The Samsung Galaxy S4 is more than just the new flagship phone from Sammy, it’s also the first major push by manufacturer to get their mobile phone in to each and every aspect of your daily life.
For this the S4 is going to need some accessories and it appears a full list along with pricing has been uncovered. Among the accessories include mundane things like additional batteries and flip covers, but there are some more interesting accessories such as the $129.99 Body Scale, $99.99 Game Pad and $129.99 S Band for monitoring your heart.
We can’t wait to see how these, and other, accessories will be used by app developers and can already see a whole new genre of fitness app will be on the horizon for S4 users. What do you think of the Galaxy S4, excited or not?
Either launch the phone or kill it once and for all
The Amazon phone has become the rumour that refuses to die and fresh reports now suggest it will launch with a sizeable display.
According to the wildly hit and miss Digitimes those famous "industry supply chain sources" (whoever they may be) have apparently offered up another nugget of information on a phone with could sport the online retail giant's name.
The sources claim the Amazon phone will launch with a 4.7-inch display, which is bigger than was originally planned.
Force feeding
Reports suggest Amazon wanted its first phone to have a 4.3-inch display but with the swath of 5-inch devices now on the market it's been forced to change tack.
In terms of an Amzon phone release date the supply chain leakers suggest it will happen later this year, as a second quarter launch is now out of the question thanks to production issues.
While Amazon continues to dabble in the tablet market with the likes of the Kindle Fire HD, it's made no mention that a smartphone could also be on the horizon and we're not pinning too much hope on this latest report.
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.
It's been suggested that there could even be three size variants of the new iPhone - check out these mocked up images by artist Peter Zigich. He calls the handsets iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 XL.
Could we see both an iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 this year?
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.
iPhone 6 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" - more on that shortly. Mind you, it was mooted that Apple would dump the home button in time for iPhone 5, but it never happened.
iPhone 6 screen
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.
iPhone 6 eye tracking
One thing seems certain - Apple can't ignore the massive movement towards eye-tracking tech from other vendors, especially Samsung. It seems a shoe-in that Apple will deliver some kind of motion tech within the next iPhone, probably from uMoove.
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.
iPhone 6 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.
iPhone 6 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.
Three's 1m new subscribers will have to wait for 4G
Three Mobile says it is likely to wait until the end of 2013 before it starts rolling out 4G LTE services and will ignore the opportunity to "move quickly" on the next-gen mobile tech.
During Tuesday's earning's call, Three said it saw little reason to rush, while the speeds offered by its current "ultrafast" 3G service are not significantly below those on the fledgling 4GEE network.
Logistically, the company is able to roll-out 4G services on the 800MHz spectrum it acquired in the recent spectrum auction but, unlike rivals O2 and Vodafone, the Three seems happy to wait for the right moment.
CEO Dave Dyson told reporters: "Our network stacks up very well. Right now the latest version of 3G and the early versions of LTE are not dramatically different and I am very confident that our customers are getting the right experience.
"Realistically, I think it's going to be towards the end of the year before you see us launch (4G) LTE as a technology.
New customers and profits through the roof
It's little surprise that the company isn't willing to push the big red 4G panic button, considering the UK's smallest major mobile network announced the addition of a million new customers on Tuesday.
The annual slew of newcomers brings Three's customer base to 9.1 million, all of whom contributed to the company's £101m annual profit - only its second year in the black since Three began trading here in 2003.
Indeed, when the company eventually does decide to launch a 4G LTE service, it can expect to snare even more new subscribers.
It’s quite clear that there is an ongoing push toward ever larger screens on Android smartphones these days, as evidenced by devices like the Huawei Mate and the Galaxy Note II. Even the non-phablet smartphones have screens in the 5-inch kind of range, like the recently revealed Samsung Galaxy S 4. But not everyone wants something that size and so leaks of a Galaxy S 4 Mini have arisen and it turns out there may even be four different versions of this smaller Galaxy smartphone.
Let’s start out with some of the basics. According to the rumors circulating around the Internet, the Galaxy S4 Mini will follow in the footsteps of the S3 Mini that came before it. The idea is that it’ll take many of the design cues and features from its larger 5-inch Galaxy S 4 cousin and shrink them down to a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED form factor. It’s not the same resolution, of course, getting bumped down to just 540 x 960 pixels. It’ll have either a dual core or a quad core processor and will ship with Android 4.2.2.
The main thing that will determine whether it has dual core or quad core is likely the presence of LTE. And that’s where the four versions will come into play. There will be an LTE model of the Galaxy S4 Mini that’ll likely get the dual core chip. Then, there’s an HSPA+ model that probably gets the quad core chip. Third, there’s a version designed specifically for the Chinese market and the fourth will be a dual-sim model.
The expectation is that the Galaxy S4 Mini, possibly in all four of its incarnations, will be launching in June or July of this year.
