Android, Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile

The Galaxy Note 10.1 is going to hit the market this month

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 – a tablet, which the Korean company revealed back in February, is finally going to hit the market this month. At first it’s going to come in WiFi and 3G versions, while later on an LTE model will also become available. As we have already said, the company is launching the gadget later than it was supposed to due to the better specifications, which they decided to give it – a quad-core Exynos processor along with 2GB of RAM memory.

Among the added improvements is also the possibility to work with two applications on the same time (with a split-screen, of course) and a number of new S-Pen tweaks and features. Samsung also haven’t forgotten to include the Smart Stay technology, which keeps the screen on for as long as the user is looking at it (it follows your eyes using the front-facing camera) and Pop Up Play, which is going to let users watch videos while they’re doing something else – both of these features actually made their debut with the Galaxy SIII. B. A.

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The Galaxy Note II coming on 30.08?

Samsung Galaxy Note II

According to the information released by a Korean source recently, the Galaxy Note II is going to be revealed in the end of August at the IFA 2012 in Berlin. The same rumors also gave us some information about the smartphone itself – it’s said to have a 5,5″ screen, though the device itself is going to remain the same in size. This is not all, though – another Korean source has also released some interesting details about the debut of the Note II – according to it, it’s going to be at a Samsung Unpacked event at IFA in 19:00 (local time) on 30.08.

If this turns out to be true – and it certainly seems so, we’re not that far away from the premiere of the Note’s successor. The rumors also state, that the phone(let) is going to come in two versions – with a quad-core Exynos processor for Europe and with a dual-core Snapdragon and LTE capabilities for the US. Of course, the device is also going to come with a stylus for the best possible touch-input and an 8MP or 13MP camera. It’s expected to start selling in September. B. A.

The Pantech Vega S5

Pantech Vega S5

Korean smartphone users have something very interesting to look forward to in the coming weeks – a smartphone, which not only has a 5″ IPS display with an HD (720p) resolution, but is also smaller than the Samsung Galaxy SIII (which “only” features a 4.8″ display). We’re talking about the Pantech Vega S5, which has achieved this staggering screen size to body size ratio by having a very thin frame around said screen.

Pantech Vega S5

This, however, is not the only impressive thing about the Vega S5 – the smartphone also has a powerful and energy efficient chip – Snapdragon S4, to be exact, a 13MP camera and even LTE capabilities. The whole body of the device is also quite compact - 69,8 x 134,8 x 9mm with an overall weight of just less than 140g. The Vega S5 is going to ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, though, very sadly, it’s highly unlikely to ever be released out of Korea. B. A.

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Rumors about the HTC One XXL

HTC One XXL

A lot of people have a hard time understanding the tendency to put more and more cores into the mobile processors, but after all this is one of the easiest ways for smartphone manufacturers to make their products more desirable, so they’re probably going to keep on doing it. This is also proven by the rumors about HTC’s next high-end smartphone – the One XXL, which is said to use a quad-core processor from Qualcomm – the most powerful S4 up to date, which is going to go with an Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB of RAM turning the device into a real powerhouse. Some of its other specifications include a 4.7″ display with a 720p resolution, LTE capabilities and two cameras (8.1MP on the back and 1.8MP on the front). Overall the device can be thought of as a (very powerful) successor of the One XL. B. A.

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LG Optimus LTE2 comes with 2GB of RAM

LG just announced its new smartphone -  the Optimus LTE2, which will debut this month, but first will be available only in South Korean. The device is of the highest class and is the first smartphone ever that comes with 2GB of RAM, which ensures that there will be no lags even with a very heavy usage and multitasking.

LG has not revealed the full specifications of Optimus LTE2 yet, but we know that there is a True HD display, a powerful battery with capacity of 2150 mAh, LTE support and the ability to wirelessly recharge the phone (just like the Samsung Galaxy S III). We don’t know anything about what CPU will be used in LTE2, but the existence of LTE suggests that it may be powered by NVIDIA Tegra 3 or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 chips.

Australia wants Apple to change the name of the new iPad 4G

After having to give back the money of the Australian customers, who felt mislead by the 4G capabilities of the new iPad, which aren’t compatible with their local networks, Apple are facing yet more legal problems in the country. A local commission, responsible for the user rights, has demanded, that the American company changes the name of their device. The current one – iPad 3 WiFi+4G, is quite inaccurate in this case, because while the tablet does feature an LTE chip, it doesn’t work with the local networks (and in most other countries outside the US, actually) because of incompatibility with the network frequencies. Apple however have refused to comply, which means that the issue is going to have to be settled in court. The good news is, that the commission is ready to sue the American giant in order to protect users’ rights. B.A.

Microsoft testing Windows Phone 8 with dual-core processors

We are still waiting for Microsoft to release the official Windows Phone Tango update, which must happen in the coming weeks, but the company also continues to work on a later versions of the platform. So far, there is no any official information about the upcoming Windows Phone 8, but some details of its existence continue to appears on the Internet.

WPCentral confirmed that the testing of Windows Phone 8 is started at Microsoft in late March. The Finnish site Italehti.fi also wrote that Windows Phone 8 will debut in October and given the fact that Nokia World will be held during the last days of September, then the probability of the Finnish company to present its phones with the new platform is very high.

In fact, by the stronger partnership with Microsoft, we would not be surprised if Nokia is the first company to present the new mobile OS. Windows Phone 8 will be the first major renovation of the Microsoft’s mobile platform from its debut in 2010 and will bring different technologies from Windows 8 – the support of multi-core processors, operating at higher screen resolutions, LTE and NFC capabilities and some other cool stuff.

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According to the analyzers, the next iPhone will have a unibody design

According to the analyzers from Topeka Capital Markets, it’s very likely that the next generation of the iPhone (iPhone 5) has a unibody design, just like another one of Apple’s products – the MacBook series. The agency is basing their forecast on information, which they received from the Chinese and Taiwanese companies, which are responsible for the manufacturing of the device’s components.

The same sources have also said, that production of the components is going to start this June, which points to a debut in the Summer and a market release in the Fall – just like the rumors have claimed so far. Topeka Capital Markets are also expecting the new iPhone 5 to have a larger screen than its predecessors (perhaps a 4″ one) and, of course, LTE 4G capabilities. The companies, manufacturing the components for Apple’s devices have also said once again, that Apple are working on a smaller (7.85″ to be exact) tablet. We still haven’t received any information on when to expect such a device to hit the market. B. A.

NVIDIA Tegra 4 to be released by year’s end

The Chinese website VR-Zone has recently received information about the next generation of NVIDIA mobile processors – the Tegra 4. According to their source, the company is going to release a few different modifications of the SoC by the end of the year. Some of them are expected to feature LTE capabilities and A9 cores, while others – high-performance A15 ones; both types of processors are expected to hit the market in the first half of next year with a clock-rate of 1.2 to 2 gHz. They’re also going to be using NVIDIA’s so-called 4-PLUS-1 architecture, meaning they will have 4 main cores for the more demanding tasks and a 5th companion one, which is going to take care of the lighter ones.

It actually makes a lot of sense for NVIDIA to release the Tegra 4 by the end of the year – they are known to have updated their mobile processors family on a yearly basis in the past, so it’s only logical for them to do the same again. Still, we’re expecting to receive more information at the Computex 2012, which is going to be held in the beginning of June. B. A.