Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch Now Available In Frost White

Samsung is ready to release the frost white version of the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch. The smartphone features a 1.2GHz Exynos processor, a 4.52-inch Super AMOLED Plus WVGA display, an 8MP rear-facing camera with a full HD video recording, a 2MP front-facing camera for video call and 4G support. The frost white Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch retails for $199.99 with a two-year contract. [Press Release]

Samsung Galaxy S 'Value Pack' firmware leaks

A few days ago we heard from Samsung that they have dropped plans to release the 'Value Pack' update to Galaxy S owners, which was supposed to improve performance and add features found in Ice Cream Sandwich. The reason for this stated by Samsung was hardware limitations of the device. Now, however, the Value Pack firmware has leaked online. List of improvements include the additions of Face Unlock, improved camera performance with the ability to take pictures while recording videos, image editor from the Galaxy S II, new lockscreen sounds, and improved performance in browser, gallery and gaming. This doesn't tell us though whether Samsung will officially be releasing it. They may have tested this update and later on decided to cancel it. Whatever may be the reason, you can now download it and try it out on your phone. The less brave among you would want to hold on for a while longer to see if Samsung officially releases the update. Source

LG Spectrum User Guide Now Available for Download and Hungry Eyes

While we still may be a bit of ways away from the LG Spectrum we’re learning more and more about the device every day. Just a few days ago it was revealed that the Spectrum would be Verizon’s version of the LG Optimus LTE. Today, we’ve gotten a downloadable user guide for the device. Seeing one of these usually means we’re close to a launch but with the heavy lineup Verizon introduced in the last quarter of 2011 we wouldn’t be surprised to see this thing come out as late as February. As with any user guide you might not find many useful things here but it’s nice to get a peek anyway. Download here. [Droid-Life via VZBuzz]

AT&T to get their own flavour of the Samsung Galaxy Note

CES looks to play host to AT&T's suspected unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy Note for the US market. The Pocket Now team have some pretty sharp looking images that could at least demonstrate how the Galaxy Note would look if it joined AT&T's lineup. The key difference is expected to be in the layout on the front, especially with their previous flavors of Galaxy S II and Galaxy S II Skyrocket devices in mind. Both of which follow the more typical four button layout for Android devices, at least over the twin capacitive, single hardware key layout used by the likes of the European Galaxy S II. AT&T's Note is said to utilize a 5.3" Super AMOLED which displays at a healthy 1280x800 pixels, sport Android Gingerbread and offer LTE functionality too. Once CES has kicked off, we can apparently expect to see the SGH-I717 Samsung Galaxy Note by February 14th. Source

Fujitsu launches ARROWS ES IS12F smartphone in Japan

Fujitsu has taken a bit of a liking for making ultra thin smartphones. After the Arrows F-07D announced back in November, the thinnest smartphone in the world with just 6.6mm thickness, the Japanese manufacturer is back with the new ARROWS ES IS12F Android smartphone. Unlike the F-07D, the ARROWS ES IS12F is not exactly the thinnest smartphone, losing that title by a mere 0.1mm. It does however manage to be water resistant and has a sturdy Gorilla Glass on the front. As for the specifications, the ARROWS ES IS12F will run Android 2.3 on a single core 1.4GHz CPU, 800 x 480, 4.0-inch AMOLED display and a 5.11 megapixel camera that can capture 'Hi-Vision' videos, which we assume means high definition in plain English. The phone will be sold in two colors: Ruby Red and Gloss Black and is on sale right now in Japan. Source

Sony Ericsson LT26i (Nozomi) Leaked Again Ahead of CES Unveiling – Now With Benchmarks [Update]

Just because Sony Ericsson will soon be dropping their surname doesn't mean they don't have a few more devices to launch before going out with a bang. The Sony Ericsson LT26i has possibly been their worst kept secret, making its rounds all over the internet in leaked images and press shots. Today, we have a few more leaked pics to add to that list — this time showing the device side-by-side with the Xperia Arc S and even Quadrant results for all you benchmarking junkies out there. You better believe (Sony willing) we'll be bringing you some intimate hands-on time with this sexy device come Monday as soon as the CES showroom floor opens. For even more images, hit up the ITPortal source link below. Anyone else hyped on this device? Update: Sony Ericsson has just uploaded the latest teaser image to their Facebook page revealing a device to be unveiled at CES. Hard to tell but it doesn't exactly look like the Nozomi (leaked above). Could Sony Ericsson have more than one superphone to show off next week? Most likely. Multiple carriers? Who knows. Guess we'll be finding out soon enough…

Sony Ericsson Nozomi leaked ahead of CES

The Sony Ericsson Nozomi, (touted to be the Xperia arc HD) has been leaked in the past before, but now it looks like we've got the clearest pictures of the device yet. The folks over at ITProPortal managed to get their hands on a set of images showing off the Android smartphone in all its glory. In addition to images of the phone, some pictures showing its benchmarking results were also posted, revealing the specs of the phone. According to the pictures, the Sony Ericsson Nozomi is running on Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread, is powered by a Qualcomm 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon MSM8660 processor, a 12-megapixel rear camera, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. There is no support for microSD cards on the phone and it makes use of a Micro SIM card as well. The rear of the phone certainly doesn't look like the Xperia ion that was leaked earlier so it should be a different device (in case you guys were wondering) - though it's possible these leaked images don't show the final phone and Sony Ericsson might have made some changes since then. It won't be too long until CES 2012, so we'll find out soon enough.

The next Sony Ericsson Xperia teased, could it be the Arc S

Today we got the third teaser about the upcoming new Xperia phone. It will be announced on CES in Las Vegas in a few days. Unfortunately, all three teases show a device awfully similar with the arc/arc S rather than highly awaited arc HD, codenamed Nozomi. We already met the Nozomi/arc HD and it looks nothing like the previous Xperia arc phones. Here are the three teasers so far, so you can see for yourselves. And here is the Xperia Nozomi a.k.a. arc HD. So, we could be wrong but it seems to us Sony Ericsson is preparing to announce the US version of the arc S, rather than the dual-core arc HD. If this scenario really happens, the arc HD will be most probably unveiled on the upcoming MWC in Barcelona. Anyway, these are all just some teasers and they can mean literally anything. At least we won't have to wait much longer before we learn the truth. Source | Via

Motorola MOTOLUXE and Motorola DEFY MINI announced

Motorola has just announced two new handsets aimed for the budget market. Called the MOTOLUXE and Motorola DEFY MINI, the phones are designed to offer consumers the full Motorola Android experience without having to cost a bomb. The MOTOLUXE features a 4.0 FWVGA (480 x 854) edge to edge display, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a front facing camera, a multi-colored LED for notifications, Android Gingerbread and a thickness of 9.8mm. The DEFY MINI looks like a sequel to the original DEFY but with a smaller display. It still has dust proof, water resistant, scratch resistant capabilities, which should help it live up to its DEFY name, and it packs a 3-megapixel rear camera, a front-facing camera, and a “big battery”. No details about pricing but the phones are expected to launch this spring.

HTC HD8 Windows Phone handset sneaks up in app stats

The Windows Phone platform is not exactly the primary mobile operating system of choice for many people, hence having it languish behind iOS and Android at the moment despite receiving very favorable views from those who have already given it a go, especially in the latest Mango iteration. Well, it seems that there is a HTC HD8 in the works that has recently been spotted running Windows Phone 7 Build 7740 – supposedly taking over where the HTC HD7 left off, continuing the legacy of the Windows Phone 6.5-powered HTC HD2. This might also eventually end up as a Windows 8 device, also known as an Apollo handset. Since it was caught in application stats running Build 7740 of Windows Phone 7 means there is a physical unit somewhere out there in Romania, over the Vodafone network, but that is about as far as we can get before the trail runs cold. Do you think HTC will spring a surprise on the masses at CES next week, or at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month?