HTC Ville leaks with ICS, super-slim profile and Super AMOLED display

HTC’s spring lineup is starting to come into focus. In addition to the jaw-dropping Edge, the HTC Ville has also been leaked to BGR. While its specs aren’t quite as world-conquering as the former, it’s an impressive handset in its own right that embraces Ice Cream Sandwich and HTC’s upcoming Sense 4.0.

The Ville uses a 4.3-inch qHD (960 x 540) Super AMOLED screen, which is smaller than the Edge’s in both size and resolution. Note the lack of Android navigation buttons in the leaked render, an clear indication of Ice Cream Sandwich. Power comes from a dual-core 1.5Ghz Snapdragon processor and a 1650mAh battery. HTC’s unibody design precludes NFC, unfortunately, but the Ville will be less than 8 millimeters thin and features Beats audio, as do all of HTC’s upcoming high-end phones.
The Ville is rumored for an April release along with the Edge, with an announcement at the Mobile World Congress in February. Currently the phone is set for HSPA+, which probably means a Europe-focused launch at the start. That doesn’t mean that is won’t come to the US, just that it probably won’t be released there initially – like the Desire and Sensation before it, the Ville seems likely to be a workhorse platform for several HTC models. We’ll add the disclaimer that all this information is wildly unofficial at the moment, so consider nothing set in stone.

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Amazon announces “thousands of apps” for the Kindle Fire

We always assumed that all the apps in the Amazon Appstore would find their way onto the Kindle Fire (albeit with varying degrees of compatibility) but just in case you were wondering, Amazon’s here to set the record straight. The company announced that major titles like Facebook, Netflix, Pandora, and games from developers like EA, Zynga and Rovio would land on the Kindle Fire when it releases next Tuesday. Appstore mainstays like the free paid app of the day will remain, and apps purchased on the Kindle Fire can be downloaded via the Appstore on any Android device.

Other major developers in the announcement include Gameloft, PopCap, Rhapsody, plus popular apps Allrecipes, Bloomberg, Cut the Rope, Doodle Fit, Doodle Jump, Fruit Ninja, Jenga, LinkedIn, Zillow, Airport Mania, Battleheart, Pulse, The Cat in the Hat, Quickoffice Pro, Jamie’s 20-Minute Meals, IMDb Movies & TV, Monkey Preschool Lunchbox, Twitter, Comics by comiXology and The Weather Channel. Amazon is quick to point out that its digital library of 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, apps and games will all be available on the Kindle Fire.
Amazon didn’t mention Fire-specific versions of these apps, but as adoption grows, don’t be surprised to see specially-made alterations for the Kindle Fire hardware. Currently apps designed for Gingerbread default to a scaled-up smartphone interface even on a 7-inch or larger screen, so it would make sense for developers to tweak their apps accordingly. Between Kindle books, streaming media, the healthiest third-party app market out there and a $199 price tag, the Kindle Fire is well-positioned to take the world by storm. The Kindle Fire goes on sale November 15th.

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Adobe officially halts development on Flash for Android

Much speculation has been going on this morning about Adobe’s future plans for the mobile platform, and now it’s finally official. After some recent cutbacks including hundreds of layoffs, Adobe will halt major development on Flash for Android, instead focusing on HTML5, with the effort that went into flash transitioning to the Adobe AIR platform for app development. Bug fixes and security support (a critical part of the attack-prone Flash) will continue, and at least one more major release will be posted, Flash 11.1.

Here’s the official line, straight from Adobe:

Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores.  We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook.  We will of course continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations.  We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and release their own implementations.

What does this mean for Android users? In the short term, not much. Flash will still be available on the Android Market, and incremental updates will keep the player at least as stable as it is right now. It’s likely that the current Flash player should work for at least two or maybe even three more major releases of Android, though unfortunately it won’t be getting any performance increases beyond what hardware can boost.
Problems will begin to arise when web developers begin implementing newer versions of Flash for desktop browsers. At that point, videos, ads and other Flash elements designed on later versions of Flash and the Flash player may see some serious compatibility issues, or simply stop functioning. This is a good ways out, though – you can expect at lest a year’s wait before compatibility problems start appearing. On the desktop, Flash will continue to be updated as it is now.
While of course Flash has been a major selling point for Android since Froyo, getting it to work smoothly and efficiently is a chore for even top-end hardware, and it’s not surprising that Adobe had so much trouble adapting a system designed for desktop power to the mobile space. It is disappointing that they’ve decided to essentially quit after less than 18 months of public availability. Without official support, HTML5 will almost certainly take Flash’s place for websites designed for mobile video.

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Asus confirms no 3G Transformer Prime at launch

The Asus Transformer Prime tablet went official today with the price set at $499 and packing a Tegra 3 quad core CPU under the hood. The tablet will officially launch in December here in the states and then it will hit the UK in January. Sadly, the launch will be without Ice Cream Sandwich onboard, which was rumored to be the reason the tablet was delayed from the original November launch.


As you peruse the specs of the tablet, you might be wondering about a 3G version and hoping that is going to be offered. Asus has confirmed to sister site SlashGear that there will be no 3G version of the Transformer Prime offered at launch. The 3G tablet will presumably follow a few months behind the WiFi only version as Asus did with the original Transformer.
Asus told SlashGear that they “might” release the 3G version later. The confirmation also came that the Transformer Prime will be coming to the US in 64GB and 32GB versions. In the UK, only the 32GB version will be offered. That optional keyboard dock will sell for $149. The 32GB version will sell for $499 in the US with the 64GB going for $599.
[via SlashGear]

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• Asus tipped to push Transformer Prime to Dec for Android 4.0 (goandroid.co.in)
• ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime gets official: Tegra 3 quad-core Tab starting at $499 (goandroid.co.in)
• ASUS Transformer Prime heads through the FCC, Tegra 3 revealed in teardown [Update] (goandroid.co.in)
• Asus roadmap leaked: Transformer Prime Nov. 9, more tablets in Q1 2012 (goandroid.co.in)
• ASUS Transformer Prime tablet pictured with new keyboard dock (goandroid.co.in)
• Asus Transformer Prime's quad-core Tegra 3 processor gets benchmarked (goandroid.co.in)
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LG confirms Optimus LTE heading to Bell in Canada

Late last month we mentioned that the Optimus LTE smartphone from LG was heading to Canada and would be landing on Bell. At the time, the thought was that the smartphone would be called the eye when it hit Bell. LG has confirmed that the Optimus LTE will be hitting Bell in Canada officially, but offers no firm launch date.

All LG is saying is that the smartphone will hit Bell “in the coming weeks.” Bell is still mum on when it will launch the device. It would be ideal that the smartphone would be launch before the holidays, but that remains to be seen. It’s also worth noting that the official LG press release says nothing about the smartphone being called the Eye on Bell. The device will operate on the Bell 4G LTE network and will have a 4.5-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 720.
The display is a True HD IPS unit and should look great with promised natural color and battery efficiency. The Optimus LTE has a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, an 1830 mAh battery, and an 8MP rear camera. It also has HDMI output and supports DLNA. We still expect to see this smartphone hit carriers in the US as well. However, there is now official word on a launch outside Canada at this time.

Related articles

• LG Optimus U1 to be first LG phone tasting Ice Cream Sandwich (goandroid.co.in)

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Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs Samsung Galaxy S3 [rumours]

This time around we're comparing the latest and greatest Android device, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, with the rumoured Samsung Galaxy S3, but which of these dual-core monsters will come out on top?

The latest Google-centric device to hit the market is Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, a smartphone which aims to bring together the finest parts of Android, and connect them with cutting edge hardware and build quality.
But how well will this new device fare against what's just around the corner? In an effort to find out we've taken it upon ourselves to compare the Galaxy Nexus with a device that's going to be a sure-fire hit when it's released next year, the Samsung Galaxy S3.
So, will the vanilla Google-toting Galaxy Nexus be the order of the day, or will it be the Samsung Touchwiz-based Galaxy S3?
Before we find out we should stress that here at Know Your Mobile we aren't psychic, and as such we're working from the leaked spec of the Samsung Galaxy S3, meaning that things can, and most likely will change before the device arrives.

PowerSamsung has never been a company to scrimp when it comes to horsepower and thankfully neither of these devices show any sign of bucking that trend.
The Galaxy Nexus runs on a Ti-OMAP 4460 chipset, consisting of a dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 CPU and a PowerVR SGX540 GPU, which should cope with everything you can throw at it, even if it is a little on the old side.
As you'd expect the Galaxy Nexus comes with 1GB RAM installed, making multi-tasking, switching between apps and general use very spry indeed.
If rumour is to be believed the Galaxy S3 will launch with a Samsung Exynos 4212 chipset that features a dual-core CPU clocked to a massive 1.8GHz. The chipset will also feature a Mali GPU that, quite frankly, makes the PowerVR SGX540 of the Galaxy Nexus appear antiquated.
On top of this top-notch running gear you get 2GB RAM, so not only will the Galaxy S3 run like a whippet with the trots, but it will be at the cutting edge for quite some time, which is something of a rarity in technology.
Both devices come in 16/32GB flavours and support MicroSD cards up to 32GB.
Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

CameraThe Galaxy S3 is rumoured to feature a 12-megapixel primary camera with autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch-focus, face and smile detection, image stabilisation and 1080P video capture, and the device will apparently also feature the same 2-megapixel secondary camera as its predecessor the Galaxy S2.
The Galaxy Nexus however, ships with a fairly pedestrian 5-megapixel camera, but a few software tweaks allow the snapper to work surprisingly well.
The camera features autofocus, LED flash, touch-focus, geo-tagging and face detection, as well as 1080P video capture and also, according to Google, has no shutter lag, so what you see is what you snap.
In addition to this the Galaxy Nexus features a 1.3-megapixel secondary camera.
The software tweaks on offer in the Galaxy Nexus are nice but we would have liked to see an upgraded sensor on the device really.
Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

FormSamsung Galaxy Nexus - 135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9 mm, 135g
Samsung Galaxy S3 - TBC
The Galaxy Nexus continues Samsung's ongoing relationship with the painfully thin, which has both pro and con points.
Needless to say the biggest con is that your device may end up banana shaped if you pop it in your back pocket and sit down without thinking. Other than that its skinniness is a nice feature.
The Galaxy Nexus is a nicely designed and built device though, and the rounded off edges and newly designed back-plate offer a solid hand-hold, which is most welcome as it isn't the narrowest smartphone on the market.
As with the rest of the Galaxy range it's crafted almost entirely from plastics, which is a point that is likely to split opinion. Some like it lightweight, others like to be able to feel some of their hard earned pounds and pence when they handle their device.
The Galaxy S3 is a bit of a mystery in terms of measurements. What we can say with some certainty is that it will be crafted from plastics, as with the rest of its kith and kin, and will be thinner than the Galaxy S2, which at 8.55mm is saying something.
Early indications are that Samsung has rounded off the edges of the chassis and made the form a bit more tasteful too, but time will tell.
Winner - Draw

SoftwareArguably the biggest selling point for the Galaxy Nexus is its operating system, notably the version.

It runs on a stock Android 4.0, otherwise known as Ice Cream Sandwich, and this iteration of the OS is a huge leap forward in terms of design, features and maturity.

With overhauled core apps, a nice new UI and tons of new features, including Face Unlock, a newly designed stock font called 'Roboto', in-app spell checking, native screenshot capture, folders and a super-neat new data management tool!

As well as these new bits and pieces you also get access to the thousands of apps in the Android Market, limitless customisation potential and a platform that is fast becoming the most popular smartphone OS in the world.

Another of Ice Cream Sandwich's selling points is that the UI is set in stone, meaning what Google says, goes. No more will you have to wait for your manufacturer to get its grubby mitts on the software and add eye-candy to it before rolling it out to you.

No, from here on in when the updates roll off Google's production line, they come to you.

With this in mind we assume the Galaxy S3 will also feature this fast, smooth, untarnished version of Android too! Which kind of makes this round moot.

Winner - Draw

DisplaySamsung knows how to make mobile displays, and both the Galaxy Nexus and rumoured Galaxy S3 are very well appointed when it comes to screen technology.

The Galaxy Nexus features a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED display that operates at a resolution of 720 x 1280 and boasts a pixel density of 316PPI, which is as close to 'Retina Display' standard as you're going to get without buying an Apple device.

Thanks to this quality screen the visuals on the Galaxy Nexus are stunning. Colours are rich, blacks are deep and your media will look stunning - and that's a promise.

The Galaxy S3 apparently features a 4.6-inch Super AMOLED Plus display too, though if the leaked specification is to be believed it offers up a slightly higher pixel density of 319PPI and a Gorilla Glass fronting to try and woo you..

Whatever the final spec we can say quite comfortably that the display will be good. We have faith in Samsung.

Winner - Draw

So Samsung's Galaxy S3 has come out on top in this little head-to-head. With more power, a beefier camera and other great features helping it to victory, but the Galaxy Nexus didn't do too badly considering it's available now.

Overall the Galaxy Nexus is a decent device boasting some interesting hardware and software based enhancements, but the changes made to Android strategy seem to have limited the device's appeal before it's even got its feet off the ground.

Better, faster and more able devices will be out soon, and they will share the main source of the Galaxy Nexus' appeal. So don't make any hasty decisions.

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ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime gets official: Tegra 3 quad-core Tab starting at $499

Oh man, I’m getting excited just thinking about this device. Today ASUS has officially announced the much anticipated Transformer Prime, the first tablet ever with a quad-core processor. Taking advantage of the brand new NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core mobile processor this will truly be the ultimate consumption device and the most powerful consumer tablet on the planet. Gaming will be like never before, and performance will be maximized all while still offering 12 hours of battery life. I can’t wait!

We have seen our fair share of leaks lately of the new Prime and its keyboard, then these benchmark results quickly followed. Today ASUS has finally made the Prime official although we all knew it was coming, especially with the Transformer Prime landing page launched late last month.

In cased anyone somehow managed to miss the specs here is what we know. The ASUS Transformer Prime will be rocking a 10.1″ Super IPS+ display at 1280 x 800 resolution (with Gorilla Glass), 1GB of RAM, 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, micro-SD and micro-HDMI support, front and rear cameras, and then that all important quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor. We have an 8 megapixel camera on the rear and a 1.2 front for video chat all wrapped in a brushed aluminum finish. The Transformer Prime will also be rocking an extremely thin form factor at just 8.3mm thin (0.33″) and weighs in at a mere 586g (1.29lbs). That is actually a hair thinner and lighter than the current champion in the Galaxy Tab 10, just for some comparison.

We didn’t get any official details on the battery size, but ASUS is stating 12 hours of hardcore battery life. You can watch several movies in a row on a road trip, or enjoy hours of hardcore gaming. The extremely efficient Tegra 3′s advanced power management and “companion core” will help make the Transformer Prime be not only the most powerful tablet, but have some of the best battery life available at the same time. Then with the optional keyboard dock pictured above the Transformer Prime will actually have a run-time of around 18 hours.
I know you’re all wondering and sadly it has been confirmed to be launching with Android 3.2 Honeycomb at first, and will be updated to ICS as soon as possible. ASUS feels great about the Prime and will have an update out as soon as the code is ready. We reported earlier today the Prime was delayed til December specifically for the fact that it will launch with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, but sadly that doesn’t appear to be the case.
The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime, the worlds first quad-core tablet will be $499 for the 32GB model and $599 for the 64GB variant. The optional keyboard dock will also be priced at $149.
Who’s excited?
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NVIDIA announces Tegra 3 quad-core processor, we have all the details [Video]

The time has finally come and today NVIDIA is taking the locks down and opening the doors to the world of quad-core mobile computing. We knew it was coming but today its finally official. Project Kal-El will indeed be called the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, and it will power our favorite smartphones and tablets very soon. This truly represents the next step in the evolution of mobile processors. From gaming to daily tasks, everything will benefit — even battery life. Below we have all the details and three awesome videos that will explain the power and efficiency that we will all come to love in NVIDIA’s Tegra 3.

Back in September NVIDIA outlined plenty of details regarding Kal-El and feel free to click that link for all the information. From the fact that Tegra 3 is actually sporting five cores we could call this Quin-core but that might confuse a few people. What will truly make the Tegra 3 special isn’t just that it will be the first quad-core mobile processor, but it has a 5th “companion core” that will handle all the tasks when the others aren’t needed. Making Tegra 3 extremely powerful while also being energy efficient and providing better battery life than Tegra 2 — Yes I said better (according to NVIDIA).

Now there are a lot of details we could cover from the vSMP technology in T3, to the companion core mentioned above, or the fact that it actually has twelve GPU cores (graphics) and more but instead I’ll start with a few of those video clips courtesy of NVIDIA we mentioned above. Any thoughts, or questions you may have will most likely be answered in the video demonstrations provided below.
First, we have the “Companion Core” video that shows off and explains just what vSMP actually is and does. This stands for Variable Symmetric Multiprocessing. Which is a multi-core CPU architecture for extremely low power usage, and high performance both. When you need dual-core power it turns on and chugs out power, when you need all four from the quad-core you get those too. Then users only need a low power single-core for daily tasks like viewing photos or browsing the web the companion core kicks in and does the dirty work, while conserving power and battery by shutting down the other four. This is actually extremely impressive and will work throughout any OS and application, it will not need to be supported and instead will just work. This is one of the single handed biggest parts of Tegra 3, although you wont hear too much about it. Check out the video:
NVIDIA Tegra 3: Companion Core




We also have a graph in the gallery below that breaks down why and when each processing core gets activated and what processes require more or less power so don’t forget to look over the gallery of images below.
Next we have an awesome video that will truly show you the graphical power of the NVIDIA Tegra 3 mobile processor. We first saw a demo of the NVIDIA game called Glowball back in May, but today we have something even better — Glowball 2: Underwater
Glowball Part 2: Underwater




The power of the NVIDIA Tegra 3 graphics will truly be unrivaled. With stunning visuals, realistic physics, real-life active lighting and more you can expect some truly impressive and immersive games to quickly come to market once T3 devices start hitting the shelves. I can’t wait for the Tegra 3 version of SHADOWGUN because that game is awesome — and we have a preview of it on T3 in our next video.
Those first two impressive videos should have taught you plenty about the new NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and what to expect, and some you might have already known. Obviously these videos are being made on the coming very soon ASUS Transformer Prime tablet and they mention that right in the video. The last video wont break details down quite the same way the first two did, but this is another extremely convincing video showing just what we can expect from games and gaming with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 platform.
NVIDIA Tegra 3: Next-Gen Mobile Gaming





As you can see in the graph above users can expect double and sometimes triple the gameplay performance across the board with Tegra 3. Obviously not all games or applications will react the same but in general those are some huge improvements. Combine those increases with the vSMP technology you get stellar performance that wont tax the battery and user.
Basically what this all comes down to is the NVIDIA Tegra 3 platform will be awesome. If the videos above don’t have you convinced then I’m not sure anything I say will either so I’ll just leave it at that. The fact that we are getting over double the performance while not suffering a hit on battery life is an impressive task and we are quite excited to see more. The ASUS Transformer Prime tablet will be the first device to take advantage of the new quad-core Tegra 3 processor and we’ll be getting one in for review as soon as humanly possible to give all these new and impressive features a test drive.
I’m sure NVIDIA and all their partners are just as excited as we the consumer are about these new innovations and improvements and I’m assuming we’ll be hearing plenty soon regarding phones and tablets all rocking the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor. I have a feeling this Christmas season will be snowing with quad-core tablets rocking the Tegra 3, we’ll just have to decide which one we want. Stay tuned for more details on T3 and quad-core devices as plenty are coming soon.
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More HTC Edge details: NFC, 8.8mm, and Sense 4.0

Does the Galaxy Nexus leave you cold? Is the DROID RAZR too anemic for your power-hungry tastes? Is the Optimus LTE just a let-down? Then set your lustful eyes upon the top-secret HTC Edge, because according to some recent leaks to BGR, it’s the top contender for the heavyweight champion of the Android world.

According to an anonymous tipster (who lamentably didn’t have any new photos) the Edge will indeed be the first smartphone to feature Nvidia’s monster quad-core Tegra 3 processer running at a blistering 1.5Ghz. The processor is backed up by a full gigabyte of RAM and 32 gigs of on-board storage. The phone itself is updated as 8.8mm thin – very slim for a device with this much horsepower – but must go without a MicroSD card slot. The screen is a massive 4.7-inch 720p panel using the latest in S-LCD technology. Optical lamination makes the screen seem to float just below the glass with no space for air or dust. NFC and a large 1800mAh battery are included.
An 8 megapixel camera and 720p front cam combine with Beats Audio the as-yet unseen Sense 4.0 to round out the package. There’s no mention of which Android version the Edge is running, but with a probable 2012 release date, we’ve got to hope it’s Ice Cream Sandwich. (Those navigation buttons on the front don’t automatically mean Gingerbread – ICS can use its soft buttons selectively.) Keep in mind that this is all very much rumor, and while the original photo/render looks legitimate enough, there’s nothing set in stone so far.
[via SlashGear]

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