Ubuntu for Smartphones Announced [Video]

Canonical is becoming one of the biggest players in today’s market and goes head to head with Apple and Google by launching Ubuntu for smartphones.

We can’t really say it’s much of a surprise, but still, Ubuntu going to smartphones is one of the few directions left for Canonical. According to Canonical, Ubuntu uniquely gives handset OEMs and mobile operators the ability to converge phone, PC and thin client into a single enterprise superphone. "We expect Ubuntu to be popular in the enterprise market, enabling customers to provision a single secure device for all PC, thin client and phone functions. Ubuntu is already the most widely used Linux enterprise desktop, with customers in a wide range of sectors focused on security, cost and manageability" said Jane Silber, CEO of Canonical. Canonical is also targeting basic smartphones that are used just for their simple functions such as email, SMS and Web.

Ubuntu for smartphones has a few features that will set it apart from the direct competition, Google and its Android OS. The interface will allow thumb gestures from all four edges of the screen, enabling uses to find content and switch between apps faster than other phones, voice and text commands in any application, it has HTML5 support, and users can personalize the art on the welcome screen. Canonical also offers some incentives for the potential Ubuntu phone buyers, such as a cloud service, Ubuntu One, providing storage and media services. The company also thinks that by offering a single family of products, for PC, TV and phones, it will greatly benefit the customer.

"We are defining a new era of convergence in technology, with one unified operating system that underpins cloud computing, data centers, PCs and consumer electronics" says Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu and VP Products at Canonical. The new QML-based Ubuntu SDK also insures that an application developed for Ubuntu will run both on PC and the phone. Ubuntu phones are not yet available for purchase, but Canonical is ready to work with partners and expects to ship the first models by the end of 2013.

Ubuntu phones
Image credits to Ubuntu

Watch Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth explain Ubuntu's mobile strategy and what it offers industry partners.
Video credits to celebrateubuntu

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Nokia Spamfilter (Call & SMS Blocker) Exclusively Pre-Loaded on Chinese Version of Lumia 920 and 820

One of the most sought after features for Chinese mobile users, call and SMS blocker has finally made its way onto Windows Phone devices.

Unfortunately, Chinese users are the ones that will get this important feature on Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 devices. According to WPCentral, Chinese customers who purchased a Lumia 920 or Lumia 820 smartphone were pleasantly surprised to find out both devices come with Nokia Spamfilter, which offers the following features:

• Block callers per mobile numbers;
• Block all SMS from specific sender;
• Dynamically block SMS containing specified keywords;
• Update the keyword database online for said SMS blocking;
• View all blocked calls and messages;
• Trace the geographic origin of specific phone numbers (only works for mobile numbers, precise to municipality and carrier).

Nokia Spamfilter seems to be “technically powered by Tencent Inc.” and, hopefully, will make it to Lumia 920 and 820 devices available in other regions as well.

Nokia Spamfilter screenshots
Image credits to WPDang

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GParted Live 0.14.1-6 Able to Boot on Windows 8 PCs

On December 28, 2012, Curtis Gedak had the pleasure of announcing a new stable release of the GParted Live CD operating system, which can be used for hard drive partitioning tasks.

Being based on the latest build (23-12-2012) of Debian Sid and powered by Linux kernel 3.2.35-2, the GParted Live CD 0.14.1-6 distribution brings the amazing and improved GParted 0.14.1 application, and a handful of improvements. However, the biggest feature of the GParted Live CD 0.14.1-6 Linux operating system is that it can now be booted from newer Windows 8 machines, thanks to the support for the uEFI firmware. “The GParted team is proud to announce a new stable release of GParted Live. The big news with this release is the added ability to boot the live image on uEFI firmware computers, while maintaining boot ability on traditional PC/BIOS computers. This means that GParted Live can now boot on newer Windows 8 computers.” “In addition to supporting uEFI firmware, two more GNU/Linux operating system images have been released: i686-PAE (Physical Address Extension) and AMD64 (X86-64). These new images permit addressing more than 4 gigabytes of RAM, and enable using multiple processor cores.” said Curtis Gedak in the official release announcement.

The Gparted Live CD is a bare-bones Linux distribution designed with a single purpose in mind, get GParted working. Everything is set up to allow users to boot up from a CD or USB and be able to use GParted to manage a system's disks. GParted Live 0.14.1-6 is distributed as minimal Live ISO images, supporting both 32-bit (PAE) and 64-bit architectures. The new ISO images support more than 4 GB of RAM and processors with multiple cores.

Download GParted LiveCD 0.14.1-6 (ISO) 32-bit [133 MB] via Sourceforge
Download GParted LiveCD 0.14.1-6 (ISO) 64-bit [134 MB] via Sourceforge

GParted Live CD
Image credits to DistroWatch

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Sony Xperia ZL (Odin) Press Photo

Previously known as Sony Xperia Odin, the Xperia ZL is expected to be launched on January 7, one day ahead of Consumer Electronics Show 2013 (CES) opening.

Although some of the phone's specs leaked several weeks ago, the Xperia ZL's design was still a mystery until today. It looks like the folks at XperiaBlog recently uncovered the first press photo of the Xperia ZL directly from Sony's servers. The smartphone is said to ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box, along with a powerful 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor and 2GB of RAM.

The Xperia ZL is also rumored to boast a huge 5-inch full HD (1080p) capacitive touchscreen display and a 13-megapixel rear camera with Exmor RS sensor. The front-facing camera of the device is weirdly placed on the bottom instead of the upper side, as seen in the leaked picture. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

Sony Xperia ZL
Image credits to Sony

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Huawei Ascend Mate Official Press Photo

One of the most anticipated Android smartphones, the Ascend Mate has just been unveiled in official photos.

The folks over at evleaks via UnwiredView have just published the first press render of the upcoming phablet. Manufactured by Huawei, the Ascend Mate is said to boast a huge 6.1-inch HD (720p) capacitive touchscreen display. In addition, the smartphone will drain energy from a high-capacity 3800 mAh Li-Ion battery. Hardware-wise, the device will pack a quad-core K3V2 processor clocked at 1.8 GHz, which is complemented by 2GB of RAM.

It will ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box and will sports an impressive 13-megapixel rear camera with autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording. Huawei Ascend Mate is expected to be officially announced next week at the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 trade fair, in Las Vegas. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

Huawei Ascend Mate
Image credits to evleaks via UnwiredView

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Sony Xperia Z Press Photo

With less than a week left until its official release, the first press photo of the Sony Xperia Z has just been leaked.

Formerly known as Sony Xperia Yuga, the next high-end Android smartphone is slated for a January 7 release, one day ahead of Consumer Electronics Show 2013 opening. Courtesy to the folks over at evleaks via UnwiredView, we now know how the Xperia Z will look like. As for the specs, we're still waiting for official word that might confirm what leaked in the past few months.

Sony Xperia Z will boast a 13-megapixel rear photo snapper with autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording, as well as a secondary front-facing camera. The phone will be powered by Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system and will pack a quad-core processor.

Sony Xperia Z
Image credits to evleaks via UnwiredView

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Sharp SH-04E for NTT DoCoMo Receives Wi-Fi Certification

A new Android-based smartphone from Sharp has received the necessary approvals from the Wi-Fi Alliance, namely the Sharp SH-04E, which is expected to land on shelves in Japan via NTT DoCoMo.

The device has previously emerged over at the FCC, with a 4.6-inch touchscreen display on the front, a 2000mAh battery packed inside, and GSM / WCDMA / LTE connectivity. The mobile phone is also said to pack wireless charging capabilities, and to be Qi compliant. The Sharp SH-04E handset was approved with Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b / g / n capabilities packed inside, on the 2.4 GHz band, as can be seen in this listing on the Wi-Fi Alliance website.

A photo of the device also emerged online a while ago, yet NTT DoCoMo is expected to officially launch the smartphone only in spring next year.

Sharp SH-04E for NTT DoCoMo
Image credits to rbmen.blogspot.ro

Sharp SH-04E for NTT DoCoMo Wi-Fi Certification
Image credits to Wi-Fi.org

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MacBook Air to Have a New Type of CPU in 2013

A report by the hit-and-miss publication DigiTimes has caught the eye of the Apple blogosphere thanks to a claim relating to the processor architecture employed by Apple’s upcoming MacBook Air notebooks.

Currently starting at $999 / €1.049,00 with a 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, Apple’s MacBook Air is said to be undergoing some changes next year. The refresh will not involve a remodeling of the enclosure, but it will change the CPU architecture inside, according to industry sources. Cited by the aforementioned Taiwanese publication, DigiTimes reports pointed out that “the MacBook Air for 2013 will feature a new processor platform, but its industrial design will not see any major changes.”

Apple has been rumored to invest its own CPU fab but such plans aren’t likely to materialize any time soon. It remains to be seen whether or not these claims hold any water. The MacBook Air refresh is said to occur in June 2013.

MacBook Air
Image credits to cultofmac.com

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Sony Xperia X (“Odin” C650X) Design Info Leaks

Sony’s long rumored Odin and Yuga handsets have been said for quite some time to be different flavors of the same device, aimed at different markets around the world, yet it seems that they might resemble each other even less than initially thought.

A new rumor, coming from Vietnamese website SE-Café, suggests that Odin (expected to be unveiled as Xperia X) would actually be thicker and heavier than Yuga (said to land on shelves as Xperia Z). Furthermore, it will also sport a rough, textured, even striped pattern, back plate (Yuga will sport a sleek, plastic mirror one) and will allow for hot swapping of SIM and microSD cards.

Xperia X is also said to sport the front camera at the bottom, aligned to the right, with the light sensor placed in the upper right corner on the phone’s front.

Sony logo
Image credits to Sony

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AMD Kabini, 10% Faster Than Bobcat APUs [Video]

AMD has Bobcat APUs based on the 40nm manufacturing process technology, but it also offers some made on the 28nm process. The latter have been compared to the upcoming Kabini units.

Long story short, Kabini accelerated processing units will be around 10% faster than Bobcat. Some chips may even perform 15% better. The fastest 40nm Bobcat processor, E2-1800, has a clock speed of 1.7 GHz and no Turbo Core. 28nm Bobcat units are even faster, and a Q&A video involving Jeff Rupley compares them to Kabini, not the others.

That would imply that Kabini chips work at more than 1.9 GHz. Add to that support for Turbo Core dynamic overclocking and there is even a chance for 2.4 GHz. Either way, we still have to wait for the frequencies to become public knowledge.

Session 1, Hot Chips 24 (2012), Tuesday, August 28, 2012.
Architecture and power management of the third generation Intel Core micro architecture
Sanjeev Jahagirdar, Intel
AMD's "Jaguar": A next-generation, low power x86 core
Jeff Rupley, AMD
proAptiv: Efficient Performance on a Fully-Synthesizable Core
Ranganathan Sudhakar, MIPS
Video credits to hotchipsvideos

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