Mobile Devices - Page 151

Something interesting just popped up onto my radar, and that's the news that ASUS is working on a new dual OS tablet. The new tablet is capable of running Android and Windows, something of which ASUS is no newbie at.

But, with Android 4.4 KitKat now out, and Windows 8.1, could we see a mashup of operating systems under a new ASUS-built device? Well, it looks liker we can expect three models: M82T, L82T, and the R82T - with no information on what makes them all different. We do know that on the tablet that slid through the FCC was powered by the Intel Atom "Bay Trail" chip.

Other than that, we know it has a 3910mAh battery, and either 32GB or 64GB of storage. We don't know about the screen size, but we could expect something in the 7-inch range or so - which would work, considering ASUS builds the Android 4.4-powered Nexus 7 slate. If we do see this thing released, we should expect it to be shown off at CES 2014 in Las Vegas, in January.

Nokia has just won a major battle in the so-called "Patent War", with a UK judge ruling that the HTC One Mini infringes on some of Nokia's patents. As a result of the ruling, the HTC One Mini has been banned from sale in the UK, and all sales must halt by December 6th, or HTC will face major fines.

Additionally, the company could see its flagship, the HTC One, banned from sale in the UK as well, which could cripple the already troubled manufacturer. The judge presiding over the matter did acknowledge that this would cause considerable damage to HTC and has postponed ruling on the one until HTC has had time to appeal. HTC says that it has agreed to cease all imports of its devices, until the appeal hearing has concluded.

The patent violations are based on certain chip sets used in the HTC One and One mini, and HTC says that it is working with chip suppliers to look into alternative chip solutions that could allow the devices back on the market. "HTC is pleased by the decision of the High Court of England and Wales to stay an injunction against certain chip sets, including those in our flagship HTC One, pending the outcome of our appeal against the validity and infringement of Nokia's EP 0 998 024 patent." the company said in a statement.

Up until now, the only way to get your hands on one of Motorola's low-cost Moto G Android-based smartphones was to order it from the official Motorola website, but today the company announced that customers could purchase it through Amazon.com. Pre-orders for the Moto have been available on Amazon since early morning and the company says that orders will begin shipping on December 4th.

The Motorola Moto G features a 4.5-inch 720p screen and a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor that has been clocked at 1.2GHz. 1GB of RAM is on hand to keep things moving nice and smooth, while a 5-megapixel rear camera handles imaging duties. Unfortunately LTE support is missing, and only 3G radios are installed. The phones pricing points make up for this though, with an 8GB model retailing for $179 off contract, and 16GB for $199 with no contract.

Designing your smartphone hardware to cheat the benchmark system seems to be the trendy thing to do, but some benchmarks are ensuring that this form of cheating is no-longer a viable method to boost the perceived performance of you device. Today Futuremark announced that it has delisted several phones from its results.

The phones were delisted from rankings because of accusation that they feature hardware-based loopholes that allow them to run faster when benchmarking apps are activated to run test. All in all a total of six smartphones were delisted, including the :HTC One, HTC One Mini, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Exynos 5 Octa, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 MSM8974, Samsung Galaxy Note III Exynos 5 Octa, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 MSM8974. While no mention of what each device did specifically to falsely boost scores, Futuremark did release a statement about the delistings.

Samsung has officially unveiled their new Galaxy Grand 2. Samsung's new large screen smartphone comes with a 5.25 inch HD display. The Galaxy Grand 2 runs on Android Jellybean 4.3. Other specs on the device are a quad-core 1.2 GHz processor, 1.5 GB RAM, Bluetooth 4.0, 2,600 mAH battery, a 8 megapixel rear camera and a 1.9 megapixel front facing camera. The Galaxy Grand 2 comes with 8 GB of built-in storage and is expandable to 64 GB with its microSD slot. Samsung will also be releasing models with dual-SIM capabilities. Samsung has not commented about availability or pricing for the Galaxy Grand 2.

Samsung announcement: "This evolution of the Galaxy Grand series brings meaningful upgrades to its predecessor including an improved HD viewing experience, enhanced performance, and many other intuitive features."

The 4.3 update for the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 LTE is finally here. The update is available for download right now on the LTE version of the Note 2 with the GT-N7105 model number. The Galaxy Note 2 has been running Android 4.1.2 since its launch. They have skipped Android 4.2.2 and went directly to 4.3. So far the update seems to be working pretty smoothly, unlike the Galaxy SIII update that got pulled back. This update is a big change; it completely changes the user interface to the one found on the Galaxy S4 and the Note 3. Samsung hasn't announced the official update's details but the people at Sammobile have listed the differences and improvements they have found and are listed below.

Changes and improvements found by Sammobile in 4.3 on the Note 2:

Even in a time of financial crisis BlackBerry is continuing to release smartphone after smartphone in an effort to somehow convince the public that it is still a major player in the industry. Today we learned that the company plans on releasing the Premium Porsche Design P'9982 despite is astronomically high price tag.

For what basically amounts to a re-skinned BlackBerry Z10, the Porsche P'9982 features Italian leather, and stainless steel in its "ultra-modern" design. Internally it features the same 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and 4.2-inch 720p display that the normal Z10 comes with. The only thing outside of a new sleek exterior is a certificate of authentication and a "2AA" lapel pin that signifies you as a member of the Porsche Design Club.

The new BlackBerry Z10 Porsche Design P'9982 will set you back by more than $2400, and will still run the stock version of BlackBerry 10. At that price, you could buy A Google Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, and still have money left over for a very high-end Google Chromebook. Call me crazy, but a company who is continuing on a downward slope should be introducing products that change the market, and gain them massive amounts of market share, not releasing something that is more expensive than any phone Apple has ever offered. BlackBerry says that the new Porsche Design P'9982 will arrive on November 21st, and then we will see if the demand for the device outpaces the much cheaper Z10.

Last week Android 4.3 Jelly Bean was pushed out to the Galaxy S3 but Samsung has pulled the update due to all the problems it was causing. Users were reporting Wi-Fi issues, massive battery drains, random freezes, freezing for incoming calls, as well as Bluetooth problems. Sammobile spoke to the people at Samsung and were given a statement telling them they were working on the problem. Samsung has not announced when the update will be available again, but are making certain it will be as early as possible.

Statement to Sammobile from Samsung Mobile UK: "As we are currently investigating the reported issues with Galaxy S3 4.3 Jelly Bean update, the upgrading service has been temporarily suspended. We are committed to providing customers with the best possible mobile experience, and will ensure to resume the upgrading service at the earliest possibility."

Although the screen still looks great, the color gamut in the iPad mini with Retina colors are not up to par with other tablets in its league, for example the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HDX. The color gamut on the iPad mini Retina is essentially the same as the original one-year old iPad mini. Some users are disappointed with this.

AnandTech were very impressed with the iPad mini with Retina but were disappointed in its color gamut: "Although display resolution is no longer a concern on the mini, color gamut hasn't changed between the old and new minis. The iPad mini with Retina Display has the same color gamut as the standard iPad mini, which is narrower than the iPad Air and less than the sRGB coverage we normally look for. The biggest issue here is that there are other smaller tablets in this price range that do offer sRGB coverage" (e.g. Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HDX 8.9)

Ray Soneira from DisplayMate did a comparison with the HDX 7 and Google Nexus 7 and puts the iPad mini Retina in 3rd place: "The iPad mini with Retina Display unfortunately comes in with a distant 3rd place finish behind the innovative displays on the Kindle Fire HDX 7 and new Nexus 7 because it still has the same small 63 percent Color Gamut as the original iPad mini and even older iPad 2. That is inexcusable for a current generation premium Tablet. The big differences in Color Gamut between the Kindle Fire HDX 7 and Nexus 7 and the much smaller 63 percent Gamut in the iPad mini Retina Display were quite obvious and easy to see in the side-by-side Viewing Tests. This all appears to be due to incredibly poor planning. Instead of moving up to the higher performance (and cost) Low Temperature Poly Silicon LCDs, Apple chose to continue gambling on IGZO, which has resulted in both production shortages and inferior products."

It looks like AMD is hitting a new stride if this new tablet is anything to go by, which was unveiled recently as it won a CES 2014 Innovation award for its included Mullins-based APU. The new AMD-powered slate goes by the name of "Project Discovery."

AMD's Project Discovery is a Windows 8-based tablet, which seems destined for gaming, and could compete with many of the powerful tablets and touch-based devices on the market, like Razer's Edge. An AMD spokesperson has confirmed the system, and said it will be shown off in more detail at CES in January 2014: "AMD's goals are to show the world what we can do in the tablet space around our next generation APU, Mullins."

Would AMD be hurting its OEM partners with its new Project Discovery device? It doesn't look like it, with the AMD spokesperson stating: "AMD does not plan to enter the market with a branded tablet and peripherals at this time." The pictures show off Project Discovery in a docking station, with AMD's DockPort technology, and DisplayPort 1.2, which should allow the AMD-powered slate to run on most displays.

If you're like me, you hate having to carry around your wallet and smartphone, as an all-in-one solution would be so much better? On one hand, I want a digital currency to roll through, something I can have "on" my smartphone, like Bitcoin - but I don't see the powers that be letting that happen anytime soon.

Well, until then, we have nio Card on Kickstarter, which is an upgrade for your smartphone, turning it into a wallet with NFC and high-tech sensors. This means that when the nio Card and your smartphone are within range of each other, you'll also gain a bunch of exclusive nio apps that will "keep your digital life secure and your personal possessions safe."

The nio Card is only 4mm thick, and connects through Bluetooth for the utmost simplicity. This means that the nio Card will fit anywhere, your pocket, wallet, bag, and more. You can store your banking details, passwords, and more through the nio Safe app, which can only be accessed, and opened by you, or your nio Card. Better yet, nio can even offer up dual-factor authentication for super, business-class security.

We have been seeing leaks, and teasers surfacing around Motorola's Moto G smartphone for well over a month now, and today the wait is finally over. This morning, Motorola launched the all new Moto G, an Android-based smartphone that is designed with high med-range hardware at a budget friendly price.

The Moto G features a 4.5-inch display with a resolution of 1280x720 which equates to a pixel density of 329 pixels per inch. A quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor is on-board and clocked at 1.2GHz, while 1GB of RAM is present to keep apps running nice and fast. Photography is handled by a 5-megapixel rear camera, and 1.3-megapixel front shooter that is more than adequate for every selfie you could ever take.

The entire phone is coated inside and out with a water-resistant coating, and the screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 3 which makes this one of the best protected budget friendly phones available. Android 4.4 KitKat is not present unfortunately, but users will only have to live with Android 4.3 for a few months as Motorola says the Moto G will get Android 4.4 KitKat in January. The 8GB version will cost you $179 while the 16GB model will lighten your wallet by $199. Both models run pure Android and are SIM unlocked so you can use it on any carrier.

Last week, we reported that an iPad Air had 'exploded' inside of a Vodafone store in Australia. Well, according to Mashable's sources, this isn't the case, and it was actually an older iPad, not the new iPad Air.

A Vodafone Australia spokesperson told Mashable: "It was an earlier generation iPad with Retina display model - not one of the more recently launched devices. Apple is investigating the cause." Another Vodafone Australia rep told a similar story, explaining that the incident is a first: "Can confirm it was not an Air; all I know it was a Retina model, so a 3 or 4. Apple has taken the device for investigation, so we won't know any more until they do."

Apple's new iPad Air uses some impressive display technology from IGZO, which has resulted in a reduction of weight of over 25%. Most of ths is thanks to lowered power consumption, which allows the iPad Air to feature a thinner battery, too.

IHS iSuppli has released its cost analysis, which points out that Apple's iPad Air uses just 36 LEDs to light the display, which is down from as many as 84 LEDs in previous models of the iPad. The iOS giant has also reduced the thickness of the display assembly, so with all of this display-related changes, we can see that the company has been capable of improving the size and weight of the new iPad Air.

But, does this lead to a better-looking display? Not exactly. Ray Soneria from DisplayMate Technologies has said that while the IGZO-based technology in the iPad Air has allowed for a thinner, more battery-friendly tablet, it doesn't look as good as something like the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 display, which is based on LTPS (low temperature polysilicon technology). LTPS offers even better performance, and lower power requirements than the IGZO display.

Oh the days of flip phones were glorious - you felt like a king. You whipped your phone out, flipped it open and started being the cool person on a flip phone. Not anymore, though.

Well, Samsung is going backwards with the new SCH-W2014 smartphone, which is the most powerful flip phone on the market. It features Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 SoC - a 2.3GHz quad-core part, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, and 2-megapixel front-facer, with dual-SIM connectivity. Storage-wise, we have 32GB of on-board flash backed up by microSD expandability.

The screen itself is lacklustre, at just 3.7 inches it features an 800x480 resolution. It does win some brownie points back by being a Super AMOLED display, though. We have a removeable 1900mAh battery, and Android 4.3 as its OS. All of this comes in at 173.5g. Where it'll hurt you is the price: $1640 or so. This is absolutely insane, but there'll be some people who will cough up this money to own it.

After this mornings Android 4.4 announcement many were left wondering which of the top Android phones would be getting the update. Google said that its Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 devices would be receiving the update but its Galaxy Nexus would not. It appears that the HTC One will be the first non Nexus device to receive the update, beating Samsung's Galaxy S4 to the punch.

HTC has confirmed to Engadget that its HTC One will receive the update within the next 90 days and that the Google Play edition of the device will get its update within the next 15 days. Developer and Unlocked versions of the One will get their updates within the next 30 days. It is unclear if or when other HTC Devices will see Android KitKat pushed to them. Samsung, Sony, and LG have not yet released any update into either, though I fully expect to see update information from them in the next few days.

Shortly after Google announced it's new Nexus 5 smartphone this morning, the company unveiled the latest version of Android, version 4.4 KitKat. Unlike the 4.3 update we saw earlier this year, Android 4.4 is much more than a minor update, and ushers in some features that many have been requesting for some time now.

The first major change that one might notice is that the notification bar is now translucent, and when full screen in an app, the bar disappears entirely which is part of what Google is calling "Immersive Mode." This new mode hides everything on the screen except what the user wants to focus on. Furthermore, the overall look and feel of KitKat is akin to that of Jellybean, but it appears to be slightly more refined.

Google is also now making calling easier than ever by helping you search across your contacts, nearby places, or even Google Apps accounts (like your company's directory), directly from within the app. Furthermore, the new Hangouts App for KitKat merges your SMS and MMS messages together to a single screen in which you can receive Google Hangout messages and Video calls.

It appears that the leaks around Google's upcoming Nexus 5 are never ending and beginning to form more of a stream than the slow drip we have seen all week. Today not one, but two independant leaks have surfaced that depict the Nexus 5 being unboxed as well as showing the world what a speed demon the device really is.

Google's Nexus 5 has been rumored to be the fastest Android phone ever made, and our first leak this morning seemingly confirms those rumors. Benchmark screenshot have been leaked from the Basemark X benchmarking program and the results show that the Nexus 5 beats out the Samsung Galaxy S4 by more than six whole points and falls under the iPhone S5 by just about a single point. It edges out the HTC one by more than seven points and the Sharp Aquos SHL23 by about one point.

Our second leak is a little less exciting, but still newsworthy nonetheless. A photo has popped up in a Photobucket album that is showing off the Nexus 5 unboxed from its packaging and apparently being powered on. Its unclear where this image was taken, but the phone and packaging does look like it is resting on an office chair and you can see some sort of network cables in the background. My guess is that this is either from a PR firm, developer, or Reviewer who let their phone upload to their Photobucket account by mistake.

Lenovo held an event today, where it announced a bunch of new slates including the Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10. Our man on the ground with a sultry, seductive accent, Johannes Knapp, captured the two new slates on video, which you can check out below.

The two new slates feature a 1280x800-pixel display, and the MTK 8125 quad-core processor clocking in at 1.2GHz. Both slates feature 1GB of RAM, 16GB of on-board flash which is expandable through microSD, the usual Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. We already know it has Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and camera-wise, we have a 5-megapixel rear-facing snapper followed up by a 1.6-megapixel for the usual selfies and video chat.

The 10-inch model has an optional Bluetooth-powered keyboard, and will arrive in a 3G model which will come out later in the year. The 8-inch model will have a 229 euro price tag, while the 10-inch slate will feature a 299 euro price tag.

Dammit. About a year ago I began writing an editorial saying that the future of smartphones isn't bigger and better - it'll be a world where you'll build your own. Now Motorola has somehow sucked this idea out of my head, used its billions of dollars backed behind it thanks to Google and unveiled something called Project Ara.

Project Ara is an open-source initiative for modular smartphones, with the glorious goal to "do for hardware what the Android platform has done for software." This would mean that Google wants to create an entire ecosystem which supports third-party hardware development for individual phone components.

This would result in a consumer being able to upgrade specific components, such as the display, processor and more by shopping at different vendors. Project Ara's design starts with the "endo" or the smartphones Terminator-type endoskeleton, which is its most basic, and pure structure. From there, modules "can be anything" according to Motorola, who gave examples ranging from a new keyboard, down to a new battery or pulse oximeter, for example.