LG Optimus 7 won't get WP7.8 update says LG Poland

We got a lot of good news about the Windows Phone 7.8 update lately, but every streak comes to an end as we now have a particularly unpleasant piece of information to share with you. The LG Optimus 7, which was one of the first Windows Phone handsets and is currently running version 7.5 of the OS, will not be getting updated to version 7.8.

This info comes from LGs branch in Poland and may not apply to all regions, but LG has not officially announced anything else regarding the Optimus G.

This move shouldnt come as a big surprise as LG decided to step away from Windows Phone to focus on Android (the company wont be releasing Windows Phone 8 handsets).

Source (in Polish) | Via

Damian Dinning leaves Nokia (Update: Joins Jaguar Land Rover)

As if the poor market performance as of late wasn't enough, Nokia just took another hit. Damian Dinning has decided to leave the company effective November 30.

Dinning started working at Nokia in April 2004 and took the role as the company's lead program manager for Imaging Experience and worked closely on devices like the Nokia 808 PureView and Lumia 920. Reportedly, the news of his leaving came as a shock to Nokia's execs.

Here's what Nokia UK have responded to AmateurPhotographer's request for additional information.

Following the relocation of key strategic roles to Finland, and with great reluctance, Damian Dinning has made a personal decision to leave the company effective 30 November 2012.
During the past nine years, [Damian] has made many innovative and valuable contributions to Nokia, most recently as a lead program manager in our Smart Devices business.
We thank him for his service to the company and certainly wish him the best.

Dinning hasn't revealed what path he'll take and whether he already has an offer to join another company. However, here's his tweet from couple of days ago giving some clues.

Update: Dinning has now confirmed the news in a response he sent to PureView Club. There he reiterates the reason given by Nokia UK, saying that his reason for leaving Nokia is his inability to move to Finland as was required of him. More importantly, he has announced that he will now be joining the Jaguar Land Rover group, where he will "take a role driving future innovations in the exciting new field of Connected Car".

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Nokia Lumia 920 may have reached 2.5M orders worldwide

According to a Yahoo China report Nokia has received more than 2.5 million orders for the Lumia 920 across the globe, which is more than the entire Lumia lineup sold in Q3 of 2012.

The report also says the Lumia 920 and 820 have been sold out in the United States, Germany, Australia and elsewhere, which goes in check with previous reports of the Lumia 920 being sold out in the US.

In other news Nokia's stock documented a 25% rise yesterday, which is probably mainly due to the positive sales figures of the Lumia range.

Marko Ahtisaari, head of Nokia's Design unit, went on YouTube to talk about the designing of the Lumia 920. Here goes the video.

Source (in Chinese) | Via

Red Lumia 920T for China Mobile poses for the camera

Sohu Digital News has obtained a red Lumia 920T and made some photos of it. The Lumia 920T is destined for China Mobile and the unit in the photos is a prototype. There's no word when the device will actually launch on China Mobile's network.

The smartphone sports a glossy red polycarbonate unibody and has TD-SCDMA support. The other (still not officially confirmed) difference between it and the global Lumia 920 is the Adreno 320 GPU inside, in place of the regular 225 that comes with the dual-core Krait chip.

The Nokia Lumia 920T for China Mobile

The rest of specs should be identical - the gorgeous 4.5" PureMotion display at the front, the PureView-branded 8.7 MP camera at the back and the Windows Phone 8 OS inside .

Source (in Chinese) | Via

LTE can be enabled on the Nexus 4, works on Canadian networks

Remember when people were disappointed that the Nexus 4 doesnt have LTE? And then iFixit dug up an LTE chip in the phone? Well, it turns out that the chip can be enabled surprisingly easy.

Several people are reporting that the LTE connectivity works in Canada on Band 4 (1700Mhz / 2100MHz), which the one what all LTE carriers in the country use.

To enable LTE, you need to go into a debug menu (by typing *#*#4636#*#* into the dialer) and change the setting from WCDMA preferred to one of the LTE-enabled options. It seems that this is all you need to do on TELUS, while on Rogers you need to create a custom APN to get the LTE working.

Nexus 4's debugging menu Speed test on LTE on HSPA

Heres a video from TEK.GADG that shows the Google Nexus 4 working on LTE, complete with speed tests on both 4G and 3G.

And heres another video, this one is for the Rogers network:

AT&T, MetroPCS and Cricket Wireless in the US use Band 4 (as will T-Mobile soon), so the trick should work on their networks too, but we havent seen reports of successful attempts there yet. Its not clear what other LTE bands the Nexus 4 supports, but AT&Ts LG Optimus G, which shares its internals with the Google phone works on 700/1700/2100MHz.

So, will you be buying a Nexus 4 once it gets back in stock?

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Clearer Meizu MX2 pictures leak, show its thin profile

The Meizu MX2 has appeared in a fresh batch of leaked images. This time the pictures are clearer than before and we can get a good look at the front.

The device looks sleeker than its predecessor and appears very thin. The front is entirely covered in glass with what looks like a front facing camera at the bottom (or possibly a LED or home button).

We already know for a fact that the Meizu MX2 will be unveiled on November 27. We hear it will boast a 4.4" screen possibly having a 1280 x 768 resolution. There should be an 8 MP camera on the back. The MX2 should be running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean from the box with the custom Flyme 2.0 UI on top.

A newly released detail is the price - previously the MX2 was rumored to cost 2.999 yuan (about $481/375) but now it looks like it could launch for 2.499 yuan (around $402/313). This is yet to be confirmed.

Source | Via

Gartner: Lenovo will overtake Samsung in China next year

Samsung managed to snag the top smartphone maker spot in China, but Gartner is predicting it will soon lose it to Lenovo. As of Q3, Samsung held 16.7% of the market while Lenovo was close behind with 14.8% (Canalys reports slightly different numbers 14% for Samsung and 13% for Lenovo).

Lenovos growth hasnt been slow during the same period last year they held only 1.7% of the market. The brand is positioned at the mid-to-lower end which will drive much of its future growth, and this is where global brands are less competitive, says Gartner.

The analyst company believes that the established PC maker is the only brand that can capable of competing with global brands in the local Chinese market (though according to Canalys, the other three companies in the Top 5 smartphone maker list are Chinese). Apple had a 6.9% share in Q3.

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Samsung expected to sell some 60 million smartphones in Q4

Samsung has gradually become a one-stop-shop for Android smartphones, with devices available in almost every conceivable variety for almost any budget. It's no real shocker that it is the number one smartphone manufacturer globally, and will likely continue to hold the lion's share of the pie for some time to come.

UBS financial analytics estimate that some 61.5 million units will be sold in the final 3 month period of 2012. This will mark the first time a manufacturer ships more than 60 million units in a single quarter, but is hardly surprising given that Samsung shipped some 57 million handsets in Q3.

Sales of the Galaxy S III and Note II are expected to lead the way in sales, with the S III having shipped some 5.5 million units in October alone.

Samsung's lesser-known devices, like the WP8-running Ativ S, and its Bada lineup, are not expected to have a significant impact on sales figures.

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Jolla Sailfish OS detailed, demoed on video

The guys from Jolla held an official launch event for their Sailfish mobile OS and showcased the platform to the general public. The company has already signed deals with ST-Ericsson for the chipsets that will power its future smartphones, and with the Finnish carrier DNA, who will be offering them.

The successor of Meego promises unrivaled multitasking capabilities, and packs quite a few cool new features. Well start off with the official promo video, which shows the cool looks of the platform.

You should also check out this link for a hands-on demo video that demonstrates the impressive multitasking interface, as well as the unique Ambience feature.

Jolla has also found a clever way to tackle the app shortage issue that each new platform inevitably faces - the upcoming Sailfish OS is said to be compatible with most Android apps without any extra modifications.

It all looks very promising and we are hoping that we'll soon see actual hardware powered by Sailfish.

Via | Via

A limited edition of US Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD surfaces

Just hearing the DROID moniker in that long name should be enough to tell you that's the US version of the handset we're talking about. And if the fiery red wasn't enough of a spoiler, yes, this phone is a genuine Verizon flyer, and proudly so.

This special edition handset is only available for purchase to Verizon employees. Reportedly, there is also a choice of a limited edition HTC Windows Phone 8X and a DROID DNA.

If you need a refresher, the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD was announced back in September. It's identical to the DROID RAZR HD but it has a beefier 3300mAh battery.

The rest of the specs include a 4.7-inch 720p screen, 8MP camera with 1080p video recording, 32GB of storage, expandable via the microSD card slot and LTE support.

As we said, these special edition handsets are meant only for Verizon employees. If you happen to be one, we'd appreciate better pics of this handset.

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Samsung to show an 8-core big.LITTLE chipset next year

Samsung is rumored to put a quad Cortex-A15 CPU inside the Galaxy S IV with the Exynos 5450 chipset, but EETimes is reporting that the Korean company has a more interesting chipset in the works - the first one to use ARM's big.LITTLE technology.

This tech pairs a number of powerful Cortex-A15 cores with the same number of low-power Cortex-A7 cores (similar to NVIDIA's fifth core in Tegra 3). The chipset seamlessly switches between the high and low power cores depending on the load (but it can't run all at the same time).

The chipset in particular will pack four A15s clocked at 1.8GHz and four A7s clocked at 1.2GHz. The A7s will reportedly match a quad-core Cortex-A8 CPU (not that such exist), while the four A15s should offer a big increase over the already powerful A15 duo that powers the Nexus 10. The chip will be built on a 28nm process and pack 2MB of cache.

We're sure that there will be plenty of rumors that this will be the chipset in the Galaxy S IV, but it's more likely to see it in a tablet first.

Source | Via

La Fleur Galaxy S III, S Duos, Ace 2 and Ace Duos on the way

The La Fleur brand is no news for Samsung. Its been doing those editions since the end of 2009. The limited-edition phones are not quite widespread or famous, but they've usually enjoyed good reception from the ladies out there.

So here come the new La Fleur phones, all of them running on Android OS the Galaxy S III, Galaxy S Duos, Galaxy Ace Duos and Galaxy Ace 2.

All of them will come in the usual colors white or pink with some additional flower decoration on both sides of the phone.

In case you are eyeing one of those, youll be happy to learn theyll be released by the end of January just in time for the Valentine's day shopping decisions.

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Microsoft Surface review: Ripples of change

Introduction

Having powered anything from personal media players to enterprise servers, Redmond once again has a little something to call its own. It must wish it's bigger than the Xbox and sure hopes no one remembers the Kin phone.

The Microsoft Surface will have to be something special to be able to compete with both droids and iPads, as well as tablets made by Redmond's partner-OEMs. It's crunch time for Microsoft and nothing is off-limits in terms of tactics. Do as Apple does in tablets, and do as Google does in phones. Objective: put pressure on both, in both games.

Microsoft Surface official photos

A smart keyboard dock lets the Surface double as a laptop - that will cost an extra 100, unless you get the 64GB version, which has it in the bundle.

Anyway, is it a glorified tablet, or a dumbed-down laptop? Join as we explore the Surface from its magnesium metal alloy (called VaporMg), to the quad-core Tegra 3 processor powering its Modern UI. But first, let's take a look at the Surface's main features and potential disadvantages:

Key features:

• 10.6" ClearType HD LCD touchscreen, 1366 x 768 pixels
• Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity with Wi-Fi Direct
• Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A9 chipset
• 2 GB of RAM
• ULP GeForce GPU
• Windows 8 RT with SkyDrive support and activation
• Standard USB port, USB host
• 32/64GB of inbuilt storage
• Micro SDSX port, up to 64GB supported
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 31.5 Wh battery
• Accelerometer, compass and three-axis gyro-sensor
• Front and rear-facing 1.2MP auto-focus cameras
• 720p@30fps video for both cameras
• HD video out
• Weight of 680 grams (1.5 lb)
• VaporMg casing feels extra solid and pleasing to the touch
• Built-in kickstand
• Two kinds of keyboard dock/screen cover: Touch Cover is optional equipment in 32GB models, standard in 64GB; Type Cover sold separately

Main disadvantages:

• Windows RT works with Windows Store apps only
• Heavier than most 10-inch tablets
• Quite awkward to use in portrait
• Proprietary connector for charging
• Touch Cover build materials are extremely poor and the keyboard does not make for a good typing experience

What pushes the Surface further into the realm of tablets-and out of the realm of laptops-is its ARM-based Tegra 3 chipset. The same type of processor is ticking inside millions of smartphones and other handheld devices. Microsoft was forced to create an edition of Windows specifically designed to handle this type of architecture. Enter Windows RT.

Windows RT comes with some of the benefits of a full-featured Windows environment - a Desktop mode, which should look instantly familiar to Windows users, as well a version of Microsoft Office which matches its Windows 8 counterpart. If you're familiar with Windows 8, the redesigned Start interface shouldn't be groundbreaking either.

However, this can be misleading, as Windows RT is designed to run applications from the Windows Store only, and as such cannot run legacy x86 applications designed for full-featured versions of Windows. So, you won't be able to install any of the programs you typically use on a Windows desktop or laptop. Nevertheless, while its uses as a traditional Windows PC may be limited, that doesn't necessarily mean there's no room for it in the world of tablets.

Microsoft Surface live photos

The Surface has its share of advantages over most other tablets, the Office package and seamless compatibility with your home or office PC being among the highlights. It has expandable storage (which not all tablets guarantee), and there's the keyboard dock/cover, too.

We'll cover all of that and more on the next page, where we'll take a look at the retail package, build quality, and design of the Microsoft Surface.

Rumors: Galaxy S IV to have 13MP camera, quad-core A15 CPU

The Samsung Galaxy S IV rumors are heating up - the 4.99" 1080p Super AMOLED screen was brought up again as was the Exynos 5450 chipset rumors (with quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU). The camera has also caught the attention of the rumor mill and apparently it will be a 13MP shooter.

That sounds plausible - we've heard that the Galaxy Note II was supposed to have a 13MP shooter, but in the end Samsung went with the old 8MP because Sony couldnt make enough sensors (and it had already made a deal with LG for the Optimus G). Plus, Samsung can't have three consecutive generations of Galaxy S phones using the same camera, can it?

A new Korean source talked about the new 4.99" 1080p Super AMOLED screens that Samsung is supposed to show off at CES in January (and that are already in production). The same rumor coming from a second source seemingly confirms it, but unfortunately this new rumor is still light on details.

Since the "Plus" keyword is missing from the "Super AMOLED" name, it suggests that we're talking about a PenTile display. It probably won't make a big difference at 441ppi pixel density, though.

Anyway, the other rumor that was reiterated was about the Exynos 5450 chipset - the quad-core version of the 5250 chipset that powers the Nexus 10 tablet. We're still very skeptical of that - four Cortex-A15 cores at 2GHz will make minced meat of current mobile chipsets, but will probably also suck a battery dry in record time.

Well, we look forward to CES to see if Samsung really will break out the 1080p Super AMOLED displays, but we guess it won't be before Q2 that we see the Galaxy S IV for real.

Thanks to Shubham Jain for sending this in!

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ZTE Grand X Pro press image breaks loose

ZTE may have just announced a bunch of new phones, but it seems there is even more cooking in its labs. A leaked image supposedly shows the Grand X Pro the ZTEs next flagship.

ZTE Grand X Pro

It looks really cool and seems to be running an almost vanilla Android OS.

There is nothing more coming with this pic, but since the previous Grand X LTE announced this summer runs on a dual-core Krait, we guess the Grand X Pro may introduce the quad-core Krait to the lineup.

Source | Via

Amazon offers discount off AT&T Lumia 920, 820 and HTC 8X

Amazon US just put up some great deals for three of the new Windows Phone 8-powered smartphones in the states. You can get the AT&Ts Nokia Lumia 920, Nokia Lumia 820 or HTC Windows Phone 8X at half their original asking price.

AT&T is charging $99.99 for the Lumia 920 on a 2-year contract, while Amazon is giving you the flagship smartphone for $69.99 (previously $49.99). The Lumia 820 goes for $49.99 in the AT&T stores, while Amazon wants just $0.01 for it.

Unfortunately Amazon offers discounts only on the 8GB version of the HTX 8X. Instead of charging you $99.99, Amazon sells the smartphone for $39.99.

So, if you live in the US and want to switch to Windows Phone 8, now seems to be a good moment to do it.

Source | Via

WP 7.8 update might come in a few weeks, WP7.9 in the works?

Nokia can't (or more likely doesnt want to) keep Windows Phone 7.8 info under wraps - new info coming from the "head of Nokia Asia Pacific Developer" suggests we will see the update much sooner than the previously rumored Q1 2013 timeframe.

Microsoft never really announced a solid launch date for the update, which caused all this guessing.

Anyway, the WP7.8 update was reportedly RTMed and it should start rolling out in a few days to weeks. This comes soon after the leaked Nokia materials that detailed what changes the update will bring (Microsoft was vague on this one too).

Windows Phone 7.8 will not be the end of it though - another rumor (this one coming from Nokia Germany) suggests there will be another update for the first generation of Windows Phone handsets (the ones not getting WP8).

The rumor doesnt offer any more info, but that there might be an update at all is quite interesting in itself. Microsoft made a commitment of supporting WP8 devices for at least 18 months after they're released, but it would be nice to see it hasnt forgotten about the users it attracted with WP7.

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LG F240 leaks via GLBenchmark, sports a full HD screen

LG's answer to the 1080p screen touting HTC DROID DNA has leaked thanks to GLBenchmark's website. Codenamed the LG F240, the device is reported to sport a similarly spec'd display with a 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution.

According to its benchmark results, the LG F240 utilizes the muscle of an 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor coupled with an Adreno 320 GPU. The same raw power is found in the HTC DROID DNA, too.

Display size, RAM and internal memory have just been detailed, but the F240 has gone through the benchmarking process running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

Details are scarce at the moment, but there's a pretty high chance to witness the unveil of the device either at CES 2013 or at MWC 2013 in Barcelona. Speaking of CES 2013, Samsung is also being rumored to be working on a droid with a full HD display in time for the Consumer's Electronic Show early next year.

Source | Via

Lenovo working on Android smartphone with 1080p display

After Oppo, HTC and Sharp, it's Lenovo's turn to release an Android-based smartphone with a 1080p display. We don't really know much about this phone, including it's name, but a few screenshots from the phone have surfaced online.

These screenshots reveal that the device indeed has a 1080p resolution. They also show that the phone supports dual-SIM cards and that it is running Lenovo's custom skin on top of Android.

It is being said that the phone is in its final stages of development and would be officially announced in China shortly.

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