HTC's promise of a 'new sound and camera experience' is the M7

The much anticipated HTC M7 has been brought into sharper focus by a small hint on HTC's website, promising big image quality.

The Taiwanese firm has just launched an infographic on "The Brief History of Photography", and while that may sound pretty innocuous, things take a teasing turn towards the end.

The final section, which falls under the 2013 banner, reads: "HTC kicks off a new sound and camera experience in 2013."

Say cheese

A trusted TechRadar source has confirmed that this refers to the event on February 19, where we expect to see the HTC M7 launch.

Yesterday we heard reports that HTC was apparently looking to drop megapixels from the M7 handset in favour of ultrapixels to provide higher resolution images in a similar way to Nokia's PureView technology.

Coupled with today's news, it looks pretty likely that we will see the HTC M7 sporting fancy new camera tech later this month, with previous reports suggesting it will also feature a quad-core processor, full HD 4.7-inch display and Android Jelly Bean.

Asus launches app-happy MeMo Pad with video rundown

While Asus just barely snuck out an announcement for the MeMo Pad last month, the firm is prepared to make a little more noise for the 7-inch tablet's launch today.

The firm officially launched the MeMo Pad today, and Asus is marking the occasion with a video overview of the tablet's features.

The video mostly highlights a range of pre-installed apps, like Asus Studio photo editing, BudyBuzz social media manager, MyPainter, SuperNote Lite, and Floating App for multitasking.

The video also delves into some of the tablet's more attractive hardware features, including 5GB of cloud storage from Asus that can be used to sync data between a PC and the MeMo Pad.

The other 7-inch Asus tablet

The focus on apps over hardware might have to do with the MeMo Pad not exactly being a powerhouse of a tablet, a sort of smoke and mirrors to distract from the less than stellar specs.

It's equipped with a 7-inch 1024 x 600 display, a VIA WM8950 1GHz Mali 400 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 1-megapixel front-facing camera, and a microSD card expansion slot. Not exactly world shattering.

That's a far cry from Asus' other 7-inch tablet, the Nexus 7, though it's still running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and has a powerful 4270mAh battery, so the MeMo Pad can hold its own for everyday usage.

The MeMo Pad is priced at a budget-friendly US$149, and comes in gray, white, and pink. Though Asus says the tablet is launching today, it does not seem to be available for sale anywhere quite yet.

YouTube : UtpNOSWuUfk

Over 270,000 rush to download just-released iOS 6 jailbreak

Though jailbreaks for the iPhone 5 were previously readily availableto developers, the public at large didn't have any options for cracking Apple's restrictive iOS 6.

There had been plenty of instances of prior iPhone jailbreaks happening, but to this point, the iPhone 5 had proven particularly challenging for hackers.

However, that all changed Monday when a group known as the Evad3rs team finally released an untethered jailbreak for iOS 6 devices, including the iPhone 5, downloadable by anyone with a computer.

The Evasi0n jailbreak allows users to run and download apps not approved by Apple right alongside the regular and certified downloads already on the device.

Flood gates opened

With so many users eagerly anticipating a way to jailbreak their iPhones and iPads, Evad3r's servers were pushed to the limits as soon as Evasi0n went live.

While the number of visitors currently on the group's website wasn't necessarily indicative of the number of downloads, according to one of Evasi0n's developers, some 270,000 users were active when the download went live.

Shortly after, another of the Evad3r devs tweeted downloaders had burned through 1TB of data on a hosting server in just ten minutes.

Based on the file size of Evasi0n, the dev estimated the file had been downloaded more than 100,000 times in that time frame.

A few hours later, that same developer revealed the downloads had surpassed 4.2TB on the same server, which put the number of downloads close to 500,000.

Five feet high and rising

With more and more users downloading the jailbreak, and others getting temporarily shut out due to the immense amount of downloads, there's no telling where the number will peak at the end of Evasi0n's first day.

The current pace of 500,000 downloads every two hours is pretty astronomical, and isn't likely sustainable for long duration.

That said, according to alternative app store Cydia, where many of Evasi0n's new users will flock for unregulated apps, there are nearly 23 million devices currently hooked into the store.

Now that devices like the iPhone 5, iPad 4, and iPhone 4S can access Cydia, that ecosystem is likely to grow quite a bit in the coming days.

Via TechCrunch

Over 270,000 rush to download just-released iOS 6 jailbreak

Though jailbreaks for the iPhone 5 were previously readily availableto developers, the public at large didn't have any options for cracking Apple's restrictive iOS 6.

There had been plenty of instances of prior iPhone jailbreaks happening, but to this point, the iPhone 5 had proven particularly challenging for hackers.

However, that all changed Monday when a group known as the Evad3rs team finally released an untethered jailbreak for iOS 6 devices, including the iPhone 5, downloadable by anyone with a computer.

The Evasi0n jailbreak allows users to run and download apps not approved by Apple right alongside the regular and certified downloads already on the device.

Flood gates opened

With so many users eagerly anticipating a way to jailbreak their iPhones and iPads, Evad3r's servers were pushed to the limits as soon as Evasi0n went live.

While the number of visitors currently on the group's website wasn't necessarily indicative of the number of downloads, according to one of Evasi0n's developers, some 270,000 users were active when the download went live.

Shortly after, another of the Evad3r devs tweeted downloaders had burned through 1TB of data on a hosting server in just ten minutes.

Based on the file size of Evasi0n, the dev estimated the file had been downloaded more than 100,000 times in that time frame.

A few hours later, that same developer revealed the downloads had surpassed 4.2TB on the same server, which put the number of downloads close to 500,000.

Five feet high and rising

With more and more users downloading the jailbreak, and others getting temporarily shut out due to the immense amount of downloads, there's no telling where the number will peak at the end of Evasi0n's first day.

The current pace of 500,000 downloads every two hours is pretty astronomical, and isn't likely sustainable for long duration.

That said, according to alternative app store Cydia, where many of Evasi0n's new users will flock for unregulated apps, there are nearly 23 million devices currently hooked into the store.

Now that devices like the iPhone 5, iPad 4, and iPhone 4S can access Cydia, that ecosystem is likely to grow quite a bit in the coming days.

Via TechCrunch

Dual display Samsung Galaxy Q smartphone could unfold at MWC

Rumor has it Samsung could debut a new type of smartphone at MWC at the end of February, in the form of the Galaxy Q.

No, not the 5.3-inch Galaxy Q that popped up in 2011 - this one's got dual 1080p AMOLED displays that fold together and unfold seamlessly, according to Slashgear.

The video below, from 2008, reportedly shows an early version of the technology used to make the Galaxy Q's two screens fit together without a break. It looks pretty incredible, though back then it wasn't quite ready for public consumption.

According to reports on Monday, though, 2013 will be the year that Samsung's folding smartphone finally makes its consumer-facing debut.

Benchmarks and rumors

The folding Samsung Galaxy Q popped up on Saturday at MobileGeeks.de when a reader tipped the site off to GLBenchmark's tests of a device with the model number GT-B9150.

The results reportedly match the Galaxy Q, indicating the folding phone could be nearing release.

If that's the case, a debut at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona seems likely.

The GLBenchmark report and previous rumors suggest that the Galaxy Q could feature two 5.3-inch 1080p AMOLED displays, a 1.7GHz dual-core Exynos processor, 2GB of memory, 8- and 2-megapixel cameras, and a 3500 mAh battery, according to SlashGear.

The Galaxy Q might utilize Samsung's flexible OLED display technology as well, though that part of the story is muddled.

In fact, everything about the Galaxy Q seems muddled at this point.

Hopefully Samsung will lift the curtain at MWC and introduce the world to what could be the next evolution in smartphones. We'd sure like to have a try at folding it in half.

Via SlashGear

Will the iPad mini 2 top the iPad 4 in pixel density?

It's time for everyone to act surprised as a new rumor claims that Apple's follow-up to the iPad mini will feature Retina display.

Surprising as the rumor may be, overseas investment firm Brightwire claims that manufacturer AU Optronics is working on 7.9-inch displays for the iPad mini 2.

The display is said to have a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, with a ppi of 324, boosting its resolution well above the current iteration's 1024 x 798 screen.

Packing the screen with pixels also means a higher pixel density than even the current iPad 4, which comes in at 264ppi. That screen's resolution is, however, exactly the same as the rumored resolution for the new iPad mini.

iRumors

Shortly after the iPad mini was out in the wild rumors began popping up that Apple's next small-size tablet would feature Retina tech.

The exact same 324ppi display has been on the radar since November, and AU Optronics supplied screens for the first iPad mini, so the rumor comes as little surprise.

A Retina display upgrade for the next iPad mini seems like a no-brainer for Apple, especially with the iPad mini sandwiched between the Retina-equipped iPhone 5 and iPad 4.

Screen production is said to be in the piloting stage, and if Apple wants to avoid the same yield issues that plagued the original mini's production, we could be looking at a late 2013 release.

All that's left is a price, which hopefully will be brought down from the iPad mini's steep $329/£269/AU$369. Oh, and an official confirmation from Apple would be nice, though that may be little more than a formality at this point.

Via Brightwire

HTC plans cheaper phones for China as Samsung and Apple dominate

Smartphones have not yet penetrated far into China, but HTC is looking to change that in 2013 by offering its cheapest phones yet in the emerging market.

HTC Chief Financial Officer Chang Chia-Lin said in a conference call on Monday that the Taiwanese company will soon begin offering smartphones for under $320 (UK£203, AU$306), the current lowest tier of HTC phone available in China.

Chang told investors that HTC will focus more on emerging markets in general in 2013. It started with Myanmar last month, and it looks like China is up next.

He said the smartphone maker wants to make prices lower, but not too low - they're shooting for between 1,000 and 2,000 yuan, or $160 (UK£101, AU$153) and $320 (UK£203, AU$306).

Falling fortunes

Reuters reported on Monday that HTC predicts revenue in Q1 could drop as much as 17 percent from the past three months.

The Taiwanese company predicted first-quarter revenue of T$50 billion to T$60 billion (US$1.69-2.03 billion, UK£1.07-1.28 billion, AU$1.61-1.94 billion), compared to T$60 billion in Q4 2012 and T$65.75 billion (US$2.22 billion, UK£1.41 billion, AU$2.13 billion) one year prior.

Profit margins will remain flat at best, according to the company.

Hopefully HTC's M7, the company's next Android flagship, thought to be launching Feb. 19 with a release date March 8, can help straighten things out.

Chang also hinted at other new products that have yet to be announced, according to Reuters.

Blame Apple and Samsung

Unsurprisingly, Apple and Samsung's increasing global dominance are likely to blame for HTC's falling fortunes.

Apple's revenue in Greater China in December was up 60 percent year-over-year, to $7.3 billion. Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to continue focusing more on the region in the near future, according to Reuters.

Samsung, for its part, scored a record profit of $8.3 billion in Q4, an 89 percent increase, according to Reuters.

The Korean company recently invested $58.9 million (UK£37 million, AU$56.4 million) in Wacom, a stylus company.

Via Reuters