Technology •

BlackBerry Q10 Can be Bought through Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile Coming Summer

May 15, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

Major cellular carriers like Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile have confirmed that they will be carrying the BlackBerry Q10 coming summer. The BlackBerry Z10 is one of the competitive smartphones out there. However, for keyboard lovers, the BlackBerry Q10 will be an impressive piece of hardware.

On T-Mobile, the Q10 will be available for the users in the month of June. Even though T-Mobile has recently started offering 4G LTE connectivity, you will be able to enjoy high speed connectivity on your new Q10 with T-Mobile. General customers of T-Mobile can avail the device in June whereas customers from the business sector can place an order for purchasing the Q10 today. You can expect the device to reach you within a week. Business users can avail the phone at $119.99. For general users, the price has been kept at $99.99 along with twenty-four monthly payments of $20. You can purchase the device without contract for $579.99.

Sprint has also gone ahead to offer the BB Q10 to its users. However, they had announced that the device will be available for sale through a press release today morning. BlackBerry has not provided any more information than that. Sprint plans to offer the BlackBerry Q10 in the late summer and when the date nears that is the time Sprint chooses to reveal more information on pricing and availability.

Verizon has decided to launch a dedicated version of the BB Q10 in the month of June. Verizon will be launching an exclusive white colored BB Q10. Verizon will also sell black colored Q10 as well. Like T-Mobile, even Verizon will allow the BlackBerry Q10 users to connect the web through 4G LTE connectivity. Like Sprint, Verizon is not revealing much on details of the launching of the device and it’s pricing. Before the release date nears, Verizon will allow potential customers to place preorders in the forthcoming weeks. You will be able to purchase the device online and also through Verizon Wireless stores in June.

When the BlackBerry Q10 was launched, AT&T Mobility also promised to carry the BB Q10. Sadly, there is no recent update from AT&T which means AT&T may be offering the Q10 on sale in June. However, we feel that the AT&T will be offering Q10 around the same timeframe to stay in competition with T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon.

The BlackBerry Q10 appears to be a promising device. The appeal of the device is quite interesting and good. It has got a large 3.1inch AMOLED touchscreen (720 x 720 pixels) and BlackBerry users will be able to enjoy the usage of full QWERTY keyboard on the Q10. The phone runs on the latest operating system i.e. BlackBerry Q10. You can connect to the web through 4G LTE network connectivity and enjoy HD voice. Other features of the BlackBerry Q10 include BBM app, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 8MP camera which supports 1080p video recording, 2MP camera at the front that supports 720p video quality, 16GB internal storage and 2GB RAM.

Is Xbox Infinity the Name for the Upcoming Xbox 720?

May 15, 2013 By Troy Rubenson Leave a Comment

On May 21, Microsoft will be unveiling its all new next gaming console. Until now, there were lot of rumors on the name that was to be chosen for Xbox 720. Microsoft has already assigned Durango as the codename for the gaming console. The International Business Times UK has found through its Xbox development sources that the next gen gaming console from Microsoft will be called Xbox Infinity.

The year is going to quite competitive for Sony and Microsoft as both are planning to release their new gaming console. However, Sony has been consistent in releasing good information to its audience but Microsoft has not revealed much info on the Xbox 720. Only thing people know of it is that the Xbox 720 is going to be released very soon.

Till now, the forthcoming gaming console from Microsoft was being called by various names like the 720, Durango, Loop Xbox, Xbox Fusion, Xbox 8 and NeXtBox. In fact, Microsoft had recently registered domain names with the word ‘Fusion’ which made many gaming enthusiasts feel that Microsoft is going to name it Xbox Fusion. The new name has suddenly appeared out of nowhere and we hope it does settle all the rumors that are going around.

Do you think Xbox Infinity is a good name for the device? Official information on the name chosen by Microsoft and its specifications will be unveiled very soon. May 21^st the day when you will come to know everything that you wanted to know about the Xbox 720 and it is the same day when the next title for the popular game Call of Duty will be announced. The demo version of the game will be played on the new Xbox Infinity on that day.

There is no new information on the release date of Xbox 720/Infinity. The product is expected to go on sale by the end of October this year. It is going to be available with features like Kinect 2.0, 3D technology and Xbox TV. The new gaming console will sport a new logo with the Xbox wording and Infinity wording at its upper right area. The ‘X’ of the Xbox will be green and even the infinity symbol will be in green. The word ‘box’ will be in white font. The rumor seems to be pretty accurate at the moment. Still, we need to wait until May 21^st to get official news from Microsoft on the Xbox 720.

iPhone 6 Release Date Scheduled for Later This Year – Is it Believable?

May 15, 2013 By Sebastian Mc’Mannen Leave a Comment

The smartphone world is completely flooded with all kinds of various high-end smartphones from various brands like HTC One, Galaxy S4, and Xperia Z. It has been observed that Apple has been consistently launching a new iPhone model after a gap every 11 months. It was an exception to see the iPhone 4S coming out 15 months after iPhone 4. Apple is expected to roll out two new models of iPhone namely the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6.

Analysts are of the view that the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 are both going to be out in the market by September 2013. Still it is not clear whether Apple come out with iPhone 5S or directly release the iPhone 6 without releasing the iPhone 5S edition.

The image we have got here for you has come from sources that were able to gain leaked info of forthcoming phones from one of the leading cellular providers in UK. It shows that iPhone 6 which supports 4G LTE will hit the stands this year. Since it is only an image from an unconfirmed source, we feel the image may not really mean much.

On the contrary, analysts are feeling that Apple will wait for its competitors to release more high-end phones this year and then roll competitive iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 in 2014. We have got something from the Apple camp for you. Apple has joined hands with Japan based Sharp for LCD panels for its next version of iPhone. However, production should have started in March this year. Because of the production related problems Apple is facing, the release of the next gen iPhone is not going to happen any time this year. Even Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, has confirmed that there is no plan to release a newer edition of iPhone before the end of this year.

According to the recent rumors, the iPhone 6 will feature IGZO display from Sharp, A7 quad-core CPU, iOS 7, 12GB internal memory, 13MP rear camera, 4G RAM, and long-lasting battery. On the other hand, the iPhone 5S is expected to run on dual-core CPU and 8MP cam or may be a 12MP camera. There is also a rumor that the iPhone 5S will come in various colors as well as it is going to available with three different screen sizes. The production related issues that Apple is facing at the moment is what delaying the release of the next gen iPhone. We hope that in 2014 we will get to lay hands on both the rumored iPhones.

Samsung Galaxy S Advance Gets Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean Update

May 14, 2013 By Jack M. Robinson 1 Comment

The Samsung Galaxy S Advance had released on April 2012 with Android v2.3.6 Gingerbread OS. Samsung has been consistently trying to make the latest and compatible Android version available for its phones. Samsung had already released the Android 4.1 update for the Samsung Galaxy S Advance in January this year. The update was only available for some of the variants. However, the update was suddenly stopped because of which all the Samsung Galaxy S Advance did not receive the update.

Now, Android has again resumed the 4.1 Jelly Bean update available for Galaxy S Advance. The update is only available for the I9070XXLQE model of Galaxy S Advance. You can perform the update by using the Samsung KIES. To perform the update, you will have to connect your handset to your computer by using the USB cable. Models that have NFC chip onboard will not be able to take advantage of this update. Also devices from countries like China, Taiwan and Hong Kong will not have access to the Android 4.1 update. As of now, there is no official announcement as to when the update will be available for users in these countries.

The firmware update is currently available for countries Germany, Poland and Ukraine in Europe. Samsung Ukraine had announced that the update will be available by the end of April but it never happened. Finally, the update is available in this month. The Android version that can be installed is Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. The update will install Android 4.1 and a newer TouchWiz user interface.

After the update, users will be able to use the Google Now feature. Users will also be able to lay hands on a smoother TouchWiz UI thanks to the Project Butter tweaks. The Pop-up Play goodies are something you will definitely like with the new Android update. Other notable features users will be able to enjoy on Galaxy S Advance after the update include multi-view, cloud service, direct call, smart rotation and many more.

Very soon users from other European countries will have access to the Android 4.1.2 update on their Samsung Galaxy S Advance. Once it is available, even other countries where the update is not available will be made available. When the update was made available in January 2013, the phones that received the updates did not show major performance issues. So, if your Galaxy S Advance can be updated to Android 4.1.2, you can go ahead with it without any worries.

Nexus 7 2 with Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie? Rumored Specifications Doing Rounds for Google I/O

May 14, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

The Google I/O is all set to take place on 15^th May and rumors are flying about all kinds of new Google products and services like the possibility of unveiling of Android 4.3 or Android 5.0 Key Lime OS and Google Glass. The event is also going to debut the all new Nexus 7 2. As expected, the new smartphone is going to surprise tech enthusiasts thanks to its interesting specs.

The newly leaked server logs of the next gen Nexus tablet – Nexus 7 2 – will be running on the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS. Yet again it is an Asus device. Google again makes the new version of Android exclusively available for its Nexus devices. Still, rumors are going on that it may feature Android Key Lime 5.0.

The tech world is expecting that the new tablet is going to feature new specs at the price of its predecessor device. The tablet will sport a 7 inch LTPS technology display. It comes with a display resolution of 1920 x 1080 (WUXGA). Another cool feature of the Nexus 7 2 is the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 S4 Pro CPU. This makes the Nexus 7 2 the first device to run on the all new Snapdragon CPU. The lower Snapdragon 600 CPU is running on current smartphones like Galaxy S4 and HTC One.

The Nexus 7 2 is have a rear camera of 5 MP. The predecessor Nexus 7 does not have a rear camera. At the front, there is a HD camera for video chatting. The tablet is going to be priced slightly less than $200. By this you can understand that lot of customers will be attracted towards it and we are expecting lots of preorders.

Thanks to the QuickCharge 2.0 feature, you will be able to charge your Nexus 7 2 in just three hours which would otherwise taken around 7 hours to completely charge it. The 4000mAh battery of the Nexus 7 2 supports wireless charging. Some of the other features include 4G LTE support, very low usage of power, USB 3.0 ports, and supports high-end games like Unity and Unigine.

The Google Nexus 7 2 has got quite a few enticing specifications. The price is certainly going to be the factor that will pace its sales. With powerful specs, Google has completely metamorphosed the Nexus tablet into a very competitive tablet device. We are not sure as to when you can purchase the Nexus 7 2 from the Google Play Store. The Google I/O will surely help us know new information.

Nokia Lumia 928 Release Date on May 16th by Nokia for $99

May 14, 2013 By Troy Rubenson Leave a Comment

Even though Nokia has not made it official, the Nokia Lumia 928 is the same device that is being popularly sold as Nokia 920 throughout the world. However, it has got some new features onboard. The design of the Nokia Lumia 928 is slightly different than the Lumia 920 as it sports an angular design.

Verizon Wireless announced Nokia Lumia 928 release date on May 16^th. They are selling the Nokia Lumia 928 for $99.99 on a contract period of two years after a $50 mail-in reimbursement. Buyers will be able to take advantage of $25 credit for buying Windows Phone apps for a limited time period.

Like other phones belonging to the Lumia family from Nokia, the Nokia Lumia 928 houses 8.7MP PureView camera which is the same one available on the Lumia 920. It comes with a xenon flash which you won’t find in the AT&T’s phone. The stunning camera is capable of shooting 1080p videos and photos of breathtaking quality. Even in low-lighting conditions, the camera is capable of producing stunning photos and videos. The xenon flash which is an added feature will improve the picture quality even more.

The microphone present on the Lumia 928 makes sure you record clear audio with 1080p HD video. It has got three high-audio-amplitude recording microphones which lets you to record high quality and distortion-free audio even in busy environments. The on-board speaker is capable of producing crystal clear sound at up to 140db.

It runs on the stable version of the Windows Phone 8 operating system. Some of the other features of the Nokia Lumia 928 include OLED Gorilla Glass display which measures 4.5 inches. It supports display resolution of up to 1280 x 768 pixels. The Lumia 928 is powered with 1.5 GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, 4G LTE internet connectivity, Bluetooth pairing, in-built wireless charging and also supports NFC.

The Lumia 928 has got host of Nokia apps onboard such as City Lens, Nokia Music and Here Drive+. It also comes with 7GB cloud storage space with SkyDrive software from Microsoft. The $99.99 price sounds very affordable and it costs $100 less than the S4. The $99.99 price makes this phone the Lumia 928 the most cheaply priced high-end smartphone from Verizon. Windows Phone OS may not be having plenty of options available when it comes to installing apps but it is trying its best to compete with iOS and Android.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 vs. Galaxy S4: Which One You Should Go For?

May 14, 2013 By Troy Rubenson Leave a Comment

Samsung is undoubtedly ruling the smartphone world as it has got some powerful smartphones that has easily outclassed many smartphone from popular brands like Sony and HTC even though they had similar features. Since the past couple of years, Samsung’s real competition has been its in-house devices. This year too, the Galaxy S4 will be challenged by the yet to be released Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

It was all because of the Galaxy S3 that made the recently released Galaxy S4 one of the most awaited smartphones of the year. It goes without saying that the Galaxy S4 is the best smartphone available in today’s market. Samsung will be soon unveiling much anticipated information on Galaxy Note 3 which will be replacing the Galaxy Note 2.

On the Hardware Front
The Galaxy S4 is a mammoth device with 1080p display, quad-core Snapdragon 600 CPU, 13MP cam, and plenty of awesome features that makes it the numero uno in the market. When it came out, it surpassed the likes of Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 2. However, the Galaxy Note 3 is expected to even better than the Galaxy S4.

The Galaxy Note 3 is going to sport a 5.9 inch display that supports 1080p resolution, Exynos 5 Octa octo-core CPU (the same one that powers Galaxy S4 that are available outside US), 3GB RAM, 13MP camera and a slim and stunning design. It is also believed that it is going to sport an unbreakable display screen.

The S Pen
Since the Note 3 categorizes itself in the Note series, it is going to have an S Pen. Samsung has been developing plenty of apps primarily for using with the S Pen. We expect improved S Pen accuracy and plenty of interesting S Pen features.

Upgraded Software
Galaxy S4 is available with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and exciting TouchWiz user interface. The S4 is likely to get the Android 4.3 update soon. Rumors have it that the Galaxy Note 3 will be out with the Android 4.3 or Android Key Lime 5.0 out of the box. If that is going to happen, more and accurate information on the Note 3 will be available after the Google I/O event.

Costly Affair
Whether you buy it from a retailer or through a carrier, the Note 3 is definitely going to be an expensive smartphone. The current price of Galaxy S4 which is about $250 is not likely to fall soon. So without doubt, the Note 3 will be costlier than the S4.

Available with Similar Carriers
The Galaxy S4 is currently available with major carriers like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon. Very soon even less competitive carriers will also sell the Galaxy S4. Same way, the Note 3 will be available on the major carriers first and then on smaller regional carriers.

Google Glass to Bring in New Laws Soon

May 7, 2013 By Georgia Dawson Leave a Comment

If the NYT report is to be believed, Google glass has been banned in many states of the United States. The new innovative technology produced by Google engineers has started facing lot of problems even before its release into the United States market.

The people who were against this technology argue the Google glass breaches the privacy issues. Timothy Toohey a senior lawyer from LA said, ”“This is just the beginning; Google Glass is going to cause quite a brawl.”

In many other states of the country, the people who were against the soon to arrive technology, has mentioned that Google Glasses should be restricted during driving and attempts has been already started to bring in new law to make wearing of Google Glasses illegal during driving.

If we get into history, whenever a new innovative technology has been introduced, it has faced numerous problems. For example, when smartphones were released into the market, many were against it because of the privacy issues. Numerous laws came into existence just because of the cell phones. Same is expected for the new Google Glasses.

It is expected that the new issues of Google Glasses will be discussed at the soon going to be held GOOGLE I/O 2013 event. GOOGLE I/O 2013 is going to be held from May 15 to 17.

Xbox 720 Release Date to Feature Cross-Platform Achievements

May 5, 2013 By Georgia Dawson 2 Comments

The next-gen Microsoft Xbox 720 might have cross-platform achievements which will allow gamers to unlock these achievements using their smartphones as well. So it seems that the release date of the next-gen Xbox 720 has a lot more to offer as compared to the Microsoft Xbox 360.

So the cross-platform achievements will definitely attract a lot of gamers, but there are many other features that will interest consumers and game developers. These other features include social sharing features, and anti-piracy tools as publisher-controlled DRM options.

As far as the Microsoft Xbox 360 is concerned, the only way to interact with the system is through the SmartGlass app. This app allows gamers to control their console and allows users to check out gamer statistics and other basic information.

It is also being said that the next-gen Xbox 720 will allow game developers to link in-game achievements to apps on smartphones and tablets, hence improving overall social interactions. The sources also say that Microsoft might allow game developers to add achievements to games on the Xbox 720 even after release date and that too without DLC or other paid add-ons.

There is also a possibility that like Sony, Microsoft will also include game streaming in the Xbox 720. Reports also say that the Xbox 720 will not have the ‘always on’ system which would require gamers to always be online in order to use the console. The console will have support for apps and games and at the same time will support online DRM but it will not be a compulsion.

So the good part is that Microsoft will let the game publishers decide whether the players have to be online while playing their games or not. This way Microsoft helps both sides, because the gamers will no longer blame Microsoft for making it compulsory to be online and on the other side, game developers and publishers will also be happy to know that they are free to make the important choice.

Microsoft and Hon Hai sign an awaited patent deal for Android and Chrome Based Devices

April 28, 2013 By Jack M. Robinson Leave a Comment

The Microsoft Corp. and another company named Hon Hai Precision Industry Co LTD have signed a global patent in terms of licensing their agreement this Wednesday. Under the action of this agreement the Hon Hai clients would be made immune from the patent claims that would be forced towards them while making use of the Google Inc. Android as well as Chrome operating systems. This news can be termed to be the most significant of the ones that were released this morning. For those who do not know, Hon Hai happens to be the parent company of the famous Foxconn which is the prime manufacturer of nearly 40 % of the worldwide electronics.

The fact here is that any of the devices that would be made from the side of Hon Hai would mark regular royalty payments that would be made to Microsoft. So this news can also be termed to be bad for Google which has been keen in denying that the android devices would be required to have a patent from Microsoft. Moreover, another subsidiary of Google, Motorola Mobility has also recently lost its dispute in terms of the patent to Microsoft. The statement which was made from Hon Hai should be a heart breaker for Google. Hon Hai said in this regard that the company happens to be the biggest and the largest in terms of the making of contract electronics and is also proud of holding nearly 54000 patents all over the world.

The person who made this comment was Samuel Fu, who happens to be the director of the Intellectual Property Department. He also added that we respect the steps that have been taken for the protection of the intellectual property and the licensing agreement that has been made with Microsoft is an open testament of the continued efforts which are being made in this regard. The day before the patent was made official, the Chief Executive Chairman of the Google Inc. had announced that nearly 1.5 million android devices would be activated on a daily basis and also made a prediction that nearly 1 billion android devices would be functional at the end of the year. Microsoft has been quite keen in the past to pursue the various hardware makers instead of Google.

Categories