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Nokia Lumia 710, 800 to get internet sharing in WP 7.5 Tango

2012-04-24T00:08:00.001-07:00

The Lumia series, the hallmark Windows Phone devices by Nokia, so far were left out in the cold as regards the Wireless Hotspot functionality. Every other WP smartphone has been enjoying that since the update to Mango, but not the Lumias.

Previously, we've caught wind of rumors that the about-to-be released Nokia Lumia 610 finally has that feature.

Now user reports suggest that the Lumia 710 and 800 will also have that featured enabled once the new Tango (WP7.5 refresh) update becomes public. So far, only pre-release firmwares have been out and about via the NaviFirm application. Navifirm acquires the firmware files directly from Nokia support servers so those are the real deal.

The words "Gedeeld Internet" in the screenshots above mean Internet sharing in Dutch.

Another thing is that a changelog for one of the firmwares on NaviFirm lists "Tethering or internet sharing ability" as coming with Windows Phone Tango.

Do you have wireless hotspot on your phones and do you use it often?

Vodafone UK claims first dibs on the next Samsung Galaxy

2012-04-24T00:07:00.000-07:00

Today Samsung released the first teaser for the UNPACKED event where we will see the next Galaxy smartphone flagship. The Galaxy S III will only be officially announced on May 3 in London, but Vodafone UK already wants you to know they will be selling it.

The operator has put a banner on its official website, which you can click to register your interest in the next Galaxy smartphone and subscribe for updates about it. So whatever the next big Samsung thing is and whenever it gets released – Vodafone UK will have it.

The fact that one of the large UK carriers will be offering the next Samsung flagship is hardly news, but the eagerness to announce that to the public really speaks volumes about the device itself.

LG Optimus 3D Max launches in Europe, not coming to the UK

2012-04-24T00:06:00.000-07:00

LG has some good news for 3D buffs - the LG Optimus 3D Max, their second generation Android phone with glasses-free 3D screen is launching across Europe. There's some bad news too - the Optimus 3D Max won't be coming to the UK for now.

Anyway, the 3D Max brings updates over the original Optimus 3D in several key areas - the dual-core CPU is now clocked at 1.2GHz (it still uses a TI OMAP 4430 chipset though), it has 1GB of RAM (up from 512MB), it's 2mm thinner, 20g lighter and comes with NFC connectivity.

Also, the HDMI port has given way to a MHL-enabled USB port, which can do up to 1080p video output (in both 2D and 3D modes). LG will release a tool that upscales Android apps to 1080p resolution as a maintenance release later on.

The dual-5MP camera hasn’t changed though and the screen is still a 4.3" WVGA LCD.

Another thing that will come as a maintenance release further down the line is the Range finder app that lets you measure distances to and the dimensions of objects by leveraging on the smartphone's two cameras and some clever math.

There's another feature that LG showed off at the MWC - the DSLR shot that uses similar distance measurements to add a DSLR-style shallow depth of field to regular photos from the camera. The press release makes no mention of that feature, so there's a chance it didn’t make the cut.

What is included with the Optimus 3D Max is a 3D converter tool that takes 2D apps (as in non-stereoscopic) and converts them to stereoscopic 3D. That's good, because there aren’t that many stereoscopic apps out there.

Amazon.de has the LG Optimus 3D Max available for €515 (including VAT), while some of the retailers over at Guenstiger.de offer it for €440. Amazon.at (Austria) also have the smartphone available for €515. That's all the online stores we found to sell the 3D Max, but availability should expand quite quickly.

T-Mobile could get its own Galaxy Note as T879 leaks

2012-04-24T00:04:00.001-07:00

Samsung has been intensely promoting its Galaxy Note phoneblet ever since its announcement, and it looks like it might finally make its way to T-Mobile.

While the T879 model number may be a far cry from the SGH-i717 of the original Galaxy Note, there's a few key bits of information that point to it being a T-Mobile branded Note:

…the leaked ICS build for the AT&T Galaxy Note has the build number IML74K.144, indicating the build date and it is the 144th custom build. The SGH-T879 has the same build number because it was built from the same sources at the same time, meaning that it is indeed a brother to the AT&T Galaxy Note. The build servers and time stamp match up with Samsung’s official build information. We know that this build is intended to be an official build because the build number is suffixed with the baseband version instead of a decimal number indicating a custom build that voids the warranty.

Obviously, all of this is still highly speculative. Be sure to check back with us for more as this story develops.

ICS-running Motorola RAZR HD shows up in China

2012-04-24T00:02:00.001-07:00

The Motorola RAZR HD name leaked a week ago though some EXIF data and now alleged photos of the actual device have hit the Internet. The phone in the photos is headed to China Mobile and carries the model number MT887.

The Motorola RAZR HD MT887 is an Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone and lacks any hardware keys, opting for on-screen ones instead. The smaller bezel means a smaller phone compared to another China-bound RAZR with an HD screen - the MT917.

Motorola MT887 next to an MT917 (4.5" screen)

This could be due to a smaller screen size - 4.3" seems like a good guess, but 4.6" is mentioned in a couple of places. The camera on the back is reportedly an 8MP unit, which is inline with the EXIF info we saw.

Here are some further specs on the Motorola RAZR HD according to the rumor - TI OMAP 4430 chipset with dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 4GB storage, GSM and TD-SCDMA network connectivity. The phone is thicker than the 8.5mm thin XT917, which generates speculations that it packs a 3300mAh battery, a la RAZR MAXX.

Some leaked renders of the Motorola MT887 from earlier this week

There's another model number thrown around - MT889, which may be headed to China Telecom. There's no info on a world-wide version of the Motorola RAZR HD, but a Google-owned Motorola can't take too long to deliver an ICS phone, can it?

Samsung Galaxy S III GPU benchmark pops up, tops charts

2012-04-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

The yet unannounced successor to the Galaxy S II popped up briefly in GLBenchmark's results page to confirm that the S III (or whatever it's called) is the next top dog in droidland - GPU-wise. The results have since been hidden from prying eyes, which does give them an air of legitimacy.

The device, sporting a GT-I9300 monicker, does better than almost all the major players on today's market. In the off-screen 720p test, where raw GPU power is emphasized, it achieved 92.2 frames per second, beating the Tegra 3 and Adreno 225 GPUs by a lot and even gave the dual-core PowerVR SGX543MP2 inside the iPhone 4S a spanking. It did come short of the new iPad's quad-core PowerVR SGX543MP4 GPU, though.

GLBenchmark 2.1 Egypt off-screen 720p

Higher is better

Samsung GT-I930092.2
HTC One S56.2
HTC One X64.9
Apple iPhone 4S72.7
Apple iPad 3139.2
Samsung Galaxy S II65.4

While these are preliminary results, which will probably be different from the ones of the final product, they do point to a powerful GPU inside the next Galaxy flagship. Previous rumors pointed to the same Mali-400MP GPU architecture as in the Galaxy S II, but maybe Samsung is adding another core to it.

There isn't long remaining before we find out - the Samsung flagship will hit the stage on May 3 in London.

Sony Xperia P and Xperia U delayed until May 28

2012-04-23T23:58:00.000-07:00

Sony Xperia P and Xperia U are scheduled to be released this May. The previous launch date rumors were pointing to May 7, but according to new info from Clove UK, Sony will be delaying both devices.

Either those rumors were full of it or Sony faced some production or shipping issues as the date has now been pushed back to May 28. Granted, three weeks isn't too bad, but delays are never good news.

The aluminum Xperia P (black, silver) is available on pre-order on Clove for £330. The youthful Xperia U (white, black) is going to be sold for £204 there, but you should consider the lack of a microSD slot and the limited internal storage it has to offer.

Next Galaxy teaser is out, urges you to stand out from the sheep

2012-04-23T23:56:00.003-07:00

As expected, Samsung just launched their Next Galaxy teaser video. At the event on May 3 in London, Samsung is expected to unveil its highly anticipated Galaxy S II successor and, reportedly, a quad-core tablet. Enough with the chit-chat, here's the video itself.

We are yet to see if Samsung will succeed in converting more users to the Galaxy cause, but it's certain that the event will be the focus of everyone's attention. We are also interested to see if a certain Samsung competitor, which is currently in fierce legal battle with the Koreans, will provide some kind of response to the last part of the teaser video.

Samsung SCH-I200 Jasper found in benchmark scores

2012-04-23T23:56:00.000-07:00

While we wait for the Galaxy S III to be unveiled, another unannounced Samsung Android smartphone has been discovered by the folks at pocketnow.com.

The phone's name was first discovered when Bluetooth SIG recently listed the device. Later on, the name was tracked down to a GLBenchmark entry, where further details about the handset were uncovered.

The test device was running on Verizon's network under the codename "Jasper," with the proper model name being SCH-I200. The phone was running Android 4.0.3 on Qualcomm's Snapdragon MSM8960 S4 processor clocked at 1.5GHz. This is currently the fastest processor available on the market (other than Apple's A5X), which would suggest that the phone would be a high-end device. Although curiously, it only has a 800 x 480 resolution display, which could only call high-end if it was still the year 2010.

It remains to be seen how Samsung positions this handset. With that much power and that display resolution, the phone is going to ace practically every benchmark out there.

Certain GSM Galaxy Nexus owners get minor software update

2012-04-23T23:53:00.002-07:00

Owners of certain GSM Galaxy Nexus are reporting a new software update being pushed to their phone. This update maintains the version number at 4.0.4 but updates the build number from IMM76D to IMM76I.

Although there is no official change log available that describes the changes that this new build brings, some users are reporting that it solves the occasional signal loss issues that was discovered on the phone after it updated to 4.0.4.

Interestingly, though, Google's developer site that offers factory images for the Nexus phones still shows the IMM76D as the latest version available.

AT&T HTC One X RadioShack preorders priced at $149

2012-04-23T23:52:00.000-07:00

Eager to grab a dual-core Krait-touting HTC One X for use on the AT&T network, are you? Then you'll be glad to find out that you'll be able to book your unit tomorrow at a discounted price, thanks to RadioShack.

The latest and greatest LTE HTC smartphone will be available for pre-order with AT&T for $200. RadioShack will be accepting pre-orders tomorrow too but with a pricetag of $149 on a two-year contract, which is $50 less than what you'd normally pay for it. RadioShack is also ready to throw in free downloads of seven Coldplay songs, including an exclusive live recording of "Charlie Brown" to sweeten up the deal.

Shipments are scheduled to arrive on May 6, but if you want to be among the first to enjoy the LTE-loving HTC flagship, you might as well book your place in line.

WiMAX sporting HTC J gets announced in Japan

2012-04-23T23:50:00.003-07:00

The WiMAX equipped HTC J has become official for the Japanese carrier KDDI. Carrying the rather dramatic ISW13HT model number, the Android smartphone shares quite a few specs with the globally available, HTC One S, which we came to like a lot.

The HTC J features a Snapdragon S4 chipset with two 1.5GHz CPU cores. The screen is a 4.3" AMOLED unit with qHD resolution. There is 16GB of built-in memory and a microSD card slot for further expansion. There is an 8MP camera on the back, and a 1.3MP front-facing unit. Along with the typical for a high-end Android device connectivity suite, the HTC J packs an infrared port too. The OS on tap is Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Quite naturally, the HTC J has grown considerably in measures, compared to its One S relative. They are 132 x 66 x 11.2mm, while the weight of the Japan only device has grown to 142 grams. The HTC J is powered by a 1810mAh battery.

The smartphone will be available for KDDI at some point in the summer. Its retail package will include a pair of UrBeats headphones.

Samsung Galaxy S III shows up for pre-order on Amazon

2012-04-23T23:49:00.000-07:00

We are always cautious when talking about product leaks from pre-order pages, but since the retailer in question is Amazon, this one is as serious as it gets. Amazon Germany has listed the Samsung Galaxy S III for pre-order, thus possibly revealing some of the upcoming flagship's specs, to go with its €599 price tag.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is listed as sporting a 4.7" Super AMOLED screen and a 12MP camera. The phone's memory is listed as 16GB, which is further expandable up to 32GB, while the OS is, of course Android 4.0 ICS.

In case you can't wait to get your hands on the Samsung Galaxy S III, hit the source link to pre-order it. Its price by the way, does include VAT.

SIM-free Sony Xperia P to hit the UK on May 7th

2012-04-22T21:58:00.002-07:00

SIM-free Sony Xperia P to hit the UK on May 7th

Clove now has the midrange Xperia P up for pre-order for £330, while Expansys will have it for slightly more at £339.

The aluminum body houses a dual-core 1 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage space and a 4- inch, 540 x 960 pixel resolution screen. It also features NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an 8MP shooter capable of 1080p video recording.

If you live in the UK and know of other retailers getting ready to ship this phone, let our readers know in the comments below.

Panasonic Eluga is now available throughout Europe

2012-04-22T21:54:00.001-07:00

Panasonic Eluga is now available throughout Europe

It’s been quite a while since we last saw Panasonic phones on the European market. Recently though, Panasonic announced the Eluga and Eluga Power droids, which come with IP57 certification for dust and water resistance.

The good news is the Eluga is already available in silver and black colors. It costs £365/€440 and you can have it right now. The device was released in Germany a few days ago.

The Eluga is based on the TI OMAP 4430 chipset featuring a dual-core 1GHz processor and PowerVR SGX540 GPU. It uses a 4.3-inch OLED qHD display, an 8 megapixel camera and non-expandable 8GB storage. Panasonic Eluga runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread but the 4.0 ICS upgrade is already in the works.

In case you are more interested in getting the Eluga Power (1.5GHz dual-core Krait, Adreno 225, 5" HD LCD screen, Android 4.0 ICS), you should know it is supposed to be released until the end of this month. We've already seen a pre-order price for it, too – £480/€585.

Nokia Lumia 610 hits Asia in late April, the Philippines gets it first

2012-04-22T21:48:00.001-07:00

Nokia Lumia 610 hits Asia in late April, the Philippines gets it first

Nokia just announced the Lumia 610 roll out schedule for Asia. The first country to get the company's most affordable WP smartphone will be the Philippines - sales there start during the last week of April.

After that, in May, the Lumia 610 is heading to China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. The rest of the markets will get the Lumia 610 by the end of this quarter (June 30).

Nokia’s suggested retail price for the Lumia 610 before taxes and subsidies is €189, which seems quite attractive all well suited to the targeted young users.

Are you interested in getting one?

Sony LT29i Hayabusa camera shots leaked

2012-04-15T01:17:00.000-07:00

We're already aware that Sony aren't holding back in the wake of their rebirth as Sony Mobile Communications and with four devices already toting either an 'available' or 'coming soon' status, we know that they're keeping themselves busy.

Based on some leaked camera samples and a few other clues, we're already starting to build up a picture of their next device, currently known as the LT29i Hayabusa. The camera samples which just surfaced aren't showing off anything in particular but the information which lies within their EXIF data tells part of the story.

The shots, which appeared on Picasa just days ago show a drab looking plant pot and part of a computer keyboard, but within the aforementioned data, the device taking these inane images is operating under build number 7.0.A.0.599_53_b100. When you place this alongside Sony's current flagship, the Xperia S (ion permitting), which runs build number 6.0.A.3.37, the former appears to be using the next iteration of Sony's mobile UI (known as eDream 7).

The spec sheet rumored to accompany the LT29i Hayabusa is said to include a 4"+ display with a 720 x 1196 resolution suggesting a lack of any hardware or capacitive buttons as we've seen from the latest Sony devices (with the extra 84 pixels reserved for onscreen buttons much like the Galaxy Nexus), as well as a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 chipset to put in the leg work.

This reinforces Sony's intentions to stick to releasing dual-core devices, at least throughout the remainder of 2012 and with the S4, bringing a device to the table comparable to the freshest competition, namely the HTC One S.

The Hayabusa is expected to launch in July and there's even talk of LTE connectivity when it does, but we'll keep our eyes out for any more solid information before we jump to any conclusions

HTC announces three new Desire phones for the Chinese market

2012-04-15T01:15:00.000-07:00

HTC has announced a trifecta of Android phones for the Chinese market - the VT T328t, VC T328d, and V T328w. Each of these phones will be sold under the Desire brand name and will be on different carriers. All these phones phones have similar hardware and will also come with Android 4.0 and Beats Audio.

HTC VT T328t

The list of specifications include 4-inch, 800 x 480 S-LCD, 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal memory and microSD card slot.

HTC VC T328d

The VT T328t will be available on China Mobile, the VC T328d on China Telecom and the V T328w on China Unicom. The last two phones will also include support for dual SIM cards.

HTC V T328w

All three phones are said to be out by the end of this month and are likely to remain exclusive to the Chinese market. The V T328w will be priced at 1999 yuan ($317) but the prices for the other two are unknown as of now.

Panasonic Eluga on sale in Germany, coming to the UK soon

2012-04-15T01:12:00.000-07:00

The Panasonic Eluga - a tough, IP57-certified droid with a slender waistline - has landed in Europe. The Eluga packs a 4.3" qHD AMOLED screen with very little bezel around it - the front of the phone measures 123 x 62 mm, 68% of which is covered in screen. The phone is just 7.8mm thick and weighs only 103g, but is dust proof and can sit under 1.5m of water for 30 minutes.

The Eluga is NFC-enabled and is launching with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but Panasonic plans to upgrade it to Ice Cream Sandwich in the summer. The phone is powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of built-in storage. The battery is rather small - 1150mAh - but Panasonic says it's good for up to 12 days of standby and up to 4 hours of talk time.

In Germany, the Panasonic Eluga can be had for €400 from eitherAmazon.de or GetGoods.de, while Guenstiger.de has it slightly cheaper at €370.

The Eluga will take a few days to cross the English channel - it should arrive on April 24 with Expansys charging £365 (€440) for it. There don't seem to be other UK retailers that carry it at the moment, though Clove UK have its bigger brother, the Krait-packing, ICS-running Eluga Power, on pre-order and expect it to arrive in "late April".

Drop a line in the comments if you find the Panasonic Eluga from other retailers, other readers might find it helpful.

HTC One V goes on pre-order in the UK

2012-04-14T01:16:00.002-07:00

We originally encountered a trifecta of devices which turned out to be the new One series at MWC this year. But for those of you who think the X's quad-core is shere overkill and the S's dual-core still demands too high a price tag, the affordable V might well be the One for you.

As such, those living in the UK will be pleased to know that key mobile retailers such as Carphone Warehouse, are now offering theHTC One V under pre-order. A free handset can be had on a £20.50 a month contract and will be available on UK carriers such as O2, Vodafone and Orange, joining the likes of its two larger siblings.

For the time being, Carphone Warehouse specifically don't yet quote a handset-only price, but expect it to set you back around £250 based on pricing we've seen elsewhere on the internets.

Delivery of your One V won't take place until April 23rd at the earliest, but that gives you plenty of time to consider if this is a device which can cater your needs.

The One V, being the most modestly priced of the three 'One' devices, brings a spec sheet to match. That doesn't mean it's a slouch and in fact it does an excellent job as a mid-range Android device in 2012, based on our initial inspection.

With its single-core 1GHz processor, the One V comes running a diluted iteration of HTC's Sense UI overlay, seen on the One X and S in full-effect, this in turn is running atop Android Ice Cream Sandwich which counts for something. There's a 3.7" WVGA display on the front and a 5MP shooter on the back capable of 720p video recording.

We're still putting the One V through its paces so you'll have to wait a little longer to see what we really think about it. To pass the time however, why not take a look at our in-depth reviews on its bigger brothers, the HTC One S and the mammoth HTC One X.

Nokia Lumia 900 connectivity fix gets outed ahead of schedule

2012-04-14T01:14:00.000-07:00

In a truly remarkable display of customer care, the folks at Nokia have managed to out the software fix toLumia 900's connectivity issues already. That's only two days after the Finnish company acknowledgedthe problem's existence, and an impressive three days earlier than promised.

The software update can be applied via Microsoft's Zune software. In case you don't feel like dealing with USB cables and such, you can also exchange your Nokia Lumia 900 at any AT&T store free of charge as well.

And by the way, Nokia and AT&T are still going to give you a $100 bill credit if you purchase a new device between now and April 21st as a goodwill gesture, thus making it free on a contract.

HTC Golf leaks out in a press image

2012-04-14T01:12:00.000-07:00

An entry level device from HTC is coming our way, carrying the code name "Golf". The smartphone is bound to combine Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and HTC's latest Sense 4.0 UI with a low price tag when launched.

The HTC Golf will positioned below the HTC One X, One S, andOne V trio when launched. The smartphone is rumored to feature a single-core CPU with a clock speed below 1GHz. It will have 512MB of RAM and 4GB of built-in memory, along with a microSD card slot and 25GB of free Dropbox cloud storage for a period of two years. The screen will be a 3.5" unit with a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels. Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n will be part of the spec sheet as well. The same goes for the Beats Audio software enhancement. Camera is rumored to be a 5MP unit, whose alleged sample we've encountered before.

The HTC Golf is expected to launch before the end of this quarter. Its retail name will be HTC Wildfire C, which clearly suggests that the smartphone will be a successor of the HTC Wildfire and Wildfire S budget smartphones. An affordable price tag is also all but guaranteed.

Sony began seeding ICS update to the 2011 Xperia lineup

2012-04-14T01:10:00.001-07:00

Sony has began seeding the Android 4.0 ICS update to its 2011 lineup of Xperia smartphones - right in line with the previous report. The first handsets to get the treatment are the Xperia arc S, Xperia neo V and Xperia ray in the hands of users in Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Norway.

Sony will further update on availability of the update in more markets. The rest of the Xperia lineup from last year is scheduled to get updated in late May/early June.

Samsung says WP 8 devices are coming in the second half of 2012

2012-04-14T01:08:00.003-07:00

For those of you who were worried about Samsung being too quiet on the Windows Phone field, we have some good news. The Korean giant's Taiwanese division has confirmed the that Windows Phone 8 Apollo running devices will hit the market in the second half of this year.

The devices will hit the market no earlier than October - after Microsoft launches the next iteration of its mobile OS. There are currently no details on their specs. They will surely follow once Microsoft reveals the hardware requirements for Windows Phone 8.

Is this a live photo of Samsung Galaxy S III?

2012-04-14T01:04:00.000-07:00

Just as we started to get a bit worried about the lack of Samsung Galaxy S III leaks for the past three days or so, our luck struck again. Get your salt ready, because here goes an alleged live photo of the upcoming Samsung top dog, courtesy of a person, who claims to be a device tester.

As you can notice in the picture above, the suspected Samsung Galaxy S III sports a five-column UI, as well as a rectangular home button below its display. Both features fall right in line with previous leaks of the highly anticipated device.

Of course, we wish we could take a better look at the UI, but, unfortunately, the image supplier has decided to give it the 8-bit treatment before releasing it into the wild. It does however, look a lot like a stock Android ICS, which leads us to think that we are looking at a test mule.

Speaking of test mules, there is a high probability that the leaked design is not final either. In any case, we hope for an official announcement from Samsung, which will put an end to the "Galaxy S III leaks" saga, to take place in the near future.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!