HTC Windows Phone 8X Arrives at Vodafone Australia

Starting December 5, Australian wireless carrier Vodafone has two Windows Phone 8 devices to offer to its users, including the Windows Phone 8X by HTC.

As mentioned in a previous article, the carrier also launched Nokia’s Lumia 820 smartphone on its network. The Windows Phone 8X by HTC is already available for purchase on Vodafone’s website, for $0 upfront on Vodafone’s A$60 Plan, over 24 months (total min cost A$1440, which is approximately USD$1508 / 1153 Euro). It is the flagship Windows Phone 8 device that HTC made official this year, packing a 4.3-inch HD touchscreen display and a powerful 1.5GHz dual-core processor inside. Weighing only 130 grams, the new device provides users with an appealing design, Built-in Beats Audio technology for a great audio experience, and all the benefits of Live Tiles of Windows Phone 8. “The Windows Phone 8X by HTC is an absolute head-turner with its bold design and color. We know our customers who enjoy music and video on their smartphone will love this device,” Katie Turkal, general manager of Devices at Vodafone, said.

The new mobile phone also features an 8-megapixel photo snapper on the back, with support for full HD video recording, as well as a front camera to enable video chatting while on the go. Furthermore, the device sports 16GB of internal memory, which cannot be expanded through microSD cards, but which is complemented by 7GB of SkyDrive storage. The handset’s battery can deliver up to 11.3 hours of talk time, or up to 17.2 days of standby time, and there’s also WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS receiver and the like to enjoy. “Being the only Windows Phone with Beats Audio and a dedicated amplifier, the slim and snappy 8X by HTC will get your party started. Then take photos of the action with the widest angle ever. And watch it all back in breathtaking HD on 4.3 inches of scratch resistant Gorilla Glass 2,” Vodafone notes.

Windows Phone 8X by HTC
Image credits to Vodafone Australia

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Samsung Galaxy S IIIα SC-03E Now Available at NTT DOCOMO

Japanese wireless carrier NTT DOCOMO has made the Samsung Galaxy S IIIα SC-03E smartphone available for purchase on its network today.

The smartphone was made official back in October with an Exynos 4412 1.6GHz quad-core processor inside and with 2GB of RAM. The rest of the phone’s specs are similar with those packed inside the original model, including the 4.8-inch touchscreen display on the front, the 8-megapixel camera on the back, and the 32GB internal storage, complemented by a microSD memory card slot. The phone also comes with Wi-Fi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, NFC, 4G capabilities, and support for various local wireless services in Japan.

Running under Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, the handset was made available in two colors, namely Titanium Gray, Sapphire Black, and can be found on the wireless carrier’s website on this page.

Samsung Galaxy S IIIα SC-03E
Image credits to NTT DoCoMo

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Qualcomm MSM8226 and MSM8626 Snapdragon S4 Chips

Chip maker Qualcomm has two new chipsets available in the Snapdragon S4 family of mobile processors, namely the MSM8226 and MSM8626 CPUs.

Both of them were made official along with their Reference Design versions and offer the Adreno 305 GPU, 1080p capture and playback capabilities, as well as support for photo snappers of up to 13 megapixels. The company announced the new chips for high-volume 3G handsets and promised long battery life for devices powered by them. Both arrive with support for UMTS, CDMA and TD-SCDMA, and should become available for customer sampling starting with the second quarter of the next year.

Based on previous quad-core chips from Qualcomm, the new processors are built using 28nm technology node and will offer support for multi-SIM capabilities with Dual SIM, Dual Standby; and Dual SIM, Dual Active.

Qualcomm intros MSM8226 and MSM8626 Snapdragon S4 chips
Image credits to Android Community

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Xperia E and Xperia E Dual Full Specs

On Wednesday, Sony Mobile unveiled to the world two new affordable devices running under Google’s Android operating system, namely the Xperia E and Xperia E dual, both of which are expected to arrive on shelves in the first quarter of the next year.

The two devices pack similar specs, yet the main difference between them is the fact that Xperia E dual offers support for two SIM cards at the same time. Sony announced the Xperia E with a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7227A processor inside, as well as with 512 MB of RAM and with 4 GB of internal memory, expandable via a microSD memory card slot. The handset also sports a 3.5” HVGA touchscreen display, along with a 3.2-megapixel photo snapper on the back, and a front camera to enable video calling while on the go. The specs list of the new device also includes Bluetooth and aGPS, as well as DLNA, xLOUD Entertainment, accelerometer, proximity sensor, and HD Voice technology. It will also feature in-built “WALKMAN” Sony media application. “Xperia E supports HD Voice, a technology that transmits a broader spectrum of the human voice, resulting in more natural sounds and better clarity, even in noisy environments,” Sony explains.

“HD Voice functionality is operator dependent, and only available to consumers on the same national network, and where both the calling and called party each has an HD Voice-compatible mobile phone – please check with your operator to see if HD Voice is available in your area.” Xperia E will arrive on shelves with support for GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900; UMTS HSPA 850 (Band V), 1900 (Band II), 2100 (Band I) Americas; and UMTS HSPA 900 (Band VIII), 2100 (Band I) Global except Americas frequencies. According to Sony, while Xperia E is set to land on shelves with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean loaded on it right from the start, the Xperia E dual will run under Android 4.0 in the beginning, and will be upgraded to Android 4.1 at a later date.

“Xperia E dual makes it possible for you to easily switch between SIM cards with the most cost effective data plan, anytime with a simple touch, and each SIM card is customizable with separate ring signals,” Sony notes. Sony’s new Xperia E smartphone is set to land on shelves in black, pink and white color flavors, while the Xperia E dual will be available in gold and black.

Sony Xperia E
Image credits to Sony

Xperia E is a new addition to the Xperia™ smartphone range. This affordable smartphone comes with HD voice, data usage monitoring, and battery management. It also comes in a dual SIM version called Xperia™ E dual. Both these versions are powered by a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ processor, have a 3.5" HVGA screen, and will be available from Q1 2013. Also, Xperia™ E launches with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), while Xperia™ E dual launches initially on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) but will be upgraded to Android 4.1.
Video credits to SonyXperiaDevs

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Jolla Sailfish SDK to be Available in Q1 2013

Finnish startup Jolla is expected to make the software development kit for its newly unveiled Sailfish OS available for download as soon as the first quarter of the next year.

The company has already provided some info on the SDK, and has updated its wiki page to inform developers interested in coming up with apps for the new platform on the latest changes. With the toolkit available for download, developers will be able to start building applications that will take full advantage of the platform’s features, including the new, modern UI that Jolla touted last month.

For the time being, however, no specific info on when devices powered by the platform will become available for purchase has been provided, yet it might not be too long before that happens as well, so stay tuned.

Jolla's Sailfish Demo at Slush 2012 shows detailed information about our new devkit.
Enjoy and remember to subscribe.
Video credits to jollaofficial

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Nokia Lumia 505 Emerges Online at Guerrero Móvil Facebook Page in Mexico

Nokia appears indeed set to bring to the market a new range of entry-level devices, just as previously reported, and Lumia 505 is one of these handsets, it seems.

Following the launch of Lumia 620, the new cheap Windows Phone device from the company has emerged, based on the previously launched Lumia 510 and expected to arrive on shelves in Mexico. The Lumia 505 is said to have already received Wi-Fi certification and will arrive on shelves with an 800MHz single-core processor, 256MB RAM and 4GB of internal memory, while packing an 8MP camera on the back, it seems.

The handset is expected to be launched with Windows Phone 7.8 loaded on it, yet no specific info on the matter has been provided as of yet. Nokia Lumia 505 was spotted on Guerrero Móvil’s Facebook page, yet no official info on its landing has been provided as of yet.

Nokia Lumia 505
Image credits to Facebook

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BlackBerry 10 Devices Won’t Accept Around 106 of Specific Passwords

Research In Motion is well known for the security features of its mobile platform, which made it highly popular among enterprise users, and it seems that the company doesn’t want its reputation to fade out with the launch of BlackBerry 10 either.

In fact, the company is expected to tighten up the security of the platform in the upcoming release, and is now said to forbid specific combinations of numbers and letters from being used as passwords for user accounts. Apparently, the BlackBerry 10 OS already has a list of 106 passwords that people cannot use to secure their accounts.

According to rapidberry, some of these would be: 123456; 12345678; 123abc; a1b2c3; aaaaaa; abc123; abcdef; amanda; andrew; angel; asdfgh; august; avalon; bandit; barney; baseball; and batman. The entire list can be seen on this post on the news site.

BlackBerry 10
Image credits to RIM

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Gigabyte Preparing New WindForce 2X GeForce GTX 660 Graphics Card

nVidia GeForce GTX 660 graphics card is strong enough to warrant custom cooled revisions, which is why Gigabyte is getting ready to launch one such item.

Called GV-N660WF2-2GD, it is a GeForce GTX 660 graphics card equipped with the WindForce 2X cooler, which has a parallel-inclined fin design, two PWM fans and two copper heatpipes. Adding to the board stability and lifespan is the Ultra Durable construction, which implies solid capacitors and other PC components of high endurance.

As for the specifications, they are the same as on the standard video card: a GPU with 960 CUDA cores, clock speeds of 980/1046 MHz (GPU base/boost), 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM (6,008 MHz frequency) and three video outputs (DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI). Unfortunately, Gigabyte has not provided the price of this graphics adapter.

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 WindForce 2X
Image credits to Gigabyte

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First iPhone 5S Photos Emerge, Enclosure Leaked

The first iPhone 5S images are beginning to emerge on the web as reports from Taiwan claim that Apple has already begun trial production of its seventh-generation handset.

A comparison of the alleged iPhone 5S rear shell and the one housing the parts of a genuine iPhone 5 shows differences between the logic board screw holes (boxed in red), as well as other slight discrepancies. The back markings using “X” designations indicate that this is prototype hardware, though not necessarily new. The casing shown off by parts company ETrade Supply could well be an old prototype shell for the initial iPhone 5 testing batch which has only surfaced now. The part does look genuine enough to pass for real Apple hardware. The media calls Apple’s next iPhone iteration the “iPhone 5S,” keeping in line with the company’s traditional incremental dubbing (iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4S).

Word on the web is that Apple plans to unveil this next refresh at its annual developer conference in the summer of 2013. WWDC is also said to witness the unveiling of OS X 10.9, Apple’s next Mac OS. According to Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes citing market observers, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), and packager Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) are expected to post strong profits in the first quarter of 2013, mainly because Cupertino has hired them to make chips for the iPhone 5S. Both companies have already entered Apple’s supply chain for the next-generation iPhone, with component orders from Cupertino expected to rise between March and April, according to said observers.

A separate report from analyst Amit Daryanani (cited by AppleInsider) suggests Apple may not have a new A-series processor ready for the next iPhone refresh, and perhaps even for the iPhone 6. Citing rumors that Apple will dump Samsung’s services for SoC manufacturing, Daryanani believes Cupertino will struggle to get another company to churn up new A-series chips any time too soon.

Purported iPhone 5S leak
Images credits to etradesupply.com

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Prolimatech PT14015, Very Thin 140mm CPU Cooling Fan

Fans with a diameter of 140mm seldom end up in other types of desktop PCs besides high-end towers, but Prolimatech may just break that routine.

Sure, the company used very suggestive press photos involving a motherboard and a very tall CPU cooler, but that didn't prevent us from noticing something very important: the PT14015 fan is only 15 mm thick (0.59 inches). That means it could easily fit inside small form factor PC cases if it were to lie horizontally, on top of a low profile heatsink.

This placement would imply the added benefit of active cooling for the memory and motherboard itself too. Unfortunately, Prolimatech decided against revealing key facts like fan speed, speed control method, airflow and pricing. Then again, the company didn't actually say anything. Expreview leaked the info and photos.

Prolimatech PT14015
Images credits to Expreview

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