The long wait isnt over yet - new info says the Nokia N8 will start shipping in late September, at least for those who pre-ordered. In the mean time, the Nokia E7 popped up, reportedly going official as soon as next week.

The Nokia N8 has been on a handful of sites for pre-order, each site citing a different launch date. Some of those dates flew through with no N8 in sight, other dates are always a couple of weeks ahead.



The end just might be in sight though - a Finnish site spoke to Nokias Senior Communications Manager who said that Nokia N8 pre-orders will shipping September 30. He also said that the N8 will cost 499 euros - since weve seen different prices for different countries, that shipping date might be for Finland only.
Still, the Nokia World event is fast approaching (its on September 14 and 15) - there Nokia is expected to unveil the Nokia E7. The E7 is a Symbian^3 phone with a slide out QWERTY and got leaked a few times, with speculation that its the Nokia N9.

Nokia E7 photos
Well, its not the N9, but the specs still seem quite impressive - a 4" touchscreen (probably nHD), 3G, Wi-Fi, 8MP camera with dual LED flash and an HDMI port. If these specs pan out, the Nokia E7 should sit somewhere between the Nokia C7 (which has a smaller screen and no QWERTY) and the Nokia N9 (which touts an aluminum body and MeeGo). The Nokia E7 specs are unconfirmed, but that should change next week.

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WP8-powered Nokia Lumia 920 flagship goes official

05 September, 2012 | Comments (574) | Post your comment

Tags: Nokia, Microsoft, Windows Phone, Touch UI

The first big announcement to come at Nokia and Microsoft joint event is the Nokia Lumia 920. As it turned out the recently released teasers were spot on, and this is in fact the first Lumia PureView smartphone.

The Nokia Lumia 920 looks much like the Lumia 900, but comes with a bigger 4.5" 720p PureMotionHD+ (thats ClearBlack on stereoids) display, with curved glass on top of it. It is powered by the Snapdragon S4 chipset with a 1.5GHz dual-core Krait processor and Adreno 225 GPU.

The display is something Nokia is really proud. It’s called PureMotion HD+ and its screen color and brightness will adjusts automatically, depending on the ambient light. If you’ve hoped for an AMOLED screen though, you’ll be disappointed.

Lumia 920 camera comes with the PureView branding, but it packs an 8 megapixel sensor at its heart. It offers a cool new image stabilization that Nokia calls "floating lens" and according to its manufacturer is more effective than the optical image stabilization on many dedicated digicams. Carl Zeiss optics, 1080pvideo recording and an LED flash complete the list of the camera features.

 

The rest of the specs include NFC and LTE connectivity, 32GB internal memory plus 7GB SkyDrivecloud storage and 1GB RAM. The Lumia 920 weighs 185 grams, supports only micro-SIM cards and lacks a memory expansion slot.

Nokia Lumia 920 runs on the latest Windows Phone 8 OS and will come with various new services such as Nokia City Lens (augmented really app, which lets you find nearby cafes, restaurants etc.), refreshed Nokia Drive and Maps, updated hubs and system apps, etc.

The last feature worth mentioning is the built-in wireless charging. It uses the Qi standard and will be compatible with future accessories. The first supported wireless charging tool is the Fatboy wireless charging pillow. We hope it comes included in the retail package, but that is yet to be confired. Nokia also teamed up with Virgin Atlantic and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to put wireless charging stations so you can charge your Lumia 920 even when you are out for a coffee.

The Lumia 920 will launch in glossy white, yellow and black colors. The pricing and availability is yet to be announced.

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Amid differences between telecom operators on spectrum usage charge, the Finance Ministry has suggested that mobile operators winning in the auction should be charged only 3 percent of their revenue as annual fee for radiowaves they hold.

For BWA players, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) suggested continuation of 1 percent, but charge them weighted average of 3 percent and 1 percent if they buy spectrum in upcoming auction.

DEA suggested that "in the subsequent auction, whoever participates moves to 3 percent on the entire spectrum hold", an official source said.

The spectrum usage charge (SUC), a bone of contention between leading GSM players and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm, is levied annually as a percentage of revenue earned by telecom companies. It varies from 3 to 8 percent.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indias (TRAI) has suggested a uniform fee 3 to 5 percent from April 1 across the telecom services for the success of the next round of spectrum auction.

GSM industry body Cellular Operators Association of India is demanding that the government implement TRAIs suggestion.

On the other hand, Reliance Jio and Videocon Telecom are opposing any change in existing SUC regime, specially airwaves that have been already allocated.

(Also see: Reliance Jio Infocomm opposes change to spectrum usage charge for BWA)

If TRAIs recommendations are accepted, then it will burden firms holding broadband wireless access spectrum, including Reliance Jio that at present pays 1 per cent spectrum usage charge.

The spectrum auction is scheduled to start from February 3. The applicants include Reliance Jio Infocomm, Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, Tata Teleservices, Idea Cellular, Telewings (Uninor) and Reliance Communications.

(Also see: DoT postpones spectrum auction to February 3, NIA clarifications to January 2)

The DEA has suggested some other options as well which include charge of 3 percent on spectrum won in auction. For BWA players, DEA has suggested continuation of 1 percent, but charge them weighted average of 3 percent and 1 percent if they buy spectrum in upcoming auction.

For those who dont buy any spectrum in the due auction, DEA has suggested to charge them as per existing rate slab.

The option suggested by DEA will be discussed at the Telecom Commission meeting scheduled for January 25.

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The Nokia 808 PureView pre-orders at UK retailers sites are finally starting to list launch dates. Amazon UK will be the among the first stores to get it.

Amazon UK has the 808 PureView (black and white) listed for £500 ($780) with a release date of June 30. Thats for a SIM-free phone naturally, with VAT included.

Play.com also has the 808 and its asking £520 for it. They will be releasing the phone on July 2.

Clove UK is less clear on the launch date - the site notes "First stock delayed until mid-late July. Color variants to be confirmed." The price is set at £504.

Then theres Expansys UK, which lists all three color versions (black, white and red) at £500, but theres no launch date given.

We checked the sites of UK carriers for the Nokia 808 PureView but theres nothing there yet.

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(Morton Fox)

While the dispute between an NYC McDonald’s and some loitering elderly customers comes to an end, there is another feud brewing a few hours to the northeast.

For two decades, a group of senior citizens have been meeting several times a year in the parking lot of a local Burger King before hopping on a rented van that takes them into Boston for the day. The ladies say they’ve never had a problem with the BK management, that is until last Friday when all eight of their vehicles were towed away.

The 14 women tell the New Hampshire Union Leader that they were returning from their most recent Boston trip last Friday just as a tow truck was taking away the last of their cars from the BK.

They admit that the fast food joint recently put up signs warning that non-customers would be towed, but said they had not previously been warned about their parking.

“Burger King should have put post-its under the windshield wipers (saying) don’t do it again,” said one of the women. “They couldn’t have been oblivious to the fact we’ve been doing this all these years… I think it was a dirty trick.”

Dirty trick or not, it cost the senior citizens a nice chunk of change. The towing company called by BK managers usually charges $165 for car owners to get their vehicles out of the pound, but the operator of the tow business decided to drop that to $100 after talking to the women.

“I felt horrible when they all showed up,” says the owner of the tow company. “They were sweet little old ladies.”

Sweet little old ladies who still needed to ante up $800 for the tows.

The Union Leader tried to get comments from various levels of BK management, but received no response. Workers at the restaurant in question claimed to not know the identity of the franchisee that owns the particular location.

The only person willing to talk to the paper was the tow-truck operator who said the BK recently began cracking down on non-customer parking in order to run out pesky teenagers who speed through the lot and act the way you’d expect obnoxious teenagers to act. We’re not quite sure how towing parked cars stops teens from speeding through the lot…

One of the women tells the Union Leader that some of the women in the group, who average 80 years of age, do purchase food at the BK before heading out on their excursions.

She also says that she feels like the cars in the lot are good for the BK’s business.

“We look like we’re customers,” she explains. “We thought we were doing Burger King a favor; their parking lot is never full.”

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

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TechRadar rating

3/5

For

• Nice design
• Good battery life
• Decent price

Against

• Very laggy
• Poor camera
• Awful keyboard

Specifications :

 

Brand Name

Sony Mobile

Battery Talk Time

7.30 Hour

Screen Size

10.2 cm (4")

Screen Resolution

480 x 854

Weight (Approximate)

124.0 g

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Can the Sony Ericsson inspired J jump in and make a splash?

The Sony Xperia J is the smaller and cheaper brother to James Bonds Xperia T, but dont expect to find this handset mingling with scantily clad women - the Xperia J is far more reserved, less flamboyant, happier to stay out of the limelight and just get on with life without frenzied car chases through the French Riviera.

Theres a less flamboyant price as well, with the Sony Xperia J setting you back a manageable £170(around $275/AU$265) SIM-free, or you can have it for free on contracts starting at as little as £10.50 per month on a two year deal.

With that price the Xperia J is left fighting against the Orange San Diego, HTC Desire C, BlackBerry Curve 9320 and the slightly cheaper Sony Xperia Miro.
Looks wise the Sony Xperia J is very similar to the Xperia T, with both handsets taking design cues from the popular Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and Xperia Arc S.

The iconic arched back of the Xperia J is the strongest nod to the past Sony Ericsson handsets, and provides a unique design which we found pleasing to the eye.
This also means that the Sony Xperia J sits nicely in the palm, and at 124g we reckon its pretty spot on in terms of weight, with a perfect balance in the hand and its slender 124.3 x 61.2 x 9.2 mm chassis is certainly not overbearing.

Its a sturdy handset, with a good build quality, and while the rear plastic case is a little on the thin side, its easy enough to remove, unlike the one found on the Nokia Lumia 820.
On the front youre greeted by a 4-inch display which is relatively bright, but at 480x854 isnt too sharp, especially when you consider the San Diego has a 600x1024 offering.

Thats not to say its a poor screen and its now been updated to Android 4.1, which brings battery savings, a new quick settings bar and Sony Select, a (boring) recommender of apps and games - stay tuned for our updated review. With a single-core 1GHz processor and 512MB running the show it manages to really work well too - for the most part.

Below the display is a bezel housing back, home and menu keys, with Sony not opting for on-screen controls, nor replacing the menu button with the multi-tasking function Google recommends.

Theres also a front facing, VGA camera above the display while on the left theres a microUSB port for charging and connecting the Xperia J to a computer.
Its not a location were fond of, as a charging port at the base of a handset makes it much easier to use when plugged in.

On the right theres a power/lock key at the top, with a volume rocker switch below. We found the power/lock key too small and difficult to press, making it a chore to do the simple task of locking the Xperia J, or waking the screen.

Up top theres just a centralised 3.5mm jack, which according to Nokia and its Lumia 920 makes it easier to slip a phone into your pocket when headphones are plugged in.

Round the back of the Xperia J, the curved rear cover sports a slightly rubberised finish, and while its not quite as grippy as the Desire C, we didnt feel like we were prone to dropping the handset.
You get a 5MP rear camera flanked by a single LED flash in the top left corner, while at the base theres a speaker grill.

Hit the power/lock key and a ambient light will radiate out from the silver strip of bezel on the base of the Xperia J – these lighting touches are popular with Sony (and previously Sony Ericsson), and we can trace them all the way back to the w850i with its pulsating orange menu button.
The Sony Xperia J is an attractive, solid and well appointed handset set at a reasonable price which is sure to tempt some.

 Read the rest of this post --->

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Since June, weve been hearing little bits about a 12-inch tablet in the works from Samsung. At first, it was thought that Samsung was working on a high-end tablet (aka a Galaxy Note), but once more info came out, it became clear it was a mid-range tablet (aka a Galaxy Tab). Now, the first alleged image of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy 12.2 tablet has leaked.

First off, the device is labeled as the Galaxy Note 12.2, but were a bit hesitant on that part though, because all of the previous rumors, and the original source for this image list the device as model SM-P900; and, a "P" in a Samsung tablet model number usually indicates that the device does not have S-Pen support, which would mean it is a Galaxy Tab, not a Galaxy Note.

Otherwise, the image is a press render, rather than an actual image of the device, but it does show a few interesting things. It looks like Samsung may be going with a very slightly asymmetrical design where the top edge (in landscape mode) of the tablet is a bit thicker than the bottom. Its not quite as pronounced as you would see on the Sony Xperia Tablet S, though. Samsung has also decided to keep going with physical buttons, rather than adopting Androids onscreen buttons.

If this really is the SM-P900, it has been rumored to have a 12.2-inch 2560x1600 display as well as the Samsung Exynos 5 Octa SoC. The general thinking is that Samsung will be announcing the device at IFA in just a few days time along with the Galaxy Note III and the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, so we should get the full story then.

click the IFA 2013 tag below for more related articles

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