Samsung Galaxy S3 Android 4.1.2 OTA update now rolling out in India

Samsung has finally started rolling out the Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) update in India. The Samsung Galaxy S3 was launched in India in May last year running Android 4.0 ICS, and it got the Android 4.1.1 (Jelly Bean) update in November last year. Samsung detailed premium suite features in the Android 4.1.2 update for the Galaxy S3 last month.

End of an era, Nokia 808 PureView to be the last Symbian phone

Two years later, the burning platform is officially no more. As part of its Q4 financial results, the Finnish smartphone manufacturer announced that the  Nokia 808 PureView is the last Symbian phone. Nokia managed to sell close to 2.2 million Symbian phones presumably spurred by demand for the camera powerhouse that is the 808.

“The Nokia 808 PureView, a device which showcases our imaging capabilities and which came to market in mid-2012, was the last Symbian device from Nokia.”

Stated in the financial report, Nokia makes it clear that the company will no longer be developing any phones based on the archaic operating system. Sales have been dropping steadily for Nokia’s S60 based phones making the company go through a tough transitioning period to the equally unstable Windows Phone platform. While the company has managed to sell 4.4 million Lumia smartphones in Q4 2012, Windows Phone market share remains alarmingly low. It is a bit sad to witness the demise of what was one of the first smartphone operating systems but seeing that it just couldn’t compete with modern day competitors, the 808 seems like a fitting end. So long Symbian !

Nokia Lumia PureView Windows Phone with 41MP camera rumored to debut at MWC 2013

When the first PureView device, the Nokia 808 PureView was announced it was rumored that the first Windows Phone running device with similar tech inside it won’t be announced anytime soon. Fast forward to 2013 and we have the first rumors of Nokia EOS which is said to be the codename for a Lumia device equipped with a sensor similar to the Nokia 808.

The Verge reports that the handset codenamed EOS will be pitched as a high end Lumia handset and will be built using Aluminum instead of the polycarbonate found on the latest range of Windows Phone devices. The 41 MP sensor on the smartphone will enable oversampling and lossless zoom as seen on the 808. This is to be quite different from the PureView implementation seen on the Lumia 920 which features OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) for jerk free video recording. The inbuilt OIS also enables improved low light photographs. There have been some rumors that suggest that PureView phase 3 technology might be a combination of the oversampling and optical image stabilization but this remains to be seen. The handset might be showcased during MWC next month alongside a Lumia 920 replacement called the Catwalk which will also feature an aluminum body.

[Via - Verge]

BlackBerry World Conference renamed as BlackBerry Live

RIM has announced that the BlackBerry World conference would be renamed as BlackBerry Live from this year. At the BlackBerry Jam Asia last November, RIM announced that the BlackBerry App World application marketplace would be rebranded to the BlackBerry World, which had seen the transitionstarting from yesterday with Videos and Music expected soon.

The BlackBerry 10 devices would be unveiled on January 30th at various event simultaneously in multiple countries worldwide. The BlackBerry Live annual conference is scheduled for 14th to 16th May 2013 in Orlando, Florida.

At the BlackBerry Live conference, RIM would show off BlackBerry 10 platform demonstrations, insights about the technology for developers and tell more about the future of  BlackBerry. Registrations for the conference will open soon.

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Sony Xperia S 4.1.2 JB update release breathes new life

The Sony Xperia S is nearly one year old and has been running on the Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS, some have even complained that this OS is buggy and it is in dire need of a new update. Well, good news comes to those that can wait patiently because around April time the long-awaited Android 4.1.2 JB update you have longed for will be released.
Sony is trying to score some brownie points with its customers, and one way of doing that is to give Sony Xperia S users the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean firmware update that will be released in April or possibly before.

Print your own Lumia 820 backplate!

I like Nokia. At the moment they seem to be doing a lot to make the mobile experience with them quite special.

From making some of the best Windows Phone Devices around and cramming them with every feature they could think, to being one the best providers of Apps for Windows Phone (the Nokia Collection is full of good free apps), they're now providing us with the means to create out own phone shells.

Samsung to offer free flip cover, 2GB data and more with Galaxy Grand

Samsung launched the Galaxy Grand (GT-I9082) in India today at Rs. 21,500 (MRP). At the launch event, Samsung announced that the Grand would come with Premium Flip Cover in the box and 2GB free data per month for Vodafone customers, valid for 2 months from the date of activation as an introductory offer. Consumers who purchase the phone can also download Music and Stream Movies through ‘My Series’ which has range of  services including myMovies, myMusic , myMobileTV , myStation, myReader and myEducation.

The Samsung  Galaxy Grand packs a 5-inch (800 x 480 Pixels) capacitive touch screen display, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It also has dual SIM support with Dual SIM always on feature that automatically forwards calls from the phone number on SIM 2, even if a user is on the phone with SIM 1’s number. It has NFC and comes with a 2100 mAh battery.

HTC Butterfly Price, Release for Russia & India

The HTC Butterfly has already hit Australia and now we have learned it is hitting the likes of Russia and India, the 5-inch beauty will keep many customers in these countries very happy indeed. The pricing might just be a little too high for some in Russia at €692 (RUR27, 990) and in India it is expected to be around INR 44,000.
Some say that smartphones in Russia always seem to have a high price tag, but even though we have given the pricing details above we suspect that it will be a little cheaper when it makes it way to Western Europe.

This Android smartphone was first released in Japan and was called the HTC Butterfly J; it was then released in Taiwan, China as well as Australia and then launched in the US under the name of Droid DNA. This is a great 5-inch Android phone with features such as 8MP rear camera and a 2.1MP on the front, as well as Beats Audio.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Jelly Bean KLVMA3 OTA Firmware

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is an awesome smartphone with so many capabilities, that acts as both phone and tablet. There are many users of this handset that are unable to install Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, but thanks to the new KLVMA3 Firmware you might just be in luck.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 can now have Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean thanks to a new KLVMA3 firmware install, but is only available for the Korea branded SHV-E250L, we must stress that we are will not be held responsible if you decide to try this method even though it has been said to work well. This latest firmware will bring many new features to your Galaxy Note 2 and can be installed via Kies or OTA, features such as the Swype like keyboard and customizable notification shade are within.

Pre-order Wireless Charger for Nexus 4 & Lumia 920

A growing feature of some modern smartphones recently has been the option to recharge the device wirelessly, and simply placing the device onto a charging unit for the handset to get charged up again. This does away with all those messy wires and countless chargers we may have cluttering our draws. Those of you that are lucky enough to own either the Nexus 4 or Nokia Lumia 920 you can now pre-order a wireless charger for the handsets.

There is a good chance that we will see more smartphones released this year that will offer the option of wireless charging, and this will inevitability lead to more third party manufacturers providing us with their own take on the wireless charging solution.

Rumor: Galaxy Note III gets a bigger display, Exynos 5 Octa

With CES just over and MWC just a few weeks away, the no. of rumors coming out has no limits, another rumor from Samsung’s camp states that the Galaxy Note III gets a 6.3″ display which is practically a tablet and sports the recently announced Exynos 5 Octa SoC.

Now, we know that the  the Galaxy Note III is nowhere near launch as Samsung wouldn’t like to mess up their sales with the Galaxy S4 launching in the spring, but Korea Times has leaked out certain details about the Galaxy Note II’s successor. Now 5.5″ inch “Phone” is mildly acceptable but if you go 6″ then you are clearly outdoing it, personally I wouldn’t bring that thing anywhere near my ears. But again Samsung is known for doing crazy things, they are the pioneers of the “Phablet” concept and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this device.

Temple Run 2 released but not for Android yet

When the first Temple Run was released it was huge by popular demand, and now there is a new one called Temple Run 2 and yet again it has been released for iOS users but not for Android. This is the sequel game to the smash hit that had over 170 million downloads, and thanks to this new refined one we can see even more installs onto iOS devices.

Temple Run 2 comes with many more goodies, which will be getting gamers on the path of jumping, turning, sliding and plenty of running. This new game allows users to navigate zip lines, forests, hazardous cliffs and mines so that the runner can escape the cursed idol.

Exynos 5 Octa by Samsung reportedly features PowerVR SGX 544MP3

Samsung announced this CES the Exynos 5 Octa which has 4 ARM Cortex A15 cores and 4 ARM Cortex A7 cores for power management with whats called as Big little configuration. Now Samsung is known to boast their GPUs, but during their Octa announcement, they did not talk about the GPU they were using and Anandtech is now reporting that Samsung is using the PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU at 533 MHz.

Now we should note that Samsung has not used PowerVR GPUs in their top end SoCs after the first Samsung Galaxy S. All the other top chipsets had ARM’s Mali. In fact the dual core version of Exynos 5 also ran on ARM Mali-T604 GPU. AnandTech reports that the graphic performance of the Exynos 5 Octa will be somewhere in between the Apple’s A5X and A6X with DirectX like texturing hardware.

This means that the devices which will run on Octa will not have better graphic output than the latest iPad 4. The iPad 4 uses the A6X chipset which has the PowerVR SGX 554MP4 GPU which is better than the PowerVR 544MP3 used in the Exynos 5 Octa. The usage of this GPU tather than the same one used in dual core version beats me, but we will wait for Samsung to confirm and give us more light on the GPU they are using for this chipset.

Source: AnandTech

Google releases Chrome Beta channel for Android

Google has released Chrome Beta channel for Android phones and Tablets. This would let Android users try out upcoming features and also provide feedback. The beta channel also adds new features including faster Octane performance, CSS Filters for developers and more. Google launched Chrome for Android last February.

New features in Chrome Beta for Android

• Improved the Octane performance benchmark by 25-30% with the new V8 version 3.15
• CSS Filters for developers to add visual effects like grayscale, blur, and contrast adjustment to the mobile web
• New Flexible Box Layout Module simplifies the styling of complex layouts
• Improved Text Autosizing that is consistent with other browsers.
• Updated stack of Developer Tools

Download Chrome Beta for Android (4.0 and later) from the Google Play Store. Since this is a separate app, you can install the Beta alongside the current version of Chrome for Android.

LG Windows Phone 8 line-up includes 5.5-inch HD

Smartphone manufacturer LG has been busy in the last few months getting ready a number of flagship devices that run on the Android operating system. It seems though the company is looking to strengthen its smartphone range with reports suggesting LG is going to offer some Windows Phone 8 handsets, and the line-up is thought to include a 5.5-inch HD handset.

At the moment the biggest players on the Windows Phone 8 platform are the likes of Nokia, HTC, and Huawei, but LG Electronics are now reportedly going to offer handsets on the platform at some point this year. The company is looking to sell around 75 million devices during 2013, which is up from the 55 million it achieved last year.

Nokia Lumia 920 launched in India for Rs. 38199

Nokia has finally launched the Lumia 920 in India after a long delay. It was announcedback in September, and comes with a  4.5-inch (1280 × 768 pixels) Pure Motion HD+ IPS display, 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and runs on the latest Windows Phone 8 OS.

It comes with an 8.7 MP auto focus camera with PureView camera technology, LED Flash, Optical imaging stabilization (OIS) and Full HD 1080p video recording. It also has a 1.2MP 720p HD front-facing camera for video calling. The back plate has Wireless charging capabilities based on the popular Qi wireless standard. The connectivity features include, 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.1, GPS / aGPS, NFC. It has 1GB RAM, 32GB internal memory and comes with a 2,000mAh battery.

Nokia Lumia 820 launched in India for Rs. 27559

Nokia has also launched the Lumia 820 along with the Lumia 920 in India. It was announced back in September and comes with a 4.3-inch (800 x 480 pixels) OLED  ClearBlack display, 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and runs on the latest Windows Phone 8 OS.

It has a 8MP Auto Focus camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Dual LED flash at the back that can record videos at Full HD 1080p resolution at 30fps and a VGA front-facing camera.

The connectivity features include 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.1, GPS / aGPS and NFC. It has 1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, expandable memory with microSD card and a 1650 mAh battery. The phone has support for Qi wireless charging through separate exchangeable shells.

The Nokia Lumia 820 is priced at Rs. 27,559 in India and comes in red, yellow, cyan, white and black colors. It would be available from select retail stores in key cities across India starting from tomorrow, January 11th 2013. It would come with 2GB of free 3G data from Vodafone for 3 months.

Samsung Galaxy S2 Plus with 4.3-inch display, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, Android 4.1 announced

Samsung has announced the Galaxy S2 Plus. It has a 4.3-inch (800 x 480 Pixels) Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touch screen display and is powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor. It runs on Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean). It  has a 8MP auto focus camera with LED flash, zero-lag shutter and a 2MP HD front-facing camera. It also comes with Samsung’s unique features such as S Voice,  Popup Video, Smart Stay, Direct Call, Smart Alert and AllShare Play. It would also come with optional NFC support.

Panasonic’s wearable camcorder announced at CES

Ever wanted to take point of view shots, but like all the time, with a very small camera on you? Yes, Google glass can do that, but if you don’t want to wait till then, you can get what Panasonic just announced at CES. Yes, Panasonic just announced a wearable camcorder, the HX-A100 that can record full HD 1080/60p video from your helmet our even point of view shots with a ear hook.

The HX-A100 is dustproof, waterproof and various mounting options. Panasonic claims it is very light weight too. Here are some highlights of this wearable camcorder -

• Stream from the camcorder using WiFi, directly to Ustream in full HD
• Smartphone can act as live view and remote control
• f2.5 lens with Image stabiliser and a 1/4.1″ BSI sensor for better low light performance
• LSI for automatic tilt correction
• 240 fps slow motion recording at 640×360
• Wind noise reduction
• 140 minutes battery life in a single charge

Pretty impressive for a wearable camera. With the likes of GoPro and other extremely portable cameras, the Panasonic HX-A100 proves it can do more, and yes, more portable. Portable enough to wear it on your ear.

Panasonic have not shared the availability and pricing details yet. We’ll keep you updated if we find anything about it.

Panasonic reveals the world’s first 4K Windows 8 tablet

Right after announcing a slew of TVs, cameras, camcorders and what not, Panasonic just went ahead and released the world’s first 20 inch Windows 8 tablet with a 4K display. The tablet, which looks like a huge photo frame has support for stylus based computing. We have no details regarding the tablet but looking at the screen from the live blog shots, it seems to be awesome. They also dropped a line that this is more of a business centric tablet and we are not even sure if it will touch base with the consumer market.

With that said, the first 4k tablet is here, and it runs Windows 8. It is also supposed to have super sensitive touch, on the lines of the crazy 1ms response time for styluses. Add to that realtime cloud collaboration, which makes it clearly a product for business. We are still shocked at the prospect of a 20 inch 4K display. The pixel density on that one is going to be crazy, and move over Retina displays and so called high PPI screens, the boss is here.

We have got more details, this 4K tablet is powered by a Core i5 processor, has inputs for USB, micro SD and HDMI. There is also a front camera it seems. And that’s about it for the details, with an extra information that it will probably last for around 2 hours without a power chord stuck on it.

We have no more details, but this huge thing is on the Panasonic booth, so wait till we sleuth for more specific details and some hands on images. Stay tuned!

Image via Engadget Live Blog