Omio News Blog

Omio Mobile Phone News Weekly Newsletter – 7th April – 10th April

Earlier on in the week, the BlackBerry R10 mid-range mobile phone pictures leaked, along with specifications. We updated an article on the Nokia Lumia 925 ‘Catwalk’ being launched next week, where the mobile phone was seen on billboard and at a concert. A possible LG Optimus G2 mobile phone picture appears online, and the Apple iPad mini is arriving with a Retina display, before October. The Samsung Galaxy S4 ‘Zoom’ camera phone is launching soon, and Angry Birds and The Croods multi-device game play arrives.

Midweek, the BlackBerry Q10 went on sale for over £1,500, and the Apple iPhone 5S LCD production is starting in June. Omio published, Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Apple iPhone 5: thoughts on Android, from an iOS user’s perspective. An HTC 7-inch and 12-inch Windows 8 tablet is launching in October.

Towards the end of the week, we updated the piece – Nokia leaks official picture of Nokia Lumia 928, adds low-light capture video – where the photo was taken down. Nokia Asha 501 mobile phone launches, with Nokia Lumia design. Omio ran, Nokia Asha 501: in pictures and on video. The Nokia Asha 501 doesn’t run Series 40. We published Samsung Galaxy S4: unboxing and hands-on pictures. Samsung’s Galaxy S4 Zoom, Samsung Galaxy S4 mini and Samsung Galaxy S4 Activ are launching this month. Apple iOS 7 has been seen in server logs, hitting a new high, and Nokia Lumia ‘Catwalk’ is to be built on Nokia Lumia 720 design.

At the end of the week, Apple iPhone 5, Apple iPhone 4 and BlackBerry Z10 prices are reduced – on Orange, Vodafone and now T-Mobile. The Nokia Lumia ‘Catwalk’ mobile phone to be sold by Vodafone, and Samsung gets ITV exclusive access. Amazon is working on 3D mobile phone. Omio published: BlackBerry Live, Google I/O and Nokia Event: What is going to be launched? The World’s fastest mobile phone is coming to Three UK, and Nokia Lumia 928 was officially announced.

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The biggest story of the week came from Nokia, in unveiled the Nokia Lumia 928 Windows Phone 8 mobile, for the American Verizon network.

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The next most significant piece was when Samsung was thought to be releasing another version of the Samsung Galaxy S4, called the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom – with an updated camera.

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The third largest news item came from Amazon, which is said to be expanding its range of products, which includes two handsets

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The following most significant story was Samsung having the European release dates leaked for a number of its yet-to-be-announced Samsung Galaxy S4 series of mobile phones, according to a recent report.

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The fifth biggest piece was BlackBerry seeing photos appear online of its yet-to-be-announced R-series R10 handset.

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The next most significant news came when Apple upcoming iOS 7 has been responsible for a large amount of web traffic of late, heading into its expected release at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

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The seventh largest story was LG having an unnamed handset leak,without any buttons and with a large screen.

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The following most significant item came from HTC, which is said to be making two large screen based Windows RT devices, with the codenames of R7 and R12 – for Q3 of this year.

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The penultimate piece of news was when BlackBerry, saw a customised gold-plated version of its QWERTY BlackBerry Q10 arrive – with a cost of £1,597.

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Lastly, Nokia has unveiled the Nokia Asha 501, with a new user interface, and design that is reminiscent of the Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 8 range.

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HTC 7-inch and 12-inch Windows 8 tablets launching in October

Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer HTC is said to be making two large screen based Windows RT devices, with the codenames of R7 and R12 – for Q3 of this year.

The first is thought to have a 7-inch full high-definition screen, while powered by a quad-core 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU, with 2GB of RAM.

This is with 16GB of storage capacity, expandable with a microSD card. There is also a 13-megapixel camera onboard, with connectivity in the form of LTE/HSPA+, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and A-GPS.

PhoneArena has published this info, obtained from one of its sources.

It notes the R12 is a 12-inch tablet, alleged to have a resolution of 2,048 x 1,536.

That is with the same internal specs of the R7, while running from the Windows Blue update to the Microsoft platform.

Those devices are a rumoured to have a tentative launch date of the 13th of October, which matches that OS’ release timeframe.

HTC has been rumoured to be making a Windows tablet for a while. In December we covered a piece on Bloomberg, stating the same news and once again in April – from NPD DisplaySearch.

UPDATE: HTC ‘M4′ One junior arriving in June, with metal-alloy body – now with picture

Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer HTC is reportedly going to use a metal-alloy chassis in its purported HTC M4 Android based mobile phone, which is a handset that will sit beneath the HTC One.

This comes from sources in the upstream supply chain, who note the company Catcher Technology is the exclusive supplier of that type of casing to the M4.

That is in order to prevent the component shortage issue happening again, according to an article on Digitimes.

It also states that it will have a shipping date of June, where an estimated 700,000 mobile phones are going to be distributed.

HTC’s One chassis is solely made from aluminium, giving it that premium design that is a far cry from the plastic look of the One X.

Lesser costing materials will make it more affordable, while still retaining that standout build quality.

We have already reported on the purportedly named M4 this year, with its rumoured specifications leaking in February.

Those are thought to be a 4.3-inch HVGA screen; dual-core 1.2GHz processor; 2GB of RAM; 16GB of internal storage and a 13-megapixel camera.

Omio was told by the head of HTC for UK and Ireland, there would be no more HTC One named devices this year.

That would mean the rumored M4 would have another name, even though it sits in the 2013 HTC One range – which would be the equivalent of the HTC One X, HTC One S and HTC One V, from 2012.

UPDATE:

PhoneArena has published a picture of the alleged HTC M4 (see above), with a similar look and design to the HTC One – only with a smaller screen size (720p resolution) and with cheaper materials, as already mentioned.

Omio Mobile Phone News Weekly Newsletter – 2nd April – 5th April

Earlier on in the week, we reported the HTC Facebook mobile phone was launching this week. The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini is being unveiled that week, and HTC is launching a Windows tablet. Samsung is to rename phablets Galaxy Mega, and EE brings 4G to black taxis. Omio published an update to: Samsung Galaxy S4 available on Orange – for £10.50 a month

Midweek, the HTC Myst Facebook phone is to be called HTC First. Jelly Bean is now on a quarter of Android devices. The Wall Street Journal stated Apple iPhone 5S will be in production before June. We also ran an update to: Samsung Galaxy S4, £36 a month with T-Mobile – now on £7 contract. The Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 is due at the start of June; Samsung Galaxy S Tab pictures leaked, and a new Nexus 7 tablet is due in July.

Towards the end of the week, the HTC First Facebook Home Android screen shots leaked. We ran, How to run BlackBerry 10 OS on Apple iOS or Android devices. BlackBerry is to close its music service, and Google Sound Search comes to the UK. The Firefox maker and Samsung are to team up on Servo web browser, and Nokia Lumia 520 became available on O2, free on £14 a month deal. Facebook unveiled Home, its thoroughly integrated Android app, and Omio published – Facebook Home: in pictures and on video. The HTC First Facebook Home phone, is coming to EE.

At the end of the week, a BlackBerry QWERTY phone picture leaked. The BlackBerry Q10 is now available at Carphone Warehouse, on £36 a month deals. Facebook Home app is not launching on the 12th of April. An Alleged iPhone 5S pictures appear online, and Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 became available to buy, with £60 worth of free add-ons. The BlackBerry Q10 comes with a free BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, at Phones 4u.

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The biggest story of the week came from Facebook, which unveiled a suite of applications called Home, which replaces the home screen of your Android mobile phone – where it essentially takes over the handset.

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The next most significant piece was when Apple was said to be producing the next iPhone, thought to the Apple iPhone 5S, this quarter.

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The third largest news item came from Apple, which reportedly had pictures of a prototype leaked of its purported Apple iPhone 5S, due to be launched this summertime.

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The following most significant story was Google releasing its latest figures for the install base of Android, where Jelly Bean is on 25 per cent of all products running its mobile operating system.

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The fifth biggest piece was when EE announced the HTC First, featuring Facebook Home, will be exclusively coming to its network.

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The next most significant news came when BlackBerry, had seen a yet-to-be-announced mobile phone leaked online, reportedly to be in the R-Series.

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The seventh largest story was HTC launching a tablet running Windows later in the year, according to a recent report.

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The following most significant item came from Google, which is reportedly going to unveil the next generation of the Asus made Android Nexus 7 device, at the start of Q3.

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The penultimate piece of news was when Samsung was reported to have already made the successor to the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3, where it is set to arrive toward the end of Q2.

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Lastly, Samsung is reportedly going to launch its successor to the Samsung Galaxy S3 mini – the Samsung Galaxy S mini, in the next few days.

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HTC First Facebook Home phone, coming to EE

Formerly Everything Everywhere, now the 4G EE mobile phone network and umbrella company has announced the HTC First, featuring Facebook Home, will be exclusively coming to its network.

The HTC First was announced at the same time as the Facebook Home suite of apps, only for the American AT&T network.

EE has now unveiled it will be available this summer time, on its 4G network, but hasn’t made public any prices, as yet.

Besides running Home from out of the box (read more about it here), it will house a 4.3-inch HD 1,280 x 720 Super LCD screen.

Driving the mobile will be a dual-core 1.4GHz processor, with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

There will be a 5-megapixel camera built-in, with a 1.6MP front-facing version; Bluetooth 4.0; NFC and it will run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

“We’re proud to have been chosen by Facebook and HTC to be their UK launch partner for the HTC First”, said Pippa Dunn, Chief Marketing Officer.

“In combining our unique superfast network with the latest integrated Facebook experience, customers will constantly be at the centre of conversations with their friends.”

“Along with our partners and fellow innovators — EE in the UK — we anticipate excitement from customers when the HTC First becomes available, putting a user’s friends and family at the centre of their mobile experience.”, said Peter Chou, CEO HTC.

HTC First Facebook Home Android screen shots leak

Social network giant Facebook has reportedly had press shots leaked online of its Android application that will be at the heart of the HTC First: the handset that will initially feature this application.

These have been published by Google mobile OS news title 9To5Google, from Twitter user @evleaks.

That twipster is well known for outing accurate info, ahead of a company’s official announcement.

Omio has already reported on the first image, of the HTC First – which was also care of that Twitter user.

It has now obtained these screen shots of the app that will be at the centre of the mobile phone.

The title notes that Facebook Home (the presumed name for this new app) has a minimal aesthetic, similar to the HTC One Sense 5 overlay.

There is said to be a focus on full-screen photography, with Facebook functions and features at every turn.

This negates the need to launch that application all the time, as it is interwoven inside the OS.

It wraps up by stating it looks clean, well thought out and will probably appeal to the social networking aficionados – with an appreciation for design.

Stay tuned to Omio, as we’ll bring you more on this, when the device and app launches later today.

HTC Myst Facebook phone to be called HTC First

Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer HTC has seen a picture leak of its soon-to-be-announced mobile phone partnership with Facebook, which will reportedly be called the HTC First.

Facebook sent out press invites last week to an event, which is believed to be the unveiling of the codenamed HTC Myst – with deep FB integration.

Omio has reported on this here, where a system dump of the mobile phone had been obtained that highlights its specifications, along with images of an unseen Facebook integrated application.

Well-known Twitter users and information leaker @evleaks has published the first purported images of this phone – carrying the name HTC First.

That is the first time we have heard of this naming of the device, which had previously gone under the codename of HTC Myst (in other leaks).

The Twipster does have a good level of credibility, as it has accurately posted information ahead of a company officially unveiling it.

These are along the lines of the first ever airing of the BlackBerry Z10 name, to the press shots of the HTC One – to name but a few leaks.

Facebook will be officially launching its collaboration with HTC this Thursday; stay tuned to Omio and we’ll bring you more on this handset.

HTC launching a Windows tablet

Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer HTC is going to launch a tablet running Windows later in the year, according to a recent report.

The rumoured HTC tablet could have a 10.1-inch screen, with a 1,920 x 1,080 HD display – made by LG.

This news comes from market research and consulting company NPD DisplaySearch, as reported by Focus Taiwan.

It is from a report released at its annual conference in Taipei, which goes on to add the details that Pegatron Corp might assemble the tablet.

That is a Taiwanese contract laptop maker, where production could have already started.

This is not the first time we have heard that HTC is re-entering the tablet market.

Late December, Bloomberg stated that the company was working on a 12 and 7-inch based tablet, based on Windows RT – a version of the new Windows 8 operating system.

HTC has produced a tablet in the past (2011), called the HTC Flyer.

It had a 7-inch screen and arrived running the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, when others around at the time had the Honeycomb OS – which was designed for tablets.

Omio believes that with the company’s already successful Windows Phone 8X and 8S handsets, a slight diversification to a desktop OS isn’t too far a stretch for HTC.

HTC Facebook mobile phone launching this week

Popular social networking website Facebook is going to announce an HTC mobile phone on Thursday, with deep Facebook integration.

The social networking giant sent out invites to the media last week, for an event being held on Thursday, April 4th, 2013.

It contained the wording “Come See Our New Home on Android”

The occasion is believed to be for the launch of the phone, with codename the of HTC Myst – which we have reported on here.

The Google OS news website Android Police has managed to obtain a system dump of the Facebook phone, and has published screen shots from the OS and specifications of the device.

It notes that the phone is a mid-range handset, called Myst_UL.

That has a 4.3-inch 720p resolution screen, while powered by a dual-core CPU, with 1GB of RAM and a 5-megapixel rear/1.6MP front-facing camera.

Running the phone is Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, with the HTC Sense 4.5 overlay.

The website states it will feature a special Facebook app that isn’t available elsewhere, while providing proof from the ROM in the form of images, and details on its deep integration with the OS.

It adds “Everything seems to be focussed on the Facebook app – they haven’t made their own Android Skin, or anything like that”

Stay tuned to Omio and we’ll bring you more on this, as the story develops.

HTC Desire P and Desire Q pictures leak

Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer HTC has had images and specifications appear online of two yet-to-be-announced mobile phones – the HTC Desire P and HTC Desire Q.

Omio was exclusively told at Mobile World Congress there will be no other HTC One mobile phones this year, where these two purported devices could very well fill in the spaces – which were occupied by the 2012 HTC One S and HTC One V.

The Desire P is said to have a 4.3-inch WVGA display, a 1GHz processor; Beats Audio integration and an 8-megapixel camera, with a front-facing variant.

HTC’s Q handset is reported to come with a 4-inch screen, also with Beats Audi and support for microSD cards.

Unwiredview has covered this news, from an article on Android for TW.

It notes that these are mid-range and low-end devices, while the Desire P has the appearance of the Desire SV – from last year.

This is while the Desire Q resembles the HTC Desire U, launched in Taiwan in January:  the same market these two are destined to arrive.

Stay tuned to Omio and we’ll bring you more on these handsets, along with if they’re due to arrive in the UK.