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LG Optimus G Sells 1 Million Units As Rumors Of Optimus G Pro Emerge

The LG Optimus G flagship handset has crossed the 1 million sold mark, according to the smartphone maker. Available in a number of markets around the globe since September, the phone is set to arrive in Europe and China later this month where it should pick up momentum.

1 million units puts it significantly behind rival handsets from Samsung and Apple. The Galaxy S3, for instance, has achieved 41 million in channel sales since its launch last May, and Apple sold over 2 million iPhone 5 units in just its first weekend of mainland China sales.

The LG Optimus G features a 4.7-inch (768 x 1280) True HD IPS Plus Display, 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor, 16GB of memory, 16GB microSD card, LTE, 2GB of RAM, 13-megapixel rear-shooter and 1.3-megapixel front-shooter.

Specs for the Optimus G Pro also leaked recently, said to feature a 5-inch Full HD screen, 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a whopping 3,000mAh battery. Rumours are pointing towards a Japan launch.

LG also announced that its smartphone sales reached 7 million in the third-quarter, beating the previous high of 6.2 million, reports Yonhap News.

LG has had some troubles in the past few years, but their last Q3 results have shown the company is back on its feet, ready to fight back the big dogs.

[TNW]

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 : Blackberry 10 Photo Editing App

BlackBerry 10 is about just over 12 days away and the excitement is certainly high. One of the most talked about features that will be on camera – which will be an 8MP shooter – is Time Shift. This gives users the ability to edit a picture and make it perfect. Another expected camera feature to be built-in to BB10 is a picture editor app that’s similar to Instagram. With this you’ll be able to crop, remove red eye, add various filters and style, then share with your contacts.

The filter wars seem set to continue if you were to take the latest leaked video of the BlackBerry 10 photo editing app that has started to make its rounds online. At first, we had Instagram adding in a new filter, where Twitter and Flickr followed that up by adding more filters to their sites.

BlackBerry does not want to miss jumping aboard the photo editing bandwagon, which is why we have this video of a pre-production version of the BlackBerry Z10 that comes with just 1GB RAM and does not have the final software for security purposes, showing off some of the more notable features found in the smartphone’s camera app.

Are you excited to have the native capability of adding filters and other effects to photos and videotaken on your BlackBerry 10 device? Check out the video and sound off in the comments with your thoughts on it.

[Mobile Syrup]

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
Leaked : LG Optimus G Pro Images And Specs

It’s inevitable that LG will follow-up the popular 4.7-inch Android-powered Optimus G with another flagship device. Rumours have been pointing towards something called the “G2? that has a bigger display, more powerful processor, better camera and bigger battery. Engadget might have solved this mystery as they’ve posted an image of a spec sheet that shows the “Optimus G Pro” will be hitting NTT Docomo in Japan soon.

Apparently, it would sport a 5-inch full HD screen on the front, along with a Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU inside, clocked in at 1.7GHz, and 2GB of RAM to go along with it.

Furthermore, the device is said to include 32GB of internal memory, along with a 13-megapixel photo snapper on the back, the same as the original Optimus G did.

The new smartphone is also said to be heavier, at 160 grams, thicker, and 10.1 mm, and to sport a 3000 mAh battery (Optimus G landed last year at 145g and 8.5mm, while featuring a 2100 mAh battery inside).

For the time being, however, no official confirmation on the existence of this device has been provided, which means that we should take the above with a grain of salt. However, more on it might emerge in the near future, so stay tuned to learn the news.

[Engadget]

January 18, 2013
Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover India Sales Log 32% growth

Tata Motors ‘ luxury Jaguar Land Rover unit on Thursday said wholesales in India rose 32 percent year-on-year to 2,393 units in 2012. It had sold 1,813 vehicles in 2011.

During the year, the company launched the Range Rover luxury SUV in the country. Apart from that, it also sells the Freelander 2, which is built in Pune, Discovery 4, Range Rover Evoque, and Ranger Rover Sport in the country. The XF, XFR, XKR, XKR-S and the XJ from the Jaguar stable are also available in the country.

JLR said new Land Rover products will be launched in India in 2013. The new Jaguar F Type, an all new two seater sports car, will also be launched in the country later this year, along with model year changes for the Jaguar XF and XJ.

[quote]Commenting on Jaguar Land Rover India’s sales performance, Mr Rohit Suri, Vice President, Jaguar Land Rover India said, “Despite difficult economic circumstances and a general slowdown in the Indian car market, we have continued to grow our sales due to appealing and exciting products that distinguish us from other luxury car manufacturers. The coming year will see the introduction of further new and refreshed products and we are confident of increasing our share of the Indian luxury car market.”[/quote]

Tata Motors shares were up 2.8 percent at Rs 328.95 on NSE in noon trade.

JLR had said on Sunday that its total global sales rose 30 percent to over 3.50 lakh units and it plans to add 800 new jobs at its factory at Solihull in central England on the back of strong demand for its vehicles in China and other markets.

[Money Control]

January 17, 2013
LG Optimus G2 Rumored for Fall 2013 Launch

LG Electronics might not launch a successor for its Optimus G flagship handset next month as previously rumored, but it could be planning the unveiling of the device, supposedly called Optimus G2, for the fall of 2013.

Apparently, the handset vendor is set to launch the new flagship model about one year after the official unveiling of the current model.

However, the company is still set to unveil other Optimus devices before that, including a new, large handset at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month, a recent article on CNET reads.

This device, rumoured to be called the Optimus GK, will utilize the 5.5-inch 1080p screen created by LG Display, which was being shown off in a number of devices at CES this year. LG’s Optimus G sequel will likely be 5-inches, with a next-generation Qualcomm chip and a more streamlined body.

Furthermore, the new mobile phone is expected to run under Google’s Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system when made official. Apparently, the company is waiting for the next flavor of Android to be launched before making the new device official. Last year, Optimus G was unveiled with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean several weeks before Android 4.2 was launched.

Of course, none of this may be true — launch plans are always very much in flux — but sources close to CNET say these plans are pretty credible.

January 17, 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
LG Plans To Sell 75 Million Devices in 2013

LG made one of the best first-generation Windows Phone devices in the Optimus 7, and proved that despite its reputation it wasn’t just a low-cost phone OEM. Now that we have the Optimus G and an assured influx of new devices for the next few quarters, LG plans to take back some of the market share lost to Samsung, Sony, HTC and Motorola over the last few years.

According to a report from the Korean Times, the manufacturer of the Optimus line of Android devices aims to move 75 million handsets this year. Of those, 45 million are projected to be smartphones.

The figure seems like a drop in the bucket for competitors like Apple and Samsung. The latter justsurpassed sales of 40 million for their Galaxy S3 flagship alone, which has been on the market for less than a year. Samsung has set a much loftier goal of 500 million phones sold.

LG made a lot of bad choices in the aftermath of iPhone. Abandoning an opportunity to make the very first Android smartphone and betting heavily on the dead-end Windows Mobile platform, it completely missed the great smartphone explosion of 2009-2011. As a result, LG’s mobile business cratered, and it went into a period of protracted and heavy losses for several years.

They managed to stop the bleeding last year, and now seem to be turning things around on the backs of the cheap Optimus L line, a rather underpriced Optimus G flagship and also amazingly low cost Google’s Nexus 4. By the second half of 2012 LG’s smartphone volumes started growing nicely again, and it even managed to turn a modest profit despite going the cheap device route for most of the year.

If LG now manages to upscale its product line with new high end devices on Android and Windows Phone 8, 2013 might be a pretty good year for them.

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
Toyota Fortuner With 5-speed AT Launched At Rs 22.33 lakh

The Toyota Fortuner has had a sensational run in India selling more than 41,000 examples. In fact, Toyota understood the market very well and refreshed the Fortuner long before it was overdue and the numbers are getting better with each passing year.

The face-lifted version launched at the Auto Expo 2012 along with the automatic transmission option only brought more customers into the showrooms. Now, just a year after its launch owing to customer feedback, Toyota has introduced a five-speed auto transmission in the Fortuner, replacing the earlier 4-speed unit. While figures haven’t been quoted by Toyota, we expect the fuel efficiency of the 5-speed slush box to be more than that of the outgoing 4-speed one.

Other than that, the limited edition Sportivo edition launched last year is now a regular grade as also is the Pearl White Mica colour. Prices for the entire line up ex-Delhi are as follows: Rs 22.3 lakh for the 4×2 AT (5 speed), Rs 22.93 lakh for the 4×2 AT TRD Sportivo (5 speed) and Rs 21.96 lakh for the MT TRD Sportivo. Bookings will open from January 18.

[quote]

Commenting on the new introduction Mr. Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Office –

The 4×2 automatic transmission is extremely popular, it has been highly appreciated by the customers. The 5 speed AT will further add to the drive quality and comfort. Looking at the overwhelming response for the Fortuner TRD Sportivo and its popularity, we have now regularized this grade for all those looking for a unique sporty image. The bookings will open starting 18th Jan 2013.

[/quote]

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
New MySpace goes live, Along With Exclusive New Justin Timberlake Single

New Myspace — with its drastically different redesign — has left invite-only mode, opening up the revamped social network to the public.

The landing page for New.Myspace.com shows a dapper Justin Timberlake and promotes his new “Suit and Tie” single that he released late Sunday night.

Timberlake, who took an ownership stake in the company in 2011, had given the world a sneak peek of New Myspace in September, but now anyone can use the refurbished network.

The tie-in with Justin Timberlake’s new single is bound to drive considerable traffic back to MySpace. Whether or not these new users will hang around after they’ve heard the track is anyone’s guess, but MySpace’s new interface and fresh design might prove to be a refreshing change from the dull blue hues of Facebook and it’s spam ridden newsfeed.

Facebook is a social network first and foremost, with music discovery bolted on the side and pushed into the newsfeed, thanks mainly to Spotify. The new MySpace, on the other hand, puts the theme of music discovery front and centre. With social networking features used more as tools for artists to contribute to the network, rather than for general users to post status updates and pictures of cats.

It’s quite clear to see that MySpace is sticking with music as the focus of their service. The new design offers greater potential for artists to promote themselves and interact with their online audience, compared to plain Facebook pages and text-centric Twitter feeds.

The site ranked as the 46th most-visited Web property in a report released by analysis firm comScore in December, down from 43rd in a list released in August.

According to the report, the site logged 27 million unique visits in November 2012, behind Facebook’s 148 million, Twitter’s 39.5 million and Tumblr’s 29.7 million. It did, however, beat out Pinterest, which was ranked 50th with around 26 million unique visitors.

January 15, 2013
LG Denies New Nexus Phone After Rumours Surface

Getting hold of an LG Nexus 4 through Google’s official device store hasn’t been an easy task. It’s been two months since release day, and throughout most of that time the device has been either sold out or on back-order. It’s safe to say that the Google Play buying experience has been less than ideal for many.

Last week, some sites reported on a new rumour out of the LG camp. It was a thin rumour with little evidence to back it up, but it went like this: LG is not having trouble producing Nexus 4?s, but is rather ramping down production in order to replace it with a new Nexus phone, likely a Nexus 5, in time for Mobile World Congress.

There are some shaky rumours out there — heck, even we report on some from time to time — but this one was just ridiculous. The truth is out there, folks, and that story contained none of it. Instead, it looks like LG is producing Nexus 4?s as fast as it can make them, and there are other reasons why they’re not getting into users’ hands. And it’s pretty simple. LG has said that the rumors about the company working on a new Nexus device are “unfounded”.

[quote]LG is cranking out Nexus 4?s as quickly as it can make them; according to a company representative, there is nothing fishy going on. “There is no problem [with] supply,” he said, indicating the company’s Pyeongtaek factory is producing the device “without a hitch.” We should see more stock in the Play Store soon — that sales channel isn’t going anywhere, and will still be the preferred method for most people — but it will also expand into new areas.[/quote]

Yes, it’s frustrating that you can’t buy one today in India, and likely won’t be able to in the coming future.

[Android Central]

January 15, 2013