HTC One Mini, Galaxy S4 Mini Battle

The HTC One Mini release date has been pegged for summer again, though this time, the device is thought to be coming at some point in August to battle the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini.

Over the past few weeks, rumors have pegged a device called the HTC M4 for arrival. That device is thought to be a miniature version of the HTC One and thus, has been dubbed the HTC One Mini. The HTC One Mini, unlike the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, isn’t official but it appears that we’re getting ever so close as a new report suggests that HTC will be releasing the device in August.

The HTC One Mini will likely release in August.

Bloomberg suggests what we already knew. That the HTC M4 is a smaller version of the HTC One and that it will be coming with a number of sleek features including a smaller 4.3-inch display likely with 720p resolution and a dual-core processor as opposed to the quad-core processor found in the larger variant, the HTC One.

The device is also thought to have an Ultrapixel camera, same as the HTC One, and a metal design, just like the larger version.

HTC’s smaller HTC One has all along been rumored for arrival this summer though it now appears that those interested will have to wait until August to purchase it. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is likely going to arrive sooner than that. Samsung is hosting an event on June 20th where the company will likely be showing off the Galaxy S4 Mini for the first time.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini will likely be pitted against the HTC One Mini.

Samsung is also likely to issue a release date for the Samsung Galaxy S4, rumored to be sometime in July. If true, it will be mean that Samsung will strike first with its smaller model. The Galaxy S4 Mini however is likely going to boast lesser specs than the HTC One including a 4.3-inch qHD display and an 8MP camera that may not perform as well as the Ultrapixel camera in the HTC One. It’ll also boast a plastic design.

Initial pricing for the Galaxy S4 Mini suggests that it won’t be cheap though without an official announcement, it’s hard to say just how the price will pan out, particularly when it comes to the HTC One Mini.

New Contra Game Trademarked

Konami has documented a trademark requisition for "Contra Run and Gun." 

Spotted on Neogaf, the full items of the requisition might be seen in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Uspto) case viewer, however all it truly says is that Contra Run and Gun is, to be sure, a potential name for a film diversion. 

Throughout Konami's pree3 presentation a week ago, the Contra establishment was no place to be seen. The distributer did tease another Contra diversion before E3 2011, and a year ago, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow planner Mercury Steam communicated investment in working with the Contra name. 

Considering the notoriety of the "unbounded runner" classification on portable stages, some Neogaf parts estimated that Contra Run and Gun may be coming to telephones. This is, obviously, hypothesis .

[Source: NeoGAF via Joystiq]

TED’s Chris Anderson Shares His Top 3 Words Of Advice On Delivering The Perfect Speech

Chris Anderson’s Advice

1. Take Them On A Journey

“We all know that humans are wired to listen to stories, and metaphors abound for the narrative structures that work best to engage people. When I think about compelling presentations, I think about taking an audience on a journey. The most engaging speakers do a superb job of very quickly introducing the topic, explaining why they care so deeply about it, and convincing the audience members that they should, too.”

2. Practice Makes Perfect

“Many of our best and most popular TED Talks have been memorized word for word … Most people go through what I call the ‘valley of awkwardness,’ where they haven’t quite memorized the talk. If they give the talk while stuck in that valley, the audience will sense it … Getting past this point is simple, fortunately. It’s just a matter of rehearsing enough times that the flow of words becomes second nature.”

3. Deliver Through The Eyes

“Perhaps the most important physical act onstage is making eye contact. Find five or six friendly-looking people in different parts of the audience and look them in the eye as you speak. Think of them as friends you haven’t seen in a year, whom you’re bringing up to date on your work.“

Chris Anderson suggests to watch this inspirational TED Talk by Richard Turere for a great example of a perfect delivery of speech.

Richard Turere – The Invention That Outsmarted Lions – TED Talk

Everybody is a Genius

Choose a live of love

Swapchat Windows Phone Snapchat client updated to version 1.2, fixes numerous bugs

Swapchat has posted an update to version 1.2 which addresses many of the issues users may have had while using the Windows Phone 3rd party Snapchat client.

Version 1.2 adds:

• Fixed crashes on Messages page
• Added ability to draw on photos
• Added ability to unblock friends
• Fixed incorrect aspect ratio and image rotations when taking pictures
• Front facing camera is now flipped horizontally
• Minor tweaks and bug fixes

The app is $1.29 with a free trial and a fully free, ad-supported version is also on its way. The app supports both WP 7.5 and 8.

Find the app in the Windows Phone Store here.

Via Reddit.com

Get N.O.V.A. for free from Windows Phone store

When browsing my news feed  I am checking every day I found an article on WPArea.desaying, you can get N.O.V.A. for free just by changing your phone region to India. When visiting the store afterwards and searching for Windows Phone’s newest block buster game the game will be available on Lumia devices for free.

Of course I checked it and I can confirm. So, if you can’t wait any longer for the game and also want to get it for free, just follow these steps:

1. Go to settings
2. Go to language and region
3. Change region to India
4. Press restart
5. Visit store, search for N.O.V.A.
6. Wait for the download to finish
7. Change region back

Huawei teases a new Windows Phone on Facebook

A lot of information has been leaking about the Huawei Ascend W2, Huawei’s higher-end Windows Phone 8 handset.

Now Huawei itself has joined the fray, posting the image above on their official Facebook page, with the caption:

"June 2013: as anticipated for many rumors, a new ultra-slim attractive design will enrich the collection of smartphones at Huawei!"

The Huawei Ascend W2 is expected to be only 7.7 mm thick, making it the thinnest Windows Phone yet, and it seems we will not have to wait too long for it to hit the market.

The full (leaked) specs for the handset are:

• 4.3 inch screen (720p)
• Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor at 1.5GHz
• 1 GB RAM
• 16 GB memory
• 7.7mm thickness
• 8MP rear camera with LED flash (1080p video recording)
• Battery 2000 mAh (others speak of a battery of 2800 mAh)

Plaffo suggests showing the device underwater may mean the handset is also waterproof, which would be a great bonus, and make it only the second Windows Phone to have this feature.

The handset is expected to be pretty cheap – will the feature list sway our Nokia-buying readers? Let us know below.

Via Plaffo.com

iPhone Trade In Bonus Offers 20% More for Your Old iPhone & iPad

Users looking for an iPhone trade-in deal should look no further than a new trade in bonus deal at NextWorth that bumps the trade in value for any iOS device up by 20%.

Even though Apple didn’t announce the iPhone 5S at their event this week, many users are still looking for a new iPhone or to switch to something with a larger screen like the Samsung Galaxy S4 or HTC One.

With this deal, users can score almost $100 more for a used iPhone or iPad, and the deal even works for a broken device that won’t turn on.

Users who enter the code BONUS20 will get a 20% bonus on top of the trade in value, which adds $70 to the price of a functioning iPhone and similar increases on other Apple devices. NextWorth even pays $100 for a broken iPad 2 that won’t turn on and has a broken display with this bonus.

Here are iPhone trade in values, with the 20% bonus for recent devices. These are for the 16GB model on AT&T. Other models will offer higher or lower prices.

Score an iPhone trade in bonus of 20%.

• iPhone 4 – $169
• iPhone 4S – $262
• iPhone 5 – $408

NextWorth also offers the bonus on the iPod and iPad trade in values, which results in good deals for users looking to upgrade. The values below are for the 16GB WiFi only model, with the bonus, other devices will be higher.

• iPad 2 – $198
• iPad 3 – $234
• iPad 4 – $326
• iPad mini – $216

For some of the iPad models, selling locally will likely net a much higher value, especially for new devices like the iPad mini, iPad 4 and iPad 3, but if the device is broken there may be deals to find.

Users who lock in a trade in price have 21 days to send the iPhone or iPad to NextWorth, which means you can lock in a price and make sure you like the new phone before parting with the old iPhone.

We expect iPhone and iPad trade in values will hold steady for another month or two before speculation of new models starts to push the value down. The biggest drops won’t come until we are just on the edge of an Apple announcement.

Apple could announce the iPhone 5S in September with a release that month or in October alongside iOS 7. Even with a 20% bonus, iPhone users looking to upgrade should consider waiting for the new iPhone as it will likely include a unique feature and will definitely see support for longer than current iPhone models.

source

Asphalt 8: Airborne, flying cars and mind-boggling graphics

Asphalt 8: Airborne is coming and Gameloft is already teasing the new racer with an impressive video showing a new physics engine, mind-boggling graphics and a lot of action with cars jumping off ramps and going airborne doing stunts for a while. 

Asphalt 8 comes with eight maps and seven of them are brand new. You’ll get to experience racing in the Nevada desert, the busy streets of London, Tokyo and drive through frozen tracks in Iceland. The last, eighth map is a renewed map of Monaco. All of that racing comes with new weather effects for more immersive experience.

Best of all, though, the new Asphalt 8 will only cost $0.99 and is coming up this summer. Now, that sounds like a killer combination, doesn’t it?

source: Gameloft

Galaxy S5 might sport metal chassis, as Samsung enters its Design 3.0 phase next year

Upon the discharge of the Galaxy S4, a gathering of examiners were stating that this will be the final Samsung leader "in the shadow of Apple", implying that the Galaxy line emulated a certain configuration standard since it was imagined an immediate reaction to the starting iphone victory. 

One year from now, they iterated, all markers sharp towards a major upgrade of the leader telephone that actually slung Samsung to where it is currently. As though to back this up, Samsung official expressed as of late that they've been taken a spot off guard the constantly developing interest for their top Galaxy telephone, and ran with undercarriage material that does the employment, yet could be rapidly transformed in multimillion duplicates in a brief time of time. 

Right away an asserted insider from Samsung has supposedly affirmed that the association is surely dealing with analuminum-clad Galaxy S5, such as the idea render delineated in the thumb picture, which might be more similar to what Htc did with the One, than the plastic Galaxy custom. Obviously, as of right now the S5 is still a twinkle in the configuration section's eyes, so a ton of things may change between now and the inevitable afterward spring divulging. 

The more premium materials for the Galaxy telephone skeleton appear to be a part of the new course Samsung is reputed to bring with the external manifestation of its Androids, called Design 3.0. Plasticky feel is the primary problem intellectuals have had with Samsung's leaders, so tending to that might be basic afterward, given that the rivalry has truly woken up recently. 

source: Android.gs

shorts and sleeping bag can now both recharge your smartphone

Iimagine having the capacity to energize your telephone essentially by staying it in your back pocket and strolling. Notwithstanding envision that you're taking an outdoors outing and you don't claim a generator, yet you wake up each morning with a completely energized cell phone on account of your resting pack. Vodafone is trying both in the U.k. throughout the Isle of Wright celebration that runs from this Thursday until Sunday in Britain. 

The Power Shorts and the Recharge Sleeping Bag, as the items are known by, were both improved by the Electronics and Computer Science Department at the University of Southampton. The science behind them is intriguing. As the fabric that they are both made of is squashedor disfigured, it "collects dynamic vigor" which controls up your telephone. In the meantime, temperature updates encountered by the slumbering sack likewise assist control up your handset. 

One day strolling around in the Power Shorts will include four hours of electric storage device life to your telephone while the slumbering pack gives back eleven hours of electric cell life to your unit. Both the shorts and the resting sack will be being used throughout the U.k. celebration, so regardless of the fact that the music is awful, those wearing Power Shorts or utilizing the Recharge Sleeping Bag can regardless play Hanging with Friends all weekend. 

Power Shorts (L) and the Recharge Sleeping Bag both use kinetic energy to charge your phone

source: Pocketlint

Apple aims at Nintendo: iOS 7 will include standardized controller support

Apple has always had a focus on mobile gaming, and has been cultivating a pretty solid games ecosystem on its mobile platform. For better or worse, many of the best mobile games are either iOS only or at least hit iOS before Android or Windows Phone (not counting Microsoft's Xbox exclusives of course.) And, it looks like iOS 7 is going to make a push to bring even better gaming with standardized controller support.

You probably didn't notice it during Apple's WorldwideDevelopers Conference keynote, but the company has added support for MFi game controllers to its SDK. This means that rather than forcing developers to design only for the touchscreen, and hope it will work with whatever game controller add-on someone may have bought, devs can now code hardware controller support and expect it to work (assuming the controllers follow Apple'sstandards). 

The standards haven't been finalized yet, but Touch Arcade has posted the image to the right, which shows two options being considered for the standard iOS game controller configuration. One looks like a simple iPhone case that would add a D-pad, four thumb buttons, and two shoulder buttons; and, the other has the body of a SEGA Genesis controller with the button configuration of a dual-stick SNES controller. 

This could easily lead to a boom for accessory makers, and of course it also leads to questions about whether or not your iOS device may soon become a game controller for your Apple TV. 

source: Touch Arcade via The Verge

Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean Update for HTC One to Arrive Today

Great news, gentlemen, it was accounted for that the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean redesign for Htc One will begin taking off today. As you most likely know, the Htc One comes preloaded with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, however starting today the managers of the universal Htc One may have the capacity to redesign their cell phones to the most cutting edge Android firmware variant. Assuming that the bits of hearsay are exact, you ought to have the capacity to overhaul your Htc One to Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean at this moment. 

Indeed, thought there aren't an excessive amount of insights about the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean overhaul for Htc One, it was formerly reported that the first clients ought to have the capacity to upgrade their opened terminals starting mid June. Additionally, the Ambassador of Htc France, Yves Wi, has posted on Twitter indicating that the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean overhaul for Htc One may take off today. The same tweet recommends that the firmware upgrade won't carry Htc Sense 5.1 (as it was at one time supposed) and that the terminal will adhere to Sense 5.0.

It's not the first occasion when we are listening to that the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean for Htc One is on the borderline of taking off, yet it is the first occasion when we are listening to it from a Htc official. Around others, the new firmware upgrade may as well carry new offers like lockscreen widgets and a Quick Settings bind in the notices zone which will permit the clients to control capacities like Brightness, Wifi, Bluetooth, or Mobile Data associations.

Much the same as it happens with any possible firmware upgrades, the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean overhaul for Htc One will take off in stages and the holders of the opened models will be the first ones to get it.

Provided that you haven't accepted the programming upgrade notice yet, its worth attempting to search for it physically. So as to do so snatch you Htc One, head off to Settings > About Phone > Software Updates and hit the Check for Updates catch. Since the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean redesign for Htc One may be measured over 150 Mb, you may need to have your cell phone associated with a Wifi hotspot.

Simply on the off chance that you disregarded, the Htc One is gloating a 4.7-inch full Hd Super Lcd3 show with Gorilla Glass 2 assurance. The lead cell phone is controlled by a Snapdragon 600 chipset with four Krait 300 centers timed at 1.7 Ghz and Adreno 320 Gpu. Htc One additionally accompanies 2 Gb of Ram, 32 or 64 Gb of inside space, and all the connectivity characteristics deserving of an up to date cell phone like all benchmarks of Wifi, Bluetooth 4.0, Nfc chip, Ir blaster, and microusb 2.0.

While the huge players of the cell phone market have decided to fit 13 megapixel Polaroids on the once more of their lead gadgets (see Sony Xperia Z, Samsung Galaxy S4, and Lg Optimus G Pro), the Taiwan-based association has joined a 4 megapixel sensor with Ultrapixel engineering. The essential Polaroid of the Htc One accompanies self-adjust, Led glimmer, full Hd motion picture recording backing, 1/3" sensor size, 2µm pixel size, concurrent Hd motion picture and picture recording, geo-tagging, face and grin discovery, and optical picture stabilization.

Have you had the capacity to overhaul your Htc One to Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, yet? If you don't mind gave us a chance to know in the remarks area beneath. 

Google Glass Explorers To Receive Mysterious Package From Google X, According to UPS

Good news for Glass Explorers ! According to some of them, Google X has a mysterious shipment headed to them, though UPS. Thanks to Google Glass Geeks, we’ve learned that multiple Google Glass Explorers received a notification from UPS letting them know that a package with the status “Order Processed: Ready for UPS” is going to be shipped to them by Google X, which is the company’s division for special projects, intended to turn the world into a better place.

At the moment nobody knows what’s in that package, but we hope that those who will receive it are going to share us some information. From what we’ve learned, not all Glass Explorers received the notification and we don’t know if it will just take longer until everyone receives it or Google is just treating some differently.

If we were to speculate, we’d say that the package might contain an accessory, case or just some legal papers, though we prefer to be optimistic and hope that Google is going to deliver some goodies to Glass Explorers and not just some papers.

At the moment, Google Glass is available only for some and hasn’t been officially released. The official release date should be by the end of the year or early 2014, according to some rumors. In the meantime you can find out more about it on Google’s Explorers community page on Google Plus or third-party forums.

Until we manage to figure out what the package contains, we invite you to tell us what do you think it’s in the package and once we find out, we’ll let you know.

Samsung to unveil mirrorless Galaxy Camera 2 on June 20

Since the Galaxy S4 Mini, Active and Zoom have all been made official, Samsung’s June 20 London “Premiere” event becomes that much more interesting. It’s nearly impossible to predict what new gadgets Sammy might have up its sleeve, but the best guess right now is a Galaxy Camera 2.

Something like that, only “smarter”.

The thing is, if a catch up to a year ago gently fruitful Gcam is in store, we really want to consider what Gs4 Zoom's focus is in any case. Correct, there is one major distinction between the two apparatuses, as the Zoom accompanies uphold for Gsm voice conveyance and the Galaxy Camera 2 will probably fail to offer that. 

But the two's intended interest group is uncannily comparable – light photograph buffs in need of a smooth looking device fit for seamlessly uniting with the web. Then again right? 

That being said, as it manufactures, second-gen Galaxy Camera may not be such a "light" snapper when its all said and done. Provided that we are to accept recently rose bits of gossip, the thing will be mirrorless, importance it'll be about as proficient at taking photographs as a huge Dslr (advanced single-lens reflex Polaroid). 

Then again in any case, exceptionally near a Dslr. Basically, that means Sammy's afterward sharp cam will be the best of both planets, mixing all that is incredible in the vicinity of a reduced focus and shoot Polaroid and an advanced Slr. 

Sounds pretty wonderful, isn't that right? Obviously, its protected to expect that such a choice gizmo will take a pretty penny, particularly recognizing that even the first-gen Galaxy Camera was honestly pricey when it first got accessible. 

Concerning Gcam 2's different specs, these are exceptionally difficult to expect for the present, yet a sensor of no less than 20.9 Mp is probable, as is the running of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, a quad-center Exynos Cpu, 1 Gb of Ram and no less than 8 Gb of interior memory. 

The main Galaxy Camera accompanied a nice 4.8-inch 720p showcase and, while an increment in size is conceivable, we can't say we'd be excessively pissed if Samsung were to basically imitate that board. At the same time enough with the conjectures and we should begin the holding up diversion. Only 8 days to go. 

Ashton Kutcher’s jOBS movie release on 16th August

Last year it was revealed that Ashton Kutcher will be playing the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a biopic called jOBS. The public release was delayed for around few months, supposed to be out on 19th April, the jOBS movie release will now take place on 16th of August, 2013.

Really Open Road Films, the people behind this biopic, deferred the discharge by up to four months since they supposed they required more time to showcase the film legitimately. Over the advancing weeks, those who are based in the U.s. will likely begin seeing promotional material for occupations. This motion picture will be started across the country in the U.s. on August 16th, Open Road Films hasn't said when it moves toward discharging it in different nations far and wide, if that is indeed, set to happen in despite all else. 

In spite of the way that its discharge was deferred, Ashton Kutcher's employments motion picture has accepted a lot of scope on the web. After the first cut from this film was discharged, Apple's co-organizer Steve Wozniak said that the motion picture doesn't precisely demonstrate what had transpired in genuine living. Regardless of the possibility that the preparatory responses haven't been exceptional, a considerable amount of individuals are simply set to be inquisitive enough to see Ashton's depiction of Steve Jobs. Individuals were inquisitive when The Social Network turned out too, in which Jesse Eisenberg depicted Facebook Ceo Mark Zuckerberg. In spite of the fact that the producers of that film obviously did bring emancipations with the story, it heads off to show that individuals truly are inquisitive about these enormous associations and the emotional makeups behind them. 

Source: [imore] 

iOS 7 notifies when non-certified Lightning cable is connected

After unveiling iOS 7 at WWDC 2013, Apple announced that it would seed the first beta to developers right away. With every passing day, these developers are reporting changes they find in this latest iOS update. One such change is that an iOS 7 device will notify users when they connect a non-certified Lightning cable.

Apple replaced the old 30 pin dock connector in newer generation devices, such as the iPhone 5 and iPad mini. Not only is the Lightning port smaller, which frees up more space inside the device, it also allows for faster transfer. The Lightning cable itself is reversible, meaning that a user doesn’t need to find the “right side” to plug it in, on the old 30 pin dock this was inevitable. As it turns out, iOS 7 touting devices will notify users if the Lightning cable they have connected is non-certified. Users are warned that the cable may not work reliably with their device.

iOS 7 could be programmed to block such cables, but Apple hasn’t gone on that route. Even though the device will notify and warn against the implications of using non-certified Lightning cables, it won’t block it from carrying out its functions. Users are advised to purchase a certified cable (such as the official, obscenely overpriced USD$19 one) so as to safeguard their devices against any potential harm.

Source: [AppleInsider]

HTC Butterfly Mini One S price and release

There are new rumors about the HTC smartphones: the Butterfly S and the Mini One. First, the Butterfly S. The unit will according to Focus Taiwan, (known as a news source) $ 20,000 New Taiwan dollar will cost, representing a large 500. Though this is a pretty hefty price for the Butterfly S, the rumors do indicate that the device compared to its predecessor the HTC One , a 5 inch Full HD screen plus a faster processor will get.

This means that we can go from the HTC Butterfly S will come with a Snapdragon processor 600 or 800. The formal launch is scheduled for June 19, so the sale will be somewhere to start in July. Due to this fact it is logical to assume that there is of a Snapdragon processor 600 will not be. In that case, this news will be somewhat less favorable.

Will further the Butterfly S are available only in 16 GB standard memory, though it will come with a built-in microSD slot.What the One did not.

HTC One Mini next HTC One

About the HTC Mini One , there is no doubt in existence more about it. Photos from last week have already demonstrated this fact. The mini version of the current flagship companies, according to the publication: "Bloomberg" already available in August. The device gets a 4.3 inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and a Snapdragon processor 400. So these are some lower specs compared to its big brother.

With the Mini One and the Butterfly S emerging along with the alleged 5.9 inch HTC One Max phablet, we may assume that HTC at the end of the year in a good second place (behind Samsung) can place. We will soon see what the three HTCs have in store for us.

Buy Blackberry Q10, Get a 5,000RS Gift Card

American Express or Amex is offering a special limited time offer to buyers of BlackBerryQ10 smartphone in India. Under this offer the company is offering Rs 5000 back as an American Express gift card to who so ever buys a BlackBerry Q10 utilising an American Express card. The American Express gift card would be redeemable at over 100,000 locations throughout India at Amex recognised point of sale. But the special offer is only available for customers making a purchase between the period of June 12 to July 3, 2013.

BlackBerry Q10 is the first BlackBerry OS 10 based smartphone to feature a physical Qwerty keyboard along with a touchscreen display. It has a 3.1-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display that packs 720x720 pixel resolution natively.

The BlackBerry Q10 is about 10.3 mm thick and weighs 139 grams. This smartphone has a dual-core 1.5 GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 mobile processor, 2 GB RAM and 16 GB on-board storage. There is also a hot swappable memory card slot that can accommodate up to 32 GB micro SD card.

The rear part of BlackBerry Q10 flaunts an 8 megapixel auto focus camera and LED flash. With capability to record full 1080p HD videos, the Q10's camera promises high quality imaging. There is a 2 megapixel camera in the front capable of 720p HD video recording and 3X digital zoom.

BlackBerry Q10 supports quad-band GSM networks and packs dual-band WiFi network (2.4 Ghz and 5 GHz) along with Bluetooth 4.0. BlackBerry has packed sensors such as accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, compass and also the GPS module with A-GPS support. It comes with an 1800 mAh battery that claims to offer talk time of 10 hours over 3G networks.

SOURCE

Samsung Galaxy S 4 Zoom gets reviewed

If previous leaks had us fairly convinced Samsung's Galaxy S 4 Zoom cameraphone was a real device, this latest one has us certain. A Russian website has published what can only be described as a full review of the Zoom,The camera is said to pack a 16-megapixel sensor and is capable of 10x optical zoom, performed by rotating a ring that runs around the lens; this ring is also used to launch the camera mode. A piece of glass sits flush with the end of the lens for dust protection. Inside, the Zoom is similar to the S 4 Mini, running a dual-core 1.5GHz Exynos processor, 1.5GB of RAM and eight gigs of internal storage (naturally, there's a microSD slot for boosting that). Facing you is a 4.3-inch 960 x 540 display showing Android 4.2.2 (with a TouchWiz coating, of course), a token 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera, and powering the whole thing is a huge 2,330mAh removable battery. For connection and communication, you've got WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and the increasingly popular addition of an IR blaster, but it doesn't appear that LTE was supported on the Russian model.

The camera's default shooting mode is 16:9 at 12-megapixels, but obviously there are tons of settings to tweak and 26 different pre-prepared camera modes. From the raft sample pictures available, and they look pretty good on the whole. The Zoom is also comes with some new photography apps installed that make use of the camera. hi-tech.mail.ru reports that it's scheduled to launch in July at a cost of 19,990 rubles, or around $618 by conversion. While we've been writing this, Samsung's gone and announced the thing, but it's still worth heading to the source and checking out the review, with tons more sample shots and impressions. We've also put another shot of the cameraphone and our favorite sample image from the review after the break.

[Thanks, Max]

SOURCE: hi-tech.mail.ru

Samsung officially announces Galaxy S 4 Zoom with 16MP camera, 10x optical zoom

Coming in just after a Russian site managed to review the device, Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S 4 Zoom. Combining a fully featured Android 4.2.2 Galaxy phone (basically a Galaxy S 4 Mini) with a 16MP point-and-shoot, it brings a 10x optical zoom lens to bear -- the first phone to do so. On the phone side, it sports a 4.3-inch qHD display, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 1.5GB RAM, 8GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD slot) and a 1.9MP front facing camera. The camera includes optical image stabilization and a Xenon flash, along with a special "Zoom Ring." That ring surrounds the camera, and when twisted (even while on a call) it can launch in-call photo sharing, or go straight to other camera modes. We're told it will arrive in the UK this summer, while its early Russian reviewers mentioned a July release.

Block Any Unwanted Caller's Phone Number on Your iPhone in iOS 7 —Even if They're Not in Your Contacts

One of the most useful new features in iOS 7 is the ability to block phone calls, FaceTime calls, and Text Messages by blocking any phone number.

Whether you've got a stalker, a crazy ex, a harassing bill collector, or just too many telemarketers, this new feature makes it easy to block them at the source, sending them straight to voicemail without your phone making a peep (though they may still hear a ring or two while connecting to your phone).

The new privacy option is simple to access, but there a couple different ways to go about it, depending on if they're in your contacts list or not.

Method 1: Block Someone in Your Contacts List

If your harasser is already in your contacts (perhaps under the name "Never Answer, Ever, Ever"), you can easily block them using the phone settings.

1. Launch the Settings App
2. Scroll down and navigate to Phone -> Blocked -> Add New...
3. Search for and tap on the contact you'd like to block from your contacts.

That's it! If that person ever tries to call you again, they'll get sent straight to voicemail without your phone so much as waking from sleep. Just be aware that they might still hear a ring or two on their end while your carrier connects them to your iPhone.

If they try to FaceTime you, it will just ring indefinitely on their end, without your phone making a sound.

Method 2: Block a Number That Has Recently Called You

If someone has recently called you, like a telemarketer or a bill collector, chances are they're not in your contacts list. Not to worry, it's actually even easier to block a number from your recent calls list.

1. Launch the Phone App and select the Recents tab to see all your recent calls.
2. Tap the little blue (i) to the right of the caller you'd like to block.
3. Scroll down and tap Block this Caller.

That's it! If the telemarketer tries to call you again, they'll be greeted with your voicemail (hopefully triggering their auto-dialer to hang up instead of leaving you a dead-air voicemail).

Method 3: Block a Number That Hasn't Called You and Isn't a Contact

Unfortunately, there isn't a way to type in a number to block, however you can easily create a new contact called "Blocked", and add any other numbers you'd like to block to it (contacts can have unlimited phone numbers).

Once done, just follow Method 1 above to block that contact, and you'll never hear from any of those phone numbers again.

You're Done!

Now those annoying phone calls from telemarketers, spammers and your parents are a thing of the past.