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Motorola X Smartphone To Feature Great Battery Life And Kevlar Backing

If you’re a fan of Android devices then you will probably already have heard the rumors surrounding a new X Phone from the Google/Motorola stable. This has also been referred to as the Google X or Motorola X although the name will probably be changed before release. It’s rumored that this X Phone will be the first device to launch running the next overhaul of the Android operating system, 5.0 Key Lime Pie and today we have some snippets of specs claimed to be coming to the X Phone.

To start it looks like Google’s I/O event on May 15th is when the Motorola X-Phone will be revealed to the world, but read on for more details.

Rumors have been floating around on the X-Phone since the WSJ originally leaked the details, and today sources claim to actually have a friend using and testing the new smartphone. Yup, according to PhoneArena’s tipster the device is in the wild and being tested by a few lucky souls.

This source says Motorola and Google have decided on a 4.8-inch 1920 x 1080p full HD display, will reveal it at I/O on May 15th, and it will even sport the impressive Sony Exmor camera sensor. Apple’s exclusivity contract has ended, and we can expect that camera sensor to make its way into multiple handsets early this year.

Google’s big focus lately on Android smartphones has been for durability, and battery life. The X-Phone will address both of those. Using Motorola’s excellent Kevlar design for extreme durability and splash-guard water-resistance mixed in with a battery like the RAZR MAXX HD (3,300 mAh) the new X-Phone will reportedly rock. It will have the latest and greatest hardware on all levels, the newest Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie, amazing battery life, be extremely durable, support up to 128GB of internal storage and come with a micro-SD slot, and all of this will hit multiple carriers. Not to mention be sold on the Google Play Store.

Looks like a winner to us!

[Android Community]

February 3, 2013
Apple Still Leader In Tablet Market, But Samsung Closing In

Apple’s share of the tablet market declined again in the fourth quarter of 2012 but the company still has twice the share of its nearest rival, Samsung.

Research firm IDC and their latest numbers are showing that current market leader Apple with their iPad are losing tablet market share. Apple’s tablet market share dropped from 51.7% to 43.6%, where in the last three months of 2012 Samsung jumped up to 15.1%.

When taking in consideration the year-over-year numbers, Samsung’s growth has been huge where a year ago they sold just 2.2 million tablets, and twelve months later they’re seeing sales of 7.9 million units.

IDC said the strongest growth came from Android, including tablets made by South Korea’s Samsung and Taiwan’s Asus, which makes a Google-branded Nexus tablet.

The survey found that Microsoft, which launched its new Surface tablet in the quarter, failed to break into the top five sellers and shipped a modest 900,000 of the devices in the quarter.

IDC said Amazon, which does not provide its own sales data, delivered some six million tablets in the quarter to retain its spot as the number three vendor.

That represented 26.8 percent growth, giving Amazon a market share of 11.5 percent, IDC said.

Fourth place belonged to Asus, which sold 3.1 million tablets, year-on-year growth of more than 400 percent. That gave the Taiwan-based firm a 5.8 percent market share. Barnes & Noble sold one million of its Nook tablets and accounted to 1.9 percent of the market, the survey found.

The tablet market is expected to get much more serious this year, with multiple Nexus tablets from Google, as well as Microsoft’s upcoming Surface Pro slate.

February 3, 2013
Finally! Your Normal Data Plans Will Work With Blackberry 10 Devices, No Need For BIS

The BlackBerry Z10 is coming out soon — so close! — and just in case you were wondering, no, you won’t have to change your current plan.

Unlike older BlackBerries, the Z10 does not require an explicit BIS plan; in fact, it requires a regular data plan. BlackBerry-only plans such as Blackberry Personal E-mail Plans, BlackBerry Social Plans and BBM only will not work with the new Z10. The same is true of all other carriers as well.

This means that if you’re transitioning over from an iPhone or an Android with a data plan, just stick your SIM card in the Z10 and everything from the browser to BBM will work without issue. Of course, you’ll need a microSIM in order to connect to the network, so older devices (or iPhone 5 users) will need a new one.

When it comes to enterprise users who will be running their BlackBerry 10 phones via a BES10 server, a special BlackBerry BES plan will be required – so nothing has changed there. Being on BES10 is what enables features like BlackBerry Balance to function. However, if you’re in a business where you’re going to be running your BlackBerry 10 phones alongside iOS and Android devices with no BES in place, then no BlackBerry data plan is required – you’re in the same situation as a consumer.

[Mobile Syrup]

February 3, 2013
HTC CEO Brandishes White M7, Starts “HTC M7!” Chant!

Ever woken up the day after a killer party and everyone but you knows you messed up last night? HTC CEO Peter Chou might be that guy when he wakes up, unless he intentionally showed off the new HTC M7 smartphone just a few days before the official launch.

The cordial and savvy CEO was seen taking photos of a crowd during a news broadcast, and though we don’t see much detail of the white version of the phone, we’re happy to see it. The HTC M7 is expected to come in both black and white at launch, and may be released in early March according to the latest rumours.

[quote]”This event today is a great opportunity for testing [the camera],” Chou, as translated by Engadget, said. “I was still testing it just now.”[/quote]

Aside from the fact that he was so juiced he had gave the world its first real look at the HTC M7, Chou’s excitement came pouring out as he led the room in spirited chants of “HTC” and “M7.”

The device appears to be longer and narrower than the popular One X, with a centred camera module and a barely-perceptible HTC logo on the back.

As for the phone itself, rumors say this phone will have a 4.7-inch 1080p display with a 1.7Ghz Snapdragon S4 Pro and 2GB of RAM. Add in a 13MP camera in the back and a 2.1MP wide frame camera in the front and you’ve got yourself a pretty solid phone. If HTC is, in fact, about to release a beefier HTC Butterfly that is a little easier for most people to actually hold and use with one hand, the M7 will be a force to be reckoned with this spring.

You can watch Chou let it all out in the clip below:

February 2, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Benchmarks Leaked, Tipped To Launch At Mobile World Congress

Today a few benchmark results have appeared on the web showing off a Samsung tablet device that will likely be appearing at Mobile World Congress 2013 for the first time in full. This device appears to be one of 3 or 4 new models appearing soon according to SamMobile, their tipster letting it be known that “Santos” is the code-name attached to the whole new Galaxy Tab 3 lineup.

This model could be the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0, Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, or the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0, though the last entry on this list has also reportedly been dropped from final production.

With these benchmark results in effect we’ve got a 7-inch display on a tablet with 800 x 1280 pixel resolution, not all that fantastic, but certainly not low-end. You’ve also got Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean and a processor (with an unknown amount of cores) running at 1.5Ghz. This machine will likely be an incremental update resting on the specifications of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 which we reviewed mid-2012.

Additionally, Samsung is also making efforts to bring the Android-based Galaxy Tab 3 Plus or P8200 to the market. This is the high-end tablet we reported earlier that is expected to come in 16 and 32GB variants. Furthermore, a second generation Galaxy Note 10.1 codenamed Vienna may also be in the works.

February 2, 2013
Rumour : HTC To Follow M7 With M4 and G2

Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC Corporation is reportedly gearing up for the release of new Android-based handsets in the near future, including the newly leaked HTC M4 and HTC G2 smartphones, which will complement the previously spotted HTC M7, it seems.

These could very well be announced at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in a few weeks. First up is the “M4? – a device that will come with specs just under the M7 – and sport a 4.3-inch 720p display, 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, 2GB RAM, 13MP camera and a 1.6MP front-facing camera, 1,700 mAh battery, plus run Android OS 4.2 Jellybean with the new Sense 5.0.

Next is another code-name device called the “G2.” This is an entry level Android that might feature specs that were popular on devices last year. The “G2? is rumoured to come with a 1GHz processor, 3.5-inch HVGA display, 5 MP camera, runs OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich The main difference, 512 RAM and a 1,400 mAh battery.

On the specs front, the HTC M7 is expected to be powered by 1.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor paired with 2GB of RAM. The device would come with a 4.7-inch Full-HD display, amounting to a pixel density of 468ppi. The M7 will most probable sport a 13 megapixel snapper at the back along with a 2 megapixel camera at the front and 32GB of on-board storage.

The HTC “M4? and “G2? are rumoured to be available “sometime during the spring.

[Unwired View]

February 1, 2013
Motorola X Phone Confirmed By LinkedIn Job Posting

Motorola posted a job opening on LinkedIn this week searching for a product manager for an upcoming smartphone called the X Phone.

There was a pervasive rumour going around last year that Google and its newly-acquired Motorola Mobile division were working on a phone that would rival the iPhone, both in terms of sales and quality. While Motorola hasn’t had the best 12 months, repeatedly losing money quarter over quarter, the company is poised for a comeback in 2013.

The job posting on LinkedIn was for a “Senior Director of Product Management” to work on the X-Phone project and this is the first time Motorola directly referenced the X-Phone. The listing did not reveal anything about the phone itself, but at least it seems to prove its existence. It also indicates that development is still at an early stage, so don’t expect to see it anytime soon.

Motorola is trying to regain its strength in the smartphone market, and Google is attempting to get its $12.5 billion money’s worth. During Google’s earnings call last week, they deflected blame that they haven’t yet been able to turn around Motorola’s mobile business, stating that all the devices the company released since the acquisition were planned and executed without Google’s intervention.

We’re excited about the potential for Motorola’s success this year; the company is in better hands with Google than it was before.

February 1, 2013
Google+ And Google Play Music For Android Updated
Google on Wednesday released updates to two of its Android apps, Google+ and Google Play Music. You can download the latest versions now directly from the Google Play Store: here and here.

The former now displays notifications in the top right corner, much like its web-based counterpart. This makes more sense when scrolling through the app, as Google+ relies so heavily on them. Google+ users can now also insert links into their posts, and Community Moderators have more options when administrating a page.

The Google Play Music update is more significant. This makes sense given that the service is even newer than Google+, if you can believe it.

Instant mixes finally go beyond 25 songs (an arbitrary limit that should never have been there in the first place) and the app now features new album art. As for new features, the homescreen widget has gained a previous button and you can now shuffle an album, artist, or playlist.

There’s a new widget design and, thankfully, freezing fixes for the Galaxy S III.

Changelog for version 4.5.910I:
- Instant mixes continue playing beyond 25 songs.
- Added ability to shuffle an album, artist or playlist.
- New default album art.
- Previous button added to widget.
- Pinning progress now shown on album and playlist pages.
- Fix for the Galaxy S3 freezing issue.
Again, neither of these updates are particularly breathtaking but they are part of what makes using Google’s apps so enjoyable. Everyone likes regular updates that bring in more functionality for free. In both the social networking and music streaming spaces, Google has to keep iterating to fight the competition.

[The Next Web]
February 1, 2013
Nokia : Blackberries Make a Great Snack, But For The World’s Best Business Smartphone Try a Lumia

The big news today comes from the company-formerly-known-as-RIM and their new OS and flagship smartphone. Blackberry has always been loved by businesses for it’s many business features, but in the past few years the competition, such as Windows Phone, has made big strides to be business ready. This has lead a lot of businesses to adopt “bring your own phone,” which lets employees use many different popular smartphones, not just Blackberry devices.

Nokia has taken to Facebook to point out that Lumia devices are just as business-ready, if not more, than Blackberry devices.

[quote]Nokia Canada’s Facebook page stated that “Blackberries make a great snack, but for the world’s best business smartphone try a Lumia.” This is of course part of the new “Make the Switch” marketing campaign that encourages people to use the Lumia.[/quote]

Windows Phone has native Skype support along with Office applications, plus SkyDrive for backup. BlackBerry is known in the industry for having the best, probably most secure, email support for businesses, but Windows Phone 8 also added many modern security protocols. In addition, BlackBerry has SAP support, Box and Dropbox for cloud storage and will soon be adding Skype to their list of apps.

It’ll be very interesting to see who wins the battle for 3rd place.

January 31, 2013
Windows Phone 7.8 Rollout Starts For Many Devices Including Nokia Lumia 900

Nokia has started to roll out the Windows Phone 7.8 update to all its smartphones currently sitting on Windows Phone 7.5.

Handsets confirmed for the upgrade so far are the Lumia 510, 610, 710, 800 and 900, with Windows Phone 7.8 arriving over the coming weeks on all the handsets.

Annoyingly you’ll have to dig out your USB cable, turn on your computer and fire up the Zune desktop software to get Windows Phone 7.8 downloaded and installed on your handset, as over-the-air support only arrived with Windows Phone 8.

Windows Phone 7.8 update will add new features like a new start screen UI with resizable live tiles, as found in Windows Phone 8. The update brings Windows Phone 8 branding to existing Lumia devices on the splash screen and icons for Games, Office and Windows Phone Store.

Windows Phone 7.8 doubles the number of theme and accent colours to 20 and adds other new lock screen features: the option to automatically display the Bing Picture of the Day plus the ‘A1B2C3’ PIN/password challenge to prevent accidental device wipes on phones connected to Exchange accounts.

No word yet from the likes of Samsung and HTC on Windows Phone 7.8 update plans for their devices.

January 31, 2013
White Blackberry Q10 spotted

While Blackberry was busy renaming their parent company and launching the new OS along with black variants of the Z10 and Q10 a white version of the BOLD series replacement the Blackberry Q10 has been spotted at the event.

The Blackberry Q10 is packed with a 720 x 720 Super AMOLED 3.1-inch display, the Blackberry Q10’s screen is slightly larger than its touch-hybrid predecessor, the Bold 9930, and has a pixel density of 328ppi. Other specs include the 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and 2GB of RAM, 10.3mm-thick body and a 139g weight.

January 31, 2013
Blackberry Announces Blackberry Q10, With Physical QWERTY Keyboard

The BlackBerry Q10 is the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone with a physical keyboard, it features a glass laminated back which is reportedly lighter and stronger than plastic. The handset features a stainless steel build, “edge-to-edge glass”, and what it’s calling a three-dimensional weave on the back.

The Blackberry Q10 sports a 1.5GHz processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage, which is expandable with a microSD slot. The 3,1-inch touchscreen has 330ppi, 720 x 720 display.

[quote]”We have the aspiration to be the best keyboard experience period,” Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said during an event in New York.[/quote]

BlackBerry 10 will also launch with applications and games such as Foursquare, Skype, Twitter, Facebok, Angry Birds Star Wars, Where’s My Water, Cisco WebEx and many more. The BlackBerry Z10 will be available in the UK starting tomorrow, in Canada February 5th, the UAE February 10th and in the US in late March.

Heins, meanwhile, discussed other features of the new products and operating system, including BlackBerry Flow, which allows users to move between apps. The technology allows users to open and minimize apps through swipes, and everything keeps working. BlackBerry Peek allows users to play a video and check notifications at once.

BlackBerry has confirmed that it will be getting some big name apps including Amazon Kindle, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

It was also announced earlier in the week that BlackBerry had signed a deal with the major TV studios and film networks confirming that big titles such as Prometheus, American Dad and Friends would all be available on BlackBerry 10.

January 30, 2013
Blackberry Launches New Flagship Z10

In a move that shocked precisely nobody, the new BlackBerry Z10 has been launched.

[quote]When introducing the BlackBerry Z10, Thorsten Heins said, “This is the most beautiful BlackBerry we have ever launched. I can’t wait for you to try it out. We knew a large beautiful display was important. This is the window into the BlackBerry 10 experience.”[/quote]

The new handset features BlackBerry 10 OS as the obvious talking point. The Blackberry Z10 also has a 4.2-inch HD screen, dual core processor and 16GB of onboard storage.

The BlackBerry Z10 contains a 1.5Ghz dual-core Snapdragon S4 8960 SoC with an Adreno 225 GPU, the same part found in the Lumia 920.

The 356ppi pixel density is sharper than the iPhone 5, though it doesn’t match the ridiculous 440+ found on recently-announced Android products like the Sony Xperia Z.

The BlackBerry Z10 has two cameras, a 8MP back shooter and a 2MP front-facing lens. They offer a few nifty features, such as the ability rewind and get the picture you wanted, rather than the one you actually took, called TimeShift.

[quote]”We have been on a journey of transformation, to transform our business and our brand, but also one that will transform mobile communications to true mobile computing,” Heins said on stage. “Saying we have reinvented this company is simply not enough. Today is a new day in the history of BlackBerry.”[/quote]

BlackBerry also discussed a feature called BlackBerry Balance, which allows you to create different areas of the phone for work and your personal life. Additionally, it’s new BlackBerry Messenger will have voice and video chatting functionality, allowing users a way around using their minutes.

The BlackBerry Z10 is has a specially designed screen for precise touch input, so typing on the BlackBerry keyboard can be faster and more accurate. The BlackBerry Z10 screen uses the latest technology to ensure images are sharp, clear and incredibly vivid.

[quote]”We will be the platform launching with the highest number of apps on day one,” Boulben said. The company has worked with software developers to stock its BlackBerry World store, which includes apps and music and movies, to have 70,000 apps out of the gate. RIM announced that popular apps like Facebook, Twitter, Angry Birds, Evernote, Rdio, ESPN Scorecenter, Flixter and Cut the Rope will be in the store for consumers.[/quote]

Like all previous BlackBerry smartphone and, with clear sights on its utilitarian roots, the Z10 has a removable battery cover with a replaceable battery cell. The new battery, LS1, is taller and narrower than in previous RIM products and, at 1800mAh, is slightly larger.

RIM also includes a Siri-like Voice Assistant that is activated by holding down the play/pause button on the side of the phone. It can perform many of the same tasks as its iOS counterpart: send texts and emails, search the web, schedule an appointment or make a Remember note.

The Blackberry Q10 has also been announced. We’re still awaiting the magic of things like prices or a release date, but we’ll update the story as soon as we hear.

Specs

– BlackBerry 10 OS
– 4.2-inch 1280×768 pixel TFT display
– 1.5Ghz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 SoC
– 2GB RAM / 16GB internal storage (w/ microSD)
– 8MP BSI back camera / 2MP front-facing camera
– 1080p video capture @ 30fps
– WiFi (b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS/GLONASS, NFC
– 1800mAh removable battery
– 130mm x 65.6mm x 9mm
– 135.4 grams
– 3G (850/1900) / LTE (700/AWS)

January 30, 2013
Microsoft Launches Office 365 For Consumers

Today, Microsoft Corporation announced the availability of Office 365 for consumers, a reinvention of the company’s flagship Office product line. Families can now subscribe to Office 365 Home Premium, which includes the latest and most complete set of Office applications; works across five PCs/Macs plus five mobile devices; and comes with extra SkyDrive storage.

[quote]“This isn’t just another version of Office. This is Office reinvented as a consumer cloud service,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft Corp. “Together with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, Office 365 gives you the freedom to do things when and how you want.”[/quote]

Microsoft also announced it will now deliver many new features and services to the cloud first, transforming the company’s traditional three-year release cycle. Now, new features and services stream to subscribers as soon as they’re ready, eliminating the hassles of upgrading and keeping subscribers always up-to-date.

[quote] “This is a major leap forward,” said Ramkumar Pichai, GM – Microsoft Office Division, Microsoft India. “It’s a service designed to help you manage the tasks of your work and home life, wherever you are, whenever you need, online or offline. Also, it’s a perfect fit for busy families and individuals who can connect multiple devices with a single subscription.”[/quote]

The new 365 Home Premium will be available for purchase in India at an annual subscription of INR 4,199/-. Simultaneously, Microsoft also announced in India the availability of the updated FPP version of its traditional Office suite for consumers – Office Home and Student 2013.

January 30, 2013
Rejoice! iOS 6 Jailbreak Confirmed, May Come Out On Sunday!

After many tantalizing hints, the team behind the upcoming evad3rs jailbreak has confirmed it will come as early as Sunday. The crew, noted jailbreak developers @pod2g, @planetbeing and @musclenerd, are working hard on the front-end code for the jailbreak, but the team members have individually assured the world that it is untethered and compatible with iOS 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2 and the newly-released 6.1.

According to the team, the new jailbreak will support every iOS device on the market except for the Apple TV 3rd gen, including the iPhone 5 and iPad 4. While jailbreak has since lost some of its steam due to the addition of many consumer-facing features in iOS 6, many users still clamor for the enhanced experience of BiteSMS and Infinidock, among others.

[quote]”We (+ @MuscleNerd @planetbeing @pimskeks) are the @evad3rs. We don’t take any donations ATM, please don’t be fooled at donating to others,” tweeted Pod2g.[/quote]

For those unaware, the iOS jailbreak eliminates the limitations forced by Apple on devices running the company’s latest operating system through the use of software tweaks on devices that include iPhones, iPads, and more. A tethered system means the procedure must be repeated every time the smartphone reboots.

The information about evad3rs possession of the jailbreak was revealed by pod2g to iDigitalTimes.

[quote]The hacker talked about the success of the team of developers saying: “6.0 is jailbroken, 6.1 beta 4 also. Now we are waiting 6.1 to confirm and release. For your information and this is important to me that everybody knows about it also, this jailbreak will be @planetbeing and @pimskeks.”[/quote]

Pod2g also added that he was only a small part of the jailbreak’s discovery as the majority of the work was done by @planetbeing and @pimskeks.

While the team allegedly has the iOS 6 untethered jailbreak, they are holding on to it until Apple releases iOS 6.1.

January 30, 2013