Archive for February, 2012

Orange announces high powered Android device powered by Intel technology

Orange has announced that it will launch a new high-performance Android smartphone in Europe this summer. Powered by Intel® technology, the device currently codenamed ‘Orange Santa Clara,’ will deliver the latest in smartphone capabilities and rich entertainment experiences to more customers. The phone will first be available exclusively to Orange customers in the UK and France, where its commercial name will be unveiled at launch.
The launch of this smartphone marks a significant development in Orange’s long-standing and successful strategy to deliver phones under its own brand. Now in its tenth year, it has helped drive new device partnerships and support Orange’s customer and mobile multimedia growth by introducing more affordable feature phones and smartphones to its whole customer base. These phones are differentiated by being customised with simple and relevant Orange applications and services. Customer demand has led to the doubling of Orange’s own-branded portfolio in 2011, increasing volume from 7 per cent to 15 per cent of its total device portfolio. Orange aims to increase the volume of its own-branded device portfolio to 20 per cent in 2012 to better meet its customers’ needs, making innovative features, services and technologies more widely accessible.

ZTE Era announced – 7.8mm, quad core

ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”) has announced the ZTE Era, one of the thinnest quad-core devices on the market today.

Based on the NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 quad-core mobile processor and equipped with a NVIDIA Icera 450 HSPA+ modem, the ZTE Era packs high definition multimedia capabilities into a package that is just 7.8mm thick. The Era has a 4.3 inch QHD screen giving high quality 960 x 540 pixel images, 8GB of memory expandable with a MicroSD card, HD voice and Dolby sound. Running the latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) platform the ZTE Era is the most powerful Android smartphone from ZTE, providing powerful new ways of communicating and sharing, with easy multitasking, rich notifications and deep interactivity. The ZTE Era delivers a great combination of amazing battery life and outstanding performance with Tegra 3’s unique 4-PLUS-1T quad-core architecture with a fifth battery saver core.

The ZTE Era is the flagship device launch from ZTE at Mobile World Congress and is part of a series of eight new devices unveiled at the event, all delivering significant advances in power, high definition multimedia capabilities and design. Based on technology innovations including quad-core chipsets, LTE and the latest Android and Windows Phone platforms, the new devices form a core component of ZTE’s ambition to become a top three handset provider by 2015.

Nokia 808 Press Release

Nokia today ushered in a new era in high-end smartphone imaging with the Nokia 808 PureView.  This is the first smartphone to feature Nokia PureView imaging technologies, bringing together high resolution sensors, exclusive Carl Zeiss optics and Nokia developed algorithms, which will support new high-end imaging experiences for future Nokia products. 

The Nokia 808 PureView features a large, high-resolution 41 megapixel sensor with high-performance Carl Zeiss optics and new pixel oversampling technology.  At standard resolutions (2/3, 5 and 8 megapixels) this means the ability to zoom without loss of clarity and capture seven pixels of information, condensing into one pixel for the sharpest images imaginable.  At high-resolution (38 megapixel maximum) it means the ability to capture an image, then zoom, reframe, crop and resize afterwards to expose previously unseen levels of details. With superior low-light performance and the ability to save in compact file sizes for sharing in email, MMS, and on social networks, the Nokia 808 PureView makes it possible for anyone to capture professional looking images in any conditions.
In addition to superior still imaging technology, the Nokia 808 PureView, also includes full HD 1080p video recording and playback with 4X lossless zoom and the world’s first use of Nokia Rich Recording.  Rich Recording enables audio recording at CD-like levels of quality, previously only possible with external microphones. The Nokia 808 PureView also features exclusive Dolby Headphone technology, transforming stereo content into a personal surround sound experience over any headphones and Dolby Digital Plus for 5.1 channel surround sound playback.

"Nokia PureView imaging technology sets a new industry standard by whatever measure you use," said Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia Smart Devices.  "People will inevitably focus on the 41 megapixel sensor, but the real quantum leap is how the pixels are used to deliver breath-taking image quality at any resolution and the freedom it provides to choose the story you want to tell.

Posted by: James

Nokia announce the Lumia 900 and 610 for Europe

Nokia today announced the next stage in its plans to introduce unique Lumia experiences to more people around the world.

The new Nokia Lumia 610 is Nokia’s fourth and most affordable Lumia smartphone, designed as the perfect introduction to Windows Phone for a younger audience.  The Nokia Lumia 610 makes it easy to keep in touch with friends, providing instant access to social networks and bringing all mobile, email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn contacts into one place.  It also makes it easier to browse the Web with Internet Explorer and to access games through Xbox Live. Available with Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive, Nokia Transport and Nokia Music, people can also choose from thousands of apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace to further personalize the experience.
With a distinctive profile and finely beveled metallic edges, the Nokia Lumia 610 is built to convey both quality and aspiration.  It comes in white, cyan, magenta and black, is priced at EUR189 and is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2012.

The Nokia Lumia 610 was made possible thanks to a new software release from Microsoft delivering enhanced capabilities to the Windows Phone 7.5 platform.  The software release, available from April optimizes Windows Phone to support lower memory and processor requirements, while still delivering the same great experience for more affordable products.  In addition, Windows Phone will now include the network and language requirements for China. As a result, Nokia announced plans to make a range of Lumia smartphones available in China, covering both CDMA and WCDMA technologies, in the coming months.

Samsung make the Galaxy Note 10.1 official

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, today launches the Galaxy Note 10.1, the latest update to the Galaxy Note range, which offers an unrivalled creative, productive and learning experience.

With its large display, Galaxy Note 10.1 provides multi-screen functionality to maximise efficiency. Its multi-screen functionality enables users to multi-task, viewing Internet pages, videos or other applications side by side, while writing or sketching their ideas.

Simon Stanford, UK & IRE Telecommunications & Networks Division said: “The Galaxy Note 10.1 takes productivity on a Note to a whole new level. With a larger, fully utilisable screen and superior performance, it combines the intuitiveness of handwriting with all the versatility of digital content to let users be more productive across all of life’s demanding tasks-whether working, learning, or simply creating their own stories.

“The Galaxy Note 10.1 demonstrates Samsung’s commitment to extending the mobile category and we are working with key partners like Adobe to provide extraordinary experiences for our customers enabling them to be more productive and allowing them to express themselves creatively.”

 

BlackBerry App World carrier billing gains momentum

Research In Motion (RIM) today announced that more than 40 carriers around the world have now deployed integrated carrier billing for their customers on BlackBerry App World.

BlackBerry App World is now available in 164 markets and territories worldwide. More than 60,000 apps are currently available on RIM’s app store and over 174 million apps are downloaded each month. Over two billion apps have been downloaded to date.

The deployment of integrated carrier billing is an example of RIM’s ongoing commitment to work together strategically with its carrier partners and it has proven to drive significant value for the whole mobile ecosystem, including carriers, developers, content providers and customers.  Integrated carrier billing enables a user to purchase apps or digital goods (such as the additional chapters of an e-book or additional levels of a computer game) without interrupting the user’s app experience.  They can simply charge the purchase to their regular monthly bill, and both one-off and recurring (subscription-based) purchases are supported.