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Archive for January, 2013
High street retailer Phones 4U is soon to offer its own mobile network to contract customer. LIFE Mobile is due to kick off in March and as the MVNO will run off the EE network they intend to provide 4G options by the end of the year.
Prices and plans are not yet known, but with marketing planned to start in March we haven’t got long to wait. A nice new option for consumers.
Phones 4u group chief executive Tim Whiting said: “The launch of LIFE Mobile is a very significant step for the Phones 4u business. Our strategic vision is based upon a focus on building ever-stronger relationships with our customers, which we believe is fundamental to our on-going business success.
“This focus delivered record revenue growth in 2012, a year in which we opened more than 100 stores across the UK. We are delighted to be extending our longstanding partnership with EE in order to add LIFE Mobile to the extensive range of products and services available at Phones 4u.
“We will sell both 3G, and later in 2013, 4G LIFE Mobile tariffs alongside our existing network propositions and are confident the new network will play a key role in driving further growth for our business.”
Source: mobilenewscwp
Posted by: James
Just last week a couple of stories broke detailing the possibility of a Samsung Galaxy Note 8-inch Android tablet arriving at MWC in February. As it turns out the possibility is now a reality. JK Shin himself reportedly confirmed the new 8-inch variant of the popular Galaxy Note tablet is real and will show up as soon as the MWC show next month. No other details were shared, but at least it’s far more concrete than what we had before.
An 8-inch tablet might be just the right ticket for some folks, walking that middle road between the 7-inch and a full 10-inch.
Posted by: Gareth
We received hints of the Sony Xperia Z 10.1-inch Android tablet just last week, but now Sony has officially unveiled it! Their new flagship tablet boasts a rather impressive array of features whilst being ultra-thin. Here’s a breakdown:
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Android 4.1
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Qualcomm 1.5GHz quad-core APQ8064 processor
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2GB RAM
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32GB storage
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10.1-inch 1,920 x 1,200 screen (with Mobile Bravia Engine 2)
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8.1-megapixel Exmor R camera
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NFC
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LTE (MDM9215M radio)
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A microSD expansion
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Sony’s "S-Force" virtual surround sound technology
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6.9mm-thin
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495g
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Water & Dust-Resistant
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6,000mAh battery
Sadly, Sony did not unveil price or availability details as yet. Of course, we will keep you informed.
Posted by: Gareth
The Nexus 10 has been a hot-selling product, as far as 10-inch Android tablets are concerned. New rumours suggest, Google wants to increase that success even further by introducing an enhanced version at MWC next month. The current version pushes a 2560×1600 resolution 10-inch display with a dual-core 1.7GHz Cortex A15-based Samsung Exynos 5 chip, and quad-core Mali-T604 GPU. Despite the power of this internal hardware, there are times when the system lags while trying to push graphics to that amazing resolution. Apparently, Google has taken note of this and intends to improve things.
According to the latest Intel, this new version will come with a quad-core or better CPU (unspecified at this time), and will come with an 8-core T628 GPU, designed to speed things along greatly. According to these folks, they were privy to the newest prototype of this "enhanced Nexus 10" device, and they indicated the difference was "night and day." This is something we will definitely be looking out for at MWC this year. We are crossing our fingers on this one, because it is always nice to see things get better!
Posted by: Gareth
On the run up to the BlackBerry 10 launch BlackBerry App World has gone through its first rebranding stage. Visitors on the web will see that the store is now called BlackBerry World and has had a slight acelift.
Over the next few weeks BlackBerry users will see the store switch to the new name on PlayBooks and smartphones to complete the transition. BlackBerry 10 users will soon be able to purchase more than apps and games as RIM will be selling music and videos much like Apple and Android.
The BlackBerry World storefront offers a sleek experience that lets our customers discover incredible apps topersonalise their BlackBerry smartphone and PlayBook tablet, so they can kick back with some of the hottest entertainment and social networking apps around. When they’re in work mode, they can find great new ways to get access to the information they want and need, and boost their productivity. It all starts on the home screen, where the carousel shows off what’s new and exciting.
Apps and games have their own channels, and each one offers up a wide range of categories. Customers can scope out top lists, as well as new arrivals. And if they find a cool new app? They’re able to share it with their friends over BBM, Facebook and Twitter or simply tap their smartphones together and invite them to download it- just like that.
With BlackBerry World, there are various ways to browse, download, buy, and manage apps using a BlackBerry smartphone, desktop or laptop computer, or BlackBerry PlayBook – inspiration is at your fingertips.
Fancy having a look? Click here.
Posted by: James
If you don’t want a phone with a massive display but still want a reasonable amount of screen real estate the HTC One SV may well be the perfect choice. Sporting a 4.3 inch screen the One SV is a nice update from the One S but it isn’t ground breaking. Sure, it is 4G so you can currently use it here in the UK with EE, but apart from that there is nothing amazing about it. That said it may sell well as HTC users have come to love the Sense UI that HTC provide over Android. And while we are on the subject of Android, the One SV only ships with Ice Cream Sandwich which is a bit of a shame. It will get an upgrade to jelly Bean but when that is I don’t know.
The 1.2 GHz processor in the handset is more than enough to provide a speedy user experience and camera wise the One SV should do a pretty decent job. The HTC One SV is never going to outsell the likes of the top of the range Android devices but it should provide a nice upgrade to the average person popping into a high street phone shop.
You can catch the unboxing and hands on video below along with the full specs.
The rumour-mill is amping up already this year. The latest "intel" suggests that LG will again build the next Nexus smartphone, the Nexus 5. Supposedly, this new Nexus device will come with some greatly improved specs. Here’s a breakdown:
Just in case you haven’t heard about it, Sony’s new Xperia Z products will not just encompass a smartphone. Apparently, there will also be an Xperia Z Android tablet, the specs for which have just been recently leaked. Here’s the skinny:
Xperia Tablet Z:
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10.1 inch screen – 1080p resolution screen
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Quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor
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Waterproof and dust proof specifications
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LTE
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NFC
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Android 4.1
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6,000 mAh battery
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6.9 mm shell
The specs look pretty darn good. If they can offer it at a competitive price, we might just have a worthy tablet from Sony to fight in the Android arena.
Posted by: Gareth
Sony have announced a free PlayStation Mobile game every week, The first one Being Samurai Beatdown.
Great for Vita owners or any of following: PlayStation Vita, Sony Tablet S, Sony Tablet P, Xperia Tablet S, Sony Xperia PLAY, Sony Xperia S, Sony Xperia acro S, Sony Xperia T, Sony Xperia V, HTC One series smartphones.
Oh, Happy New Year!
Posted by: Gareth
Since the EE brand was created and the Orange and T-Mobile shops became integrated you may have noticed that your local town may have two EE retail stores. This is soon to change as EE are planning to close 78 shops in the UK where the brand has a double presence. The sales staff in these locations will be moved to other stores so their jobs seem safe however managers roles may well be a different matter.
A spokesperson for EE said: “Following the successful launch of EE, and the rebranding of former Orange and T-Mobile stores last year, we are determined to maintain momentum, and continue to drive growth. Consequently we have reviewed our retail estate to improve the service our customers are receiving on the high street.
“As part of this, where we have two EE stores in very close proximity to each other – in some places they are just a door away – we have decided to consolidate. This makes commercial sense and will also help us manage the high levels of demand in our stores and improve the customer experience.
“All front line staff will be moving to the other store which will boost service levels significantly. A store can only have one manager, so we will look to redeploy the small number of affected managers where possible.”
Source: mobilenewscwp
Posted by: James
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