Hasta La Gadget!

This week the folks at Verizon and Nokia appear to be closer than ever to releasing a Windows Phone 8 machine to beat the rest – an upgraded version of the Nokia Lumia 920 with 4G LTE. This new model will have 4G LTE as the AT&T version did, but with Verizon backing it up it’ll have a whole new aluminum body, Xenon flash for its back-facing camera, and a new name, as well. Welcome today – unofficially, for now – the Nokia Lumia 928.

This tip comes from The Verge where they’ve got some sources familiar with Nokia’s plans. This tip also includes the notion that this smartphone will launch some time inside April and will be pushing up competition with the HTC One (not on Verizon quite yet) and the Samsung Galaxy S4 (to be revealed later this week). This machine will also be rolling out hard with an 8-megapixel camera not unlike the one included on the Lumia 920, PureView technology included.

Inside this device you’ll find a “slightly curved back” and a thinnest point at 10.2mm. This means you’ll be finding the Lumia 928 to be a lot less “bulky” than the 920 and, as it’s also been leaked, this device will be a lot more “squared”. In essence we’ll be seeing the power of the Nokia Lumia 920 in the body of the Lumia 720, another device we’ve just seen revealed this past month at Mobile World Congress 2013.

Have a peek at our hands-on with the Lumia 720 and be sure to kick back with our Nokia Lumia 920 review from a few months ago to get an idea of what’s coming to Verizon soon, and very soon. Meanwhile get pumped up about the rest of the top-tier offerings from Nokia and Verizon in our tag portals for each, and keep your eyes open for the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 for competition, too!

Nokia Lumia 928 tipped for Verizon with aluminum body is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

All is not fine in the world of Windows Phone 8, as there has been a new date bug discovered which is capable of causing some apps to run amok in select regions. It seems that some apps such as WeatherFlow were affected, and majority of the affected users of the date bug were Italian, with the issue apparently starting from March 1st onwards. It is nice to know that there is a way to get around the Windows Phone 8 date bug, and the cause of it has been narrowed down to a common function in the C# programming language.

Basically, the DateTime.Parse(string) function screws up from March 1st onwards, especially when the handset has been set to the Italian region as this particular function would throw a “FormatException”. Developers would be able to share more information on this, but folks living in the US, UK and many other regions do seem to be unaffected. How do you get around this bug? Head to your handset’s settings screen and change your regional format setting to a different option, and things should be back to normal after that.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Motorola Droid RAZR & Droid RAZR MAXX Receives Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Update, LG Optimus G Pro Review,

It’s just not getting any easier to be an HTC investor these days as their monthly report of earnings numbers shows their lowest sales since January of 2010. This is not new news, so to speak, as HTC has been taking some rather public downward tumbles over the past few years – but there is one shining, gleaming hope. That hope is embodied in the HTC One – the company’s newest and perhaps brightest shining star in their entire smartphone-making history.

Today’s report has HTC showing a year-on-year downward fall of nearly 44%, coming in at NT$20.29 billion back one year ago this month with just 11.37 billion coming up this month. That’s Taiwan currency, mind you, the conversion for this month this year coming up closer to $384 million if you’re counting USD cash.

Last year at this time we saw a bit of an upturn for HTC from month to month, with a two-month total (January and February) equalling out to be a lovely NT$36.9 billion. This year we’re working with a slightly more focused, shall we say, NT$26.9 billion. Year over year that’s a change of negative 27.1% – none too encouraging.

But here’s the plus side of all this mess – HTC has revealed the HTC One and it’s not on sale yet. We saw HTC displaying the HTC One exclusively – with no other devices to dampen the greatness – at Mobile World Congress 2013. There we saw HTC win the award for “Best Mobile Device” of the show with the HTC One, too. They put on an impressive show without even having a keynote!

So now we wait – the HTC One is the company’s next big hope for a turnaround, and if any smartphone can do it single-handedly, the HTC One is going to be the one to do it. Have a peek at our hands-on with the HTC One in several parts in the timeline below, and let us know what you think!

[via HTC Investor Relations]

HTC bets the farm on HTC One: company hits 3 year low is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Though Nokia’s Lumia lineup hasn’t thus far been called the thinnest or most hardcore on the market at any point in its short history, it all might change soon with two new models named “Catwalk” and “Lazer”. Spoken about under-cover over this past week internationally, both handsets are being tipped to take the bits and pieces in the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia 808 PureView that people don’t like and toss them out. Left will be a couple of handsets that set the minds of the consumer public on fire – wildfire!

With the Catwalk you’ve got to go to a couple of sources to put together the full story. When you see the story reported with the name Catwalk attached, you need to read between the lines. Seeing the W7Phone.ru write-up would have you believe that analyst Eldar Murtazin straight up said aloud that he’d held a device called “Nokia Catwalk” in his hands. In fact, he only noted that he’d seen a device – not that it had a name.

According to Murtazin, he’d been lead into a room at Mobile World Congress 2013 that supposedly only he and some other special analysts were allowed to see. It’s not odd that only a limited collection of analysts were allowed to see such fantastical devices – though it’s not common – on the other hand, it is odd that Murtazin would mention this next-generation handset in such an off-hand way. Embedded in an extended set of topics and just under a title about a Samsung Galaxy S4, you’ll find it – Murtazin speaks the following:

“In Barcelona, in the secret room could see a number of future products, including aluminum flagship from Nokia, which is the quality of the housing on me a very good impression. Good camera, but in Windows Phone, which does not change and spoil everything. “Oh, Windows Phone, why do not you Android», – present shouted and shook their heads. Noise with this model, let us make no less than the Lumia 920, but nothing in the sales will be. It’s a shame, the machine could be very popular.” – Murtazin (translated)

You’ll also find word from The Verge essentially tying this setup to the name Catwalk once again. Their sources are unnamed as well. This tip can be traced back to early January where a replacement for the Lumia 920 can fe found, complete with the aluminum body and everything.

Then there’s the Nokia EOS, another code-name for what very well may be the same device. This time the tip suggests that the same 41-megapixel sensor from the Nokia 808 PureView would be making a grand return.

Along with this you’ll find Verizon’s Nokia Lumia 928 leak showing White, Red, Gray, Black, and perhaps other color combinations. This might – perhaps – be the metal version of the 920, but we’re not holding our breath. It’d be exceedingly odd if Verizon decided that this many months after the initial 920 launch there’d be a real opportunity to capitalize with their own iteration of the same model. This Verizon model has also been tipped to be carrying the code-name Nokia Lazer.

Nokia “Catwalk” and “Lazer” bring Windows Phone 8 a full metal jacket is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve heard ramblings of Nokia’s upcoming rumored flagship before, known as the “EOS” or “Catwalk.” This time around, we’re hearing some really interesting tidbits of about the phone, most particularly that it’ll come with an aluminum outer shell, and will be waterproof thanks to a special nano coating from P2i, which is a partnership that the company’s allegedly worked out at Mobile World Congress last week.

According to Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin, only a few attendees at Mobile World Congress last week were actually able to see the new smartphone, and he was one of them. Of course, the EOS will also sport Nokia’s popular PureView camera technology, specifically the Nokia 808 PureView 41-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization, and it’s said that the new phone will be the successor of the Lumia 920, which is Nokia’s current flagship model.

As for the waterproof technology, P2i is said to be providing the services, and will allow the new phone to be completely waterproof even without having to put covers over the ports. We’re guessing the nano coating that’s used is the same process that Liquipel uses to waterproof various devices. The company made an appearance at CES back in January.

It’s said that the EOS will debut sometime this year, but specifics are hard to come by at this point still. However, we could expect an announcement sometime during the fall, when Nokia hold their annual event where they’ve unveiled new products in the past, including new Windows Phone 8 devices just last year.

[via Tech Radar]

Nokia EOS to sport aluminum body, waterproof nano coating is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.