Alleged pictures of BlackBerry 10 developer device leak

RIM is holding a BlackBerry Jam conference next month in Orlando where it is supposed to give out development devices running the upcoming BlackBerry 10 to ten of the developers attending the event. We are now seeing what are allegedly pictures of this developer device, courtesy of a CrackBerry forum member.

The phone looks like a shrunken down PlayBook, with the same matte plastic back that goes around the side and surrounds the display. The front has the earpiece and a camera at the top, the display in the middle and what seems like a (blurred out) logo at the bottom.

Of course, how this device looks like is irrelevant because it is only intended as a developer unit and won't make it to production. The final devices are likely to have a bit more flair although to be honest this doesn't look to shabby either.

Source

ZTE announces quarterly results, misses analyst expectations

As you may recall, ZTE made some bold statements earlier this week, most notably involving ambitions to start shipping some 100 million smartphones annually by 2015. This goal now seems slightly less realistic, after they fell short of their forecast results for the first quarter of the year.

ZTE's biggest rival, crosstown manufacturer Huawei, reported a 53% decrease in its 2011 profits, despite a sales growth of only 11.7% and ZTE also noted similar trends.

Many analysts attribute these numbers to ongoing price wars between the two giants, as each strives to gain market share in China's competitive mobile economy.

Either way, ZTE is still slated to release a massive amount of devices in the coming years, if their MWC announcement extravaganza is any indication. We'll have to wait and see if they make you reach for your wallet anytime soon.

Source

Samsung Q1 results are out, takes top spot from Nokia

Samsung announced its financial results for the first quarter of this year and the South Korean company is cheering. Analysts like Strategy Analytics say that it is now king of the mobile phone hill - ending Nokia's 14-year reign.

Samsung shipped 93.5 million phones in the three month period, while the former champ Nokia managed just 82.7 million. Of the shipped Samsung phones, 44.5 million were smartphones, which beats Apple's achievement of 35.1 million smartphones. This puts Samsung on top both in terms of both total phones shipped and in the number of smartphones.

Consolidated revenue went up 22% year on year to $39.9 billion, while consolidated net profit reached $4.4 billion.

The chip manufacturing business is down, but demand for DRAM chips and application processors (especially the cool new 32nm ones) is expected to bounce back up in Q2.

The Samsung profit drivers were really IT & Mobile communications business and the display business.

The mobile business is seeing strong demand for smart devices of the Galaxy line (like the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note), with revenue from the mobile division increasing 86% year-on-year.

Strong demand for high-end TVs (LED and 3D) along with tablet and OLED panels helped push operating profit of Samsung's Consumer Electronics business up a whopping 550% in the quarter (year-on-year) to $9.4 billion.

You can find out more details on Samsung's performance in Q1 from its press release or this earnings release PDF.

Source 1 Source 2

Samsung Galaxy S3 photo leaks, yes, again

It's time for today's "photo of the Samsung Galaxy S3" leak - these seem to occur more and more often as we come closer to May 3, when Samsung's Unpacked event will finally settle things one and for all.

The photo shows a device with a hardware home button with two capacitive keys on its sides (menu and back). You can see the volume rocker on the left and the power/lock key on the right - basically, the standard Samsung arrangement.

The newly leaked photo is the one on the left

The screen is off, so there's no way to tell if the device uses the on-screen buttons that we've seen in previous leaks. But it does look an awful lot like the sketch in the alleged leaked manual. And the bezel is very thin - as it would need to be with the rumored 4.6-4.8" screen.

Source | Via

Entry-level ICS-running Sony ST21i leaks

Photos and specifications of an yet unannounced Sony smartphone just surfaced. The guys from Techblog.gr got some live photos and specs of the ICS-running Sony ST21i and they were kind enough to share them with us.

Sony ST21i live photos

Sony ST21i reportedly rocks Android 4.0.3 ICS and is powered by a Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset with a single-core Snapdragon CPU clocked at 800 MHz and an Adreno 200 GPU - just like the one found in the Xperia X10 mini, X8, Galaxy Ace and others.

The Sony ST21i display is a 3.2-incher LCD of HVGA (320 x 480) resolution, but lacks the BRAVIA engine. A 3 MP camera that does VGA video recording is supposed to sit on the back of the compact droid.

There's no info on the pricing and availability of the smartphone just yet.

Source

Samsung Galaxy S3 name pops in Samsung Kies

The announcement of the next Galaxy is just a week ahead, but Samsung has already added the device to its Kies database under the name Galaxy S3.

Previous rumors had it that Samsung won't be calling their next flagship Galaxy S III at all, but this suggests the Koreans will merely be switching to Arabic numerals.

There are two model numbers in the Kies database I9300 and I9300T. The latter is probably reserved for a CDMA, LTE or a carrier-bound version of the upcoming smartphone.

Anyway, May 3 is close, so we won't have to wait long to know the truth.

Source

LG Optimus True HD LTE P936 goes official in Germany

For a while there Europe was left out there, with South Korea and North America both having access to the LG Optimus LTE in some form, while the old continent couldnt enjoy the 720p goodness of the 4.5" HD-IPS LCD display.

Now LG is ready to right the wrong as it announced LG Optimus True HD LTE P936 in Germany. The phone runs on a Snapdragon chipset with dual-core 1.5GHz processor and packs an 8MP camera with 1080p video capture. It runs Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread and comes with a 16GB microSD card. The Optimus True HD LTE also packs T-DMB connectivity.

But the network data connectivity is where it gets really interesting - the phone has both HSPA+ and LTE support. LTE coverage is pretty rare in Europe, but carriers around the continent are busy testing and expending their networks, so this shoud change soon.

There's no official launch date for the LG Optimus True HD LTE P936 mentioned, or anything on which carriers will get it.

While you wait for LG to clarify that, you might want to read our LG Nitro review (that's AT&T's version of the Optimus LTE), or learn how the 720p LCD stacks up against the 720p Super AMOLED of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Source (in German)

Samsung Galaxy S Advance is now available

Samsung I9070 Galaxy S Advance is finally available. The smartphone was announced back in January and it was scheduled for April release. Samsung managed to keep its promise the phone is now in stock at various retailers across Europe.

Clove UK was the first to report it has the Galaxy S Advance in stock it costs 323 there.

The Galaxy S Advance comes with a first-generation Super AMOLED WVGA screen, a 1GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor, Mali-400 MP graphics and 768MB RAM. There is a 5 megapixel camera with HD video recording and 8 or 16GB internal storage as well as optional NFC connectivity. The phone runs on Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread, but it will probably get ICS later this year.

Amazon DE offers the non-NFC version of the Galaxy S Advance for 365, but you could find it for 330 at other online retailers.

We already reviewed the Galaxy S Advance you can read all about it over here.

Source

T-Mobile-bound Galaxy Note shows its face again

The first confirmation of the Samsung Galaxy Note hitting T-Mobile came the other day in the form of a few screenshots, but today we have something better. The first live photo of the phoneblet just appeared online.

And to make things even better, the leaked unit is running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which is yet to be seeded to the Galaxy Notes already in the market. The T-Mobile Note is carrying the model name T879 and should be identical to the international version specs-wise.

The main differences include the four capacitive buttons at the bottom, which come to replace the two capacitive and a conventional button combo, while the Samsung logo is moved to the bottom to make room for the T-Mobile branding on top.

There's no saying when the official announcement of the T-Mobile Galaxy Note is coming, but we expect it to be quite soon. With the successor of the likely coming in less than six months, T-Mo has little time to waste.

Source | Via

Apple is violating a Motorola patent, judge confirms

The never-ending patent war in the mobile world wages on. This time it's Apple that may have found themselves in hot water after an ITC judge found the Cupertino-based company guilty of infringing on one of Motorola Mobility's patents.

Motorola is coming fresh from a preliminary win against Microsoft (in a suit about the Xbox), but both that and today's ruling need to be reviewed by a six-member commission before they come into effect.

Anyway, Motorola had slapped Apple with a suit for violating four of its patents, though the ITC judge found that Apple is only violating one of them. It's a patent on 3G that helps reduce noise in signals.

Apple feels that they're in the clear: "A court in Germany has already ruled that Apple did not infringe on this patent, so we believe we will have a very strong case on appeal".

The six-member commission will announce its decision on August 23 and if they decide in favor of Motorola, the company will be able to block imports of Apple gadgets in the US.

Meanwhile, both Apple and Microsoft have filed complaints against Motorola in Europe, claiming that Moto is using some patents, which are essential to the industry, which they are not supposed to do (RAND).

Source

Nokia Lumia 900 launch pushed back to May, blame US demand

If you are one of those waiting for the international launch of Lumia 900, we have some disappointing news. According to a Nokias spokesman, the Lumia 900 will launch in the UK on May 14 as opposed to previously expected April 27.

The reason is reportedly very simple the high demand for Lumia 900 in the USA that Nokia must satisfy. So AT&Ts exclusivity will remain intact for a few more weeks.

Actually, as Nokia later pointed out, it has never given us exact launch date beyond the Q2 (April - June) time frame, so this shouldnt be counted as a delay at all.

The spokesman talked specifically for the Phones4U UK availability, but we guess it should apply for the whole international launch as well.

Source | Via

HTC Q1 results: profits are down, expected to bounce back in Q2

HTC's preliminary report made it pretty clear that the last couple of quarters were pretty tough for the company. Now, their full report is out and it gives us some more details on how HTC performed in Q1 of 2012.

The company's revenue ($2.3 billion) dropped about 34% both quarter on quarter and year on year. HTC attributes that to the product transition cycle (the new HTC One series went on sale after Q1 ended).

HTC managed to cut down operating expense during Q1 (mostly by reducing marketing costs), but the operating profit of $173 million was down 60% quarter on quarter and 69% compared to Q1 of last year. Both gross margin and operating margin are down as well.

For the second quarter of this year, HTC expects these margins to reach their Q4 2011 levels and the projected revenue is $3.59 billion or about what they were a year ago.

Source

LG Optimus Vu will get a white version next week

The (so far) South Korea-only LG Optimus Vu debuted in traditional black, but starting next week it will be available in white too. Both the back and the bezel around the 5" XGA display will be white.

XGA resolution is 768 x 1024, making for a 4:3 aspect ratio - quite rare for a mobile screen of this size. Anyway, the 8.5mm slim phoneblet packs LTE connectivity and a dual-core 1.5GHz processor along with niceties such as an HDMI port and a T-DMB TV tuner.

The white LG Optimus Vu will be available for SK Telecom and according to the press release is aimed at the ladies and youngster out there. There's still no info on a worldwide release of the Vu.

Source (in Korean)

Nokia Lumia 900 officially coming in magenta soon

The Nokia Lumia 900 has so far been available only across the Atlantic on the AT&T's GSM network. The available color options there are only black and cyan with the cyan version being noticeably more popular.

Recently, we even saw some hints of white units hitting the stores, but so far magenta was only a thing of rumors. Well, no longer as it's officially listed on Nokia's own Facebook page.

The official Nokia websites in Europe and the US still have no mention of the new color, but we guess, that will change once availability hits.

Now magenta is technically the company color of AT&T's competitor but the ladies will hardly mind the fact as long as they get the shiny new smartphone in a color matching their purse.

Via

ICS-running Motorola RAZR HD shows up in China

The Motorola RAZR HD name leaked a week ago though some EXIF data and now alleged photos of the actual device have hit the Internet. The phone in the photos is headed to China Mobile and carries the model number MT887.

The Motorola RAZR HD MT887 is an Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone and lacks any hardware keys, opting for on-screen ones instead. The smaller bezel means a smaller phone compared to another China-bound RAZR with an HD screen - the MT917.

Motorola MT887 next to an MT917 (4.5" screen)

This could be due to a smaller screen size - 4.3" seems like a good guess, but 4.6" is mentioned in a couple of places. The camera on the back is reportedly an 8MP unit, which is inline with the EXIF info we saw.

Here are some further specs on the Motorola RAZR HD according to the rumor - TI OMAP 4430 chipset with dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 4GB storage, GSM and TD-SCDMA network connectivity. The phone is thicker than the 8.5mm thin XT917, which generates speculations that it packs a 3300mAh battery, a la RAZR MAXX.

Some leaked renders of the Motorola MT887 from earlier this week

There's another model number thrown around - MT889, which may be headed to China Telecom. There's no info on a world-wide version of the Motorola RAZR HD, but a Google-owned Motorola can't take too long to deliver an ICS phone, can it?

Source (in Chinese)

Samsung Galaxy S III GPU benchmark pops up, tops charts

The yet unannounced successor to the Galaxy S II popped up briefly in GLBenchmark's results page to confirm that the S III (or whatever it's called) is the next top dog in droidland - GPU-wise. The results have since been hidden from prying eyes, which does give them an air of legitimacy.

The device, sporting a GT-I9300 monicker, does better than almost all the major players on today's market. In the off-screen 720p test, where raw GPU power is emphasized, it achieved 92.2 frames per second, beating the Tegra 3 and Adreno 225 GPUs by a lot and even gave the dual-core PowerVR SGX543MP2 inside the iPhone 4S a spanking. It did come short of the new iPad's quad-core PowerVR SGX543MP4 GPU, though.

GLBenchmark 2.1 Egypt off-screen 720p

Higher is better

• Samsung GT-I9300
  92.2
• HTC One S
  56.2
• HTC One X
  64.9
• Apple iPhone 4S
  72.7
• Apple iPad 3
  139.2
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  65.4

While these are preliminary results, which will probably be different from the ones of the final product, they do point to a powerful GPU inside the next Galaxy flagship. Previous rumors pointed to the same Mali-400MP GPU architecture as in the Galaxy S II, but maybe Samsung is adding another core to it.

There isn't long remaining before we find out - the Samsung flagship will hit the stage on May 3 in London.

Via

T-Mobile could get its own Galaxy Note as T879 leaks

Samsung has been intensely promoting its Galaxy Note phoneblet ever since its announcement, and it looks like it might finally make its way to T-Mobile.

While the T879 model number may be a far cry from the SGH-i717 of the original Galaxy Note, there's a few key bits of information that point '' it being a T-Mobile branded Note:

the leaked ICS build for the AT&T Galaxy Note has the build number IML74K.144, indicating the build date and it is the 144th custom build. The SGH-T879 has the same build number because it was built from the same sources at the same time, meaning that it is indeed a brother to the AT&T Galaxy Note. The build servers and time stamp match up with Samsungs official build information. We know that this build is intended to be an official build because the build number is suffixed with the baseband version instead of a decimal number indicating a custom build that voids the warranty.

Obviously, all of this is still highly speculative. Be sure to check back with us for more as this story develops.

Source

HTC One V review: Chin up

Tags: HTC, Android, Touch UI