The Nokia EOS has seen a mixture of image leaks over the past couple of weeks and now, the mysteriously named Nokia RM-877 unit has passed FCC approval.

According to Engadget, documents in their possession are shedding more and more light that the RM-877 is indeed the EOS.

Apparently, the unit will be 130.35mm tall and 71.4mm wide with AT&T LTE compatibility and will contain Bluetooth, dual-band Wi-Fi plus a "'camera grip' (model PD-95G)."

We'll find out more when July 11 rolls around for Nokia's all day event so stick around to see if this Nokia RM-877 really is the EOS.

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Source : techradar[dot]com

To this point, there hasn't been a quad-core Windows Phone 8 device available anywhere, but that may soon change.

A benchmark for an unnamed Nokia Windows smartphone appeared over the weekend on GFXBench, indicating the Finnish manufacturer may finally be stepping up its processor game.

After releasing the Lumia 925 not too long ago, the only hopes Windows Phone 8 fans had for a quad-core device laid in the hands of the rumored Nokia EOS.

While it's not clear if this benchmark is indeed the EOS, the timing of its appearance coincides rather nicely with Nokia's July 11 event, where it's believed the EOS will makes its presence known.

Adreno-line rush

There are few facts about this mysterious Nokia Windows phone, but the benchmarks do give us some idea of what Nokia is working on.

The screen will feature 720 x 1280 resolution, which goes a bit against what we've heard about the EOS, which is reportedly matching the Lumia 925's 768 x 1280 OLED screen.

Second, this new smartphone will use an Adreno 305 GPU, which can already be found inside the Lumia 620.

Even though the graphics processor might not be all that impressive in the 620, the quad-core processor gives the new Nokia some major improvements over the older device.

While the Lumia 620 is capable of generating 152 MTexels (textured pixels), the new quad-core phone pushes the count to more than four times that, with 702 MTexels.

That's a lot of graphics power, but not unreasonably so for a Windows phone supposedly launching with a 41MP camera.

Whatever Nokia has planned won't remain a secret for much longer, but at least now it could have a solid quad-core contender to hold its own against the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One.

• Will the Nokia EOS sport a polycarbonate case, or will it follow in the aluminum shoes of the Lumia 925? The latest leaked images may give us a hint.

Source : techradar[dot]com

Mobile retailer Carphone Warehouse has now started to offer contract pre-orders for the new Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and says it expects to deliver the device on July 1.

Interested parties can snap up the scaled-back version of the flagship Galaxy S4 from £27 a month for 24-months on Orange, with unlimited texts, minutes and 250MB of data with a free phone.

The store is also offering deals from each of the major UK networks, on its pre-order page with 109 tariffs in total to choose from.

There's also 4G deals from EE from £36 a month with 750GB of data, ranging up to £56 for 8GB of data.

£390 SIM-free

Also on Monday the device, which packs a 1.7Hz dual-core Snapdragon processor and 4.3-inch AMOLED display, went up for SIM-free pre-order at Clove UK.

The independent retailer wants a not-insignificant £390 for the handset, which also offers 8GB of storage, 1.5GB of RAM and an 8-megapixel camera.

Three, O2, Vodafone EE and Phones 4U have also confirmed they intend to stock the LTE-enabled phone.

Samsung is yet to confirm an official UK release date for the device and Carphone Warehouse's July 1 proclamation is the first we've heard of a specific date.

Will you be picking up a Galaxy S4 mini next month? Let us know in the comments section below.

Source : techradar[dot]com

Motorola's Moto X may have had its specs leaked over the weekend, and if so, it's looking pretty decent.

The Moto X will sport a 1.7GHz dual core MSM8960 Pro chip, a 720p display 2GB of memory, 16GB of storage, 10- and 2-megapixel back and front cameras and Android 4.2.2, according to a Twitter tipster.

The Twitter account @evleaks, the self-styled source of "tomorrow's news, yesterday," tweeted out the specs on Saturday.

As always, there's no source on the info, but with the Moto X confirmed by the company's CEO it's only a matter of time until we find out for ourselves.

The hero this market needs?

Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside revealed the name of the rumored Motorola "X Phone" at the D11 conference in May.

The device is officially dubbed the Moto X, and it will be Motorola's new "hero" phone, Woodside revealed.

He also said that the Moto X will be built primarily on U.S. soil, a first for an industry that gets most of its manufacturing done in Asia for cheap.

If the specs leaked over the weekend turn out to be accurate, then previous rumors of a 16-megapixel camera and 2.3GHz processor will prove far too generous. Still, the Moto X's most recently rumored specs are nothing to sneeze at.

It will have sensors that cause it to act different in various situations, such as in a car, Woodside said last month. He added that it will have superior battery life.

Potential carriers for the Moto X are still a mystery, but Motorola is expected to reveal the Moto X (and several more October-releasing handsets) in more detail soon.

We asked the company to clarify whether these Moto X specs are accurate, but so far we haven't heard back.

• In the meantime, check out this article or this one for leaked images of the Moto X.

Source : techradar[dot]com

We're already expecting the Sony Xperia ZU to be big and fast, but some leaked benchmarks suggest it won't just be fast, it'll be insanely fast.

The rumoured 6.3-inch handset is said to come boasting a quad-core Snapdragon 800 and the benchmark screenshot posted on Esato shows a record-breaking 32,173 AnTuTu points. So that's going to be really quite powerful.

Even more powerful than the suspected Snapdragon 800-toting Samsung Galaxy S4 benchmarks that were leaked earlier, which came in at a comparatively measly 31,491 points. It even dwarfs the octa-core processor found in the more-powerful variant of the S4 currently on the market, showing Sony wants to play in the power stakes too.

Fab-let

Meaning you'd be wise to expect Sony's beast to be a hyper-fast 'phablet' type device that will give the Galaxy Note 2 a run for its money and could even take on fully-fledged tablets - although, of course, it's worth bearing in mind that benchmarks such as these can be faked.

Other leaked specs for the Xperia ZU include a 6.44-inch full HD screen and an HD camera.

We're expecting Sony to take the wraps off its newest handset at an event on June 25 - we'll be there bringing you all the news as it breaks, so stay tuned.

Source : techradar[dot]com

We recently glimpsed a picture of the alleged the HTC One Mini, although all we could really tell from the grainy image was that the handset would be a lot slimmer, which was hardly an earth-shattering revelation.

But now we've got more information on some of the more interesting features the phone will be bringing thanks to a UAProf (that's a User Agent Profile) available on HTC's website, which details a 720p display.

As you can see below, the string shows that the display will have a 720x1280 resolution on its 4.3-inch display, putting it ahead of Samsung's competing shrunk-down S4 flagship, the Galaxy S4 Mini.

There's also a nod to the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS (further down in the profile), which is an upgrade to the HTC One's Android 4.1 offering.

A HTC by any other name...

We can also pretty much confirm from the new information that the small HTC One will definitely be called the HTC One Mini. Again, not a huge surprise there, but good to know.

While nothing has been confirmed, the handset is rumoured to be powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the Mini could arrive this August.

Source : techradar[dot]com

Get ready for an influx of olde time video clips as the latest speculation has Instagram launching video sharing at Facebook's event on June 20.

The word comes from TechCrunch's inside source, who says that the app will allow people to take and share short videos through the same app.

Before you get too excited (as we can tell you are), even TechCrunch admits that this could be a planned red herring on Instagram-owner Facebook's part, as it seems pretty set on keeping specific details of the event under wraps.

Heard it on the grapevine

Given that this is only a very tenuous maybe for the time being, the source didn't reveal any more details of possible video filters or whether it'll enforce a Vine-style time limit on video clips.

Thanks to the heightened secrecy from Zuck and co, no one's really sure what Facebook has up its sleeve for June 20. If it's not Instagram Video then the other big rumour is that it could be an RSS reader service to fill the gaping void that Google Reader is about to leave in our lives. Or maybe even both.

Other than that, we'll just have to wait and see - we'll be on hand to bring you the big Facebook news as it breaks on June 20, so stay tuned.

Source : techradar[dot]com

Source : mobilemag[dot]com

The BlackBerry Z10 has a lot riding on its shoulders, being the first BB10-powered model to launch and therefore giving smartphone buyers the initial opportunity to see how the all-new mobile OS stacks up against the competition.

BlackBerry hopes it'll turn things around in the face of Android and iOS domination, and in terms of quality and depth of apps on offer to users, it's starting to get there, with a good number of "native" apps designed specifically to take advantage of BlackBerry's new software already available for new Z10 users.

• Read our simply delightful BlackBerry Z10 review

To further bolster app numbers BlackBerry ran a promotion earlier this year in which it paid developers to convert their apps to BB10 format and stick them up on Appworld, meaning there's stacks of fun stuff to choose from when you fire up the Z10 for the first time -- although many BB10 apps are actually pretty uninspiring ports of Android software.

However, there are still lots of useful, innovative, bespoke apps on BB10 that out-do plenty of their higher profile Android and iOS cousins, enough to make owning a Z10 a sufficiently different experience from using the other smartphones out there today. Here are 10 apps that help make the Z10 really stand out.

The Guardian

Download from BlackBerry App World

The Guardian's thrown caution to the wind with this one, going all-out to create a native BB10 app that isn't a mere port of an existing app or a simple mobile web site wrapper.

The paper's app is instantly at home on the Z10, featuring a custom BB10 styled UI, a clean layout, integrated sharing tools and the option to use it in landscape mode if you'd rather more closely approximate the feeling of struggling with an actual broadsheet.

Book Reader

Download from BlackBerry App World

The official Amazon Kindle app for BB10 is a rather sad and sorry port of one of the older iterations of the Android app, so it's not particularly useful for showing off the best of the format.

It's left to indie products like Book Reader to add style and functionality to BB10, including support for EPUB, MOBI, FB2, TXT and CHM format books, making it a powerful tool for enjoying your DRM-free reading library on the go.

ClipMan Clipboard Manager

Download from BlackBerry App World

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to doing serious stuff on a phone is managing your clipboard content.

Even in BlackBerry's latest OS it's pretty fiddly to copy and paste text between apps, making this clipboard manager an essential for looking after your text snippets.

It monitors all text fields, populating a database with your words, presenting the option to miraculously save the day by searching for text you've previously entered - which you can then fling out through email or other apps via BB10's usual sharing tools.

OpenWA

The maker of Open WA (previously known as OpenWhatsApp) is a little bit angry with BlackBerry, claiming it courted him, encouraged him to create a version of WhatsApp for BB10 -- then went cold on the idea and refused to publish it on the BB app marketplace.

So if you want to use this slimline and stylish take on the cross-platform messaging tool you have to install it yourself outside of the BlackBerry World app store.

But it's worth it, as OpenWS provides a vastly better experience on BB10 than the official WhatsApp BB10 app, featuring a slick, native design, integrated sharing, group chats and everything else that made WhatsApp such a winner.

Neatly

The official BlackBerry Twitter app is one enormous compromise, designed to work across numerous BB models and dumping some image links out of the app to the mobile web browser. It's pretty grim.

Neatly, however, is designed specifically for BB10, incorporating such posh UI features as a pull to refresh function, themes, threaded replies and more, all wrapped up in a layout that's right at home on the stylish Z10. It's a paid app, but your 75p investment gets you a much richer experience.

TuneIn Radio

The superb internet radio app's a must-get on BB10. It turns the phone into a miniature radio, offering access to tens of thousands of online streaming stations and podcast listings, along with location-based search results if you'd rather listen to the local traffic news from your regional station.

Radio channels that best fit your idea of what music should sound like can be added to a Favourites menu for quick access, plus there's a separate paid Pro version of the app that lets you record anything you hear to your phone's memory card.

Songza

Songza calls itself a "Music Concierge" service, the big idea being that it uses your location data to automatically populate a streaming music playlist with the tunes it thinks you might want to hear.

It's also part social network, with users encouraged to share tracks and playlists with others, plus it's free to download and listen to as much curated music as you like.

Conqu

One of the many life, task and note-taking apps we see around today; but this one has been designed with native BB10 support for full integration with BlackBerry's sharing tools.

Conqu's basically a posh calendar and to do list tool, letting you get seriously engrossed in creating a massive, tagged database of tasks and schedules, or simply use it as a list-making toy.

One clever touch is the way you're able to delegate tasks to others, should you have the required rank and clearance to be able to palm your jobs off on other people.

PlayCloud 10

A fully native BB10 file manager that goes several steps further than necessary by including support for cloud services and even FTP access for when sticking stuff on Dropbox is simply too easy a way of doing things.

The app lets you do complex file management stuff like copying and moving files between folders (complete with multi-select to ease the tedium of picking things out of lists), with social media sharing and remote printing making it easy to make your cloud objects tangible.

ReadItNow!

One of the better mobile reading applications out there right now, ReadItNow! is also a winner on BB10 thanks to featuring a native design that matches Blackberry's current layout choices.

For your £1.50 spend you get an article reader that strips the formatting from web site pieces and chucks the newly neat and readable text out to your phone, complete with the option to have everything save locally to your device for offline reading when there's no mobile data connection.

This one uses cross-platform reading app Pocket to power its system, so you need a Pocket account and you're ready to go.

Source : techradar[dot]com

If you thought Samsung might be running out of steam when it comes to churning out Galaxy S4 variants, you've got another thing coming. However, this new flagship model might be a tad more interesting than the rest.

Samsung co-chief exec, JK Shin, told Reuters that the the company is planning a new Galaxy S4 model that will run on LTE-Advanced technology, offering twice the speeds of normal 4G.

According to Shin, the phone could start selling in South Korea before the end of this month, and will be running on a zippy Qualcomm processor.

Speedy Gonzales

"We'll be the first with the commercial launch of the advanced 4G version of the smartphone," Shin said, although it's worth reminding that the technology is already active in certain parts of Russia, after the country launched an LTE-Advanced network last year.

Samsung added that a movie download that currently takes three minutes over standard 4G would be doable in just over one minute on the upgraded speeds.

So when might the rest of us see it? Shin said that Samsung was in talks with overseas carriers but wouldn't elaborate further than that.

The UK currently doesn't have any LTE Advanced networks running, which makes sense given there's only one, and other parts of the globe are in a similar boat - although the expectation is that it will be deployed in the medium-term future.

So if you want to be future-proof, book a ticket to South Korea and pick one of these up. Or don't, save money and get a 'normal' 4G option instead. Your call.

Source : techradar[dot]com

Samsung has bought the first million copies of Jay-Z's new album and is giving them away to a million Samsung Galaxy S4, S3 and Note 2 users through a dedicated app, three days before the album is released to the rest of the world.

The app lands on June 24, while the album itself drops on July 4 at 12.01 am ET. The rest of us can get our ears on the album on July 7.

Must be nice for struggling young artist Jay-Z to already have a million sales of his humbly-named Magna Carta Holy Grail already in the bank. Guess these are the "new rules" he's writing in this kind of adorable almost-Samsung-free video, here:

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Source : techradar[dot]com