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Sony Xperia Z pre-order now live on Vodafone UK and Phones 4U, demo units arrive in stores on Feb 15 Posted: 15 Feb 2013 01:54 AM PST We've seen some impressive things that the Sony Xperia Z can do, but the big question now for many is when the device will hit stores. For folks in the UK, here's the latest on the phone's availability. Vodafone UK has begun taking pre-order of the black and white Sony Xperia Z on its website. You can get the flagship handset with either a one- or two-year contract. The monthly plan for the former starts at £39 and you'll have to pay £179 for the device, while the latter starts at £29 per month with an upfront payment of £149. The Sony Xperia Z will be launched in the UK on February 28. If you're lucky, you might be able to pick up some free Sony MDR-1R headphones alongside the 1080p phone. To be exact, only the first 1,000 pre-orders will get the bonus. If you'd like to take the Xperia Z for a spin before making the investment, you can visit Phones 4U's brick-and-mortar stores across the UK, where they’ll have live demo handsets of the Xperia Z starting today. The retailer has started taking pre-order for the phone as well, although your mobile operator option is limited to Vodafone for now. Are you going to take the plunge?

HTC One pictured in black, February 19 is nearing Posted: 15 Feb 2013 01:43 AM PST You didn't really think the HTC One rumor-fest ended already, did you? Good, because neither did we. Even if, after hearing about US release dates and pricing, there wasn't much to be revealed. Or so it seemed. As some of you might remember, several sources "in the know" told the media back in January that HTC was planning to make the M7 (as it was called then) available in two color combos. And while the silver-and-white model turned up in an (ev) leak a few days ago, the all-black one remained a mystery (that is, if you don't count fakes). But the mystery is no more, as the folks over at @EvLeaks have done it again. Darn, these guys are good! The HTC One is pretty in black as well, although there's no way to be sure if this leaked render is the real deal. The fact that it looks exactly the same as the silver model, except for the coat of paint, is a good sign, but there's always Photoshop to cast doubts on the whole thing. The thin bezel is there, the Back and Home buttons are positioned exactly likes on the silver One, there's also that HTC logo separating the two, identical dual speakers grills and a body that's most likely made out of aluminum. The date is of course set for February 19, when the HTC One is expected to make its debut, while the place has changed from London to New York. Coincidentally (not), the two will host twin unveiling events. But does that mean the black version will be US-exclusive?

HTC One VX goes for “free” on AT&T and Amazon Posted: 15 Feb 2013 12:53 AM PST The HTC One VX joined AT&T's smartphone lineup last December, sporting specs that remind us of the One S — though they’ve been both improved and downgraded in some aspects. Two months later, the One VX is now being offered for essentially free. You can grab the red HTC One VX directly from AT&T for $0.99, but it comes with the usual two-year service agreement.  If you're thinking of getting the white variant, it's offered at the regular price of $49.99 on contract. Disappointed? This is where Amazon comes into play, as the online retailer is selling the white model for $0.01 with a contract. In case you've forgotten, the HTC One VX boasts a 4.5-inch display with 960 x 540 resolution. It packs a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage, microSD slot, 5MP rear camera, a front-facing cam, 4G LTE, NFC, and a 1,800mAh battery. While it ships with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, it'll be upgraded to Jelly Bean in the future – but there’s no telling when for now. Sounds like your kind of phone and deal? Hit the links above.

Samsung Galaxy S4 for Verizon (SCH-I545) gets benchmarked, has 1.9 GHz CPU inside Posted: 15 Feb 2013 12:43 AM PST HTC looked in terrific strategic form when scheduling the London/NY twin unveiling events of the One (aka M7) for February 19, but we're starting to think that won't be enough to steal the spotlight from Samsung. The Galaxy S4 is to be kept under wraps for another month or so and won't go up for sale until April at the earliest, which should give HTC some alone time in the limelight, right? Not necessarily, because with the S4 rumor mill at full throttle, most Android aficionados might forget about the One launch entirely. And boy, what rumor-fest we have going on. The first GS4 benchmark popped up less than 72 hours ago, followed by a story that seemed to confirm the featuring of a gesture-based interface. And now we have another benchmark, starring the supposed Verizon-bound version of the super-phone, model number SCH-I545. With Verizon's S3 also dubbed SCH-I535, there's almost no doubt in our minds this new I545 is the S4. What we could question is the reliability of the NenaMark 2 benchmark, although everything does seem to check out. In line with previous leaks and speculations, the GS4 is again listed as packing a 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD screen and a 1.9 GHz processor. The CPU's model and make are not mentioned, but, judging by the Qualcomm Adreno 320 GPU, it's most likely a quad-core Snapdragon. Although the featuring of an "old" S4 Pro SoC clocked at a never before seen 1.9 GHz is still a possibility, some sources tell us that, if Sammy will go the Qualcomm way, it will do so for a spanking new Snapdragon 600 APQ8064T CPU. Now, it might be weird to hear that Samsung is planning to reach out to a competitor instead of going for a "homebrewed" Exynos chip, but you might remember a little phone called the Galaxy S3. Last year's flagship device used an Exynos Quad only in certain parts of the world, with the North American versions powered by a dual-core Krait from… Qualcomm. So it all fits together, but here's what doesn't – the 58.70 NenaMark 2 result. That's super close to GNote 2's scores, which doesn't sound right. The Korean GS4 blew the Note 2 out of the water in GLBenchmark, so why should this new test be any different? Oh, well, the truth is out there, and, while we may not have the full story yet, we promise you we won't rest until seeing all the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. In the meantime, let the speculations begin. Again. Will the S4 come rocking a 1.9 GHz Snapdragon 600 processor? And if so, will that be enough to not disappoint you?

Leaked Galaxy Watch screenshots show device running Samsung Altius / Altios OS, not Android Posted: 14 Feb 2013 04:33 PM PST After having talked about an unconfirmed Galaxy S4 family member yesterday, supposedly a Samsung smartwatch (the Galaxy Watch?), we now have the first set of leaked images of the device, or better said of its OS. While we don't have any official confirmation that Samsung is working on such a product, and there's no product name for it either – although Galaxy Watch does make some sense – there's plenty of chatter around smartwatches at this time of year, with Apple being one of the companies that are reportedly also working on such a project. Interestingly, today's leak seems to suggest that the Galaxy Watch will have its own custom OS which doesn't appear to be Android. In fact, from the looks of it, we're reminded more of a Windows Phone Metro UI experience than of anything else. The device apparently runs AltiusOS or Altios, depending what image you're looking at, and we're definitely interested to know more about it, in case these images aren't just figments of a creative imagination. In case you didn’t know it already, rumor has it that Altius the internal code name of the Galaxy S4, so color us puzzled. When it comes to the things this device will do, the Galaxy Watch is apparently supposed to offer carrier connectivity support, access to music, and email and/or messages. It's not clear how the device will connect to smartphones and/or tablets, and we have no images of the thing at this time. We'll be holding on to our crate of salt for the time being, but we'll definitely keep tabs on this particular rumor. Anyone looking forward to see more smartwatches in stores?

U.S. HTC One release date and pricing for AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile reportedly leaked Posted: 14 Feb 2013 03:42 PM PST A few weeks ago the international release date for the HTC One (M7) was leaked – March 8 – and now it looks like we have a launch date for the U.S. market as well. U.S. HTC fans will apparently get the phone a couple of weeks after international buyers, with March 22 being the rumored launch date for the HTC One. The device will be available with all the four major carriers in the country, although HTC Source only mentioned AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile in its report. The three carriers will launch the device under the same name, HTC One, which must certainly be great news for the company considering that the its predecessors didn't have the same luck in the region. At the same time, Verizon could sell the device as the HTC Droid DNA Plus, or something like that, if a recent report is to be believed. The HTC One will be available in two color options in the U.S., black and silver/white, and in two capacity versions, 32GB priced at $199.99 and 64GB priced at $299.99. Naturally, these are on-contract prices, so you can expect to pay more for the HTC One outright. In addition to release dates and pricing, the source speaking to the publication also confirmed that the HTC One will feature a metal case and front-facing stereo speakers. U.S. Android fans, are you buying the HTC One? What carrier will you be choosing?

Galaxy S4 mini launch reportedly to start in May Posted: 14 Feb 2013 03:10 PM PST It was only yesterday that we heard the Galaxy S4 family of products actually contains up to three distinct products, the Galaxy S4, the Galaxy S4 mini and what seems to be a Samsung smartwatch. According to that report, the first two devices appear to be confirmed and now we have a new story from the same Source detailing launch plans for the Galaxy S4 mini. The Galaxy S4 is already said to hit certain markets starting with early April, and the Galaxy S4 mini is said to follow its (bigger?) brother a month later, in May. Sam Mobile on Thursday reported that Galaxy S4 mini accessories "need to be done by week 21," which happens to be the May 20-26 week, but we have no way to confirm it at this time. Will the Galaxy S4 mini be launched by mid-May? If these reports are accurate, then this seems to be the case. Moreover, it would make some sense for Samsung to release a Galaxy S4 mini smartphone this year, following on the footsteps on the Galaxy S3 mini. With that in mind, if all this Project J talk turns out to be true, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Galaxy S4 mini be unveiled at Samsung's next Mobile Unpacked event, which will take place in mid March according to the latest rumors. Unfortunately we don't have more details – specs, features or pricing – for the Galaxy S4 mini at this time, but we'll be back with more news as soon as we have them.

Nvidia Tegra 4 SoC to ship only in July, Shield release pushed to September Posted: 14 Feb 2013 01:56 PM PST The Sony Xperia Z and Xperia ZL stole the show at this year’s CES, but one of the highlights of the event was also the announcement of the Nvidia Tegra 4 SoC, featuring four cores (plus a companion core) based on ARM’s latest Cortex A15 technology, and a 72-core GPU (!). As was the case with Tegra 3, I was hoping for a lot of OEM’s flagship devices to feature the Tegra 4 processor to kick off the year, but unfortunately, we won’t be seeing Tegra 4-powered devices for at least half a year, if not longer. During a conference call with financial analysts, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang that the company will be ramping up production now, but the Tegra 4 SoC will ship to customers only in July. This “delay” will definitely hit home, as this will also push the release of the highly-anticipated Nvidia Shield gaming device, which will likely be made publicly available only in September. After Tegra 3 was completely overshadowed by the Samsung Exynos 4412 processor and the Qualcomm SnapDragon S4/S4 Pro processors, Nvidia was hoping to turn things around in 2013. But the company hasn’t been off to the best start, even if Android-unknown HP are said to release an Android tablet and a few smartphones powered by Tegra 4. Even with the amazing specifications, at least on paper, the Tegra 4 has already hit a rough patch, with Qualcomm calling out the SoC as “underperforming.” Another report is stating that not many device manufacturers have placed orders for NVIDIA’s Tegra 4. With the imminent release of the Qualcomm SnapDragon 800 and the Samsung Exynos 5 Octa, things might just get even harder. Of course, benchmark and performance comparisons are what will be the deciders in the end! But a late release certainly doesn’t help the cause. What are your thoughts? Are you disappointed by the late release of the Nvidia Tegra 4-powered devices, and especially the Shield? Who do you think is going to come out on top in the processor wars?

Lava XOLO A1000 available online for Rs 13,999 ($269) in India Posted: 14 Feb 2013 01:48 PM PST Lava has been making waves in the Android world after becoming the first manufacturer to use an Intel chipset in its Lava XOLO X900 smartphone. Since then, the company has been aggressively marketing its XOLO lineup of devices, which feature an X series (with Intel processors) and A series (non-Intel processors). The latest addition to the company’s XOLO brand is the Lava XOLO A1000, a 5-inch 720p display smartphone running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box. Let’s take a quick look at the specs of the Lava XOLO A1000: 1GHz dual-core MediaTek MT6577 processor 5-inch display with 1280×720 resolution 1GB RAM 4GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 32GB 2,100mAh battery dual-SIM support Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Other than the processor, the hardware of the Lava XOLO A1000 is very similar to the Micromax A116 Canvas HD, with the latter boasting a faster quad-core processor. That’s why it is somewhat disappointing to see that Lava has chosen to price the XOLO A1000 the same as the Canvas HD, at Rs 13,999 (~$269). Lava does enjoy a certain brand recognition even internationally, but in this case, the Micromax smartphone will likely be a better choice. If you’d like to pick up the Lava XOLO A1000 anyway, the device is available from Flipkart with an estimated delivery of 7-8 days. What is surprising is that even though the device is already available online, an official announcement from the company is not yet available. Hopefully there’ll be some bundled offers or discounts which will  make Lava XOLO A1000 worth it. What are your thoughts? Would you consider buying the Lava XOLO A1000 or would you rather go for the Micromax A116 Canvas HD? How much of a price difference do you think Lava should have kept for the A1000 to have been considered a viable alternative?

Archos Video Player now available as free-to-download, ad-supported Posted: 14 Feb 2013 01:40 PM PST If there's anything notable about Archos beyond its lineup of tablets with lukewarm reception, it's the incredible video player the French company released for Android. Launched in December, the app provides a complete multimedia experience and is the standalone equivalent of the one that comes pre-bundled with Archos tablets. But even though it received universal acclaim from both critics and users alike since launch, only a few have taken advantage of the video player since it is priced at $4.99, arguably a rather hefty charge when considering the pricing norm in the Google Play Store. Perhaps in its effort to compete with the hordes of other video players on Android, Archos is now offering another version that is free to download and supported by ads. This is also a good opportunity for users to try the player without spending a cent. The free version is essentially the same, touting all the amazing features that its premium counterpart provides: hardware accelerated video decoding support, playback of content from any computer and network storage in the local network, keyboard and remote control compatibility, and more. Both the free and paid versions require Android 4.0.3 and up and about 7MB free space to be installed. If you can manage to ignore the ads, then you really don't have to bother buying the paid app. Why not spend your money on some awesome games instead?