Wednesday, February 20, 2013

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Hands on with the HTC One and the new Sense 5

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 10:34 AM PST

HTC_One_Announcement

All the speculation and rumors can now stop as HTC officially unveiled the new One smartphone in both New York City and London this morning. I can say that it’s one of the best phones ever made with it’s metal construction. It features a 4.7-inch 1080p LCD 3 display at 468ppi, a 1.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB/64GB of storage, 8MP camera, and so much more. The biggest part of the announcement was concentrated on the new Sense 5 (on top of Android 4.1), which includes BlinkFeed, Sense Voice, Sense TV, BoomSound, UltraPixels, and Zoe. Just what do these things do? Check out our full hands on video from the New York show highlighting the hardware and the cool new features of Sense 5. HTC is calling this the greatest phone ever made. What do you guys think? Hit the break to check it out.

Click here to view the embedded video.


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Canonical officially unveils Ubuntu for tablets

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 10:04 AM PST

 

Canonical_Ubuntu_Android_Tablet

 

Canonical has lifted the curtain off of Ubuntu for tablets. What separates this OS from others is the ability to change subtle things about the UI depending on the device. Features include new side stage multi-tasking, which allows for simultaneous usage of tablet apps and smartphone apps and full encryption and multi-user logins which have always been at Ubuntu’s core. Paired with Ubuntu’s newest HUD (heads up display), Canonical has released a very clean and elegant UI that is sure to be on many tablets to come.

We already know that Canonical will bring the Ubuntu preview for Nexus phones February 21st, but now it appears that the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets will get a little taste of the Ubuntu action as well.  Click the break to see the press release along with the debut video showcasing Ubuntu for tablets. 

 

Click here to view the embedded video.

 

London 19th February 2013: Canonical today presented Ubuntu's tablet interface – the next step towards one unified family of experiences for personal computing on phones, tablets, PCs and TVs.

"Multi-tasking productivity meets elegance and rigorous security in our tablet experience," said Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu and Canonical. "Our family of interfaces now scales across all screens, so your phone can provide tablet, PC and TV experiences when you dock it. That’s unique to Ubuntu and it’s the future of personal computing."

"Fashion industry friends say the Ubuntu phone and tablet are the most beautiful interfaces they've seen for touch" said Ivo Weevers, who leads the Canonical design team. "We're inspired by the twin goals of style and usability, and working with developers who are motivated to create the best possible experience for friends, family and industry."

The new tablet design doesn't just raise the bar for elegant presentation, it breaks new ground in design and engineering, featuring:

  • Real multitasking: Uniquely, Ubuntu allows a phone app on the screen at the same time as a tablet app. The Ubuntu side stage was invented both to enable efficient multitasking and to improve the usability of phone apps on tablets.
  • Secure multi-user: Multiple accounts on one tablet with full encryption for personal data, combined with the trusted Ubuntu security model that is widely used in banks, governments and sensitive environments, making it ideal for work and family use.
  • Voice controlled HUD productivity: The Heads-Up Display, unique to Ubuntu, makes it fast and easy to do complex things on touch devices, and transforms touch interfaces for rich applications, bringing all the power of the PC to your tablet.
  • Edge magic for cleaner apps: Screen edges are used for navigation between apps, settings and controls. That makes for less clutter, more content, and sleeker hardware. No physical or soft buttons are required. It's pure touch elegance.
  • Content focus:  Media is neatly presented on the customisable home screen, which can search hundreds of sources. Perfect for carriers and content owners that want to highlight their own content, while still providing access to a global catalogue.
  • Full convergence: The tablet interface is presented by exactly the same OS and code that provides the phone, PC and TV interfaces, enabling true device convergence. Ubuntu is uniquely designed to scale smoothly across all form factors.

The Ubuntu tablet interface supports screen sizes from 6" to 20" and resolutions from 100 to 450 PPI. "The tablet fits perfectly between phone and PC in the Ubuntu family" says Oren Horev, lead designer for the Ubuntu tablet experience. "Not only do we integrate phone apps in a distinctive way, we shift from tablet to PC very smoothly in convergence devices."

On high end silicon, Ubuntu offers a full PC experience when the tablet is docked to a keyboard, with access to remote Windows applications over standard protocols from Microsoft, Citrix, VMWare and Wyse. "An Ubuntu tablet is a secure thin client that can be managed with the same tools as any Ubuntu server or desktop," said Stephane Verdy, who leads enterprise desktop and thin client products at Canonical. "We are delighted to support partners on touch and mobile thin clients for the enterprise market."

Even without chipset-specific optimisation, Ubuntu performs beautifully on entry level hardware. "Our four-year engagement with ARM has shaped Ubuntu for mobile" said Rick Spencer, VP Ubuntu Engineering at Canonical. "We benefit from the huge number of contributing developers who run Ubuntu every day, many of whom are moving to touch devices as their primary development environment."

For silicon vendors, Ubuntu is compatible with any Linux-oriented Board Support Package (BSP). This means Ubuntu is easy to enable on most chipset designs that are currently running Android. Ubuntu and Android are the two platforms enabled by Linaro members.

The Touch Developer Preview of Ubuntu will be published on the 21st February 2013 with installation instructions for the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablet devices as well as smartphones such as the Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus. Installable images and source code will be available from developer.ubuntu.com.

The Preview SDK, which currently supports phone app development, will now be updated to support tablet apps as well. Uniquely, on Ubuntu, developers can create a single application that works on the phone, tablet, PC and TV because it is the same system and all services work across all form factors.

Visit us at Mobile World Congress: Booth Number: 81D30, App Planet Hall 8.1.

The Canonical team will be available to install Ubuntu on your phones and tablets at Mobile World Congress. Note: Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview is a developer build and not a consumer-ready release.

About Canonical and Ubuntu

Canonical is the company behind Ubuntu and the leading provider of services for Ubuntu deployments in the enterprise. With global teams of developers, support staff and engineering centres, Canonical is uniquely positioned to help partners and customers make the most of Ubuntu. It also operates Ubuntu One, a cross-platform personal cloud service  for consumers. Canonical is a privately held company.

Ubuntu is a free, open-source platform for client, server and cloud computing. It is the most widely used Linux on the top 1000 websites by traffic, the reference platform for OpenStack deployments, the most popular guest OS on public clouds, and ships on PCs from Dell, Lenovo, HP and other brands. Since its launch in 2004, it has become the preferred choice for open desktop and scale-out computing, from Fortune 500 companies to hardware makers, content providers, software developers and consumers.


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HTC offers cash back upgrade incentives for customers upgrading to the HTC One smartphone

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 09:41 AM PST

HTC_One_Black_White_ 

 

Earlier today, HTC officially announced their newest flagship phone, the HTC One. The smartphone features a quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, 2 GB of RAM, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and a new Sense 5 UI. Now, HTC is offering a $100 cash back incentive for those looking to upgrade their smartphones to the One. If the trade in value of your old smartphone is greater, they will send you the money for the phone. You must head over to HTC’s website and enter an e-mail address to pre-register for the incentive, then purchase a HTC One when it becomes available. After that, HTC is asking that you send in your old smartphone that you’ll be trading in and proof that you’ve purchased the HTC One. It’s that simple. If you’re in the market to upgrade to HTC’s tantalizing new HTC One, head on over to the source and register for your incentive now.

Source: HTC


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New smartphone lineup from LG teased for MWC

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 08:36 AM PST

LG_MWC_2013_Tease

 

A new trailer from LG has surfaced giving hints to the next lineup of their smartphones. LG has used the letters “L” which (possibly) stands for style, “G” which stands for greatness, “V” which stands for view and “F” which stands for freedom. The trailer also pays special attention to tags which could mean the inclusion of NFC in the devices which would make use of the NFC tag stickers we’ve never seen before. Stay tuned for LG to make their announcement at MWC and find out exactly what each of these letters mean and in the meantime, check out the trailer below.

 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Source: Engadget


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Facepalm S-Off arrives for a few newer HTC devices

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 08:27 AM PST

HTC-unlock

Do you have an HTC Droid DNA, One XL, or One S? A few developers over on XDA have been hard work on a new little trick for you that will achieve S-Off on your device. All you need is a working ADB and fastboot to work with, as well as your locked device. Droid DNA users will also need SuperCID, which could be an issue if you’ve accepted the latest OTA update, but the developers have already promised a fix in the works for those users. Like always with experimental stuff like this, bricks can happen. If you’re not comfortable doing it, you shouldn’t do it at all. With that being said, if you’re ready to get your hands dirty, hit the link below to dive in.

source: XDA


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Samsung releases WiFi version of the Galaxy Camera

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 08:04 AM PST

samsung-galaxy-camera

Interested in one of Samsung’s Galaxy Cameras but didn’t want the cellular radios in it? You’re in luck, as Samsung launched a WiFi-only version of the Jelly Bean powered point-and-shoot. Fortunately, dropping the 3G/4G connectivity should also drop the price a bit. All the other specs, like the 21x optical zoom, quad-core processor, and 16.3 megapixel sensor haven’t changed. No word on actual pricing or availability, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated. Hit the source below to see Samsung’s press release.

source: Samsung


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HTC announces the One smartphone, gives us more quad-core goodness in a Sense 5 package

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 07:57 AM PST

HTC_One_Announcement

HTC has finally taken the wraps off of its worst-kept secret— the HTC One smartphone. The smartphone comes fully decked out while featuring some pretty cool enhancements giving users a unique Android experience. For starters, the smartphone features a 4.7-inch full 1080p LCD3 display, quad-core Snapdragon 600 chip, 2 gigs of RAM and Android 4.1.2 topped off with Sense 5— all in one hell of an aluminum package. HTC also aims to give users a topnotch social network and multimedia experience by introducing some neat tools including:

  • Blinkfeed – an updated stream of news and social networks featuring 1,400 content providers including ESPN. Think full-screen wallpaper/widget with a Flipboard layout displaying all sorts of custom content
  • SenseVoice – sound enhancement feature which allows users to optimize call sound when in a noisy environment by chcking the ambient sounds in the background
  • Full IR capabilities which allows the device to control a home theater unit
  • Ultrapixel – giving 300% more light with camera
  • HTC Zoe – captures video and high resolution photos automatically, while also giving you topnotch organization by bringing your gallery together. Also allows for the ability to make a slideshow  highlight with movies as well by implementing automatic transitions between scenes and it can edit on its own. Zoe also allows users to combine multiple images into one and can even eliminate people from photos at a later time

Now for the information you all really want to know— when and where the device will be available. It will be a while before we see the device in our balmy mitts, but HTC has confirmed it will be available in 80 countries by the end of March. Additionally, the smartphone will come in 32GB and 64GB variants and land in AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile stores for those of us here in the States (no Verizon?) and will also be available for customers by the end of March as well— though there’s no word on pricing just yet.

Hit the break to see HTC’s full presser.

 

INTRODUCING THE NEW HTC ONE®, A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON SMARTPHONES
HTC BlinkFeed™, HTC Zoe™ and HTC BoomSound™ Deliver HTC One’s Unprecedented New Smartphone Experience
London and New York City, February 19, 2013 -

HTC, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, today announced its new flagship smartphone, the new HTC One. Crafted with a distinct zero-gap aluminium unibody, the new HTC One introduces HTC BlinkFeed™, HTC Zoe™ and HTC BoomSound™, key new HTC Sense® innovations that reinvent the mobile experience and set a new standard for smartphones.

“People today immerse themselves in a constant stream of updates, news and information. Although smartphones are one of the main ways we stay in touch with the people and information we care about, conventional designs have failed to keep pace with how people are actually using them,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “A new, exciting approach to the smartphone is needed and with the new HTC One, we have re-imagined the mobile experience from the ground up to reflect this new reality.”
HTC BlinkFeed: A personal live stream right on the home screen At the centre of the new HTC One experience is HTC BlinkFeed. HTC BlinkFeed is a bold new experience that transforms the home screen into a single live stream of personally relevant information such as social updates, entertainment and lifestyle updates, news and photos with immersive images so that people no longer need to go to separate applications to find out what’s happening. HTC BlinkFeed aggregates the freshest content from the most relevant and interesting sources, giving it to people at a glance, all in one place, without the need to jump between multiple applications and web sites.
To enable this new dynamic approach to the smartphone, HTC will provide both local and global content from more than 1,400 media sources with more than 10,000 articles per day from some of the most innovative media companies, such as the AOL family of media properties, ESPN, MTV, Vice Media, CoolHunting, Reuters and many others. For more information on HTC BlinkFeed’s content partners, visit the HTC Blog.
HTC UltraPixel Camera with HTC Zoe
The breakthrough HTC UltraPixel Camera redefines how people capture, relive and share their most precious moments. HTC Zoe gives people the ability to shoot high-res photos that come to life in three-second snippets. These Zoes, photos and videos are then displayed in a unique way that brings the gallery to life and transforms the traditional photo gallery of still images into a motion gallery of memories. It also automatically creates integrated highlight films from each event comprised of Zoes, photos and videos set to music with professionally designed cuts, transitions and effects. These highlight videos can be remixed or set to different themes, and can be easily shared on social networks, email and other services.
To enable this innovative camera experience, HTC developed a custom camera that includes a best-in-class f/2.0 aperture lens and a breakthrough sensor with UltraPixels that gather 300 percent more light than traditional smartphone camera sensors. This new approach also delivers astounding low-light performance and a variety of other improvements to photos and videos. In addition, the perfect self-portrait or video is just a tap away with an ultra-wide angle front-facing camera which supports 1080p video capture. Multi-axis optical image stabilisation for both the front and rear cameras also helps ensure video footage smoother whether stationary or on the move. HTC UltraPixel camera adds many other features and effects such as enhanced 360′ panorama, time sequencing and object removal.
HTC BoomSound
The new HTC One offers the best audio experience of any mobile phone available today. HTC BoomSound introduces for the first time on a phone, front-facing stereo speakers with a dedicated amplifier and an amazing full HD display that immerses people in music, videos, games and the YouTube™ clips they love. Beats™ Audio integration is enabled across the entire experience for rich, authentic sound whether you’re listening to your favorite music, watching a YouTube video or playing a game.
HDR recording uses advanced dual microphones and audio processing to capture clean, rich sound that is worthy of high-definition video footage. Phone calls sound great on HTC One thanks to the addition of HTC Sense Voice™, which boosts the call volume and quality in noisy environments so that conversations come through loud and clear.
HTC Sense TV™
HTC Sense TV transforms the new HTC One into an interactive program guide and remote control for most TVs, set-top boxes and receivers. Tapping the power of the cloud, Sense TV makes it simple and intuitive to see what’s on and find that favourite show.
Metal Unibody Design
Wrapped in a zero-gap aluminium unibody and sporting a brilliant 4.7″, Full HD (1080p) screen, the new HTC One features the latest Android Jelly Bean operating system and LTE network technology to offer blazingly-fast browsing in a package that combines premium design with breakthrough build quality.
Available in stunning silver and beautiful black, the sleek and crafted aluminium unibody sits comfortably in the hand and showcases HTC’s unique antenna technology, which helps people achieve a crystal clear signal. The display also resists scratches and reduces glare, whilst offering incredible 468ppi resolution and rich, natural colours.
Global Availability

The new HTC One will be available globally through more than 185 mobile operators and major retailers in more than 80 regions and countries beginning in March. For more information and to pre-register for the new HTC One, visit www.htc.com.
Europe, Middle East and Africa: 1&1 Germany, A1 Telekom Austria, AB Poland, Allo Ukraine, AMC (Cosmote) Albania, Avea Turkey, Beeline Kazakhstan, Belcompany Netherlands, BH Telecom Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bite Latvia, Bite Lithuania, Bouygues Telecom France, Carphone Warehouse UK, Cell C RSA, Citrus Ukraine, Cosmote Greece, Cosmote Romania & Global Bulgaria, Cyta, DT Mobile(TS) Latvia, Du UAE, Dustin Sweden, Eagle Mobile Albania, EE UK, Elisa Estonia, Elisa Finland, El-Giganten Denmark, El-Giganten Sweden, Elkjöb Norway, EMT (TS) Estonia, E-Plus Germany, ERC Ukraine, Euroset Russia, Gigantii Finland, Go Malta, H3G Austria, H3G Denmark, H3G Italy, H3G Sweden, H3G UK, HT Eronet Bosnia & Herzegovina, K-Cell Kazakhstan, KPN Belgium, KPN Netherlands, Life Belarus, LuxGSM Luxembourg, Megafon Russia, Melita Malta, Meteor Ireland, Mobilezone Switzerland, Mobilochka Ukraine, Mobily KSA, MSH Belgium, MSH Germany, M-Tel Montenegro, M-Tel Bosnia & Herzegovina, MTI Ukraine, MTN Cyprus, MTS Belarus, MTS Russia, Netcom Norway,
(Telefónica) O2 Czech, (Telefónica) O2 Germany, (Telefónica) O2 Ireland, (Telefónica) O2 UK, Omnitel Lithuania, One Macedonia, Optimus Portugal, Orange France, Orange Maldova, Orange Poland, Orange Romania, Orange Slovakia, Orange Spain, Orange Switzerland, Partner Communications Israel, PhoneHouse France, PhoneHouse Germany, PhoneHouse Netherlands, PhoneHouse Sweden, Phones4U UK, Play Poland, Plus Communication Albania, Polkomtel Poland, Proximus Belgium, SFR France, SiMobil Slovenia, STC KSA, Sunrise Switzerland, Svyaznoy Russia, Swisscom Switzerland, TDC Denmark, Tele2 Croatia, Tele 2 Estonia, Tele2 Latvia, Tele2 Lithuania, Tele2 Russia, Telia Denmark, Telia Sweden, Telekom Slovenija, Telenet Belgium, Telenor Denmark, Telenor Norway, Telenor Sweden, Telenor Hungary, Telenor Serbia, Telkom Serbia, TIM Italy, TMN Portugal, T-Mobile Austria, T-Mobile Croatia, T-Mobile Czech Republic, T-Mobile Germany, T-Mobile Hungary, T-Mobile Macedonia, T-Mobile Montenegro, T-Mobile Netherlands, T-Mobile Poland, T-Mobile Slovakia, Turkcell Turkey, Tus Mobil Slovenia, Velcom (TAG) Belarus, VIP Operator Macedonia, VIP Mobile Serbia, Vipnet Croatia, Vivacom Bulgaria, Vodacom RSA, Vodafone Albania, Vodafone Czech Republic, Vodafone Egypt, Vodafone Germany, Vodafone Greece, Vodafone Hungary, Vodafone Ireland, Vodafone Italy, Vodafone Malta, Vodafone Netherlands, Vodafone Portugal, Vodafone Romania, Vodafone Spain, Vodafone Turkey, Vodafone UK, Wind Greece, Wind Italy, Yoigo Spain, Yug Contract Ukraine, Zain KSA.
Asia-Pacific: China Mobile Hong Kong Company Ltd., ChungHwa Telecom, 3HK, CSL, Fareastone, M1, Mobifone, Optus, PCCW mobile, Reliance Communications, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., SmarTone, StarHub, Taiwan Mobile, Telecom New Zealand, Telstra, Vodafone Australia, Vodafone New Zealand.
China: China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom
North America: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Cincinnati Bell and Best Buy in the United States and in Canada with Rogers Communications, Bell Mobility, TELUS and Virgin Mobile Canada.
Latin America: Claro Argentina (América Movil), Telecom Personal Argentina, Entel Chile, Iusacell México, Telcel México (América Movil), Claro Perú (América Movil), Claro Puerto Rico (América Movil), Movistar Venezuela (Telefonica)

 


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UK carrier Three updating Sony Xperia T to Jelly Bean

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 07:50 AM PST

Sony_Xperia_T_Press_Shot

Three, the UK wireless carrier, announced via their Twitter account this morning that they are rolling out the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update to owners of Sony Xperia T devices on their network. Besides all the benefits of Jelly Bean, Sony includes some updates for their own apps like Walkman, Album and Movies. Reports indicate some new homescreen options will now be available for device owners along with improvements to the camera app.

The update does not appear to be available as an over-the-air option. Three’s support site instructs users to connect their phone to their computer and use the Sony PC Companion software on Windows PCs or Bridge for Mac on Apple PCs. This update from Three follows on the heels of the update being pushed out to unlocked devices and those on the O2 network.

source: @ThreeUK


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Australian Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 WiFi Getting Android 4.1.2 Update

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 07:46 AM PST

Samsung_galaxynote_10.1

It’s been about a month since the US variant of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 WiFi received its Jelly Bean update. That’s apparently how long it takes for the update to make it down to Australia. Our Aussie friends are now receiving the 505MB Jelly Bean update. The update brings the Note 10.1 to Android version 4.1.2 and includes the Premium Suite, including multi-window, found on the Galaxy Note II.

Source: Ausdroid

 


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EE confirms smartphone activations fall in Q4 2012, 4G LTE to blame?

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 07:36 AM PST

EE_UK_Slow_4G_LTE_Adoption

 

So we thought that EE’s launch of its super-fast LTE network would be welcome with open arms, but it appears there’s a slower adoption rate than expected. According to the 2012 year-end results from the wireless carrier, there were only 201,000 new subscribers for Q4, which is a mild disappointment to say the least. Fortunately, the wireless carrier was able to utilize its growing LTE network to springboard more of its customers into embracing smartphone use, which falls in line with some studies that we’ve heard before.

It’ll probably be a while before UK mobile users shy away from those HSPA+ networks until carriers like EE come up with a compelling reason for why LTE should be used. EE will certainly have its work cut out for it in the meantime.

source: EE


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