Dell update us on Project Ophelia: Set to arrive this month for developers and mid-summer for consumers!

   Those of you with exceedingly good memories will probably remember that we covered Dell's new Project Ophelia all the way back at CES in January right at the start of this year! The project has seemingly come a long way from what was supposed to be a portal to your online world back in January.

   There are still the initial uses which Dell touted earlier in the year: so there's still Wyse's PocketCloud, which gives you access to your files on your PC or server or whatever else you connect this thing to. Dell want to offer the Ophelia to enterprises as a tiny client which IT administrators can manage and easily secure. Features such as remote wipe for accidental losses and something called 'cloud client manager' will give administrators access to where users are and how they're using their Ophelias! This focus on enterprise will be important for Dell because, as they said, "enterprise is one market we understand," but Dell won't make this device totally boring, instead they've, "done a number of things in the software of the product and outside that will make it interesting."

   As part of that Project Ophelia is now set to be more akin to the OUYA or Gamestick and it will plug directly into your HDMI port and you can make the most of the mini computer's Wifi and Bluetooth capabilities however you see fit.

   The device will ship with Google Play pre-installed and you can, as Dell's Jeff McNaught says make what you please of the device. For example you can play games, run the device as a mini-pc to do your cloud computing, turn it into a set-top box to watch Hulu or Netflix or whatever else you fancy, you might want to make it a little media manager!

   Dell said that the device is supposed to act as an inexpensive alternative to tablets and PCs and we will get a better feel for what the devices primary use will be next week at Citrix Synergy in LA as the device will be shown off on 19 and 55-inch screens!

   The first batch of Ophelias will arrive this month for developers who want to write apps for it and later in the year, most likely August the device will be offered through cable television and telecom providers and again after that people can buy it direct from Dell for about $100!

   What do you think? Will this be like every other Android TV stick or will Dell be able to add value? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Via PCWorld.

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Dell say Windows RT isn't 'where they'd like'!

Dell XPS 10 running Windows RT.

   Company's seem to have been pretty outspoken in their criticism for Windows RT. You might remember Samsung cancelled their release of the Ativ Tab in America and even Microsoft have said that Windows RT is something which will get better with time!

   With that in mind it's not too much of a surprise that the latest company to come out and say they're not totally impressed with Windows RT is Dell. They guys might be in the middle of a takeover bid, but that doesn't meant they've taken their eyes off the market and the company's Neil Hand had this to say to in an interview with CNet:

“Demand is not where I would like it to be at this point in time. The amount of market information about it is not good enough, and the market sentiment is still pretty negative."

   He also added that the app support for the platform hasn't been quite as strong as it needed to be, a complaint which could be lodged against fully fledged Windows 8 too!

   What do you think? We're interested to hear your thoughts on Windows 8 and Windows RT because we've currently got the Asus Vivotab Smart in for review, so keep your eyes out for that and feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Via Slashgear.

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PC shipments drop: Smartphones and tablets were the culprits.

   PC shipments have been struggling a bit for quite while now, but apparently the start of this year has been the worst quarter for PC sales yet! According to the IDC the first quarter of this year saw total shipments drop to 76.3 million, a drop which has been attributed to smartphone and tablet sales.

   The IDC revealed that PC shipments fell 13.9% compared to the same period in 2012 and that is considerably worse than the projected 7.7% sales drop which was forecast. For the purposes of clarity the IDC lists desktops, portables, mini notebooks, and workstations as PCs but handhelds, x86 servers and tablets aren't considered computers.

   With that in mind the table below demonstrates how the biggest five PC companies are getting on and it's bad new for everyone except Lenovo, who probably have their home market CHina to thank for their flat-lining sales. Everyone else's sales dropped down by varying amounts.

   The IDC's David Daoud said that:

"Although the reduction in shipments was not a surprise, the magnitude of the contraction is both surprising and worrisome.. The industry is going through a critical crossroads, and strategic choices will have to be made as to how to compete with the proliferation of alternative devices and remain relevant to the consumer."

    Windows 8 is also taking some of the blame here too with Bob O'Donnell adding that:

"While some consumers appreciate the new form factors and touch capabilities of Windows 8, the radical changes to the UI, removal of the familiar Start button, and the costs associated with touch have made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices."

   In case you were wondering where Apple were, because they normally top the PC sales charts with statistics companies who include the iPad in their figures, well they're in sixth in this chart. The guys from Cupertino sold 4.1 million Macs, compared to the 47.8 million iPhones and 22.9 million iPads in the last quarter. The Mac sales were down from 5.2 million in the year before. Their CFO, Peter Oppenheier said:

 “We established new all-time quarterly records for iPhone and iPad sales, significantly broadened our ecosystem, and generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever.”

   Obviously this year over year decline is worrying for all manufacturers and it goes a long way to explaining why we've seen a lot more devices like the Asus Vivotab and the HP Envy X2 knocking around. We'll keep an eye out for more comparisons in the coming months to see how things fare!
BusinessWire Via PocketLint.

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Dell going private in a $24 billion deal helped by a loan from Microsoft and Silver Lake!

    Dell today announced that their founder, Chairman, and CEO, Michael Dell, will definitely be buying the whole of the world's third biggest computer manufacturer! The deal will cost him a cool $24.4billion and will be supervised by Silver Lake (the same company who helped Microsoft buy Skype). Microsoft's involvement will be in the form of a $2 billion loan to Dell.

   Dell's press release explained how the processed worked:

 "The Dell Board of Directors acting on the recommendation of a special committee of independent directors unanimously approved a merger agreement under which Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners will acquire Dell and take the company private subject to a number of conditions, including a vote of the unaffiliated stockholders. Mr. Dell recused himself from all Board discussions and from the Board vote regarding the transaction."

   The exact terms of the deal have all been worked out and if you're a shareholder then this is the bit for you. Mr Dell will offer up $13.65 per share, this is a healthy 25 percent above the price of Dell shares at the close of play on January 11th, when the shares were valued at $10.88!

   Mr. Dell hopes that this acquisition will leave Dell in a better position to compete in the future and with that stake from Microsoft there too then hopefully the pair can work together and with a bit of luck both this deal and the Google and Microsoft situation will yield some interesting results! Mr. Dell said that:

 “I believe this transaction will open an exciting new chapter for Dell, our customers and team members. We can deliver immediate value to stockholders, while we continue the execution of our long-term strategy and focus on delivering best-in-class solutions to our customers as a private enterprise. Dell has made solid progress executing this strategy over the past four years, but we recognize that it will still take more time, investment and patience, and I believe our efforts will be better supported by partnering with Silver Lake in our shared vision. I am committed to this journey and I have put a substantial amount of my own capital at risk together with Silver Lake, a world-class investor with an outstanding reputation. We are committed to delivering an unmatched customer experience and excited to pursue the path ahead.”

   The reality is that most of us won't even notice a difference and Dell will continue to crank out their Inspiron laptops which we see in homes around the country and everything will go on as normal.

   Incidentally, The Verge have a very interesting take on how Microsoft's involvement in this deal is a move which will help them protect their business. The article is well worth a read and you can check it out here!

Dell Via Hothardware and TheVerge.

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In Other News: 04/02/2013

• HTC's much rumoured new M7 will reported come rocking a new 'ultrapixel' camera. This is a pretty cool bit of technology which essentially combines three 4.3-megapixel sensors which layer together three images into one grand image. The main hope is that this will generate a 'crisper, cleaner image' with better colour accuracy. This device is getting closer each day and the picture above shows a snap from Carphone Warehouse's system and it is definitely there for all to see! Put February 19th in your calender guys!
  Via PocketLint (1) (2).

• Samsung are reportedly set to invest in a brand facility which will allow the Korean's to produce medium size OLED panels! The company already has production lines which churn out the screens for their phones and huge new OLED TV's and the only thing missing is the tablet and computer screen sizes! Fingers crossed that those nnamed “industry insiders” are right! We'd love a new computer with a good OLED screen!
  OLED-Info Via AndroidAuthority.

• Reuters still believe that a buyout deal for DELL is very much on the cards. According to their sources talks are in the final stages and a price of around $13.50 and $13.75 per share is likely to be agreed! Naturally the source exercised some caution saying that there is no final agreement in place and the negotiations could well break down, so we didn't really learn too much from the rumour!

• The Washington Post has explained that the FCC is considering buying back spectrum from TV stations in a bid to create 'super WiFi'! This idea would coat the USA in a huge cloud of totally free internet! Naturally mobile handset makers and America's ISP's and telecoms companies are not happy at any sort of suggestion. Microsoft and Google on the other hand think that this would be fantastic, partly because it would increase their user base significantly! At the moment this is nothing more than speculation, but some people argue that free or cheap access to the internet is a human right! What do you think?
  WashingtonPost Via Slashgear.

• The Droid Razr is supposedly the latest phone which has burnt through itself! The image to the right shows off one of the devices which burnt through it's own screen! We're slightly sceptical whether this is real or not because normally that degree of melting would stop the whole screen working not just a section of it, but stranger things have happened. Verizon reportedly replaced the device with no questions asked so there may well be some sort of issue which is known about in a small number of cases! We'll have to wait and see though!
  CellectRepair Via Phandroid.

• Bernstein Research said it was upgrading Blackberry's stock to "outperform" their previous targets because of the success of Blackberry 10's launch last week! Naturally Blackberry stock jumped up a little on the markets today too! Maybe it's not too late for the Canadian's.
  Via Reuters.

• BT Infinity will now offer a truly unlimited broadband offering without throttling!
  Via CNet.

• HTC has predicted that their 2013 will be even worse with a drop of 17 percent in the three months leading to the end of March if Q4 2012 is anything to go by. HTC's CEO Peter Chou said that rivals were "too strong", but reiterated his belief that 2013 "would not be too bad," despite the 79% slide in profits year-on-year.
  Via ZDNet. 

• Three UK have confirmed that when they roll out the LTE network "Three’s Ultrafast network later this year. Unlike some other UK mobile operators, it will be available across all existing and new price plans without customers needing to pay a premium fee to ‘upgrade’." The full press release is available here!

• The Windows Phone 7.8 update is reportedly causing a couple of issues for people who have upgraded. For example Nokia currently have a thread running for people who have been experiencing really low audio volume since the update. Thankfully re-flashing older firmwares fixes the issues for most people!
  Via Softpedia.

• Vodafone UK have confirmed that from the 6th of February they will be carrying a whole host of Windows Phone devices. The Nokia Lumia's 920, 820 and 620 and HTC's 8X and 8S will all be available.
  Via TheNextWeb.

• EE's owners Orange and T-Mobile are reportedly considering a stock market floatation. This would involved each of Deutsche Telecom and France Telecom (the owners of T-Mobile and Orange respectively) 25 per cent of EE on the London Stock Exchange, something which would raise them about £1billion each!
  Via ThisIsMoney.
  

And finally, Samsung UK and Expansys have teamed up to offer you a brand new trade in deal if you buy a new Galaxy S3, S3 Mini or Note II! The best way of explaining this through the video embedded below, but you can get some pretty good discounts, especially if you're prepared to cough up some extra cash for the higher priced Galaxy Note 10.1 or the Galaxy Camera! So check out the video below and the source link for more information!

Via Expansys and Samsung.

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15/01/2013: LG clear up Nexus 4 stock reports, Qualcomm thinks smartwatches are better than AR glasses! Plus much more!

LG reply to the Nexus 4 reports!

   If we had a pound for every time we heard from people tipping us or giving us feedback about the lack of Nexus 4 availability we would be very rich bloggers! But, we don't and we don't have a cure for the availability issues either. Until now Google blamed LG for sporadic stock shipments and now LG has come forward and offered a degree of clarity on the matter. Forgive us for the very poor translation, but this is what LG said:

“Our domestic Pyeongtaek manufacturing plant has been producing the Nexus 4 without a hitch. There is no problem in supplying. [The Nexus 5 rumors] are unfounded. The Nexus 4 from LG is significant in that it’s becoming more successful than the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.”

   So there you have it, LG are manufacturing them as they expect, but the device is just proving to be insanely popular! We tweeted out yesterday that there is stock available on Virgin Mobile in the UK and there are some other outlets, like T-Mobile USA and Phones4U!
Chosun via Slashgear.

Qualcomm does think Google Glass is the way forward: They'll vote for smart watches instead!

   At the moment 'connected devices' is a buzz phrase. People want everything to display your latest emails, texts, IM's, social networks and all the information needs to be in one place. Constantly checking your phone isn't convenient enough for our busy lives so people are trying to come up with the best solution for this. Some think the future is wearable glasses, which is useful if you wear them normally, but Qualcomm have a different opinion.

   Qualcomm CEO, Paul Jacobs, sat down with PocketLint to talk about augmented realities. Jacobs revealed that he actually spent/spends a lot of time working on augmented reality options and he said that if you choose something which is fully immersive, like wearable glasses then you tend to suffer from painful headaches. His exact words were:

 "I spent a lot of time on glasses at one point and the issue for me is that the ones that were very immersive I would get a headache from."

   This would obviously pose a problem because they're designed to work all day and you can't go through your days suffering headaches, people simply will choose not to! So with that in mind Jacobs is:

 "More focused on things like smart watches - always-on display on your wrist - those kinds of ideas as opposed to glass... [That's not to say we won't] support the partners working on glass too, it’s just our focus right now is more on the other stuff."

   So devices like Pebble and Sony's Smartwatch (and dare we say their LiveView would fall into this category too) are what Qualcomm has in mind! We know what he means with this argument, the interactive glasses are very distracting (Zeal's Goggle's are very distracting if you're skiing) and smartwatches do seem to be very useful! What do you think is the future? Let us know in the comments below, but bear in mind that  these sorts of things might pale into insignificance with things like Samsung's flexible displays and Yotaphone's come to prominence!
Via PocketLint.

In other news:

• The Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update for the original Galaxy Note is hitting at the moment! The update is live in Poland, Samsung's normal test bed and we expect it will roll out across the continent soon after, assuming there are no hiccups!
  Via GSMArena.

• Sony will make a PlayStation 4 announcement at E3 in either June “or earlier in May” this year! This news comes from Sony vice president of Home Entertainment, Hiroshi Sakamoto. This would announce the next gen console before Microsoft despite Sony having release their PS3 two years after the launch of the Xbox 360! It seems this time the consoles will be going head to head!
  Via Slashgear.

• Sony will not be including their infamous Timescape app with the Xperia Z, instead they'll rely on other features like 'Socialife' and the other apps on offer for Android devices!
  Via CNet.

• LG's Optimus G is currently receiving an update to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean!
  Via Android Community.

• Android's Google Now app will now give you the option to use virtual boarding passes! Google Now will automatically pull down information like flight number, gate number, seat number departure times and weather in your destination without you having to manually request it! Google will provide virtual boarding passes in the future with select airlines but the feature isn't live at the moment!
  Via Phandroid.

• In case you haven't heard the UK high street store, HMV, is currently in administration. The firm is no longer accepting gift cards and 4,500 staff will face losing their jobs unless a buyer can be found in the next few days!

• Dell's share price has rocketed over the last few days after rumours that the company will be privatising itself! Their shares are currently up 15%!
  Via Slashgear!

   And finally, we've got a video demo of Blackberry's upcoming Z10 handset. This will be RIM's full touch device and it should be a relatively popular device if everything is well and good! We now have confirmed specs too! There's a 4.2" screen with a resolution of slightly more than 720p, a 1.5Ghz dual-core A9 processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage which will be MicroSD expandable! Check out the video below and let us know whether you're excited for BB10!
Via Crackberry.

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CES 2013: Dell refresh the Inspiron R line-up and the XPS 13 and announce Project Ophelia!

Dell refreshes the Inspiron R range!

   So far at CES has been crazy and there's been a trend of subtle, but necessary refreshes and refinement, Vizio is the stand out candidate when we think about that! So the Inspiron R, Dell's mass market range, has been upgraded with a new slimmed down form factor and a set of new options which now includes touchscreen support!

    There's still the same three screen sizes on offer here; they're 14, 15 and 17 inches and with the new makeover the smaller two measure about an inch thick when they're closed and they top the scales at less than five pounds. But, just because they're slimmer doesn't mean they've cut corners; there's still the tray-loading optical drive, and if you opt for a 15R or 17R you'll also have enough room for a numberpad o your keybaord!

   On the spec front it's pretty much as you'd expect and you can essentially customise all of the internals. You can choose any processor from an Intel Celeron all the way through from an i3 to an i7 rig. You can also have up to 8GB of RAM, Intel Wireless Display and for graphics you can chose between a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT640M or a 2GB AMD Radeon HD 8730M. Storage options are similarly broad: at the expensive end there's a 1TB HDD and at the bottom you can have a 320GB model.

   One area of relative weakness is the screen department. The 14R and 15R have a standard resolution of  1,366 x 768, while the 17-incher comes will arrive with a 1,600 x 900 resolution. Thanfully, there are 1080p displays available for the 15 and 17 inch models.

   So if you live in the USA then the Inspiron 15R will start at are $430 and you can expect to add $70 to that if you want the basic 17R. If you're wanting a touchscreen that's extra and the cost is $650 for both the 14R and 15R basic models. If you live in the UK you'll be getting less value for your money and we expect you can swap that $ sign for a £ sign on the price of these computers!
Via PCMag.

The Dell XPS 13 gets refreshed too!

   Dell XPS 13 ultrabook is one sleek bit of kit and so Dell has simply decided to change around the internals!

   The refresh will offer an Intel Core i5 processor, a 128GB SSD, a mix of USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, a mini-DisplayPort and an Ethernet plug. Naturally the stellar battery life will remain. But, the difference now is that the display is finally bumped to Full HD resolution and it's now 'edge-to-edge' and it's coated by Gorilla Glass. 

   Thankfully the CNC-machine milled aluminum frame and lid, the magnesium alloy palmrest, and the carbon fiber frame will remain totally untouched. At the moment this isn't a full announcement, instead we expect to hear that from Dell, along with pricing and availability at some point later this month!

Via PCMag.

Dell's Project Ophelia!

   

   Dell's cloud computing arm today offered up a little surprise which we weren't expecting to see! They showed off Dell's Project Ophelia which essentially is a gateway to your computing world.

   The premise is that you don't want to carry your laptop everywhere with you, which is fair enough and totally true in our case! So what Project Ophelia offers is an oversized Android stick that has the ability to turn your HDTV or any monitor with the suitable connections into your computer.

   So the Android stick is not a fully fledged computer in any regard, it is instead a gateway to a cloud server where you'll have all of your files saved! With all your content there you will be able to play games, show off your latest presentation, or do some last minute practice, finish off your essay or whatever else you need to do, without your laptop with you!

   At the moment we have no idea how you'd control the device, we'd suggest something like this, but nonetheless Dell expects to have all that cleared up by summer time, just in time for every one to be on their holidays, but you can buy one ready for September!
Via Dell.

The full press release is embedded below:

Ultra-Compact Dell Cloud Connection Device Enables Access to Personal and Professional Content From Any Capable Display
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 8, 2013 – Dell today unveiled a solution that extends the value of cloud client computing to the next level, enabling people to manage the increasing convergence of their work lives and personal lives by using a compact, portable device to access not only secured professional assets, but also personal content via the cloud. The ultra-compact multimedia-capable device, called Dell Wyse “Project Ophelia,” is slightly larger than a USB memory stick and enables users to convert any capable TV or monitor into a functioning interactive personal display device without using a computer, tablet or smartphone.
Today, people are increasingly looking to take and securely access their personal and professional content wherever they go. Despite rapid advances in mobile technology, however, they still face challenges when it comes to securely accessing desired information when they are away from the office. There is no easy way, for example, to access photos, music or video from a personal cloud or entertainment subscription when away from a PC, smartphone or tablet. Equally, professionals find it difficult to securely access and share work applications, presentations and content if they are away from their usual devices, or worse, if their mobile devices are misplaced or fail during travel. It is also difficult for IT organizations to enable and manage access to enterprise apps and content for highly mobile users, especially those who may be without their preferred laptop, tablet or smartphone.
Built on Dell Wyse software technology already used on millions of devices, Project Ophelia transforms ordinary displays into a window to entertainment, communications and a person’s own personal cloud. The device also allows business users to instantly turn a display into a flexible, securely managed, communications-enabled thin client for work, demos or presentations. These capabilities are packed into a device barely larger than a USB stick that is self-powered through a monitor and easily fits inside your pocket.
The product addresses a variety of uses being fueled by the growing need to access cloud-based apps and resources at any time, or whenever a larger screen high definition digital display provides a superb user experience. Examples include:
- Consumers who desire in-the-moment access to cloud-based games or content but do not have their laptop or tablet in their possession;
- On-line gamers wishing to take advantage of a much larger display for an improved interactive experience;
- Highly mobile professionals who may not have a large display capable device with them; and
- Cloud access providers wishing to provide an attractively priced device included with carrier
internet/wireless services
Key benefits of Project Ophelia:
- Enables instant and secure access to your personal cloud, entertainment, work content and applications wherever there is an available capable display (using a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse), including a wide variety of Dell flat-panel displays.
- Integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth facilitates access and communication.
- Built on the Android 4 OS to support Web browsing, social networking, media playback and Android Apps
with a possibility to extend to other services.
- Securely connects to Windows desktops and applications running on back-end systems from all leading
infrastructure providers including Citrix, Microsoft and VMware.
- Flexibly powered zero-battery device gets power from the attached display monitor via its MHL interface
to the monitor’s MHL port, or separately via its own USB interface. No batteries to charge or change.
- Remembers settings for each individual to enhance usability.
- Compatible with many existing Dell Wyse thin clients and software products.

- Managed by Dell Wyse Cloud Client Manager software-as-a-service (SaaS) which can ensure the device is being used by the appropriate person with the right permissions and access to apps and content based on role, department, and location.
obile devices have small screens, tablets and PCs aren’t always convenient to haul around, and all these devices require batteries that can run down. ‘Project Ophelia’ turns capable TVs and monitors into personal and reliable Wi-Fi enabled work or
entertainment stations – all managed easily by IT via Dell Wyse Cloud Client Manager.”
Availability:
Project Ophelia will be available in the first half of 2013 from Dell Cloud Client Computing.

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12/12/2012: HTC pen a sponsorship deal with UEFA, O2 set to raise prices and they got into trouble with regulators, Blackberry L-Series devices caught on video and much more!

HTC and UEFA agree a sponsorship deal.

   At the moment HTC is having a bit of a hard time of it. They're One series has become diluted, despite the company saying they would focus on a core set of devices, but they seem to have a few tricks up their sleeve to make it all smiles again. Today they have announced that they will have a three-year deal with UEFA, which is Europe's Footballing authority.

   This will mean that HTC will have their logo plastered across match tickets, broadcast credits and match photographers' jackets. We expect HTC will have some pitchside adverts too! The Taiwanese company also promised to give customers access to match footage and archive broadcasts.

   Peter Chou, who's HTC's CEO, said: 'Football elicits so much passion around the world and we are excited to partner with one of the leading sporting brands in the world. We’ll be working closely with UEFA to offer football experiences to all fans in addition to providing a richer overall mobile experience.' We would like to see some dedicated apps which are exclusive to HTC devices, but that might be a push too far!

   UEFA's general secretary, Gianni Infantino, said: 'I am pleased to welcome HTC to the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League family. Through this partnership UEFA and HTC will promote European club football to a worldwide audience and bring new opportunities for our fans to engage with the competitions. We value the support and commitment of HTC and anticipate their involvement with these competitions will increase the profile of their brand on a global scale.

   This seems like a worthwhile investment from HTC and this will definitely get them a lot of brand exposure in European countries at the very least!
Via MobileToday.

O2 in trouble with ASA and possibly with you!

   UK carrier O2 has found themselves in a spot of hot water today after their misleading claim that prospective iPhone 5 buyers get their 'pre-order [to O2] before 4pm the day before launch, we'll get it to you on launch day'. What they didn't make clear is that there was a limited amount of stock and once those 'pre-orders' were exhausted it was a 'standard order' and so you would have to wait up to three weeks to receive your phone.

   The Advertising Standards Authority thinks O2 was a little out of line here and they've "ordered that the claim must not again appear in its current form and that the distinction between pre-orders and standard orders must be clarified" for next time.

   If you weren't affected by the first issue above, then every O2 customer is about to be affected by this second announcement. "From 28 February 2013, your line rental will go up by 3.2 [percent]. That's in line with the current rate of inflation as at December 2012 when we made the announcement."

   It's never popular when carriers utilise this small print in people's contracts. But, this will mean that if your contract is currently £15.50 a month contract then it'll soon be £16 and your £31 tariff will shoot up to a penny short of £32. O2 has calculator on its website so you can find out the damage!
Via ITProportal and TheInquirer.

In other news:

• RIM's upcoming L-Series device has been shown off on camera today after Tinhte showed off a set of pictures last night! They've made the video below for your viewing pleasure!
  Via Crackberry.
  
  
  
  
  
• Google's Eric Schmidt has today been on stage at The New York Times' Dealbook conference today, and he's made a bit of news concerning the company's big broadband effort, Google Fiber. Schmidt said that Fiber "isn't just an experiment, it's a real business and we're trying to decide where to expand next."
  Via Engadget.

• Google has released an update for their Currents app for Android. There's a lot of new things in this release including:

* Edition sidebar - quickly access your editions within categories such as business, sports, etc.
* Fast scan - Vertical swipe to scan an edition, horizontal swipe advances to next edition
* Edition-section chooser - Choose “Customize” to filter out sections
* Unread marks - Read stories are marked. (Setting to hide)
* Breaking stories - ranked by Google News. Links to full length content.
* Saved stories - star for future reference
* New catalog design
* Widget

Via AndroidPolice.

•  The WSJ has again tipped Apple to make a TV, they've written a hugely detailed report on why they think it's back on the cards! You can check it out here!

• The research firm Informa has tipped budget smartphones to make up 52% of the market by 2017! This demand would be driven by emerging markets and would see phones costing less than $150 becoming the norm. This would be bad news for companies profits as it would turn the market into a more quantity focused affair!
  Via CNet.

• Sky has updated its Sky+ app for iOS with on-demand listings something which will allow your iPad or iPhone to a remotely control film and boxset downloads that get sent to your Sky+HD box. You can scroll through the Sky TV On Demand catalog and queue the things you want to watch while people in the house are playing with the box itself!
  Via Slashgear.

• Acer has released a slightly beefier version of their recent Chromebook. This time they've kept the screen and processor but they've bumped storage up to 500GB's from 320, doubled the battery size to 5,000 mAh pack and they've add $100 to the price tag so this one will set you back $300! You can find full details here!
  Via Slashgear.

• Dell will officially be ceasing smartphone production from today! The company was famous for their huge (at the time) Dell Streak 5! But, from here on out Dell will stay committed to their computers and Windows based tablets. There's still the possibility that Dell is still looking at Android, but don't get your hopes up too much guys!
  Via PhoneArena.

And finally, this is Russia's finest new smartphone called the YotaPhone. It's an interesting new phone it's got a Gorilla Glass 4.3-inch 720 x 1,280 LCD display on the front, a 200dpi E Ink rear display with the same same size and screen protection on the back. There's also a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor with 2GB of RAM and there's a minimum of 32GB of non-expandable storage. On top of that there's LTE, a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 720p front-facing camera! This certainly looks like a fantastic device and we love the implementation of the eInk screen, it'd be great for the cheeky notification readings as it's always on!

Via Engadget.

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22/08/2012

New iPad incoming? Apple asks for triple the presentation space!

   Today some of MacRumors trusted sources have said to them that Apple resellers in Europe are being asked to increase the display space devoted to the iPad in their stores. This could mean a number of things; Apple wants the iPad to sell better, they want a larger presence in store, but most of all it shoudts "incoming iPad announcement".

   Apparently Apple has given re-sellers a deadline of September 12 to increase their iPad display space, just in time for a certain announcement date that Apple has scheduled! One of the sources specified that Apple has asked for resellers to triple the amount of space reserved for iPads. But, others disagree claiming Mac Pro and Mac Mini displays are the first on the chopping block in order to accommodate this shift.

   Since originally printing the rumor, MacRumors has changed their post saying that this shift in display space has occurred because Apple resellers have devoted only a small amount of space to the iPad and it’s one of Apple’s biggest sellers so they simply want to push the tablet more. September 12th will reveal all!

Everything Everywhere sell Three some spectrum!

   Yesterday Everything Everywhere got confirmation that they will be able to roll out 4G services on their existing range of spectrum and Huawei is hard at work installing 4G receivers in EE's 2G base stations. Everyone was slightly taken aback by the decision because it secured a monopoly period of about a year for the company.

   It seems that Three might have one little reason which helped convince OFCOM that this was a good move. That reason is that EE has sold Three two spectrum 'channels' and the statement below from Three's CEO, Dave Dyson, shows what this will mean to Three.

 “Acquiring this spectrum will more than double the capacity available to customers on our network.  We have seen a huge growth in data consumption with average mobile handset customer usage now more than 1.1GB per month. 

Three has led the market in the significant growth of mobile data consumption and the shift to consumer use of smartphones to access the internet.  New spectrum, supported by further committed technology spend, is a clear signal that we are committed to maintain our lead as the network built for the mobile internet.”

    This is 1800MHz radio spectrum that's been sold but there's one rather important condition. The sale briefly raised the possibility of the UK having competing 4G networks this year until EE crushed that dream by failing to relinquish the bands until September 2013 so Three's statement seems slightly excitable given the short term possibilities.

   The European Commission has already demanded that Everything Everywhere sell off this spectrum as a condition of the Orange and T-Mobile merger. This is pretty negligible to EE because the company is so huge that the network has hold of almost half the UK mobile radio spectrum. So EE offered to sell off two 15MHz-wide blocks before the 4G mega auction, which it has now done, but it won't let Three take possession until the last possible moment required by the EC: September 2013 for two 10MHz blocks, and September 2015 for the rest.

   What do you think is the 4G monopoly a bad thing or will it spur the others on to offer compelling alternatives when their time rolls round?

In other news:

• Microsoft is currently seeking new Beta testers for an upcoming update to their Xbox 360's!

• Our readers from the USA will have seen the news that T-Mobile USA will be offering unlimited internet and we can now confirm the service will be available from September 5th.

• Another interesting bit of news is that we expect Verizon Wireless to offer their customers the next round of Windows Phone 8 devices because everyone needs that third alternative option!

• Amazon's next Kindle tablet has hit the FCC along with the name 'Firedock', unfortunately all we Vknow is that the device will have the usual set of connections that every tablet has, but as soon as we hear more you will be first to know!

• Dell announced today that its profits in the second quarter of this year fell 18% from the year before. That means profits of $732 million something which prompted an after hours stock price dip. Dell's stock is currently down by 4.28% to $11.81 after hours, with the stock finishing the regular trading day at $12.34, only a 1.75% decrease. At least Dell is turning a profit!!!

• An unnamed Verizon employee has told TechCrunch that Verizon has blocked all employees from taking vacations between September 21 and September 30. This move was apparently made in anticipation of the new iPhone's launch.

• The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 has received a software update today and it brings a bump to Android 4.0.4!

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