It's not a phone, it's an email device! Meet the Blackberry Q10

Subject: Mobile | April 25, 2013 - 07:52 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: blackberry, blackberry q10

Touchscreen phones might get all the recognition in the press and with the cool kids but for the hard working type who can never truly get away from their email, nothing beats a physical QWERTY keyboard.  Users who prefer Bolds and Curves to flashy touchscreens are finally going to be gifted with the new Blackberry Q10, with very similar specs to the already released Z10.  For those of us that don't tend to see our phones as an entertainment device but simply as work tool the size of the screen really does not matter as much as a responsive and easy to use keyboard.  The Inquirer had a chance to review the new Q10 and you can catch their comments here.

"3.1" 720x720 Super AMOLED touchscreen, physical QWERTY keyboard, dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, 4G and HSDPA connectivity, 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, 8MP autofocus rear-facing camera with LED flash and HD 1080p video, 2MP HD 720p front camera, Blackberry 10 mobile operating system, 119.6x66.8x10.4mm, 139g

Price £579.95 SIM-free."

Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:

Mobile

• All thumbs on deck with the BlackBerry Q10 @ Ars Technica
• Samsung Galaxy S 4: The empire strikes back with a faster, sleeker handset @ Ars Technica
• Samsung Galaxy S4 hands-on @ The Inquirer
• Blackberry Z10 Smartphone Review @ Legit Reviews
• Sony Xperia Z Smartphone @ Tweaktown
• COBY Kyros Internet 10 Touchscreen Tablet (MID1045) Review @ Madshrimps
• Eminent WiFi Travel Reader and WiFi Travel Router @ Hardawre.info
• Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 @ The Inquirer
• Seidio Ultimate Screen Guard for Nexus 4 @ LanOC Reviews
• Cooler Master NotePal A200 Laptop Cooler Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• ASUS VivoBook S500C Touchscreen Ultrabook Laptop @ Tweaktown
• Gigabyte P2742G-CF1 Review @ TechReviewSource

Sony's Tap 20 convertible tablet

Subject: Mobile | April 16, 2013 - 03:24 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: tap 20, sony vaio, hybrid, convertible tablet

Sony has joined the convertible tablet market with the new Tap 20 and Legit Reviews had a chance to work with one.  They come in a wide variety of prices and internals, from $850-$1250, all using a 1600x900 IPS display but with CPUs ranging from Core i5's with 4GB of DDR3 to i7's with 8GB DDR3.  Every model comes with a hard drive for local storage and you can expect almost 3 hours of battery life; since the battery is in the tablet portion you do not get longer life from docking it to the keyboard.  There were a few strange omissions on the tablet as well as some attractive features which you can read about in the full review.

You can also reread Ryan's review here.

"The Sony VAIO Tap 20 is a very interesting Hybrid PC that runs Windows 8 with 10 finger touch capabilities. The internal battery is rated to last 2 hours 45 minutes, which actually isn't bad for a device like this. Having the ability to unplug the PC and move it around the home is actually rather nice and really makes the PC experience group friendly. The Sony VAIO Tap 20 can be used in tablet mode with it lying on the table and you can play touch games on it versus a friend or share photos and videos with a group..."

Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:

Mobile

• Acer Aspire V5-571P @ XSReviews
• Sony VAIO T14 Ultrabook Review - Out With Express Cache In With DataPlex For SandForce Driven Speed @ SSD Review
• Toshiba Qosmio X875-Q7390 Review @ TechReviewSource
• HP Envy X2 11-G010NR Review @ TechReviewSource
• Asus VivoTab Smart (ME400C) Windows 8 Tablet @ Kitguru
• Rightware Basemark X Tested on Several Popular Mobile Devices @ Tweaktown
• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 with 4G LTE @ LanOC Reviews
• Asus Padfone 2 @ The Inquirer
• HP ElitePad 900 Review @ TechReviewSource
• ZTE Geek hands-on @ The Inquirer
• ASUS PadFone 2 @ Hardware.info

Sauce Labs: Integration into modern.IE

Subject: General Tech, Mobile | April 13, 2013 - 03:16 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: w3c, Sauce Labs, modern.IE, IE

The main benefit of open Web Standards is that it allows for a stable and secure platform for any developer to target just about any platform. Still, due to the laws of No Pain: No Gain, those developers need to consider how their application responds on just about every platform. Internet Explorer was once the outlier, and now they are one of the most prominent evangelists. It has been barely two months since we reported on the launch of modern.IE for Microsoft to integrate existing solutions into their product.

Enter Sauce Labs. The San Francisco-based company made a name for themselves by providing testing environments for developers on a spread of browsers across Android, iOS, Linux, MacOSX, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows XP. The company, along with competitor BrowserStack, got recent recognition from Adobe when the software company shut down their own also-competing product.

When we first covered modern.IE back in February (again, here), the initiative from Microsoft was created to help test web apps across multiple versions of Internet Explorer and check for typical incompatibilities. With the addition of Sauce Labs, Microsoft hopes to provide better testing infrastructure as well as automatic recommendations for common issues encountered when trying to develop for both "modern" and legacy versions of their web browser.

In my position, this perfectly highlights the problems with believing you are better than open architectures. At some point, your platform will no longer be able to compete on inertia. Society really does not want to rely on a single entity for anything. It is almost a guarantee that a standard, agreed-upon by several industry members, will end up succeeding in the end. Had Microsoft initially supported the W3C, they would not have experienced even a fraction of the troubles they currently face. They struggle in their attempts to comply with standards and, more importantly, push developers to optimize for their implementation.

There are very good reasons to explain why we do not use AOL keywords anymore. Hopefully the collective Microsoft keeps this grief in mind, particularly the Xbox and Windows RT teams and their divisions.

After the break: the press release.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Smartphone Is Coming

Subject: Mobile | April 12, 2013 - 05:27 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: smartphone, Samsung, jelly bean, galaxy s4, exynos octa, android 4.2.2

Samsung recently launched its new flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone, and users will be able to pre-order it from several US carriers later this month.

AT&T customers will be able to pre-order the 16GB Galaxy S4 for $199.99 and 32GB model for $249.99 beginning April 16. Those prices are contingent on a two-year contract. US Cellular will also be carrying the new flagship smartphone, but has not announced how much it will cost. Customers can register to be notified when it becomes available, however. T-Mobile is also going to offer the Samsung Galaxy S4, but customers will need to pay full price. According to UK mobile site Phones Review, T-Mobile will offer the smartphone on its new no-contract plans for $99 plus a $20 per month fee until it is paid off starting May 1. Regrettably, there is no word on when (or whether) a Verizon or Sprint-comparable model will show up.

Of course, the Samsung Galaxy S4 offers up the following specifications. On the outside, the phone features a 5” Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and Gorilla Glass 3 protection. A 2MP webcam and 12MP auto-focus camera with LED flash are also included. The internals of the phone are also impressive, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 SoC, 2GB of RAM, and up to 64GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD cards). The 2,600 mAh battery seems a bit weak compared to the one in the Galaxy Mega 6.3, but space constraints likely limited the battery size despite the beefier processor and higher-resolution display. Sensors and I/O include accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, compass, barometer, temperature, humidity, and gesture. Wireless radios include a cellular modem (4G LTE, 3G HSDPA), A-GPS+GLONASS, dual band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, NFC, and Bluetooth 4.0. The Qualcomm 600 SoC consists of a quad core Krait 300 processor clocked at 1.9GHz and an Adreno 320 GPU.

Note that the US version does not use the higher-performance Samsung Exynos 5 Octa SoC. For reference, the international model's SoC has the following features:

The Exynos 5 Octa consists of a PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU and both a quad core Cortex A15 clocked at 1.6GHz and a 1.2GHz Cortex A7 processor with four cores. The two ARM processors are configured in big.LITTLE configuration, so technically it is still a quad core phone--but the lower-power Cortex A7 cores will be used for background tasks and/or to save power while shutting down the Cortex A15 cores when CPU load allows.

The Galaxy S4 will come in White Frost or Black Mist colors. It is an impressive phone and one that I’m considering for my next upgrade pending good reviews. Another good consequence of the S4 launching is price reductions for the Galaxy S3, which may be an option if you don’t have impending upgrade pricing and can’t justify paying the approximate $600 full price of the S4--but still want a new Android phone.

WeVideo Launches Free Video Editor for Android Devices

Subject: Mobile | April 12, 2013 - 12:58 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: wevideo, video editor, Android

An online video editing company called WeVideo recently added an Android app to its services. The new WeVideo Android application allows users to capture, edit, and share videos taken by a number of Android 4.2 smartphones and tablets.

Video that has been captured by your phone can be edited, trimmed, stylized, saved to the phone, and published to Youtube, Vimeo, and the company’s own WeVideo site. The video editor also syncs with the WeVideo browser editor and will allow you to capture video on your phone and then edit it on other computers in the online editor. Once published, the app also gives you the option to post a link to Facebook and Twitter that leads to the video.

You can select multiple clips and arrange them on a timeline. The clips can be trimmed and volume can be adjusted. Once on the timeline, you can apply automated styles that include background music, transitions, filters, titles, and effects.

According to WeVideo, the Android video editor is compatible with the following devices:

• Samsung Galaxy S4 (upcoming phone)
• HTC One (upcoming phone)
• Samsung Galaxy S III
• Samsung Galaxy Note
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
• Google Nexus
• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD
• HTC Droid DN
• Sony Xperia S
• Sony Xperia Z

The app is a free download from the Google Play store (which recently got a facelift).

You can grab it here.

Overall, it seems to have good reviews, but it does have its share of 1-star reviews as well (as pretty much every app does heh). If you have been looking for an Android-equivalent to iMovie this might be a good option -- especially since it’s free.

Samsung Launches Two New Galaxy Mega Smartphones

Subject: Mobile | April 11, 2013 - 11:09 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: smartphone, Samsung, galaxy mega, galaxy, android 4.2

Samsung recently officially unveiled its new line of Galaxy Mega smartphones. The new phones (there are currently two on tap) run Android 4.2 and feature relatively gigantic screen sizes. As rumors suggested, and likely in order to keep costs down, the Galaxy Mega phones come without a stylus (like the Note series). Also, the displays are lower resolution than the flagship Galaxy S 4’s 1080p display.

The Galaxy Mega 6.3 and Galaxy Mega 5.8. The Galaxy Mega 6.3 measures 167.6 x 88 x 8mm and weighs 199 grams. On the outside, the smartphone features a black glossy finish, a 6.3” 720p display, an 1.9MP front-facing camera above the display, and an 8MP rear camera. The phone is powered by a 1.7GHz dual core ARM SoC, 1.5GB of RAM, and either 8GB or 16GB of internal storage (which can be expanded via microSD cards). Further, it has a 3,200 mAh battery.

The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3

The Galaxy Mega 6.3 includes accelerometer, Geomagnetic, Poximity, and Gyroscopic sensors. It is compatible with LTE 100/50Mbps, and HSPA+ 21/5.76 networks. A Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (supporting Wi-Fi Direct), Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS/GLONASS, and NFC radios round out the smartphone’s wireless connectivity options. The phone also features USB 2.0 and MHL support for getting an HDMI output via a powered adapter.

The Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 drops down in physical size and weight to 162.6 x 82.4 x 9mm and 182 grams respectively. The phone also drops MHL, NFC, and 802.11ac support. The Galaxy Mega 5.8 has a white glossy finish surrounding a 5.8” TFT touchscreen display with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels. A 1.9MP camera serves video calling duties while the rear of the phone hosts an 8MP camera for taking higher-quality stills and video.

The smaller (but still huge) Galaxy Mega 5.8

Internal hardware includes a dual core ARM processor clocked at 1.4GHz, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, and a 2,600 mAh battery. Wireless connectivity includes a cellular modem compatible with HSPA+ 21/5.76 networks, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS+GLONASS. There is no 16GB SKU, but storage space can be expanded via microSD cards.

Samsung has not released pricing information, but the two new Galaxy Mega phones will be available globally. Europe and Russia will be the first countries to get the new smartphone, which will be in May. From there, the phones will gradually roll out to other markets. Users can expect the hardware to cost less than both the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 2 as the Mega has lower-cost hardware despite the physically larger display. If you just want a large display without paying for the extra horsepower of other flagship smartphones, the Mega series should be a decent option. I would estimate AT&T will sell them for around the $150 mark on contract when they do make a US appearance.

More information along with photos of the new mega-sized Galaxy Mega phones can be found here.

Google Rolling Out Play Store Redesign That Emphasizes Larger Images and Faster Checkouts

Subject: Mobile | April 10, 2013 - 10:45 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: google play, google, froyo, appstore, Android

Google has begun a worldwide rollout of its re-designed Google Play store for Android smartphones and tablets. Over the next few weeks, users will be presented with a new, and simplified, user interface for the Play store.

Mobile devices running Android 2.2 (Froyo) and above will recieve the update. The redesign has moved to a simpler layout that groups similar content together and uses larger images to draw in the user's attention. A continuous scroll feature will introduce recommendations for related content as you scroll down.

Google has also reportedly simplified the checkout process, in order to reduce the time between buying an app, purchasing an MP3, or renting a movie and actually being able to begin consuming the content.

From Google's blog post and what little screenshots they have shown off of the new layout, I think Google has made some positive changes here, but I'll reserve final judgement once I've been able to test it out for myself.

Has your Android device received the Play store update yet?

IDF: ZTE Shows Off New Geek Android Clover Trail+ Smartphone

Subject: Mobile | April 10, 2013 - 08:46 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: zte, geek, Android, android 4.2, clover trail, Intel, idf, atom z2580

During the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing, China, ZTE showed off its new Geek phone. The Geek is a 5" smartphone running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and powered by a 32nm Intel Clover Trail+ processor.

The ZTE Geek is not quite ready for release, but the internals are now official. Specifications include a dual core Intel Atom Z2580 processor clocked at 2GHz (HyperThreading allows 4 total threads), an integrated SGX 544MP2 GPU clocked at 533MHz, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage. A 2300 mAh battery provides power for the device and can be recharged wirelessly in the ZTE Geek.

Engadget goes hands-on with the ZTE Geek at IDF in Beijing, China.

On the outside, The ZTE Geek features a 5" capacitive multi-touch screen with a resolution of 1280x720 and Gorilla Glass protection. There is a 1MP fixed focus webcam above the display, and an 8MP camera with auto-focus and LED flash on the rear of the device.
The Geek smartphone is compatible with the following wireless connections:

• GSM: 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
• UMTS: 900 / 2100 MHz
• WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n at 2.4GHz
  • DLNA, Wireles hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, and Wi-Fi Display
• Bluetooth 3.0 LE
• GPS (AGPS)

It also offers up an accelerometer, proximity, ambient light, compass, and gyro sensors. Engadget reports that the device on display at IDF is merely a prototype, and the glossy white finish and chassis material is subject to change. Naturally, there is no word yet on pricing, or when it will be released. The smartphone will likely not see an initial US release, however (if past Atom-powered phones are any indication).

What do you think about the ZTE Geek's design and specs? Personally, I'm still pining for the Lenovo K900 (another Clover Trail+ powered smartphone) to see a US release heh.