Is this an image of the LG Optimus 3D 2?

What you see before you is either the deranged rantings of a lunatic, or the second generation of LG’s Optimus 3D, erm, 3D smartphone. Currently codenamed “CX2,” the handset’s packing a new NOVA autostereoscopic display for better brightness, an unnamed 1.2GHz dual-core TI CPU and an NFC module. What isn’t changing is the dual five-megapixel cameras, the 8GB storage or the display’s size or resolution. Our biggest gripe with the device was its heft, but if the rumors are true, it’s slimmed down from 12mm to 10mm: making it significantly more pocket-friendly. Our palms are sweating in anticipation as Mobile World Congress inches ever closer to revealing the truth.

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Tags: 3D, Android, LG, Optimus 3D, Smartphones

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Unlocked HTC EVO 3D now just 249 GBP from ASDA

Let’s say you live in the UK and want the HTC EVO 3D – you can check out that cool deal with a two-year carrier contract we talked about 10 days ago. Or you may want an unlocked device, sans any commitments toward mobile operators? Good news – now you can get the glasses-free 3D screen-equipped smartphone from the online wing of ASDA, which is selling it for 249 GBP (about $388).

It’s a true bargain, considering the European version of the EVO 3D was announced only 6 months ago. Actually it’s amazing how quickly smartphone prices drop these days, something all of us love.

Aside from the mentioned 4.3-inch 3D display, HTC’s baby also comes with two 5-megapixel cameras on the back (for recording 3D video), front-facing camera (for video calls), HSPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS, Bluetooth, an array of sensors and a microSD memory card slot.

So what do you say? Like the deal? If so proceed to this page where you’ll get all the details.

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Tags: 3D, Android, Asda, EVO 3D, HTC, SIM Free, Smartphones, Unlocked

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Samsung Galaxy S II HD tipped for UK launch

Samsung is apparently bringing the Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD to the UK, as the Galaxy S II HD, a version of its best-selling dual-core smartphone packing a 720p HD capable Super AMOLED HD display. Although not yet officially confirmed by Samsung itself, the non-LTE smartphone briefly cropped up with UK retailer MobiCity where it was spotted by MoDaCo, though no UK pricing, release date or product page are currently available.

However, based on the US and South Korean variants, along with a product page from the retailer’s Australian division, we have a good idea what the Samsung Galaxy S II HD will offer. In short, it’s just the Galaxy S II we were hoping for: gone is the WVGA display, which although color-rich and with broad viewing angles, was looking short on pixels in comparison to qHD and 720p rivals, replaced by a 4.65-inch 1280 x 720 panel that we’re guessing is the same as on the Galaxy Nexus.

There’s also a 1,850 mAh battery to keep that display – and the 1.5GHz dual-core Scorpion processor with 1GB of RAM – running all day, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Samsung’s own TouchWiz tweaks.

In Australia, the Galaxy S II HD will be priced at AU$749 ($780/£508) and is apparently in-stock now. However it’s possible that this is a grey-import of the Korean LTE model; the retailer is using images of that variant on its product page, and the E120s product code is the same as Samsung uses in Korea.

Article: RSS via SlashGear

Tags: 720p, Android, Dual-Core, Galaxy S II HD, Gingerbread, Samsung, Smartphones

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Moneto NFC microSD to bring contactless features to any Android phone

DeviceFidelity and Spring Card Systems have teamed up on a NFC-capable microSD card that will hopefully forgo the need of buying specific mobile handsets for the privilege of contactless payments. The card, which has been in development for a few years, houses an NFC radio and antenna that deals with payments through MasterCard’s PayPass system. Moneto’s iPhone case is already available, offering swipe payment delights for iOS users for $80, and includes $10 of spendable cash. The microSD card is set to land in the next few weeks, pegged at $30. Both will be available from the Moneto website, with plans to support several — as yet unnamed — Android devices by Q2, rolling out further throughout 2012.

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Tags: Android, Contactless Payments, MicroSD, Moneto, NFC, Smartphones

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Sony Xperia S official

CES 2012: See-thru

There have been plenty of rumours as to what Sony Ericsson, or, more accurately, Sony Mobile Communications, would or would not launch at CES in Las Vegas at the start of 2012, and now it is official.

The much rumoured Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc HD is actually to be called the Sony Xperia S.

The official news from Sony, announced at the company’s CES press conference on Monday, matches the leaked prototype, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc HD, we saw last week.

Called the Sony Xperia S, the new device will come with a 4.3-inch 1280 x 720 resolution touchscreen, run Android 2.3 and come with a 12-megapixel Sony Exmor R sensor capable of shooting 1080p and 720p video (via the additional front facing camera).

Inside, users will get a 1.5GHz dual-core processor from Qualcomm and 32GB of storage space.

The phone, sadly, only comes with Android 2.3 at launch, however Sony has already promised an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich due in the 2nd half of 2012. The handset itself will be coming to the UK in March. Three has already confirmed that it will be stocking it.

And yes, that is a see-thru ribbon at the bottom of the phone.

We will, of course, be bringing you more on the Xperia S, so stay tuned.

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Tags: 12 Megapixel Camera, 720p, Android, CES 2012, Dual-Core, HD, Smartphones, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Video, Xperia S

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Samsung Galaxy M offers up Super AMOLED for less

Samsung’s 2011 Galaxy S II still tantalizingly out of your wallet’s reach? Well, you might be tempted by the latest addition to the Galaxy family that’s just gone official in Korea. While the shell appears nigh-on indistinguishable from the previously announced Galaxy R, there are some notable spec differences. The M totes a four-inch Super AMOLED screen, not the Super Clear LCD found on the R, while there’s also only a single-core 1GHz processor here, not the dual-core Tegra 2 found on its older brother. The camera has also felt the pinch, shrinking from a five megapixel to a three megapixel offering. The Gingerbread handset measures in at just under 10mm thick, while still packing a TV tuner and a metallic body more similar to the Wave series than the plastic-backed Galaxy family. The M moniker places it in the high-end affordable spectrum, according to Sammy’s latest naming strategy, priced at around $500, although there’s no news on a release outside of its homeland just yet. The phone will arrive in three confusing color options; Platinum Silver [above], Blue Black and Lavender Pink.

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Tags: Android, Galaxy M, Samsung, Smartphones, Super AMOLED

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Samsung Galaxy S II gets new ICS ROM, offers Kies to the kingdom (video)

New year, new you ROMs. Yep, the Galaxy S II is getting even more attention, with a duo of Ice Cream Sandwich versions landing on that capacious 4.3-inch screen. They consist of an early Android 4.0.1 build made on December 20th and version 4.0.3 crafted just ten days later. The interesting part is that, according to YouMobile, both of these will arrive through Kies, Samsung’s Android connectivity software. The mobile news site also suspects that these are close (but still buggy) approximations of what we’ll see on our as-yet un-tinkered Galaxy S IIs in the very near future. These Kies-capable builds also have a few cosmetic differences to the build leaked earlier, like a distinct lack of Tron hues adorning the notification bar at the top. While we await a release through the official channels, you can check out a swift run-through right after the break.

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Tags: Android, Galaxy S II, Ice Cream Sandwich, ROMs, Samsung, Smartphones, Video

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HTC Desire running Ice Cream Sandwich (video)

Great news HTC Desire owners – it looks like you’ll soon be able to enjoy the all the goodness of the latest version of Android on your aging handset. Developers have been working on an Ice Cream Sandwich port for the phone and it looks like they’ve had a breakthrough recently. The folks over at XDA-developers have announced the beta release of the Ice Cream Sandwich ROM for the phone and have posted it online for the public.

As usual, not every single function of the phone is working (camera, USB tethering etc) but there are quite a number of things that do work i.e. WiFi, SMS, GPS, Sound, Calling, Touchscreen, Stable 3G, Gmail sync + calendar, SD read/write, all sensors, Bluetooth, Hardware acceleration, WiFi tether, Market with paid apps and more so it’s safe to say you can use it as a daily phone (assuming you have no use for the camera or USB tethering).

Judging by the video demonstration, it’s safe to say Ice Cream Sandwich can run pretty well on this 21 month old phone. Sure it’s not as smooth as the Galaxy Nexus, but this definitely gives hope to all the other Android users out there without dual-core phones and looking forward to having Ice Cream Sandwich on their devices. Now, if only phone manufacturers would spend as much effort as the developer community when it comes to updates. Head over to XDA-developers if you’re keen on flashing this custom ROM to your HTC Desire.

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Tags: Android, Hacks, HTC, HTC Desire, Ice Cream Sandwich, ROMs, Smartphones, Video, xda-developers

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Video: Nokia Lumia 800 Dark Knight Rises Edition shown off in London, only 40 will be made

The next movie in the Batman series, The Dark Knight Rises, is set to be 2012′s ultimate summer blockbuster. When a movie of that caliber comes out, you know brands will do anything to associate themselves with something bound to receive such an ungodly amount of attention. One such brand is Nokia, who will take the Lumia 800 that they already sell, put it in a fancy box with the Batman logo on it, set the default wallpaper to a photo of Bane (the primary antagonist in the film), and best of all they’ll etch a little Batman logo into the back of the device. How many of these limited edition handsets will come out? Just 40. Where are they going to be available? Not sure. How much will they sell for? An arm and a leg. We’re waiting for some additional details from Nokia, but don’t expect this thing to show up at a store near you.

The bigger question on our minds is why isn’t stuff like this done more often and to an even greater degree? This Batman flavored Lumia 800 should have been custom 3D printed to look like one of Batman’s weapons. It should also have come preloaded with crazy custom ringtones. And it should have sold for double what a regular Lumia 800 sells for. Such a device would be picked up so fast that Nokia’s payment processing servers would melt. And why stop at Batman? There are plenty of other franchises to latch onto. All in the name of marketing, right?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWhR3fk2bK4

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Tags: Batman, Lumia 800, Nokia, Smartphones, The Dark Knight Rises, Video, Windows Phone

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Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz 4.0 on Galaxy S II spotted

Although we were already promised that the Samsung Galaxy S II would be receiving the Android Ice Cream Sandwich update at some point, we’re still in the dark as to when. Well, it looks like development on the latest version of Android is going along quite well and below is a video of Ice Cream Sandwich playing nice with TouchWiz 4.0.

It wouldn’t be smart to imagine that the likes of Samsung and others would allow the latest version of Android to shine through as much as we would like but TouchWiz does indeed cover up a lot of what we loved about the Ice Cream Sandwich aesthetic. The video shows off only a couple of new features within TouchWiz that would hint that the handset is running Android Ice Cream Sandwich but what we do see is rather nice.

The changes in TouchWiz, like  Android 4.0, begin at the lock screen. TouchWiz has always allowed the user to swipe anywhere on the screen and drag to unlock and it’s no different this time around. However, it looks like when a finger is placed onto the display on the lockscreen the Ice Cream Sandwich circle lock appears. It’s pretty subtle but we supposed it’s a nice touch.

Other tweaks are minimal, as the home screens look almost exactly like any other TouchWiz build you see today. The new method of multitasking in Ice Cream Sandwich is easily accessible by holding down the home button, just as you would on any other Android device. Face Unlock also made an appearance in the settings, though it wasn’t demoed.

If there weren’t so many sweet tweaks on the back-end of Ice Cream Sandwich, it would be a little disappointing to see TouchWiz covering up so much of the new, futuristic look and feel of the latest version of the OS. Luckily, when Android 4.0 peaks through, it looks great and hopefully there’s more Ice Cream Sandwich to be found.

Given that TouchWiz looks to cover up so much of Ice Cream Sandwich, it makes me wonder if you’ll even know you’re on Android 4.0 when HTC releases it with Sense.

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Tags: Android, Galaxy S II, Ice Cream Sandwich, Samsung, Smartphones, TouchWiz UI, Video

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