MWC: HTC Aims for Comeback with Streamlined Phones

By Kate Knibbs | Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:15 pm

At the Mobile World Congress, the Taiwan-based company revealed its updated phone roster with the One S, One V, and One X, running on Ice Cream Sandwich, or ICS. These phones incorporate Beats Audio enhancement software, illustrating the company's dedication to enhancing its entertainment capabilities, which HTC wants to make available on a number of U.S. carriers.

The One X is the largest handset, with a 4.7 inch screen, boasting an 8 megapixel camera. The One S is similar, with a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen and the same camera. The One V is HTC's Legend phone rebranded, with the same chin design and a 3.7-inch screen.

HTC's simplified roster fulfills the company's promise to hone in on entertainment as a selling point. The new phones integrate Beats Audio software and stand out with their sleek incorporation of a number of music apps like Spotify and Soundhound. In addition, the phones feature free Dropbox storage, allowing users to effortlessly back up their media.

"Getting music on a phone is still hard for people," CEO Peter Chou said. "HTC One makes it easy."

The One series comes packed with features designed to make enjoying entertainment easier. The One X features an innovative Wi-Fi display system, "Media Link HD", which allows users to link up the phone's screen to their television. This feature shows HTC's commitment to simplifying entertainment on phones, enabling an easy link-up between media devices.

HTC took full advantage of its partnership with Beats Audio, using the music technology as a selling point on its new line. HTC's upcoming agreement with PlayStation is likely to bring about an increased focus on its handsets' gaming potential.

PlayStation licensed its PlayStation Suite to the Taiwanese company, allowing users to buy games at the PlayStation store compatible with their HTC smartphones. HTC has yet to reveal whether the One line will feature PlayStation Suite, but if it does not, it will likely not be long until HTC rolls out an updated line with the capabilities.

In addition to fortifying its entertainment and gaming portfolio, HTC hopes its simplified branding will attract customers. HTC wants to keep its product names consistent whether it sells through AT&T, Verizon, or other carriers, but the company will likely experience difficulty doing so. If HTC convinces the carriers to keep its simple line name, consumers will have an easier time sussing out the best deals, and remembering the product name.

Carriers may resist HTC's branding scheme, since the company intends to market the phones in the same way for each company. U.S. carriers typically require unique names and slightly different specs for each phone, which can make quick price comparisons difficult.

HTC is betting big on its new line in the wake of a poor fourth quarter performance, putting a premium on innovative audio and establishing partnerships with entertainment and gaming leaders to attract crowds. The company will wait until April, when the phones ship globally, to see if its gamble paid off.

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Terahertz Spectrum Makes Phones 1,000 Times Faster

By Melissa Daniels | Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:48 am

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have discovered a way to make smartphones 1,000 times faster using "terahertz" bandwidth, which may provide relief for the spectrum crunch.

The research is just wrapping up, but it offers a glimpse into a solution for the spectrum crunch. Getting away from gigahertz may be the first step, not only out of progress but necessity, as consumers increasingly rely on bandwidth for data-hungry devices. Though many pieces would need to come together before it's implemented for widespread use, the development hints at an alternative solution to the traditional spectrum problem.

Scientists on the research team developed a frequency comb that spans 100 terahertz bandwidth, using the sliver of electronic spectrum between infrared and microwave light. By exploring "a silicon-based optical modulator" in the terahertz bandwidth range, the research discovered benefits in taking advantage of a different band of spectrum.

"The ability to modulate light with such a bandwidth may increase the amount of information carried by more than 1,000 times when compared to the volume carried with today's technologies," said Hrvoje Petek, physics and chemistry professor at University of Pittsburgh who led the research team. "Needless to say, this has been a long-awaited discovery in the field."

Bandwidth issues plague carriers and customers alike as millions of people increasingly rely on smartphones, as well as tablets. Mobile carriers are trying to find ways to compensate for ever-shrinking amount of bandwidth, either by throttling users, charging developers for creating data-heavy apps or creating paths around bandwidth limitations like turbocharge options.

But using terahertz bandwidth promises to surpass the difficulties of gigahertz spectrum models. The potential shows progress for the mobile industry at a time when technological developments are surpassing the infrastructure they were built on.

Before data downloads happen in the blink of an eye, however, the infrastructure of the mobile industry would need to drastically adapt. Aside from reorganizing spectrum regulation at the federal level and carriers switching their resources to a new spectrum, manufacturers would be charged with creating progressive devices that may receive data transmissions from the terahertz frequency region.

Researchers taking the lead on new discoveries for today's technology is one way the mobile industry might find answers to the spectrum crunch question. In the case of University of Pittsburgh's terahertz team, their work may find a way around this problem while launching faster speeds that use highly charged resources yet to be tapped, opening new doors for the communications industry.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 4:13 pm | By
Scottish scientists are developing an app converting sign language into text, showcasing mobile technology's capacity to evolve communication.



Tue Mar 13, 2012 4:04 pm | By
AT&T is expanding its LTE service, and Tim Cook sold off more of his stock in Apple. Meanwhile, Verizon had some sporadic outages, Apple denies Proview's claims on its iPad name and Twitter snapped up Posterous, a blogging platform.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 3:57 pm | By
Anonymous hackers struck the Vatican again, wreaking havoc despite ongoing arrests, defectors and rogue members that risk impairing future operations.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 3:42 pm | By
Yahoo is suing Facebook over alleged patent infringement, opening up untested legal territory as the social network goes public.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:46 pm | By
Apple's is reducing the price of the iPad 2 with the release of the new iPad, boosting the company's educational initiatives by making tablets more affordable for schools.


Editorials & Opinion By Kat Asharya
The Justice Department approved the $4.5 billion purchase of over 4,000 Nortel patents to major Android rivals like Apple and RIM, guaranteeing no end in sight to the legal battles entangling the mobile industry.

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Nokia preparing an Update for Nokia Belle 1st Generation phones

After yesterday’s bad news for the owners of Nokia Belle first generation phones, the Nokia N8, C7, C6-01, E7 and X7, Nokia has confirmed that a separated update is being prepared.

The Official confirmation came from discussions.europe.nokia.com forums by a moderator that have reported that Nokia is gathering feedback from the recent update released and new changes and fixes should come soon. Here’s the post in question:

[Thanks djak272 for the tip]

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Nokia: Our Windows Phones Need To Get Even Cheaper

There’s little question that Nokia is taking the low-end of the smartphone market very seriously these days. They just kicked off their race to the bottom with the colorful, budget-conscious Lumia 610 at this year’s Mobile World Congress, and while it’s far and away the least powerful of the Finnish company’s Windows Phone brood, it’s certainly priced to move at €189.

According to Nokia EVP Niklas Savander though, that price tag isn’t quite cheap enough. In a brief interview with Pocket-lint, Savander revealed that in order to better compete with Android, Nokia is very concerned with getting their hardware to even lower price points.

“Android is in many markets at the €100 price already, so that would suggest that if we are at €189 with the Lumia 610 we still have work to do when it comes to creating a lower-end first-time user smartphone.”

Now, Nokia is no stranger to pushing out low-cost, no-frills hardware — their venerable Nokia 1100 once held the crown for the best-selling bit of consumer electronics in the world, but getting their Windows Phones to that level of ubiquity will take a bit of doing. While Nokia toils away on the hardware front in an attempt to cut costs without stymieing performance too much, Microsoft’s Windows Phone Tango update will make sure that the eventual end-users don’t lose too much functionality in the process.

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VYou brings video Q&A service to Android phones

Video Q&A startup VYou is massively extending its reach with the release Monday of an Android app. That app, which follows the release of an iPhone app (aapl) last September, could greatly increase the number of mobile users VYou can attract.

VYou is built around the idea of submitting and answering questions via video, putting a real voice and a face behind those people who provide their opinions through the service. It gives users a few short minutes to provide replies, which are viewable by all users. With recent updates, it also gave users the ability to create status updates and provide their own responses to questions that are posed to other users. All of these features have been aimed at building a community around sharing via video.

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MWC: Sony Reinvents Itself with Xperia Phones

By Janet Maragioglio | Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:29 pm

Sony plans to sell the Xperia P and Xperia U phones in the second quarter of this year, integrating entertainment offerings with new hardware as it launches a rebranding effort.

The company unveiled the Android phones at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as part of its effort to re-enter the marketplace as a solo venture after buying out its partnership with Ericsson. The phones are part of the Sony Xperia NXT line, which features devices designed to seamlessly integrate Sony's vast entertainment offerings with a new line of hardware.

The Xperia P and U feature sharp, large displays suited to watching movies or shows and playing games. The phones biggest selling point is their instant access to the Sony Entertainment Network, which multiple Sony devices share, including the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Vita mobile system.

The Xperia U is the more compact of the pair and comes with the sound processing feature xLoud, hinting the company expects it to entice mobile users to access Sony's music holdings.

The two new phones continue the rebranding effort Sony launched at CES 2012 and represent the direction the Japanese entertainment giant expects to head after buying out its partner, Ericsson, in a $1.5 billion deal completed last month.

The deal gave Sony control of smartphone development and added patents to its library, giving the company a platform to integrate its entertainment offerings across a full line of mobile devices, as well as televisions and laptops.

The new smartphone line will help Sony put its media and gaming libraries in users' hands in a marketplace where people increasingly turn to mobile devices for entertainment. However, they enter a crowded field where Sony must compete with rival Android makers, such as Samsung and HTC.

Also, with Google's buyout of Motorola Mobility nearing the finish line, Sony's new entertainment-based smartphones will likely face competition from soon-to-come Google-branded hardware, which will likely integrate with the search giant's own entertainment and media offerings.

Sony's leadership also hinted at the long transition ahead. Kazuo Hirai, will take over as Sony's CEO on April 1, said while the company already outlined management changes, it will take time for the new leadership and strategy to fall into place.

"People have these lofty expectations that we're going to have all the answers to all the problems that plague the world on April 1," Hirai said in an interview at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress. "We're not going to have that."

Sony's plans to roll out new devices rapidly in coming months prove the Ericsson buyout created a more agile company capable of reacting quickly to a changing marketplace.

As Sony deals with its transition pains, the mobile device and content marketplaces continue to heat up, leaving the company with little choice but to act fast if it hopes to make a strong showing in 2012.

In January, Sony unveiled the Xperia S at CES.

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Windows 8, Quad-Core Phones Coming to MWC

By Joe Arico | Fri Feb 24, 2012 3:45 pm

Windows 8 smartphones and tablets will take center stage at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain next week, setting the tone for what's to come this year.

One of the biggest events in technology, the MWC will get underway on Sunday and attract more than 60,000 attendees, including fans, members of the media and some of the largest tech companies in the world.

Analysts expect Microsoft's Windows 8 to have a big presence at MWC. Although Windows 8 is the company's next desktop operating system, it is also expected to have several features for mobile users. Microsoft has designed the OS from the ground up for use on a tablet as well as traditional PCs. It features a similar user interface to the company's Windows Phone platform, paving the way for tight integration between apps.

In addition to the Windows 8 reveal, analysts expect several manufacturers to unveil quad-core smartphones, setting a new bar for top-of-the-line devices. Both ARM and Nvidia have crafted quad-core processors for mobile devices, and although no news outlets have confirmed any specific devices, analysts predict several handsets powered by the chips will make their debut at MWC.

HTC is a likely candidate to show off new quad-core devices, but the company may not feature too many handsets. The Taiwanese phone maker appears committed to its goal of cutting back on the number of models it makes, instead focusing on making the highest quality devices possible.

Dozens of new smartphones will likely make an appearance at the conference, but Samsung is making news because of the handset it's not showing off. The South Korean company said it won't lift the curtain on the Samsung Galaxy S3 at the show. The Galaxy S2 was one of the few devices that challenged the blockbuster sales of the iPhone, making the S3 one of the most anticipated devices of the year.

Although Samsung is not planning to show its most popular device, and its main rival, Apple, will not be present, the MWC will likely pack several surprises and paint a clearer picture of what will excite tech fans this year.

Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:07 pm | By
Best Buy cut the iPad 2's price by $50, an unusual move signaling the iPad 3's release is likely imminent.



Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:49 pm | By
Nokia will offer a diverse range of phones this year, boosting both its feature phone business, while betting big on Windows to propel its high-end smartphones to success.

Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:40 pm | By
Facebook addicts are giving up the social media site for Lent, highlighting their increasingly common struggle to balance online connections with real-life friendships.

Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:39 pm | By
Facebook is pushing to create mobile browsing and Web-based mobile payments standards, hinting at plans to compete with Apple and Android's native app stores.

Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:31 pm | By
Apple notched a victory over an attempted sales ban on its devices by Motorola, raising more questions over how common technology gets used under intellectual property ownership.


Editorials & Opinion By Kate Knibbs
Apple is gearing up for the iPhone 5, while adding improvements to its App store.

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Intel announce two new Atom CPUs for phones and tablets

Intel is serious about getting a piece of the handheld action this time - they announced two new processors and chipsets to join what's already powering the likes of the Lenovo K800 and the Orange Santa Clara.

The first processor is called Atom Z2580 and features two cores (the same Medfield design like the fist one) with HyperThreading allowing the processor to run four threads simultaneously. It will be clocked at 1.3GHz, potentially going up to 1.8GHz with Turbo Boosts.

It's paired with a powerful GPU too - PowerVR SGX544MP2, which is supposed to double the performance of an SGX543MP2 found in the iPhone 4S.

Intel have their own LTE-capable modem that will work with the Atom Z2580 and all these components will be shown off in a brand new reference design.

With a little luck, it will go the way of the Santa Clara and be offered as a consumer phone too. However, that's unlikely to happen before the first half of 2013 at the earliest .

The second chipset includes the Atom Z2000, a low-end single-core processor running at 1GHz and without HyperThreading. There's a downclocked SGX540 GPU and an Intel-made HSPA+ modem.

The Atom Z2000 will get its own reference design and will target low-end phones. There's no word on availability, but probably won't be soon either.

Source

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ZTE coming with 8 phones to MWC, quad-core flagship included

It's going to be a busy few days once the MWC starts - ZTE plans to introduce eight new devices at the Congress. The mix includes Android and Windows Phone smartphones, LTE and even a quad-core phone of their own.

The new mobiles will be unveiled Monday, February 27. They didn?t give out much detail about the upcoming announcements (like how many of the 8 phones will run Android), but they threw around phrases like "quad-core flagship handset" and "LTE-Advanced", which do pique our interest.

They've already announced the ZTE Mimosa X, which had the distinction of being the first smartphone to use chips by NVIDIA exclusively. Also out in the open are two ICS-running droids. We're not sure if thse three count towards the 8 phones to be shown at the MWC or not.

ZTE say they put back 10% of their revenue and hope to become the third biggest phone maker worldwide by 2015. They have quite a challenge ahead of them though, according to Gartner they were fifth in 2011.

Source

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New LG Android phones leaked on video before MWC 2012

With only a few days left until the start of the Mobile World Congress, the amount of rumours and leaks coming out don’t seem to stop with gaining momentum as more and more  models from the principal brands appearing in the wild on the internet. What the Italian blog Telefonino managed to do is still kind of amazing. This blog has managed to leak, in video, the principal line-up of the LG smartphones to be presented in Barcelona almost a week before the big event.

The videos are in Italian but we think that you will enjoy to see the LG Optimus 4X HD, the LG Optimus 3D Max and the LG Optimus Vu and some of their features.

The LG Optimus 4X HD is the new flagship featuring a Quad-Core processor and will bring the new Android 4.0 ICS from the box. Here’s this phone on video:

The LG Optimus 3D Max features a dual back 5 Mpixels cameras that should allow you to take some pretty cool photos in 3D and comes with a dual-core CPU. Here’s the hands-on video:

The LG Optimus Vu is a direct competitor of the Samsung Galaxy Note and the principal feature is his huge display. As you can see in the next video, the resemblance is clear even if the model from LG is still a bit smaller.

[Via]

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Nokia to unveil cheaper Windows Phones at MWC

We all know that Nokia is the king of entry level devices, and it seems they're keen on retaining that title as their upcoming press conference at MWC will supposedly reveal several new midrange WP-powered devices, alongside the new Lumia 610 and the worldwide version of the Lumia 900.

This also comes alongside news that Nokia has become the largest Windows Phone manufacturer, beating out HTC. This is truly an impressive achievement, considering Nokia has only been selling Windows Phone since the start of Q4 2011.

The Nokia/Microsoft partnership would to the casual observer sound like two behemoths dominating a significant piece of the global smartphone market, but in case you're one of the few that need to be reminded, WP and Symbian combined accounted for less than 14% of global smartphone sales in 2011.

The Nokia press conference at MWC is coming up fast, so we expect to find out exactly which devices Nokia plans to unveil very shortly.

Source | Via

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ViewSonic shows three Android ICS dual-SIM phones

ViewSonic announced three new phones all of which run Android Ice Cream Sandwich and have two SIM slots. That might make them the first dual-SIM Android ICS phones, for what that's worth.

The best-specced of the three phones has a 3.5" Super Clear IPS LCD with 640x960 pixels resolution and is called - wait for it - ViewSonic 4s. Yeah, like that iPhone Apple have. Anyway, it also has a 1GHz processor and a 5MP camera.

The other phone is the ViewSonic 3GS, uh, 4e which has a 3.5" HVGA screen, 3MP camera and 650MHz and is 10.3mm thick.

With these names Viewsonic is obviously staking on the remote similarity to Apple products. It's really a ridiculous move and we can't quite wrap our heads around their concept. Ok, perhaps, not ridiculous, but kinda sad.

The third one isn't just a phone - the ViewSonic 5e has 5" WVGA screen and is more of a phoneblet, but just like the other two it has two SIM slots and runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

But whatever, Viewsonic should really stop playing with stuff they don't really understand. Every year the announce a bunch of weird looking phones at the MWC and then nobody hears anything about them. They should probably stick with their monitors.

Source (in Chinese)

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Android ROM – Elegancia for HTC Sensation phones

Elegancia is a great ROM for HTC Sensation phones (Sensation, Sensation 4G and Sensation XE) bringing a hole new set of features and tweaks combined with the HTC Sense 3.6.

Here’s a list of the features of this ROM:

- Android ICS 4.03 base on RUU 3.25.401.102 with the latest HTC Sense 3.6

- Stock kernel @1.5 Ghz or @1.2 Ghz, selection during Flashing Installation

- Fully themed ROMs available

- Enhanced Audio Beats included and fully functional

- TMOus Wifi-Calling

- Enabled GPU UI rendering

- Blue highlights

- Deodexed, zipaligned, tweaked

- Improved SD card read ahead

- Extra Quick Settings

- Advanced Power Menu

- Busybox + runparts, TitaniumBackup

- Location is enabled

- A lot of junk removed

- Screenshot by pressing Power and Home

- Sony Bravia Engine – HQ Image and Movie improvement

- Latest Market

- Looking for Rom stability, outstanding battery life and smoothness, welcome you are at the right place!

Check all the details on how to get this ROM on our Android Modding Section.

View the original article here

Windows Phone Tango to have restrictions on 256MB RAM phones

Windows Phone Tango will bring many cool improvements but also some tight restrictions for low-end phones. Russian site WP7forum tested Tango on a dev phone (the HTC Mazaa) and they've dug up some very interesting details on the matter.

Let's start with the bad news - Tango will enable phones with just 256MB RAM (all current Windows Phone models have 512MB). That's quite low for a smartphone (even Symbian uses more nowadays) and such won't support all apps, plus third-party Live tiles won't update automatically.

The list goes on - Tango phones with 256MB RAM won't be able to play videos with bitrate over 4Mbps (that applies for videos on the phone and streaming video), they won't let you manage podcasts on the phone (you'll need to use Zune on your PC) and photos can't be uploaded automatically to SkyDrive.

This sounds pretty harsh, but we're likely talking about very low-end devices - Microsoft will even let makers use 3MP cameras (the current minimum is 5MP). We're not sure what that means about the 720p video recording that is mandatory for WP phones right now.

Plus, Windows Phone Tango will bring some great usability improvements. It will let you import/export contacts from your SIM card, offer finer grained roaming options and download and update apps automatically through Zune. Tango will also more than double the number of pre-installed apps and support new countries.

MMS support will be greatly improved too - in its current form you can attach a single photo and that's it. With the Tango update, Windows Phone will let you attach multiple photos but also videos and audio files too.

So, Windows Phone Tango will bring some needed improvements to mid- and high-end phones and enable affordable, low-end phones that can pry some users away from the grasp of feature phones.

Source 1 ? Source 2 (in Russian)

View the original article here

Windows Phone Tango to have restrictions on 256MB RAM phones

Windows Phone Tango will bring many cool improvements but also some tight restrictions for low-end phones. Russian site WP7forum tested Tango on a dev phone (the HTC Mazaa) and they've dug up some very interesting details on the matter.

Let's start with the bad news - Tango will enable phones with just 256MB RAM (all current Windows Phone models have 512MB). That's quite low for a smartphone (even Symbian uses more nowadays) and such won't support all apps, plus third-party Live tiles won't update automatically.

The list goes on - Tango phones with 256MB RAM won't be able to play videos with bitrate over 4Mbps (that applies for videos on the phone and streaming video), they won't let you manage podcasts on the phone (you'll need to use Zune on your PC) and photos can't be uploaded automatically to SkyDrive.

This sounds pretty harsh, but we're likely talking about very low-end devices - Microsoft will even let makers use 3MP cameras (the current minimum is 5MP). We're not sure what that means about the 720p video recording that is mandatory for WP phones right now.

Plus, Windows Phone Tango will bring some great usability improvements. It will let you import/export contacts from your SIM card, offer finer grained roaming options and download and update apps automatically through Zune. Tango will also more than double the number of pre-installed apps and support new countries.

MMS support will be greatly improved too - in its current form you can attach a single photo and that's it. With the Tango update, Windows Phone will let you attach multiple photos but also videos and audio files too.

So, Windows Phone Tango will bring some needed improvements to mid- and high-end phones and enable affordable, low-end phones that can pry some users away from the grasp of feature phones.

Source 1 ? Source 2 (in Russian)

View the original article here