Could this be the HTC One Mini?

   HTC might on the face of it be pursuing a flagship only policy this year, but the reality is that without a bit more in their range the company simply won't sell enough devices to turn their fortunes around. That's why a lot of people believe a device like the one pictured above will come into its own. So is this a HTC One Mini which has been spotted a bit before it's time?

   The device was spotted over on the Estonian site forte.delfi.ee and if they're correct then there's a 4.3-inch screen with a nice 720p resolution, a dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and a 4-megapixel UltraPixel camera.

   Obviously this is all speculation on our part because we're not sure how accurate the 'leak' is, but it looks as though it could be legitimate and Forte believe the device will be available in August for around the €400 mark! That price will probably be a fair bit more than Samsung's upcoming S4 Mini will cost, but we'll have to wait and see!
Forte Via Engadget.

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Rumours offer up supposed specs for the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 and the Galaxy Ace 3.

   The rumour mill is in full flow since Samsung announced that there will be new Galaxy and ATIV models announced on June the 20th in London and today the focus has turn to the spec of the rumoured Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 and the third iteration of the budget Samsung Galaxy Ace handset.

   Let's start with the third version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and like always this is set to be another budget 10 incher from Samsung. If the rumours are correct then there will be a 1280 x 800p TFT LCD display which will give you a nice picture of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The device is rumoured to be kept ticking along by a 1.6 GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 16 or 32GB of internal storage and a 6,800 mAh battery. There's also meant to be two cameras: a 3 mega-pixel rear camera and a 1.3 mega-pixel front. The Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 is also meant to measure in at 243.1 x 176.1 x 7.95mm and weigh a total of 510g.

   Hi-Tech also had some new words on the latest Galaxy Ace. If they're right then this will be another budget handset and it will be rocking a 800 x 480p 4-inch TFT-LCD display, which will be kept ticking over by a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory and a nice 1,500 mAh battery. The camera set-up are rumoured to be a 5 mega-pixel rear camera and a 0.3 mega-pixel front-facing camera. According to Hi-Tech all of this will be crammed into a chassis which could be 121.2 x 62.7 x 9.8mm and it's set to be running a version of Android Jelly Bean.

   Hi-Tech have a good record on leaks in the past and to be honest the specs sound relatively close to what we would expect with these two budget devices and hopefully we'll heard the true details on the 20th of June!
Hi-Tech Via GSMArena.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini pops up online: Well rounded mid-ranger according to rumours!

   This article is a little bit of a two in one because Samsung's Galaxy S4 Mini has been widely tipped, but it's started turning up online. It's appeared once on SamMobile, as you can see above and it's popped up again on the official Samsung site, as you can see at the bottom of the post!

   At the moment we don't know very much about the device at all, it's turned up on an update to Samsung's WatchOn app, but aside from that the rumours run that this will be another modest little phone.The rumour is that there will be a qHD, that's 960 × 540p 4.3" screen giving you a PPI of 256, which will be showing you Android 4.2 Jelly Bean courtesy of an Exynos 5210 processor, which is dual-core and clocked at 1.6GHz. The rumours suggest that there will be an 8MP camera and the usual assortment of sensors and connections which you expect.

   The Galaxy S4 Mini will undoubtedly be a key part of Samsung's range this year because consumers are lured in by the Galaxy S4 part of the name and so this is expected to be as popular as the little Galaxy S3 Mini proved to be! If you want to see a few more pictures then head to SamMobile at the source link below!

Click to enlarge.

TGSpot and SamMobile Via AndroidBeat.

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Xbox One resold games will give both Microsoft and publishers a cut?

   A new report today has surfaced on MCV which offers some 'retail sources' information on how used games will work on Microsoft's new console. This issue has been one which has seen gamers particularly concerned about whether or not second hand games will be things of the past!

   According to MCV retailers will have no restrictions on the price that they can charged for second hand Xbox One games, but they will however, have to give both publishers and Microsoft themselves a cut of the final sale price.

   The reason for this is that when games are sold back to stores gamers will have to take them to a store which has signed up to Microsoft's trade in program and have Microsoft's Azure pre-owned systems up and running within their own company systems. This will allow the company to tell Microsoft that a game with a certain registration code has been traded into a store and the game will subsequently be wiped from the console of the people who traded the game back in! This seems to confirm that the Xbox One will have to connect itself with Microsoft's servers once every day to ensure that people are only playing the games which they're 'allowed' to. 

   As for the price of games MCV report that the guys at ConsoleDeals.co.uk have already suggested that second hand games will have to be sold at £35, but that report isn't confirmed at the moment and that would completely reshaped the pre-owned games market. If that isn't the case then MCV says that retailers could see their earnings from each game sliced to just 10% of the final sale price! 

   Microsoft issued the following statement to MCV saying:

“We know there is some confusion around used games on Xbox One and wanted to provide a bit of clarification on exactly what we’ve confirmed... While there have been many potential scenarios discussed, we have only confirmed that we designed Xbox One to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail. Beyond that, we have not confirmed any specific scenarios. Another piece of clarification around playing games at a friend’s house – should you choose to play your game at your friend’s house, there is no fee to play that game while you are signed in to your profile.”

   As you can see Microsoft either haven't thought of a way of dealing with the issue yet, or they are keeping their cards close to their chest until they hear what Sony plan to do. Either way we have a horrible feeling that pre-owned games are going to be made a thing of the past as far as possible with Microsoft's new console. Hopefully we're wrong though and remember that nothing is confirmed yet as Microsoft keep reiterating! Let us know your take on the situation in the comments below!
MCV Via Engadget.

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Vodafone report first decline in full year earnings since 2005!

   Vodafone is having a tough time of it lately with customers heading elsewhere in search of cheaper plans and bigger allowances and the group had another tough period over the past year as a whole company.

   The company is still the world’s second largest wireless carrier, but they saw a 4.2% drop in their “organic service revenue”, which is Vodafone slang for their total gross earnings for their fiscal year up to March the 31st this year. This was in line with their forecasts, but they didn't expect to have to withhold their dividend from the Verizon branch of the company, which Vodafone own 45% of, like they chose to. Instead the £2 billion, which would have been paid to investors, will be ploughed into the company.


   According to Reuters these results are a reflection of the economic climate which the company faces and the financial problems which Europe is still dealing with are affecting Vodafone quite badly because these are the company's core markets. There were also regulatory cuts which negatively affected the company in the last three months of their fiscal year, which didn't help either.

   There's not too much to worry about though because even with their 4.2% decline in revenue they turned in £44.4 billion ($67.58 billion) in total revenue.
 
   Ohh and for those of you in the USA who have heard speculation about Vodafone selling their 45% stake in Verizon, we think this news makes it increasingly unlikely that that will happen and
Vodafone made no reference at all to the rumours surrounding that deal.

Reuters Via PhoneArena.

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Is this an image of a new iPhone?

   When devices 'leak' then it's always slightly frustrating because we literally have no idea whether people have got it right or not and then if they didn't there's the chance they fabricated everything to make fools of some journalists. 

   With that in mind the image above is supposedly an iPhone 5S. We'd be surprised if that was the case because typically Apple has kept the same external design with the 'S' versions of their phones and just made the insides a lot better! But, there's some other things which make this rumour a little more credible. A couple of weeks back Apple submitted a patent application for a device which looks like this:

   GSMArena have speculated that the first image could just have been someone's render of the patent application just above or alternatively it could just be one of the test designs which Apple is playing with to mask the actual design of the phone which will be announced this year.

   What do you think does this sound plausible? Let us know in the comments below.
Via GSMArena.

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Rumour: HTC and TSMC to buy Panasonic's mobile division?

   Today we have for you a wild rumour, it includes, the world's biggest dedicated semiconductor producer, an ailing Taiwanese phone maker and a Japanese company who makes tonnes of tech, but wants to leave phones well alone. So what is it that links TSMC, HTC and Panasonic in this tale? Well there is a Japanese newspaper has hinted at the possibility that HTC and TSMC could team up to buy Panasonics smartphone arm!

   The link to HTC seems obvious, they are a smartphone company and they are having a few of their own troubles, but there's nothing out of place on that front. TSMC (or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) is the biggest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry and you'll probably know them for making chips for Apple, Qualcomm and a heck of a lot more people too!

   The question we were asking ourselves was 'what would those two want with Panasonic?' and to tell the truth we're not sure, but that's the joy of rumours sometimes crazy things come true! Slashgear have suggested that Panasonic's mobile arm, aside from making phones, also produce base-station and infrastructure equipment, so this could possibly be a destination for some of TSMC's SoCs. For HTC though we can only think that Panasonic have a good knowledge of the Japanese smartphone market, where HTC recently launched the J Butterfly, but we don't think there's much room for growth there.

   All we have to go on is this Japanese report which currently says discussions are ongoing and there's supposedly stumbling points over price and worker retention at the moment. Don't be too surprised if we never hear of this again, but just in case there is something in this we will be sure to let you know as and when we hear!

   What are your thoughts on this? Could HTC spend their money better elsewhere? Does Panasonic have any use to these Taiwanese companies? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
SankeiBiz Via Slashgear and UnwiredView.

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In Other News: 15/02/2013.

• It seems as though the Wii U is not selling very well. We already know that Nintendo sells the console below cost, but according to a NPD rep sales of Wii U hardware are 38% lower than sales for the original Wii across the first three months of availability. 'Sources' also have been told that Wii U sales for the whole of January were “well under” 100,000 units, some estimates peg the figure as low as 45,000 to 59,000 units.
  Via Slashgear.

• Apple's Jony Ive has been given a gold Blue Peter badge after appearing on the show and giving them access to some of Apple's most secretive areas!
  Via CNet.

• Skype will soon have Video Voicemail as a feature! The company have been testing the feature on OS X, Android and iOS. At the moment, those of us in the US and UK should be seeing an option to use the feature, although it might be hidden in some sort of overflow features button. For the moment it seems that people will get 20 free video messages to start with and we're not sure what happens after that, but Skype have confirmed that unlimited voice messaging will be included as part of a premium subscription.
  Via Engadget.

• Apple's iOS 6.1 release hasn't been quite as smooth as things were before. There was originally issues connecting to and syncing with Microsoft Exchange, now we've got that lockscreen bypass trick and so apparently iOS 6.1.2 will be rolling out before February 21st! Fingers crossed everything's good this time around!
  Via Slashgear. 

• Google is reportedly suing BT for 'arming patent trolls'. A Google spokesperson has said that, "We have always seen litigation as a last resort, and we work hard to avoid lawsuits, but BT has brought several meritless patent claims against Google and our customers-and they've also been arming patent trolls."
  Via Wired.

• Tamagotchi is now available for Android!!! If you don't know what these badboys are then first you weren't born in the '90's and secondly there's egg-shaped virtual pet which you need to feed, clean and generally look after! The app is currently available as a free download, but it's currently limited to American and Canadian users! You can get it here!
  Via Wired.

• Do you remember that super expensive Vertu Ti phone we covered the other day? Well it turns out that the device was actually meant to run Windows Phone, but it turns out that the device is now running Android because of the "complexity of building for Windows Phone." We're not quite sure what that means, but it's probably got something to do with the limited customisability Microsoft's operating system offers OEM's compared to Android!
  Via ZDNet.

And finally, with the launch of the Galaxy S4 expected within the next few months the 'leaks' of the device seem to be coming thick and fast. Today is no different and SamMobile have reported about a leaked roadmap style document has been found online. The document itself is embedded below, but remember this could quite easily be faked!

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Archos rumoured to be working on a set of phones! [Updated with pictures!]

   So this rumour is a couple of days old, it first included details of the Archos 116 Platinum, which was officially release yesterday, so there's reason to believe that this is quite credible and the rumour runs something like this.

   Archos is already well known for their tablets and they want to bring some of that success to mobile phones too. The plan appears to follow the 'elements' naming scheme of their tablet brethren, if the rumour is too be believed too.

   The phones are rumoured to arrive in three different sizes; they are 3.5 inch, 4.8 inch, and 5.2 inches. The smallest will supposedly be called the Archos Carbon 35 and it's rumoured to feature a  480 x 320p screen, single core processor and 512MB of RAM and a shockingly small 512MB of storage. Obviously this is a budget device and it has a rumoured price tag of 90 Euros

   Taking a little bit of a step up there's the Archos 48 Platinum. This is seemingly a much better device by today's standards, with a 4.8 inch, 1280 x 800p screen rumoured to be paired with a 1.7 GHz Mediatek MT6589 quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor. The supposed 249 Euro price tag reflects the bump in quality of the components.

   Right at the top of the line there's rumoured to be the Archos 52 Titanium, which will supposedly have a 800 x 480p screen, which we really hope isn't true because that will not be very nice to look at! Other than that the rumour mill hasn't offered up too much other than a 1.2 GHz dual core processor.

   If this is accurate we expect we'll be finding out a lot more at MWC in a few days!


Liliputing Via AndroidCommunity. Pictures via Hi-Tech.

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14/12/2012: Huawei and Nokia rumoured to working on phablets, EE announces LTE tablets, Sony Yuga rumours and much more!

Phablet rumours! Huawei 8.5" beast and a Nokia Lumia supersized.

   The past few days saw rumours of a Galaxy Note 3 that could have a 6.3" screen, something which would really push the boundaries of pocket-ability. But, Eldar Murtazin believes the device in the picture above is an 8.5" device which is coming from the Chinese company Huawei.

   There's some scepticism on the actual size because it's unlikely that the screen size will be 8.5" judging from the picture. But, it's quite likely we're talking about the diagonal length of the entire device. There's no word on the rest of the specs at the moment but as always we'll let you know if we hear anything more.

   From the Finnish part of the equation we've seen this picture of, what is likely to be, a prototype Lumia device. It looks very much like a blown up Lumia 810. This device has very likely to be a prototype and that alone because the resolution of the screen is 480x800, something we don't expect to see on a high-end device at the moment. 

   Either way we should expect to see a barrage of giant devices in the coming year that are of similar sizes to this given the success of Samsung's Galaxy Note range!
Via Slashgear.

In other news:

• Google+ for Android has been updated today with the some additional features. The main benefit of this update is the instant upload feature on Android. Google will now let you store up to 5GBs of photos for free. You can get the update here and when the update hits you'll see a full changelog on the app description.
  Via AndroidCommunity.

• Motorola's Atrix HD for AT&T and T-Mobile are getting an update to Andorid 4.1 Jelly Bean. You can see if the update is ready for your device by clicking through Settings>About Phone>Software updates. It'll be worth it to get your Project Butter smoothness and your Google Now capabilities.
  Via AndroidCentral.
  
  
• The UK's first LTE carrier EE has announced a pair of tablets which can connect to their new 4G network. The Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE is now on offer £99.99 on a 24-month contract. This is by no means a cheap option; it's £35.99 a month for 8GB of data, a 5GB data plan is £30.99 a month and the tablet will cost £199.99 and a 3GB deal will set you back £25.99 a month and the tablet will cost you £249.99. The Nexus 7 is also on offer but you will have to connect through the Huawei E589 Mobile WiFi device. You can get this tablet on exactly the same price plans as the one above, although the Nexus 7 and the hotspot device will cost £29.99 on the 8GB and 5GB plans and £49.99 for 3GB of data.
  Via PocketLint.

• DigiTimes has reported that market observers say it’s very likely that the next version of the iPad mini arrive with a Retina display. Obviously, this means they're not sure, but if we had had a guess at what Apple was planning with the next iPad Mini, we wouldn't have been too far away from this conclusion either!
  Via Slashgear. 

• The rumour mill really pushed its boundaries today as rumours of a new smartphone from Sony, code named the Yuga, come to the internet. If the rumours are to be believed then the device will feature a Samsung Exynos 5 quad-core processor, 3GB RAM, 128 GB storage, a 16-megapixel camera, and a 3,000 mAh battery! This is supposedly all to be topped off with a 5-inch 1080p HD display, which is the most likely of all of the specs! We would love to see a device like this running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, but from the moment we'll take a big pinch of salt and we'll cross our fingers for a device like this arriving at CES in the new year!
  Via AndroidGuys.

• Google's Nexus 7 has been waiting a little while for an official dock, but it's been captured on camera today! Check it out on the video below!
  Via AndroidCommunity.

And finally, Alcatel have outed their Windows Phone 7.8 device which is expected to be heading to Russia in the near future, through a new YouTube promo! Check it out in the video below!
Via Engadget.

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22/05/2012

Google and Motorola deal completes!

   Today Google has finally completed their acquisition of Motorola, after China approved the move yesterday afternoon. This is great news for the two companies and it will be great to see how Google can exercise an influence on Motorola and whether they get an unfair advantage over other Android manufacturers.

   The other rumours today have been that Google may be planning to cut 40% of jobs at Motorola as they aim to streamline the company and turn a profit in the near future. There's no exact word on future plans but the press release states that the Motorola acquisition will help “supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing". Keep it locked here for the news as it happens.

Will.I.am seen tweeting while Olympic Torch carrying!

   So this is kind of more fun than any real news, but The Voice judge and superstar rapper, producer and song writer Will.I.am was today a torch bearer for the London 2012 Olympics. But, the Black Eyed Peas co-founder took a slightly different angle on how to act while carrying the torch than the rest of the crowd so far.

   He took to his Blackberry Torch today to Tweet while he was carrying a big gold burning torch. His tweet said;

will.i.am ‏@iamwill

1nce in a life time experience #runningthetorch in the uK...

 We're pleased you enjoyed it Will!!!

Upcoming iPhone rumours pour out!

   The last few days we've been hearing a lot about Apple's upcoming iPhone and what features it will and won't have. The main rumour is that Apple will up the size of the screen and the consensus is that this probably will happen.

   Today the rumour has come from 9to5 mac that the screen will be a 3.95" display and it will have a new pixel ratio of 1136x640, which would usher in a new aspect ratio of 16:9, while maintaining the 'retina display' title, by keeping the pixel density well about 300pixels per inch.

   9to5 Mac have also said that they expect the new iPhone to have an updated charging port which takes up less space at the base of the phone. The new port is rumoured to be slightly smaller than the MicroUSB standard 

In other news:

• The Galaxy S3 has reportedly been received very well in the UK with the Carphone Warehouse today announcing that the device has been ordered 'by the thousand' and they have 'sold better than expected'. The international version has also gone up for pre-order in to USA too, but you guys should probably hold out for an official LTE version.
• Windows Mobile devices you have now officially lost your app store, sorry guys!
• The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 and the Sony Xperia U have both gone on sale in Three UK's mid-range today and both can be yours for around £20 a month on contract or £200 off contract.
• Samsung have today refuted the claim that 'lawyers designed the Galaxy S3', the official line from their Design VP is that 'the design is part of a 5 year plan' to change the design language at Samsung, sorry guys but we're still not entirely convinced. I for one am still blaming Apple's lawyers!

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