LG has just made it official: their new Optimus L Series, named L Series II, is going to be presented at Mobile World Congress aka MWC. Like the first edition, the Series II will feature three handsets, the Optimus L3II, L5II and L7II. Each model has a different form-factor, but are built using the same design language. LG promotes the following features: Seamless Layout, Laser-cut contours, Radiant rear design and multi-color LED lighting Home button. (more…)
Today it’s been tipped that the HTC marketing team have decided to strip away all the extra nonsense from the name of their next hero device, calling it simply “HTC One.” This naming scheme would have the device take on a brand new level of “hero” mode with a similar strategy to that of Apple when they decided to call the iPad 3 “the New iPad”, with each subsequent iPad simply retaining that one top name. This tip surrounds the device known as the HTC M7, a smartphone that’s been leaked several times before today by several sources including the CEO of HTC himself.
With the source of this bit of information being @evleaks, a notoriously accurate leaker of details for quite some time now, we’re inclined to believe it. Now we have only to figure out what HTC plans on doing with the other two (or so) devices it may or may not be releasing in the imminent future. This naming scheme doesn’t leave a lot of room for errors, that much should be clear right out of the box.
This HTC M7 or “HTC One” device will keep with HTC’s strategy revealed approximately one year ago when they first introduced the HTC One line to the world at Mobile World Congress. This year it would seem that they’ve separated themselves from the big MWC 2013 conglomeration of releases with an event set for the 17th of this month – better separate than lost in the fray. With the HTC One, the company will push their hero strategy to the limit with an all-in sort of attitude and a collection of features that make for a singular “this is the one you want” sort of presentation.
The HTC One (aka M7) will be bringing a high-powered display and processor to team up with a next-generation camera and audio experience without a doubt. What we’ve seen in leaks and tips thus far leads us to believe that a multi-lens camera system will be paired with a quad-core processor of some type or another with a display that’s more dense than any HTC smartphone has ever been before. Stick around and see!
This week the folks at LG have made it clear that their mobile sector will be bringing on a whole new series of smartphones (or tablets!) to Mobile World Congress 2013. This massive set of events with global reach begin in the week of the 24th of February and SlashGear will be there all week, so you can bet that whatever LG brings to the stage, we’ll be right on top of! Last year’s reveal at around this time brought on more phones – and more important phones – than at any time the whole rest of the year!
Last year the big reveal LG made at Mobile World Congress was a fabulous seven smartphone torrent with everything from the LG Optimus 4X HD to the LG Optimus Vu! The first was one of the first devices in the world to work with an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor while the latter was LG’s answer to the phablet fad – 5 inches of massive smartphone action. These two beasts were so radical that they were worth covering multiple times at multiple venues!
Here in 2013 LG has their already successful LG Optimus G to top off. They’ve also got the Google Nexus 4, a smartphone that’s selling so well that Google has had trouble keeping it in stock! How could LG possibly bring on another series of smartphone devices that tops what they’ve already got out?
We’ll be seeing at Mobile World Congress 2013 without a doubt – you’ll be able to follow along with SlashGear in our massive MWC 2013 tag portal. Also be sure to hit up the LG tag portal for more information between here and then. And let us know what you’re expecting as well – we’d like to know! It may be time for more than just dual-sim action here in the near future – dual, quad, and octa!
This week Huawei has made their Mobile World Congress 2013 presence official with an invitation to their main event. This event will quite likely continue to reveal the Ascend lineup of smartphones running Android with high definition displays and powerful processors under their respective hoods. We saw the massive Ascend Mate 6.1-inch display-toting beast as well as the lovely Ascend D2 with 5-inch 1080p display at CES 2013, and as it was tipped by Huawei CEO of Consumer Business Group’s Richard Yu, the next step may be the Huawei Ascend P2. This device has been suggested to be coming with a processor packing 8 CPU cores.
That’s one System on a Chip with 8 CPU cores, also known as more cores than any smartphone or tablet has ever brought forth before. As you should well know by now, it’s not always about the number of CPU cores you have that tells you how powerful your device can get, but with [nearly] double the amount of cores any other competing product has, we’re certainly curious about what the P-series can do. This device will also very likely be coming in at a very, very thin smartphone as its predecessor was.
With Huawei bringing on $2.5 billion in profit throughout 2012, that being a lovely 33% rise compared to the year before, we must assume the company will continue to expand through 2013. This event will once again prove Huawei to be a real contender in the world market with devices such as the Huawei Ascend G615 being revealed between CES 2013 and MWC 2013 proving the company to have more rabbits in its hat than anyone expects. Also be sure to check the Huawei 4Afrika Windows Phone handsets to see how the company is moving in on the budget-friendly market in 2013.
And keep in mind that Huawei has been called the 3rd place manufacturer in the world’s smartphone market at the end of 2012 by the IDC. This means that, yes, we are seeing the company expand, we are seeing Huawei continue to hit inroads to major markets like the USA, and yes, Mobile World Congress 2013 will be home to some new fabulous releases from the big H. Stay tuned in our lovely MWC 2013 tag portal for more!
This month we may very well be looking at the first market-ready glimpse we’ll have of the Samsung Galaxy Q, a dual-display smartphone-like device tipped by the manufacturer more than once before. The clues are lining up with MobileGeeks showing a GL Benchmark result that they suggest is the final straw on the pile that’ll topple the whole mess in for a Mobile World Congress 2013 reveal. This device will be appearing in some capacity or another soon, bringing with it a 1080p set of two displays that fold out into one – is the world ready for such an oddity?
Though we were less than enthusiastic about the dual-display Kyocera Echo when we first saw it way back in February of 2011 – the technology that allows such a concept to be more of a real-world possibility for actual user-friendly working has come a long way since then. Now Samsung is up to bat with a smooth no-break display that spans both halves of this device – fold out with delight!
The keys to the puzzle that is this device’s appearance work as follows: this device was given its first solid details back in October of 2012 with a note that Samsung would release it in early 2013. The images provided of this device thus far have each been from the FPD display show in Tokyo that took place in late 2010 and once again in May of 2011 where the hardware was a very early concept mockup. The GL Benchmark results appearing this week show the code-name of the device (GT-B9150) along with a change in specifications from 720p (tipped with the original release window info) to 1080p – much more realistic for 2013 and forward.
The video you see above is just about the earliest Samsung foldable display demonstration in the universe, all the way back from 2008. This should be seen as a very VERY loose concept demonstration/suggestion of what might be coming later this month. A whole lot has changed since back in 2008. Check out the original announcement of Samsung’s YOUM brand as well for more timeline action on the origins of this display technology.
Samsung has also been tipped to be pushing around 6 new smartphone devices at Mobile World Congress 2013, mind you. Last year we saw devices like the Samsung Galaxy Beam – an interesting smartphone, to be sure, but much more on the niche side of the release spectrum than a wide-release hero phone sort of deal. Samsung will quite likely be showing off tablets and smartphones outside their Galaxy S lineup, saving the big announcement for the Samsung Galaxy IV for a separate singular event.
This device has been tipped to be coming with two displays at 5.3-inches each that fold out into one single larger display. Previous reports suggest a dual-core 1.7GHz Exynos 5250 processor inside alongside 2GB of RAM, an 8 megapixel camera on the back, 2 megapixel camera on the front, and a 3500 mAh battery. Inside we’ll likely be seeing Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean and the whole amalgamation would make a lot of sense as a limited release as sort of a “test-phase” release before wide adoption.
Stick around our Mobile World Congress 2013 tag portal for more information as it appears, and make sure you’re down for Samsung’s announcements especially. We’ll be at MWC 2013 from then 23rd through the rest of that week, so keep it tuned to SlashGear!
Remember the other day when it was rumored that Samsung could be announcing 8 new devices at MWC 2013? Well as it turns out, it looks like those rumors might hold a shred of truth after all. It seems at least six out of the eight alleged devices were spotted at the GLBenchmark website which at the very least confirms their model numbers. The devices spotted were the GT-I9150/GT-I9152 (Galaxy Fonblet 5.8), the GT-S5310/GT-S5312 (Galaxy Pocket), the GT-S5282 (Galaxy Star), the GT-S6310/GT-S6312 (Galaxy Young), the GT-S6810/GT-S6810P (Galaxy Frame) and last but not least, the GT-B9150 whose name has yet to be determioned.
These devices range from the very low end, such as the Galaxy Frame which only sports a rather outdated 480×320 display, to the more powerful which is the GT-B9150 which features a dual-core Exynos 5250 CPU clocked at 1.7GHz. Assuming these devices are announced at MWC, we guess we will have more details to share then, so be sure to check back with us for updates!
Today appeared to be quite the day for leaks, with the Samsung GT-B9150 coming in most recently with a powerful Exynos 5 processor under the hood and a 1080p display to its name. This device brings on the 1.7GHz A15-based Exynos 5 5250 Dual processor to the game, this being the same massive beast we’ve seen in the Google Nexus 10 and the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook. This device could be the Samsung Galaxy S IV or it could be a brand new Galaxy Note – at the moment the details are quite scarce and fried with salt, as it were.
The leak today comes in the form of a benchmark result which gives away the product code for the smartphone or tablet-like device, that again being GT-B9150. This device’s code name appeared once before in similar results quite a few months ago, that time with a 720 display and certainly after the release of the Samsung Galaxy S III. This puts it in line with a release of the fourth iteration of Samsung’s flagship smartphone, but the “B” in the name we’re seeing here throws one for a loop.
This release will likely take place at the same time as the rest of the Samsung lineup tipped earlier today, that list containing several Samsung Galaxy Tab devices with different sized displays. Each of those models will be released with the name Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 while this model, again, appears to be a smaller device than the tablet pack and will either work with Galaxy S or Galaxy Note before its number – III for a note, IV for an S.
One point of clarity here is the fact that we’re so close to Mobile World Congress 2013 that we’re more than likely not going to see any of the devices listed here at that time. We’ll quite likely see Samsung present a series of devices after the event at least a week or two out, keeping the attention for themselves rather than sharing with the Mobile World Congress hoards of device-bringers. Have a peek at the timeline below for more insight!
It would appear that HTC has sprung a bit of a leak ahead of their February 19th event that’ll likely play host to the devices we’ve seen today, including first and foremost the HTC M7! While the details surrounding the M7 are still largely unknown, a video has surfaced of none other than HTC’s CEO Peter Chou showing the device off to a crowd of users at the HTC Year-End Party in Taipei, going on to help the party chant “M7! M7! M7!” while he takes photos with the smartphone itself.
This video shows Chou showing the device off in a silver edition as well as a white edition, each of these devices appearing to be smaller than the previously rumored 4.7-inches (display-wise). This device will likely make its appearance at the February 19th event along with the other two HTC One devices leaked today. Each of these machines will take the place of the HTC One lineup showed off for the first time last year at Mobile World Congress 2012.
The other two devices that’ve been leaked today come from @evleaks at Unwired View, the first of them being the HTC M4. This device will be appearing with a 4.3-inch display that’s 720p resolution with a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor under the hood. That seems awfully similar to what we saw last year with the HTC One S, mind you, this time coming with 2GB of RAM, a 13 megapixel camera on the back with f/2.0 and 1080p video recording abilities, and a 1.6 megapixel camera on the front. Inside you’ll find a 1700mAh battery and Android Jelly Bean.
On the low end of this spectrum comes the HTC G2, this machine bringing in a 1.0GHz ARM cortex processor (single core) with a 3.5-inch HVGA display. This device is clearly meant to take on the inexpensive side the the market with 4GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, rear camera at 5 megapixels, 512MB of RAM, and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This HTC G2 will likely take on the name HTC One G2 to differentiate between itself and the original G2 from a couple of years ago.
Sound like an exciting lineup to you? Stick around our HTC tag portal and our tag for Mobile World Congress 2013 to make sure you’re on top as it all comes down!
This week the folks at ASUS have had a bit of a leak in their pipes with both product images and details surrounding their next Android tablet, the ASUS MeMO Pad 10. This machine (product number ME301T) works with a 10.1-inch IPS LCD display with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution and a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor under the hood. Oddly enough, inside this machine you’ll find just 1GB of ram, and that display resolution is less than what we’ve seen on devices like the Transformer Infinity from last year – could this be a budget-minded machine?
What we’re seeing here is an extension of NVIDIA’s plan to push down-clocked versions of their processors to machines that are then priced so low that the competition cannot possibly compete. And it’s not the first time this has happened. We saw this strategy working in the Google Nexus 7 tablet also manufactured by ASUS, and that tablet has been selling like hotcakes since birth.
This ASUS MeMO Pad 10 will be busting out with 16GB of internal storage, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean right out of the box, and both front and back-facing cameras. The front facing camera will be 1.2 megapixels while the back will be 5 megapixels strong, and you’ll have a microSD card to store all the media you collect – at the moment we’re not sure what the max card size is that you’ll be able to plug in there, but we’re expecting 32GB.
BONUS: This tablet has been tipped more than once before with basically the same specifications – looks to be a lock!
This tablet will be working with a microUSB port instead of the larger port used on previous ASUS tablets and will have a microHDMI port as well for working with your HDTV. This tablet has been tipped to be appearing for between 329 to 389 Euro, this meaning a direct conversion to USD would still be above $500 – not exactly wallet friendly. We must expect that this price will be modified for the US market or that the device wont be appearing inside our borders – we shall see!
Also of interest is the fact that this machine has appeared in press photos in blue and white while the listings found thus far have also shown red and pink casings available at launch – wild stuff! Expect this tablet to appear at Mobile World Congress 2013 more than likely!
Wondering what Sony might have in store for us this year? Some say that the company could be launching their PlayStation 4 console, while others might be more interested in Sony’s mobile Android devices. Whatever the case is, it looks like Sony has released a teaser video that has simply been titled, “#PlayStation2013”, with the end of the video revealing a date for the 20th of February. Some have speculated that due to the title and the heavy emphasis of PlayStation in the video that Sony could be unveiling the PlayStation 4 on that date. However it should be noted that the 20th of February falls pretty close to MWC 2013 so it is possible that the company will probably be unveiling something MWC related, such as news regarding PlayStation Certification for Android devices, or for all we know maybe a next-gen Xperia Play (pure speculation here, don’t read too much into it!). Of course there is the possibility that we could be wrong, but either way check back with us on the 20th of February if you’d like to know what Sony has in store for us!
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
LG has just made it official: their new Optimus L Series, named L Series II, is going to be presented at Mobile World Congress aka MWC. Like the first edition, the Series II will feature three handsets, the Optimus L3II, L5II and L7II. Each model has a different form-factor, but are built using the same design language. LG promotes the following features: Seamless Layout, Laser-cut contours, Radiant rear design and multi-color LED lighting Home button. (more…)
Remember the other day when it was rumored that Samsung could be announcing 
