A new breed of smartphones has emerged at the ICES (International Consumer Electronics Show) recently. In this giant gadget manufacturer meet that was portrayed as an amazing event as per the live reports from the event, a race of smartphones made a mark. This was an event where a lot of gadgets were on display, produced by different manufacturers all round the globe. The gadgets that were put on display in the event ranged everything from the head mounted headphones to a variety of amazing phones and computers.

But the same event also carried some bad and frustrating news for the customers of Sprint and AT&T who established a cutting edge for 4G smartphones in the previous year. So, the real problem vests with the fact that this phone will soon be outdated. When it came to tapping into the all new and faster fourth generation networks, Sprint Nextel and AT&T Mobility were the first two companies to have unveiled some of the first league of smartphones.

This new class of smartphones that emerged at the ICES may be an attempt to stand against its potential contemporaries. Over the time, launching 4G network from Sprint is continuously being talked about. And the talks had been doing rounds since the successful launch of the previous one, way back in 2008. This followed the launch of its premier phone, HTC’s Evo 4G in the preceding year. In the meanwhile, it was AT&T that begun adding the short, impressive yet a powerful word “4G” to almost all its smartphones names recently.

But the progress does not take a backseat here! AT&T and Sprint, two of the largest U.S. cellular carriers are actually working hard to get another 4G system on the front. LTE (Long Term Evolution) will be an additional thing to the two mobile carrier giants. This was made available so that it can compete with the wireless version of Verizon that was launched almost a year back.

If T-Mobile USA is to be believed then it has 4G that stands quite similar to the old 4G service of AT&T but the talks about the plans for the 4G LTE deployment is still pending. It’s unclear how AT&T and Sprint will be able to explain to their customers more on the investments they have made in order to have one of the most talked about technology. This seems unclear also because both AT&T and Sprint have earlier exhausted the usage of 4G in marketing.

Last year, it was at the CES where Verizon hosted two high profile news conferences and also went into operating huge sales promotion booth so that the official launch of its 4G network receives promotion too. On the contrary, things this year appeared different since it was visible how the company managed to keep a low profile at the most talked about event.

AT&T announced eight of the new LTE products at CES that included the smartphones and tablets. Now the first LTE based windows phone better known as Lumia 900 is expected to arrive in March. Before the announcement of the break-up of T-mobile, the first ever 4G LTE phones for AT&T already hit the stores in November, last year.

Sprint at the CES announced three new and amazing gadgets that included Samsung phones, a portable wireless hotspot and Galaxy Nexus that is a product of Samsung & Google partnership. It’s expected that Sprint’s new 4G LTE network will surpass its older versions with the elimination of slower 4G network too.

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This is a guest post by Emily Steves, who is associated with various internet security related companies as their freelance and staff writer. She has been linked with some of the best web media companies and offers various ways for internet solutions. She excels in writing articles related to internet security, internet plans, best broadband, comcast deals, etc. 

At the “Let’s Talk iPhone” event in Cupertino, Apple officially introduces its iPhone 4S, an upgrade to the iPhone 4 with the “S” mark stands for Speed (Or Super Man, your call). The 4S will run on HSDPA network (dual CDMA / GSM) and will launch on October 14 in the US (Canada, Australia, UK, France, Germany, and Japan), priced at $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB and $399 for 64GB, while orders start October 7th.

The new iPhone 4S will sport a rear eight-megapixel camera  (capable of 3264-by-2448 pixel resolution) with a backlit sensor, a DSLR lens mount, and last but not least: 1080p HD recording. Besides that, it boasts 1GB RAM (vs. the 512mb on the iphone 4), a powerful dual-core A5 processor, a 7x times faster graphics integration and finally, and maybe a little disappointing, the same concept/design of the good ‘ol iphone 4.

What else inside, you’re asking? Well, it has that same stunning 3.5-inch Retina display up front, paired with the nice and fragile glass cover on the back, a built-in Wifi connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0 +A2DP, a battery that delivers impressive 8 hours of 3G talk time, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of video playback and up to 40 hours in music mode.

Software wise, the iPhone 4S will run Apple’s latest and greatest iOS 5 platform which will be released, free of charge, on October 12th, along with other cool features such as AirPlay mirroring, Notifications center, Reminders, the iMessages, a Newsstand app, and the big daddy of them all - iCloude support. The 4S is also the first iDevice to run Siri, your personal intelligent voice assistant that lets you ask any question about weather forecast, directions, technological issues, restaurants recommendations and more – Compatible with English French and German languages in the Beta stage – Or set up calender meetings, voice-to-text messages, alarms, different kind of web searches/activities and many other options on board.

Apple also plans an 8 GB iPhone 4 that will be launched at the same day for $49.99(!), replacing the iPhone 3GS that will be offered for nothing but $0 at the entry level point.

Make sure you checkout the Official iPhone 4S/Siri introduction videos after the break, along with the full PR announcement and a comparison table between the new 4S device and its twin brother – iphone 4.

Update1: Whether it’s the Steve Jobs effect or the iphone 4S attraction, one thing’s for sure – the iphone 4S mobile device is already a hit. According to the latest news, the Cupertino giant has already received over 200,000 AT&T pre-orders in the first 12 hours of online availability (since October 7), which means the entire first iphone 4s U.S online stock is GONE and it would probably take one or two weeks of shipping for those who aim for a second round of orders. That’s crazy! To say the least.

Update2: And to be even more precised, Apple has just issued a new press release announcing even more staggering numbers – Over one million pre-orders for the iPhone 4S in 24 hours. Wow. Almost twice the previous single-day iphone 4 selling record of 600,000.  Full PR after the break.

[Apple]

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Word on the streets is that Apple plans to announce a new iPhone machine, its fourth generation, somewhere around April of this year. A quick look at previous models, compared to what we think a good, viable and essential smartphones should look these days, made us realize there’s A LOT to be accomplished. Checkout the list we’ve made and feel free to add yours:

This is NOT the new iPhone. Please click this link and read all about the new iPhone 4.

1) A 5 megapixel camera (At least) – I mean seriously, 3.2mp camera isn’t enough these days when most mobile devices pack 5mp and even stronger.

2) A better auto-focus camera with a better optical zoom – People hate carrying around so many gadgets in their pockets, so a better camera that can deliver better focus would definitely save most of us the hassle of taking a digital camera with us.

3) Front facing camera (for video chat/skype) – Every simple phone has it, so why not? From one hand, I can hear the mobile companies getting intimidated from the fact that users will actually have live video chats in their phones, something which would probably make them speak less than before, but on the other one, we’d tell them: don’t fight with it, deal with it! (And same goes for the Google voice app).

4) Xenon flash – And closing the camera session, a good flash system would completely make a differece, don’t you think so? Bring the light!

5) Record video in HD 720p – The world is changing, and so does video quality. HD videos are part of our lives now, so a 720p video recording feature, integrated in phones, should be too (period!).

6) Hide app icons – Different people use different apps, and customized platforms are getting very popular these days, so having the ability to make apps like youtube, calender, calculator or others disappear, can definitely be a useful add-on.

7) Revamped design – Some would argue about this one, as the iPhone is hands-down one of the most good looking devices we’ve seen in years, but still there’s a plenty of room for a change, like maybe a bigger display (4-inch anyone?), or a squarish frame – less rounded on the edges.

8 ) Multitasking – Multitasking, multitasking, multitasking. Said enough. everyone’s been yelling this for years and yet nothing. C’mon Apple, we need this one ASAP! In an online environment where most users do several tasks concurrently, it’s crucial to allow apps (IM, music, photos, etc) to run in the background.

9) Silverlight support – Yeah, yeah…we all have our pride here, but lets make things a bit different. The more plugins our phone supports the better it would be – is there anybody listening?

10) Flash support – Same as Silverlight. Enough with the kindergarten games. Both Apple and Adobe should finally seat together and work things out. At the end of the day, it’s about us, the users and how we surf the internet nowadays, and lets face it Cupertino, flash is needed, whether you want it or not.

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Are you eager to replace your old crappy mobile device with a brand new multi-touch compatible smartphone? If you do, and already considered buying either Apple’s iPhone 3GS or Google’s Nexus one, then get this – according to a 3D frame rate video test initiated by the guys at Distinctive Developments, it appears that Cupertino’s iPhone device achieved better results than Mountain View’s latest mobile hit. The test, which included a series of finger pinching gestures, has indicated that iPhone 3GS received an average of 30 frame rates per second, while Nexus one has managed to get only 20-21 rates for that same video segment. The reason for that gap between the two is due to the lack of use of Neon floating-point optimization in the Nexus One. You can see it for yourself right after the break, in hope that someone in Google would take things into consideration and make the essential changes.

Update: It was brought to our attention that Nexus One supports a 800 x 480 screen resolution which is bigger than iPhone’s 480×320. However, in their test DD guys actually changed the Nexus One viewport size to match the iPhone’s 480×320, and by doing that they received a frame-rate improvement from 30fps to 40fps. Still, with 8 characters on screen there was no difference; with the frame-rate remaining the same at 21fps.

[via phonesreview]

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[tweetmeme]

The mystery behind Nexus One’s multitouch disparity between Europe and the US is finally about to end, as Google reports in its blog, suggesting imminent roll out of a software update, specifically tailored for the Nexus One and which apparently boasts some major add-ons inside, amongst you’ll find Google Goggle app that lets you take pictures through the integrated webcam and then generate search results about them, improved version of Google Maps with a special night mode and useful suggestions, general fix of 3G connectivity and last but probably the most important one, multitouch support, that would likely offer “a new pinch-to-zoom mechanism in the phone’s Browser, Gallery and Maps applications”. In case you were wondering about the timing of this update, here’s Google official statement, given to ReadWriteWeb:

Looking around the mobile industry, from Apple to Palm to HTC and Motorola – it’s clear that pinch-to-zoom technology has become a standard and popular way for users to interact with their mobile phones. Likewise, Android users can now truly benefit from this capability with the availability of Android 2.1, which powers a new class of devices with larger touchscreens and more interactive features. Unlike past devices, these phones have the processing power to deliver pinch-to-zoom, while still providing a great user experience. Based on these new capabilities and numerous requests from Android users, we decided to provide pinch-to-zoom capabilities with this new over-the-air software update for Nexus One devices.

Update: We’ve added a video that shows Nexus One new features in action, check it out after the break.

[Google]

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Nothing much to share at this point, but Dell has revealed a new slate/tablet device at its keynote speech at CES in Vegas. Designed like a business smartphone, and some would say it is one considering the SIM slot it boasts, the new Reddish device  includes an Android platform preloaded inside, and a 5-inch touchscreen on top. There’s also an integrated 5MP camera at the back and three clickable buttons on the right – Home, Back and (maybe) apps. Furthermore, up the hill, it houses three additional buttons which looks like ON/OFF, camera and volume support. We’ve also spotted a built-in mic and Bluetooth, but that’s all we have for now.

Update1: engadget guys were lucky to sit around the table with Dell’s representative who was kind enough to give a quick tour and show them Dell’s new mysterious slate in a snap. From first impression we’re guessing it’s an Android 1.6 platform that runs inside, but quiet positive there’s a nice numpad add-on included in the keyboard and a tiny face camera right on front. We’re not sure whether it’d be called Mini 5 or codename Streak, but color us impressed from the way it performed. Vid and thumbs, after the break.

Update2: Turns out it’s a 5-inch mid, boasting 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen,along integrated WiFi and 3G WWAN connectivity. It runs Android 2.0 (Eclair) instead of that 1.6 flavor and seems to endure a dual-LED flash 5mp camera behind and a 1,300mAh battery within. We’ve added another video after the break, courtesy of Slashgear and some Vietnamese chaps.

Update3: The Tinhte team has taken Dell’s Android-based Mini 5 slate/mid to a teardown session, and guess what they’ve found under the hood – a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, two microSD slots, integrated SIM card with 3G radio and a 1,530mAh battery, stronger than expected. Dissecting video after the break.

Update4: TechCrunch guys have managed to catch up with Michael Dell himself somewhere outside Davos conference halls, and look what he got, a “Mini 5″ slate, in his words, which suppose to go live “in “a couple of months” with an Android based platform, 3G connectivity, 5MP camera and other good stuff. Dell refused to disclose any details about price or chipset.Checkout the third video after the break.

Update5: Dell says its latest Mini 5 will not run an Android 1.6 platform, but “something newer”, which we can’t confirm yet. In any case, it’s going to be refreshing and upgradable.

Update6: Apparently, the Mini 5 has a docking station which suppose to include HDMI output and a USB port. Check it out in T3 Greek Edition’s video after the break.

Update7: Looks like there’s plenty of stuff ahead. According to Neeraj Choubey, Dell’s tablet division GM, the Mini 5 is part of “a family of tablets” that will “scale up to a variety of sizes.” Some, are claimed to include “inexpensive data plans” in the bundle, some just Android powered.

Update8: Apart from the 5-inch 800 x 480 WVGA touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, and the 30-pin docking connector, it seems that Dell will offer the Mini 5 (or Streak, depends who you ask) in wide range of premium colors. Hit the break to see your options.

Update9: Michael Dell says his 5-inch Streak “…will be available starting next month, first with our partner 02 Telefonica in Europe, then later this summer with our pretty good partner here in the United States, AT&T.” You hear that. Next month!

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So Google has finally launched the most anticipated Nexus One, and if you happen to live in one of the following 4 countries – the US, UK, Singapore or Hong Kong – you can get it right away from Google’s website, priced at $529.99 without a contract or merely $179 including a T-Mobile two year plan (in the US). Other people will have to wait at least until Spring 2010, when it believes that Google will be adding more countries to its smartphone lineup. The phone itself is an HTC brand, coming with a 3.7-inch 800×480 AMOLED display, which regretfully doesn’t support multi-touch at the moment, although Google says it’s not an hardware issue but a software tweak and it’d consider adding screen gestures capabilities in the future. Besides that, you get a fast 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor,paired with a 5 megapixels camera including an integrated LED flash that can shoot MPEG-4 video and have it uploaded directly to Youtube. Additionally, this 11.5mm thick device has a built-in compass, GPS, WiFi, A2DP stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, a multicolored LED under the trackball, an accelerometer for landscape view and two mics, positioned on front, for complete noise cancellation. It runs all common frequencies and compatible with HSDPA 7.2Mbps, UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900), HSUPA 2Mbps and of course, GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz). The 1400mAH battery inside is claimed to provide 5 hours of 3G browsing and 7 hours of 3G talk time, while storage wise, you receive only 512MB of internal flash along with a 4GB micro SD card, expandable up to 32GB. See the full specs here.

Moving forward with the details, the Nexus One packs Google’s “latest greatest” Android 2.1 platform – also known as Eclair – which crams some nifty stuff inside, like the voice recognition feature that works throughout the entire UI and activates almost any feature in the phone. That way, you can use your voice to write SMS messages and notes (speech-to-text), or tell the Google Earth search engine where should it go. Other than that, Google has implemented a Cooliris technology into the Nexus One gallery app, so you get 3D visualization whenever looking at images in landscape mode. It has a lot of widgets to offer, such as weather and news RSS, and the smartphone’s homescreen customization is interactive and houses 5 panels to store your apps and shortcuts. Stay tuned. Video is right after the break.

Update1: And looks like Adobe is now jumping on Google’s bandwagon by demoing its Flash 10.1 beta on a Nexus One superphone. Check it out after the break.

Update2: Well, what do you know, the European version of Nexus One, apparently supports multitouch capabilities out-of-the-box, while US devices don’t. We’re not so sure why, but as someone suggested, the trigger for the abyssal differences might be the fact that Apple has a US Patent on multitouch which doesn’t apply on European countries. Maybe. Google says it’s carefully reviewing this issue at the moment.

Update3: Different from what has been reported, Google’s Nexus One seems to be incompatible with “n” draft wireless connectivityand official specs state it supports only 802.11b/g WiFi frequencies. We’ll have more about this soon.

Update4: You knew it had to happen sooner or later, did you? No? then get this – iFixit guys have taken Google’s Nexus One on a mission and disassembled it into small pieces of technology craft. See the results here and after the break.

Update5: We’ve added two more stunning videos right after the break, in which you can watch Nexus One’s manufacturing process with stress tests such as bending, slamming, dropping, and cracking, all over the place. A must see creation!

Update6: Turns out Google now has live person phone support in case your Nexus One has problems that need to be solved. It’s 888-48NEXUS (63987) and said to work from 07:00am to 10:00pm PST. Right now the line will handle only status and shipping issues while tech problems can find answer via Google’s support forums, FAQs pages, email support and HTC/ T-Mobile customer care departments.

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So, Google has finally rolled out its highly expected Chrome OS, which was demoed live across the net by Mountain View’s engineers few hours ago, and practically suppose to go out somewhere towards next year’s holiday season. Regretfully, the system won’t be free and it seems you’ll have to buy it pre-installed on portable devices approved by Google, either it’s a netbook, tablet PCs, smartphones, MIDs, etc. The Chrome OS is said to include third-party applications, but won’t support, at this point, any Android materials. The system itself is based on Linux and the Chrome browser, both packed together to run on a web-based platform that will operate any outside content, coming from USB drives or other different sources. Basically, it’s a cloud system but that should not set you apart from it, unless you guys really afraid of taking new tech “adventures” and start new liabilities. Nevertheless, the operating system will run everything that was originally placed in the application panel – and we’re talking about features like Gmail, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Hulu, Google Talk and many more. Google Docs was also included in Google’s OS compatibility list, while drivers from other companies, such as Flash and Silverlight suppose to work as well (although Google wasn’t very clear about it and has chosen to say this: “We are working hard to integrate plugins closely”).

Hardware wise, details are scarce at the moment, and Google will not share those nitty gritty things until next year, but looking at the overall picture, Chrome OS will probably run in compatibility with both x86 and ARM processors, while regular hard-drives support seems to be excluded  – which means you’ll have to use SSDs instead. In general, booting time is set to load up in 7 seconds only, and login process will take 3 seconds more. That, in our opinion, should do best with any standard netbook available in the market, now and in the future (with SSD drives), and just in case you were wondering, Google itself was using an Eee PC machine to run the demo for the first time.

Update1: We’ve tossed some videos after the break, that will walk you through Google’s new system.

Update2: Looks like Google’s Chrome OS is now available free, in case you’re using a VMWare software on your desktop machine. The good part is that you don’t need to actually make it your primary bootable system at all, and by running any VirtualBox software, you can set any of your system folders to be used as a Chrome OS unit. If you think you’re qualified for using this pre Beta platform, you can download the image either from this torrent (we have no clue about this source background) or the build the guys at GDGT recently uploaded. TechCrunch team was all over it in passing hours as well, so you can read their step-by-step instructions in here, if you don’t feel safe to do it on your own.

Update3: Dell Mini 10V owners can now install the Chrome OS as their primary operating system, thanks to a Dell employee who’s managed to hack the USB-bootable edition via WiFi and make it available on Dell’s popular mini laptop, despite fussy restrictions from Mountain View’s direction. Truth is it’s not the perfect OS and in fact, many things are yet to be solved, but for early adopters who are willing to give it a try – it should probably be a great experience that’s worth a shot. Source code and explanations are now available on Direct2Dell‘s page. Enjoy the Chrome.

Update4: Mac and Linux users can finally use the Google Chrome Beta-version browser with their computing machines – as Mountain View’s searching giant officially announces in its blog. And although we face a lot of crashes while trying, you don’t really want to skip this experience, especially when Google has recently launched the extensions, do you? Checkout the video we’ve added after the break (3rd one).

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This is a guest post by Israeli blogger Yarin Hochman, who has apparently spent a significant amount of time testing every single iPhone app, ever released. In this post he shares his experiences with Snapture’s newly born PiP camera app. You can read more from Yarin on his Hebrew tech blog, TechVibe.

I don’t know about you but for me, one of the biggest pains with my iphone machine is the camera. Now, I haven’t upgraded to the 3GS version yet, I personally don’t see any substantial reason to, but still, even the iphone 3GS camera itself, is apparently provided with tiny lens, very basic features and low quality images, when it comes to comparison with average Nokia\Blackberry cameras.

Today, Snapture, which previously released a camera app for jailbroken iPhones, seems to turn “legit”, by introducing an official version that is now available on Apple’s formal app store, under Snapture app (1.99$), and has made me like it from first impression, but not without a few reservations attached.

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Apple’s WWDC 2009 event is already behind and we were lucky to hear exactly what we’ve all been waiting for, as Cupertino unsurprisingly announced a new iPhone device, also known as the iPhone 3G-S, with the “S” referring to “Speed”, as for faster and stronger than previous iPhone 3G model. The event itself started with Apple’s staggering revelation, claiming there are over 50,000 apps in the App Store  and more than 1 billion application downloads in the last 9 months period – which is quite overwhelming, to say the least. Once ending with those astonishing details, Apple has proudly  introduced the official iPhone OS 3.0 platform, which suppose to go live on June 17th, free of charge, while  iPod Touch users, repeatedly deprived, with Apple asking them to pay $9.95 for getting the update. As for the Os 3.0 version, apparently it’ll bear inside most of the things we’ve been writing about for quite some time, including Copy/Paste, MMS, A2DP stereo Bluetooth, Peer-to-peer connectivity, 30 integrated languages , landscape keyboard, real turn-by-turn TomTom GPS navigation system, Autofill support,  Find My iPhone compatibility, internet tethering connection, “rent and purchase” online service (purchase movies directly from your iPhone), and other cool add-ons you can read about, in here (overall, over 100 new features).

Heading forward, after endless speculations and about one million rumors floating around, the star of the day, which is probably the fastest iPhone device ever made, was finally introduced with stronger processing elements and upgraded data speed – standing at 7.2Mbps HSDPA, instead of only 3.6Mbps on previous model. In terms of design, the new iPhone 3GS boasts the same sleeky rounded body, its 3G predecessor had, only this one has a lot more to offer, with a brand new 3 megapixels autofocus camera that can easily capture videos at 30fps in VGA mode, along with in-phone edit / adjustment capabilities. Another cool feature that Apple was kindly adding to this wonderful machine is the Voice Control function, that seamlessly brings up a whole different user interface that lets you do various things like making calls or handle your iTunes whenever holding down the Home button control. And if that wasn’t enough, a “revolutionary” battery that holds up to 12 hours of 2G talk, or 5 hours of 3G chat is part of this affordable package. Speaking about affordable, Apple has really gone wild this time with prices dropping down to $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB when it goes on sale on June 19th, in 80 countries across the world – with current 8GB 3G version remain in the market for ONLY $99 a piece. Hit the jump to checkout the comparison table together with a group of images from yesterday’s event.

Update1: Looks like T-Mobile Netherlands wasn’t told about the embargo that Apple was casting on specs or any other information related to the new iPhone 3G-S device (at least until official release, on June 19th).  According to the company’s website, Apple’s new wonder will presumably pack a 600MHz CPU with 256MB of RAM. That’s up from 412MHz and 128MB of RAM in both previous generations, which is roughly twice as fast as previous hardware. Check the specs image after the break.

Update2: In case you really can’t wait for the official release, take a look at the new video (in Portuguese) after the break, featuring the brand new iPhone 3GS with some of the new features inside.

[Apple]

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The “Never Ending Meizu Story” continues to make splashes around the globe, as we hear that Meizu’s M8 revolutionary/clone smartphone is making a debut in China nowadays, coming up with either 8GB ($348) or 16GB ($421) versions, a 3.4-inch 720 x 480 touchscreen, Windows CE 6.0-powered OS, Built-in 3.2MP Camera and wide range of codecs support, including MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg, FLAC, APE, AMR, MPEG-4, WMV, Divx, Xvid, H.264, or FLV. Battery wise, you can expect getting up to 21.5 hours of Audio and 7 hours of video, while using the M8 as a multimedia device. Otherwise it’s just another cellular unit, supporting WCDMA (3G), GSM EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 standards that will allow any user to speak all over the world. Mind you, according to Meizu, the 16GB model is currently “out of stock”, so stay tuned for more tales to be told.

[Via DAP Review]

Nokia unveils the N97 3G Quad-Band HSDPA phone, that is considered to be the next flagship device, coming from the Finn giant. The new N97 packs, a 3.5-inch, 640 x 360 touchscreen (16:9 ratio), a sliding QWERTY keyboard, a microSD slot and 32GB of memory inside. This top-notch handheld, which carries the title “world’s most advanced mobile computer”, has WiFi and Bluetooth connectivities, along with 3.5-mm headjack, A-GPS, and a strong battery that can provide up to 1.5 days of continuous playback or 4.5-hours of high-quality video. Naturally, there’s a 5MP built-in camera with Carl Zeiss glass and Symbian S60 5th Edition OS, to handle all those advanced features. It is scheduled to go live somewhere in the first half of 2009, for €550 ($693), excluding taxes. Meanwhile, checkout the videos after the break.

[Nokia]

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With so much disinformation floating around, we can’t be sure either these images are real or just a hoax, but you have to admit they look very reliable, with this nice black or white varnished cover and those colorful boxes, laying down next to the Meizu M8 manual and installation CD. But the most interesting thing is the new specs that jump out of the pile, featuring a strong ARM11 800MHz CPU, 3.4-inch 720 x 480 touchscreen, 4GB/8GB/16GB capacities, 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity. According to the guys at Meizu News, the M8 is scheduled to be released in Asia around December, priced at 240 € / 284 € / 350 € respectively. Hit the link to see more pictures.

Specifications

• Price: 240€ up to 350€
• Size: 4GB/8GB/16GB
• Network type: WCDMA (3G), GSM EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• Touch screen: 16,000,000 colors, 3.4 “TFT VGA + (720 x 480)
• Ringtones: Polyphonic 64 tons
• Camera: 3.2m Pixels
• Operating system: Meizu OS (Windows Mobile Base CE6.0 amended by Meizu)
• Dimensions: 108 x 59 x 11.9mm
• CPU: ARM11 800MHz (Samsung 6410)
• Memory: 256 MB DDR-SDRAM
• Battery: 1200mAh
• WiFi: 802.11b and g
• Bluetooth: 2.0
• Internet: Web browser Opera version customized by Meizu
• Video playback: (720 x 480 30fps, H263/264 MPEG2 MPEG4 WMV, RM, RMVB)
• Other features: mp3 player, LINE OR, microphone, loudspeaker

[via Meizu News]

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The T-Mobile G1 event was definitely a game changer, to how the mobile phone and the Internet have merged to bring us innovative solutions in one device, the kind that can provide Email, Maps, Calendar, instant messaging, Contacts, Search engine and Media player, all together in one strong Open Source platform that will be able to compete those lavish smartphone handsets, with a fair and affordable price. As the clock pointed at 10:30 AM (East time), a group of distinguish representatives from companies like Deutsche Telecom, T-Mobile, HTC and Google were gathered on one small New York stage, to announce the long-awaited HTC Dream, powered with Google’s Android operating system, to be available in T-Mobile stores and dealers on October 27th, for merely $179, subjunctive to a two year contract – $25/month deal, including unlimited internet access plus a certain amount of messaging package, or $35/month deal with unlimited internet access and unlimited messages to send.

The new phone, also known as the G1, is equipped with a quadband GSM HSDPA 1700/2100, a stunning flip-out 3-inch 320 x 480 HVGA touchscreen, a full QWERTY keyboard to make it easier when you type-in a web address or any other online form, a 3.2MP camera with auto focus, a microSD card extension (1GB microSD card included, supports up to 8GB card), GPS navigation system, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity. The continuous collaboration with Mountain View brings a smooth multitasking UI, packed with many Google apps, such as Gmail, GTalk IM, Google Maps, digital compass, integrated Traffic view / Street View, Google calender and last but not least, Google’s search engine, assimilated inside the built-in browser. In addition, you get more applications pre-loaded, like Android Market, which is equivalent to Apple’s App Store, Amazon’s MP3 store, allowing to download from 6 million DRM-free tracks (starting at 89 cents), YouTube and many other third-party goodies onboard. The unit comes with a designated Search Button that lets you work across the entire interface and search any application you want. Thus, you can look for your friends in the contact list or search for a special occasion within your calender, etc. Regretfully, it doesn’t support the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, nor A2DP stereo Bluetooth, but you can expect to see them in future versions. Sized at 4.60” x 2.16” x 0.62”, the G1′s battery provides up to 5 hours of speech or 130 hours in standby mode and potential buyers will be able to choose between black, white or brown flavors, when the phone goes live, in early November.

Checkout the videos after the break. For more images you can click in here.

[via Android Community]

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iPhone firmware update 2.0, which is expected to be released around June, adds some very awaited features, including the ability to save web images from your Safary browser, straight to your web album or your email recipient. To do so, just place your fingers on the chosen picture for couple of seconds and wait for the dialog screen to pop up. In addition, the new update offers to capture full screen picture as simple as pushing the home button while holding the sleep button. I have no doubt this cool functions had to find their way long ago, but you all know it’s always better late than never.

[via gizmodo]

E-TEN unveils its new Glofiish M810 GSM quad-band HSDPA at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The new handset is equipped with a full QWERTY keyboard and a 2.8-inch LCD screen. The device features the following specs:

• Display: 2.8” LCD TFT, 65,536 colors (320 x 240).
• Processor: Samsung SC32442 500 MHz.
• OS: Windows Mobile 6.
• Memory: 256MB flash ROM, 64MB SDRAM.
• Camera: 2MP with auto focus.
• Connectivity: WLAN, Bluetooth2.0+EDR, WiFi.
• Other Features: microSD slot, GPS navigation system.
• Dimensions: 109.5×59×17.5mm, 179gm.
• Availability: unknown.
• Price: unknown.

[via Aving]

Nvidia, a strong graphic cards manufacturer, wants to get a foothold in the mobile processors market with their new APX 2500 series, presented at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The company created the AMD11 750MHz chip with ultra-low power GeForce core, providing advanced graphic capabilities and 3D GUI rendering support. This top-notch features enabling to display up to SXGA resolution (1280 x 1024) and to embed 12MP camera sensors in cellphones, which means there’s aplenty to aspire for. The APX 2500 will be able to pack 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, quad-band GSM, WiFi, Bluetooth, composite/S-Video outputs and even HDMI. The chip is capable of running 720p HD video, smoothly, even when playing on a 60-inch LCD TV. To demonstrate this impressive capableness, Nvidia has created a reference design prototype, running a Windows CE OS and equipped with an accelerometer. The device can play more than 10 hours of HD video and a GUI coded in OpenGL ES 2.0. The chip is expected to go on full production between Q2 – Q3, and we say – WOW !!

 [via phonemag]

Check out the video after the break.

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Garmin announces the release of the Nuvifone, a new 3.5G GSM HSDPA smartphone, combined with a media player, full GPS navigation system, proprietary OS and many advanced elements. The Nuvifone sports the following features:

• Display: 3.5? touchscreen.
• 3 major icons: Call, Search, Maps
• Built-in camera with longitude / latitude tagging system.
• Full GPS navigation system, loaded with North America and European maps.
• Google local search capability.
• Garmin Online Service: an online updates information service, including weather, traffic, stocks, news, sports, hotels, etc.
• WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.
• Email, SMS/MMS and IM support.
• Nuvi navigation service, providing “Where Am I ” function, for an accurate location info, on and off the road.
• Integrated media player, supports MP3 and MPEG4/AAC .
• Availability: Q3 2008.
• Price: Unknown.

I’m definitely looking forward to snack one of those and see it in action.

[via gizmodo]

More pictures after the break.

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