HTC M7 expected to arrive on all US carriers other than Verizon

We are slowly inching towards the release of the HTC M7, which we have been hearing about for quite some time now. The phone is expected to be revealed in the special media event held by HTC on February 19, before MWC.

Now, we are hearing that the phone will be available on all major carriers in the US, except for Verizon. AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint will have the phone by mid-March when it is said to go on sale but Verizon seems to be sitting this one out entirely or might join the party at a later date.

Verizon not being much interested doesn't come across as a big surprise as the company is already offering the M7's big brother, the DROID DNA in the US, so they probably wouldn't want to launch another phone with similar specs so soon.

No word yet on the availability of the phone elsewhere in the world.

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HTC's excited chairman shows off the upcoming M7 flagship

In a similar fashion to his peer from Huawei, HTC's chairman Peter Chou showed off the yet to be revealed M7 flagship during the company's year end party in Taipei, Taiwan. Mr. Chou also confirmed the smartphone's name quite originally - by repeatedly screaming it.

The smartphone makes a brief appearance while HTC's chairman took some pictures of the gathered crowd. Sadly, we could not see much of the device, save for its white back cover.

Here's the video of Peter Chou screaming the M7 name. Given his enthusiasm, we are all but certain that the upcoming HTC flagship will indeed be special.

HTC will take the cover off the M7 at an event in NYC on February 19. We will be live from the spot, so be sure to stick around for the full scoop on the device.

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Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note to get 4.1.2 in March

Samsung Ukraine has announced that it will start rolling out the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update to some of its devices from March. The first ones to get this update is the Galaxy S II as well as the Galaxy Note. The Galaxy S II, as you may know, has already started getting the update elsewhere in the world.

Along with these two device, Samsung will also be updating the Galaxy Ace 2 to Jelly Bean, but that will happen in April. And last but not the least, the Galaxy Tab 7.7 will also be joining the Jelly Bean party around the same time.

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Huawei Ascend Mate pre-orders start at $575 in China

Huawei announced three phones at the CES in Las Vegas in January - the Ascend D2 1080p smartphone, the Ascend Mate 6.1" phablet and the Ascend W1 Windows Phone midranger. Usually the Huawei phones launch in their homeland - China - first and so this is the case here.

The 6.1-inch Ascend Mate droid will launch in about a month and at least one retailer is already taking pre-orders for it. The Chinese retailer Liaow, which offers international shipping charges exactly $575 for the smartphone.

Shipping would be another $23-$38, depending on the country you live in and you get to choose between DHL and EMS. Keep in mind though, that you'll also have to pay various import fees and, depending on the laws in your country, VAT.

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Strategy Analytics: Apple top phone maker in US for Q4

Android and iOS are locked in a tug-of-war that has been going on for a few years and competing OSes are falling to the wayside. Samsung (the biggest Android player) and Apple (the only iOS gadget maker) are busy fighting it out too and Strategy Analytics is keeping score.

In the US, Apple became the top phone vendor during the Q4 thats a first for the company. It shipped 17.7 million phones for a whopping 34% of the market (a big jump from 25% in Q4 2011).

Samsung took second place in Q4 with 16.8 million phones shipped. Looking at the whole year, however, Samsung takes top place with 53 million phones over Apples 43.7 million. LG is third with 20.5 million (4.7 million of which were shipped in the last quarter of 2012).

All three companies shipped more phone in Q4 last year than they did in Q4 2011 and the market grew 4% year over year. However, the previous three quarters were weak and the market contracted from 186.8 million phones for the whole 2011 to 166.9 million in 2012 (thats for feature and smart phones).

Anyway, the smartphone wars are even more intense in China there Android and iOS conquered 98% of the smartphone market in Q4. Of that, Android holds a dominant position with 86%, while iOS has 12%. Note that Android numbers include lots of modified versions specific to the Chinese market.

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Sony Xperia Z to release on Feb 28, Three opens pre-orders

The latest in the Xperia family, the Sony Xperia Z, which was announced in the recently-concluded CES 2013, will go sale in the UK beginning in February 28 and Three has already started accepting pre-orders for the smartphone.

According to Three, Sony Xperia Z will be available for 34 a month with an upfront payment of 69, and the first 1000 pre-ordering customers will receive a pair of Sony MDR-1R Prestige headphones worth 299.

Three also offers the smartphone on a 36 per month plan with an upfront payment of 69 and 2 year contract.

Earlier, Sony's official online store in the UK had priced the smartphone at 529, but the carrier will be selling the waterproof device with a price tag of 449 on pay-as-you-go plans.

The Xperia Z smartphone will be available in Black and White color variants.

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Upcoming Vertu Constellation Ti running Android gets leaked

Looks like luxury brand Vertu is shifting to a new operating system for its phones, with the new OS in question being Android. After separating from Nokia, Vertu is now also distancing itself from the now outdated Symbian and towards greener pastures.

The first rumored Vertu phone to be running on Android is the Constellation Ti. The phone has a 800 x 480 resolution display, 1.5GHz Snapdragon MSM8260A SoC, Android 4.0.4 and a rather minuscule 1,250mAh battery. The specs aren't much but then again, Vertu devices have never been about specs but more about the quality of the materials used in their construction and the sheer snob value of owning one of these ber-expensive devices.

There are supposedly four versions of the Constellation Ti: Titanium Black PVD black leather, Titanium Black Alligator, Red Gold Mixed Metal and Titanium Black Leather. Each uses a different material and color finish for the body. The Red Gold Mixed Metal interestingly has a different key layout below the display compared to the others, as seen above, but it could be just an older version of the design.

The device hasn't been confirmed yet but according to The Verge, Vertu is set to announce a new phone next month so it's likely this could be the one.

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LG Optimus L7 II Dual unveiled, a dual-SIM dual-core droid

The LG Optimus L7 is getting a sequel with improved specs and dual-SIM capabilities to boot. The LG Optimus L7 II Dual updates the design a bit, going for a less angular look and has moved to capacitive keys only.

The regular Back / Home / Menu keys are joined by a SIM switch key for easy toggling between the two SIM cards.

LG Optimus L7 II Dual

The Optimus L7 II Dual keeps the 4.3 IPS LCD screen of the original but bumps up the CPU spec to 1GHz dual-core (of unknown architecture) and adds a better camera that shoots 8MP stills and 720p videos. The phone will run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box and comes with LG's home-brewed QSlide, QuickMemo and QuickTranslator software.

The battery has gotten a nice upgrade too it has 2,460mAh capacity, which should last for two days according to LG.

The LG Optimus L7 II Dual will launch in the second half of February in Russia for 12,990 rubles ($430, but note that phones in Russia are usually pricier than in most other European countries). The phone will come in black and white.

Source (in Russian)

Sony C530X HuaShan is the Xperia SP, C210X is the Xperia L

Unlike the Sony Xperia T, the phone of choice for James Bond, these two Xperia models arent good at keeping their codenames. The Sony C530X HuaShan was revealed to the be the Xperia SP, while the Sony C210X will be the Xperia L.

The Sony C530X Xperia SP starred in a photo shoot a few days ago. What we know about it so far is that it will have a 720p screen (size is unclear), run Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean on a dual-core Krait processor at 1.7GHz and Adreno 320 GPU. Theres also LTE connectivity and a 5MP camera (this latest bit may be unreliable as its from Picasa, where photos are often downscaled).

The lower-end model, the Sony C210X Xperia L has a FWVGA screen with on-screen buttons and an Adreno 305-sporting chipset with a 1GHz processor, most likely a dual-core Krait. This is according to GLBenchmark scores. When the test scores were submitted, the phone ran Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, though that should move up to 4.1.2 by the time of release.

With the flagship phone (Xperia Z / ZL) out of the way, these two models stand a good chance of being unveiled at the upcoming MWC and well be on the lookout for them. On a side note, whats with Sonys naming scheme anyway?

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Samsung won't hold a press conference at MWC 2013

Unlike the other major players on the mobile scene, Samsung is highly unlikely to hold a press conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year.

The information comes from sources familiar with the matter who have told Pocket-Lint that Samsung has preferred not to hold a dedicated press conference. Despite this, the company will have a strong presence at the showroom floor, the sources have said.

If that turns out to true (and given that Samsung had no press conference last year either it probably will), than Samsung will most likely announce whatever new devices it will bring to the show the week prior to its start. Given that the Koreans officially denied they will bring the Galaxy S IV to the MWC such a strategy is probably smart.

At last year's MWC, Samsung showcased its Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and Galaxy Note 10.1 slates as well as the projector-packing Galaxy Beam. Now, the company is expected to officially uncover the Galaxy Note 8.0, but it might be hiding another trick up its sleeve.

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Samsung 2013 La Fleur collection goes official, Galaxy S III in tow

We already heard about the upcoming La Fleur makeover of a few of the Samsung's most popular phones last year. The new lineup includes Galaxy S III, Galaxy S Duos, Galaxy Ace 2 and Galaxy Ace Duos and the Galaxy S III mini and has been made official now.

The La Fleur editions feature the same specs as their siblings, they just come with new paintjobs with red/pink accents and floral motives.

All those La Fleur droids will launch on February 1 and will cost the same as their non La Fleur siblings. The pricing and availability info applies for Russia, but we guess it will be applicable to many other countries around the world.

Source (in Russian)

Jelly Bean update for Motorola RAZR i now seeding

Motorola has started the Jelly Bean update roll out for the Intel-powered RAZR i. Even though the smartphone first launched in the UK, the first country to get the update notifications is France.

The new firmware seeding right now is 4.1.2 and will bring you all the goodies native to Jelly Bean (most notably Project Butter) as well as some cool upgrades to the custom Motorola launcher.

The update weighs in at just over 300MB so you are much better off downloading it over Wi-Fi, but you are allowed to use network data if you prefer. The notification for it should automatically be popping up on your notification screen, but you can force your smartphone to check for it manually through the about screen on the settings menu.

If you are too impatient to wait and get the Jelly Bean update through official means, you can follow the source link below to apply it manually. Still, the availability of the release should quickly extend to other countries so it might make more sense for you to just wait a few days or weeks.

Thanks to Addam Martin, who sent this in!

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Xperia Z demo units hit Japan retail stores, sales start February 9

Japanese retail stores have started displaying demo units of the hotly anticipated Sony Xperia Z. What's more, there's now an exact date when sales will start, and that's February 9.

Mind you, that date counts only for Sony's home market, and not the European, where the device is expected to land in March or late February. The information comes from TalkAndroid, so take it with a grain of salt, as Sony hasn't yet officially confirmed anything.

Still, having demo units in the retail store is as sure a sign can we get that the Xperia Z launch date is near. Sony's latest flagship generated serious buzz at CES 2013 earlier in the month and has left many consumers eager to get their hands on it.

And that's understandable considering the device's serious horsepower in the face of the quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, Adreno 320 graphics and 2GB of RAM. The smartphone is built around a 5" LED-backlit 1080p display with Mobile Bravia 2 Engine and has a 13MP Exmor RS camera sensor capable of 1080p video recording with HDR option at its disposal.

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Nokia schedules its MWC press event for February 25

Nokia has just sent out press invites for its MWC 2013 event in Barcelona scheduled for February 25.

As usual when they are present at the MWC, the Finns have scheduled their press conference for the first day of the expo, Monday, at 9:00.

At last year's Mobile World Congress Nokia unveiled the 808 PureView 41MP monstrous cameraphone, which was one of the event's most memorable devices and its first WP Tango-based affordable smartphone - the Lumia 610. So, Nokia has the bar set up pretty high for this year and we can't wait to see what they are up to.

If recent rumors are to be believed, Stephen Elop and his trusty engineers are about to unveil a new Lumia line-up, featuring smartphones with a completely new design language. Rumors have it that the polycarbonate unibody will be replaced by aluminum. There's an outside chance that we'll also see the first proper PureView WP8 smartphone.

Quad-core Karbonn S1 Titanium launches in India, costs '150

Karbonn S1 Titanium has gone official in India. Its a quad-core smartphone running on the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The S1 Titanium is powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz processor - almost certainly the MediaTek-made one with the Cortex-A7 architecture. The smartphone comes with a 4.5-inch qHD (540x960 pixels) IPS display, 1GB of RAM, 4GB internal storage expandable via a microSD card slot, a 5MP rear camera with a LED flash and a VGA front one.

Karbonn S1 Titanium

The Karbonn S1 Titanium is a dual-SIM phone with quad-band GSM support with EDGE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and FM radio.

The best part about the Titanium is its price - the handset costs INR10,990 or about 150. You can place your order right now from here. It seems the S1 Titanium is after the recently announced Micromax A116 Canvas HD - it loses some screen estate and camera megapixels but it costs INR4000 less or about 60, which makes it an attractive offering.

Thanks to Keith Pinto, who sent this in!

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HTC M7 parts shown on video, point to a 4.7-inch screen

The still HTC M7 Android smartphone is once again the star of the Rumorland show. This time the back and front panels of the smartphonewere shown in front of Etrade Supply's camera and posted on YouTube.

From the video we can gather that the HTC M7, touted as the One X successor, will drop the curved design in favor of a more angular one with flat edges and back. It also looks very similar, shape-wise, to the DROID DNA and HTC Butterfly.

The screen will reportedly be a bit smaller at 4.7", but still of 1080p resolution, which aligns nicely with previous reports of 468 pixel per inch density.

There's no word when we might expect the HTC M7 but a good guess is at the MWC 2013 in Barcelona next month. The M7 will likely premiere Sense 5.0, the latest version of HTC's custom UI for Android.

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Pantech Vega No 6 goes official in South Korea

Pantech has unveiled yet another excitingly sounding smartphone from the Vega lineup. Unfortunately, just like most of its siblings the Vega No 6 as the new device is called will remain exclusive to South Korea. It packs a 5.9-inch 1080p display and is powered by a quad-core 1.5GHz Krait processor.

The Pantech Vega No 6 also offers 2GB or RAM and generous 32GB internal storage, which can be expanded further through the microSD card slot. A 13MP primary camera and a 2MP front-facing snapper take care of your photography and video-chat needs.

The connectivity department of the Vega No 6 has everything - from Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi and USB for local transfers to LTE for high-speed internet access on the go.

Pantech Vega No 6 runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean skinned with Pantech's own Flux UX. It will launch on all three South Korean carriers in February. It will cost KRW849,000 (about 580/$780) SIM-free, but if you are willing to sign a long-term contract you might get a sweeter deal.

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Samsung readying a 1080p smartphone for AT&T

The SGH-I337 has been spotted on a Samsung UAProf, which indicates that an upcoming device for AT&T belongs in the fullHD-display realm, and could very well be the the next Samsung flagship, the Galaxy S IV.

This years' CES saw a notable absence of smartphone announcements from Samsung. However, the company did unveil a 4.99" Super AMOLED 1080p display, as well as the new Exynos 5 octa-core SoC, which are both rumored to be in the next flagship.

Whether the SGH-I337 will turn out to be the Galaxy S IV is anyone's guess, but it is set to feature a 1080p display from Samsung, which would be its first in a smartphone, so it makes sense for it to debut on the next flagship.

Allegedly the Galaxy S IV will be skipping MWC this year (just like the Galaxy S III did last year), and will likely be announced at a separate Samsung event in March.

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