| Sony Xperia Z1 Mini front panel leaks in render form Sep 9th 2013, 15:17, by Robert Nelson Sony announced the Xperia Z1 (Honami) after a long and seemingly never-ending series of rumors and leaks. The official announcement for the Xperia Z1 arrived during a Sony event that took place last week just before the kickoff of IFA. And well, it now looks like the Honami related rumors are going to continue — except this time around with talk of the Honami Mini. 
Or more accurately, maybe the talk should be of the Xperia Z1 Mini. Anyway, regardless of whether you want to refer to this yet to be announced ‘mini’ smartphone as the Xperia Z1 Mini or Honami Mini, it does appear as if the folks at ETradeSupply have published an image of the front panel. The details were on the light side, but this isn’t the first time we have seen this mini-model Xperia Z1 in the rumor mill. Earlier chatter had talked about the handset sporting a 4.3-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720. In comparison, the regular-sized Xperia Z1 has a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. While a 1080p display on the Xperia Z1 Mini would have been nicer to see, it is looking like most of the remaining specs will be the same. Perhaps most important, rumor has it the Mini will be sporting a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. Other still rumored specs of the Xperia Z1 Mini include 16GB of internal storage, 2GB of RAM, a 2400 mAh battery and the same 20.7 megapixel camera with Sony G Lens found on the back of the Xperia Z1. Aside from the drop in display size and resolution, the other drop in terms of specs comes in with the battery. The Xperia Z1 has a 3000 mAh battery. All that being said, the current rumors are suggesting Sony will announce the Xperia Z1 Mini sometime in the fall. Or in other words, it looks like we have plenty of time for the rumors and speculation to build before we hear anything official. VIA: rbmen |  | Seagate unveils 500GB hard drive for Android Sep 9th 2013, 14:36, by Robert Nelson Seagate has come forward with details on a 500GB hard drive designed for mobile devices. This would obviously mean much more available storage as compared to what we are seeing with flash storage at the moment and on top of that, Seagate has said this new drive will bring the “same power, performance and reliability of a flash device.” 
This will come by way of several features of the drive, one of which includes using an 8GB flash cache. Other details of the drive show it measuring in at 5mm thin and with a weight of 3.3 ounces. The drive itself is a 2.5-inch and Seagate has said it will be able to hold more than 100,000 images, 125,000 songs or 62 hours worth of high-definition video. Basically, the amount of storage is way above and beyond what we are currently seeing in mobile devices. To that point, Seagate has said this new “storage solution delivers up to 7x the storage capacity of a traditional 64GB tablet.” Aside from the storage and physical size of the drive, Seagate has also detailed some of the technology that will be used. 
To begin with, this drive will utilize the Zero Gravity Sensor technology which should help protect against drops. The drive will also incorporate several power modes which should help in terms of battery life. Seagate mentioned how this drive will consume as low as 0.14W. And while we have yet to see any devices announced using this drive, it has been designed to support the Android operating system. Bottom line here, it looks like Seagate is aiming to give Android tablet users storage that is equivalent to that of a notebook computer with power consumption that is more typically found with flash storage and tablet devices. SOURCE: Business Wire | | Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone sales have passed 38 million Sep 9th 2013, 14:05, by Robert Nelson Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 3 at the Unpacked Episode 2 event which recently took place in Berlin. That event brought the announcement of the Note 3 as well as the Galaxy Gear smartwatch and 2014 Edition Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. While Samsung has announced sales/shipment numbers in the past, it looks like JK Shin recently dropped an updated number while speaking with etnews. 
According to Shin, the Galaxy Note smartphones have sold more than 38 million. He didn’t give any specifics as to how many of those 38 million were from the original Galaxy Note or the Galaxy Note II, but regardless of how they break down, nearly 40 million between two devices seems like an impressive number. Looking forward though, JK Shin also touched on how they believe the Galaxy Note 3 will cross the 10 million milestone. Time will tell whether Samsung is able to hit that 10 million mark for the Galaxy Note 3, but with the global rollout plans they have already announced — that seems like a number that will be reached. Looking back, Samsung had announced the Galaxy Note 3 global rollout would begin on September 25th. Perhaps more important — that Note 3 will be available in more than 140 countries around the world. Otherwise, we have been seeing plenty of news coming from the US carriers. US Cellular confirmed the upcoming release, as well as T-Mobile. US Cellular will have the Note 3 available sometime in October and T-Mobile has offered a release date of October 2nd. AT&T and Verizon have also confirmed the upcoming release and also began accepting pre-orders. AT&T plans to have those pre-orders shipping on October 1st and Verizon is still offering a will ship by date of October 10th. In the meantime, we did spend some hands-on time with the three new Galaxy devices last week during the announcement. Those curious about any may want to check out that earlier coverage for the Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Gear or 2014 Edition Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. Not to mention, the plenty of additional Note 3 coverage that has come since those hands-on. VIA: Android Beat | | Instagram plans to have advertising within a year Sep 9th 2013, 13:33, by Robert Nelson Instagram has recently announced that advertising will begin showing up within the next year. The details are still on the light side, meaning Instagram has yet to announce any specifics. Or for that matter a date of when these advertisements will begin showing in your feeds. But that being said, Ms. White, director of business operations at Instagram has said they should be ready to begin selling ads within the next year. 
This is something that many have likely been expecting, but it seems there may not be a big rush to make this all happen. In fact, further details coming from The Wall Street Journal bring comments from Ms. White about how, they “want to make money in the long term” but that the “don’t have any short-term pressure.” We can only hope that will translate into Instagram taking their time and doing these right for the end users. Speaking of users, Instagram has said they now have more than 150 million active monthly users. As to what this means in terms of Facebook — Instagram picked up about 128 million users since Facebook bought them last year. And as comparison, back in March, Twitter had said they had “well over” 200 million active monthly users. Further details on the advertising plans brings talk of how Instagram now has two people working on analytics and four people helping to manage relationships with brands. It was said that Ms. White has cataloged all of the major brand-marketer accounts on Instagram in this process and as a result — has had her going out to meet with these companies. Nothing has been announced in terms of advertisers just yet, but the WSJ article does mention how Ms. White recently had meetings with several companies to include Coca-Cola Co., Williams-Sonoma Inc., and Ford Motor Co. But in the end, while Instagram now has 150 million users, perhaps the bigger issue here is how to bring in the ads without pushing any of those users out. | |
