LTE iPhone 5 coming to EE and Three in UK, but not O2 and Vodafone

Brits ready to stake their preorder claim this Friday might have a harder time deciding between the myriad of networks offering the device. While all of the major UK carriers will be ready to offer you the iPhone 5, that LTE radio will only be working on the newly-christened EE from the start, with Three likely to use that purchased spectrum (after getting the okay from Ofcom) to similar effect in the near-future. Unfortunately for Vodafone and O2, the forthcoming Ofcom spectrum auction is gearing up to sell off the 800MHz (Band 20) and 2.6GHz (Band 7) frequencies -- neither of which are found on Apple's multiple iPhone 5 models, and the latter being a bigger problem in Europe and Asia, where LTE networks already make use of the 2.6GHz frequency. However, Apple have followed up an initial phone launch with additional network-specific models before -- so there's a slim chance we could see another model at a later date. All the UK carriers are keeping their contract prices a tightly-guarded secret at the moment, but we'll update as soon as we hear more. Meanwhile, those on that little European isle can expect to pay £529 for the entry-level iPhone 5 from the source when pre-orders start this Friday.

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Samsung will update US Galaxy S III devices to Jelly Bean 'in the coming months'

Samsung Mobile to Begin Jelly Bean Update with TouchWiz® Enhancements for Galaxy S® III Smartphones in the U.S.

Available in the coming months, the Galaxy S III update offers the latest Android™ platform; new camera, video and customization enhancements; and access to ESPN's ScoreCenter app with custom AllShare® integration

DALLAS - October 17, 2012 - Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC (Samsung Mobile) – the No.1 mobile phone provider in the United States and a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the No. 1 smartphone provider worldwide1 – continues its commitment to bringing the latest innovation to market with the rollout of Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, the latest version of the world's most popular smartphone operating system, to all Galaxy S III smartphones in the U.S. in the coming months.

The update will be made available both over the air and as a download via Kies, Samsung's content sync and software update solution. The specific timing and update method will be announced by each carrier partner, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular.

Galaxy S III owners will receive the Jelly Bean update as well as a host of new and enhanced TouchWiz features, making it a faster, richer and more responsive device experience. Samsung's best-selling flagship smartphone just got even better.

Samsung refined and enhanced the Galaxy S III experience by adding new capabilities to the camera, video and user interface, including:
· Camera Enhancements:
o New live camera and camcorder filters offer a range of new ways to spark your creativity. Warm vintage, cold vintage, black and white, sepia, color highlights (blue, green, red/yellow), and many more are selectable from the main camera screen.
o Pause and resume while recording video allows users to string together multiple captured video clips from a party, birthday or sporting event into a single file with no post editing required.
o Low light photo mode takes advantage of Galaxy S III's best-in-class High Dynamic Range (HDR) capabilities and offers an optimized mode for low light and indoor photos.
· Pop Up Play Update: Users can now easily resize or pause the Pop Up Play picture-in-picture video window, taking full advantage of the Galaxy S III's powerful processor and large 4.8-inch screen.
· Easy Mode: Easy Mode is a simplified user experience option for first-time smartphone owners, providing large home screen widgets that focus on the device essentials. The Easy widgets include both 4x2 and 4x4 arrangements of favorite contacts, favorite apps, favorite settings, clock and alarm.
· Blocking Mode: Galaxy S III owners can disable incoming calls, notifications, alarms and LED indicators for a designated period of time.
· Improved Usability: Users now have multiple keyboard options with the addition of the Swype® keyboard.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean offers users a smoother, faster and more fluid experience with expanded feature functionality, including:

· Google Now™: Google Now gives users the right information at the right time, like how much traffic to expect before leaving work, when the next train is scheduled to arrive at the subway station or the score of a favorite team's current game – conveniently delivered as notifications. Additionally, Google Now provides powerful voice assistant functionality across a range of domains, including weather, maps, navigation, search, image search, flight status and more. Google Now can conveniently be launched from the lock screen shortcut or by a long press on the menu button from any screen.
· Rich Notifications: Notifications can now expand and shrink with a pinch to show the right amount of information a user needs. Notifications have been enhanced so action can be taken without having to launch the app first – like sharing a screenshot directly from the notification.
· Automatic Widget Adjustment: Customizing the home screen is easier than ever before. Users can simply place a new icon or widget on the screen, and existing icons will move out of the way to make space. When widgets are too big, they automatically resize to fit on the screen.

In addition to the operating system update, Samsung and ESPN worked together to integrate AllShare® technology into ESPN's popular ScoreCenter® application. This means Galaxy S III owners will now be able to wirelessly push on-demand ESPN global sports coverage and highlights from the ESPN ScoreCenter app to their Samsung SMART TV™. When on the same Wi-Fi network as a Samsung SMART TV, a sharing icon will appear within the ScoreCenter video player which allows users to seamlessly push what they are watching to the TV. The ScoreCenter app with AllShare integration is available today for download through S Suggest™ on all U.S. Galaxy S III devices.

With the Jelly Bean update, the Galaxy S III will also add support for some exciting new accessory experiences.
· AllShare® Cast Wireless Hub: The AllShare Cast Wireless Hub accessory allows users to wirelessly mirror their phone screen to any HDTV or HDMI® display. Whether it's sharing pictures, browsing the Web, playing games, streaming music, watching videos or projecting business presentations, users can control the action on the big screen wirelessly from their smartphone. AllShare Cast Wireless Hub even supports licensed content playback of premium TV and movies.
· NFC One Touch Pairing Support: Galaxy S III can now pair with supporting NFC Bluetooth® accessories in a single touch. The Samsung Galaxy HM3300 Bluetooth headset will be the first Samsung portfolio accessory to support this functionality (available in the near future), allowing users to pair their headset by touching it to the back of their device.

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Facebook opens mobile ads for apps to all developers, keeps them on the money train

It's no secret that Facebook saw FarmVille for iOS as writing on the wall: it had to either tap into mobile app revenue or risk losing income (and marketing-savvy developers) whenever someone left the web. Following a beta this summer, the company's solution to its dilemma is now open to everyone. All developers on the social network can build ads that link from Facebook's Android and iOS apps to either Google Play or the App Store -- offering both an easy plug for their native apps and that all-important ad revenue for Facebook. The system currently takes a shotgun approach and may pitch social networkers for apps they already have or don't want, but it should be refined in the next few months to where some curious purchasers won't even have to leave Facebook to load that hot new title. Hopefully the increased recognition for mobile developers is worth sullying our once pristine news feeds.


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Motorola Atrix 2 — How To Print From The Device

Motorola just recently updated their Atrix 2 handset to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. With the update we got a slew of new features such as App Locker and Smart Actions. Among those new features is a certain one embedded in the system settings. Yes, we Atrix 2 users can now enable a printer on our devices. To access this feature you need to go into the Settings of the Atrix 2, scroll all the way down, and under the System Settings, you will find the Printer settings. Before enabling your printer on your Atrix 2, keep in mind that you won’t be able to do any print over your mobile data, you have to connect to your home Wi-Fi, the same Wi-Fi that your printer is connected to.
What your going to do, is select the Printer Settings, and then select the “Find Printers” button under the auto search tab. It will prompt you to connect to your home Wi-Fi, and after you do that, it will auto search for printers that are connected to that Wi-Fi connection. If your phone can not find a printer on the Wi-Fi, there are some other options to add the printer manually as well. This, of course, still requires you to be on the home Wi-Fi as well, but is a tad more complicated than the auto search. I was able to add my printer straight through the auto search, so things were very simple for me, but maybe your Wi-Fi is a bit more locked up, and it just isn’t liking your handset. In that case, manually adding the printer will have to be the way you go.
If everything else fails, you may have an issue with your printer or it is just not fully open to your Wi-Fi network. When it comes to that, I am no network genius/guru, so you may need to call someone about that. In fact, Motorola Mobility has a support area where they usually are more than willing to help you set up your printer on your Wi-Fi network. On the other hand, these Printer Settings options should be available for most devices running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, mainly their newer devices like the DROID RAZR M.
Now, I do have to warn you that their built-in printer software is actually really weird. Sometimes it just outright refuses to print for some unknown reason. Usually a reset of your phone fixes this, but Motorola really needs to add a bit more stability to the option before it becomes the main place you print from. Still, it is wonderful when the printer options do work, especially when you find something that you would like to read later on whilst browsing the web. Sure you can always bookmark things, but those are a bit more tedious on your smartphone, so printing would be the ideal thing to do.
Has the printer options been working well for you, or are they a bit clunky as I described? Let me know in the comments below!
Tags: Atrix 2, Motorola, PrintCategory: How To
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Meet G’zOne TYPE-L; A Military Standard Ruggedized Android Smartphone from Casio

It’s no secret that Android is the most dominant operating system in the smartphone and one of the reasons is that so many manufacturers have designed and developed all kinds of smartphones – from low end budget smartphones to high performance quad core phones, from small 3.5 inch screen phones to large 5.5 inch phablets.  Well, if you love Android and would wish to have a phone that can take all forms of beatings and abuse, Casio may have released just the kind of phone you want.

The Casio G’zOne TYPE-L is a military-grade ruggedized phone that is incredibly durable but still has some very impressive specs including a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm dual core processor, 1 GB of RAM and an 8 megapixels camera.  Casio is working on making the phone available in the market around February next year and will be available in red or black.  You would expect such a phone to be prohibitively expensive but Casio actually targets to introduce the phone in Japan in January for under $400 US equivalent.  They have not mentioned anything about rolling out the phone to other countries but such a gadget, being one of the few that are unique in the world, would certainly attract a fair market share.
The Casio G’zOne TYPE-L sports a 4 inch IPS display with a low resolution of 800 x 480 pixels and will have 8 GB onboard memory but with a microSD card slot that can support up to 32 GB extended memory.  It will also come with the standard mid-range smartphone features including WiFi, 3G and 4G, Bluetooth, GPS and a 1.3 megapixels front camera.  The phone is designed to be waterproof, dustproof and has a shock-resistant construction to protect it against drops even on hard surfaces.
Well, if you are the outdoors type, or if for some reason you have developed a habit of dropping your phones to their death and need a shockproof gadget, this may be just what you are after.  Casio is teaming up with NEC to bring this great phone, we just have to wait and see if it will be made available in the US and the international market because it looks like a phone I would carry to an adventure or rock climbing.
Core Specs
Processor: Dual-core1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8960
Operating System: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Memory: 1 GB RAM, 8 GB onboard memory with microSD card slot (up to 32 GB more storage)
Display: 4 inch 800 x 480 IPS Screen
Cameras: 8 megapixel camera rear, 1.3 megapixel front
Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, WiFi, 3G, 4G LTE
Battery: 1,800 mAh
Tags: Casio G’zOne TYPE-L, Casio NEC G’zOne TYPE-L, NEC Android Rugged smartphone, Rugged Android smartphoneCategory: Other Manufacturers, Smartphones
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Speculations on the Specs and Features of the iPad Mini

Apple has sent out media invites for a special event they will be hosting on October 23rd, an even we all know by now the company will be launching a smaller version of the iPad tablet, iPad mini.  There have been rumors for months now that Apple has been working on the smaller tablet and it appeared to be a silly idea at first until the rumors became more prevalent and even more realistic.  The success of Google’s 7 inch nexus tablet has proven that mini tablets have a place in the market, but knowing Apple’s history on market strategy and pricing structure, will the iPad mini be as successful as the parent iPad?  I guess it’s all about the specs and how the company markets it.
What will the mini offer to apple fanatics?  Well, there have been speculations going around about a better display, more solid build and a thinner tablet but considering design limitations, are these possible.  We will look at some of the anticipated features (realistic) in order to know whether the mini will be a threat to the various Android mini tablets on the market now.

a)      3G and 4G LTE on all versions
When Apple released the iPad and later iPad 2, some models were without 3G.  But this is understandable since users would typically connect the tablet to the internet via WiFi because it is a pretty big tablet.  The Mini is much smaller and more portable and users would use it more than they do the larger version and 3G and 4G for all the tablets would be something every user who intends to get it looks forward to.  How important do you think the 3G and 4G connectivity option is for the iPad Mini?
b)     High res camera
Let’s face it, Apple did not consider a high res camera on a iPad and iPad 2 of any consequence, but the recent influx of amazing Android tablets have almost made the high resolution camera or the secondary camera on a tablet almost a necessity for all tablets.  Well, the Nexus 7 has no rear camera and we all wish it had, but is there any chance Apple will include at least a 5MP camera on their new mini tab?  iPhone 5 came with an 8 megapixels camera which going by the many reviews by independent tech geeks is quite impressive.  Apple fans should not raise their hopes too high but it would be a sweet surprise if the iPad mini actually came with a secondary camera.
c)      Absence of some iPad 2 features
Apple intends to keep the larger iPad alive even after the launch of the mini, and for this to happen, users have to have clear reasons to go for either or both the iPad 2 and the iPad mini.  The best way to do this is have features on the larger iPad that the mini doesn’t have and some on the iPad mini that are missing on the larger iPad.  But what features can the mini have that the larger iPad doesn’t besides camera?  Try 4G LTE, a higher resolution camera, maybe there is a surprise coming that will blow our minds?  Well, there must be something different in the mini, we just can’t tell what.
d)     Lightning connector
Apple launched their new, smaller lightning connector port that replaces the older wider one and we are pretty sure the iPad mini will have the new connector.  The iPhone 5 has it, iPod Nano and iPod touch has it and it appears all iOS devices from now on will have this improved but smaller connector.  This is a great feature for the iPad mini considering that size is a major issue in its design.  The larger iPads lack this but it certainly helps the device appearance.
e)      Educational approach?
Apple has put a lot of effort in education over the last couple of months, but although there have been educational-themed iPads in New York, the company has not actually released a device that actually targets the education sector.  The mini would be a perfect gadget to push this agenda – they could have a version dedicated to education that could come at a lower price and have a ton of educational applications.
f)       Better display?
The iPad mini will have a smaller screen than the larger iPad.  It is expected that it will feature a 7 inch screen but nothing besides the size is a certain speculation.  However, with the company’s development of display technology which was showcased in their iPhone 5, I wouldn’t be surprised if the iPad mini has a display resolution close to or the same as that of iPad 2.  iPad 2’s 1024 x 768 pixels resolution is achievable even with a smaller 7 inch tablet but some geeks say that Apple’s iPad mini may end up way larger than the standard mini tablet – it could have a 7.8 inch screen just to accommodate a higher resolution display.  The mini tablet will certainly boast of a Retina display and this means that the capability of the new iPad mini will outshine the larger iPad’s.
Finally, Apple will make a kill off the iPad mini depending on how they price the mini-tablet.  It is difficult to put a figure on the estimate price but even apple fans know this has never been the company’s strategy.
Tags: apple ipad mini, iPad Mini, mini-iPadCategory: Apple
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