HTC announces One SC, SU and dual-SIM ST for China

HTC unveiled three exclusive droids for China Mobile - the One SC, One SU and the dual-SIM One ST. They all run on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich skinned with HTC Sense 4.0 UI.

HTC One ST

Lets start with the one we already met yesterday the One ST. As it turned out, the previous leak turned out perfectly accurate. The One ST packs a 4.3-inch SuperLCD2 WVGA display and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor. The specs sheet continues with 1GB RAM, 4GB storage, 5MP camera (BSI sensor, F2.0, LED flash) with 720p video recording, Beats Audio and a microSD slot.

HTC One ST

The One ST is a dual-SIM phone with support for dual-standby. It also supports 3G with HSPA+ networks but only on the primary SIM card.

HTC One ST will be available in three colors white, red and black. No word on the pricing and the availability yet.

HTC One SC and One SU

HTC One SC and One SU share identical specifications but different designs. They both have 4.3-inch WVGA displays, 1GHz dual-core processors, 1GB RAM, 4GB storage, 5MP camera (BSI sensor, F2.0, LED flash) with 720p video recording, HSPA+ connectivity, Wi-Fi, GPS, Beats Audio and a microSD slot. Yes, these specs are also identical to the One ST, sans the dual-SIM functionality.

HTC One SC

The One SC has a rather extravagant design, while the One SU is a standard HTC affair.

HTC One SU

The pricing and the availability of the One SU and SC is also TBA.

Source Via

Nokia Lumia Flame, a 710 replacement, in the works?

Nokia led the Windows Phone 8 assault with two high-end parts - the Lumia 920 and 820 - with rumors that mid- and low-end parts will launch early next year. The first of these devices to enter the rumor mill was the Zeal with cut down 820 specs, now there's the Flame.

According to The Verge, the Nokia Lumia Flame will be a Windows Phone 8 device with a 4" screen (judging by the 820, it will likely have WVGA resolution). The chipset is said to be the same one as in the Zeal - dual-core 1GHz processor and 512MB RAM.

Other known specs on the Flame is a 5MP camera and 4GB of built-in storage with a microSD card slot.

While the Zeal and Flame will take over from the Lumia 710, there's also talk of a Lumia Glory to replace the 610. It is said to be a Windows Phone 7.8 device, not 8, and have a 4" screen, 800MHz CPU and 256MB RAM.

The three phones - Zeal, Flame and Glory - are expected in the first quarter of next year.

Source

The HTC One X+ and the HTC 8X leak online

HTC is holding a press event on September 19, but it seems it couldnt keep the curtain over the TBA phones.

The Twitter user Football4PDA (obviously a reputable XDA dev) spilled the beans on the HTCs next flagships.

The first one is the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean-running One X+. The smartphone is based on the latest quad-core Tegra 3 AP37 chipset with a quad-core 1.6GHz processor, which is capable of running at 1.7GHz in single core mode.

The rest of the specs include 1GB of RAM, 32GB internal storage, 134.36 x 69.9 x 9.3 mm measurements and 129g of weight. Those measurements are pretty good indications for a 5-inch or so HD (or more) display. HTC Sense 4.5 UI is expected to run on top of Android Jelly Bean.

The next revealed device is the HTC 8X (C620a model name), based on Windows Phone 8. The phone packs a 4.3-inch HD display and runs on a 1.2GHz dual-core processor (Krait, perhaps). Other notable features are the 1 gig of RAM; the 16 gigs of internal storage; the 8MP camera with 28mm wide angle lens and bright, F2.0 aperture and 1080p video recording; and ultra-wide angle front camera; NFC and Beats Audio.

There is an asterisk next to the 16GB storage, which either indicates the presence of a microSD slot, or HTC will promote the 7GB SkyDrive cloud storage.

We guess the event on September 19 will be all about those two fellas.

Source 1 Source 2 Via 1 Via 2

Apple cuts back chip orders from Samsung, the war rages on

You are all aware of the recent major US patent lawsuit involving Apple and Samsung. So far their patent quarrels had not have any impact on their component supply deal, which has Samsung provide most of the memory chips that Apple uses in its mobile device.

According to Reuters and several other news outlets, all citing anonymous sources, with the iPhone 5, Apple is now steering away from Samsung as its main chip supplier. Instead, the company is looking to strengthen its supplies from competing chip manufacturers such as Toshiba, Elpida and Hynix.

Photo by Reuters

So what are we witnessing here? Is it that Apple is getting ready for a long war, or it's just that it doesn't like to do any further business with Samsung?

It could also be that Samsung is using its chip manufacturing deal as a leverage in their patent brawls across the world or just on the contrary, it's Apple that's using the cutting back of the orders as a leverage. Apple is supposedly Samsungs largest components client with estimates pointing that their deal is supposedly bringing billions in yearly revenue. Well, we may never learn the truth.

Source | Via

Nokia Lumia 920 to start selling in only 10 weeks time

The Nokia Lumia 920 is a marvelous piece of technology. Nokia has really put its back into making the smartphone standout in several respects such as the extraordinary display and the innovative camera.

Among the last pieces of info that we didn't know about it was its availability schedule. We heard Steve Ballmer saying we are going to see a lot more of Windows Phone 8 in the next month or two, but here's some insider info on the availability of the Lumia 920.

An anonymous source from an Eastern European carrier has whispered to Reuters that they will start selling the Lumia 920 in mid-November, while Western European countries should be getting it even sooner, in the first half of November. When you think about it, November 1 is only 8 weeks from now. Wow, this summer's end is really closing in fast. But we digress.

The release of the Lumia 920 cannot come fast enough. We can't wait to put it through its paces in our obstacle reviewing course.

Source | Via

A Dual SIM Galaxy Note II in the works, leaks in China?

Dual SIM phones have never been high-end products so you can imagine our surprise when we first saw this leak. A dual SIM Galaxy Note II? Even for the Chinese market, this is really hard to believe. And yet, here we are with all this wonderful photo evidence.

Of course, this could as well be one of the very elaborate fakes China is known for. You never know with these things.

The Galaxy Note II as a Dual SIM phone

According the source, this here device is made specifically for China Unicom and has the same specs as the international Note II.

Source | Via

Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G headed to T-Mobile USA

T-Mobile USA has just announced the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G smartphone. Its a QWERTY device a form factor considered almost extinct these days. The Relay 4G might be familiar to you, it has leaked before as the Galaxy Blaze Q.

The Galaxy S Relay 4G packs a 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED touchscreen, a sliding-out full-QWERTY keyboardd and is based on the older generation Snapdragon S3 chipsets a 1.5GHz dual-core Scorpion processor, Adreno 220 GPU and 1GB of RAM.

Other notable features of the Relay 4G are the 5MP rear camera with 720p video recording, a 1.3MP front snapper for video-chats, a microSD slot and the usual connectivity package (Wi-Fi, HSPA+, GPS, Bluetooth).

The Relay 4G runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It will launch in a few weeks, while the pricing is yet to be announced.

Source Via

Nokia Lumia 920 sample images found to be fake as well

If it was not bad enough that Nokia faked the video stabilization portion of the Lumia 920 video (and later had to apologize for it), it seems they faked the part where they show still images as well.

If you get past the initial portion of video that focuses on video stabilization, you'll eventually get to some low light images shot on a street. It's here blogger Youssef Sarhan, resident of Helsinki, noticed that the lighting was off and nowhere on those streets would you actually find such strong lighting such as the one seen in the video.

The second thing he noticed was the diffraction pattern of the street lamps in the background. Sarhan mentions that in order to achieve such high number of spikes for the lamps, the lens aperture has to be really low, around f/22, which is not possible for the wide f/2.0 lens on the Lumia 920.

In other words, Nokia used a professional camera once again to shoot these images and tried to pass them off as Lumia 920 samples.

Sarhan concentrated on the video but while perusing Nokia's website we came across the following two images that caught out eye. Once again you can see how the Lumia 920 image (the second one) is not just brighter but the camera seemingly conjures up additional light sources from behind the tree, as can be seen from the strong shadow where the girl is facing.

Once again, we are not doubting the ability of the Lumia 920's camera. It probably takes fantastic pictures. We are just baffled by Nokia's insistence on using doctored images shot with professional equipment and lighting conditions, even though they seem to have a pretty good camera on their phone.

Source 1 Source 2

Lumia 822 and HTC 6435 pop up in Verizon's catalogue

The carriers' internal documents have always been a good source for various leaks and so is today's case. Two interesting phones were found in the Verizon's device management system.

The first one is Nokia Lumia 822 (in Gray and White), which might be the Verizon's version of the newly announced Lumia 820. There is nothing really in the entry, just a 4G indications and the database insertion date.

It's the same case with the HTC 6435 an LTE phone added recently into the carrier's database. HTC is holding a press conference in New York on September 19 and perhaps this would be company's new flagship. According to another leak today, it might be a 5-inch Galaxy Note II competitor.

Source 1 Source 2

comScore: Android still dominates, iOS closing in

It seems that smartphones had another strong summer quarter Stateside, as the quarterly comScore report reflects a 7% increase in smartphone users for the 3 month period ending in July.

Google still dominates the smartphone platform with just over 52% of the market, up 1.4% over last quarter. Apple has also seen good growth, up two percent points to now cover just about a third of all smartphones in the US.

As far as manufacturers go, it's the same old story with Samsung being the top mobile manufacturer (for both smartphones and others) at 25.6%. Apple and HTC are the only two manufacturers with increased market share over last quarter, with a 1.9% and 0.4% change, respectively.

Source | Via

Galaxy Note II goes on pre-order in UK, cost £546

If you live in the UK and you want to reserve your Samsung Galaxy Note II today, you'll be glad to hear that a few retailers are already taking pre-orders.

Clove is offering the 16GB SIM-free unit for about 546, which seems steep, but not unexpected, considering the interest the phablet generates. We guess once the euphoria passes and Samsung catches up with the demand, it will settle down at slightly lower levels.

Expansys is also taking pre-orders, but the price is yet to be announced. Mobi City also lets you reserve your unit, but charges you 600 for it.

If you want to ensure youll be one of the first Note II owners within the UK, you may place your pre-order today. Clove says the first Galaxy Note II units should arrive mid-October, while the other oniline stores are yet to confirm when exactly they will be getting their first shipments.

Source

New Sony Media apps won't come to the 2011 Xperia range

The 2011 Xperia line-up of phones was lucky enough to get updated to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (sans the Xperia PLAY, that is), but it appears it will be left out of the new Sony Media apps fun.

The sad news was brought by the Sony Mobile official blog in its IFA 2012 Q&A session.

Fortunately, the 2012 Sony Xperia range will receive the Media apps in the form of a software update later this year. The new Sony Media apps include the new Walkman, Album and Movies apps. We already got to see them in action in our Sony acro S review, so make sure you check that out.

And here's a promo clip Sony made demonstrating some of their key features.

Mind you, whilst the apps won't be officially available, this doesn't mean the Android developer community won't make them available as standalone apps available for download in the near future. At least that's what we're hoping for.

Source | Via

Is Microsoft preparing a Surface Windows phone of its own?

We saw that Microsoft is set on marketing a Windows 8 tablet of its own - the Surface. But perhaps the company has the same plans for the phone segment, too. Benchmarking tool WPBench certainly suggests so, as a new entry in its benchmark database says "Microsoft Surface Phone".

Sure, the whole thing may be an elaborate prank, but even if it is, you have to admit it kinda makes sense for MS to have its own phone too.

While it hardly looks believable that Microsoft would let any pre-production, unannounced device to post scores on a public benchmarking tool, we are still willing to give it the benefit of a doubt.

Microsoft is expected to launch its latest computer/tablet operating system - Windows 8 - on September 26. We still don't know any fixed launch date for the Windows Phone 8 OS, although, as we saw at IFA, some manufacturers already have their devices ready, so we are sure it won't take long.

Whatever it is, it seems the industry is in for a super exciting autumn with the new iPhone just around the corner along with the batch of new Windows Phone 8 devices.

Source

Pantech Flex Android smartphone for AT&T gets announced

AT&T announced the latest addition to its LTE smartphone portfolio - the Pantech Flex. Following the footsteps of its well equipped and affordable relative, the Pantech Burst, the newcomer aims at first time smartphone buyers by combining solid specs, ease of use, and an affordable price tag.

The Pantech Flex features a 1.5GHz dual-core CPU (likely a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4) and a 4.3" qHD Super AMOLED display. There is an 8MP camera, capable of recording full HD video on the back, and a 2MP front-facing snapper. The rugged-looking handset tips the scale at 130 grams.

Software wise, the Pantech Flex boots Android 4.0 ICS. In order to become more appealing for first time smartphone buyers, the Flex features Pantech's proprietary Easy Experience. The latter offers new users smartphone functionality, dressed in feature phone attire.

The Pantech Flex will be available for AT&T on September 16. It will be priced at the sweet $49.99 with a two-year contract.

AT&T-branded Sony Xperia T spotted on a press shot

The UKs retailer Phones4U is now taking pre-orders for the newly announced Xperia T. The first users to pre-order it will even get Sonys SmartWatch as a gift. Nothing out of the ordinary so far.

If you take a closer look on the Xperia T press images on phones4u.co.uk, youll find one with the AT&Ts logo below the home button (attached above). Whats even more interesting is that the American Xperia T comes with a slightly different rear panel than the international model. This could be a hint for some additional LTE functionality or a removable back cover.

Anyway, the shots seems legit so we guess an AT&T announcement is imminent. Stay tuned!

Source Via

HTC Accord to be called 8X according to leaked manual

The HTC Accord, which had its specs leaked a few days ago, will be named HTC 8X. At least, thats what the leaked quick start guide of the smartphone suggests.

The leak comes via Twitter from the same tipster who spilled the beans on the devices specifications. He was also kind enough to share the diagram of the HTC 8X showing details like the volume rocker, notification LED and the usual set of Windows Phone software buttons.

As usual for the WP platform, there's a dedicated camera button, which will come in handy when taking photos with the 8Xs purported 8MP camera.

The joint Microsoft and Nokia event is just couple of days away, so we recon HTC will have its own launch event of its new WP8-running smartphone(s) shortly after.

Source | Via

S Cloud spotted running on Samsung Galaxy Note II at IFA

A while ago we heard rumors that Samsung is planning to launch a service called S Cloud, which would (obviously) compete with iCloud. The first concrete evidence of the service came from a surprising source - the new Galaxy Note II that Samsung unveiled at IFA (surprising, because the service is still supposed to be under wraps).

The phoneblet is running Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean and in its settings menu, there was an S Cloud entry, as spotted by BestBoyz. Reportedly, the S Cloud option will be enabled on the Galaxy S III too once it gets up to 4.1 Jelly Bean.

S Cloud seems to integrate with Dropbox (as a reminder, you get 50GB free storage for 2-year with each Note II). For now, it looks like the data is going onto the Dropbox servers, but that is supposed to change, moving to Samsung's own servers (which would resolve the question about what happens when the 2-year Dropbox deal expires).

There's also speculations that S Cloud might come with its own email service, but there's nothing solid on that yet.

The S Cloud cloud is expected to be announced in October and should be available to tablets, computers and even Smart TVs.

Source (in German)

Samsung Galaxy Note II goes on pre-order in India

The Android smartphone everyone's talking about this week has got a price and a release date in India. Online retailer Infibeam has put the Galaxy Note II on pre-order for 38,500 INR, which is about $694.

According to our tipster, who has had a word with the online retailer, the Galaxy Note II will be available as early as September 22. Initially, the phone will be available in its grey and white versions, but later the device will be available in brown as well.

Update: Probably not. It turns out that the site that has posted the pre-order page has a long record of posting such listings well before it actual has the product to generate some traffic.

Still, the release date is earlier than Samsung's announced launch date in October, so don't get your hopes up. There's always the outside chance that the Samsung engineers just completed the development a bit earlier than expected and manufacturing started ahead of schedule, but this seems a bit hard to believe.

Don't forget to check out our Samsung Galaxy Note II preview to get the answers to your questions on what's arguably the hottest Android smartphone right now.

Thanks for the tip, Mohit!

Source

The Samsung Galaxy Pocket Duos goes official

Samsung keeps expanding its Duos lineup of Android smartphones with two SIM slots. The latest addition goes by the name Samsung Galaxy Pocket Duos and should be the most affordable dual-SIM droid offering by the company.

Running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the Samsung Galaxy Pocket fella sports a 2.8-inch QVGA display, a 832MHz single-core CPU and 2GB of internal memory. If you feel like it you can expand that further via the microSD card slot. At the back, there's a 2MP fixed-focus snapper.

Measuring 103,9 x 57,9 x 12,98 mm and weighing just over 100 grams, the Galaxy Pocket Duos is among the most compact droids on the market. Popping the battery cover will reveal a 1,200mAh battery, which Samsung says is good for 15 hours of talk-time in 2G and 6 hours in 3G.

The pricing and availability of the Galaxy Pocket Duos are yet to be confirmed. Still, we expect it to be priced below the Galaxy Y Duos, which is currently going for about 120.

Source | Via

Mysterious HTC phone leaks, looks the flagship part

After posting a rather quiet IFA showcase, it appears that HTC has something major in the works for the immediate future. A couple of blurry shots showing a mysterious handset made by the Taiwanese company have leaked out.

The device in the photos looks a lot like a future flagship for the company. It sports a clean design, Beats Audio livery and a red/black color scheme. Sadly, there's no info on its specifications. We can reasonably expect that they will be nothing but top shelf though.

It's no secret that HTC has been going through tough times lately. A new halo device, which is executed right can surely help the company turn its fortunes around. We'll certainly be keeping a close look on this one.

Source | Via