Category / Smartphones

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Blue Samsung Galaxy S4 arrives in Japan, looking pretty blue

Blue Arctic Samsung Galaxy S4

The Galaxy S4 is a phone from Samsung. Blue is a colour. If you combine the two, then you get a blue Samsung Galaxy S4, and that’s just what Japanese consumers will be able to snag today. NTT DoCoMo, also known as the network that gets all the cool things that Europe never sees, including Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z, is going to be the first network in the world to market this variant, named Blue Arctic, while the rest of the world is forced to stick with the Black Mist and White Frost models, although this probably won’t remain the case for long. Like the others and the Galaxy S III before it, however, the blue model is insanely reflective thanks to Samsung’s Hyperglaze coating that acts more as a fingerprint magnet and magpie attractor than anything else. There’s no sign of some of Samsung’s Galaxy S III colours such as Titanium Grey, Amber Brown and Garnet Red coming to the latest phone yet, but keep your eyes peeled and you may well see those – and a special Google edition with stock Android – in the not too distant future.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11O-zaWXzoc]

Via Android Beat

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Nokia’s Lumia 925 is a book with a new cover and nothing more

You probably know what the Nokia Lumia 920 is. Last year you voted it your favourite smartphone and we also gave it our design award, so it’s fair to say that it went down pretty well. Aside from the complaints about its weight (which I thought were ridiculous, frankly), the only issue that people really had was with Windows Phone and its ecosystem or lack thereof. At an event in London today, Nokia unveiled the latest addition to the range of Windows Phone 8-powered Lumias, with the 925 joining the 520, 521, 620, 720, 810, 820, 822, 920 and 928 as the new flagship for everything that’s not Verizon, but what has changed? Apart from the shell, absolutely nothing.

And I’m mad.

Continue reading →

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Reliance Digital’s dreadful Gangnam Style parody sets a new low for even Galaxy S4 marketing

It’s very fair to say that the official launch event for Samsung’s Galaxy S4 didn’t go down that well with, well, anyone remotely sane. We spoke about all the crap surrounding the phone’s unveiling (and the phone itself) in a special episode of the podcast, but it seems that Reliance Digital, a leading Indian tech retailer, has managed to do things even more horribly at a star-studded launch event. Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh was dragged onto stage and, over 7 months after it blew up and at a point where even PSY has moved on, performed a parody of Gangnam Style that was all about, you guessed it, the Galaxy S4. I would pick out a few of the most dreadful lyrics, but I feel it my duty to present you the whole ordeal in its entirety without any spoilers.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJs7N3aM75Y]

Horrible, wasn’t it?

Source Films of India (YouTube)
Via The Verge

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Facebook Home launch liveblog: live now!

Facebook Android Event Invite

As usual with tech events, we already know what we’re going to see today as Facebook unveils its new ‘home on Android’. Facebook Home is set to be an Android launcher with, as you’d expect, a ton of Facebook, and the HTC First, a mid-range Android 4.1 device in a range of colours, is set to bring the launcher to consumers as the closest we’ll get to a legitimate ‘Facebook phone’. Mark Zuckerberg may have some surprises, though, so join our liveblog below to get the latest news as it happens.

Click here for the liveblog – live!

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by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Facebook Home and HTC First prematurely revealed ahead of April 4th launch event

Facebook Home HTC First Colours

@evleaks has a near-perfect record for when it comes to unveiling devices before their manufacturers, having seen devices from Nokia, Huawei, HTC and others pass through its Twitter feed before anywhere else. Today, the leakmeister has turned to 9to5Google to unveil screenshots of Facebook Home, the Android launcher that the company is set to unveil tomorrow alongside a mid-range device called the HTC First. Formerly known as the Myst, the device will feature a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 CPU and a 720p display straight from last year’s flagships, but the big story is, as rumoured, Facebook Home. The launcher is expected to be available for all Android devices and, as shown in the screenshots in the gallery below, it still provides access to Google Play’s app library and deeper integration with Facebook’s services, including Messenger and Instagram. Not much left remains to be seen, but we will be liveblogging the event at Facebook’s HQ tomorrow evening as it plots to quietly take over the Android ecosystem.

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Source 9to5Google

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Facebook teases Android-powered HTC phone launch for April 4th

Facebook Android Event Invite

For years, rumours of a full-on Facebook phone, like a more intense HTC ChaCha/Status or Salsa, have been rife, and the ever-reliable @evleaks told us that a new HTC phone with even more Facebook integration would be on its way to us in spring with mid-range specs. Now, the social behemoth has released an invite for next Thursday inviting press to see its ‘new home on Android’, and TechCrunch sources confirm that this means the Myst #UL is coming with a forked build of Android 4.1, plastered with Facebook. We’ll be liveblogging the event – Facebook’s third of the year at its Menlo Park, CA headquarters – and bringing you all the latest news as it happens, so stay tuned.

Via TechCrunch

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Don’t trust any Samsung Galaxy S4 pre-order news as none of it is (yet) true

Over the past couple of days, I’ve seen numerous sites pick up on the story spread by a Carphone Warehouse press release that interest for Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 is so high that pre-registrations for it are 446% higher than with last year’s Galaxy S III. Many blogs, most notably VentureBeat and Pocket-lint, have sprung upon the opportunity to say that this is a sign that Apple is dying and Samsung is king and all that regurgitated nonsense, but they fail to point out any facts in these articles. The big one that is being ignored is that you can’t even pre-order the phone yet at Carphone Warehouse. The press release in question, published below, refers to pre-registrations, not pre-orders. With Samsung yet to confirm pricing for the phone, no retailer worth their bacon should be letting consumers order it yet, with Carphone Warehouse cleverly taking £29 deposits from interested parties or, for those less inclined to splash their cash, and crucially what they are most likely referring to when they give this figure of interest, email updates. Even if they were referring to deposits, these figures should be taken with a pinch of salt, and you should not trust any figures you see regarding the popularity and sales of the S4 until Samsung themselves give solid evidence.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Carphone Warehouse

Press Release

Graham Stapleton comments on the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4

Graham Stapleton, Chief Operating Officer at Carphone Warehouse, says, “The Samsung Galaxy S4 is huge news for anyone who already uses or is interested in getting a smartphone.

“Samsung has the timing spot-on with a late April launch, 4G coming to more UK networks this summer means that interest in new devices will be building considerably. We’re anticipating a massive amount of customer interest in this handset and are expecting our stores to be busier than at the height of the Christmas period. We are planning to extend opening hours at our larger sites to cope with the increased demand.

“The record breaking launch of the Galaxy SIII last year was always going to be a tough one to beat, but Samsung have pulled out all the stops with a dazzling new device that’s sure to inspire many people to make the switch to Android from other operating systems.”

The Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available from Carphone Warehouse on all major networks from 25th April. To register your interest, visit http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/new-samsung-galaxy-phone.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Google Play Store v4.0 for Android leaks, bringing italicised text to Holo

Google Play 4.0

Kellex over at Droid-Life has obtained what is purported to be build 4.0.16 of the Google Play Store for Android, and this gives us our best hint yet of how Matias Duarte and company are planning to take Android’s design with the expected release of Android 5.0, codenamed Key Lime Pie, at Google I/O. In the 6 minute video below, Kellex shows off the functional parts of the new store (with many pages such as the home page not yet working with the new design) but what is evident is that the new version of the Holo design language is set to be a lot lighter and colourful than the black and blue introduced with Ice Cream Sandwich in October 2011, with italicised Roboto Light being used in headings for the first time. Contrary to Google Keep, a note-taking service that the company officially launched today with an overdose of yellow, responses to the new look seem overwhelmingly positive, and we will wait with baited breath to see what further UI overhauls Google may announce for Android, now under the reigns of Chrome and Apps head Sundar Pichai, at I/O in May.

Source Droid-Life

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

At last, the BlackBerry Band is back to celebrate BlackBerry 10’s release

BlackBerry Band

Remember the band of BlackBerry executives who made a song to woo devs onto the BlackBerry 10 platform? Well, they’re back.

Source BlackBerry
Via AllThingsD

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Digixav Podcast 003 – March 15th 2013: Samsung Galaxy S4 special edition!

Samsung Galaxy S 4 HTC One

After the literal madness that was Samsung’s press event to unveil it, Rowan, Henry and I sat down and began to talk about the new Galaxy S 4 that should be winging its way to British shores in April. As things progressed, we didn’t really talk about anything else, so prepare for a nightmare thrillride through everything that Samsung had to show us, from lack of S Pebble to cornucopia of processing cores and how HTC may have emerged the biggest winners of Samsung’s hypocritical evening.

If you have any feedback, questions or comments, tweet us or send us an email to podcast@digixav.com. We’d love to hear what you think!

Right click and save this link to download

Image Credit CNET