Samsung Galaxy Pocket won’t cost you a packet

Pocket money Android

Samsung has announced that it’s expanding the Galaxy range with the affordable Samsung Galaxy Pocket. You’ll be able to buy it with pocket change and with diminutive dimensions it’ll slip easily into your pocket, handy for Pocket-lint.com on the move.

Now we’ve crudely made all the jokes about the name, let’s move on to the hardware. The Samsung Galaxy Pocket is a 2.8-inch Android smartphone, pitched at the affordable end of the market.

The hardware specs very much reflect this, with an 832MHz processor, a display resolution of 320 x 240 pixels and a 2-megapixel fixed focus camera on the back. The Pocket offers HSDPA of the 3.6Mbps variety, Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi. The handset measures 103.7 x 57.5 x 12mm and is just 97g.

User memory is a little on the light side at 3GB, but you can expand this with microSD card, up to 32GB supported, hurrah! The battery is a 1200mAh cell, but on a phone with these hardware specs, that will probably see you happily through the day.

The Galaxy Pocket runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but comes with Samsung’s TouchWiz skin over the top, along with all the usual Samsung trimmings. You’ll get access to services like ChatON, as well as much of what the Andorid Market has to offer.

“This new device adds further breadth to the choice of smartphones we currently offer and provides a smartphone experience for even more customers at an affordable price” said Simon Stanford, vice president, UK and IRE Telecommunications and Networks Division.

No word on the exact pricing or availability, it will be coming to the UK a some point in 2012.

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Tags: Android, Galaxy Pocket, Samsung, Smartphones

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Doro PhoneEasy 740 is an Android phone for the elderly

Admit it: at some point or the other, we have experienced frustration when trying to teach our parents how to use today’s technology, or for our older readers out there, you guys have probably seen how frustrated your kids get when trying to explain the use of a smartphone or tablet to you. Unfortunately not all of us are tech savvy, which is why Sweden-based company Doro has unveiled the PhoneEasy 740 Android smartphone aimed at the older generation.

According to Doro, this is an attempt by the company to help bridge the digital divide faced by seniors around the world. Despite the fact that it is running on Android, Doro has included an custom UI of their own called the Doro Experience which completely hides the fact that this is an Android handset, and instead of allowing access to the Android Market, Doro has decided include a specially tailored app store containing apps suitable for senior citizens. The phone will also feature a web-based management portal to allow the user and their family to manage the content and apps on the phone completely via cloud technology.

This will allow digital content to be pushed or removed from the device remotely, saving the elderly the trouble of having to figure everything out for themselves. The handset itself will be a slider phone with large buttons, a display that will display large text and icons (based on the photo above), a sports a customizable button on the back which when held down for a few seconds, will call and message 5 preset numbers in case of an emergency. The Doro PhoneEasy 740 is expected to be made available this Summer.

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Tags: Android, Doro, PhoneEasy 740, Smartphones

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HTC One S has a space-age body, acceptable specs

MWC 2012: Mid-range marvel

The HTC One S is now official after weeks of rumours and speculation about the new phone launching at Mobile World Congress.

“HTC S is a powerful smartphone in a super sexy form factor,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, at the press launch at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona.

The new model, which will sit in the middle of a range of new smartphones from HTC, will pack a 4.3-inch, 960 x 540 display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor from Qualcomm, with 1GB RAM. It will run HTC Sense 4 on top of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Other specs include 16GB of internal storage and a design that is crafted from a new manufacturing process, known as microarc oxidation. It will feature a 1650mAh battery alongside the usual connectivity offerings such as Wi-Fi, DLNA, Bluetooth 4.0 and a 3.5mm stereo audio jack with Beats Audio.

But the real excitement surrounding the new HTC One S phone is the camera. Focusing on a number of new technologies HTC has included an 8-megapixel autofocus camera with a backside illuminated sensor, smart LED flash, and an f/2.0 aperture 28mm lens.

A first for smartphones, HTC will also allow you to snap pictures while you record 1080p video, as well as make it much easier to capture a series of images in burst mode by holding down the shutter button on screen.

The new phone will come in two different manufacturing finishes and be available in April in the UK.

Orange, Three and Vodafone have confirmed to Pocket-lint that they will be stocking the new handset.

You can see more photos and first impressions in our HTC One S hands-on.

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Tags: Android, Dual-Core, HTC, Ice Cream Sandwich, MWC 2012, One S, Smartphones

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HTC One X: quad-core, 4.7-inch Android confirmed

MWC 2012: All the specs

HTC has now formally announced the launch of the HTC One X, its new flagship Android handset. HTC’s CEO Peter Chou said that the new phone will be “the one phone you will need, the one camera you will need”.

The HTC One X features a huge 4.7-inch, 1280 x 720 pixels, Super LCD display. This is set into the polycarbonate body that measures 134.36 x 69.9 x 8.9mm, making this a slim but large device.

Sitting at the core you have a 1.5GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset, 1GB RAM, 32GB of internal memory, but unfortunately no microSD card slot. HTC wants to take advantage of the 2-year 25GB Dropbox cloud storage for that.

In terms of cameras you get an 8-megapixel autofocus unit on the back, with a 28mm wide f/2.0 lens, with Peter Chou making a huge deal of the camera during the presentation of the new phone.

It features a backside illuminated sensor, so should offer respectable low-light performance. Naturally it gives you 1080p video capture. There is also a 1.3-megapixel forward-facing camera for all the video chatting you’ll be doing.

There is a 1800mAh battery, which isn’t user replaceable, and will probably be the most contentious point of the new high-end smartphone.

The HTC One X lands with HTC Sense 4 layered over the top of Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. This brings a range of tweaks and updates, with HTC looking for a more streamlined user experience, less inhibited by HTC Sense.

There are a range of highlights to the new Sense, including the new ImageSense camera interface that will let you capture simultaneous video and stills, and burst shooting.

You also get Beats Audio throughout the device and access to things like HTC Watch, the company’s movie service.

The HTC One X is expected to be available from April 2012.

UPDATE: Orange, Three and Vodafone have confirmed that they will be stocking the HTC One X.

You can see more pictures and first impressions in our HTC One X hands-on.

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Tags: 720p, 8 Megapixel Camera, Android, HD, HTC, Ice Cream Sandwich, Nvidia, One X, Quad-Core, Smartphones, Tegra 3

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Sony announces the Xperia P: Aluminum unibody, shipping Q2

Sony’s press event is in full swing, and the first to arrive is the Xperia P. The phone follows on from the styling we saw on the Xperia S; but it looks likely to be the middle child, with a similar Sony-themed skin atop what appears to be Gingerbread Android, still housing dual-core power under the hood. Previously known as the Nyphon, the Xperia P has a 4-inch “WhiteMagic” display encased in an aluminum unibody. This new screen technology is apparently geared toward outdoor viewing, with NFC, HDMI connectivity and an 8-megapixel camera with full HD video capability. It will also be gifted with its own incoming SmartDock, which is set to arrive alongside the phone. And that’s going to be pretty soon: the P model will ship mid-Q2, but pricing remains as dark as Sony’s live event stage.

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Tags: 8 Megapixel Camera, Android, HDMI, MWC 2012, NFC, Smartphones, Sony, Xperia P

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Panasonic’s new Eluga smartphone: pretty phone, ugly name

We knew it was coming to that broad area we like to call Europe sometime soon, and now Panasonic’s sharing the details on its Android-based return. Details about the 3.6 ounce (103 gram) device include that it’s packing a 4.3-inch qHD (960 x 540) screen that’s wrapped in a dust and water-proof shell. It’ll also be able to throw audio, video and web content to HDTVs of the same branding. Of course, a device like this deserves an equally enticing name, so you’ll be delighted to hear that the handset’s going to be called, oh, really? Eluga? Wow.

However, that’s not where the story ends, because we also received details about a phone that’s just arrived on Japan’s NTT DoCoMo. The Next Series P-04D is a “deep purple” (hush, now) handset that measures and weighs the same, has a 4.3-inch qHD OLED display, is running a 1.0GHz dual-core OMAP 4430 CPU and was also manufactured by Panasonic. We might not be so bold as to suggest both handsets are the same, but we might think about importing the P-04D just so we never have to say Elugaout loud.

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Tags: Android, Eluga, Europe, Panasonic, Smartphones

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Nokia axes 4,000 jobs, begins smartphone customization strategy

Nokia has announced a further round of  job losses, shifting more cellphone production to Asia and turning existing factories elsewhere to “smartphone product customization” to satisfy niche demand. Around 4,000 employees are expected to lose their jobs at Nokia’s Komarom, Hungary, Reynosa, Mexico and Salo, Finland facilities by the end of 2012, with the three factories moving to create boutique customized devices for the American and European markets.

As for regular production, device assembly will be moved to Nokia’s facilities in Asia. As the company points out “the majority of component suppliers” are based there, and a review of smartphone manufacturing efficiency the Finnish company completed last year suggested Nokia needed to streamline its production if it wanted to stay competitive with rivals.

Nokia announced its first batch of factory shut-downs back in September 2011, axing around 3,500 jobs from a Romanian facility. At the same time, the company also announced plans to shutter its Location & Commerce sites in Bonn, Germany and Malvern, US. CEO Stephen Elop described the move as “painful, yet necessary, steps to align our workforce and operations with our path forward”, later reiterating that more work would have to be done if the company wants to turn around its near-€1bn losses.

“With the planned changes, our factories at Komarom, Reynosa and Salo will continue to play an important role serving our smartphone customers” Niklas Savander, Nokia executive vice president of markets said. ”They give us a unique ability to both provide customization and be more responsive to customer needs.”

However, it’s unclear exactly what sort of customization Nokia has in mind. The company recently revealed a Batman: The Dark Knight Rises limited edition of the Lumia 800, with custom-etched graphics, and of course has a history of interchangeable covers with the Xpress-On casings of the 90s.

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Tags: Nokia, Smartphones, Windows Phone

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Samsung Galaxy S2 Ice Cream Sandwich ROM video

Samsung has promised that their hugely successful Galaxy S2 smartphone will be getting an official Ice Cream Sandwich ROM before the first quarter of the year is over, and with the leaked Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich ROM being spotted recently, the good people over at Pocketnow decided to give the ROM a go, and recorded a video of it in action. So far, initial impressions have proved to be nothing but bouquets instead of brickbats, where the platform refresh is said to be extremely stable, fast and smooth – in addition to improving the TouchWiz user interface. Some say that the battery life has been improved as well, and that is always a welcome addition for any device. Some benchmark figures that ran include AnTuTu, Quadrant, LinPack and SmartBench that clocked 6257, 4225, 46.992/78.05 and 2517, respectively. I guess this can only mean one thing – there is no real reason to ditch your Galaxy S2 just yet in pursuit of a newer and better phone, considering how with Ice Cream Sandwich on the Galaxy S2, it can still chug along quite nicely without batting and eyelid.

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

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Future Nokia Lumia smartphones could feature NFC and wireless charging

While Nokia’s new flagship Windows Phone, the Lumia 900, has yet to be released, it seems that there are talks of what we will be able to expect from future Nokia Lumia phones. This is thanks to Marko Antissari, Nokia’s head of design, who recently told the Guardian what Nokia is currently up to with their future Lumia handsets.

According to Marko, the Finnish handset manufacturer is currently working together with Microsoft to coordinate software details, such as tile colors, to match hardware accessories. It might seem rather trivial when you think about it, but accessories that match not just the color of the phone, but also the software could have huge implications as far as aesthetics are concerned. Marko may have also indicated that future Lumia phones may feature NFC capabilities along with possible wireless charging.

“If you can take away a moving part and make it [the phone] more beautiful in the placement of the components, we’ll do it, so that’s something where we can certainly keep improving,” Ahtisaari told the Guardian. “Take it to the extreme, and why are there any connectors?”

The use of NFC has been hinted by Microsoft in the past as a possibility they’re exploring, and which Nokia plans to use to pair accessories with the phone simply by tapping them together. On top of that, it seems that future Lumia phones will no longer have the flimsy flip-up plastic tab that covers the micro-USB port, which apparently is one of the gripes that some reviewers had with the Nokia Lumia 800 (check out our review here).

So what do you guys think? An NFC-capable, color coordinated, wireless charging Nokia Lumia Windows Phone device – does that sound like a phone you could see yourself purchasing in the future?

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Tags: Lumia 800, Lumia 900, NFC, Nokia, Smartphones, Windows Phone, Wireless Charging

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Nokia’s 1997 game Snake authentically recreated on Windows Phone

There aren’t many mobile phone games from the 1990s that are really worth taking a second look. In fact, the entire market of vintage cell phone games is sorely uninspiring, but there is one that has and always will stand out from its monochromatic brethren. If you had a Nokia phone back in the day, then you either played Snake or you should have.

Now, developer Willem Middelkoop has revived the archaically simplistic game on Windows Phone, as ably demonstrated by Pocket-lint in the video below. And no, it doesn’t just put a black-and-greenish screen on the display and let players have at it. This app effectively turns your Windows Phone into a mid-1990s Nokia handset, complete with buttons and all. The experience is meant to be as faithful as possible, giving players a limited play area and requiring them to push numerical buttons to move the snake.

It is perhaps a fitting tribute to the fact that Nokia now runs a third-party operating system, something that mobile enthusiasts just a few years ago would have said was a ludicrous idea. Of course, Nokia didn’t create Snake; it lived as an old-school computer game long before you could carry a phone outside your house. But the simplistic game made a perfect splash into the mobile gaming sector. Incidentally, Nokia tried to release a modern-day Snake on its N-Gage phone several years ago. Neither the game nor the phone was successful. But when it comes to retro goodness, you can’t lose.

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Tags: Apps, Gaming, Nokia, Smartphones, Snake '97, Video, Windows Phone

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