iPhone 6 with 4.8-Inch Display Coming in June 2014 – Analyst

Image comment: iPhone 6 concept by Federico Ciccarese Image credits: Federico Ciccarese (ciccaresedesign.com)

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek has released an estimate of Apple’s upcoming product launches all the way to June 2014, when the Cupertino giant will supposedly unveil the iPhone 6 powered by a new processor and boasting a 4.8-inch display.

Misek has a hit and miss track record on Apple predictions, which is true for pretty much any analyst out there. Though he does seem to be a little more conservative than other Wall Street buffs.

Instead of boasting that Apple will for sure unveil big-screen televisions and iWatches, he maintains that the company will take its time to make forays into new markets.

His first prediction for 2013 is a special event with iTV-related announcements. That’s iTV-related, not the iTV itself.

Misek, like a handful of other analysts, believes Apple will roll out some sort of software development kit (SDK) for developers to code apps for the big screen.

This will be Apple’s first step in its mission to place itself at the center of the living-room, Misek believes.

Come June, Misek believes there’s a good chance Apple will release the iPhone 5S and a low-cost version of the smartphone, as many others have predicted as well. The showcase will be at WWDC, Apple’s annual developer conference.

In the September-October timeframe, the iPad 5 will be released alongside a Retina-display iPad mini 2, and the iTV itself, according to Misek’s estimates.

That’s right. The big-screen Apple TV is coming this year, Misek believes.

The analyst’s chart then skips a few hard to predict product launches to drop a pin on June 2014.

According to the Jefferies analyst, that’s when Apple will unveil an all-new iPhone powered by a supercharged processor, estimated to be manufactured with a 20-nm process.

The phone’s processor could have as many as eight cores, he says, after checking with sources in Apple’s supply chain. The screen size will also increase to 4.8 inches, according to Misek.

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Mysterious Samsung GALAXY Altius Smartwatch Leaks

 
Word that Apple plans to release an iWatch emerged a while ago and it appears that competition is already taking it serious.

A similar device manufactured by Samsung has just been spotted recently by the folks over at Techkiddy on Korean forums.

Although the devices hasn't been caught on camera yet, there are a bunch of screenshots that suggest this Samsung Galaxy Altius is a smartwatch.

In fact it's more than a smartwatch as the device comes with support for GSM network communication.

It is also worth mentioning is powered by the so-called Altius operating system and allows users to view email and listen to music. The leaked screenshots also indicate the smartwatch is working with South Korean carrier SK Telecom.

For the time being, there's no telling if these images are real or just another hoax, so stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

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Samsung Releasing GALAXY S II Plus with Jelly Bean in Q1 2013

Image comment: Samsung Galaxy S logo Image credits: Samsung Mobile

It looks like Samsung will launch the long-rumored Galaxy S II Plus after all. Although the smartphone was initially scheduled to be released this fall, the South Korean company decided to postpone it.

According to SammyHub, the main reason behind Samsung’s decision to delay the smartphone is the fact that the company wanted to launch the Galaxy S III mini and Galaxy Premier Android phones around the same timeline.

However, rumor has it that Samsung is ready to release the Galaxy S II Plus by the end of the year or in early Q1 2013. No word on the exact launch date or pricing options, but more details might surface in the following weeks.

Samsung Galaxy S II Plus will be available in Chic White and Dark Blue, but will only feature 8GB of internal memory.

For the time being, Samsung takes into consideration only one version of Galaxy S II Plus, so Android enthusiasts might want to prepare to purchase a microSD memory card for additional storage.

The good news is Samsung Galaxy S II Plus will ship with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box, integrated with the company’s TouchWiz Nature UX interface.

Although the smartphone might be officially unveiled in late December or early January, Samsung will start shipping the Chic White Galaxy S II Plus from week 3, while the Dark Blue version will be available from week 5.

Samsung Galaxy S II Plus is expected to be priced somewhere between the Galaxy S III mini and Galaxy Premier, though we will know more as soon as details on the phone’s specs sheet emerge.

Apparently there’s no specs sheet for the moment, which means Samsung is still in the process of adding the phone’s hardware. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

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First Press Photo of Huawei Ascend W1 Windows Phone 8 Leaks

- Huawei Ascend W1

Chinese handset maker Huawei has yet to officially announce its first Windows Phone 8 device, the Ascend W1.

Although the fist live pictures of the smartphone leaked a few days ago, it's still unclear when the phone is scheduled to hit shelves.

Today, the folks over at EVLeaks have just published the first press photo of the alleged Huawei Ascend W1. The smartphone is expected to go on sale by the end of the year for around $350 USD (265 EUR) outright.

So far, we know the Ascend W1 should sports a 4-inch capacitive touchscreen display that supports 480 x 800 pixels resolution.

In addition, the smarpthone will be equipped with a dual core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

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ASUS to Launch PadFone 2 in the UK in Early 2013

- ASUS PadFone 2

Computer maker ASUS has confirmed the upcoming availability in the UK of its new PadFone 2 phone-in-tablet combo for the beginning of the next year, but without an official release date available as of yet.

Asus UK Technical PR Adam King has confirmed to TechRadar the company’s plans for this device: "We will definitely be getting it early next year. As to [exactly] when I can't say, but we'll hopefully have some more details before the end of this year."

PadFone 2 was made official earlier this week with a large 4.7-inch touchscreen display, a powerful quad-core processor packed inside, a 13-megapixel photo snapper on the back, and Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system loaded on it.

The smartphone also comes with 2GB of RAM, a 2,140mAh battery, NFC capabilities, front camera, and access to 50GB free ASUS WebStorage for two years.

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HTC Nexus 5 Rumored Again, Based on J Butterfly Specs

  - HTC J Butterfly

The same as LG is said to plan the launch of a Nexus handset that would sport the features and specifications of LG Optimus G – save for the outer design – Taiwanese phone maker HTC is rumored to aim at releasing a Nexus phone of its own, supposedly featuring the specs of HTC J Butterfly.

The company has been long rumored to plan the release of a new Nexus device, yet no specific info on the matter was available until now.

New reports, however, suggest that HTC’s smartphone will be launched as Nexus 5 and that it will pack the same 5-inch 1920x1080p full HD (440ppi) display as J Butterfly, along with its quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 2GB of RAM.

LG is said to plan the launch of Nexus 4, which means that other vendors might release new Nexus phones as well, just as previously rumored.

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HTC Makes Windows Phone 8X Official

Image comment: Windows Phone 8X by HTC Image credits: HTC

Today, Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC Corporation made official its first smartphones running under Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 operating system.

The company has announced a new flagship handset, the Windows Phone 8X by HTC, with a 4.3-inch Super LCD II 720p HD touchscreen display, as well as with a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor.

Thus, the new handset is the most powerful smartphone that the company has unveiled with Microsoft's mobile operating system on board.

HTC also packed the new device with 1GB of RAM, along with 16GB of storage but with no MicroSD card slot to expand it, and support for NFC and Beats Audio.

The smartphone also comes with an 8-megapixel f2/0 BSI photo snapper with support for HD video recording, as well as with a front camera for making video calls.

The hardware specifications of this device also include WiFi a/b/g/n connectivity, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, built-in GPS receiver, and the usual set of sensors.

The new smartphone will be released in the United States with support for 4G LTE networks, while being planned for release in Europe and other markets with HSPA+/DC-HSDPA connectivity inside.

In addition to including Beats Audio, the handset also arrives on shelves with a pair of amplifiers to offer better audio quality to its users, one for the headphone jack, and another for the phone’s speaker.

"We've been inspired by Windows Phone 8 to create new smartphones that give the platform the iconic design and personality it deserves," said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation.

"Windows Phone has clearly emerged as one of the top mobile ecosystems and is competitive against any other smartphone platform in the world."

HTC also unveiled that these devices would be pushed to shelves starting with November, and that they would reach more than 150 carriers in 50+ countries.

In the United States, the new Windows Phone 8X by HTC will be launched on the networks of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.

It will also arrive around the world at Orange, O2 Telefonica, MTS, Three UK, T-Mobile, and Vodafone in Europe; Chunghwa Telecom, Optus, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel), Smartone, Telstra and Vodafone Australia in Asia-Pacific.

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HP to Build Its Own Smartphone

  - Palm Pre 3

Leading computer maker HP might finally jump on the smartphone bandwagon, although it appeared to have had no plans for that until now.

In fact, the company even killed the handset business that it had purchased from Palm, which clearly showed its lack of interest for the mobile market.

The increased competitiveness on the market, however, appears to have determined HP to reconsider its position, and a smartphone that would sport the vendor’s logo on it might make an appearance on shelves in the not too distant future.

“We have to ultimately offer a smartphone because in many countries of the world that would be your first computing device. We are a computing company, we have to take advantage of that form factor,” HP CEO Meg Whitman told Fox Business News.

HP has seen drops in sales of smartphones in the past several quarters, and it does not come as a surprise that it is looking for alternative solutions.

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Apple Launches the New iPhone 5

Image comment: iPhone 5 banner Image credits: Apple

Tim Cook and his troops took the stage at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts today and introduced the new generation Apple smartphone - the iPhone 5.

Touted as the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, the iPhone 5 is redesigned with a unibody aluminum case, a 4-inch Retina display, an Apple-designed A6 chip, fast wireless technology, better battery life, and iOS 6, “the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features."

“iPhone 5 is the most beautiful consumer device that we’ve ever created,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

/>“We’ve packed an amazing amount of innovation and advanced technology into a thin and light, jewel-like device with a stunning 4-inch Retina display, blazing fast A6 chip, ultrafast wireless, even longer battery life; and we think customers are going to love it.”

For a full rundown of the technicalities, eager readers can visit Apple’s tech specs page right here.

Many soon-to-be iPhone 5 buyers will be interested in the design. Apple says it’s got an all-new 7.6 mm anodized aluminum body that is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than iPhone 4S.

“Designed with an unprecedented level of precision, iPhone 5 combines an anodized aluminum body with diamond cut chamfered edges and glass inlays for a truly incredible fit and finish,” says the company.

After design, comes performance. The new A6 chip is said to maximize performance and power efficiency with up to twice the CPU and graphics performance of its predecessor.

According to the Cupertino giant, “almost everything you do on iPhone 5 is blazing fast for launching apps, loading web pages and downloading email attachments.”

It’s also got an 8-megapixel camera and the new panorama feature that lets you capture images of up to 28 megapixels by simply moving the camera across a scene.

iPhone 5 will be available in either white & silver or black & slate on September 21 in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK.

The international rollout is slated for September 28, with countries like Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Pricing begins at $199 / 154 EUR for the 16GB model. You can learn more about the new iPhone on Apple's site.

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Total War Battles: Shogun Review (PC)

Image credits: The Creative Assembly

Total War Battles: Shogun by The Creative Assembly

See editor's ratings

The good: + Nice tactical puzzles + Good introduction to the series The bad: - Too simple for series veterans - Unconvinving story - Non-combat puzzles Final score: 6 / 10 Controller support: No

System requirements: Minimum system requiremenets Windows XP 1.5 Ghz processor 512 MB of RAM 256 MB graphics card with Shader Model 2.0 700 MB free hard drive space Recommended system requirements Windows 7 Intel Core 2 Duo or Athlon X2 2 GB of RAM 512 MB graphics card with Shader Model 2.0 700 MB free hard drive space

 The Total War series has been one of the most interesting strategy series of the modern video game era, creating both huge hits like the first Rome and medium quality titles like Empire. Now the developer behind it, The Creative Assembly, has decide to simplify the core mechanics of the series in order to create a parallel one, called Total War Battles, aimed at more casual gamers.

The first game is called Shogun and takes the player base to the Japan or the “country at war” period, allowing gamers to use ronins, samurai, bowmen and monks in order to defeat enemies both in a campaign and in a custom battle mode.

The core mechanics of Total War Battles: Shogun are pretty simple to understand but they can create pretty deep tactical puzzles as the campaign progresses.

The various units use a rock, paper, scissors system that makes a solid mix, one of the requirements for success both in defense and on the attack.

The tactical battles take place on a hex grid that’s five rows wide and connects to camps, each one of them holding a general and a set of buildings.

The game uses four core resources, iron, wood, money and honor, and players need to ensure a steady flow for all of them (camp layout matters) while adapting their build order to the enemy defenses and to the resources they have available.

It’s always important to have ranged units just behind your frontline in order to inflict heavy damage on the units that the enemy creates and monks are also a crucial part of any strategy.

The battles tend to swing back and forth for a while and it is crucial to keep a solid stream of units going forward, even if it’s not clear what the enemy will counter them with on the defense.

The single-player campaign is a story of vengeance that lacks any narrative punch but gives gamers an incentive to continue by dangling the perspective of Experience-based challenges and a store where it can be spent.

Frontal move	Teaching battle

The Challenges are not fully grown battles and usually involve a building puzzle set to maximize resources or a skirmish where the player needs to reach a tough objective using limited resources.

Even the normal campaign battles can get pretty hard in a hurry and I often pushed Restart in frustration only to again deploy the same tactics and get the same result: defeat.

Total War Battles: Shogun forces the player to learn from his own mistakes and adapt quickly, which is something that rarely happens in this type of casual game.

When it comes to the presentation, the mobile origins of Total War Battles: Shogun are clear but nevertheless the team has opted for a stylized and colorful look that works just as well on the big PC monitor as on tablets and smartphones.

Land map	Cannon shot

Unfortunately, the audio side of the game did not receive as much attention and the soundtrack is monotonous enough to force me to mute it and look to some outside tracks to accompany my conquest of Japan.

It’s also pretty easy to see that the game was first developed for mobile gaming devices and relatively limited resources have been put into porting it to the PC, because the control scheme is a little more complicated than it should be and because the game relies on a slow pace that, as far as I could see, cannot be sped up in any way.

 The concept at the heart of the Total War Battles: Shogun is a solid one and The Creative Assembly can certainly adapt it to its other preferred time periods, from Rome to the Napoleonic Wars, but in order to fully satisfy the developers need to make sure that they introduce some more variety and create bigger rewards to drive gamers forward.

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Amazon Launches Kindle Fire HD Tablet with 4G and 1920 x 1200 Resolution

Image comment: Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 inches Image credits: Amazon

The time has finally come. After rumors, pre-release revelations and an exclusive video preview during the NFL kickoff game, Amazon has finally launched the new Kindle devices, including a pair of Fire tablets.

The international online store is both sticking to what works (and is familiar to its customer base), as well as experimenting with a new design.

Thus, there are two new Kindle Fire tablets up for sale, called Kindle Fire HD and measuring 7 inches and 8.9 inches, respectively.

Both have IPS LCDs, microUSB 2.0, 802.11abgn Wi-Fi, micro-HDMI outputs, Dolby Audio and Bluetooth Stereo (AD2P) support, 10-point multi-touch support and Amazon's custom Android OS version. The rest of the specs are different though.

The 8.9-inch newcomer (1920 x 1200 pixels) relies on the Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 dual-core central processor, with two ARM Cortex-A9 cores (no clock speed given, but probably not the maximum 1.8 GHz). Said chip is backed by a PowerVR SGX 540 graphics adapter.

The RAM amount isn't specified, unfortunately. Still, we suppose it is at least decent, otherwise the device wouldn't be able to run 1080p video.

Moving on, the Kindle Fire HD is equipped with up to 64 GB of storage and 4G/LTE broadband support.

The 7-inch Kindle Fire HD has only 16 GB and 32 GB storage capacities, and its CPU is a bit weaker (OMAP 4460). What's more, the resolution of the LCD is of 1,280 x 800 pixels, while the top video playback quality is 720p.

“Kindle Fire HD is not only the most-advanced hardware, it’s also a service. When combined with our enormous content ecosystem, unmatched cross-platform interoperability and standard-setting customer service, we hope people will agree that Kindle Fire HD is the best high-end tablet anywhere, at any price,” said Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon.

The 7-inch device is priced at $199 / 199 Euro and lasts for up to 11 hours on battery, while the 8.9-incher ships for $299 to $499 / 299 to 499 Euro (depending on storage) and hasn't had its battery life announced yet.

"We are taking on the most popular price point for a tablet, $499, but doubling the storage and incredibly, adding ultra-fast 4G LTE wireless,” Bezos said.

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Kobo Has a 7-Inch Tablet on the Way, Called Arc

- Kobo announces 7-inch Arc tablet

Since we've brought you the Glo ComfortLight e-reader, it would be remiss of us to not cover the Arc tablet as well, so here it is.

Measuring 7 inches in diagonal, it will arrive in stores one month after the e-reader, November as it were.

The price will be determined by the NAND Flash capacity. 8 GB will require $199.99 / 158, while 16GB will need $249.99 / 198 Euro.

Interchangeable “SnapBacks” colored blue and purple will be available for both the black and the white versions.

That said, the rest of the specs are pretty decent, with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, a 1.3 megapixel front camera (with 720p video recording), 1 GB of RAM and a dual-core 1.5 GHz CPU.

All the parts are crammed in a 12.4mm-thick frame (0.48 inches) and weigh 364 grams (0.80 pounds).

Of course, Kobo didn't forget about the software side. The “Tapestries” user interface, applied on top of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, offers Arc owners quick access to Google Play, the Kobo book store (3 million books right now) and common apps like Zinio, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, etc.

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Nokia Lumia 920 Now Official with Windows Phone 8

  - Nokia Lumia 920
Today, Nokia has made official its first Windows Phone 8 handset, the Nokia Lumia 920, said to be the most advanced smartphone in the world.

“This is Lumia, and is time to switch,” Nokia’s Jo Harlow said on the stage at the launch event in New York City.

The new smartphone comes to the market with a large 4.5-inch touchscreen and packs a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 application processor inside.

Moreover, the new device comes with an 8-megapixel photo snapper on the back, with the rumored PureView technology packed inside, for a great imaging experience for all users.

The handset can record 1080p videos, can be charged wirelessly, and is also capable of connecting with NFC-enabled devices, Nokia announced.

Moreover, the new Lumia 920 comes with Nokia’s location services included inside, the same as other Windows Phone 8 devices will.

The smartphone was also packed with a PureMotion HD+ screen, which is said to be able of delivering the best possible viewing experience on a mobile phone today.

Moreover, it sports a large battery for increased usage times, complemented by the low power usage of the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor.

There is also the wireless charging feature that should enhanced the user experience, courtesy of the Fatboy wireless charging pillow, which is based on Qi technology.

Nokia even said that it had partnered with various companies to provide users with the possibility to easily recharge their devices even in coffee-shops restaurants, and the like, including Virgin Atlantic lounges, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

In addition to all these hardware advancements, the Lumia 920 is also meant to impress users through the various features, services and applications that it would come to the market with.

Among them, we can count Nokia’s location services, which include Maps, with offline availability, Transport, Drive, Commute, and more, all integrated into the Windows Phone 8 platform.

Augmented reality will also be part of the Lumia 920 experience, not only through City Lens, but also integrated in Nokia Maps to provide users with additional info on the places they drive by.

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