Tune.PK, a Pakistani Video Sharing Website, Crosses 40 Million Playbacks per Month

Tune.Pk, a rising video sharing website originating from Pakistan, serves over 40 million playbacks per month.
Launched a couple of years ago by a passionate team of developers from Sialkot, Pakistan, headed by Arsalan Hasan, Tune.PK now serves over 14 million users per month with the whooping number of over 40+ million playbacks a month with an average daily playback of 20 years.
Currently there are over 100,000 videos hosted on the website, and this number is growing tremendously especially when there is no YouTube in the country.
Interestingly, more than 50 percent of viewers on Tune.PK are from abroad with more than 10 percent of total audience originating from USA, another 8 percent from UK with a major chunk from Gulf countries. Audience from Pakistan on Tune.PK comprises almost 48 percent of the total traffic that the website gathers.
Danish Mughal, the Marketing Manager of Tune.PK, said that website is hosted on over two dozen servers in Europe, and their team is currently in talks with PTCL for caching the streams that will enhance the quality for viewers and will save several thousands dollars for PTCL that it pays under the head of internet bandwidth.
Tune.PK currently offers 720P video quality, which they are planning to enhance to 1080p in near future.
Tune.Pk has proved that an indigenous solution can be a replacement for internet giants and we can rely on our local resources to retain the monetary advantage to ourselves. Not only this, we can probably scale up these solutions to serve the global audience.

Facebook Home Introduced for Android Phones

Facebook today showed off its new OS overlay for Android phones, which it is calling Facebook Home.
Facebook Home – that company says is not an OS but is more than just a app – will replace conventional Facebook app on Android phones. With Facebook Home, users will be able to experience better Facebook with full-screen photos, status updates, and notifications.
Facebook Home, once loaded on phone, will replace home screen with Facebook’s own “Cover feed” that will contain updates from the users Facebook friends.
Yes, Facebook Home will come with ads – as Facebook said that they are in process of designing the ad slots for Facebook home.
Facebook said that new app will be available as a free download from the Google Play Store starting April 12 for Android phones running Jelly Bean and Ice Cream Sandwich, but not Gingerbread.
Facebook home is currently designed to work on the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II.
It will also work on the forthcoming HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4, and on more devices in the coming months.

White BlackBerry Q10 gets UK unlocked release and price

When BlackBerry first launched their new operating system to begin with there was only the touchscreen Z10 model for users to choose from, but the company eventually released the BlackBerry Q10 with its physical QWERTY keyboard and now the white version of the handset has got its unlocked UK release and price.
This is not the first time the white version of the device has been available in the country though as we told you earlier this month that retailer Carphone Warehouse was offering the white version, but this was via monthly contracts from a variety of carriers.
Now though online retailer Clove has begun listing the white version of the BlackBerry Q10 for the unlocked price of £534.99 including VAT with delivery starting at £6. To recap the BlackBerry Q10 features the widest physical QWERTY keyboard that the company has so far provided and is paired with a 3.1-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 720 x 720.
Under the hood is a dual core processor that is running at a 1.5GHz clock speed and is coupled with an impressive 2GB of RAM. There is 16GB of on board storage that can be expanded via a microSD card up to a further 64GB.
Camera wise there is an 8-megapixel unit on the rear of the device capable of Full HD video capture while around the front is a 2-megapixel unit, and there is a 2,100 mAh battery fitted to the smartphone.
Do you prefer the white version of the BlackBerry Q10?

Samsung Galaxy Star vs Nokia Asha 501 for budgeters

Two phones worth putting side-by-side for the Indian market and those on a budget have to be the Samsung Galaxy Star and the Nokia Asha 501 priced around Rs 5,240 and Rs 5,400, respectively.
The Nokia Asha 501 is a little stunner and comes with reasonable specs, there are a few that would say you should choose the Asha over the Star because the Nokia phone looks more stylish and offers more in the way of colour choices, 6 different colours to be precise, the Galaxy Star only comes in black or white.
Some will prefer the Samsung Galaxy Star over the Nokia Asha 501 when it comes to mapping, Nokia Maps on one and Google Maps on the other, this is the case of personal preferences.

When it comes to the camera features the Star has 2MP (1600×1200 pixels) camera capable of QVGA@15fps video recording, The Nokia Asha 501 has a 3.2MP camera (2048×1536 pixels) and QVGA@15fps video recording – both of these handsets do not have a front-facing camera. So when it comes to the camera the Nokia wins this one, totally your choice if it’s the camera feature you want the most.
Both smartphones come with a 3-inch TFT display with 240 x 320 pixels and 133-ppi pixel density, so this turns out to be a draw. Both models come with a microSD card slot capable for up to 32GB, the Star wins here though because it comes with 4GB internal storage and the Asha 501 only has 128 MB.

Forgetting about the price etc, do you prefer Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean OS or Nokia Asha software platform 1.0 OS, there are more apps on Google Play so yet again its is a personal preference if you want loads of apps.
The Galaxy Star comes with ChatOn pre-loaded and also comes with Smart Dual SIM; it seems rather good if you are into social networking. Google Now and Google search are on board; it also has the Samsung Apps store.
The Nokia Asha 501 also comes with single or speedy dual SIM; it features pre-loaded software so you can access Facebook, Twitter etc. You can remove the back of the phone so you can switch to another colour when you feel like it, colours include cyan, red, white, black, green and yellow. If you do care about colour choices then we suggest sticking with the Nokia Asha 501.
Phones Review Says: There are a few things to look at here when it comes to choosing either the Samsung Galaxy Star or the Nokia Asha 501, Android is one of the most popular choices and the Asha 501 has a better camera, both are around about the same price for India.
So when it comes to the Samsung Galaxy Star vs Nokia Asha 501 for budgeters, what one have you opted for?

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Samsung Galaxy Note 2 review

When the world first saw the Galaxy Note, people had mixed reactions. Some said that the device was just too big to be a phone but too small to be a tablet. Other people, however, fell head over heels with the device.

The screen was large enough to make media viewing an absolute joy and the S Pen, the Galaxy Note’s stylus, brought a whole new level of fun to gaming. Fruit Ninja was even more fun when you held a sword-like apparatus in your hand; the S Pen also allowed people to move from their clumsy finger-drawn images in Draw Something to more complicated pieces. Creative folks and note-taking fiends also fell in love with the device, as it allowed them to slap down concept art on the go and to take handwritten notes during classes, meetings, and seminars.

The Galaxy Note is back and this time, it’s packed with more features, such as the ability to preview e-mails, events, videos, and images without even touching your stylus tip to the screen and the ability to rotate the phone’s screen depending on the orientation of your head.

In this review, we’re taking a closer look at the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 GT-N7100.

In a nutshell, here’s what we liked and disliked about Samsung’s newest phablet:

Plus points

• replaceable backplate
• removable battery
• NFC
• two colors (with more probably coming soon)
• S Pen with triangular stem, which makes the stylus easier to grasp and control than the original Galaxy Note’s
• one-handed operation — for those with small hands or fingers

Minus points

• The white housing and backplate are too showy; in the white variant, the two dots (light and proximity sensors) near the speaker look ugly — they look like Morse code together with the speaker grille.
• The gray variant is too glossy, and therefore, prone to smudging; in our casual handling of the phablet while writing this piece, the gray variant was a fingerprint supermagnet.
• micro-SIM (2FF) — You’ll need to cut your regular SIM down to size.
• May be challenging to slip into pockets due to its size.
• NFC embedded on the backcover

What makes the Galaxy Note 2 special?

• Hardware oomph plus Jelly Bean
• S Pen, with awesome software to go with it
• Multi-Window feature, if your Note 2 has been updated to Jelly Bean build XXALIH

Physical Dimensions and Build Quality

With physical dimensions of 151.1 mm x 80.5 mm x 9.4 mm and weighing 183 grams, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 stands slightly taller but less wide than the original Galaxy Note. The two nearly parallel each other in height, width, and thickness.

If you currently own an original Galaxy Note and are thinking of moving to the more powerful and newer Galaxy Note 2, the transition will be very smooth and seamless, especially if you’ve learned to get used to Samsung’s phablet form factor.

Stated differently, if you found the elder Note uncomfortable to use with one hand (probably because you have small hands or short fingers), you’ll experience the same discomfort with the younger Galaxy Note 2. Though, Samsung has a software solution for this, which we shall talk more about in the Software section.

In a similar vein, the phablet is actually of enough size to fit inside the average pocket, and it will not do so without peeping. It is not something you might want to place inside your pocket if you wear tight pants. But, it can get by inside the pocket of loose pants, although you can expect the corners to bulge outwards a bit. This phone is probably best carried in a bag or a pouch.

Consistent with Samsung’s plastic design philosophy, the Galaxy Note 2 is — you guessed it — predominantly plastic. And, it comes in two colors officially called Marble White and Titanium Gray. Surrounding the edges and the rounded corners is a shiny, silvery frame, which, incidentally and owing to the drop test that we did recently, seems to be made of — you guessed it — hard plastic with thin metal coating.

The Titanium Gray version projects elegance, class, sturdiness, and confidence. We actually like this color better than the Marble White version, which, although neat and clean, tends to be somewhat flamboyant and flashy. (That’s our polite way of saying we’re not die-hard fans of glossy white phones.) But, then again, color preference in a phone is a subjective phenomenon.

Both color versions have glossy coating or finish. And, it’s here where the white variant has an edge: the gray version tends to show more visible smudges and fingerprints than the white version does.

The location of the physical buttons and ports remain similar to the original Galaxy Note, except for the headphone jack, which has moved closer to the left corner. The volume rocker and the Power button, as in the original Galaxy Note, are positioned for easy access by the thumb (for Power) and the the index and middle fingers (for the volume).

The S Pen keeps its special place of honor at the bottom-right back side of the case, hidden from view when not in use, just like in the earlier Note.

Screen and Display

The Galaxy Note 2 comes with Samsung’s next-generation HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen technology, affording fortunate device owners crisper, cleaner whites, thanks to Samsung’s favoring the RGB matrix variety this time around instead of the PenTile matrix. All that technical lighting stuff is covered and defended by Corning Gorilla Glass 2, ensuring that your touchscreen remains scratch-free, bump-free, dent-free, and bruise-free.

Especially because of powerful hardware and powerful software, the phone’s touchscreen exhibits smoothness and responsiveness that parallels the rich and vibrant colors of the display. We did not find any noticeable lag or jitter in our test unit’s screen. We only had to exert the tiniest bit of pressure upon the touchscreen to flip through homescreens.

The Galaxy Note 2 carries a slightly bigger 5.5-inch screen diagonal compared to the 5.3 inches of its predecessor. Somehow, Samsung has decided to shift from the original Note’s 16:10 aspect ratio to a 16:9 aspect ratio, which basically explains why the display resolution on the original Note is 800×1280 and the new one is 720×1280. Coupled with the RGBG subpixel matrix and the HD resolution, only visual pleasure can be extracted from this phablet when you watch HD movies or play HD games.

At default brightness, the display cannot be easily seen, but when you crank up the brightness, the screen becomes easier to see. Provided there is no glare, you should have no problem answering your messages and replying to emails in broad daylight.

Processing Superpower

You can choose from three different models according to internal storage capacity. You can get a modest 16 GB model, a moderately sized 32 GB model, or a 64 GB model if you need hardcore storage for all your HD games, music, videos, and images. If that isn’t enough for you, the Note 2 allows for microSD card expansion for up to 64 GB. So, the total maximum space that you can slap onto your phone is a whopping 128 GB.

The quad-core 1.6 GHz Samsung Exynos 4412 Cortex-A9 chipset and a Mali-400MP GPU power the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Throw 2 GB of RAM into the mix, and we have what we can fondly call a superphablet.

We ran some standard benchmarks on the Note 2 fresh from out of its box, and we got these amazing results:

Benchmark	Result
GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD C16Z16 Offscreen	65 fps
Quadrant Standard Edition	5918
AnTuTu Benchmark	13666
CF-Bench	15383
Vellamo Mobile Benchmark HTML 5	1832
Vellamo Mobile Benchmark Metal	626
NenaMark1	58.2 fps
NenaMark2	58.1 fps
An3DBenchXL	40857
Geekbench 2	1989
Linpack Single Thread	65.546
Linpack Multi-thread	205.441
SunSpider 0.9.1 JavaScript	1169.2 ms (lower is better)
BrowserMark	182364

S Pen

The S Pen wrote success for the first Galaxy Note, and it’s back again with more powerful companions — hardware- and software-wise. It is the default highlight accessory of the Galaxy Note series. Without it, the Galaxy Note 2 will just be a bigger and slightly more powerful version of the Samsung Galaxy S3. Let’s take a look at the S Pen that makes the Galaxy Note 2 a definite headturner.

Feel along the lower right portion of the phone’s backplate and you’ll feel a small notch. Dig your fingernail into it and you can pull out the S Pen. The phone, by default, vibrates a little when you pull it out and informs you onscreen that you’ve detached the stylus. The S Pen fits into its cradle snugly, so you don’t have to worry about its falling out any time soon.

From the tubish and cylindrical shape of the elder Note’s S Pen, the new Note 2 has turned into a roundish stylus with a flat side. It is taller than the original S Pen, and a bit thicker, too.

The pen is also slightly textured, not completely glossy or smooth, which makes it easier to grasp with two or three fingers. It remains light, almost quill-like. All these design changes to the S Pen make it easier to hold, control, and write or draw with.

The new S Pen still has a button. Click-hold this button, tap on the screen — voila! instant screenshot. But, there’s more to that. While using the S Note app, click this very same button to easily swing from pen mode to eraser mode and back.

Who’s saying pens are only for scribbling? Samsung has turned it into a pointer of some sort for Samsung-specific apps, too. With the Air View feature enabled, for example, you can just point at (or hover the tip on) an event on your S Planner to see the event details without touching the screen at all. The Air View feature, unfortunately, works only with compatible apps, which, for now, are mostly Samsung apps.

As expected, the S Pen has several levels of pressure sensitivity. This is techspeak for the ability to create deeper and thicker lines if you push the pen harder, or thinner and lighter lines if you just press lightly. Such sensitivity greatly benefits users with artistic tendencies.

Samsung also attempted to simulate the natural paper-based writing environment by equipping the S Pen with a rubber tip, which prevents the stylus from skating too smoothly over the glass. However, the experience is hardly similar to the real thing, so don’t get easily flustered if you don’t get the pen-on-paper feeling.

Giving the Galaxy Note 2 its name, the S Pen and the phablet are married and inseparable. In fact, the phablet has a function that will keep you from forgetting the S Pen. You can have the phone tell you when you start walking with the device without the S Pen. It was certainly helpful when, in our hurry to snap a few photos outside, we had forgotten the pen. The phone buzzed in our hand and reminded us that the S Pen was still missing.

Battery Life

The Galaxy Note 2 comes with a removable and, therefore, replaceable 3,100-mAh Li-ion battery, which can pack quite the standby time and talk time power.

On 2G, the battery provides 980 hours on standby and 35 hours talk time. On 3G, it provides enough juice for 890 hours standby time and 16 hours talk time.

You can power up your Galaxy Note 2 using a standard Micro USB charger.

Connectivity

To use the Galaxy Note 2′s phone functions, you’ll need a micro-SIM. For people who have regular-sized SIMs (i.e., mini-SIM or 2FF SIM), you’ll need to have your SIM cut down to micro-SIM or 3FF size. The phone can connect to GSM 3G and HSPA+ networks.

You can exchange files and data with other people via Near Field Communication (NFC) and S Beam. But, unlike in the Samsung Galaxy S3, the Galaxy Note 2′s NFC chip is not embedded inside the battery. Instead, It is embedded in the handset’s back cover, so you can’t easily change the backcover of the Note 2, except if you can find a compatible one from a third-party source or if you get one straight from Samsung.

Other connectivity options provided by the Galaxy Note 2 are Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Low-energy), TV output, and AllShare Cast.

Camera

The S Pen functionality isn’t all the Galaxy Note 2 is packing. This phablet also comes with an 8 MP back camera and an LED flash for when you need to take pictures in dim lighting or at night. The back camera also lets you enjoy Full HD 1080p video recording with 30 frames per second.

We took the camera out for a spin, snapping shots of Bugdroid in several locations around the office. We started with an indoors shot, near a window with morning light. Then, we took it into a dimly lit room and finally we took it outside, in broad daylight.

Both professional and amateur photographers alike will be pleased with the camera quality of the Note 2. Taking pictures indoors is great, being able to capture vivid colors and avoid the excessive graininess of low-light environments.

When we took the camera outside, colors also popped out gorgeously on screen. Bugdroid’s green, for example, really popped out against the white-washed background. Auto-focus worked well but we were quite impressed with the tap-to-zoom function.

Not only did the camera do well with pictures but with videos as well. You also get the same tap-to-zoom function and you can take pictures while recording your video. The green of the plants outside were extremely green on camera. Sound recording was also good.

For video calls and for vanity shots — or even for fixing your hair with the help of a Mirror app — the front facing camera that the Galaxy Note 2 sports is 1.9 MP.

Audio and Video

Just like most high-end Android smartphones these days, the Galaxy Note 2 has noise cancellation features. Such anti-noise technology lets you drown out ambient noise while making calls so that the person on the other end can still hear your crisp and clear voice.

Playing music through the phone’s loudspeakers was quite good, even at full volume. In fact, the music remained quite crisp and avoided the distortion that happens when you turn a phone’s volume all the way up.

Audio quality on this phablet is as pleasurable as its display, especially when listening to audio through headphones. The bundled Music Player app comes with Samsung’s SoundAlive technology, and we have to admit, the sound does come alive. The technology automatically and intelligently optimizes the bass, tones, clarity, and other sound ingredients, resulting in crisp and clear sound.

The Galaxy Note 2′s video playback capability falls just a millimeter short of awesome. It played Full HD 1080p videos without choking or stuttering. No frame wasted at all. Colors, as expected, were rich and vibrant.

You can even lock the phone while playing video. One of our writer’s nephews joined us as we tested the Note 2′s video prowess, and he couldn’t keep his hands off the screen, so we locked the phone. The video continued playing onscreen, but the little boy’s touch wouldn’t make Angry Birds launch.

Multitasking applies even to video playback on the phone. All you need to do is play the video in a floating window, so you can run another app while watching the video. Taking screenshots of videos is easy, too. Just hold down both Power and Home buttons. That didn’t pause or slow down the video for us, and we got our lovely screenshots.

Software

Out of the box, the Galaxy Note 2 sports Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean and Samsung TouchWiz UI. This goes without saying that, with Project Butter plus the phablet’s hardware superpowers, you can expect fluid and smooth software performance.

Strangely enough, however, the Samsung flagship Jelly Bean phone does not have the Multi-Window feature (similar to the Multiscreen feature of the Galaxy Note 10.1) that one of the promotional videos boasted. The first few batches of the phone had Jelly Bean build XXALIE as default operating system, but this build doesn’t have the Multi-Window feature yet. Updating to build XXALIH takes care of that, and, fortunately, the recent batches already come with XXALIH.

Challenging as it is to manipulate a phablet whose form factor lies between phone and tablet, you can set the Galaxy Note 2 to operate in one-handed mode. Tick the “One-handed Operation” option in Settings, and you should be able to get most input elements within easy reach of your left or right thumb. The keyboard and dial pad get resized and moved closer to either left or right of the screen. Even the pattern unlock matrix and the calculator can be resized and flushed to the side.

To prevent the phone from sleeping on you while you’re reading, enable Smart Stay, which uses the front camera to detect your face. Want more smarts? Enable Smart Rotation, too, to instruct the front camera to detect the orientation of your face so it can orient the display accordingly into either portrait or landscape mode.

Apart from those already mentioned, the Galaxy Note 2 brings with it several new and improved software features that make the overall experience truly noteworthy. Here are some of them:

• S Pen detection and headphone detection. The phone anticipates your next move, so when you pull out the stylus, the phone readies itself for stylus input by launching the S Pen page (known as Page Buddy), which contains shortcuts to various S Note templates. Similarly, when plugging in your headphones, the phone detects them and launches the multimedia player.

• Redesigned Gallery app. The revamped Gallery app lets you see your album list on a left-side column while you browse through your photos. This way, you won’t need to return to the main Gallery screen to select a different album. Photos can also be sorted in Timeline View, which arranges the photos as rows of cards, or in Spiral View, which arranges the photos in a helix.

• Quick commands. These are gesture-based commands that you can invoke using the S Pen. By holding down the S Pen button as you swipe upwards with the pen, you open the Quick Commands screen, on which you can draw predefined or user-defined symbols to perform certain tasks. For instance, drawing an @ symbol opens the Email app, ready for you to compose your message.
• Continuous input. This feature lets you input text by swiping over the keyboard a la Swype. The same feature is present in the Galaxy S3 and is a great alternative to people who don’t really like downloading third-party applications for text input.

• Improved S Note app.Here are some of the new and improved features that we truly liked:
  • Sound and transition effects for multi-page notes, which makes flipping through the pages seem realistic;
  • Dedicated search for looking up terms while writing a note;
  • S Pen exclusivity toggle, which lets you choose whether to use the S Pen only for input or both S Pen and finger input;
  • Advanced image insertion into a note; and
  • Ability to sort notes according to predefined preferences.

Conclusion

Though the Galaxy Note 2 may strike some as too big to be a convenient phone, its larger screen promises more functions. Not only can you enjoy watching movies with it but also take notes for class and business meetings. When you frequently need to capture an idea before it escapes you, you won’t need to bring a separate notepad with you. The Galaxy Note 2 lets you enjoy both features of an Android tablet and smartphone into one portable and handy device.

The Galaxy Note 2 features bizarre specs that can revolutionize the smartphone industry. The handset, however powerful, is not a perfect device and still has some weak points. The Galaxy Note 2 is protected by a weak plastic covering that may suffer from dents or scratches. Some people, if not all, also find this handset too big to be used as a mobile device. But, if you don’t mind that weak build and you want the raw power and multitasking capabilities, then the Galaxy Note 2 is worth a try.

The final decision is still up to you on how you use your device. The Galaxy Note 2 is designed for individuals who are always on the go. This handset, however small, lets you enjoy the features of a mobile phone and, at the same time, the multitasking features of tablets and even desktop computers.

We know that people will either love or hate this handset. But, after our first-hand exposure to its amazing hardware and software features, we certainly fell in love with a non-human being — the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 GT-N7100.

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Apple gets stay over ban of iPhone and iPad in South Korea

Back in August, a Seoul court ruled that both Apple and Samsung did indeed infringe on one another’s patents. As a result, both companies ultimately had several devices banned. Apple of course filed to delay the ban of the company’s iPhone and iPad. Unfortunately for Samsung, Apple’s request has been granted.

It is unclear as to whether or not Samsung will file a similar request. In light of the ruling directed at Apple, it now seems that Samsung would be rather foolish not to. Of course doing so may just be prolonging the inevitable. Either way, we are not going to see any major progress between the two companies anytime soon.

It is rather clear as to why these two companies are fighting over control of the smartphone market. The current smartphone market is valued at over $219 billion worldwide. The desire to control this lucrative industry has driven the companies to become entangled between patent disputes on four separate continents. However, the only case that has seen a final verdict was the case in San Jose, CA, which required Samsung to pay $1 billion in damages.

These patent disputes are obviously spiraling out of control. It seems that no matter what the rulings are, no verdict is going to make many company come out any further ahead than the other.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus U.S. injunction overturned by Court of Appeals

A U.S. Court of Appeals has now overturned an injunction on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. According to the reversal ruling, Judge Lucy Koh and the district court in California had abused its discretion when they granted the injunction in the first place.

The patent that caused all the original drama was the “Apple 604 patent”, which had to do with universal search features on a mobile device. Apple claimed that the Nexus would case major harm to the sale of its iPhone if it continued to be sold in stores. At the time, Samsung argued that the universal search feature wasn’t essential to the device. They also said the Nexus smartphone wasn’t selling that well and didn’t represent a true threat to Apple. Despite Samsung’s argument, Koh ruled in favor of Apple in this instance.

What has changed since the original ruling against Samsung? The court says that Apple has never presented real evidence that tied consumer demand for the Galaxy Nexus to the infringing patent. In other words, Nexus owners were buying the device for reasons beyond just the universal search elements found in the smartphone.

As far as sales or reputation of the device is concerned, will the ruling make any difference? Probably not. The next generation Nexus devices are said to be on their way soon, and the OG Galaxy Nexus is starting to become a little long in the tooth. Regardless, this decision will add extra fuel to the fire when it comes to the Samsung Apple war. More than likely, it will also increase tension between Samsung and Apple fans. How do you feel about the Court of Appeals reversal?

Motorola Droid RAZR HD and Droid RAZR Maxx HD official launch slated for October 18th

Motorola’s latest flagship devices, the Droid RAZR HD and the Droid RAZR Maxx HD, were very recently released in Canada. To keep the show rolling, Motorola has announced that the devices will be going on sale on Verizon very soon as well. The official launch date is scheduled for October 18th. Instead of releasing the phones separately, as they did with the first generation, both phones will be getting released at the same time.

In case you don’t remember, the Droid RAZR HD and Droid RAZR Maxx HD will be shipping with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and are pretty much identical. They are sporting a 4.7 inch 720p Super AMOLED HD display, 1.5GHz dual core processor, 8mp shooter with 1080p video recording, and LTE support.

The major differences between the two devices is that the Droid RAZR Maxx HD battery is much larger than the Droid RAZR HD and comes with an additional 16GB of storage. If you want more info the specs, check out our first reports of the Droid RAZR HD and Droid RAZR Maxx HD.

Samsung is going to Launch Galaxy S3 mini

Technology just never stops, and it really amazes me. And we users, takes full advantage of it. Now the next good news is that according to JK Shin (head of Mobile Department from Samsung) Samsung is now thinking to reveal 4-inch Galaxy S III mini in Germany on 11 October 2012. I haven’t got any detail about the upcoming new release, but just wait a bit, it will update it soon.

That 4-inch model of Galaxy S III is named as Galaxy S III mini. The main factor for its release is the demand for 4-inch smartphones in Europe.

Shin said,

“We’ll be launching a 4-inch Galaxy S III on the 11th in Germany. There’s a lot of demand for a 4-inch screen device in Europe. Some call it an entry-level device, but we call it ‘mini.’”

iPhone 5 full review: Finally, the iPhone we've always wanted

The good: The iPhone 5 adds everything we wanted in the iPhone 4S: 4G LTE, a longer, larger screen, free turn-by-turn navigation, and a faster A6 processor. Plus, its top-to-bottom redesign is sharp, slim, and feather-light.

The bad: Apple Maps feels unfinished and buggy; Sprint and Verizon models can't use voice and data simultaneously. The smaller connector renders current accessories unusable without an adapter. There's no NFC, and the screen size pales in comparison to jumbo Android models.

The bottom line: The iPhone 5 completely rebuilds the iPhone on a framework of new features and design, addressing its major previous shortcomings. It's absolutely the best iPhone to date, and it easily secures its place in the top tier of the smartphone universe.

The iPhone 5 is the iPhone we've wanted since 2010, adding long-overdue upgrades like a larger screen and faster 4G LTE in a razor-sharp new design. This is the iPhone, rebooted.

The new design is flat-out lovely, both to look at and to hold, and it's hard to find a single part that hasn't been tweaked from the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 5 is at once completely rebuilt and completely familiar.

I've had the chance to use the iPhone 5 for nearly a week, and have been using it for nearly anything I can think of. Is it as futuristic or as exciting as the iPhone 4 or the original iPhone? No. Does this change the smartphone game? No. Other smartphones beat it on features here and there: if you want a larger screen, go with a Samsung Galaxy S3. If you want better battery life, go with a Droid Razr Maxx.

But, if you want a great, all-around, beautifully engineered smartphone that covers all bases, here it is. Just like the MacBook is to the world of laptops, the new iPhone is one of the top three, if not the best-designed, smartphone around. It's better in all the important ways.

Editors' note: we are continuing to update this review with additional observations and test results. It will continue to evolve in the days ahead.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

What's different?
Look at our review of last year's iPhone 4S, where we said, "Even without 4G and a giant screen, this phone's smart(ass) voice assistant, Siri, the benefits of iOS 5, and its spectacular camera make it a top choice for anyone ready to upgrade."

(Credit: CNET)

Well, guess what? Now it has 4G LTE and...well, maybe not a giant screen, but a larger screen. That's not all, though: the already great camera's been subtly improved, speakerphone and noise-canceling quality has been tweaked, and -- as always -- iOS 6 brings a host of other improvements, including baked-in turn-by-turn navigation, a smarter Siri, and Passbook, a location-aware digital wallet app for storing documents like gift cards, boarding passes, and tickets.

The question is: a full year later, is that enough? For me, it is. I don't want much more in my smartphone. Sure, I'd love a new magical technology to sink my teeth into, but not at the expense of being useful. Right now, I'm not sure what that technology would even be.

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Like every year in the iPhone's life cycle, a handful of important new features take the spotlight. This time, 4G, screen size, and redesign step to the top.

You've gotten the full rundown already, most likely, on the various ins and outs of this phone, or if you haven't, I'll tell you about them below in greater detail. Here's what I noticed right away, and what made the biggest impression on me.

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First off, you're going to be shocked at how light this phone is. It's the lightest iPhone, even though it's longer and has a bigger screen. After a few days with it, the iPhone 4S will feel as dense as lead.

Secondly, the screen size lengthening is subtle, but, like the Retina Display, you're going to have a hard time going back once you've used it. The extra space adds a lot to document viewing areas above the keyboard, landscape-oriented video playback (larger size and less letterboxing), and home-page organizing (an extra row of icons/folders). Who knows what game developers will dream up, but odds are that extra space on the sides in landscape mode will be handily used by virtual buttons and controls.

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Third, this phone will make your home Wi-Fi look bad. Or at least, it did that to mine. Owners of other 4G LTE phones won't be shocked, but iPhone owners making the switch will start noticing that staying on LTE versus Wi-Fi might actually produce faster results...of course, at the expense of expensive data rates. I hopped off my work Wi-Fi and used AT&T LTE in midtown Manhattan to make a FaceTime call to my wife because the former was slowing down. LTE, in my tests, ran anywhere from 10 to 20Mbps, which is up to twice as fast as my wireless router's connection at home.

Using your iPhone 5 as a personal hot spot for a laptop or other device produces some of the same strong results as the third-gen iPad...and it's smaller. Of course, make sure you check on your tethering charges and data usage fees, but my MacBook Air did a fine job running off the LTE data connection at midday.

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The look: Thin, metal, light as heck
You know its look, even if the look has been subtly transformed over the years: circular Home button, pocketable rectangle, familiarly sized screen. Can that design be toyed with, transformed a little, changed?

From left: The Lumia 900, iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3.

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The newest iPhone has a wide metal body that stretches above previous iPhones, but is also thinner; still, this isn't a massive phone like the Samsung Galaxy Note or HTC One X. The iPhone 5 rises above the iPhone 4 and 4S, but subtly.

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From the front and sides, it looks very similar to the iPhone 4 and 4S. The same rounded metal volume buttons, sleep/wake button on top, and silence switch remain. The headphone jack has moved to the bottom of the phone, just on like the iPod Touch. Some will like it, some won't; it makes standing the iPhone upright and using headphones a virtual impossibility. Actually, the entire bottom is all new: the headphone jack, the larger, redesigned speakers, a different type of perforated grille, and a much tinier Lightning connector port.

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The Gorilla Glass back of the last iPhone is gone, replaced with metal. The two-tone look might seem new, but it's a bit of a reference to the silver-and-black back of the original iPhone. The very top and bottom of the rear is still glass. That anodized aluminum -- which Apple claims is the same as that on its MacBook laptops -- feels exactly the same, and is even shaded the same on the white model. So far, it's held up without scratches. I'd say it'll do about as well as the aluminum finish on your 2008-and-later MacBook. On the black iPhone, the aluminum matches in a slate gray tone. On my white review model, it's MacBook-color silver. That aluminum covers most of the back and also the sides, replacing the iPhone 4 and 4S steel band, and lending to its lighter weight. The front glass sits slightly above the aluminum, which is cut to a mirrored angled edge on the front and back, eliminating sharp corners.

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Why the move away from a glass back? Is it about creating a better, more durable finish, or is it about weight reduction? Apple's proud of its claims of how light the iPhone 5 is, and the new aluminum back is part of that. So is the move to a Nano-SIM card (making SIM swaps once again impossible and requiring a visit to your carrier's store). So is the thinner screen and the smaller dock connector. You get the picture.

Hold an iPhone 4S up to the new iPhone, and I could see the difference in thickness. It's not huge, but it feels even slimmer considering its expanded width and length. What I really noticed is how light it is. I still feel weirded out by it. The iPhone 5's 3.95-ounce weight is the lightest an iPhone's ever been. The iPhone 4S is nearly a full ounce heavier at 4.9 ounces. The iPhone 3Gwas 4.7 ounces. The original iPhone and iPhone 4 were 4.8 ounces. This is a phase-change in the nearly constant weight of the iPhone -- it's iPhone Air.

Yet, the iPhone 5 doesn't look dramatically different like the iPhone 4 once did. Actually, it seems more like a fusion of the iPhone with the iPad and MacBook design.

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And, of course, there's the new, larger screen. You may not notice it from a distance -- the screen's still not as edge-to-edge on the top and bottom as many Android phones, but extra empty space has been shaved away to accommodate the display. There's a little less room around the Home Button and below the earpiece. The iPhone 5 screen is just as tall as the screen on the Samsung Galaxy S 2, but it's not as wide. That thinner body design gives the iPhone the same hand feel, and what I think is an easier grip. The extra length covers a bit more of your face on phone calls.

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Over the last week with the iPhone 5, I started to forget that the phone was any larger. That seems to be the point. And, the iPhone fit just fine in my pants, too: the extra length has been traded out for less girth, so there's little bulge. And, with that awkward statement having been uttered, I'll move on.

That 4-inch screen: Going longer
The iPhone 5 finally extends the 3.5-inch screen that's been the same size on the iPhone for five years, but it does so by going longer, not wider. A move from the iPhone 4 and 4S' 3.5-inch, 960x640-pixel display to a 4-inch, 1,136x640-pixel display effectively means the same Retina Display (326 pixels per inch), but with extra pixel real estate versus a magnified screen. All the icons and app buttons are the same size, but there's more room for other features, or more space for videos and photos to be displayed.

The iPhone's interface is the same as always: you have app icons greeting you in a grid, and a dock of up to four apps at the bottom. Instead of a grid of four rows of four apps, the longer screen accommodates five rows of four apps. More apps can fit on the home screen, but that's about it as far as user interface innovation. Extra screen height means pop-up notification banners are less intrusive at the top or bottom.

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It's odd at first going longer versus also adding width, and it means a shift away from the iPad's more paperlike 4:3 display ratio. Pages of e-books could feel more stretched. In portrait mode, document text may not seem larger, but you'll see more of it in a list.

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In landscape mode, text actually seems bigger because page width stretches out (so, you can fit more words on a line). The virtual keyboard in landscape mode also ends up a bit more spread out, too, with a little extra space on the sides, which took some getting used to.

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I preferred portrait typing because the keyboard size and width remains the same, while the extra length allows more visible text above the virtual keys.

The screen difference isn't always dramatic, especially compared with some ultra-expansive Android devices: the Samsung Galaxy S3 beats it both on overall screen size (4.8 inches) and pixel resolution (1,280x720). In the iOS 6 Mail app, with one line of preview text, I fit six and a half messages on the screen at the same time on the iPhone 5 versus five and a third on the iPhone 4 and 4S. Other apps toy with the layout more; I fit eight tasks on one screen in the new iOS 6 version of Reminders, versus five on the iPhone 4S with iOS 5.1.1.

Infinity Blade II, before iPhone 5 optimization. Note the black bars.

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Of course, you'll need new apps to take advantage of the longer screen, and at the time I tested the iPhone 5, those weren't available because iOS 6 hadn't formally launched. Older apps run in a letterboxed type of mode at the same size as existing phones, with little black bars on the top and bottom. Apps work perfectly fine this way, especially in portrait mode, but you definitely notice the difference. App-makers will be scrambling to make their apps take advantage of the extra screen space, and my guess is it won't take long at all for most to be iPhone 5 (and iPod Touch) ready.

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I tried iMovie, iPhoto, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, GarageBand, iCards, and all of the iPhone 5's built-in apps (Maps, Reminders, Messages, Photos, Camera, Videos, Weather, Passbook, Notes, Stocks, Newsstand, iTunes, the App Store, Game Center, Contacts, Calculator, Compass, Voice Memos, Mail, Safari, Music, and, of course, Phone), and they all take advantage of the extra space in a variety of useful ways. How others will adopt the extra real estate remains to be seen.

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I'm looking forward to killer apps that will take advantage of the larger screen. So far, I haven't found any that do it in surprising ways. My guess is that games will benefit the most, along with video and photo apps, and, to some degree, reading/news apps.

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Video playback, of course, has a lot more punch because the new 16:9 aspect ratio reduces or removes letterboxing across the board in landscape mode. An HD episode of "Planet Earth" filled the entire screen, while the available viewing space shrank down even more on the iPhone 4S because of letterboxing. YouTube videos looked great. Some movies, of course, like Pixar's "Wall-E," still have letterboxing because they're shot in the superwide CinemaScope aspect ratio (21:9), but they look a lot larger than before -- and you can still zoom in with a tap on the screen.

I think that, much like the Retina Display, you'll miss the iPhone 5's new screen more when you try to go back to an older phone. The new display feels like a natural, so much so that to the casual eye, the iPhone 5 doesn't look entirely different with the screen turned off. The iPhone 4 and 4S screens feel small and hemmed-in by comparison.

iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S video playback of the same 1080p nature video.

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The new iPhone 5's display also has a layer removed from the screen, creating a display that acts as its own capacitive surface. I didn't notice that difference using it; it feels as crisp and fast-responding as before. Apple promises 44 percent extra color saturation on this new display, much like the third-gen iPad's improved color saturation. The difference wasn't as dramatic in a side-by-side playback of a 1080p episode of "Planet Earth," but the iPhone 5 seemed to have a slight edge. It was a little too close to call in game-playing, photo-viewing, and everyday experience with the phone, even held side-by-side with the iPhone 4S. The real difference, again, is the size. Autobrightness adjustments have also been tweaked a little, and I found on average that the iPhone 5 found more-appropriate brightness levels for the room I was in.

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This seems like a good time to discuss thumbs. As in, your thumb size and the iPhone 5. Going back to the iPhone 4S, I realized that the phone's design has been perfectly aligned to allow a comfortable bridge between thumbing the Home button and stretching all the way to the top icon on the iPhone's 3.5-inch display. That's not entirely the case, now. I could, with some positioning, still thumb the Home button and make my way around the taller screen, but the iPhone 5's a little more of a two-hander. It might encourage more people and app developers to switch to landscape orientation, where the extra length and pixel space provide finger room on both sides without cramming the middle.

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Game developers are likely to lean toward the landscape 16:9 orientation, because it more closely matches a standard HDTV's dimensions, and most console games. The extra width allows useful virtual button space, too.

4G LTE: Faster, at last
Last year's iPhone 4S had a subtle network bump to 3.5G (listed as "4G" on the iPhone 4S following iOS 5.1), offering faster data speeds on AT&T. The iPhone 5 finally adopts faster LTE, joining most other smartphones on the market and even the third-gen iPad, with the leap to LTE back in March. (On the top corner of the iPhone, the service indicator reads "LTE" when it's up and running.) However, the presence of LTE doesn't mean a world LTE phone; currently, LTE roaming between carriers overseas is impossible.

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There's also support, depending on the iPhone 5 version you buy, for slower GSM (including EDGE and UMTS/HSPA) and CDMA/EV-DO networks. The iPhone 5's LTE uses a single chip for voice and data, a single radio chip, and a "dynamic antenna" that will switch connections between different networks automatically.

In the United States, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless will carry the iPhone 5. T-Mobile loses out. In Canada, it's Rogers, Bell, Telus, Fido, Virgin, and Koodo. In Asia, the providers will be SoftBank, SmarTone, SingTel, and SK Telecom. For Australia there's Telstra, Optus, and Virgin Mobile, and in Europe it will go to Deutsche Telekom and EE. On carriers without LTE, the iPhone 5 will run on dual-band 3.5G HDPA+. I didn't notice any problems when switching between LTE and 4G, but I tended to find myself stationary in a place that had LTE service or a place that didn't, without much time to test the transition midcall.

There's a catch, though: there are now two versions of iPhone 5 in the U.S., one GSM model and another version for the CDMA carriers. You may not have your dream of a universal LTE phone, but international roaming is possible between 2G and 3G. Also, get ready to accept that Verizon and Sprint iPhone 5s still won't be able to make calls and access data simultaneously, even though many other Verizon/Sprint LTE phones can pull this off. That's because those other phones use a two-antenna system for LTE/voice (voice doesn't run over LTE yet), while the iPhone 5 only uses one plus a dynamic antenna for what Apple says is more connection stability.

Nevertheless, data access via 4G LTE is stunningly fast. This is no gentle upgrade. In my home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I tested both my AT&T iPhone 4S and the AT&T iPhone 5 at the same time. The iPhone 4S averaged a 2.4Mbps download speeds over "4G," whereas the iPhone 5 averaged 20.31Mbps. In comparison, my home wireless Internet via Time Warner averaged 9.02Mbps at the hour I tested (1:30 a.m.). Click here to read our more detailed head-to-head testing of both the Verizon and AT&T iPhone 5 versus the Samsung Galaxy S3 and iPhone 4S in San Francisco and New York.

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The difference can be felt loading Web pages: the mobile version of CNET took 5.3 seconds over LTE, versus 8.5 seconds on the iPhone 4S. A graphically intensive Web site like the desktop version of Huffington Post took 16 seconds to load via LTE, versus 23.3 seconds on the iPhone 4S in 4G.

Those who already use 4G LTE may simply be nodding their heads, but to iPhone owners looking to upgrade, this is major news. For many people, LTE will be faster than their own home broadband.

Of course, that's a dangerous seduction: with fast LTE comes expensive rates and data caps. AT&T also requires a specific plan to even enable FaceTime over cellular. Make sure you don't fall down the rabbit hole of overusing your LTE, because believe me, you're going to want to. I tried setting it up a wireless hot spot for my MacBook Air, and the result was generally excellent.

Outside major cities, it's not quite as exciting if you don't have LTE coverage. Using the AT&T iPhone 5 out in East Setauket, Long Island, data download speed was merely 3.5Mbps because of a lack of AT&T LTE service. Verizon's LTE coverage map is larger, but Sprint's LTE network is small as well. My experience with AT&T and LTE may not necessarily be yours.

Wi-Fi has also gotten a bit of a boost via dual-band 802.11n support over both 2.5GHz and 5GHz. It should help in the event of interference with other Wi-Fi devices, although I never encountered that problem before, even with tons of Wi-Fi gadgets scattered about my apartment.

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The camera
Something on the iPhone 5 has to not be new, right? Well, even the rear iSight camera's been tweaked, but not quite as much as other features. It's still an 8-megapixel camera, but there's a new sapphire-crystal lens, and improved hardware enabling features like dynamic low-lighting adjustment, image stabilization on the 1080p video camera, and the capability to take still shots while shooting video.

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The camera takes excellent pictures, a bit more so now than before. The iPhone 5 takes far clearer low-light pictures, but the result, while more coherent, is grainier and lower resolution than the wonderfully detailed images taken in bright, direct light. I ran around in semi-darkness in my son's room taking pictures of his toys, and found that the iPhone 5 was able to make things out in places where the iPhone 4S couldn't. Read Josh Goldman's detailed, extensive testing of the iPhone 5's camera versus the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X.

Indoor shot with the iPhone 5.

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I settled for some indoor house shots instead to show off how the camera works in dimmer conditions. Of course, you'll probably use flash in those instances, but it can't hurt to have it as a backup.

iPhone 5 camera, outdoors.

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I took pictures outdoors and in, and the biggest differences I could appreciate were the awesome new panorama mode and the even faster picture-taking. One of these two features can be acquired on the iPhone 4S via an iOS 6 update. The other amounts to a bump up from the iPhone 4S camera.

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