Hasta La Gadget!

While Americans won’t be able to get their hands on HTC’s Windows Phone 8S, it’s at least coming to the UK. British carrier Three will be offering the new handset starting today, and you’ll be able to order one online or in their bricks-and-mortar stores if you don’t feel like waiting, although they are promising Monday delivery if you order online today.

Three will be offering the 8S at no cost with a two-year contract, while an off-contract unit will be priced at a reasonable £180. If you choose to go the contract route, prepare to pay at least £17 per month for a plan, while a pay-as-you-go plan for off-contract users starts at £15. That’ll be enough to get you 300 any-network minutes and 3,000 texts to fiddle around with.

The Windows Phone 8S features a 4-inch WVGA display and runs off of a 1.0GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset and 512MB of RAM. It also has 4GB of internal storage, although HTC has thrown in a microSD card slot for good measure, which is located at the bottom beneath the brightly colored — and somewhat distracting — end-cap.

The handset also has a 5MP rear camera, but if you’re into video chatting with friends and family, buyer beware, since there’s no front-facing camera on the 8S. Then again, HTC doesn’t expect such activities to be a really popular activity among the target audience anyway. Nevertheless, if you feel like giving the new phone a go, it’s available now on Three, and check out our hands-on of the device to learn more about it.

HTC Windows Phone 8S now available on Three is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has dismissed concerns that the Lumia 920 will suffer from not being Microsoft’s “signature” Windows Phone, with HTC instead taking that crown, arguing that the perceived advantage is “ambiguous.” Asked whether Nokia felt slighted or sidelined at HTC inking a deal with Microsoft to put the Windows Phone 8X and 8S at the core of its new advertising campaign, Elop insisted that there’s more to Lumia than just Windows Phone itself. “We could have called our devices Windows Phone 920 or whatever,” the chief exec told Wired, ”but we felt it was important to say that we stand for something a step above.”

That “step above” could consist of wireless charging, location-based services, photography under the PureView brand, or something else, but whatever it is it’s over and above the basics of the OS, Elop argues.

Mildly spanking rivals while remaining loyal to Windows Phone overall has become something of a habit for Elop in recent weeks. Speaking to GigaOm earlier this month, he countered suggestions that the rumored Microsoft own-brand Surface Windows Phone 8 might damage Nokia’s prospects.

“I don’t think it changes the relationship” Elop said of Nokia and Microsoft’s partnership, should a Surface phone appear. “It’s incumbent upon us at all points in time to build the world’s most innovative smartphones. Which is what we believe we’ve done, for example, with the Lumia 920. That’s something that’s done based on years and years of work, and years of investment in what makes great mobile devices.”

In fact, Elop is doubtful that Microsoft taking the sudden decision to lead the Windows Phone device parade, Google Nexus-style, would actually work out too well, because it takes significant periods of time to develop compelling features. “The reason the Lumia 920 is standing out so well amongst the competition, one of the reasons is the imaging capability, this low-light photography capability” he points out. “That’s five or six years of work in our labs, engineers doing nothing else but working on that technology. Saying, “oh, this year, we’re going to do our own phone,” doesn’t allow you to do that. You have to make those investments over a period of time.”

Those investments may well expand to encompass a more holistic ecosystem of devices than simple smartphones. Asked about the possibility of tablets or, further afield, TVs and other product lines, Elop was coy on plans but honest about the gap in Nokia’s current portfolio. “We haven’t announced anything specifically, but what I will say is that people in their digital experience expect to be able to move seamlessly between form factors like a phone, a tablet, a television, an automobile, on and on and on. So we’ll participate in different elements of that to a greater or lesser extent.”

Don’t expect a tablet immediately, however, as Nokia focuses on getting a solid start in smartphones. “The ecosystem in which we’re involved, we’ve got to be a part of a world where people are experiencing all of those things. Everything’s got to hang together” the CEO points out. “So yes, there’s a lot of opportunity there.”

Nokia and AT&T announced earlier today that the Lumia 920 would be ranged by the carrier as an exclusive in the US, the second time AT&T has been the sole place to pick up a flagship Lumia Windows Phone. Although rival brands have had great success broadly spreading their devices across multiple networks, Nokia has previously insisted that its strategy of focusing marketing and sales training on one specific carrier has paid dividends as it attempts to reposition itself in the smartphone marketplace.

Nokia’s Elop: Lumia is “a step above” HTC’s Windows Phones is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Welcome to Thursday evening folks – just one more day until the weekend is officially here. iOS 6 has been out for a little more than a day now, and while there are a lot of new features to get excited about, Apple’s new Maps app seems to be spoiling the party. Many are bummed that Apple Maps doesn’t feature public transportation routes like Google Maps, and a group of developers set out to solve that problem with a new hack. Meanwhile, Nokia took a few shots at Apple Maps today, and we found out that iOS 6 landed on 15% of all Apple devices within the first 24 hours of release.

Ever wonder how much Americans have spent on iPhone repairs? Wonder no longer, because SquareTrade says that we’ve $5.9 billion on repairs since 2007. Samsung once again reiterated its intentions of taking Apple to court over the iPhone 5, while HP announced a range of new ultra-light notebooks today. HP didn’t stop there though, as it also revealed a brand new ENVY desktop, which we have to say looks pretty sleek. Verizon talked about how good its Share Everything plans are during an investors conference today, and the ASUS Padfone 2 might be getting a reveal next month.

Prices for the freshly-revealed HTC 8X and 8S were announced today, and Chinese manufacturer Cube has a new tablet incoming that sports a display similar to Apple’s Retina display. Qualcomm was seen touting its Snapdragon S2 processor today for some reason, and SkullCandy revealed a trio of new gaming headsets. Speaking of gaming, we heard rumors that Half-Life 3 will have open world elements, and were amazed by a new multiplayer trailer for an upcoming game called Cube World. Amazon’s Kindle eReaders and tablets have been banished from the shelves of Walmart, and the all-new ZTE Anthem will soon be heading to MetroPCS complete with 4G LTE capabilities.

Android users were given The Bard’s Tale and Fort Courage today, while the US Senate claimed that Microsoft avoided paying $6.5 billion in taxes over the last three years. Facebook Messenger got an update on Android today, as did the regular Facebook app, and Sony told us why we didn’t see a price cut on existing PS3 models when the company revealed its brand new super-slim console. Microsoft can officially claim another victory over Motorola in Germany, and finally tonight, we have a hands-on with the excellent 10Terra Nexus 7 Bamboo case, which is looking to get funded on Kickstarter right this minute!

That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up. Enjoy the rest of your night, and join us back here tomorrow as we wrap-up Friday’s news and ring in the weekend!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: September 20, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

HTC refused to be drawn on pricing for its new Windows Phone 8X and 8S smartphones, saying only that they’d launch in November, but that hasn’t stopped retailers stepping up with some SIM-free numbers. The good news is that, even without a subsidy to help out, both Windows Phone 8 devices undercut key rivals like the iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S III.

Retailer Clove has the 8X up for preorder at £399.99 including tax ($648), while the 8S is listed at £224.99 including tax ($364). In contrast, UK sales of the iPhone 5 kick off at £529 ($856), again including tax, while you can pick up a Galaxy S III unlocked and SIM-free for £462 ($748).

UK pricing factors in the not-inconsiderable 20-percent tax rate, and we’d expect both Windows Phones to be cheaper in the US. Still, they’re some ambitious numbers from HTC, and given Windows Phone 8 has an uphill struggle to claw market-share from iOS and Android, undercutting the flagship from both platforms is a sensible strategy.

HTC 8X and 8S hands-on:

It also bodes well for on-contract pricing, though while networks AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile USA have all confirmed they’ll be offering both models (with some LTE flavors too) subsidized numbers aren’t available yet. We’ll know more closer to launch in November.

We grabbed some hands-on playtime with the new phones, so check out our first-impressions of the 8X and of the 8S.

HTC 8X and 8S priced up: iPhone 5 and GSIII undercut is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

There was a time when you could buy something that was compact, fast, and beautiful. That time is over. “Smaller” is just a polite way to say “here’s the bad version for cheap people.” And that’s really awful. More »