Hasta La Gadget!

Not long after the Windows Phone Summit in June we heard word that HTC was putting together three Windows Phone 8 handsets that would be released later in the year. Chinese website WPDang now believes that those handsets will be officially announced during the third week of September, a few weeks after Nokia and Microsoft introduce the first Windows Phone 8 devices at Nokia World on September 5th.

WPDang believes that HTC will make an official presentation in either New York or London, although the exact details haven’t been confirmed yet. The announcement of the handsets is expected in September with the Rio and Accord due to ship in October, while the Zenith will come later in the fourth quarter.

Details of HTC’s new Windows Phone 8 handsets first emerged in June. The Zenith is HTC’s flagship Windows Phone model, reportedly featuring a 4.7-inch Super LCD2 display with a 720p resolution along with an Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor. The Accord is the mid-range handset, featuring a 4.3-inch 720p Super LCD2 display and dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus processor, while the Rio is an entry-level offering with a 4-inch WVGA screen and Snapdragon S4 Plus CPU.

HTC’s announcement may come later on in September, but Nokia has been tipped to unveil its own Windows Phone 8 lineup at Nokia World on September 5th. WPDang reported in July that Nokia is preparing two new handsets, the Lumia 910 and Lumia 920, with Microsoft due to make an appearance to showcase additional consumer oriented features of Windows Phone 8.

[via Unwired View]

HTC Windows Phone 8 announcement expected in September is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Case parts for the next iPhone continue to leak out of China, with the latest pictures revealing internal sensors as well as a part that may serve to protect the back of the rumored 4-inch screen. The latest collection of parts, courtesy of iColorOS, shows off some titillating internal components, such as the volume rocker and protective shielding that separates the back of the iPhone’s screen from the internals.

Several other parts also make an appearance, such as the home button and smaller SIM card tray. Just the other day we saw close up pictures of the next iPhone’s smaller SIM card tray. The reduced size of the tray points to Apple using the new nano-SIM standard, approved by the ETSI at the beginning of June despite objections from Motorola, RIM, and Nokia.

Recent reports have suggested that European carriers are stockpiling supplies of nano-SIMs in order to accommodate demand for the next iPhone when it’s released. Carrier sources located in the United States have also confirmed this to be the case, indicating that the next iPhone will most likely use nano-SIMs as opposed to the micro-SIMs currently used in the iPhone 4 and 4S.

Constant leaks and reports all point towards a larger 4-inch screen being used for the next iPhone, with Apple also rumored to increase the resolution from 960×640 to 1136×640, also marking a shift in aspect ratio to 16:9. Case parts suggest that the next iPhone would use a two-tone metallic design, with machine drilled speaker holes and a relocated 3.5mm headphone jack. The handset has also been tipped to include LTE connectivity and NFC support. The phone is expected to be announced on September 12th.

[via AppleInsider]

Next iPhone internals laid bare is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Yesterday Motorola threw up a mysterious teaser image for a smartphone on its Facebook page, encouraging users to try and guess what the handset was with some clues. Many believed that the company would be unveiling a new smartphone at the end of the week, with the primary guess being the DROID RAZR HD. Turns out it was all much ado about nothing, with the company adding a new post to say that the phone being teased is already on the market.

The original Facebook post was more than likely just an honest mistake, an attempt to drum up some interest in Motorola’s products and brand. That didn’t stop the tech community from jumping all over the news (including ourselves), but the correction should put minds at ease. There may still be a new Motorola phone on the horizon, but it looks like it won’t be announced via Facebook any time soon.

Many believed that the Motorola DROID RAZR HD would finally make an appearance, which leaves us wondering if the company is ever going to announce that device, or if the Atrix HD is the best we’re going to get until Motorola’s next smartphone refresh. The Atrix HD comes with a 4.5-inch 720p display and features similar design riffs from the RAZR series such as the Kevlar weave back, although it lacks the striking angular corners.

The DROID RAZR HD, meanwhile, has been spotted several times in pictures and benchmarks, allegedly featuring a 4.6-inch 720p screen and 3,300mAh battery. Other reports have suggested that Motorola will ditch Texas Instruments’ OMAP processor in favor of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 chipset, with the phone destined for Verizon and its LTE network.

Motorola backtracks after 4G phone guess goof is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A Windows Phone 8 handed tipped to be among Nokia’s new range has leaked, borrowing the unibody design from the Lumia 800 and 900. Etched as a prototype, the handset shared by WPDang has a distinctive yellow finish- a color we’ve not see Nokia use for its polycarbonate devices to-date – and the offset Nokia logo itself, pushed far to the right of the earpiece, is also new.

The UI also marks the unnamed phone out as potentially something special. The smaller iconography – which now fits up to four Live Tiles to each line – is a feature of Windows Phone 7.8 and Windows Phone 8; it’s unclear which version of the platform this device is running or, indeed, if it’s merely showing a screenshot of the updated interface.

Muddying the waters is Nokia’s close work with Microsoft and the existing confirmation that the company has been providing reference hardware for Windows Phone testing. One such device, not intended for commercial production, was demonstrated back in June, complete with a dualcore processor, 720p HD display and integrated NFC.

According to the latest rumors, we won’t have long to wait to know the truth. Nokia is expected to announce a press event in early September, shortly after IFA 2012 and ahead of the predicted iPhone 5 unveil, at which it’s tipped to reveal its new Windows Phone 8 line-up. Commercially availability is said to be due before the holiday shopping season.

[via Softpedia]

Nokia Windows Phone 8 prototype reportedly leaks is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s always hard to tell what’s going on behind the scenes at Valve, but if recently-uncovered Source Filmmaker files are to be believed, the Half-Life developer is planning something big. Valvetime has uncovered a bunch of references to a planned Source 2 engine lurking in Source Filmmaker’s script files, so it seems that Valve is planning a new version of the Source engine. That makes a lot of sense, considering that Valve has been using Source in one form or another since 2004.

That’s quite a long time, and even though Valve has had a great run with the Source engine, it wouldn’t surprise us one bit to hear that the studio is working on a new version. That appears to be the case, with Valvetime giving a line of code found in Filmmaker’s script to show that it isn’t just taking us for a ride. Have a look:

Return an str with the current engine version.
If key doesn’t doesn’t exist, assume ‘Source’, otherwise invalid — assume next-gen ‘Source 2′

That’s one of over 60 lines which mentions Source 2, Valvetime says. So, it certainly seems like a new version of the Source engine is on the way, and we can’t help but wonder if this is why Valve is remaining so silent on the next Half-Life title. Perhaps Valve is biding its time so it can build Half-Life 3 (or Half-Life 2: Episode 3, whatever you’re hoping for most) with the Source 2 engine? That would be an excellent treat for Half-Life fans who have been waiting – some more patiently than others – for news of the next installment, and it’s pretty easy to imagine Valve planning such an exciting surprise for its fans.

Need more evidence that Valve may be planning the successor to the Source engine? No problem, because tucked away on Valve’s official website, the studio writes, “We don’t like to brag, but Source is considered the most flexible, comprehensive, and powerful game development environment out there. And it’s about to get even better.” Get excited folks, because it’s pretty clear has something big in the works. Keep it tuned here to SlashGear for more information as this develops!

Source Filmmaker files point to upcoming Source 2 engine is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.