Press Releases

New Windows Phones 8 devices from HTC

HTC, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, and Microsoft today unveiled the first signature Windows Phones, the stunning Windows Phone 8X and 8S by HTC. The smartphones feature the new Windows Phone 8 operating system and boast iconic design, immersive studio-quality sound with Beats AudioTM and incredible camera capabilities.

“Pairing these beautiful new HTC phones with our Windows Phone brand is a big milestone for both of our companies and our partnership.” said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. “Together we are offering customers a simple choice and a truly unique experience.””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.”

The only phone with Live Tiles, Windows Phone has a clear, differentiated vision and the consumer experience has been widely recognised as being groundbreaking, innovative and fresh. With people as its inspiration, HTC designed the Windows Phone 8X and 8S by HTC in way to blend the virtual and the physical utilising a 3D pillow-like design based on the Windows Phone Live Tiles. The Windows Phone 8X and 8S by HTC are perfectly sculpted with a dramatic taper making them feel thin in the hand. Because colour is such an integral part of the Windows Phone experience, HTC is bringing bold, sophisticated and adventurous colours in a premium matte finish to these devices including California Blue, Graphite Black, Flame Red and Limelight Yellow for the Windows Phone 8X, by HTC and Domino Black- White, Fiesta Red, Atlantic Blue and High-Rise Grey-Yellow for the Windows Phone 8S by HTC.

The Motorola RAZR i with a 2GHz processor is announced

Sept. 18, 2012 – Motorola Mobility in partnership with Intel Corporation introduced the powerful MOTOROLA RAZR i with Intel Inside®: the new full-screen smartphone that fits in the palm of your hand. Its Super AMOLED Advanced 4.3-inch display spans from edge-to-edge with virtually no border – giving you more screen with less phone. RAZR i is the first smartphone that can achieve speeds of 2.0 GHz thanks to a fast Intel® Atom processor. Jump from a game to a text and over to a playlist, then off to browse the Web – all without stopping and on a long-lasting battery that is 40 percent more powerful than the competition^.

The power of Intel Inside means you also get an instant-launch 8-megapixel camera that can load in less than a second. Just use the dedicated camera key so you get the shot you want. When there’s action involved, multi-shot mode lets you snap 10 pictures in less than a second. And with the illuminated sensor located on the back and High Dynamic Range (HDR) capabilities, you’ll get a great shot, even in challenging lighting conditions.

“Together with Intel, we’re redefining what people can expect from a mobile device. A camera that launches in an instant, Web pages that load blazingly fast and a device that’s the perfect balance of screen size and fit in hand,” said Jim Wicks, senior vice president, Consumer Experience Design, Motorola Mobility. “RAZR i delivers just that when you put an Intel-fast processor in a beautifully designed phone and add in extra long battery life.”

“Motorola RAZR i with Intel Inside naturally blends together the value propositions of high performance Intel Architecture and great battery life, Motorola Mobility device innovation and the Android platform,” said Erik Reid, general manager, Intel’s Mobile and Communications Group. “Intel’s goal is to provide compelling technology options that translate into great user benefits and experiences. RAZR i is a great proofpoint in the collaboration and we’re thrilled to be working with Motorola to bring this edge-to-edge experience enhanced with Intel Inside to people around the world.”

Everything Everywhere re-brands as EE – 4G LTE incoming!

Everything Everywhere today announced the launch of EE – the UK’s most advanced digital communications company.
EE will become the new name of the Everything Everywhere business and its network.EE will also be launched as a new superfast customer brand in the coming weeks. It is a brand born in the digital age, designed to serve both consumers and businesses, offering the UK’s only 4G mobile service and complemented by fixed-line fibre broadband.
The new EE brand will stand alongside Orange and T-Mobile. Together they will provide mobile services to 27 million people, now served by the UK’s biggest and best network.

We will have some speed test videos to bring you later – and they are fast!

Olaf Swantee, CEO of EE said: “Today we launch a new company, a new network and a new brand for Britain.
“Our plans to revolutionise the UK communications market with a faster network and an exciting new brand for the digital age are built on solid investment and a simple belief that customers deserve better.
“We look forward to connecting the country with superfast mobile speeds in the coming weeks, months and years.
“And it starts today, with the announcement of our new business, our new brand and a new digital infrastructure that our company, our customers and the country can be proud of.”

Garmin and INRIX team up

Garmin is teaming with INRIX, leaders in the field of traffic intelligence technology, to provide up-to-the-minute traffic information across the DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) network. This starts in the UK with the release of Garmin’s DEZL760 device. 

By leveraging the latest breakthroughs in DAB technology:

· INRIX will help Garmin deliver better, more detailed live traffic data, updated more frequently and without an internet connection

· This new generation of “Garmin 3D Traffic Live” will provide Garmin customers access to fully featured live traffic information without any subscription costs

· Garmin is able to offer subscription free live traffic services for life!

· This brand new service will be showcased on the new DEZL760 in their booth throughout IFA

Garmin, the global leader in satellite navigation, is ready to change the impact of traffic for its customers forever by providing its fastest and most accurate 3D traffic services to date.

Announcing the HTC DESIRE X

At a small event in London yesterday, HTC gave us a chance to take a look at their latest Android smartphone to bare the Desire name, the HTC Desire X.

It’s been a while since this last Desire handset but this latest one is all about the delivering awesome camera performance and, thanks to Beats Audio, superior sound.

Designed to be an affordable smartphone while still being able to deliver stunning performance with dual-core S4 processor and 768MB ram.

Oh and did we forget to mention it’s a really sexy looking handset too?

Check out the full press release below along with a nice selection of photos.

Samsung announce the Galaxy Note II

Today at the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event held at IFA, in Berlin, Samsung introduced the Galaxy Note II, a whole new level of innovation for the Galaxy Note category. The new Samsung Galaxy Note II enables unique experiences in personalised and expressive content creation making it the ultimate smartphone for on-the-go creativity.

Simon Stanford, Vice President, Telecommunications and Networks, Samsung UK and Ireland, said: “Last year at IFA, we launched the Galaxy Note, which opened a new category of smart mobile devices. This year, again at IFA, we are delighted to introduce the Galaxy Note II, which will encourage users to ‘unleash their creativity.’ With an unbeatable viewing experience and unique features, our customers can capture their ideas faster, express thoughts freely and manage tasks more efficiently. This device provides creativity for all, with an extraordinary experience.”

Since the first introduction of the Galaxy Note category, Samsung has continued to enhance and expand Galaxy Note product experiences. In May 2012, Samsung introduced ‘Premium Suite’ software upgrade for enhanced user experiences: With the Ice Cream Sandwich OS upgrade, Samsung offered innovative new features such as Shape Match and Formula Match. In mid August, Samsung expanded the category with the Galaxy Note 10.1, which has a 10.1 inch large screen, multiscreen features for ultimate multitasking, and a natural S Pen experience with enhanced features for users’ productivity, creativity and learning ability.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II helps to unleash users’ creative inner spark by letting them discover information faster, capture ideas, and express them more organised and efficiently. This is easily achieved using the new S Pen, which provides a more precise and natural writing experience that feels like writing with a pen and paper. For all people who want to be creative, different and unique, Samsung Galaxy Note II will be the ideal device to carry everywhere.

Sony announce the Xperia T – Good enough for James Bond

Today at IFA in Berlin Sony announced their new flagship phone – the Xperia T which will appear in the next James Bond film. Xperia T combines Sony’s best screen, camera and connectivity to provide consumers with the best HD experience with which to enjoy content on any screen, any time. Xperia T builds on the same design language first introduced by the award-winning* Xperia arc and Xperia arc S – combining a slim form factor with an emphasis on the display for excellent viewing.

Xperia T key features:

• 4.6″ HD Reality Display powered by the Mobile BRAVIA® Engine for razor sharp clarity
• 13MP fast capture camera that goes from sleep mode to snap in just over a second
• Full 1080p HD video recording capabilities and a 720p HD front camera for the highest quality content
• Easy connectivity with ‘One-touch’ function enabled by NFC
• PlayStationT Certified
• Latest generation 1.5GHz dual core processor for improved battery life, fast performance and ultra sharp graphics

· Android version 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Will be upgraded to Android version 4.1 (Jelly Bean) following launch. Detailed timing to follow

• MHL connectivity for viewing content on a big screen without the need for a charger
• Use Xperia TV Dock with MHL to HDMI converter and charging connector to enjoy photos and videos on an HDMI enabled TV
• In some markets Xperia T will be known as Xperia TX
• Available in Black, Silver and White colours

Posted by: James

LG announce the Optimus L9

The LG Optimus L9 will continue the stylish L-Series lineup of smartphones with its global debut. Following the successful launches of the Optimus L3, Optimus L5, and Optimus L7 earlier this year, the Optimus L9 is anticipated to continue in the success of the L-Series emphasizing premium design heritage developed from LG’s design leadership.

Inheriting LG’s premium L-Style design philosophy, the Optimus L9 has a 9.1mm thin body with a slimming metallic streak and modern square style that offers a comfortable grip from its slim and stylish design.

The largest-in-class 4.7-inch IPS display of the Optimus L9 offers clear and true-to-life images with incredible detail for comfortable viewing experience. The high-density 2,150mAh SiO+ battery allows users to enjoy the various new UX features all day long with maximized performance while retaining its incredibly sleek design.

The Optimus L9 was also developed to be a smarter smartphone through LG’s differentiated UX features, such as the QTranslator and My Style Keypad function along with the ever-popular QMemo.

The QTranslator function instantly translates not only words, but also entire sentences and phrases with a simple scan from nearly 44 foreign languages to 64 user languages. Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, it recognizes letters upon scanning with the camera and utilizes electronic dictionary or online translation engine to translate words, sentences or phrases.

ARCHOS announce the 101 XS Android 4.1 tablet

ARCHOS, today announces the  ARCHOS 101 XS, a 10.1-inch tablet weighing only 21 ounces and measuring only 8mm thick. The 101 XS will be the first of a new line of extra slim Android tablets to debut mid-September, followed by the release of the ARCHOS 97 XS and ARCHOS 80 XS later in 2012.

The entire Gen10 XS line is Google certified, features Android 4.0 and allows full access to Google PlayT featuring over 600,000 apps. The range will be upgradable to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in Q4 2012.

In addition to creating a new standard of thin for tablets, each model from the Gen10 XS line comes with an innovative Coverboard, a unique magnetic keyboard that will offer protection, a kickstand, docking and easy typing. The Coverboard is included in the box with each tablet.

Combining very high performance hardware, intuitive software and affordability, the ARCHOS 101 XS will be available in mid-September 2012 for £299.99 SRP.

“As the pioneer in the Android tablet market, we strive to continually push the technological boundaries of tablets and user experience,” says Henri Crohas, ARCHOS Founder and CEO. “We are taking our tablets to the next level by releasing an entirely new design that will redefine thin, while providing more functionality and a better price than any current Android tablet in the market.”

Check out the video below:

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 now available at Carphone Warehouse

If you saw our Galaxy Note 10.1 unboxing the other day and were tempted to pick one up the good news is you can now do so at the Carphone Warehouse. The WiFi only variant will set you back £399.99 or grab the 3G one for £499.99.

This revolutionary Samsung tablet runs on Android Ice Cream Sandwich and opens up a whole new category in the tablet market, through exciting tools that inspire the imagination. The S Pen allows users to create more, produce more, and learn more. It allows content to be created in the most natural way possible, by replicating the precision and versatility of pen and paper.

The innovative S Pen stylus re-writes the rulebook; allowing ease of creative express and bringing ideas to life. Users can draw, sketch, design or produce slick documents on a much larger 10.1″crystal clear screen.

Until this Thursday (24^th August) Carphone Warehouse is also offering the original 5.3″ Samsung Galaxy Note for the fantastic price of just £21 per month on T-Mobile. The handset is available in black, pink or white.

Both deals available now at Carphone Warehouse stores, online at www.carphonewarehouse.com or by calling 0800 925 925.

Posted by: James