Sony WP smartphone to come in 2014 under the Vaio brand

It appears that the negotiations between Sony and Microsoft have ended up successfully and the Japanese company will indeed be joining the list of Windows Phone hardware manufacturers. Microsoft’s Windows Phone director Greg Sullivan has confirmed that Sony will be releasing its own WP smartphone in 2014.

Better yet, the device is said to hit the market by the middle of the year, so we won’t even have to wait that long to see it. The new Sony smartphone will be carrying the Vaio brand, which should help you tell that it’s running a different OS from the Xperia handsets. With the limited customization options provided by the Microsoft partners, the Vaio smartphone will be relying on the Sony proprietary services such as Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited to help it stand out in the crowd.

The news that Sony and Microsoft have reached an agreements comes as little surprise, given that the deal will obviously be beneficial to both company. Sony has already expressed its desire to add a second platform to its smartphone lineup and Windows Phone is the most obvious choice. Microsoft, on the other hand, is looking to expand the reach of its mobile OS and a major manufacturer such as Sony will definitely help. Not to mention that the two companies have quite the long history of partnership in both mobile (remember Windows Mobile?) and desktop platforms.

Update: Cnetnews has since retracted the story, so we guess the negotiations are still going. Hopefully it's just a delay rather than a signal that the two sides can't reach an agreement.

Android in December 2013: KitKat, Jelly Bean on the rise

Google released its traditional monthly Android version distribution numbers. The latest state of the platform saw Android 4.4 KitKat add a bit to its share and the latest release now powers 1.4% of all droids.

Despite not being the most current, Android Jelly Bean continues to gain ground. Its oldest 4.1 build slid 1.5 points to a share of 35.9%, which still makes it the most widely adopted single release out there. However, the two newer JB versions – 4.2 and 4.3 grew by 2.5 percent points each, bringing the total Jelly Bean share to 59.1 percent.

Android 2.2 Froyo, 2.3 Gingerbread, and 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on the other hand, continue their decline. All three versions dropped their cut of the overall distribution. Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich were the biggest losers with 2.9% and 1.7% drops respectively, which is actually more than they lost last month, hinging at updates intensifying.

Curiously, Android 3.2 Honeycomb is still refusing to disappear form the map. The tablet-only Android version continues to sit on a 0.1% share – it has been there for a few months now.

Apple relaunching 8GB iPhone 4 in India to boost sales

Apple is said to be re-releasing the iPhone 4 in India, specifically the 8GB model, according to The Economic Times. The move comes as a result to boost sales in the Indian market, which Apple has been losing to cheaper rivals running Android and Windows Phone 8.

The iPhone 4 was a popular model for Apple because of its relatively lower price compared to the newer iPhones in India. Apple and the iPhone in particular are aspirational brands in India and as such are on everyone's wishlist but the high price of the unlocked models means most people either go for the older cheaper models or some rival brand, of which there is no shortage.

With the iPhone 4 being discontinued last year after the launch of the iPhone 5c and the 5s, Apple lost one of its key sellers in the Indian market, along with its customers as well. With the relaunch of the iPhone 4, Apple is trying to gain back some of these customers.

According to the source, the iPhone 4 8GB will be priced in India at around INR 15,000 ($244) through buy back schemes and EMI options. The phone is expected to go on sale as early as next week.

Sony announces Xperia T2 Ultra and Xperia E1

Sony has announced two new Android smartphones. The first is the Xperia T2 Ultra, a mid-range 6.0-inch phablet designed specifically for Asian and African markets where big screen smartphones are all the rage, and will compete against the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Mega.

The Xperia T2 Ultra has a 6.0-inch, 1280x720 resolution display with TRILUMINOS, Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 and other fancy words Sony likes to use for displays that are often underwhelming. There is a 13 megapixel Exmor RS camera on the back and a 1.1 megapixel Exmor R camera on the front.

On the inside, the Xperia T2 Ultra has a quad-core Snapdragon processor clocked at 1.4Ghz, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage space expandable with microSD cards. Powering all this is a large 3,000mAh battery with Sony's Battery STAMINA mode.

The phone will be available in two variants, the single SIM T2 Ultra and the dual-SIM T2 Ultra dual, in black, white and purple.

The Xperia E1 is a budget Android phone with focus on the audio playback aspect. Sony claims the loudspeaker on the back is capable of hitting 100dB, which should drown out practically every other sound around you. It also has a dedicated Walkman button (we haven't seen this in a while), shake to shuffle and hardware buttons for controlling audio playback.

Other features include a 4.0-inch, 800x480 resolution display, dual-core, 1.2GHz processor with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage space and microSD card slot.

Like the T2 Ultra, there will be two variants of the E1, with single and dual-SIM options. The phone will be available in black, white and purple.

Samsung Galaxy S5 specs 'confirmed' - 2,560x1,440 screen and Snapdragon 805 CPU

 

 

 

We've been waiting for almost a year, but now the Samsung Galaxy S5 is almost upon us. We've been following the rumours and leaked information, but now SamMobile claims to have the full run-down on the specs, thanks to a Samsung insider.According to the site, the Samsung Galaxy S5 will come in two different versions: one metal and one plastic. The metal version will be a more expensive, premium version, costing around 800 Euro, while the plastic version will cost around 600 Euro. There's no information on whether or not the metal version will have a different name, such as the rumoured Samsung Galaxy F.

There's no information on how the build quality will differ, except on materials. However, a recent rumours points to the metal version having a metal backplate, sides and front, which would suggest that it will still have a removable back and, therefore, battery.A high-resolution screen will come as no surprise to most people, with the 2,560x1,440 AMOLED display exactly what everyone was expecting Samsung to release. It will be a little larger than the Samsung Galaxy S4, with a 5.25in screen. That's still comfortably smaller than the company's phablet, the 5.7in Samsung Galaxy Note 3.The camera is due an upgrade, from the S4's 13-megapixel sensor, to a brand-new 16-megapixel sensor. There's no information if Samsung intends to go with hardware optical image stabilisation (OIS) or more information on the sensor itself.Inside, the phone will come in two models with different processors, with both Exynos 6 and QualcommSnapdragon 805 CPUs available. This is similar to the Galaxy S4, which had two models: one with a Samsung Exynos 5 chip and one with a Qualcomm chip. In the case of the S4, the Samsung chip used ARM's big.LITTLE technology (four low-powered cores for saving power and four full-power cores when more intensive tasks run), but didn't support LTE. For LTE countries, then, the Qualcomm version was sold.With the Galaxy S5, the Samsung Exynos 6 chip (also big.LITTLE) now supports LTE, so the division of models isn't quite as clear. However, the big difference is that the Exynos 6 is 64-bit. Given all of this information, it could be that the premium metal version ships with Exynos, while the plastic version ships with Qualcomm. Unfortunately, we're going to have to wait a bit to find out the exact details.RAM, storage and the other specs haven't been confirmed yet, but this is certainly enough infofmation to whet our appetites.

How to control your iPad's onscreen keyboard

 

 Ever find your iPad's virtual keyboard stuck in the middle of the screen instead of at the bottom? If so, there's an easy way to coax it back to the bottom. The iPad offers two positions for the onscreen keyboard -- docked and undocked. Docked mode places it at the bottom of the screen, while undocked mode shifts it up to the middle. Should you find the keyboard floating in undocked mode and you would prefer it docked, hold down the keyboard button, the same one you normally tap to turn off the keyboard.A popup menu will appear with two choices -- Dock and Split. Move your finger to the Dock option, and your keyboard should sink back to the bottom.And what about the Split option? Split separates the keyboard into two halves, a handy option for anyone who wants to type with both sets of fingers. The keys themselves become smaller, however, so this may be more feasible for those of you with tiny fingertips. You can also split the keyboard by placing your fingers in the middle of the keyboard and moving them apart; you can merge it by pinching the two halves back together.

by Lance Whitney

 

 

AT&T adds 32GB Nokia Lumia 1520 to its lineup

he 1520 is available through AT&T's Web site and retail stores in a matte black color. The phone runs $250 with a two-year agreement and $640 without a contract. Buyers who opt for AT&T's Next installment plan pay either $24.62 or $32 a month.

In-store pickup for online purchases of the 32GB 1520 is not an option; instead online orders are shipped directly to your home. The phone was listed as out of stock earlier in the day, but the Web site now shows it as available. You can also click on the link to "check in-store availability" to see if the phone is on the shelves at your local AT&T outlet.

AT&T has been selling the 16GB edition of the phone since last November. Offering a screen size of 6 inches, the 1520 packs in a 1,080p HD display, a 20-megapixel camera, and a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor.