Lumia 920 to get PR1.1 update this month improved camera
Nokia Lumia 920 will be getting a major PR1.1 update by the end of this month. Its most prominent feature will be the updated camera software, which should enhance the smartphone's performance in well-lit environments.
Previously we observed problems with the resolved detail in the still photos, smudged areas and oversaturated colors. The photos taken with Lumia 920 running a beta version of the update are now much crispier, with more resolved detail and improved contrast. According to Engadget who got hold of the photos the white balance still needs some tuning, but the overall image quality is miles ahead after the update.
Here are some crops from photos taken with two different Lumia 920 units - the left one running on retail 1.0 and the right one on the upcoming 1.1 update.
Lumia 920: PR1.0 vs PR1.1 samples
The update will also bring system stability and browser performance improvements, as well as Microsoft in-house features such as rejecting calls via SMS.
The update is expected to launch before the end of the year, so the Lumia 920 users might be getting a pretty nice Christmas present.
Source
Nokia Windows Phone 7.8 not coming out until 2013
A few days ago Lumia 800 owners got some exciting news. There were several reports of devices receiving the long awaited Windows Phone 7.8 update.
As it turns out though, this was merely a test run, rather than the real deal. While a limited group of users did indeed get the update, the Windows Phone 7.8 rollout for the general public will happen in early 2013 as planned.
Those who received the update actually own a pre-production units of Lumia 800, so they were eligible for the test version of WP 7.8. All this was confirmed by a Nokia official.
So, the update is not out, folks. Stop mashing that check for updates button, because you won't have any luck with it. Not for now, at least.
There are surely ways to force the test update into your Lumia 800, but we'd advise against it. You can brick your device, void your warranty or be permanently banned from getting new software updates via the official channels.
Source | Via
Sony C660X Xperia Yuga reviewed given the thumbs up
There was a lot of guesses and rumors about the specs of the Sony C660X Xperia Yuga, but Eldar Murtazin did a full review on it, settling the matter once and for all. So, how does Sony's 2013 flagship with a 5" 1080p screen hold up?
For starters, the screen is amazingly sharp with its 440ppi pixel density and image quality is great, particularly for apps that can make use of the Bravia Engine. Third party apps reportedly didn’t do so well and there are other issues - viewing angles are narrow and the screen is quite reflective.
Sony C660X Xperia Yuga
As for the design of the Xperia Yuga, the back is not glass but glass-like plastic (which sounds a lot like the Gorilla Glass on the Optimus G and Nexus 4). The power/lock key has been moved to the right - the grey round button that looked like a shutter key. The actual shutter key is a narrow key near the bottom of the phone.
The phone also boasts a microUSB port with host mode, microHDMI port, microSD card slot (with SDXC support). On the communication side, there's LTE, Bluetooth 4.0 and dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n.
The phone runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with the latest customizations from Sony and is powered by Qualcomm's APQ8064 Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset with four 1.7GHz Krait cores, 2GB of RAM and Adreno 320 GPU. The chipset's performance was found to be very good, even with the high 1080p resolution that the GPU needs to deal with.
Sony-customized Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean • a couple of benchmarks
That consumes a lot of power, however, and the Sony Xperia Yuga drained its battery pretty quick and got hot in the process. It got to the point where the camera wouldn’t snap photos until the phone cooled down. At this point it's good to remember that the Yuga is not ready for mass production yet as it hasn’t even been announced, so the final product might be doing a whole lot better.
The camera is a 12MP shooter, which reportedly performs better than the 13MP camera of the Xperia T. It features HDR mode for both stills and video (that's a first on a phone)
The Sony C660X Xperia Yuga got a positive mark at the end of the review, despite having some flaws. If you know Russian you can go read the original thing and if not - the Google Translate version of it.
Source (in Russian)
Sony C503X 1.7 GHz CPU confirmed via benchmarks
The upcoming Sony C503X series of devices, codenamed HuaShan, has made another unofficial appearance, this time taking a trip to the AnTuTu benchmark database.
Not much info is revealed in terms of specifications, but we know that the processor is clocked at 1.7GHz. The number of cores is unknown, but most likely it is of the dual-core variety, as previous rumors pointed to a mid-rang device.
The Android version was detected to be Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, and the score of 16133 is quite good for a device of that caliber.
We'll update you on more news of the HuaShan as we get it.
Source | Via
Sony gives an update on the Jelly Bean release schedule
As promised Sony gave more details on the Jelly Bean released schedule plus which phones won’t be getting the update and why.
The first phones to get the Jelly Bean update are Xperia T, TX and V. The roll out will start in February and should be completed by the end of March.
The next trio to get the Jelly Bean treatment is the Xperia P, J and go. Sony will start seeding the updates for those at the end of March.
The last four phones to get Android Jelly Bean are Xperia S, SL, ion and acro S. The rollout for them will begin a few weeks after the second batch of phones get the Jelly Bean treatment, presumably sometime in late April.
This means Xperia arc S, U, sola, miro and tipo are out of the loop and will be stuck on ICS forever, at least as far as official updates are concerned. Sony already responded to those angered by the news.
Here is the quote about the Xperia U, sola, miro and tipo:
"The quality of Xperia's software experience is dependent on a number of factors including: screen resolution, hardware platform and RAM. In the case of Xperia go, this combination came together in a way that meant the user experience running JB was not adversely affected.
Unfortunately, in the case of Xperia tipo, Xperia miro, Xperia U and Xperia sola this wasn’t the case – so we made the decision to keep them on Ice Cream Sandwich."
And this one is about the arc S:
"Xperia Arc S is part of our 2011 portfolio, which won’t be upgraded beyond ICS. The reason being – user experience is at the heart of our product development and support; after thorough evaluation, we concluded that the user experience for our 2011 Xperia smartphones will be superior if they remain on Ice Cream Sandwich versus being upgraded to Jelly Bean."
In case you are wondering how is that the low-end Xperia J is getting the Jelly Bean update, while the dual-core U and sola aren't - despite Sony didn't make any statement, we guess the GPU is the one to blame.
All three phones have 512MB of RAM, but the Adreno 200 GPU on the Xperia J uses far less RAM than the Mali-400 inside the Xperia U and sola. We also know that Project Butter needs more GPU power than what the ICS UI. And the insufficient RAM due to GPU usage is probably the reason why these phones won't be getting to taste Jelly Bean.
Source | Source 2
HTC Windows Phone 8S Mobile Phone Review Icebreaker
No one's had any reason to question HTC's commitment to Windows Phone. The Taiwanese have been on board since the heyday of PocketPCs, helping Redmond quickly man a nascent WP7 army. Now they're back in the thick of it for the next generation of the platform; this time with a smaller, more focused squad.
In the couple of the so-called signature WP8 devices, the HTC Windows Phone 8S is playing second fiddle to the 8X. The current flagship however, didn't quite convince us it had what it takes to put real pressure on competing platforms or stand up to the other big fish in the small pond that the Windows Phone market still is.
HTC Windows Phone 8S official photos
Key features
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
Dual-band 3G with 42 Mbps HSDPA and 5.7 Mbps HSUPA support
4" 16M-color S-LCD capacitive touchscreen of 480 x 800 pixel resolution
Scratch resistant Gorilla Glass 2 display
5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, 720p@30fps video recording
Windows Phone 8 OS
1GHz dual-core Krait CPU, Adreno 305 GPU, Qualcomm S4 chipset, 512MB of RAM
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band
GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS support
Digital compass
4GB of inbuilt storage, microSD card slot
Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
microUSB port
Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP and EDR, file transfers
Impressively deep and coherent SNS integration throughout the interface
Xbox Live integration and Xbox management
Data Sense
HTC exclusive apps
Beats audio enhancements
Main disadvantages
Non user-replaceable battery
App catalog falls short of Android and iOS
No front-facing camera
No FM radio
No system-wide file manager
No voice-guided navigation
Granted, the Windows Phone 8S by HTC (as the smartphone's official name goes) has the least capable hardware of all WP8 smartphones, but a dual-core Krait CPU device with the new-generation Adreno 305 GPU is not what we'd call underpowered. In fact, while the top dogs of its platform have to face Android rivals with double the computing power, this one is actually playing against equals.
It's a package that makes sense, never mind the hardware limitations. The lower screen resolution should be less strain on the GPU, while the microSD card slot makes up for the limited inbuilt storage. In theory, the HTC 8S should give the same solid smartphone experience as the high-end WP8 devices at a fraction of the price. Intriguing indeed. Let's see how the HTC Windows Phone 8S goes about it.
HTC M7 upcoming flagship leaks said to boast a 468ppi screen
After outing the HTC Butterfly/DNA last month, HTC is once again looking to make waves with a ultra high-res screen, except with a more compact size.
The latest bit of online gossip has it that the company's upcoming M7 flagship is set to feature a 4.7-inch 1080p display, which amounts to an unprecedented 468 ppi. The display panel will be of the SoLux variety, which is claimed to feature superior outdoor visibility, viewing angles, and color reproduction.
Inside, you'll find a quad-core 1.7 GHz Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, and 32 GB of internal storage. The camera sensor will have 13MP resolution, while the lens will have a bright f/2.0 aperture capable of super slow-mo and video HDR in 1080p. The 2MP front-facer will also be capable of 1080p video.
In terms of connectivity, the M7 will support LTE up to 42Mbps, as well as the new 802.11 ac wireless standard. Beats audio enhancements are also included, and it will all be powered by a 2300mAh battery.
On the software side of things, the M7 will offer Android Jelly Bean out of box, coupled with HTC's updated Sense 5 UX.
As far as pricing and availability go, the M7 is supposedly set for a MWC unveiling, scheduled for late February of next year. The M7 is said to eventually become available on at least two major US carriers: Verizon and Sprint.
Source
HTC said to have dropped plans for a 5 inch WP8 smartphone
According to Bloomberg, HTC had plans for producing a large screen Windows Phone 8 smartphone, but has recently decided to abandon the project.
The reason for this turn of events is simple - Microsoft hasn't included support for resolutions higher than 1280x768 pixels in Windows Phone 8. As a result, HTC felt that a smartphone with a super large screen won't be competitive with the 1080p displays on the recent Android flagships.
The decision made by the company's CEO, Peter Chou, means that HTC, despite its best intentions, is going to have a 5+ inch smartphones only in the Android camp, while WP8 will be getting more compact devices.
Source | Via
Next iPhone to have dual-LED, dual-color flash
The rumor came with no evidence (certainly no photos) but it’s seemingly too odd to be made up.
The purported dual-LED flash of the next iPhone consists of one regular LED and one with a slight blue tint. The idea behind this is to improve white balance when snapping photos.
We’re not quite sure how this is supposed to work – use both LEDs at the same time to produce a brighter, slightly blue illumination, or light them up one at a time to get two different illuminations in an HDR-type strategy (instead of combing two exposures to get better dynamic range, combine two photos with different color to get better color accuracy).
It’s an odd rumor as we said – it’s unlikely, but why would someone make it up? We would expect more “iPhone 6 with xenon flash” rumors than ones like this. Still, take it with a big bag of salt.
Apple releases iOS 6.0.2 update to fix Wi-Fi issue
Apple has released the iOS 6.0.2 update for the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini. The only major change in this update is that it fixes the Wi-Fi bug that a lot of users were experiencing.
Since the iOS 6 update, several users reported unable to connect to their local Wi-Fi. The next update, iOS 6.0.1, was supposed to solve this issue and while it did for some users others continued to face it.
Now with this new update, several users are again reporting that it has solved the issue on their device. If you were facing this issue on your iOS device, then you should install the update immediately.
Source
Google brings music matching to Google Play in the US
After the European launch last month, Google is now bringing the music match feature for the folks in the US. If you don’t know how this works, the service scans your local library and then adds those track to your online Google Play library so you can stream them later from anywhere.
This feature was already available on both iTunes and Amazon’s music service. Both these services are paid. Apple and Amazon charge $24.99 per year, which is not a bad deal when you consider what you’re getting but Google is offering an even better deal, where it’s free of cost, at least for the first 20,000 songs.
Just like iTunes, Google Play does not upload your entire library on Google’s servers but just scans it and adds it to your online library. This is a significant improvement from the past where you had to upload every track. Later, you can choose to stream it at 320kbps, regardless of what the quality of your original local file was (assuming Google has a 320kbps version of it). Unlike iTunes, however, Google won’t let you download the file in a higher quality version and you can only stream it. Also, it would only match tracks that are in Google’s store. You can still upload tracks as before, though.
The feature is now available in the US and available for new users. For existing users who have tracks already uploaded on the cloud, Google will try to match them without you having to re-upload them.
Source
Samsung announces Galaxy Grand with 5-inch WVGA display
Samsung has announced a new Android based smartphone, called the Galaxy Grand. The main feature here is the 5-inch, 800 x 480 resolution LCD, making it smaller only to the Note series in Samsung's smartphone lineup.
Other features on this smartphone include a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 8 megapixel rear camera with 1080p video recording, 2 megapixel front camera, 8GB internal memory with microSD card slot, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, HSPA+ connectivity and a 2,100mAh battery.
The Galaxy Grand will be running Samsung's TouchWiz interface on top of Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. It will come with the usual range of Samsung features, including S Voice, multi window mode, Direct Call, AllShare Play, Smart Alert, Popup Play and all the Samsung Hubs.
The phone will be sold in two variants, I9080, which will be the single SIM variant and I9082, which will be the dual-SIM variant. No word on availability and pricing.
Source
Verizon Galaxy S III Jelly Bean update starts rolling out
The Verizon Galaxy S III in the US is being treated to some Jelly Bean. Verizon has started pushing out the update to devices and you should see a notification on your phone soon. If not, you can try checking manually if the update is available for download.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S III in Korea is getting the Android 4.1.2 update. The update will be available over the air or through Kies. This update brings with it Samsung's Premium Suite features, which includes stuff like multi-view mode, new Gallery app, Paper Artist app, improved notification panel and much more.
Source 1 • Source 2
Samsung Galaxy Tabs 2 7.0, 2 10.1 and Note 10.1 to launch in Garnet Red
Samsung seems to be preparing new colors for its latest slates – the Tabs 2 7.0 and 10.1 as well as for the Note 10.1.
The new colors is called Garnet Red – if it sounds familiar it’s because the Galaxy S III is already available in it.
The Garnet Red editions of the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and Galaxy Note 10.1 will arrive in time for Valentine’s Day next year. Unfortunately only the 3G+Wi-Fi slates will get the new paintjob.
Pricing is yet to be confirmed, but likely the red units will cost the same as their black and white siblings.
Source
Samsung does a teardown of the Galaxy Note II, tells us all about its internals
First there’s the beautifully arranged collage of all the components, followed by detailed description of each of them. For example, you can see what the digitizer that detects the S Pen at a distance looks like.
And here go the individual components.
A while back there was a video of a Sony engineer who took apart an Xperia Tablet S and then put it back together. I wonder if we can have a teardown competition with engineers from different companies competing who can take apart and rebuild their gadget first.
Amazon discounts Sprint Galaxy Note II to $99.99
The Samsung Galaxy Note II can normally be bought from Sprint in the US for a penny under $300 on a two-year contract, but Amazon is currently offering a nice discount on it. The Galaxy Note II can be yours for $99.99 on the same Sprint deal.
The catch is Amazon can't ship the smartphone right away as it is unable to catch up with the demand. It expects Note IIs stock to arrive in 1 to 2 weeks.
The Note II is a hot seller for Samsung, just like its predecessor, having already shipped more than 5 million units. It features a 5.5" Super AMOLED HD display, 8 MP camera, quad-core Exynos chip and Android Jelly Bean.
Amazon offers the Sprint Galaxy Note II in titanium and white.
Via
Judge throws out Samsung's claim of jury misconduct
We have now learned that Judge Lucy Koh has thrown out the claims that Hogan was biased in his decision (and thus the request for a new trial) stating that he had admitted to working at Seagate (now a part of Samsung) during the jury selections and any reservations about him should have been made clear then. So for all intents and purposes, this part of the discussion has been closed for Samsung.
Apple, although fairing much better than Samsung, isn't having everything its way, either. Its motion to place a permanent injunction on 26 of Samsung's infringing devices in the US has been denied. This is due to the fact that Apple could not prove sufficiently well in court that the features being infringed were causing it damage and also that many of the infringing products are no longer on sale.
Of course, this is far from over, and this particular case is just one of the many battles in the war between the two companies.
Source 1 • Source 2
Galaxy S II and Note to get 4.1.2 Jelly Bean in January
Here is some good news for the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note loyal users. The Jelly Bean update is coming as soon as early January.
As indicated by the leaked test ROM, both devices will skip the initial Jelly Bean 4.1.1 release and move straight to the 4.1.2.
The update, in addition to all the Jelly Bean goodies we showed you in our Galaxy S III Jelly Bean review, will also bring some of the Note II features to the two devices.
Canadian carrier Rogers officially confirmed The JB 4.1.2 updates will be hitting the S II LTE and Note LTE versions in late January and given that unlocked models always get new firmwares before carrier-locked ones, early January rollout seems like a safe bet.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S III users are also expecting the 4.1.2 update availability to expand beyond Poland and Germany sometime around Christmas.
Source
Verizon Galaxy S III Jelly Bean update starts rolling out
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Verizon Galaxy S III
The Verizon Galaxy S III in the US is being treated to some Jelly Bean. Verizon has started pushing out the update to devices and you should see a notification on your phone soon. If not, you can try checking manually if the update is available for download.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S III in Korea is getting the Android 4.1.2 update. The update will be available over the air or through Kies. This update brings with it Samsung's Premium Suite features, which includes stuff like multi-view mode, new Gallery app, Paper Artist app, improved notification panel and much more.
Source 1 • Source 2
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