Samsung gets official with the Galaxy Premier: 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED, 8MP camera, GS III styling
If Samsung took a wrong turn with its brand-diluting Galaxy S III Mini, then the much-leaked Galaxy Premier is where it gets back on track. The phone keeps the outward visage of the Galaxy S III and makes only modest sacrifices in order to reach a wider audience. These include a slightly shrunken 4.65-inch screen, which still blazes away with a full 720 x 1,280 Super AMOLED panel, an acceptable dual-core 1.5 GHz TI OMAP 4470 processor, 1GB of RAM and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The cameras haven't been messed with -- we're still looking at an 8-megapixel rear and a 1.9-megapixel front-facer -- while connectivity includes Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC. So far, the phone has only been made official in the Ukraine, where it's been pegged for a November release and priced at 5,555 Ukrainian hryvnias -- an exotic-sounding figure that very roughly translates to $680.
Article source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/31/samsung-galaxy-premier-official/
ZTE launches Nubia range of high-end devices, announces Z5 quad-core smartphone
ZTE's plan to reinvent itself as a high-end smartphone was missing one, crucial ingredient -- a European-sounding name that ended in "...ia" to brand its new range of top-level devices. That's why the company has just announced Nubia, which apparently means "cloudy" in Latin. It's also teased details of the first handset to arrive under this new cloud (geddit?), the Z5. This new 5-inch smartphone will have quad-core internals, a 13-megapixel camera and "Italian" design -- which makes us hope above hope that they hired Pininfarina and it'll come in Ferrari Red.
Article source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/31/zte-nubia/
Panasonic shows $613 million operating profit for Q2, but lowers full year projections
The good news for Panasonic in its Q2 earnings release is that it managed to record a 48.8 billion yen ($613 million) operating profit, higher than last year. The bad news however is word of falling sales in its TV business, although we're not hearing any confirmation of changes in its plans for mobile phones. New CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga is working a new restructuring plan that should help return divisions like its one for TV to profitability, but there will be costs upfront. The company revised its operating profit prediction for the year to 140 billion yen ($1.76 billion) based on the slower sales, and still is looking at a net loss for the year of 765 billion yen ($9.6 billion) due to deferred tax assets. Hopefully any cost-cutting doesn't affect the quality of its Viera HDTV brand, but Panasonic will have to figure out some way to turn those stellar reviews into overall profits, even as the market continues to shrink. Our suggestion? Get some of those 8K Super Hi-Vision plasmas to market, ASAP.
Article source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/31/panasonic-earnings-q2-2013/
Toshiba Q2 results: profit of $722 million, whole-year forecast cut by $500 million
Toshiba has managed to pick itself up this quarter, recording $17.8 billion in sales, making for an operating profit of $722 million over the past three months. The "social infrastructure" segments recorded a healthy profit ($518 million), while income from digital products, home appliances and electronic devices fell due lower than expected demand. Forecasts for the year have been cut for the full year by approximately $500 million to $3.26 billion, as Toshiba expects lowers sales and operating profits due to the uncertain global economic situation. Individual segments are expected to continue their distinct trends, with the social infrastructure business pulling in more while its other arms bear the brunt of the economic slowdown.
[Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]
Article source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/31/toshiba-q2-2012/
O2 first UK carrier to confirm LG’s Google Nexus 4
So, heard about that Google Nexus 4 thingy from LG? O2 is the first UK carrier to announce it'll be carrying this year's winner of the "most-leaked smartphone" award, which was mercifully launched on Monday. So far, we've found the "phenomenal" quad-core, 4.7-inch, 1280 x 768 handset with virgin Jelly Bean 4.2 to be "better than the sum of its parts," and Google will be selling the phone sim-free for a non-exorbitant £239 at the Play store. That means you'll likely find the device free under contract, but your carrier choices may be limited to start, as O2's rumored to have a 30-day exclusive. There's no mention of price or availability, but Google's own sale date of November 13th seems a good bet.
Article source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/31/o2-first-uk-carrier-to-confirm-lgs-google-nexus-4/
Nexus 7 sales clocking in at close to a million per month
While it was pretty clear that Asustek's Google-partnered Nexus 7 contributed heavily to the Taiwanese maker's healthy Q3 results, there was no official confirmation on its exact sales figures so far. Asustek CFO David Chang has now come clean and told the WSJ that the 7-incher is close to touching the one million per month mark, just about double the rate of sales at its launch. While this number is a fraction of the iPad's sales (14 million in the last quarter alone), it could well go up due to the recent price drop and the addition of new 32GB models to the portfolio. On the flip side, the Nexus 7 is sure to face heat from close rivals, the Kindle Fire HD and the 7.9-inch Apple iPad mini, while the mega-spec Nexus 10 will also entice some buyers away from Asustek's reach.
Article source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/31/nexus-7-sales-close-to-a-million/
Hurricane Sandy has knocked out 25 percent of all cell towers, cable services in 10 states
Julius Genachowski has revealed that Hurricane Sandy has knocked out a full quarter of cellphone towers and cable services in the 10 most affected states. The FCC chief believes that, as more towers expend their battery back-ups and the storm's continued presence, the situation's going to get worse before it gets better. He's also reiterated that users should avoid making non-essential calls and use e-mail or social media to avoid overloading the straining networks. One point of interest in the call, was that land line phone outages were much less widespread -- which might be something to remember if you've ever considered cutting the cord.
Article source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/31/fcc-sandy-fallout/
Google research pane for Docs adds personal content, integration with Presentation and Drawing
Building off of the web search capabilities of its research pane for Docs, Google is now giving users the ability to search for and insert their own personal content. For example, if you're working on a presentation in Drive and want to add a photo from your Picasa album, or a quote from a friend's Google+ profile, you'll now have the option of adding personal content from within the research pane without leaving your project. This new search feature pulls information from your personal Picasa albums, Drive and Google+ accounts, and users will also find that the research pane has been extended to Presentation and Drawings. Unfortunately, Google Apps customers will still be limited to web-only search results, as personal content search is intended for individual accounts. However, if you're a starving student heavily embedded in Google's ecosystem, this time saver just might shave a few minutes off of your weekend cram session and that's always a good thing.
Article source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/31/google-research-pane-personal-search-drawings-presentation-support/
Neo Geo X coming to Europe December 6th for £175 / €199
As we pointed out, European gamers will be able to pew-pew or grapple on the go with the Neo Geo X alongside their US counterparts on December 6th, and now we know for how much and where: £175 in the UK and €199 elsewhere at Funstock. For that sum you'll get the handheld with a 4.3-inch screen, joystick, game card, AES-style charging dock with HDMI output and 20 pre-installed retro games -- with more arriving soon. So, if you're up for kicking it 1990s style that side of the pond, grab it at the source.
Article source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/31/neo-geo-x-coming-to-europe-december-6th-for-175-199/
Nokia Lumia 822 for Verizon hands-on (video)
Now that Microsoft's officially flooded the world with good tidings of Windows Phone 8, it's the turn of OEMs and carriers to get the word out about their own Microsoft-flavored smartphones. We finally got a chance to play with Nokia's previously leaked and recently announced Lumia 822 for Verizon, a mid-range handset similar to the Lumia 820 on ATT and the Lumia 810 for T-Mobile that will cost $99 with a two-year contract. Availability is slated for sometime in November -- it's been a long time since we've seen a Nokia device on Verizon (sorry, but those Pantech-built models don't count), so this is rather exciting news.
Spec-wise the Lumia 822 features a 4.3-inch WVGA ClearBlack AMOLED display, an eight-megapixel autofocus Carl Zeiss camera, a 1.2MP front-facing shooter, a Qualcomm dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB or RAM, 16GB of internal flash, microSD support for additional storage, and optional Qi-compatible wireless charging. Radios include CDMA and LTE for Verizon, GSM / GPRS / EDGE / UMTS / HSPA+ for global roaming, WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, A-GPS and NFC.
In terms of design, the Lumia 822 is much curvier than its siblings and the battery cover doesn't wrap around the sides. The camera pod and flash placement matches the longitudinal setup from the Lumia 920 and Lumia 810 instead of the transverse layout found on the Lumia 820. At 142g (5 ounces) it's quite a hefty device, but despite being 11.2mm (0.44 inches) thick, it feels very nice in hand. Build quality is solid, which is pretty much what you'd expect from Nokia. The phone will be available in three colors: black, white and our favorite, a stunning shade of grey. See for yourself in the gallery below, and peek after the break for our hands-on video.
Brad Molen contributed to this report.
Article source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/31/nokia-lumia-822-for-verizon-hands-on-video/