Nokia Amber update for WP8 Lumias coming in August

The Nokia Lumia 925 launched with a new and improved software and Nokia promised to make it available to its older WP8 phones in the summer with the so-called Amber update. Now we've got a more concrete time frame thanks to the Nokia Spain's Twitter account.

La actualización Amber para la gama Nokia Lumia con WP8 llegará en agosto dando la misma experiencia de usuario que el #Lumia925
— Nokia Spain (@NokiaSpain) June 28, 2013

The Amber update for Nokia Lumia range with WP8 arrive in August giving the same user experience as #Lumia925
Translated with Google Translate

The Amber update will bring the new Smart Camera lens for Lumia, which does post processing tricks like Action shot, Motion focus and object removal. Check out demos of those effects here.
There’s more - Amber will enable the FM radio receiver that has been lying dormant in Windows Phone 8 powered Lumia phones (except the 620) and the "double tap to wake" lockscreen with a clock (presumably only for AMOLED packing phones). Check out our preview of the Lumia 925 for more details on these features.

Nokia sets up Trade-up program for your used phone in the US

Nokia, in partnership with Clover Wireless, has launched a trade in program for the US. The initiative allows you to give your old smartphone and receive a VISA prepaid card that you can use for purchasing a brand new Nokia Lumia smartphone.

Currently eligible for the discount are the Nokia Lumia 920, Lumia 925 and Lumia 928. You can submit any smartphone to see how much of a financial benefit it'd translate to when purchasing one of the aforementioned Windows Phone 8 smartphones.
The value of a submitted smartphone is determined by Clover Wireless, who has more than 20 years of experience in the resale market and it says it's analyzing the market constantly. The maximum balance you can receive in the VISA prepaid card is $300.
For example, based on its condition, an iPhone 4S is worth up to $250, $210 for a Samsung Galaxy S3 or $250 for an HTC One. After you've determined the cost of your phone using Nokia's specialized webpage (source link below) you send it in the mail with a proof of purchase of your new Nokia Lumia attached. And that's it.
What do you think of Nokia's latest attempt at luring in customers in the US? Would you participate in such program if Nokia made it available in your country as well ?

BlackBerry loses $84M despite increased shipments, revenues

BlackBerry reported the financial results for the quarter that ends June 1 and there's some good news and some bad news. The company saw an uptick the two previous quarters, but this quarter ended with an operating loss of $84 million.
On the positive side, revenue was up to $3.1 billion, 15% higher than the previous quarter and 9% more than the year ago quarter. Shipments were up too – BlackBerry shipped 6.8 million devices, up from 6 million in the previous quarter.


The report doesn’t tell how many BlackBerry Z10s were shipped, the previous quarter it was 1 million). The Z10 was the sole shipping BlackBerry 10 product, but this quarter it was joined by the more affordable, QWERTY-equipped Q10. The lower-end Q5 launched at the beginning of the next quarter in the shifted fiscal year of the Canadian company. As for BlackBerry's sole tablet, the PlayBook, it shipped 100,000 units.
BlackBerry reports increased revenue from North America (30%), APAC (35%) and EMEA (9%), but Latin American revenue dropped by 6% (BB is blaming Venezuela's foreign currency restrictions).
At the end of the quarter BlackBerry's cash, equivalents, short and long-term investments totaled $3.1 billion, up from $2.9 billion at the end of the quarter before that.
BlackBerry expects to continue losing money over the next quarter too, but the company will continue its cost cutting efforts and focus on the BlackBerry 10 OS, Enterprise Service 10 and BlackBerry Messenger.
Update: Uh-oh. Investors didn't react kindly to BlackBerry's financial report and the company's stock took a massive beating - it's down over 26% at the time of writing.

You can install Android 4.3 on your Galaxy S4 right now

Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition was unleashed just two days ago, but some lucky guy have somehow managed to get his hands on an Android 4.3 Jelly Bean-running test unit of the device. The Android build however doesn't have all of the features that will premiere within the official Android 4.3 though.

The Google's edition of Samsung's flagship is based on the I9505 model powered by the Snapdragon 600 chipset and normally runs on a stock Android 4.2 Jelly Bean ROM.
However if you already got one or even if you own a regular I9505 Galaxy S4 and wonder what is to have the new Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, now you can experience it. You can now install the leaked Google Play Edition's test Android 4.3 ROM on your device. We already tried it and found it to be fully functional, with only a minor glitch here and there.
Now there's a chance that some creative developer with too much free time simply altered a few lines in the about screen of the existing 4.2.2 Android release and bundled it with the newly leaked camera and gallery apps. Still, even if it is a prank, the smartphone works as expected, so you can try it. There are a few things you need to know before you continue. You need to root your smartphone and install a custom recovery and then flash the leaked ROM through it. Even the locked bootloader of our Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4 unit didn't turn to be an issue.
More importantly, this ROM can't be installed via Odin and will void your warranty after the installation.
If you accept those terms and all the risks they bring, then hit our source link below for the download links and instructions. We'll be posting a brief hands-on with the Android 4.3-tasting Galaxy S4 shortly on our blog, so stay tuned.

Alleged press images of Sony Xperia i1 Honami leak out

After posing for live shots yesterday, the Sony Xperia Honami made yet another appearance. This time around, the yet to be revealed top-shelf smartphone showed up in alleged press images, reportedly taken from a Xperia i1 Honami system dump.

The press images show both what appears to be the international version of the smartphone, as well as one which is bound for NTT Docomo in Japan. The press renders of the former appear to be in line with the recently leaked live images of the device. Sadly, no images of the device's back are available at the moment.
There is no official launch date for the Sony Xperia Honami. Considering the intensifying leaks of the device however, we doubt it will be a long wait. Until then, use the usual pinch of salt when checking out the images.

Sony announces updated RX1R and RX100 II compact cameras

Last year Sony launched the RX1 and the RX100 cameras, which went on to become some of the best compact cameras money could buy. Now, less than a year from their launch, Sony has announced updated versions of both cameras: the special edition RX1R and the RX100 II.

The RX1R gets a minor improvement over the RX1. The new model gets rid of the optical low-pass filter (OLPF) found on the RX1R whose purpose is to suppress moiré and color artifacts. The removal of the filter helps the camera achieve even greater resolution through the same sensor with sharper images.

The RX100 II, on the other hand, gets a brand new 1-inch, 20.2 megapixel backside illuminated CMOS sensor. Sony claims it is the world’s first 1.0-type back illuminated sensor ever developed and offers 40% more sensitivity in low-light situations compared to the previous generation model. The RX100 II also gets Wi-Fi and is the first Sony camera to include NFC for quickly transferring content to compatible devices, such as smartphones and tablets.
Other additions include a hot shoe for connecting an additional flash, electronic viewfinder or flash and the display is now fully articulating. Lastly, the RX100 II can record videos in 1080p24 mode.
The special edition RX1R is priced at $2,800, same as the RX1 which will continue to be sold. The RX100 II, meanwhile, will replace the RX100 and costs $750.

WP8 Samsung ATIV S Neo and HTC 8XT for Sprint announced

 

Two new Windows Phone 8 offerings will be making their way stateside on Sprint's 4G LTE network this summer.


The first is the HTC 8XT, toting a 4.3-inch display of WVGA resolution as well as a Snapdragon 400 chipset with a 1.4 GHz dual-core Krait CPU. The RAM is 1GB, while internal memory is only 8 GB but can be expanded by up to 64GB thanks to the microSD card slot. The HTC 8XT will draw its juice from a 1800 mAh battery.
Samsung's ATIV S Neo, like the regular ATIV S, will offer a larger 4.8-inch display of 720p resolution (we're not sure if it'll be of the AMOLED variety, however), a dual-core 1.4 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM and a 2000 mAh battery. There's also mention of the ATIV S's NFC connectivity and 1.9 MP front-facing camera.
Sprint is keeping mum on a more specific release date, saying only "this summer," but on contract pricing has been listed at $99 for the HTC 8XT (after $50 rebate), and $149 for the Samsung ATIV S Neo (after $50 rebate).

Snapdragon 800 Samsung Galaxy S4 benchmarked, scores inside

The Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A went official this morning in South Korea, promising double the download and upload speeds compared to the regular LTE edition. Moreover, the Galaxy S4 LTE-A with its Snapdragon 800 promises to be significantly quicker than the company's own eight-core Exynos 5 Octa chip. But how much faster exactly?

Thankfully, we've got the answer as the Snapdragon 800 in the Galaxy S4 LTE-A has just been put through two of the most famous benchmarks around: Quadrant and AnTuTu.

AnTuTu

Higher is better

• Sort by Label
• Sort by Value

• Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A
  29976
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
  26275
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
  24716

Quadrant

Higher is better

• Sort by Label
• Sort by Value

• Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A
  18581
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
  12446
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
  12376

As you can clearly see, the Snapdragon 800 wipes the floor with both the Samsung Galaxy S4 Exynos 5 Octa and Galaxy S4 Snapdragon 600. In AnTuTu the difference between the scores is 3701 points, or just over 14% while in Quadrant it's more substantial at nearly 50%. Owners of the Octa and Snapdragon 600 versions of the phone might feel a bit off at this point.
Pricing and availability of the Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A outside of South Korea are not known yet. The smartphone is expected to hit international markets, if some unconfirmed rumors are to be believed. Still, you can still enjoy the phone's unboxing and two new color options, alas just in photos

Sony Xperia Z Ultra hands-on: First look

Sony just dropped a real bomb on the phablet market - a 6.4" monster that threatens to flatten the competition. The Sony Xperia Z Ultra the first officially announced device to be powered by Snapdragon 800 and it's also the thinnest device with a 1080p screen.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra official images

The list of tricks the Sony Xperia Z Ultra knows is almost too long to fit on even its sizable screen. Seriously, this thing is both massive and packed to the rafters with cool features. It slots between the Xperia Z and Xperia Tablet Z, using the same sleek OmbiBalance design and philosophy - "glass is good, thin is even better".

Sony Xperia Z Ultra official images

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra profile measures just 6.5mm, the slimmest 1080p device and close to slimmest overall. We were quite impressed with the Tablet Z and this undercuts it by a fraction. Unlike the Xperia Tablet Z, however, this uses the latest chipset and Android available - Snapdragon 800 and Android 4.2 respectively.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra at a glance

• General: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, penta-band UMTS/HSPA, 100 Mbps LTE
• Form factor: Ultra-thin water-resistant touchscreen phablet
• Dimensions: 179.4 x 92.2 x 6.5, 212 g
• Display: 6.4" 16M-color 1080p (1080 x 1920 pixels) capacitive touchscreen TFT Triluminous display with X-Reality and OptiContrast
• CPU: Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400
• GPU: Adreno 330
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800
• RAM: 2GB
• OS: Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
• Memory: 16GB storage, microSD card slot
• Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection; Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps with HDR, 2MP front-facing camera with FullHD video capture
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, standard microUSB port with MHL and USB host, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC
• Misc: IP58 certified - dust-sealed and water resistant beyond 1 meter; Shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass for the front and the back panel, metal frame on the sides

This is a no-mercy pre-emptive strike against the Samsung Galaxy Note III and all other high-end phablets that might crop up. So far we've only heard that this or that device will use a Snapdragon 800 chipset, but this one is the first to really go for it. And the attractive design and thin body are bound to win many proponents - they did for the Xperia Z and Tablet Z.
Same goes for the water resistant certification - IP58 means it can go deeper than 1m of water, unlike the sissy Xperia Z and Samsung Galaxy S4 Active.

Sony Xperia Ultra hands-on photos

The screen has 1080p resolution and despite the big increase in diagonal it still has 344ppi pixel density, enough to qualify it for a Retina display label. It's a Triluminos display with OptiContrast and X-Reality, too, to prove that Sony is throwing the kitchen sink at this one. If it's as good as the one on the Xperia Tablet Z, we'd be stocked (no offence to the Xperia Z phone, but we like good viewing angles).
The slim body did come at a price though, the battery has only 3,000mAh capacity. That's not a lot to go around for a quad-core processor clocked at the insane 2.2GHz (which might be very power-efficient, we don't know yet) and a 6.4" 1080p display.
So, is the Sony Xperia Z Ultra the future - big, high-powered, thin and beautiful - or is it just the king of the phablet niche? Well, that niche has been expanding as of late and so have our pockets. Our first impressions of the Xperia Z Ultra along with live photos follow on the next page of this article.

HTC One is now available in 24-carat gold and platinum

When the HTC announced the One, many people were impressed by the craftsmanship that went into making the smartphone and its cool aluminum look. So imagine how much more impressive the phone would look like if it was literally covered in gold.

That's exactly the thought that crossed the minds of the jewelry experts from Goldgenie, who have done a premium edition of the popular smartphone. The HTC One is now available with 24-carat gold plating, and, as expected, isn't what you'd call affordable. Not that the rest of the recent Goldgenie makeovers are.

The 24-carat gold edition of the 32GB HTC One costs £1895. If you want it to be finished in Rose gold the price goes up a hundred quid to £1995 and the Platinum edition goes for £2095. Goldgenie provides a cool, customized gift box which oozes premium, too.

evleaks: Nokia EOS to be officially named Lumia 1020

The Nokia EOS, the company's upcoming Windows Phone-running cameraphone flagship is going to be called the Lumia 1020, according to evleaks. More often than not, the famous Twitter user is right in its predictions, so there's good reason we trust the latest Tweet, stating just "EOS = Nokia Lumia 1020".

While it was believed for a while that Nokia may come up with a brand new name for its camera-centric Windows Phone 8 smartphone, something in the lines of "EOS", it seems the Finns have decided to stick to their familiar naming scheme. Considering the series of leaks we've had of the smartphone and its resemblance to the Lumia 920, it's logical for the company to go a step further and give the EOS an official name - the Lumia 1020.

Nokia has confirmed in its latest teaser image that the Nokia EOS Lumia 1020 is going to pack a 41MP camera. The rest of the details will be unveiled on July 11, when Nokia is holding its special event for the device. We'll naturally be covering the event live for you, so make sure you stick around when the time comes.

Samsung joint venture to promote carbon fiber, maybe in phones too

There was murmurs that Samsung is looking into alternative materials when the HTC One garnered so much praise for its aluminum unibody. However, the South Koreans may have had a completely different material in mind – carbon fiber.
Samsung Petrochemical and SGL Group formed a joint venture to "develop new industrial and electronic applications with carbon composite materials for Samsung and the Korean market." Obviously, much of the carbon fiber will go to industrial products, but electronics and electronic media is mentioned in the press release several times.
As is the need for lighter products and weight is a big factor in modern smartphones. Of course, the press release makes no direct mention that future Samsung phones will use carbon fiber and by the sound of it the initial target is the Korean market.
Still, we'd love to see more carbon fiber phones – so far it has seen limited use in luxury phones and a handful of LG phones (the Secret line), but tough and light phones sound great, fingers crossed

Korean consumers upset over faster LTE-A Galaxy S4

A few days ago Samsung's co-CEO J.K. Shin confirmed an LTE-Advanced version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is in the works. As it turns out this version will run on the Qualcomm's most powerful chipset to date - the Snapdragon 800.

The new hardware will make the LTE-A model of the Samsung Galaxy S4 the new benchmark champ dethroning the current generation of Galaxy S4 smartphones (I9500, I9505, Active).
Just as expected the news about the new faster model of the Galaxy S4 has already upset lots of Galaxy S4 owners in Korea, where this faster and LTE-Advanced capable version is expected to launch.
So, while Samsung might be doing a favor to those that haven't already bought the Galaxy S4, it is sure to upset those who already own the device. It's been just two months since the Galaxy S4 is on the market and it is soon to be replaced by a faster one - many would certainly be willing to wait for those two months if they knew the new version is coming.

Yet another Samsung Galaxy Note III photo leaks

The Samsung Galaxy Note III seems to pose for every camera it sees – yet another photo of the upcoming flagship phablet hit the web and it shows off the Galaxy S4-like design. Unfortunately, the Note III was wearing a cover, we have yet to see the back of the device (there should be a 13MP camera on there).

Samsung Galaxy Note III leaked photo
At least the new photo shows the side of the device, which unsurprisingly sports a silver strip with the Power/Lock key.

By all accounts, the screen of the Galaxy Note III should be a 6" Super AMOLED with 1080p resolution. The phablet is expected to use the same Snapdragon 800 chipset that the Samsung Galaxy S4 SHV-E330S will use

Samsung ATIV Tab 3 hands-on: Android-sized Windows 8 tablet

Today Samsung has announced the Ativ Tab 3 – a tablet, utilizing an Atom CPU to runs Windows 8.

We got a chance to spend some time with the Ativ Tab 3 and we snapped lots of pics.
The impressive thing about the ATIV Tab 3 is that it’s almost as thin and light as the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 – it measures 8.2mm thick (vs. 8mm) and weighs 550g (vs. 510g) but it’s a full blown Windows 8 tablet (note: not RT).
The 10.1″ display has 1366×768 resolution, which is a very common laptop display resolution and a little higher than the Tab 3 10.1. It’s S Pen enabled too, so you can use it as a graphics tablet.

Windows 8 runs on an Intel Atom Z2760 a dual-core, four thread processor (Saltwell) clocked at 1.8GHz with 2GB of LPDDR2-800 RAM and PowerVR SGX 545 GPU.

The tablet packs microUSB and microHDMI ports and a microSD card slot and 64GB of storage. There’s a SIM card slot too, for mobile Internet connectivity. On the back is a 720p camera with LED flash and a 720p front-facing camera. There are stereo speakers, one on the left and one on the right side of the tablet.

The Samsung ATIV Tab 3 comes with Microsoft Office Home and Student out of the box.
The optional QWERTY keyboard dock will help if you’re going to do a lot of text editing. There’s no trackpad though. The dock doesn’t have a laptop-like hinge that holds up the screen, instead you have to use a magnetic cover on the back (similar to smart covers we’ve seen on certain tablets).

The Samsung ATIV Tab 3 will ship in early August for $699, keyboard dock and all.

Nokia Asha 501 gets the hands-on treatment, video is inside

The Nokia Asha 501 has a number of key selling points, but the new interface and its supper affordable price tag are certainly the two most important. It’s a feature phone and It cannot do proper smartphone stuff like the pros – full-featured multitasking, integration, endless connectivity, etc. – but doesn’t really need to.

The Nokia Asha 501 giveс you two SIM cards, working simultaneously, in a package lighter than 100 g and cheaper than 80 bucks. It’s tiny yet nice to hold and work with and comes with a revived Asha S40 touch interface that you’ll get used to in a matter of minutes.

Huawei expects to sell 10 million P6 units, prices it at €449 in EU

Right after releasing the much teased Huawei Ascend P6 comes the target of the company to ship around 10 million this year. That's according to Huawei Device CEO Yu Chengdong, who's very proud of the smartphone's design and the work that went into making it.

Apparently the flagship will be priced around €450 in Europe and CNY2,688 (around €327) in China. That's a very competitive price going, when compared to the likes of the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Apple iPhone 5.
According to some sources over a thousand Huawei Research and Development engineers worked on the Ascend P6.
Huawei apparently has allocated $11 million for the marketing of the super slim smartphone in China and some $30 million more for promoting it in Europe. That's still a fraction of Samsung's and Apple's marketing spending marketing expenditure, but you have to remember we are only talking one smartphone here.
The Ascend P6 certainly looks good on paper and its beautiful , but we'll have to wait and see if the 720p display will be enough to bump heads with those 1080p ones out there and if the smartphone will be able to truly make an impact.

Samsung Galaxy NX leaks out in press and live images

A week before its scheduled announcement, the previously tipped Samsung Galaxy NX appeared in press and live images. The photos confirm that Samsung is about to release a mirrorless camera which boots Android – right in line with what Samsung’s CEO JK Shin told the press today.

As you can see in the image above, the yet to be revealed Samsung Galaxy NX is way different from the Galaxy S4 Zoom. In terms of design, the Galaxy NX closely resembles the Samsung NX 20 – the DSLR styled member of the manufacturer’s line of enthusiast cameras.

The Samsung Galaxy NX is rumored to feature a 20.3MP APS-C sensor with support for ISO up to 25,600, and 1080p video capture. The touchscreen on the back of the camera is tipped to be a 4.3″ unit. The Galaxy NX is expected to boot Android 4.2.2 when released.
As a member of the NX family, the Samsung Galaxy NX will support the manufacturer’s range of compatible lenses. We are yet to see if the camera will be offered as body-only setup.
We will be covering the Samsung premiere event live next week. Be sure to tune in for the full scoop on the Samsung Galaxy NX.