Alleged Nokia Lumia 720 and Lumia 520 images hit the web

The days leading up to the MWC are usually filled with tons of rumors and one in particular has been heating up - that Nokia will unveil one or more affordable Lumias. Now, purported images of two models - the Lumia 520 and the Lumia 720 - have cropped up, pouring even more fuel into the fire.

Nokia Lumia 720

The image of the Nokia Lumia 720 shows a handset that looks similar to a Lumia 820. The glass on the front is curved (it's not curved on the 820), while the sides and the back are a colorful plastic shell.

Theres a Carl Zeiss label next to the camera on the back, but no resolution label. Its also interesting that there are three pogo pins at the back, those are usually used for charging while the phone is in a dock, so the Lumia 720 probably wont have wireless charging ( though it might be a similar deal to the Lumia 820 where a different shell can enable wireless charging).

Nokia Lumia 520

The Nokia Lumia 520 kind of looks like a Lumia 505, except the glass on the front is flat. The bezel around the screen seems thicker on this one, but the back is in bold colors, this seems to be becoming Nokias design signature.

Anyway, theres no way to confirm that these images are real - not until Monday when Nokia is holding a press conference. @evleaks has been a pretty reliable source of leaked press pics of unannounced phones in the past so we wouldnt be surprised to see these two on the stage. But will Nokia show the mystical Lumia 1000, the high-megapixel PureView Windows Phone or is it pure speculation?

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Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 review: Gone fishing

Introduction

Modern smartphones are essential tools for urbanites, but they are usually left behind on a trip to the great outdoors. Not the Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 though, it will gladly join in the adventure and isn't afraid of a few knocks or a dive.

Samsung S7710 Galaxy Xcover 2 official images

What sets the Galaxy Xcover 2 apart from most other phones is the IP67 certification. The first digit, the 6, means that the phone is completely dust tight and won't let anything inside, even if you take it through the dirtiest, dustiest places. The second digit, the 7, is for water resistance. The Xcover 2 can survive under up to 1m of water for as long as 30 minutes.

The Xcover 2 will make the dive worthwhile too - it can take 720p underwater footage @ 30fps with its 5MP camera. Here are the rest of the highlights of the phone, plus some low points.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G support
• 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
• 4" 16M-color LCD capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 800 pixel) resolution
• Android OS 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Nature UX
• 1 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU, Mali-400MP GPU, 1GB of RAM
• 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, face and smile detection, image stabilization
• VGA secondary camera
• 720p HD video recording at 30fps; Underwater shooting mode
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n support; DLNA and Wi-Fi hotspot
• GPS with A-GPS connectivity and GLONASS; digital compass
• 4GB of inbuilt storage, microSD slot
• Accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB v2.0 port with MHL
• Stereo Bluetooth v4.0
• FM radio with RDS

Main disadvantages

• Big and heavy, even for a water resistant phone
• Reflective screen with poor color rendition
• Battery could have been bigger

The specs are not top-of-the-line, especially considering that the sleek Sony Xperia V and Xperia Z are also waterproof, but you wouldn't want to risk an expensive flagship in the wild anyway.

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean at launch. It has TouchWiz 5.0 and Nature UX on top of that so you basically get the same great software package that the Samsung Galaxy S II has right now (and very close to that of the Galaxy S III).

A notable, but easily overlooked feature is the Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. This Bluetooth revision represents an ultra-low-energy wireless connection, designed to stay constantly on. If you haven't figered it put so far, it is really popular with the latest batch of training body sensors. The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 comes with an app to track your workouts with a Polar Bluetooth heart rate monitor, but other sensors - heart rate, cadence, etc. - typically come with free Android apps too.

Samsung Galaxy Xcover in our office

Other important considerations for a handset with such an outgoing personality (pun intended) would be the sunlight legibility of the screen, the battery life, the beefy storage for a large music collection, and GPS positioning, too. That's because the Galaxy Xcover 2 is more likely to be used for hiking, running, at the beach or even at a construction site, rather than at the cozy confines of an office (where something like the Galaxy S III mini would be the better choice).

The first two, screen and battery, we'll be looking at in the following hardware chapter and only then we'll see how good the Xcover 2 is in handling its more sophisticated smartphone alter ego.

Samsung Galaxy S IV said to pack SoLux screen and Qualcomm CPU

According to a fresh report, Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S IV flagship is about to do away with two of the previous generation's staples - the AMOLED display and the Exynos CPU. The upcoming Korean flagship will reportedly feature a 4.99" 1080p SoLux display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset whose CPU cores tick at 1.9GHz.

While the technology behind the SoLux display is yet to be revealed, the leaked boot screen of the Samsung Galaxy S IV points at an LCD-looking unit. As for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset - it has already proven to be the leggiest around in the HTC One. We do however, wonder where will the Exynos 5 Octa silicon end up going.

Further leaked specs include 2GB of RAM, 16, 32, and 64GB options for built-in memory, as well as a 13MP camera. The Samsung Galaxy S IV will reportedly sport measures of 140.1 x 71.8 x 7.7mm, and a weight of 138 grams. The battery will be user-replaceable.

The configuration with a centrally located home button and touch buttons on its sides is said to be present in the upcoming Galaxy S IV. The device will reportedly have a plastic back with aluminum sides. A black and white color options will be available at launch.

The Samsung Galaxy S IV is rumored for an announcement on March 14. Until then, use the mandatory pinch of salt when threading through the leaked specs.

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LG launches enhanced Optimus G in Europe

LG is launching its Optimus G smartphone in Europe, which has seen some improvements since its launch in other markets last year, mostly software related.

For one, the European Optimus G comes with Android 4.1.2 out-of-the-box. Then again, the 4.1.2 update has started rolling out to existing Optimus G devices, so this is not exactly a major new feature.

The European version also has some other software features, including QSlide, which lets you run multiple applications with one application being a transparent window over the other. You can adjust the transparency, size and position of this window. QSlide works with apps such as the built-in video player, browser, memo, calendar and calculator apps.

The other feature is Safety Care, which sends location information to selected contacts via SMS such as when emergency services is dialed, when the phone goes unused for a certain length of time and after the user has ended a call with a designated contact.

Lastly, there is Privacy Keeper, which lets you hide caller information for incoming calls. You can display it by swiping the icon on the screen.

Other new features include Google Now, flimstrip view in gallery and expandable notifications.

Other than that, the European model has the same basic specs, including a 4.7-inch, 1,280 x 720 resolution IPS display, quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of memory, 13 megapixel camera, LTE and a 2,100mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy S III Duos goes official in China

The Samsung Galaxy S III is one of the most popular smartphones in the market beyond any shadow of a doubt. As a testimony to its success, Samsung has officially launched the dual-SIM version of its flagship device.

Samsung Galaxy S III Duos comes out with similar specifications to those of its single SIM variant. The smartphone is available through China Telecom in the usual Marble White and Pebble Blue colors.

Unfortunately, there is no official info on the pricing of the smartphone, as well as its global release. Let's hope that the dual-SIM variant of the quad-core powerhouse will become available globally at some point in time.

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Alleged Galaxy S IV samples and AnTuTu scores show up

The Samsung Galaxy S III has been enjoying itself as top-selling Android flagship for a while now. At the same time rumors are steadily building up around its successor - the Galaxy S IV. If the rumor mill would have it its way, the SGS IV will be launched on March 15, it will sport a 5" 1080p Super AMOLED screen, a 13 MP camera, run on Samsung's quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU with four auxiliary Cortex-A7 cores, keep its physical home button design, and perhaps even have an S Pen on board.

Today we're getting another confirmation of the camera megapixels. Two samples have leaked on Google+ that have the model name GT-I9500 in their EXIF tags and people are happily concluding their source is indeed the Galaxy S IV.

Both samples are in 16:9 aspect ratio with a resolution of 4128 x 2322 (around 9.6 MP) meaning that in 4:3 aspect the sensor will most likely produce 13 MP stills.

Samsung Galaxy I9500 camera samples

The camera samples themselves aren't that good but we can probably attribute this to the less than ideal indoor lighting conditions and the pre-release camera software.

Samsung Galaxy I9500 Picasa information

The aperture is f/2.2 as opposed to f/2.6 on the S III, while the focal length is 4 mm. If the 35 mm equivalent focal length here is 28 mm we might be dealing with a 1/3" sensor size for the new Samsung flagship (the same size as on the HTC One).

We urge you to keep an open mind as this could very well turn out nothing more than pre-production hardware that has nothing to do with the Galaxy S IV.

EXIF information from samples

The final news of the day is an AnTuTu scores list, which shows the product name I9505 along with brief CPU and screen specs. While we've already seen GLBenchmark scores from a GPU on a yet unannounced Samsung SHV-E300S, this might be a different device altogether. While the score didn't top the performance list, it reveals a CPU core clock of 1890 MHz and a screen resolution of 1080x1920px.

AnTuTu benchmark score

Thanks, avdaga for sending this in!

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LG unveils LTE-enabled Optimus F5 and Optimus F7 droids

When LG announced its Q4 2012 results, the company announced that it will be focusing on LTE-enabled phones, which included the launch of the new F series. After a bit of teasing, the F series is now official with the LG Optimus F5 and Optimus F7.

With adoption of LTE expected to explode in 2013, we are sending a clear message to con-sumers with the Optimus F Series that LTE isnt just for heavy content users and techies anymore. Its for everyone, said LG CEO Jong-seok Park.

LG Optimus F7 and Optimus F5 in black and white

The LG Optimus F7 is the higher end model of the two with a 4.7 True HD IPS 720p screen (312ppi) and a 1.5GHz dual-core processor with 2 gigs of RAM. The phone has an 8MP camera and 8GB of built-in storage (plus a microSD card slot). The F7 measures 131.7 x 68.2 x 9.6mm.

Then theres the LG Optimus F5 with a 4.3 IPS LCD screen of qHD resolution (256ppi), a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 1GB RAM and a 5MP camera. It has 8GB of built-in storage and microSD card slot too. The F5 is more compact at 126.0 x 64.5 x 9.3mm.

A closer look at the LG Optimus F5

Both phones will launch with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and will get some of the advanced features that were reserved for the flagship Optimus G until now. QSlide multitasking with ability to run two apps on the screen (and you can resize, move and change the opacity of those apps) and Live Zooming, which lets the user pinch zoom while watching a video.

LG wants both phones to have good battery life, so the Optimus F7 comes with a 2,540mAh battery, while the smaller F5 isnt far behind with 2,150mAh (best-in-class, according to LG, but not as big as the 2,460mAh battery in the L7 II, which doesnt have LTE).

The LG Optimus F5 will launch in Europe in Q2, followed by the Optimus F7 in select markets. Both phones will see a global launch though exact details for that will be released later.

And, of course, both phones will be at the MWC which starts next week well be there for some hands-on impressions of these two and the others gadgets that LG has in store.

HTC One gets priced for Germany, can be had for '661

Looking to avoid poor market availability issues of the past, HTC is wasting no time in getting its new One flagship into as many peoples' hands as quickly as possible.

Following several UK vendors' prices popping up online, the HTC One will be available from O2 in Germany for either 661 up front, or for 25.99 per month with a contract. The offer also includes a set of Beats headphones valued at 99 if you order before April 30. O2 also has a ticker on its site which counts down the days until shipment, which ends on March 6.

Notebooksbilliger.de also has the device available for 669.90 up front, but has a wide range of contracts starting at 49.90/month (alongside 182 for the device) for 2 years from Vodafone.

If you'd like to check whether the One will be available in your country and from where to get it, check out our extensive list here. You can also have a look at the cash-back program which offers $100 when you trade in your old phone.

Finally, if you're not sure the One is for you, check out our hands-on from Tuesday's launch event.

Sony Xperia Z sold out in France, 140,000 units shipped in Japan

More than 140,000 Xperia Z units were sold during the launch week of the smartphone in Japan. The Xperia Z hit the shelves in the country of the rising sun exclusively via NTT DoCoMo on February 9.

The Sony Xperia Z is one of the six newly released high-end smartphones by NTT DoCoMo, along with Panasonic Eluga X, Sharp Aquos EX, LG Optimus G Pro, Huawei Ascend D2, Fujitsu Arrows X and NEC Medias W.

140,000 surely isn't a striking number, but this is just one carrier in one country in just one week. Now it sounds better, right?

The Sony Xperia Z has also enjoyed great success in France, where it launched on February 18. All available units there were bought out during the first day of the availability and the smartphone is currently unavailable. According to Sony France the new stock will arrive on February 28.

Sony Xperia Z is about to hit a lot more countries before the end of February. In fact the Xperia Z has just went on sale in Germany and Russia today - it costs 600 in Germany and the equivalent of 760 in Russia.

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Acer Liquid Z2 is an entry-level JB droid with dual-SIM version

Acer made a quick pre-MWC announcement of a new entry level Android phone, the Acer Liquid Z2. Also, the company is expanding the availability of the more powerful Liquid E1 that it announced a month ago.

The Acer Liquid Z2 is powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor with 512MB RAM and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The display is a 3.5" HVGA unit and there's a special Quick Mode, which simplifies the interface with big icons, which would help featurephone converts find their way around the smartphone OS faster.

Acer Liquid Z2

The Acer Liquid Z2 will retail for around 100-130 ($134-$175). For that price you get 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, A-GPS and FM Radio. Theres SRS Sound enhancement on board and a 3MP or 5MP camera (guess well have to wait and see).

The phone will come in two versions single and dual-SIM. It measures 110 x 62.5 x 12.25 mm, weighs 110g and has a 1,300mAh battery.

The Acer Liquid Z2 and the Liquid E1 will first be available France, Belgium, Netherlands and Ukraine, with Russia, UK and Italy to follow. The E1 will cost 199-229 ($270-$310).

By the way, Asda in the UK already has the Z2 on pre-order for 90 (100) and expects to ship out orders on February 28.

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New Huawei Ascend P2 images leak, 13MP camera confirmed

The Ascend P2 from Huawei has leaked once again. This time around, GizChina has captured the rear of the device where you'll see a '13.0 FHD' label under the camera sensor, alongside a dual-LED flash, which confirms that Huawei's upcoming flagship will indeed be joining the 13MP club.

Besides revealing a new white color scheme, the images show a 3.5mm audio jack up top, as well as a power button and volume rocker on the right, and the usual capacitive Android keys below the display.

As before, the P2 is said to sport a 4.7-inch 1080p display, which has become the norm for flagships in this day and age, alongside a quad-core 1.8GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, a beefy 3000 mAh battery, and Jelly Bean OS. They've also specified both 8 or 16GB variants, but no word yet on whether that's expandable via microSD.

Huawei is expected to announce the Ascend P2 at MWC in Barcelona on Sunday, so be sure to check back with us then for all your Huawei news, live photos and first-hand impressions.

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Pictures LG Optimus F5 and F7 droids leak prior to MWC unveil

We stumbled upon two leaked images of two upcoming smartphones that belong to LG's new F-series. The Optimus F7 and Optimus F5 are a mystery as far as specs go but the F7 design looks like a mix between the Optimus 4X HD and the Optimus G.

LG gave us a little little teaser treatment yesterday flaunting the upcoming L, F, V and G series ahead of their imminent Mobile World Congress 2013 unveil.

LG optimus F7 LG Optimus F5

What we know so far is that LG's upcoming F-series will be all about freedom - whatever that means. We guess there isn't all that much time to wait - just remember to check back with us on Monday for the latest scoop of LG's newest devices.

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HTC One goes official with 4.7" 1080p screen, quad-core CPU

Just as we expected, the HTC events turned out to be about the company's new flagship - the HTC One.

HTC One features a 4.7-inch Super LCD 3 display of 1080p resolution (that's 469ppi). It should be able to match the image quality of the Butterfly's unit.

The One is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset (the same ticking inside the LG Optimus G Pro) utilizing a quad-core 1.7GHz Krait 300 processor, Adreno 320 graphics and 2GB of RAM.

The camera of the HTC One sports a 4MP sensor and 1080p@30fps video recording (with HDR). The sensor has what HTC calls Ultrapixels, which are much larger than the regular smartphone pixels and promise vastly improved per-pixel quality and low-light performance. The smartphone also offers gyroscope-based Optical image stabilization which should come in handy for video recording.

The HTC One will have 32GB or 64 GB of non-expandable storage and rich connectivity settings including LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4 and GPS with GLONASS.

HTC One will launch running on Android 4.1.2 but the 4.2.2 update is already in the works.

The new flagship is made out of aluminum and is about 9.3 mm thick. It has stereo speakers at the front with impressive 93db loudness and a 2300 mAh non-removable battery. Also, its Power/Lock key on top is transparent and doubles as an IR port to control home equipment.

HTC One will be available in black and silver colors and will launch in March this year. HTC has already made deals with 185 carriers worldwide including USA's AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint; all major UK carriers and many more. There is still no info on its retail price, though.

You should check out this article for live photos of the HTC One, garnished with our first hand impressions of the device.

HTC One hands-on video comes ahead of official announcement

The HTC event countdown is yet to reach zero but eager people with access to the new device the HTC One are already posting video reviews on YouTube. The extensive walkthrough gives a lot of specs and features, some of which we didnt expect.

According to the video, the HTC One has a 4.7 Super LCD 3 display with 1080p resolution and 469ppi pixel density. The bezels are very thin, making for a narrow device, and actually notably smaller than the DROID DNA / Butterfly.

Around the display sit the stereo speakers, which are pretty loud ones apparently at 93dB.

The One will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset with four Krait 300 cores clocked at 1.7GHz, 2GB of RAM and Adreno 320. The phone will launch with Android 4.1.2, but a 4.2.2 update is reportedly already in the works.

Update: YouTube took down the video. No matter, the official announcement will start in a couple of hours and we'll get to see the HTC One live.

HTC has put the latest Sense customizations on top and its very different than the previous iterations. The homescreen shows something that looks like a mix between Sonys Timescape and Windows Phones live tiles with social networking updates and news feed populating a vertically scrollable screen.

The button arrangement is odd too there are capacitive buttons but only two of them, Home and Back. A long press on Home launches Google Now, while a long press on Back is supposed to launch the task switcher, just like in Windows Phone (but its not shown in the video).

The HTC One is made out of aluminum and measures 9.3mm thick. Around the sides we get the usual - microSIM slot, microUSB, volume rocker. Surprisingly, the Power/Lock key on top is transparent and doubles as an IR port to control home equipment.

Inside the phone is a 2,300mAh non-removable battery (thats more capacity than the Butterfly has).

Of course, the biggest innovation on the HTC One is the camera a stacked sensor with ultrapixels thats similar to the Foveon X3. The sensor has only about 4 million ultrapixels, but they are not directly equivalent to pixels on a regular camera sensor, so were excited to see what the difference in image quality will be. The sensor sits behind an bright F/2.0 lens.

Thats all we got from the video, but well be attending the HTC event live to confirm (or refute) these specs and tease out more.

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LG teases L, F, V and G series smartphones ahead of MWC

LG might showcase several new series of smartphones at the upcoming Mobile World Congress, which will be held in Barcelona starting next week. The latest teaser from the company hints at what it has got to offer at the world's largest exhibition show.

The video focuses on the letters L, F, V and G suggesting that the new smartphones from LG might belong to the series of the same name. According to teaser, L stands for "style", F for "freedom", V is for "view" and G stands for "greatness".

The G series, which accounts for LG flagship smartphones will probably be represented by the recently unveiled LG Optimus G Pro. The L-series might see three new additions with the L3, L5 and L7 second versions.

We are yet to see what the rumored F-series and V-series have to offer. The paint brush shown in the video might be a reference to a stylus enabled smartphone, but it might be just our imagination.

Check out the video teaser below.

LG will be holding its press conference on February 25. Stay tuned, as we will be covering it live for you.

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HTC gadgets import blocked in Germany over 3G patent breach

In a 3G patent damages trial held in the popular court of Mannheim, HTC has reported that its shipments for Germany have been held by the customs officers after IPCom, a license manager for patents had applied for import ban of the company's 3G smartphones.

The patent monetization company had failed to get the HTC devices held by customs during the CeBIT trade show, last year, according to a report from Foss Patents. IPCom has been suing HTC and Nokia for the last five years but has failed to get an injunction so far.

There is no official confirmations if the goods seized have been released, but HTC has confirmed that there is no shortage of any of its smartphones in Germany for now.

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Apple A7 chipset for iPhone 5S photographed in the wild?

The iPhone 5 should be getting an update soon the iPhone 5S probably but what could that update be? The closer we get to launch, the more likely it is one of the parts suppliers will let something slip, like the motherboard of the new phone.

The photo was sent to iOSDoc from a very reliable source and it clearly shows an Apple A7 chipset thats the successor to the A6 in the iPhone 5 and latest iPad.

According to the source, the number of CPU cores and amount of RAM have both been doubled, meaning the A7 chipset packs a quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz and 2GB of RAM. The RAM clockspeed will reportedly take a hit, though going from LPDDR2-1066 to LPDDR-800.

The GPU will reportedly be PowerVR SGX554MP4 (quad-core) like in the iPad 4, up from SGX543MP3 (tri-core) in the iPhone 5.

The iPhone 5S will keep the 4 640 x 1136 display thats not very surprising, given that changing the screen size will mean either sacrificing sharpness (if Apple keeps the resolution) or app compatibility (if the resolution is adjusted accordingly).

The tipster also mentioned that Siri will get cool new abilities in iOS 7, but had nothing to share on battery capacity (more CPU and GPU cores will need to be fed) or any camera upgrades.

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Jelly Bean update for Samsung Galaxy Note now available

The Android Jelly Bean update for the Samsung N7000 Galaxy Note is finally available for download. Its rollout is gradual as usual, but users from lots of countries around the globe are already getting their notifications.

The update brings the Galaxy Note OS up to 4.1.2 version. It includes the Project Butter smoothness, Google Now, new customizable notification area, Multi-View, new gallery, Pop-up Play, Smart Rotation, Page Buddy, continuous keyboard input, Samsung Cloud services, etc.

The update brings many of the features that the Samsung Galaxy S III and Note II have been enjoying to the former phablet flagship.

As we mentioned above, the update process will take time but we guess if your country hasn't already received it, you will be getting it very soon.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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