As per a senior executive, Nokia’s much awaited Windows phones could well sport ST-Ericsson chips. Nokia is to use ST-Ericsson as one of its two chip suppliers if we can believe what a board member of ST-Ericsson told Forbes. Nokia seems to maintain a good relationship with ST-Ericsson.
The Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm has been the most dominant chip in Windows Mobile handsets thanks to Microsoft’s desire to offer consistency on new handsets. The software giant however declared sometime earlier that it will become a bit more lenient as to which chipset it is going to use/support in future.
The deal with Nokia and the huge investment to make a mobile phone platform base clearly indicate how vital mobile phone market is for the software giant. Moreover, given the fact that Google’s Android OS is going great guns and Apple is making newer strides, MS had to get serious with its Windows phone OS.
And the partnership with Nokia will surely help Microsoft’s cause. Let’s see how far things go and how it helps them both.
Orange and Barclaycard have entered into an NFC based mobile payments joint venture by launching Quick Tap service in UK yesterday. With this technology, users will be allowed to make their payments via their mobile phones.
Using this NFC technology which is focussed at revolutionizing the mobile payments market, the Smartphones will turn into virtual wallets. This service will allow users to make purchases up to £15 as well as have purchase records and the amount that can be spent further.
However, only Smartphone users can enjoy this service for the time being. Samsung’s new Tocco is the first to use Barclaycard and Orange’s ‘Quick Tap’ service. Using this service Barclay’s, Orange customers and Barclaycard cardholders can transfer up to £100 to their mobile account.
The Quick Tap service runs on a SIM based approach and also assures security of payment done by the users. Users can also protect their money in case of theft of their handset by contacting Orange which will shut down the service for the device.
Near field communication technology is used for communication on Quick Tap that allows data exchange over the distance of up to 4 cm. As such, using the Quick Tap technology users can pay for day to day items by just tapping their Smartphone at any contactless payment symbol.
Napster is now a legal service and it has come up with an iPhone and Android app using which its users can listen and buy music on their Smartphones.
The app is available free for download in the iTunes and Android market and it has Napster’s 15 million song library apart from ability to save playlists and recommended artists information.
Music can be saved on the handset and the same can be played whenever you have internet connectivity. Spotify was in news because of halving its free music allowance and the entry of Napster seems to be at a good time. In order to succeed, Napster will however have to deal with a lot of other competitors viz., Last.fm and TuneIn Radio.
The best part of it is however the fact that you do not need to be glued to a computer anymore just to enjoy some music as you can access your library from mobile.
Though Napster is free to sign up, you need to subscribe to get some features like offline mode, unlimited streaming and connection to home devices. You can either pick a subscription for £5 per month (or £50 for the year) for the Napster Unlimited or £10 per month (£100 for the year) for the bells and whistles package.
Vodafone has officially launched HTC’s top of the range smartphone, the HTC Sensation. The much hyped HTC smartphone has finally gone on sale via Vodafone for free for as little as £35 a month or for £840 over the 24-month contract period.
The handset would be available on 12, 18 or 24 months contract however, with a minimum upfront payment of £199. For £35 per month, you can get the handset for free bundled with, 900 minutes, unlimited texts and 750MB of data allowance along with Vodafone’s popular passport service offering data worth 25MB in selective European countries.
Coming to other service providers, the smartphone is anticipated to go on sale from mid June onwards with a price tag of around £500 for the SIM free device.
HTC Sensation is first handset to be powered by Qualcomm dual core system on chip running at 1.2GHz. It features video playback via HDMI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 4.3-inch, 540×960 qHD screen and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The handset boasts of dual-LED flash and comes with a front facing camera to allow videoconferencing.
The Sensation which comes with Super LCD screen technology weighs just 148g and is 11.9 mm thick. It also has five sensors, a 1530mAh battery and onboard GPS. With all sensational features built into it, HTC sensation is going to be another super Smartphone from HTC like its predecessors.
99 percent of Android users were affected by a security hole in Android and Google is rolling out a fix. It was German security experts who pointed to the gap through which a hacker could access Google calendar and contacts.
Researchers at the Ulm University earlier reported that these apps provided unencrypted information to get an authentication token from Google and this token could be stolen via WiFi snooping.
Anyone who can get such an authtoken can use it for several days and misuse your private information. Though this issue was fixed in Android 2.3.4 most of the users continue to use 2.3.3 and below versions and thus they were all at risk.
Google is thankfully updating all such handsets silently with a patch on server side making it a hassle-free affair for all the Android users. Servers will now be forced to use encrypted connections when communicating with a handset.
Despite analysts’ fears over the vulnerability, we hope that Google’s actions will lead to a safer world for all Android users.
After the success of iPhone 4, Apple is now said to manufacture its fifth-generation iPhone in the third quarter of this year and there by release the device possibly in the later part of the year according to a financial analyst firm, FBR Capital Markets.
The iPhone 5 is said to come with a single baseband chip that would be compatible with both GSM as well as CDMA networks. Also, the next iPhone is expected to come with an upgraded 8MP camera having a CMOS sensor from OmniVision Technologies. Thanks to this new chip, as now Apple need not manufacture two iPhone versions separately for GSM and CDMA models.
Also, around 12 million iPhone 4 and 8 million iPhone 5 units are said to be manufactured in Q3 of this year. As per the firm, Sony might be the backup sensor supplier for the next iPhone cameras in the coming year. Additionally, Apple is said to give up Intel and Qualcomm would be the provider for integrated GSM-CDMA chips.
There are few other analysts suggesting that iPhone 5 could be powered by Apple’s dual-core A5 processor that is already being used in the iPad 2. As such, the handset is expected to run apps in a more efficient manner and can also play 1080p graphics. However, Apple has lip-locked to say anything about the iPhone 5 release date.
Apple has to lower its expected iPhone 4 shipment volume from 20 million units to 17.5-18 million units which consists of 1.5-2 million units of CDMA version and 16 million 3G version units for Q2 of 2011. This cut down is the result of the iPhone 4S launch being planned early i.e. by September 2011 and also as the inventory volume of iPhone 4 is 1.5-2 million.
It is known from the sources that 18.6 million units of iPhone 4 have been sold globally in the first quarter of 2011 and as such only 1.5-2 million units have been estimated to be there in the stock.
Apple would start the production of iPhone 4S in August and launch the gadget in September at the earliest. Qualcomm is said to be the supplier of all the 3G and CDMA chips for the iPhone 4S. OmniVision Technologies is said to provide the image sensors and Taiwan-based Largan Precision would provide lens kits to the rear camera which would be upgraded to 8-megapixel resolution model.
Also, Apple was anticipating that it would actually ship 7-8 million iPad 2s in the Q2 of this year. However, now the company is looking forward to ship 10-10.5 million units in line to meet its target of selling 35-40 million units by the end of 2011.
It is raining discounts for all Blackberry fans eagerly waiting for the RIM Blackberry PlayBook as DigiGood, an Amazon retailer slashed the price of the 16GB version to £357. This is making the much awaited professional tablet cheaper even as the official launch date is weeks away from now.
Though not at a similar discount as DigiGood, you can place pre-order for the tablet online at a host of other sites viz., Insight, Phones4U, Carphone Warehouse, Best Buy and the Dixons Group.
The Playbook boasts a WSVGA capacitive touchscreen of 7-inch, 1GB of RAM, onboard storage expandable up to 64GB, QNX Real Time OS, GPS, Wi-Fi and a HDMI output. It is powered by a dual core TI OMAP 4430 SoC clocked at 1GHz. The device also comes with 2 cameras, one is a rear camera of 5MP and the other is a 3MP front facing one.
While it has most of all features, which are expected to be part of tablet, Playbook comes with a unique feature called BlackBerry Bridge which allows it to sync up with all Exchange based applications run on it. Though the thicker than average bezel makes it bigger than what it could be, the Playbook is quite light at 425g.
The release date for the much awaited world’s first professional-grade tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook has been finally revealed as 16th of June. You can place pre-order for the tablet online from today onwards at Phones4U, Carphone Warehouse, Best Buy and the Dixons Group.
Prices have been revealed by Phones4U for all the three SKUs version of the RIM Blackberry Playbook. The tablets would come with price tags of £400, £480 and £560 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models respectively.
However, it is not yet known from Phones4U if the 3G version of the device would come or not. The retailer also did not mention if the tablet would go on sale on monthly contract from the mobile phone operators.
While it has most of all features, which are expected to be part of tablet, Playbook comes with a unique feature called BlackBerry Bridge. This BlackBerry Bridge feature allows Playbook to sync up with all Exchange based application run on it. With all these features on the gadget, it is definitely going to be most awaited release in UK.
A phones4U employee seems to have informed T3 that the Apple iPhone 5 could hit UK on 21st November almost five months after it is expected to be showcased at Apple Worldwide Developer conference in San Francisco.
There was no more information disclosed however because of obvious reasons. A lot of unexpected events could be the reason for this. The natural disaster in Japan couple with the threat of a rising Android market might have had a say in Apple’s decision to delay the launch of iPhone 5 by a few months.
The competition may also take note of the delay and review their plans given the fact November is going to be the much awaited holiday season.
There are additional rumours that the handset could have a 4-inch edge to edge screen, A5 as well as the same dual core SoC as in Apple iPad2. The handset is also expected to sport better front and rear view cameras.
iTunes, MobileMe (voice recognition) could however turn out to be the most important things however from a services standpoint for iPhone 5.
Grabs will be elated to know that LG’s latest Android Smartphone, the LG Optimus Black which was announced at the CES in Las Vegas by LG is finally available in the UK via T-Mobile. You can grab the handset by shelling out just £26 per month on a 24-month contract.
This second smartphone from LG would prove to be an amazing deal if you are looking for a slim, eye-catching handset. The 109g weighing Android device is just 9.8mm thin.
The handset is interfaced through a 4-inch NOVA display which claims to provide optimum brightness and is most readable under any sort of lighting conditions. As per LG, it should consume 50% less energy when compared to other phones in the market, which should increase the battery life substantially.
The phone is powered by a 1 GHz processor, which makes it to be fast enough and comes with a 5MP rear camera, which is capable of shooting HD quality video. Other specs of the handset include Android 2.2 Froyo which can be upgraded to Gingerbread, Wi-Fi, AGPS, 512MB RAM and a microSD card reader.
The T-Mobile tariff offers you 300 minutes, 300 texts along with a flexible internet connection offering unlimited browsing over the web, however with limited streaming and downloading capabilities.
Mobile phone operator, Vodafone is geared up to come with its own brand Android smartphone, the Vodafone Smart. This new PAYG Android device is expected to be released this summer.
The handset which is said to be the newer version of Vodafone 845 boasts a 2.8-inch capacitive screen as well as a 2MP zoom camera. The handset which comes with Android 2.2 Froyo OS is set to be available on PAYG tariffs.
The handset comes with all the fun-loving features for the kids. It comes with multimedia features, instant messaging, Android Market access to download apps. The home screen also features access to social apps like Twitter and Facebook.
The smartphone features 3G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It will come with all features like Gmail, Google Talk and Google Maps. The device is said to be available in bright monochrome colours along with handmade graphics. The handset comes with different set of covers by providing you the option of going with your own casing.
The Vodafone Smart is set to be released for €90 (£80) in few European territories along with the UK. All in all, the Vodafone Smart would be an amazing budget phone.
After a long pause, there has been news from Nokia. Nokia is ready with its new Smartphone Nokia X7 in UK. This Smartphone is going to be available in UK over Three network UK and if has to go by market talk, the Smartphone will be available in market by June this year.
Three UK has updated its website’s coming soon page with new Symbian device details. The Smartphone is built over 680 MHz processor based on updated version of Symbian (which is popularly known as Anna). Interfaced through a 4-inch AMOLED touch screen, the Smartphone is equipped with 8 mega pixel Camera with dual LED flash, which can capture HD Video of 720p quality. It has all networking features expected out of a Smartphone like WiFi, GPS and 3G. The updated version of Symbian OS comes with a portrait QWERTY keypad, updated OVi Maps, better interface and some updated Social media integrations.
Though much detail about Three network plans and Tariffs are available, but the pricing of SIM free version of the phone is already out in market. SIM Free version of Nokia X7 is going to cost £ 405 and indications are on contract the Smartphone will be available at £30 per month.
It is already a known fact that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 was launched earlier in February at the MWC in Barcelona where as its little brother, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 was debuted after one month at CTIA. Two different versions of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 have been launched viz. the original 10.1 called as the 10.1v and the other 10.1 inch model.
However, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 is yet to go on sale. A prototype of the device was found in a glass enclosure at some event held in Germany in the month start which is said to be thinner than the iPad 2 and has little variation than the original prototype shown at MWC.
The Galaxy Tab 8.9 was supposed to be launched a few weeks after March. However, the device has not been listed by any retailer yet when already we are heading towards the third week of May.
Coming to the specs of the Galaxy Tab 8.9, the device weighs just 470g and is 8.6mm thick. The tablet also boasts the same 1GHz Samsung Exynos 4210 SoC like the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The device would run on Honeycomb and is likely to have 1280×800 pixels resolution.
As the name suggests, the tablet comes with a 8.9-inch touchscreen display. Other specs are a 3MP rear camera coupled with a front facing camera of 2MP, Wi-Fi, BT 3.0, USB 2.0, a microSD card reader and a huge 6000mAh battery.
BlackBerry too joined in the band wagon of NFC enabled Smartphones after Samsung going in big way with its Samsung Galaxy S II. Yes BlackBerry Bold 9900 is another NFC enabled Smartphone coming into UK market before to London 2012 Olympics.
With already players like Google with its Nexus S and Samsung with its Samsung Galaxy S II in the market, what difference if BlackBerry Bold 9900 is going to bring? BlackBerry is definitely going to have edge when compared to its competitors, says the sources at RIM.
With obvious fact, which cannot be denied, BlackBerry is also throwing its hat into the ring to take maximum advantage of UK’s preparedness to support NFC enabled contact less payment systems. This is going to be another revolution in Mobile Commerce. But BlackBerry is has three colorful feathers in its cap, when compared to other competitors.
First is its capability to provide complete ease to users. Users of BlackBerry Bold 9900 no need to bother about setting up their Credit Card Accounts in their mobile devices. They can simply do the contact less payment, which will get billed to their phone bill. It is as simple as buying app over the phone.
Second feather is its long lasting battery life. BlackBerry is known for its battery life, which ensures that your phone is alive to do every kind of transaction at any time in the day. Users don’t need to run or recharging their phones every now and then.
Finally comes BlackBerry security through its encryption methods. Already proven security system will increase confidence of users in relying on BlackBerry technology in doing their payment transactions over their phone. It is as secured as any debit card or credit transaction.
All these put together will definitely keep, BlackBerry ahead of other competitors in NFC enabled devices market.
Earlier few weeks back, we broke the news about HTC sensation clearing FCC approvals, which means this super Smartphone from HTC, should be in market anytime any time now.
Yes HTC Sensation, the super Smartphone from HTC, is available in UK market for pre-order now. The phone, which is first un-veiled in April month, is HTC’s answer to dual-core processor based Smartphones available in the market.
Vodafone has docked up this super Smartphone for pre-order and is also available over online for pre bookings. Pricing of the Smartphone may be around £500 as per the sources of UK network, which might be a premium in current market, but is as per HTC standards and specifically for super Smartphone with specifications like HTC Sensation. Soon other retailers may follow Vodofone. Three, T-Mobile and Orange networks have tentatively confirmed the plans to launch the Smartphone. Originally Vodofone has indicated 19th of May as tentative release date, but currently considering various reasons for delays, release date may be dragged to 30th of June.
With all sensational features built into it, HTC sensation is going to be another super Smartphone from HTC like its predecessors.
With very stiff competition around in market for Tablets, HTC is looking not to miss the bus of this new revolution. HTC’s 7-inch tablet, the HTC Flyer has already been made available for preorder in the UK.
UK network provider, Three has revealed contract pricing for the Flyer tablet by including the device in its latest product catalogue. The operator has given complete UK pricing details on contract deals for the tablet.
You can grab the Flyer tablet from Three by shelling out an upfront cost of £169 on a £25 per month 24-month contract. This will provide you the 7-inch Android 2.3 tablet bundled with 15GB data allowance and 3G connectivity. The tablet will also get an Android 3.0 Honeycomb upgrade which might be available after its release.
The HTC Flyer was launched back in February in Barcelona earlier. However, HTC has not yet revealed the HTC Flyer UK price officially. Also, the HTC Flyer release date is also not known officially.
The HTC Flyer tablet is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC processor clocked at 1.5GHz. The tablet also comes with either 16GB or 32GB onboard memory, a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen display with a 1024×600 pixel resolution, a 5MP camera coupled with a front facing camera of 1.3MP, Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread, GPS as well as HTC user interface.
Motorola, which is known for its design, has released new Flip Phone, called Motorola GLEAM for UK market.
Remember Moto Razr, first Flip phone model from Motorola has changed fortune for Motorola and brought it into premium league of mobile manufacturers. Now after Razr expectations for GLEAM are also set to high.
GLEAM is another style appealing phone from Motorola to target style conscious users. As thin as 13.9 mm, Motorola GLEAM has two screens, One inside (flip) and other on the outside, upper part of the mobile.
Apart from style quotient, Motorola GLEAM has all other required features expected out of a basic Smartphone. It supports all kinds of expected music playing capability like FM Radio, MP3 player support with headset jack. Equipped with a little poor quality of camera (only 2 mega pixel), it has good quality display resolution with a resolution of 320 X 240 pixels of 2.4 inches in size. It is equipped with basic browsing capabilities through WAP compatible browser, which supports POP and IMAP email accounts. It is a basic GSM phone covering 900 MHZ and 1800 MHZ bands only.
With all reasonable features, Motorola is planning to price the phone at a reasonable price tag, to appeal style conscious basic phone users.
Motorola Mobility is geared up to drive a massive marketing campaign in the UK so as to promote its Xoom tablet and the Android powered Atrix smartphone. By doing so, the company aims to make the customers understand about the unique offerings which both the innovative gadgets would offer.
A heavy budget of £10 million has been set by the company to run the campaign. The campaign is focused at showcasing the Atrix device as the most powerful smartphone in the world as well as making people understand that it is not just a smartphone but much more than that.
Also, the company is looking forward to come up with a series of Television adverts to popularize its Android 3.0 powered Xoom tablet PC device. Motorola is said to drive the marketing campaign across London’s tube stations including the Paddington train station.
One way of marketing the device is by offering shoulder massages to those who bear the weight of heavy laptops by demonstrating how the phone would reduce their burden of carrying heavy bag and also how it works.
The Xoom campaign is expected to start off in May itself. Ogilvy created the TV adverts for the Xoom tablet by taking inputs from Motorola. The Atrix campaign would however start in June and go on for a month.
Motorola Xoom WiFi only 32 GB version of Motorola Android 3.0 tablet is doing rounds in UK market. It is one of the fastest moving tablet PC in UK market.
It is definitely a fastest moving Tablet in UK market, with its eye catching design and colors. Its metal casing in grey and black colors coupled with Motorola brand is appealing factor and main reason for its success. One most noticeable feature is its weight. Current model under review (Motorola Xoom WiFi only 32 GB) weighs around 716g, though it is 100 grams more than current Apple iPad 2, is light when compared to other Tablets available in market.
Another remarkable feature is its battery life. Under laboratory testing, it proves to be lasting for more than 12 hours with HD video playing unlike other Tablets, which requires Docking units to be connected to stay live for such a long times. Power button for Motorola Xoom is placed near camera which provides with considerable number of chances of getting switched off accidentally.
With all other features which are expected out of any Tablet PC, it makes to be one of the fastest moving Tablets in the market.
