BlackBerry 10 screen resolution got standardized by RIM

RIM standardized the screen resolution for upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS running devices. The future smartphones running the OS will come in two resolutions: 1280 x 720 pixels for full touch devices, and 720 x 720 pixels for handsets with hardware QWERTY keyboards.
RIM took the abovementioned step after taking feedback from the BlackBerry developer community, whose members have complained about having to deal with a few screen resolutions too many in the past. The new standard set by RIM is bound to make their life easier moving forward.
With the BlackBerry developer alpha unit, as well as the upcoming first consumer handset sporting the slightly different (and uncommon) screen resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels, RIM has advised the people involved in creating applications to use two possible options. The first one involves utilizing the new OS resolution, while the second requires "letter boxing" the apps to 1280 x 720 pixels, thus leaving 24 pixels unused on each side of the display.

Huawei Ascend D Quad and D Quad XL to launch in late August

After suffering numerous delays, Huawei's mightiest droids, the Ascend D Quad and D Quad XL are finally going to get their official launch later this month.
The Huawei Ascend D Quad and D Quad XL are both powered by the company's very own 1.5GHz quad-core K3V2 chipset. The difference is that the D Quad XL packs a larger 2,600mAh battery and a thicker profile.
At the front of either smartphone you can find a 4.5-inch IPS HD display, which their back panels host 8MP BSI cameras. Internal storage stands at 8GB, but it's backed up by a microSD card slot.
It all sounds great on paper, but the delay might turn out to be disastrous for the two smartphones. As you might remember yesterday Xiaomi announced its quad-core beast of an Android smartphone, powered by the quad-core Krait chip inside.
The Huawei Ascend D Quad and D Quad XL will be debuting in China, with the rest of the world to follow shortly after. Unfortunately, the pricing of the two droids still remains a mystery.

 

Sony Xperia P Ice Cream Sandwich update rolling out now

The long awaited ICS update for the Xperia P has finally arrived. Besides the improved functionality brought by the latest Android build, Sony has added several of its own optimizations, including new media apps for your music and movies.
Some other highlights include:

• Extended standby mode, increasing standby time by up to four times (depending on user-profile and data consumption)
• Lock screen with improved functionality
• Resizable widgets for improved personalization
• Improved control of your mobile data consumption
• Recent Apps button for a clear overview of your applications

Xperia P users should be seeing notifications updates, although this may vary in certain regions, as the rollout is yet in progress. To get in on the ICS action you need to either go to 'check for updates' entry in your phones 'About' menu, or connecting it to the PC Companion software.

Sony Xperia S will get vanilla Android as a Google experiment

All the fans of Sony Xperia S have a darn good reason to smile today. Google has launched an experiment to bring plain vanilla Android to Sony's top shelf smartphone. Jean-Baptiste Query (JBQ), Google's Technical Lead of the Android Open Source Project delivered the good news.

The reason for selecting the Sony Xperia S was simple according to JBQ: "it's a powerful current GSM device, with an unlockable bootloader, from a manufacturer that has always been very friendly to AOSP." Sony of course will have to play a role in the project as well, but given the company's good record with AOSP involvement, we doubt it will be an issue.

Google's project will essentially bring the Sony Xperia S into the privileged fold of the Nexus family of devices - a mighty great perspective, which is bound to make the handset a lot more attractive.

Sony Xperia SL goes official with a 1.7GHz dual-core CPU

We just got the first official sighting of the Sony Xperia SL – the refreshed version of the company’s current smartphone flagship. It appears that someone over at Sony jumped the gun and published the official page of the smartphone two weeks before its expected announcement at the Sony pre-IFA press conference.
As expected, the Sony Xperia SL is based on the Sony Xperia S, but comes with a slightly faster CPU. The dual-core Qualcomm S3 chipset has its two Scorpion cores clocked at 1.7GHz, instead of 1.5GHz, but the rest of the specs sheet is identical to that of the Xperia S.


This means that the Sony Xperia SL is offering 32GB of non-expandable storage, an Adreno 220 GPU and 1 GB of RAM. At the front there’s a 4.3” Bravia-powered LCD screen of HD resolution and a 1.3MP camera for video-chatting, while at the back we find a 12 megapixel camera with 1080p video recording.

Sony Xperia SL official photos
Connectivity is duly covered with Wi-Fi, GPS Bluetooth, microUSB and microHDMI available to you as well as quad-band 3G with 14.4MBps support.
Measuring 128.0 x 64.0 x 10.6 mm and weighing 144 g, the Sony Xperia SL body is identical to that of its predecessor, but it will be offered in a new pink color in addition to the previously available white, black and grey.
As there’s no official press release just yet, we don’t know anything on the availability and pricing of the Sony Xperia SL. We should found out about that on August 29, when the smartphone will get its proper announcement.

iOS 6 supports taller displays, maybe even 9-pin connectors

The rumor mill is overflowing with talk of a bigger screen on the next iPhone, a screen with a wider aspect ratio. There's also a lot of chatter about a new connector, potentially with fewer pins. An important question was often overlooked though - does iOS actually support these things?
9to5Mac dug into the iOS Simulator and nudged the resolution to 640 x 1136, the rumored resolution of the iPhone 5 (which, if the screen is 4" as rumored, will keep the pixel density close to the current values and move to a 16:9 aspect ratio).
The Simulator for iOS 6 adjusted by display five rows of icons on the screen, instead of the usual four rows. This is a new feature too, as iOS 5.1 displays only four rows at the same resolution (it just adds blank bars).

It's even more telling that the iOS 6 Simulator doesn't handle other resolutions that well, adopting an iPad-like layout, instead of an iPhone one. This would suggest that the 640 x 1136 is treated specially - to accommodate the new iPhone perhaps? It's a shame they didn't try any apps to see how they handle the scaling.
Another interesting thing found while digging in the iOS 6 innards is a "9Pin". The reference is just a constant in a list of supported features, but it's easy to see how this might be about a 9-pin dock connector (instead of the current 30-pin connector). However, rumors usually point to a less drastic reduction in pin count - 19 pins.

 Of course, both of these things can mean something completely different, be part of a prototype that never leaves Apple's labs or even just a misdirect. The only way to know for sure is to wait for the official Apple announcement, which will supposedly take place on September 12.

New Xperia T hands-on photos emerge, show it from all angles

The Sony LT30i Mint, or the Xperia T, as its DLNA certification suggests, has once again escaped the Sony R&D center and posed in front of a camera.

The 35 new photos, courtesy of nixanbal.com, show the Xperia T from all angles and even demonstrates what the 4.3" droid looks like in hand. Here are the most interesting parts of the photo session.

The Xperia T is powered by a dual-core Snapdragon S4 (Krait) processor and features 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. At the back, it features a 13MP camera with LED flash and an NFC chip.
Sony will officially announce the Xperia T at a pre-IFA event on August 29, where it's expected to unveil a number of smartphones including the Xperia J, Xperia SL and the LT29i Hayabusa.

Samsung wanted its UI to look more like the iPhone's

Another piece of evidence against Samsung has leaked from the court documents that shows how Samsung took inspiration from the iPhone's UI and tried to make their look and work similarly.

This 132 page internal document from Samsung compares several different aspects of the iPhone's UI, from the UI animations to the placement of the buttons with those of the Samsung Galaxy S.
On each page you will find one feature from the iPhone's UI, a note on what's good about it and a similar feature on the Galaxy S with a note saying how it is worse compared to the same feature on the iPhone.
Below each of these you will find a suggestion to improve the said function on the Galaxy S, which in many cases equates to make it look and behave more like its iOS counterpart.

 You can find the entire 263 page PDF document (only 132 pages are in English) below.44

Sony Xperia neo L bets on ICS and a bigger screen

The Sony Xperia neo L is a blast from the past – it’s the second redesign of the 2011 neo model and brings some improvements as well as some setbacks. For one, it runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, even though some newer Sony devices are still waiting to get the update.

The other change is the bigger screen – it now spans to 4″ instead of the original 3.7″. The resolution is set at WVGA – a bit less than the FWVGA of the previous models. It loses a 54 pixel-wide bar and moves to a 15:9 aspect ratio instead of 16:9.
At 12.2mm the neo L is slightly thinner than previous models but also taller and wider to accommodate the larger screen. The weight has increased by just under 6g, to 131.5g.

The redesign has its downsides – it drops the microHDMI port and the hardware shutter key, two things that set the neo and neo V apart from most of their direct rivals. The Xperia neo L uses a 5MP camera capable of 720p video recording, just like the neo V, though the camera interface here is vanilla Android here, not the custom Sony camera app.
Here’s a hands-on video of the Sony Xperia neo L that shows off both its hardware and its software.

Bingoooo! Facebook finally launches real-money Bingo gambling app

‘Bingo Friendzy,’ developed by UK developer Gamesys, has been introduced by Facebook as the social network’s first real-money gambling application.

While the app uses a separate login system from Facebook – one which requires users to enter a physical address – game activity can be published directly on your Facebook timeline.
The app is registered overseas in Gibraltar, a British territory, and as such is only open to UK residents aged 18 and over.
This is not the first time Facebook has permitted gambling apps enter its platform, but it is the first time users are able to stake real money – Bingo Friendzy does not rely on Facebook’s Credits system.
So, will you be yelling “Bingo!” on Facebook?