Super-sized smartphones are all the rage these days with the Huawei Ascend Mate, ZTE Grand Memo and the ridiculously big Galaxy Mega following in the footsteps of the Samsung Galaxy Note - and Nokia is apparently next in line to get in on the action.
According to sources talking to the Finanical Times, the Finnish firm is cooking up a large-screened handset of its own.
This phone-tablet crossover device is said to be a similar size to the Galaxy Note, but will be technically more advanced - however, there were no details on specs, release date or even a name.
More where that came from
There's more than just a super-sized smartphone on the cards over at Nokia though, with people "familiar with Nokia's plans" claiming it's readying several high-end flagship products for 2013.
Only yesterday did we hear further rumours surrounding the Nokia EOS and it's 41MP PureView camera and these reports have been reinforced by the sources who reckon we could see the handset arrive in July.
Caught on the Catwalk
There have also been murmurings surrounding another Nokia device, dubbed Catwalk, which is thought to be a leaner Lumia 920 - something which is mentioned in the FT report.
Over on Sina Weibo - China's version of Twitter - the Nokia Catwalk has apparently appeared in a number of snaps, revealing that it is indeed both lighter (by 50g) and slimmer (by 2.3mm) than the Lumia 920.
According to the report the Lumia Catwalk will feature a 4.5-inch display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 16GB of internal storage, 2000mAh battery and an 8.7MP camera.
WPCentral claim these details have been "confirmed" by one of its own sources, but we're staying cautious on all these rumours - although it does seem Nokia is working on some big things.
With the Kindle Fire HD selling like hotcakes and rumours of an Amazon smartphone getting louder and louder, the online retailer has decided to throw more fuel on the fire of speculation by opening its App Store to an additional 200 markets around the world.
Previously only available in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Spain, the App Store will roll out over the coming months to a large number of additional countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, India, South Africa and South Korea.
The Amazon app store, with more than 50,000 apps, will be available to download to a wide number of Android devices, offering Android users an alternative source of apps to buy on their device.
Developers can now dictate which countries they wish their app to appear in, while international developers can also begin enjoying the new global reach of the Amazon ecosystem.
Setting the world on Fire
The last time that Amazon expanded its App Store access back in 2011 from the US-only to include the UK and European countries, it was a precursor to international availability of the Kindle Fire overseas.
Whether this global expansion is planned for the current range of Fire tablets or a new breed of Amazon smartphone is pure speculation, but it's unlikely that Amazon doesn't have a strategy to expand its hardware footprint outside of the US and Europe.
The Optimus G Pro is the great new hope for LG Mobile
LG has pledged to improve its devices after admitting to a sluggish start to the smartphone era.
In a briefing with TechRadar in Seoul today, Won Kim, LG's head of mobile communications in Europe, confessed that the smartphone market is currently a two horse race with bitter rivals Samsung and Apple dominating heavily.
"Sadly the mobile market is a two horse race at the moment with Samsung and Apple," he said.
"It's not easy for us to shake the lands. It's getting more and more difficult. Never the less we have a strong footprint led by our new smartphones and on top of that we have the Nexus 4 and the Optimus G as a flagship phone with best in class hardware features and most up to date software."
Kim says the UK is the most tricky phone market in the world, with Samsung and Apple picking up more market share than anyone else. However, he pointed to some other European countries where LG is already a strong number 3 and pledged to take that position in the UK – something Sony is also striving hard to achieve.
"LG has been a bit sluggish in terms of rollout of our next gen mobiles in Europe but nevertheless our footprint in 3G smartphone has improved in the last year and we're reaching about 10 per cent market share in Europe now and we have a number 3 brands in European countries like Spain, Italy and Poland. At the same time we have good customer relationships and recognition in Northern countries.
"We are very weak in the UK market but it's time for us to challenge this most difficult market this year and we must do something in order to establish a footprint in the UK. But with the Optimus G and Optimus G Pro we feel we have the products to do this. Sooner or later we will be the number 3 brand in the UK as well."
Kim In Kyung, head of 4G LTE research at LG, added that LG is defrentiating itself from competitors like HTC and Sony by making "better products".
"We are different from brands like Sony or HTC. So we are the true competitor of our neighbour, so our strategy is to never forget that phones are connected devices – all LG devices should connect and talk to each other. They are copying our features such as putting embedded IR in a phone to make it a remote control.
"The Optimus G Pro is just better than any other phone and people will see this when they use it."
Will you be buying an LG mobile phone this year? Let us know in the comments or tweet @techradar
Call Facebook ubiquitous and you're understating your case. Unlock any random smartphone and you're guaranteed to find a little blue F icon waiting on the home screen.
Facebook is so big, so everywhere, so omnipresent that it's already on everyone's phone, but apparently that's not enough for the sharing mogul. Now Facebook has decided to completely take over devices with Facebook Home, and has collaborated with HTC to create the HTC First, a phone meant to show just what that experience can be.
The First moniker comes from being the first phone with Facebook Home preloaded. It's a well built, unassuming little handset, nowhere near as big, flashy or as fast as the quad-core HTC One.
It's so subdued, you could almost mistake it for an iPhone 5 secured in a rubber case. It's a 5-inch dual-core handset that's currently exclusive to AT&T's 4G LTE network, going for $99 with two-year agreement. It comes in black, red, white, pale blue or red, and will cost you $450 at full price.
Once you dive into the software, however, the First resembles nothing else. Thanks to the Facebook Home overlay, it takes some digging to realize the HTC First is running Android 4.1: Jelly Bean with no manufacturer or carrier tweaking.
There's actually an excellent stock Android experience to be had here, one with solid battery life thanks to a small screen and restrained dual-core processor. There's also fast data service, provided by LTE coverage from AT&T. That's something you can't get on the other best stock Android experience in town, the Nexus 4.
This comes once you've disabled Facebook Home, however. With it enabled, all the basic smartphone functionality is there, it's just been buried by layer upon layer of whatever stuff your Facebook friends are posting. Posts are there right from the lock screen, using friends' cover photos as backgrounds.
Even SMS text messaging, that old standby of the smartphone, has gotten all Facebooked. On the HTC First it's been baked into the social network's own Messenger app, and displayed with floating Chat Heads icons.
So does total Facebook integration add or detract from the Android experience, or is it a whole different beast altogether? Is this a natural evolution, or has the premier service for liking cat videos and posting pics of meals growing cold finally gotten too big for it's britches? Read on for our take.
Design
Physically, the HTC First has a very manageable design. It's just 5-inches tall, like an iPhone 5. That makes it perfect for users who find large handsets, such as the Galaxy S3 and the upcoming Galaxy S4, too big.
It nestles nicely in the palm, and has a rubberized body with rounded corners like the HTC 8X. Unlike aluminum bodied phones such as the HTC One and the iPhone 5, it won't scuff easily, and doesn't need a case to prevent unsightly scratches.
At 4.37 ounces, it's a very balanced weight. There's enough there to be substantial, but it's light enough to toss in a pocket or purse and forget about.
HTC phones, even cheaper ones, usually have nice screens, and the First is no exception. The display is 4.3-inches and with a resolution of 1280 x 720, we're in 720p HD territory.
As is also the case with HTC phones, the color saturation is well tuned. Colors are true to life, and videos and pictures look quite good. You'd have to hold the First next to the best screens around, the HTC One, iPhone 5 or Galaxy S3, to realize it's less than premium.
Continuing with the HTC traditions, the First has a sealed body design. There's no opening it up to remove the battery or add storage, but this also gives it a very solid build quality. It doesn't feel like a phone that costs a lot of money, but it doesn't feel as cheap as, say, the HTC One VX, either.
Below the screen you'll find three capacitive buttons that light up when the First is active. Other than their looks, this is typical Android stuff. The back button is an arrow pointing left, home is a circle and the option button is a line or dash.
These symbols don't correspond to any Facebook features that we're aware of, so we're not sure why HTC stepped away from the typical Android design language. Maybe just to give the first Facebook phone a unique look?
On the back things get normal again. There you'll also find the lens for a 5-megapixel camera and an LED flash.
The First is also surprisingly restrained when it comes to branding. For the device meant to introduce the world to Facebook Home, it only has one little F logo on the back, next to HTC and AT&T's marks. We applaud everyone's restraint here.
On the right there's a SIM card tray, which pops out when the included SIM tool or a paper clip is inserted. Above that is the standard mini USB charging port, which struck us as odd placement. It'll only be annoying if you frequently use your phone while it's charging.
Usually the charging port is found on the bottom, below the screen, but instead that's where the First's speaker grill resides. This is the only speaker on the phone, and we sometimes had to take care not muffle it when watching videos, so it's not optimal placement.
On the upper left side you'll find a run-of-the-mill volume rocker. It's easy enough to find and press without looking at your phone.
At the top you'll find a headphone jack and lock button. As with the iPhone 5, it's easy to reach the lock button since the phone is just 5-inches. Tall handsets with hard to reach lock buttons on the top, like the HTC One, tend to annoy us.
One thing that strikes us as missing is a dedicated camera button. If there's actually someone out there who would like a phone built around Facebook, they would surely be obsessed with picture taking and Instagram. The lack of quick shutter snapping access is a major design fail.
Overall though, the HTC First is pleasant, if unremarkable to hold. The functional but milquetoast design of this phone, as well as the fact that Facebook Home buries the best Android functionality, reveals the sort of audience the First is chasing. This phone is for someone who wants to forget about their phone when they're not using it, and only wants to do basic things like text, share pictures and check Facebook when they are using it.
Furthermore, the immense pleasure we felt at having a Jelly Bean phone of a reigned in size speaks to oversaturation of too-large handsets in the Android market. Won't someone please make a reasonably sized quad-core LTE phone and let it run stock Android? Help us, Google Nexus 5, you're our only hope!
Is this really a new Samsung design? (credit: evleaks)
It emerged this week that Samsung could choose a new unibody metal chassis for the Galaxy Note 3, and today images appeared online that could show Samsung's new design language in the wild.
The Twitter account @evleaks posted the images with the question "Upcoming Samsung design language?"
Evleaks has an excellent track record when it comes to these things, though it's by no means infallible. Well this could very well be what it seems, it's also unclear what we're really looking at, and the pictures are of extremely low quality.
Nevertheless, the recent whispers of a new Galaxy Note 3 design - not to mention what looks like an S Pen slot on this alien Samsung device - are at the very least suggestive.
Galaxy Note 3 going metal
Rumors of a new unibody metal Galaxy Note 3 design came with a report that said Samsung had taken "note" (ha) of the HTC One's striking design.
If this really is the new Galaxy Note 3 we're looking at, then it appears last month's reports that it would feature an unbreakable flexible display won't pan out.
Report's of the Galaxy Note 3's screen size have varied as well, with massive 5.9- and 6.3-inch displays both hinted at last month.
We've asked Samsung to comment on these images, but we're not anticipating a response.
Regardless, remember that leaks of this nature are always to be handled with a healthy dose of skepticism until something's officially announced.
