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

Apparently Apple has already decided that their current iPhone is the de facto size for a mobile. They never really consulted us, but for them 3.5-inches is more than enough for a mobile. Well, their closest smartphone competitor Samsung has other ideas, in fact, they think you should be able to choose whatever screen size you want. Anything from 3-inches to 5.6-inches. Sammy has launched a new smartphone with a gigantic 5.6-inch screen. Called the Galaxy Note it’s a smartphone that looks to combine the best of a tablet (screen size) with the portability of a mobile to create something genuinely different. Samsung is clearly hoping that the Note is a convergence device; marrying two devices into one. Has it worked? Almost.

The Screen of all screens

When you unbox the Note the first thing you’ll probably do is compare it against an iPhone and when you do you’ll come to the conclusion that it’ll never fit in anyone’s pockets (unless you own some hammer pants) – it’s massive. The extra size is obvious; a large 5.3-inch screen.

The Note uses Samsung AMOLED technology which is found the current S2. All of their current screens which use this tech are famed for incredible brightness, deep, bold colours and the Note is no exception. The 1280×800 resolution is a quite an achievement, but would have been a real man on the moon moment if they had managed to get this resolution onto a phone that wasn’t quite so big.

Power and Battery Life

With such a big screen and plenty more pixels to push around you’d think Samsung might want to add a new CPU. But, the have decided to run a clocked version of the same chip found in its smaller cousin the S2. With the increased power demands of the screen Samsung has decided to up the battery – to a 2500 Mah, meaning you can rely on the Note to last a full day without having to do a pit stop.

Software and Internal Storage

Google’s attempt to cure the fragmenting of the Android OS has seen the search giant release Ice Cream Sandwich, unfortunately if you pick a Note you’ll be waiting until March before Samsung can update the current Gingerbread OS to Ice Cream Sandwich.

From the face of it you’d probably struggle to tell the two OS’s apart, but it would have been nice to see the latest OS on the latest Android handsets. It would seem that in a cruel twist of fate Ice Cream may well fragment Android even further. The Note comes in two storage flavours – 16 and 32GB.

The Stylus is back

One of the main party pieces of the Note is the return of an old friend: the Stylus pen. Samsung hopes that the Note and S Pen will eventually replace the humble pen and paper. We’re not sure they’re quite there yet. While the stylus on the HTC Flyer was a disaster, the Note’s is actually rather good on the face of it. It comes free with the handset and has a holster on the bottom of the device. Using the S Pen, you can doodle images, write notes and interact with all elements of the Android operating system. But, upon closer inspection it begins to unravel: handwriting recognition software is onboard, but hasn’t really moved on from the early 90’s – it’s still terrible at recognising handwriting – therefore you’ll probably only use it for games and the odd doodle.

Gaming Credentials

Where the stylus does succeed is gaming. Playing any number of games with the stylus makes the Note more like a fancy Nintendo DS than a boring business phone. Games like Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds are a joy to play with the pen. If you’re playing games which require you to use your fingers you’ll find them much more engrossing than on a normal sized phone. The extra screen real-estate really comes into play when playing games like GTA 3. The Note’s large display goes some way to curing the traditional headache of touch-screen virtual controls, enriching the experience more than you might naturally assume.

Camera and Video Capture

Samsung’s Galaxy S2 has been a by-word for an amazing digital camera, and we’re glad to report that the Note also comes with the same 8-megapixel camera and the same set of slick image-capture tools. If you liked the camera on the S2 – then you’ll love the Note’s.

Samsung Galaxy Note Review: The World’s First Tablet/Phone Hybrid ? is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The stunt by Samsung which was essentially the construction of an interactive miniature football match in London’s most central rail station was part of a joint scheme with ESPN. Their twelve part digital series sets to uncover the principles and dynamics of teamwork while also, of course, illustrating how Samsung’s Mobile technology can enhance the sporting experience.

These days there’s a whole new challenge in the marketing of mobile phones. Never mind telling people why they should buy your new handset, in this saturated market just telling people that your handset exists is a mammoth task and a flash-mob in a busy train station is certainly one way to introduce a new gadget. And let’s be honest if we’re going to get buried alive by advertisements we may as well have a little fun in the meantime.

Harriet Hall, International Account Director of Starcom who helped organise the event said: “In a competitive marketplace it’s hard to launch new handsets in a way that stands out from the crowd.  In this collaboration we’ve designed a consumer experience that not only does that, but includes the opportunity for consumers to get hands on with the product.”

So there you have it. Whether you’re interested in the way the Samsung Galaxy Note with its extra-large screen and S-pen will enhance teamwork or if you want to see some street-football check out the video below.

Samsung Galaxy Note Football Flash-Mob is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Tizen Project is an open source Linux Foundation software platform. The main aim of this project is to focus on developing OS which may be used for a wide gamut of products such as smart TVs and smartphones. Tizen Project also has Intel and Samsung as its patrons.

However, Samsung has made it clear that it is not planning to abandon Android. It also does not have any immediate plans of using Bada-Tizen hybrid. The company is currently looking to incorporate the operating system into one or two of its devices during this year. Without elaborating, Samsung also said that it is not ‘ruling out’ the use of Tizen for non-smartphone products.

The new collaboration means that Samsung apps can now be ported to Tizen platform. It will also allow Bada developers to write code for Tizen. Mobile operating system market may be dominated by Android and iOS, but the entry of a new platform is always welcome.

Samsung Makes Bada go Open-Source Way 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

Apple has stringed a number of prominent companies for manufacturing TV parts. Sharp is reported to be responsible for manufacturing 32 and 37 inch LCD panels for the TV. Samsung, on the other hand, is expected to develop chips for Apple TV. Industry reports have indicated that Samsung may have started chips manufacturing way back in November this year.

The Wall Street Journal had also earlier speculated that the company may be working on a voice-controlled TV. Apple is likely to use its new SIRI technology for this purpose. However, it is yet to be seen whether Apple would continue its set top box production along with the TV. According to some unofficial reports, several retail outlets have lowered the price for the existing set-top box, which suggests that something new and exciting is certainly cooking up at Apple HQ.

Apple HDTV May be Launched in Second Quarter of 2012 is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

According to a US gadget site, The Verge, “The company’s argument is that they lack sufficient RAM and ROM to run the new OS alongside TouchWiz and other ‘experience-enhancing’ software.” However, the Korean company’s other phones would be getting the update over the course of next year. So, if you own Samsung Galaxy S II, then you are in luck and would be getting the update soon.

But the decision is unlikely to catch Galaxy S owners by surprise. After all, they had to wait a long time even for FroYo update. While Galaxy S had pretty good specs, the problem lies with its TouchWiz skin, as the phone would need customized update, rather than plain vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade.

Samsung Denies Ice Cream Sandwich to Galaxy S is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Speaking at a launch event for the Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note, the company said, “We are pinning high hopes…on achieving sales higher than our previous plan.” The company is currently fighting bitter legal patent battle with Apple. Apple has accused Samsung of infringing its Intellectual Property Rights with regard to iPhone and iPad designs. Consequently, the company is facing ban on the sale of some of its products in some countries. The ban is mainly affecting the sale of its Galaxy tabs.

Samsung is also looking to release its Galaxy Nexus on December 8. Droid 4 is also likely to be released on the same day. Droid 3 was launched in July this year, and the phone family would be getting a refresh within six months of that launch.

Samsung Looking to Close 2011 on a Positive Note is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The report also brought a good news for otherwise struggling Finnish company, Nokia. The ailing company has the distinction of being the most popular smartphone brand in China, with cool 28 percent share. The report suggests that the companies are using various marketing techniques for increasing their volume in the market. Telecom operators are offering hefty subsidies for upper-end phones, while the local Chinese manufacturers are flooding the market with low price smartphones. As a result, Chinese smartphone has something for everyone.

Though, by revenue, the US still remains the top market, suggesting that the Chinese market is heavily dependent on cheaper, low price phones. After Nokia, Samsung is the only major brand with substantial market share. Remaining market is captured by sundry brands. Samsung claims 17.6 percent market share in the country.

China is the Largest Smartphone Market in the World is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The TV is likely to be unveiled late next. The company has made it clear that there won’t be any Samsung-Google TV during the Consumer Electronics Show. The show is held in Las Vegas in January. However, Samsung’s competitor LG seems to be set to be all set for unveiling its Google TV during the show.

Google TV is the amalgamation of internet and traditional TV. This is not the first attempt at merging two different technologies. However, the endeavor has not met with much success. There had been several gadgets and equipments for Google TV, but most of them failed miserably. Logitech had introduced a set top box for Google TV, but the device could not gain traction and was ultimately branded as a ‘mistake’ by the company CEO.

With Google TV, you can surf internet on your TV, log in to your social networks and check email. However, Google TV suffers from content deficiency as many broadcasters chose not to show their programs on this platform.

Samsung Planning to Launch Google TV is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com