Next iPhone in Final Testing Stage, Launches in September

Word has it that Apple is currently in the final testing stage, that being the AP stage, of their next generation iPhone. This means that the device is being carried around by high-level Apple and carrier executives, and we can expect the phone by September. This set of factoids comes from a source speaking with 9to5Mac that’d previously been “accurate” in providing inside tips. This news also came attached to some Verizon bits including the idea that Verizon and Apple have yet to strike a deal regarding FaceTime over 3G. Whether or not that means they’ll be waiting until 4G LTE is still up for question.

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The current word from this same source is that the newest generation iPhone will be out in September of this year, and that carrier support for FaceTime is still being worked on, kinks being ironed out regarding iOS 5′s support for over the air updates. Whilst taking a snoop around some iOS 5 SDK files they had lying around, 9to5Mac located references to “N94″ and “N93,” both of which are apparently unreleased iPhone models. The N94 model is more than likely the iPhone 4 with A5 dual-core chip that Apple is supposedly sending out to developers as we speak.
The N93 is more than likely simply a variation of the N94. what this more than likely means is a carrier difference, noting that with the current model, GSM is N90 and CDMA is N92, this pointing toward such a situation quite blatantly. Could this new model be being prepared for Sprint or T-Mobile? We shall see!
Additionally 9to5Mac have found rather disheartening connections leading to the following image:

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This is the same sort of situation that revealed the iPad 2 to be having the same camera as the fourth-generation iPod touch, now showing the newest generation iPhone to be rolling out with the same 5 megapixel sensor as found in the iPhone 4.
All this said, if you were asking yours truly, I’d say look for a slight reboot of the iPhone. Nothing too drastic – perhaps a bit bigger than the launch of the Verizon iPhone, but it’ll be no iPad 2. Look for a major reboot inside 2012, this 2011 model will be made simply to accommodate iOS 5 in its best form.
[via 9to5Mac]

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Samsung: Olympic edition smartphone coming in 2012

Photo : pocket-lint.com

Samsung has outlined its plans as Official Wireless Telecommunications Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games, and one of the big announcements is that it will be releasing a special edition smartphone in the UK.

Speaking at the company's Olympic campaign press conference, with Pocket-lint (and David Beckham) in attendance, David Song, managing director of Samsung UK and Ireland, said that the company will be grasping the opportunity to help the Games be the most technologically advanced yet: "We are very privileged to present our technology to the UK market. Visitors will be able to enjoy and participate with the Games through our wireless mobile communications technology," he said.

But, more interestingly, he also revealed that there will be a special Olympic Games handset launched in the UK, in time for the sporting festival, and that it would be of high enough spec to stream live video from the different events: "We are going to launch a smartphone that all the UK citizens can enjoy," he teased. "Even if they are not in the stadiums, they will be able to see [the events] their devices."

However, Gyehyun Kwon, vice president and head of Worldwide Sports Marketing, said that the wireless infrastructure to ensure that such a device would stream seamlessly is still a work in progress: "We are talking with local and overseas [networks].

"This is not one of the easiest things," he added. "We need a lot of collaborations because we are hardware providers. We need to get the carriers and the software companies all together."

However, he does believe that it will all come together in time: "We are working to make this Olympic Games as 'Smart' as possible. We will be trying to push all of the information as speedily as possible."

Certainly, the rewards of a successful Games, with working wireless communications technology, could be of huge benefit to Samsung: "After this Olympic Games, we want to be recognised by British people as one of the most loved brands," said Kwon.

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iPhone 5 to go completely SIM-free with August release?

The iPhone 5 could do away with SIM cards altogether according to new rumours trickling in from Macotakara and Apple Insider.

Only last week Stephane Richard (CEO of France Telecom, owners of Orange) had revealed that the iPhone 5 was sure to be slimmer than the iPhone 4, but still felt the SIM card was an integral and important part of the picture. Now it seems the Cupertino-based firm are sidestepping SIM technology altogether in an attempt to make the handset as thin as possible.

Macotakara, who were on the money with iPad 2 details before its official launch, are also stating that the iPhone 5 will share similar looks to those of the iPhone 4, but will now be packing in an ARM Cortex-A9 processor to power the show.

Elsewhere, the now almost-mandatory camera update is expected to bump the megapixel count up to 8MP and feature a re-configured LED flash to make the dreaded red-eye effect less prevalent.

With little change to the industrial design, minor camera upgrades and a universally-expected processor update, this may well turn out to be a stepping-stone in the iPhone lineage, more an iPhone 4GS than a true iPhone 5. With this latest rumour also stating that the phone is now headed for an August reveal, we wont have too long to find out all the juicy details from official sources either way.

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Five Gadgets Your Smartphone Will Replace

The smartphone is what's called a convergence device: It's where multiple different gadgets converge, becoming one. And I've got apps on my Android smartphone that turn it into a camera, a camcorder, an MP3 player, a calculator, and even a flashlight.

Most of you already know that smartphones are starting to replace these gadgets. But you may be surprised at the territory our phones are now encroaching on:

5. Tablets

"Say what?" you ask. "Isn't the iPad the fastest-selling gadget of all time?" Why, yes, notes PCWorld. But what if your smartphone could replace it? That's what Asus is apparently asking for its rumored-to-be-upcoming Padfone tablet. (See, it's a 'pad and a phone! Aren't they witty?)

A hatch on the back lets you plug your phone into the much larger tablet, where it presumably serves as the tablet's processor -- and camera, thanks to a hole in the hatch. The two will apparently be sold as a package, and it's that package deal that may be the selling point. Why buy just a tablet when you can get a phone to go with it as well? Plus, the tablet could recharge your phone.

4. Laptops

This one you may have already seen, thanks to its commercials which feature a man explaining himself to the TSA's grope squad. The Motorola Atrix smartphone has an optional $150 laptop dock with a touchpad and keyboard and much larger screen.

The Atrix's problem is its execution. It isn't a phone that turns into a laptop, as the commercials would have you believe. Its accessory is a laptop that only works with your expensive phone plugged into it. It costs half as much as a netbook, but it does less than half; it can only run the Firefox web browser, and it runs that poorly. (I saw it crash while a salesperson demonstrated it, which doesn't bode well.)

3. Desktop PCs

Hat tip to the Atrix again, as it also has optional accessories that turn it into a desktop computer. These include a keyboard and a dock that has three USB ports and an HDMI port. Again, you can't use it for anything more than web browsing and Android apps. But darned if it isn't one of the smallest, cheapest, most energy-efficient desktop computers out there.

2. DVR

The Atrix can't actually record live TV, but it can play back movies on your big screen. And that desktop dock works a lot better when you've got it hooked up to your HDTV (according to Engadget). Remote control? Check. Sleek, Front Row-style interface? Check. Why Apple is selling Apple TVs, and not an Apple TV app for iPhones, the world may never know.

1. Game console

You probably already know that the iPhone and iPod Touch are making inroads into the handheld gaming market. And you probably also know that the Xperia Play is Sony's first "PlayStation Certified" Android smartphone, with a slide-out game controller, PlayStation Network access, and a store with exclusive games.

So why not go all the way and make it so you can connect your phone to your TV and play your games on it? Oh wait -- you can! With the iPad 2, at least -- and you can bet Apple's looking for ways to bring that feature to its iPod and iPhone lines.

Is this for real?

Given examples like the Atrix? Not yet it isn't. But give it time -- the GPS companies didn't see smartphones coming either.

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Samsung Demand to see Apple iPhone 5 and iPad 3

The legal battle between Samsung and Apple has taken another twist after judges gave Apple the right to look at various Samsung patent to check for breaches of copyright. Although Samsung went along with this request they haven’t taken it lying down and have demanded the right to look at Apple’s upcoming products before their official release date. Samsung believe if they can see the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 before they are released it would mean less chance of legal problems in the future.

Earlier this week a court order meant Samsung had to hand over various devices including the Droid Charge, Infuse 4G, Galaxy S II, and both the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 tablets so Apple could decide whether they should form part of the legal case. At this stage its not known whether they will be included but Samsung isn’t going to sit around and wait and for the same reason has demanded access to the iPhone 5 and iPad 3.

On the face of it, this request appears to be the same as Apple’s except for one major difference. The products requested by Apple have already been announced with some available on sale already, neither the iPhone 5 or iPad 3 have been given a release date: in fact nobody really knows if they exist at all.

Despite this strange request, you can kind of understand where Samsung is coming from. Perhaps they just want to ensure Apple won’t turn around in two months time and say the iPhone 5 has been copied or indeed their new handsets do infringe Apple’s patents(although they should know this already).

Whatever you make of this current request, it’s clear to see this is just the beginning of the legal battle between the two brands. The final outcome is still a long time away.

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Get Your Game On With Sony’s Xperia Play Android Phone

Mothers, lock up your gamers. The PlayStation phone has arrived.

And while it’s a bit on the chubby side, we think that, for Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play, big is beautiful.

You could almost call the Xperia Play the shorter, fatter cousin to the svelte Xperia Arc, which Sony Ericsson once described as the “world’s thinnest smartphone.” At .62 inches, the Play looks positively bulky compared to its Xperia-line relatives — a veritable Jan Brady to the Arc’s Marcia.

But Sony Ericsson had to make some trade-offs in size in order for the slide-out frame to hide the PlayStation controller underneath. If you’re a gamer, it’s worth it. We felt right at home with the familiar PlayStation controller configuration — D-pad on the left, with the square, circle, triangle and X buttons on the right.

And unlike other, flimsier slider phones, the plastic hardware isn’t chintzy. The Play still feels sturdy in hand, even in its open position, and most likely won’t break under the pressure of an excited gamer’s grip.

Instead of the centered joysticks found on a PS3 controller, two pressure-sensitive touchpads take their place. So rather than hog up precious screen real estate steering with your fingers on games that require touch-sensitive direction, you can use the two physical touchpads. It’s a nifty concept, and fairly well-executed. The games I played that utilize the pads were decent enough in reaction time, though I found the sensitivity a bit wanting.

The phone comes bundled with seven games, though only one was exclusive to the Play: Crash Bandicoot. It’s a PS One classic, and I was psyched to see it on the roster. But if I’m buying the long-awaited PlayStation phone, I want it to be running PlayStation games. Plural.

When I asked if Sony Ericsson would continue publishing PlayStation classics to the Xperia Play, the answer was cagey, though promising: “It’s the first step we’re taking down this path.” I’ve got my fingers crossed for a Twisted Metal port by the end of the year.

I actually enjoyed the experience of gaming on the Play. For the first time, I didn’t feel like I was playing a game slapped onto a phone interface. It feels like a standalone portable gaming device. That’s no easy feat to accomplish.

Polygons rendered beautifully on the Play’s 4-inch capacitive touch screen, which was plenty big enough to view the games we played. I did wonder if I’d be wanting more screen surface area while playing a first-person shooter like Call of Duty (or if we really wanted to get old school, Doom) — but since those games aren’t available for the Xperia Play, it’s a moot point for now.

You might think the Play is underpowered, given that its processor is a single-core, 1-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, not the dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor found in many recent smartphone and tablet offerings. But that’s not the case: the Play ran games and rendered menu screens like a charm. We didn’t experience any noticeable lag while gaming, nor while running Google’s proprietary smartphone apps like Gmail or Calendar.

Oh, and did we mention that the Xperia Play is also an Android phone? Because it is, and not a shabby one at that. Over the five days we spent with the phone, Verizon’s network coverage was ample. From Seattle to San Francisco, we didn’t experience any dropped calls or have much of a problem finding a signal. One big bummer, however: The phone uses Verizon’s 3G network, not the newer, faster 4G network.

Like many other smartphones, it’s got two cameras — VGA on the front as well as a 5-megapixel back-facing brother — but they’re not the greatest. The few shots I took looked washed out, a bit grainier than I would have liked. But as far as camera phones go, they’ll get the job done.

But let’s be honest. Cameras aren’t the reason you’re buying this phone. It’s a gamer’s toy, and bells and whistles like front-facing cameras should be judged with that in mind.

Our verdict after a week with the Play?

Game on.

Wired: Unskinned version of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) makes us happy. Sturdy hardware stands up to a frustrated gamer’s kung-fu grip.

Tired: Lacks 720p video recording capability, now a standard in smartphone releases. Wireless data is slower 3G standard, not 4G. Only one PlayStation title available at launch.

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HTC Sensation review: HTC Sense 3.0, hardware and operation

HTC’s brand new dual-core Android phone has launched in the UK exclusively through Vodafone at the moment, with the HTC Sensation featuring Android 2.3.3 running on a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a 4.3″ contoured display, the very latest 3.0 update of the company’s Sense user interface and an aluminium “unibody” construction.

It is very exciting and we were rather intimated and terrified at the prospect of reviewing such a new and important Android phone. However…

…the bottom line is the HTC Sensation feels extremely similar to the rest of the 2011 HTC Android range. It’s like a big Desire S. It’s black with chunky silver volume and power buttons, much heavier than the Galaxy S II, while the “contoured” display basically means there’s a bit of a curved edge around the sides. It’s a friendly, familiar HTC lump!

The back of the phone is grippy rubber at the top and bottom, with a swoosh of aluminium running through the middle and wrapping around the sides. It feels cold when you poke your hand out from under the duvet and pick it up first thing in the morning, also giving the Sensation a robust, high quality feel.

Then there’s your dual-LED flash and the reassuringly recessed and therefore slightly protected camera sensor. It certainly has a tougher, more rigid, curved feel to it than the bland exterior of the Galaxy S II. We prefer holding the Sensation, as we always felt like the slippery S II was constantly sliding out of our hands.

Taking the back cover off feels like you’re actually disassembling the entire handset, as the back cover also incorporates the sides and top edge of the phone – so what you’re doing is more like popping the screen out to access the internals.

There’s a little plastic catch along the bottom edge to release the casing. It’s a bit flimsy. It feels like you’re voiding your warranty by opening it up like this.

Despite featuring a whopping 4.3″ screen, the phone itself doesn’t feel overly bulky. It’s slimmer than the Desire HD, and slightly less than a centimetre or so longer than the famous HTC Desire (above). We have already got used to it, basically. It’s not too big.

That’s the curved edge of the glass. It’s hard to take a photograph of. It’s also quite hard to notice and serves no real purpose, aside making the edge where glass meets metal appear perhaps a little neater.

It’s a little annoying that the USB connector is now found on the left-hand side of the phone. Makes using it while plugged in a little more cumbersome than the old HTC Desire with its bottom-middle connector. But that’s maybe a personal thing. You might like it better this way.

HTC Sense has been upgraded to version 3.0, with the best addition by far being the new interactive lock screen. Press the power button when the phone’s screen is asleep and you’re greeted by your chosen lock screen background, along with four customisable app icons.

You can have HTC’s FriendStream social network widget on the lock screen, or photos from your gallery, or share prices, or more. The weather animations are fantastic, and it’s surprising how enjoyable it is to have such quick, one-swipe access to the camera, Twitter or the browser or anything else you decide you want one on of the four hotspots.

It really is a lovely lock screen system. Don’t worry about pressing things by accident, either. You have to press the stiff power button to bring it up, then steer an icon into the lower circle to access a feature. The chances of that chain of events happening in your pocket are pretty remote.

You can also ignore people with it if they make the mistake of phoning you instead of emailing you. It’s safe to say we’ve had more fun messing about with the lock screen than anything else.

But that really is about it for significant HTC Sense 3.0 innovations, sadly. The 3D Home screen animations are more of an annoyance than an improvement, to be honest, with the 2D icons spinning around on some imaginary 3D plane and looking a bit rough as they go. But look, HTC has added a metal hinge mechanism to the side of its iconic flip clock!

The app drawer is exactly the same as that found on the HTC Desire S. It scrolls one “page” at a time, plus you’re able to filter apps by frequent use or ones you’ve installed yourself – or just have it as a big list of text.

HTC Watch is one of the big new apps, and you’ll be needing to register a separate HTC Watch account, which, rather oddly, has nothing to do with the HTC Sense account you also need to use some other HTC features.

We have no idea who would “buy” a film for £9.99 on their mobile phone. But the picture quality on the trailers we watched was excellent, so it’ll all look nice if you do go mad and decide that’s a good idea.

There’s also “Dock Mode” for having a subtle selection of clocks and social updates on display for night time use, plus shortcuts to the DLNA options and a digital photo frame mode. It’s OK. It features pretty clouds in the background when the display is not dimmed.

That’s it for this session. We’ll be back soon with a look at the HTC Sensation’s 8megapixel camera…

…that’s one (low-light, indoors, no flash) photo sample to be getting on with. Plus we’ll cover HTC’s other apps and put together some sort of summary about the general performance of the HTC Sensation once we’ve spent a little more time with the phone.

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1923 Leica 0-series becomes world's most expensive camera, fetches $1.89 million at auction

Just when we thought ancient wooden boxes were all the rage among camera collectors, a compact beauty has shattered our theories -- this 1923 Leica 0-series just sold at auction for €1,320,000, or about 1.89 million in US money. Curiously enough, the exact same auction house reportedly sold the exact same camera four years ago: No. 107, the first Leica to be exported, allegedly for a patent application inspection in New York. In 2007, it fetched a relatively paltry €336,000, which was apparently still a world record for Leica cameras at the time. Quite the return on that investment, no? Find more pictures and details at the links below. 

Leica Rumors AP, AFP (Herald Sun)

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Sony Ericsson Xperia Play hits O2 after two month delay

O2 launch Xperia Play with exclusive white handset

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play has finally launched on O2 in the UK almost two months after the gaming-centric smartphone launched on other networks.

O2 has today confirmed the availability of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play having held the handset back for almost two months from its official release due to issues it had with the device’s software.

The bubbly network will exclusive host the Xperia Play in white whilst also offering the portable blower in its standard black form.

Available for £430 as a standalone PAYG handset, O2 will also offer the Xperia Play on contracts with the handset coming free of charge on a £37 per month two year deal that will see users given a monthly allowance of 900 minutes and unlimited text messages. 500MB of monthly data will set those looking to take up the offer back a further £6 per month.

Despite the near two month delay the O2 arrival of the Xperia Play comes sooner than expected with the network provider announcing earlier this month that the handset would not land until June.

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TomTom GO Live 820 and 825 GPS Devices for Europe

 TomTom launches two new GPS devices for the Europe market, the GO Live 820 and the GO Live 825. Both devices come with one year of TomTom’s LIVE Service including the TomTom HD Traffic that offes accurate traffic information every two minutes. The Service also includes the Speed Cameras service, providing mobile and fixed speed camera alerts, while Local Search helps to pinpoint shops and businesses in the area. There are also QuickGPSfix that helps drivers to start navigation in seconds.


The GO Live 820 has a 4.3-inch touchscreen while the Live 825 comes with a 5-inch touchscreen. They both support Bluetooth for hands-free calling and voice control that allows users to use their voice to plan route and give command to the device. It has a microSD card slot for expansion.
The TomTom GO Live 820 and 825 will be available in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The price is Euro 199 for GO Live 820 (regional version), $229 for GO Live 820 Europe and GO Live 825 regional version, and Euro 249 for GO LIVE 825 Europe. All of them have integrated mounting with flip screen.

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