Hasta La Gadget!

When we put our mitts on the official BlackBerry Q10 design in January, it carried a “glass weave” back that was meant to convey a premium feel, not to mention give Bold 9900 series owners a sense of continuity. The crew at Genk have snagged a pre-production example that teases what could have been. Their black device has the same grippy, rubberized back as the Z10, suggesting that BlackBerry was at least experimenting with using the same extra-practical (if less refined) material up until the unveiling. What else do we learn? While we wouldn’t want to judge the user experience from a prototype, the look reminds us that there should be a 2,100mAh battery inside — a big boost over the Z10’s 1,800mAh pack, especially when there’s a smaller screen involved. If only we didn’t have to wait until later in spring to try the finished product.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Blackberry

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Via: CrackBerry

Source: Genk (translated)

Lenovo’s still far from a boldfaced name when it comes to Android smartphones. Its Clover Trail+-packing K900 aside, the company’s mobile focus tends to skew towards the lower-end. And so it seems the company’s prepping two new Jelly Bean handsets for the Asian market, the purported S920 and S820, judging by a few leaked blurrycam shots over on MyDrivers.com. From what we can see, the devices appear to share a similar slim, rounded edge design language with a rear-facing camera protruding prominently on back. According to the rumored specs, both are tipped to rely on MediaTek’s quad-core Cortex-A7 SoC, include dual-SIM support and run Android 4.2.1 (skinned, of course). It’s not clear what resolution Lenovo has in store for the phones, but if the S920’s 5.3-inch screen size proves true, it’s likely to be of the 720p variety. The S820 is more of an unknown, but the Chinese site maintains it’s meant for a more fashionable, female demo. Here’s to hoping it launches with a charm dongle. Remember that?

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google, Lenovo

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Via: Android4fans

Source: MyDrivers.com (Translated)

Well, it’s not the first half of 2013 as originally promised, but the Canadian government has now set a specific date for the country’s first 700MHz spectrum auction: November 19th of this year. Alongside that bit of news, Industry Minister Christian Paradis also detailed a set of rules that he says will help provide consumers with “more choices and more access at better prices.” That includes what the government describes as extended and expanded requirements for carriers to allow roaming on their networks, as well as a more general goal to have at least four competitors in each region of the country. Paradis also says the government is tightening its rules to increase cellphone tower sharing, a move aimed to both increase wireless coverage and “reduce cell tower proliferation.” You can find his full statement after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Via: MobileSyrup

Source: Government of Canada

Path hasn’t held the same grip on social networkers as Facebook or Twitter, in part because it’s almost too social — you can’t really control which friends (or friends of friends) see a post. The solution in Path 3.0? Recreate your Trapper Keeper from grade school, apparently. Along with introducing a much-appreciated private messaging system that lets two or more friends share text, maps, media and voice messages, the update lets us slap expressive stickers into the conversation when a basic emoticon just won’t do. Of course, that’s also how Path hopes to get a few extra bucks: two sticker packs come free, while others lurk in the same shop as custom photo filters. If you just have to tell buddies that Stacey was soooooo gross in chemistry class, you can get Path 3.0 today on iOS, and shortly on Android.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: Path

Source: App Store, Google Play

Nobody expects studio quality recording from a smartphone, but the technology in HTC’s recently launched One at least allows distortion free audio to be nabbed in the quietest or loudest environments, according to the company’s blog. Describing BoomSound tech, HTC says the system brings two dual-membrane MEMS microphones to the handset, one of which is focused on sensitivity and the other on high decibel sources. The two signals are then combined electronically, resulting in whisper-level tones that are free of hiss along with concert level blasting that won’t clip or distort. By HTC’s reckoning, that means the audio that goes along with those UltraPixels will be clear whether you’re capturing a physics lecture or death metal concert.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Via: Android Central

Source: HTC Blog