| Roundup: If you loved Street Fighter, you'll love these iOS fighting games May 13th 2013, 13:28 
Sometimes it takes a sequel to fully develop and establish a great concept. The original Street Fighter - released by Capcom in 1987 in arcades and on myriad home platforms - included eventually iconic series elements such as the six-button control layout, familiar special movies, and leads Ryu and Ken. However, the simplistic one-on-one fighter barely made a blip among players at the time. When the series returned in 1991 with Street Fighter II, with its larger cast of playable characters, tighter matches, and improved visuals, it started a something of a craze that made the fighting genre one of the most popular in all of gaming. In the two-plus decades since, Street Fighter has gone on to spawn a number of sequels, variations and crossovers with other properties, not to mention an incredible array of imitators and worthwhile competitors - and the App Store offers many of the top genre entries. 
Luckily, you don't have to look very far to find the game that kick-started the fighting phenomenon in all its arcade glory. Street Fighter II Collection (£2.49, iPhone) is the ideal starting point for the franchise, since the app includes three different versions of the title, each with slight variations in look, feel, and even roster. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior is the original 1991 release, while the Champion Edition makes the boss characters playable and allows multiple players to choose the same fighter, while the Hyper Fighting version amplifies the gameplay speed and adds new moves and fighter colour palettes. Aside from the inherent differences between them, all three titles control similarly, using a virtual stick and buttons with customisable placement and transparency, and all include local Bluetooth multiplayer battles. For those who expect to relive their quarter-munching memories with regularity, or plan on taking part in two-player showdowns, the Collection app fits the bill. 
More casual fighting fans, on the other hand, might do well with Capcom Arcade (Free, iPhone) instead. Capcom Arcade includes the same three versions of Street Fighter II - along with excellent gem-matching spin-off Super Puzzle Fighter II, Final Fight, and seven other oldies - which can be purchased individually within or played by buying tokens using real money. However, the Capcom Arcade entries lack multiplayer support, making them strictly for solo players. If you plan on playing often, grab the Collection instead. 
While the basics of the Street Fighter II experience continue to inform each and every new entry, the series has evolved significantly since. Case in point: Street Fighter IV Volt (£2.99, iPhone) is the latest iOS take on the core series, and it wholly replaces the previous Street Fighter IV release for iPhone by including improved 3D character models, a much larger roster (22 fighters in total), and even online play. It's easily the largest and most robust series entry on the App Store, plus you can set it so that online players can jump in when you're playing solo, much like at an arcade. 
Street Fighter X Tekken Mobile (69p, Universal) is the newest twist on the formula, pairing familiar franchise characters with those from the rival Tekken series for a tag-team affair. It's short on characters compared to Volt, but plays similarly - aside from the tagging mechanic; plus it works natively on iPad and still includes online play. 
And if you're up for something different, or merely want a taste of how the crossover plays before buying, snag Street Fighter X Tekken Gauntlet (Free, Universal). It strips down the overall experience and tasks you with surviving against an endless succession of opponents. 
But Street Fighter experimented with collaborative crossovers before its dalliance with Tekken. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (£2.99, Universal) pairs Street Fighter greats with other Capcom game favourites in three-person tag-team battles against Marvel Comics heroes and villains alike. The iOS port is sadly a bit dodgy, with controls that can't keep up with the intense speed and clunky menus, but with dozens of fighters and chaotic combat like nothing else on the market, fans of either the superheroes or the game characters will find the game difficult to resist. 
It's not hard to find a Street Fighter to meet your needs on the App Store, but a few options exist for those seeking something outside of that family. The King of Fighters-i 2012 (£4.99, iPhone) strongly challenges Volt as the best 2D fighter on the App Store, with similarly slick character models and animations, albeit with both one-on-one and three-on-three battles. Packed with a total of 32 fighters, plus online play and bonus Challenge and Time Attack modes, it's arguably the largest and longest-lasting fighter for the iPhone. 
Another long-time rival franchise appears in the form of Virtua Fighter 2 (£1.49, iPhone), but unlike the most notable entries in the series - which helped popularise 3D fighting, making Street Fighter and its ilk seem outdated for a time - this pixel-based version isn't in 3D. It's actually based on an older Sega Genesis port from 1996, and while lacking pop as a result, it still offers a taste of the franchise, which highlights over flashy special moves. 
But if you're interested in a real 3D fighter, you'll find one of the best of all time in the form of Soul Calibur (£10.49, Universal). Based on the Sega Dreamcast classic, the weapons-based brawler features crisp visuals, sparkling and fluid combat, and solidly responsive touch controls, not to mention a total of 19 fighters. 
However, that level of quality comes at an extreme price, which might be difficult to stomach for casual fighting fans. If it's too dear for you, consider Blades of Fury (£2.99, iPhone), a solid knockoff that also features optionally simplified controls for iPhone and iPod touch. Whether you're up for a retro classic or a modern take, a good old battle of fisticuffs or something with a bit of slicing and dicing, the fighting game is alive and well on the App Store - plus you won't need a pocket full of coins to play most of them. Let the fighting commence!     |  | Split-second movie downloads a reality as Samsung achieves 5G breakthrough May 13th 2013, 11:49 
Forget 4G. While many still don't have access to the high-speed mobile network, Samsung claims to have made a breakthrough into the next generation of 5G. The mmWave Mobile Technology is the next step in network speed, which will provide data transmissions of up to several hundred times faster than 4G, with the ability to download up to tens of gigabits per second when it arrives. "Subscribers will be able to enjoy a wide range of services such as 3D movies and games, real-time streaming of ultra high-definition (UHD) content, and remote medical services," said Samsung today. Unfortunately we're a few years off seeing the service being available for the commercial market though, which Samsung says will happen by 2020. Meanwhile, TechRadar begins research into 6GIt's likely that we'll see shift to 4.5G some time before then, so data hogs will at least have that to look forward to. But Samsung's innovation is a huge leap forward given until now it's been believed that high-frequency wavebands required for 5G weren't suitable for long-range mobile communications. "Samsung's latest innovation is expected to invigorate research into 5G cellular communications across the world," said Samsung today. "The company believes it will trigger the creation of international alliances and the timely commercialisation of related mobile broadband services."     | | Sony announces Xperia ZR, the Z's more waterproof brother May 13th 2013, 09:40 
Sony has introduced the Xperia ZR, built with up to 1.5 meters of water resistance for snapping photo and video in those submerged situations. To make sure those underwater snaps are both taken and viewed in decent quality, the phone comes with a 13 megapixel fast capture camera and 4.6-inch HD Reality display with the same Mobile Bravia Engine 2 tech of the Xperia Z. However, the panel is just a 720p. You'll be able to keep the phone submerged in water for up to 30 minutes at 1.5 meters, although this is only good for fresh water situations - no taking it out into the big blue, we're afraid. On the plus, the dedicated camera button is a big pro that was missed on the Z. Under the sea....well, poolAs for the engine, the ZR holds a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quadcore 1.5 GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, 4G LTE and NFC support. The screen, meanwhile, offers a "prediction filter" which aims to, yup, predict where you're finger is going when you're scrolling around the display. The dimensions make it slightly smaller than the Xperia Z, while the phone is also dust-proof, meaning it will be an appealing buy for many of the intrepid adventurers out there. Sony's not saying anything on price just yet, but has confirmed that the phone will launch "in various global" markets starting quarter 2 of this year.     | | Samsung Galaxy S4 mini shown in ultra-clear pictures May 13th 2013, 09:28 
Samsung's launch of a little brother to the Galaxy S4 looks to be imminent as more pictures have leaked of the little tyke. It looks like we're going to see a carbon copy of the relationship between the S3 and S3 mini here, as the phone looks just like a shrunken version of the larger device (shockingly). The images of the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini depict a phone that's around 8mm thick, which would still be impressive at that size, and using a slightly cheaper-looking plastic back cover. Inside, the microSIM and microSD card slot live under the battery rather than in the larger phone chassis, like on the S4, which means the device will be a little bit thicker than its bigger bro. Bigger can be betterThen again, it needs to be a little chunkier – while it sounds great, in reality a thin and tiny phone would be a nightmare to operate day to day. 
The leak site claims that it will still have a Super AMOLED display, albeit with qHD rather than Full HD resolution, 1GB of RAM and a 5- or 8MP camera attached to the back. Such vagueness suggests the specs are a long way from nailed down, although all would make sense. We'd expect Samsung to launch the Galaxy S4 mini around July or August of this year, coming with an 8MP camera and a Super AMOLED screen with a ppi of around 300. This would put it squarely ahead of the S3 mini in terms of a spec boost without bringing the super-high price tag of the larger S4 with it. Then again, it could come with Android 2.3, a 3-inch resistive screen, a miniSD slot and incompatibility with all UK networks – got to love Samsung's scattergun approach to handset-making at times.     | | Ad shows new Nokia Lumia set for massive design overhaul May 13th 2013, 09:23 
Two things can be gleaned from the teaser ad for Nokia's new Lumia handset: 1. It will feature a camera, 2. It will feature a flash and 3. it will probably be made from aluminium. OK, three things. Presumably the handset, likely to be the Nokia Lumia 925 nee Catwalk, will come with pretty impressive photographical chops given the time Nokia's video spends lingering over each. It looks as though the phone will feature a double Xenon flash alongside a megapixel-heavy sensor, giving its recently announced Nokia Lumia 928 a run for its money in the low-light photography stakes. There's also a front-facing snapper pictured on the front of the handset. SightlinesNokia promises "More than your eyes can see", alluding perhaps to some serious horsepower lingering under the handset's bonnet. What's more, Nokia's ex-camera man Damian Dinning tweeted that "next week is sounding very exciting" - a sentiment he tempered with the follow-up with "Note to twitter, there are other things in life other than imaging which I find exciting. Any bigged up tech launch is an opp for excitement." The video also suggests that the body of the handset is going to be crafted from aluminium rather than the colourful plastic of the rest of the Lumia line-up - which we're excited about. As well as the so-called Catwalk handset, there's been talk of the a Nokia Eos handset coming soon with a 41MP PureView camera on board - could that be the handset Nokia's teaser is about? It's likely that Nokia will unveil its much-rumoured handset at an event on May 14 (that's tomorrow, fact fans), and we'll be there to bring you all the phone facts as they're revealed. YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev9rdaDK-YQ    | | White BlackBerry Q10 handset goes on sale in the UK May 12th 2013, 13:15 
A white-hued version of the BlackBerry Q10 smartphone has gone on sale in the UK for the first time. The QWERTY-toting BlackBerry 10 device is now available to buy in the new shade from high street retailer Carphone Warehouse and Selfridges. At Selfridges the handset is a whopping £579 to buy outright, while Carphone Warehouse is offering the device free from £33 a month on a two-year contract. The Q10 arrives with 4G LTE support, a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, 8-megapixel camera and earned 3.5 stars in a recent TechRadar review. Success at SelfridgesSelfridges has already enjoyed great success with the black version of the Q10, which it was selling exclusively following the April launch. The company claimed to sell 'thousands per hour' in its opening weekend, as corporate customers rushed to get the the Bold-alike device in their suit pockets.     | | Vodafone backs new Nokia Lumia handset prior to May 14 London launch May 10th 2013, 17:57 
We already knew Nokia is planning to launch a new Lumia Windows Phone 8 device in London on Tuesday, but whatever it turns out to be, Vodafone has confirmed its intent to stock it. Following today's announcement that the oft-leaked Nokia Lumia 928 will launch in the United States on the Verizon network, many are expecting Nokia to launch a slightly different device for the UK territory. The Lumia 928 brings Nokia's impressive PureView camera technology to the Lumia range for the first time, complete with a Carl Zeiss lens and a Xenon flash. The variant the UK ends up getting may be the Nokia Lumia 925 (codenamed Catwalk), which is expected to boast all of the same tech, but arrive with a slimmer, aluminium body. Next chapterIn a post on the company blog, Vodafone confirmed it will be in attendance at the Lumia event, but said its lips were sealed. "The Vodafone team will be there in attendance, which can only mean one thing. Yep, that's right: we're proud to be able to say that (even though our lips are firmly sealed ahead of the launch) Vodafone UK will be stocking the next chapter in the Lumia story," the post read. It is, of course, possible that Nokia's offering on May 14, will simply be the Lumia 928 and, judging by today's announcement, that would be no bad thing. We'll be at the press event to bring you all of the details as soon as they're announced.   | | Huawei's most powerful smartphone will land in the UK in June May 10th 2013, 10:22 
The Huawei Ascend P2 will be touching down in Blighty next month as the Chinese firm attempts to woo us with its most powerful smartphone to date. We attended the launch of the Ascend P2 at MWC 2013 in Barcelona where Huawei touted its new flagship handsets as "the world's fastest smartphone", although the more recently released Samsung Galaxy S4 may have something to say about that. What you get with the Huawei Ascend P2 is a 4.7-inch HD display, 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 13MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera and a 2420mAh battery - all squashed into a relatively slender 8.4mm chassis. App drawlessAndroid 4.1 Jelly Bean is the operating system of choice for the Ascend P2, but Huawei has stuck its substantial Emotion UI over the top which controversially gets rid of the app draw all together. The Ascend P2 also brings with it 4G connectivity so we'd assume it will show up on EE as the network ranged its predecessor, the Ascend P1, but we're waiting for an official comment from the superfast carrier. One network has confirmed it will be offering the Huawei Ascend P2: Three, which will allow customers to hop onto its 4G network once it launches later this year at no additional cost. Pricing and availability will be announced in due course, but we'd expect the Ascend P2 to carry a rather attractive price tag to tempt people away from the expensive Galaxy S4, HTC One and iPhone 5 - potentially somewhere in the region of £350-£400.   | |
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