Major US carriers announce Note 3 pre-order, shipping in October

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is all over the news today in the US as AT&T has opened its pre-order page for the phablet, Verizon has said it will do so today as well, while T-Mobile says it will open up pre-orders soon.
AT&T expects to ship the Galaxy Note 3 around October 1 and it will cost $299.99 on a two-year deal or $35 a month with AT&T Next program. T-Mobile has the Note 3 on their Simple Choice Plan for $199 up front and consequently $21 a month for two years and expects to ship October 2.
Verizon hasn't specified its prices yet but we expect the biggest US carrier to do so today. The Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch will go on sale "in the coming weeks" for $299 but you can get it for free as a set with the Galaxy Note 3 if you sign up for this T-Mobile page (the page will notify you when the Note 3 becomes available for pre-order and shipping)

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BlackBerry Q10 cited to be a commercial failure by retailers

Phones with QWERTY keyboards have always been the strong suite of BlackBerry. Which is why when the company revamped their product portfolio with BB10 and the Z10, they decided to not forgo QWERTY phones altogether and launched the Q10 (and consequently the Q5). Well, it seems that strategy isn't working out so well. According to The Wall Street Journal, who talked to retailers in the US and Canada, the Q10 is an unmitigated failure. There is no demand for the device and the retailers have had to return their stock.

One Canadian retailer even went as far as saying "I think we'd all say that the Q10, the one we all thought was going to be the savior, just hit the ground and died." And this is BlackBerry's home country we are talking about. While this doesn't mean the all-touch Z10 are flying off the shelves things are looking particularly bleak for the keyboard based BlackBerries. Clearly the market for these devices has dwindled in the past and few would now want to waste precious space for a physical keyboard when they could have a large display instead. BlackBerry now needs to rethink their strategy and assess if people really want to buy QWERTY BlackBerries anymore. Or simply BlackBerries, for that matter.

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Nokia Lumia 1520 first photo leaks, sized up next to Lumia 1020

Nokia Lumia 1520, previously known as Bandit, is rumored to feature a 6" 1080p display and run on the latest Snapdragon 800 chipset. Other alleged specs include a 20MP camera on the back, wireless charging support, a polycarbonate body and Windows Phone 8 GDR3. Today we get to see what is allegedly a live photo of the phablet. How we know it's indeed the 6" Lumia 1520? Well, the phones next to it is the recently launched Lumia 1020 and it's easily dwarfed by the Lumia 1520.
Last month we saw a picture of the front glass of a 6" Lumia phablet and it looks the Lumia 1520 is using the same panel. So we guess the Lumia 1520 existence is pretty certain at this point and all we have to wait for is for Nokia to announce it officially. Yesterday's Nokia press event in Moscow turned out to be about the Nokia 515 not the Lumia 1520. We guess the official premiere will happen about the same time all other phablets are going to war - sometime in September.

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New iPhone 5S and 5C photos leak from China

As the anticipated early fall announcement nears, the leaks of the (still rumored) iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S devices from Apple continue to pop up. The latest from China's variant of Twitter - Weibo - shows the two new models next to the iPhone 5. The devices in question are obviously dummy devices without a working display, but it gives us a good idea of their general dimensions.
It's been speculated that the new budget 5C model and the 5S will feature larger displays to appease customer demands, but judging by these images the screen will remain at the same size. Hopefully we'll find out for certain soon enough as less than a month remains until the expected September 10 announcement date. However, it may be longer still until actual device shipment, as some sources say we might see the new devices as late as October.

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Sony Xperia Z Ultra gets its first update

Sony recently announced its Xperia Z Ultra phablet and the 6.4-inch beast with its Snapdragon 800 chipset is by far the most powerful device in the current market. Sony is yet to launch its monstrous phablet outside of Asia, but the company has already rolled out a firmware update for it. The latest firmware for the Sony Xperia Z Ultra has a July 19 build date and is pretty minor. There is no change log available, so it appears it was all about squashing some of the bugs that were spotted after the market release.
The firmware update is currently available on the PC companion and is not seeding over-the-air (OTA). Sony has officially announced that the Xperia Z Ultra will be getting the latest Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update, but that's going to come later on with another update.
By the way, we have already got our hands on the gigantic Sony Xperia Z Ultra and you can check out hands-on impressions here.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Active with Snapdragon 800 seemingly confirmed by benchmarks

Several weeks ago, an upgraded variant of the Samsung Galaxy S4 was announced officially. It is currently on sale on the South Korean market, packing a speedy Snapdragon 800 chip and offering blazing-fast LTE-Advanced connectivity. This, however, won't be the only handset by Samsung to get a refresh. If the clues contained in this benchmark result spotted on GFXbench are to be trusted, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, which happens to be a water-resistant sibling of the S4, is next in line for the treatment. The presence of an MSM8974 chip is clearly stated in the listing, while the model name is mentioned in both the "fingerprint" and "device" strings.  Sadly, this upgraded Samsung Galaxy S4 Active model we're dealing with isn't meant to launch globally, as far as we can tell.

It appears that this is a handset made for SK Telecom – the very same mobile operator that is now selling the aforementioned LTE-A Galaxy S4 smartphone in South Korea. Nevertheless, we've been hearing rumors about a possible worldwide release of the latter, so who knows, perhaps the Snapdragon 800 variant of the S4 Active might get a broader rollout as well one day. We'll keep you informed as we learn more on the matter. If this smartphone is meant to see the light of day, its official announcement might be right around the corner.

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Xiaomi unveils quad-core Red Rice droid as Hongmi

Xiaomi has announced the long rumored Red Rice smartphone. Its official name is Hongmi which is Chinese for... well, red rice. Xiaomi Hongmi packs a 4.7-inch 720p IPS display with 312ppi density, protected by a Gorilla Glass 2. The Hongmi is powered by Mediatek's MT6589 chipset featuring a quad-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A7 processor, PowerVR SGX544 graphics and 1GB of RAM. Other notable features are the 4GB storage plus a microSD card slot, and a 2000 mAh battery. The phone comes with an 8MP BSI Samsung-made rear camera with 1.4ųm pixels for improved low-light performance and 28mm wide five-element lens. The Hongmi is capable of shooting 1080p videos. There is also a 1.3MP front snapper for video chats. Xiaomi Hongmi is dual-SIM handset with support for GSM/3G and TD-SCDMA networks on both SIM slots. The Hongmi is running on the proprietary MIUI V5 launcher on top of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Here comes the best part of the news - the Xiaomi Hongmi costs only CNY799 which equals a few cents less than €99.

The phone is already available on pre-order in China at QZone and is going to start shipping on August 12.  There are three flavors you can choose between - Black, Chinese Red and Metallic Gray. The battery cover is exchangeable and you can opt for additional blue, green and yellow panels. Unfortunately the Xiaomi Hongmi is highly unlikely to leave China. We'll keep you updated if we hear something about international availability, though.


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Nokia Lumia 1020 gets internals revealed in first teardown

Nokia and Windows Phone have certainly received their fair share of flak lately. Still, one can't help but marvel at the very impressive hardware package Nokia was able to squeeze into the modest frame of its latest Lumia 1020 flagship. The Nokia Lumia 1020 is a marked improvement over its predecessor, the Lumia 920, in almost every aspect. Most importantly the new smartphone features the impressive 41MP Pureview camera sensor, double the RAM, and retains all of the connectivity features, while actually reducing the measurements and shedding nearly 30 grams off its waistline.

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BlackBerry officially issues the BB10.1 OS Maintenance release

Today, BlackBerry starts seeding a new Maintenance release to its BB 10.1 OS. The update has a version number of v10.1.0.4537 and it’s a bug-and-fixes update that only adds a handful of truly new features.
Back in May, we saw BlackBerry announce the official availability of the BlackBerry 10.1 update to the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone (the Q10 already had it at launch). Now, the company has a second go at this one, refining the user experience and adding some minor new features.
Both the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 are able to receive the new update over Wi-Fi. Interestingly, the BlackBerry Q5 smartphone is not mentioned in the changelog.
Of course, availability is region-specific and the 10.1 Maintenance release will initially be available only to customers in the Asia Pacific, Canada, and EMEA.
Latin America users will be able to update in 2-3 weeks, while customers in the US will have to wait even longer, until the end of summer.

The most notable new features include:
A new next/previous message navigation gesture;
Two factor authentication for Twitter and LinkedIn;
A search field in BlackBerry Remember; Support for unlock with simple (numeric) passwords such as a PIN;
A new IT policy allows work and personal accounts in the BlackBerry Hub to be separated;
Input support for Simplified and Traditional Chinese;
Input and UI translation for Korean;
BlackBerry World app gets several UI enhancements, including a Wishlist;
Latest versions of the Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn apps.

You can read the full changelog over at BlackBerry’s website as well. Also our fellow tech journalists from CrackBerry.com already have a nice walkthrough of the new stuff on video.

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iOS 7 beta 4 links surface, Gold Master to come in September?

If you're a developer (or have registered your iDevice as a developer device) then you could be getting iOS 7 beta 4 (build number 11a4435d) today as the links have surfaced on Apple's Dev site. The links have been since pulled but are expected to return soon. Also according to sources Apple could be releasing just two more betas before an eligible Gold Master version arrives to devs this September with Apple about to start testing a GM release internally.
It's likely the rumors are true as we expect a new iPhone device (or devices, perhaps?) to arrive in the second half of September, and that one will certainly sport a ready version of iOS 7.

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The Nokia PR2.0 Amber update full changelog appears

The PR2.0 codenamed Amber update for Nokia Lumia 920 and its WP8 siblings is in the rumorland for quite some time and is highly anticipated by all owners. In case you own a Lumia 920/820/720/620/520 you are probably curious what to expect with the upcoming update.
The Amber update contains the official Windows Phone 8 GDR2 update that is coming later this year to every WP8 smartphone. There are a number of features that will remain exclusive to the Lumia lineup, though.
As luck would have it the guys from nokiawindowsphone.pl managed to get their hands on the complete changelog of the PR2.0 Amber and shared it with the rest of us.
Glance Screen: Clock Charging indicator / low battery Indicator for silent / vibra mode, night mode (change color for night time). OFF by default.
Smart camera capture the best moment: Accidental remove unwanted objects from the scene. Select the best shot and precise moment. Sequense take a group of images with advanced face, smile and blink detection. The, best 'face for each person is automatically selected into a single, best' shot.
FM Radio: Be ready to tune your favorite station - FM Radio is BACK! Store your favorite stations for the next time.
Flip: Flip to silence the phone to turn it silence.
Data Sense: Managing your data flow monitor and control data usage. Optimally compressing web traffic.
Find your closest hotspot: Enriched web services (for operators).
HERE branding Location & Commerce
Here Maps v3.4: Your compass is a discovery What's New: Increased venue map coverage Favorites saved in HERE Maps now sync across all HERE experiences Personalized Live Tile options: Pin and Pin destination to start a place to start as favorite Pin Pin to start a place category to start
Here Drive + v2.2: The open road made easy What's New: Sync favorite places with other apps HERE and here.com Customize your map to display relevant points of interest, dry as restaurants, gas stations, and more one-tap access to speed limit Alert options right from the dashboard Personalized Live Tile options: Pin to Start a destination (one tap gives driving directions to That destination)
Here Transit v3.5: Now arriving: the best way across town What's New: Access your favorites through your searches Display nearby stations directly on a map opens Transit Maps to display more route options Transit Maps opens to display the battles navigation options Personalized Live Tile: Pin a destination like Home, Work, or School to start (one tap shows public transit routes and times to get there from wherever you are)
And these are some of the features part of the Windows Phone 8 GDR2 update.
Xbox Music facilitated selection, procurement and pinning music. Also for fans of music are provided to display more detailed metadata (eg information about the songs and albums), and made other improvements.
You can listen to FM radio: FM radio directly in the heart of Music + Video. (This is not available in some phones).
Data Sense: Sense With the service date have complete control over the amount of data sent over the phone. You can impose a limit corresponding to your subscription or simply keep track of which applications send much data. (Not all mobile operators offer the service offering Sense).
Application: Skype applications to support VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), for example, Lync and Skype now gained greater stability and efficiency of operations.
Comfort: Internet Explorer web browsing will be greatly improved by better compliance with HTML 5
Other improvements includes many other improvements of Windows Phone.

The Amber update is available out of box on the Lumia 925 and Lumia 1020. We expect it to hit the other compatible smartphones in a month or two.

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