New iPad, iPad mini to sport improved 8-megapixel rear camera: Report

Apple will put an improved 8-megapixel rear camera sensor on the fifth generation iPad and the second-generation iPad mini, if KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s predication is to be believed.

The analyst’s predications have been pretty accurate in the past. Kuo mentions that the new camera module will features a larger aperture, similar to the one found on the recently launched iPhone 5s. He has also indicated that the ASP (average Selling Price) of the camera lens module will increase by 10 to 20 percent due to this change.

In a note (via MacRumors) the firm said, “We predict Apple (US) will launch new iPad 5 and iPad mini 2 (so called retina iPad mini) in 4Q13. As the tablet market becomes increasingly competitive, Appl could upgrade the camera as a selling point for the new iPad in a bid to increase competitiveness. We expect the upgrade will include 8MP rear camera, up from 5MP, and larger aperture. Lens modules ASP will raise 10-20 percent on this optics spec upgrade.”

Apple has not focused much on the rear cameras of its iPad tablets, at least not when compared to its focus on the iPhone’s camera. The current-generation iPad and iPad mini both sport a 5-megapixel camera without an LED flash.

It’s not clear if the other components of the next-generation iPad and iPad mini’s camera modules will also be upgraded to make them on par with the iPhone 5s camera. The iPhone 5s camera includes a True Tone Flash that features a white LED and amber LED which work with software algorithms to adjust flash intensity and colour temperature. It also offers a Slo-Mo mode to shoot slow motion video at 120 frames per second at 720p.

Kuo also mentions that the Retina display equipped iPad mini launch in the fourth quarter of 2013. Interestingly, a new report indicates that Apple will be unable to widely roll out a new versions of the iPad mini with a high-resolution “Retina” display in October, citing people who work in the company’s supply chain as a source. These people added that Apple’s supply chain is only now gearing up to make Retina displays for the iPad mini,, which means the tablets could be available in only limited quantities this year, if at all.

Apple is expected to unveil the new iPad tablets at an event in October; however, there’s no official word from the company on the same.

Sony Xperia C with 5-inch display, dual-SIM available online for Rs. 20,490

Sony seems to be geared up to officially launch another mid-range smartphone, the Xperia C for the Indian market. The device is currently available online for Rs. 20,490 on Saholic, while it is up for pre-order on Flipkart with the same pricing. Both the ecommerce sites have mentioned that the device will be available from second week of October. The Xperia C was officially unveiled earlier this year at the Mobile Asia Expo.

The Sony Xpreria C is the first smartphone from the Japanese handset to be based on quad-core MediaTek MTK6589 processor; clocked at 1.2GHz. It comes with 5-inch TFT LCD qHD (540x960 pixel) display and runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. It includes 1GB of RAM and 4GB of inbuilt storage, which can be further expandable up to 32GB via microSD card. The Sony Xperia C is a dual-SIM smartphone (GSM+GSM) with dual standby.

The Xperia c sports an 8-megapixel rear camera with Exmore R sensor. The rear camera comes with features like face detection and Sweep Panorama, and is also capable of shooting videos in full-HD (1080p) mode. There is a 0.3-megapixel front camera onboard also. Connectivity options include 3G, Wi-Fi, DLNA, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. The smartphone will be available in White, Black and Purple colour options.

Other features on the Sony Xperia C include motion-gaming, FM radio with RDS, walkman app and ‘screen mirroring’. The device is backed by a 2330mAh battery, which the company claims can deliver up to 10hours of talktime and up to 588 hours of standby time.

Sony Xperia Z1 mini allegedly revealed

While Sony is still busy on promoting its latest flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z1 globally, a site has posted a purported official document revealing the Xperia Z1 mini.

Xperiablog has published some leaked documents from NTT DoCoMo Japan, revealing the rumored specifications of the ‘Xperia Z1 f’ with model number SO-02F alongside the Xperia Z1 (SO-01F), which has already been launched last month at the IFA. The former is believed to be yet-to-be announced Xperia Z1 mini.

The leaked documents also reveal specifications of the ‘Xperia Z1 f’ a.k.a. ‘Xperia Z1 mini,’ which supposedly boast of a quad-core 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, the same as we have seen on the Xperia Z1. It is said to come with a 4.3-inch display with 720x1280 pixels resolution, 16GB of inbuilt storage, 2GB of RAM, apart from a 2300mAh battery. The documents reveal dimensions of 127x64.9x9.4mm for the Xperia Z1 mini, and also claim it will come with IP55/IP58 certification (dust and water resistant), just like the Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z Ultra.

Interestingly, the listing also reveals that the alleged Xperia Z1 mini will ship with the same 20.7-megapixel camera as the Xperia Z1, one of the recently unveiled flagship’s biggest highlights. Additionally, the Xperia Z1 mini is said to features the same Sony G lens, f/2.0 aperture and the same 1/2.3” sensor which has been seen on the Xperia Z1. One of the documents also show the Xperia Z1 compared alongside the alleged Xperia Z1 mini, wich gives some indication about its expected size.

Looking at the documentation, there are no details about the launch of the alleged Xperia Z1 min, but its provenance certainly does hint that the device may be launched first in Japan.

Prior to this, the Xperia Z1 mini was spotted in purported leaked images that revealed front panel with Sony branding on top beneath the earpiece. The design of the leaked front panel of the alleged Xperia Z1 mini was visibly different from the Xperia smartphones launched until now.

Meanwhile, the Sony Xperia Z1 was unveiled at IFA last month, while the device was released in India few days ago.

Windows Phone gains in Europe, iOS up in US: Survey

Windows-based smartphones are making significant inroads in Europe, while Apple’s iPhone is strengthening its position in the United States, a survey showed Monday.

Data from Kantar World panel ComTech for three month ending in August Showed Windows Phone, the mobile platform from Microsoft, has posted its highest ever sales share of 9.2 percent in the five major Europe markets.

Windows had a 12 percent share in Britain, 10.8 percent in France, 9.5 percent in Italy, 8.8 percent in Germany and 2.2 percent in Spain, the survey found.

“Windows Phone’s latest wave of growth is being driven by Nokia’s expansion into the low and mid range market with the Lumia 520 and Lumia 620 handsets,” said Kantar analyst Dominic Sunnebo.

“These models are hitting the sweet spot with 16 to 24 years-olds and 35 to 49 years-olds, two key groups that look for a balance of price and functionality in their smartphone,” he said.

Android, the Google platform used by Samsung and several other manufacturers, remains the top operating system across Europe with a 70 percent market share but it is being threatened by higher growth from Windows and Apple’s iOS, the survey found.

“After years of increasing market share, Android has now reached a point where significant growth in developed markets is becoming harder to find, “Sunnebo said.

“Android’s growth has been spearheaded by Samsung, but the manufacturer is now seeing its share of sales across the major European economic dip year as a sustained comeback from Sony, Nokia and LG begins to broaden the competitive landscape.

In the United States, Android has also seen its market share drop to 55.8 percent from 60.7 percent a year earlier, while Apple’s share was up more than five percentage points at 39.3 percent. Windows rose to 3.0 percent from 2.6 percent.

Kantar said it expects Apple’s share “to spike in the coming months with the release of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5C,” unveiled on September 20.

Apple and Android are roughly even in Japan with 48.6 percent for iOS and 47.4 percent for Android. But the agreement with Japan’s largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo, for the first time makes it likely that Apple will pull ahead of Android in this market, according to Kantar.

Apple also made strong gains in Britain, France and Spain, the survey found.

Blackberry’s woes have deepened, with the Canadian firm accounting for just 2.4 percent of sales across the five European markets and 1.8 percent in the United States, Kantar said. 

Samsung confirms Galaxy Note 3 and other high-end smartphones are region-locked

We’ve all heard of region-locked DVD players and DVDs, but it turns out Samsung wants to introduce the same resolutions on its smartphones.

It all started with UK-based mobile retailer Clove detailing certain functionality limitations regarding SIM cards on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the newest iteration of Samsung’s popular phablet.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 box featured a sticker that said that the phones are only compatible with a SIM-card issued from a mobile operator within Europe.

Following a disclosure, a number of customers shared a images of the American box as well, that had a sticker which mentioned that the phone was compatible with a SIM-card issued from a mobile operator within the Americas, including North, South and Central Americas and the Caribbean.

When phones by carriers under contracts are locked to prevent violations, it’s hard to understand why carrier-unlocked phones should come with regional restrictions except for preventing grey market imports and exports. But this also implies that customers would not be able to buy phones from other regions.

After widespread outrage, Samsung issued a statement to German website All about Samsung saying that the company is SIM-locking new devices including the Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 Mini, and Galaxy Note 3 devices produced after the end of July 2013. It is also clarifies that all these devices sport a sticker indicating the same and that the region look can be removed free of charge through a Samsung service partner if the device is used outside the region it’s meant fro and has not been used with a local SIM that region.

The statement doesn’t clarify if users will be able to use a local SIM-card when travelling outside their region, and it even mentions that internationally roaming services would work. However, developer Jan Ole Suhr tweeted about Samsung Germany clarify that the region lock is automatically removed once a user plugs in the local SIM-card.

iPhone 5s costs $191 to make, cheaper than iPhone 5: IHS

While the iPhone 5s includes of new features that set it apart from Apple’s previous model, the actual cost to make the phone hasn’t changes very much, according to a new study.

An IHS Inc. teardown of the new smartphone found that the components make up a 16-gigabyte iPhone 5s (Review) cost $190.70. Manufacturing costs add another $8, bringing the total production cost to $198.70.

In comparison of iPhone 5 that will be hit the market last year ago that costs up to $197 to make.

According to a Andrew Rassaweiler, the IHS director the cost of the benchmarking service has been noted the iPhone 5s includes the extra new features that gives extra functionality to this smartphone, such are 64-bit apps processor and a finger-print identification sensor without any kind of significant jump in the costs of this iPhone.

Also the research firm also dissected a 16-gigabyte iPhone 5c (Review), a cheaper version of the 5s, and put its total production cost at $173.45, including all the manufacturing costs that are $7.

In the last press interview, Rassweiler said the 5c is basically an iPhone 5 wrapped in plastic, nothing that it has basically the same features, but benefits from typical components price drops, along with its cheaper plastic enclose.

The starting price of iPhone 5c is $549, but it will sell for $99 with a two year wireless contract. It’s Apple’s least-expensive iPhone ever and is an effort to boost sales in China and other areas where people don’t have as much money to expend on new gadgets as they do in the U.S. and Europe. But critics have said that the phone is still too expensive to sell well in emerging markets.

IHS said that while I cost substantially less to produce an iPhone 5c than it did an iPhone 5, those costs are still on the high side.

It added that in order to merit the low-end smartphone pricing of $400 that many industry observers had expected while maintaining typical Apple profit margins the company would need to reduce its 5c production to about $130.

Monday Apple reported that it sold 9 million of the two new models since their launch on Friday – its strongest iPhone launch ever – and that demand was exceeding supply.

In midday trading, shares of the Cupertino, Calif., company slipped $5.98 to $483.12.

HTC One Android 4.3 update reportedly begins rolling out

While we have not heard any official word from HTC about the Android 4.3 update to the HTC One, it seems the company has started the rollout in its home-turf, according to reports.

@LlabTooFeR, who claims to be a ROM developer, has posted an image of the screenshots of the Android 4.3 update for the HTC One Twitter. The tweet mentions, “HTC One in Taiwan just started getting Android 4.3.”

The latest Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update for the HTC’s flagship smart phone looks to be available over the air (OTA). The screen reveals the software build number to be 3.18.709.2 and is about 512MB. The tweet also mentions that the update brings bug fixes and enhancements for the HTC One which is majority include battery charging animation in power-off state, improvements in gallery and camera department with upgrade to colour contrasts in low-light situations and adding soundtracks to highlights. However, the official change log has not been revealed, yet.

It was also rumored that with Android 4.3 update, the HTC One would also receive the new Sense 5.5 UI, however there’s been no mention of this with the currently reported update.

Last month, a tweet by HTC’s president of global sales, Jason Mackenzie confirmed that the Android 4.3 update would be rolled out to the HTC One in US and Canada by the end of September. HTC’s 2013 flagship smartphone was released in February and natively ran Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with Sense 5 UI out of the box. Despite the company announcing an update for the One to Android 4.2.2 in Asia and European markets, the update has not been rolled out across the globe.

For those unaware, the HTC One comes with a 4.7-inch full-HD display with 468 pixels per inch packed in an aluminium unibody. It is powered by a 1.7 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor alongside 2GB of RAM. HTC One comes with 32GB and 64GB storage options, but without expandable storage. Connectivity options include Wi-FI 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n. Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC, Infrared and Micro-USB.