Prolific
leakers of press images of unannounced smartphones, @evleaks, now claim
that the international variant of HTC’s Droid DNA is in the offing.
Codenamed HTC Deluxe, the Android smartphone retains most of the red
trimmings of the Droid DNA but the branding is that of HTC rather than
Verizon. The Deluxe is expected to have the same 5-inch 1080p display.
To
say that the iPhone 5 is the most anticipated smartphone of the year is
an understatement. It is perhaps the smartphone people have waited for
two years especially after Apple launched the iPhone 4S last October,
which was physically identical to the iPhone 4. At the same time, one
has to admit that buying the latest iPhone is not a no-brainer anymore.
Android has matured by leaps and bounds over the last year in every
conceivable way – be it pure usability, UI innovation, apps, or even
hardware. The iPhone has never had it so tough. So where does that leave
the iPhone 5? Is it still the best smartphone in the world? Read on to
find out.
Online retailer, Saholic,
has made a product page for the Nexus 4 live on its site where it
claims it will get stocks by November 30. While this is not an official
announcement in anyway, it gels well with what an LG India representative told BGR India that the Nexus 4 would be launched in India in November. Google launched
Cyanogen
mod is perhaps the best known modding community for Android that is
followed by millions of Android users who are able to tweak their
smartphones. Sometime last night a rogue member decided to pull the plug
on the community and threatened to take it offline. The member, who had
registered and had control over Cyanogen.com, was caught entering into
referral deals under Cyanogen’s name and then asked for $10,000 to hand
over control of the domain and email servers. When the team declined, he
took down Cyanogen.com.
Earlier this month Nokia sent out this global press release that stated it will launch the Lumia 920 in India in November.
This took us by surprise as all our sources had indicated that Nokia
would launch the new Lumia smartphones in India later and not in the
first wave. And that remains to be the case. Nokia is not launching the
Lumia 920 in India in November as it had always planned. So what
happened? Read on…
Research
In Motion today released a beta version of its popular BlackBerry
Messenger (BBM) service that would enable users to make free voice calls
over Wi-Fi with other BBM users. With BBM 7 users can see which
contacts are available for a call and can make the call directly from
the app. Users will also be able to continue to BBM with the other user
while talking to them or chat with others or use other apps at the same
time.
AMD
has hired JP Morgan Chase & Co to explore options for the troubled
chipmaker. One of the possible outcomes could be an outright sale but
that is not the priority, Reuters reports. Another possibility
could be the sale of its patent portfolio. AMD is slowly becoming
irrelevant as it failed to latch on to the mobile growth story with the
proliferation of smartphones and tablets, which have sidelined
traditional PCs and today account for more shipments globally than PCs.
Nokia
today announced it has submitted a navigation app for iOS, which would
be available for free in the App Store as HERE in coming weeks. Nokia’s
HERE maps will provide a much better navigation experience than what Apple’s bungled maps
provide. It will have offline capabilities where users can download
relevant maps on their phones and have access to voice-guided walking
and public transport directions
After multiple delays,
RIM has finally announced January 30 as the date when it will launch
its next-gen BlackBerry 10 smartphone operating system. The company will
hold multiple events across the world on January 30 where it will share
more details of the operating system and device availability. BB10 was
first supposed to launch in early 2012 after RIM acquired QNX platform
to overhaul BlackBerry OS and make it competitive to Android and iOS.
However, the software integration took much longer than expected,
especially the integration of BlackBerry Messenger and enterprise email
services.
In
a completely unexpected move, Microsoft today announced Steven Sinofsky
will be leaving the company with immediate effect. The 23-year-old
Microsoft veteran and the head of its Windows division had just launched
Windows 8 and the Surface tablet, Microsoft’s first ever venture into
consumer PC hardware. Julie Larson-Green will take over all Windows
software and hardware responsibilities as Microsoft attempts to spin the
leadership change as a move to integrate both software and hardware for
faster development cycles.
