Latest Mobile Phone News

It’s just over a month before Mobile World Congress 2012 kicks off, and the smartphone rumour mill is in overdrive, with the latest leak suggesting LG will be among the first to unveil a quad-core smartphone at the expo. The new phone, currently known as the X3, will apparently ship with the new Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor under the glass, and a 1280×720 resolution, 4.7-inch display. Images of new powerful smart phone of LG have been leaked on web world and they are showing a slimmed down version of last year’s Optimus 2X, which includes LG’s standard trio of hardware navigation controls despite the X3 apparently running on the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android — software that includes the same controls in virtual on-screen buttons. The same rumours are also suggesting LG will include a 2000mAh battery with the X3, which would be a big step up from the 1500mAh battery pack in the Optimus 2X. In conjunction with the power efficiency promised by Nvidia in regards to the Tegra 3 chipset, the X3 could be a phone that runs all day long.

Popularity: 1%

Samsung has unveiled the latest additions to the Galaxy Y smartphone series, Samsung Galaxy Y Duos and Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos new dual-SIM Android smartphones. The two SIM cards indicate that you have got 2 phone numbers at your disposal, for instance: one for work and one for your personal life. You can use data according to your plan, regardless of the SIM. Samsung Galaxy’s Duos and Duos Pro phones run on the GSM technology (850/900/1800/1900 MHz bands) and are armed with Samsung’s TouchWiz software.

Samsung Galaxy Y Duos is equipped with a 3.1-inch QVGA (243 x 320) touchscreen, with a 3-megapixel camera, HSDPA modem, microSD storage expandable up to 32GB and an powerful 832MHz processor that runs on all-touch Android 2.3 Gingerbread, armed with a 1,300mAh battery. Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos runs the same Android version and has a full QWERTY keyboard on its candy-bar frame. Thus, the screen is a smaller 2.6 inches, further the smartphone is packed with a 3-megapixel camera on the back, with a front-facing VGA camera and armed with1, 350mAh battery.

Samsung’s Duos and Duos Pro are equipped with almost same features, under the hood. The company states that both the phones at first will launch in Russia in January. Later, the Galaxy Y Duos will strike the Europe, Latin America, CIS, Africa, Southeast and Southwest Asia, the Middle East, and China. While, the Galaxy Y Pro Duos will strike the Europe, Latin America, Southwest Asia, the Middle East, CIS, and Africa. Unfortunately, at the moment Samsung did not revealed any exact information regarding the price tag of Duos and Duos Pro smartphones.

Popularity: 10%

Here strikes a new entry into the phone market from Samsung, which has released a dual-screen, clamshell Android smartphone known as Samsung W999. The new expensive Clamshell smartphone allow the user to opt either as a full touch screen phone, or you can use it as a regular clamshell phone, Flip to open. W999 is equipped with two OLED 3.5-inch displays, both of them at 800 x 480 resolution, running Android Gingerbread 2.3, powered by 1.2 GHz dual core processor. Samsung W999 Android smartphone measures at 17.8mm, weighing 206 grams, equipped with a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera, capable to record 1080p video, with a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera. Armed with a 16 GB internal memory and features a micro-SD card slot for expansion, supporting Bluetooth 3.0, powered by 1500mAh battery. The most fascinating thing about the phone is the screen, where in the W999 unit not only flips up and out, it flips back. The new Samsung W999 Clamshell smartphone is set to go on sale in next month.

Popularity: 10%

The app, which pulls information from Facebook and Twitter accounts, turns friends’ updates into nicely formatted, perusal-friendly pages. Flipboard also delivers a couple dozen aggregated content sections (news, finance, music, tech, etc.) selected by Flipboard’s creators. The iPad app is popular for its attractive magazine-style presentation of headlines, story blurbs, and photos. The iPhone app adds a feature called Cover Stories, which Flipboard says learns from a reader’s interactions with the content and helps them quickly catch up with some of the most interesting news, updates, and photos being shared at that moment. While the iPad app allowed users to flip through magazine-like pages, the iPhone app uses a vertical flip that allows users to navigate pages while holding their device in one hand.

Popularity: 3%

Motorola has launched its first 720p HD native resolution display based smartphone, Motorola Dinara officially known as the xT928. However, it was currently announced exclusively for China. Well, after Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus with 720p HD native resolution display, it is now with LG Nitro HD 4G LTE and Motorola XT928 Dinara to take the challenge officially. Motorola’s new Android smartphone xT928 is equipped with a 4.5 inch touchscreen display with 1280×720 pixel resolution (manufactured from Corning Gorilla Glass), an enhanced audio output with Dolby Digital Plus sound technology, called Smart Actions, which automates different profile settings, MotoCast, and a Webtop. Quite Interestingly, the Webtop application allows you to use a full-screen web browser, external monitor, smartphone apps and USB peripherals all at the same time. While the Dolby Digital Plus audio technology will serve as an ultimate multimedia package.

This Motorola XT928, which is similar to Droid Bionic, is powered by a powerful a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, together with 1GB of RAM, and runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Moreover this phone as well features dual-mode and dual-standby as a result it could be a dual-networks supporting handset. Motorola Dinara xT928 smartphone is known for its 13.1 megapixel camera, which is capable of capturing of 1080p full HD video and high quality images with Wide Dynamic Range. The phone further also has a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for video calling.

Popularity: 3%

AT&T stole some of LG’s thunder last week when it unveiled the company’s LTE flagship — the Nitro HD — before the handset’s official coming out soirée. Well, tonight LG’s gone and thrown that fete anyway, introducing us (once again) to its 4.5-incher. But you have to wonder why the company’s even bothering to roll out yet another Gingerbread-baked device when Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus is already out of the gate and leading the Android charge with ICS — not to mention the current availability of rival heavyweights like the Rezound and Droid RAZR. Still, the phone’s packing some very respectable specs, with a “true” HD 1280 x 720 IPS display, dual 1.3 / 8 megapixel shooters, a hefty 20GB of storage and a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm APQ8060 processor running the show. Is it too late in the game for LG to make its beast matter?

Popularity: 4%

Sony Ericsson announced that its Xperia arc S and Xperia neo V are now available unlocked in the United States from Sony Store locations. The Xperia arc S runs Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) and is equipped with a 1.4GHz processor, an 8.1-megapixel camera, a 4.2-inch “Reality” display and support for 3D and 2D sweep panorama photography. The Xperia arc S is available in white, black, blue and silver for $529.99 without a contract. Sony Ericsson’s Xperia neo V also runs Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) and has a 3.7-inch display, a 5-megapixel camera and a front-facing camera for video chats. It is available in white, silver and blue for $349.99 unlocked. Both phones will be available from other retailers, such as Newegg, beginning in early December. As a side note, Sony Ericsson also recently announced that its 2011 family of Xperia-branded smartphones will all be updated to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) at a later date, so both the Xperia arc S and Xperia neo V should receive the update at some point.

Popularity: 7%

HTC Corp. edged out Samsung Electronics Co. to become the largest smartphone vendor in the U.S., capitalizing on the Android platform’s popularity and a lull in demand for iPhones to overtake Apple Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. A 10 percentage-point jump in share from a year earlier gave Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC 24 percent of the world’s largest smartphone market in the third quarter, ahead of Samsung’s 21 percent, Palo Alto, California-based researcher Canalys said in a statement yesterday. Apple fell to third at 20 percent while RIM, maker of the BlackBerry, had 9 percent. HTC, which made the world’s first phone using Google Inc.’s Android in 2008, benefited from strong relationships with U.S. carriers and made different models for each operator. Apple’s iPhone 4S and new devices from Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung may help the two global smartphone leaders gain share in the U.S. this quarter as HTC forecasts its first shipment decline in almost two years.

Popularity: 4%

Presenting the brightest screen in its class, the new Nokia 701 has a 3.5 inch ClearBlack display which makes it Nokia’s brightest smartphone ever launched. It’s the touchscreen display that stands out giving it an elegant and stylish look. The ClearBlack display creates a great combination of brightness and contrast making it perfect for indoor and outdoor use. It is a sleek and slim smartphone with active noise cancellation for the clearest sound quality making it perfect for people looking for daily phone efficiency. Nokia 701 is NFC enabled and runs on the latest Symbian upgrade; Symbian Belle. NFC technology has some remarkable peer-to-peer communication capabilities, which allows transfer of information by simply bringing two phones close and tapping each other.

This is a tremendously convenient feature for individuals uncomfortable with technology and find Bluetooth and transfer information like business cards and music time consuming and cumbersome. NFC also has a reader which allows an NFC enabled device to upload and download any information that is on an electronic NFC enabled board. Nokia 701 is equipped with a powerful 1Ghz processor and a 8 MP full focus camera with dual LED flash, 2 X digital zoom and HD video capture. Additionally, it has an 8GB internal memory which is expandable upto 40GB with a 32GB microSD card. Available in colours dark steel and light sliver, the Nokia 701 is a classy smartphones for people looking for simplicity and the latest technology in their mobiles.

Popularity: 8%

The LG DoublePlay has snuck online a couple of times in the past week, but today T-Mobile completed the DoublePlay news triple play by officially announcing the Android-powered slider. As you could probably tell by the image above, the DoublePlay not only has a main 3.5-inch touchscreen on its face, but also a second 2-inch touch panel below. The dual displays can work separately or in conjunction with one another,  allowing the user to complete several tasks at once. Other specs include a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, 720p video capture, T-Mobile 4G connectivity, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Expect the LG DoublePlay to hit T-Mobile in time for the holidays for an undisclosed price. The DoublePlay isn’t the first Android phone we’ve seen with a dual touchscreen layout, but what makes LG and T-Mobile’s offering different is that it’s got a physical keyboard for those times that you absolutely, positively need the tactility that only a hardware QWERTY can provide.

Popularity: 7%

Still there are speculations about the Apple iPhone 5 and now called it is going to appear as a codename in Apple’s internal inventory system, as the iPhone N94. People aren’t ready to wait for another 24 hours to get the glimpse on the next generation iPhone. There new rumors on the web that the latest iDevice 5 will be called iPhone N94. This is something new looking at the previous versions about the next Apple iSmartphone. First it was iPhone 5, the iPhone 5 Standard and Pro versions, iPhone 5 mini, iPhone 4S and now something new.

The specs for this new iPhone N94 has been given that it will carry Apple’s dual-core A5 processor, 1GB of RAM, Nuance Dictation speech-to-text, 8 Megapixel camera, voice recognition features and it will come out in three versions 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB and some of them say it will be 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities. Don’t forget that recently there was a new dish which stated the new iDevice would be called iPhone N90A. We know that everyone is keen to find out what is the next generation Apple iSmartphone is going look like and what functions and features would be like.

Popularity: 5%

If you have always believed that big was good, Nokia gives you a reason to rethink. The new Nokia 700 is not only Nokia’s most compact smartphone in the Symbian range, it is the most compact NFC enabled touch monoblock smartphone in the world. Incorporated with the single-tap NFC capabilities, sharing files and pairing devices have never been easier with the Nokia 700. NFC technology has some remarkable peer-to-peer communication capabilities, which allows transfer of information by simply bringing two phones close and tapping each other. This is a tremendously convenient feature for individuals uncomfortable with technology and find Bluetooth and transfer information like business cards and music time consuming and cumbersome. NFC also has a reader which allows an NFC enabled device to upload and download any information that is on an electronic NFC enabled board.

The phones comes with a powerful 1 Ghz processor with a 3.2 AMOLED ClearBlack display, 2GB of internal memory (expandable upto 32GB), HD video capture and a 5MP full focus camera making it highly desirable for people looking for a device which is small but powerfully packed with features.  The Nokia 700, based on the latest Symbian upgrade Belle, is also Nokia’s most eco-friendly smartphone. With an all new UI, long battery life, extensive use of eco-friendly materials and features to minimize battery consumption, the Nokia 700 is the perfect smartphone for any environmentally-conscious smartphone user. It will be available in colours black, white and coral-black.

Popularity: 10%

For Android users and those who are ready to jump ship (or jump into) the Google mobile operating system at 4G speeds, there’s a relatively low-cost smartphone coming your way: the under-$100 Pantech Breakout. Coming out Thursday (Sept.22), it’ll be available through Verizon Wireless for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. As is common practice with so many companies now, the rebate will come in the form of a debit card to be used anywhere you’d normally use one. In contrast, the recently released dual-core Motorola Droid Bionic retails for $299.99.  The phone is being promoted as a 4G/Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)/one gigahertz processor-powered (non-Droid) device with download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G mobile broadband coverage areas. If you have one of these, you may very well be the life of the online party when others can’t get a fix on the free Wi-Fi: the Breakout can also serve as a 4G LTE mobile hotspot that can support up to 10 Wi-Fi devices.  It also comes with a sizable, 4-inch touchscreen and pre-loaded with YouTube, Google Maps and a host of other Google products. Apps and other downloads should be able to fit on its 8 GB pre-installed microSD card. Its on-screen QWERTY keyboard also incorporate Swype, so you can write your texts in fluid lines vs. tapping. It may not be for everyone, but if you get the hang of it, it can prove addictive. Like any good smartphone, the Breakout comes with a camera — two, in fact. The rear-facing 5-megapixel one can capture HD video (up to 720p), while the front-facing camera can do still shots and be used for on-the-go video chats.  Safer, hands-free talking will also be easy with Bluetooth 3.0.  Customers who buy a Pantech Breakout smartphone will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 for monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

Popularity: 5%

LG, the company author of the first dual-core Android smartphone, the Optimus 2x, is reportedly ready to launch a new flagship Android phone this year “LG LU+” or LU6200. The device is not yet hitting the LG press release, so this new rumored phone should be taken with a grain of salt. The so-called LG LU6200 will include top-end specs that will compete against the most popular Samsung phone to date, the Samsung Galaxy S II or S2. The new LG Android phone will feature the 4.5-inch touchscreen with the resolution of 1280 x 720 and the phone will reportedly use the AH-IPS display technology. The Advanced High Performance In-Plane Switching screen (AH-IPS) of LG has a better color accuracy than AMOLED, the screen technology being used by Samsung.

It will also feature the pixel density of 329ppi, the same pixel density being used by Apple’s iPhone 4′s Retina screen. It is also worth mentioning that the screen resolution of the iPhone 4 is 640 x 960, so we’re very excited to see the 329ppi on a 4.5-inch screen. LG’s answer to the Samsung Galaxy S II be powered by a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, 1GB of RAM and the Adreno 220 GPU. The LG LU6200 will include NFC or Near Field Communication, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi. The LG Android phone can also shoot HD videos with the primary 8-megapixel camera and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera. The device weighs 123g only, and will feature the thin profile of 10.5mm.

Popularity: 7%

The Samsung Galaxy S II, which went on sale through Sprint, just might be the nicest smartphone currently available running Google’s Android operating system. The Galaxy S II’s biggest rival to the title of king of the Androids? That would be the Motorola Droid Bionic, in my opinion. I’ve tested and used both of the 4G handsets, and although the Droid Bionic feels  like a more premium, upscale product than the Galaxy S II, in terms of materials and finishes used, the Bionic also is a bit thicker, heavier and more expensive. The Droid Bionic sells for $300 on a two-year contract exclusively through Verizon Wireless.

The Galaxy S II sells for $200 on a two-year contract through Sprint and will soon launch on T-Mobile and AT&T. Both the Droid Bionic and the Galaxy S II have similar specs with dual-core processors, 16 gigabytes of on-board storage, 8-megapixel cameras and nice, large touch displays. The Samsung Galaxy S II also is considered by many to be the largest threat at this point to the Apple iPhone 4. Want proof? Apple is suing Samsung in the U.S., Europe and Asia in an attempt to get the Galaxy S II stripped for store shelves, alleging patent infringement.

Popularity: 22%