Samsung Jasper gets leaked again, this time with pictures

The Samsung SCH-I200, better known as Jasper, has been leaked again, and this time we get to see what the device looks like.

The upcoming device was leaked via Twitter, and will feature Android ICS out of box, alongside a dual-core Snapdragon 1.5GHz MSM8960 processor and WVGA screen. As you can see from the back panel, the smartphone will run on Verizons 4G LTE network and will not have an LED flash for its rear-facing camera.

Nothing is known on when or at what price Verizon plans to launch the Jasper, but as soon as some news is revealed along those fronts, well let you know.

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Stephen Elop suggests an October release for Windows Phone 8

Speaking to the New York Times, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop let it slip that the upcoming successor to Windows Phone 7, namely WP8, will be coming in October of this year.

This would make perfect sense because of the imminent October 26 release of Windows 8, so it's within the realm of possibility that there could be a simultaneous launch of both operating systems.

Elop did not go on to confirm that the launch would coincide with the release of new WP8 devices, despite the fact that he was was discussing Nokia's Q2 earnings when he said that WP8 would further lift sales of Lumia devices.

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Google posts Q2 report, things are looking good despite Moto loss

Today, Google posted its financial report for the three months ending in June and things are looking good for the software giant. The total revenue was $12.21 billion, representing a pretty huge increase of 35% compared to the second quarter of 2011.

Operating income was $3.20 billion, compared to $2.88 billion in the year-ago quarter and the net income stood at $2.79 billion, compared to $2.51 billion in the second quarter of 2011. This means that despite the stagnating markets in some of the developed countries Google's business is still on the rise.

The results were achieved despite the faltering performance of Motorola (which is now a wholly owned Google subsidiary). The Android manufacturer posted a loss of $233 million, despite scoring revenue of $1.25 billion (of which $843 million came from the mobile segment and $407 million from the home segment) and damaged the overall Google performance a bit.

Google promised to allow Motorola Mobility continue to operate as before after the acquisition, but if the hardware manufacturer continues to cost so much money, it may be forced to take some measures (if it hasn't done so already).

There were no new numbers on the Android adoption quoted this time, but Google did mention that it's really excited about the reception its Nexus 7 tablet is getting.

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HTC officially confirms Jelly Bean coming to One X, XL and S

Yesterday, Telstra let the cat out of the bag - HTC is working on a Jelly Bean update. Today, HTC officially confirmed it and offered the full list of devices that are planned to get the update.

There are no big surprises here - the HTC One X (the Tegra 3-based model), the HTC One XL (Qualcomm S4-based version, known as One X on AT&T) and the HTC One S will eventually be updated to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The smartphone maker will make "timing and other details about HTC and Jelly Bean" available to the public later on.

The HTC One V, which is the lowest rung on the One series ladder, is not on the list of devices to be updated and neither are any of the droids outside the One series.

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Android 4.1.1 update for the Nexus S starts rolling out

After some false hopes by Vodafone Australia yesterday, it seems the Android 4.1, Jelly Bean update for the Nexus S has begun in the earnest and this time it's for the international market.

An Android Police reader has reported receiving the 4.1.1 update on his GSM Nexus S (I9023). It's a 114.4MB update, which brings the build number to JEO03E.

If you are the impatient sorts and don't want to wait for the update to arrive over the air for your device then you can also download the update from Google's servers and flash it manually. Just make sure you are running a stock ICS ROM and have a custom recovery software such as ClockworkMod installed. And as usual, make sure you know what you are doing or wait for the OTA update.

Here is the direct download link to Google's servers.

For more information, check the source link below.

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Jelly Bean update in the works for HTC One XL, One S says Telstra

Australian carrier Telstra let it slip that HTC is working on an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update for at least two of the One series smartphones - the One XL and the One S (those are the two Snapdragon S4-based One droids).

Owners of the Tegra 3-based One X shouldn't worry - Telstra Australia carries only the XL version, so they wouldn't list update info on the One X anyway.

The info on the carrier's site is pretty scarce - HTC is preparing the update but even Telstra doesnt know when it we will get it. And when they do get it, they'll put the update through a testing phase before pushing it out to its users.

You can keep an eye on this page for any updates on the release date of Android Jelly Bean for the HTC One XL and One S.

There still isn't an official roadmap from HTC that details which phones will get Android 4.1 and when. As for the unofficial channels, XDA-Developers is already showing results.

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Vodafone Australia begins updating Nexus S with Android 4.1

Vodafone Australia has just confirmed on their blog that they will be rolling out the Android 4.1 update for the Google Nexus S starting today, July 19.

The update has been approved by Vodafone and will begin rolling out on 1:00 p.m. AEST. Hopefully, this means that the Nexus S in other regions will be getting the update shortly.

Meanwhile, they have also mentioned that the Android 4.1 update for the Galaxy Nexus is being prepared for submission to Vodafone for testing but no dates have been given as to when the update should be ready to roll out.

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Update: It seems the Android 4.1 update for the Nexus S will be delayed (hat tip to Rajesh for this info). The update apparently does not meet all the Australian regulatory requirements related to emergency calls. Vodafone will update their blog as and when the update starts rolling out again.

Nokia in Q2: Lumia sales up, company still in the red

Nokia is still going through the tough transitional period as confirmed by its Q2 financial results. The report is a mix of good news and bad news - the good news is that Lumia sales are picking up, the bad news is that the Finnish company is still losing money.

There were 4 million Lumia phones sold in Q2 of 2012 (up from 2.2 million in Q1). Stephen Elop commented that Nokia will continue to support current devices "well beyond the launch of Windows Phone 8" (current phones will get WP7.8, but not WP8).

Sales and shipping numbers for Nokia's smart devices declined both year on year and quarter on quarter. This is mainly due to reduced Symbian sales and the falling Average Selling Price (ASP) of the platform. On the other hand, the ASP on smart devices combined went up both QoQ and YoY.

Net sales of Nokia featurephones are down YoY, but mostly unchanged from the previous quarter even though the number of devices shipped went up. The sub-50 models like the Nokia 100 and 101 were driving sales up, but the pricier higher-end models found it hard to compete with affordable smartphones.

The report mentions declining net sales across the world, except for North America, a market Nokia has been working hard to get back into. Net sales were up 45% there compared to last year's Q2, but the number of shipped units fell by 60%.

Nokia received 400 million pre-payments for intellectual property licenses and 196 million ($250 million) quarterly "platform support" from Microsoft. The Finnish company also sold its Vertu subsidary, which wasnt essential to its core business. Nokia bought Scalado, a company known for its cool imaging software.

In an effort to reduce expenses, Nokia closed its R&D department in Ulm, Germany and Barnaby, Canada and is working towards closing off a factory in Salo, Finland. The R&D department there will continue to operate.

The bottom line is this - net sales from Devices & Services department of Nokia are down 26% YoY, shipments are down 5% and the operating loss in Q2 was 474 million. The company as a whole posted an operating loss of 826.

You can read more details on Nokia's Q2 2012 performance in the company's press release (PDF).

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Samsung cancels the 64GB I9300 Galaxy S III?

When the Galaxy S III was announced a couple of months ago, it was said to come in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB varieties. The latter model, however, seems to be axed by Samsung as UK retailer Expansys has cancelled its pre-orders.

A reader of ours contacted us, saying that his order couldn't be processed as Samsung "has decided not to release the unit". However, the 16GB model remains available in pebble blue and white.

Looks like Samsung has decided that the 64GB model of the S III hasn't generated enough user interest and manufacturing it won't be worth it. That's not surprising, considering the device's microSD card slot, which allows for far cheaper memory expansion.

Naturally, this could turn out to be a simple misunderstanding between Samsung and the retailer and the 64GB version might actually make it to the shelves, but chances are looking slim for now.

Thanks for the tip, Nick O'Sullivan!

Motorola Android import ban starts today, few will care

A few months ago Microsoft won its case against Motorola and scored an import ban. The ITC had then decided that the Google-owned company has violated a Microsoft-owned ActiveSync patent and ruled that starting today Motorola will no longer be allowed to import the infringing device.

As you might have noticed Motorola isn't too worried about it and hasnt really tried hard to find a workaround or achieve an agreement with Microsoft and prevent the decision from coming into effect. The ban only applies to importing the devices in question and not actually selling them to customers, so Moto was probably able to bring enough units into the country by yesterday.

ITC ruled that 33 cents need to be paid for the import of every infringing unit in this review period, but it was probably worth it. If Motorola had chosen to sign a deal with Microsoft instead and license the patents, it would have probably ended up paying several dollars per device.

The ban applies to the following smartphones and tablets: Atrix, Backflip, Bravo, Charm, Cliq, Cliq 2, Cliq XT, Defy, Devour, Droid 2, Droid 2 Global, Droid Pro, Droid X, Droid X2, Flipout, Flipside, Spice, and Xoom. As you can see none of these are exactly holding the key to Motorola's market success in the upcoming quarters and the company could probably easily get by without their sales altogether.

So Motorola might have emerged unscratched from this legal battle, but Microsoft is getting ready for another round. The software giant claims that there are other Motorola devices that infringe on its patents, but weren't mentioned in the ITC ruling so we might see a new lawsuit involving those two in the near future.

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Samsung says 64GB Galaxy S III is a go, but only for some regions

After UK retailer Expansys started cancelling orders for the 64GB variety of the Galaxy S III, we feared that Samsung may have given up on the device. Apparently, that's not the case, as today a company's spokesperson has stepped in to clarify the situation.

Here's what he told Android Central about the Galaxy S III 64GB model being cancelled by retailers in Europe:

"The 64GB model of the GALAXY S III will be available during the second half of this year. The market availability and timing may vary and will be determined at the time of release."

So, Galaxy S III fans who've been waiting for the 64GB model should breathe a sigh of relief, even though the wait isn't over. After all, if you absolutely must have 128GB of storage (with a 64GB microSD card), you waiting a couple of extra months shouldn't be too hard for you.

Unfortunately, Samsung hasn't disclosed the market availability and which regions will enjoy its flagship smartphone.

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European carriers reportedly mass order nano-SIM cards

According to the Financial Times, the majority of European carriers have placed mass orders for nano-SIM cards. The reason for this is the next iPhone featuring the recently approved 4FF nano-SIM card design.

The new nano-SIM card is 40 percent smaller than the existing micro-SIM and has recently seen wide support with smartphone manufacturers besides Apple.

Motorola, Nokia, RIM and Apple have proposed a design for the nano-SIM to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), which eventually chose the Apple solution. Still, if the current micro-SIM is anything to go by, don't expect the new nano-SIM standard to become mainstream for at least another year or two.

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Samsung break smartphone sales record in Q2

The official numbers aren't out just yet, but according to Reuters, Samsung might have broken the smartphone sales record in what is otherwise considered a pretty slow quarter.

Reuters polled 41 analysts and, based on their estimates, claim that the Korean company shipped 50 million smartphones in Q2. That would make Samsung an undisputed smartphone leader as the second-placed Apple reportedly experienced a drop in its sales and shipped 30 million units compared to 35 million in Q1.

Undoubtedly the strong performance of Samsung is helped by the launch of its flagship device - the Galaxy S III, which first became available at the end of May. With the smartphone only finding its way to the US shelves in Q3 we should probably expect more good news from Samsung in three months' time.

As for Apple - the demand for the iPhone was naturally weaker in Q2 as it's starting to show signs of age (the 4S was already 8 months old at the end of the quarter). There are also rumors that this has forced Apple to move the launch of the iPhone 5 to an earlier date, reportedly at the start of August, instead of the planned October release.

	Mean	Median	High	Low	No	Yr ago	Change	Prev.Q
Global Smartphones	151	151	163	126	17	89.0	69.7	145
Global Cellphones	405	400	422	375	25	365	11.0	398
Samsung -Smart devices	95.8 50.0	94.5 50.0	105 55.0	88.0 46.0	12 9	70.0 17.0	36.9 194.1	93.8 42.2
Nokia -Smart devices --Windows	80.1 10.4 3.71	81.0 11.0 4.00	90.0 13.0 5.00	70.0 5.00 2.00	40 33 24	88.5 17.0 n/a	-9.5 -38.8 n/a	82.7 11.9 2.00
Apple	30.5	30.0	37.0	26.0	16	20.3	50.2	35.1
ZTE	24.3	24.5	29.0	21.0	6	13.0	86.9	19.1
LG	14.4	14.0	17.0	13.0	12	24.8	-41.9	13.7
Huawei	17.7	16.0	23.0	14.0	3	11.9	48.7	10.8
HTC	9.52	9.50	11.0	8.30	13	12.1	-21.3	7.70
Motorola	9.32	9.00	11.0	8.00	14	11.0	-15.3	8.90
Sony	8.11	8.00	10.0	5.70	12	7.60	6.7	7.90
RIM	7.99	8.00	11.0	6.00	16	13.0	-38.5	9.90

The Reuters report also points at Samsung as the World's number one cellphone manufacturer in general, a title the company holds for a second consecutive quarter after overtaking Nokia in Q1. According to the analysts the Koreans sold a total of 95.8 million mobile phones (that's smartphones and featurephones) during Q2, compared to the 80.1 million that Nokia managed.

The bit of good news for Nokia is that the company managed to ship 3.71 million Windows Phone smartphones, which is a more than 65% increase over the 2.2 million in the first three months of the year. If the Finns manage to retain the same level of growth through the year they might be back in the smartphone game come the holiday quarter.

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Meizu MX 4-core global release not official yet, apparently

Yesterday we reported that the quad-core Meizu 4-core is now available in various stores around the globe, but it turns out that the smartphone hasn't officially gone global just yet. Meizu reached out to us and clarified that it hasn't yet released its top-dog smartphone outside of China and what we saw is "probably someone in Hong Kong buying from our stores and listing it on Amazon".

The phone is also available through eBay and through a few private online shops. The fact that the listings are from unofficial sellers probably also explains why the 32 gig variant was priced at the steep $650 (up $180 from Meizu's native price). The 64 gig 4-core will set you back $750 and since Meizu itself is yet to release the phone you won't even get international warranty.

It seems then, that waiting for the official international debut of the smartphone would be a smarter move at this point.

Motorola ATRIX HD goes on sale, will set you back by $49.99

The Motorola ATRIX HD has skipped all the formalities and gone straight for the release. The handset is now available on Amazon and Best Buy for $99.99 and $49.99 respectively, on a two-year contract.

In case you are not aware, the ATRIX HD is the newest smartphone from Motorola and comes with a 4.5-inch 720p LCD, dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video recording, 8GB internal memory (expandable), LTE and a 1,780mAh battery. It is 8.4mm thick, has a Kevlar coated back just like the RAZR and is splash resistant. The ATRIX HD is being sold in two colors, Titanium and Modern White.

Considering the specifications of the phone the pricing is pretty sweet. Hit the links below to go to the product page on Best Buy and Amazon respectively. You can also check out our hands-on impressions of the device over here.

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ICS update for HTC Desire HD reportedly canned (Update: Not)

Back when HTC announced the list of handsets that will be receiving the Android 4.0 update, we were especially happy to see the aged Desire HD being part of the list, something we commended HTC on.

But it was not to be, as it seems the Desire HD won't be getting the Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich update after all.

According to the Canadian carrier Telus, the Desire HD 4.0 update has been cancelled due to "poor device performance during testing". Now this could just be limited to devices on Telus' network but that seems highly unlikely.

It does seem strange why HTC would face issues with upgrading the Desire HD to Android 4.0. If you look at the device's hardware, it has the same processor as the HTC One V. In fact, it has more RAM (768MB) compared to the One V (512MB). And the One V runs Android 4.0 just fine.

It can't even be related to the internal memory as the Desire HD has more of it compared to the Desire S, which is getting the Android 4.0 update.

So we wonder what could be the real reason for not providing the update for the Desire HD. Perhaps HTC can come forth and provide a proper reason instead of just "poor device performance".

Update: According to a post on Facebook, the Android 4.0 update for the Desire HD is still on track and is expected in July-August. Only the handsets on Telus' networks won't be getting the update.

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Samsung looks to take 70 percent market share in Korea

The tech giant is looking to make a statement on its home turf and capture an unprecedented 70% of the South Korea mobile market.

This, after capturing a hefty 66% in the first half of 2012, due in large part to great sales of its most recent flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S III.

The jump is quite significant when compared to the last three years, where Samsung controlled 51.2%, 52.6% and 52.7%, respectively. This success can be attributed to the company's heavy investment in LTE infrastructure, combined with high sales of the Galaxy S II LTE and Galaxy Note during the first half of the year.

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Samsung gets expedited Galaxy Nexus injunction hearing

The US Court of Appeals has granted Samsung's request to expedite its appeal of the preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus. The company must file its court brief to start the process before July 16 and Apple has until July 30 to respond.

The final comments on the case are due on August 6. Moreover, the court has accepted and will consider Apple's response to the temporary stay of the Galaxy Nexus sales.

Apple has also sent letters to some retailers instructing them to stop selling the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or the Galaxy Nexus. Naturally, Samsung complained about said letters and got the following Apple stance:

[the company's] letter shows nothing beyond the entirely predictable consequence of Samsungs infringement i.e., the infringing products must be taken off of the market. It is not a legally cognizable harm to halt downstream sales of stolen, pirated, counterfeit, or infringing products.

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