Rumor •

LG G2 Mini in the Works

December 24, 2013 By Troy Rubenson 1 Comment

The general trend among smartphone manufacturers is to launch their flagship model of the device packed with all the bells and whistles that one can think of, thereby creating a lot of hype in the process. Once the bait is taken by the market at large they would come out with the smaller version of the device. The smaller versions not only sport reduced dimension but also call for compromises to be made with the features that they come to offer. They would therefore come to be cheaper by price than the flagship model and also be lower in the performance department too.

This process appears to be occurring for the LG G2 smartphone right now. The device which had been released amidst huge fan fare a few months back has been rumored to have a smaller sibling being released shortly. Visitors at the CES 2014 event would surely view the LG G2 Mini on display there. Information about the smaller version has been noted on the net although LG has not come out with it officially. An LG device with model number LG-D410 was spotted at the GFX Benchmark site and that has been presumed to be the LG Mini.

What can be noted about the specifications of the LG G2 Mini is its processor being a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chip clocking at 1.2 GHz. The screen resolution is 540 x 960 pixel though the OS will be Android Kikat 4.4 KitKat.

More details would only be received when the device is officially launched possibly at the CES 2014 to be held at Las Vegas in the coming month.

Asus Rumored to be Developing 8 Inch Windows 8.1 Tablet Based on Intel bay Trail Chip

December 19, 2013 By Sebastian Mc’Mannen Leave a Comment

Asus could well be the next company to come up with an 8 inch tablet running Windows 8.1 with an Intel chip at its core. This if true will make Asus the newest entrant to the league of companies comprising of the likes of Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba and Dell that have all launched Windows based tablet in such a form factor. Asus though isn’t completely new to the Intel Bay Trail and Windows 8.1 combination, it being the first to include both in the Transformer Book T100TA that comes with a 10 inch display as well as a keyboard dock.

There is however unconfirmed information that comes from Tech2.hu about Asus introducing an 8 inch tablet or a tablet smaller than 10 inch. The reason for this assumption stems from the fact that the model is named Asus M80TA though there is also talk of the device likely to be named Asus VivoTab Note 8. Also, the tablet could be priced $299, which is similar to most other 8 inch Windows 8.1 tablet costs.

The M80TA is speculated to be running Windows 8.1 as per a listing at a retailer’s site. The specifications also mentioned there speak of an Intel Atom Z3740 Bay Trail processor powering the device, coupled to a 2 GB RAM along with 32 GB of storage capacity. It would also come pre-loaded with 2013 Home & Student MS Office. It also mentions about the device including support for a stylus, something that the Transformer Book T100TA lacks. There is however no clear indication if there would be a keyboard dock as the one which is there on the Transformer Book T100TA.

Official confirmation on all these speculations would come to an end on 6^th January when Asus is going to address a press conference. The event is to be held at Las Vegas. There would sure be mention about the Padfone X device also during the press conference, as that too is a hotly talked about device expected form Asus.

Samsung Rumored to Launch 4 New Tablets in Early 2014

December 17, 2013 By Georgia Dawson Leave a Comment

Samsung has been able to make a solid mark in the field of smartphone and tablet devices with its Galaxy line of products. However, it is smartphone devices that have brought Samsung more laurels and accolades than tablet devices. The company’s 2013 flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4 sold over 40 million units in the very first six months of its launch. The Galaxy Note 3, a big screen smartphone that offers enhanced functionality thanks to the stylus that it incorporates has also been a grand success, having sold 10 million units in first two months of launch. However, Samsung has been hard pressed to replicate the same kind of success when it comes tablet devices. Instead, it has been left watching its competitors such as the Nexus 7 tablet made by Asus or the likes of the Kindle Fire range walk away with the cake.

However, things could be vastly different from next year onwards now that Samsung is reported to be working on at least 4 new tablet that it hopes will reverse the trend in the coming year. Of the four tablets, one of them would for sure be the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite aka SM-T111. Samsung aims to take on the budget tablet segment with this one, being tagged at 100 Euros or $138. Other three tablets can only be speculated upon to be the Samsung Galaxy Note 12.2 inch aka SM-900. If it is so, then the tablet sector would get a new dimension so far as size goes, as there is no tablet of 12.2 inch as of now. It would be closer to the size of the laptop and therefore office and business users may find it more convenient to use. Another guess is that the tablets would carry AMOLED displays. There is also speculation of the line of tablets having one with dual boot feature of both Android and Window and being 13.3 inch by size.

Right now, Samsung manufactures the Nexus 10 for Google though unfortunately, the tablet has never made it to the top of the sales chart in spite of it offering the highest pixel density in the 10inch segment. poor battery live along with a few other factors is attributed to the tablet’s dismal run in the market though it remains to be seen how soon and by how much the tides turn in favor of Samsung in the coming days so far as tablet devices are concerned.

Google Rumored to Launch Nexus 10 2 on Nov 29, Black Friday

November 27, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

The holiday season isn’t too far away which means the preceding shopping period is even closer. Consumer purse strings are the loosest this time round which makes it the best time of the year for the manufacturers to go for the kill with their wares. Manufacturers also time the launch of their devices to clash with the shopping season to ensure maximum uptake by the consumers. So it shouldn’t be surprising for the mobile world to be abuzz with news of the Nexus 10 2 being released in time for Google to take full advantage of the buying spree that people get into during this time. Google however is yet to make any official announcement about the issue. Speculations are rife about Black Friday which falls on November 29 to be the D-day, and it seems that they would all come true for those many customers eagerly waiting for this gadget.

Black Friday is a very special day for all which includes the manufacturers, retailers, or the general consumers as this marks the onset of the holiday shopping season. This seems to be especially true for the mobile or smartphone makers this time given the wide array of schemes that are announced to promote sales on that day which complements the wide choice of devices available. Google surely will not like to let go of this opportunity and pitch in their Nexus 10 2 in the list of items up for sale.

Of course both the new Apple tablets, the iPad Air and the iPad mini with Retina display will be hot favorite among the shoppers which also would make Google look up and indulge them with their latest offering to the market.

It is not only Apple but there is Microsoft with the Nokia Lumia 2520 that would also be making its mark in the market this shopping season. The Lumia 2520 is a 10 inch tablet and has been available via Verizon and AT&T since November 22.

As for its specifications, the Google Nexus 10 2 is expected to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor along with an Adreno 330 GPU to handle the graphics. It will have 2 GB of RAM and a rear facing camera of 5 MP resolution. It would come in variants of 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB of storage space. The display which has been a high point of the first gen Nexus 10 is expected to be retained for the new version as well, which speak of a 10.1 inch screen that boasts of a stunning resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels.

So far as cost of the Nexus 10 2 goes, it is being speculated the cost would be in line with that of the Nexus 10. If that be true, the 16 GB would be fetching for $399 while the 32 GB variant would fetch for $499.

Apple Rumored to be Developing Larger iPad Pro With 12.9 Inch Display

November 20, 2013 By Deborah Cobing Leave a Comment

Rumors doing the round right now is that Apple might be working on a bigger iPad version that speculators have named as the iPad Pro. What is surprising is the timing of the rumors, coming as it is within just weeks of Apple launching the iPad Air while the Cupertino company has also started with the shipping of the iPad mini with Retina display. So far as the iPad Pro goes, speculation is that it would be a 12.9 inch device.

The device has been talked of by a retailer of Apple products in Korea. The device would also have a Retina display which he mentioned would have resolution much more than the 3840 x 2160 which makes a 4K compliant screen. In the retailer’s words, the iPad Pro display screen could start the trend of ultra-high definition display being introduced to the tablet segment.

While the talk about the higher resolution display is one part of the discussion there is also the issue of the rate at which the line between tablets and the fully fledged PC is vanishing. Given the increased size of these tablets that makers like Apple are coming up with the time would not be far when the difference between a tablet and a PC would be quite negligible. It is not only size but even in computing speeds that the tablets have seen significant improvement what with them being prototyped for 64 bit operations.

Unwired has been the source to give the name of Pro to the 12.9 inch device being discussed about. The line of this category of tablets from Apple starts from the iPad mini with Retina display, and is the smallest in size amongst the other. It also has the same processor as the iPhone 5s.

Meanwhile, Samsung too is believed to be in advanced stages of developing a tablet with a 12.2 inch display. These tablet with larger display area are being targeted at the business community and could open up an entirely new front in the segment that has so far being held to be oriented more at entertainment.

Nokia Rumored to be Developing 8 inch Windows RT Tablet Named Illusionist

November 5, 2013 By Troy Rubenson Leave a Comment

Nokia’s first tablet, the Lumia 2520 which sports a 10 inch display will be seen along store shelves soon. The tablet is Windows RT based, and is only the second tablet in the world to be so, the first being none other than the Surface 2. Also, the Lumia 2520 would fetch for a price of $499 and above, which could be considered a bit on the higher side considering the tablet runs an operating system that had very few takers in its initial run. This however is not going to be the only new tablet that the Finnish company has up its sleeve. For there already are rumors of an 8 inch model being in the pipeline, which could be named the “illusionist”. This bit of information comes from @evleaks and the Verge. Both have a reputation of being credible, which means there sure is something up there.

So far as the 10 inch Lumia 2520 goes, it would be powered by a Qualcomm processor. The Illusionist on the other hand could be powered by an ARM processor making it the first of its type in the tablet sector. The reason why Nokia has decided on the ARM processor is not very clear as the battery usage using Intel Atom Bay Trail line of processors has been found to be same as that of ARM processor based tablets.

Other tablet makers who have their product in the market and with whom Nokia would be competing are Dell and Lenovo who have Windows based 8 inch tablets in the market. These tablets however are powered by x86 processors and hence run the full blown Windows 8.1 version. The 8 inch tablet segment has proved to have more takers than the 7 inch variant, something that can be explained by a mad rush by manufacturers to launch tablets in this genre.

Other news of interest in the Windows based tablet segment is that Microsoft too is rumored to introduce a smaller their in their Surface lineup. The tablets would be 7.5 inch by dimension and release dates are expected to be early 2014. Whether that would run Windows RT or Windows 8.1 is anybody’s guess right now that chances could be that Microsoft might have a tablet running both the Windows versions.

Samsung’s Rumored 12.2 inch Tablet is Believed to be Powered by Snapdragon 800 Chip

October 30, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

A 12 inch tablet from Samsung had been whispered first towards the month of June. The whisper had not caught any additional stream in its path and remained the silent unspoken of project. The possible Galaxy Note 12.2 had not taken on any further discussion after that. No pointers at what it could be like. Though some leaked images had been posted from time to time but none of them had any close resemblance to what reality could be by logical analysis. Those leaked information and images were therefore trashed.

However, here is an attempt to fill in the blanks with some tech details, such as what the tablet is expected to conceal within its expansive exteriors. AnTuTu is now claiming that the tablet would have the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad core processor powering it. It would have 3 GB of RAM and the clock speed of the processor would be 2.3 GHz. If their claim comes true, then the tablet would indeed have a significant hardware spec to talk about. To add up to this basic specification the tablet as per the AnTuTu report should have an 8 MP camera facing the rear and a front facing camera of 2 MP resolution. The tablet would be running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and is believed to come with 32 GB of storage space, with a microSD card slot for adding on more memory capacity.

Samsung has remained very tight lipped about this tablet, never even letting out a hint if there is one under development. As things stand right now, it is AnTuTu that is the only one reporting about this tablet. No renders or spy shots also been received about this device either. It is only time that would tell us if this is all wishful thinking or something of reality.

Google Nexus 5: All The Latest Rumors

October 9, 2013 By Deborah Cobing Leave a Comment

We are fast approaching the period that is expected to yield the next Nexus device considering the current version is almost a year old now though unfortunately, we don’t yet know for sure when exactly the new Nexus 5 is set to be unveiled. A precise release date isn’t the only missing piece of the puzzle that the Nexus 5 is right now given the complete lack of any other officially approved details of the upcoming device.

It’s here that the almost incessant stream of rumors and leaks has come as a savior and has provided us with an inkling of what to expect. So among the things that we are pretty much sure of with the next Nexus is that it’s going to be made by LG and that it is going to be powered by the Snapdragon 800 chip. Further, it’s going to have a full HD display (almost a norm with all high end smartphones) along with an 8 mp camera along the rear.

Recent leaks have also pointed out that Google might have two different version of the Nexus 5 up for sale, each characterized by a specific internal memory option and battery size. The base version is expected to come with a 2300mAh battery along with 16 GB of storage. The version on top of this will offer 32 GB of storage and a higher capacity 3000mAh battery.

As for the cost of the device, the Nexus 5 range is likely to start off with the same $299 price tag which is the same as its predecessor. This in spite of it offering twice the memory as the current version what starts at 8 GB. Similarly, the 32 GB version is expected to cost $399.

Meanwhile, in an interesting turn of events, a Japanese retailer Gekko & Co has already started with the pre-order process for the new Nexus 5 with the delivery date mentioned as Nov 14. Now the Nexus 4 was launched on Nov 13, 2012 which does make the Nov 14 launch date for Nexus 5 a bit authentic. A mid-Nov launch will also be just perfect to add to the shopping frenzy though what also has to be kept in mind is that perhaps none has ever known Gekko & Co to be associated with an accurate product in the past.

HTC One Max Rumored To Launch on Oct 15 Release Date

September 30, 2013 By Jack M. Robinson Leave a Comment

Big screen smartphones or phablets have emerged as the hot new battleground for smartphone manufacturers. There is plenty of action now being witnessed in this segment that till now was dominated by only Samsung. Now HTC too is eager to stake a claim of this segment with its HTC One Max device which is believed to be launched soon in just about a few weeks’ time. Yes, within the next 2 weeks we can witness the HTC One Max release date.

HTC surely is yet to commit to any specific launch schedule though sighting of the device in near perfect form on a regular basis has led many to believe a formal launch is not too far off. Take for instance the recent leak of the One Max device in the Chinese website Weibo that is claiming the launch date of the HTC One Max to be around the middle of October.

From what has emerged thanks to the series of leaks that we have had so far of the device, the big screen version of the HTC One is going to have a 5.9 inch display, something that had been first reported once again in the Chinese site TENAA. This is an organization which carries out certification work for such devices and the HTC One Max is reported to have been cleared for use in China is what the web site reports.

From the photographs posted by Phone Arena it appears the HTC One Max would have a screen resolution of 1080p while the core processor is a quad core chip clocking at 2.3 GHz. The other features of the phone that seems evident include 16 GB of internal storage along with 2 GB of RAM. Also, like it’s smaller sibling, the HTC One, the One Max too is expected to feature an UltraPixel camera or maybe an advanced version of it to allow for even better photography. Also, in what is likely to emerge as a standard feature in most high end mobile devices of future, the upcoming HTC One Max is also speculated to come with a finger print scanner though it remains to be seen how deeply it is integrated with the OS along with other apps. As of now, it is only the iPhone 5S that features a fingerprint scanner that is hidden underneath the home button.

Another very active leakster, @evleaks, reports the HTC One Max would be supported by Sprint a leading cellular carrier in the US. Users would have to hold their breath for just a few more weeks for the actual release of the HTC One Max.

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