Hands-on images of unknown BlackBerry 10 device surface

With the launch of RIM's next generation BlackBerry 10 platform upon us, the leaked images of the new range of devices running this software are coming in thick and fast.

We have already seen some very official looking pictures of the BlackBerry Z10. Now one of our readers has sent us, what he claims are hands on images of the BlackBerry Z10 that were taken of a device used for training employees in a store in Kuwait. The source also mentioned that the phone will go on sale in Kuwait in the next 14 days, although no information was available regarding the pricing or availability in other regions.

Compared to the pictures we have seen before, the device in these pictures looks a bit different. Actually, it looks a lot like the BlackBerry Dev Alpha unit. Only difference here being that the display on this phone is flush with the front unlike on the dev unit, where it was sunken in. It much just be another version of the reference platform or simply another smartphone that RIM is going to introduce at its press event.

Unfortunately, we don't get to see much of the software, other than the homescreen. Still, we are not far away from the launch of the platform so we should be getting a much better look at it shortly.

Thanks, Saud, for the tip.

iPhone 5S targeted for a July launch, iPads coming in October

The rumors of next generation iPad and iPhone are already starting to pick up steam. According to the latest report from iLounge, the iPhone 5S is said to enter mass production in July.

Note the start of the mass production is usually a few months before the actual announcement, so Apple can fill up its warehouses ahead of the launch weekend.

The report also says that the company's tablet lineup refresh is coming in October. The iPad mini with Retina display is reportedly codenamed J84, while the iPad 5 is dubbed J72. Apple's rumored next-gen iPads are expected to retain the design of their predecessors, but the mini should be getting a Retina display. It's anyone's guess what kind of upgrades will come with the iPad 5.

As for the iPhone 5S - it is expected to include a faster processor and a Sony-made 13 megapixel camera sensor. Furthermore, the device is rumored to feature an improved rear LED flash. The iPhone 5S versions are codenamed N51 and N53 and predictably the device will have similar design to the iPhone 5.

The new iPhone is also rumored to feature a fingerprint scanner, which is based on the Authentec technology acquired by Apple last summer.

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HTC launches Mini: a remote control for the HTC Butterfly

The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC has launched a remote control device for its Butterfly smartphone. HTC Mini, an NFC-enabled remote control, is now offered in China alongside its flagship device.

HTC Mini connects to the device through Bluetooth and helps you make calls without actually having to take your smartphones out of your pocket.

HTC Mini uses NFC to pair with the smartphone and serves as a remote terminal after that. The Mini can also show messages, calendar entries and call logs on its monochrome display.

HTC Mini can also be used to navigate through menus when the smartphone is plugged into your HDTV.

Mini can also be used to trigger the shutter in the camera app. The remote control sports a useful "find my phone" feature, which helps you locate your misplaced smartphone.

Unfortunately, there are no officially confirmations on the pricing and the availability of the gadget for other regions. Let's hope that the Mini will get its global release.

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Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 rugged Jelly Bean droid goes official

Samsung just announced the Galaxy Xcover 2, an IP67-certified Android phone. It improves an all the specs of its predecessor, from a bigger screen to a more powerful processor.

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 has a 4 WVGA TFT screen, dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with Samsungs TouchWiz customizations. The 5MP main camera can shoot 720p video and theres a dedicated shutter key, plus a front-facing VGA camera.

The Galaxy Xcover 2 measures 130.5 x 67.7 x 12 mm, bigger than its predecessor, and its heavier too, at 149g. It has a 1,700mAh battery thats secured into place by a special lock.

On the connectivity side, theres 3G with 14.4Mbps HSDPA and 5.76Mbps HSUPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS + GLONASS. The Galaxy Xcover 2 packs 4GB of built-in memory and a microSD card slot.

The official press release is mum on details like launch dates and prices, but Swedish site CDON already has the Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 on pre-order for 2,690 Swedish krona ($415, 310). The estimated shipping date is February 21 (the leaked roadmap also pointed to a February release).

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A pair of new BlackBerry Z10 press pics make the rounds

Courtesy of @evleaks, we get to see a pair or high-quality press pics of the yet unannounced BlackBerry Z10.

It's not like we haven't seen tons of image material devoted on the BlackBerry's upcoming flagship, but the clarity of press shots like these can hardly be matched by any of the previously leaked mugshots.

We can't really judge the quality of materials used, but design-wise, the Z10 seems fine. Yes, it's a tad conservative. And yes, the sheer width of the screen bezel may be bit over the board for some, but it would nicely suit any guy in a suit (pun intended). Our point is, it may not be an instant eye-catcher but at least it won't look out of place both in the meeting room and in a bar.

BlackBerry Z10

BlackBerry will hold a press conference next week - on January 30 - where it's supposed to unveil its next generation BlackBerry 10 OS along with the pioneering flagship, pictured above - be it called Z10 or something else.

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Samsung teases with image of Exynos 5 Octa chipset

The Samsung Exynos 5 Octa chipset caused a lot of excitement and the SamsungExynos Twitter account is slowly fanning the flames with little teasing tidbits of info like this image of the chipset.

Its a 3D render of the SoC rather than a photo of a production unit. In the same tweet, Samsung is talking up the energy efficiency of the chipset.

Up close with the #Exynos 5 Octa mobile processor #GreenTechnology (pic) twitter.com/SamsungExynos/

SamsungExynos (@SamsungExynos) January 24, 2013

In case you missed it, the Exynos 5 Octa uses ARMs big.LITTLE design. It has two groups of four processor cores the big group consists of four blazing fast Cortex-A15 CPUs, while the LITTLE group has four power-efficient Cortex-A7 cores. Thats eight-cores in total, hence Octa. Only one of the groups is active at a time, the other goes to sleep (similar to how NVIDIA's Tegra 3 chipset works, but with more low-power cores).

Samsung claims a 3.3x reduction in power usage thanks to the A7 cores, which are enough to handle menial tasks and are only 13% of the size of an A15 core, so theyre cheap. The overall performance is reportedly the same as an A15-only design. The switch between core groups happens in 30-50ms.

You can read more tech details on the Samsung Exynos 5 Octa chipset over here and get even techier details in this PDF.

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Apple posts record breaking financial results for Q1, 2013

Apple has announced the financial results for the first quarter of the 2013 fiscal year (which ended in December 29, 2012) with some record breaking numbers.

The following table shows the results of the first quarter, compared to results from the previous quarter and the same quarter last year.

As you can see, the both the revenue and the profits have gone up considerably over the last quarter. The sales of the iPhone, in particular, have seen a massive increase, especially over the previous quarter, no doubt thanks to the introduction of the iPhone 5.

The iPad sales saw a similar increase, again likely helped by the new iPad mini and the refreshed iPad with Retina display. There was no breakdown of the iPad sales according to the different models (similar to the iPhone and iPod sales) but it's safe to assume the iPad mini got the lion's share.

The only numbers that were down this quarter were for the iPod and the Mac. The iPod sales were considerably higher compared to last quarter thanks to the new iPods and the holiday season but were down from the same period last year. The Mac sales have seen a considerable decline, which Apple believes was due to the delays in the production of the new iMac.

But even though numbers sound impressive enough, they failed to meet analysts' expectations, which pointed to 50 million iPhones sold, causing Apple's stock to drop by 10% in the after-hours trading.

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Nokia Drive+ Beta now available for all Windows Phone 8 users

Nokia's much awaited turn-by-turn navigation application, Drive+ is now available for free to all Windows Phone 8 users in United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

The application is still technically a beta, but we have already had numerous chances to see that it's actually pretty great and little to no bugs. So as long as you live in one of the three countries above you now gain access to full turn-by turn voice guided navigation, offline maps, speed limit warnings and other conveniences such as day and night modes.

Nokia Drive + has been one of the key advantages of the Nokia Lumia lineup over WP smartphones from other manufactures, so this might have a significant impact on the balance of power in the Microsoft platform.

Nokia Drive+ can be downloaded from the official Windows Phone website. We are yet to hear anything about its availability for other countries, though.

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Apple-Samsung patent ruling to be reviewed by the ITC

The US International Trade Commission will review ruling, which could lead to an import ban on few devices from Samsung.

The ITC will be reviewing the preliminary ruling, which found the Samsung smartphones and few tablets breaching upon the four patents held by Apple. The final verdict on the case was supposed to be come by March 27 and now that date is very likely to be rescheduled due to the trade body's review.

Samsung's hope of continuing its dominance in the mobile market relies heavily on the decision from the International Trade commission. However, the company remains confident that the commission will ultimately rule in its favor.

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Meizu MX2 launches on China Unicom

Meizu and China Unicom have entered a partnership to sell the Meizu MX2 on contract in China. The phone goes on sale from today and is available on multiple contracts.

You can go for the free phone plan, in which you have to pay 226 per month and 2,699 prepaid for two-years or 156 per month and 2,699 prepaid for three years. There is also a bonus credit deal, where the phone is sold for 2,699 with a two year contract of at least 66 per month but you get bonus credit toppings of 5,800.

As for the phone itself, it has a quad-core Cortex A9 CPU clocked at 1.6GHz, 2GB RAM, 4.4-inch, 1280 x 800 resolution display, 16/32/64GB storage space, 8 megapixel camera and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Google announces Q4 results, revenues and net income up

Google reported in with its Q4 results for 2012 and things are looking good for the search giant, even though its Motorola Mobility deal is still in the red. In 2012 Google hit the $50 billion revenue mark for the first time in its 15-year existence.

Late last year, Google started a deal to sell off Motorola Home to the Arris Group (and certain other persons), a deal that should close in 2013. The deal is for $2.35 billion in cash and stock, which haven't been included in the Q4 report.

Anyway, revenues for Q4 of 2012 were $12.91 billion, up 36% year-on-year and 8% quarter-on-quarter. Google accounted for 89% of that, while Motorola brought in 11%. Google got 54% of its revenues from outside the US.

Operating income was 24% of those revenues or $3.39 billion, compared to 33% and $3.51 for Q4 of 2011. Motorola Mobility once again had a negative impact on those numbers, however. The division posted an operating loss of $353 million.

Consolidated net income was $2.89 billion, up from $2.71 billion in Q4 of 2011.

The employee head count is also interesting 54 thousand people in total work at Google, of which 38 thousand are at the main company, 11 thousand at Motorola Mobile and 5 thousand in Motorola Home (which is being sold off).

During the earnings call, Google CEO Larry Page addressed the Nexus shortages saying that the company needs to manage its inventory better and that this is a priority for the companys teams.

You can read the full press release here and get a bit table of all the numbers here (note: PDF).

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Galaxy S II Jelly Bean update starts rolling out in Spain

Earlier this month we learned that Samsung will soon start rolling out the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update to the venerable Galaxy S II in the coming weeks. The rollout has now begun and Spain is one of the first countries to get the update, with other countries to follow shortly.

The 4.1.2 update is currently only available to the international GSM version of the handset (I9100). The update will bring a new interface design, similar to the one on the Galaxy S III or the Note II. Other changes include a smoother UI thanks to Project Butter, Google Now, two homescreen modes, Direct Call, Smart Stay Pop-up Play, new notification toggles, camera improvements and much more.

The update needs to be downloaded using Kies on your computer. If it is not available for your device right now, it should be available shortly.

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Dual-SIM Samsung Galaxy Grand goes official in India

Samsung Galaxy Grand, which was announced in December 2012, has now received its official announcement in India. The 5" smartphone with dual-SIM functionality has been priced at Rs. 21500 (about $400).

Samsung Galaxy Grand features a 5" WVGA TFT display and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The smartphone is powered by a 1.2 GHz dual core processor along with 1 GB of RAM. The smartphone has an 8 MP camera with LED flash at the back and a 2 MP shooter in the front.

The dual-SIM smartphone offers 8GB of storage and supports memory expansion up to 64GB via the microSD card slot. Samsung Galaxy Grand runs on a 2100mAH battery and comes with few cool home-backed features like S Voice, Direct call, Smart alert, Popup play along with the Multi-View functionality, which allows the users to access two apps simultaneously.

Furthermore, the handset's auto forwarding option will automatically divert incoming calls on the other SIM to the primary SIM, if when you are in a call.

We have already got our hands dirty with Galaxy Grand - you can check out what we learned about it in our hands-on.

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Sharp launches Aquos EX SH-04E ladies smartphone

The Sharp Aqous EX SH-04E ladies smartphone has been launched in cooperation with NTT DOCOMO in Japan. The smartphone will be equipped with a 4.5" 720p HD, S-CG Silicon TFT LCD display.

The Aqous EX SH-04E will be powered by Snapdragon S4 Pro 1.5 GHz Quad Core processor along with 2 GB of RAM. The device has a 13 MP camera and comes with 16 GB of internal memory, and will feature Android 4.1 Jelly Bean powered by a 2000 mAh battery.

Predictably, the ladies phone comes pre-loaded with a reality application, which captures the user's face and allows them to try some Shiseido cosmetics like eye shadow, lipstick, and others. Unfortunately, there are no official confirmations on the pricing of the device yet, although the smartphone will be made available in Pink, White and Black color variants.

Thanks Roshan, for sending this in!

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Leaked Samsung roadmap points to Note 8.0, Xcover 2 in H1 2013

Leaks usually give us a peek at upcoming high profile phones, but every now and then the little guys get talked about in the rumor mill too. TechnoBuffalo got a hold of a part of Samsungs roadmap of unannounced Android devices, which might show up at the MWC. The list includes the Galaxy Note 8.0, which is officially confirmed to exist, a sequel to the Samsung Galaxy Xcover rugged phone and a couple of low-enders.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 specs match up perfectly with the rumored specs we saw last week 8 1280x800 Super Clear LCD with S Pen support, 1.6GHz quad-core CPU and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Whats new is the availability according to the roadmap, the mid-sized Note will come in March.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 unofficial specs

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 is similar to the Galaxy Rugby Pro for AT&T. It packs a 4 WVGA LCD screen, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean running on a 1GHz dual-core processor, 5MP camera, 1,700mAh battery and 3G with 14.4Mbps HSPA.

The Xcover 2 should become available in February. The roadmap doesnt list what kind of certifications it carries, but its a good bet it will be water-proof and shock resistant.

Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 unofficial specs

Next up is the Samsung Galaxy Young, a Galaxy Y successor. It packs either a 3 WVGA screen (unlikely, since this would mean a 310ppi pixel density) or a 3.3 HVGA screen (with a much more believable 175ppi).

The Galaxy Young will run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on a 1GHz CPU and pack a 3MP camera, and 3G support. Its slated for introduction in March and will have a dual-SIM version.

Samsung Galaxy Young unofficial specs

Then theres the Samsung Galaxy Pocket Plus, a minor update of the current Pocket. The main change is the screen resolution HVGA, up from QVGA. It should be announced this month in single-SIM form and next month in dual-SIM form. Theres not a lot of time before the end of January though, so this roadmap might not be perfectly accurate.

Samsung Galaxy Pocket Plus

Other than the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 none of these devices have officially been announced, so we recommend you take this with a healthy dose of salt. We should see those devices at the MWC, the big ticket items like the Galaxy S IV will most likely get their own events.

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Windows Phone 7.8 official rollout to start on January 31

We already lost count of all the rumors, confirmations and denials of the Windows Phone 7.8 update. The update itself got so overhyped that we are sure some users will be left disappointed, when it arrives.

Anyway, according to Windows phone Colombia official Facebook page, the Windows Phone 7.8 rollout will begin on January 31.

The date coincides with Microsoft's promised Q1 launch, as well as the fact that there are already updated Lumia smartphones with it, ones that are sold updated and even Samsung fans recently learned that the Omnia updates are complete.

We already got our hands on the Lumia 510 officially running on Windows Phone 7.8 and we've extracted the new features we found so far for you.

• Resizable Live Tiles
• Bluetooth File transfer
• Bing Picture for Lockscreen wallpaper
• New theme colors
• Wi-Fi tethering
• You can set Google as default search provider in Internet Explorer
• New boot screen
• Office 14.5
• Updated system and Nokia exclusive apps
• Ringtone maker (also available in the Marketplace)
• Counters app (also available in the Marketplace)

The full review is already in the works, while you should expect your phone to get the update itself in 10 days.

Thanks, Bhargav Pinni, for the tip!

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Huawei announces quad-core Ascend G615 droid for Germany

Huawei introduced a new quad-core Android phone to the German market, the Huawei Ascend G615. Its very similar to the Ascend D quad in terms of specs 4.5 IPS LCD screen with 720p resolution (326ppi), Android 4.0 with an incoming Jelly Bean update, HiSilicon K3V2 chipset (4x Cortex-A9 at 1.4GHz, 1GB RAM and HiSilicon GPU) along with an 8MP / 1080p camera.

The G615 is cheaper than the Ascend D quad XL it will be sold at 300, while the older model goes for around 380. The battery is not quite as big though (2,150mAh vs. 2,600mAh) and its slightly thicker and heavier, the Ascend G615 measures 134 x 67.5 x 10.5mm and weighs 145g.

The rest of the specs include 8GB of built-in memory, microSD card slot (take that, Nexus 4), Dolby Digital Plus audio tech, 3G with 21Mbps HSDPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0. The G615 will be available in Black and White and uses old fashioned miniSIMs.

If youre interested, the Huawei Ascend G615 will be available in Germany starting early next month for 300. Initially youll be able to get it from Amazon, Conrad or Cyberport, but in March other stores will start offering it too.

Thanks to Peter for sending this in!

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Micromax A116 Canvas HD goes official with 5" screen, quad CPU

The Micromax A110 (a.k.a. Canvas 2) is the most popular phone in our database and it just got a successor. Meet the Micromax A116 Canvas HD a dual-SIM Android phone with a 5 720p IPS screen, quad-core processor and affordable price.

The 5" screen is a marked improvement over the A110 the new model has 294ppi pixel density, up from 196ppi. The chipset is a big step forward too, the MediaTek MT6589 packs a quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM and the PowerVR Series 5XT GPU.

The Micromax A116 Canvas HD runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (with a 4.2 update to come), packs an 8MP main camera and VGA front-facing camera and has 4GB of built-in storage (plus a microSD card slot). Connectivity is handled by 3G GSM, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth and GPS. The battery capacity is 2,100mAh.

The Micromax A116 will launch in India next month for 15,000 rupees ($280) in brick and mortar stores and online.

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