More photos of the 6.1" Huawei Ascend Mate make the rounds

After being shown off by the company's chairman last week, the 6.1" 1080p display toting Huawei Ascend Mate has emerged in more photos. This time around, we get to have a better look at the device's physical appearance.

The rumored specs of the Huawei Ascend Mate include a 1.8GHz quad-core CPU (probably Huawei's own design), 2GB of RAM, 13MP camera, and a 4000mAh battery. The thickness of the giant is rumored to be 9.9mm.

In addition to the leaked images, an upcoming ad for the device has appeared as well. It compares the yet-to-be-announced Huawei offering to the Samsung Galaxy Note II's 5.5" screen. See it below.



The Huawei Ascend Mate will break cover during CES 2013 in Las Vegas. We will be live from Huawei's press conference, so be sure to stick around to find out all about the device.

Huawei VP confirms Galaxy Note II competitor is in the works

Huawei's Senior Vice President Yu Chengdong confirmed the manufacturer is indeed working on a galaxy Note II competitor. He went even further telling us to wait for Huawei's device, because it will be much better and cheaper than the phablet top dog.

A while ago there was this rumored device called Huawei Ascend Mate with a 6.1-inch 1080p display, a 1.8GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM.

Yu Chengdong confirmed such a device is indeed in the works and it will be slimmer and cooler with better grip, display and battery life.

There is no word on the official announcement or release, but as the rumor has it we can expect the announcement to take place at CES 2013 in January.

HTC 8S not coming to US, Verizon's 8X ships unlocked

HTC officially confirmed the Windows Phone 8S won’t be coming to the United States. HTC says its focus will go entirely on the 8X. Here comes the official statement:
"The Windows Phone 8X by HTC is our signature Windows Phone available at AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless in the U.S. With our focus on the Windows Phone 8X by HTC, the Windows Phone 8S is not currently planned for distribution in the U.S. market."
The device will probably still find its way to the US shores through various retailers and it will be available free of contract. However, with no official import its pricing might turn out to be pretty steep so there will be little point in getting it.
In other news, the Verizon's HTC Windows Phone 8X sells unlocked and it's compatible with whatever microSIM you may have from carriers around the globe. It seems this might be a new Verizon policy since other top-notch phones from their catalog also come unlocked - notably the iPhone 5 and DROID DNA.

Motorola DROID RAZR HD will get Android 4.1 next week

Motorola's DROID RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD Android Jelly Bean update is right around the corner. True to their word from the devices' launch event, Motorola and Verizon brought the news that the OS update will hit the smartphone duo next week.

The Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update for the DROID RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD will include all the usual goodies such as Google Now and Project Butter, dressed in Motorola's light UI. Some Verizon preloaded applications are set to disappear, while ISIS mobile wallet compatibility will land in the smartphone's launcher.

Samsung Galaxy Note II for Verizon goes on sale tomorrow

Verizon raised a few eyebrows when it put its logo on the Home button of the Samsung Galaxy Note II, but if you can live with that, you should know that the phablet goes on sale tomorrow, November 29.
The price is the same as it was during pre-orders - $300 if you sign a 2-year contract, or $700 if you prefer to go off-contract. The Note II for Verizon is available in Marble White and Titanium Gray.

By the way, if you've already pre-ordered Samsung's fast-selling phablet, you should have a shipping confirmation email in your inbox.
Verizon's Samsung Galaxy Note II is the same 5.5" Super AMOLED-packing, Jelly Bean-running, Exynos-powered device as the international version, but also gets support for Verizon's CDMA and 4G LTE networks.

Lenovo P770 droid phone packs a 3,500mAh battery

So far Motorola has been the only one that can provide huge batteries in smartphones, but Lenovo is about to challenge it with the P770. It's an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean droid with a massive 3,500mAh battery (200mAh more than the RAZR MAXX HD).

The Lenovo P770 measures 133 x 67 x 11.9mm and weighs 161g (not quite as slender as Motorola DROID MAXX HD's 131.9 x 67.9 x 9.3mm, 157g). It has a 4.5" qHD IPS screen and is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor with 1GB of RAM.


The P770 is rated at just over 29 hours of continuous talk time and nearly a month of standby. The phone features three power-saving modes: long standby, normal and custom. It also automatically calibrates battery readings to display accurate battery percentages.
It's not quite clear from Lenovo's site if the battery is user-replaceable or not (the Motorola RAZR HD MAXX has a non-replaceable battery).

Anyway, the Lenovo P770 also features a 5MP camera with LED flash, VGA front-facing camera, two microphones for noise reduction and a customized Android 4.1.
These specs don't sound too exciting, but the P770 is priced CNY 1,699 ($273, €210) in China (it's available now) and you get an 8GB microSD card in the box. For now the phone is available only in China and Lenovo hasn’t announced plans to make it available worldwide

HTC Deluxe DLX not actually coming to Europe?

When we caught a glimpse of the first official photos of the HTC Deluxe DLX a couple of days back , we were all but certain that it is only a matter of time before the quad-core beast with 1080p display makes its way to Europe. Therefore, the news from HTC Germany that the device won't make it to the Old Continent came as nothing short of a surprise.






As you can see in the translated message above, the 5" relative of the HTC J butterfly and the Verizon exclusive DROID DNA will not make it to Europe according to the message posted by HTC Germany's official Facebook account. There were no specific reasons given by HTC for the unfortunate occurrence.
Of course, the message might simply mean that the top shelf smartphone will make it under a different name and design to Europe. For HTC market share's sake, we hope it does.

LG Optimus 7 won't get WP7.8 update says LG Poland

We got a lot of good news about the Windows Phone 7.8 update lately, but every streak comes to an end as we now have a particularly unpleasant piece of information to share with you. The LG Optimus 7, which was one of the first Windows Phone handsets and is currently running version 7.5 of the OS, will not be getting updated to version 7.8.
This info comes from LG’s branch in Poland and may not apply to all regions, but LG has not officially announced anything else regarding the Optimus G.
This move shouldn’t come as a big surprise as LG decided to step away from Windows Phone to focus on Android (the company won’t be releasing Windows Phone 8 handsets).

Gartner: Lenovo will overtake Samsung in China next year

Samsung managed to snag the top smartphone maker spot in China, but Gartner is predicting it will soon lose it to Lenovo. As of Q3, Samsung held 16.7% of the market while Lenovo was close behind with 14.8% (Canalys reports slightly different numbers – 14% for Samsung and 13% for Lenovo).
Lenovo’s growth hasn’t been slow – during the same period last year they held only 1.7% of the market. “The brand is positioned at the mid-to-lower end which will drive much of its future growth, and this is where global brands are less competitive,” says Gartner.
The analyst company believes that the established PC maker is the only brand that can capable of competing with global brands in the local Chinese market (though according to Canalys, the other three companies in the Top 5 smartphone maker list are Chinese). Apple had a 6.9% share in Q3.

Clearer Meizu MX2 pictures leak, show its thin profile

The Meizu MX2 has appeared in a fresh batch of leaked images. This time the pictures are clearer than before and we can get a good look at the front.
The device looks sleeker than its predecessor and appears very thin. The front is entirely covered in glass with what looks like a front facing camera at the bottom (or possibly a LED or home button).


We already know for a fact that the Meizu MX2 will be unveiled on November 27. We hear it will boast a 4.4" screen possibly having a 1280 x 768 resolution. There should be an 8 MP camera on the back. The MX2 should be running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean from the box with the custom Flyme 2.0 UI on top.


A newly released detail is the price - previously the MX2 was rumored to cost 2.999 yuan (about $481/€375) but now it looks like it could launch for 2.499 yuan (around $402/€313). This is yet to be confirmed.

Samsung to show an 8-core big.LITTLE chipset next year

Samsung is rumored to put a quad Cortex-A15 CPU inside the Galaxy S IV with the Exynos 5450 chipset, but EETimes is reporting that the Korean company has a more interesting chipset in the works - the first one to use ARM's big.LITTLE technology.
This tech pairs a number of powerful Cortex-A15 cores with the same number of low-power Cortex-A7 cores (similar to NVIDIA's fifth core in Tegra 3). The chipset seamlessly switches between the high and low power cores depending on the load (but it can't run all at the same time).
The chipset in particular will pack four A15s clocked at 1.8GHz and four A7s clocked at 1.2GHz. The A7s will reportedly match a quad-core Cortex-A8 CPU (not that such exist), while the four A15s should offer a big increase over the already powerful A15 duo that powers the Nexus 10. The chip will be built on a 28nm process and pack 2MB of cache.
We're sure that there will be plenty of rumors that this will be the chipset in the Galaxy S IV, but it's more likely to see it in a tablet first.

La Fleur Galaxy S III, S Duos, Ace 2 and Ace Duos on the way

The La Fleur brand is no news for Samsung. It’s been doing those editions since the end of 2009. The limited-edition phones are not quite widespread or famous, but they've usually enjoyed good reception from the ladies out there.
So here come the new La Fleur phones, all of them running on Android OS – the Galaxy S III, Galaxy S Duos, Galaxy Ace Duos and Galaxy Ace 2.


All of them will come in the usual colors – white or pink with some additional flower decoration on both sides of the phone.
In case you are eyeing one of those, you’ll be happy to learn they’ll be released by the end of January just in time for the Valentine's day shopping decisions.

Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 go on sale, immediately run out of stock

It looks like people know a deal when they see one, as the new Google flagship smartphone, the Nexus 4, has sold out in less than an hour after appearing on the Play Store in the UK and Australia. The same applies to the 10 inch Nexus tablet - both 32 and 16 GB variants.
We're still waiting for the imminent launch of the devices on Google Play for the US, where we expect to see a similar picture. The Google Nexus 4 is expected to drastically impact the smartphone market with its impressive specs sheet and super aggressive pricing.
The Nexus 4 features a 4.7 inch True HD IPS Plus display of 768 x 1280 pixels resolution, a quad-core 1.5 Ghz Krait processor, 8/16 GB of storage, 2 GB of RAM, an 8MP shooter capable of 1080p video, powered by a 2100 mAh battery – all of this priced at $299/$349 without contract.

You might find yourself doing some frantic refreshes of the Play Store in the coming weeks to see when it will be up for sale (again) in your area, and frankly, we don't blame you.

Apple could get $6 to $8 for every smartphone HTC sells

A new 10 year patent licensing deal came in effect two days ago between Apple and HTC. However details on what the benefits for either side might be weren't given at the time.
Shaw Wu, analyst at Sterne Agee, reckons Apple could be generating between $6 and $8 per sold HTC smartphone, which when put together with the shipment estimate of 30 to 35 million HTC devices in 2013 could mean anywhere between $180 and $280 million going Apple's way.

An unnamed Wall Street Journal source has collaborated that HTC will indeed be paying Apple undisclosed licensing fees, making the $6 to $8 per device estimate all the more believable.
Shaw Wu hypothesizes that Apple could use the HTC deal as a template, with which to approach other companies it has active patent litigation wars with, such as Samsung and Motorola.
Of course, analysts are often off-target and this could all turn out incorrect or false altogether, so take it with a pinch of salt.

HTC DROID DNA gets revealed before its announcement

In a manner, which has shaped up to be quite fashionable lately, the previously leaked HTC DROID DNA for Verizon Wireless got revealed only a couple of days before its official announcement is scheduled to take place. The DROID DNA name has been confirmed on Verizon’s own DROID DOES webpage, while press renders of the photo have made an appearance in Twitter.

The leaked press photos reveal yet again that the upcoming Verizon DROID looks similar to the Japan exclusive HTC J butterfly, save for the Verizon livery on its black body with red accents . The same goes for the specs which will include a 5” full HD display, quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset, and 2GB of RAM.

HTC’s Android powerhouse with 1080p display for Verizon is scheduled to be announced this coming Tuesday, on November 13, at an event in New York City. We will be covering the unveiling live, so be sure to stick around for the full scoop on the device, including hands-on photos and initial impressions.

HTC and Apple end their patent feud with a “global settlement”

n a rather surprising fashion, Apple and HTC have settled their patent disputes. The two companies have reached a “global settlement” with confidential terms, which dismisses all their current lawsuits. The agreement includes all current and future patents held by the two giants and will extend over the next ten years.
 

Naturally, both companies’ CEOs issued a statement on the matter. Here’s what Peter Chou from HTC had to say:

“HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation.”

And here goes the statement of Apple’s CEO Tim Cook:

“We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC,” and “we will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.”

A settlement between players of such magnitude is nothing short of great news for both the companies and their followers. Here’s hoping that more such events will follow.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean makes it to Motorola DROID RAZR M

Motorola’s frameless screen sporting DROID RAZR M for Verizon Wireless has begun receiving Android 4.1 Jelly Bean over-the-air. The update has hit the baby RAZR right in line with Motorola’s promise at its launch for a timeline before the end of the year.

The Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update brings a number of software improvements to the DROID RAZR M. They include Google Now, Android Beam and NFC, and improved notifications to go with the buttery smooth menu transitions. Unsurprisingly, the new OS is dressed in Motorola’s custom UI, which adds only a few extra touches to the Pure Google Experience.

Samsung Galaxy Camera and Galaxy S III mini hit UK

Various retailers in the UK already have already received the first stocks of the Samsung’s Galaxy S III mini and the Galaxy Camera.
You can buy the Galaxy S III mini for about £300 free of contract. It’s available in both black and white colors.
The Galaxy S III mini is also available for free with a 2-year contract on all major UK carriers with tariffs starting as low as £20.5 per month.



The Jelly Bean-running Galaxy Camera was announced in August and arrives this month just as promised. Clove UK already got its first shipment and is selling it for £400. Other retailers are also listing the Galaxy Camera on similar prices but require you to wait 10 more days to get your unit.

Nokia Lumia 920T has Adreno 320 GPU instead of Adreno 225

The Lumia 920, Nokia's flagship Windows Phone 8 handset, is coming to China Mobile (model number 920T). As it turns out the Lumia 920T has a Snapdragon MSM8960T S4 Pro chipset, unlike its international version, which has an MSM8960 S4 Plus chipset. The news comes from the carrier's Sina Weibo page.
The difference is that the MSM8960T chipset features the Adreno 320 GPU and not the Adreno 225 like in the international and US Lumia 920 units. It still has two Krait CPU cores though, this isn't the S4 Pro chipset that's used in the Google Nexus 4.


Still, getting an upgrade on the GPU is great even if you don't get double the CPU cores. The only problem is that most devs will be targeting Adreno 225 as that's what most WP8 phones out there have (Windows Phone handsets don't really have much of a variation in chipsets). It might have a lower power consumption as it won't be as burdened as the 225 using the same graphics.
Could this Nokia Lumia 920T deal mean we'll start seeing Windows Phone 8 handsets with Adreno 320 or is it a one-off? If we do, WP8 will be able to put up a fight in the graphics department against the Android flagships and the iPhone.

Samsung Galaxy Express to hit shelves November 16

The Samsung Galaxy Express midrange LTE-powered droid exclusive to AT&T is expected to become available for $99.99 with a two year contract starting Nov. 16.
The Samsung Galaxy Express will feature a 4.5 inch Super AMOLED Plus screen of 480 x 800 pixel resolution, dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, 5MP camera all powered by a 2000 mAh battery. It will ship with Android 4.0 ICS out of box.


If you'd like a closer look at the Samsung Galaxy Express, check out our hands-on from last month's release event in New York.
No word yet on when its (also AT&T exclusive) LTE sibling, the Galaxy Rugby Pro, will hit shelves, but we expect it to be sooner rather than later.

Sony takes over the Xperia S AOSP project, previews it

Sony announced that it has taken the lead on the Android Open Source Project for its popular Xperia S smartphone. The exercise began back in August when Jean Baptiste Queru, Google’s Technical Lead of the AOSP announced it. The current progress on the Sony Xperia S has been demonstrated in a video, which appeared in the Sony developer’s blog.
Sony has taken the lead because from Android 4.2 Jelly Bean on, the Xperia S will not remain as the target handset of the main AOSP branch. However, the current progress on the Xperia S will not go to naught – Sony will maintain the AOSP for the device at GitHub, where developers are encouraged to step in and help.
Stock Android 4.1 Jelly Bean has worked out quite well for the Sony Xperia S with most of the hardware functioning properly, including the SD card, Wi-Fi, and all sensors. The audio and modem are also working, but Sony won’t release its binaries right now for proprietary reasons. The next planned step is to bring Android 4.2 to the smartphone.

Jelly Bean update for Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 rolling out now

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet launched with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (unlike its smaller Note II sibling), but its Jelly Bean update has now started its rollout. It's the 4.1 version of Jelly Bean and not 4.2, but the differences between the two aren't major anyway.
The rollout is rather limited as of now - just in Germany as an OTA update that weighs in at 300MB.


The guys from AllAboutSamsung.de, who have already installed the update, report that it improves performance, adds the same S Pen functionality as the Note II has (e.g. the new Quick commands), adds Pop Up Play and new Mini Apps. Paper Artist is also pre-installed.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 gets Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update in Germany
If you don't live in Germany and you just can’t wait to try out Jelly Bean on your Galaxy Note 10.1, you can grab the ROM from SamFirmware. The update brings the S Pen-enabled tablet to Android version 4.1.1 (PDA N8000XXBLJ9, CSC N8000OXABLJ9).
Keep in mind that flashing the ROM manually will void your warranty and you might brick your tablet, so proceed at your own risk.

Black HTC One S finally lands on T-Mobile US’s shelves

HTC One S has been on sale on T-Mobile for months now, but (unfortunately) the black colored version hasn't been available across the Atlantic until today. Potential users will finally be able to pick up the device in black with red accents.
In order to please the overly patient, the Big Magenta currently offers the black version of the HTC One S for free after a mail-in rebate. In case you order it today, the carrier will also throw in a free case for you.
The HTC One S is powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset, so it is quite snappy by today’s standards. With the device currently being offered for free, we do believe it makes for quite a sweet an upgrade for both first-time and experienced users.

AT&T to sell off-contract Nokia Lumia 920 for $450, 820 for $400

Yesterday, AT&T announced the on-contract pricing of three of its incoming Windows Phone 8 handsets, including the Nokia Lumia 920 (they have exclusivity on this one in the US) and the Lumia 820.



Today they put those two up for pre-order and revealed the off-contract prices of these phones. The Lumia 920 will set you back $450 (or $100 with a 2-year contract), while the Nokia Lumia 820 is a bit cheaper at $400 ($50 with a 2-year contract).
The HTC Windows Phone 8X is not available for pre-order for now, so we don't know its off-contract pricing just yet.
Here's a quick comparison table of other AT&T prices:

Phone	with 2-year contract	Off contract
Google Nexus 4 (16GB)	-	$350
Nokia Lumia 900 (16GB)	$1	$400
Nokia Lumia 820 (8GB, microSD)	$50	$400
Nokia Lumia 920 (32GB)	$100	$450
Sony Xperia TL (16GB, microSD)	$100	$450
HTC One X (32GB)	$100	$500
HTC WP 8X (16GB)	$200	TBA
LG Optimus G (32GB)	$200	$550
Samsung Galaxy S III (16GB, microSD)	$200	$550
Apple iPhone 5 (16GB)	$200	$650

If you pre-order now, the Nokia Lumia duo can be at your doorstep in two days' time.

HTC will hold an event in New York City on November 13

HTC has sent out invitations for an event in New York City, which will take place next Tuesday, November 13. The Taiwanese manufacturer will show off its “latest collaboration” with Verizon Wireless.


Given the recent string of leaks, we can all but confirm that the device scheduled to break cover is the HTC DROID DNA. The upcoming smartphone appears to be a close relative of the Japan exclusive HTC J butterfly. It is bound to pack an eye-catching 5” Super LCD3 display with 1080p resolution and pixel density of 440ppi. Quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro silicon, 16GB of built-in memory, microSD card, and Sense-d Android 4.1 Jelly Bean are also part of the device’s projected specs.
We are going to be live from the HTC event next week, so we’ll tell you all about the company’s latest creation.

Huawei announces Honor 2 with a quad-core CPU and 2GB RAM

Huawei has announced the Android-based Honor 2, which comes with some major hardware improvements over its predecessor.

The Honor 2 has a 4.5-inch, 1280 x 720 resolution display with a pixel density of 326ppi. Inside, there is Huawei's K3V2 1.4GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM. The Honor 2 also has 8GB internal memory with a microSD card slot. On the back is an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video recording.
The Huawei Honor 2 will be releasing in China later this week for 1,888 yuan ($302).

Hurricanes be damned, the LG Nexus 4 goes official

Hurricane Sandy may have forced Google to cancel the New York event, but even the storm can't stop LG from announcing the Nexus 4. The phone leaked extensively, so there's little about it that's unknown (it's based on the LG Optimus G), but let's go over the specs one last time.
The LG Nexus 4 has a 4.7" True HD IPS Plus screen with WXGA resolution (768 x 1280, 15:9 aspect ratio). It's powered by a Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset with four Krait cores at 1.5GHz, 2GB RAM and Adreno 320 GPU.
The phone is running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean (so no Key Lime Pie) and you get a choice between 8GB and 16GB storage options (there's no microSD card).


The camera on the back has an 8MP sensor and it has a cool feature called Photo Sphere. It's like a panorama, but you can snap photos in every direction you like - sideways, upside-down, wherever.
The Nexus 4 measures 133.9 x 68.7 x 9.1mm and weighs 139g. It has a 2,100mAh battery, which has enough juice for 15.3 hours of talk time or 390 hours of standby. The phone supports wireless charging.
As far as connectivity goes, the LG-made Google Nexus 4 will have GSM/HSPA+ and NFC (unlike the Optimus G, there's no LTE). We suspect there will be a CDMA version later on, but there's no info on that just yet.
The first LG Nexus 4 phones will be available from the Play Store in US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia starting November 13. If you prefer brick and mortar stores, the you'll have to wait until the end of November when the Nexus will hit Europe, Central/South Americas, Asia, CIS and the Middle East.
The 8GB version (unlocked) is priced at $299, while the 16GB version is $349. T-Mobile USA will carry the 16GB LG Nexus 4, though with a price of $199 and a 2-year contract, it doesn't sound like much of a deal.

Nokia RDA tool leaks Lumia 910, 920, 950, 1001, and Nokia 510, 805

Developers accessing Nokia's online RDA tool over the weekend were in for a nice surprise as they spotted a number of unannounced devices by searching for other available devices near-by over Bluetooth.
Last year, we first heard of the Nokia Lumia 900 WindowsPhone in this fashion, so it's generally a legit source of leaked device names.
Well, the whole thing started yesterday with the appearance of one Nokia Lumia 910 in the list of discoverable devices via Bluetooth during a regular session with the RDA tool.
The Remote Device Access (RDA) is a service that allows developers to test their mobile applications and services remotely on various Nokia devices via a regular browser. Devs can remotely control a device, install and run applications on it, or transfer files.
In one of these test sessions later on, another device popped up - the Nokia Lumia 1001. Now that's a serious model name jump and this might suggest it's either a Windows Phone 8 device, or even a tablet.
As things heated up and the interest for the RDA tool grew immensely, people who logged in started finding all sorts of unannounced devices this way. Enter the Nokia Lumia 920, the Lumia 950, the Nokia 510, and the Nokia Belle 805.
Now take all these with a pinch of salt. Given the hype surrounding the RDA tool since yesterday, it might as well be a case of other devs messing with the available test units to display fake Bluetooth IDs. So for now consider this as just a heads-up. We won't go as far as analyzing the model names and potential market positioning, as they might turn out bogus.

Samsung posts record profit, Galaxy S III to hit 19M sales in Q3

Samsung hasn’t released its full Q2 financial report yet, but it unveiled some salient details on its performance. Largely thanks to the Galaxy line of Android smartphones, Samsung's profit reached a record $5.9 billion (up 79% year on year). Executives expect it to grow even further, 36% quarter-on-quarter for Q3.
Samsung's mobile division is responsible for over 70% of the company's earnings. In the second quarter of this year, the Korean giant sold around 50 million smartphones and expects profits to have doubled, reaching $3.87 billion.
One Samsung exec predicts that sales of Galaxy S III flagship will hit the 19 million mark in Q3, growing in the absence of a new iPhone.
When the new Apple smartphone inevitably comes, the growth of the Samsung's mobile division is expected to slow down, but the Korean company's semiconductor business will benefit from the launch as Samsung provides screens and chips for Apple's gadgets (and maybe even an Exynos-based quad-core chipset for the next iPhone).
Samsung's biggest worry at the moment is the Euro crisis - Europe is the biggest market for Samsung electronics and the fall of the euro compared to the Korean won cuts into its profits

Amazon said to be developing its own smartphone

Amazon is said to be in the midst of developing its own smartphone, which will compete against the iPhone and the Android smartphones, says Bloomberg. The world's largest online retailer is said to have partnered with Foxconn to manufacture the handset for it.


There are no other details available at the moment but if Amazon plans to compete with iPhone their phone has to be high-end, unlike the Kindle Fire, which was a budget offering. We don't know what software it would be running but it's fair to assume it would be a heavily customized version of Android such as the one on the Kindle Fire.
Considering Amazon has its own application store, along with books, music, movies and loads of other stuff, it really doesn't matter if it doesn't allow access to the Google Play Store (assuming you're in the US).
Amazon may not have the same brand value when it comes to smartphone, seeing as it doesn't have any so far, but it does run the world's most popular online store, where it can advertise the phone on every page. This, coupled with the content from its store and possibly an attractive price tag means the Amazon smartphone could be a success, just like the Kindle Fire.

Android 4.0.4 OTA update for Nexus S 4G leaks

Google released the Android 4.0 update for the Nexus S last year in December but the Nexus S 4G for Sprint was inexplicably left out. A couple of months ago an Android 4.0.4 ROM leaked for the device, which made people hope that the official OTA update would arrive soon but that did not happen.

Today, we have another leaked ROM for the Nexus S 4G. This one will update your phone to Android 4.0.4, bringing all the features that other Nexus S users have been enjoying for months, along with some improvements to the WiMAX reception, due to the updated baseband.

Google recently started rolling out the Android 4.0.4 update to the GSM versions of the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus S but few users have actually received the update so far, with most choosing to simply flash it manually. Knowing Google's history of ignoring the Nexus S 4G when it comes to updates, you might want to jump the gun and flash it manually.

Motorola DEFY MINI now available in the UK, yours for £162

Two months after its announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the Motorola DEFY MINI is now available for purchase in the UK.

Currently available from UK phone retailer Clove, the Motorola DEFY MINI retails for £162 including VAT for its SIM-free variant. If you prefer to save some quid, then gear up with patience and place a pre-order with Amazon.co.uk, which lists the DEFY MINI for £154.99.

The Motorola DEFY MINI, as its name suggests, is the little brother of the Motorola DEFY+. As such, it offers the same ruggedness, coupled with water and dust protection.

Built around a 3.2" HVGA display, on top of which sits a layer of Gorilla Glass, the DEFY MINI is powered by a modest 600MHz CPU and has 512MB of RAM , dual-band 3G with HSDPA, Wi-Fi n, Bluetooth 2.1 and GPS.

HTC One X for AT&T gets benchmarked, looks impressive

When the AT&T flavored HTC One X flagship got announced during MWC, quite a few people were left wondering whether its Snapdragon S4 chipset with two CPU cores will match the performance of the quad-core Tegra 3 of the international version.

Well, it looks like there is no need to worry over the performance of the U.S. bound handset. A couple of leaked benchmarks from the device, leaked by an alleged AT&T device tester, point at a seriously capable piece of hardware coming our way.

As you can see above, the two Krait cores, featured in the chipset have a serious knack for benchmarks. The tester has also mentioned that the battery life of the device is rather impressive as well.

The rumored time frame for the launch of the AT&T branded HTC One X is mid-May. Naturally, we will keep you posted as soon as we find out more.

Samsung I9300 live photo surface, might be a disappointing S III

Another day, another Samsung Galaxy S III leak. Today we've got a live photo that's allegedly depicting the Samsung I9300 Android smartphone. The model number has previously been associated with the next Samsung flagship, though there's no confirmation that this is in fact the Galaxy S III.

With the Samsung Galaxy S lineup carrying I90xx model numbers, the S II series getting I91xx model numbers and the Galaxy Nexus leading the I92xx smartphones, it would make a lot of sense for the international Galaxy S III to get I9300. However, the pictured device looks nothing like those renders we saw over the previous few days.

The screen bezel seems quite wide, so if the pictured smartphone really does have a 4.7" screen it will be quite large and hard to handle. Plus, the alleged I9300 obviously lacks the design sophistication that would befit a successor of the very successful Galaxy S II.

One possible scenario is that earlier rumors had it right and the Galaxy S III will come with a model number I9500, while this one here is going to be its sidekick. We can also be looking at a prototype unit, which has a different design to the final version.

So, while we see no obvious reason to doubt the authenticity of the photo, we suspect it might not be the Galaxy S III that stars in it. Either that, or there will be plenty of disappointed Samsung fans, come the next Unpacked event.

Galaxy Note Android 4.0 update to include special content

Earlier this year, Samsung had promised a Q1, 2012 time period for the roll out of the Android 4.0 update for the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Note. But while its younger brother has started receiving the update, the Galaxy Note users are still munching on Gingerbread that is well past its expiry date.

Samsung recently announced that the Android 4.0 update for the Galaxy Note has been pushed to Q2, 2012. This means it could be coming as soon as April or as late as June.

But to make sure that the wait is worth the while, Samsung has announced that the update will come with some extra goodies exclusive to the Galaxy Note. This includes a Premium Suite of applications and extra multimedia features.

The Premium Suite includes the S-Pen application, which allows you to scribble with the provided capacitive stylus, as well as draw tables and grids that are automatically digitized, along with solving hand-drawn numeric formulas. The Premium Suite also includes My Story app, which lets you create personalized digital cards for friends and family.

Along with this, you will also get a special version of Angry Birds Space. This version will include 30 extra Danger Zone levels, not found on any other platform.

And then of course, it's Android 4.0 itself, which will bring new features like Face Unlock, redesigned multitasking view, GPU accelerated UI, etc.

Sony Xperia S granted access to the PlayStation store

The Sony Xperia S is a fully PlayStation certified device, though at launch it lacked access to the PlayStation Store - not any more though. Sony just opened the doors and let the Xperia S and Xperia Acro HD (the Japanese version of the S), but the others of the NXT lineup will have to wait.

There should be a placeholder app called "Let's start PS Store" available on your phone, which will download the needed apps. Before you launch it, make sure to enable installation from unknown sources.

The placeholder app will download two new apps to your Xperia S (or Acro HD) - PlayStation Store, where you get games, and the PS Pocket, which serves as a launcher for games.

After that's done, head over to the Store and check out the 14 PS1 titles available. Note that they'll run you £3.99.

The rest of the NXT line, including the Sony Xperia ion, will get the same access as the Xperia S later on this year.

Samsung Galaxy S II ICS update to hit UK next week

Some lucky fellas have been enjoying the official Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update on their Galaxy S II units since this morning, but those based in the UK will have to wait another week.

Poland, Hungary, Sweden and Korea are the markets in the first wave of the update roll-out, with UK (among others) to follow shortly. The exact quote that Pocket-lint.com managed to get from Samsung is that the update will start seeding in Britain in the week commencing March 19, which is exactly 6 days from now.

And with the Galaxy S II update already rolling out, the Samsung R&D center is already shifting its attention towards the Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II LTE and the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1 duo. Those should be the next devices in the company's lineup to get official Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich updates.

Finally, Samsung confirmed that it will be delivering Android 2.3 Gingerbread Value Pack updates for the original Galaxy S, the Galaxy Tab 7", the Galaxy S Plus, the Galaxy W and the Galaxy from the end of March. The update will be bringing Face Unlock and other ICS features to the smart devices that won't be getting to taste Android ICS officially.

Android 4.0 ICS update is now seeding for Samsung Galaxy S II

yes, yes - we know you've heard this a few times too many in the past couple of weeks, but this time it is for real, folks. Samsung Mobile's official Facebook page broke the news that Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich has officially made its way to Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II.

As you can notice in the screenshot above, the update is currently seeding to devices in Europe, as well as Korea. The rest of the world will follow in the nearest future.

Samsung Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II LTE, and Galaxy Tab Tab 8.9 and 10.1 are noted as next in line for the major update. The older members of the Galaxy family on the other hand, will receive updates to their Gingerbread firmware, which will bring some ICS functionality to it.

In case you have already updated your I9100, drop us a line with your impressions of the new firmware in the comments section below. We will be sure to tell you about our own shortly.

Deluxe Limited Edition HTC One X comes with Beats headphones

HTC has made up a special offer for their domestic market in Taiwan bundling their newest quad-core One X smartphone with Beats Solo headphones.

Unfortunately, HTC is mum on any probability of releasing the special bundle globally or in other markets besides the Taiwanese one. The package's pre-order price is a shy below 25,000 TWD or $840. This works out as a great deal considering a standard HTC One X costs around $780 and Beats sell their Solo headphones for $180.

Pre-orders for the Deluxe Limited Edition start on March 20, so you still have some time to break the piggy bank and check your pockets for some change.

ASUS confirms 'Jelly Bean' as codename for Android 5.0

Among the many Android manufacturer's out there, ASUS has a good reputation for offering quick software updates for its devices, with the recent Transformer Prime being one of the first to get the Ice Cream Sandwich update. According to ASUS' Corporate Vice President Benson Lin, this is due to the good relationship between his company and Google.

But while he was boasting about his relationship with Google, Lin also let go of a tiny bit of information regarding the next version of Android, which as the rumors often told us, will be named Jelly Bean.

Speaking to TechRadar, Lin said:

"Asus is very close to Google, so once they have Android 5.0 I think there will be a high possibility that we will be the first wave to offer the Jelly Bean update."

This, along with the bowl of jelly beans at Google's booth at MWC makes it clear that the next version of Android will in fact be called Jelly Bean.

Apple App Store crosses the 25 billion downloads mark

If you've been to Apple's homepage in the past couple of weeks you may have seen the counter for the App Store downloads, which was rapidly approaching the 25 billion downloads mark.

Well today, on March 3, 2012, the counter finally crossed that mark, creating a new milestone for the company. But while Apple must surely celebrating this event, it has made sure that it won't be the only one celebrating. That's because as part of their traditional contest, which is held every time such a milestone is about to be crossed, the person who downloaded the 25 billionth app will be getting store credit worth $10,000 to spend on any of Apple's online stores. That's a lot of money to spend only on the store, which means whoever won this prize will probably never have to shell out a single dime from his or her pocket to purchase anything from Apple's store ever again.

The winner of this contest hasn't been announced yet but will be displayed shortly on Apple's website. And of course, if you're the winner, you will be contacted directly by someone from Apple.

Google's Motorola acquisition finally approved

Just as they said they would, the European Commission yesterday reviewed the case between Google and the mobile division of Motorola, and has cleared the merger. The Department of Justice's Antitrust Division followed suit close behind and dropped its investigation, effectively legalizing the deal in the United States. Both the EC and DoJ worked in close conjunction during their respective investigations, so it is no surprise that these announcements arrived so close together.

The Department of Justice's investigation also examined Apple's acquisition of certain Novell patents, as well as Microsoft, RIM, and Apple's bids for patents in the 2011 Nortel bankruptcy auction. Such a widespread investigation by the DoJ is likely because of the large number of legal disputes between the big players in the smartphone industry, a trend that both the EC and DoJ claim should lessen through fair patent acquisition, like that by Google in regards to Motorola.

While these were the last of the major obstacles in preventing the acquisition, both governing bodies vowed to keep a close eye on how Google would handle the roughly 17,000 mobile patents it would acquire from the deal, and make sure they are licensed them to any third parties under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

GPP SIM insert unlocks the AT&T iPhone 4S, no jailbreak needed

The carrier-locked iPhones became a much lesser problem since the iPhone hit most of the major carriers worldwide. But there are those people who still buy foreign carrier-locked iPhone for various reasons. Most of the locked iPhones come from USA's AT&T, so the GPP SIM tool should be good news for those people.

The GPP SIM tool reportedly unlocks successfully every AT&T-bound iPhone 4S as well as the Japan's KDDI and Softbank iPhone 4S. As with similar solutions such as Gevey and RebelSIM, you just put your SIM along with the insert into the provided SIM tray and insert the lot into the iPhone. That's it. Here is the video showing how the GPP SIM works.

According to the GPP Team, the GPP SIM unlocks every AT&T iPhone 4S phones running iOS 5.0 and iOS 5.01 no jailbreak needed. There is no mention whether the GPP SIM will work with other carrier-locked iPhones as well.

The thing that the GPP Team forgot to mention is the activation process. Even if that tool works properly, you still need to go through the Apple's servers for authentication. Of course, any active or inactive AT&T/KDDI/Softbank SIM card will do the trick and you should be able to get one from eBay.

The GPP SIM tool is not yet available, but it should be out soon. There is no website where you can check if it is available, but we bet you won’t miss the news for its release

Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos surfaces

Samsung keeps extending its Duos lineup and today we learned the popular Galaxy Ace is the next smartphone to grow an extra radio. The Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos went official for the Indian market.

You should keep in mind that the Duos part here doesn't mean a second SIM slot as it does on most other Samsung devices. Instead, the Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos will come with GSM and CDMA support, making it a truly global phone. You can still have two subscription plans with this one, but only if your country has both CDMA and GSM carriers.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos will be mostly identical to the original Galaxy Ace, but it will get a larger battery to make up for the second radio. Instead of the 1350 mAh unit found in the original Galaxy Ace, the Galaxy Ace Duos will have a 1650 mAh Li-Ion battery. It's unclear if the new battery will be compatible with the original smartphone, though.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos will retail for INR16,900, which translates to about €260 or $340. We don't know if Samsung has any plans of bringing the smartphone to Europe or America, but we should learn more about the company's plans soon enough.

Nokia Lumia 800 sports two new colors in a commercial

It looks like more colors are on the way for Nokia Lumia 800, following closely the white version, which we got to spend time with. The Windows Phone device showed up in red and green in a commercial for the Nokia BH-220 Bluetooth headset.

The colors are yet to be confirmed by Nokia, as the video cannot be found in the company's official YouTube channel. Check it out below.

HTC to announce the quad-core Endeavour at MWC?

We received word of HTC's quad-core monster back in November and not much has changed, except for two key points.

Firstly the name, the device we've been calling the HTC Edge now looks to be adopting the name Endeavour and more importantly, the HTC Endeavour will make its first official appearance at MWC in the coming weeks.

Aside from the new name, the purported specs of the Endeavour remain unchanged with that all important quad-core Tegra 3 chip clocked at 1.5GHz powering a 4.7" 720p HD display, an 8MP camera complete with an f/2.2 lens and 1080p video capture capability.

There's also a gig of RAM and 32GB of inbuilt user-storage, presumably with a microSD slot offering expansion of another 32GB, but at this stage, that's an estimated guess. Radio wise, we'll see quad-band support, 21Mbps HSDPA speeds but there's a strong chance we'll receive LTE functionality too.

Naturally such a device will come running the latest version of HTC's UI overlay, Sense, running atop Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.

HTC's CFO, Mr Winston Yung explained that moving forward, his company would be looking at different component suppliers. Tying that into to Nvidia's claims of a quad-core menagerie of devices expected to appear at their MWC booth and the progression to Tegra 3 is obvious, along with the increasingly frequent leaks regarding this device.

We've already seen the potential of quad-core mobile devices, courtesy of the Asus Transformer Prime, but as HTC look to be the first with a quad-core phone on the market, we can't wait to get our hands on it.

HTC Sensation lineup gets Android ICS in late March

HTC just gave us some welcome extra information on the planned Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich updates for their smartphone portfolio.

The wait is almost over for the owners of the original Sensation, the Sensation XE and the Sensation XL. The Sensation and Sensation XE will get the ICS treatment by the end of March, while the XL update will follow shortly after.

There is more good news - HTC EVO 3D, Incredible S, Desire S and Desire HD updates are also in the works and will be released later this year. That's as specific as HTC got, but just knowing that the updates for those are on the way is still pretty exciting for their owners, we guess.

HTC promises to release more information on the update schedule in the following few weeks, so stay tuned.