Alleged fith-gen Apple iPad front panel surfaces

A photo of what looks to be the front panel of the upcoming fifth-gen Apple iPad has surfaced today, giving us a hint of what the upcoming slate might look like.

Judging from the photo, the new iPad will sport many of the design characteristics of the iPad Mini, but on a larger scale. The edges aren’t as round as the current-gen iPad, and the side bezel is much narrower, too. The usual Home button appears to be intact as well.

As always, this information should be taken with a pinch of salt, but the guys over at nowhereelse.fr, who obtained the photo in question, have a history of accurate leaks.

Additionally, the photo of the alleged iPad 5 front panel suggests that the production of the slate has commenced. If everything goes as planned for Apple, we should see the iPad 5 ready for prime time some time this autumn.

Source (French) | Via

Samsung describes what each of the nine sensors on the Galaxy S4 does

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of the most feature-rich smartphones around, and it duly packs a wide array of sensors. Samsung published an image that explains what each sensor does and what feature uses it.

There are the standard sensors that have been around since smartphones first appeared, like an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer and proximity sensor. But then there are unusual sensors like a humidity sensor (used by S Health to calculate “comfort level”), and others.

Here’s the image in question:

The barometer is used for quicker GPS locks, but it can also accurately calculate how many calories you’ve burned if you’re going up a hill. The gesture sensor is separate from the proximity sensor and is, of course, used for Air Gestures.

You can also read the full press release for more details on the individual sensors. For example, there are interesting tidbits like a special Micro Controller Unit (MCU) that only wakes up the powerful CPU if it’s needed. The MCU can control the sensors itself, so Samsung says the Galaxy S4 is very battery efficient despite having so many sensors.

Source | Via

Images of Micromax A115 Canvas 3D surface online

The Micromax A110 Canvas 2 and the Micromax A116 Canvas HD enjoyed quite good reception and it looks like the Indian firm is all set to introduce the 3D version of its phablet. The images of Micromax A115 Canvas 3D have surfaced online.

The 3D version of the popular phablet is said to come out with a 5" WVGA display and the device will be powered by a 1 GHz Dual-core MediaTek MT6577 processor. Furthermore, the Micromax A115 Canvas 3D is rumored to feature a 8-megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front camera, 1 GB RAM, 4 GB of internal memory, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and 3D imaging with playback.

  
Leaked images of Micromax A115 Canvas 3D

Micromax is allegedly working on the successor of its A116 Canvas HD phablet and the upcoming device is said to be named as A120 Canvas 3. The third generation Canvas is rumored to feature a 5" Super AMOLED display and is expected to be powered by a Quad-core processor. Micromax A120 Canvas 3 will also feature a 13-megapixel rear camera and the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean OS.

Unfortunately, there is no official confirmation on the release date and the pricing of either upcoming device.

Source | Via

Samsung Galaxy Mega specs confirmed, 5.8-inch display in tow

Samsung is all set to introduce a new series of "Galaxy Mega" smartphones and the detailed specifications of the first of those have surfaced online.

According to a report from SamMobile, the Galaxy Mega 5.8, which is codenamed as GT-I9152 will be a Dual-SIM phablet. The Galaxy Mega will sport a 5.8" qHD display with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels and will measure 164 x 83.8 x 9.7mm. The device will feature a 1.4 GHz Dual-core processor with 1.5 GB of RAM, 8 megapixel rear camera and a 2 megapixel front shooter.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 will come with the latest connectivity options, which include Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 80211 a/b/g/n and GPS support. The upcoming phablet will be powered by Android 4.1.2 or 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and as usual Samsung will be preinstalling its own Nature UX on top of that. The juice for the phablet is coming from a 2,600mAh battery.

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Unaudited Q1 results from HTC show 98% decline in net profit

HTC included some preliminary Q1 results in its monthly financial report and the numbers aren’t looking good. After a poor performance in the second half of last year, HTC was hoping the One will help it bounce back up, but difficulties in manufacturing meant that the company had to push back the launch. Only three countries saw the One launch on time.

The net income for HTC in the first quarter was just $2.8 million, a painful 98% drop compared to the year ago quarter. Still, any profit is better than a loss, so it's not all bad. Revenue for Q1 2013 was $1.4 billion, down 37% over the year ago quarter (which saw $470 million in net income).

An analyst from Taipei-based Daiwa Securities says "HTC One’s production shortage means lost sales in the first quarter will be lost forever, not just delayed," but thinks the One will still launch early enough ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S4 launch to give HTC a "good chance" of posting good second quarter results after six consecutive quarters of declining results.

There’s also the Facebook phone – the HTC First – which targets the social network's 1+ billion people with a Facebook-made launcher called Home.

Anyway, these are the early unaudited results. We can expect to see the detailed report later on.

Source (PDF) | Via

Samsung announces global availability for the Galaxy Win

The Samsung Galaxy Win was announced last week as a China exclusive, but today the company announced it's going to be making the mid-ranger available globally.

The smartphone runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, packs a 4.7” TFT screen of WVGA resolution (199ppi pixel density). It has a 5MP camera that shoots D1 video, a 0.3MP front-facing camera and a microSD card slot. The battery has 2,000mAh capacity.

Available in two color variants - Ceramic White and Titan Gray - the Galaxy Win will be hitting multiple markets in single-SIM and dual-SIM versions. Pricing and availability, however, are still undisclosed by Samsung.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 with Exynos 5 processor gets rooted ahead of its global launch

Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone is yet to go sale and the developers at XDA forums have already managed to gain root access on the smartphone. The tech enthusiasts have found a way to root theGalaxy S4, which runs on the Exynos 5 octa-core processor, while the root for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset version is yet to come.

Samsung Galaxy S4 can be rooted with a ROM, which is packed with ROOT&Busybox image. You can flash that using Odin and gain root access on your smartphone in just a few minutes.

Unfortunately, most of the devices in the first Galaxy S4 batch is said to come out with the Qualcomm powered Snapdragon 600 processors. However, we expect the developers to come up with the methods to root the Snapdragon version of the smartphone in the coming days.

Keep in mind that rooting or flashing any custom ROMs on your smartphone involves some risk and would void your warranty. So, please continue with the instructions from the source link below only if you are sure about what you are doing.

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