Remember 4G, the super-speedy mobile broadband technology that's coming to the UK next month? You can probably forget about it again, because O2's threatening to sue if Everything Everywhere is allowed to launch before anybody else.

O2's position is effectively "if we can't have 4G, then nobody can, so nerrrr nerrr nerrr." EE's response? "If we can't have 4G now, then nobody can next year, so nerrr nerrr nerrr": it's strongly hinting that it'll torpedo next year's 4G auction with its own legal tomfoolery.

This is why we can't have nice things.

A bark, not a bite

This week's big legal story, of course, was Apple's triumph over Samsung: a jury found that Apple's business partner was a little too keen on copying Apple's ideas. Apple says that the case was essential to protect innovation, and Apple is telling great big porkies.

Did Samsung copy Apple? I reckon so. Did it harm Apple? I very much doubt it. Apple's in the middle of an extraordinarily productive and innovative streak, and it's hard to imagine it being any more innovative if it weren't having to beat its imitators.

If anything, the imitators probably helped: without them, Apple might have done a Nokia or a Motorola and sat on its big fat patent portfolio instead of working like crazy to out-innovate everybody else.

Apple doesn't really think it can stop people copying it. The Samsung trial was a bark, not a bite.

The problem is that barks can affect end users. For example Apple wants a US sales ban on some Samsung kit while in South Korea both Apple and Samsung hardware have been temporarily blocked. The Associated Press says there are more than 50 patent lawsuits floating around the smartphone and tablet industry, and it isn't too hard to imagine everybody demanding sales bans on everybody else's products.

The losers here aren't the tech firms. Apple's victory means other firms will just be more careful with their copying, and Samsung will no doubt see its fine - a tiny sum compared to its smartphone earnings - as an acceptable cost of doing business.

The bickering over 4G will eventually be settled, and as with 3G we'll probably end up with a service that all too often costs too much and delivers too little.

Meanwhile somebody else will sue somebody else over something else and the whole thing will start rolling again, the legal fees and licensing fees trickling down into the prices we pay for our phones and our data plans and our tablets - that is, assuming sales bans don't stop us from buying them.

Whenever technology goes on trial, ordinary punters tend to lose out.

Source : techradar[dot]com

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

File this under rumour for now, but the scuttlebutt on the interweb is that the HTC One XL will be one of if not the very the first 4G capable phone on offer when the Everything Everywhere 4G network goes live in September.

According to the fine fellows over at PocketLint, the handset will be good to go when the UK's first 4G network is released from its regulatory shackles on September 11.

However, the actual go-live date for Everything Everywhere is not expected until later in the month, or perhaps October.

Finally, 4G

The HTC One XL is mostly a dead ringer for the HTC One X, save for the XL's go-faster 4G stripes.

There's no beefing up of the battery though, which raises question marks over how well it will handle the pressure.

If true, this HTC will be just one among a brave new army of 4G handsets doing their super-speedy thing before the end of the year, including a fifth generation handset from a certain fruit-themed outfit.

Subtlety doesn't suit us - we mean the new iPhone 5, obviously.

Source : techradar[dot]com

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

The Sony Xperia J is another smartphone in the Japanese firm's new series of handsets which carry on the design ethos of the late Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and Xperia Arc S.

Sony is pitching the Xperia J as a smartphone which offers "a stand-out screen size for consumers looking to combine great style with affordability".

We reckon Sony has got it right in terms of design, with the curved, rubberised back of the Xperia J fitting snugly into our hand, and the body feel solid and well built.

It looks very similar to its bigger brother, the Sony Xperia T, which sports the same design, however the Xperia J allows you to whip off the back cover, allowing you to access the full-sized SIM port, micro SD card slot and the huge 1,750mAh battery – which should keep you going all day long.

The Xperia J sports a 1GHz single-core processor, 512MB of RAM and a 4-inch, 480 x 854 TFT display, which sees it fit in between the Xperia P and Xperia U from Sony's NXT range.

The bright, clear 4-inch screen displays Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich well, with the Xperia UI slapped over the top, and text and images appear sharp and easy to see.

The Xperia J runs Ice Cream Sandwich smoothly and although it may not be as quick as the higher powered Xperia T, it is by no means a slouch, and we didn't encounter any unexpected lag or slow down.

There is around a second wait when opening apps, but this isn't long enough to cause concern or irritation, however we did find the camera app did take two to three seconds to load up.

The Sony Xperia J offers you the stock Android keyboard, which is relatively easy to type on thanks to the 4-inch display giving us enough room to hit the right keys, and although it's not perfect, we could happily tap out emails and messages on it.

To help you snap photos with the 5MP rear camera there's a single LED flash on the back of the Xperia J, and within the app you also get auto-focus, a handful of scene modes and exposure adjusments – all of which are easy to access and understand.

The auto-focus does take a little time to settle, and if you are quick on the shutter button there can be around a three second delay as the focus sorts itself out, meaning you won't be able to snap in quick succession.

There's also a front facing, VGA quality camera on the Xperia J which can be used for video calls, or the odd vanity check, but with the low quality we'd recommend sticking with the 5MP offering on the back for taking photos with.

Unlike the Xperia T there's no physical camera button on the side of the Sony Xperia J, but you do get a power/lock key and volume rocker switch located at the top of the right side, which are easy to hit when the phone is held in one hand.

Video playback was acceptable for a mid- to low-end smartphone, although we did feel colours were a little washed out, but you could still quite easily watch a movie on the Sony Xperia J, with the lightweight (124g) body and its rubber back making it comfortable to hold for extended periods.

Music lovers will be pleased to learn that Sony has included its Walkman player app on the Xperia J, which we found to be an intuitive and attractive way of managing all your tunes, and with Sony's xLoud technology on board audio played through the rear speaker is louder and less distorted than on other, similarly priced handsets – meaning you can really annoy people on bus.

There's no word on pricing other than "affordable", but we hope the Xperia J will land at around the £200 (around $310) mark, putting it head to head with the HTC One V and slightly beefier Orange San Diego.

The Sony Xperia J release date is currently unconfirmed, but we've been told it will make its way into stores during the final quarter of 2012.

Early Verdict

The Xperia J is certainly a good looking handset, but we can't help but feel it's going to be out classed by the Orange San Diego in the price bracket we expect Sony to put it in.

To say you're offering an affordable smartphone with a good screen and then pricing it the same as a handset with not only a beefier processor and camera, but also a higher-res screen, seems like a strange way to go.

That said the Sony Xperia J is still a decent handset and if your taken by the design, choice of four colours (black, gold, white and silver), and Ice Cream Sandwich out the box then you can't go too wrong with this mid- to low-range smartphone.

Source : techradar[dot]com