Micromax A116 Canvas HD sales will start on February 14

Micromax A116 Canvas HD, the successor of the popular Micromax A110 will be hitting shelves on February 14, according to the company. The Micromax A116 Canvas HD will be up for grabs from its official website.

Micromax A116 Canvas HD carries a very attractive price tag of INR15,000 (about $280) and brings value for your money, considering its features and specifications.

Micromax is having a great time in the Indian market recently and the company will be hoping that the quad-core A116 Canvas HD smartphone will help it gain even more momentum.

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HTC One will reportedly be M7's name when it goes official

It appears that the M7 name which HTC's chairman Peter Chou shouted last week might only be an internal moniker. A fresh report has emerged from Twitter's highly accurate tipster @evleaks, pointing that the upcoming Taiwanese flagship will simply be named HTC One when it goes official in less than two weeks.

The idea behind the simple naming convention is to reportedly highlight the smartphone's role as a hero device from HTC. Of course, the question for the names of other HTC handsets, scheduled for release this year remains to be answered.

We will likely find answers to all our questions at HTC's event on February 19 in New York City. We will be live from the spot, so be sure to check in for the full scoop on the upcoming flagship.

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Windows Phone Store currently facing download issues

It seems Windows Phone users are unable to download apps for the time being. The Windows Phone Store is having technical issues, which is preventing the download of new apps.

Users trying to download or update apps are being shown the above error message, with the error code: 805a0193. The issue seems to be widespread and we have confirmed it on our own device as well.

No word yet on what's causing the issue but hopefully it should be sorted soon.

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Samsung rolls out Jelly Bean update for Galaxy S II I9100G

Samsung has released the latest Jelly Bean update for the Galaxy S II I9100G, which is based off the TI-OMAP 4430 chipset rather than the Exynos that the standard Galaxy S II runs on.

The new update to Jelly Bean brings with it all of the recent TouchWiz enhancements, including Nature UX, Pop-up Play, expanded notifications, Project Butter enhancements, and others.

The official firmware build I9100GXXLSR is set to be available OTA in several regions now, although you may have to get it through in some Samsung Kies. Global availability should come in a few weeks, so keep an eye on your notification area.

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BlackBerry might move out of Japanese market

BlackBerry, formerly known as RIM will be bidding a farewell to the Japanese smartphone market. The company won't be bringing its latest BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 devices to the land of rising sun, according to Nikkei.

BlackBerry's market share in Japan has fallen to just 0.3% and this has resulted in the move out. Furthermore, BlackBerry is reportedly not willing to invest in offering Japanese language support with its latest BlackBerry 10 as the poor sales will prevent it from paying back.

There is no official confirmation from BlackBerry yet, but we'll be on the lookout for more info on the question.

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Android on 37% of all phones shipped in Q4, iOS on 11%

Analysts at Canalys are done crunching the numbers and released a report on the state of mobile phones in the final quarter last year. Phone shipments (438.1 million units in total) were flat year on year, but thats at the expense of feature phones. Smartphone shipments went up 37% and made up half of all handsets sold.

There were 216.5 million Android phones in the mix (69% of smartphones and 37% of all phones). Thats a decline compared to the last quarter of 2011, when Android commanded 74% of smartphone shipments.

iOS (chief competitor of Android) went up from 15% to 22% share of smartphones shipments for the quarter (11% of all phone shipments), riding on the success of iPhone 5. BlackBerry and Windows Phones are at the bottom with 4% and 2% shares respectively.

There was some reshuffling of smartphone players in Q4 2012. Samsung and Apple were on top, but Huawei snatched third place (first time for the company), ZTE took forth while Lenovo elbowed out Sony for fifth. Lenovos shipments for the quarter grew 216% year on year to 9.5 million units, almost all of which (98%) ended up in China.

For the whole year, Samsung ended up on top in terms of smartphone shipments with 74 million units more than Apple (which took second place). Nokia held on to third with 35 million units total.

China is the biggest phone market in the world, with people preferring smartphones with the number of units shipped more than doubling. Samsung took top spot with Lenovo, Yulong, Huawei and ZTE following. Apple is having a tough time in China, mostly due to the higher price of its smartphones and lack of support from China Mobile, according to Nicole Peng, China Research Director at Canalys.

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comScore shows Apple and Samsung even stronger in US

The latest comScore mobile market share report for the US shows the trends from the previous trimester continue into the three month period ending in December 2012.

Some 125.9 million Americans own smartphones in the US, with Apple and Samsung still duking it out over the lion's share of the market - both have gained 2.0 and 2.3 points to control 36.3% and 21.0%, respectively, of stateside smartphone handsets.

The mobile OS wars are, as usual, between the two usual contenders in the form of Android and iOS. And it's becoming even more of a two-horse race as the two combine for almost 90% of the total smartphone market, although Apple has seen more growth during the three month period (due to the release of the iPhone 5), going up 2% compared to Android's 0.9%.

Meanwhile, BlackBerry went down 2 percent points to close out the year at 6.4%, and Microsoft's Windows Phone OS slid 0.7 percent points to just below the 3% mark.

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Photos of midrange HTC 603e surface in China

The leaked HTC 603' images come from the Chinese telecommunication equipment certification authority so these are quite real. What's not clear however is whether the smartphone is a completely new, unannounced model, or just a version of the HTC One SV, meant for China.

Leaked images of HTC 603e smartphone

The HTC 603e has a 4.3" display with WVGA resolution and is powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core Krait processor with 1GB RAM. The camera on the back is 5 megapixel with 720p video recording. The phone packs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Some other reports match it to be the yet unannounced HTC M4, however the previously leaked M4 specs suggest a more upmarket device than the HTC 603e.

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Ubuntu smartphones to arrive in October says Canonical CEO

Smartphones specifically designed and built to run the Ubuntu mobile operating system are going to start shipping in October this year.

The information comes from Canonical CEO and founder Mark Shuttleworth. He added that Ubuntu for smartphones will also hit a couple of "large geographic markets". Although he didn't specify them, he told WSJ that "North America is absolutely a key market for Ubuntu.".

Additionally, according to Mr. Shuttleworth, Ubuntu has got the necessary attention from multiple carriers, which are going to back the newborn mobile OS at its launch. However, which ones exactly remains a mystery.

App developers and Ubuntu enthusiasts will have access to the Linux-driven OS as early as the end of this month when Canonical is going to release a special ROM for the Galaxy Nexus.

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Samsung to start mass production of the 5" 1080p display this month

We know that Samsung is working on a 5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display for Q1 of this year it was on a roadmap on its booth. Now DDaily is reporting some more concrete dates according to industry sources, the display will enter mass production at the Samsung Display plants near the end of this month.

The display units will reach Samsung Electronics in early March just in time for an April launch of the Samsung Galaxy S III successor. Or maybe they'll manage to produce enough units for a late March release.

The screen will have 440ppi pixel density and according to DDaily will be manufactured using Samsungs FMM (Fine Metal Mask) method, which points to a PenTile display. Even if that is the case though, we doubt it would matter much at that pixel density.

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Samsung Galaxy S IV rumored to launch on March 15

Samsung's next generation Galaxy S flagship smartphone will be launched on March 15, according to a "trusted" insider, who has confirmed the arrival to SamMobile. Earlier, an internal raffle doc leak at a New Zealand retailer had suggested that the device might be available from April, but we can now expect the smartphone to hit the stores from the beginning of April.

We already know Samsung's Unpacked event won't happen at the MWC, but the company is expected to send the invites after the conclusion of the industry's largest event.

Samsung's 2013 flagship smartphone is rumored to sport a Super AMOLED display of FullHD resolution and a whopping 8-core Exynos 5 Octa processor, 8-core Mali-T658 GPUand 2 GB of RAM. A 13-megapixel rear camera with the ability to shoot 1080p full HD videos at 30 fps will be mounted at the back, while 2-megapixel front camera will take care of video-calls. The next Samsung flagship will reportedly be powered by Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean.

It the rumors are to be trusted, the smartphone will be available in Europe first, with the whole Asian market is expected to follow by the end of April. Galaxy IV will make it to the shores of America, Australia and Africa by the end of Q2.

The report also confirms the model number of Galaxy S IV to be I9500 as well as its Black and White color options.

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Android in Jan 2013: Jelly Bean market share still under 15%

As the fastest growing version of the Android OS, Jelly Bean snatched 3.6% market share over the month of January. With an increase of 3.4% last December Jelly Bean's market share has been growing at a steady rate. Despite that the total market share of the two available Jelly Bean flavors is below the 15% mark and Android 2.3.x Gingerbread is still way ahead of all other versions.

Almost all of the older Android versions lost tiny fractions of their market share in January, but we'd guess the reason is the increase in the total number of Android devices (with the new ones running Gingerbread, ICS, and JB) as opposed to any of the older devices getting updated. At this pace, it would take quite a lot of time for Gingerbread to lose its leading position to some of the newer versions. Judging by the marginal decline, it also seems the sales of Gingerbread devices are still going strong.

Here's a recap of the market share changes that occurred in-between January 3 and February 4:

• Android 1.6 Donut: 0.2%>0.2% (change not reflected in the first decimal place)
• Android 2.1 Eclair: 2.4%>2.2% (10% decline)
• Android 2.2 Froyo: 9%>8.1% (10% decline)
• Android 2.3.x Gingerbread: 47.6%>45.6% (4% decline)
• Android 3.x Honeycomb: 1.5%>1.3% (13% decline)
• Android 4.0.x Ice Cream Sandwich: 29.1%>29% (0.2% decline)
• Android 4.x Jelly Bean: 10.2%>13.6% (33% increase)

If you are confused about Android versions, check out our detailed breakdown of their features.

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Samsung Galaxy S II Plus now available, starts at '315

The Samsung Galaxy S II is soon to be replaced by the recently announced Galaxy S II Plus model. The new mid-range smartphone is based on a different (and as we found out way more efficient) chipset and has a new finish, but offers similar performance and overall experience to its predecessor. The good news is that the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean smartphone is already available for purchase and the most impatient among you will be able go get it very soon.

The Samsung Galaxy S II Plus is expected to become available worldwide until the end of Q1 this year and Finland seems to be the first European country to get it as the smartphone's Dark Blue version is now on sale there, while the Chic White will be coming on March 1.

The Galaxy S II Plus costs 378, which seems a bit steep, but that's not usually the case with those early launches. The price will probably go down a bit once availability expands and Samsung catches up with the production.

Update: As it turns out the Galaxy S II Plus is also available in Russia at about 440 and through Orange Romania for just 1 with a contract or 315 for the SIM-free device.

We already got to spend some quality time with the Galaxy S II Plus and you can read all about it in our detailed review.

Thanks, Arawes, for the tip!

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BlackBerry OS 10 devs can get a special edition red Z10

BlackBerry knows how important a rich app store is and it has been hard at work courting developers to bring their apps to BlackBerry World. The latest treat it offers is a special, limited edition of the BlackBerry Z10 with a cool red paint job.

The BlackBerry Z10 units for regular users are either Black or White, but if you submit a BlackBerry 10 OS app by the end of this month you can get one of the 12,000 limited edition ones.

BlackBerry is mum on plans to sell red Z10s to users in the future for now the color is reserved for a special thank you to developers. It is pretty certain that at least a few hundreds of those will end up on eBay, though, so you will have your chance at snatching one. Pricing will be a whole different matter, of course.

Anyway, if you are a BB10 OS dev, check out this post at BlackBerry's DevBlog for more info on how you can snag one.

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Samsung announces Galaxy Young and Galaxy Fame

Samsung has announced two new Android smartphones aimed at the lower end of the smartphone market. Called the Galaxy Young and the Galaxy Fame, neither of these phones are going to set benchmark tests on fire but then again, they aren't meant to.

The Galaxy Young has a 3.27-inch, 480 x 320 resolution LCD, 1GHz processor, 768MB of RAM, 4GB internal memory with microSD card slot, 3 megapixel fixed focus camera, VGA video recording at 24fps, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, digital compass, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and a 1,300mAh battery.

The Galaxy Fame has similar specs but a slightly bigger 3.5-inch display of the same resolution, 5 megapixel rear camera with auto-focus, VGA front facing camera, 512MB of RAM (yes, it's less for some reason) and optional NFC.

Both devices will offer an option of a dual-SIM model depending upon the region.

No word yet on the pricing and availability of both the handsets.

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BLU announces three new Tegra 3 quad-core smartphones

BLU Products has entered into the quad-core smartphone game, with several new offerings of the Tegra 3 variety. The Quattro family will feature smartphones with 4.5" and 5.7" screens, quad-core 1.5 GHz Tegra 3 SoC's, and Android 4.0.

The entry level Quattro 4.5 features qHD resolution, 5 MP camera, fullHD video recording as well as 4GB of (expandable) internal storage and 1GB of RAM. It's expected to retail at $249.99.

The Quattro 5.7 HD is surprisingly not the most expensive of the bunch at $299.99, despite featuring a 5.7 inch 720p display, 8MP camera, and the same 4GB of flash memory expandable via microSD, and 1GB of RAM.

Finally, the Quattro 4.5 HD flagship also comes with a 720p display, only this time it is protected with Gorilla Glass. An 8MP camera with fullHD recording are also in store, and with 1GB of RAM it's expected to retail at $349.99.

The two 4.5 inchers are expected to hit markets this week in the US, while the Quattro 5.7 HD should become available at the end of March.

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HTC predicts flat or lower revenue and margins in Q1 this year

After being one of the hottest phone makers for a while, HTCs fortunes started declining last year and 2013 is not starting so well for it either. The revenue for the first quarter of this year is expected to be between $1.7 billion and $2 billion, compared to $2 billion for the previous quarter and $2.2 billion for Q1 of 2011. Analysts (polled by Thomson Reuters) expected $2.1 billion in revenue for Q1 this year.

Profits will fall even more as HTC expects its gross margin for Q1 2013 to be 21-23% (it was 23% in Q4 2012). Operating margin will similarly either stay at 1% (same as Q4 2012) or fall to 0.5%.

Now we can see why HTCs chairman was so excited to show off the yet unannounced M7. The official announcement should happen in NYC on February 19 (well be covering it live).

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GSMA announces nominations for its Global Mobile Awards

GSMA has announced more than 158 nominees in what seems to be a record breaking year in terms of entries. The winners of the awards will be announced at the upcoming Mobile World Congress on February 26 in Barcelona.

The award ceremony is scheduled for 14:30 local time and will take place in the Conference Village.

The nominations for the best smartphone of the year include Apple iPhone 5, Nokia Lumia 920, Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2 and HTC's Droid DNA.

The tablet category nominees are the Apple iPad Mini, iPad with retina display, Asus Transformer Infinity, Google Nexus 7 and Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1

The award ceremony will be hosted by the popular comedian, actor and writer, David Walliams.

You can check out the entire list of nominations under each category on the official GSMA website.

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ASUS Padfone Jelly Bean update seeding next week

If youre one of the original adopters of the ASUS Padfone phone-in-tablet, good news awaits as weve just heard that the Jelly Bean update for the device is coming next week.

Some highlights of the new update include improved Instant Dictionary capabilities, better camera picture previews, improved clipboard, and an updated File Manager.

Hopefully, this means the recently-released Padfone 2 will receive the update as well - sooner rather than later, given their stellar sales this quarter.

Thanks, Gustav, for sending this in!

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