Two official ICS ROMs from Samsung leak for the Galaxy S II

Samsung may not update the Galaxy S to Ice Cream Sandwich, but they've been hard at work on mixing the new Android 4.0 with their TouchWiz UI for the i9100 Galaxy S II.

A proof for this are two official Samsung ROMs that have leaked for the company's Droid flagship. The two versions in question are I9100XXKP4/OXAKP4 and I9100XXKP8 / OXAKP8 based on Android 4.0.1 and Android 4.0.3, respectively.

SamMobile.com is reporting that while both are early alpha versions of the final update supposed to hit all Galaxy S II devices early this year, the more stable one is the latter. Here are some screenshots of how the Ice Cream Sandwich update looks on the S II.

Samsung Galaxy S II running Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz

As you can see Samsung have done a great job of coating their TouchWiz UI onto the Ice Cream Sandwich. Finally, take a look at the alpha ROMs in action.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus review: Opening new doors

Introduction

Once again, it is the Nexus time of the year. This time, Google has left the Gingerbread cookies and, together with Samsung, has brought to us the Galaxy Nexus to deliver the Ice Cream Sandwich. And while a cold dessert is totally out of place this holiday season, the latest release of Android is more relevant than ever.

The Galaxy Nexus packs an impressive spec sheet, but it is (yet again) the OS which is the device’s main highlight. After all, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is widely expected to put an end to the fragmentation, which currently plagues Google’s mobile platform.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus official photos

Unlike its Nexus S predecessor, which was essentially a rebranded Samsung Galaxy S, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is a completely different device from the current flagship of the company, the I9100 Galaxy S II. The latest Google phone sports a different GPU and chipset, which are, well, not as powerful as those found inside the Galaxy S II.

Here is a quick look at what the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has to offer, along with its main disadvantages.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM; penta-band 3G support
• HSDPA 21Mbps; HSUPA 5.76Mbps
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS with stock UI
• 4.65” Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with HD (720 x 1280 pixels) resolution; 16M colors; oleophobic surface
• Slim profile at 8.9mm
• Dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 CPU; PowerVR SGX540 GPU; TI OMAP 4460 chipset
• 16/32GB built-in storage; 1GB RAM
• 5 MP camera (2592x1936 pixels) with autofocus, LED flash; 1.3MP front-facing unit
• 1080p video recording @30fps; touch-to-zoom while recording
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• DLNA; Wi-Fi hotspot
• Bluetooth 3.0 with ADP
• Charging MHL microUSB port with TV-out (1080p) support
• GPS receiver with A-GPS support
• NFC connectivity
• Accelerometer, gyro and proximity sensors; compass; barometer
• Back cover made of Hyper Skin material for increased grip
• Excellent audio quality

Main disadvantages

• Camera resolution is not on par with the rest of the high-end dual-core competition
• Below average battery life
• Lacks a dedicated camera key
• No microSD card slot
• No mass-storage mode (some files don't show up in MTP mode)
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is yet to be fully compatible with all apps from the Android Market
• No FM radio

A quick look at the key features of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will show you that the smartphone’s hottest hardware feature is its Super AMOLED screen with HD resolution – a first for a Samsung smartphone. The display combines amazing contrast ratio and superb viewing angles, with eye-popping size and resolution – a perfect match for the spanking new OS on board.

As far as the rest of the hardware is concerned, we heavily suspect that Samsung has intentionally omitted a couple of Galaxy S II features such as the microSD card slot and a superior 8MP camera unit. The superior screen of the Galaxy Nexus, while giving it a touch of exclusivity hardware-wise, will not be enough to cannibalize the strong sales, which the I9100 still enjoys.

The latest Google phone will be aimed at the Android purists – the crowd, which doesn’t like launchers or UI tweaks. And also the crowd that likes to get the latest OS updates from Google first. In this aspect, the smartphone is entirely in a league of its own.

Nokia Lumia 800 How can saves on 3G downloads compared to iOS and Android

Every day we’re finding more reasons why we love our Nokia Windows Phone and we’ve just found a new one, as the great Windows Phone 7.5 OS has managed to automatically help us to save money on our monthly phone bill. Join us as we show you what we’ve found on our Nokia Lumia 800.

When it comes to using our smartphones, we always try to be as careful as possible not to exceed our minutes, texts and data usage each month, but with so much to say and do with our Nokia phones, it’s not always the easiest thing to do. Well now our Nokia Lumia 800 has stepped in to help us out.

While we were sitting on the train home from yesterday, we thought we’d catch up on downloading the latest apps and songs we’ve been meaning to try out on our Nokia Windows Phone. So we quickly activated 3G on our handset, got connected and got down to business at the Windows Phone Marketplace.

As usual it hadn’t crossed our minds that downloading so much content might push us over our monthly limit (hey, we’re stupid like that), so we were busily downloading when Windows Phone 7.5 decided to save us from ourselves and stepped in with a great little feature that we hadn’t spotted until now.

Any time you try and download a large file over 3G on your Nokia Windows Phone, the Windows Phone 7.5 OS automatically steps in and puts the largest files in a queue to be downloaded when you’re in range of a Wi-Fi connection, saving you money and letting you download the file faster.

Of course you might be more sensible about your downloads then we seem to manage, but for us this great feature on our Lumia 800 is our new best friend and we can’t wait to see how much money we’ll have saved on our monthly bill (which we’ll no doubt then somehow manage to go and spend on something else).

The 10 Best Android Tablets

When it comes to tablets, it's been an interesting year for Android. Since Google released its tablet-specific operating system, Honeycomb, we’ve seen a steady flow of high-quality Android tablets. (Pre-Honeycomb Android tablets were another story.) This is a good thing, since they provide viable alternatives to the Apple iPad, which has dominated the tablet market since its first release in early 2010. One of the major benefits of Android over the iPad, the dearly departed HP TouchPad, or the dead-on-arrival BlackBerry PlayBook, is that instead of a single hardware choice, you can access the OS on a number of different tablets.

Overall, the Android tablet experience is a very good one. But not all is perfect, even in the land of Honeycomb. The biggest problem with the platform continues to be the lack of third-party apps. We're coming up on a year after the OS release, and tablet-specific Android apps are still in the low hundreds, while apps designed specifically for the iPad continue to climb into the hundreds of thousands. Given its Google roots, though, Android is the most configurable tablet operating system you’ll find. It's a master multitasker with an excellent notification system, and top-notch integration with Google services like Gmail, Google Chat, and Google Maps. Plus, you get Flash video support.

Turns out that the most compelling Android tablet we've seen so far doesn't even run Honeycomb. Amazon's Kindle Fire uses a modified version of Android 2.3, or Gingerbread, which is meant for phones. It's not perfect, but the smaller 7-inch screen, and Amazon's OS tweaks, along with its own high-quality content ecosystem and on-board Appstore make for one of the best tablet entertainment experiences you can find. And its $200 price, in a market where most tablets cost around twice as much, means Amazon has a real chance to steal some market share from Apple. If the Kindle Fire doesn't do it for you, though, check out the slideshow for a look at our other top-rated Android tablets or compare these tablets side by side.

iPad 3 Launching In the Next 3-4 Months?

If you saved money to buy an iPad 2 with a lower price this Christmas, you might want to think again, since there’s a new generation of Apple tablets in a couple of months from now. Sources in Apple’s supply chain are saying that manufacturers have begun shipping parts and components for the third gen iPad, that will launch in 3-4 months.

It also appears that manufacturers have reduced the supply of components for the second generation iPad, making room for the newcomer. The info is taken from a DigiTimes report, that claims OEM production of the iPad 2 remains at 14-15 million units in Q4 2011, but decline is expected in early 2012. The production will drop to 4-5 million units in the first quarter of 2012, preparing the market for the debut of new iPads, according to the same insiders. The new iPad is rumored to feature a Retina Display, thinner profile, improved camera and maybe a more powerful CPU.

The production will start in January, according to Kevin Chang, analyst with Citigroup. Production is expected to increase in February ahead of the product’s debut in March or April. Will you get one?

Nokia Announces 3 New Smartphones

Nokia 700

With the announcement of Symbian Belle, Nokia has announced three new smartphones aimed at low to mid-rang audience.

Nokia said that all three new smartphones will boast Symbian Belle – and availability is said to be made by fourth quarter of the current year.

Nokia 700, as Nokia claims, will be world’s smallest smartphone. Nokia specifically states: “the most compact touch monoblock smartphone in the market right now”.

Despite the minimalistic outlook, Nokia 700 will sail with:

• 1GHz processor,
• 3.2-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display with Corning® Gorilla® Glass
• 2GB of user memory plus a MicroSD card slot for up to 32GB of extra storage.
• 5-megapixel full focus camera with an LED flash
• GPS
• a compass,
• Bluetooth
• FM radio
• WiFi and up to HSUPA 3G data transfers
• 7.3 hours talk-time or up to 465 hours on standby

Availability and Price: The Nokia 700 is expected to retail at around PKR 34,000 and is expected to become available in the third quarter of 2011.

Nokia 701

Nokia Introduces Symbian Belle

It seems that Nokia has been playing hard with it’s smartphone OS, that is, Symbian. Just weeks after the Symbian Anna, we have another update in hand for Symbian phones. This time it’s called Symbian Belle – weird naming convention one would say.

We know that Nokia’s long term plan is to shift all high-end smartphones to Windows platform, however, Symbian will be kept alive, till 2015 at least, for relatively lower-end devices.

Announced at an event in Hong Kong, Symbian Belle is said to incorporate significant improvements in it’s previous version, with new apps, more flexibility in customization and added with new widgets.

User interface is altogether revamped, which now more looks like Android. Built-in NFC support in Symbian Belle, that is deeply integrated into operating system, is something that Nokia is using as headlines.

The fruit of Nokia-Microsoft partnership has started surfacing as Symbian Belle will offer seamless integration with Microsoft Linc, Sharepoint, OneNote, Exchange and a new system called PowerPoint Broadcaster.

Nokia says that Symbian Belle will be available on all new/upcoming Symbian smartphones and will be made available as a free update (just like it did for Symbian Anna) for users with phones running Symbian Anna (Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia C7, Nokia E6, Nokia X7 and Nokia 500), a pleasing announcement for many.

For sure, Symbian is maturing with time – but many believe it’s too late for Symbian to drag back customers from iOS or Android. Nevertheless, it’s a promising update for long time Nokia and Symbian Fans.