Hasta La Gadget!

With all of the BlackBerry news coming your way today, it’s easy to forget about the BlackBerry Q10 and that it’s coming to Verizon and T-Mobile in the US later next month. Both carriers made the announcement today that the new QWERTY-equipped Q10 running BlackBerry 10 will arrive at Verizon and T-Mobile in June, although exact dates weren’t disclosed.

As for the Verizon version, customers will have their pick at either the black or white model, with the white version being a Verizon exclusive. The carrier hasn’t announced any pricing details yet for the new device, but it’s likely that the phone will sell for $250 after signing a two-year contract with Big Red.

As for T-Mobile, they also mentioned a generic June release window, and since the company recently got off the contract bandwagon, you’ll be paying full price for the BlackBerry Q10 on T-Mobile, with a $99 down payment with 24 monthly payments of $20 a piece. This means you’ll be paying $580 for the phone, but like with other pre-paid plans, there’s no contract to hold you down over two years.

As for pre-orders, Verizon said that customers will be able to reserve their own Q10 unit sometime “in the coming weeks.” T-Mobile has yet to announce any pre-order plans, but we’re guessing they’ll let customers get in on the fun early by purchasing a unit ahead of time.

It was rumored back in February that the Q10 wouldn’t launch until this month at the earliest, with June also being a possible release window, and it seems that the rumors were true. We haven’t heard anything from AT&T yet, but they’ve already confirmed that they’ll be offering the new device, so we’re guessing that Ma Bell will release the Q10 around the same time as the other carriers.

BlackBerry Q10 hitting Verizon and T-Mobile next month is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Nokia Lumia 925 bottom line is simple: it’s the best looking, best feeling Windows Phone 8 handset Nokia has given us to-date, and while it may not be PureView as the 808 outlined it, Nokia is aiming big with claims that it offers the best low-light performance of any smartphone on the market. Officially announced today, we caught up with the Lumia 925 to see whether it truly lives up to its premium billing, and whether – as Nokia insists – it can live alongside the Lumia 920 and 928, rather than just muddy the waters. Read on for our first impressions.

There’s something about metal which makes a phone feel great. Apple knew that with the iPhone 5; HTC realized it with the One; and now Nokia has succumbed with the Lumia 925 (previously known as the Nokia “Catwalk”). Specifically, the 127.5 x 70.5 x 8.5 mm, 139g chassis is constructed around a frame of anodized aluminum, which tapers to tactile, curved edges on all four sides. The metal also serves an important purpose beyond rigidity and feel, however; it’s the antenna for the Lumia 925′s pentaband 4G LTE radio (as well as the GSM/UMTS bands), saving space by making it a constituent part of the phone.

On the front there’s a slice of toughened Gorilla 2 Glass, while on the back there’s Nokia’s favorite polycarbonate. Plastic meets metal in a gentle curve at the edge of the phone, neatly dovetailing in a way that feels great nestled into your hand; that polycarbonate also swells – Nokia says “pillows” – to accommodate the camera lens, atop the dual-LED flash. A row of contact points for the optional wireless charging shell are below.

In terms of hand-feel, Nokia is onto a winner out of the gate. Gone is the heft of the Lumia 920, and its slightly toy-like glossy plastic, replaced with premium-feel materials and a more refined design. A 3.5mm headphone jack and a SIM slot punctuate the top edge, along with microUSB connectivity, while the usual volume rocker, power/lock key, and camera shortcut run along the right edge.

Nokia Lumia 925 hands-on:

Up front is another improvement, the 4.5-inch OLED ClearBlack display that debuted on Friday on the Lumia 928. Just as on the Verizon phone, it supports a high-brightness mode for outdoor readability, and super-sensitivity for use while wearing gloves. It’s also stunning to look at: colors are vivid, blacks inky, and the broad viewing angles mean you can glance almost entirely askance at the Lumia 925 and still make out graphics without aberrations. The 1280 x 768 resolution may not be the Full HD we’ve seen on some recent Android devices, but it’s certainly sufficient for text and the like on a 4.5-inch phone to be smooth.

Nokia’s emphasis with its recent Windows Phones has been on their photographic abilities, and the Lumia 925 is no different. Like the 920 and 928, it bears the coveted PureView branding, and in fact it packs the same 8.7-megapixel sensor as they do. The optical image stabilization system – which physically moves the entire camera assembly to match shake and judder – is also the same, as is the dual-LED flash system from the 920.

What’s different is the lens, and here Nokia and Carl Zeiss have cooked up a World’s First on a smartphone: the first 6-part lens. Where the Lumia 920/928 have 5-part lenses, combining five different plastic components, the new Lumia adds a sixth, glass lens, which Nokia claims will improve sharpness and low-light performance.

In fact, Nokia says the Lumia 925 is capable of the “best low light images without a flash” of any current smartphone, with its f/2.0 lens, OIS, and exclusive Zeiss optics. It also uses the 925 to debut Nokia Smart Camera, a suite of effects and post-processing that can replace the default camera app should the owner see fit.

Smart Camera approaches things much in the same way as HTC and Samsung have on the One and Galaxy S 4, respectively: with the assumption that having more photo data to choose from is A Good Thing. In the Lumia 925′s case, that means firing off a burst of 10 frames over the course of 2.5 seconds when you hit the shutter-release, elements from each of which can then be combined or generally modified in different ways.

In the gallery, Smart Camera clusters of shots show up with a single thumbnail, but when you open them (and tap the “Smart Camera” legend) the editing potential is unlocked. First up is Best Shot, which analyzes each of the ten frames and picks out whichever it decides is the best based on sharpness and other details. Swiping left and right allows for a manual override. Swipe down, meanwhile, and you go through the other options: Motion Focus, Object Removal, Action Shot, and Group Shot.

Motion Focus tries to inject some more vigor into your stills. Smart Camera automatically identifies the subject of the frame – you can swipe left and right, and see white outlines of each of the potential subjects that can be used – and then applies one of two degrees of blurring to the background. A similar editing system is implemented in the Object Removal system, with the Lumia 925 identifying potentially unwanted people or objects moving through the frame, and then combining elements from the ten different shots to get rid of them.

Nokia Lumia 925 Smart Camera demo:

Group Shot is the face-combining system we’ve already seen on previous Lumia devices, based on the same Scalado tech as BlackBerry 10 has used on the Z10 and Q10. Nokia tells us its version in Smart Camera is actually newer than what we’ve seen before, another exclusive for the Lumia line-up.

Finally, and perhaps most impressive, is Action Shot. This works best when there’s a moving object passing through a still frame: then, just as with Motion Focus, the Lumia 925 identifies the moving subject and allows you to combine multiple versions of it on top of a single background. A row of straightforward buttons along the bottom allows you to toggle content from each frame on or off, while a fade button blurs out details from all but a single, user-selected frame.

They’re ambitious effects (and Nokia says more are on the way), but they’re also system-intensive. Smart Camera shoots and saves the cluster of ten images swiftly, which is good since we hate missing a great image because of a sluggish phone, but actually using the editing tools demands some patience.

We clocked the Lumia 925 in at 15 seconds just to analyze the frames initially, when we tapped into them from the gallery. That process needs to be completed each and every time you open the same set of ten stills: there’s no caching of the analysis, for instance. Tweaking things like the combinations of Action Shot frames happens instantly, but there’s another delay involved when you export the final result, with it taking around 14 seconds to spit the still into the gallery.

Now, it’s worth remembering that Nokia still has some time to finesse the software – the Lumia 925 isn’t expected to hit shelves until June, after all – but it does take away some of the immediacy of the tweaking process. There’s also no way to just look at all ten frames without jumping straight into the editing suite, which can make browsing through photos a stop-start affair.

It’s a shame, because generally the phone runs smooth and fast. With the same dualcore processor and RAM as the Lumia 920 and 928, the Lumia 925 had no problems running through the browser and other apps that we could find. There’s also Nokia’s own HERE Maps and HERE Drive+, with offline turn-by-turn navigation among other things, and the full array of Windows Store apps to choose from. Nokia Music for free streaming and offline playlists is also included.

If we had to compare the Lumia 925 to the rest of Nokia’s current range, it’s probably best described as the specifications of the 928 with the sleek design of the 720, only with build quality that’s a step above anything we’ve seen from Nokia in recent months. Photos simply don’t do the Lumia 925 justice: you have to pick it up and feel how its careful curves fit into your hand.

True, there have been some compromises along the way – Nokia’s decision not to integrate wireless charging is perhaps acceptable given the dimensions of the phone, and the company’s supposed goal of “meaningful thinness”, but it also should be ashamed that there isn’t a snap-on wireless charging shell included in the box – but overall it’s the most compelling Windows Phone Nokia has made so far.

The full judgment will have to wait until we can spend some more time with the Lumia 925 and see how it – and its camera abilities – fit into our daily lives. That should happen closer to the smartphone’s June 2013 release, with it landing in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and China initially, followed by the US and other countries.

Nokia Lumia 925 hands-on is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nokia Smart Camera, the new suite of instant photo effects that has debuted on the Lumia 925, will be rolled out to all Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 smartphones in an imminent update, the company has confirmed. Smart Camera, which includes features such as background object removal, easily-created action shots, and group face editing, will be part of the “Nokia Lumia Amber Update” which the company says will be released from July 2013.

The free update will bring Nokia’s new photography suite to the rest of the Lumia range. Among the improvements are Motion Focus, which can separate out a moving subject from the background, and automatically blur the latter so as to emphasize the feeling of movement, and Action Shot, which allows movement from up to ten burst-frames to be combined in a single image, complete with optional blurring.

The Amber Update won’t be limited to camera tech, however. Nokia says it will confirm the full list of changes – many of which have apparently been prompted by user-requests from existing Lumia owners – closer to the point of release, but it did tell us that the new firmware will also enable dormant FM radio hardware across nearly all of its Windows Phone 8 models.

As you might expect, given the differences in processing power (and other hardware), the Amber Update experience will differ somewhat across the range of devices. The Lumia 620, for instance, lacks the FM radio chip, and so will be the only model not to get that functionality. As for the Lumia 520, that will get a reduced subset of Smart Camera features, in deference to its less capable processor.

Nokia committed to rolling back retroactive updates to its older phones back at Mobile World Congress, with smart devices chief Jo Harlow telling us in February that the company saw the average lifespan of software upgrades to be at least the 24-months of the average phone contract. That notably stands in contrast to Microsoft’s own commitments to Windows Phone 8′s longevity, which the firm has said runs for less than 18-months.

Nokia: Smart Camera coming to full WP8 range in July Lumia Amber Update is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nokia has officially revealed the Lumia 925, the company’s new flagship Windows Phone 8 handset, and the latest to bear PureView branding with the promise of “the best low light images” of any smartphone on the market. Announced at Nokia’s London event today, the Lumia 925 – hitherto known as the Nokia “Catwalk” – sits alongside the Lumia 920 and Verizon Lumia 928, wrapping Microsoft’s platform in a sleek anodized aluminum and polycarbonate casing.

Up front there’s the 4.5-inch OLED PureMotion HD+ display we saw on the Lumia 928, running at 1280 x 768 resolution and using Nokia’s ClearBlack technology for improved contrast. It also packs the super-sensitive touch system which allows for gloved use, though is thinner and lighter than the 928, measuring in at 127.5 x 70.5 x 8.5 mm and 139g. Above is a 1.2-megapixel front camera for Skype calls, among other things.

Where the Lumia range has previously been all-plastic, the Lumia 928 uses an aluminum frame for lightness and structural strength. That runs around the edge of the phone, and also serves as the handset’s antenna. Inset on the rear is a non-removable polycarbonate plate, available in three color finishes.

On the back, there’s an 8.7-megapixel camera, using the same optical image stabilized CMOS as on the Lumia 928 and the dual-LED flash of the Lumia 920, but here paired with a brand new, 6-component f/2.0 lens. Unlike the 928 and 920, which each use 5-part plastic lens arrays, the Lumia 925 adds a sixth, glass lens which Nokia says provides greater sharpness and allows in extra light.

That should come in handy with Nokia’s new photography software, debuting on the Lumia 928. Nokia Smart Camera is the next generation of Nokia Smart Shoot, and can be used interchangeably with the regular camera app, or set as the default for everyday use. Somewhat similar to HTC’s Zoe system, Smart Camera automatically fires off ten 5-megapixel frames over the space of around 2.5s: they can then be edited in a number of ways.

Normally, Smart Camera automatically picks out what it believes to be the Best Shot – by sharpness and other factors – though that can be over-ridden. There’s also background object removal, and moving object removal, with the Lumia 928 automatically identifying what it can delete. Motion Focus, meanwhile, separates the subject from the background, and automatically applies blur to the background so as to emphasize the movement in the frame.

Then there’s a new version of the group shot tool, which allows different facial expressions from multiple images to be combined into a single frame. Previously, that was based on technology Nokia acquired from Scalado – and shared with BlackBerry 10, which licensed the system – but in Smart Camera it’s apparently an all-new version.

Most impressive, though, is Action Shot. That takes moving details from the ten frames and combines them into a single image, great for showing the movement of people through the picture for instance. A string of buttons along the bottom of the screen allows content from each of the ten burst-shots to be included or hidden, while a fade control picks out one of the parts to be solid while the rest are faded out. Nokia Camera Lens will continue to be available as a separate app, including Cinemagram for creating partially-animated GIFs, while Nokia has also confirmed that Hipstamatic is coming to Lumia.

Windows Phone 8 – and all the camera apps – runs on Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz dualcore Snapdragon S4 chip, paired with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. Connectivity includes pentaband LTE, WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, and NFC, and there’s A-GPS and Glonass, and a gyroscope. The 2,000 mAh battery is fixed and non-user-accessible; Nokia will offer wireless charging as an option, enabled with clip-on shells that also protect the rear and corners of the Lumia 928, and which will be available in red, yellow, black, and white finishes.

The Nokia Lumia 928 itself will be offered in three finishes: brushed silver metal with either white or grey polycarbonate, or black metal with matching black polycarbonate. It is expected to begin shipping initially in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and China come June, with the US and “other markets” following on later. Pricing will be around €469 ($608/£398) pre-taxes and subsidies.

Nokia Lumia 925 official: 8.7MP PureView in a metal frame is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sony’s Xperia ZR isn’t reaching the market all by its lonesome: it’s accompanied by a high-end Bluetooth headset, the SBH50. The sequel to the Smart Wireless Headset Pro mostly ups the ante with NFC — listeners just have to tap the smart remote against their Xperias (or many other NFC-aware devices) to get going. There’s still the emphasis on higher-than-usual quality for wireless audio; likewise, the remote continues to preview calls and messages, play FM radio and take the owner’s pick of wired headphones. Sony has only committed to launching the SBH50 “soon” and hasn’t mentioned prices, but we’d use the previous headset’s $150 price as a rough benchmark. Catch Sony’s overview video after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Portable Audio/Video, Mobile, Sony

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Via: Sony Mobile (Facebook)

Source: Sony