Category: Brands and Companies

All Brands and Company Names

RIM’s Rebranded BlackBerry World Web Store Launched

RIM officially put the naming of the BlackBerry App World to sleep this morning. In its place is the new branding of “BlackBerry World.” This change was noted at BlackBerry Jam Americas back in November and will play a big part in the launch of BlackBerry 10. According to their company blog, BlackBerry World “reflects a shift in the type of things you can purchase from the store,” such as apps, with music (powered by 7Digital) and movies coming later. RIM promises that the new BlackBerry World will be your “one-stop shop for all of your mobile entertainment needs.”

The beleaguered manufacturer made the change in preparation for the launch of its new OS, BB 10, later this month. It recently announced that it had amassed 15,000 BB 10 app submissionsin just two days, and calls BlackBerry World “the one-stop shop for all of your mobile entertainment needs.”

Their website and mobile store have been redesigned. BlackBerry smartphone or PlayBook owners will see the new BlackBerry World changes arrive on their device “in the coming weeks.” RIM also notes that we can easily share links to the content via BBM, Facebook, Twitter, or you can use your NFC-enabled device and “simply tap smartphones together and invite your friends to download it.”

The change to RIM’s online store is rolling out now, and should be available to everyone in the next 24 hours. It will be rolled out to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and BB smartphones in the coming weeks.

January 21, 2013
Exclusive Hands on : Micromax A116 Canvas HD

With really no reason as to why the company numbered this device A116 the Canvas HD was announced today at a press conference in New Delhi. The Device is a add on the the popular A series for Micromax and is also a lead on to the highly popular A110 Canvas 2. The Phone is priced at an MRP of 14,999., But we expect the device to be available for around the Rs. 12,000 price mark in India.

The Micromax A116 Canvas HD is powered by a Mediatek MT6589 chipset that has a quad core 1.2 GHz processor and PowerVR SGX5 GPU, the device is laden with 1 GB of RAM and 4 GB of storage. The front has a nice and vivid 16.7 Million color 5 inch IPS display with a resolution of 1280 x720 hence the Canvas HD moniker.

The Micromax A116 Canvas HD is almost identical in design to the the A110 but seems a bit sleeker and more defined along the edges. The camera was non functional on the prototype unit that we handled, but the company says is better than the one on the A110. The Canvas HD also has an improved light perfonce in the front camera and an enhanced speaker if Micromax is to be believed. On the Benchmark front we found that the device was quite capable and was able to deliver a knocking performance (video soon).

Internet browsing was surprisingly smooth, and the web page was snappily laid out on the poor internet connection that we had. The phone is also backed by Mediatek’s promise of a highly efficient battery life and low heat generation. Which should ensure a good overall user experience for Micromax A116 Canvas HD owners.

Canvas HD A116

Watch our hands on Video below and stay tuned for Benchmarks. We will also come out with an unboxing and Review in the coming week.

January 21, 2013
HTC M7 Spotted with Sense 5.0

HTC M7 has to be the worst kept secret for the company, with images and renders doing rounds on the internet, Android Police has an image and screenshots for the M7, a prototype HTC smartphone. Quite similar in looks to the Droid DNA for Verizon and similar in specs too. However the M7 appears to be running Sense 5.0

The widgets and the overall look of the UI seems to have been overhauled. The locations of buttons resemble the Windows Phone 8x along with the front facing camera. While the design is reminiscent of the Butterfly and the DNA it feels like a completely new device. Lets see what HTC has in store for us at Mobile World Congress.

[Android Police]

January 21, 2013
Sony Xperia Z To Receive Android 4.2 Update Shortly After Launch

Sony will be rolling out an update to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean shortly after they launch their new Xperia Z smartphone sometime in the next couple of months, likely in March. Talk Android reports that the news came earlier today on Twitter, during a company question and answer session.

From Sony’s Twitter account: “Xperia Z launches on JB 4.1, but will receive 4.2 shortly after launch. As always, we’ll share more info on this over the coming weeks on the blog.”

The Jelly Bean 4.2 update will bring some modest improvements over 4.1, like a more reactive user interface through touch-responsive CPU boosting, automatically resizing widgets, lock-screen widget options, and Android Beam, which is basically that “tap to share” feature that the Samsung Galaxy S3 boasted in its launch advertisements.

While it’s great that Sony is promising quick action on the update front, especially since if they do follow through with it in good time it will be one of the first non-Nexus devices to run Google’s newest OS, we’re left wondering whether the whole thing is lip service to a very small group of users and journalists.

As we’ve reported earlier, the Sony Xperia Z will be a quite impressive piece of hardware to run Android Jelly Bean on, no matter what version you have. With a five inch screen capable of 1080p high definition resolution, a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor with 2 GB of RAM, and a 13 megapixel rear camera with 16x digital zoom, the Xperia is going to be a hot smartphone to have when it releases sometime in the next couple of months (it’s being released in the United Kingdom on March 1st, so it’s a safe bet that soon after it will land here).

January 19, 2013
Opera To Launch WebKit-Powered ‘Opera Ice’ Browser For iOS And Android in Febuary

Opera Software, the company behind the popular browser of the same name, will launch a new smartphone and tablet browser called Opera Ice in February, Pocket-lint has revealed. It is an attempt to stay relevant and take the fight to Google and Apple in the mobile browser stakes.

According to a preview obtained by Pocket-lint, the company plans to do away with many of space-wasting icons and boxes, opting instead for gestures and big, beautiful icons.

The company will launch Opera Ice for Android and iOS, and it will be optimized for tablets as well as smartphones. It appears that the new version will take over from the traditional Opera Mobile as the company’s flagship mobile browser, but it will still offer its bandwidth-saving Opera Mini browser for legacy smartphone users.

The app focuses on gestures to navigate between pages and to access the home screen, which resembles an iOS or Android screen with bookmarks that mimic native applications. Opera means to utilize WebKit to ensure ultimate standards compliance, and to allow HTML5-based web applications the most space to run. The company is betting on HTML5 as a cross-platform development unifier and WebKit, as we saw recently with Microsoft’s mobile IE10 woes, is the only true player in the space at the moment.

The company also stated that it may bring a Windows Phone version to market, but it first wants to evaluate whether there is enough demand for such a product.

Look for Opera Ice to debut during Mobile World Congress next month in Barcelona.

[Pocket-lint]

January 19, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Note II To Come In Amber Brown And Ruby Wine As Well

Remember that black Galaxy Note II, the one we were so excited about? It was a fake, a render, a disappointment. But there is hope.

Samsung has announced two new colours of the Galaxy Note II, Amber Brown and Ruby Wine, which will be hitting Asian markets in the coming months. They’re a little more ornate than the aforementioned render, but they also stand to appeal to a wider audience.

The existing lineup, which includes white and slate grey, has been available since the phone’s release last year, but Samsung has traditionally waited several months between variants, hoping to appeal to the wait-and-see crowd.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 has always been a sexy slab of silicon, especially on the inside, where it rocks a quad-core Exynos 4412 CPU and 2 GB of RAM. However, if you’re one of those guys or gals that like to stand out with eccentric or bizarre fashion statements (I’m trying to avoid the “fashionista” term), you probably weren’t too swept off your feet by the phablet’s color combos.

Other than the funky and snazzy colours, the GNote 2 will have the same hardware or software installed inside including a HD Super AMOLED display, quad-core Exynos 4412 CPU, 2 GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB internal memory and 8 megapixel rear camera and front camera for video calling, Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and a 3,100 mAh battery. Even though the existence of a Topaz Blue and back versions of Galaxy Note II still remains a sweet dream, the availability of the phones in new colour combinations will truly evoke the fans.

[Android Authority]

January 18, 2013
Video : Nokia Lumia 920 And Samsung Galaxy S III Get Hit By A Fast Ball To Check Build Quality

So, how would you further test the Nokia Lumia 920?s sturdiness when it has already faced so many “Torture tests” and has proved why it is “the Premium device” among the so many Flagships out there.

Now, Nokia has tested both Lumia 920 and SGS III in a “Pitching Machine challenge“. Both the devices were set to facehigh-speed “fastballs” pitched from the machine.

The S III goes up to bat first, and unfortunately suffers a career-ending injury (as you can see in the video). Not only does its screen crack, but the back panel careens off, leaving its innards exposed. Really, what happens is to be expected.

The video captured the fastball impact and continued to record after being knocked off the stand. The screen survived and the casing was left unscathed.

We would certainly ask you to watch the video yourself and see what happened. The video is part of Nokia’s #switch campaign, with a whole series of videos which can be seen on Nokia’s YouTube page here.

January 18, 2013
Analyst : Apple Shipped 52 Million iPhones In Q4 2012

Rumours of Apple’s death have been greatly exaggerated.

Last week we heard plenty of rumors about Apple having cut display orders for the new iPhone 5 due to lower than expected demand. While it has gone as far as to affect Apple’s stock prices, it may not have been entirely true. According to one analyst Apple were able to ship some 52 million iPhone units in Q4.

In other words, any cuts in display orders correspond to a predictable slide in iPhone sales for the new year. Despite a rapidly-shrinking stock price, Apple is bound by law not to comment on such things; it has to wait until January 23rd to report its Q4 earnings which will, predictably, be stellar.

According to AppleInsider, a leaked document sent to investors this week cites iPhone sales of 52 million for the quarter ending December 31st. This includes all current models being sold around the world, including the discounted iPhone 4 and 4S. iPhone 5 sales are expected to be 35 million, some nine million more than all the iPhones sold in Q3.

In other words, an almost-100% increase quarter-over-quarter, and a year-over-year gain of over 40% is not out of the cards, which will inevitably lead to the company’s highest-grossing quarter ever.

Overall, Apple is expected to have moved over 140 million smartphones in 2012, led by strong iPhone 4S shipments of some 74 million units during the first half of the year.

More than anything, these mammoth numbers from all camps speak to the rise of the smartphone in general, and the prospect of another healthy year in 2013 for all involved companies. Manufacturers like LG, Sony, HTC, Huawei, Nokia and RIM are aiming to take some market share away from Apple and Samsung in the coming months, but it’s a two horse race for the foreseeable future.

Apple is set to reveal details regarding fourth quarter shipments during the company’s quarterly conference call scheduled for Jan. 23.

Source: AppleInsider, Forbes

January 17, 2013
Google Chrome Beta Receives First Update To Fix Bugs
Google Chrome beta for Android was released just five days ago, but it has already received its first update in what looks to be a coming trend. The desktop beta and developer channels receive weekly updates and Google is unlikely to slow down its improvement schedule for mobile, especially since both versions share a significant proportion of code.

These bug fixes are mainly about interaction with specific websites, but there are some overarching performance improvements on some devices. These are also a number of outstanding bugs to contend with, including poor performance on the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S. And while the beta version did decrease the propensity for crashing on the Nexus 10, it didn’t eliminate it altogether. Hopefully this will be addressed in the coming weeks.

If you’ve already downloaded the Chrome beta via the non-searchable Play Store link, you’ll see an update available for you today. If not, head to this link and get downloading. Chrome beta, like its sibling, is available for Android 4.0+ devices only.

This update contains a number of fixes, including:
- 164632 – Edit Bookmark is broken
- 167351 – Youtube video controls are lost after returning from fullscreen
- 167016 – Some Samsung Galaxy S2 freezes
- 168062 – Double tapping on non-zoomable sites scrolls the page to the top briefly before returning to original position
- 167379 – Sometimes tabswitcher is frozen
- 166998 – Tab content stretched out while returning to it through side swipe gesture
- 168632 – Crash – Stack Signature: TabAndroidImpl::FromWebContents
- 168388 – Sync signed in info text’s font size is too small
- 168430 – Bookmark star icon doesn’t turn grey/white immediately after bookmarking URL /deleting URL from bookmarks
Known Issues:
- Performance is sluggish, noticeably on Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S
- Frequent freeze on devices with specific versions of Qualcomm GPU driver
- Text autosizing may break formatting on some sites
- Video continues playing after exiting fullscreen on android phones
- [HTC Droid DNA] Getting crash on tabswitcher mode
- 163439 – yahoo.com page links are not working
- 166233 – Cannot submit comments on facebook posts or pictures
- 165244 – Text handler jumps or disappears when moving
- 162486 – iframe scrolling broken
- 158633: Tap disambiguation overaggressive
- 169910 – Flickering while opening new tab
[Mobile Syrup, Android Task Force]
January 16, 2013
New Hands-On Video Of RIM’s BlackBerry Z10 Shows Up On YouTube, Shows Rear Camera Footage

RIM is set to officially unveil its BlackBerry 10 operating system and the devices that will first carry it on 30 January in several countries around the globe.

We’ve had more leaks than a woolen canoe when it comes to the new BlackBerry devices, but there has always been an air of mystique around certain aspects. Until now.

Austrian website Telekom-presse.at has completely blown the lid on the phone formerly known as the BlackBerry London or L-Series. It is now simply the BlackBerry Z10 (as rumoured a while back), and the site professes to have had one in its grasp long enough to give it a full review.

The specs for the phone are solid but not cutting-edge: a dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 SoC and 2GB of RAM drive a 4.2-inch 1280×768 display, and the phone has 16GB of storage that is expandable via a microSD card slot. The phone also has a USB and good-sized 2100mAh battery, weighs 4.4 ounces (125 grams), and measures roughly 5.07 by 2.56 by 0.31 inches (129 x 65 x 8mm), slightly larger in every dimension than an iPhone 5. The back of the device is covered by a lightly textured removable plastic cover.

A video from Telekom-Presse has been uploaded to YouTube today, this time showing off the camera quality. According to their report, the Z10 “camera takes very excellent images even in low light” and will sport “a resolution of 8MP and 3264 x 1836 pixels in 16:9 mode or 3264 x 2448 pixels in 4:3 mode. The front camera has 1.9 MPx and triggers with 1600 x 1200 or 1600 x 900 pixels on.”

The video is quick, only 34 seconds, but the quality is solid and so is the sound.

January 16, 2013
Official Speedtest App For Windows Phone 8 Released

Owners of Windows Phone 8 devices can now download and install a new application on their devices, namely Speedtest.net, which has been available for other mobile platforms out there for quite some time now.

The Speedtest.net web interface has been used by millions of people all over the world to test whether or not they are getting what they pay for from their ISPs. The site was originally launched to provide performance indicators of the tested network, but has grown to include a portfolio of official mobile apps as well as a reporting mechanism to see how ISPs around the world are performing, with the idea in mind that being able to name and shame companies should keep service providers honest. Windows Phone 8 users can now count themselves as part of the official experience.

The application already has millions of users, and arrives on Windows Phone 8 devices with the same features and capabilities as on other platforms.

One word of note though: judging by the comments left on the application it appears that some owners of the Lumia 920 on USA’s AT&T are having issues running the program, but the majority of people who have downloaded the application, on the other hand, say that it works as intended. They also seem to dig the new user interface.

Speedtest.net is a free app for Windows Phone 8 devices and you can find it here in the Windows Phone Store.

January 15, 2013
Leaked Samsung Roadmap Hints At 4.99-inch Full HD Galaxy S4 Coming Before March

Samsung’s next big flagship device – presumably called the Galaxy S IV – has been in the rumour mill since September. Here’s a quick summary of what circling around the web: run a version of Android (possibly Key Lime Pie, but most likely Jelly Bean), larger display at 5-inches with a 441 pixels per inch (ppi), a quad-core processor and a 13-megapixel camera.

An interesting picture has surfaced from the halls of CES 2013. AnandTech captured some images from Samsung’s demonstrations that shows they’ll potentially release a device in Q1 2013 with a full HD 1080P AMOLED display, sporting a 4.99-inches with 440 pixels per inch (PPI). This is somewhat congruent with all the previous GS IV rumours. In addition, you can see the Galaxy S III (4.8-inches) and Note II (5.5-inches) launches from last year all line up nicely with the Q2 and Q3 2012 specs.

Samsung is also claiming a 25 percent power saving using a new material on new AMOLED revisions, and also has a low power mode that I don’t know much about with 47 percent power savings.

Additional rumours point to the GS IV launching in May… so if this slide is correct we could see them announce something at Mobile World Congress next month.

[AnandTech via The Verge]

January 15, 2013
Apple Stock slips after report of waning iPhone Sales

After an unconfirmed report of the iPhones sales dropping in December, Apple investors seem to be dropping out of the bite. Investors briefly drove Apple stock below $500 on Monday, continuing a slide from a peak of more than $700 in September.

This continued downfall has increased the pressure on the pending January 23rd Earnings call that would lead to immediate reforms for the company. If Apple wildly exceeds expectations, as it did last year, investors hope the Apple stock will repeat the remarkable run that peaked in September.

But if the earnings disappoint, or if Apple execs reduce their sales projections for the coming quarter, there’s no telling how far Apple stock that’s already down 28.5% in the last three months could plummet. Apple’s stock closed Monday at $501.75, down $18.55, or 3.57%.

Like many Apple rumors and stories, however, this latest development was open to different interpretations. Many analysts and independent observers suggested indications that Apple had cut its outlook for the iPhone 5 by as much as half seemed extreme, given recent reports of strong smartphone sales by Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

Another view could have been the early launch of a revised iPhone, that possibly has a different size or type of display. A newer iPhone, a newer iPad and a retina iPad mini are all the correct tools that Apple needs to drive stock back up to the wonderful $700 mark.

January 15, 2013
Developers Submit 15K BlackBerry 10 Apps In Less Than Two Days

Research In Motion reported that developers submitted 15,000 applications for its new BlackBerry 10 operating system during a virtual Community Port-A-Thon event running over the weekend. This is an impressive number and only confirms the interest in building apps for RIM’s upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS.

“37.5 hours in, we hit 15,000 apps for this portathon,” BlackBerry Development Head Alec Saunders tweeted. “Feel like I’ve run a marathon.”

The Port-A-Thon, which kicked off at noon ET on Jan. 11, awarded developers $100 for each eligible mobile app or game approved for BB 10. Developers who submitted between five and 10 approved apps were also given a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device; in addition, the first 10 developers with 10 approved apps were given a paid trip to BlackBerry Jam Europe 2013, taking place in Amsterdam early next month.

Frank Boulben, RIM’s CMO, recently noted that “at launch we will have more than 70,000 apps available. RIM is 16 days away from officially unveiling BlackBerry 10 and the two new BB 10 smartphones.

[Fierce Mobile Content]

January 14, 2013
Samsung announces 100 Million sold for the Galaxy S Series

Samsung has sold an impressive 30 Million Samsung Galaxy S III devices. But if you match up sales of all the S Series devices over the years, Samsung has sold a mighty 100 Million in all. This number however does not include the S Plus, S Duos, S Advance etc, rather only the Original Galaxy S, The Galaxy S II and the S III.

The Galaxy S III mini and other variations are included in the number as well. The company also says it is Selling over 500 units of the Galaxy SIII a minute on average.

[Samsung Tomorrow]

January 14, 2013