Sony Xperia S will get vanilla Android as a Google experiment

All the fans of Sony Xperia S have a darn good reason to smile today. Google has launched an experiment to bring plain vanilla Android to Sony's top shelf smartphone. Jean-Baptiste Query (JBQ), Google's Technical Lead of the Android Open Source Project delivered the good news.

The reason for selecting the Sony Xperia S was simple according to JBQ: "it's a powerful current GSM device, with an unlockable bootloader, from a manufacturer that has always been very friendly to AOSP." Sony of course will have to play a role in the project as well, but given the company's good record with AOSP involvement, we doubt it will be an issue.

Google's project will essentially bring the Sony Xperia S into the privileged fold of the Nexus family of devices - a mighty great perspective, which is bound to make the handset a lot more attractive.

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Sony Xperia SL goes official with a 1.7GHz dual-core CPU

We just got the first official sighting of the Sony Xperia SL the refreshed version of the companys current smartphone flagship. It appears that someone over at Sony jumped the gun and published the official page of the smartphone two weeks before its expected announcement at the Sony pre-IFA press conference.

As expected, the Sony Xperia SL is based on the Sony Xperia S, but comes with a slightly faster CPU. The dual-core Qualcomm S3 chipset has its two Scorpion cores clocked at 1.7GHz, instead of 1.5GHz, but the rest of the specs sheet is identical to that of the Xperia S.

This means that the Sony Xperia SL is offering 32GB of non-expandable storage, an Adreno 220 GPU and 1 GB of RAM. At the front theres a 4.3 Bravia-powered LCD screen of HD resolution and a 1.3MP camera for video-chatting, while at the back we find a 12 megapixel camera with 1080p video recording.

Sony Xperia SL official photos

Connectivity is duly covered with Wi-Fi, GPS Bluetooth, microUSB and microHDMI available to you as well as quad-band 3G with 14.4MBps support.

Measuring 128.0 x 64.0 x 10.6 mm and weighing 144 g, the Sony Xperia SL body is identical to that of its predecessor, but it will be offered in a new pink color in addition to the previously available white, black and grey.

As theres no official press release just yet, we dont know anything on the availability and pricing of the Sony Xperia SL. We should found out about that on August 29, when the smartphone will get its proper announcement.

Motorola files a lawsuit against Apple in the ITC

Motorola has filed a lawsuit against Apple in the International Trade Commission (ITC), claiming Apple are infringing upon seven of Motorola's patents in their products. The patents in question are related to features like reminders, email notifications and phone/video players.

According to Motorola, they tried to license these patents to Apple, which apparently Apple refused to accept. This left Motorola "little choice but to defend ourselves and our engineers innovations". So now Motorola is asking for an import ban on the iPhone, iPad and the Mac computers.

This is not the first time that Motorola has tried to sue Apple but the difference is this time Motorola is now a part of Google, which means Google had to approve of this before Motorola could file a lawsuit against Apple. This goes directly against Google's previous stance of not using patents offensively.

Then again, patents is one of the main reasons why Google is said to have acquired Motorola Mobility, so this was going to happen sooner or later. It's interesting to see Google strike the first blow, though.

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Huawei Ascend D Quad and D Quad XL to launch in late August

After suffering numerous delays, Huawei's mightiest droids, the Ascend D Quad and D Quad XL are finally going to get their official launch later this month.

The Huawei Ascend D Quad and D Quad XL are both powered by the company's very own 1.5GHz quad-core K3V2 chipset. The difference is that the D Quad XL packs a larger 2,600mAh battery and a thicker profile.

At the front of either smartphone you can find a 4.5-inch IPS HD display, which their back panels host 8MP BSI cameras. Internal storage stands at 8GB, but it's backed up by a microSD card slot.

It all sounds great on paper, but the delay might turn out to be disastrous for the two smartphones. As you might remember yesterday Xiaomi announced its quad-core beast of an Android smartphone, powered by the quad-core Krait chip inside.

The Huawei Ascend D Quad and D Quad XL will be debuting in China, with the rest of the world to follow shortly after. Unfortunately, the pricing of the two droids still remains a mystery.

Source | Via

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze Q will go official as Relay 4G

We just got a leaked T-Mobile internal doc, confirming the existence and nearing launch of the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze Q. The good news is that the smartphone gets rid of that awkward naming scheme, but the bad news is it's going to be called the equally hard to remember Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G.

The QWERTY-touting sibling of the Samsung Galaxy S III is expected to feature a 1.5GHz dual-core CPU of the Krait variety, 1 gig of RAM, a 4" display and 16GB of internal storage that will probably be expandable. The Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G is said to run on Android 4.0 ICS, but chances are it will get a Jelly Bean update sometime after its launch.

According to the leaked document, the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G will also feature the SAFE certification, which means that the company considers it to be good enough for enterprise users. It will also offer the 50GB (technically 48GB) of free Dropbox storage for two years promo as its Galaxy S III sibling.

Pricing and target availability are yet to be confirmed, but seeing as how leaks have intensified, an official announcement should be just around the corner.

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Black Samsung Galaxy S III 64GB coming to the UK in October

Not only did the rumors that Samsung cancelled the 64GB version of the Samsung Galaxy S III turn out to be false, but now we actually have a rough launch target. Clove UK blogged that the upcoming black version of the phone will be packing 64GB of storage.

They don't have pricing info yet, but the phone should be available in early October. The black Galaxy S III will also be available with 16GB of storage - MobileFun already has it on preorder (500) and so does Expansys (same price). There's no availability date info on their sites though.

In case you want the 64GB of built-in storage but prefer the standard Pebble White and Marble Blue colors - Expansys is expecting those too.

Those are all UK retailers, but the black Samsung Galaxy S III will be available across the pond too, as it showed up on T-Mobile USA's web site. It wasnt clear how much storage that one will have.

There's one more color version of the S III - Garnet Red, which is currently exclusive to AT&T. We don't know if and when we might see this one go international and there's still no clear info which regions will get the 64GB version of the Samsung flagship.

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Microsoft and Nokia to hold joint press event on September 5

In a rather bold statement, Nokia's executive VP of sales and marketing has called out Samsung directly in anticipation of Nokia and Microsoft's press event scheduled for September 5th during Nokia World.

Just as expected, Nokia World will be the venue of choice for Nokia and Microsoft to unveil the first Lumia devices running on Windows Phone 8. The latest version of Microsoft's mobile OS wasunveiled in June and everyone has been eagerly waiting to see some actual phones powered by it.

It's no secret that Nokia has lost major ground to iOS and Android devices in the smartphone realm. The largest portion of that has gone to Samsung, which now controls some 21.6% of the global mobile market (this includes both smart and feature phones).

So now that the first volleys of the WP8 hype-war have been fired, we won't have to wait long to see if the platform will be enough to dig Nokia out of its hole.

Source 1 | Source 2

Google evidently working on Play Store gift cards and wishlist

Google recently started seeding the latest v3.8.15 update to the Play Store app to Android devices. While on the surface the app seems to bring just minor UI changes, the file size was too great for such a minor change.

The super sleuths at Android Police smelled something fishy, so they ripped open the APK file (which you can download here) to see what secrets it hid. And hide secrets, it did.

Turns out, Google is planning to release gift cards support for the Play Store. As you can see from the screenshot above, found inside the APK but currently inaccessible to the user, you will be able to enter a gift card code and redeem the amount. If you remember, Google added the ability to have a balance amount in your account when they started giving away $25 to every Nexus 7 buyer to spend on the Play Store.

There is also evidence that a wishlist feature would be added as well. This way you can add, say, an app that you intend to purchase in the future, perhaps when it gets a price drop.

Unfortunately, there is no indication of Google adding the option to gift apps directly, something that the App Store does. Also, the Play Store update still leaves a lot to be desired, with several annoyances, such as going to the top of the list when you go back after opening an app, still persist.

It is unknown at this point when Google will be releasing these features to the public but since they have been added in the latest Play Store APK, and considering how often it gets updated, it wouldn't be too long.

You can find more information with additional screenshots in the link below.

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New Xiaomi Mi-Two handset is first ever with quad-core Krait

Hold on to your hats folks, Xiaomi just announced the Xiaomi Mi-Two - the first ever handset to use the Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8064 S4 Pro chipset, which blew current mobile chipsets out of the water in early benchmarks. It's nothing like the early leak we saw. There's also an upgrade of their previous model, but we'll get to that in a moment.

The Xiaomi Mi-Two is going to be the fastest smartphone on the market when it launches in October. We've seen dual-core Krait CPUs stand up to quad-core Cortex-A9 designs (Tegra 3, Exynos 4), but the APQ8064 chipset has four Krait cores, 2GB of RAM and Adreno 320 (over the Adreno 225 of current Snapdragon S4s). Xiaomi promises Xbox 360-like graphics performance and that might not just be PR talk.

The screen on the Mi-Two will be a 4.3" IPS LCD with 720p resolution (342ppi), there will be an 8MP camera on the back (F/2.0 aperture, 26mm FoV), 1080p@30fps and 720p@90fps (yeah, that's right) video recording, MHL-enabled USB, HSPA+ capable of 42Mbps downlink, 16GB of built-in storage and microSD card slot. The standard battery is 2000mAh and there's an optional 3000mAh battery.

The Xiaomi Mi-Two measures 126mm x 62mm x 10.2mm. The phone will be priced RMB 1,999 ($315, 225), making the Xiaomi Mi-Two one of the cheapest quad-core (and even dual-core) smartphones out there.

Now it's time to come back down to earth - we've avoided calling it an Android phone, because Xiaomi uses their heavily customized MIUI software, which is Android in an iOS mold. Still, the software is based on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The launcher features its own voice recognition, which is weird considering how good Google Now is.

The second phone that Xiaomi announced today is the Xiaomi 1S, an update of the Mi-One. It will use a speedier 1.7GHz dual-core processor (Snapdragon S3 chipset), while the rest of the specs are the same as on its predecessor. This one will be priced RMB 1,499 ($235, 190) when it launches on August 23.

The bad news is buying a Xiaomi phone outside China may prove quite the challange. We could only find the old one on Amazon.com, but costs more than double its new price of $204.

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Black Galaxy S III spotted on T-Mobile's website

The mythical black Galaxy S III has been spotted couple of times in the past, the first time in Samsung's own Facebook pictures and the second time on a UK retailer's website.

Now the phone has been discovered spinning on T-Mobile's website among other phones that the carrier has to offer in the same shade of black. This one looks a bit different and has a finish akin to the white Galaxy S III instead of the fake brushed metal finish of the blue version. Then again, this is a render and shouldn't be representative of the final product.

You will find the phone in the link below. Just skip the intro video that appears in the beginning.

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Adobe Flash Player to drop out of the Google Play Store today

Adobe announced last year in November that it is going to stop developing the mobile version of the Flash Player for Android but the app will continue to be provided through the (then) Android Market.

A couple of months ago, Adobe saw the pointlessness of having the Flash Player at all on the Play Store and said that it will be removed from the store on August 15.

Well, the day has arrived and a few hours from now the Flash Player will finally be removed completely from the Play Store. Only those who have it installed will be able to use and see it on the store but no new updates will be provided.

The decline of the Flash Player can be traced back to the launch of the first iPhone, where Apple famously decided to forgo having the ability to play a vast majority of multimedia and interactive content on their device in favor of stability, user experience and battery life. It was considered a major drawback back then but that did not stop people from buying the phone.

Eventually, the iPhone grew more and more popular and Apple also released another device without Flash support - the iPad - which also went on to become a hit. Apple went as far as to remove Flash Player from their Macs, which used to come pre-installed.

Being locked out of one of the world's most popular platform, Adobe had no choice but to turn to Android. For a while, the Flash support was touted as one of the selling point for Android devices, especially the tablets. But that did not help Adobe, as very few Android devices were actually capable of running Flash properly. Not to mention that most of the content on the Web is not optimized for a touchscreen at all, thus providing a poor user experience. Then there was also the higher power consumption. Basically, all the reasons Apple gave for not including Flash support on iOS.

Eventually, Adobe chose to stop developing Flash Player for Android completely, instead concentrating its efforts into developing new and better technologies such as HTML5. Google, sensing this change, chose not to include support for Flash Player at all in their Chrome for Android, which was perhaps the final nail in the coffin.

After that, Adobe announced it will be removing the Flash Player from the Play Store on August 15 and here we are today.

As we said before, this is a good thing for the web as a whole. We will be moving from a third-party, proprietary plugin for enabling multimedia content on our browsers to something that is built-in and freely available to all. Yes, we are talking HTML5 here. Sure, it's still in its infancy right now but as long as Flash on the web exists, HTML5 cannot develop. It will take a while but things can only get better from here.

This might be the screen glass of an upcoming Nokia WP8 phone

As Nokia is gearing up for the upcoming launch of its new Windows Phone 8 handsets (which should happen at Nokia World in September), it's practically inevitable that a part or two - and hopefully even a whole phone - would leak.

Today's item was originally posted on CNBeta but the page has since been taken down. It is supposedly the display glass of a Nokia WP8 phone. It's big enough to fit a 4.3" screen and it's curvier than current Lumia designs. The aspect ratio corresponds to 480 x 800 - the lowest of the three resolutions that the new OS supports.

Note the new Windows logo and the positioning of the Nokia logo - they are different than the previous leak that claimed to show a whole Windows Phone 8 (or 7.8) device. So, they aren't showing one and the same device. It's entirely possible that one or both of them are fake too, or at least showing something different from what the rumors claim it to be.

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Gartner: Android dominance continues, iPhone growth slows

Another day, another Q2 report - Gartner put out its assessment of the mobile phone world for the second quarter of this year, detailing how individual companies and smartphone OSes did.

Interestingly, the worldwide market saw only 419 million phones sold to consumers. "Only" because that's actually a decrease of 2.3% compared to last year's Q2 and "surprising" because smartphone sales were up a whopping 42.7% QoQ.

Despite this smartphones are yet to become the dominant breed worldwide - they accounted for just over a third of all phone sales. Most of those (83%) carried an Apple or a Samsung logo.

Samsung had an excellent quarter - it sold 45.6 million of their Galaxy droids (that's over half of all Androids sold in Q2) and the Galaxy S III became the best selling droid in that quarter. Gartner says S III sales would have been higher if it wasn't for the supply shortages.

Apple's iPhones cooled off a bit - they still grew in market share, but sales fell 12.6% compared to Q1. That's hardly surprising, though - with the impending iPhone 5 launch many will hold off on buying a new iPhone.

Things start to get grim when you look further down the table. Symbian's market share plummeted by 16.2 percentage points in a year and BlackBerrys lost 6.5 percentage points, both platforms now sitting at 5-6%.

The bad news for Nokia continues and Microsoft shares in their pain - Windows Phone 7 snatched only 2.7% of the market. To add insult to injury, Samsung's Bada OS has the same number, according to Gartner. Windows Phone 8 can't come soon enough it seems.

Nokia still has it's chin up - it's the second biggest phone vendor in the world, behind Samsung (we're talking smart and feature phones combined). They used to be a distant first a year ago.

Apple managed a third place, despite their smartphone-only business model, and ZTE comes in fourth, ahead of LG (who used to be third a year ago). Another Chinese company, Huawei, is ahead of big names like HTC, Motorola and RIM.

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Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE from Sprint to go on sale for $199.99

Fans of QWERTY keyboards on phones can rejoice as the Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE will go on sale this Sunday, August 19 on Sprint in the US and is available for pre-order right now.

The phone is priced at $199.99 on a contract, which is a bit steep considering you get phones such as the Galaxy S III for the same price in the US. But what this phone lacks in outright specs it makes up by having a very comfortable looking QWERTY keypad.

Speaking of specs, the Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE comes with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, qHD display, 8GB internal memory, microSD card slot and Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich.

So far this phone is only announced for Sprint's network in the US with no plans for an international model.

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Alleged Samsung N7100 Galaxy Note II official photo surfaces

The official announcement of the Samsung N7100 Galaxy Note II is just a couple of weeks away now, but only now we see what the new phoneblet might actually look like. We just got an alleged photo of the upcoming device, which reveals its front panel.

Now we wouldn't bet the house on this turning out to be an official image as even our tipster wasn't able to confirm its origin. Still, the image aligns nicely with previous rumors that suggested that the Samsung N7100 Galaxy Note II will have a Galaxy S III-inspired design, so even if the image is fan-made, it shouldn't be too far from the truth.

Along with the link to the alleged Samsung Galaxy Note II photo, our tipster also sent us some of the specs of the phoneblet. As expected, the 1280 x 800 pixel Super AMOLED screen will measure 5.5" and will utilize a regular RGB matrix. As for those FullHD screen rumors - according to the tip, it did indeed undergo testing, but it was found to be putting too much strain on the battery to make it to the final device.

The chipset inside was once again tipped to be Exynos 4 Quad, with quad-core CPU clocked at 1.5GHz. while the camera will use the same 8MP sensor as the Galaxy S III.

The Jelly Bean update for the Galaxy Note II is still being developed, so it's likely that the hybrid droid will launch with Android 4.0 ICS. There is an outside chance that Jelly Bean will be ready in time for the announcement, but it's more likely to come out later on.

Finally, some good news for the Galaxy S III users out there. The Jelly Bean update for the flagship smartphone is almost ready and will be released alongside the Galaxy Note II at the Samsung press conference on August 29.

Special thanks to our tipster, who chose to remain anonymous!

Black Galaxy S III goes up for pre-order in the UK

When a black Galaxy S III appeared on Samsung's 2012 Olympics Facebook page, many people, us included, were having doubts about its existence and eventual availability.

UK retailer MobileFun, however, has put everyone's doubt to rest with its pre-order page for the black version of the Galaxy S III. According to it, the smartphone will start selling in four to six weeks' time.

The price of the black Galaxy S III will the same as on its blue and white versions, which currently sale for 499.95 (for the 16GB variants).

This is the fourth color version of the Samsung Galaxy S III, after the initially available Pebble Blue and Ceramic White, and the AT&T-exclusive Garnet Red, which came out later.

So was the lack of the traditional black color what prevented you from getting the Samsung Galaxy S III? Or do you still prefer one of the other available versions.

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ICS update for LG Optimus 2X is coming after all

LG Optimus 2X users must be getting sea sick of all the back and forth - LG committed to upgrading its former flagship to Android 4.0 ICS nearly a year ago, then there was a delay and then LG Canada tweeted that the update just won't happen.

There was always the possibility that that LG Canada's statement was meant for Canadian 2X phones only, which seems to be the case. The tweet from LG Korea confirms that the update is in the works - for Korean phones at least - and is already undergoing testing. However, LG didn't specify when it will be ready for release or which regions will get it.

The ICS update for the Optimus 2X was targeted at some time in Q3, so LG still has a month and a half. It seems that the LG Optimus 3D P920 will also be getting in on the ICS update action, but we couldnt find a reference to the Optimus Black (which was also denied an update by LG Canada).

So, it seems that the LG Optimus 2X update saga will have a happy ending, at least in Korea. Now if we can only get official word on 2X's fate in the rest of the world, we promise not to ask about Jelly Bean.

Thanks for the tip, youyou.reg!

Source (in Korean) | Via (in Italian)

Leaked: iPhone 5 smaller dock and motherboard

The latest leaks, concerning the next generation iPhone show what appears to be the new motherboard and the new smaller dock connector.

The motherboard is different from the one used in the iPhone 4S. It features a smaller SIM tray and it appears to have more connection points, which gives more credibility to those LTE rumors. The motherboard also appears to be smaller than the one on the iPhone 4S. The motherboard is said to be a prototype because it lacks the usual labels found on final products, but that's to be expected, given that the new iPhone isn't official just yet.

iPhone 5 motherboard

The second leaked image reveals what the new smaller dock connector looks like. It features 16 pins (8 on each side) and it looks like it's slimmer than the standard microUSB ports.

iPhone 5 smaller dock connector

Currently iDevices use a 30-pin dock connector, but we've been hearing rumors of 19-pin or 9-pin units making it on the new iPhone.

As usual, you should take this information with a pinch of salt as we've seen misleading rumors before even when we are as close to the next iDevice announcement as we are now.

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Black Samsung Galaxy S III pops up in Carphone's inventory

It looks like those pictures of Samsung Galaxy S III in black color scheme which we showed you a couple of days ago are indeed the real deal, folks. A black Samsung Galaxy S III has also appeared in Carphone Warehouse's inventory database, thus reaffirming the notion that the new color scheme is coming our way.

Update 12 Aug: One of our readers, a Carphone Warehouse employee, informs us that the black model has already been removed from the inventory. Perhaps it was there by accident.

Since this is the same way we exclusively found out about the white and blue versions of the smartphone prior to its launch, there is hardly any reason to doubt the legitimacy of the above screenshot. Besides, we do believe that quite a few people will pick up a Galaxy S III in black given the opportunity.

As always, nothing is final until an official word comes from Samsung. We don't think it will be long before it happens - especially with IFA around the corner.

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Sony Xperia neo L review: Blast from the past

Introduction

The Sony Xperia neo L is trying to break into an already well-populated market of affordable smartphones that give you a loud bang for your buck. It's a hotly contested game, but the neo L doesn't come unprepared. It has Sony's screen and camera know-how behind its back.

The Sony Xperia neo L is the second revision of the neo design. The biggest change is the screen, which grew to 4 inches, and the OS - the L model launches with Android 4.0 ICS out of the box.

Sony Xperia neo L official pictures

There are some other changes visible on the outside - Sony decided to drop the HDMI port, there are now four hardware buttons under the screen and the hardware shutter key is missing, but that's about it.

On the inside, things are more familiar - the Sony Xperia neo L is based on the same platform as quite a few Sony Ericsson phones - the previous two neos, the Xperia arc, mini, ray, PLAY and so on.

In Froyo times these were flagship specs and when Gingerbread came out, they were relocated to midrange territory. Today, they are even lower than that but the neo L has a couple of aces up its sleeve.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM /GPRS/EDGE support
• 3G with 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4" 16M-color capacitive LED-backlit LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels) on Sony Mobile BRAVIA engine
• Android OS v4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 1 GHz Scorpion CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, 512 MB RAM, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 chipset
• 5 MP autofocus camera, LED flash, geo-tagging, 3D Sweep Panorama
• 720p video @ 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• Front facing VGA camera, video chat (Google, Skype)
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• microSD slot (32GB supported, 2GB card included)
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Voice dialing
• Adobe Flash 11 support
• Deep Xperia Facebook integration

Main disadvantages

• Display has poor viewing angles
• Loudspeaker has below average performance
• Very limited video codec support
• No HDMI port as on the older neo models
• No FM radio as on the older neo models
• No hardware camera shutter key as on the older neo models
• Memory card slot under the battery

The lack of a dual-core processor might put some people off, but it's really the HDMI port that we miss. It's a real rarity, especially since manufacturers started using MHL instead, but that requires an adapter and it's usually only the higher-end devices that get it.

Sony Xperia neo L live pictures

So, there have been a few omissions, but the Xperia neo L still has quality components like that Reality display and Android Ice Cream Sandwich (a lot of former high-enders and even current models are still - and might remain forever - on Gingerbread).

Jump to the next page where we start to find out just how much Sony heart went into what looks like a Sony Ericsson body.