Belle Feature Pack 2 might be coming soon

There’s some pretty good news for Symbian smartphone users as there could be a chance that a new Feature Pack 2 update is in the pipeline for the newer models. The Nokia PureView will be part of the update, and that will be coming to the 603, 700 and 701 as well, along with a CPU speed increase.

Gigantic 41 megapixels sensor

As reported by GSM Arena, the Belle Feature Pack 1 update in itself ups the performance of the browser as well. It goes from 157 points to 212 points. With Feature Pack 2, there’s a further increase in the speed with the points tally going up to 242. Equivalent to that, Android 2.3 gets 181, Android 4.0 gets 256 and Safari gets a 305. Obviously iOS wins, but Belle isn’t that far off, which is definitely good news. Mango scored a lowly 141 points, as compared to the competition. This was part of the HTML5 test’s browser comparison tests. Also, Nokia Beta Labs is ending the Universal search that was currently existing on their phones. This might mean that the feature may be a part of FP2 as well. 

Symbian on its own was definitely a powerful platform. With the advent of the other operating systems, it did lose a lot of steam, but it's still chugging on with these updates. One of the main problems was the limited app store, but besides that, the interface, the media and everything else was pretty much top notch. Symbian wasn’t too optimized either and it did face a similar fate as Samsung’s Bada operating system. As compared to frontrunners, Google and Apple, it didn’t really impress that much, and Nokia themselves started looking at Windows Phone as their future operating system. With PureView 808, we might see it come back, though. The 41MP camera might just be an impressive feature that will make some heads turn. What do you guys think, Symbian Belle, a 41 megapixel camera phone and hopefully an affordable price tag would make this a good buy? Let us know in the comments section below.

LG Lucid Lands On Verizon

LG’s latest Android smartphone, the LG Lucid is now available from Verizon wireless in the US, and the handset costs $79.99 after a $50 rebate when you sign up to a new two year contract with the carrier.
The LG Lucid features 4 inch display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, plus a dual core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM plus front and rear facing cameras, plus Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

On the back there is a 5 megapixel camera which can record full HD video in 1080p, on the front there is a VGA camera for video chat, and it also comes with Bluetooth and WiFi.
LG have also said that the Lucid will get an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the near future, you can find out more details over at Verizon.

Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta Downloads Pass 500,000

In just a week since Adobe made a fully functional version of its new Photoshop CS6 Beta available for public download. Adobe has announced that the Photoshop CS6 Beta has been download over half a million times.

New features in the latest Adobe Photoshop 6 Beta release include CS6 Extended 3D editing features and quantitative imaging analysis tools together with tilt-shift creation tools, to name just a few.
“Photoshop CS6 beta includes all the features in Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended. Take this opportunity to try out the 3D image editing and quantitative image analysis capabilities of Photoshop Extended*, but note that—while these features will be included in the shipping version of Photoshop CS6 Extended—they will not be included in the shipping version of Photoshop CS6.”
You can download the latest Adobe Photoshop CS6 application from the Adobe website now to give it a try.

Android 4.0.4 comes to Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus

The Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus are already getting Android 4.0.4 treatment via over the air updates, as reported by the Google Plus page for Android. This new update promises a couple of improvements for the two devices, including better camera performance, smoother screen rotation and more stability related issues. In an official statement made by ‘Android’ on Google Plus, they have mentioned that, ‘We’ve started rolling out Android 4.0.4, Ice Cream Sandwich, to UMTS/GSM Nexus S, Xoom Wi-Fi, and HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus devices, and we'll be rolling it out to more devices in the coming weeks. Some of you will be receiving Ice Cream Sandwich for the first time, while others will be receiving an update to your existing Ice Cream Sandwich experience with stability improvements, better camera performance, smoother screen rotation, improved phone number recognition and more.’ That definitely sounds like good news for existing Nexus owners. While a lot of the smartphones in the market are still to get ICS treatment, you can be rest assured that these phones will be among the first ones to get official updates. 

Android 4.0.4!

As far as Ice Cream Sandwich is concerned, it’s already looking delicious on the phones. With these few improvements, the whole experience is only going to get sweeter. We’ve already used it on a couple of phones, and while we are waiting to get our hands on 4.0.4 and see how different it is from the previous updates, we can definitely say one thing – it’s quick, fluid and pretty stable. The whole look and feel of the user interface is something we were always yearning for, from an Android smartphone. To think of it, the custom ROMs that other manufacturers are placing atop Ice Cream Sandwich, pretty much ruin the plain raw experience that you’d get and that is one section where the Nexus devices definitely win over the competition. For example, a couple of popular manufacturers have still not updated their top end existing smartphones to ICS. That’s definitely a downer for those of us who have paid big bucks to get these devices in the first place. Anyway, Android 4.0.4 on the Nexus S is definitely good news.

HTC One X may launch on April 2 in India

The mystery that shrouded the launch date of the HTC One X seems to have been lifted finally, as the brand recently announced the availability of the handset across Europe and a select few pockets in Asia. A report by GSMArena, who have obtained the information via The Unwired states that this highly anticipated smartphone will be hitting shelves on Monday, the 2nd of April, 2012. A few days ago, HTC updated their official Facebook page with a teaser video of the One X and in the process confirmed the rumours that it would be launched in April. 

HTC One X quad-core handset coming soon

According to GSMArena, the One X will not be the only handset that will be launched on the 2nd of April, but two others will make an appearance, too. The handsets that will make their debut apart from the One X will be the HTC One S and One V. The website states, “The hotly anticipated HTC One trio is just about to hit the shelves. The HTC One X and One S flagship devices and the HTC One V mid-ranger will be available across Europe and in some parts of Asia starting Monday, April 2.” The report goes on to read, “It's unclear what Asian markets will get the HTC trio on launch day, but Singapore and Taiwan have already been confirmed.”

However, one avid reader of the site had pointed out that the handset had already been listed on the hugely popular online retail website Flipkart, but it appears to be have since been taken down. This could indicate that the flagship HTC handset may in fact debut as soon as Monday. 

Here is a quick look at the specifications of the HTC One X

• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC Sense 4.0 UI
• 1.5 GHz quad-core processor
• 4.7-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720
• 8MP camera with AF, LED flash, BSI sensor and 1080p HD video recording
• F2.0 aperture and 28mm lens
• 1.3MP front camera with a resolution of 720p for video chat
• 32GB Internal memory
• 1GB RAM
• Beats Audio
• NFC, Wi-Fi, DLNA, micro-USB 2.0, HDMI
• 1800 mAh battery

For those who missed it, here is the teaser video of the One X.

Gmail iOS App Now Allows Alternate Addresses

Google has rolled out a new feature for its iOS Gmail application this week which has added the ability to view email from alternate addresses. The latest addition has been released for both the iPad and iPhone versions of the Gmail iOS application, and has been added with the need for users to make an update to the app.

If you use either the native Gmail iOS app or the HTML5 web app you can now choose to use any of their configured From addresses when sending a new e-mail message or replying to an existing message. The addition has been requested for some time by users and will be an appreciated addition to the applications.
Users of the native app should see the option appear over the next few days. If you don’t already use the Gmail iOS application is can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store for free.

Rumor Says Apple HDTV Won’t Surface until Next Year

Analysts and rumors have been pointing to Apple launching its first Apple TV this year. By Apple TV they don’t mean a little set top box we already have, they’re talking about an actual Apple TV set. A new rumor has surfaced that contradicts that prediction.


A research group going by the name CLSA issued a note this morning that predicts the Apple TV sample, in 2013. The research group cites Foxconn parent company Hon Hai’s investment in Sharp is evidence of the Apple TV is coming.
Sharp is a big maker of large panel LCD displays. I’m still not convinced people will buy an Apple TV set. Unless it offered clearly better features at a reasonable price compared to normal TV set and Apple TV set-top box, it would not make sense to many people.