Blackberry 10 launches today and before the official launch, seems like a lucky person has got their hands on the new Z10 touchscreen smartphone. Check out the video below from MrIgorTV showing an unboxing & first look.
RIM Reveals BlackBerry 10 Movie, TV and Music Partners
RIM will reveal the final version of BlackBerry 10 on Wednesday and it’s already starting to provide new details on what to expect. The company on Monday revealed its music, TV and movie partners for BlackBerry World, the firm’s new ecosystem that includes apps, videos, music and more.
On the movie front, you can expect films from: 20th Century Fox, Entertainment One (eOne), Lionsgate, MGM, National Film Board of Canada, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (U.S.), Starz Digital Media, STUDIOCANAL, The Walt Disney Studios, Universal Pictures (U.K.) and Warner Bros.
TV shows will be available from: ABC Studios, BBC Worldwide, CBC/Radio-Canada, CBS, DHX Media, ITV, National Geographic, NBCUniversal (U.K.), Nelvana, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (U.S.), Starz Digital Media, Twentieth Century Fox Television, Univision Communications Inc. and Warner Bros. Unfortunately it looks like shows from HBO and Showtime are off the list for now.
Finally, music will be available from “all major and independent” record labels, including: 4AD Records, Domino Recording Company, finetunes, Matador Records, [PIAS] Entertainment Group, Rough Trade Records, Sony Music Entertainment, The Orchard, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, XL Recordings and Zebralution.
RIM’s music store will only be available in 18 countries at launch and videos will only be available for purchase or rent in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Be sure to check out our in-depth video of BlackBerry 10 for a closer look at what to expect.
[Source: TechnoBuffalo]
HTC 'M7' parts caught on video
With the recent emergence of certain leaked photos, we've slowly been able to piece together a picture of HTC's upcoming 'M7' handset. And the successor to the One X has cropped up on camera again today, disassembled, in the form couple of leaked component parts. ETrade Supply got hold of what seems to be the back case and front housing of the phone, which looks a little smaller than the similarly-designed Droid DNA. That suggests we might be dealing with a 4.7-inch screen, as has been rumored in recent months.
Also of note is the second front-facing speaker down below, which roughly matches a render that leaked out a couple of weeks ago. And there's what seems to be a dedicated camera button on the right edge, below the volume rocker, an unusual sight on an HTC Android phone.
Without the front glass in place -- not to mention functioning innards -- it's difficult to get an overall impression of the phone. But it looks like we're dealing with a handset that shares much in common with the DNA and its international cousin, the HTC Butterfly. The edges are squared off, in stark contrast to the curved One X and One S, and there's a slight hump to the back, like the DNA and Windows Phone 8X.
There's no way of knowing whether this is a finalized HTC design or merely a prototype, but the parts shown in today's video certainly tick all the boxes we were expecting from a 2013 HTC flagship. The 'M7' is e
[Source: AndroidCentral]
The biggest 1080p phone so far: Pantech's 5.9-inch Vega No. 6
It's been such a mighty, mighty long time since the Vega No. 5 came out to tug on the Dell Streak 5's coattails, but Pantech has just announced the next installment in its phablet series: the 5.9-inch Vega No. 6. The Android 4.1 handset opts for an IPS LCD display, alongside a 13-megapixel rear camera capable of 1080p30 video and a hefty 2-megapixel front-facer. The battery is pretty big too at 3,150mAh, and it's powering a Snapdragon S4 Pro, which means the only thing we're missing right now is some concrete release info -- the official announcement has so far been entirely Korea-centric.
[Source: Engadget]
Nokia Music+ downloads playlists to your Lumia, for a fee
Nokia has a new music streaming service aimed at giving Lumia owners happier ears, while fighting services like Spotify or Last.fm.
The Nokia Music+ app is an extension of Nokia's Mix Radio app, which streams a list of tunes hand-chosen by Nokia, depending on which playlist you choose.
Mix Radio is free, but is rather limited in what it offers. Coughing up an extra €3.99 per month however gets you Music+, which brings treats like the ability to skip tracks as many times as you like, as well as downloading entire playlists for offline listening.
You can't hoard as much music as you want -- Nokia explains on its blog that you're limited to four "mixes", each of which contains a tonne of tracks. Signing up to the service also nabs you downloads at "eight times" the quality, as well as scrolling lyrics for impromptu blasts of karaoke and desktop mode, which lets you stream music through a Web app or smart TV.
The service is due in a few weeks. There's no confirmed UK pricing, but £4 is a good bet. Those in the US will be forking over one cent shy of $4.
Downloading and unlimited skips are tempting features, but I'd wager many smart phone owners considering paying for a music service would rather have the opportunity to search for songs and craft their own playlists, rather than jigging about to whatever Nokia prescribes.
Incredibly, despite being present on Windows Phone 7, Spotify is still to bring its own streaming service to Windows Phone 8. If you're desperate for streaming music and are sick of waiting for Spotify (which costs £10 per month) to gets its rear in gear, Nokia's new service could tide you over.
[Source: CNET]
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 surreptitiously snapped with stylus
Bonnet de douche! The hotly rumoured Samsung Galaxy Note 8 has been snapped au naturel with a Galaxy Note 2 by Gallic phone paps Frandroid. It's the first time we've been able to compare the new tablet to one of its stylus-toting freres.
It's not an official pic from Samsung, of course, but it looks exactly the same as the other purported leaked pics we've seen, from a few different sources.
The pic seems to confirm the Note 8, as we expect it to be called, will come with a meaty S Pen stylus like its big-screen brethren. In previous Notes, the S Pen has been cleverly integrated with Samsung's take on Android, with all sorts of little tricks bringing up extra information, such as a thumbnail appearing on the timeline of a video when you hover the pen over it.
The pic above shows something we've not seen before on Samsung's Android tablets -- separate windows for different apps. It looks as though the Chrome browser and Facebook app (or possibly Facebook in another Chrome window) are open at the same time in movable windows, like a desktop OS.
The Note 2 and Note 10.1 offered a kind of split-screen system, so you could have two compatible apps, such as Gmail and chat, open at the same time, but this looks more flexible. There's also pop-up play, which lets you keep a video playing in a resizeable, moveable window while you do whatever else you want on the device.
Despite widespread scepticism from the tech press -- including me, I must confess -- Samsung has somehow persuaded people they need a stylus again, like it's 1997 or something. My colleague Andrew Hoyle was totally won over in his review of the Note 2, giving it a prestigious Editors' Choice award.
Previous Notes have been 5.3, 5.5 and 10.1 inches across, so the Note 8 is filling a gap. It'll compete with Apple's iPad mini and Google's Nexus 7 for the attention of people who want something bigger than a phone but smaller than a dinner plate, and its S Pen gives it another interesting feature.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will almost certainly be officially unveiled at Mobile World Congress, the annual phone show that takes place in Barcelona at the end of February. CNET will be there en masse, and the Note 8 is top of our list of gadgets to look out for.
[Source: CNET]
BlackBerry Z10 Price Unveiled in Alleged Carphone Warehouse Inventory
We’re just days away from seeing RIM finally unveil its last hope, BlackBerry 10. From what we’ve seen, we’re genuinely impressed with what the Waterloo company has accomplished—the extra time and care put into the mobile OS seems worth the wait. Needless to say, we’re very excited for the final Jan. 30 unveil, where we’ll probably see the company’s BlackBerry Z10.
With that said, the device has popped up in Carphone Warehouse inventory, possibly indicating what U.K. hopefuls might need to hunker down to get the handset SIM-free. According to the listing, the Z10 will run consumers £480, around $758 here in the U.S. Remember, this is off-contract pricing, so obviously there will be a subsidy in place when the device hits carriers. We’re so very close to RIM’s big day. So very close.
[Source: TechnoBuffalo]
Intel introduces the Yolo, a low-cost Android smartphone heading to Kenya
Intel, partnering with Safaricoma Kenyan based provider, has announced a new smartphone, the Yolo, headed to African markets. Back at CES, Intel took to the stage to introduce Lexington, which is their new processor targeted at emerging markets. The Yolo is the first smartphone to have that chip and looks positioned to make quite an impact in emerging markets.
The Intel Yolo will contain:
- 3.5-inch screen (320 x 420)
- 1.2GHz processor
- 512MB RAM
- 4GB internal storage
- micro-SD slot that supports up to 32GB
- Bluetooth 2.1
- Android 4.04 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
- 5MP camera
The specs are low to mid-range because that's what this phone is aimed at. Intel wants to make a real push in emerging markets and the Yolo looks poised to do just that. Kenya will be the first market in Africa to get the phone, but we're betting that we'll see it in other markets soon. The phone will cost Ksh 10,999, which is about $125.It will also come bundled with 500MB.
[Source: AndroidCentral]
Leaked press image of forthcoming Huawei Ascend P2 emerges ahead of MWC unveiling
This press image obtained by @evleaks claims to be the next high end offering from Huawei. Following on from the Ascend D2 which first launched at CES, the Ascend P2 that we see here is also reportedly joining the 1080p display club. Only, unlike the D2 which comes in at 5 inches, the P2 display is reported to be just 4.5 inches with on-screen buttons.
Leaks of recent Huawei devices have proved pretty accurate, so while the usual rumor tag applies here too, there's plenty of cause to believe this is what we'll be seeing from Huawei in Barcelona next month at Mobile World Congress.
The P2, besides the display, is also reported to contain an in-house built 1.8GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a 13MP camera and a pretty hefty 3000mAh battery. Software is said to beJelly Bean, with no indication as to which version. If it all pans out, it's clear to see that Huawei didn't just leave their big guns in Las Vegas. How much is true remains to be seen, but we'll be live from Barcelona next month to take a look at whatever it is that Huawei brings.
[Source: AndroidCentral]
Nexus 4 hitting retail shelves in Australia come Feb. 1
If you're one of the many still trying to get your hands on a Nexus 4, and happen to live in Australia, we have some good news. Starting February 1, the phone that plays hard to get will be available in retail stores across the land of Oz. The 16GB version will set you back $499 AUD (that's about $525 US) without any pesky contracts or commitments. Of course, you can also choose to get it bundled with an Optus plan for just $35 AUD (about $37 USD) a month.
The pricing isn't bad compared to retail on other unlocked phones, but is still marked up a bit over the Google Play price of $349 US. It's a case of demand setting the market price, and it's still cheaper than eBay.
[Source: AndroidCentral]
UK 4G auction kicks off today, here's how it works
Regulator Ofcom has given the green light to the UK's 4G auction plans, kicking off the first round of bidding that will see networks including Vodafone, O2 and EE splashing the cash in order to secure new chunks of spectrum.
If you're imagining a crowded auction chamber with lots of gavel-banging, your fevered imagination is a little wide of the mark. Ofcom explains that the process will involve a 'combinatorial clock' format, in which would-be buyers say how much they'd be prepared to pay for combined chunks of spectrum at set prices.
The 'clock stage', which starts today, takes place over a number of rounds, with the watchdog raising prices for bits of spectrum that are in-demand in each subsequent round.
The bidding stops when 'demand matches supply', or in other words, when the amount bidders are happy to pay has stopped climbing. Ofcom then goes through a round of supplementary bidding, in which prospective owners can give a 'best and final offer' on any bits of bandwidth on the table.
Ofcom decides how much each bidder will ultimately pay for spectrum, with each party paying the minimum amount necessary to trump competitors. Just like with eBay bidding, you wouldn't necessarily pay as much as you are ultimately prepared to pay.
In the final stage, winners bid for precise frequencies of spectrum and then finally competitors get to take home some glossy new bandwidth, with which to launch 4G services. Ofcom expects it to be "a number of weeks" before the final winners are known.
The key question currently is how much cash the auction will raise for the UK. £3.5bn is expected to be raised, but we may be in trouble if the final sum is less, as the government has already factored a £3.5bn payout into its budget predictions.
[Source: CNET]
BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 now up for download (video)
BlackBerry's just served up fresh tools to replace its Mobile Fusion brand and help businesses manage employee phones: BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. BES 10, which is now available for download, not only supports the upcoming fleet of BB 10 phones and existing BlackBerry hardware, but Android and iOS devices as well. With the software, businesses can use a web-based interface to manage applications and data on company-issued devices or personal hardware that's welcomed into the fold. Also, Heins and Co. are baking in their BlackBerry Balance tech to help separate data and apps between work and personal life. Hit the break for a brief glimpse of BES 10 in action and more details in the press release.
[Source: Engadget]