Nokia has thrown the curtain open to reveal the latest addition to its bargain-basement Asha line. The Asha 501 boasts a 3-inch touchscreen, comes in a variety of garish hues and will be heading to the UK in the latter half of the year for 75 Euros. It will only use 2G data networks though.
Having 2G only means you won't be able to take advantage of 3G data speeds and the super-fast 4G will be strictly limited to your fevered dreams. Posting a photo to Facebook will require significant amounts of patience. There are other sacrifices you'll have to make for the price, too. The 3-inch touchscreen has a low 320x240-pixel resolution and the phone runs on Nokia's Asha software, rather than Windows Phone 8 you'll find on its more premium Lumia range.
In my hands-on tests though, it felt quite sturdy and the swappable cases make it fun and colourful, allowing you to replace the back when it becomes grubby. The Asha software is far from feature-packed, but it's easy to use and has neat additions like a timeline bar, showing recently used apps and recently called contacts.
The app store is miserably understocked, but does have a few essentials like Facebook, Twitter and Plants vs. Zombies. Keen app addicts among you will still want to look towards Android for a real selection though. Other phone features include a 3-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot and dual SIM card slots in case you want to keep an international SIM on board.
With their basic features and low price, the Asha range is primarily aimed at emerging markets like India and Latin America. Nokia reckons 2G is still dominant in these areas so 3G won't be missed much. It'll really need it on board when it comes to the UK though -- you'll be in for a long wait posting photos to Facebook without it.
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Samsung Galaxy phones get new ITV app in exclusive tie-up
Other gadgets that get early access to the new app are the Galaxy S3 and S2, the Galaxy Note and Note 2, as well as the Note 10.1 tablet, Galaxy Ace 2 and Galaxy Tab.
ITV says it will be letting owners of non-Samsung smart phones download the new app, but Samsung has an exclusive grip on it until the very end of August. Fingers crossed that once September rolls around, TV fans who own HTC, Sony, LG or Motorola mobiles will be allowed to get in on the fun.
The broadcaster cites Android fragmentation as a reason that only Samsung phones get the new app for now. "The fragmentation of the Android ecosystem is well known", ITV's online boss James Micklethwait said, "Therefore, as a commercial broadcaster it makes sense for us to partner with the leading manufacturer of Android devices."
ITV's app is much in need of a lick of paint, having collected a whopping 3,424 one-star reviews on Google Play, for an average score of just two stars.
Do you use ITV Player? Are you an HTC owner annoyed that Samsung fans get first dibs on the new app? Let me know in the comments, or on our COMMENT wall.
Samsung Galaxy S3 takes on Lumia 928 in new Nokia teaser
The Lumia 928 will be revealed next week. In the meantime, Nokia's video shows the 928 and the S3 recording brass buskers in the New York subway and comparing the results.
And yes, this being a Nokia video, the 928 once again comes out on top, claiming no distortion. Click play below to see the video:
Now, I'm no audiophile, but I have no problem with the S3's recording. This isn't a lovingly crafted jazz album, it's a recording of those guys you saw that time in the subway -- you remember those guys? that was cool -- and that's exactly what the S3's recording sounds like.
Who will emerge victorious from the next challenge? I'm not a betting man, but I'd lay odds on it being Nokia. The suspense is killing us!
Curiously, the iPhone is left out of today's challenge. Yesterday Nokia released a first comparison video, pitting the 928's PureView camera against the S3 and Apple's iPhone 5 on a roller coaster -- guess who won.
Other challenges I'd like to see include a comparison of call quality, Web browsing, and how far each phone flies across the room when you accidentally snag the charger cable.
Can Nokia compete with the likes of the iPhone, the S3 and the new Samsung Galaxy S4? Record your thoughts in the comments or busk it on our COMMENT wall.
Sony makes first profit in 5 years as Windows 8 hybrid leaks
The Japanese tech giant harvested 43bn yen (roughly £280m) in the year leading up to 31 March, the BBC reports.
While it's good news for Sony, executives within the PlayStation-maker would be wise to hold off on popping the champagne corks, as the firm's financial turnaround is actually down to flogging key assets.
Facing tough competition in the tech world, Sony has sold several buildings, including its US headquarters in New York, and relieved itself of shares, too. The current weakness of the Japanese currency is credited too, as it makes Sony's goods cheaper to buyers in other nations.
Selling those bits of the business has earned the company a profit, but doesn't paint a very realistic picture of the firm's health. Sony will be hoping that the Xperia Z and upcoming PlayStation 4 can boost its fortunes.
Meanwhile a new Sony Windows 8 tablet has surfaced online, in video form. Commenters on notebookreview's forums say the video below is an internal training clip from Dixons.
The device looks like a larger, 13-inch version of the Duo 11 that we reviewed back in October. The clip -- which features some truly unsettling background music -- teases a backlit keyboard, an 8-megapixel camera, a Full HD display and an Intel Core i5 processor with 4GB of RAM. Oh, and a 128GB solid state hard drive.
Are you intrigued? Or are you not too bothered with Windows 8? Let me know in the comments, or on our COMMENT wall. Watch the video
Samsung Galaxy S4 Activ waterproof S4 spin-off due in July
Like the Samsung Galaxy S4, but worry it isn't mini enough, active enough or er, zoom-y enough? Then look out for the S4 Mini, S4 Activ and S4 Zoom reported to be landing in Europe in June and July.
The rumoured S4 spin-off share the S4 name, but if the S3 Mini is anything to go by, they won't simply be the S4 with knobs on.
SamMobile reports release dates for the new S4 phones, starting with the Galaxy S4 Activ. Although nothing's official yet, the S4 Activ is rumoured to be a rugged version of the S4, protected against the elements with a waterproof and dustproof casing. It's expected in the week of 15 July.
We've already heard whispers about the S4 Mini, expected to be a lower-cost version of the S4 but most likely with correspondingly lower specs. That's expected in mid-July too.
And the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is rumoured to arrive in the first week of June with a black casing, followed a couple of weeks later by a white model. The Zoom is expected to be a new version of the S4 with a 16-megapixel camera, beefed up from the S4's 13 megapixels.
The new versions of the S4 join an illustrious lineage of Galaxy S phones -- hit play on our video below for the evolution of some of the finest phones known to man.
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Fairphone socially-conscious smart phone on sale next week
The socially-conscious Fairphone is an Android smart phone, conceived as having less of an impact on the environment and the people who build it than current gadgets.
It costs €325 (£250) and if 5,000 people put their cash where their conscience is, the phone gets built -- more than a possibility, as over 12,000 people have registered an interest. But if less than 5,000 people place an order, the socially-conscious phone remains a pipedream.
The final design is being decided right now in a survey of newsletter subscribers, who can choose from the four designs above.
The Netherlands-based dreamers behind Fairphone plan to make the phone from minerals mined in areas without human rights abuses, a particular problem in conflict areas where militias often seize mines to finance their operations.
And the phone will be assembled by suppliers with a decent record for employment conditions: the folks at Fairphone have joined forces with LaborVoices, an organisation that helps workers find work with ethical suppliers, and helps companies find and deal with those ethical suppliers to build their gadgets.
But all these social good intentions don't mean this is a tofu-munching lank-haired hippy of a phone: the Fairphone itself offers the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with a 4.3-inch touchscreen. It has a replaceable battery so you can keep it for a long time, because another goal of the Fairphone is to cut down on the number of gadgets being built and using up resources.
Employment conditions in gadget production have been highlighted over the past couple of years, as reports of poor conditions, child workers, and even worker suicides at suppliers such as Foxconn force both technology brands and those of us who love gadgets to face the uncomfortable reality of where our latest toy comes from.
Would a socially-conscious aspect influence your decision when buying a new gadget? Is it possible to love gadgets and still be socially responsible? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our COMMENT wall.
BlackBerry R10 leaks again: new pics, more specs
We've heard word before that the BlackBerry R10 will be a budget version to the Qwerty-packing Q10, and now a fresh leak has thrown new pics and possible specs into the ring.
According to DGtle (translated, via MobileSyrup.com), there won't be that much to choose from between the R10 and Q10. The R10 will have the same 3.1-inch screen at 720x720 pixels, and 2GB of RAM. But there are some subtle differences between the two.
The R10 will sport a 5-megapixel camera, to the Q10's 8-megapixel. It'll also have less storage -- 8GB, compared to the Q10's 16GB -- and the battery will be lower capacity. Still, if BlackBerry can get the price right, Qwerty fans on a budget could be in for a treat.
The R10 has shown up in the wild before in white, and red, and now here it is in black, so expect a few colour choices whenever BlackBerry makes it official.
In our review, the Q10 scored well, notching up three and a half out of five. The keyboard is as reassuring as ever, but the phone suffers from some annoying software quirks and an app store you can see tumbleweed blowing across. That high price doesn't help, either, which is something the R10 should fix.
It's still early days for BB10, BlackBerry's latest operating system that launched back in January. One Blackberry exec told us the OS won't suffer from the kind of fragmentation that's plagued Android, despite its devices having different-sized screens. "If you look at the Z10, and the physical keyboard device, the Q10, they share a similar LCD screen, and that again is making sure that it's easy for our BlackBerry 10 developer audience to build more applications," said Andrew Bocking, BlackBerry's executive VP, software product management and ecosystem.
That may be, but Android and iOS have a huge lead on BB10. Developers are also clamouring to program for their respective app stores.
What do you think of BlackBerry 10? And how much would you pay for the R10? Let me know in the comments, or on COMMENT PAGE.
Acer W3-810-1600 leaks, world's first small Windows 8 tab
Because Amazon.com accidentally leaked the Acer W3-810-1600 -- the world's first small Windows 8 tablet, PCWorld reports. We've heard a fair bit of buzz surrounding smaller Windows 8 tablets coming our way, but this is the closest we've come to official confirmation. Look at it, you can almost taste it.
Amazon yanked the page pretty sharpish, but not before eagle-eyed Web sleuths nabbed a screengrab. The display is 8.1-inches, making it the first Windows 8 tablet under 10 inches. There's 32GB of flash storage, and the fact it says Silver in the product description hints it'll come in other colours too, but we don't know for sure. Under the bonnet is a dual-core Atom processor clocked at 1.5GHz, with 2GB of RAM, and a 64MB graphics card. It has one USB port, a 2-megapixel rear camera, and measures 8.62x5.31x0.45 inches (219x135x11.4mm).
It's priced at $379.99 (£244), but expect a more direct dollar-to-sterling conversion when it hits these shores.
Back in March, Microsoft relaxed its certification specs for manufacturers, lowering the minimum screen resolution, paving the way for smaller-screened slates. The firm has dropped a few hints about its plans too: when quizzed about the potential for titchier tablets, one exec claimed the company was ready "to respond to demand". Another exec previously went on record as saying Windows 8 was designed to run on all different screen sizes and resolutions.
Smaller and cheaper tablets like the Nexus 7 and iPad mini have been flying off the shelves, so Microsoft needs to respond somehow. Hopefully diddy devices will open up Windows 8 to those put off by unwieldy sizes and prohibitive prices.
Would you like to see smaller Windows 8 tablets? And what do you reckon of the specs of this Acer slate? Let me know in the comments, or on our PAGE
Mystery LG phone leaks, could it be the Optimus G2?
Now here's a bit of a chin-scratcher. It's an unannounced handset from LG -- courtesy of @evleaks -- with no physical buttons and what looks like a different design language for the company.Could it be the Optimus G2? Or even the Nexus 5?
The picture shows the handset has a tall screen -- around 4.7 inches,
I'd say. The glass front is curved, pegging it not a million miles away
from the Nexus 4, and the earpiece looks like a change from previous LG models, with a differently shaped grille.
I'd say it's more likely the Optimus G2 than Nexus 5, seeing as the Nexus 4 kept the LG logo for the back, instead of whacking it on the front. Though of course it could be an early prototype, with the design yet to be finalised.
There's no word on specs, so we'll have to wait and see what this beast can do. An LG exec has already confirmed that a sequel to the Optimus G is coming our way in the autumn, but wouldn't be drawn on any details.
The Nexus 5 is rumoured to launch around the autumn/winter time as well. Early whispers say the specs will be monstrous, with a 5.2-inch OLED display packing a resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.3GHz, and a crazy 3GB of RAM. Storage is said to be 64GB, and there could be a 16-megapixel camera on board, capable of capturing videos at 4K. All of which sounds too good to be true, especially if it's going to be anywhere near as cheap as the Nexus 4, which we're all hoping it will be.
One unnamed source reckons the Nexus 5 will sport a Nikon camera. Google's Vic Gundotra leant credence to the rumour by saying the big G was committed to making Nexus phones with "insanely great cameras".
The Nexus 5 could also run pure Android, like the Nexus 4. Motorola is also said to be working on mobiles that eschew fancy software add-ons for a stripped-back experience.
What do you reckon of the device? Is it the Optimus G2? Nexus 5? Or something else? Let me know in the comments, or on our COMMENT.
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