The Huawei Ascend P2 has been unveiled as the worlds fastest 4G smartphone at MWC 2013 in Barcelona, replacing the Ascend P1 in the Chinese firm's line up.
It's the first smartphone to pack in LTE CAT 4, which Hauwei claims will allow the Ascend P2 to deliver some blistering web browsing speeds, faster than the CAT 3 toting Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE and iPhone 5.
There's also high-speed Wi-Fi for when you want to surf the web at home, with the Ascend P2 offering speeds of up to 520Kbps.
On your marks...
The Ascend P2 also packs in a 4.7-inch display with a 315ppi resolution, 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 13MP camera, NFC technology and 2,420mAh battery into a plastic case which is 8.4mm at its thickest point.
Huawei CEO Richard Yu said it could have made the Ascend P2 even thinner, but it would have had to sacrifice the quality of the camera to make this possible.
If you've taken a fancy to the Huawei Ascend P2 you'll be pleased to learn that the handset will launch globally in the second quater of this year and will retail for €399 (around £345/$525/AU$510).
Apple has a reputation for perfectionism, for ensuring every last detail is absolutely right before presenting their latest "magical, wonderful" system, software or service to a waiting world.
And that's perfectly true... sometimes.
But Apple is made of people, and people screw up - sometimes because they make mistakes, sometimes because there are too few people under too much pressure, and sometimes because the technology isn't quite ready for what Apple's trying to do.
Here are some of Apple's most interesting failures.
1. Newton
[Image credit: Blake Patterson, Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.0]
The Newton was the iPad two decades before the iPad: an ultra-portable, incredibly useful new gadget that users absolutely loved. Steve Jobs didn't agree, and canned it in 1997. Apple may have invented the PDA (CEO John Sculley coined the term in 1992), but it hadn't perfected it: the handwriting recognition was the subject of a Simpsons spoof and a Doonesbury strip, and it seemed that people simply didn't get the Newton: where Apple hoped to sell millions of Newtons, reports suggest that it only shifted 50,000 in its first three months. By comparison, in 2012 Apple sold three million iPads in three days.
As Harry McCracken wrote in Time magazine, the problem was that Apple was simply ahead of its time: "When Jobs decided to shut down the Newton division, color screens were still unaffordable, touch input was crude and wireless data didn't get much more exciting than two-way paging. When he launched the first iPhone nine years later, technology allowed Apple to build the sort of devices it wanted to create in the 1990s, but couldn't."
2. MobileMe
The service formerly known as iTools, then .Mac, was an online software suite that would seamlessly blend desktop and web-based software and services. It didn't quite work out that way. Its 2008 relaunch was bumpy, with problematic syncing, email problems and other issues, and in 2008 Jobs admitted in an internal email that the launch was rushed and was "not up to Apple's standards". More colourfully, he apparently asked the MobileMe team what the service was supposed to do - and when they replied, he yelled "so why the f--- doesn't it do that?"
3. Pippin
[Image credit: AllAboutApple.com, CC BY-SA 2.5 IT]
Apple never planned to manufacture its games console: the Pippin was a scaled-down Mac, a games platform and networked computer, that Apple intended to license for others to make. Bandai was the main licensee, but sales were disappointing: it predicted 300,000 sales in the first year, but only made 100,000 - and of those, it only sold 42,000. That was partly because Apple didn't market it: that was the licensees' job, and they were up against Sony and Sega.
4. Lisa
The 1983 Apple Lisa was a technological triumph, the first personal computer with a Graphical User Interface and an absolutely terrifying price tag. An unfortunate intervention from Steve Jobs, who had been exiled from the Lisa project, didn't help. As affordable IBM PCs started to dominate business computing, the Lisa cost nearly $10,000 and was immediately depth-charged by Steve Jobs' announcement that a better, incompatible system was imminent. That computer was the Mac, and its 1984 release killed off the Lisa for good.
5. iOS 6 Maps
One of Apple's biggest disasters is also its most recent - although the rest of our list should give the lie to the oft-repeated belief that Apple never messed up when Steve Jobs was still around. Last year's iOS Maps debacle got the interface right and the data hopelessly wrong, and it still isn't up to scratch. The New York Times said it "may be the most embarrassing, least usable piece of software Apple has ever unleashed."
6. iPod Shuffle (3rd Generation)
Steve Jobs famously hated buttons, so what could be better than an iPod with no buttons at all? The answer turned out to be "an iPod with buttons on it". The 2009, third generation iPod Shuffle moved everything to the remote control and encouraged you to use VoiceOver, but it turned out that consumers quite like clicking things and feel stupid shouting at their gadgets. The fourth generation Shuffle got its buttons back.
7. G4 Cube
The 2000 G4 Cube is arguably one of the prettiest computers ever made, but it cost a lot ($1,599) and suffered from cracks in its transparent surface. Apple chose form over function, designing a beautiful and near-silent Mac that looked rather underpowered compared to rivals: while typical PC processors were clocking in at 1GHz, the G4 Cube's fastest processor was a 500MHz model.
8. Hockey puck mouse
Your RSI-addled, post-hand-surgery correspondent finds all Apple mice horrid, but the hockey puck mouse was particularly unpleasant: the mouse, which shipped with the iMac in 1998, was small, stylish and for many, absolutely useless. It rotated easily and was too small for some. Apple replaced it two years later with the considerably more comfortable Pro Mouse.
9. 20th Anniversary Mac
Like many Apple disasters the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh wasn't a product failure, but a marketing one: when it launched in 1997 it cost a staggering $7,499 - but the price was cut again and again, dropping to just $1,995 in early 1998. Remember how upset early iPhone purchasers were when the price dropped by $200? Early Twentieth Anniversary Mac purchasers watched their computers lose over five grand.
10. iPod Hi-Fi
When Steve Jobs showed off the iPod Hi-Fi in early 2006, the world went "meh". It was expensive, of course - more expensive than premium products from the likes of Bose - as well as enormous. It looked odd, didn't support every iPod, and didn't really have a reason to exist. Apple quietly shot it in the head in late 2007, wisely deciding to leave the iPod accessory market to third parties.
Samsung's long-rumoured Galaxy Note 8.0 has been officially announced ahead of the opening of MWC 2013.
Samsung confirmed the device after an anonymous tipster, presumably part of the set-up crew in Barcelona, snapped a picture of the Samsung stand. There, lo and behold, was the Galaxy Note 8.0 featured on the big screen.
It's big differentiation from the competition is obviously the 'power' of the S Pen, which brings in all manner of Air View and handwriting / formula / shape recognition to the mix. However, while the Notw 8.0 looks a lot like the Note 2 in terms of spec, other features have been added such as a dedicated e-book reading mode that adjusts the contrast and resolution to save reader eyesight.
The latest leak comes just a week after the Note 8.0 was accidentally revealed at a Samsung event in South Korea - but the official press release does confirm that we'll be getting both Wi-Fi and 3G versions of the tablet, although it doesn't look like 4G is included in that mix.
Top billing
The new, iPad mini-bothering member of the Note family will pack an 8-inch 1280 x 800 Super Clear LCD display, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, a 1.6GHz ARM-quad-core processor and 2GB RAM.
There's also a 5MP camera, a 2MP front-facing sensor, plus up to 32GB internal storage and the chance for much, much more though the microSD slot. And if you're worried about longevity per charge, the 4600mAh battery will probably do you for a couple of days at least.
The display isn't as clear as some of the competition, simply by the fact it has a larger screen - you can see that Samsung is less worried about the Nexus Fires of this world and once again going after its old nemesis Apple with the larger screen.
However, we don't have that one bit of crucial information: price. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 release date has been set for Q2 2013 (in the UK, at least) but if it follows other Samsung tablets and costs a rather high amount it won't have a prayer against the incumbent budget brigade, despite the reams of S Pen magic you can do.
We already know that the Samsung Galaxy S4 won't be making an appearance at the event this year, with latest speculation suggesting it will arrive at a dedicated event on March 14.
In order to gauge the issues that matter the most to Americans, the White House launched a petition website some time back. If your petition reached 30,000 signatures, the White House would have to offer some sort of official response. That threshold turned out to be too low–as even a petition to build a Death Star made its way through–so they raised the bar to 100,000 signatures. And now something very important to cellular enthusiasts has hit that bar.
Late last year, a bill passed that effectively banned the aftermarket unlocking of cell phones if they were not done by the original carrier. This went into law earlier this year and mobile enthusiasts were none too happy about it. After all, I paid for this phone, I signed a lengthy contract, I should be able to do with this phone whatever I want. If I want to pay an early cancellation fee and move to another carrier, I should have that freedom. And at least 100,000 people agree.
The petition reached the minimum threshold just in time and now the White House must offer an official response regarding making the unlocking of cell phones legal again. The unlocking cell phone petition page seems to be down at the moment and we’re not really sure why, but it did reach the necessary minimum. The White House is going to keep its word, isn’t it?
Remember that this doesn’t mean the Obama administration is compelled to lift the unlocking ban; it just means they have to give us a thoughtful response. That’s something, I guess.
Samsung confirmed the device after an anonymous tipster, presumably part of the set-up crew in Barcelona, snapped a picture of the Samsung stand. There, lo and behold, was the Galaxy Note 8.0 featured on the big screen.
Naturally, the device looks absolutely gigantic, but it seems Samsung is still intent on us using it in portrait mode with one-hand, although that could be a bit of a stretch for anyone who's not named LeBron James.
The new, iPad mini-bothering member of the Note family will pack an 8-inch 1280 x 800 Super Clear LCD display, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, a 1.6GHz ARM-quad-core processor and 2GB RAM.
The placement of the Galaxy Note 8.0 promotional screen, in the centre of the Samsung stand, suggests that it'll probably be the Korean giant's top announcement at MWC 2013.
We already know that the Samsung Galaxy S4 won't be making an appearance at the event this year, with latest speculation suggesting it will arrive at a dedicated event on March 14.
