Pantech P9070 Passes Through the FCC Equipped With LTE On Its Way To AT&T

Pay no mind to my poor attempt at free-styling in the title there, the Pantech P9070 just made its way through the FCC today packing LTE frequencies only AT&T could love (700/1700).The device is still very much shrouded in mystery with no other details given but if you wanted my guess, I’d say we’re looking at another mid-end phone from Pantech similar to the Breakout on Verizon. And that’s not bad at all. You can bet we’ll see the device in time for CES in January where all the OEM’s around the world will be showing off their wares packing none other than the greatest mobile OS in the world — Android.

Apple rumored to launch 7.85-inch iPad in late 2012

Digitimes has just reported that Apple’s rumored 7.85-inch iPad is slated to be going into production next year, in late 2012. Electronic parts manufacturers talking to Digitimes believed that Apple has been staggering the release of a second model, and considering launching the iPad 3 towards early spring, but shipping a smaller model before the fall, leaving the summer as the potential launch target date. Previously detaliled production plans sees both AU Optronics and LG Display tapped to make the new screens for Apple’s tablet.


In a release today, Digitimes reports that Apple is likely to launch a 7.85-inch iPad prior to the fourth quarter of 2012 in addition to a new iPad scheduled to be released at the end of the first quarter, according to sources in the supply chain.” Readers, how likely do you think this would be? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
Although there are multiple sources that have claimed the coming launch of this never-before-seen model, the “mini-iPad” still hasn’t been confirmed by Apple, because of the very nature of the device. Apple would have to “re-resolution” its user interface once again for a screen size in between the 4-inch iPhone models and the 9.7-inch iPad models. This move would require Apple to have three device resolutions for app developers to focus on, something it has been long attempting to avoid, given the deep-seated fragmentation issues Android has seen with its own plethora of resolutions.

Samsung Galaxy Note for AT&T to ditch Exynos, sport 4G LTE?

Is a 4G LTE-capable Galaxy Note headed stateside? According to PocketNow, that could very well be the case. Rumour has it Sammy's bringing a branded variant of the 5.3-incher, purportedly the SGH-I717, to AT&T's lineup sometime in early 2012. We'd already seen the Note pass through the Commission's gates and had anticipated a U.S. debut would soon follow, but that version -- the GT7000B -- might simply be a color variant of the currently available international model. An operator tramp stamp and 700MHz / 1700MHz radios won't be the only changes reportedly on deck, as this tablet / phone in-betweener is said to pack a dual-core 1.5GHz MSM8660 -- similar to the HSPA+ 42 and LTE-friendly Qualcomm chipsets found in the Skyrocket and T-Mobile's SGS II. Bear in mind, folks, that this is all still hearsay. Until we get word of an official release, you'll just have to make do with an unlocked import.

And Just Like That – Google Wallet Has Been Successfully Installed On The Verizon Galaxy Nexus

Not sure if this is more of a “Booyah!” or “In your face!” moment but despite Verizon’s greatest efforts, Google Wallet has successfully been installed on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. You can even take advantage of Google’s bonus $10 of spending cash to get you started on your new NFC journey. As usual, all the fun stuff comes after rooting your device and this is no different with the Galaxy Nexus. Google Wallet can be found and flashed using the ROM Manager app found in the Android Market.

Sony Ericsson branding yanked from UK HQ

Sony isn’t planning to kill off the Sony Ericsson brand until mid-2012, the company has said, but it seems the fat-trimming could have started already. The Sony Ericsson logo has been pulled down from the company’s corporate HQ in London, spotted by UK analyst Ben Wood, with only a pale blue shadow hinting at the halcyon days gone by.


It’s not clear whether this is a temporary sign issue or an indication of a more long-term change, though given Sony’s plans for the company it seems more likely to be the latter. The building Sony Ericsson’s corporate team occupies is rented from a Middle Eastern investor and the company is only ten years into a 25-year lease; that can be broken in late 2016, it’s suggested, meaning it’s likely that the premises will be used for some other purpose until that point even if Sony/Sony Ericsson have no plans to continue the current team there.
Sony announced plans to buy out Ericsson’s share in Sony Ericsson back in October, in a deal worth €1.05bn ($1.47bn) in cash. The Japanese company hopes to use its sole control over the smartphone business to bring it further in line with its existing PC, tablet and home entertainment divisions, pushing a so-called “four screen” strategy.
There are also numerous patents, owned by Sony Ericsson, that could better arm Sony in the current legal morass. Assuming no regulators complain, the deal is expected to be completed by the end of January 2012, though it looks like the renovators have got in early.

Android Overload: Transformer Prime Hitting UK In Jan With Mandatory Dock, LG Rumor 4 Heading To Boost Mobile and More

Day 1 with the Galaxy Nexus is finally drawing to a close and I hope you’re all enjoying your shiny new toy. But there’s still a heap load of other Android related news here in the Android Overload. These are all the stories that didn’t make it onto our front page but still deserved a second shot before drifting away into the world wide web. Have a look around and if you read up on anything interesting, let us know!

• Pocket Legends and Star Legends receive “holiday” themed update. [TalkAndroid]
• Time Warner Cable Android app adds smartphone compatibility. [Market Link]
• Only 4% of Android users have stock in Google where 16% of iPhone users have stock in Apple. [VentureBeat]
• ASUS Transformer Prime will hit the UK in January for £499. Optional dock now mandatory. [PocketLint]
• Dolphin Browser gets new Box.net add-on. [Market Link]
• Archos introduces “35 home connect,” an Android powered alarm clock. [Engadget]
• Rumor: LG Rumor 4 with Android coming soon to Boost Mobile. [Pocketnow]
• Panda cams! San Diego Zoo releases new app for Android. [Market Link]

ASUS Transformer Prime hits UK preorder, ships January

ASUS has thrown open UK pre-orders for the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, offering the Tegra 3 based Android tablet for £449 ahead of shipments beginning in January 2012. Only the 32GB WiFi model will be sold in the UK, bundled with the battery-toting keyboard dock, while those unwilling to wait for a quadcore can also get a discounted original Transformer to tide them over.


The original Transformer is now just £299 for the 16GB model, slate-only, while the 16GB bundle with the keyboard dock is now £399. The 32GB Transformer – again, slate-only, is now £349. Promotional pricing will last until December 30.
For most, though, the lure of the Prime will be too much to ignore. The 10.1-inch tablet has a high-quality IPS+ display, WiFi a/b/g/n, quadcore NVIDIA processor, an 8-megapixel main camera with 1080p Full HD video recording, and of course that special dual-battery capability. The internal battery on the Prime is rated for 12hrs alone, but the keyboard-dock adds a further 6hrs to that.
An Ice Cream Sandwich update will be pushed out OTA shortly, ASUS says. More details on the

iTunes Match rolls out to international community, makes music lovers flinch

Thought you'd have to wait until 2012 to snag an international iTunes Match account? Think again. It seems Apple ended its negotiations with British record companies earlier than expected, as the outfit prematurely launched the music matching service on Wednesday, pulled it and refunded early subscribers, and finally relaunched a fully functional Match to the international community on Thursday. Users from the UK, Australia, Canada, France, the Czech Republic and other countries are now reporting that the service is live, appearing in the iTunes Store and fully functional. If the US rollout was a little late, we certainly don't mind the international debuting a tad early.

Bharath University and Nokia to train students in mobile technology

Bharath University and Nokia India have joined hands to train students to adopt a practical approach to mobile technology. Dr. K P Thooyamani, Vice – Chancellor, Bharath University has signed a MOU with Nokia India. The University will incorporate courses based on the current industry standards as a part of the curriculum, as per the MOU. Experts from Nokia will share their knowledge with aspiring students.

Bharath University joins hands with Nokia

Dr. K P Thooyamani, Vice – Chancellor, Bharath University said, “Bharath University is doing a series of initiatives to produce students who can be readily absorbed by corporate. Nowadays corporate companies are cutting down investment in training. We have identified certain technologies like mobile computing and cloud services associating with leading MNCs like Nokia, IBM and a few other companies to produce well rounded technology professionals.”

Students will be trained on the new modules and they can also select their field of interest. These modules are designed for third and final year students. On completion of the course and certification from Nokia, these students will become Nokia Developer Launchpad members. This will give them access to technologies at Nokia. They will also be updated with upcoming technologies and gain access to regional and global training.

Sony Tablet S update lets you play with PS3 controllers, cable adapter required

We've got some good news for gamers that were willing to plunge into the PlayStation-certified world of Sony's tablets. The latest update to the company's divisive Tablet S will let you connect your PS3 controllers with those 32-bit games of yesteryear. The update is available now in Sony's homeland of Japan and the company is also rewarding its tablet faithful with a free download; an Ape Escape-themed mini-game collection. It's not all good news, however. The clamshelled Tablet P doesn't get the controller hook-up and you'll need to buy an additional USB adapter cable to connect a controller to the monoscreened Tablet S. A briefly worded, vaguely translated release awaits after the break.

 SGPT111JP / S · SGPT112JP / S · SGPT113JP / S · SGPT211JP / S
Android 3.2.1 (release2) News Updates

Marketing of Sony Corporation, Sony Corporation, December 15, 2011

Patronage purchased, before purchasing the Sony product, Thank you.

Sony Tablet "SGPT111JP / S · SGPT112JP / S · SGPT113JP / S · SGPT211JP / S" will guide you to update.
For this update, you will ask a series of operations required to perform the update for you.
Please read the following instructions, thank you for your update and implement this.
Contents of the [Update

PlayStation (R) * 1 * 2 wireless controller support for three
Video Chat plugged into Skype (TM) * 3 Additional Applications
S Series only cradle (SGPDS1) works better when mounting

To use the USB adapter cable * 1 (SGPUC1 sold separately) is required.
* 2 Sony Tablet (TM) S-series offers only.
* 3 Sony Tablet (TM) offers the only P-Series.

First live photos of Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos surface

Following in on the footsteps of the Galaxy Pro, Samsung is about to launch yet another touch-and-type phone, which is now confirmed to be the Galaxy Y Pro Duos. Looking like a more grown-up version of the Galaxy Pro, it's clear that the smartphone features a similar full QWERTY keypad along with a capacitive touch screen. The ‘Duos’ stands for the dual-SIM functionality in the phone.

Dual-SIM power!

The leaked picture comes from one of the readers of GSMArena who managed to click a quick picture of the prototype. The quality isn’t too great, but it’s proof enough of the phone's existence. We can clearly see the two SIM card slots and according to the tipster, you can alternate between the two SIMs through the notification area. The phone is expected to launch somewhere in the Q1 of 2012.

Here’s a rough breakdown of what the specifications could look like:

• 2.6-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a 320 x 240 pixel resolution

• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with hot spot creativity

• GPS with A-GPS support

• Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP and USB 2.0

• 3.5mm earphone socket

• Expandable memory up to 32GB

XAGE launches new M522 Desire handset

XAGE Communication India Pvt. Ltd. has announced the launch its new M522(Desire) handset with dedicated keys for music and games. It comes pre-installed with 250 games and has a powerful 2200mAh battery.

The M522 Desire

The M522 Desire supports multiple languages. It comes with a 2.4-inch wide colour screen and has support for microSD cards upto 8GB. The Desire also has a ‘High Definition’ MP4 Player and an Audio Player. It sports a 1.3 mega pixel camera with video and audio recording capabilities. Connectivity options include WAP/GPRS with pre-installed Yahoo Messenger, Twitter, Facebook and MSN. Other features include, Dual SIM, Wireless FM, Bluetooth with A2Dp, 3.5mm jack support and audio call recording.

The M522 Desire comes in various colour options like white-blue, red-black, black-orange & black-blue. It’s priced at Rs.2,499 and is available ex-stock. Those having problems procuring this handset can contact +91 11 497 55 555.

iPhone 4S Siri hack adds spoken settings control and battery status

The Siri hacks continue, with the latest mod for the iPhone 4S granting voice control over settings like WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as the ability to summon verbal feedback on things like battery status while your phone is in your pocket or bag. Handiwork of Hamza Sood, this latest tweak allows Siri users to toggle wireless settings with their voice, set screen brightness to different levels, and even send dictated messages using emojis.


Sood tells us that by using MobileSubstrate, a framework that allows third-party developers to access system functions, he’s able to add the settings support to Siri without requiring a proxy server. That has benefits in terms of stability and privacy, since you’re not relying on a third-party server to be online 24/7 or passing your spoken commands and dictated messages through someone else’s systems.
Being able to ask your phone how much battery life is left without taking it out of your pocket is another potentially very useful trick, as is being able to shut off or turn on Bluetooth and WiFi without having to dig through the iOS settings menus. It can even tell you your WiFi signal strength and IP address.
Unfortunately Sood’s hack does require a jailbreak to your iPhone 4S, something that’s not publicly available at present. Beyond that, though, it’s a simple case of copying a few files to the phone, so when the various teams working on a 4S jailbreak finally do strike gold, we can see this mod being very popular.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Active Review

An Android-exclusive feature - rugged smartphones have literally been riding the wave, since the launch of the Motorola Defy that packed quite a punch or two in it’s IP67 certified shield. This year, more competitors, like the Xperia Active, the Defy+ and the Samsung Xcover entered the rugged Android smartphone race. Sony Ericsson’s latest entrant in their Xperia series, the Active or the ST17i is built and designed for those wanting to or have an active lifestyle. But is it worth the bucks? Let’s find out. 

A 3 inch Bravia Mobile display

Design and Build Quality
The first thing you’ll notice about the Xperia Active is its relatively miniscule display size. It's relative, if you compare it to the 4+ inches sized phones that are currently in the market. But the Active doesn’t aim to compete with them, in terms of display size. It has got a rather different ace up its sleeve. It’s a rugged smartphone and with the design it’s got, it’ll take care of you, rather than the other way round.

Dual protection layers

Rugged generally indicates a sturdy, strong, no-nonsense design. But, the Active is not built like an armoured combat vehicle; on the contrary, it’s got this cutesy appearance that might just make people wrongly overlook this phone. The phone has a rubberized back with a silver rim running along the sides and owing to its size; it fits snugly into your hand. The rubberized finish pretty much ensures it doesn’t slip out of your hands. Also, it isn’t too heavy, with the weight being 110.8 grams. 

Sealing up the connectors

The front consists of the 3-inch Bravia Mobile engine LED-backlit LCD screen with an ambient light sensor and a notification LED above it. Also, SE has put in two proximity sensors, yes two, and we’re not too sure about the functionality of the second one. Sadly, it doesn’t come with a secondary camera. Those who want to take self-shots during a rainy hike, or just whilst surfing might have to put those thoughts aside, for now at least. The first of the two noise cancelling microphones is located right underneath the screen, whilst the second is located at the back, next to the 5 megapixel camera, the LED flash and the loudspeaker. The left consists of the power button, the volume rocker and dedicated camera button are located on the right. The only two physical connectivity options, the 3.5mm slot and the microUSB slot are located at the bottom, under air-tight rubberized flaps. There’s a slight gap above the buttons, which facilitates easy removal and securing of the flap, whilst still adhering to the water resistance certification. 

Two proximity sensors on top of the screen

There’s some engineering goodness under the back cover. Access to the internal parts of the phone is restricted by a second plastic case with a rubber seal along the sides that ensures it stays air-tight on the internal chassis. The 1200 mAh battery, SIM card and the microSD card are located underneath the dual protection covers. The memory card isn’t located under the battery though, and you can swap it without having to restart your phone. With all the protection mechanisms and flaps underneath that shell, the Xperia looks and feels like a powerful rugged device.
That said, it’s not the kind of phone you’ll take when you’re in the mood to go scuba diving. It’s important to know what the phone can and can’t do with the Ingress Protection rating it has got. At IP67, the numerical six indicates that it’s totally protected against dust, whilst the numerical seven indicates that it’s protected against the effect of immersion between 15cm and 1m for up to half an hour. 

Comes with a load of accessories

The phone comes with additional gear as well in the form of an armband, which could have been designed better to incorporate the headphone jack in the casing; a rubberized lanyard strap that you can wear on your wrist ala the strap on a Wii-remote and ear hooks to keep your headphones firmly in place. There are a couple of interchangeable back panels as well.

The bundled arm band accessory

With the unique design and the reinforced build, the Active is a nimble and small, but a sporty and rugged Android smartphone that you won’t need to worry too much about. We performed a couple of underwater tests on the phone. Head over to the video below to see the phone being pushed to its limits. 
 

Features
Interface
The Active runs on a 1GHz Scorpion processor with an Adreno 205 graphics processing unit. With that processing power, we expected the onboard Timescape UI and the corner icon homescreen to work quick and smooth, and the phone didn’t disappoint. Flicking through the menus and overall navigation is as quick as any other top-tier handset. Multitasking is handled pretty well with 512 MB of RAM and internal storage amounts to 1GB, of which 320 MB is user available. 

The interface

The four corners of the screen can hold shortcuts to applications and the rest of the screen is dedicated to widgets, shortcuts and other applications. In case a widget is too big, the top or the bottom corner icons get hidden to incorporate it onto the screen. The Timescape UI now supports calls, Facebook, messages and Twitter in its timeline and it does prove particularly useful if you quickly want to browse through your Twitter feeds. 

The phone has a wet finger tracking feature and though there is a certain threshold after which it doesn’t recognize the wet touch, it works pretty well and will help those who use their phone whilst sweating it out in the gym or jogging in the rain. 

The benchmarks

We put the phone through a couple of synthetic tests as well. AnTuTu gave the Active a benchmark score of 2888, putting it in a similar range of the Nexus S. Linpack gave a single thread score of 33.706 MFLOPS and a multi thread score of 38.141 MFLOPS, which is telling.

Buffalo launches AirStation Nfinity dual-band Wi-Fi router

Buffalo Technology today announced the AirStation Nfiniti Wireless-N High Power Dual Band router and Access Point in India. The high power gigabit WZR-HP-AG300H is the latest addition to networking solutions to its customers in the Indian market. The AirStation Nfiniti will be available immediately with Buffalo authorized retailed outlets at an estimated SRP of Rs.6,500.

Dual-band power

The AirStation Nfiniti Wireless-N High Power Dual Band Router is ideal for the home and small office environments. This powerful wired and wireless solution combines high power router and access point that offers an easy and hassle-free install. Coupled with High Power technology, including an onboard power amplifier and optimized antennae, the WZR-HP-AG300H provides exceptional range and increased performance at range. With robust features, such as WDS and Buffalo’s AirStation One-Touch Secure System (AOSS), customers will not find a better combination of speed, security, and push-button setup for their wireless network.

Some of the main highlights include:

• High Power Wireless Design: Extended range and performance

• Wireless Distribution System (WDS): Extend your wireless network across access points’

• Performance - Powered by DD-WRT for versatility and great performance

• Ports - USB port for network storage capabilities

• AirStation One-Touch Secure System (AOSS): Wirelessly connect other AOSS devices with the push of a button

• Wide Range of Wireless Security Support: WPA2, WPA-PSK (TKIP, AES), and WEP (128/64bit)

• Energy save feature reduce consumption upto 80 percent

• BitTorrent Client for downloading rich media files

• Store, share and access files from any web browser with WebAccess ( when USB HDD connected to access point

• Simultaneous wireless operations on both 2.4 and 5 GHz