Five-inch Full HD smartphone screens might be the industry standard for devices in 2013, according to sources speaking with DigiTimes.
There've been a few previews of these beefy smartphones and screens from HTC and Sharp, and it looks like other device producers are taking cues from the two companies.
DigiTimes' insiders said mobile phone manufacturers Samsung Electronics, Sony Mobile Communications, LG Electronics, Huawei Device and ZTE are expected to roll out 5-inch Full HD displays in the first half of 2013.
Samsung and LG will produce the Full HD panels used by the companies in-house, while Sony will probably get its panels from Japan Display (JDI), a company it holds a stake in, according to the sources.
Bigger is better
Though rumors coming from the DigiTimes aren't the most reliable information (like when it was reported then debunked that Samsung Displays would stop supplying components to Apple), this piece of news falls on the safe bet spectrum.
Smartphones are always getting bigger and thinner, and we have seen plenty of news items that support the idea that 5 inches will become the new standard.
Sharp already started producing 5-inch 1080p LCD's just a few months ago. The company said the new screens will have a 1920 x 1080 resolution, one of the highest pixel density ratios on the market.
JDI has also started full-scaled manufacturing of similar screens. Those new JDI screens are already set to go into the upcoming Japaneses behemoth: the HTC J Butterfly.
Phones of the future?
With all these news items, it's not hard to believe that the 5-inch smartphone will be a common sight with the arrival of 2013. The real question is: Will it stop there?
Just today, a rumor has been going around that says Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 will have a massive 6.3-inch display. So, 5-inch screens may only be the beginning.
Looks like we'll have to start buying pants with bigger pockets next year.
Apple revealed its lists of the top-selling apps and games of 2012 Thursday, dividing the installations into top free and paid iPhone and iPad apps.
On the iPhone side, Google's YouTube was the most popular free app of 2012.
Given YouTube's popularity, maybe Apple shouldn't have dropped it from iOS 6?
Instagram and Zynga's Draw Something came in second and third place in free iPhone apps, respectively, while Angry Birds Space, WhatsApp Messenger and Draw Something (the ad-free version) were the top three paid iPhone apps of the year.
Top iPad apps
Skype took top honors in the category of free iPad apps, with Imangi's Temple Run and the Facebook app earning second and third place.
On the paid iPad side of things, Rovio scored again, with Angry Birds Space HD taking the top spot.
Disney's Where's My Water? and Apple's own Pages app followed up as the second and third most popular paid iPad apps of the year.
That's not all, folks
In addition to revealing the most downloaded apps of the year, Apple revealed its selections for the best App Store apps and games of the year on iPhone and iPad.
Apple's iPhone app of the year was J.J. Abrams' Action Movie FX, which lets users add explosions and other "Hollywood FX" to videos.
Apple's favorite iPhone game was Rayman Jungle Run, a spin-off of Ubisoft's popular Rayman Origins.
The mystery game The Room was Apple's favorite 2012 iPad game, while creativity app Paper won for non-game iPad apps.
Clicking on the link below will take you directly to iTunes, where you can check out the rest of Apple's "best of" categories, including "Fun Runners," "Photo and Video Magic," "Casual Games" and more.
Though 2013 hasn't started yet, we have a feeling there's already a strong contender for next year's list.
The Nokia Lumia 820 isn't meant as the Finnish firm's flagship handset - that accolade belongs to the Lumia 920 - but this colourful Windows Phone 8 smartphone is impressive nonetheless.
The Nokia Lumia 820 carries plenty of unique features and costs less than the Lumia 920, making it a tempting offer for anyone considering making the move to Microsoft's OS.
It goes without saying Nokia is pinning a lot of hope on this phone. Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S3 are kicking up dust both in terms of sales and as standard bearers for their respective operating systems.
In the UK, you can pick the Lumia 820 up free from £25 per month on Vodafone, albeit with only 300 minutes and 250MB of data, on a 24 month contract. Alternatively the SIM-free version of the phone will set you back an entirely reasonable £380.
Australians can enjoy the phone for AUD$649 outright, or for $0 up front on a $50 plan over 24 months. Optus customers - who get the benefit of 4G - can grab the handset for $0 up front on a $35 plan.
There's a reasonable amount of power on offer at that price thanks to the dual core 1.5Ghz Snapdragon processor and Adreno 225 GPU. Windows OS is a typically smooth operating system the Lumia 820 runs off 1GB of RAM which keeps things nice and slick.
Outwardly though, this is a different-looking phone from the Lumia 920. The unibody is gone, replaced with a removable plastic back that lets you change the colour of the handset. Our review model came with a bright yellow rear cover, although red, black, magenta, blue, white and grey are also available.
Hopefully over time third-party designs will become available allowing you to customise your handset just like the Nokia's of old.
Unfortunately, the back cover is also where we run into our first problem with the Lumia 820. Basically you'll need fingernails like Wolverine to claw the cover back from the body of the phone. It took the TechRadar team several amusing minutes trying to remove the casing in order to insert our SIM to begin using the phone.
Once you're happy with the casing, and you've spent the required ten minutes struggling to get your Micro SIM installed, you'll be able to sit back and notice that at 160g, the Lumia 820 isn't as heavy as its bigger brother.
It's also got slightly smaller dimensions - but at 124 x 69 x 10mm with a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen we wouldn't go so far as to call it tiny.
The curved sides and rounded corners of the handset make it comfortable to hold and certainly give it a friendly appearance. We could easily wrap our hand around the Lumia 820 and access the physical buttons, which are all located along the right hand side of the phone.
You get a volume rocker at the top, followed by the power on/off button in the centre and then a physical camera shutter button - something we're always happy to see on a smartphone. All the buttons can be easily flicked with either the thumb of your right hand or the fingers of your left, depending on which you use to hold the phone.
One point though, the plastic backing on the Lumia 820 is completely smooth which looks nice but doesn't offer any great amount of grip.
The front of the phone is minimal in terms of design, with just the Nokia lettering at the top and the three standard Windows phone soft touch keys at the bottom. While the 4.3-inch AMOLED, 800 x 480 screen is up to Nokia's usual high standard, there's definitely a noticeable black bezel around the display.
Usually this doesn't cause too much concern, but given the near edge-to-edge displays of handsets like the Motorola Razr i and the iPhone 5, it's becoming more of an issue.
The display isn't as large as other smartphones out there. It won't compete with the 4.7-inch HTC One X+, the 4.8-inch Galaxy S3 or the 4.5-inch Lumia 920, for screen real estate but compromises with portability.
Screen size itself is becoming far more of a subjective issue anyway with a device on offer at pretty much every stage from pocket-friendly smartphone to sofa-surfing tablet.
The top and bottom of the Lumia 820 are given over to the 3.5mm headphone jack and the micro-USB charging and connection port respectively. There's also a small speaker to the right of the micro-USB port which we felt didn't look as nicely uniform as the dual speaker vents on the Lumia 920.
Overall build quality is as good as you would expect given Nokia's long history of mobile phone craftsmanship. While we would expect the casing to scratch fairly easily if this phone took a tumble, there's a reassuring heft to the handset that suggests the internal workings would stay protected.
Importantly then, first impressions are quite good. It's a good looking, feature-packed phone from a pair of companies that really have something to prove this time around. So, how does it fare when we dip below the surface?
The Microsoft Surface tablet will go on sale from John Lewis on Friday, the retailer has confirmed.
The Windows RT device had only been sold through Microsoft's official store since its launch in late October, but this week opened the device up for sale through third-party retailers in the US and Australia.
High street chain John Lewis is the first store in the UK to earn that privilege, with online sales beginning on December 14 and in-store offerings commencing the next day.
Its presence in stores will represent the first time UK-based tech fans will be able to play with the device without actually buying it, as Microsoft has no brick and mortar retail stores in Blighty.
First again
The company told Pocket-Lint: "Always first with the latest technology, John Lewis is delighted to announce that it will be the first high street retailer in the UK to offer the Microsoft Surface from the 14 December."
The 32GB tablet, with the neat Keyboard attachment will cost £479, while the larger 64GB model and keyboard will set you back £559.
John Lewis is also offering a two-year guarantee on each tablet at no extra cost. Tidy.
On Thursday Apple revealed its lists of the top-selling apps and games of 2012, dividing them into top free and paid iPhone and iPad apps.
On the iPhone side, Google's Youtube was the most popular free app of 2012.
Given Youtube's popularity, maybe Apple shouldn't have dropped it from iOS 6?
Instagram and Zynga's Draw Something came in second and third place in free iPhone apps, respectively, while Angry Birds Space, WhatsApp Messenger and Draw Something (the ad-free version) were the top three paid iPhone apps of the year.
Top iPad apps
Skype took top honors in the category of free iPad apps, with Imangi's Temple Run and the Facebook app earning second and third place.
In the paid iPad category, Rovio scored again, with Angry Birds Space HD taking the top spot.
Disney's Where's my Water? and Apple's own Pages app followed up as the second and third most popular paid iPad apps of the year.
That's not all, folks
In addition to revealing the most downloaded apps of 2012, Apple revealed its selections for the best App Store apps and games of the year on iPhone and iPad.
Apple's iPhone app of the year was J.J. Abrams' Action Movie FX, which lets users add explosions and other "Hollywood FX" to videos.
Apple's favorite iPhone game was Rayman Jungle Run, a spin-off of Ubisoft's popular Rayman Origins.
The mystery game The Room was Apple's favorite iPad game in 2012, while creativity app Paper won for non-game iPad apps.
Clicking on the link below will take you directly to iTunes, where you can check out the rest of Apple's "best of" categories, including "Fun Runners," "Photo and Video Magic," "Casual Games," and more.
Dell is quitting the smartphone business more or less for good, according to a Thursday report from Forbes.
Jeff Clarke, Dell's Vice Chairman and President of Global Operations and End User Computing Solutions, dropped the news at the Dell World conference on Wednesday.
China became Dell's lone remaining smartphone market earlier this year when the Round Rock, Texas company stopped selling its smartphones in the U.S.
Now even China will have to live without Dell smartphones, and Clarke reportedly said Dell will not re-enter the smartphone market any time soon.
Building a business on Android
Dell smartphones are a thing of the past, partly because "it needs a lot of investments to really be successful," Clarke told Forbes.
Clarke reportedly said that Android business is a "content play," meaning it's more about what you can sell on top of smartphone hardware than the hardware itself.
"Amazon is selling books and Google is making it up with search," he said. "So far we couldn't find a way to build a business on Android,"
Hello, Windows tablets
Dell is reportedly in the fifth year of a transformation phase, and for now will focus on Windows tablets and laptop/tablet hybrids like the XPS 10, XPS 12 and Latitude 10.
These latest Dell devices all run Windows 8 or Windows RT.
But Clarke could not simply leave it at that - "It doesn't mean we're not looking at Android," he told Forbes.
"You should come and see what's in our labs," he added.
If Forbes does not take you up on that offer, Mr. Clarke, TechRadar will be waiting by the phone.
Google may be making it harder for people to switch on 4G on their LG Nexus 4, after it removed some key documentation from public view.
Back in November we reported that a 4G chip was found during a teardown of the Google Nexus 4, with LG later explaining the reason behind it was because the handset used the same board as the LTE-enabled Optimus G.
Further digging revealed the 4G chip could be enabled in the settings menu, allowing super-fast connectivity over the 1700MHz spectrum – especially handy for Canadian users.
However Google has now removed some keys files from its developer archives including the factory images for the Nexus 4 which are used to restore the handset to its original state.
Cover up
The Nexus 4 isn't officially licensed to use 4G, meaning Google could be at risk of attracting unwanted attention from governing bodies if people hack it on, which has led people to believe this latest move is a way of making it harder for users to access the LTE capabilities.
For now this is purely speculation, and there could be plenty of other explanations as to why the images were removed – maybe there was an error in them and they've been taken offline while they are fixed? We can't be sure.
Google has not made any official comment regarding the removal of these files, but we'll be keeping an eye out for any further developments.
There was much umbrage at the launch of the new iPad 4, as it basically rendered the iPad 3 obsolete mere months after launch. However, with only a minor CPU and front camera change, is there really any point thinking about upgrading?
iPad mini review
The question most people ask us when it comes to the new iPad 4 is: what's different from the old one? Or the iPad 2, for that matter?
Well, in this case it's pretty easy: there's a Retina Display that makes everything look superbly crisp, an updated A6X processor with much superior performance, the same 5MP camera on the rear with a 1.3MP HD sensor on the front now to replace the VGA effort.
10 best tablet PCs in the world today
Oh, and the new iPad 4 is now running iOS 6 out of the box (well, it's also on the likes of the iPhone 5 and iPad mini, but hey, we've already reviewed those, and you don't really care unless it's a new iPad, do you?)
The design of the new iPad 4 isn't really anything different from the original duo from Apple's tablet range. Actually, while we're thinking about it, it looks almost identical to the iPad 2 – to the point you'd struggle to tell them apart when turned off.
However, in the hand, there's a little bit of a difference, especially when it comes to the weight. The new iPad is nearly 60g heavier than the second iteration, and while it's not terrible, it does add a little arm strain during a marathon movie session.
Sometimes you become accustomed to the weight of a device if you use it enough, and then the whole debacle becomes a completely none issue.
However the weight of the iPad 4 is still noticeable even a few months after first get
ting it - pick it up and hold it for the duration of a movie and that unmistakable heft is still there to haunt you.
Retina Display
Before we get onto all the normal insight over the frame of the new iPad 4, it's worth talking about one top feature: the Retina Display.
Apple has packed a huge amount more pixels into the 9.7-inch screen - 1536 x 2048 to be exact. However, despite the fact that the Cupertino brand makes a big thing about the 330 PPI density of the iPhone 4S, we're looking at a screen that's technically a lot less sharp than its smartphone brethren - around 264PPI.
Apple has got around this fact by stating that the screen is meant to be held 15 inches from the face, rather than the 10 inches the iPhone is supposed to be from your eyes, and as such the sharpness is the same.
Given the fact the term 'Retina Display' really isn't a legally binding term, we don't care. What matters is the effect - and it's one of the most impressive we've seen on a tablet to date. If someone took an iPad, printed out a really hi-res image of an iOS system and stuck it on the front, we'd struggle to tell the difference - it's superb, and even squinting up close you'll be hard pushed to notice any pixelation.
The colour reproduction will also appeal to many, as it's pretty close to reality - it lacks the punch of the Super AMOLED HD screens seen on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 for instance, but it will depend on personal preference as to whether that's a good thing.
We like the vivid colours of Samsung's screens, but we know plenty of people that loathe them too.
The main thing is things like internet browsing; photo viewing and movie sessions are all much, much improved over the iPad 2, and is one of the main reasons to pick up the new iPad.
Design
The new iPad, as we said, is only marginally thicker and a little heavier than the iPad 2, and if you pick it up with no knowledge of the former, you'll likely be mighty impressed.
The rest of the design is premium too - given you can be paying nearly £700 / $AU900 for a top end model, it needs to seem like a worthwhile investment, and it does.
There's also the new Lightning connector on offer, which brings the smaller, faster port for all your needs... unless your need is to use you recently purchased dock, in which case you'll need to fork out for an adaptor.
The curved edges, the oleophobic scratch-proof glass and the aluminium chassis are all the kind of thing that some Android tablets have tried to ape and failed. Of course, many will prefer the feather-light frames of some of the Samsung models but, like the screen, it really comes down to personal preference.
The buttonry on the new iPad is pretty sparse though - we're talking four buttons and that's your lot.
The iconic home button is back once again, despite rumours of its demise, and is easy to reach and hit within the thick bezel.
The rest of the buttons are all clustered tightly together in the top left-hand corner of the new iPad, with the rocker/volume key, the mute/orientation switch and power/lock key all within an inch of one another.
As you can see, Apple has been pretty efficient with the button placement, with all of them performing more than one function. And they say the iPad can't multi-task... tsk.
Google has been busy: not only is it making nice Android phonesand tablets to annoy Apple, but it's also released a brand new iOS version of Google Maps.
With Apple's own mapping service still the butt of internet jokes and apparently trying to kill Australians, the arrival of Google Maps for iOS should be good news for anyone who needs to find somewhere fast. Is it?
There's only one way to find out...
Google Maps for iOS vs Apple Maps: accuracy
Let's start with what really matters: there's no point in having a pretty map engine if it directs you to Burkina Faso when you're trying to get to Birmingham. While we found that both apps performed perfectly when asked to take us to particular addresses,
Apple failed badly when it came to locating places such as businesses, shops or pubs: for example, Apple's mapping data includes outlets of Our Price, which went out of business in 2004, and our local M&S appears twice - both times in the wrong place.
As you can see here, most Apple errors affect businesses, unless someone's hiding TK Maxxes in suburban gardens.
In most cases the errors are relatively minor, such as large shops being pinned to housing estates rather than the retail parks those estates back on to, but such errors do appear to be the rule rather than the exception. With Apple, the chances of finding a particular business in the right place seems to be roughly 50/50; with Google, it's 100%.
Apple does accept map corrections, but it's taking its time fixing them: we notified Apple of several errors and omissions back in October, and they're still wrong or missing.
Google Maps for iOS vs Apple Maps: interface
Are you sitting down? In a complete reversal of how things are supposed to work, Google's interface is miles better than Apple's. It's much nicer to look at, and its beauty isn't just skin deep: start typing a business name or address and autocomplete kicks in, with superb results.
For example, we wanted to search for a nearby restaurant called Andiamo: Google had it as the first option by the time we'd typed "Andi". You then get a little panel at the bottom of the screen telling you how long it'll take to get there, with a little icon you can tap to get driving, walking or public transport directions; if you slide the panel up you get additional data such as Street View, contact details and any reviews.
Here's Apple's problem in a nutshell: Google autocompletes it, Apple doesn't know it exists. Google first here, Apple second.
There's another slider on the Google app, this time from the lower right side of the screen: pull that across and you can bring up traffic information, public transport routes, satellite view and even Google Earth (if you have the Google Earth app installed).
Traffic and transport information depend on where you live - your reviewer lives just outside Glasgow, and live traffic information stops a few miles out from the city centre; however, Google Maps does know where the nearest bus stops are and what services stop at them - but where it's available it's very useful.
Going back to iOS Maps after using Google's apps feels like travelling backwards, if not in time then at least in location awareness: searching for the same local restaurant, Apple decided that "Andi" was probably Andijan, which is in Uzbekistan.
Typing the whole name did find the restaurant, but unfortunately not the one half a mile from our house: Apple directed us to identically named sister restaurants, 15 and 21 miles away respectively: an old-data problem again, as our local restaurant is a few years newer than the others. Like Google there's traffic data for major routes, but unlike Google there's no public transport information.
One benefit Apple's Maps app does have over Google Maps is iOS integration, so for example you can bring up Siri and ask for directions or lock your phone and continue to see live mapping. With Google, Siri won't use it to navigate and you'll be left with banner notifications if you switch out of the app.
Google Maps for iOS vs Apple Maps: turn by turn directions
Both apps deliver driving directions in two ways: as a flat list of instructions, such as "go that way for ten miles then take the first left", and as real-time satellite navigation accompanied by Siri's voice. You can turn the voice off if you don't like it.
Apple's navigation is prettier than Google's, although things can get awfully cluttered sometimes as you can see here.
Where necessary both apps tell you about multiple changes of direction, which is useful when you're approaching complex junctions and roundabouts, and while they both do it in slightly different ways - Apple pretty and Google minimalist - it's always clear what's going on and where you should be going.
It's worth noting that both apps get their maps from the cloud, so if you veer off route they need a data signal to re-route you: if you plan to do lots of driving where there isn't a 3G/4G mobile signal or where using 3G/4G will cost you money, you'd be much better off with a stand-alone sat-nav app such as the superb TomTom app.
Google's turn by turn navigation is more minimalist but just as useful as Apple's prettier design:
Google Maps for iOS vs Apple Maps: performance
The original Google-powered Maps app was desperately slow, which was a real pain on poor mobile data connections. The new one, however, is a screamer: it uses vectors, not tiles, and as a result it delivers instant results when you swipe, search or zoom.
Apple's app is vector-powered too and feels slightly faster than Google's one, although that speed difference is negated by Google's superior autocomplete and location-aware searching.
Both apps also offer satellite views, and in Apple's case there are also 3D models of many urban areas. Where they aren't available, however, both apps use image tiles that take their time on anything other than the fastest 3G connections. We found Google's tiles often delivered more detail, especially in rural areas.
Google Maps for iOS vs Apple Maps: privacy
According to reports, the reason Apple wanted to give Google the boot from iOS was because Google wanted too much user data - so is it monitoring every step you take? Yes, sort of. With the app, Google gets your data in two ways: by connecting anonymised location data from your travels, something it lets you opt out of when you first run the app (you can also disable it by going into the app's settings menu), and by logging you into your Google Account.
You don't need to do this, although Google would of course prefer it if you did. The carrot for you is that Maps will share data, searches and favourites across the various devices you use instead of existing in a little world of its own.
Google Maps for iOS vs Apple Maps: early verdict
Google Maps and Apple Maps both offer excellent turn-by-turn navigation and won't cost you a penny, but when it comes to the crunch Google's app beats Apple's one hands down. Apple's app doesn't come close in the accuracy stakes, and the Google app is also nicer and faster to use.
The downside, of course, is that you're giving ever more data to Google, although you can opt out of the data sharing and Google Account integration if you're feeling a little tinfoil hat-y.
Despite the more excitable press reports, Apple's app isn't bad if you're using it to get to a particular address. The wheels only come off when you're trying to find specific businesses by name rather than the number on their doorbell. Whether that's a problem or not depends on what you tend to use mapping for: if you're using it because you're meeting friends in a restaurant, trying to find a specific shop or locate your nearest Nando's then Apple's app is often completely useless. If you know exactly where something is then Apple Maps will get you there, but for everything else we'd go with Google.
The e-reader revolution may be winding down as new figures suggest the influx of cheap tablets is killing off dedicated digital reading devices.
Research by iSuppli claims that the e-reader market has already seen its peak back in 2011, when 20 million devices were shipped.
The stark report reckons the sector will experience a heavy decline over the next few years, with shipments falling to just 7 million by the time 2015/16 rolls around.
You are the weakest link
There are no surprises as to where the report is laying the blame for this demise – budget tablets have taken the world by storm over the past six months, and consumers are now able to get more for their money at the lower end of the market.
With the Google Nexus 7, Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Nook HD all offering featured-packed, yet affordable experiences for not a lot more cash than an e-reader, it's clear to see why people are opting for full HD displays and the ability to download apps, play games, watch movies and listen to music on top of the reading experience.
Of course the big advantage the current crop of e-readers have is their e-ink displays, which mimic paper far better than the backlit displays on our tablets, thus allowing you to read for longer without the fear of damaging your eyes.
Do you believe that the writing is on the wall for e-readers, or can they exist side by side with these budget tablet offerings? Let us know in the comment box below.
Depending on who you want to believe we could see the 4G enabled HTC One SV arrive before the end of year or early in 2013.
Yesterday HTC announced that the One SV would be coming to the UK, bringing with it LTE connectivity, a 4.3-inch display, 5MP rear camera, 1.2GHz dual-core processor and NFC technology.
Within hours of the One SV being unveiled, pre-order pages popped up on the web, with Unlocked-Mobiles posting a tentative SIM-free price of £329.98, with stock expected to arrive on January 2.
Or is it?
However, Expansys has told TechRadar that it reckons the HTC One SV will make a special appearance before the year is out - on Boxing Day of all days.
Update: Expansys has now told TechRadar: "We now have a price on the HTC One SV - £349.99. The latest news on stock is that we expect the One SV to be ready to order in early January – final date TBC"
We're not overly confident with either of the prospective HTC One SV release dates, as both sites have changed arrival times for products in the past.
All we've heard from HTC is that the One SV will be available in "the coming weeks", with no further detail on price or availability as of yet.
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has announced that it plans to build a new R&D centre in Finland as it looks to strengthen its commitment to Europe.
The firm has big aspirations, aiming to become one of the top three smartphone manufacturers in the world, and its €70 million (£56 million) investment for a new, much chillier facility is certainly a clear statement of intent.
Set to be located in Helsinki, Finland the R&D centre will see Huawei focus initially on both smartphones and tablets running on the Android and Windows Phone 8 platforms.
5 year plan
That €70 million isn't going to be splashed all at once though, as Huawei is going to take five years establishing the new R&D base which will eventually employee around 100 people.
Huawei is yet to really take the world by storm, with no significant stand out product to speak of just yet, but the budget focussed Ascend G300 and Ascend G330 have impressed us.
Rumour has it the firm is planning some big things for 2013, and TechRadar will be keeping an eye out for any new announcements at CES 2013 and MWC 2013.
