More details on Nokia Ace (Lumia 900) surface

Even more details have become known on the upcoming Nokia Ace (Lumia 900) for AT&T Wireless - less than a week after we came across leaked photos of the smartphone tucked into a Christmas card.

This time, the specs of the upcoming Finnish flagship are almost fully revealed along with a mockup photo, based on the leaked images from a couple of days ago.

The Nokia Ace will indeed be sold globally as Lumia 900. The smartphone will pack a 1.4GHz Scorpion CPU and 512MB of RAM. The display of the handset is expected to be in the 4.3" vicinity, while the battery is rumored to have 1830mAh capacity. The phone is also expected to pack T-Mobile's 1700 MHz 3G band. It will be sold locked for AT&T though.

The Nokia Ace will weigh 160 grams, while having similar thickness as the Lumia 800 at 12mm.

The Windows Phone Mango running Nokia flagship is expected to hit the shelves at some point in March. Rumor has it that it will be unveiled at CES next week, along with another mid-range Nokia smartphone, featuring Microsoft's OS (Lumia 719).

As you probably know already, we will be covering live from Las Vegas, so expect a timely update on the Nokia Ace as soon as we get the full scoop.

Source

Samsung Galaxy S III May Debut in February

Samsung is preparing the successor of the Galaxy S II, one of the most popular Android handsets and iPhone rivals to date. The Samsung Galaxy S III is expected to debut in February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, while the first photo taken with the phone’s camera has been purportedly leaked.
The first evidence of the Samsung Galaxy S III comes from Pocketnow, which unearthed what appears to be a test photo taken with the yet unreleased and unannounced device. The EXIF data of the photo, which can be easily faked, indicates it was taken with a phone carrying the model number GT-I9500, following the numbering patters of previous Galaxy handsets from Samsung.
The photo’s metadata indicates it was taken inside Samsung’s R&D labs in South Korea, and you can also see the back of another Samsung PC. Pocketnow reports the shooter of the photo appears to be the same person who leaked test photos of the Samsung Galaxy S II in January, months before the device was released. Further inspection of the photo shows the resolution of the camera was dialed down to 5 megapixels, apparently in an effort to mask its full capabilities. TechRadar believes the image was a plant by Samsung.

Samsung Galaxy S III Specs

Korean site ETNews claims the Samsung Galaxy S III will be nothing short of a super phone. The phone is said to feature a large Super AMOLED Plus HD display at 1280-by-720 pixels, continuing the trend of large-screen Android phones.
The Samsung Galaxy S III will feature a quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM, when most current smartphones feature only 1GB or RAM, the report says, as well as the latest version of Android, 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Although the purported test photo from the S III was dialed down to 5-megapixels (the camera resolution of the Galaxy Nexus), the upcoming phone is said to feature a 12-megapixel camera, building up from the S II’s 8-megapixel shooter.
If the Samsung Galaxy S III sounds like music to your ears, you shouldn’t delay your next smartphone purchase. Even if the device is announced in February, it would take a considerable period of time until it arrives with carriers in the United States. Carriers usually alter the phone’s design and sometimes even its screen size to differentiate their offerings.

Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T Shows Up in Virtual Greeting Card

Rumors about the next-generation Windows Phone device manufactured by Nokia, the Lumia 900 have come and gone, but no official details on the smartphone's specs sheet emerged yet.
However, it looks like one of Microsoft's partners got a little too excited on the New Year's Eve and decided to send a special holiday greeting card whose main “pièce de résistance” is the yet to be announced Nokia Lumia 900, also known as Nokia Ace.
The smartphone reveals a secondary front-facing camera on the left upper corner, as well as the AT&T logo on the opposite right upper corner of the device.


Obviously, no other detail on the phone's spec's sheet are revealed in the greeting card, but it appears that one of the persons responsible for the rumors on this Windows Phone device, Mr. Paul Thurrott refers to it as Nokia Lumia 900, so the smartphone might see an international launch after all.

According to him, Nokia Lumia 900 is one of the three LTE-enabled smartphones that will be launched by AT&T next year. The other two would be the recently leaked HTC Radiant and Samsung Mandel.

In the same news, rumors claim that Nokia Lumia 900/Nokia Ace will be the second Windows Phone device introduced by Nokia in the United States, after Lumia 710 will hit shelves at T-Mobile USA in mid-January.

If this is the case then we should expect Nokia Lumia 800 to arrive in the United States after Nokia Ace makes its debut via AT&T in March, which is hard to believe. The latest hearsay points to a possible Nokia Lumia 900 announcement at CES 2012, early next year.

It is also worth mentioning that Nokia Lumia 900 will be the first device to be launched with Windows Phone Tango on board. However, the update will probably be pushed to the rest of Nokia smartphones soon after.

Nokia Lumia 900 to Land at AT&T on March 18th

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia might have its first LTE-enabled Windows Phone available on shelves at wireless carrier AT&T as soon as March next year, recent reports suggest.
We already knew that the handset was coming, but specific info on when that might happen hasn’t emerged so far.

New reports, however, suggest that the smartphone, dubbed Nokia Lumia 900, could be set for a March 18th release at AT&T, after being made official at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next month.

A recent rumor suggested that HTC and Samsung were also planning the release of Windows Phone devices with LTE capabilities inside. These mobile phones are expected to arrive on shelves at AT&T too.

Basically, this means that the wireless carrier’s users will soon be able to purchase three new Windows Phones to connect to the carrier’s LTE network, in addition to the currently available Android devices.

Quad-core Samsung Galaxy S III to be unveiled at MWC 2012

Samsung’s Galaxy lineup has been one of the most sought after smartphone lines worldwide. The Galaxy S II became the company’s fastest selling smartphone ever, selling 3 million units in just 55 days. Moreover, Samsung sold more than 30 million Galaxy S and Galaxy S II smartphones worldwide as of October. There is no question that consumers are interested in the Galaxy lineup and it is almost certain that we will see a Galaxy S III in 2012. According to Korean website ETNews, the much anticipated device will debut at Mobile World Congress in February and feature a quad-core Exynos chipset. Additionally, the Galaxy S III will sport a Super AMOLED Plus 720p display, LTE connectivity, 2GB of RAM and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz. It has also been rumored that Samsung’s flagship device will feature 3D technology that will integrate the device with 3D television sets. Mobile World Congress is scheduled for February 27 through March 1, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain.
[Via Phandroid]

HTC updates bootloader unlock utility to support latest Android lineup

It wasn't long ago that HTC's bootloader unlock utility hit the masses, thereby righting the company's silly decision to lock its phones down in the first place. Now, continuing its commitment to mod-lovers and those who appreciate freedom, The House of Chou is announcing that its latest lineup of Android phones can find a similar (and proper) fate. The company has released an updated bootloader unlock tool that supports all Android devices released after September of this year. Naturally, this includes such handsets as the HTC EVO Design 4G, Rezound, Rhyme and Vivid. The company has yet to release an updated list of supported devices, but promises to do so in the coming days. While we're still not crazy about users losing their rights to a warranty, for the moment, that seems to be the price of freedom.

Nokia Ace with LTE and Windows Phone to be released by AT&T on March 18, Lumia 710 headed to Verizon

Here's some more news about upcoming Windows Phones. Earlier today we told you that two smartphones made by HTC and Samsung would arrive in early 2012 in the US sporting both Windows Phone and LTE support. And now we have more information – a lot more in fact, courtesy of Paul Thurrott's WinSuperSite. The aforementioned devices (HTC Radiant and Samsung Mendel or Mandel) will be joined in the US by the Nokia Ace – also an LTE-capable handset. This isn't the first time we've heard about the Ace – it was always supposed to be Nokia's first flagship smartphone to run Microsoft's new operating system. The Nokia Ace, alongside the HTC and Samsung phones, will all be launched by AT&T in the first half of next year. The Nokia Ace in fact has an already set release date: March 18, 2012. All these three handsets will be announced during CES next month. Despite a purported leaked roadmap surfacing yesterday which claimed that an update to Windows Phone (called Tango) would be released soon, Paul says it's unclear at the moment if all of these devices will indeed launch alongside an OS update. Windows Phone Tango has always been rumored to focus on supporting lower-end offerings, and LTE support kind of doesn't fit into that mantra. That said, Tango may very well come with both LTE and cheaper phone support, as one past rumor said it would. We'll just have to wait and see. If you're wondering whether Verizon will be getting any hot Windows Phone action next year, wonder no more. It will, but nowhere near as much as AT&T. Big Red will sell the midrange Nokia Lumia 710, starting in April. But keep in mind that it doesn't have LTE connectivity.

Sprint Samsung Conquer 4G will get a $49.99 Buy One Get One free offer starting on January 8

If you're thinking of getting both yourself and someone you love a decent smartphone for a decent price, perhaps you should wait a bit. See, Sprint will have something interesting for you from January 8 to March 10. What, you ask? Well, a BOGO (Buy One Get One free) sort of thing. The Now Network will be offering you, in effect, two Samsung Conquer 4G smartphones for just $49.99 (after a $50 mail-in rebate). You'll obviously have to sign two new two-year contracts to get that price. But you should probably take the fact that this phone usually sells for $99.99 under consideration. Because you'll get two handsets for half the normal price of one. That's a pretty good deal. And the Conquer 4G is a pretty good phone. Just don't expect it to outperform the best out there. Or turn heads. Yet if the highest-end features aren't interesting to you, don't forget about this offer when January 8 comes. The Samsung Conquer 4G has a 3.5-inch 320×480 touchscreen, a 1 GHz processor, a 3.2 MP camera, a secondary 1.3 MP front-facing camera, 4G WiMax support, and a full physical side-sliding QWERTY keyboard.

Pink colored Galaxy S II heading for Taiwan

Samsung has announced that they will be launching the pink colored variant of the popular Galaxy S II smartphone in Taiwan. This shade has been in sale for a while now in Korea but this is the first time it is making an appearance in Taiwan. The phone will go on sale starting January 1, 2012 and will cost TWD 21,900 (USD 722). Other than the color, the phone is identical to other Galaxy S II phones, wherein it has the same 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video, 1,650mAh battery and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Source

Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy 3D coming in 2012?

The Samsung Galaxy S series devices were generally a phenomenal success throughout the world and can be considered as one of the success stories for the Korean electronics giant. With such level of success, there is an obvious need to keep the ball rolling. Hence, we are not surprised that Samsung is rumored to be working on Galaxy S III. The third generation device from Galaxy S series is said to come with a quad-core processor, 720p HD Super AMOLED Plus display and of course, Android 4.0 operating system a.k.a the Ice Cream Sandwich. The device is expected to be announced at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in February 2012 and will be available for consumers sometime in the second quarter of the year. As the same time, Samsung is said to be working on 3D technology for its smartphones. However, it is not known for now whether the 3D functionality – which covers not only playback but also photo and video recording - will be fitted into Galaxy S III or otherwise. Nevertheless, a brand new 3D-capable device called Galaxy S 3D might be hitting the market around the same time as Galaxy S III. This is not the first Samsung 3D phone as they have released 3D-capable phone called W960 last year in Korea. Of course, being a Galaxy-class device, we expect that the new rumored Galaxy S 3D will be as good as its other siblings in the series. Well, we shall find out how true this rumor is in two months' time. Till then, fathom this news with a bag full of salt.