| Samsung's new Exynos 5 Octa chip looks perfect for the Galaxy Note 3 Jul 23rd 2013, 12:02, by Hugh Langley 
After dropping a pretty significant teaser last week, Samsung has now spilled all on the new version of its Exynos 5 Octa processor - and it could be showing its face in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The updated SoC is based on ARM's big.LITTLE design, offering four Cortex A15 cores clocked at 1.8GHz and and four Cortex A7 cores at 1.3GHz (making up the little). All in all, the clock boost is said to offer 20 per cent more CPU processing oomph than the chip's predecessor. It will also bring double the 3D graphics of the current model. Samsung has opted out of Imagination's PowerVR this time round and gone for a pumped-up, six-core ARM Mali GPU instead. ARMed and dangerousAnd if you think that it arrives almost too-perfectly timed for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, you're not the only one. Gforgames reports that a Korean-based source claims the chip will indeed be found in Samsung's new Note device, which is expected to break cover at IFA 2013. Adding further fuel to the fire, Samsung says that the new chip will start mass production in August, which aligns very nicely indeed.     |  | White Moto X and clever clogs camera app break cover Jul 23rd 2013, 11:30, by John McCann 
When the Moto X finally does get its official launch there won't be much we don't already know about the handset, with further leaks revealing new camera features and a possibly low price point. An image of the white Moto X was posted online by @evleaks - a Twitter account famous for accurately leaking phones and tablets - which seems to jive with other photos which appeared earlier this month. FutTv : 6E8RqMr77E5TQThe @evleaks account also gave us a heads up on the Moto X's battery, claiming that it will feature a 2200mAh power pack which won't be removable, just like the Nexus 4. Meanwhile over at Android Community word's out that the Moto X could undercut the Nexus 4 in terms of price. An unnamed tipster suggested the 16GB Moto X will come in at $299 (around £195, AU$320) - the same price as the 8GB Nexus 4 - with the 32GB version potentially costing $349 (around £230 AU$375). Say cheeseThings may be getting more gesture-based too as another leak, this time from a questionable "anonymous tipster" on Android Police, claims to show a series of extensive screenshots from the Moto X's camera app. 
The snaps show swiping gestures are required access the settings menu on the left of the screen, while the swipe from the right will take you into gallery - the latter of which is already a standard action in Android Jelly Bean. That's not all. You'll also apparently be able to hold down on the screen to activate burst mode and take a rapid succession of snaps, while sliding a finger up or down the display will toggle the zoom level. 
Google might be treating us to some new tricks as part of the camera app with slow-motion video capture and a "twist your wrist" action to launch the snapper. We may be waiting until October before we actually find out if any of this Moto X talk is right, but Google is have a little breakfast get together tomorrow where Android 4.3 is expected to break cover and it could give us some clues. FutTv : b5aFBF77R2BwO    | | Reaction: TechRadar Reacts: Nokia Lumia 625 Jul 23rd 2013, 10:10, by TechRadar team 
Nokia hopes to tempt the cash-strapped over to the big-screen fast-4G dark side with its latest handset, the Nokia Lumia 625. But can a 4.7-inch screen with a little price win the TechRadar team over? Has Nokia compromised on other specs too much? Check out our thoughts, complete with knee-jerk scores out of five below. Gareth - Phones and Tablets EditorIt's an uninspiring phone, there's no doubt about that. It's basically a large screen that offers cheaper 4G, but do people really care enough about having 4G speeds while maintaining frugality? No, is the answer. They get a better phone overall. Nokia's Lumia range is expanding to the point of real confusion, and this is just another facet to that portfolio. It's like the Finnish firm is trying out every combination of phone before deciding on the bits that fit. It's a nice handset, and the screen isn't that pixelated, but in truth the Lumia 625 seems a bit of an oddity in an already well-served area. Knee-jerk score: 2 John - Phones and Tablets WriterIt's no surprise Nokia has launched the low-cost Lumia 625. Just take a look at the Lumia 520 - it's the baby of the Windows Phone 8 line up and possibly the Finnish firm's best selling handset, so there's clearly a market for cheap Windows devices. A 4.7-inch display at an affordable price point will pique the interest of many who can't afford the lofty prices of the flagship phones and with the inclusion of 4G the Lumia 625 does have some strong features. But its WVGA resolution isn't going to be overly crisp and I really worry about a poor visual experience, which could detract from what could potentially be a half decent smartphone. Knee-jerk score: 3
Follow John on Twitter Marc - Deputy EditorThe Nokia 625 proves that big doesn't necessarily mean better. It may have the largest screen of a Nokia to date at 4.7 inches, but with a resolution of just 800 x 400 there will definitely be pixelation problems. And then there is the inclusion of 4G. Yes, it is great to see this speedy technology trickling down into the budget end but in this instance it feels a bit like strapping a Ferrari engine to a Skoda chassis. Knee-jerk score: 2.5
Follow Marc on Twitter Kate - News Editor You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. I get it, I do. Some people can't afford the top end phones but still want the big screen, the 4G, the whole smartphone shebang. And it's cool that there's an option for them. But what's the point of a massive screen if the quality is going to be all pixelly and gross? WVGA? What is this, 2011? It's like picking up a no-brand TV for what seems like a song in the supermarket - in the long-run, the frustrations will outweigh the cash you saved then spent on chorizo. And by the middle of your contract, that chorizo will be long gone. Get something smaller that'll last you two years, that's what I say. The orange one looks pretty cool though. Knee-jerk score: 2
Follow Kate on Twitter James - Reviews EditorWhy would anyone buy this phone? That's a question we're unlikely to find an answer to anytime soon. I'm all-for the big screens – I screamed the praises of the Samsung Galaxy Note while it was still being derided as "ridiculous," "too big" and "WTF" by many people who have since been educated at phablet-point. But Nokia's strategy for making a big screen with the 625 is not 'pack in the pixels' but instead 'make the pixels bigger' which is just plain wrong. Knee-jerk score: 2 Follow James on Twitter Dan - Associate EditorHow many variants of Lumia can Nokia pump out? I like them, but I am now totally and utterly confused by the plethora of options available - I count 12 in total on the Nokia site and then there are yet more options with all the bright colours and everything. If I'm confused, why shouldn't you be? I get that this model has a big screen, but lower cost. But as such it's a bit of an oddity. Nokia is trying to sell it on the big screen, Smart Camera tech and Full HD video: all stuff that begs for a decent display. But the screen has a poor WVGA 800 x 480 resolution, so I reckon the experience will be pretty shocking. And at a time when high end Lumias are available on some pretty good contracts, I just don't see much point in the 625. Knee-jerk score: 2.5
Follow Dan on Twitter Patrick - UK Editor in ChiefIt's a really interesting move from Nokia to try to attract people who don't want budget to equate to small. Interesting, but I think probably flawed thinking. Having 4G is great but the phone doesn't look powerful enough to really take advantage of it (and you'll fork out loads for a 4G plan - hardly budget) and, like the Nintendo 3DS XL, bigger screens that don't up the resolution just end up with a shoddy user experience. I'm not convinced. Knee-jerk score: 2
Follow Patrick on Twitter Hugh - Staff WriterIt feels like Nokia risks spreading itself thin right now by trying to hit every price point. Sure, the Lumia 625 has a nice pitch: a 4G device for the masses. I'm not bashing the idea. But 4G and a fancy rainbow of colour options are only distracting from an otherwise disappointing handset. 512MB of RAM isn't going to get anyone excited. Feels like one for the 4G keen beans: those actually looking for a decently powerful phone will probably want to keep searching. Knee-jerk score: 2.5 Follow Hugh on Twitter Total knee-jerk score: 2.3Want more, more, more from the TechRadar team?     | | Nokia Lumia 625 officially unveiled - massive screen for the budget market Jul 23rd 2013, 08:00, by Gareth Beavis 
Nokia has finally confirmed its big-screen blower for those that like to spend a little less on their handsets. As we've seen in countless leaks over the past few weeks, the Nokia Lumia 625 is a phone designed for the lower end of the market, coming in with a 4.7-inch screen. However, while that display is large, it will only be available in a WVGA (800x640) resolution, which positively pales in comparison to the 1080p screens adorning the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4. The screen is an LCD option, compared to the OLED ClearBlack displays used on other Lumias, and has a resolution of 201ppi underneath the Gorilla Glass 2 protection. Designed to bring 'affordable 4G' to the masses, the phone is also packing a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 chip, albeit with only 512MB of RAM, to offer a decent experience at a low cost for a Windows Phone 8 device. It will be coming with the Amber update, which enables the low-power Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. There's only 8GB of internal user memory, but continuing in the confusing style of Windows Phone handsets there's a microSD slot available for up to 64GB of storage of your own business. Hey, we're not going to pry. Battery life is taken care of with the 2000mAh power pack on the rear; remember that Windows Phone 8 is much kinder on its juice than many other Android handsets, so should last as long as a unit running a 2500mAh battery. However, that means it's going to be a little heavier in the pocket to allow for that larger battery pack, tipping the scales at nealry 160g for a phone that measures 133.25 x 72.25 x 9.15mm. Clever little snapperIt's also coming with Nokia's Smart Camera technology from the outset - while it will only take seven shots in burst mode at 1MP level (compared to the 10 higher-res options on handsets such as the Lumia 925) but will come with all the features that app brings, such as action shots and object removal. The camera in 'normal' mode will be a 5MP snapper with a front-facing VGA option for the horrid trend of self-portrait photography, plus the other lenses seen on Nokia phones, such as Cinemagraph and Panorama modes. The Nokia Lumia 625 release date has been set for September this year, and in the UK will be coming on EE, Vodafone, O2, Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse, with a wide range of colours (orange, bright green, yellow, white and black) all set to debut together. Plus you can also change the shells yourself, if you're so inclined. And the price will be pretty competitive, as Nokia believes it will be offered for £200 or €220 before taxes, making it a real option in the middle of the market.     | | Blip: LG G2 will be unveiled in New York on August 7 Jul 23rd 2013, 03:51, by Farrha Khan 
We've long been gathering the hints and rumours about the LG G2, speculating on its unveiling, and now the company itself has said that the flagship device will be revealed at an event on August 7 in New York. The smartphone manufacturer confirmed our predictions on its new dedicated LG G2 website, stating: "The LG G2, a phone inspired by you, unveils itself on August 7, 2013." With a widget counting down to the "unveiling", it states that the event will be streamed live on the website. The site also has a couple of promo videos to check out, though they don't feature much of the actual handset - just giving us a clear shot of its back, allowing us to see the camera and the volume buttons uniquely placed below it, surrounding the flash. The website and video also says that the handset is "learning from you". We really aren't sure what to make of that, but with the powerful Snapdragon 800 sitting inside the handset, the possibilities have us excited. More blips!There's still a fortnight left, so why not check out some other TechRadar's blips in the meantime.     | | Blip: Optus activates Nokia Lumia 925 pre-orders Jul 23rd 2013, 01:41, by Farrha Khan 
Optus has today started taking pre-orders for the Nokia Lumia 925, with the handset due to arrive in stores on August 1 for an outright price of $624. It will be available on Optus' $50 My Plan with an $8 monthly handset repayment (total minimum cost $1392), while the $60, $80 and $100 My Plan options will require $0 handset repayments. Optus will also have the Nokia 925 available for SIM-only customers or those wishing to add it as their My Mobile option. Telstra had previously announced that it will start offering the handset from July 30 outright for the same price as Optus, or on its $60 Every Day Connect plan and $60 Business Performance Plan, both with a $6 handset repayment per month for 24 months (total minimum cost $1584). And while Vodafone has confirmed to TechRadar that it will be ranging the handset, a spokesperson simply said: "Stay tuned for details." More blips!Order placed your order? Why not check out TechRadar's other blips!     | | Blip: Samsung joins the in crowd, plans first global dev conference Jul 23rd 2013, 01:18, by Michelle Fitzsimmons 
Google, Apple, Microsoft and now Samsung - these are the companies (the big ones anyway) with developer conferences you can start looking forward to on an annual basis. Sammy today announced its first-ever, multi-day global developer gathering is going down Oct. 27 through Oct. 29 in San Francisco. While you should prepare for APIs and SKDs, according to The Verge Samsung will use its dev con to make some significant announcements. The report noted Samsung won't pull an Amazon and make a split from Google by forking a version of Android, however the fact that the company feels it's necessary to hold an entire, multi-day event dedicated to codes and the like is an intriguing proposition, one we'll certainly be watching very closely. More blips!Blips take you where you want to go.     | | Interview: Crazy, risky, bold: The Ubuntu Edge embarks on a new phone frontier Jul 23rd 2013, 00:06, by Michelle Fitzsimmons 
Months before Mark Shuttleworth took off for space, he had an idea that made some of the more seasoned pros around him slightly uneasy. "I was sitting down with my counterparts in Star City [Russia] and we were talking about laptops," Shuttleworth recalled during an interview with TechRadar this afternoon. "The laptops that were certified to fly on the Space Station, they were P166s, and this was 2001. I said, 'I think we can fly the latest laptops.'" The Canonical founder's suggestion was met with hesitation - after all, careers are on the line for decisions that send anything into orbit - but after testing Shuttleworth was permitted to bring three of the then-latest laptops to the ISS. "For me, it was mission critical that I take these machines into space, but I was in a position to take more risk. We ended up with three great laptops that became the next certified model of laptops on the Space Station. "There's nothing dumb about NASA, but by bringing a different perspective to risk and experimentation, it moves things forward faster." Risk rewardsShuttleworth offered this space travel anecdote as an analogy for the Ubuntu Edge, a "superphone" Canonical announced today along with a $32 million (about £20.8m, AU$34.5m) Indiegogo campaign. The phone industry, he said, has a low risk appetite when it comes to products: Like sending an unfamiliar machine into space, putting a more experimental handset on the market can have shattering consequences for the people involved. 
"[The Edge] is a concept car that people can drive off the lot," Shuttleworth said, turning to another analogy. "It's a test of the future, because the phone industry really can't do this. Not because it's not smart enough or doesn't have the resources, but the mechanism is such that they can't do it." In the hours since it was announced, the vibe as been "very positive" for the the campaign and the phone that will dual boot both the Ubuntu for smartphones OS and Android. "I think we've even beat out the royal baby on Twitter - though we'll be in labor for 30 days." Canonical has a month to reach the multimillion dollar amount needed to get the Edge into users' hands. As of 4:10 p.m. PT Monday, the ticker was at $2,012,912. "It's crazy and bold, but that's what it takes to bring a new device to market," Shuttleworth said of the figure. "We're really finding a new way to get phones to enthusiasts, and I'm really excited about that." Living on the EdgeAs appealing as its specs are, the Edge isn't meant to be a mass market device. It's aimed at enthusiasts, early adopters and enterprises, those that are willing to take the risk in "cracking those next generations," while also fronting $830 (about £540, AU$897) for a phone that won't be ready until May 2014. Canonical needs about 40,000 of these kind of people to put their money where their interest is. If it doesn't reach its goal, than the Edge won't get made. Though the specs aren't finalized, the Edge is leaning towards housing 4GB of RAM, a multi-core processor and 128GB of storage - resources it can call on when plugging into a PC. 
"The point of the Edge is to break new ground - in this round we really want to stretch the RAM and storage of the device. We're trying to cross that chasm between phone and PC and be the superphone." "This round" is a key phrase - if the Indiegogo experiment works, Shuttleworth said Ubuntu campaigns might become a regular occurance. "In the second generation, we could invite companies that have interesting sensors or capabilities that they've tried in the lab but not in the field. We could have this happen on an 18 month or so clip to chip away at the leading edge of possibility," he effused. Shuttleford said Canonical has held off selecting the Edge's silicon because "we want to have a very good read on what the next-gen will be. We want to see real world benchmarks and give our backers a say in that sort of macro decision." The phone is a grass roots effort in the same vein as Ubuntu itself, and though it can be hard to discern the right path among thousands of voices, Shuttleford seems a stalwart of the crowdfunding and crowdsourcing process. And while it may look like an outlier or even a rebel, from its specs to its funding, he called the Edge "non-threatening" to phone makers. Canonical might even end up releasing the device under another brand's name, if it ends up working with a design manufacturer and "if that's what our backers want." 
Ubuntu unfolds Edge is grabbing the headlines today, but Canonical is plotting putting Ubuntu on four other devices - two mid-range and two high-end - for release next year. The devices will be for the mass market, meaning more conservative specifications, and conversations with potential phone maker partners are already underway. The platform is still young, but Shuttleworth said it will be "interesting to see how [Ubuntu] translates" as computing evolves to areas like augmented reality and as it becomes "a platform for framing what's possible." When asked if he could see Ubuntu powering wearable tech, he offered a hearty "sure." The future, from the founder's perspective, is appropriately wide open. But the company has the next 30 days to worry about first. "If it succeeds, it's fantastic, and then it will be a lot of work," Shuttleworth said of the Indiegogo campaign. "If it doesn't work, I hope that what we'll have done is raise awareness of the crowdfunding mechanism to drive innovation. "If [the Edge] is greenlighted, we'll tap into a much bigger brain trust than myself or the others at Canonical. We'll have broken the speed of sound, broken out of the atmosphere, but won't yet be in orbit."     | | Updated: Nokia Lumia 625 leaks light up the web ahead of possible reveal Jul 22nd 2013, 23:39, by Lily Prasuethsut 
Update: Finnish tech site Puhelinvertailu released specs that match the previously leaked specs we've listed below. But here's a few new nuggets we noticed about the Nokia 625: the large 4.7-inch screen is LCD, the 5-megapixel camera has 1080p recording capabilities and there will be microSD support for up to 64GB with 8GB of internal memory already on board - or so the report claims. Five different colors are said to be available - orange, bright green, yellow, white and black - with interchangeable semi-transparent shells. The site also claims the Lumia 625 will have an LTE variant with support for European bands - and probably North American support a little bit later. Original article below .... It seems like Nokia has its work cut out for itself. Right after tweeting there would be "something big" revealed tomorrow, notorious leak artist @evleaks struck back with its own set of tweets. 
We already speculated that the Nokia 625 would be the prime topic of discussion and it seems @evleaks agrees. The Twitter account posted not one, not two, but three images of brightly stacked phones, with two pictures containing phones noticeably sporting "6:25" as the time. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not
The suspicious time shown in the image may seem like a far stretch but leaks of the Nexus 7 2 have taken a similar route in attempting to convey Android 4.3. Though, the incessant amount of images of the purported Lumia 625 seem to strongly suggest this may not be a coincidence. TechRadar has previously reported that the Lumia 625 will likely pack a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 5MP rear camera and front facing VGA. At this point, however, guessing is really just a countdown until tomorrow, at which point Nokia will let us know what's really going on.     | | Blip: Facebook for Every Phone notifies 100M feature phones Jul 22nd 2013, 22:09, by Michael Rougeau 
Facebook's feature phone app, released all the way back in 2011, has apparently done quite well for the social network. Facebook announced over the weekend that the Facebook for Every Phone app, which works natively on more than 3,000 types of feature phones (or "dumb phones"), recently surpassed 100 million users. "The app is a comprehensive Facebook experience and feels more like a smartphone app," Facebook Growth Manager Ran Makavy wrote. "It includes Facebook's most popular features, such as News Feed, Messenger and Photos, and provides a complete experience for first-time users, including the ability to create a new account and find friends." This year smartphones finally passed feature phones in sales, but it seems there are still plenty of phone owners out there still stuck in the past. More blips!If your feature phone browser can handle it, be sure to check out all of TechRadar's blips!     | | Blip: Nokia has a 'big,' red hot announcement on tap for tomorrow Jul 22nd 2013, 18:15, by Lily Prasuethsut 
Fresh from a press announcement in New York concerning the Lumia 1020, Nokia is at it again. Just this morning, Nokia tweeted "Something BIG landing tomorrow" with instructions to "tune in" on July 23 at 9:00 a.m. U.K. time. That's 1 a.m. PT/4 a.m. ET for all you Stateside folks. The glaring red photo you see above plus a link to the Nokia blog were also posted with the teaser, "We can't tell you what it is yet. But we can tell you when." Our guess is the arrival of the Nokia Lumia 620 follow up, the Nokia Lumia 625. With its larger 4.7-inch screen, and rumored innards boasting a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 5MP rear camera and front facing VGA camera, the Lumia 625 may quite possibly be the headliner tomorrow as the largest Windows Phone 8 screen to date, despite its average specs. More blips!You know what else is red hot? Our blips. Grab a pot holder and read on.     | | Meet the Ubuntu Edge and the insane amount Canonical wants in crowdfunding Jul 22nd 2013, 17:25, by Michelle Fitzsimmons 
Canonical wants to be on the leading, well, edge of converging computing, and to that end announced the Ubuntu Edge "superphone" and a $32 million plan to crowdfund it. "We're fascinated by converged computing, the idea that the smartphone in your pocket can also be the brain of the PC on your desk," the software company said in announcing a phone that dual boots Android and the Ubuntu for smartphones OS. Leaked renders gave us our first glimpse of the Edge earlier today, but now Canonical is confirming the phone as well as launching an Indiegogo campaign aimed at bringing the device to users by May 2014. The goal is to hit that $32 million (about £20.8m, AU$34.5m) mark in the next 30 days, circumventing the roadblock Canonical Founder Mark Shuttleworth said manufacturers place in the way of new technologies. If it succeeds, the Indiegogo plan will smash "every record in crowdfunding history." YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eQLe3iIMN7kThose who pledge $830 (about £540, AU$897) will receive an Ubuntu Edge and find a place on the phone's Founders page. U.S. and U.K. residents aren't liable for a shipping fee, while residents of other territories will need to fork over an extra $30 (about £19, AU$32) to receive their phones. For the next 24 hours, however, Canonical is selling the Edge for $600 (about £390, AU$648). The offer lasts until tomorrow at 8 a.m. PT/11 a.m. ET/4 p.m. BT. Do you Ubuntu?The idea behind the Edge is that it's not just a smartphone. Instead, when connected to a monitor, the phone transforms from an Ubuntu phone into an Ubuntu PC, "with a fully integrated desktop OS and shared access to all files." 
While no spec is set in stone, Canonical said its testing has found a 4.5-inch screen to be the ideal real estate needed for comfortable, one-handed control. Screen res won't be driven by the race to the top, so look for something no higher than 300ppi. Pure sapphire crystal, not glass, will protect the 1280 x 720 HD display, so if you have a diamond in your pocket, be careful - apparently that's the only mineral that can scratch it. Camera-wise, users can expect an 8MP low-light one on the rear and a 2MP snapper facing front. Inside, the Edge will pack at least 4GB of RAM, a multi-core processor and 128GB of storage. The battery will be a crafted from silicon-anode tech. A dual-LTE chip should help with 4G hook ups no matter where you take the phone. If you're struck by this Ubuntu phone, you may want to jump in the order line: Shuttleworth said that if the funds aren't raised, the Edge isn't going to happen.     | | Updated: Best T-Mobile phone: 10 we recommend Jul 22nd 2013, 17:15, by William O'Neal 
Best T-Mobile phoneMaking heads or tails of the carrier marketplace here in the States can be mind-boggling. While some carriers offer unlimited data plans, others do not. And of the ones who do offer unlimited plans, it often takes doing some research to find out exactly how "unlimited" that plan is. T-Mobile is one of the few major carriers to still offer unlimited data plans, even though you may experience some throttling (slowing down your data rates as your data usage goes up) if you are a heavy data user it may be worth the slower data rates to not exceed your monthly allotment. But which is the Best T-Mobile Phone? Sure, T-Mobile makes it very easy to use your cell phone's data plan as a mobile hotspot, something that the TechRadar editors do quite a bit when posting stories on the road. Whether you're a current T-Mobile subscriber looking for that next handset, or you're looking to switch to T-Mobile, here are the five best T-Mobile phones that are currently available in the United States. Sony Xperia Z
Sony's come out here with a very strong message: We are back and we mean business. There's no hint of this being a niche Android phone, or by any means a cheap one. Sony wants the Xperia Z to be viewed as the handset of choice, the one that will knock Apple off its pedestal and be classed as the Android device. It's done this through a design which is, frankly, beautiful. And specs which are, in some ways, unmatched. The Sony Xperia Z has a beautiful design and finally represents an Android smartphone that can be used to show iPhone owners that they're not necessarily at the top of the heap anymore. Nokia Lumia 925
The Nokia Lumia 925 is something of an oddity. For a phone that is presumably meant to be Nokia's latest flagship it's been approached rather conservatively. The Nokia Lumia 925 is a great looking phone. It's slimmer and lighter than the Nokia Lumia 920, the metal band running around the edge does wonders for it and it's the first phone the Finnish company has made in a long time that looks like it was designed for adults. The camera is superb too, not only in terms of its raw performance but also in the sheer number of options, modes and effects you can play with. HTC One
The HTC One is the best phone the firm has made, without a doubt. It's got the wow-factor that made us fall in love with the HTC Desire, and manages to bring Sense back to a level that shows off the best of Android, rather than obfuscating it. So whether it's the Ultrapixel camera that extends the range of photos you can take, or the moving photos on offer, or simply the improved speakers bolted on the front (as long as you don't play them on public transport) the HTC One takes the best the smartphone market has to offer and just makes it better. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is sleeker, the iPhone 5 is, well, Apple-ier, and the Nexus 4 is cheaper. But for the overall package of smartphone design and functionality, the HTC One stands head and shoulders above the rest. Samsung Galaxy S4
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a phone that we really, really like. The combination of powerful innards, the market's best screen and a clever design ethos all combine to make a really strong contender for the handset you should be buying when you wander into your local phone emporium. But screw all the "which phone is better than the other" notion for now the Galaxy S4 is a stunning smartphone that won't let you down for a variety of tasks. There's no doubt Samsung will have to make a big step forward to keep users interested with the Galaxy S5, but for now we love the S4 and would be proud to have it in our pocket. Samsung Galaxy Note 2
Samsung has taken a product many people - including us - expected to sink. It's built on that and given us something even better. Faster, stronger, better looking, and more functional. It's better connected than ever, and thanks to that increased screen size, now takes the crown in our eyes as the perfect media player. Samsung has achieved something special here, because it has made the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 bigger than the original, but pulls it off so that you don't notice it too much. The fact that it launches running Android Jelly Bean and has such grunt with that processor makes this a class-leading phone. And with a camera that churns out fantastic snaps, it's the perfect device in many ways. Samsung Galaxy SIII (T-Mobile)
We were all excited when the Samsung Galaxy SIII finally made it to T-Mobile. Not just one of the best T-Mobile phones currently on the market, it's arguably the best phone to come out all year. While its predecessor the Samsung Galaxy S2 was no slouch, the Samsung Galaxy SIII wowed us with its amazing 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD screen, Snapdragon S4 processor, 2GB of RAM, and excellent battery life. Another awesome thing about the Samsung Galaxy SIII is that it's available on all of the major U.S. cell phone providers including Sprint, AT&T and US Cellular. While the BlackBerry Bold 9900 4G is all business, the Samsung Galaxy SIII is all fun. One of the best multimedia phones we've ever tested, this handset has what it takes to make you leave your stand-alone digital camera at home. Google Nexus 4
Google and LG have worked together to bring to market a fantastic offering. We showed it to two friends who are both Apple fans. The kind of people who shower in holy water if they're exposed to Android. Both of them were smitten. The fact of the matter is that this is a handset with world class specs – yet it's at a price you'd expect to get a budget phone for. Sure, there are a few things that could have been done better, but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. The Nexus 4 is beautifully designed with a stunning display and rocking the latest version of Android. It has more connectivity than a BT Telephone Exchange and even excels in the simple matter of making telephone calls. The fact that it runs Android as Google intended it will please the purists, but the OS has improved leaps and bounds since its early incarnations, so no longer is it a daunting prospect for first time users. The screen is great, the power under the hood is more than enough and it feels every inch a top-end handset - that is until you look at the price tag and get one of the most pleasant surprises known to man, value for money. HTC One S
Easily one of our favorite phones to-date, the HTC One S is almost the complete package. While many will bemoan the scant 16GB memory cap and non-HD screen, the fact remains that this is still one of the best phones available for T-Mobile users in the States. Designed with Android Ice Cream Sandwich in mind, we were blown away at how good the battery life is on this handset: especially for an Android phone. Because of its sexy style users will no doubt compare it to the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S3. That said, T-Mobile users will be about to grab the HTC One S at a fraction of the cost of the Samsung Galaxy S3. HTC Windows Phone 8X
The HTC Windows Phone 8X is a premium-feeling device with a brand new iteration of the highly elegant Windows Phone OS. It has almost every connectivity option you could ask for and a camera with increased light allowance on the lens. It may only be rocking a dual-core processor, but it is stable and fast and Bing Maps is a credible alternative to Google's long-established alternative. Nokia Lumia 810
As both a Windows and Nokia device, the Lumia 810 comes packed with apps from both companies. From Microsoft there will be tie-ins with Xbox Live, and Nokia will provide its two navigation services, the turn-by-turn Nokia Drive and the augmented reality app Nokia City Lens. Media suites will include an ESPN app and music streamer Slacker Radio. T-Mobile is getting in on it too, offering T-Mobile TV, its app for streaming all kinds of TV to your phone. Music fans will be happy to know the phones supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, MPEG4 and WAV.   | | Explained: How Gorilla Glass protects your phone Jul 22nd 2013, 14:45, by Mike Williams 
In theory, at least, using glass for the screens of mobile devices seems like a very bad idea. It's heavy, and regular wear and tear means whatever you're looking at will quickly become obscured by a mass of criss-crossing scratches and chips. Then it will inevitably break, requiring an expensive replacement, before the whole process starts all over again. None of this is exactly a recipe for technical success, and so it's hardly surprising that many computing hardware manufacturers initially opted for lighter, more flexible plastic screens, instead. There are some interesting alternatives, though, and perhaps the most successful is Gorilla Glass. Produced by American manufacturer Corning Incorporated, it's a chemically strengthened glass which can be as thin as 0.4mm - less than four times the thickness of the human hair - while remaining scratch and impact-resistant. And it's a mix which has seen the product used to protect more than 1.5 billion devices worldwide, including Samsung's Galaxy phones and tablets, Sony Bravia TVs, laptops from big names like Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo, and even the iPhone at one point (although with neither Corning nor Apple talking, whether this is still the case isn't entirely clear). How has one company achieved such success? It takes a little work, starting with the way the glass is formed in the first place. Fusion drawGorilla Glass starts its life through Corning's fusion draw, a proprietary process which helps ensure the product is both thin and exceptionally pure. The glass material itself is a high quality, but relatively conventional aluminium, silicon and oxygen mix - a regular alkali aluminosilicate blend - which is heated until it's molten. In the past this might then have gone through a float glass process, where it's poured onto a bed of molten metal (often tin), flattening under its own weight, then cooled until it becomes a sheet. Fusion draw, though, sees the material poured into a long v-shaped trough called a refractory isopipe. This overflows, running down either side of the trough, rejoining at the bottom to form a single sheet of glass. This simple process helps to keep the product very pure (regular float glass has a layer of tin oxide on one side). 
There's also no need for polishing, something which can itself introduce and exacerbate flaws in the glass. And the end result is a product so pristine that Corning says "a rejectable particle is comparable to a single mustard seed on a football field". This is a great start, resulting in very thin and exceptionally clear glass. The lack of defects and unwanted particles also helps to ensure it's as strong as normal glass can be. But it is still just normal glass, unfortunately - transforming it into Gorilla Glass requires another important step. Ion exchangeWith fusion draw complete, the material produced so far is cut down to size and then placed into a 400 degree C bath of molten salt. This is all part of a process called ion exchange, a standard purification technique in many industries, but here the extreme heat is used to draw out sodium atoms from the surface of the glass, replacing them with larger potassium atoms. Talking about swapping "smaller" and "larger" atoms may sound rather irrelevant, but it does make a very real difference. The end result is a surface coating which is far more compressed at the atomic level, making it significantly more resistant to scratches. 
What's more, while regular glass has a major problem with crack propagation - the way defects will spread and grow - Gorilla Glass's state of permanent compression means the material is always pushing together, which means it's far less likely to experience any cracks in the first place. This doesn't make the product invulnerable, of course. Hit your screen hard enough, perhaps with another hard material, and you'll still be in trouble (it's damage "resistant", not "proof"). Gorilla Glass will already perform far better than regular glass, though, and many other materials - and this is just the start. Corning has plenty of other interesting developments planned for the future. Gorilla Glass everywhereStrengthening glass is a good first step, but it's not the only area of the material which needs a little "help". David Velasquez, Corning Director of marketing and commercial operations told us: "Consumers increasingly want solutions to other cover-glass related problems like outdoor reading, smudges, and germs. We are working on all of these and are very excited about progress we are making." It seems like that progress is significant, too, with Corning Vice President Jeffrey Evenson claiming at the recent MIT Mobile Technology Summit that an upcoming anti-microbial treatment can greatly resist bacterial build-up, while a new anti-reflection technology should ensure Gorilla Glass is tens of times more transparent than purified water. Why stop with touch and mobile devices, though? Evenson also revealed plans to branch out, in particular by replacing some of the glass used in car windows. Thinner, stronger and more scratch resistant glass doesn't just bring safety benefits, he pointed out: it also reduces vehicle weight and lowers its centre of mass, so helping to improve fuel economy. Apparently the first cars with at least some Gorilla Glass will be available within the next year. 
For all its success so far, Gorilla Glass may have some formidable competition on the way. For instance, companies such as Samsung and LG are working on plastic screens, due imminently, which can be bent, folded and twisted without breaking, and are lighter than Corning's products. Whoever wins, the future for mobile device screens is looking brighter - and clearer, stronger and less reflective - than ever.     | | Opinion: Mobile gaming needs a killer app to prove itself Jul 22nd 2013, 14:30, by Patrick Goss 
It's interesting that Peter Molyneux has insisted mobile gaming has yet to have its standout moment, and it's clear that he feels that he could be the person to provide just that. He's working on a god game called Godus, and his often quirky view on how the real world and the gaming world collide will hopefully provide us with a standout title. Because, frankly, the mobile world is in desperate need of a mobile game that truly allows it to ascend from its current place as a place for (often great) casual games and puzzlers to a genuine platform for creativity. That's not a criticism of the likes of Doodle Jump or Angry Birds, just a desire to see a game that is held up alongside its console brethren. I've recently been playing though Deus Ex: The Fall – a game which has left me with hugely mixed feelings. The control mechanism – normally the bane of the hard-core gamer with a touchscreen – is actually really rather good, complete with a moveable UI and some neat touches. But the game still falls frustratingly short in areas that, frankly, it could have aced with a little more effort. 
Cheap cheapYes, it's cheaper than a console title by a considerable margin, but I simply cannot accept that as an excuse for some genuinely horrific voice acting and the fairly quick realisation that you may as well shoot your way round rather than think too hard. 'Secret' routes are too obvious, I can only imagine because it's harder to get around on a touchscreen – and it's all too easy for exploring in this sort of open world to break the narrative. And this is, in so many other ways, a great example of how to do an immersive game for an iPad. If it had been given the kind of polish shown by the likes of Angry Birds: Star Wars where clarity of thought and humour shines through often enough to make it a deserved winner, it could have been great. I loved Deus Ex: Human Revolution and I have thoroughly enjoyed its iPad follow-up/prequel edition; I just wish it had built on its potential to become something I would recommend to anyone looking to take the step from casual and puzzler to a more core gaming experience. There are obvious drawbacks to a touchscreen – buttons have remained a constant in the world of gaming for fairly obvious reasons – but it also has advantages. BenefitsPeople often talk about the need to quickly quit and resume mobile games as a disadvantage, but Molyneux and several other innovators have talked eloquently about the fun that can be had with these transitions. Making real life bleed into a game could be a wonderful way of making our mobiles a unique and thrilling experience. And, as I found with Deus Ex: The Fall, I was much more prepared to explore every nook and cranny in a way that I perhaps wouldn't on the PC or on a console. Just like those people that want three stars on every puzzle, I felt the need to touch every corner of this little open world; the boundaries encouraged this rather than made me feel too hemmed in. I completely get the assertion that we should look to move beyond old thinking in the way that tablet and phone games work, but that doesn't mean that we should accept that gaming is inferior on these devices. Mobile gaming will keep on getting better, but it needs a killer app, and soon.     | | Apple reportedly trialing a 13-inch iPad, and bigger iPhone too Jul 22nd 2013, 07:09, by Patrick Goss 
If your chief problem with Apple devices was that they were a little small then you may be in luck, with further suggestions that the US giant is testing considerably larger screens for its iPhone and iPad. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is testing prototypes of a tablet with a display 'slightly less than 13-inches' and smartphone screens that are larger than the iPhone 5. Rumours that Apple is looking to upsize its devices have been plentiful this year, and the latest stories are obviously all the more likely given the source. Of course, testing does not mean definitely on their way, and Apple will be mindful that it has made the case for both iPhone and iPad's current screen sizes being optimum. Raising iBrowsA 13-inch tablet would certainly raise eyebrows, with real questions over whether the weight can be kept down enough to make it a comfortable experience. A larger iPhone looks more likely, with competitors like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One enjoying success with bigger screens, and the Asian market embracing phablets like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 . It's widely thought that this year will see a new iPad 5 with the traditional 9.7 inch retina screen and a new flagship iPhone 5S. So, let the rumours of the iPad Mega start here, as well as the likely suggestion that it could be some kind of Lenovo Yoga-like hybrid laptop/tablet.   | |
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