LG Optimus 4X HD To Launch In India In May

The quad-core Tegra3-powered LG Optimus 4X HD smartphone may be debuting as early as May in India, though it’s still unclear when the phone will arrive in the U.S. The LG flagship smartphone features a quad-core processor, 4.7-inch 720p HD display, and a slim profile. The phone is expected to arrive in June in the UK. Other LG smartphones, such as the 5-inch 4:3 aspect ratio Optimus Vu and the Optimus 3D Max will debut shortly after the launch of the Optimus 4X HD. The Optimus 4X HD is one of several new quad-core smartphones that were launched late last month at Mobile World Congress. The device is very similar to the HTC One X, including the screen size, though the One X will shed its quad-core processor in favor of an impressive dual-core Snapdragon S4 CPU from Qualcomm when that smartphone arrives on AT&T. Along with the HTC One X, the LG Optimus 4X HD will be among the first smartphones with a quad-core processor to hit the market. Both phones will utilize NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 CPU. Huawei is also in the race for quad-core supremacy with its own quad-core CPU known as the K3V2 found inside the Ascend D quad smartphone series. Pricing information is not yet available for the India launch of the LG Optimus 4X HD and LG has not made an official announcement regarding availability yet.

LG Optimus 4X HD Hands-On:

More pictures of the LG Miracle/Fantasy E740

Few days ago, we showed you some leaked photographs of an unannounced handset called the LG Miracle. Recently, a Romanian website put up pictures of the same device, calling it the LG Fantasy E740, and then quickly took them down. It is not known which name will be used when the model is launched in the first quarter, but we would imagine that there is a good chance that LG will be displaying the Miracle/Fantasy later this month at MWC.

Last month we showed you some leaked pix of the LG Fantasy E740, calling the device a high-end unit that would be the Korean manufacturer's first smartphone to be powered by the second-gen Windows Phone OS. The user agent site showed that the device had IE9 aboard which confirmed that Mango was installed out of the box. Now that it appears that the LG Miracle and LG Fantasy E740 are one and the same device, we can look at the pictures below and hope that we get a Miracle or a Fantasy in Barcelona.

EXCLUSIVE : LG Miracle Specs & Pics LEAKED:

RBC executive said to be a lock to replace Lazaridis and Balsillie at RIM

With rumors engulfing RIM about the scrapping of all but one of their highly anticipated BlackBerry 10 models, can things get any worse for the beleaguered Canadian manufacturer? After all, RIM was counting on this new line of SuperPhones to compete with the likes of Apple and Android. In the corporate world, when a company starts breaking bad those at the top usually get the blame which is why there is speculation that co-founders and current co-Chairmen Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie are on the way out.

According to All Things D multiple sources say that the duo will be replaced by Royal Bank of Canada executive Barbara Stymiest. One insider said that Stymiest's appointment as Chairwoman of RIM "is a lock" with the only uncertainty being when she will start her new job. A second source said that nothing final has been decided. Still, Stymiest would seem a good choice to man the helm (or is that wo-man the helm?) at the troubled manufacturer. A member of Royal Bank of Canada's Group Executive Team, Stymiest has sat on RIM's board since 2007 so she should be familiar with the inner workings of the company including the problems that BlackBerry has been suffering from.

At least one Wall Street analyst says that the selection of Stymiest would be a winner. Peter Misek of Jefferies told All Things D, "We would view such an announcement positively as we believe she will initiate a formal strategic review, possibly trim costs in the hardware business, and possibly announce additional partnerships; however, we continue to see an outright sale in the near-term as unlikely and see near-term results as challenged."

Both current Chairmen have taken the blame for the problems that dropped the price of RIM's shares by 70% in 2011. Laziridis and Balsillie have cut their annual pay to $1 each. During a conference calls with analysts in December, Lazaridis said, "We ask for your patience and confidence.We realize we've not met expectations." Last quarter the company took a $485 million charge for excess inventory of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Including the charge, profits dropped 71% in the third quarter.

JingXing S7100: An Android Tablet For Gaming

It looks like the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY isn’t going to be the dedicated Android gaming device on the block, a company named JingXing has decided to step into that niche with a device of its own: the JingXing S7100. However, the S7100 isn’t a phone and takes the form factor of tablet instead, and features gamepad controls on the sides of the display.

While the specs of the device weren’t revealed, it will be running on Android (as evident by the dedicated Android buttons on the bottom of the device and the Android logo on the back), and will feature a rear camera and a front facing camera. The tablet’s gamepad gives users a 4-way D-pad, 4 regular buttons (circle, triangle, square, x), as well as start and select. No sign of shoulder buttons, so I guess you’ll need to use onscreen controls for those.

Don’t expect to have a dedicated app store like the Xperia PLAY/PlayStation Vita – but you can be pretty sure that ROM emulators are going to be this tablet’s best friends.

Dropbox supporting Android 4.0 optimizations hits Android Market

The Dropbox team has updated their Android app for 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) optimization and added some great new features. To name a few, the Favorites tab offers quick offline access to files, multiple uploads of photos and videos are now available, renaming files and folders now works, and single-tab access to all file and folder actions functions properly.

Until now, this version has been sitting over on the Dropbox forums to allow users to publicly test it out to make sure it was ready for prime time. And after two days, it finally is. Just navigate over to the Android Market for a quick update or initial download. The improved and polished gallery view is a step up as well – so be sure to check it out.

But when all is said and done, I can’t seem to steer away from Box.

Sony Tablet P

Tablets, like smartphones, are ten a penny now. You can get a rubbish one for £80, or a really great one for £400. They usually all look pretty much the same, are mostly either about 10- or 7-inches in size and are mostly comprised of a screen. The Sony Tablet P, on the other hand, offers something unique: a folding clam-shell design.

The clam-shell design reminds us of a glasses case, to some extent. Within are two 5.5-inch capacitive touchscreens, a 1GHz, dual-core Cortex A9 processor and 1GB of RAM. But for the time being, let's look at the external gubbins.

The bottom of the tablet has a removable cover, under which the battery sits along with the microSD card slot. A 2GB card is supplied by the way, but you can fit as much as 32GB, should the mood take you.

The top cover is also removable, and it is under here that you'll find the 3G SIM card socket. This is a nice addition, and if you don't read the manual, it will take you a while to work out where it is.

On the external surfaces there are a few basic buttons and sockets. Sony has opted for a propritary 12v power connector and this can be forund on the right-hand side of the device. Next to it is a power button and there's a USB 2 socket too. There are also volume controls in the form of a rocker switch that's fairly hard to press.

On the front of the Tablet P, you'll find a headphone jack and, if you look really carefully, you'll see a notification light too. We really like this long, strip light. It's location is sensible for telling you when a message comes in. You can see it from a decent number of angles too, which is good and it's bright enough to really attract your attention.

There are two cameras here. A top-mounted 5-megapixel shooter, that does a decent job with images, and another, mounted next to the topmost screen. This is a VGA only, 0.3-megapixel camera, and it's pretty horrible to be honest. It will, however, suffice for Skype video calls.

iOS 5.1 spills beans on new iPhone, iPad and Apple TV

Apple has begun seeding out iOS 5.1 in beta form to developers and whilst there’s not much info as to what exactly the software update means for iDevice users – a major Siri refresh is rumoured – there is plenty of juicy new hardware info hidden within the code. Starting with the iPad and we’ve got not one but three new tablets coming our way according to the references. iPad 2,4 is likely to be a tweak for the existing iPad 2 – most likely a version for the US network Sprint (with possible WiMAX capabilities) or an iPad for China’s TD-LTE setup.

The iPad 3,1 and 3,2, we’ve heard rumours of before. It could be that these are 3G and Wi-Fi variants of the next-gen iPad 3 – one that possibly goes by the codename J33.

On the iPhone front, the code names an iPhone 5,1 device. And whilst the 5 tag doesn’t necessarily mean an Apple smartphone with a 5 in its official name (the iPhone 4 was identified as the 3,1, 3,2 and 3,3) the jump from the 4S’ 4,1 identifier could well signify a major hardware refresh. Let’s hope so.

On the Apple TV front we’ve not only got a new idenifier, 3,1, we’ve a codename as well; J33. If the iPad 3 really is the J2 then the J33 moniker could be significant and mean a major update for Apple’s hobby box – its current offerings were all codenamed with a name beginning with a K.

Sure, it’s technical, geeky stuff but it looks as if we’re in for a bumper crop of new Apple products in 2012.

Nokia: Youths are fed up with iPhone, baffled by Android

Nokia has claimed that the youth of today are fed up with the iPhone and baffled by Android.

Everyone has the iPhone. Also, many are not happy with the complexity of Android and the lack of security," said Niels Munksgaard, director of portfolio, product marketing and sales at Nokia entertainment global, in an exclusive interview with technology news site Pocket-lint.

He added that the youth today want to try something new and are turning to the Windows phone platform.

Many tech bloggers and industry critics said Nokia, the once leader who is eager for a comeback in the mobile industry, should not trash-talk its competitors, noting that it should focus on breakthroughs like design, ecosystem of app developers to get back its place in the competition.

We hope so, if only for the fact that we may just have invented the term "Nok Dock", and it'd be a shame to see it go to waste. Especially if we're talking royalties.

Google tablet to arrive in the next few months

Google will begin promoting what could be the first official Nexus tablet within the next six months, according to chairman Eric Schmidt, the latest stage in the “brutal competition” between it and Apple. “In the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality” Schmidt told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sea, while also confirming that Google plans to leverage its voice recognition technology to better challenge Apple’s Siri.

Schmidt was at pains to praise Apple co-founder Steve Jobs for his work in transitioning the tablet from vertical and enterprise markets to a consumer-centric product. “Steve Jobs was the Michelangelo of our time” he told the newspaper, “[he] realized the revolutionary potential of the tablet and has created an amazing product like the iPad.” However, “our companies compete” Schmidt continues to say that you'll see "brutal competition between Apple and Google Android" in the smartphone market.

The translation from the Italian original may have lost some of the meaning (Google Translate no less…) so it's not clear whether this means that Google will be throwing their might behind a new tablet - a Nexus tablet if you will - or behind Android tablets in general.

Google lined up Motorola to supply their first tablet in the Motorola Xoom (pictured), which was a pure Honeycomb experience and the launch platform for Android 3.0. Unlike smartphones, which have seen great customisation by manufacturers, Android tablets have remained relatively unscathed.

What Android tablets have suffered from, however, is a lack of apps specifically for the larger screen. Despite Android scaling apps well, the use of space from third-party applications isn't always as effective as it perhaps should be - and critically, not always a match for the iPad offering.

The second thing that Android tablets have suffered from is diversification. Although consumer choice and competition should be applauded, as a general term, Android tablets range from the bargain basement to the high-end, with user experiences to match, in stark contrast to the simplicity, if pricey experience offered by Apple.

The comments come as part of a wider interview covering some of Schmidt's relationship with Italy.

Sony Ericsson Arc HD appears complete with dual-core chip.

Sony Ericsson fans could be set to see the Arc range get its biggest spec bump yet with the Arc HD. The phone, which features Galaxy Nexus levels of power, has made an appearance online.

That HD in the title relates to the Arc's screen, which was already a stunner. The new phone, however, is said to have a 1280 x 720 display at 320DPI which measures in a 4.3 inches. Powering all this screen resolution is 1GB of RAM and a 1.5GHz processor.

Overall it looks like a nice device, but I don’t see anything too special that makes it stand out from the crowd. Most of the high end devices now feature 720p HD displays and dual-core processors, but the 12 MP camera would be one of the higher spec’d for Android phones.

Look for more updates in the coming weeks when we head to Vegas again for CES.