Samsung ATIV S & Galaxy Note 2 Windows 8 Powered Smartphone

Samsung announced two new smartphones, the Galaxy Note 2 and the ATIV S, during its press conference at IFA in Berlin Wednesday. The Galaxy Note 2 is a second take on its massive phablet and the ATIV S bears the distinction of being the first Windows Phone 8 device announced.

The original Galaxy Note may have shipped more than 10 million units worldwide, but it was far from a success in the U.S. Perhaps the Galaxy Note 2 will change that. It's superior in just about every way.

The most important element of the Note 2 is that Samsung updated the design to match that of its sexy Galaxy S III. The GSIII is one of the best phones Samsung has produced, and the Note 2 looks like it may be as attractive. The original Note was a bit utilitarian in appearance.

Samsung chose to alter the screen dimensions in a positive way. The diagonal measurement has been bumped from 5.3 inches to 5.5, but the pixels have been changed to 1280 x 720, giving it a 16:9 aspect ratio. This let Samsung make the Note 2 a bit narrower than it otherwise might have been. Narrower phones are easier to hold.

Other speeds and feeds have been improved as well. The Note 2 has a quad-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera, more storage options, and better radio configurations. Samsung also updated the S Pen software to make it more useful. The S Pen, after all, is the most unique feature of the device.

[ Trade-in sites see a spike in Samsung listings. Are Consumers Dumping Samsung Smartphones? ]

All these improvements make for a much better device. Samsung said the device will reach the U.S later this year (probably from AT&T or T-Mobile). Those looking for something altogether different from the iPhone 5 will have a good option with the Note 2.

Samsung surprised everyone by announcing the first Windows Phone 8 device. Nokia was expected to earn that distinction next week during a press conference it is holding with Microsoft. Samsung beat it to the punch, though it may not matter.

From a spec perspective, the ATIV S is a winner. It adds a number of features that previous generations of Windows Phones weren't able to offer. These include a dual-core processor, an HD display, removable memory, and so on. The design is gorgeous, it's made out of brushed aluminum. Metallic materials are something that many Samsung devices lack. Metal adds an element of quality and class that simply can't be achieved with plastics.

Samsung didn't say whether the ATIV S might reach the U.S., and more importantly, Samsung didn't say anything about what Windows Phone 8 can do.

Nokia and Microsoft will surely give us a very good look at everything Windows Phone 8 has to offer during their event scheduled for September 5. Without knowing how the ATIV S can put all those specs to use, it's somewhat of a hollow announcement. Nokia has already taken to the Web to call the ATIV S a "warm up" for next week's event.

Until then, the ATIV S is the only Windows Phone 8 device to talk about.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com

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iPhone 5 approach leads to offloading & prices

The Apple iPhone 5 is keenly anticipated as is every new iPhone and the closer we get to a release the more the hype builds up. If you’re planning to purchase the new iPhone though, rather than just concentrate on what the next iPhone will bring it might be time to focus instead on offloading your current iPhone 4S while you can still get some decent money for it. The longer you wait and the closer we get to an iPhone 5 launch, the less money you are likely to make.

Among our many iPhone 5 posts we’ve recently told how it is billed to be the biggest electronics product upgrade in history as far as one expert is concerned. As well as this we’ve recently given news about possible hologram technology being used as well as a look at some of the concept designs that pop up. However, it’s easy to spend so much time sifting through the developments and speculation about the next iPhone that you may leave it too late to get the best price for your current version.

Recently we told how some retailers and carriers were already cutting the prices of the iPhone 4 and 4S to get rid of as much stock as possible before the iPhone 5 arrives and if you want to get rid of your current iPhone then you should already be thinking of selling it soon. A September 12th event is expected to be when we shall see the iPhone 5 unveiled and a release date of September 21st has been widely rumored. As with any major Apple product launch though none of this is yet confirmed and we cannot be sure of an actual release date.

A useful article on Gizmodo has come up with some of the places you’ll get the best money for your iPhone 4S. For example on eBay you could get between $350 and $400. An instant sale will make you around $330 but if you want to let it go to bidding, for some of those sales the price reaches around $400. Deciding which option to choose may depend on the condition of your phone as people are more likely to bid on a phone in good condition.

Moving on to Amazon shows the giant company is offering gift certificates for the iPhone 4S with a top price of around $415 and lowest at around $120. Only a top-notch iPhone 4S with charger will get you that $415 though and most in a good state will get you a gift certificate to the value of around $350. Another alternative is RadioShack with current iPhone 4S prices given of between $73 and $250. Once again that top price will only be given for a mint condition 4S but $73 isn’t bad for one that’s really taken some battering. Sell your iPhone 4S to RadioShack by either visiting in-store or by mailing off.

Craigslist is another possibility and currently $200 or more is the going rate for an iPhone 4S here. It’s not the easiest place to sell your items because of having to sift through the spammers etc. but you’re likely to find someone who wants your iPhone 4S whatever condition it may be in. However Gizmodo does make the good point that you should preferably meet with the purchaser in a public place, which sounds wise to us.

Apart from these alternatives there are also buying sites such as Gazelle, InstantSale, Buy My Tronics and NextWorth where you simply enter your phone details and condition for an estimate and then mail it to them. Offers vary considerably but Gizmodo gives a guideline of between $90 and $365.

Ultimately the thing you need to consider most if you want to offload your iPhone 4S is to sell it as soon as possible. The later you leave it the less you’ll be offered and very soon there will be a glut of iPhone 4S’s available and the prices will dip much lower. We’d like to know if you’ve considered selling your iPhone 4S before the release of the iPhone 5.

Source: phonesreview.co.uk

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Top Features of iPhone 5 to Scare the Samsung Phone

Move over Samsung Galaxy S3, the rumored iPhone 5 may not have arrived on the shelves yet, but its presence is undeniable. "The biggest product launch in consumer electronics history" is gearing up to wrest the numero uno mantle away from the Samsung challenger. With a slew of features that are guaranteed to pack a punch, the iPhone 5 is getting ready to give the Samsung phone recurring nightmares.

Samsung should pull up its socks and brace itself for some sleepless nights as its smartphone dominance is quickly looking to fade away. Here's why the iPhone 5 is the smartphone goliath-in-waiting and will undoubtedly be the Galaxy S3's nemesis.

Futuristic Features of the iPhone 5

The massive 4.8-inch Galaxy S3 at 133gms and 8.6mm manages to stay feather light for a phone its size. The current 3.5-inch iPhone 4S, weighing 140gms and 9.3mm thick, cut a sorry figure in front of the Galaxy S3, but all that is about to change with the arrival of the iPhone 5. The nifty iPhone 5 is touted to be slimmer, sleeker, and will have consumers salivating at first glimpse. The 4-inch phone will not only sport a bigger screen than its predecessors, it will also be slimmer thanks to the in-cell display and liquidmetal alloy body.

The iPhone 5 will ditch the glass-back for a metal back face, shaving off a good 1mm. KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi-Kuo suggested in an April note that by switching back to a metal back face from the current glass one, Apple's next iPhone could be well under 8mm. Since all things small are the order of the day for the smartphone biz, the change would put the iPhone in a better position than the 8.6mm Galaxy S3. The 4-inch screen puts the iPhone 5 at par with Android devices in the market.

Bumping up the screen size would make for happy consumers who would be able to get access to a larger keyboard and more information on the screen. Also, the larger screen size would allow better viewing and gaming experiences. With rumors of iPhone 5 integrating 4G LTE, which would enable ten times faster content streaming than that of 3G, the size would add to the appeal.

The switch to the in-cell technology, from the current on-cell one, ensures a brighter display and is a major improvement vis-a-vis the traditional Super AMOLED and LCD technologies. The feature puts iPhone 5 in the driving seat ahead of rival Samsung. The circulating Apple rumors have indicated that the next-gen iPhone will have the faster quad-core Exynos processor as opposed to the dual-core chip. According to a previous report, Apple is also upgrading the RAM modules and the next-gen iPhone will have 1GB of RAM (double of the current 512MB of RAM for the iPhone 4S) and sport NFC technology.

Whether Apple will ultimately go with an NFC chip is still shrouded in mystery. Debates continue over the pros and cons of the technology and the why and the why nots for Apple. Samsung's Galaxy S3 is NFC-enabled.

The current Apple camera is the best in the business but the front-facing camera may still see minor improvements to aid FaceTime. The grapevine is abuzz with talks of a 3D camera. Rumors of 3D Photography being incorporated in the iPhone 5 have been doing the rounds and patents published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office carried a list of Apple patents relating to 3D face and object recognition technology. The current crop of 3D camera phones are limited in number and their pictures leave a lot to be desired, throwing open the field for an Apple onslaught.

Apple has been known for its amazing battery life, whereas the same cannot be said for Samsung. Should Apple decide to go the 4G LTE route, it will need to ensure that battery woes are kept at bay. The Samsung Galaxy S3 runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), which is matched if not bettered by iOS 5 in the iPhone 4S. With the launch of iOS 6 operating system bettering the iOS 5, Apple is going to have yet another feather in its cap and will pip the Galaxy S3 easily.

With a gamut of features in its kitty, its Carpe Diem for Apple's iPhone 5! Come fall, the smartphone goliath is ready to seize the spoils from Samsung's Galaxy S3.

Source: mobilenapps.com

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Ten Exciting Features of iPhone 5 worth waiting for

Although Apple is sure to have an unexpected “one more thing” up Tim Cook’s sleeve for the iPhone 5, what are the things we already know will make the iPhone 5 go bada-bing, bada-“boom!”?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of iPhones, it was no longer the age of Windows Mobile, it was the epoch of iTunes, it was the epoch of increZunity, it was the season of iLife, it was the season of Windows Movie Maker, it was the spring of iOS 6.0, it was the winter of Windows Vista, we had Mac OS X 10.8 before us, we had Windows 8 before us, we were all going direct to the iPhone 5, we were all going direct the to Windows Phone 8 - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of Amazon.com pricing comparison only.

Yes, it’s that time again, the twilight era before a new iPhone arrives, a time when the Samsung Galaxy SIII model reigns supreme while unsure how long before the iPhone 5 replaces it in the Game of Phones…

A time of when Verizon’s Shammo can whammo us with a rendition of a juicy rumours that there may be “a new phone coming out in the fourth quarter”, which could be one reason why “people may be waiting" before leaping in to purchase a new smartphone – at least, from Verizon.

While other sites only seem to be able to come up with only five things to excite you about the iPhone 5, here’s a much beefier ten reasons – unless, of course, you’ve decided to dance along the Fandroid side of the Force.

Indeed, with iPhone 5 rumours seemingly moving faster than a tachyon, this is one ride that sure has been wild, and promises to only get wilder still yet!

So, here we go:

1 – Connectivity. Here, we fully expect to see the long awaited 4G LTE technology make an appearance in the iPhone 5, ready to work on worldwide 4G bands – as well as including the full spread of 3G connectivity from WCDMA to DC-HSDPA+. There’s also the high expectation of a NFC chip to make the iOS 6 and iPhone 5 passbook complete.

2 – Storage. While no-one is expecting Apple to suddenly include a microSD slot, and while Apple finally offered a 64GB version with the iPhone 4S, it may well be time for Apple to up the ante even further by biting the triple digit storage bullet and making a 128GB iPhone 5 available for the first time – although 1GB of RAM is so massively expected that it’s expected to be a given.

3 – Design. From rumours of a 7.99mm thickness to the potential of a liquidmetal or metallic alloy back, with iPhone design is expected to be slimmer and thinner, and while the same width in the palm is expected, the iPhone 5 is supposed to be taller to incorporate that 4-inch screen with 16:9 aspect ratio and Retina class pixel invisibleness.

4 – Display. The display, alluded to above, is said to be the thinnest possible yet, thanks to WSJ’s leaking of “in-cell” technology which eliminates a separate touch layer, thus helping the all-important iPhone display to remain the design feature you look at most.

5 – Camera. A Sony 10 or 12 megapixel multi-lens camera is expected, as is a higher resolution front camera for high definition Facetime calls.

6 – Quad-core processor. While there is talk that Apple will be modifying Samsung’s “Exynos” quad-core processor, Apple holds its own ARM-license and surely does not need Samsung’s help to design and develop its own world-class quad-core A6 chip, along with a multi-core graphics processor to blow every other smartphone out of the water – although we definitely do recommend that you keep your smartphone away from water at all times.

7 – Battery life. Apple famously designs everything about its iDevices, including particular attention to the batteries – and the battery chemistries – that iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches offer. With a bigger screen and beefier processor, Apple is expected to somehow still magically maintain – or even improve – upon the existing battery life that people both wish was longer – and yet take for granted anyway.

8 – Smarter Siri. This one’s coming in iOS 6 for iPhone 4S and the new iPad, and who knows, potentially the next iPod Touch too, but we definitely know its also coming with the iPhone 5 – and will probably have some special iPhone 5-only feature that will make iPhone 4S and new iPad owners Siri-ously jealous.

9 – The fullest Facebook integration ever. Again, this one’s coming in iOS 6, but what special iPhone 5 feature will this integration truly take advantage of? The fastest uploading of photos and videos to Facebook via 4G, or the highest quality photos and videos ever thanks to the iPhone 5’s best ever camera? There’s also Apple’s new maps app in iOS 6, which is obviously coming to the iPhone 5, too.

10 – An early release date? The massively rumoured August 7 launch or simply announcement date is little over two weeks away, but if that day comes and goes with no iAnnouncement in sight the world will wait through the end of August, through to the end of September, and then will get even more agitated as October arrives with no sign of the iPhone 5 being alive. After all - August isn't in the fourth quarter as Verizon's Shammo stated, so...

Whenever the iLaunch occures, hopes are nevertheless high that Apple will iDeliver long before October rolls around, and may well show off new iPod Touch models or even new 13-inch Retina-class MacBook Pro models, too.

That’s it for now, but the iAction continues with next week’s expected introduction of Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, which blends more of iOS into Mac OS X than ever before, and while a new OS cannot replace the excitement for a new iPhone, it’ll certainly be a great way to enhance your Mac in preparation for the nearly-here-but-still-not-yet iPhone 5!

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Apple iPhone 5 is available for pre-orders in china gray market

Don't get too excited but it looks like the Apple [AAPL] iPhone 5 (or is it iPhone 7*) release is closing in, as China's thriving gray market importers have begun offering the new phone for pre-release sale as the company prepares for the "biggest consumer electronics launch in history".

Buying on rumor

Logically it might make little sense, but reports this morning claim some Chinese online retailers have already begun offering the unannounced, unconfirmed and unrevealed smartphone for pre-release sale -- and orders are coming in.

Reuters tells us Chinese ecommerce website, Taobao is already hosting listings from jump-the-gun sellers, some of whom are even publishing mock-ups of what the new phone will look like, alongside lists detailing some of the claimed features (biometric recognition systems, anyone?).

Sellers are requesting deposits to secure the first units of the iPhone to be smuggled into the country of up to $1,100. They plan to purchase the device in Hong Kong or the US and then import them into China -- and it seems some people are already stumping up the cash to secure the freshly smuggled devices when the product ships, perhaps as soon as late September.

In a sense this is a fitting tribute to many months of furious iPhone 5 speculation. We've seen mock-ups, claimed images of parts of the device, and, most recently, claimed engineering pre-production mock-ups of the phone.

China is Apple crazy

China's market for iPhone imports is interesting. Partly that's because iPhones are presently manufactured in China; partly because the country is crazy for Apple devices. One Chinese teenager even sold a body part in order to raise the cash to get one. Sweating blood to get what you want is a noble thing, of course, but selling body parts seems a step too far, though it clearly reflects the mood in China where mini riots took place when Apple shut its retail store for iPhone 4S sales.

Demand for smuggled iPhones means the country's biggest carrier, China Mobile, already has over a million of the devices on its network -- even though it doesn't (yet) offer iPhones officially. It is expected to introduce the iPhone 5 later this year, when millions of Chinese nationals will doubtless purchase the officially supported version of the device.

The gray imports market also means Apple stores worldwide often see queues of folk waiting patiently in line when they open in the morning. These customers purchase their allotted maximum number of iPhones and send them back to China for resale in exchange for a fee.

Feature rumor 101

When it comes to the iPhone 5, what are people looking forward too?

• A 4-inch display
• An improved quad-core processor, likely manufactured using 32nm process tech
• Improved graphics and a better camera
• A new Dock connection, likely to be Thunderbolt or mini-USB
• Tougher glass
• A thinner chassis
• International support for those 4G/LTE networks which exist
• Much-improved iCloud integration
• iOS 6: Many improvements in Siri
• iOS 6: Apple Maps
• iOS 6: Passbook, potentially though not necessarily featuring NFC payment support
• iOS 6: Facebook and Twitter integration

Apple is putting a lot of hope into its new device. Not only is the company facing the imminent arrival of Microsoft Windows 8-powered smartphones, but it continues to face stiff competition from Android-powered devices (in particular those from Samsung). RIM, Palm and Nokia now appear to be spent forces in this sector.

The stiff competition is creating a challenging environment for the firm. More than this, economic weakness means many consumers are now opting to delay their iPhone purchases pending arrival of the new model. Mizuho Securities analyst Abhey Lamba claims Apple has: “Already started experiencing a slowdown due to the impending iPhone 5 launch.”

The analyst remains optimistic for Apple once the new smartphone ships, as well he might given Foxconn leader Terry Gou's somewhat belligerent statement that the iPhone 5 will "put Samsung's Galaxy III to shame" when it ships. That's fighting talk.

The moral of this tale? If you really want to get hold of an iPhone 5 and don't mind waiting for it to arrive, you can place your orders now if you happen to be in China.

Source: Computerworld.com

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iPhone 5 Still not ready for public

The mobile space is expecting the next iPhone to come out to play sometime later this year, and no doubt when the iPhone 5 does finally show its head in the mobile space, most of the iOS faithful will laud it up as being the best iPhone yet, but will the iPhone 5 be as perfect as one would expect? Probably not.

As with most new devices, the iPhone 5 will no doubt face problems after its release, after all over here in the United Kingdom the iPhone with Siri is still after all this time in beta, so one does have to wonder if Siri will actually be working fully in iOS 6 by the time the iPhone 5 arrives.

Although obviously with the iPhone 5, specifications for the iOS smartphone haven’t been confirmed, but the speculation is the device could possibly come sporting 4G LTE connectivity, and according to the guys over at Gottabemobile, with 4G LTE the iPhone 5 will be able to pull in data speeds that could reach up to ten times faster than your typical 3G.

A 4G LTE enabled iPhone 5 is nice and dandy for US users, however if you are an iPhone fan elsewhere in the world, 4G LTE probably isn’t the top feature for most, as 4G networks are still lacking in lots of countries such as here in the United Kingdom, although we are working on it.

Another rumour is that the iPhone 5 might possibly come with a quad core processor, which would put the iPhone 5 processing power on par with rival smartphone the Samsung Galaxy S3, as according to the guys over at Eweek, Chinese rag DigiTimes has reported that Apple is expected to roll out the iPhone 5 in the 2nd half of the year built on Samsung’s Exynos 4 quad core processor.

Also there has been rumour that Apple has brought forward the launch of the iPhone 5 due to the success of the Galaxy S3, so perhaps the iPhone 5 needs at least to be on par with the Android rival when it comes to processing power.

Whilst another rumour has it that Apple will finally deliver NFC functionality to the iOS platform with the iPhone 5, somewhat late to the game as usual if true, but then again NFC has been around for quite some time, and is still taking a long time to be fully adopted in the mobile space, so perhaps NFC isn’t all that important for some.

As you probably know, Apple has kicked Google Maps out and opted to go with their own maps solution, Apple Maps, again not perfect and still has some way to go before it can be classed as a good rival to Google Maps, but hopefully Apple Maps will be fully functional by the time the iPhone 5 arrives.

Of course the big rumour with the iPhone 5 is that it will have a bigger display, something I believe most of the iOS faithful are hoping for, after all the display size of the iPhone hasn’t changed in a long time, whilst other devices are sporting bigger displays, so perhaps Apple will up the display size with the iPhone 5, although one has to be reminded nothing is certain when it comes to Apple.

The title of this article does seem to be a tad harsh, but with all the uncertainty as to just what the iPhone 5 will actually offer, it does seem warranted that people could worry that the iPhone 5 wont be perfect for public use, especially if the new iPhone doesn’t offer some of the above features.

Having said that, no doubt the iPhone 5 will include specs and features that none of us have heard about yet, and even if the iPhone 5 doesn’t offer that much different to the current iPhone 4S, most of the iOS faithful will still purchase the next iPhone, no matter what.

So we’ll ask this question of our iOS readers out there, if the iPhone 5 doesn’t offer a bigger display, 4G LTE, NFC, fully functional Apple Maps and more, and still looks the same as the iPhone 4S, will you still be in line to pick it up, or will you consider passing the iPhone 5 by?

Source:Phonereviews.com

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Samsung Galaxy S III Issues revealed

Samsung unveiled its flagship Galaxy S III in May, as a direct rival to Apple's iPhone in the battle for the smartphone crown. The response to the phone has been staggering, with the company expecting to sell 10 million units by the end of July.

The third iteration in the Galaxy S series offers face-recognition technology and improved voice-activated controls as well as a more powerful processor that lets users watch video and write emails simultaneously.

It also has a 4.8-inch (12.2-centimetre) screen that is 22 percent larger than the S2, while it can detect eye movements and override the automatic shutdown if the user is looking at the screen.

Galaxy S III sales are expected to power Samsung to a $5.9 billion profit in the April-June quarter, a new record for the company.

But the phone "designed for humans" hasn't been without its share of problems. First came reports that a Samsung Galaxy S III had "exploded" in a user's car in Ireland. Samsung said it would be investigating the incident and Saturday blamed an external energy source for the incident, not the phone.

Now a survey has revealed that a large number of Galaxy S III owners have reported problems with the smartphone's microphone.

FixYa, a website that connects people discussing support issues with various consumer products, reveals that many S III owners have reported "a microphone malfunction which causes users to be unable to hear the person on the other end of the line."

The problem doesn't end after hanging up the phone, as it causes "signal strength will deteriorate (and oftentimes disappear) for minutes at a time." The suggested fix to the problem seems to be update to the latest firmware and restoring factory settings.

Around 15% of the problems were about the Galaxy S III's battery life, with an equal number complaining about the "device getting hot".

FixYa revealed similar stats for other popular smartphones. Microphone malfunction was the biggest problem for another Samsung manufactured smartphone, the Galaxy Nexus. Most iPhone 4S users complained about its battery life, while BlackBerry Curve users reported "random reboots" as their biggest grouse.

Source:Ndtv.gadgets

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Nvidia Tegra 3 Low-cost quad-core Tegra 3 handsets coming this year

If you’re in love with the recently announced Google Nexus 7 for the fact that it packs a top of the line processor in a very, very affordable package – good news. There’s more where that came from. A lot more, in fact.

Nvidia is expanding its Kai platform into smartphone territory. Kai is Nvidia’s low-cost refocusing of the Tegra 3 quad-core chipset. It’s basically a cheaper Tegra 3 that’s been made compatible with cheaper additional hardware components (such as memory and displays). That enables $199 tablets, like we’ve seen with the Nexus 7, without giving up on the 4-PLUS-1 CPU architecture and ’12-core graphics’ that Nvidia likes so much to brag about.

Kai will be in smartphones by the end of this year. That means that we should get ready for some pretty amazingly-priced quad-core devices in the coming months. The first partners for this endeavor are apparently a number of Chinese phone makers. That’s all the information we have for now, but do note that this wording doesn’t necessarily mean that these first low-cost handsets will be confined to the Chinese market. After all, Huawei and ZTE are also ‘Chinese phone makers’ and they’re selling their products globally.

ZTE has shown a quad-core smartphone having the Tegra 3 processor built-in at MWC in February, yet that’s not been launched yet. Perhaps it will be slightly retooled and arrive on the (international) market with this Kai platform inside. That could mean it may beat all its competitors in pricing. And that’s the good thing about Kai – it has the potential to enable another wave of competition (based on lowering prices) in the mobile world. Which is always good for consumers.

Depending on how low-cost Kai will be for smartphones, Nvidia may be starting to compete heavily at the lower end of the market with the likes of Qualcomm, ST, and perhaps even with MediaTek’s most expensive chips. This shows that Nvidia is very confident about its efforts in the mobile market, and at least so far it’s probably got all the reasons to be.

Source: unwiredview.com

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Release date and features of Windows phone 8

Looks like Microsoft is enjoying giving out surprises of late and the latest one comes barely within three days of announcing the Surface line of tablets. The Redmond giant announced details of the Windows Phone 8 at the Microsoft Windows Phone Summit in San Francisco this Wednesday.

The Windows Phone 8 shares the same core as that of the Windows 8, the same one that runs the Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro tablets. The bar is set high for the partners of Microsoft who are also coming up with tablets and laptops based on the Windows 8 platform, the bulk of which will launch later this year.

Microsoft has left enough room for developers to build apps for both Windows 8 and the Windows Phone 8 with the functionality to port apps from each other. Microsoft has made it clear that the phone will support multi-core chips and that testing has been done with devices up to 64 cores – this means hardware should be no constrain at all.
Under the hood

The Windows Phone 8 will be launched with a dual-core processor and will support 720p and WXGA display resolutions. With more power, the greater the battery drain, but we guess Microsoft must have taken care of this – because the norm today and the selling proposition for many is the number of cores.

The microSD card slot will finally be introduced to the Windows smartphones.

Gaming and Graphics
Graphics and media playback will be similar to the regular Windows versions, and that should ensure the arrival of more powerful games and entertainment-based apps. Most of the current lot of games and apps might have to be upgraded to make full use of the new Windows 8 platform.

Given the hardware capability of the platform and the onboard GPU power, the Windows Phone 8 could see a lot of incoming 3D games from developers.

Incoming features
Windows Phone 8 will come with NFC support, with the addition of a new mobile wallet feature. The feature will be similar to Google Wallet, but with added elements borrowed from Apple’s Passbook app that will support tickets and passes as well. These features are also there in the latest Microsoft Surface tablets.

The latest smartphone from Microsoft will replace the existing Bing maps with Nokia Maps. The new mapping system will offer offline maps and turn-by-turn navigation for free.

With the Windows Phone 8, Microsoft will also target the enterprise segment – with secure boot and disk encryption.

Partial upgrade for current Windows Phone owners
This one’s quite a blow! Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 won’t update to Windows Phone 8. Microsoft will, however, release an update, Windows Phone 7.8, that will include the new Start screen of the Windows Phone 8 and a few more features.

With the update, users will be add more “live tiles” and also resize them, giving them more screen real-estate.

Release date for Windows Phone 8
Microsoft hasn’t given a clear indication of any specific launch date, but we can expect it sometime this fall. We might see a lot of things from Microsoft getting launched at around the same time. Manufacturers for the Windows Phone 8 include Samsung, Nokia, Huawei, and HTC.

The Windows Phone 8 is a giant leap for Microsoft, with which we can see Microsoft getting back to its earlier form. This smartphone is an example of Microsoft sticking to its roots and offering users better encryption, security, support, and the ability to manage them pretty well.

With a sure footing and multitude of features loaded, Windows Phone 8 should emerge as a strong competitor in the smartphone market dominated by Apple and Google.

Source: Nvonews

Tags: Windows 8, Microsoft, Windows phone 8, Smartphone

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Apple is getting ready for a big iPhone 5 push

Apple has "significantly reduced" its iPhone orders to its manufacturers, as it "begins prepping" for iPhone 5. That's how Neil Hughes at AppleInsider sees it, based on an investors note from Sterne Agee stock analyst Shaw Wu. See also iPhone 5 release date, specs and rumour round up.

In the note, Wu told his readers that "he has found in his checks with suppliers that Apple has reduced iPhone orders by between 20 and 25 percent from the 35.1 million units the company shipped in the March quarter," according to Hughes.

Go to iPhone 5 will "launch" in September. If it's ordering fewer phones, it will be shipping fewer phones. "If those numbers hold for the current June quarter, that would result in shipments of between 26 million and 28 million iPhones.

That result would be below Wall Street consensus of between 30 million and 31 million." Visit iPhone 5's iOS 6 firmware to be revealed in June.

But, there are the phones already in the channel inventory. Wu estimates that there 8.6 million iPhones in the channel inventory, with 2.6 million added in the most recent quarter. "That channel inventory allowed the company to reach a supply-demand balance of between 4 and 6 weeks," according to the AppleInsider story.

Based on past history, Apple can expect a slowdown in iPhone sales, the closer we come to the expected announcement of the next iPhone. At the same time, it presumably wants to have enough phones to meet all the demand during the run-up to that announcement, while making sure there's manufacturing capacity to meet expected demand for the Next iPhone.

AppleInsider quotes Wu: "It appears AAPL is opting to be conservative with its suppliers to factor in a potential 2-quarter pause ahead of the refresh and also to manage inventory."

In 2011, as AppleInsider notes, Apple reported record sales of 20.34 million iPhones during the June quarter, and 17.07 million in the September quarter, "as Apple drew down inventories ahead of the iPhone 4S launch." But that seems to assume that Apple, in effect, didn't have enough iPhones to meet demand. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that demand for iPhone 4 fell off, especially in the second half of the September quarter, but not as much as Apple executives had feared.

Wu "believes investor expectations should be drawn in for the June quarter as well as the following September quarter," according to AppleInsider.

Rollup isn't a corporate inventory management specialist, and Apple's Tim Cook definitely is, but low-balling Apple sales for two quarters -- half of the year -- doesn't seem like a great inventory management strategy.

Source: Pcavisor

Tags: Apple, Iphone, IPhone 5, Smartphone

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Next iPhone to have at least a 4 inch screen

The size of the iPhone’s screen has always been in the rumors whenever there is a likelihood of another version of the iPhone coming out. And so, it has happened again. Just like the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that, the next generation iPhone is rumored have a bigger screen. This comes from Wall Street Journal, which claims to have gotten this rumor from “people who know about this situation”. Now, how much of this you are going to believe is on you. Since the company has never given this a second thought and since there are possibly no chances of the company giving a bigger screen to the iPhone, I take this rumor with a pinch of salt.

Wall Street Journal says that its sources say that the Cupertino tech giant, Apple, has already ordered Retina displays of size more than 3.5 inches. How much big is the new display? This is not in the rumor. Though, the sources are said to have said that the display is going to be at least 4 inch. This means that the iPhone lovers are going to see their dreams come true.

But as already mentioned, this is still in the rumor stage and nothing can be taken for granted. So do not get too much excited. This dream of yours may break down at any moment. Apple has already been contacted about this and the company has refused to give out any details, no comments. Yes, that is what we always get from the companies on upcoming products and we do not stop asking them for comments.

Still, I do not think that Apple will give the iPhone a bigger screen, nor will the company give the iPad a smaller screen, such as the rumored 7 inch iPad which has been rumored to be coming from a couple of years. What do you think about this?

Source: Thedroidguy

Tags: Apple, Iphone, IPhone 5, Smartphone

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It’s war of the smartphones

Blaring Big Headline Strategy Analytics announces: Samsung shipped 44.5 million smartphones and overtook Apple (35.06 million units) to become the world’s number one smartphone vendor.

Really Loud Headline IIHS declares: Samsung sold 32 million units of smartphones while Apple sold 35.06 million units. Thus Samsung remained in the second place in the smartphone segment, behind Apple Inc.

Incredibly Intense Headline: All analysts declare: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd in the first quarter overtook Nokia Corp to become the world’s largest cellphone brand for the first time. Samsung sold 92 million units to Nokia’s 83 million.

The three headlines came within days of each other, had two major contradictions and are indicative of the amazing number game that is now played out every quarter. At stake are two crowns: who is the King of the Smartphone Kingdom across the world and who is the Master of the Universe in total mobile phone sales? And within these two battles lies a tale of misdirection and deceit.

A New Cell King?
For 14 years, Nokia has reigned supreme. It has been the first cellphone for most people across the world; it is synonymous with the word ‘mobile phone’; it has got more brand recall than almost anything else on earth (analyst Tomi Ahonen calls it “the brand most widely spread on the planet”); more people use a Nokia phone than drink Coca Cola, wear Levi’s jeans, Nike running shoes or write with a Bic pen. In a nutshell, Nokia was the undisputed monarch and king of the mobile phone. Was! And now Samsung has toppled it and Nokia is dead! And in that last statement lies the foolishness of people jumping not just a gun but an entire platoon of tanks. How can a company that sells 83 million mobile phones be dead?

The misdiagnosed demise of Nokia is based on the fact that its Windows Phone smartphone sales have not set the world on fire. While it is true that mobile phone growth currently is predominantly fuelled by smartphone sales, the feature phone market isn’t dead or buried! In emerging markets as well as countries like India, feature phones will still continue to dominate for the next five years. Enough time for Nokia and Microsoft to plan for the future. Nokia Windows smartphones sales reflect the typical sluggishness of a huge transition and it is way too early to knock them off the smartphone market completely.

My Blaring Big Prediction: Nokia will continue to be number two for the next two years. Samsung may forge even further ahead. Apple cannot touch this crown unless it comes up with at least three other iPhone variants including an economy iPhone. If the Microsoft-Nokia gamble pays off in two years, you may still see Nokia reclaim what it has been for 14 years.
The Smarter Crown

This is the fun story. Samsung is the new smartphone king and most people tend to agree with that analysis. It has sold 9 million more smartphones than Apple, and has so many variants within that category (dozens within Android, also a player in Windows Phone, plus has its own OS, Bada) that it positively makes Apple look silly with its ‘only iPhone’ strategy. Samsung is aggressive – it’s building a great worldwide distribution network and manufactures most of its components in-house. Case closed, right? Wrong! While there is no disputing the fact that Samsung is on a roll, there are still grey areas that lie within. For starters, Samsung doesn’t declare smartphone sales numbers – an unfortunate decision that came out of a controversy over the number of phones it shipped versus number of phones it sold. If Samsung wants to be a clean and clear number one, it also needs to report things more clearly. Second, the smartphone arena is no longer only about the device itself but the entire ecosystem: apps that consumers bought, accessories available for that company’s products, music downloaded, videos and movies bought, eBooks sold to users of that device. And in this arena, there is only one undisputed king – Apple.

My Really Loud Prediction: Samsung will leap further ahead. The new Samsung Galaxy S phones revealed in London, the next version of the Note and more aggression with the upcoming Windows Phone 8 phones will give it some very serious numbers. But there are four bludgeoning hits coming in the future. A huge comeback from from BlackBerry with its OS 10, Nokia and Microsoft hitting incredibly hard in the next one year, LG unleashing some great phones and Apple with its iPhone 5 (a real new iPhone, since the last two were just very minor upgrades to the iPhone 3GS) and an economy iPhone (may well be the iPhone 4S at a unlocked price of $199). King Samsung has its fight cut out.

This is a number game that matters as it’s a game involving billions of dollars and the very survival of many companies. While the roadmap for the next two years seems quite set in stone, who will be number one in five years? It could be any of the big three or a complete unknown. A new king may already have been born – we just don’t know it yet.

Source: Hindutimes

Tags: Smartphone, Iphone, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy S3

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Intel Announces 14 nm Airmont Smartphone Processor

Intel is accelerating its roadmap to get a slice of the smartphone and tablet pie. By 2014, the company plans to be shipping 14 nm Atom processors.

A cutting edge manufacturing process has always been Intel’s biggest asset and it is this manufacturing process knowledge that ARM as well as ARM vendors will have to be watching most as Intel is making its way into the smartphone and tablet market.

At its annual investor meeting today, Intel said that it has revised its processor roadmap as it has found it to be inadequate given the competitive landscape. As a result, the company will be shipping the 22 nm Silvermont Atom SoC in 2013 and the 14 nm Airmont Atom SoC in 2014. To put this plan into perspective, we have to remember that the 32 nm Saltwell chip will be covering the 2011-2012 period,, which means that Intel will be shrinking its Atom chips every year until 2014.

The server/desktop/notebook roadmap seems to be deviating from the 2-year cadence that was established by Intel back in 2006. The first 22 nm processors called Ivy Bridge will be released in the 2011-2012 timeframe, while the first 14 nm chips are now moved to 2014 (while they were expected to debut in 2013). Typically, Intel has been introducing a new manufacturing process in uneven years. It is clear that Intel is aligning its ultra-mobile processors with all other processors lines and that Atom SoCs are moving to become a core business at Intel. According to the company, its architecture is designed to work in cloud servers on the high-end all the way down to handhelds.

It remains unclear when Intel will be delivering a competitive processor platform for smartphones, but the company highlighted that the upcoming 32 nm Medfield chip will be addressing one of the weaknesses of preceding Atom chips – power consumption. Medfield will be targeted at the lower end of the power consumption spectrum of competitive processors (which we assume would be ARM processors.)

Tags: Intel, Atom, Smartphone, Processor

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Nvidia: Smartphone graphics to best Xbox 360 by 2014

On Thursday Nvidia released a slide showing the progression of GPU performance in the console, PC and mobile sectors from 2001 to 2014. As Nvidia showed us last year, consoles have created a "Z" on the chart, jumping up one level after releasing a new version with better hardware, but flatlining for numerous years thereafter. They can outperform the PC on a graphic level thanks to an integrated design, but that victory is only brief to say the least as PC hardware performance steadily climbs.

What's shocking is the steep increase in GPU performance in the mobile sector. According to Nvidia's chart, devices began to show a real increase between 2008 and 2009, but the steepest climb thus far has been from 2010 until now. What's interesting is that Nvidia's chart shows the mobile GPU to be cranking out better graphics than the current Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles starting 2013. That says a lot given that smartphones weren't even considered as competition until Apple released the iPhone in 2007.

To some degree, smartphones are in a "golden era," mirroring a similar era experienced in the 1990s when GPUs began to infiltrate the PC sector. Developers like id Software and Epic Games were always pushing the envelope, squeezing out every ounce of performance the current hardware could provide while also pushing hardware manufacturers to implement features into the next generation. We're seeing that again in the mobile sector, and it's downright fascinating to watch this technology mature so quickly.

On a visual level, the progression has been phenomenal. We've moved from monochrome Tetris-like games to console-quality titles like Modern Combat 3 in a span of a few years. The rise in visual performance wasn't quite so dramatic in the PC sector, moving from the likes of Wolfenstein 3D in 1992 (PC, Mac) to Return to Castle Wolfenstein in 2001 (PC, Mac, Xbox, PS2).

Naturally Nvidia's chart will change once Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo release their next-generation products. Reports indicate that the Wii U will likely reside with the current crop on a GPU level while the other two take another stab at pushing past PC-based GPU performance. Yet based on the sharp rise in the mobile sector, it looks highly likely that the console and mobile sectors will eventually merge. Today's top mobile chips are already on the same playing field as the Nintendo 3DS and Sony PlayStation Vita, if not better.

Source:Tomshardware

Tags: Nvdia, Nvida Tegra 3, Processor, Smartphone

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Top Gadgets for 2012 You Shouldn’t Miss

The upcoming year will be an exciting year full of a new gadgets derived from modern technology. Many companies are ready to launch their new products which will make our life easier. Here are some of the coolest gadgets that will be released in 2012.

Apple iPad3:

In 2o12 most of the Business people will have Apple iPad3. It will have a screen resolution of 2048 by 1536 pixels that will be five to six times higher than that of the iPad 2. It has the following Specifications

• A5 Processor quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 design
• High Definition Screen
• Retina Displays with a screen resolution of 960 x 640.
• LED flash support Camera
• Chips
• SD card slot

Apple iPhone 5:

The Iphone 5 will have half inch longer and wider while becoming thinner as well. The rumoured features of Apple iPhone 5 are,

• S/W & H/W upgrades
• iTune Cloud integration
• iOS 5
• Flash Camera (8MP device (3264×2448 pixel)
• Retina Display
• More Internal memory
• mobile Payment Services
• Two or three Internal Antennas
• Fire proof and Wireless Charging.

Canon 5D Mark 111 DSLR Cameras:

It will be interesting to see canon 5D with the features from the list below. The rumoured specifications of this camera,

• DIGIC 4 image processor
• 4:2:2 Video Range
• Full frame sensor with dust reduction system
• No RAW0
• Resolution of 5616×3744 pixels (21 Megapixels)
• OLED Screen
• Extended battery Life (1800mAh LP-E6 battery)

Sony Xperia Play:

Long awaited Sony Ericsson’s play station phone finally becomes reality. It provides you the gaming power you could want in a mobile phone.The rumoured specifications of this includes,

• Qualcomm Scorpion Processor
• Backlit LCD Screen
• 5.1 Megapixels Camera
• Social Network Integration
• Stereo Speakers
• 8GB of Storage
• 1500mAh battery

Blue ray Players:

In 2012 it is slowly replacing the old DVD Players into Blue ray Players. Since it has the larger memory space, Long battery life and good sounding system it will take over the DVD players.

The right features are,

• Video streaming
• BD-Live
• Wi-Fi
• 3D capability
• DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance)
• A/V connections
• Disc capacity
• connections and memory-card slots

The launch of these new gadgets in today’s increasing technology, will began a new stage of highly upgraded products with constant functions.

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Rumor: New iPhone to Have 4.6-inch Retina Display

Now that the iPad 3 is official, the Apple rumormill has set its sights on the next as-yet-unannounced Apple product: the new iPhone. The latest says that the iPhone 5 will have a larger display than iPhones of years gone by.

Zoom

Earlier this month, Apple took the wraps off not one, but two new products. The company gave us both the iPad 3 and a new Apple TV. However, true Apple fans are never satisfied and the rumor mill has already set its sights on the next hotly-anticipated Apple product. According to the latest rumors, the new iPhone will pack a 4.6-inch display, which is more than an inch bigger than the iPhone 4S.

The news comes by way of South Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper (via Reuters), which cites information from an industry source in reporting the details. This industry source says Apple new iPhone will have a sharper and bigger 4.6-inch "retina" display. If the rumors are true, this will represent the first change in display size for the iPhone. Apple has maintained a 3.5-inch display size for every iteration of iPhone from day one. However, with most of its rivals producing bigger devices, Apple's iPhone is starting to look a little bit small when it comes to screen real estate.

Another interesting tidbit from Maeil Business Newspaper's source is that the iPhone will be launched in the second quarter. This means that after releasing the iPhone 4S last fall, Apple is preparing to revert to its old iPhone refresh cycle of a new phone every summer. The report doesn't mention whether or not this iPhone will be called iPhone 5, as is rumored, or if Apple will drop the number completely, as it did with the iPad this year.

Source:Toms Hardware

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April Samsung Galaxy S III launch in consideration says top exec

Samsung’s Galaxy S III could still launch in April, it’s been revealed, with the company considering pulling forward the debut of the much-anticipated handset from initial May estimates. Samsung Greater China President Kim Young-Ha revealed the potential timescale tweak at a press conference earlier today, the Maeli Business News reports, though the acceleration is yet to be agreed upon.

April has been a well-cited month by retailers and tipsters for the Galaxy S III to arrive, but Samsung has denied all such previous leaks. Instead, the company has merely said that it would launch the new phone sometime in the first half of 2012, having bypassed Mobile World Congress last month so as to reduce the period between unveiling the Galaxy S III and actually putting it on sale.

Nonetheless, Samsung’s reticence to settle on a date hasn’t stopped widespread speculation about the specifications of the new flagship. According to various leaks and rumors, the phone will have a 4.8-inch AMOLED display running at HD resolution, paired with an 8-megapixel camera, NFC for a wireless payments push, and a ceramic casing similar to Rado luxury watches. There’s also been talk of a wireless charging system integrated as standard, and the whole phone being as little as 7mm thick.

Like Apple and Microsoft before it, Samsung is eyeing the Chinese market as the next big thing in potential growth, and the company believes there’s room there for high-end flagships like the GSIII. Kim Young-Ha expects 40-percent growth for Samsung in China, Moneytoday reports.

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