Lenovo K900 Performs On Par With Galaxy S 4

Back at the Consumer Electronics Show 2013, Lenovo announced its flagship smartphone, the K900. Looking at its impressive hardware specifications, the 5.5-incher features the next-generation Intel Atom Z2580 "Clover Trail+" dual-core processor with Hyper Threading technology clocked at 2.0 GHz, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB memory.

Among other impressive things, the phone has a 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels) screen resolution, a 13-megapixel primary camera based on Sony's Exmor BSI sensor, and the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system.

When it comes to performance, the first benchmark score reveal the real power of the latest flagship smartphone from Lenovo. Surprisingly, the device edges out the Samsung Galaxy S IV AnTuTu benchmark test by a small margin.

Looking at other smartphones, like the HTC DROID DNA and the Samsung Galaxy Note II which both use a quad core processors, the K900 achieved about 10,000 higher score.

According to latest rumours, the K900's release date is April 17th and could cost just $480.

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iPhone 5S Prototype Pictured

There has been a lot of talking about Apple's next-generation smartphone. Last month, there were rumours that iPhone 5S is already in mass production and that it will run on the same assembly line as iPhone due to similar design.

However, thanks to GSM Arena we have first pictures of the alleged iPhone 5S. Looking at the pictures, the new iPhone is everything but similar to the old one. The pictures match Apple's patent almost perfectly, which shows the use of curved glass and flexible displays.

As there is no official confirmation, and the images could be easily photoshopped or digitally rendered altogether, take this with several pinches of salt. Stay tuned for further information.

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Google Not After WhatsApp

Late last week, rumors surfaced of Google being in talks to acquire WhatsApp, with about $1 billion riding on the deal. Either the deal fell through, or Google really never approached WhatApp, with the latter now claiming that's the case.

AllThingsDigital got in touch with WhatsApp, its business development head Neeraj Arora completely denied rumors of the company ever being in talks with Google over its acquisition to the Internet giant, and refused to comment any further.

WhatsApp is an extremely popular cross-platform instant-messaging service for mobiles, its apps for iOS and Android earn the company $0.99 per user, per annum. It allows people across IM platforms to send each other mostly text, but also photos, videos, and locations.

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Xbox "Durango" To Be Unveiled This May

Someone, presumably at one of Foxconn's Apple-contracted foundries, took a picture of what they claim to be the front fascia of the 5th generation iPad. If true, it only supports the rumor of the next-generation iPad design being simply an upscaled iPad Mini.

Unlike today's 9.7-inch iPads, which have uniform bezel thickness framing the screen, the next iPad could feature thicker bezels along its breadths, and thinner ones along its lengths. Joining the dots, one could also speculate next-gen iPad's back to look more similar to that of the very first iPad, with sharper edges, and an overall flatter back.

There are different theories surrounding Apple's next iPad unveiling. Some put it just before Summer, along the sidelines of WWDC '13, other in October.

Here's hoping that's not a child's hand with an iPad mini panel.

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Nokia Lumia 521 officially confirmed by T-Mobile, price MIA

Since the turn of the year Nokia has been busy expanding its range of Windows phone 8 hardware that now includes handsets at a variety of price levels, and now the Nokia Lumia 521 has been officially confirmed but the price is still MIA.

We first heard about the Nokia Lumia 521 was heading to T-Mobile back in February and now the carrier has confirmed the device will be available next month, although the company has yet to reveal the pricing for the device.

The handset is the carrier’s version of the Nokia Lumia 520 and could sell unlocked for around $180, and for your money the handset offers entry level access to the WP8 platform that provides users a 4-inch WVGA IPS LCD touchscreen display.

This is powered by a dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running at 1GHz that is coupled with 512MB of RAM, and there is 8GB of built in storage that can be expanded further up to 64GB via microSD card.

There is also a 5-megapixel rear facing camera, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, A-GPS, and a 1,430 mAh battery unit. The Nokia Lumia 521 will be available via T-Mobile retail channels, Wal-Mart, and Microsoft Retail Stores.

Will you be getting the Nokia Lumia 521?

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Apple to begin production of new iPad in July-August: Report

There have been news reports in the past which suggested that Apple will be outing its next generation iPad in April 2013. However, in a new report DigiTimes claims that Apple will be commencing production of its fifth generation iPad in July or August. The website claims to have got this bit of information from its sources in the Taiwan-based supply chain.

The fifth generation iPad is expected to come with a 9.7-inch screen and is expected to be thinner and lighter than its predecessor. LG Display and Sharp are reportedly engaged in producing the display of the fifth generation iPad while touch panels are being made by TPK.

As per the rumours, the next generation iPad will have thin bezels, much like the iPad mini. There have been plenty of speculations being made in regards to the launch of the next generation of iPad. Some reports point to an October release, while some recent reports suggested an April release.

Apple had introduced the fourth generation iPad along with iPad mini at a special event in San Jose, California on October 23 2012. Apple surprised many by launching the 128GB version of the fourth generation iPad in February 2013.

The grapevine also suggests that Apple is gearing up to launch an iPad mini with Retina display. Alleged pictures of this iPad mini with Retina display were also shared online in February 2012. As per past reports Apple is cutting shipments of iPad mini in the second quarter of 2013. According to this report, the cutback may be as high as 20 percent in April and the shipments may continue to decrease gradually throughout the quarter to bring total shipments to as low as 10 million units during the quarter.

The reason for these cut backs was cited as Apple’s efforts in adjusting its reserves for the next-generation iPad mini, which is likely to be released in the third quarter.

From gadgets.ndtv.com

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A Review of Samsung Galaxy Mini – a budget smartphone

A Review of Samsung Galaxy Mini – a budget smartphone

It has been a while since I have written a review about an entry-level smartphone.Budget smartphones are particularly one of the subjects that caught my interest because they are affordable and still deliver some of the features shared with its big brothers, the expensive, high-end smartphones. My subject on interest in this post is theSamsung Galaxy Mini GT-S5570. (Also known as T-Mobile Move and Samsung Galaxy Pop for India market) This model is released in February 2011.

Design:

It is a full touch bar design, compact with flashy colour stripe along the side. It is a “mini” so it has to be small, although with its compact size still appeals to both sexes. It also great for an entry-level smartphone especially for teenagers or adults that don’t really want a bulky phone. It is also perfect for a second phone. The dimension is 110.6 X 60.6 X 12.1mm and weigh only about 106.6g.

Performance and Display:

The display is slightly larger than its cousin –the Galaxy Young. It has a 3.14-inch TFT capacitive touch screen with 256K colours and 240X320 pixels  (~127 ppi pixel density) PPI  stands for “pixel per inch”. The Mini is powered by a Qualcomm MSM7227 CPU clocked at 600 MHz which is a little slower than the Galaxy Young’s 832MHz.

It runs on Android OS Froyo V2.2  and upgradable to V2.3 . It is also equipped witj Samsung’s own TouchWiz v3.0 UI.

Applications:

I think the highlight for this phone is its Predictive text input or SWYPE functionality. With this function, a user can write a message quickly by connecting the dots instead of pushing the virtual buttons. Apart from that, the phone also features the following:

• Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity, compass
• Messaging: SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
• Browser: HTML
• Radio: Stereo FM radio with RDS
• GPS: Yes, with A-GPS support
• Java: Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
• Colors: Black
  • SNS integration
  • MP4/H.264/H.263 player
  • MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
  • Organizer
  • Document viewer/editor
  • Image/video editor
  • Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
  • YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
  • Voice memo/dial

Connectivity:

You can connect to the internet either through Wi-Fi or 3G networks. Full data specifications are as follow:

• GPRS: Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 – 48 kbps
• EDGE: Yes
• Speed: HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
• WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
• Bluetooth: Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
• USB: Yes, microUSB v2.0

Battery:

The battery is a standard battery, Li-Ion 1200 mAh with a stand-by time up to 570 hours and talk time up to 9 hours 30 minutes. The battery life is quite efficient for normal operation but running multitasking and graphics intensive programmes would decrease the talk time estimates.

Audio:

The audio is fine as long as you don’t expect too much from it. It has sound alert types of – vibration, MP3 and WAV ringtones. It is also equipped with a decent loudspeaker and as well as a DNSe sound enhancement, that may improve music quality compared to ordinary phones. It also has a 3.5MM jack that you can use to plug in your favourite earphones, headphones or even portable speakers.

Camera:

The camera is 3.15 MP (2048 X 1536 pixels) which is better than the Galaxy Young’s 2.0 MP. It is able to record videos at QVGA@15fps and fitted with Geo-tagging functionality. Picture quality is decent enough if taken in daylight conditions. Do not try to compare it with its big brother – the Galaxy S II’s 8MP camera! However, pictures are good enough for posting on Social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Ergonomics:

The compact design will suit both sexes, easy to carry around and can slip comfortably in your pocket.  Those with larger fingers might find it a bit difficult to touch on the virtual keyboard but with enough practice, you might get used to it and eventually love it.

Price:

Advertised price (AP) is around RM520 (US$167) to RM535 (US$174) but if you shop around you might be able to get it at a much lower prices. A quick check on local stores gave me a range of price from RM450 (US$147) to RM530 (US$173).

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