MWC (Mobile World Congress) is only a couple of weeks away and the world’s top mobile phone manufacturers, apart from Apple, will descend upon Barcelona to show off their latest handsets. Samsung, LG, Nokia, Sony, HTC, Acer and Asus will all be on hand to show what they have planned for 2012 and beyond. Here’s what we think you might be seeing at MWC 2012.

Nvidia

While we’ve already seen the Tegra quad-core processor in the new Asus tablet we’d bet our house that Nvidia & Co will be on hand at MWC to confirmed more Tegra 3 mobile devices. Adding even more fuel the fire they’ve already sent out a press release teasing “quad-core firsts” during Mobile World Congress.

We’ve known about quad-core smartphones since CES, but anything on show was displayed behind glass – so it’s going to be exciting to get some proper face-time with the new handsets. It’s been reported that HTC and LG are both planning to unveil Tegra 3-powered devices, which are expected to feature 4.7-inch displays with 720p resolutions.

Windows 8 & Windows Phone

Microsoft revealed recently that it plans to launch the consumer preview version of Window 8 on February 29 – to coincide with their event at MWC. It’s does seem odd that Microsoft will be discussing Windows 8 at a mobile phone trade show, but it could mean Microsoft to will unveil more details on how Windows 8 will work alongside their Mobile phone operating system.

Not only will Windows Phone 8 share the same Metro style user interface as Windows 8 for tablets and PCs, but developers can reuse the same code for both operating systems. It’s not clear if Microsoft plans to discuss its Windows Phone 8 plans, but a Windows 8 Consumer Preview launch at Mobile World Congress makes it look that way.

Samsung

Its been confirmed by Samsung that the follow-up to their Galaxy S2 wouldn’t be making an appearance at this year’s MWC, but even more bizarre is the news that Samsung won’t be making a major press announcements at the 2012 show. Samsung should still have a new product or two to launch at MWC, as promised, however the usual big set-piece event is now off the table.

Their US PR team said: ”Samsung confirmed that they are not hosting a press conference at Mobile World Congress, but Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012.

“The successor to the Galaxy S II smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product.

“Samsung stays committed to providing the best possible mobile experiences for customers around the world.”

Sony

The leaked shot above show the entire family of Xperia phones, but there’s also a couple of family members we haven’t seen before. According the Xperia Blog the new handsets include the rumoured Xperia Nypon and the phone in the middle of the bottom row, is thought to be the recently-announced Xperia S. We’ve had several emails about Sony’s plans at MWC, so we’re betting they’ll be bringing a host of new phones to MWC under the Xperia brand.

Blackberry

Ailing smartphone maker, Blackberry, should be at MWC with their new operating system. Once called BBX, its now been dubbed Blackberry 10 and has yet to released on any smartphone.

According to a RIM rep the company will be at MWC to show off the new operating system as well its current Blackberry 7 – which comes with new NFC and BBM capabilities. Unfortunately, it appears there still won’t be a device running BlackBerry 10 until later this year.

New reports from BGR blog are suggesting that Blackberry has cancelled the BlackBerry Colt, as well the Milan. Meaning RIM only has the BlackBerry 10 smartphone. First unveiled in London, the handset comes with dual-core 1.5Ghz, 1GB of Ram, 16GB of onboard storage and front and rear facing cameras. RIM focusing on a single device could be a good thing, but we’ve heard it won’t be ready until the third quarter of this year, which might just be too late – let’s hope they have something more concrete at MWC.

HTC

HTC has already confirmed their plans with a press conference set to take place the day before the show officially kicks off. They’re expected to show of the HTC Edge , which could also be the world’s first quad-core phone. There’s also talk of the Quattro tablet, also quad-core thanks to Nvidia’s Tegra 3 processor, as well as the Ville, another Android Ice Cream Sandwich superphone, and the Primo, a more mid-range device.

We also wonder if we’ll hear of the European version of the Titan II Windows Phone we saw at CES, with its ginormous 16-megapixel camera. Let’s hope so.

MWC takes place from February 27 to March 3.

Mobile World Congress: Gaj-it’s Top Mobile Phone Predictions is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Smartphones are also gaining lead over feature phones. During 2011, handset manufacturers had started promoting smartphones over dumb phones. Samsung is clearly leading the pack, with HTC and not far behind. Even, hard-up companies like Nokia and RIM are also doing well in emerging countries in Asia and Africa. Companies like Apple are also now giving their attention to developing markets. Apple is now distributing its phones in various South American markets including Brazil.

Smartphones now have a strong foothold in the North American market. North American market showed 14 percent year on year growth for 2011. Kevin Burden, vice president and practice director of mobile devices with ABI Research said, “North America may only represent 15% of feature and smartphone units shipped globally, but due to the high proportion of high-end smartphone sales, it constitutes 40% of total smartphones sold by value.”

Smartphones to Gain Market Share in 2012 is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

We’re back with our second installment of our top tech predictions for CES 2012. In this part we will be looking at computing, tablets and mobiles. We’ll cover everything from what Microsoft has planned for Windows 8, Intel-powered Ultrabooks and everything you should expect when it comes to mobile phones and tablets.

Home Computing 

Xbox 720 aside Microsoft is expected to the have more details on its new Windows 8 operating system at CES. Steve Ballmer is expected to give an opening keynote speech where he is expected to show off the tablet-friendly OS.

So far the tech world has only seen a developer preview of the new OS, with a beta expected to the ready for February – so it’s expected that Ballmer & Co will take to the stage for the last time and announce the exact date of the beta. So keep your eye’s peeled.

Other computer related news expected from Microsoft is their decision to start supporting ARM processors with Windows 8. We’re not whether they will support both desktops and tablet architecture with Arm. But, it could be that we’ll see some Windows tablets in the future with ARM processors and more traditional desktops and laptops sticking to tried and tested Intel power plants.

Intel

Intel Chief Paul Otellini is set to deliver one of the keynotes at CES, and is expected to show off some new Ivy Bridge hardware, which should be in the form of Ultrabooks, although Ivy Bridge, the follow-up to Sandy bridge, isn’t expected until later 2012.

Graphics cards-wise AMD is likely to be on hand at CES to show off their new Southern Island, 28nm graphics card, which are expect to hit retail stores by Q1 2012. Nvidia is also expected to show off their 28nm cards too, but it’s not know whether the Kepler architecture cards will be shown on the show floor or behind closed doors.

One of the main draws for many at CES will be: Ultrabooks. This is because Intel is throwing a lot of money at the manufacturers to make a line of laptops that will reinvigorate the ailing laptop market. Over the last 3 years we’ve seen an explosion of Netbooks, then Tablets and Intel now hopes the consumers will jump on board their ultra-thin Intel-powered laptops. They are essentially MacBook Air’s, but, running Windows. From what we’ve seen of Ultrabook they do make Windows laptops cool, but with a hefty price tag and increased competition from tablets they might be too expensive for hard-up consumers to stomach.

Mobile Technology

The Mobile industry tends to make its announcements at the MWC in Barcelona, but with such a competitive marketplace many companies are likely to steal a march and get some of their announcements out before the rest of the competition. Tablets will also be big business at CES, with many manufacturers making the switch from dual-core Tegra chipsets to the new Tegra quad-core chipsets.

HTC

HTC has yet to give a UK release for their Jetstream tablet – so we’re not expecting that tablet but something entirely new – known as the HTC Quattro. It’s the usual 10-inch tablet that we’ve seen so many times over the last 12 months. For us, it’s not the hardware that is keeping Google from competing with Apple, but the fragmentation of the Android OS – especially the app marketplace – which is way off the quality and reliability of Apple’s own app store.

HTC will no doubt have several mobiles on the show floor at CES, but, they tend to make their products for different markets – so many of the new handset may well be US-only for the time being. But you should expect details on the HTC Edge, HTC Ville and possibly some quad-core phones too.

Acer

Acer is expected  to show off a new tablet, which will hopefully be a bit more exciting than the rather drab Iconica A500. This time around they’re hoping that the A700 might grab some positive headlines – especially as it’s thought to come with a 1080p resolution screen.

Samsung

Samsung is expected to show off the follow-up to the Galaxy S2, it’s been the at the centre of plenty rumour-mongering – so it’s highly likely that they could unveil it at CES and once again grab a decent head start over Apple and the iPhone. It’s expected to be dramatically different from the previous version as Samsung wants to move it away from the iPhone and avoid any further legal action.

LG 

LG is expected to show off a new Android 4.0 mobile called the Optimus U1, which could be worth keep an eye out for, especially if they managed to get it out to retailers with Ice Cream Sandwich in toe before the competition.

Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson might use CES to the finally officially unveil the Xperia Arc HD, which has been the subject of many leaks recently. It’s expected to come with a 4.3-inch LCD display, with an impressive 1280×720 resolution, a matte finish and for the first time the Arc will have the power to match its looks. The current Arc only has a single core, which by todays standards is like a pocket calculator.

Sony will want to make a splash at CES, they are in the process of buying the mobile company outright, so a good showing at the show would allay any fears from nervous shareholders and investors.

Nokia

Nokia is expected to unveil its next Windows Phone at a Window Phone-themed press conference, there’s no word on whether the reported Lumia 900 will make it to the UK, but the phone is expected to come with a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen, better battery life and their fantastic Carl Zeiss 8 megapixel camera.

We’ll be reporting all the latest news from CES – so stay tuned from the 9-13 of January.

CES 2012: Gaj-it’s Top Tech Predictions Part 2 is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Though, it may seem like that the company is on the downward trajectory, but in reality, it is only the slowdown in its growth rate. The signs are typical to mature firms. HTC’s head honchos are, however, vigilant that the company’s growth rate does not stall. Talking with Reuters, the company’s CFO Winston Yung said, “We have six quarters of improvement, the most conservative guidance is 45 million units of shipments this year, a lot higher than 25 million last year.”

In order to remain relevant, the company is now looking to focus on the markets outside of the US. HTC is now also looking to produce phones with global appeal. It would also help HTC if it is able to get rid of the patent battles it is fighting with other companies. The company is facing potential ban on the sale of its phones in Germany, on account of patent infringement. The company recently lost a patent battle against IPCom. It is feared that the company would not be able to sell its products in Germany during the Christmas season. The ban will certainly hit the company’s bottom line.

HTC Vows to Produce Better Phones: Battles Slowdown is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

According to the market research firm Canalys, HTC grabbed the top spot by shipping 6.4 million devices in the third quarter. Out of these phones, 5.7 million were HTC branded phones, while the remaining ones were T-Mobile co-branded handsets. The company widely outshipped Samsung, which shipped 4.9 million phones and Apple, which was responsible for the shipment of other 4.6 million phones.

Canalys, in a statement, claimed, “This is an awesome achievement for HTC, which has built a premium brand in a highly competitive market in just a few short years. It now has a strong range of 4G Android products, with devices ranged by each of the major carriers, and offers some of the most compelling and differentiated products found on the platform today.”

The report also delved deep into the achievement of Samsung, which is now the biggest smartphone vendor globally. Samsung grew its shipment 252 percent on year over year basis. It shipped 27.3 million phones worldwide during the third quarter of 2011. In this process, it also booked the second highest quarterly shipment in the history. The record is held by Nokia, which shipped the highest number of smartphones in the 4^th quarter of 2010.

HTC Commands US Smartphone Market in Q3: What’s Next? is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Well, one thing it does show is that companies who are violating patents are not being overly discouraged from developing products and services that, from the face of it, are copies.

Is The System Broken?

Is the system working like it should? Are we getting to the stage where, god forbid, President Obama shoud step in and referee? If Google is the disruptive force, then Apple is surely the one who is being disrupted.

But, Apple aren’t like most companies, they don’t want a license fee, the want to protect and maximise what they make from their prized iDevices – they want a complete blanket ban anything it feels it infringing its patents.

The Prize

The prize is something massive – the control of the multi-billion smartphone market.  Although many would say that Apple seems to be dog in this market. Android is making serious dents in Apple’s armour. With 500,000 patents found in you’re average smartphone and the convergence hundreds of media platforms and services converging into one device aren’t patent violations inevitable?

The War Lines Have been Drawn

On one side of the war you have Apple; the richest company in the world and it’s taking aim at any competitor it feels has copied its prized iDevices – mainly Samsung. And on the other side you have Google and its band of merry men, which we shall call the Android army.

Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong, we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

Apple’s stringent protection of its products has taken aim at its nearest hardware rival Korean electronics firm Samsung. Rather than going after any of the other Android handset makers or Google. Apple has seen fit to take aim at what they perceives as its biggest competitor in both smartphones and tablets. And don’t just want a fee for any violations. They want a word-wide ban of Samsung’s Galaxy s2 and Galaxy Tab range – an unprecedented move.

Google The Patent Arms Dealer

Google’s acquisition of Motorola and its war-chest of 17,000 patents has made the search engine giant become the arms dealer in this war. Handing out legal hand grenades like they are candy. HTC have just starting a legal action against Apple and is using patents that it purchased from Google for an undisclosed fee – to protect its own smartphone business from Apple’s circling legal vultures.

HTC & Google Go After Apple

To this end Apple has since ramped up its desire to protect its interlectual property and this week filed a suit with the Tokyo District Court seeking the suspension of sales of Galaxy S and its sequel S II smartphones and the Galaxy Tab 7 in Japan, according to sources close to the matter. The first hearing was held on Wednesday, the source said.

Not to be outdone by the Cupertino company – HTC with the help of its patent arms dealer Google also set in motion yet more lengthy legal action against Apple.

HTC is Asia’s second-biggest smartphone maker, is using nine patents bought from Google last week to pursue new infringement claims against Apple Inc. with the help of patents it has attained from Google for a undisclosed fee. It could a millions or as little as a pound. Nobody knows.

Google’s involvement in aiding HTC represents a new front in an industrywide dispute over smartphone technology that has also embroiled Android customers Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

“That’s a bit of a game-changer,” said Will Stofega, a technology analyst at Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC.

“Google was interested in protecting its licensees with Android. It shows they need to support their customers in order to make sure the customers stick with them.”

Apple’s Patent War With Samsung Moves to Japan

After patent infringement lawsuits in Australia, South Korea and Germany, Apple is turning up the heat and is suing Samsung in Japan on similar grounds as it has done before. It accuses Samsung of violating Apple’s iPhone and iPad-related patents with its Samsung Galaxy series of smartphones and tablets.

Is It Time For A New Referee ? 

As the battle over smartphone intellectual property become more contentious, Verizon Wireless is asking the Obama administration to play referee. According to the Wall Street Journal’s Holman Jenkins, Verizon chief counsel Randall Milch is making the rounds in Washington warning about all of the devices that could be blocked from its networks and other operators’ networks if the patent war heats up any further.

He might be forced to take action now before it starts to have a serious impact upon the companies, workers and consumers. With the economy faltering – this is the worse time for companies to have their hands tied with lengthy legal battles. The only people who will be benefitting will be the lawyers.

The Patents War Isn’t Good For Consumers

Whatever you feel about the ongoing patent wars – it seems that the customers are the forgotten victims from the war. If Apple do manage to ban handsets and tablets from going on sale where does that leave customers who have already bought them?

Competition on a level playing field is healthy and breeds further innovation – but from a neutral perspective it looks as if Apple and their lawyers taking it a step too far. They themselves are being sued for infringing other companies rights too. From our perspective they’re all probably as guilty as the next – the system is broke and hoping for a resolution from this system is clearly never going to happen.

They need to put the weapons down and start talking to one another – or they are just going to be wasting money on lawyers and hurting the most important thing in any market; the constomers.

Smartphone Patent Wars: Is The System Broken ? is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

However, instead of wondering about the reasons which would convince a person to go for a feature phone, let’s focus on the rapid rise of smart phones instead. According to research firm IDC, Nokia saw its market share dwindling in Western Europe, whereas Samsung, RIM and HTC made some major strides. In last one year, smart phones have increased their market share from mere 33 percent to more than 52 percent. What’s more interesting is the fact that smart phones are registering growth at the time, when mobile market actually shrank by 3 percent in the region.

However, not all smart phones are created equal. Android phones are in the lead and are likely maintain it in the coming years. Though, this operating system is being followed closely by Apple’s iPhone. Currently, RIM with its Blackberry phones occupying the third position, but it is likely to lose its place to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 in coming years. Smart phone segment is currently growing at the rate of 50 percent per quarter on year over year basis.

Smartphones Sprint Past Feature Phones in Europe is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

LG has always been renowned for bringing HDTV’s to the masses and they are looking to continue this trend with their latest line of 3D TV’s.

At IFA they showed of the Dual Play LW980T – the unique selling point of this set is it allows gamers to each view a full screen of their own when playing games – meaning you no longer to deal with only having half a screen for split screen gaming.

This tech has been used in cars before – as passengers will see a TV, but the driver see’s a sat-nav. Now this tech is making its way to home consoles. Quite how it’s going to work isn’t clear; whether it will need to baked into the game from the ground-up or will be backward compatible isn’t clear – but Sony is to release a PS branded version soon.

The TV is based on LG’s Cinema 3D series of televisions and apart for games-specific dual-view technology it also features full HD 2D and 3D flicker-fee image system.

Being a LG Cinema 3D TV – it also comes with 2D to 3D conversion technology. The TV supports Nano Full LED screen for substantially clearer and brighter pictures. The model feature some rather fetching looks too; with slimmer frames and measures an extremely thin 24.66mm thick.

LG has also added apps including Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and iPlayer will be available through a suite of in-bulit TV software.

This Cinema 3D TV is available in two screen sizes 47-inches and 55-inches. An interesting addition to this television is that it will come with 7 pairs of Dual Play 3D glasses.

HTC was on hand to show off a couple of handsets for Windows Phone and its mango-ready handsets Titan and Radar. Radar is aimed at the mid-range for pricing and specs. And Titan looks to be one of the top-spec phones coming to Widows Phone this year

The Radar comes with a 3.8-inch LDC screen, 1GHz processor and 8GB of internal memory. The Radar is defiantly aimed for a mid-price point and doesn’t have anything to really shout about.

But the Titan is a completely different kettle of fish. It comes with a 4.7-inch WVGA display, a unibody design, a 1.5GHz single-core Qualcomm processor, a 5.1 surround sound, an 8MP rear-facing camera with F2.2 lens, 720p video recording capabilities, a 1.3MP front-facing camera, and a 16GB of on-board memory. The HTC Titan will be available starting October 2011 in Europe.

Both handsets are expected come with optional charging docks, front-facing cameras ready to take advantage of any future Skype integration and improved rear cameras which will include wider 28mm lens’.

While the phones are definitely bring something new to the table, HTC decided not to rock the boat when it comes to the style of the phones, they’ve decided to keep with the now familiar slab design we’ve been accustomed to. Even so, the Titan looks to be a strong contender to take over the reigns of HTC’s current popular Windows Phone, the HD7.

Lenovo had a busy IFA this year the launch of their new line of Ultrabooks, but if you’re looking for something that isn’t going to break the bank it might be worth looking at their IdeaPad A1 – a $199 priced Android tablet.

The IdeaPad A1 measures 7-inches and is powered by a single-core 1Ghz cortex A8 chip, it weighs 400g and is 10 mm thick. Coated in plastic the Lenovo isn’t going to win any beauty competitions, but Lenovo claims that the internal structure is magnesium and built for durability.

Lenovo are touting a 7-hour battery life and the tab will come with 8GB on-board storage. The display is a very capable 1024×600 resolution, 3-megapixel rear camera and front-facing VGA camera.

The Lenovo will come with both microSD can full-size SD card slots for extra expansion.

The IdeaPad is the third tablet from Lenovo, but this one has major difference; it’s running Gingerbread rather than the tablet-specific Honeycomb. The inclusion of Gingerbread will no doubt be the reason why the IdeaPad is so cheap.

This Lenovo IdeaPad A1 will be available in four different colours; black, blue, pink and white. Also, on offer will be 16GB model at $249 and a 32GB at $299.

Toshiba for some stole the show for new TV’s with latest attempt a glasses-free 3D. They showed off the Toshiba ZL2 a new range of 3DTV, which boasts a quad HD display capable of rendering images at  an eye-watering 3840 x 2160 resolution. Not that you’ll find any content of that resolution. Its party piece comes from its glasses-free 3D tech.

The new technology can show 3D images to 9 different viewers in one room. It does this through its face-tracking technology. Faces are tracked so that the TV can adjust images so everyone in the room can see 3D images from any angle without having to wear rather annoying 3D glasses.

The aim of face-tracking is to provide a 3-D experience no matter where the viewer is sat in the room. There are nine different optimal angles for good picture quality in the Toshiba set. The user pushes a button on the remote control, which activates the camera.

The viewer can upscale 2-D content to 3-D. As part of the conversion, the Toshiba TV offers depth control to adjust the depth to the user’s liking. The TV will be available in Germany in December with a hefty price tag of €7,999 euros, or $11,400.

The debut by Toshiba is being watched very carefully by many in the industry as the HDTV market is beginning to slow and many companies are looking for ways to increase sales and Toshiba’s new tech could be the ticket.

With this week’s debut, Toshiba has taken an early lead over rival manufacturers still struggling to make 3-D television sales show better growth. Glasses-free viewing may change the tide of disappointing sales figures, but a $11,400 they need to work on cost quickly.

IFA 2011: The Best Of The Rest From LG, Toshiba, HTC and Lenovo is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

We’ll be bringing you all the major announcements, and they’re will be plently, but before the press conferences and show actually starts we thought give you our of our predictions.

There are expected to be some big announcements from Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, HTC and many more. Here’s what you should be looking out for over the next week.

HTC Puccini

HTC Puccini has been rumoured several times over the summer and is the second HTC Android tablet, and should be unveiled for the first time at this week’s IFA.

It will be the first 10-inch Android Honeycomb tablet from HTC and is expected to continue the trend of 1280×800 touchscreen tablets that have been released over the last few months from loads of different manufacturers.

Unlike the Flyer, the firm’s upcoming tablet is much bigger and will be clocking it at 10.1-inches, and will come with 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal SSD storage and an 8MP camera with dual flash. The Puccini supports LTE 4G connectivity too.

Toshiba Excite

Toshiba’s new Excite tablet should be on show at this year’s show and is one to be excited about.

The super-sleek design is expected to replace the Thrive, which never made it to UK shores and was only on sale in the US only.

According to Notebook Italia, Toshiba is set to announce a new Honeycomb tablet sometime during IFA 2011 in Berlin. According to Notebook Italia, the new Toshiba tablet is supposed to be an ultrathin tablet and it’s going to be nice competitor to Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Sony S1 and S2

Continuing the tablet theme Sony are finally making their entrance into the tablet market with the S1 and S2.

They’ve been teased for months now and have garnered quite a bit of attention, especially with the clam-shaped S2.

The S1 tablet will be bringing Honeycomb (Android 3.2), 9.4-inch touchscreen with 1280×800 resolution, Tegra 2 dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, PlayStation Suite, WiFi, DLNA, Qriocity media support, Adobe Flash support and the usual cameras, Bluetooth, media players, etc.

Some more of the S2 specs have also been leaked too – the leak is pegging the S2 as a dual 5.5-inch screened slate weighing in at 370g, with 512Mb of RAM, 4GB of storage, 2GB SD card and 4G connectivity.

Samsung Galaxy Q

Samsung are planning yet another tablet. But this one is a little different. It’s only 5-inches. The follow-up to last year’s 7-inch Galaxy Tab and is expected to come with a Super AMOLED screen, dual-core processor and will be running Android.

We don’t really think Sammy needs another tablet to be honest as the similarly sized Dell streak was quickly discontinued after its release – so were not sure about a 5.5-inch version of Samsung’s Galaxy tablet range.

Ultrabooks

Intel splashed the cash and spent $300 million on developing Ultrabooks this month – they’re essentially waver-thin laptops akin to the MacBook Air.

IFA is expected to be jam-packed with them so expect Ultrabooks from Lenovo, Asus, Acer in their 2011/2012 ranges.

Asus’ chairman has already spoken about his companies new Ultrabooks, Jonney Shih said that depending on the screen size and features, price will start from £552 and go as high as £1228 – depending on specs and features.

Windows Phone Mango handsets

HTC will be one of the first companies to take to the stage at IFA and it’s also the day when Windows Phone 7 Mango will be unveiled – so you expect major announcements on new Mango phones throughout today.  Expect to see handsets from LG and Samsung too.

Microsoft is hoping that the release of the Mango update later this year will boost its sales numbers. Especially as they announced that they have now reached 30,000 apps on their App store.

Mango adds more than 500 new features such as multitasking and hardware assisted Web browsing through Internet Explorer 9, will yield noticeable improvements.

IFA 2011: Our Predictions For Europe’s Largest Electronics Show In Berlin is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

If we were to tell 2 years ago that a company called HTC was going to be one of the biggest Mobile Phone manufacturers you’d probably have raised more than just an eye-brow. But over the last 2 years HTC have become one of the top selling smart phone manufacturers and its HTC Sensation looks to continue the trend.

Build quality and design

After the quality of the Desire and Incredible, the Sensation continues the same combination of plastic and metal. It’s not a patch on the Samsung Galaxy S2 or iPhone 4 – but it has a certain solidity to it. Especially if consider you can actually take off the back of the phone from the main handset. But this design feature doesn’t equate to a flimsy feel. Whether this is the case 12 months into the life of the phone remains to be seen.

Coming in at 11.3mm deep it’s not the thinnest phone around, but the extra weight is there for a reason the speed and functionality. There is an audio jack on the top next to a power/lock key, while the LED notification light hides under the speaker grille next to the front facing camera. You will need HDMI-out to connect the HTC Sensation to your telly and requires an MHL adaptor that plugs into the USB hole, just as with Samsung Galaxy S 2. And unfortunately you don’t get one in the box.

The Screen

Now were not going to tell you that the Sensation has a better screen than the amazing Galaxy S2 screen, but what you do get is a 4.3-inch screen which is superb at producing vibrant colours, respectable blacks and good viewing angles. But it’s not the best when in direct sunlight and that’s where the Galaxy’s AMLOED tech really comes into its own.

The 540×960 qHD resolution is stunning especially with the extra screen space on offer; it’s incredibly sharp and you’ll almost certainly be unable to see the individual pixels – with the 16:9 widescreen ratio it makes watching anyform of video a joy. It really does show the 4.3-inch screen size is the de facto size for all new smartphones. Apple take notice.

HTC Sense 3.0

As with nearly all Android products the individual manufacturer they have the opportunity to have a fiddle with Android 2.3.3 and HTC have done just this. They have stripped out most of the new features from Gingerbread, and have added their own HTC sense software skin.

One of the notable features we really like was the new lock screen. To unlock the phone you drag a circle to the middle of the screen. But to unlock the phone and automatically and launch an app – you can use the new lock screen launcher. Where you highlight one of the the apps, which you decide, and the phone unlocks and dives straight into the app you decided. It makes it super simple to launch the camera from the lock position without having to finddle around. Expect Google to pinch this feature very soon.

Videos & photos

The HTC Sensation unfortunately can’t match the Galaxy S2 when it come to codec support, this can easily be remedied with a quick download form the Android Marketplace. But it would have been nice to see more codecs supported straight out of the box.

One notable new feature is HTC Watch which allows you to rent and buy movies from the device - it’s the first real step towards taking on Apple’s iPhone+iTunes ecosystem. Everything you download is DRM-locked, you can play it on a HDTV through the MHL/HDMI connection: unfortunately we weren’t able to test this.

The HTC is admirable video recorder producing impressive 1080p HD video and with a simple video editor so you can trim the video. It’s not a touch on iMovie, but again you could easily download a decent video editor from the App marketplace.

We’ve heard several sites complain at the quality of the 8-megapixel camera – we personal found it to be a brilliant camera, colours were vibrant and detailed and the added features of shooting pictures with a myriad of different effects was a pleasant surprise. It’s not going to worry the N8′s and Xperia Arc’s of this world but still very good nonetheless.

Performance and Speed

The Sensation is packing a blisteringly fast dual-core 1.2Ghz Qualcomm processor with 756MB of Ram. HTC’s used to be famed for being a little slow when it came to navigating widgets and switching screens, but the Sensation glides through all of these features.

It runs games and apps at an amazing speed compared to HTC’s of old. You’ll notice the extra speed when surfing too, as it zooms in and out of pages rapidly.

Battery life for dual-core phone has been a bit of a bug-bear for new handsets, fortunately the Sensation has a similar power consumption of the single-core phones. So you’ll probably get a days use out of it with brightness set to full, emails pushing on and connections whirring away.

Sound quality on the other hand is a tad disappointing from such a beefy phone. Regular calls are nothing out of the ordinary, but the speaker is loud. If crystal audio quality is what you’re after, we’ll point you in the direction of Motorola.

Our verdict

The HTC Sensation is the best HTC you can buy at the moment and if you planning to try an Android handset over an iPhone you can’t go wrong with the Sensation. We’d probably still choose the Galaxy S2 over it, but it’s matter of personal preference. The only really disappointment is the 2 year old skin which could be in need of a makeover. But that’s just us nit-picking.

Gaj-it Rating 5 out 5

HTC Sensation Review is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com