Nokia X7 appears again, looks AT&T bound

More photos (well actually renderings) of the youthful looking Nokia X7 surfaced. This time we are getting to see the Symbian^3 smartphone from all sides and once again we notice an AT&T tattoo on its forehead.

In addition to the carrier allegiance, the new Nokia X7 images confirm the 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash on the back of the device. If we were gamblers our money would be on it being a fixed-focus unit, much like the one of the E7 and C7.

 

There is still no information as of when the 4-inch display device (nHD resolution and ClearBlack technology seem certain) might be officially announced. The Mobile World Congress starts next month and sounds like an easy guess, but last year Nokia made no announcements there so we don't know what to expect now.

We'll find out more about that soon enough. Stay tuned!

1.2Ghz BlackBerry Torch 2 on the way, 11mm-thin Curve Apollo too

That nice BlackBerry Dakota yesterday is obviously in for some company. We just spotted a couple of new devices by the company, leaked in all their press glory and full specs. Meet the BlackBerry Torch 2 and the Curve Apollo.

It seems BlackBerry plans to go big has some big plans for this year. As much as we appreciate their service, you can't deny they've been offering only under-spec'd, over-priced handsets lately. But they've obviously had enough of that.

BlackBery Torch 2

The next generation of the BlackBerry Torch (aptly named Torch 2) will double the processor clock speed of the original to the whopping 1.2 GHz.

The new uber-BlackBerry will also have a 3.2-inch VGA screen, 8 gigs of storage, 512MB RAM, Wi-Fi, GPS, a digital compass, a proximity sensor and a 5 megapixel camera. The NFC support comes as an unexpected bonus.

The Torch 2 will run the BlackBerry OS 6.1 and will launch in Q3 (at least in the AT&T network in the US).

BlackBery Curve Apollo

If the recently leaked devices are anything to go by, BlackBerry is on the way of bumping the base specs throughout its portfolio. The Curve line isn't quite known for its high-end features or performance, but the leaked Curve Apollo surely has some nice specs - at least on paper.

Here's what the next generation BlackBerry Curve will look like. Preserving the traditional look, the new BlackBerry Curve Apollo is trendy and modern at the same time.

The BlackBerry Curve codenamed Apollo has a HVGA display (480 x 360 pixels), a Marvel Tavor MG-1 800MHz CPU, 512MB RAM, Wireless N, GPS, and again, NFC connectivity. We did a little digging on that CPU and it seems it's the same Marvel core used on all previous BlackBerries, but it's now clocked at 800Mhz instead of 624Mhz. We hope that will be enough to pull a nice performance under the new BlackBerry OS 6.1.

Finally, the BlackBerry Curve Apollo is only 11mm thin and has a 5 megapixel camera with flash. We don't know any more details about its availability just yet.

Pics of two Samsung Galaxy Mini phones leak with Froyo on them

Just days after another photo of the Samsung Galaxy S2 leaked, two new baby Galaxy phones get their photos out in the wild as well. The Galaxy Mini S5570 and S5830 both run Android 2.2 Froyo and are expected to be showcased at the MWC ’11.

The Galaxy Mini S5830, which honestly looks way too iPhone-ish, features a capacitive touchscreen with an HVGA resolution (480x320 pixels). It also sports a 5MP camera with LED flash, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0.

While the S5830 is sleek-looking and means business, its brother, the Galaxy Mini S5570 is the funkier member of the Galaxy Mini family. With its green accents all around the sides and the curved back it definitely looks fresh and flamboyant. As for the specs, it will feature a capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 240x320, Wireless N, and Bluetooth 3.0.

Proper specs, availability and price information for these Galaxy Mini phones should be announced at the Mobile World Congress in February.

LG Optimus 2X excels in Quadrant benchmark on Froyo

LG Optimus 2X, the first smartphone with the dual-core Tegra 2, was one of the spotlights at CES 2011. Here's the first public record of its performance under the Android Quadrant benchmark. We gotta say it's pretty good even though it's still a pre-production unit.

Mind you, the Quadrant software isn’t still up-to-date with the dual-core craze and recognized the processor only as single-core. Still, the LG Optimus 2X, which by the way, is running Froyo 2.2, smashed the available single-core competition, scoring the mind-blowing 2391 points.

The LG Optimus 2X is currently available for preorder. We can’t wait to get our hands on it.

P.S. We just an on-site video from CE 2011, which showed the Motorola Droid Bionic do the same benchmark. It achieved pretty much the same score, so we guess that's the general performance you should expect from the Nvidia Tegra 2 platfrom on other devices as well.

If you're interested, you can see the Droid Bionic do the Quadrant on video on YouTube.

BlackBerry Dakota photo and specifications leak again

Great news for all BlackBerry lovers! A new photo of the BlackBerry Dakota leaked today and it looks just like its prototype the Magnum, which we covered almost a year ago. The only thing different is the trackpad that has been added to the device and the bump in some of the specifications.

This BlackBerry, codenamed Dakota, will pack a 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen with a VGA resolution of 640x480 pixels and a full physical QWERTY keyboard. It also rocks a 5 MP camera with flash capable of recording HD video. Also available are 4GB of internal storage and 768MB of RAM. What processor will power it is still unknown, though.

A great addition is the 3G mobile hotspot that has been added, allowing the Dakota to spread some Internet love to other devices around. Not to mention the NFC connectivity. The Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth and MicroUSB port come as no surprise.

In addition, the Dakota is going to ship with the new BlackBerry 6.1, announced yesterday at the BlackBerry DevCon Asia. The new version of the BlackBerry platform now supports Magnetometer and Digital compass APIs, OpenGL-ES 2.0, event-base geo-fencing location APIs and much more.

Pricing and availability for the BlackBerry Dakota are still shady. Who knows, maybe RIM will shed some light to the Dakota at the World Mobile Congress.

iOS 4.3 beta reveals Wi-Fi hotspot, multi-touch gestures and more

The iOS 4.3 beta 1 for developers is out and it will bring lots of new goodies to the iPhone and the iPad. All GSM iPhones get personal hotspot capabilities, while the iPad is granted with various useful multi-touch gestures.

Here is a short list of what's discovered so far:

• Personal Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities
• Multi-touch gestures (iPad only) for quick access to homescreen, multi-tasking bar or the next/previous running app
• Configurable iPad slide switch
• iAd fullscreen banners on iPad
• New FaceTime icon
• AirPlay support for third-party apps
• Possible video effects (Turbine, X-ray, Tunnel of Light, Collapse, Thermal Camera, Kaleidoscope and Normal)

The personal Wi-Fi hotspot is a long awaited addition, but it will be carrier-dependent for sure and AT&T users should definitely hold their excitement.

It seems (at least from this beta) the iPad will be the biggest beneficiary. Apple has finally gave up on the mandatory side switch configuration and will let the users decide whether they'll use it as Mute key or as an Orientation lock.

Other new features spotted on the iPad are the awesome multi-touch gestures. You will be able to use four (or five) fingers to minimize an app and go to the homescreen, swipe through all running apps or bring up the multi-tasking bar with a single swipe up. The beta doesn't offer these gestures on the iPhone, but there is nothing certain until the official announcement.

Here is a short demonstration:

There are rumors that the next gen iPhone and iPad (name codes for which were revealed within this software build) may even drop the hardware Home button entirely and rely on gestures only. Reportedly that has been Steve Jobs's intention for the first iPhone, but it wasn't possible back then. And while we are still in the rumorland, the latest one is that the Photo Booth and iLife Mac OS apps will be on the next iPad. We'll see about that.

The iOS 4.3 beta lacks support for iPhone 3G and iPod Touch second generation, so the 4.2.1 might as well be the last supported build for those devices.

Other interesting things discovered within the iOS 4.3 code are a few live video effects, which might be accessible on both FaceTime and video recording. We've already mentioned them in the list above.

The last thing from the code revealed so far is the Find My Friends feature. This is supposed to be part of the MobileMe services and bring functionality similar to that of Google Latitude.

There is no word on when iOS 4.3 will be announced or launched but we're guessing it will happen in the end of January.

Gigabyte to roll out the GSmart G1310 dual-SIM Froyo phone

It’s been a month since Gigabyte announced their GSmart Rola phone and now the company is getting ready to launch the GSmart G1310 dual-SIM device running Android 2.2 Froyo for a decent price.

The GSmart G1310 features a 3.2” capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 320x480 pixels and a 5 MP camera with autofocus. It all sounds great, until we get to the processor. The G1310 features the same Qualcomm MSM7225 CPU clocked at 528Mhz, 512 MB ROM and 256 RAM that are found in the GSmart Rola.

As connectivity goes, the G1310 is well covered with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, and GPS (with aGPS support and digital compass). Two color variations will be available – champagne gold and pearl white.

The GSmart G1310 will launch in Eastern Europe in Q1 this year with an expected price of 199.