HTC is expected to stylize the name of the devices in their branding, with the “X” and “S” as superscript above the “One”. Specifications for the phones are believed to be unchanged from previous leaks, meaning a Tegra 3 chipset for the One X along with a 4.7-inch 720p display, while the One S will have  a dual-core Qualcomm 1.5GHz processor and a smaller 4.3-inch qHD display.

Meanwhile, HTC is also expected to reveal a third handset at MWC this month, along with a new tablet. We’ve heard the smartphone – also Android based – is codenamed the HTC Primo and will have more of a business/enterprise focus than either the One X or the One S, though no hardware details are known. As for the tablet, that was tipped earlier today amid talk of a Spotify-rivaling streaming music service.

We’ll be at HTC’s launch event in Barcelona later this month, bringing back all the details as the company announces them. All eyes are on HTC to see if the firm’s new “hero device” strategy can rescue them from the poor results of recent quarters.

This sounds a lot like the Ford Sync system in most Ford vehicles. GMC says that the IntelliLink home screen can be configured by the driver with the icons they want. It has icons built-in for Pandora and Stitcher streaming via smartphones. The system should work pretty much like Ford Sync since it, and IntelliLink are powered by Nuance.

The voice control system also uses the Gracenote media database to provide album art and artist information. This also allows people to find content using nicknames such as “The Boss” and others. IntelliLink’s integration of Gracenote is the first to provide track data via Bluetooth streaming rather than having to have the device plugged into the USB port.

“Gracenote is typically limited to devices plugged in to the USB port,” he said. “With IntelliLink, we are the first company to run Bluetooth streaming audio through the Gracenote database to display album art for music players connected wirelessly.”

The phone racked up 4412 points in the new Quadrant benchmark. That makes the X3 significantly faster than the Samsung Galaxy Tab that scored roughly 2200 points, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus scored only about 2000 points, and the Nexus S scored about 1500 points. The X3 from LG will be a high-performance device indeed.

The X3 has a 4.7-inch screen with a resolution of 720 x 1280, 2000mAh battery, and 16GB of internal storage. The device also has a microSD slot for memory expansion, a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera, an eight-megapixel rear camera, and it runs Android 4.0.3. One interesting thing is that the phone that was benchmarked was running Android 4.0.3 and showed a 2.6.39 kernel.

[via Android.Modaco]

The company already offers Bluetooth speakers with the HTC Rhyme, but according to the tipsters and more substantial “wireless boombox” is in the pipeline. That would use Bluetooth to stream audio from HTC phones and tablets, as well as presumably offering some degree of remote control over playback.

HTC has apparently been in talks with Spotify previously, as well as other streaming music providers, around powering a service for HTC devices, but the negotiations failed to go anywhere. Instead, Iovine is believed to be using his heft in the industry to create a Spotify rival, something fellow music execs are tipped to approve of as it could potentially dilute Spotify’s rising star.

The service will be preinstalled on HTC devices, though it’s unclear as to whether it will demand a subscription or, like Nokia Music on the Finnish company’s Lumia devices, be a free addition intended to encourage shoppers to pick HTC phones and tablets rather than those of rival manufacturers, even if they run the same underlying OS. Pricing plans and other details are still being worked on, supposedly, but HTC is tipped to have “long harbored” ambitions around streaming music services. The company already offers streaming video using its HTC Watch rental system.

HTC could reveal the new music platform as early as the Barcelona mobile show at the end of February, where it’s also tipped to be bringing three new Android smartphones – including the Ville and Edge – and a new tablet. We’ll be at Mobile World Congress bringing back all the details as they’re announced, and you can keep up with all the news in our MWC 2012 hub.

Meanwhile, the retailer’s pre-order page for the 32GB Nexus – which had initially been promising deliveries in early January, based on Samsung’s own timescales, but was then pushed back to February and subsequently into March – has been updated to show the phone as discontinued. The alternative suggestion is the existing 16GB model which went on sale last year.

The decision by Samsung is made all the more frustrating because the Galaxy Nexus’ storage options are more limited than most Android devices. While in many cases onboard capacity is less important, as there’s a microSD slot to augment it with affordable memory cards, the Galaxy Nexus lacks such expansion.

It’s been suggested that Google is trying to push reliance on its cloud storage options – Google Drive rumors resurfaced earlier this month, suggesting a full online storage product was imminent – but also that Samsung has been struggling to meet production demand of the cheaper 16GB model. Either way, GSM network users hoping to get 32GB for their media will have to struggle on without it.

[via Android Community]

Hardware

Porsche Design starts as it means to go on, with an oversized box first presenting the P’9981 and its desk-stand in one dense foam layer, before revealing different chargers for near-global use, USB cable and headphones, various documentation and your exclusive technical support card, complete with PIN, to access freephone assistance. It’s not quite Vertu’s Concierge, mind; the team will help you set up your P’9981 and figure out its quirks, but not book you theater tickets.

The smartphone itself is certainly distinctive. RIM basically handed over the key parts of its Bold 9900 flagship, and Porsche Design dressed them up in a Dynasty-era suit, shoulderpads and all. It’s a resolutely aggressive, blunt design, all sharp edges and squared-off corners, with plenty of metal and metal-effect plastic, and it’s heavy too, feeling twice its actual 155g weight in the hand.

Porsche Design itself gets top billing, its name engraved into the brushed stainless-steel bar above the display; RIM’s BlackBerry logo is relegated to just below the earpiece, above the 2.8-inch 640 x 480 touchscreen. The display is bright and crisp, though lacks the color saturation of an AMOLED, while the touch response is good. The metal bar continues around the edge of the P’9981 – though with a polished mirror finish, rather than brushed – though the keyboard itself is plastic.

Porsche Design P’9981 hands-on:

BlackBerry devices are famed for their keyboards, in fact you could construct a reasonable argument that it’s QWERTY text-entry that has kept the company afloat the past few years. Porsche Design does away with the 9900′s ‘board – one, we decided, of the best on the market – and replaces it with a heavily-stylized version with pronounced ridges. It’s not a bad keyboard – the spacing is good, as it spreads across the entire 67mm width of the phone, and the keys are clicky and responsive – but it’s definitely a step back from what the donor BlackBerry offers.

It’s also unevenly illuminated, with the backlighting focused in two patches that leave the center column of letters dimmer than the rest. No great functional issue, and you can still see them in low-light conditions, but it’s a noticeable flaw and one – since the backlighting is often active when the P’9981 is docked in its charger-cradle – you’re presented with all the time.

Sandwiched in-between the keyboard and the touchscreen is the usual row of call, menu and navigation buttons. They’re large and plasticky, and rock somewhat unnervingly under your finger. In their midst is the optical trackpad, which doubles as a select button, and is swiftly responsive. The left edge of the phone offers the 3.5mm headphones socket and a microUSB port, while the right has volume keys flanking a mute button (that doubles as a play/pause button in the media app) and a camera shortcut (that can be reprogrammed). On the top there’s a lock button.

If the front of the P’9981 is Terminator sturdy, the back is oddly unreassuring. An ingot of metal bears the 5-megapixel camera – which supports 720p but uses EDoF fixed-focus rather than auto-focus – and single LED flash, but the rest is a plastic panel that, despite being covered with leather, feels unduly cheap in comparison to the rest of the phone. There’s a little flex around the camera section, and the panel itself doesn’t click reassuringly into place as we might’ve hoped.

Peel it off, and you can see the antenna stuck to the back – connected with two discrete pins just above the Porsche Design branded 1,230 mAh battery – as well as the microSD card slot to augment the 8GB of internal memory. You’ll need to pull out the battery to swap the SIM card. This European unit has dualband 3G/UMTS (for up to 14.4 Mbps downloads and up to 5.76 Mbps uploads, network depending), quadband GSM/EDGE, WiFI a/b/g/n (with 2.4/5GHz support), Bluetooth and NFC, along with GPS, a digital compass, accelerometer and twin microphones for noise cancellation. Like the Bold 9900, the Porsche Design P’9981 runs BlackBerry 7 on a single-core Qualcomm MSM8655 1.2GHz processor, paired with 768MB of RAM.

Software

RIM has hung its long-term hopes on BlackBerry 10, the QNX-based OS for phones and tablets expected to debut by the end of this year. Unfortunately, that leaves the P’9981 running BlackBerry 7, just as on the Bold 9900, and it’s a platform that’s seriously showing its age compared to iOS and Android.

Porsche Design, as the name might predict, makes no modifications to the software itself beyond an ill-advised icon redesign. The paired down iconography is certainly in keeping with the rest of the P’9981, but it also leaves app menus confusing: you have to make a conscious effort to tell the difference between each icon. It’s something you’ll no doubt get more adroit at handling, the longer you live with the handset, or indeed you can change the skin altogether.

Beyond that, our primary frustration with BlackBerry 7 is its general sense of being a patchwork platform: some aspects feel relatively fresh, but other areas feel like they’ve been dragged over from RIM’s OS several years back. The text-based elements of the UI are generally the swiftest but also the points that feel most dated in comparison to rival software; in contrast, BlackBerry App World is sluggish and the BlackBerry Maps app is a lesson in frustration compared to Google Maps or Nokia Maps.

RIM has worked hard on the internet experience in BlackBerry 7, and it’s certainly improved from earlier iterations. You still get a throwback mouse cursor, though we came to appreciate it more after finding how much finger-navigation obscures the touchscreen. Pinch-zooming in the browser works, but that compact display also makes it feel clumsy.

As always, the email experience is the primary reason for using a BlackBerry, though it’s at its best if you’re an enterprise customer with a BlackBerry Exchange Server. If you’re on the Gmail train then you’ll have to use IMAP – Google discontinued its Gmail for BlackBerry app late last year – though there’s the Enhanced Google Mail Plug-in from RIM itself that adds spam and archive support, integrates Gmail inbox searches with BlackBerry 7′s universal search, and imports your contacts. Still, the best Gmail experience continues to be on Android in our opinion, with iOS following behind that.

We’ve covered BlackBerry 7 more in our Bold 9900 review, but the long and short of it is that the OS feels dated and is well overdue a replacement. BlackBerry 10 can’t come soon enough.

Camera

5-megapixels is midrange but acceptable for a smartphone, particularly one with business aspirations like the P’9981, but the fixed-focus is a disappointment. Not a surprising one – the Bold 9900 used EDoF after all – but still another black mark against the Porsche phone.

It means you’re limited in how close you can get with your macro shots, and in general images lack crispness in comparison to auto-focus cameras. Color balance is solid, and there’s a nice amount of detail in shots from the P’9981, but unlike, say, the iPhone 4S or Galaxy S II, you wouldn’t want to rely on the BlackBerry for all of your photography needs.

As for video, 720p is your high-definition maximum but the ensuing clips are good. Colors are accurate, if a little muted, and the digital image stabilization is neither ineffectual nor over-aggressive and helps smooth out a shaky hand. We found the sheer heft of the P’9981 also helped on that front too. Recorded clips can be sent via Bluetooth or WhatsApp, or uploaded to YouTube, though not emailed directly from the camcorder app.

Porsche Design P’9981 720p HD Video Sample:

Phone and Battery

Just behind email performance in the Big BlackBerry Book of Achievements is traditionally voice call quality and battery life: on this, the P’9981 drops one of the balls. Calling quality is great, with a loud earpiece and speaker for hands-free use, crisp – but not overly-processed – background noise reduction, and tenacious grip on a mobile signal. We also like how both your mobile network and current WiFi SSID are shown in the status bar.

Unfortunately, whereas at one time BlackBerry devices could be expected to run for days, the P’9981 follows in the Bold 9900′s metaphorical footsteps and tarnishes the family tradition. The 1,230 mAh battery may be Porsche Design branded but it’s otherwise exactly the same powerpack as the 9900 uses, and it’s simply not up to the challenge of the 1.2GHz processor.

RIM does its best to hide that fact, underclocking the chip most of the time so that you’re running on a fraction of those cycles, but step beyond simple email and you’ll find calls, web browsing, photography and third-party apps all take their toll. Left to its own devices and the P’9981 will run for a couple of days, even with email updating in the background, but actually use it as you might a rival smartphone and you’ll struggle to finish a day. The desk charger cradle does at least make topping up the juice more straightforward.

Wrap-Up

It’s hard to imagine the Porsche Design P’9981 convincing the everyman: its severe styling is too divisive, BlackBerry 7 OS questionable, and general specifications uncompetitive in places. Then again, the everyman isn’t the limited edition BlackBerry’s target audience. Like Vertu and “luxury” editions of other manufacturers’ phones, the appeal of the P’9981 is more about who hasn’t got it than who wants it.

$2,350 is a ridiculous amount of money for a smartphone. A quarter of that gets you an iPhone 4S or a Galaxy Nexus, either of which outclass the P’9981 on functionality, usability and – many would argue – style. However, just as Porsche Design borrowed the Dynasty shoulderpads, the P’9981 is the cellular equivalent of Alexis Carrington: brash and unforgivingly blunt, an unapologetic backhanded slap to the face of anybody who thinks their mainstream handset makes them special.

The rest of us will continue to buy iPhones, and Android phones, perhaps even some Windows Phones, and wait to see whether RIM can relaunch itself in Q4 with BlackBerry 10. The biggest problem with the P’9981 isn’t its love-it-or-hate-it design, or its mediocre camera, or even its insane price tag: it’s the fact that it highlights just how tired BlackBerry 7 is. In the end, even $2,350-worth of metal and leather and Porsche branding can’t hide that.

The EC’s concerns are more general, having been satisfied that it was not in Google’s best interest to limit Android to solely Motorola. “Upon careful examination, this transaction does not itself raise competition issues” competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement. ”Of course, the Commission will continue to keep a close eye on the behavior of all market players in the sector, particularly the increasingly strategic use of patents.”

“In light of the importance of this industry to consumers and the complex issues raised by the intersection of the intellectual property rights and antitrust law at issue here, as well as uncertainty as to the exercise of the acquired rights, the division continues to monitor the use of SEPs in the wireless device industry, particularly in the smartphone and computer tablet markets. The division will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action to stop any anticompetitive use of SEP rights” Department of Justice Antitrust Division

Last month, the EC announced that it was investigating Samsung over claims of antitrust behavior around its use of 3G/UMTS patents and licensing thereof. The Korean company had attempted to use those wireless patents in litigation against Apple, with Apple firing back that its rival was demanding unfair terms for the use of the technology.

As for consumers, meanwhile, there remain questions around how the deal will impact Google’s Nexus program and software on future Motorola devices. For Android OEMs, despite Google’s Andy Rubin saying the Nexus partnerships are still up for grabs for any company, not just Motorola, it’s unclear how much internal support the Android software team will give its newly-acquired hardware division.

Even if Apple branches out into a second slate, it’s unlikely to subsequently follow Samsung’s path of a different tablet for every individual buyer. Part of Apple’s constraint is app resolution, or more accurately maintaining compatibility across multiple screen resolutions. Right now that means the initial iPhone (320 x 480), the Retina Display introduced by the iPhone 4 (640 x 960), and the iPad (1024 x 768). Talk of the Retina Display toting third-gen iPad has suggested a literally doubled resolution, to 2048 x 1536, with evidence of suitable graphics found in recent iOS 5.x betas.

The limiting factor isn’t technology, or even apps and usability – despite what Steve Jobs might have said – it’s supply. Apple needs to have sufficient amounts of whichever panel it settles on, likely a 7.85-inch IPS LCD according to previous rumors and past evidence, to ensure it can meet the expected demand. We’ve already seen what an LCD shortage can do to iPad availability, after all.

A 7.85-inch 1024 x 768 panel, therefore, would allow a so-called “iPad mini” to use the same apps as the existing iPad 2. Meanwhile, the  9.7-inch iPad could go on to adopt the high-resolution display in iPad 2S/3 form and, potentially, a higher sticker price, Apple perhaps assuaging any consumer frustrations with a price cut for the existing iPad 2.

Although rumors have suggested Apple will shift to a larger, perhaps 4-inch display on the next-gen iPhone 5, a tweener tablet and sticking with 3.5-inch smartphone screens arguably makes more sense. No dip in pixel density for the new iPhone, unlike if it spread its current 640 x 960 across a bigger panel, and no need for developers to cook up new handset versions of their apps, if instead the resolution changed.

We won’t know for sure until we see the first signs of Apple’s 2012 tablet strategy early next month, but until then let us know how excited you are about the upcoming iPad 2S/3 in the SlashGear poll below.

Attempting to pacify critics of the impending deal, Android-chief Rubin pointed out that Google intends to operate Motorola as a separate company. When it comes to partnering on future Nexus devices, he maintained, Motorola “will be part of that bidding process” but not guaranteed to win.

Still, Rubin’s comments belie Google’s obvious interest in Motorola’s upcoming product range, something chairman Eric Schmidt conceded in September last year. “We actually believe that the Motorola team has some amazing products coming … We’re excited to have the product line, to use the Motorola brand, the product architecture, the engineers” Schmidt said, “[we like] having at least one area where we can do integrated hardware and software.”

Exactly how those two approaches will pan out remains to be seen. Motorola has already shown itself willing to take on Google at its own game, pushing out a developer version of the DROID RAZR to challenge the Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus; even if other manufacturers secure future Nexus contracts, they’ll face the prospect of competing Motorola devices that have potentially just as much input from Google as their own do. As Rubin described the Nexus strategy, ”all the teams [from Google and the OEM] huddle together in one building, they jointly work and these development efforts go on for 9-12 months”, something that seems likely to also be the case for Google’s greater involvement in Motorola’s impending range.

For consumers, there’s still no guarantee that the devices they buy will run the latest version of Android or, indeed, get a timely update. Motorola’s track record on this has been patchy; the XOOM tablet launched in early 2011 with all but the name pointing to it being the “official” Google Android slate, but lagged behind rivals for OS refreshes. Meanwhile, Motorola persists with its UI modifications to its smartphone range, contributing to delays in updates there.

For it’s truly the everywhere gaming model that Sony is latching onto here, with gamers that want an unending stream of games at their fingertips at the heart of it all. It’s not just gaming on the go that these players desire, Sony has decided, its inexpensive gaming, games that can be downloaded and accessed anywhere, all the greatness of the mobile world that’s been missing in the hardware world. Smartphones and tablets are the opponents of the PS Vita, so says Sony.

The folks at Interpublic Group of Companies group Deutsch’s executive vice president and creative director, mister Jason Elm, spoke with the NYTimes about the campaign they’d whipped up for the current continuation of the worldwide release of the PS Vita. He’s got no qualms with wanting the gamers of the earth to plug in and tune out:

“[This campaign's audience is] very socially plugged in, mobile, out and about, both physically and on the Internet. Gaming is no longer playing alone in a basement by one person with one machine; it’s all networked.” – Elm

The operating system on the device has been suggested as being a viable candidate for additional wireless-data-connected devices as well, with Yoshio Matsumoto, Director of Business and Sony Computer Entertainment SVP, speaking on how this device is just the thin edge of the wedge:

“[Translated:] I’d like to point out that I mentioned the first thing Vita is is a hardware that provides digital entertainment only, and there there is the Vita OS which at the moment is just the OS made to provide it. The OS will continue to provide entertainment of all kinds, and though it’s made here to provide for a portable machine the best gaming experience for game enthusiasts, this is the thing edge of the wedge first.” – Matsumoto

So what we’ve got here is the successes of the mobile world in a smartphone-esque operating system running on a fully PlayStation 3 connected handheld gaming powerhouse. It’s as if it couldn’t possibly fail, yes? We’ll see how the PS Vita fares here in the USA after it’s been out for an extended period – soon!

It’s always awesome to hear of a new competitor for the mobile space, especially when that competitor comes from such a giant as Sony. Sony is in a position with the PlayStation Vita to make it such a success that it brings the operating system from it over to new devices in the near future. While its true that it seemed the Sony Ericsson last year did tell the world they’d be sticking with Android, now that Sony has purchased the remaining stock of that mobile venture from Ericsson, Sony’s now just “Sony” sect of mobile can do whatever they please. as Matsumoto spoke with AV Watch just a couple months ago:

“[Translated:] I’d like to point out that I mentioned the first thing Vita is is a hardware that provides digital entertainment only, and there there is the Vita OS which at the moment is just the OS made to provide it. The OS will continue to provide entertainment of all kinds, and though it’s made here to provide for a portable machine the best gaming experience for game enthusiasts, this is the thing edge of the wedge first.” – Matsumoto

Matsumoto went on to speak on how the operating system on the Vita is already receiving rave reviews on its speed and workability, noting how it was made using a mobile telephone network from the beginning. Because its basis is in the mobile world, even though it’s made for games right this moment, the operating system does have a bright future ahead of it, be it mobile, gaming, or both.

“[Translated:] We considered room for development in various directions including OS for smartphones from the beginning. For gaming consoles, the best hardware only must be considered to elicit top performance – but because we wanted the operating system to be scalable, we built this system from scratch with communication functions on mobile telephone networks from the outset. The touchscreen interface elements do not correspond exactly with a smartphone or tablet at the moment, but scalability makes it a possibility in the future.” – Matsumoto

We can’t wait for Sony to expand on not just Android now, but Vita OS (if this is what they keep for the name) in the very near future! Have at the mobile world, Sony, we’re ready for expansion!

“I laugh at the vast majority of critics when they say ‘Oh, you should have made this CEO transition, like, four years ago.’ Yeah, right – like, to who?” Martin said to the newspaper, highlighting other high-profile CEOs drafted in to save electronics companies like Dell, HP and – back when Steve Jobs was away from the helm – Apple, but who proved far from able to rise the challenge.

Despite being defensive of Balsillie and Lazaridis, and their clinging to the co-CEO positions, Martin does conceded that RIM misread the market over smartphones. “People were saying we can’t make powerful phones like Apple Yes, we can, but we couldn’t believe consumers would put up with that kind of battery inefficiency and that kind of network inefficiency” he says of the internal arguments about which direction BlackBerry handsets should evolve in. Personally, he claims to have championed the idea of a better browser for several years, something RIM only really moved to address with BlackBerry 7.

An increasingly combative attitude appears to be in fashion at RIM. Shortly after taking the reins, new CEO Heins blasted Android devices as “all the same“; ironically, a subsequent leak purportedly showing one of the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones indicated a device that, observers pointed out, was markedly similar to what Android manufacturers were pumping out.

[via Venturebeat]

"HTML5 is a compelling technology for developing apps, and is quickly improving. Combined with the freedom to build what you want and distribute it directly to users on your own terms, it has great potential. But just as there are gaps to be filled from a technology point of view, there are gaps to be filled from an ecosystem point of view. The Web lacks standard, consistent ways to find, rate, review, purchase and prove ownership of apps. Mozilla’s goal is to foster an ecosystem that combines the best elements of the Web with the best elements of the app model" Mozilla Foundation

Although it might be the easy - and, given the challenges faced from Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari and Microsoft's Internet Explorer, some might argue sensible - route to make the apps Firefox-only, Mozilla is targeting cross-browser compatibility. The common standards the group intends would "support multiple app stores, direct distribution of apps by app developers, app portability and true end-user ownership of their apps."

As for distributing that software, Mozilla plans to extend its existing web-app Marketplace to cover phones and tablets in addition to desktop users. Apps will be supported in any browser, no matter the device or OS, and developers will be able to release paid as well as free titles.

Part of Mozilla's challenge is opening up broad hardware access to apps created in HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, which currently lack the flexibility of native code. To do that, it's pushing ahead with "Boot to Gecko" (B2G), the web-powered mobile platform for phones and tablets that, while using a trimmed-down Android base layer, will boot straight into a browser-style interface for native support of HTML5 and other web-app coding. Mozilla is aiming for a public product demo of B2G sometime this quarter.

[via CNET]

Unfortunately, right now there’s little more than naming information for the new HTC apps. It’s unclear whether HTC has followed in Apple’s footsteps and created – or licensed – a true Siri-style digital personal assistant, or whether it’s the more mundane voice-dictation and shortcut system we’ve seen on other Android devices. Still, we’ve been saying HTC should push ahead with its services as a way of differentiating itself from other smartphone manufacturers, so this could be a good sign.

As for video editing, the functionality is apparently not that which Google baked into Ice Cream Sandwich, but an app of HTC’s own. Again, no screenshots or real details at this stage, but the software has apparently been branded to suit HTC Sense 4.0.

The HTC Endeavor – along with the HTC Ville – is expected to make its official debut at Mobile World Congress later on this month, and we’ll be there to bring back all the details. The smartphones are part of what HTC has described as its “Hero Device” strategy, a return to quality-over-quantity that the company hopes will turn around its fortunes.

As well as wallpapers, ringtones and other customizations exclusive to HTC devices, there are also signs that HTC has been tweaking its shortcuts system. The lockscreen now shows not only the four app shortcuts as in previous versions of Sense, but a choice of either individual contact shortcuts – as shown below – or notifications.

HTC refers to the two layouts as “productivity” and “contacts”. There are also new, squared-off widgets, losing the bubbly, over-designed stylings of HTC’s older UI and replacing them with cleaner lines to match native Ice Cream Sandwich graphics.

The wallpapers are higher-resolution, too, fitting in with talk that the Endeavor – among other new HTC phones – will have a 720p HD display. 1GB of RAM, a 1.3-megapixel front camera and Dropbox integration are all tipped too.

We’re expecting to see full details on the HTC Edge/Endeavor at Mobile World Congress later this month.

[Thanks ibolito!]

Those of you looking for protection for the back of your iPhone, you’re certainly going to find it here. This is a plate, meaning its flat and does not wrap around the edges of your device in any way. These plates are not made specifically for protection, nor do they interfere with any other accessory you might have for the device (to a degree – it’s not invisible, after all,) and will not cut down on your reception in any way at all. These plates are made to make your iPhone into a “sculptured work of art” – and they certainly have no trouble doing that.

Have a look at the application video here and see how simple it is to get one of these mothers on to the back of your iPhone. Here we’re using the iPhone 4S from Verizon, but know this: these plates work perfectly fine for all iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 models. The only complaint I’ve had about the plate I have here (it being the Etched Great Wave Steel) is that I get worried that the metal will scratch the OTHER devices I’ve got in my pocket. If you’re not the sort of person who carries around more than one smartphone at a time in one pocket, you’ll be just fine.

At the moment the folks at SkinIt have five different designs for their Etched Metal series: Flourish, Sudden Blush, Millipede, Circles, and Great Wave, and each design has its own set of color options. Each design has Black, Steel, Berry, and Lime color options, while the Wave has Blue instead of Lime, and the metal is actually a different color if you choose steel over any of the other colors. the colors come in behind the metal in a surface that lie between the adhesive and the metal – so you wont be seeing your iPhone’s back color with these plates.

The best part about this whole situation is that all colors and designs are a mere $24.99 each – pick up a batch! These plates are all in stock right this second over at SkinIt’s own online store.

GSM Arena obtained the document, which reveals that the first samples for the Berry Pink Galaxy Note will arrive on the 8th week of this year, with public availability starting in the 9th week, or about three weeks from now. The device will also be available in its standard Carbon Blue and Ceramic White, with which we’ve recently spent some hands-on time.

The new color makes sense since Samsung has admitted to targeting the female demographic with the Galaxy Note. The device’s size is generally too big for comfort in pants pockets, but fine in purses and handbags. Unfortunately, the device just misses Valentines Day, but will likely make a showing at Mobile World Congress later this month.

[via Android Community]

That said, this “Not for sale” labeled working unit does appare to have ScanSearch and what PlayTo has been renamed as: SmartShare, both of these previously exclusive the the Optimus 7, so some sort of exclusive business may be going on in the innards of this device. LG has been relatively quiet on the Windows Phone front thus far, bringing such lovely oddities as the LG Spectrum with Android to the market with a whole lot more force, so this could be their play for the center of the ring. The mid-range of the smartphone world is always a great place to make a play when the top tier is overflowing with ultra-similar looking and functioning devices.

This device has been tipped separately as having a 1GHz Snapdragon and a 1GHz Scorpion processor, both of them single-core, while its front-facing VGA camera and back-facing 5 megapixel camera specs seem to have been holding up ever since inception. This device is expected to be announced inside the first quarter of 2012 – carrier remains unknown!

[via GSMArena]

There’s also an 8-megapixel main camera with LED flash and 1080p Full HD video recording, a front-facing camera for video calls, and WiFi hotspot support for tethering other devices. Motorola has splashed plenty of enterprise-level software at the DROID 4, too, with government-grade encryption (FIPS 140-2) and the Citrix Receiver app preloaded.

However, even if you’re planning on using the DROID 4 for play rather than work, the 1.2GHz dual-core processor should be easily sufficient. OS is Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, but an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade is in the pipeline.

More on the Verizon DROID 4 by Motorola in our hands-on and unboxing from earlier this week; stay tuned for the full SlashGear review.

In fact, the roll-out will be dependent on which carrier you’re with, and which country you live in. The Galaxy Note upgrade could drop anytime between March and May, Murtazin warns, while other Samsung models are also in line for an Android 4.0 refresh within that same period.

Meanwhile, Samsung is believed to be readying what could be the company’s first native Ice Cream Sandwich device, the Galaxy S III. Originally the new flagship was expected at MWC 2012 later this month, but Samsung recently warned that it would miss the show and instead debut at a standalone event sometime before the end of June.

Whenever the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note get ICS, the expectation is that it will come with the company’s own TouchWiz modifications rather than pure Android 4.0 as on the Galaxy Nexus. We’re waiting to hear back from Samsung as to whether these timescales are accurate, and will update when we know more.

There’s also an 8-megapixel rear camera, with LED flash, and a VGA-resolution front camera. Inside is 1GB of RAM, and we’re guessing there’s a microSD card slot under the battery cover. HTC Sense 4.0 makes an appearance, unsurprisingly, on top of Ice Cream Sandwich, though there are four dedicated hardware keys for the Android control buttons rather than the on-screen buttons we’ve seen on the Galaxy Nexus.

That could change prior to launch, however; there’s no telling how old this prototype is, and what tweaks HTC might make before it actually hits the market. When that might be is also in question, with the source saying sometime this year but nothing more specific than that.

A Mobile World Congress release is unlikely, however, given HTC wouldn’t debut what’s most probably a North American phone at a European event. Instead, we’re expecting to see the HTC Ville, HTC Edge and perhaps the HTC Primo make their first official appearances there.

JUMP means subscribers own rather than lease their handset, as UK carrier O2 launched for the iPhone 4S last December, and can choose to keep it rather than to trade it in. Phones 4U says it will guarantee a trade-in value of at least £100 for the first twelve months, and customers can throw in up to two more devices to increase their overall trade-in value. Phones must be functional – able to power on, with non-cracked displays, not water damaged and including their battery – but some cosmetic wear is acceptable.

In example, Phones 4U suggests looking at current UK deals for the iPhone 4S. Customers could grab the Apple smartphone and a plan on a single agreement for £35 per month (two-year agreement; no upfront handset fee), or they could pay £37.99 per month on JUMP. However, that £37.99 is actually split into two sections: £15 service fees to a carrier, and £22.99 to the retailer for the iPhone itself.

If you chose to upgrade your phone after six months, you’d trade it – and up to two more devices – in, and that money would be used to offset the remainder of the handset subscription (i.e. 18 months). The new JUMP agreement would be spread over another 24 months, completely separate from the service agreement.

It’s an interesting strategy, and one obviously designed for potential customers who’d like the value of a contract bundle but still want the freedom to change devices more frequently than every two years. It’s probably still cheaper to buy an unlocked handset up front, and get a SIM-only deal, but JUMP at least means there’s no big bill to pay at the start.

[Image credit: Matthijs Rouw]

HTC has today confirmed not just their suddenly massive set of Sensation device, but their Evos and their Amazes as well! The full list looks something like this: HTC Rezound, HTC Vivid, HTC Amaze 4G, HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G, HTC Incredible S, HTC Desire S and HTC Desire HD. Each of these devices HTC says they’ll be upgrading to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich later this year. How late this year these devices will be upgraded is anybody’s guess at the moment.

The announcement from HTC also includes a tip that more updates on Ice Cream Sandwich releases will be dropping in coming weeks – could this mean that such oddities as the HTC ThunderBolt and the HTC Titan might have a chance at ICS? How about the still awesome HTC Jetstream – will there be any love there for tablets? We’ll see soon!

Nokia Belle – the latest iteration of Symbian, and arguably the upgrade that brings the platform within spitting distance of rival smartphone OSes – was released for the C7, among other handsets, earlier this week. A sizable upgrade, weighing in at around 250MB, it demands users plug their phone into their PC and use the Nokia Suite app to load it.

Still, all that effort is worthwhile. Belle irons out some of the numerous issues and flaws found in the Astound as we reviewed it at launch, leaving a more flexible homescreen, more useful notifications bar with settings shortcuts, vastly improved widgets and a polished browser.

Responsibility for the decision not to give Astound owners what the C7 will get is presumably down to T-Mobile USA, though whoever is to blame it’s unlikely to leave users – less than a year into their two-year agreements – with particularly positive feelings to either the carrier or Nokia.

[via IntoMobile]

The Edge is believed to be at the pinnacle of HTC’s new “Hero Device” strategy, as the company attempts to break away from the quantity-over-quality strategy that saw it lose market share in 2011. HTC has also formed a new “HTC Studio” division, bringing together key engineering, design, software and other expertise to focus on polished phones and tablets, along with the flexibility to look beyond current bosom-buddy Qualcomm for its chip supplies.

Companies opting for Tegra 2 last year saw their dual-core Android phones hit the market well in advance of HTC’s Qualcomm-based dual-cores, leaving the firm on the back foot in marketing terms at least. NVIDIA’s graphics expertise is also cited by the sources as of key interest to HTC.

HTC is expected to launch a new tablet early in 2012, in addition to phones, though it remains to be seen if the company will use Tegra 3 for that as well as the Edge. Meanwhile LG and others are already believed to have committed to NVIDIA’s chip.

With a 4-inch display, and a body to match plus a sensor that puts the rest of the mobile world in a tizzy, this device could very well be aiming to take the part of the market looking to stick with the odd man out, Symbian, whilst still having the benefits of the iPhone 4S in shape and photo power. There’s no denying that the iPhone 4S still has the photo finesse when it comes to working with millions across the globe, even if comparable devices might contend, but Nokia bringing some fire to the camera department here is good news for everybody. If a dying operating system can work with the world’s best camera, so should everyone else!

This device, the Nokia 803, currently has a time frame of release set for somewhere around May of this year. If this device does pop up with Symbian and the world’s largest camera sensor in a mobile device, you can bet this publisher will be grappling for it. Nothing like a strange operating system to get your juices flowing and your camera finger snapping!

[via BGR]

“Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012″ the company said last week, before dashing hopes that they would include the Galaxy S III. Instead, the third-gen Galaxy flagship will be launched at an event of its own sometime in the first half of this year, allowing Samsung to announce the smartphone closer to the point of commercial availability but also monopolize the limelight.

The strategy by Samsung to play MWC cool follows Microsoft’s decision to ditch its traditional CES keynote spot. Microsoft said that the early January show no longer fitted in to its own timescales for product launches, and that standalone events made more sense moving forward.

Samsung’s products are rumored to include a new tablet, based on the company’s quadcore Exynos 5250 chipset, and potentially including a 2560 x 1600 display. There’s also likely to be several new handsets, while the role the company sees Tizen playing in its line-up will probably be on the agenda as well.

[Image credit: Mondo3]

“It’s like starting all over again” the exec conceded. “But we must succeed in the U.S. if we are to succeed in the world.” Nokia announced it had sold over 1m Windows Phone based Lumia devices by roughly the end of January, though that wasn’t enough to save the company from around €1bn in losses.

Meanwhile, Symbian demand has slowed more quickly than Nokia envisaged, with developing markets proving more interested in cheap Android phones than cheap Nokias. Saeijs says he is pleased with Nokia’s Windows Phone success, but the road ahead is still likely to be difficult.

Earlier this year, Nokia revealed its first 4G LTE Windows Phone, the Lumia 900, which is expected to go on sale with AT&T later this quarter. Meanwhile it announced a new color variant to the original Lumia 800, now in gloss white, earlier in the week.

[via Nasdaq]

Hardware

For a “budget” minded device, the MOTOLUXE actually has some of the most successful industrial design we’ve seen from Motorola for a while now. There’s none of the clamorous title-chasing of the look-how-thin-I-am DROID RAZR, just a soft-touch monoblock which feels sturdy and creak-free. It’s a nice compromise on scale, too – the 4-inch display makes for a phone good for web-browsing and multimedia playback, but not so large as to monopolize your hand, pocket or purse. It’s important to note that this is a pre-final device – hence the preview, rather than a full review.

Motorola MOTOLUXE hands-on:

Motorola’s budget has some obvious consequences, though; the screen is 854 x 480 resolution, rather than qHD or 720p, and the processor is an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7227A paired with just 512MB of RAM and 1GB of ROM. Still, you get an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus and an LED flash, though only a VGA resolution front camera, while the HSDPA radio is limited to 7.2Mbps download rates (network depending) rather than faster HSPA+ speeds.

There’s also WiFi b/g/n, FM radio, Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS, though no NFC; a 3.5mm headphone socket and microUSB 2.0 port, through no MHL HDMI output. The most striking element of the 117.7 x 60.5 x 9.85 mm handset is the broad LED indicator strip in the lower left corner of the fascia – with a cutaway strip underneath – that lights up according to charging status, new alerts and when the battery is running low. It looks great, though it can be distracting if you’re the sort of person who charges their phone overnight with it on the nightstand.

Software

Motorola loads the MOTOLUXE with Android 2.3.7 complete with some Moto Switch 2.0 customizations, though since this is a non-final device we won’t be benchmarking it or passing any lasting judgements. We’d obviously prefer to see Ice Cream Sandwich in play, and Motorola’s tweaked iconography is somewhat underwhelming. Perhaps we’re just reluctant to change, but the graphics aren’t as instantly obvious as Android’s native icon set, leading to hunting when you’re chasing down a specific app.

Stand-out elements in Moto Switch 2.0 are the lockscreen shortcuts, which takes a leaf out of HTC Sense’s book and offers quick access to apps from the lockscreen itself. Motorola outplays HTC by offering six shortcuts rather than its rival’s four, though. Meanwhile there are favorite-apps and favorite-contacts cluster widgets on the seven-pane homescreen, which can either display your most  frequently run/contacted software and people automatically, or show those you manually pin to the group. Unfortunately there’s no way to have a halfway house of both, pinning some shortcuts while allowing the others to dynamically change.

Camera

8-megapixels is healthy for a low-cost device, though there’s obviously more to good photography than raw pixel count. The MOTOLUXE does a reasonable job, though it’s very much dependent on getting sufficient natural light. Colors tend to be muted and there’s noticeable noise around indoor shots. Remember, though, that this could change with final software.

Phone and Battery

In-call audio was solid and the MOTOLUXE’s size made it comfortable to hold for extended conversations. Motorola rates the battery life of the smartphone at up to 6.5 hours of 2G talktime (4.5hrs 3G) and 400 hours of 2G standby (450 hours 3G); we found the MOTOLUXE was easily able to last a day of average use.

Wrap-Up

Motorola has a reasonably wide remit for the MOTOLUXE, targeting it at developing markets in addition to low-cost contract and pre-pay customers elsewhere. If you’re buying a phone with an agreement – and thus a subsidy – there’s a solid argument to be made that upfront cost is relatively insignificant: we’d always recommend going for the best device around, even if it’s more expensive, since the difference in what you pay on day one is marginal in the context of the average two-year agreement.

Still, for pre-pay customers or those wanting an affordable SIM-free device, there’s a lot to like about the MOTOLUXE. The screen offers a solid compromise over size and usability, and the build construction – though not a true “rugged” phone – is high enough to make the smartphone feel surprisingly premium. The camera is only passable and Moto Switch 2.0 is underwhelming, but the sticker price reflects that. Compared to other budget options on the market, the MOTOLUXE has plenty in its favor.

Thanks to Clove for the loan of the MOTOLUXE unit. The handset is available to order now, priced at £215 plus tax.

As for regular production, device assembly will be moved to Nokia’s facilities in Asia. As the company points out “the majority of component suppliers” are based there, and a review of smartphone manufacturing efficiency the Finnish company completed last year suggested Nokia needed to streamline its production if it wanted to stay competitive with rivals.

Nokia announced its first batch of factory shut-downs back in September 2011, axing around 3,500 jobs from a Romanian facility. At the same time, the company also announced plans to shutter its Location & Commerce sites in Bonn, Germany and Malvern, US. CEO Stephen Elop described the move as “painful, yet necessary, steps to align our workforce and operations with our path forward”, later reiterating that more work would have to be done if the company wants to turn around its near-€1bn losses.

“With the planned changes, our factories at Komarom, Reynosa and Salo will continue to play an important role serving our smartphone customers” Niklas Savander, Nokia executive vice president of markets said. ”They give us a unique ability to both provide customization and be more responsive to customer needs.”

However, it’s unclear exactly what sort of customization Nokia has in mind. The company recently revealed a Batman: The Dark Knight Rises limited edition of the Lumia 800, with custom-etched graphics, and of course has a history of interchangeable covers with the Xpress-On casings of the 90s.

Update: Looks like our Xpress-On dreams will go undelivered, at least for the moment. Nokia tells us that the three locations facing job losses will focus on “the software-heavy aspects of the production chain” such as customizing software and making sure different carrier builds work properly. They’ll also be making sure that bespoke accessories, including headphones and car kits, operate correctly.

Nokia says the spread of locations – Hungary, Mexico and Finland – will work to their advantage on this, because it will mean the company can deliver custom variants to customers quickly. That could be anything from a small batch of Lumias specially created for VIPs, presumably similar to the Batman-themed models with their specially loaded wallpaper and other elements, through to larger orders of promotional devices.

Notes can include checklists for easy task management, and bullets for lists. However, unlike the full version of the software, there’s no support for handwritten notes, and inked notes created on a PC can’t be viewed on the Android app. There’s also no voice note support, and early-adopters have been complaining about the absence of a widget.

It’s a shame, as OneNote has always been the great unsung hero of Microsoft’s tablet strategy; in fact we’ve gone on record before as saying the company could do a whole lot worse than make it their centerpiece of an iPad-alternative tablet strategy. This is only the first-gen release, though, so hopefully Microsoft will tweak the functionality in an upgrade.

The free version of OneNote supports up to 500 notes; if you want to create more, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid version (which is £2.99 in the UK). You’ll need an Android 2.3 device or above in order to install it.

[via Android Community]

Still unconfirmed is exactly what resolution the big screen runs at, though LG is believed to be offering an 8-megapixel main camera and there’s what looks to be a front-facing camera lens visible in the video teaser. 8GB of ROM space and NFC is also believed to be onboard, the latter unsurprising as LG has already included the short-range wireless in its recent PRADA Phone 3.0.

Beyond that there are only tidbits to be gleaned from the clip, which shows the PRADA-style circular metal buttons for lock/power along with a sliding microUSB cover door. What we’re really interested to see is whether LG has followed Samsung’s similarly sizable Galaxy Note and equipped the Optimus Vu with a stylus.

We’ll find out more over the next few weeks, we’re guessing; if there’s one thing we’ve learned from previous pre-MWC teaser campaigns, it’s that LG can’t help whispering about its new devices in advance. Whether we have the pockets to accommodate the Optimus Vu will have to wait until Barcelona.

[via Android Community]

The bundle will cost $899 and includes a Nokia Play 360 Wireless Speaker, Purity HD Stereo headset, and an in-ear Bluetooth headset. Initially, the Lumia 800 will not be sold separately from the bundle, but will likely be made available on its own soon alongside the recently announced white edition.

The Lumia 800 is Nokia’s first Windows Phone and has been available in Europe for some time already. Make sure to check out our hands-on for more details. A larger version of the device with LTE support, called the Lumia 900, has been announced for AT&T later this year.

[via The Verge]

LG is planning to introduce a mid-range Windows Phone, according to a leak posted by PocketNow. An image of the device has surfaced and it’s reportedly the same handset as the LG Fantasy that was revealed in a leaked roadmap back in December.

The LG Miracle is expected to sport a 4-inch super-bright NOVA display, 1GHz Snapdragon single-core processor, 8GB of internal storage, front-facing VGA camera, and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of 720p video capture.

The Miracle will also support HSPA connectivity and include an NFC chip, which supports expectations for NFC support in the next Windows Phone update. The device will likely be unveiled at Mobile World Congress later this month.

That leaves the actual Galaxy S III launch still shrouded in mystery. Samsung has said that the smartphone will make its official debut in the first half of 2012, as the centerpiece of a dedicated event rather than sharing the stage with the rest of the cellular industry – Apple aside – at Mobile World Congress.

From leaked specifications, it sounds like it’s well worth waiting for. Samsung apparently committed to making the Galaxy S III even thinner than its GSII predecessor, and has supposedly come up with a roughly 7mm thick smartphone with a Super AMOLED Plus display and a quadcore processor. An 8-megapixel camera – making a bump on the back – and Full HD video recording is tipped, together with LTE and an HDMI output.

Talk of LTE might suggest a US-based event for the Galaxy S III’s first reveal, though that would be at odds with the launches of the previous two phones. Alternatively, Samsung could follow the pattern of the Galaxy Nexus, and launch a European HSPA+ GSIII first, following up with LTE versions for the North American market.

On the back there’s an 8-megapixel camera with Full HD video recording, while a 1.3-megapixel camera is up front for video calls. The 4G connection can be shared out with up to eight WiFi-tethered devices, and there’s WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth along with GPS.

Motorola is also pushing the Lapdock 500, complete with its full-sized keyboard and 14-inch display, for those willing to spend another $299.97 turning their smartphone into a notebook. More details in our full hands-on.

Motorola DROID 4 hands-on:

Verizon is promising an Android Ice Cream Sandwich update for the DROID 4, though there’s no timescale for its release; until then, you’ll be using Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread.

[via Android Community]

“From the design point of view, from the choice of components, having a lot more open mind as to what components we use, and using the most appropriate components for the phone. By having a more focused approach to our product strategy, and having the organization behind the product strategy to support it. I think I have told some people when talked about the creation of this Studio, which is a department within HTC that reports directly to Peter [Chou, HTC CEO]. And this group of people comprise the team from design, the team from engineering and etc; working on a cross disciplinary approach, and reporting directly to Peter. It has a lot of focus, is spending a lot of time on the key products that we are going to launch this year” Winston Yung, CFO, HTC

Meanwhile, many of HTC’s other 2011 handsets fell into the “me too” category, failing to distinguish themselves from rival phones from Samsung and Apple. The company was late to the market with dual-core processors, and though the effectiveness of the chips depends greatly on software optimization, on a marketing level it put HTC behind the game when rivals were driving ahead with Tegra 2 and other platforms.

“I think from these various perspectives, organization more focused on strategy and having a more open mind on components, choosing the best components, will allow us to regain the edge in products … for most components there are multiple sources. And we actually want to and make sure that we do have multiple sources for a single component. So we have, I think, a very good range of suppliers to choose from on CPU, for example, or memory, for example. And I don’t think we are constrained in any way from a component point of view” Winston Yung, CFO, HTC

That delay was, in part, down to HTC’s commitment to using Qualcomm chipsets, something Yung implies is not necessarily a given for 2012 and beyond. There are multiple options for CPU and the company is not “constrained in any way” the CFO said, seemingly prioritizing timeliness ahead of lasting relationships to turn the next set of devices around.

It’s an approach that’s long overdue. We’ve written before about HTC’s shortcomings in component access and apparent reluctance to capitalize on the areas it has had advantages in, such as cloud services; in the meantime, Samsung has cornered the market in high-end Android devices, and Apple’s tightly-constructed ecosystem has continued to gather pace. We should see the first fruits of HTC’s new thinking at MWC 2012 later this month.

[via Android Community]

According to the sales staff, the white and black Lumia 900 handsets are expected sometime in the second half of March. Pricing seems to be the source of some in-store confusion, with $150 to $200 being discussed; previous leaks have suggested AT&T is aiming for the altogether more competitive $100 point, however.

They also confirmed the latter-March release, with the 18th being mentioned before now. Last we heard, final-stage testing could see that date bumped later into the month, though, and the absence of an official release date would seem to confirm that arrangements are still in flux.

As for the white Lumia, until this morning we weren’t even sure that such a model was in the pipeline, though the confirmation of the white Lumia 800 we played with yesterday certainly implied it was likely. More on the Nokia Lumia 900 in our full hands-on.

At the time, a quadcore processor was tipped for the X3/P880, specifically NVIDIA’s Tegra 3, with the display a 4.7-inch panel in a device under 9mm thick. OS is Ice Cream Sandwich, and there are the usual twin cameras - 1.3-megapixels up front and and 8-megapixels on the back – along with 16GB of storage. Up to 21Mbps HSPA+, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0 round out the key leaked specs.

As for the LG P700, the UPnP listing confirms Ice Cream Sandwich, though the company’s own XML file suggests a mere 640 x 480 resolution display. That implies a mid-tier device, bringing Android 4.0 to lower price points, which Google needs if the OS is to begin ousting 2.x versions from the mainstream.

The expectation is that LG will be showing off these two new devices at MWC, and we’ll be there to bring back all the details.

[via Android Community and via Juggly]

There’s also a much tweaked and enhanced browser, as we saw on the Nokia 700, with increased support for in-page streaming video. A pull-down notifications menu borrows some of Android’s style and throws in some quick-access shortcut toggles for things like wireless power, and the iconography is updated to the “squircle” style.

Altogether, it’s the upgrade Symbian users have been waiting semi-patiently for, and something we wish Nokia had delivered two years ago. As it stands, although Nokia has been preloading Belle onto its recent Symbian devices for the past few months, it’s arguably too late for the OS overall. Nokia’s focus is resolutely on Windows Phone moving forward, with S40 for the entry-level and developing nations.

You’ll need Nokia Suite v3.3 or above in order to install Nokia Belle, which you can find here. More details of what to expect in the video above, and in our Nokia 700 review. The update is available for the Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia E6, Nokia X7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia C7 and Nokia Oro, with the Nokia 500 getting Belle “within the next few weeks.”