Rumors: Apple iOS 7

So here’s the latest news about the Apple iOS 7, it says that Apple is going to launch there completely redesigned iOS 7 with the upcoming iPhone 5S. It will hit the store on the late Q2 or early Q3. They might feature all-new Mission Control, Social Hub, Notification Center, and more.

“With the Worldwide Developer Conference looming just months away, all eyes are on iOS 7, and according to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, the push to meet its development targets is requiring the company to repurpose resources from the OS X team. Ive is reportedly pushing a more modern, “flat” design for the next installment of Apple’s mobile OS.”

 [via Techeblog]

read more...

Facebook Home

Facebook has unveiled their Home today – a home screen replacement for Android phones. Tablet version will be out some time this year. Instead of seeing apps on your lock screen, you will see Cover Feed and prioritizes updates from people. It features the pop up reply, so you can reply text messages with exiting the app you are running on. (Chat Heads appear as round icons on the right hand side and you can drag them anywhere you like.) When you hit the home buttons it will bring you to the social updates and you can swipe left for messenger, swipe up for apps and swipe right to open up your latest app. Unfortunately, the Facebook Home will only available in good android phones they are the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III, Note II, and the new HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, and HTC First. It will be available on those phones starting April 12th in the US, followed by other countries.

[via Engadget]

[via Techeblog]

read more...

Minuum: Type Anywhere, Even Your Arm

As most on-screen is taking up a large space of the screen, the Minuum keyboard was introduced to eliminates the visual clutter of archaic mobile keyboards by adapting the keyboard to a single dimension. According to the inventor, “The Minuum layout is simply a continuum of letters, laid out in a row. We call it ‘one-dimensional’ because it’s based on one row of keys. This frees up the keyboard to be anywhere you like on the screen, or even to curve for a more ergonomic keyboard shape.” 

[via Tevheblog]

read more...

Samsung to pay Microsoft for every Android device sold

Google’s strategy of making Android available to developers for free has paid off extremely well. The operating system quickly mounted serious competition for Mac OS and Windows and emerged as the world’s best-selling smartphone platform by the end of 2010. Naturally, that made Microsoft, still reeling from the end of Windows Mobile, and Apple, unhappy with anything less than Blofeld style world domination, feel somewhat uneasy. Both companies have long claimed that Android ‘incorporates’ significant aspects from their operating systems and have demanded that Google either pay them or change Android to remove the contested elements. The legality of those claims is still undecided and so far no litigation has resulted, but in a move that the Wall Street Journal notes may move that kind of activity forward, Samsung and Microsoft have reached a huge patent sharing deal.

Samsung will now pay royalties to Microsoft on its Android-based smartphones and tablets, and the two global supercompanies will collaborate to develop new phones and tablets based on Windows rather than Android. Window’s stake in the deal is obvious, as it gives them official acknowledgment from the world’s second largest smartphone maker that their claim against Android may have merit. It also provides leverage to pressure other cellphone makers to cut similar deals. But Samsung’s reasons for pursuing the deal may have to do with more than simply protecting themselves from Microsoft’s lawyers. The South Korean company is in the midst of a very bitter worldwide legal battle with Apple involving charges of patent and trademark infringement. Partnering with Apple’s chief rival may provide them with an easy out, should they lose that battle and find their current slate of tabs and phones kiboshed.

As of this writing, Google has not made any official comment, but one imagines there are some very loud swear words being exchanged at the top of the company. In a month that has seen them taken to task for alleged anti-trust violations, this is one more headache they don’t need.

read more...

Report: “Better” Amazon Tablet coming in January

Amazon today announced three new Kindles and a new Kindle Tablet, dubbed the Kindle Fire. However, previous Amazon tablet rumors suggested that there were not one but two Amazon tablets: The 7-inch Fire that we’ve come to known, and a larger 10-inch model that is supposedly set to launch in the first quarter of 2012. The story went that Amazon planned to launch the 7-inch model in time for the holidays and then, if it was successful, launch the big one next year.

Jeff Bezos didn’t say anything about a second Fire during this morning’s press conference. That said, word on the street still says the 10-inch model is coming, and soon. Ryan Block over at GDGT says that today’s Kindle Fire is nothing more than a stopgap and that a “second, better version” is coming in about three months’ time.

“My sources tell me the second-gen Kindle tablet (or Kindle Fire, as it’s now been dubbed) will be out in Q1 of 2012 — yes, that soon. That was always the plan, but the delays of the v1 product have messed up Amazon’s release cycle,” he said, adding that the worst part of it all is that the second device seems to be the one that Amazon truly believes in.

We all know that the current pace of the mobile industry means that there’s always another version coming. However, if Block is right and Amazon is releasing a superior version so soon after the first Kindle Fire goes on sale (it hits shelves November 15), we can see early adopters being very peeved. While there’s definitely a market for 7-inch tablets, the Kindle Fire is supposed to be a media device, and we can’t help but feel that though people may be drawn in by the appeal of this current Kindle Fire, they might realize it’s a little bit dinky to be watching telly on when the 10-inch model arrives.

Amazon has not commented on rumors of a second, larger Kindle Fire, nor has it denied reports that a 10-inch model is coming in the new year.

SOURCE via gdgt

read more...

Next generation iPhone comes with HSPA+, no LTE after all?

We know that Apple won’t be unveiling its next superphone for a few more days, but we may have a tasty tidbit about the iPhone 5 ahead of schedule. So the story goes, China Unicom’s Deputy Director Huang Wenlian was making a presentation at Macworld Asia, and stated that the new iPhone would utilize the company’s HSPA+ 21Mbps network. Now, we aren’t saying it’s a sure thing, but it appears that Tim Cook could deliver a handset with thrice the data speeds of its predecessor next week. Then again, remember that AT&T was fitting an Apple Store with some LTE equipment? And yet there was a contradicting report way back earlier in the beginning of the year that Apple’s Tim Cook mentioned that Apple will not be looking into LTE as of yet. Anyway, all will be known this coming Tuesday.

SOURCE via Impress Japan

read more...

Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc finally gets some spec as the company goes official.

Finally we get some proper (official) numbers for the just announced Xperia Arc. It’s got 1GHz processor in the form of a Qualcomm MSM8255 paired with an Adreno 205 graphics chip. The company also mentioned (or admitted) about their infamous record with Android updates, and promises recent changes have put it in “a good position to make sure that Xperia Arc will get later versions in a timely manner.” Yeah, we do believe you, when you deliver that is.

See The Video

read more...

Samsung Forte with LTE but still Froyo

Now this is a rather rare leak. It seemed that Samsung is gearing up an Android phone with push-out QWERTY keyboard, and it’s got LTE for MetroPCS. The phone is allegedly called the Forte. There’s no Naza or Kia logo here though. The obvious sliding landscape keyboard is there, so let’s look at the specs. A 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 5-Megapixel camera for those workaholics that might like to shoot some stuff at times, and an Android 2.2 to tag along. It’s sad that manufacturers still do not throw out Gingerbread phones fast enough despite the OS is out few months already. Thus far people are saying that this might be under the Galaxy S sub-brand. Thus far, there’s only a rumoured February 11 launch with no mention of price.

SOURCE via Samsunghub

read more...

Next iPhone to have no home button?

When Apple release iOS beta, we usually check the new features. But for some, they dive their nose into it and have a look around. It makes them feel more like home. Well, here we have again, rumours for Apple’s next iPhone. In the iOS codes, you’ll see ‘iPhone 3, 1’ which is the iPhone 4 that we all have right now, and there’s also the ‘iPhone 3, 2’ which is Verizon’s CDMA iPhone. But then there’s another ‘iPhone 3,3’ which means there’s another yet-to-be-revealed iPhone 4? This might be the white iPhone 4 that will never see the day of light.

In the codes there’s also two new-generation iPhones (4,1 and 4,2) and three new iPads (2,1; 2,2; and 2,3), which matches previous rumours of the 3 versions of iPad 2, which are GSM, CDMA, and WiFi-only models. There’s not much to know from here, besides a missing iPhone 4, three new models of iPad 2, and new iPhones using iOS 4.3.

However, BGR is claiming it’s heard from sources that the next iPhone / iPad models will eschew the physical home button altogether in lieu of the new multi-finger gestures and that employees at Cupertino are already testing such devices. Cool, at least in the future we don’t have to worry about iPhones with damaged home buttons.

[BGR via Engadget]

read more...

BlackBerry Dakota to save the day of RIM?

RIM has been in a pinch lately. Their Playbook might be awesome but it’s not out yet. What’s more their smartphone market is dying fast being drowned by swarms of Android phones and mighty iPhones. Now the company is trying hard to revive its smartphone market, and that’s where the Dakota comes in. BlackBerry might be going touchscreen too this time around if this BGR report is true. Yes, it’s awkward to have QWERTY keyboard as well as a 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen on the same phone but that’s probably what RIM is doing right now. Spec wise, there is quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE device with tri-band UMTS. It also packs a 5 megapixel cam with HD video recording, 4GB of storage, plus 768MB of RAM. The phone will also have WiFi and be 3G hotspot-enabled, and it’ll run BlackBerry OS 6.1. There’s no mention when this will come out though, despite the phone looking rather neat.

SOURCE via BGR

read more...

Samsung to show off 4-inch Galaxy Player at CES?

The Galaxy S is there to have a fight with Apple’s iPhone though barely, and Samsung has their Galaxy Tab to take on Apple’s iPad, though the size is quite mismatched. Now the Korean electronics giant Samsung is ready to whip up an iPod Touch killer called the Galaxy Player (unconfirmed yet). The Android 2.2 PMP will be demoed at CES early next month, and features a 4-inch Super Clear LCD display with 800 x 480 resolution, Android 2.2 as the operating system (replete with Samsung’s own TouchWiz layer), a 1GHz CPU, 3.2 megapixel imager on the back plus a front-facing camera, and a 1200mAh battery. Android Market access is also in the cards.

SOURCE via Samsung

read more...

Samsung Galaxy Player coming in Q2 2011

Have you heard about Samsung’s next iPod Touch killer? The new 4-inch Galaxy Player that’ll run Android PMP? We certainly did few days ago. But there’s a bad news. For the Koreans, they’ll be getting it shortly after CES next week thanks to “home territorial advantage”, but those outside of the Starcraft nation, bad luck! You’ll only see it as early as “the April to June period”. That’s around 2nd quarter of 2011.

Like the iPod Touch, you get multitouch with Super AMOLED but short of the “Yellow!” function. The player will also be “an almost identical replica of the company’s wildly successful Galaxy S smartphone, which apparently has been no accident”. I’d expect the Galaxy Player to be slimmer though.

The WSJ also lets us in on the knowledge that Samsung’s phone division has taken over responsibility for building and selling its portable media player range, hence why we’re now seeing such major overlaps between the two categories.

SOURCE via Wall Street Journal

read more...

Leaked: White iPhone 4G?

Another leaked shot of that rumored iPhone 4G? This time a fully white iPhone appears, they believe that Apple is going to released two versions of the phone later this year. Well, like 3G and 3GS, they have the white too, just that this white covers up the front panel too.

[via Gizmodo]

read more...

Oakley Nokia N97 Winter Olympics Edition

Oakley and Nokia has partnered up to release a limited edition Nokia N97 for Winter Olympics 2010. They limited it to 200 units only, each of them will features Oakley Thunderbird (the specially designed logo for the Vancouver Olympics) laser etched on the back cover of the phone and comes preloaded with exclusive Oakley team videos and photos.

Live demo of Oakley x Nokia N97mini video from What's Really Good™ on Vimeo.

read more...

Vuzix Wrap 310 Video Eyewear

Vuzix has released the Wrap 310 Video Eyewear. Wear it like glasses and this gadget will offer you two high-resolution video displays that are project a 55-inch image size and enjoy the sound via its removable noise isolating earphones. It gets its power from 2 AA batteries (up to 6 hours) adn works with most video player including iPod and iPhone. Priced at $250.

[via TechFresh]

read more...

Nokia 7705 Twist

The Nokia 7705 Twist is a cute swivel QWERTY phone. It comes with 3-megapixel camera, 2.4-inch, 262K TFT QVGA screen, EV-DO Rev. 0, 2.5 mm headset jack, Bluetooth, HTML browser, built-in mirror, “Post to Blogs” feature and Compatible with services including VZ NavigatorSM, V CAST Music with Rhapsody, V CAST Video, Visual Voice Mail, Mobile Broadband Connect and Corporate Email. It is available through Verizon Wireless at $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

read more...

HTC Tattoo

HTC has comes with a new Android smarty called Tattoo. It is powered by 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7225 processor, 512MB/256MB ROM/RAM and comes with 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera, 3.5-mm headset jack, microSD expansion, 2.8-inch touchscreen LCD pushing 240×320 QVGA pixels, 900/2100MHz HSPA/UMTS and quad-band GSM/EDGE, internal GPS, 802.11b/g WiFi, digital compass, accelerometer, and Bluetooth 2.0. The Tattoo will land on Europe early October and other selected countries in the coming months.

[via Engadget]

read more...

LG BL40 heading Europe

The long chocolate LG BL40 is officially hits Europe.

It has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 5.0MP camera, Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth connectivity, microSDHC (support up to 32GB) and more…

It will be released in this month and flies to the rest of the world in October.

[via Aving]

read more...

Nokia X6

The Nokia X6 comes with 3.2-inch touchscreen, 32GB of storage, 5.0-megapixel + dual LED flash, TV-out, video editing, A-GPS with Ovi Maps, Full web browser, Flash Lite support and 16 days standby time, 35 hours of music playback. It comes in red or blue and measures at 111.0 x 51.0 x 13.8 mm. It will be ship from Q4 2009 at EUR459.

[via Nokia]

read more...

Samsung VVIP Phone

Samsung Electronics has launched a new AMOLED handset called the VVIP Phone in Korea. Codenamed SCH-W910, this phone is designed for a specific 40-50 age group such as the ‘NOMU’ (No More Uncle) and the ‘RUBY’ (Refresh, Uncommon, Beautiful and Youthful people). The phone comes with a 2.6-inch WQVGA AMOLED display, easy-to-use UI support, a 2M camera, GPS, FM radio, hot key function, external memory slot and more. It comes with a suggested price of 500,000(KRW) and 600,000(KRW).

[via Aving]

read more...