Mobile Phones News Blog

Mobile World Congress seems to be happening this week and not next, judging by the amount of ‘pre-announcements’ which have hit the newswires over the past few days. Now it’s LG’s turn with an entire new series of phones, named the L-Style Optimus L3, L5 and L7.

LG has had fun littering its official Facebook pages with references to the new L-Style range recently, mainly by capitalising the ‘L’ in various words, and now we’ve finally got to see what the fuss is all about.

Although the phones will make their official debut at Mobile World Congress, along with the complete spec sheets, LG has provided a few details on the new devices through a press release.

The L3 is the baby of the bunch with a 3.2-inch touchscreen and a 1500mAh battery, plus Android Gingerbread.  The L5 and L7 though, will both come with Android 4.0 pre-installed, bringing the pair bang up to date.

The L5 will have a 4-inch screen, while the L7 gets a 4.3-inch display, and all three models have what LG calls ‘floating mass technology’, which means the screen is mounted much closer to the glass to give the impression that the display is ‘floating’ on its surface.  Each phone is also more square than traditional Android smartphones, a design which LG has continued with the Optimus Vu tablet/smartphone hybrid.

Each phone has a leather back cover and a metal chassis too, so they should feel great in your hand.

Here in Europe we’ll be getting the L3 in March, and the L5 and L7 will follow sometime between then and the summer.  LG’s 2012 line-up is looking very interesting so far and we’re keen to see what else the company has in-store for us over the coming week.

Official press shots have surfaced online which showcase the forthcoming Ascend D1 Q from Huawei.

The images come via GSMArena and reveal what looks to be a high-end smartphone with a sleek form factor and attention to detail in component design. The display appears to be 4.3-inches or larger and the red on black design is reminiscent of the HTC Sensation XE, although the shape of the device points more towards the iPhone 4/Samsung Galaxy school of design.

The Ascend D1 Q is anticipated to be the first device of Huawei’s flagship Diamond range of handsets. Running Android 4.0 out of the box and widely expected to be powered by the  Nvidia-produced quad-core Tegra 3 processor, the unit is set to propel the Chinese manufacturer into the very top-end of the smartphone market.

It is being speculated that Huawei are looking to launch at least two Diamond handsets at MWC next week, however, only details of the Ascend D1 Q have surfaced so far. Additionally, a 10-inch version of the MediaPad is anticipated alongside hardware and software upgrades to match the device’s larger display.

Panasonic made its intention to re-enter the European smartphone market clear around November last year, then sent out a preview image of its first new phone in December. At the time it didn’t have a name, but now, almost on the eve of Mobile World Congress, Panasonic has released more pictures and all the new specs.

It’s named the Eluga, which apparently stands for ‘Elegant User Gateway,’ and is Panasonic’s first European phone since 2006. It’s a good-looking device too, with a 7.8mm thick chassis which weighs just 103 grams. That’s slimmer and lighter than a Samsung Galaxy S II.

It’s blessed with a 4.3-inch touchscreen and a qHD resolution of 960 x 540, plus it’s powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor from Texas Instruments. There’s 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot to boost this figure.

On the rear of the device sits an 8 megapixel auto-focus camera, which also records video, however Panasonic hasn’t stated at which resolution. The Eluga is also waterproof to IP57 standards and other features include NFC connectivity, Bluetooth 2.1, DLNA and GPS.

The Eluga will initially use Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread as its OS, but Panasonic promise an update to Ice Cream Sandwich will be coming in the spring. According to The Telegraph, the Eluga will be priced at around £400 when it goes on sale in April, and that the company will continue to produce high-end devices in the future.

Expect more information on the Eluga next week.

In a pre-Mobile World Congress announcement, ZTE has unveiled two new Android phones, both of which will run the very latest version of the software.

Essentially beating almost every other manufacturer out the gate, these two new phones are confirmed to run Android 4.0, rather than 2.3 Gingerbread with the promise of an update in the near future, as has been the fashion recently.

So far, Ice Cream Sandwich is available for a few phones such as the Galaxy Nexus, plus several tablets including the newly announced Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.

Of the two devices, it’s the PF200 that’s the most interesting to us here in the UK. Equipped with a 4-inch touchscreen with a qHD resolution, that’s 960 x 540 pixels, a 1.2GHz processor and an 8 megapixel camera, it’s up there with the current top-of-the-range devices from Samsung and HTC.

Other features include DLNA certification, NFC connectivity, Wi-Fi, GPS, a video call camera and in selected markets, 4G LTE support.

While this will inevitably change during Mobile World Congress, ZTE is known for its competitive pricing, meaning the PF200 could turn out to be the bargain of the year when it goes on sale.

The second phone from ZTE is the N910, but it’s going to be a CDMA-only device, so won’t be coming to the UK in this form. It has a 1.5GHz processor, a 4.3-inch screen with a 480 x 800 pixel resolution and a 5 megapixel camera.

Last week, ZTE announced it would be launching its Light Tab 2 tablet in the UK under its own name, so there’s a strong chance the PF200 could also appear this way too. We’ll find out more at Mobile World Congress.

Manners aren’t all that stand between man and beast, but only because without them, we’d be far worse than beasts. Without the restraining forces of civility humans do things which would leave sharks saying “Jeez, guys, that’s really messed up” before going back to eating surfers and practicing the cello. The larger the group, the more vital etiquette becomes, and phones have connected the entire world. Which is why we must deal harshly with those who’d use this network to broadcast “I think I’m more important than all of you and am too stupid to be alive.”

1. Orchestrated Response

When a lone nobody uses gadgets to take on the mastermind controlling a team of highly-trained elites, he’s usually the good guy. That’s because movies are fictional. One idiot single-handedly undid all Apple’s advertising, as the unmistakable Marimba sound repeatedly interrupted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and proved that iPhones weren’t only owned by safely cool people who appeal to all demographics. At least one is owned by a fool.

Because his phone didn’t go off once, or twice, but repeatedly at precise intervals, proving that the owner didn’t just know it was ringing but was hitting “Snooze” on his “become the most hated person in the room” alarm. The final showdown came when it rang during the final sequence of a 25 minute arrangement capping a 90 minute performance, when the conductor suddenly silenced the orchestra and turned to face the owner. The person in question was sitting in the front rows of the production, proving that this wasn’t just carelessness – this person had spent a great deal of money on a ticket just to ruin an even greater number of tickets.

In the sudden silence, a concept the phone-owner was clearly unfamiliar with, conductor Alan Gilbert stared down at the offender, silently cursing how modern law didn’t allow even the conductor of the most famous orchestra in the Western world to kill just one person in these circumstances. Instead he stared. And stared. For minutes he stared, as the crowd starting calling out to fine the fool a thousand dollars before ejecting him from the hall.

He asked if the man was finished. The man, suddenly discovering the ability to be quiet, didn’t respond.

“Fine. We’ll wait.”

And they did.

“Did you turn it off?”

Nod.

“It won’t go off again?”

Shake.

At which point Mr Gilbert apologised to the audience and restarted the movement, having both humiliated the perpetrator and conclusively proved that it’s not possible to set people on fire with your mind even when you focus an entire audience’s worth of hatred on one incredibly deserving target.

2. Direct Action

One man took the most direct route to preventing an idiot from talking on their phone, by choking him. Unfortunately the simplest plan usually has a few problems when you look at the wider situation, which in this case included “police officers” and “assault.” Un-unfortunately, it seems that the world is better off with both parties removed from the equation: the movie was “Tower Heist”, so anything up to and including a spontaneous combustion among the audience wouldn’t have lowered the average IQ.

There’s also the fact that the offender’s phone had already gone off once during the movie, and yes, we’ll still call the target of a throttling the “offender” when they’re the person whose phone rings in the cinema. At least strangulation only bothers one person. Likewise, the vigilante wasn’t a hero who silently assassinated those unworthy of sharing the air with other entertainment-seekers, but a lunatic who yelled at him to turn off the phone – very slightly missing the point of the whole exercise.

3. Counter-Intelligence

Disrupting perfomances and attempted murder are incredibly satisfying solutions, and both far better than letting the idiots go about their damaging lives uninterrupted, but Lukáš Kmit’ has just become the god of brilliantly restrained response by countering an idiot disrupting his performance – by innovating and extending his performance. When the unmistakable Nokia ringtone wracked the ears of those listening to his solo viola performance (in a religious setting), his first reaction was clearly rage. You can see it on his face: he’s holding back the urge to righteous vengeance, but like some sort of anti-Hulk his anger only made him smarter.

He medleyed on the mobile phone tune to cap his performance with proof that “Yes, I am a far better human being than the idiot in the audience. But everyone except them already knew that.”

A leaked image of what is purported to be the new LG Optimus 3D 2 has surfaced online alongside sketchy spec details.

The discovery was made by GSMArena, who published the shots showing what looks to be a dramatic evolution of the acclaimed LG Optimus 3D. The upcoming device is said to feature a higher resolution IPS 3D display and sport a slim 9.8mm, 20 gram chassis.

Critics of the original Optimus 3D cited the device’s bloated form factor as a major downfall, and so these refinements seem to point in a positive direction in terms of design.

Further speculation has suggested that the 3D device will have a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 5 megapixel camera, 8GB of internal storage, as well as support for Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth and DLNA. Gingerbread is expected out of the box with an upgrade to ICS coming at some point in the near future.

LG have remained tight-lipped on launch details but we would not be overly surprised to see the Optimus 3D 2 make an appearance at MWC in just under two weeks time. As always, we’ll endeavour to bring you news as it happens.

Launched in November last year, the Samsung Galaxy Note has caused quite a splash, being both lauded and vilified by critics. The device boasts a massive 5.3-inch touchscreen with a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, Google Android Gingerbread, and a 1.4GHz dual-core processor, plus the unusual S-Pen stylus for note-taking, annotations and all sorts of other pen-based activities.

Having sold more than a million worldwide, and a million in its home country of South Korea, Samsung is rightly proud of its giant creation; and it appears it’s not going to be a standalone device for much longer either.

Spotted on an invitation to a Samsung Developer event at MWC is a reference to the Galaxy Note 10.1, a name which shares similarities with the Tab 10.1, where the figures refer to the screen size. So is it a typo? Sources say no, digging out a casting call for a TV ad that would feature a teen student using a Galaxy Note 10.1 as further proof.

Samsung loves making as many iterations of a single device as possible, so it’s not that surprising it would take the Note’s special feature – the S-Pen – and add it to a much larger device. If this is the case, the new tablet would also need the special software applications suited to the S-Pen installed too.

With the potential for a screen as big as 10-inches, we doubt this Note will be another smartphone/tablet hybrid, and will instead be closer to Samsung’s Tab range than the Galaxy smartphones.  t’s also possible we’ll see versions in other sizes too.

Despite not holding a press conference during Mobile World Congress, Samsung has promised some new devices, of which the Note 10.1 could be one. We’ll find out as soon as 27 February comes around.

Earlier this week, it was rumoured the HTC device with the codename Edge had been renamed as the Endeavor. Now though, that the name is said to have been changed again. Instead of another codename, the Edge/Endeavor has been given its true public identity, and it’ll be known as the One X.

The ‘X’ in the title will be written in superscript, just like the ’2′ is when indicating a number is squared. Mobile phone fans with extremely long memories will recall that Samsung also used superscript text when they named the Soul b all the way back in 2008.

It appears HTC will be, rather confusingly, using the ‘One’ name throughout its range, as the HTC Ville has been connected with the release name of the HTC One S. Is that two ones then? Or is one of the Ones a two? Perhaps these will be the only two Ones HTC will make, unless they take a similar route to Samsung and call others the One M, One B and so on.

The One X will be the one you want the most though, as it’s all set to be one of the first quad-core smartphones released, and there’s every chance we’ll see it at Mobile World Congress.

So, could this all mean HTC has put its famous thesaurus back on the shelf? That there won’t be an HTC Awesome or an HTC Blindingly Good? We’ll find out soon.

As there are likely to be a fair few who’re sitting back saying ‘the call of who?’ at this point,  so standby for some background information. Cthulhu is the invention of H.P. Lovecraft, and was featured in many of the great horror writer’s works, often pictured as a giant, octopus-like creature, and described as a dormant deity feeding on mankind’s anxiety and fear.

The Cthulhu mythos is quite well-known, thanks in part to a series of Internet memes, but it’s probably through the pen-and-paper role-playing game Call of Cthulhu that most will have been introduced to the terrible, tentacled beast.

The role-playing game primarily focused on regular people becoming drawn into increasingly terrifying situations, then slowly being driven mad by cults, horrific beasts and the awful knowledge that nothing could stop Cthulhu’s plans.

Published by Chaosium, it was announced last year that they were working with a game developer named Red Wasp, and would be bringing out an iOS and Android game based around Cthulhu in the New Year.

After a brief false-start, where the game suffered from a few bugs after being released in the App Store, we have a complete and working version of Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land for the iPhone and iPad. Here’s what it’s all about.

Set in World War I, the game follows a team of soldiers and an American professor who are investigating some odd goings-on in the trenches, and the strange involvement of a group known as the Cult of the Awakened. Of course, things start to take a turn for the weird quite soon, and it becomes clear that Cthulhu and his minions are preparing to take over the world.

What’s refreshing about The Wasted Land is the decision to not sour the brand by making the game some mindless shoot ‘em up, but instead to stick to its origins and go for a decidedly old-school turn-based RPG. You’re in command of several characters at once, and can order them to move around, fight and interact, all of which are dictated by the amount of action points available.

See, we said it was old-school! Depending on what you’re trying to do, you can complete several actions in a turn, or just one if it’s complicated – like firing a gun or walking a long distance. Each character has their own set of stats, all of which can be enhanced at the end of each level, plus new equipment and weapons purchased.

The action is presented in a 3D/top-down style, much like isometric adventure games, and the graphics are really excellent. The characters all look great, and despite not being able to see faces, it’s never a problem to tell them apart. The landscapes you’re fighting through are also spot-on, with carefully chosen colour schemes which avoid any potential problems of obscuring enemies.

Needless to say, once you get to the more nightmarish stages, everything looks suitably Lovecraftian too. Red Wasp has also done a great job with the audio, with standout pieces being the opening, distorted version of It’s a Long Way to Tipperary (that would be right at home in Silent Hill or as part of a David Lynch dream sequence) and the ever-present background sounds of battle, which are familiar, but still oddly ‘off.’

Whether you’re new to turn-based RPGs or not, you’ll want to go through the beginner training stage before launching into the game itself, as the majority of the controls are explained here. Elsewhere, you’ll find helpful, if clunky, on-screen guides which usually require a couple of read-throughs before being understood. In fact, the game itself will need a couple of plays before you’re completely familiar with not only the control system, but also the strategies that work best against the enemy.

Combat is an important part of the game, and there are some interesting strategic elements to explore, including the best use of environmental cover (such as man-made trenches and craters left by shell fire) and making best use of gunfire, hand-to-hand combat, precious medical units and the ability to run away from your foes. It takes some getting used to, but once you’re in the swing of it, it’s a very player-friendly system.

Two other things standout about The Wasted Land. FirstLY, it’s a difficult game, and every level really needs planning out before attempting. Adopting an ‘all guns blazing’ approach before your characters are ready will result in a quick death every time. (Plus, with certain characters essential to the game, you’ll need to think about how to protect them when the going gets tentacle-y.)

Once you’ve got over the difficulty – and it’s a constant right from the start – the next thing to strike you is how much time you’ll need to invest. There are nine levels in all, and even the early stages take a good 45 minutes to play through, and that’s without dying and starting again.

If you’re after a quick game to waste five minutes, the The Wasted Land will make you late for every appointment you have until it has been completed. It’s addictive and a lot of fun to play, plus as you really need to think about your objective and how to achieve it, it’s hugely satisfying too.

It’s not faultless though, as the control system is temperamental – walking instead of shooting, selecting instead of aiming – and on the iPhone, several of the buttons are absolutely tiny, so the sausage-fingered could find it frustrating.

Red Wasp were quick to iron out the bugs the first time around, and The Wasted Land has been revealed to be an engrossing, thoughtful, challenging and very good-looking RPG game. If they continue to refine the controls, and perhaps add other missions in the future, it’s all set to be a classic of its genre.

Images supposedly revealing the UI for the next generation BlackBerry 10 operating system have been acquired by CrackBerry, and show a drastically changed interface for the RIM platform.

The screenshots, which showcase the platform on a current Torch 9860 device, reveal a major change in style for the UI, with widgets and ideas seemingly taking cues from the Canadian manufacturer’s PlayBook tablet.

One image shows a homescreen containing large widgets similar in style to the Windows Phone live tile system and a much cleaner interface overall than previously seen from a BlackBerry OS.

Another screenshot dipicts a menu screen with updated app icons and a sleek layout not dissimilar to that of iOS. Further images show a minimalist universal mailbox and sleek contact screens.

The pictures show the platform operating on an all-touch handset but we would expect to see something very similar rolled-out to RIM’s QWERTY devices when the platform eventually launches.

Further details are extremely thin on the ground at present, but it’s expected that the OS will make an appearance at some point in the next few months, with some sources suggesting a possible launch at MWC.