Hasta La Gadget!

That didn’t take long. We’ve only known about the Sony Xperia J and its reported ST26i codename for a short while, but ePrice has already given the purported starter smartphone the full photo tour. From cursory looks and specifications, the J will slot neatly between the Xperia miro and tipo at the start of the line and the small but potent Xperia U: while it’s not believed to be quite as fast or iconic as the dual-core U, the single-core, 1GHz J could still be faster than its tiniest cousins and strive for some chic with a brightly colored back wrapped around a 4-inch display. The real highlight may simply be an Xperia that ships with Android 4.0 from the get-go instead of requiring yet another upgrade merry-go-round. When the Xperia J shows is still up in the air, despite presumptions of an appearance at IFA; however, we won’t be surprised if the J appears side-by-side with the Mint when it’s officially ready for a close-up.

Filed under: Cellphones

Sony Xperia J possibly spotted, may court entry-level fashionistas originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 20:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG Nitro HD owners will get be able to end their July right by upgrading their handsets to Android 4.0. AT&T announced today via its blog that the 4.5-inch smartphone will be getting Ice Cream Sandwich on Tuesday, along with access to LG’s Optimus 3.0 UI, the latter of which offers up improved swipe-to-unlock, more display customization and a new download category in the phone’s menu. AT&T’s not stopping the upgrade train at LG station, though — it’s also promised updates for the HTC One X and Inspire that should help bump up performance.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

LG Nitro HD getting Ice Cream Sandwich the last day of July originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you cast your mind back several months, you might recall Archos unveiling a new range of tablets that can pair up with a keyboard add-on. While the French tablet maker kept quiet on the specifics at its debut– with not even a mention of the hardware’s OS — a filing at the FCC helps plug some of those information gaps. Courtesy of the user manual, we can see that the tablet will be running Android 4.0, while the as-yet unspecified storage capacity can be expanded by microSD. There’s a mini-HDMI port that looks like it will require its own proprietary cable, and the keyboard dock? Well, it’s absent from this FCC gallery, but it does appear in the user manual, demonstrating a twist and lift mechanism that creates a pop-up stand for the slab. Gaze on in horror as those FCC technicians prise open the Archos 101 xs’ shell and scope out the internal works — it’s all in the source below.

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Archos’ Transformer rival reappears, passes federal inspection, forgets its keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 07:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A research consultant has revealed to Ars Technica that he can force NFC-equipped Android and Nokia phones to run malicious code in several ways — but only with specific devices and constraints. The first violation used the near-field Google Beam function, but only affected certain NFC phones running ICS or Jelly Bean. This could allow an evildoer to send a malicious website to an unsuspecting victim to possibly compromise their data. The next exploit was limited to a Gingerbread-equipped Google Nexus S, since later Android releases patched the bugs necessary for the hack. It allowed a so-called tag to access the NFC functions in the OS, and with a little more legwork could offer up access to more malicious programs. The final invasion was made on the Meego-powered Nokia N9, which the expert controlled by Bluetooth, using NFC — as long as the dupe overrode the defaults and enabled that function. If so, a hacker could dial out from the phone, send messages or upload and download files, depending on which security settings were enabled. Fortunately, exact hardware and software combinations aside, nefarious types would still have to be within an inch or two of your phone to enable their NFC box of tricks. Take a look at the source for the full interview.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Security expert shows that Android and Nokia NFC can be hacked — under certain conditions originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During Sprint’s earnings call, CEO Dan Hesse revealed that Motorola’s Photon Q, the company’s latest LTE “world phone” is coming “very soon.” The Photon Q is believed to be the Android 4.0-running QWERTY-slider you can see in the image above, but now that the company’s head has let the cat out of the bag, we expect more details to roll around very shortly.

Update: Sprint’s PR engine has kicked into gear, offering the deep dish on the new handset. It’s a super-specced edition of last year’s Photon 4G and will indeed offer a QWERTY-sliding experience on Ice Cream Sandwich. Beneath the 4.3-inch ColorBoost display you’ll find a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera and NFC as well as Motorola’s Smartactions application to help users extend battery life and anticipate your daily routines. Pricing and availability will be announced within the “next few weeks,” but given how excited Dan Hesse sounded, we can’t imagine we’ll be waiting too long.

Continue reading Sprint’s Motorola Photon Q LTE is coming ‘very soon’ (update)

Filed under: Cellphones

Sprint’s Motorola Photon Q LTE is coming ‘very soon’ (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 08:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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