A leading Google advisor has dropped a subtle hint to suggest the much-vaunted Motorola X Phone may allow users to customise hardware features based on their own needs.
Rumours have been circulating in recent weeks that the X Phone will let buyers pick processor speed and and memory specs at the point of sale in much the same way as buying a laptop computer.
Now Guy Kawasaki, the former chief evangelist at Apple who joined Google-owned Motorola as in an advisory role in February, has offered the clearest indication yet that this May indeed be the case.
In a post on his Google+ page, Kawasaki added a video of a Porsche Exclusive sports car with the caption: "Wouldn't it be great if you could personalize your phone like this?"
Dream phone?
These super-fancy Porsches (not that we'd know) allow users to choose from over 600 different options, allowing the wealthy to custom-build their dream sports car.
The inference this could be applied to a smartphone will lead to all manner of speculation regarding the options Google/Moto would offer beyond processing speeds and memory and existing choices such as colour and storage size.
It sounds pretty great doesn't it, giving the customer exactly what they want? However, it also seems fair to suggest that it could lead to a manufacturing nightmare.
If reports recently are to be believed we'lll find out Moto's plans for sure at the Google I/O event in May. What would you choose to customise on an X Phone? Let us know in the comments section below.
Rumor has it Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 could go as big as 6.3 inches
Samsung's Galaxy Tab 3 and Note 3 could be packing their tiny bags for Berlin this summer as the Korean tech giant prepares to unveil them at IFA in September.
That's what reports today seem to point toward, with an anonymous "insider" tipping off SamMobile, and the Tab 3 gaining a DLNA certification.
According to Softpedia, the Galaxy Tab 3 popped up in the trade organization's database with three model numbers: GT-P3200, GT-P3210, and GT-P3220.
The Galaxy Tab 3 is expected in both 7-inch and 10-inch (possibly dubbed the Galaxy Tab 3 "Plus," and with LTE, as well) flavors, and the third model number could refer to a Wi-Fi only version. Appearing at DLNA suggests a release could be approaching.
Oh, the suspense
We were half-expecting Samsung's new range of 7- and 10-inch tablets to debut at MWC last month, but our hopes were dashed when the company's only new arrival was the Galaxy note 8.0.
These three model numbers could represent the tablets we've been looking for - but will we really have to wait until September to try them out?
That nugget comes from a source trusted by SamMobile, but we have no way of confirming its veracity. We've reached out to Samsung for more info, but we're not anticipating much of a response.
Either way, it's hardly set in stone; even this "insider" only said the Tab 3 and Note 3 "may" appear at IFA.
Is bigger better?
Samsung's Galaxy Note 3, for its part, is rumored to go even bigger than its predecessors, with a 5.9-inch or, on the outside, 6.3-inch screen.
If either size turns up, the Galaxy Line will basically zoom past phablet straight into pure tablet territory. Those are huge screens we're talking about.
The evasi0n untethered jailbreak wasn't able to evade the fixed exploits in this week's iOS 6.1.3 update, but at least Apple is giving the hacking team some credit today.
A security note released by the company acknowledges the evad3rs team for being the to first discover four of the six vulnerabilities that were patched in iOS 6.1.3.
"Apple gives hat tip to @evad3rs for 4 of the 6 security fixes in 6.1.3 :)" tweeted MuscleNerd, one of the four hackers who took advantage of those bugs to create a way for users to install non-Apple-approved software.
The evasi0n untethered jailbreak team is credited in the Apple document for being the first to come across the dyld, Kernel, Lockdown and USB.
The two other exploits patched in iOS 6.1.3 are WebKit and Passcode Lock, the latter being a bug that allowed someone to bypass the four-digit passcode screen without entering numbers.
Untethered 'Jailbreakers stay away'
Now that iOS 6.1.3 is available to download, faithful users of the untethered jailbreak should avoid updating to the new version of the mobile operating system.
"IOS 6.1.3 is out. Jailbreakers stay away! There's no coming back to 6.1.2 JB even if you saved blobs (except iPhone4 and ipt4g)" exclaimed MuscleNerd is a tweet.
The evasi0n jailbreak was significant because it was the first legitimate untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.1 and 6.1.2, and the first to work with newer devices like the iPhone 5, iPad 4, and iPad mini.
There is good news those searching for an untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.1.3.
Evasi0n creator David Wang has previously stated that the evad3rs team has found other bugs in the iOS platform and could create an entirely new jailbreak based on them, ensuring the cat-and-mouse game between Apple and iOS jailbreakers continues.
Samsung and Apple better beware – the HTC One combines stunning design, a supreme screen and explosive power to offer one of the best smartphones around.
It's got a full HD screen crammed into 4.7-inches, which brings a 468ppi – well above what's needed for the eye to discern, and it does definitely bring sumptuous sharpness throughout the use of the phone.
On top of that there's a CPU and RAM combo that is barely bettered, a more-than-enough 32GB of storage and top-end Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G / 4G connections, all topped off by a completely re-imagined version of HTC Sense. What's not to like?
It's at the sharp end of the smartphone price scale, although can be had for around £34 per month on a two year deal in the UK, which isn't too bad at all compared to the competition.
The design of the HTC One is something that you simply have to experience in the hand. Where those that pick up the Samsung Galaxy S3 will go ' Oh, it's a bit plastic, isn't it? But ooh, it's quite light' and those who encounter the iPhone 5 will, to a person, say 'Ooh, it's very light isn't it? You don't expect it to be that light!' those that try the HTC One will simply intone: 'Oh, that's really nice. Really, really nice.'
And do you know why? Simple: the HTC One is one of the best-designed phones on the planet. Not content with inventing a new machining process to allow the body to be all aluminium, the Taiwanese firm has extended the screen to the edges of the chassis further than ever before, meaning you're getting a 4.7-inch Full HD display without the additional heft you'd probably expect.
It's even thinner than its predecessor, the HTC One X (we know, that naming strategy leaves a lot to be desired) and as such slides nicely in the pocket. It's not light either, weighing more than most of the competition, but rather than feeling overweight, combined with the metallic chassis is oozes a premium build. Samsung is probably hoping not a lot of people hold this phone side-by-side with the new S4 as otherwise the buying choice is going to be a lot more of a worry for the Koreans.
On top of that, there's a whole host of little design wins that delight when you first try the HTC One. For instance, the machined holes that allow sound toe emanate from the dual front-facing speakers (can you say BOOMSOUND?) looks amazing, and the lines on the back of the phone give a nice textured movement to things, helping to break up the constant greyness of the aluminium.
You could argue that straight on it looks far too much like either an iPhone 5, with its chamfered edges, or a BlackBerry Z10 front on, and you'd have a good point as this phone doesn't reinvent the rectangle-with-rounded-edges formula that we're so used to, but in the hand the curved back brings a whole new dimension to things.
There's a zero-gap construction at work here as well, which means that you won't find any gaps, holes or light leakages to make you feel like you've not spent your hard-earned cash on something wonderful.
The volume control on the right-hand side of the phone is in the same dazzling metal, and contrasts nicely with the rubber/plastic that makes up the sides. Our sample actually showed a fair amount of wiggle in this area, and slightly detracted from the overall premium feel.
The power button resides on the top, and doubles as the infra-red blaster - however, this is one of the poorer points as it doesn't have a whole lot of travel.
Similarly, the placement of this button, even on a phone that's been shrunk down while accommodating a larger screen, is still a bit inconvenient. We had to shuffle the phone around in the palm to turn it on and off on many occasions, and a lot of the time we couldn't use our thumb to hit the whole of the screen without jiggling the phone up and down.
That's another problem with the design: it's pretty slippery thanks to the metallic chassis. We thankfully only ever suffered two serious drops when we were about a foot off the carpet (basically scrabbling for it to turn off the alarm in the morning) and a more alarming one stepping out of a cab, but there have been a few near misses when trying to manoeuvre around the screen.
If only that power button was on the side, or a physical home button unlocked the phone, this whole issue would be negated for a large part.
But as we mentioned, HTC has wandered away from the physical buttons - where once it put a trackpad in the Nexus One, now it's stripped the capacitive buttons down from three to two, with the multi-tasking option going the way of the dodo. You can still get the same functionality by double tapping the home button, but it's not the same.
Overall though, you can guess we're impressed with the construction and design of the HTC One. We're not even looking at final hardware here - although we appear to have got lucky with our sample, as there are few design flaws in sight - so the chances of metallic chipping ('because that's just what it does....' OK, Apple) are slight to say the least - providing you don't fling it on tarmac. Seriously, we tried that... don't do it.
We thought we'd scuffed it so many times during our test, but each time it was simply a slight amount of dirt or dust that wiped right off. Tick from TechRadar on the design front, HTC.
Today the earth shattering realisation hit us: the UK won't, repeat WON'T, be getting the octa-core (yes, eight processing chips) Samsung Galaxy S4, with the Korean firm deeming us suitable for only four cores.
But you know what Samsung? Good. As instead of a stupidly overpowered handset which may swiftly see you from one homescreen to another and back again, you're still going to be stuck with a crummy 3G data connection.
While the quad-core Galaxy S4 may not seem quite as fancy it holds a key trump card - 4G.
Now 4G itself is still a bit of a moot point in the UK, what with the service only being available via one network, and at substantial cost, but by the end of this year every carrier will offer the superfast service and everyone will want a slice of the action.
You can keep your cores
When the 4G network does kick in fully the last thing you'll want is to be stuck with a handset which forces you to miss out until your contract is up in 18 months time, or makes you pay a hefty fee to upgrade to a capable handset.
So if anything Samsung has done us a favour by not dangling the octa-core handset in front of our greedy eyes as lets be honest, we'd so plump for that over the quad-core version out of sheer lust.
We're yet to hear a convincing argument as to why a smartphone even needs an octa-core processor, it's not like we're going to be running a small empire off the back of it and that many chips makes us fear for the battery's life.
All your battery are belong to us
Of course people will point towards ARM's new big.LITTLE technology but we still don't know for sure just how much of a difference it will make. It could mean an improvement, thanks to being able to efficiently manage tasks between high and low power, but we're a long way from seeing apps optimised for such things.
We seriously worry about the battery life in the eight-core toting Galaxy S4, especially when you consider the 5-inch full HD display it's got to power alongside the processor.
Samsung has stuck a larger, 2,600mAh battery into the S4 to compensate (up from 2,100mAh on the decently lasting Galaxy S3), but we're not sold just yet.
In short the octa-core Galaxy S4 doesn't need to exist, just give us all the 4G, quad-core version and be done with it - and if you even consider throwing such temptation our way in the future there will be hell to pay.
That said, nothing would give us a bigger feeling of smug satisfaction then asking our friends, "so how many cores does your phone have?" only to hear them mutter "four" while we casually shrug our shoulders and go "well, mine has eight..."
Apple made the screen bigger last time. Is an even bigger iPhone on the way?
When Apple unveiled the iPhone 5, the reaction was a bit muted: where previous phones were massive leaps forward, the iPhone 5 was a bit longer and a lot easier to scratch.
So what can we expect from the next iPhone, the iPhone 6 or 5S? Let's see what the crystal balls are saying.
One thing is for sure, with the release of such super handsets as the Samsung Galaxy S4, Sony Xperia Z and HTC One, the next iPhone will have to seriously up its game.
iPhone 6 and the iPhone 5S are two different phones
The rumour mill doesn't seem too sure whether the next iPhone is going to be the iPhone 5S or the iPhone 6. Given the iPhone's history - from the 3G onwards, there's always been a half-step S model before the next numbered iPhone - we'd bet on an iPhone 5S first and an iPhone 6 a few months later.
iPhone 6 release date
Some pundits predict a summer release for the iPhone 6, while Money Morning reckons that the iPhone 5's lack of NFC and Jumbotron display is because Apple's got a proper iPhone ready for a springtime release.
It's quite likely that Apple is moving to a two-phones-per-year upgrade cycle, but we'd bet on a springtime 5S model and a bigger, iPhone 6, update in the Autumn, probably September.
Even Digitimes reckons a springtime iPhone 6 is unlikely: it's predicting a summertime reveal for Apple's next generation phones, which again fits with a WWDC unveiling.
Apple may have a new roadmap, with new phones every spring and autumn
iPhone 6 cases
Multiple rumours say Apple's working on plastic cases for its next iPhone, mixing plastic and metal in such a way that "the internal metal parts [are] able to be seen from outside through special design."
It's unclear whether such cases would be for the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, or if Apple is simply considering making cheaper iPhone 4s to sell when the iPhone 3GS reaches the end of its life.
Speaking in March 2013, a KGI analyst said it believed Apple would turn to manufacturer Pegatron to make up to 75 per cent of low cost iPhone products.
Pretty, yes, but also horrifically scratch-prone. Will your next iPhone have a plastic back?
The iPhone 6 will finally do NFC
That's what iDownloadblog reckons, quoting Jefferies analyst Peter Misek: it'll have a better battery too, he says.
The iPhone 6 will run iOS 7 and the iPhone 5S probably won't
Developers are seeing new iPhone model identifiers in their server logs: the device identifies itself as the iPhone 6,1 (the iPhone 5 is 5,1 or 5,2) running iOS 7, and its IP address is an Apple one. If the two-phones strategy is true, we'd expect Apple to unveil the next major revision of iOS at its WWDC conference in June, with it shipping on the iPhone 6 a few months later.
iPhone 6 storage
We've already seen a 128GB iPad, so why not a 128GB iPhone 6? Yes, it'll cost a fortune, but high-spending early adopters love this stuff.
It may not have a home button
According to Business Insider, of the many iPhone 6 prototypes Apple has made, one has a giant Retina+ IGZO display and a "new form factor with no home button. Gesture control is also possibly included".
iPhone 6 screen size
Take this one with a pinch of salt, because China Times isn't always right: it reckons the codename iPhone Math, which may be a mistranslation of iPhone+, will have a 4.8-inch display. The same report suggests that Apple will release multiple handsets throughout the year over and above the iPhone 5S and 6, which seems a bit far-fetched to us.
You'll probably still be able to see the camera lens in the iPhone 6
iPhone 6 processor
Not a huge surprise, this one: the current processor is a dual-core A6, and the next one will be a quad-core A7. The big sell here is more power with better efficiency, which should help battery life.
Expect to see it in the 2013 iPad first, and expect to see an improved A6 processor, the A6X, in the iPhone 5S.
iPhone 6 camera
Apple's bought camera sensors from Sony before, and this year we're going to see a new, 13-megapixel sensor that takes up less room without compromising image quality.
The new iPhone will have better 4G LTE
On its UK launch, just one UK network had 4G LTE: Everything Everywhere, which currently offers 4G on the 1800MHz band. In 2013, all the other big names will be coming on board, offering 4G in other frequency bands. International iPhones already work across different 4G bands to the UK, so you can expect the UK iPhone 6 (and possibly the iPhone 5S) to be more promiscuous than the iPhone 5.
The Wi-Fi may be 802.11ac
Apple likes to lead Wi-Fi standards adoption - its Airport really helped make Wi-Fi mainstream - and there's a good chance we'll see ultra-fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi in Apple kit this year. It's faster than Lighting, and not very frightening.
It may get wireless charging
Wireless charging still isn't mainstream. Could Apple help give it a push? CP Tech reports that Apple has filed a patent for efficient wireless charging, but then again Apple has filed patents for pretty much anything imaginable.
The tasty bit of this particular patent is that Apple's tech wouldn't just charge one device, but multiple ones.
The boffins at Fujitsu have have been scratching their heads trying to think of a better purpose for those front facing cameras on our smartphones, tablets and laptops. What they have come up with is a new imaging system which can calculate your pulse and help monitor health.
The system measures the amount of green light, which is absorbed by haemoglobin, reflected from your face to work out your blood-flow and calculate your pulse. The software can work using existing hardware and only requires users to hold still for 5 seconds to make it’s calculations.
Fujitsu aims to have the system adopted by device makers and also hopes it can be implemented to TV’s, mirrors and other household devices. What do you think of the idea, intrigued or not?
Everybody wants to be Inspector Gadget. Rumors of an Apple iWatch have been circulating ever since the last-gen iPod nano was released and people started putting it into wrist straps. It seems that Apple’s biggest competitor could be beating Cupertino to the wrist computer punch, though, as the Samsung Smart Watch has now been confirmed by the company.
This comes by way of Lee Young Hee. In a statement sent to Bloomberg, the Samsung Mobile Vice-President said that they have “been preparing the watch product for so long” and that they are “working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future and the watch is definitely one of them.” Aside from that, though, he wasn’t forthcoming with any kind of real details.
To be fair, there are already smart watches on the market. The Pebble, despite some limitations, has found some noteworthy success among early adopters, but it really will take a flagship-level product from the likes of a Samsung or an Apple to really popularize the format. The assumption is that the Samsung Smart Watch would connect to your Samsung Galaxy smartphone via Bluetooth, pushing notifications and showing text messages.
It would be interesting if they were able to take advantage of some flexible OLED technology for the screen, but we’ll really have to wait and see what sort of “innovative” features or functions will be in what I’m going to call the Samsung Galaxy Watch (or perhaps it’ll be in partnership with Swatch to make the S Watch). Maybe it has an S Time feature. In the battle between the Galaxy Watch and the iWatch, who is going to win? Consumers, I hope.
With a cutting-edge camera, a super-slim design and the ability to withstand life's knocks and bumps (and Android Jelly Bean to boot) the Xperia Z is a phone that's got us fired up about Sony Mobile again.
Earlier handsets such as the Sony Xperia S and Sony Xperia T were extremely promising from a brand striking out on its own - but it's with the Xperia Z that Sony is really banking on making a cataclysmic dent in the makeup of the smartphone market.
If you don't believe us, just look at its marketing hype - Valentine's Day saw ads on several, consecutive pages of major newspapers in the UK and you can't pass a billboard without seeing it in glorious Technicolor, accompanied by a strong statement that Sony has "reinvented the phone."
The Android Jelly Bean-toting (albeit only 4.1) Sony Xperia Z comes with some of the best specs on the market - and it's one of the most eagerly awaited handsets of recent months. Launching before the HTC One orSamsung Galaxy S4, Sony is clearly hoping to steal an early march on its competitors.
And the early signs it will do so are promising: a quad-core 1.5GHz Snaprdragon Krait processor, 13MP camera, 16GB storage (expandable, woohoo!), 2GB RAM, water and dust-resistant, 1080p HD screen with Bravia Engine, LTE, to name a few. You couldn't make this stuff up - this is the company that had a part in the Satio, after all.
As soon as we took our review unit out of the box, we were mesmerised. This feels and looks like a premium, high quality product. Sony is one of the few manufacturers that can take what is, effectively, a plain black square and make it into something beautiful. Manufactured from piano black, high gloss glass both front and black, it could have come from the same stable as the Google Nexus 4.
Though maybe we are overestimating it, viewing the Sony Xperia Z through geek-tinted goggles - because while we were blown away, others came out with the line that Sony will be hoping doesn't cross too many punters' lips: "looks like every other smartphone out there though, doesn't it?"
One thing the Sony Xperia Z certainly does have in common with every other smartphone out there is the fact that it is a pure magnet for fingerprints. You'll struggle to keep it clean all day long without either surgical gloves or a can of Mr Sheen in your bag.
As is fast becoming the norm, you can expect to pick the Sony Xperia Z up in white too. On top of that, O2 in the UK is exclusively offering a purple variant.
If you're coming from something like a Samsung Galaxy S3, it'll feel similar, if a little larger, in terms of size: the Sony Xperia Z rocks in at 139 x 71 x 7.9mm/5.47 x 2.79 x 0.31 inches, so there's little room for anything else in your hands.
Coming from something smaller like, say, an iPhone 5, you'll certainly notice the difference. But it's amazing how quickly you'll adapt.
At 146g/5.15oz, it's by no means the lightest handset out there - but the Sony Xperia Z exudes a heftiness that belies a quality device. It's on a par with Apple's offering when it comes to the thickness.
The ports are spread out with the headphone jack up top, the SIM slot and volume rocker on the right - either side of a silver standby button - while both the microSD and charging ports are on the left, alongside contacts for accessories. A watertight port covers each.
The front of the Sony Xperia Z is minimalist - showing off only a Sony logo and front-facing camera. The rear is a little busier, with various tech info printed on it, plus the Sony Xperia logo, an NFC badge, camera light and the all-important lens. That back is stuck fast - as is becoming the custom, you'll have no luck if you want to remove the battery.
Turn it on, and you're not disappointed. Coming from the blackness, the 5-inch screen springs into life. Whether or not you'll like it is down to personal choice.
Some who've used the Sony Xperia Z describe the screen as a disappointment because Sony has gone for TFT - albeit with 1080 x 1920 pixels, giving a pixel density of 441ppi, which would explain why it looks a bit washed out. If you've come from a Super AMOLED screen you'll definitely feel the difference.
We're still fans - this is a razor sharp display from one of the world's premier screen manufacturers, although it doesn't have the wow factor of the HTC One's Super LCD 3 screen.
The only thing that lets it down is viewing angles - if you look at the Sony Xperia Z's screen, dead on, it's sharp enough. If you look at it from the side, it has a strange ability to look incredibly washed out. It's no huge problem - but it does mean the impressiveness of the screen is diminished compared to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the HTC One.
One of the selling points of the Sony Xperia Z is that it is also water resistant. There's something slightly unnerving about taking a £529 phone and dropping it in the sink - but that's exactly what we did. And it worked absolutely fine.
Clearly, you'll need to make sure the ports are covered using those watertight protectors, that much goes without saying.
And here's some more good news: the price of the Sony Xperia Z is dropping quite quickly, already making it cheaper than the likes of the HTC One and could soon sneak under the £30 contract mark for a half-decent whack of minutes.
While it's actually the same price as the comparable SIM-free 16GB iPhone 5, the cost is now closing in on the iPhone 4S on PAYG, so we can't help but feel the Xperia Z is finding its natural pricing level.
This could be a major set back for BlackBerry 10 as the brand spanking new operating system hasn't passed government security tests - branding it "not secure enough for essential work".
The UK's Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG) cleared the older BlackBerry 7.1 system in December last year, reports the Guardian, marking it safe for use up to the "Restricted" classification - which is two levels below "Top Secret".
With the launch of BB 10 the corporate market was seen as its main entry point back into the mobile game; however this latest blow means the Canadian firm will struggle to get the BlackBerry Z10 into hands of people in high places.
It's not just the BlackBerry 10 platform which is at fault, with the BlackBerry Balance software - which allows users to manage personal and work accounts separately - also failing to make the grade.
If at first you don't succeed
The Government is one of BlackBerry's biggest customers in the UK, alongside the NHS, and it would be a massive blow for the firm if it were to lose such a lucrative partnership.
It's not giving up though and you can expect BlackBerry to tweak its BB10 software and then resubmit to CESG to get that coveted clearance rating.
In a statement BlackBerry said: "We are continuing to work closely with CESG on the approval of BlackBerry 10 and we're confident that BlackBerry 10 will only strengthen our position as the mobile solution of choice for the UK government."
