The First Windows Phone 8 Smartphone HTC 8X for T-Mobile Leaked Online after Samsung and Nokia

During the IFA show in Berlin at the end of August, Samsung quietly showed a few reporters their new Ativ phone running Windows Phone 8 operating system, which features super-thin phone body, 4.8-inch display, 2,300mAh battery, NFC (near-field communication technology) and Evolved High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA+). Shortly after the Samsung Ativ phone, Nokia held its September 5^th event to release its first Windows Phone 8 smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 920, which sports quite amazing features including a 4.3-inch touchscreen, a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, expandable memory via microSDCode, Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or Long-Term Evolution (LTE), etc. Now, as one of manufacturers of Windows Phone 8 terminals, HTC is also on the move for preparing for a Windows Phone 8 smartphone. New details on one of HTC's first Windows Phone 8 mobiles have been leaked. The HTC Accord will apparently be known as the Windows Phone 8X by HTC, and will offer a 4.3inch screen.

HTC 8X specs

As reported, the HTC 8X Windows Phone 8 smartphone would be scheduled to be released on September 19^th, only a week after iPhone 5 release event. According to a spec list leaked on Twitter, the phone, once known as the HTC Accord, will feature a 4.3-inch 720P HD screen, an 8-megapixel camera and a dual-core 1.2GHz processor. Other features include an NFC chip, Beats audio branding, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WiFi, a microUSB port, 3.5mm audio socket, etc. The HTC 8X offers 16GB of internal memory and 1GB of RAM, and uses a microSIM. Obviously, this new Windows Phone 8 smartphone is for mid-class customers.

What we find most interesting about this leak, though, is the detail shed on the 8-megapixel camera. It reportedly uses a 29mm f/2.0 lens, which should let it take in more light than either the f/2.6 Samsung Galaxy S3 or the f/2.4 iPhone 4S. This snapper could be a bit special, especially given it features in a mid-range phone. It's equipped with an LED flash and can capture 1080p video.

Besides the HTC 8X as Windows Phone 8 smartphone flagship, it is also reported that HTC is preparing for two other WP8 smartphones, respectively named HTC 8S and HTC 8V, for the September 19^th mobile phone event. Will HTC be able to pull off something attractive enough against the Nokia Lumia 920 or Samsung ATIV S? We might have to wait a few more days for September 19 to find out. Stay tuned!

Update of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for Samsung Galaxy S III Is Now Available

For a long time period, people were waiting for the Samsung Galaxy S III and finally it got released days ago. All features of Samsung Galaxy S III are considered perfect, though it is only operating on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. If those people who are OS-addicted, the Android 4.0 ICS might be not enough. However, the Samsung does not disappoint its fans and supporters by announcing the update availability of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for Galaxy S III. Samsung has been prepared to commit to releasing a timely update of OS on Galaxy S III ever since the Jelly Bean was announced. And now, Samsung has made it possible for you to update your Galaxy S III to Jelly Bean.

Galaxy S III Jelly Bean update new features:
Project Butter - smoother UI animations with higher frame rate
Google Now
Offline voice typing support
Better notification area with expandable notifications
Better Settings organization
Two different modes for home screen behavior
Resizable pop-up play window
S Note app replaces S Memo
Faster web browser

Sadly, the update will cost you your official Flash support, but at least for now you still get the option to side-load a modified Flash apk if it's a must-have for you.

We have all known the great performance of Samsung flagships operating on ICS. When the company allows users to update the flagships to the latest and greatest 4.1 Jelly Bean, we can imagine how great the phone performance would be.

By the way, for certain owners of the Samsung GALAXY Tab 2 (7.0) or the Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1, some good news has arrived - the OTA Android 4.1.1 update for both tablets has been made available. If you're rocking the GT-P3100 or the GT-N8000, all you need to do is follow the directions for each tablet. Before you start, you need to make sure that each device has the proper firmware base. That would be N8000DDALH1 for the Tab 2 7.0 and P3100DDBLH3 for the Note 10.1.

Amazon Officially Announced Kindle Paperwhite and Two Models of Kindle Fire HD

For a long period of waiting, we finally get the new Kindles from Amazon on the press event in Los Angeles on September 6^th. Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, brought out not only a new Kindle Fire, but also other devices and services to all people around the world. Of course, being the press event centerpiece, Kindle Paperwhite e-reader and new Kindle Fire Amazon announced during the event have been the most attractive topics afterward.

The new Kindle Paperwhite e-reader comes with sharper screen display, whose contrast has been improved by 25% and 62% more resolution (now up to 212PPI). It is very thin, as thin as magzines. Using a patented fiber optic cable flattened out technology, the touch-based screen has eight weeks of battery life. On the bottom-left of this device, there is a Time to Read feature which could remind users how long it would be to finish reading books according to reading speed. "[It's] perfect in the bedroom, perfect in direct sunlight," Bezo said during the event. Coming in both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi+3G, the Wi-Fi's at $119 while 3G costs $179. Bezos said they can be ordered today and will ship October 1. Besides, Bezos also introduced a new price for the non-touch Kindle at $69.

Well, then it comes to the most exciting part for people. After introducing the Kindle Paperwhite e-reader, Bezos announced the big bomb of the event, the Kindle Fire HD, second generation of Kindle Fire. There are two variations of Kindle Fire HD: a 7" (like the original Kindle Fire) and an 8.9" larger version, both of which feature fantastic displays. The 8.9" will have an IPS 1920×1200 resolution screen in 254 PPI, comparable to the Retina Display of Apple’s new iPad at 264PPI, which surely produces excellent experience for users to watch HD movies on Kindle Fire HD besides being used as an e-reader.

Amazon claimed that the new Kindle Fire comes with doubled RAM and at least 44% better performance than that of the first Kindle Fire. Under the hood, Amazon has dropped in a Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 processor, which it says outperforms the Tegra 3. It includes an HD front-facing camera, HDMI output, Bluetooth connectivity, and a laminated touch sensor for better visuals and 25-percent less glare. From the current reports, we have known that the new Kindle Fire HD would be powered by at least Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, not precisely specified on version.

The Kindle Fire HD also includes stereo speakers, an upgrade over the Kindle Fire's mono driver. While the company is also offering a 4G LTE variation, Amazon has improved Wi-Fi networking by adding a dual-band 2.4GHz/5GHz receiver, two antennas, MIMO radio technology. The Wi-Fi-only models will come in 16GB and 32GB variations, while the 4G LTE will be available with 32GB or 64GB of storage.

As for the price, the 7" Kindle Fire HD will retail for $199 for 16GB, while the 8.9" Kindle Fire HD will retail for $299 for 16GB. Amazon is also going to sell a 4G LTE version of the Kindle Fire HD for $499. It has 32GB of space. For $50 a year, users can get 250MB of data a month and 20GB of cloud storage.

Nokia Windows Phone 8 Lumia 920 Officially Released with Powerful Pureview Camera

Just as the report goes that Nokia would release its first Windows Phone 8 flagship smartphones on the September 5th event, on the September 5^th event, Nokia didn’t disappoint us, by bringing out the its first brand-new Windows Phone 8, Nokia Lumia 920, which was once reported to be codenamed as Nokia Phi. Being the first flagship of Nokia adopting WP 8 as operating system, the Lumia 920 comes with various eye-catching features, among which the powerful Pureview camera has been the centerpiece.

Though the PureView camera doesn't have the same whopping 41-megapixel sensor found on Nokia's 808 PureView Symbian phone, the sensor in the Lumia 920 is a more typical 8.7 megapixels. Nokia claims that the 920's camera captures five-to-ten times more light than other phone cameras, which makes it better at shooting photos indoors or in low lighting, which was a major issue with Nokia's Lumia 800 and 900 phones, which struggled in those situations. Also, a 1.2-megapixel HD camera is up front for video chatting. The Lumia 920's camera also has so-called “floating-lens” technology for image stabilization. The floating lens is particularly beneficial for video because it minimizes the erratic shaking found in some other smartphone cameras. Well, without doubt, with the Nokia Lumia 920 Pureview camera, users could get even better picture and video shooting experience.

Along with its outstanding camera, the Nokia Lumia 920 has a 4.5-inch curved glass display with 1280-pixel-by-768-pixel resolution. To take advantage of new screen-resolution possibilities in Windows Phone 8, the Lumia 920 has a “Pure Motion HD+” display. Nokia says the screen offers blur-free scrolling and enhancements to sunlight readability, so the phone can react to minimize sunlight glare. We can be sure that the screen would produce even better experience for users to watch HD movie on Lumia 920.

Besides, a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor with 1GB of RAM inside the Lumia 920 would definitely provide a smooth and fast system reacting. Users could enjoy an even better user experience. The internal 32GB memory storage would be large enough for you to store files. If you still feel not enough, take it easy. Nokia also announced more advanced features for this flagship, including: built-in wireless charging, Nokia Maps for navigation, NFC (Near Field Communication), and of course the Windows Phone 8 operating system. 

Nokia Lumia 920 played a very important role on the Nokia September 5^th event. But it’s not the only one that Nokia brings to us. In addition to release of Lumia 920, Nokia also announced the Lumia 820, which has a 4.3-inch, 800-pixel-by-480-pixel resolution display (without curved glass), a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics (not PureView), a VGA front-facing camera, 8GB of storage and a microSD card slot.

Apple Confirms September 12th Event Probably Regarding iPhone 5: It’s Almost Here

Previously, there were reports saying that Apple would release the next iPhone on a September 12th event. Now, the September 12^th event has been officially confirmed by Apple Inc. Apple has sent out invites to media on September 4^th to confirm the September 12^th event, which only says "It’s almost here" with a shadowed “5” underneath the September 12 date. The event will begin at 10 a.m. in San Francisco.

From this invitation, we could mostly be sure that the company would debut its next iPhone on that day. 

From the invitation, we might get some detailed information about the next generation of iPhone. The first is of course the release date, which is most probably September 12^th, at least on that day Apple would introduce something about the next iPhone. 

Secondly, according to the shadow of the number “5”, we could boldly guess that the next generation of iPhone would be named with a “5”, mostly likely iPhone 5. 

Thirdly, Apple typed “It’s almost here” on the invite, which might remind us the official shipment of the next iPhone. Mentioning the official availability of the next iPhone, there were reports which indicated that the shipment of the iPhone 5 would be nine days after the September 12^th event. That's to say September 21st shipment of iPhone 5. And combined with the words “It’s almost here” on the invitation, we could also get to know that the previous report about the shipment of iPhone 5 might be exactly the fact.

I would like to provide more up-to-date information about the next generation of iPhone. So, you just need to mark the date and stay tuned here.

Samsung Galaxy S II Plus (GT-I9105) and Galaxy S III Mini（GT-I9260）Specs Unveiled

Along with the hot sale of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S III around the world, Samsung has reportedly planned to introduce another two mobile phones, Samsung Galaxy S II Plus and Samsung Galaxy S III Mini (GT-I9260). Currently, we still don’t know when these two models would join in the Nexus family. Good news is that these two mobile phones facing to the mid-end market would start pre-order in physical store starting the 47^th week of this year. Previously, I have written a post about the price and some specs of Samsung Galaxy S II Plus. Today, I’m here to be glad to share the latest news with all you guys, regarding the detailed specs of Galaxy S II Plus and Galaxy S III Mini (GT-I9260).

Samsung Galaxy S2 Plus GT-I9105 specs

- 4.3" 480x800 (VWGA) AMOLED screen display

- 1GHz core MSM7227A-1 Turbo processor

- Support HSDPA 7.2/5.76 900/2100

- Support EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1900/1800

- 8MP main camera with 2MP front camera

- 16GB/32GB memory with expandable microSD card slot (up to 32GB)

- Android 4.0 ICS operating system

- MicroUSB

- 3.5mm Earjack

- Bluetooth 2.1

- Wi-Fi 80211 a/b/g/n

- A-GPS

- 1650mAh battery

- 125.3×66.1×8.5

- Color: blue and gray

Samsung Galaxy Premier GT-I9260 specs

- 4.65" HD screen display

- 1GHz MSM7227A-1 Turbo core processor

- Support HSDPA 7.2/5.76 900/2100

- Support EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1900/1800

- 8MP main camera with 2MP front camera

- 16GB/32GB memory with expandable microSD card slot (up to 64GB)

- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system

- MicroUSB

- 3.5mm Earjack

- Bluetooth 4.0

- Wi-Fi 80211 a/b/g/n

- A-GPS

- Battery: unknown

- 133.97×68.1×8.8

Another Retina-Like Display Laptop Emerged on IFA – Samsung Series 9 WQHD Ultrabook

An important feature that makes Apple’s new iPad and Mac Book Pro hot is that they both come with the most advanced Retina Display. The new iPad gets a high resolution of 2048x1536 pixels while the Mac Book Pro reaches even higher at 2880x1800 pixels on its 15.4-inch large screen. This has aroused quite a lot of interest from people, even those people who disfavors Apple products. Now, people would be able to have another choice of super high resolution screen display laptop, the Samsung Series WQHD Ultrabook, a 13-inch HD screen laptop introduced by Samsung on IFA 2012 trade show in Berlin with Retina-like display screen of 2560x1440 pixels.

If the Samsung Series 9 WQHD Ultrabook is with a 13.3-inch screen display, from the existing Series 9 laptops, the density of this Ultrabook would be roughly 220 pixels per inch, roughly the same pixel density as that of the 15.4-inch Mac Book Pro. Of course, Apple's laptop has considerable advantage of actually existing on the market today, while Samsung Series 9 WQHD Ultrabook was apparently just an engineering sample on display at IFA.

Samsung isn't saying anything about specs, pricing or release date. According to the report from Engadget, this 13-inch Series 9 WQHD Ultrabook beams Windows 8 on 2,560 x 1,440 display, making a visible leap beyond the existing Series 9 13-incher, which sticks to a more typical 1,600 x 900. Better still, the surface of the screen has a gentle matte finish, though it's unclear how that specifically enhances the viewing experience. As for the price, the current 13-inch Series 9 laptop already costs $1,200 and up, so you can imagine that an ultra-high-res screen would send that price even higher.