iPhone 5 software rundown pre-event: the iOS 6 we know today

Original posted by Chris Burns.

Tomorrow may well be the day that Apple reveals their next-generation iPhone 5, a device that’ll be bringing their newest mobile operating system, iOS 6, to the forefront. We’ve seen quite a bit of this operating system already as it was revealed in part as an “iOS 6 Preview” back at the developers conference known as WWDC 2012. Let’s have a look here at what iOS 6 is set to bring to the iPhone 5 before we liveblog the main event in less than 24 hours – it’ll be fun!


NOTE: We’ve also got a hardware round-up prepared for you for your pre-event consumption – have a peek!
One of the more important elements that Apple’s made clear here with iOS 6 is that it’ll be “free and easy to upgrade wirelessly on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.” This is a move that’s really not replicated at such an all-encompassing level by any other company at the moment, and now that it’s all wireless, it’s easier than ever before. Not all devices will be compatible with the upgrade, but chances are if you’ve got an Apple mobile device that was released in the past several years, aka everything except the oldest generation devices, you’ll be good to go.





Safari is still the web browser that you’ll be working with, and now you’ll be seeing iCloud Tabs to keep track of what you’re looking at – and were looking at recently – no matter what device you’re working with. This browser also has offline browsing so you can save pages you want to read on the airplane, and includes the ability to select and post images to webpages from your Camera role without leaving the app. This new OS comes with Lost mode and Find My Friends – your device will be able to transmit its location – if you want – even if you’ve not got it in your hands when you want it.

Guided Access is a new feature which allows you to turn off certain areas of the screen and/or your hardware buttons. This will be great for users hoping to use their device as a display for an art project or if they’re handing it off to a child who – believe it or not – is able to accidentally access the bits you don’t want them too – keep them in the game! Mail has also been bumped up with swipe-down for refresh, VIP list inclusion, and a much more streamlined user interface.


The Phone interface has been updated with Do Not Disturb, Reply with Message, and Remind Me Later buttons. Never again will you have to hang up on a call that you can’t take just because you can’t take it right that minute. If you’re planning on calling with video, you’ll be glad to find FaceTime now working with your cellular connection – before you had to rely on wi-fi for this video chat system to work.

Passbook is one of the more stimulating stand-alone app upgrades you’ll find in iOS 6 since it is indeed a whole new app that’s not existed on the standard build of the software before. With Passbook you’ve got a collection of cards you can use for various situations – there’s a Starbucks card you can fill up with cash, a set of coupons for various retailers, and Airline check-in cards as well.

You’ll be able to share your Photo Streams with new sharing tools, connected with iCloud to your Mac and back across your mobile devices and over to your Apple TV. It’s simple to use and works over wi-fi as well as cellular networks. Facebook is also much more present throughout iOS 6 than ever before – you can post directly to Facebook from a webpage in Safari without leaving that page. You can access your Facebook contacts and calendar right from your basic Contacts and Calendar apps. And of course the omnipotent “Like” button will be present in quite a few places.


Siri will be bringing you a collection of new languages and will now be able to give you sports scores and statistics, movie information – including a connection to Rotten Tomatoes, and restaurant information. Siri will also be able to set up a reservation for you at a local restaurant via OpenTable. Then there’s Maps – now using Apple’s non-Google interface and data sources. You’ll now have turn-by-turn directions, 3D follow-along live interaction (with live rerouting), and tappable nearby locations along your way – these will connect with Passbook cards as well – it’s all intertwined!



This new Maps app and interface includes traffic information and nearby alerts for construction, accidents, and the like, and you’ll have ETA information for your intended final destination. What’s set to be the most impressive element here with Apple’s new Maps in the visual spectrum is “Flyover”, a 3D map of cities able to show you not just where you’re going, but what the environment looks like as near to reality as you can get without actually being there.
See all this and more in both our Apple portal as well as our liveblogging portal, the big event set to bring on a whole new device – or set of devices – as well as iOS 6 in its final form. You’ll more than likely be able to download iOS 6 for yourself within the month as well with legacy devices

Source: Slashgear

Nokia Lumia 920 appears in five color leak

Original posted by Chris Burns

Another image has appeared showing off what very well may be the hero device at this week’s Nokia/Microsoft event, this being the Lumia 920, a Windows Phone 8 smartphone for the next generation. This model has been leaked with information leading us to believe that it’ll be working with PureView technology in its 8 megapixel camera, this notion all but confirmed by Nokia’s PureView chief this morning. His comments including how “it’s NOT about the number of pixels but what you do with them” appearing as a direct response to criticism over the not-yet-confirmed Lumia smartphone.

This newest image shows the Lumia 920 in a variety of colors, the white and the black casings being ones we’d not yet seen at this point in time. The rest of the leaks suggest that this device will indeed be running Windows Phone 8 complete with its new smaller set of tiles for a more diverse range of abilities on the device’s home screen. This device will likely be popping up with a dual-core processor from Qualcomm and will have both front and back-facing cameras.

You’ll see a volume rocker on the right along with the power button and a physical camera shutter button as well. The whole model appears quite similar to the previous Nokia smartphone range with Windows Phone, particularly in the case of the Nokia Lumia 900. Nokia will be continuing their image branding here and will be pushing hard with Microsoft to keep the Windows Phone universe strong – and growing, of course.

The Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system from Microsoft will be part of the company’s big push for the next generation of Windows software on the whole, this including Windows 8 and Windows RT for tablets as well. Stay tuned for more information on Nokia’s contribution to the party as we head to the New York media event tomorrow bright and early – be here at 9:30 AM EST for all the newest blasts straight from Nokia!

BONUS: the back of the Nokia 820 has also been shown by the same source – in purple!

Sourcse: Slashgear

Samsung 4.8-inch ATIV S Windows Phone 8 smartphone

Original posted by Cory Gunther.

Those rumors about Samsung naming their new Windows Phone lineup the “ATIV” appear to be quite accurate after today’s latest leak. It looks as if Samsung is getting prepared to launch a few new Windows devices and today we have our first look at the 4.8-inch ATIV S Windows Phone 8 smartphone. It isn’t quite the Galaxy S III — but sure comes close.

Samsung plans to be one of if not the first to announce a Windows Phone 8 smartphone, and that is stacking up to be the above pictured ATIV S. This phone will indeed be their flagship WP8 device if rumors are true, and it packs just as much punch as its Android counterpart.
The Samsung ATIV S will be sporting a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display with an unknown resolution but most likely 1280 x 720p. Under the hood will be a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor (probably Qualcomm’s S4) along with an 8 megapixel rear camera and 1.9 MP front shooter as well. Other specs have not been detailed or leaked at this time.

The pictures, leaked by The Verge, shows some similarities to the Galaxy S III with a few subtle changes like the speaker being placed down below instead of near the camera. Otherwise they appear to be extremely similar in design, size, and thickness. We are hearing Samsung could possibly unveil this new flagship Windows Phone 8 device at IFA 2012 during their Samsung Unpacked event. That will be starting under the hour so stay tuned for full details as we are here live! Follow along at our IFA Hub for all the news.

Source : Slashgear

LG Optimus L9 announced with 4.7-inch display

Original posted By Zachary Lutz

There will soon be a new Optimus L-Series smartphone on the prowl, as LG has just announced the Optimus L9 as a followup to its Optimus L3, L5 and L7 handsets. This series is viewed by LG as a budget lineup that places an emphasis on style, and the L9 will undoubtedly be the leader of the pack, as it boasts both a dual-core 1GHz CPU and a large, 4.7-inch IPS display. The phone will be outfitted with Android 4.0, 1GB of RAM, a 5-megapixel rear camera and a beefy 2,150mAh battery.

New software is also set to ship with the Optimus L9, which includes both a redesigned keyboard and a language translation app. The new keyboard is dubbed the My Style Keypad, which allows users to adjust the key placement for easier one-handed typing -- like we've seen in Android 4.0 for the Galaxy Note -- along with a separated layout for landscape view (that you can peek in the gallery below). Meanwhile, the language translation service is dubbed QTranslator, which leverages OCR to translate sentences and phrases from 44 different languages into 64 native languages. There's no word yet on pricing or availability, though we'll be sure to let you know the moment those final tidbits become known.

Source: (Engadget)

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 to come with Jelly Bean?

A Korean newspaper has reportedly published leaked specifications of Samsung's rumoured Galaxy Note 2 smartphone

By Ross Catanzariti (PC World)

A concept impression of what the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 could look like. (Image credit: Ubuntu Life.net)

A Korean newspaper has reportedly published leaked specifications of Samsung's rumoured Galaxy Note 2 smartphone, just days ahead of a widely predicted launch. According to the leaked specifications, the Galaxy Note 2 will ship with the latest version of Google's Android platform, 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The leaked specifications, published by a newspaper in Seoul, suggest Galaxy Note 2 will come with a slightly larger 5.5in display, up from the 5.3in screen on the current model, as well as a faster quad-core processor. The screen is expected to be a Super AMOLED panel with a resolution of 1280x720 and the phone will be powered by Samsung's own 1.4GHz quad core Exynos 4412 processor.

The Galaxy Note 2 should also come with an 8-megapixel camera, be available in 16GB or 32GB variants and is listed as running the latest version of Google's Android software, 4.1 Jelly Bean. The latter comes despite suggestions last week that the Galaxy Note 2 would be running the older Ice Cream Sandwich Android software.

The leaked Korean specifications sheet of what appears to be the Galaxy Note 2.

Curiously, the leaked specifications sheet also appears to suggest the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 will come with 4G LTE connectivity. However, it is unknown whether the phone will be compatible with Telstra's 4G network in Australia, which runs on the 1800MHz network band.

The Galaxy Note 2 is expected to be unveiled by Samsung at the IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung) consumer electronics trade show in Berlin later this week.

Last week, Samsung released a teaser video showing brief glimpses of the Galaxy Note 2. Tagged with the quote "your magical moments will come alive on 29th August 2012" the teaser video didn't reveal any specific details of the rumoured device, but showed multiple glimpses of what appeared to be a stylus being removed.

The original Samsung Galaxy Note, only released in Australia back in March, is best described as either an extra large smartphone or a small tablet. It has a 5.3in screen and includes a stylus called the "S Pen" that allows users to take notes, draw onto the screen and annotate images and PDF files.

Despite initially expected to be a niche device, Samsung announced earlier this month that it has sold 10 million units of the Galaxy Note worldwide. The milestone came four months ahead of schedule, as the company initially forecasted it would sell 10 million units by the end of 2012.

Samsung's teaser trailer for the second generation Samsung Galaxy Note can be seen below:

Source: (pcworld.idg)

Motorola Photon Q Hands-on and Unboxing

By Chris Burns


Motorola is bringing on a brand new slider to the market with a QWERTY keyboard and the ability to connect to 4G LTE in the Motorola PHOTON Q. We’ve got our hands on this device today and are finding its lovely 5-row keyboard to be just as nice as past DROID products we’ve seen from the manufacturer, brought on here with the speed of a dual-core processor and some nice rounded corners to keep you comfortable. The bright and sharp 4.3-inch 960 x 640 pixel resolution qHD display as well brings on a powerhouse for the manufacturer’s line of like-minded smartphones.





You’ll find that this device falls right in line with the whole Motorola family that’s been released over the past few weeks and months. This means that if you’ve got a XYBOARD or a RAZR in one hand and this in the other, you’ll know good and well that they’re part of the same Motorola design generation. The slider is strong, the keyboard is lit all around each of the keys, and the whole package brings on the best Motorola device in this form factor that the manufacturer has ever produced.


The dual-core processor inside comes from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon S4 – an impressive beast in and of itself. You’ve also got a large LED notification light above the speaker grill that lights up whenever you’ve got something new coming in via email, Twitter, or whatever else you’ve got popping in on the mobile web. The back of the device is curved so as to allow easier gripping – new and a bit unique for the OEM.





There’s 1GB of RAM here, 8GB of internal storage, and a microSD card slot to expand your memory by 32GB. You’ve also got a VGA camera on the front, an 8 megapixel camera on the back, and a beast of a device all-in-all ready for your summer and fall season of mobile computing. Stay tuned as we give this device a once-over here on SlashGear with a full review coming up next week!

Source: ( slashgear.com )

Report: iOS 6 May Confirm Taller, 4-Inch iPhone

Original posted by Kyle Wagner

Well this is interesting. iOS 6, pictured above on the left, is now able to scale to show five full lines of apps when displayed at 640x1136—the resolution a reported 4-inch iPhone would have.
iOS 5.1, which is on the right, only shows four app rows when run in the same iOS simulator app. That's telling, since there would be little reason to add the support for an additional row if the screen was not going to get bigger. 9to5mac also reports that the simulator will not display the five rows at any resolution other than 640x1136, suggesting that Apple's not just trying to squish as many apps into the current screensize as it can. Other higher-than-current-iPhone resolutions scale iOS 6 to the iPad's home screen.

This is just the latest evidence that we'll see a 4-inch iPhone. There is a phalanx of iPhone rumors cramming itself down our throats, and almost all of them point to a taller, 4-inch model with the aforementioned 640x1136 resolution.
So! Looks like big iPhones come September. That or some extra real estate on your favorite iOS simulator's home screen, at least. [9to5mac]

Source: gizmodo.com