After months of rumors, speculation and official teases, RIM's BlackBerry's first full-touch BlackBerry 10 device -- the Z10 -- is finally official. Look familiar? It should. Thanks to an incessant stream of leaks, the handset you see in black and white above had become something of an open secret. But now we can confirm that candybar slab does indeed pack specs quite similar to that of the Dev Alpha unit that preceded it.
Bucking the bigger is better trend we've seen in the mobile industry as of late, the Z10 comes outfitted with a palm-friendly 4.2-inch 1,280 x 768 display -- amounting to a pixel density of 356 dpi -- and measures in at 5.13 (130mm) x 2.6 (66mm) x 0.37 (9.3mm) inches, making it significantly bulkier than, say, the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III. So, it's not the thinnest device we've seen as of late, but at 138 grams, the Z10 certainly won't be weighing down your hand. Beneath its mixture of aluminum and hard, textured plastic lies a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus buffered by 2GB RAM, a removable 1,800mAh battery, slots for microSD (up to 32GB supported) and micro SIM, as well as radios for Bluetooth 4.0, NFC (integrated into the backplate) and WiFi a/b/g/n.
Because no 2013-era smartphone launch could go without it, the Z10 will ship LTE-ready for AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, with carrier-branded models across the top four US operators. Long time BlackBerry fans will be glad to note that the Z10 does, indeed, sport that familiar red notification LED, in addition to ports for micro-USB, micro-HDMI and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the imaging front, the handset packs a 2-megapixel front facer (720p video) and 8-megapixel rear shooter capable of 1080p recording -- both perfect for using Sclalado's TimeShift camera software. Of course, it nearly goes without saying that the Z10 is RIM's showcase entry point for its BB 10 OS. Verizon is the first to confirm that it'll charge $199.99 for the handset on a two-year deal when the hardware arrives in March, and has also called shotgun on the white version as exclusive to Big Red.
Apple Tuesday unveiled a new iPad with twice the storage capacity as the existing model in an effort to score business with companies that share large amounts of data.
Apple's new iPad will have a capacity of 128 gigabytes compared with the current model, which comes with different memory capacities but has a maximum of 64 gigabytes.
"With twice the storage capacity and an unparalleled selection of over 300,000 native iPad apps, enterprises, educators and artists have even more reasons to use iPad for all their business and personal needs," said Apple senior vice president of marketing Philip Schiller in a statement.
Apple quoted several web application developers who said the additional memory capacity would allow businesses to better serve clients in conceptual design, music recordings and sports strategy.
Apple's move to expand its iPad following comes as the company faces tough questions from Wall Street over its growth prospects.
Company shares lost about 12 percent of their value last week after the company reported earnings that showed lower profit margins and smaller anticipated growth than expected.
The new iPad model will go on sale on February 5, with a suggested price of $799 for the iPad with Wi-Fi capacity and $929 for iPad with Wi-Fi and Cellular capacity.
Apple shares were 1.1 percent higher in early trading.
Mercedes Benz has released the Vision Ener-G-Force concept sport utility patrol vehicle. Small windows help officers within maintain a low profile, rotating beacons on the roof project the strength of police presence in the vicinity, and the striking design combine with the rugged wheels to make this beast high capable on or off the beaten track. “The Ener-G-Force is the vision of an off-roader that, while reflecting tomorrow’s adventures, also invokes the genes of the Mercedes-Benz off-road icon, the G model. Modern and cool, it could also be a clue about a new beginning for the off-road design idiom of Mercedes-Benz.”
AUDI unveiled its 'wörthersee' performance electric bike for sports and trick cycling. designed incorporating technology from AUDI cars, with testing and feedback from competitive cyclist julien dupont. the bicycle also offers smartphone connectivity for the recording of stunts, and optional automatic stabilization when performing wheelies and other tricks.
The Phillips Fluid has an organic light emitting diode (OLED) screen, the mobile phone is so designed that it can be wrapped around the wrist as a bracelet or it can be used as a normal MOBILE or IT can be worn round the wrist like a watch. Phillips Fluid is fashionable and filled with features.SAMSUNG is another company that is working on the bendable concept and developing the samsung skin that too can make many shapes.Youtube: Philips Fluid Concept Phone
This gold vending machine was located at the Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace hotel. This ATM machine dispenses 10-gram 24K bars of solid gold instead of cash. You can buy a 2.5, 5 or 10 gram gold bar for $193, $343 and $638 respectively.
The OLED display technology is came with a super concept laptop that feature a see-through AMOLED display.The display has a resolution of 960x540. The transparency(optics) of the screen is about 40% but color are very decent and vibrant. As per my opinion, the technology is new and very much practical but the idea would be a lot of practical if they add an option to switch the transparency on and off as needed.YouTube: Concept Laptop With Transparent AMOLED Display
Sony has announced a new smartphone that can be used in the shower or bath without the risk of damage.The Xperia Z can also record HDR (high dynamic range) video, a facility borrowed from its camera division.The Android-powered device was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.YouTube: Sony Xperia Z Water Friendly Phone
RIM has announced a new concept phone, the BlackBerry Empathy, that displays the moods of your contacts. It would work by connecting the device to a biometric ring (mood ring) that would monitor and transmit your mood in real time.The BlackBerry Empathy was intended to integrate real human emotions with social networking.
Here are the touches that will make Key Lime Pie even sweeter
By Gary Cutlack and Paul Douglas
Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie has started baking
Google's showing no signs of slowing its pace of Android development, with Android 4.0 appearing on the Galaxy Nexus late in 2011, followed in July of 2012 by the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean release that arrived powering the super Nexus 7.
But, forward-looking, update-obsessed people that we are, we can't help but imagine how Google's going to maintain the pace of innovation in its next version of its mobile OS, Android 5.0.
All we know so far is that Google's working away on the K release of Android, which it's developing under the dessert-related codename of Key Lime Pie. Regarding the version number, it's likely that the Key Lime Pie moniker will be given to Android 5.0. We thought we might find out on 29 October but as yet there is no official word from Google.
Rumours of a new Nexus handset started trickling in during the third quarter of 2012, as we reported on 1 October 2012. There was speculation that this phone would be sporting Key Lime Pie, but sources who spoke to AndroidAndMe correctly claimed that the handset, which turned out to be the Google Nexus 4 would be running Android Jelly Bean.
So now as we wait on official news of the Android 5.0 release date and features, we can start to pull together the Key Lime Pie rumours from around the web, with the first sighting of Android 5.0 on a benchmarking website, apparently running on a Sony smartphone. There has previously been speculation that Sony is in line to produce the next Nexus phone, which may lend some credence to this rumour.
Android 5.0 release date
Google has announced that its next developer conference - Google IO - will take place from May 15 to May 17 2013, a month earlier than 2012's June dates. Given that Google announced Android 4.1 Jelly Bean at 2012's IO conference, it's not unreasonable to expect to see Android 5.0 at this year's event.
Android 5.0 phones
While the Nexus 4 didn't appear with a helping of Key Lime Pie,suggests that the Motorola X Phone is the Android 5.0-toting handset that will break cover at Google IO. According to a post on the Droid Forums website, the phone will also feature a virtually bezel-free, edge-to-edge, 5-inch display.
Android 5.0 features
Key Lime Pie features are yet to revealed, but as we scour the web for more Android 5.0 news, we've been thinking about what we want to see in Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. Hopefully the new mobile OS will feature some of these things...
1. Performance Profiles
It's bit of a fuss managing your mobile before bed time. Switching off the sound, turning off data, activating airplane mode and so on, so what Android 5.0 really needs is a simple way of managing performance, and therefore power use, automatically.
We've been given a taste of this with Blocking Mode in Samsung's Jelly Bean update on the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Note 2 but we'd like to see the functionality expanded.
Something like a Gaming mode for max power delivery, an Overnight low-power state for slumbering on minimal power and maybe a Reading mode for no bothersome data connections and a super-low backlight.
Some hardware makers put their own little automated tools in, such as the excellent Smart Actions found within Motorola's RAZR interface, but it'd be great to see Google give us a simple way to manage states.
Another little power strip style widget for phone performance profiles would be an easy way to do it.
Set telephone to BEDTIME SLEEPY MODE
2. Better multiple device support
Google already does quite a good job of supporting serious Android nerds who own several phones and tablets, but there are some holes in its coverage that are rather frustrating.
Take the Videos app which manages your film downloads through the Play Store. Start watching a film on one Android device and you're limited to resuming your film session on that same unit, making it impossible to switch from phone to tablet mid-film.
You can switch between phone and web site players to resume watching, but surely Google ought to understand its fans often have a couple of phones and tabs on the go and fix this for Android Key Lime Pie?
3. Enhanced social network support
Android doesn't really do much for social network users out of the box, with most of the fancy social widgets and features coming from the hardware makers through their own custom skins.
Sony integrates Facebook brilliantly in its phones, and even LG makes a great social network aggregator widget that incorporates Facebook and Twitter - so why are there no cool aggregator apps as part of the standard Android setup?
Yes, Google does a great job of pushing Google+, but, no offence, there are many other more widely used networks that ought to be a little better "baked in" to Android.
4. Line-drawing keyboard options
Another area where the manufacturers have taken a big leap ahead of Google is in integrating clever alternate text entry options in their keyboards. HTC and Sony both offer their own takes on the Swype style of line-drawing text input, which is a nice option to have for getting your words onto a telephone. Get it into Android 5.0 and give us the choice.
UPDATE: Google heard us and this feature appeared in Android 4.2.
P-U-T T-H-I-S I-N A-N-D-R-O-I-D 5-.-0
5. A video chat app
How odd is it that Google's put a front-facing camera on the Nexus 7 and most hardware manufacturers do the same on their phones and tablets, yet most ship without any form of common video chat app?
You have to download Skype and hope it works, or find some other downloadable app solution. Why isn't there a Google Live See My Face Chat app of some sort as part of Android? Is it because we're too ugly? Is that what you're saying, Google?
6. Multi-select in the contacts
The Android contacts section is pretty useful, but it could be managed a little better. What if you have the idea of emailing or texting a handful of your friends? The way that's currently done is by emailing one, then adding the rest individually. Some sort of checkbox system that let users scroll through names and create a mailing list on the fly through the contacts listing in Android Key Lime Pie would make this much easier.
Make this a destination, rather than a never-used list
7. Cross-device SMS sync
If you're a constant SIM swapper with more than one phone on the go, chances are you've lost track of your text messages at some point. Google stores these on the phone rather than the SIM card, so it'd be nice if our texts could be either backed up to the SIM, the SD card, or beamed up to the magical invisible cloud of data, for easy and consistent access across multiple devices.
8. A "Never Update" option
This would annoy developers so is unlikely to happen, but it'd be nice if we could refuse app updates permanently in Android 5.0, just in case we'd rather stick with a current version of a tool than be forced to upgrade.
Sure, you can set apps to manual update and then just ignore the update prompt forever, but it'd be nice to know we can keep a favoured version of an app without accidentally updating it. Some of us are still using the beta Times app, for example, which has given free access for a year.
Let us keep older versions. Many people fear change
9. App preview/freebie codes
Something Apple's been doing for ages and ages is using a promo code system to distribute free or review versions of apps. It even makes doing little competitions to drum up publicity for apps much easier, so why's there no similar scheme for Android?
It might encourage developers to stop going down the ad-covered/freemium route if they could charge for an app but still give it away to friends and fans through a promo code system.
10. Final whinges and requests...
It's be nice to be able to sort the Settings screen by alphabetical order, too, or by most commonly used or personal preference, as Android's so packed with a huge list of options these days it's a big old list to scroll through and pick out what you need.
Plus could we have a percentage count for the battery in the Notifications bar for Android 5.0? Just so we know a bit more info than the vague emptying battery icon.
Samsung has officially announced its rumored Android-powered Galaxy Xcover 2 smartphone.
Running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Xcover 2 is shock and dustproof, in addition to being IP67 certified; consequently, it's waterproof and can function in up to three feet of water while being able to stay there for half an hour. A dedicated camera key, meanwhile, has made it possible for underwater photography.
It's powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM, as well as sporting a 4.0-inch WVGA (480 x 800) TFT screen. A rear 5-megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash is included, as is a front-facing VGA snapper.
Bluetooth v 4.0, USB 2.0, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and Wi-Fi Direct support are all included, accompanied by a 1,700mAh battery. 4 GB of internal memory can be expanded via a microSD slot (up to 32GB).
Pricing or availability details weren't divulged but expect more information during MWC late next month.
It is Rumored that Samsung is planning to launch Samsung Galaxy S4 in the fall of first quarter or somewhere in the head of 2nd quater of 2013. Samsung Galaxy S4 price in India may be lie in the range of Rs. 35,000-40,000. The smart phone is expected to be unveiled during WMC, Barcelona. Samsung Galaxy S4 launch in India can be expected in or after March 2013.
Samsung Galaxy S4 features will be better and upgraded as compared to Samsung Galaxy S III. It is reported that it will have 5 inch screen size which slightly better than in S III. Also Samsung Galaxy S4 will be powered with the latest version of Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) operating system. This Korean Company Hasn’t revealed much information about its new SMARTPHONE Samsung Galaxy S4 will be compatible with LTE technology. It will definitely give a tough Competition to the latest Apple iPhone 5 in the market. Samsung Galaxy S4 may be have better looks and slightly lighter weight to make it more. Also the latest trend in high resolution cameras, Samsung Galaxy S4 may also have much better than 8 MP camera which currently S III has.
There are some surprising winners in the smartphone market in the last quarter of 2012. The top 2 manufacturers are well established (Apple and Samsung), but the other 3 spots in the top 5 ranking seem to be Huawei, Sony and ZTE, in that order.
Most people should be surprised by Huawei and ZTE getting so big, considering they’ve only made poor quality products in the past, but if you’ve been watching them for the past year or so, you would’ve noticed that they’ve worked hard to increase the quality of their Android devices, while in the same time trying to compete in the higher-end devices market.
While many 4th graders spend their free time playing video games, one Calif. boy spends his time studying and learning computer codes. KCAL-TV's Bobby Kaple reports.
Samsung Electronics, the world's top handset maker, sold 63 million smartphones in the fourth quarter and commanded a 29 percent share of the global smartphone market, a report by research firm Strategy Analytics showed on Friday.
In 2012, Samsung sold 213 million smartphones with a 30 percent market share, followed by Apple, which sold 135.8 million iPhones with a 19 percent market share, the report said.
The company said in Friday's earnings call that net profit soared 75.6 per cent to a record 7.04 trillion won ($6.6 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2012, driven by strong smartphone and memory chip sales.
The world's largest technology firm by revenue and top smartphone maker also saw a record operating profit in October-December of 8.84 trillion won, up 89.7 per cent from a year earlier.
The figures were largely in line with Samsung's guidance released earlier this month.
For all of 2012, Samsung logged a net profit of 23.8 trillion won, with revenue and operating income reaching 201.1 trillion won and 29.05 trillion won respectively.
Samsung GALAXY Grand launched officially today which is available
in both single and dual SIM versions, with Dual version to be released in
upcoming months.
Its comes with a 5-inch display (WVGA 480X800 pixels),
running on 1.2GHZ dual core processor, having 8 MP rear Camera, 2MP front
Camera, 1GB og Main memory(RAM), 8 GB internal Storage with a memory card slot
ang Bluetooth 4.0 .
It is similar to Samsung’s S 2 but having a bigger screen
and less storage.
And not forgetting to mention that it runs on latest Andriod
4.1 Jelly bean with a multi window feature too..
It is expected to be on sale in INDIA in the I st quater of 2013.
Struggling Nokia Corp. turned a net profit of euro 202 million ($270 million) in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $1 billion a year earlier, but revenue fell 20 percent as it failed to make gains in the fiercely competitive smartphone market.
The Finnish company said Thursday that revenue dropped to euro 8 billion ($10.6 billion) from euro 10 billion as smartphone sales plunged 55 percent from a year earlier.
Nokia gave a grim outlook saying it expects operating margins in the first quarter of this year to be "approximately negative 2 percent, plus or minus four percentage points." It cited increased competition and lower-than-expected demand for its flagship Lumia phones and cheaper Asha models.
Nokia sold 15.9 million smartphones in the quarter, down from 19.6 million a year earlier, including 4.4 million Lumia phones. In all, it sold 45 million mobile phones in the period, 15 percent less than in 2011.
CEO Stephen Elop said he was encouraged that the company's strategy had reached "underlying profitability" and strengthened its financial position but cautioned that more cutbacks could be expected.
"We remain focused on moving through our transition, which includes continuing to improve our product competitiveness, accelerate the way we operate and manage our costs effectively," Elop said.
Elop said Nokia Siemens Networks "drove record profitability" during the quarter. The networks unit - a joint-venture with Germany's Siemens AG - saw its operating profit surge to euro 251 million from euro 67 million the previous year, while revenue was up 5 percent at euro 4 billion.
The unit has been loss-making for years but restructuring measures including substantial job cuts have improved its performance.
Weaker-than-expected holiday sales of Apple's iphone reinforced fears that it is losing its dominance in Smartphones, driving down its shares and drawing another round of stock price target cuts early on Thursday.
Shares of the company, which reported lower-than-expected revenue for the third straight quarter on Wednesday, were set to open 8 per cent lower. Apple's Frankfurt-listed shares were down more than 7 per cent.
Seven brokerages including Capital of Barclay"s, Mizuho Securities U.S.A., Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Raymond James, Robert W. Baird & Co and Canaccord Genuity cut their price target on the stock by $142 on average to $617.80.
Apple's shares closed at $514 Wednesday on the Nasdaq. Apple said it shipped a record 47.8 million iPhones in the December quarter, but this trailed the average analyst forecast of 50 million units.
Deutsche Bank, which made the deepest cut in its target price by trimming it to $575 from $800, said Apple should start making a lower-priced iPhone to arrest the market share loss.
Credit suisse analysts said a new product cycle and wider telecom carrier selection could be possible catalysts for the company, but added that these were not immediately imminent.
"We believe a lower ability to beat earnings per share expectations, and some concerns on demand, may weigh on the stock near-term," said Credit Suisse, which cut its target price by $150 to $600.
Up to Wednesday, 24 analysts had lowered their price targets since October when Apple reported its fourth-quarter results, according to Thomson Reuters data.
