The unlucky majority who were unable to snap the brilliant Nexus 4 from Google after its release last week will soon be able to pick up the handset from Three…as long as they're willing to cough up 400 smackers for it.
From December 13 - which marks the end of O2's Nexus 4 exclusive offer - the service provider will be selling the handset for £399.99 on Pay As You Go, or for £35 per month on Three's The One plan with an upfront cost of £29.
Three is yet to reveal whether this price is for the 8GB or 16GB variety of the Nexus 4, but either way it's notably more than the wallet-friendly £279 Google is selling the 16GB model for SIM-free. It's also not yet known how long the £35 per month contract term is for, but it's probably two years.
Supply & demand
Google is currently selling the Nexus 4 at a loss, but network carriers have taken advantage of the handset's massive popularity (it's currently sold out on Google and several other outlets) by charging more for the device.
The higher prices are also to accommodate the contracts being sold with the phones.
Three's All in One 15 costs £15 and gives 30-day access to All-You-Can-Eat data along with 300 any-network minutes and 3,000 texts. Alternatively, All in One 25 costs £25 and offers All-You-Can-Eat data, 500 minutes and 3,000 texts and for a 30-day period.
A communication between LG and an Optimus 7 Windows Phone 7 device owner has cast doubt over whether the aging phone will see the Windows Phone 7.8 update. If it's correct, will the Optimus 7 be the only one to suffer?
While Windows Phone 7 device owners wait patiently for news of the Windows Phone 7.8 software update, there could be trouble brewing, as according to an LG representative, its Optimus 7 phone may not be getting the update at all.
The news comes from a Polish WP7 blog, which published an email from LG to a customer inquiring about the release of WP7.8, saying it’s “not expected to introduce the software update for your version of the E900.” At least, that’s what Google Translate gives us.
We know the E900 better as the LG Optimus 7, one of the original Windows Phone 7 line-up released in late-2010. It was joined by the LG Quantum/LG Optimus 7Q, a close relation with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard which was only released in selected markets, the U.S. being one of them.
Like the majority of first generation Windows Phones, the Optimus 7 has a single-core 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM, and it has subsequently been updated to Windows Phone 7.5 Mango.
What we’re saying here is that at first glance, there’s no obvious reason why it shouldn’t run Windows Phone 7.8. The concern then becomes, what if it’s not the only one?
Microsoft hasn’t been very forthcoming with details on the new software, saying only that new information would be coming in the next weeks. Nokia has been more careless, with a few pieces of information leaking from its camp recently, plus the OS has been seen running on a Lumia 900.
So, we know WP7.8 will make it to the Lumia 900, but are there any notable differences between it and the Optimus 7? It shipped with version 7.5, also known as Mango, already installed, while the Optimus 7 didn’t, plus the processor is a Qualcomm APQ8055 1.4GHz chip, and the Optimus 7 uses a 1GHz Qualcomm QSD8650.
The Lumia’s chip is part of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S2 range, while the Optimus 7’s is a Snapdragon S1, and was first produced almost two-years before the S2 version. It’s also essentially the same chip found in the other first generation Windows Phones, including the HTC Trophy, HD7 and HTC 7 Pro, the Samsung Omnia 7 and the Focus, plus the aforementioned LG Quantum.
If the processor is the problem, there’s going to be more than a few disappointed owners out there when WP7.8 does arrive.
No cause for alarm just yet
There’s a good chance this may not be the case, as the Optimus 7 has always been a bit of a problem child. When Mango was released, the phone was one of the few that experienced consistent update fails, leading to Microsoft recommending that users don’t even try. This was also the case with Samsung’s Omnia 7.
A hardware problem which raised its head earlier this year resulted in LG replacing bricked, discontinued Optimus 7 devices with Android phones, plus users have reported issues with the headphone socket and the charging system too. Perhaps the Optimus 7 is just too far past its usefulness — in LG and Microsoft’s eyes at least — to be worthy of updating.
Finally, the LG representative could have got the facts wrong, and Optimus 7 owners will be able to enjoy Windows Phone 7.8 after all. However, we won’t know for sure until Microsoft gets round to providing a release date for the missing-in-action update.
This special Thanksgiving edition of Digital Blend gives thanks for the best in under-$20 gaming for 2012.
Happy Thanksgiving, Digital Blenders! This has been a tremendous year for games of all shapes and sizes, and an especially good one for the sort of digital-only full titles and DLC offerings that I cover here. Instead of running through the usual line-up of big news and releases for the week, I’m using today instead to look back over 2012 and zero in on the best of the best, the favorites that you might want to give a second look — or a first look! — as you cower in a corner and wait for the Black Friday hellstorm to pass.
Mark of the Ninja :: Xbox 360 / Windows :: 1,200 MS Points / $14.99
There were a lot of stealth games released in 2012 and many of them either flirted with excellence or flat-out embraced it. Klei Entertainment’s Mark of the Ninjafalls into the latter category, and it may well be the best genre release of the year. The 2D side-scroller features the same cartoon-inspired art style and over-the-top violence that marks Klei’s efforts on the two Shank games, only you’re employing stealth tactics and striking always from the shadows. With a perfectly laid out learning curve, a healthy mixture of abilities and tools to unlock, and a loose, free-thinking AI opposing you, Mark of the Ninja delivers one of the most exciting and dynamic stealth gaming experiences in this or any other year.
Borderlands 2 DLC :: PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 / PC :: $9.99 / 800 MS Points
Gearbox Software has released two or four promised DLC add-on packs for the September “looter shooter,” Borderlands 2. You can read our positive reviews of both Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty and Mister Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage at your leisure, but the takeaway is: YAY. Gearbox delivered healthy amounts of add-on content for the original Borderlands, but the DLC output for Borderlands 2 steps things up considerably. Both packs add new environments — complete with multiple fast-travel locations! — an assortment of new enemies to face and loot to collect, and a more developed approach to the endgame. Scarlett ranks as the better of the two by a wide margin, but both are solid efforts. You can also still nab yourself a Season Pass to pre-buy the full selection of four content packs with a $10 overall savings.
Journey :: PlayStation 3 :: $14.99
Some will argue that Journey isn’t worth the price of admission, with $14.99 being too step for what amounts to a two-hour game. Those people are idiots. It’s foolish to discount anything from Jenova Chen and Thatgamecompany, especially a stellar effort like Journey. The beautiful, minimalist design and unconventional approach to online play are noteworthy bullet points, but the real appeal of Journey is more intangible. Just check out Ryan’s own Journey review, which nabbed a near-perfect 9.5 / 10 score. If price really is an issue for you, there’s also the Journey Collector’s Editionpackage, a disc-based compilation that sweetens the deal with Thatgamecompany’s flOw and Flower for a total price of $29.99.
Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack!! :: PlayStation Vita / PC :: $7.99 / $2.79
Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack!!will cost you slightly more on the PlayStation Vita, but it also continues to be one of the best reasons to own Sony’s portable gaming system. The 2D platformers sees you guiding a tiny mutant blob from outer space through a series of environments, growing large as you absorb everyday items into your blobby form. It’s sort of a cross between Katamari Damacy and Super Mario Bros, only way more twisted and featuring one of the greatest final levels in video game history. Oh yeah: we’re getting hyperbolic up in here. Justifiably. Tales From Space is the real deal.
Papo & Yo :: PlayStation 3 :: $14.99
Few games impressed me more this year than Papo & Yo from newcomer from newcomer studio Minority. Conceived by Vander Caballero, a veteran of AAA game development, this puzzle-platformer tells the very personal story of its creator’s rough childhood as seen through the lens of magical realism. Caballero and his siblings grew up with an alcoholic father, realized in the game as a friendly, oversized monster that can turn nasty without warning whenever he munches on any frog that wanders across his path. It’s a relatively simple and straightforward game, but it’s also a stunningly beautiful one that will leave you lost in thought by the time its credits roll. I can’t recommend this one highly enough. Go get it.
The Walking Dead :: PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 / PC / iOS :: price varies
What can really be said that hasn’t already about Telltale Games work on The Walking Dead? Having played through all five episodes as well as all of this year’s big releases (Far Cry 3 included; stay tuned for that review soon), I can safely say that this one is the absolute no-brainer for Game of the Year. It’s a perfect effort, top-to-bottom, an adventure game that completely reinvents genre conventions while pulling off the impossible: delivering a story that demands your wholehearted investment. It’s a difficult journey to take, especially by the time you reach the grim events of episode five, but the rewards earned for sticking it out can’t be quantified. This is video gaming at its very finest, and it’s an experience that can be enjoyed regardless of where you think you fall in the hardcore / casual gamer divide.
Our constantly updated list of the best HTC phones.
So you've decided that HTC is the brand you want to spend the next 24 months of your life with - but that's not the end of the quest.
You have a plethora of devices, price points and operating systems to choose from and it can all get a little bewildering. But which is the best HTC phone for you?
Like Huawei and ZTE, HTC started life by building network-branded handsets, and has branched out and made their own name. The HTC Desire was the phone that truly launched it, and the Android OS, into the mainstream.
With the launch of the Android 'One' line, and Windows Phone based '8' line, alongside the continuation of the Desire range, how does HTC's new slim lined range stack up?
Thankfully TechRadar is on hand to help you out - check out our run down of all the HTC phones around at the moment:
1. HTC One X+
OS: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Not being a complete overhaul of the impressive One X, the HTC One X+ is comparable to the Sensation XE over the original Sensation.
Launching in matte black, with red accents, the HTC One X+ launches with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and HTC Sense 4+ on top of a 1.7GHz quad core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, powered by a massive 2100mAh battery.
It's ticked the boxes that we were looking for in an improvement to the One X, and should be a real consideration for anyone looking for their next smartphone.
Looking at the HTC One X, it is clear that phone was designed to be at the fore of the mobile market. The quad core processor, Android 4.1 and Sense 4+, and HD screen make the HTC One X a powerful media phone.
This is backed up with 32GB of internal storage, highly necessary given the lack of microSD support. It's still one of the best HTC phones around, and now is a little more palatable on the price front thanks to the appearance of the HTC One X+.
Baby brother to the HTC One X, the One S, might not have the same highly-powered insides, but that doesn't mean it's not special in its own right.
Its slightly smaller than the One X, and only has a dual core processor, but the Super AMOLED display reproduces colours faithfully. For those looking for a high end handset, but not looking for high end prices, the One S is a real alternative, and if you can't stand the thought of a larger screen then this is the number one handset from HTC, especially given the micro-arc oxidised back it's rocking.
The recent Windows Phone 8 launch means that new devices such as the brightly coloured HTC 8X are the hot topic of conversation.
The HD display with 342ppi easily matches the iPhone for clarity, and the dual core 1.5GHz processor powers WP8 along with aplomb. Like the One X, it doesn't come with microSD support, which is a little frustrating given that this is now supported by WP8.
However, it's a strong handset with a number of top features, including Beats Audio and a dedicated internal amplifier... plus we're digging the alternative design.
Coincidentally launching 2 years after the original Desire, the HTC Desire X may well be designed to catch users coming to the end of their 24 month contract.
With a design reminiscent of the HTC One series, the Desire X comes with a dual core 1GHz processor, Android 4.0.4 and an impressive 4 inch Super LCD screen.
It's main strength is that it comes in at a slightly cheaper price bracket, and should be rolled up to Jelly Bean at some point soon.
The lowest specced model of the HTC range is the HTC Desire C. This might seem a little odd, given that the Desire range was once the jewel in the HTC crown.
The big selling point of the HTC Desire C is the low price, so you might forgive the 600MHz processor, or the HVGA 3.5-inch screen. Looking at it though, you'd fool just about everyone as the HTC Desire C looks like a high end device.
It's not got the grunt or the clout of the new One Series, but the big advantage the Desire C has over the competition is the addition of HTC Sense, an overlay which supercharges the device compared to the boring stock Android.
You have to feel a little bit sorry for the HTC One V - it was an unloved cookie from the start. Despite having a similar design to the popular HTC Hero and Legend, few outlets ever picked it up, despite the lower-ish price tag.
Actually, it was the cost that condemned it - a single core processor, no chance of Jelly Bean and an underpowered camera meant that the fact it was up there with the One S in terms of price meant there was very little reason to choose it.
But it's still around and a darn sight cheaper, so if you like iconic, premium design and aren't too fussed about specs then it's a good alternative choice.
We shouldn't have this phone on the list as it's just too old now - well, over a year, which is aeons in this business.
However, it's cheaper than gone-off chips now, so if you're after a budget choice then this can still do a job. It's got pre-Beats SRS surround sound enhancement, a microSD slot and a 600MHz processor, as well as a 3.2MP camera.
Burn through the Web with these handy add-ons for Mozilla's Firefox browser.
Firefox is one of the most popular browsers on the market, and although it wasn’t the first Web browser to support extensions, it definitely has the largest library of them. Third party developers have been making custom Firefox add-ons for years now, and with a library that numbers in the millions, it can be hard to track down the best ones. For that reason, we’ve put together this list of our favorites that are sure to give your browser a boost.
The end-all be-all of browser extensions. This one lets you run countless custom user-created scripts and tweak the Internet in tons of different ways.
We hate to break it to you, but your browsing isn’t private. On almost every website you visit, bugs and trackers collect data on the pages you go to and the links you click. Ghostery blocks over 1,000 of these bugs and provides you quick access to more information about the ones it’s blocking
AutoPager eliminates the need for you to click “next page” ever again. The extension auto-loads subsequent pages on any multi-page site and allows you to scroll continuously through the contents.
With a namesake from the man whom Jesus brought back to life four days after he was dead, the Lazarus extension more or less does what its biblical lore describes: it recovers everything you enter into form fields. So, if the page crashes or times out, you don’t lose everything.
Highlight any text in a foreign language, right-click on it, and you’ll instantly be given a Google-powered translation into the language of your choice.
Lastpass saves all your passwords in a locally encrypted vault, so not even LastPass has access to them. In addition to saving and auto-filling passwords, it can also be used to generate highly secure passwords when you create new accounts.
This extension is a project from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and pretty much does what it sounds like it does. It encrypts your communications with major websites, turning the site from “http” to “https,” ensuring that your browsing is secure.
TrackMeNot is a lot like Ghostery in that it seeks to keep your browsing habits private. However, it takes an entirely different approach. Rather than blocking bugs and trackers, TrackMeNot obfuscates your browsing by sending out randomized queries every so often.
Web of Trust is a user-ratings-based add-on that informs you about the level of security behind a link before you click on it. It has a user base of over 1.6 million users (and more on Chrome), so the trustworthiness ratings are generally pretty reliable.
FEBE, which stands for Firefox Environment Backup Extension, backs up all of your add-ons by building installable .xsi files and saving them locally on your computer.
This is a shopping helper extension that works by indexing thousands of shopping sites and alerting you if there’s a lower price for any item you’re looking at.
Nobody likes getting all squinty-eyed trying to see what thumbnail pictures are. With this extension, thumbnails will be enlarged when you hover over them with your mouse
This one is somewhat similar to Thumbnail Zoom and Image Zoom, but it works for image links. Hover over the hyperlink of any image and this add-on will give you a preview of the picture.
Similar to Thumbnail Zoom, this add-on enlarges images on the Web to their full size when you hover over them with your mouse. It doesn’t work with every image you’ll come across, but it works with most of them.
This handy little add-on will tell you why the page you’re on is running so slowly. It uses Yahoo’s rules for high-performance Web pages and suggests ways to improve the performance of the page you’re viewing.
A must-have for students, this extension manages all of your sources while you’re doing research and provides simple tools to help you create citations.
WindowShopper makes shopping online a more visual experience. Instead of searching with text, it allows you to use image searches to find products similar to the one you’re viewing.
Most of the time when you’re copying text, you want the text, but don’t need the formatting that comes along with it. Copy Plain Text allows you to copy stuff to your clipboard sans formatting.
