will be available in Luxury Brown for KRW1,089,000 (approximately $1,000). More colors will be available soon.
Unfortunately, currently there are no plans for international availability (as in outside South Korea).

Lenovo negotiating an HTC acquisition, report says

It's no secret HTC has been in trouble this year. There were supply bottlenecks, patent infringements and its flagship sales are definitely not what the Taiwanese manufacturer was hoping for. HTC has even sold its Beats Audio stakes and it's uncertain what will happen with the audio enhancement for the upcoming HTC phones. Finally, HTC has posted its first net quarterly loss.
And when a company has been on the downwards trajectory for as long as the Taiwanese have been, rumors of acquisitions are bound to appear.
The latest report coming from Taiwan's Apple Daily suggests Lenovo has been having talks with HTC to discuss the terms of a possible acquisition deal to be completed in the first half of 2014. According to the report, meetings have been held since late August, but there's no mentioning of how much the deal will be worth if it goes through.


There is no official confirmation whatsoever, of course, but we can't deny HTC needs help. And it better gets it earlier, rather than when it's too late.
Lenovo is a very strong brand in the Chinese market, and worldwide renowned laptop manufacturer and a company with good and growing profits. In fact Lenovo owns the latter to its acquisition of IBM's ThinkPad, so this won't be the first time it tries to bring a fallen giant back on its feet.

Nokia releases teaser picture of a phablet, tablet and a laptop

Nokia spilled the beans about the Abu Dhabi event on October 22 – details are still scarce, but as they say a picture is worth a thousand words. The picture in question shows a phone (possibly a phablet), a tablet and a laptop.

A quick peek at the rumor mill will tell you that Nokia is working on the Lumia 1520 phablet and the Lumia 2520 tablet. As for the laptop, we haven’t heard anything about a Nokia-made laptop since the Booklet in 2009.
The Nokia Lumia 1520 is allegedly a phablet with a 6" 1080p screen, powered by Snapdragon 800, while the Lumia 2520 is a Windows RT tablet, also powered by Snapdragon 800 and potentially featuring a kickstand and a 1080p screen like its Surface 2 sibling.
The October 22 event will be livestreamed, so check back with us in a couple of weeks for the stream and coverage. There will be additional speeches, their topic will be announced later.

Tag Heuer Merediist 2 goes official, costs £3,300

Tag Heuer, which are known for producing some pretty great watches, has unveiled the Meridiist 2 phone. This is the company's third phone after Tag Heuer Racer and the first generation Meridiist that was launched way back in 2008.
Tag Heuer Meridiist 2 is built from stainless steel with a sapphire crystal screen and a watch face on the top. The phone boosts a battery, which lasts for about 28 days on a single charge.
The second-generation Meridiist comes with access to a round the clock concierge service, meaning you are always just a few taps away from reaching your personal fixer to deliver a dinner reservation.
Meridiist 2 is a lot thinner than its predecessor and sports an OLED display on the top that shows the time. The latest Tag Heuer phone also boasts two SIM-card slots.
The luxurious Tag Heuer Merediist 2 is all yours for a price tag of £3,300 (about $5,300) and is available in five different colors. If you got some cash to burn, then head on to the source link below to make your purchase.

LG announces curved battery for phones and wearable devices

LG Chem (a battery manufacturer) is not square – no really, the company just announced they are breaking away from rectangular batteries. Those don't fit well into certain phone designs, like LG's own G2, which has a curved back.


LG Chem has started production of curved batteries this month, which will power the next line of LG phones, but can also be used for smartwatches and smart glasses. These batteries will work well with curved displays and LG's flexible displays.
While it's not clear if the curved batteries will be able to bend like the display, the cable battery is much more versatile. As the name suggests, it's shaped like a cable and will continue to deliver power even if you tie it in a knot. This battery doesn’t heat up much and is water-resistant, which makes it perfect for wearable devices like smart watches and smart necklaces (still waiting on Kickstarter projects for this one).
LG Chem is also positioning itself to be the top stepped battery maker - the LG G2 battery has a stepped design, meaning it's really two batteries stacked on top of each other to better fill out the internal volume of the phone (and give it an impressive 3,000mAh capacity, 16% more than a traditional battery). The Moto X (also with a curved back) uses a stepped LG Chem battery too. LG Chem has been making such batteries in its Nanjing plant since July.
The company is aware of competitors also making stepped batteries and it's ready to take things to the next level with 3, 4 or more steps depending on the target device.
LG Chem will be demonstrating these batteries and "related products in a private zone" on October 16.

KDDI unveils LG isai, Fujitsu Arrows Z, Sharp Aquos Series

SoftBank's winter lineup, let's take a look at what its KDDI rival is preparing for the winter season.
Two popular models are going to launch on its network in late October - the Snapdragon 800-powered Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phablet and the Sony Xperia Z1 smartphone.
There are four newly introduced phones though that will become available in late November - LG isai, Fujitsu Arrows Z, Kyocera Digno M, and Sharp Aquos Serie.
LG and KDDI partnered to make the LG isai smartphone. It has a 5.2-inch 1080p IPS display and probably runs on the Snapdragon 800 chipset though that hasn't been officially confirmed in the press release.
The rest of the specs include water and dust resistance, 13.1MP rear camera, 32GB expandable storage, LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, Infrared port, 2,500mAh battery and Android 4.2. The available colors for the LG isai are aqua, blue, black and white.


Sharp Aquos Phone Series is a mixture of the SoftBank's Aquos Xx and Aquos Xx mini. It packs a 4.8" 1080p IGZO display and should also run on Snapdragon 800 with 2GB of RAM though it isn't officially mentioned in the press release.
Just like the other Aquos phones, this fella is water and dust resistant. The Aquos Phone Serie other highlights include a 16.3MP rear camera, expandable 16GB storage, LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, a 3,000mAh battery and an extra called Grip Magic that wakes up the phone only by touching its frame. The Sharp Aquos Phone Series runs on Android 4.2 and will launch in white, blue and black flavors.


Fujitsu Arrows Z also has familiar specs even though its looks different. It can run for a day on a 10 minutes charge and three full days after you charge it up to 100%.
Snapdragon 800 chipset ticks inside, while the Arrows Z comes with a 5" 1080p RAM TFT display. The specs sheet continues with 13.1MP rear camera, 32GB expandable storage, LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, Infrared, and even water resistance. Android 4.2 is in charge of operations.


Finally, there is the Kyocera Digno M. The water and dust resistant Digno M comes with a 5.0" 1080p display and is also most probably powered by Snapdragon 800 chipset.
It packs a 13MP camera, 32GB expandable storage, LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, Infrared and Android 4.2. The available color options for the Digno M are white, blue and pink.


As we said, all those newly announced phones will become available on KDDI's network in late November. Pricing is yet to be confirmed.

SoftBank announces Sharp Aquos Xx and Aquous Xx mini

The Japanese carrier SoftBank has just announced the Sharp Aquos Xx 302SH and Sharp Aquos Xx mini 303SH. The duo is joining the recently unveiled Fujitsu Arrows A as part of the carrier's winter lineup.
Both Sharp smartphones are LTE-enabled and run on the latest Snapdragon 800 chipset (quad-core 2.2GHz Krait 400, Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB of RAM). Also, both Aquos Xx gadgets feature 1080p IGZO displays and run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The connectivity departments of both Aquos Xx phones are identical too - LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth, GPS and Infrared port. Quite as expected Aquos Xx and Aquos Xx mini are water and dustproof.
The bigger Aquos Xx 302SH comes with a 5.2" display, 32GB of expandable internal storage, 16.3MP rear camera and a 2,600mAh battery. The phone will be available in blue, white, black and pink flavors.


The smaller Aquos Xx mini 303SH features a 4.5" screen, 16GB expandable storage, 13.1MP rear camera and a 2,120mAh battery. It will hit the market in turquoise, black, white, red, blue, gold, light pink and vivid pink colors.


There are no official prices just yet, but the previously announced Fujitsu Arrows A and the 5.2" Sharp Aquos Xx will hit Japan in December, while the Aquos Xx mini will launch in February.

Nokia ending support for MeeGo and Symbian January 1

In a rather easy to predict move, Nokia announced that it will be dropping support for the Symbian and MeeGo operating systems at the end of this year.

While apps will still be available for download to customers (and developers will still continue to receive revenue for published apps), developers will no longer be able to publish or update apps on the Ovi Store after the January 1 deadline.
While it was only a matter of time before this happened, the pending Microsoft acquisition of Nokia might have something to do with speeding things up.

LG flexible OLED smartphone display enters mass production

LG's curved display production plans are coming along nicely, as the company has officially announced today that its first flexible OLED panel for smartphones has entered mass production.


The company expects a rapid success of the flexible smartphone displays saying that other products are also going to benefit from the new technology. Such candidates include tablets, automotive displays and wearable devices.
The flexible OLED display in question is 0.44mm thin making it the slimmest among existing mobile device panels, according to LG. Furthermore, the display itself is built using plastic substrates instead of glass. This makes it virtually unbreakable, while remaining quite bendable.
We're yet to see the company announce any smartphones with said flexible OLED display. There are rumors that Korean giants Samsung and LG will unveil curved OLED smartphones in October, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
LG's device has been rumored to debut the company's Z series and the company appears to be in a furious race with Samsung to unveil such a smartphone.

Nikon announces D610 full-frame DSLR

Last year Nikon launched the D600, a full-frame DSLR with a pricetag that didn’t require you to sell your kids to be able to afford it. Now, they have launched the new D610, that features some minor improvements over its predecessor.

One of the new features is a quiet, continuous shutter mode, that allows photographers to shoot discreetly at 3fps in burst mode. Nikon has also improved the white balance on the D610 over its predecessor and it now captures more natural colors than before. Lastly, the speed and performance has also been improved and the D610 is now faster, allowing it to capture at around 6fps in burst mode.
Other than that the D610 is similar to the D600, with the same 24 megapixel full-frame sensor, ISO 100 – 6400 range (can be boosted to 25,600), 39-point auto-focus system, 100 percent frame coverage, 3.2-inch, 921k dot LCD, 1080p30 video recording and dual SD card slots.
The D610 will be available in body-only configuration for $1,999.95 and with AF-S NIKKOR 24-85MM F/3.5-4.5G ED VR lens for $2,599.95 starting late October.

Samsung showcases 13MP camera module with OIS

 

Samsung skipped optical image stabilization (OIS) on both its high-profile phones this year (Galaxy S4 and Note 3), while competitors HTC and LG both count on that to gain an edge. Samsung is working on an OIS-enabled camera though, the company demonstrated a 13MP camera module with OIS and improved low-light performance compared to current models.
The new module can correct up to 1.5°, while HTC One's camera tops out at 1°. Samsung also says that the camera's low-light performance for shots and videos is up to 8 times better than current cameras, though it didn’t go into details how that was achieved (OIS probably helped).
The camera module measures 10.5 x 10.5 x 5.9mm and will feature reduced power consumption. Samsung will be showcasing a prototype at the Kintex Exhibition Center starting today. The module will go in production early next year.
While Samsung's press release doesn’t mention models by name, it's quite likely that next year we'll be seeing the Galaxy S5 and Note 4 with OIS-enabled cameras. Samsung allegedly tried to do it with the Note 3 (but we got 2160p video instead) and is working on a 16MP OIS camera too.

Nexus 5 service manual leaks, confirms most key specs

A leaked service manual of the LG-D821 a.k.a. Nexus 5 reveals most of what there is to know about the device - design, specs and even how to open it.
We already knew the most important features from various leaks, but here is the real deal. The Nexus 5 packs a 4.95" 1080p IPS display and runs on the Snapdragon 800 chipset with a quad-core 2.3GHz Krait 400 CPU, Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM. It has a 1.3MP front camera, an 8MP OIS camera with a LED flash at the back and a 2300mAh battery underneath the rear cover.


According to the service manual,the Nexus 5 supports GSM, 3G, CDMA and LTE connectivity plus NFC and Bluetooth 4.0. The phone also comes with a Slimport-enabled microUSB and wireless charging support. As it turns out the Nexus 5 will come in 16GB and 32GB flavors, but as was to be expected there is no option for memory expansion.
The last notable specs are the notification LED and the microSIM slot. Android 4.4 KitKat will be in charge of operations, of course.
There are a few pictures of the Nexus 5 itself in the manual and we've extracted those for you.

LG Nexus 5
Here is the full manual if you are interested in all details and technicalities.
The Nexus 5 is rumored to launch on October 30, so we are not far from its official announcement.