Android Authority |
- HTC phones to get Jelly Bean update “revealed” on Twitter
- Samsung Galaxy S3’s Premium Suite video part 2 released
- LG sells 10 million handsets of Optimus L-series
- STMicroelectronics to leave the ST-Ericsson joint venture next year
- HTC bouncing back? Q4 looks good according to Morgan Stanley
- Rumor: The LG Optimus G2 will ship in H1 2013 with a 5.5 inch 1080p screen
- Samsung Galaxy S4 to be unveiled at CES in January?
- Jabra Solemate on sale for $160 at Best Buy for the entire month of December
- Sprint’s Samsung Galaxy Note 2 available for $149 on Amazon Wireless
- Top Gear Stunt School Revolution now available in the Google Play Store
| HTC phones to get Jelly Bean update “revealed” on Twitter Posted: 10 Dec 2012 03:26 AM PST
Although it's still a bit early to call this one, HTC seems to be on the right track for recovery after a long and painful string of financial losses. The One X+ and especially the Droid DNA might have got the Taiwanese out of the serious pickle they were in, but on the flipside the Jelly Bean upgrading process looks quite bad. It's been a while since the last time HTC officially tackled the "Jelly Bean situation", and, with only one phone being currently upgraded (and rather slowly), you can say things aren't looking good for people still on ICS. A bittersweet piece of intelligence has just come to our attention though via Twitter, where a "list of HTC devices that will get JB update" has been posted. The info comes via @Football4PDA, an infamous and rather trustworthy source of leaks and rumors that has provided us in the past with quite a number of precious and accurate pieces of HTC-related info.
This time Football seems to go the extra mile to keep the suspense surrounding the "report", listing the devices that will supposedly get JB under their not so famous codenames. Fortunately, after doing some digging, we think we know the official names of all those phones. First off, we have the "Evitare", which is the recently released One X+ with LTE. The thing is this big buy already runs Android 4.1, so either Football mentions it to ensure us that it'll get 4.2 or it's a mistake. The "Evita" is the One XL, which is basically a regional version of the One X. This was released way back in May with ICS, so a JB upgrade is definitely long overdue. Next up we have the "Fireball", aka Droid Incredible 4G LTE. This was a rather puzzling (barely) high-ender that hit Verizon last summer and that didn't prove awfully popular. Then again, with Jelly Bean butter, the Incredible could finally live up to its name. Lower on HTC's evolutionary chain we have the "Jewel" and "Totem C2". These are most definitely the EVO 4G LTE and One VX. Both are carrier-exclusive phones in the US, available on Sprint (the EVO) and AT&T (the VX). The One VX however has only started selling a few weeks ago, so it might be a while until it gets the 4.1 bump.
The next three devices on the list are the Ville, Ville C2 and Valente, aka One S, One S C2 and J ISW13HT. You're probably already familiar with the One S, while the C2 and J are more or less similar, sporting 4.3-inch displays themselves. The One S C2 however has a 1.7 GHz dual-core CPU, while the J, as you might have guessed already, is a Japan-only mid-ranger with a 1.5 GHz processor. Last, but not necessarily least, we also have a yet to be released device on the list, the K2 or the One SV. This was supposed to come to Europe already, but for some reason it's delayed, so there's a (slim) possibility it could be released with Jelly Bean on board. Now, to clarify, why did I say this is bittersweet intel? Well, mostly because of the notable absences on the list. We've known for a while that phones with 512 MB of RAM will not be invited to the JB party, but what about the Sensation, Desire X, Incredible S or Amaze? Sure, no one says Football's list is a complete and definitive one, but it definitely makes you think, doesn’t it? Related Posts |
| Samsung Galaxy S3’s Premium Suite video part 2 released Posted: 10 Dec 2012 02:59 AM PST
Last week we got a glimpse of several new features that the upcoming Premium Suite upgrade will be bringing to the Galaxy S3 in a video posted on Samsung's official blog. The promised second part of the video is now live for the 30-million strong Galaxy S3 owners to feast their eyes on. Starting with the new set of "powerful multimedia" features – there are now two additional shooting modes for smartphone snappers to take advantage of. The new Low Light Shot function lets you take pictures without flash in badly-lit places. You'll get OK results with reduced noise. Then there's the Best Face function, a perfect remedy for those who keen on taking group pictures minus the blinking faces. Basically, each person in the group can choose the best face on the consecutively taken shots. If you want to get more "Likes" when posting pictures on your Facebook wall, the new Paper Artist feature will come in handy in helping you create pop art effect on your photos. Less interesting are the new accessibility features, such as the Easy Mode, Sound Balance, Setup Wizard, and Easy Snap. Check out the 3-minute running video to get the full scoop of the new Premium Suite features. Related Posts |
| LG sells 10 million handsets of Optimus L-series Posted: 10 Dec 2012 02:41 AM PST
Proving that the bragging right of selling Android devices by the millions doesn’t exclusively belong to the house of Samsung, LG has announced that its budget Optimus L-series smartphones have sold over 10 million units worldwide. The LG Optimus L-series comes in a variety of sizes – from the 3.2-inch Optimus L3, the 4-inch Optimus L5, and the 4.3-inch Optimus L7, to the Optimus L9 with its 4.7-inch display. These handsets may not pack the best in specs, but customers evidently responded positively to their lower price tags. Granted, it's a less impressive achievement compared to what some of the bigger guns are selling, with even LG admitting that it's merely "a modest milestone". While the Optimus phone maker seems to be maintaining a low key profile, the latest comScore study reveals that LG is ranked third in the U.S mobile market behind Samsung and Apple. Lest we forget that LG also has another million-selling candidate in the Nexus 4, a feat that won't be too hard to reach given that the phone has been in "huge demand" ever since it was launched in November. LG L-SERIES REPORTS 10 MILLION HAPPY CUSTOMERS New Design Identity From LG Proves That Not All Smartphones Need to Look Alike SEOUL, Dec. 9, 2012 – LG Electronics (LG) announced today that sales of its Optimus L-Series smartphones have exceeded 10 million units, marking a modest milestone for LG and its mobile devices business. The success of L-Series in recording eight figures in sales is proof that many consumers want attractive smartphones with distinctive — not “me too” — styling. Related Posts |
| STMicroelectronics to leave the ST-Ericsson joint venture next year Posted: 10 Dec 2012 02:38 AM PST
ST-Ericsson, who you might have heard of thanks to the NovaThor platform in several of Sony’s midrange smartphones, was founded in February 2009 as a join venture between STMicroelectronics and Ericsson. According to Bloomberg, STMicroelectronics wants out. The plan is to sell their half of the company by the third quarter of next year. This news shouldn’t surprise any of you. We’ve been forecasting ST-Ericsson’s decline for months. Back in October, we published a list of the top five semiconductor companies in the mobile industry. ST-Ericsson wasn’t on that list. We’re not saying ST-Ericsson didn’t have the talent, because that’s just plain not true, the company was just too slow compared to the likes of Qualcomm and Samsung. Who will buy STMicroelectronics half of ST-Ericsson? That’s a great question. We can think of several companies, but the one that stands out the most is AMD. They’ve already committed to making ARM chips for the server market, so why not team up with Ericsson to also battle it out in the smartphone arena? We’ll have to wait a few months to see how this all shakes out. Are we going to hear more bad news about chipset companies in the future? We hate to say it, but the answer is definitely. Look at the PC industry. There are just two companies, with Intel holding over 80% market share. How do you expect Qualcomm, Broadcom, ST-Ericsson, Samsung, NVIDIA, and others to stay alive when there’s this much competition? It’s called consolidation and it’s inevitable. Texas Instruments, who made the chip inside the Galaxy Nexus, decided to leave the mobile industry. Others will soon follow. Is there any good news coming out of this announcement? We like to think that the folks who are about to lose their jobs at ST-Ericsson are going to go to healthier companies. There are a limited number of people who have the ability to design chips. Apple picked up a lot of Texas Instruments talent, so we’re confident in saying that someone is going to poach these soon to be unemployed engineers. Related Posts |
| HTC bouncing back? Q4 looks good according to Morgan Stanley Posted: 10 Dec 2012 02:15 AM PST
According to analysts at Morgan Stanley HTC is going to hit its sales targets for Q4 of 2012 thanks to the new Android flagship (Droid DNA or J Butterfly), Windows 8 releases, and the popularity of its mid-range devices in China. The volume estimate for Q1 of 2013 has gone up to 8 million units due to expectations that the Droid DNA/J Butterfly will continue to sell well. That bumps up earnings projections as well. An analyst at Morgan Stanley, Jasmine Lu, said:
HTC's share price has been climbing and the HTC J Butterfly is set to launch in Taiwan on December 11, just before the iPhone 5 goes on sale. It should also hit the Japanese market at around the same time. Since early signs look good in the U.S. and China, this new 5-inch flagship could be the hit device that HTC has been searching for. The Q4 sales target that HTC is expected to hit is $2.06 billion. As brand awareness and market share start to climb alongside that share price it could be a good 2013 for HTC. That battle for third place in the smartphone market behind Samsung and Apple is going to be tough in the coming year, but HTC might just be in with a shot. Related Posts |
| Rumor: The LG Optimus G2 will ship in H1 2013 with a 5.5 inch 1080p screen Posted: 10 Dec 2012 01:54 AM PST
When HTC announced the Butterfly J in October, we immediately recognized that it would provide the template that all 2013 flagship would be required to follow. We’re of course talking about the display, which is not only a massive 5 inches diagonal, but also pushes an astounding resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. Make no mistake, every flagship Android smartphone that will be unveiled next year will have a 1080p display. Whether it be from Samsung, Sony, LG, whatever, it’s going to be full HD. According to the Korean website Asian Economics, LG’s 2013 flagship phone, the Optimus G2, will have a 5.5 inch 1080p display. Previous rumors said it would have a 5 inch full HD panel, but this newest piece of information suggests that LG isn’t afraid to go even bigger. At 5.5 inches, that means the panel in the G2 would have a PPI of 400. Some of you will probably say that isn’t going to be as sharp as the 440 PPI in the Droid DNA, but seriously, how perfect does your vision have to be for you to tell the difference? The Korean source also says that the device will hit the market during the first half of 2013. We hope that’s the case, because LG totally fumbled 2012. They announced the Optimus 4X HD in February, but it took almost half a year for it to appear on store shelves. By that time they already announced a successor to the 4X, the Optimus G. So what will the competition do to respond to this new 5.5 inch 1080p monster? We have to wait and see. Like we said earlier, we’re confident that everyone else is also going to release a 1080p device. Samsung will call their phone the Galaxy S IV, Sony is working on the Yuga, and last week we heard that HTC was working on something called the “M7″ internally. Related Posts |
| Samsung Galaxy S4 to be unveiled at CES in January? Posted: 10 Dec 2012 01:46 AM PST
The last two flagship releases from Samsung have been the biggest Android smartphones of the last two years. The Galaxy S2 and S3 both broke the 30 million sales barrier and the S3 isn't done quite yet. It's no surprise then, that the Galaxy S4 is generating some buzz well ahead of its release. We've already heard the Galaxy S4 will be unveiled at MWC in February for a May release, but now we're seeing hints that it could be shown at CES in January. Samsung has released this teaser video which effectively shows you absolutely nothing. CES is a big show and there are always loads of new devices being shown off from TVs to smartphones to tablets. Samsung generally seems to prefer to showcase its flagship releases in dedicated events, but you never know. The Galaxy S3 came out last May and with a busy Christmas battle against the iPhone 5 we think it's unlikely that Samsung wants people thinking about the S4 right now. The company would prefer you to go out and buy the S3. We've already seen plenty of speculation from suggested Galaxy S4 specs to a 13-megapixel camera rumor. Until Samsung confirms the S4 and shows it off we can expect a steady flow from the rumor mill. The excitement about the next Galaxy S just goes to show that Samsung's brand is flying high. We'll keep you posted and bring you all the details just as soon as they emerge. Related Posts |
| Jabra Solemate on sale for $160 at Best Buy for the entire month of December Posted: 09 Dec 2012 11:30 PM PST
There are a lot of uses for such a device. According to their official website, the Jabra Solemate can be used for anything from listening to music to watching movies. Pretty much anywhere where you want more sound out of your smartphone media content and headphones just won’t do. However, as Phandroid mentions, $200 is a tad steep for Bluetooth speakers. They don’t even make you breakfast. Of course, even at $200 it still undercuts the prices for the Bose Soundlink and Jawbone Jambox. However, Jabra and Best Buy lowering the price to $160 actually makes it a pretty sweet deal. Is the Jabra Solemate worth $160?If you’re into Bluetooth speakers and want a high end one, then yes. It delivers good sound at a good volume. As with most speakers, the bass will get muddy when you turn up the volume. You won’t be able to use this at large gatherings to get people dancing. However, if you’re looking for a nice Bluetooth speaker for your living room or bed room, then yes it’s a pretty good deal. The deal itself is only available at Best Buy. So if you’re picking up the Jabra Solemate, you’ll have to go through them. At the time of this writing, the Best Buy webpage isn’t showing the discount. Whether that’s accidental and temporary remains to be seen. Do consider that you may have to go to a brick and mortar store to get the discount if they don’t fix their webpage. So is $160 a big enough discount to make the Jabra Solemate worth it? Let us know your thoughts. Related Posts |
| Sprint’s Samsung Galaxy Note 2 available for $149 on Amazon Wireless Posted: 09 Dec 2012 04:10 PM PST
If you are looking for a new smartphone on Sprint and all these minuscule under-5 inch screens just aren’t doing it for you, watch out. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is now available through Amazon Wireless for only $149. Granted, we have seen the Note 2 for lesser, especially over Thanksgiving, but this is a great price for probably the most highly regarded phablet in the world as of right now. Normally Sprint charges double for this particular piece of Android goodness, so if you are looking to take the plunge, now is the time to do so. The Note 2 is currently available in Titanium and White colors and both are currently backordered. However, the shipping time for both models is still 1-2 weeks. To order the phone, hit up the Amazon source link. Have you got your eye on a Samsung Galaxy Note 2? Or do you already own one? Related Posts |
| Top Gear Stunt School Revolution now available in the Google Play Store Posted: 09 Dec 2012 03:00 PM PST
Android users who are fans of the the television show Top Gear may want to check out a new game. It’s called Top Gear Stunt School Revolution and it is now available in the Google Play Store. This racing game puts players behind the wheel of exotic cars and sends them careening down roads all over the world, completing challenges and pulling off stunts. Here are some of the features:
The game is available for devices running Android 2.1 and up, in both a free version and a $0.99 Pro version which unlocks all stunts. Hit the source links below the article to check the game out for yourself. Are you planning to buy Top Gear Stunt School Revolution? Have you tried it already? What do you think of it? Related Posts |
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