SAMSUNG GALAXY S ADVANCE OFFICIAL: Android MID-RANGER WITH TWO CPU CORES

Samsung just made the Galaxy S Advance that leaked this morning official, and the specs are quite likeable. Graced with a 4" Super AMOLED display with the obligatory 480x800 pixels resolution, the Galaxy S Advance was rumored to be Samsung's first effort with the 1GHz dual-core NovaThor chipset from ST-Ericsson.

Samsung Galaxy S Advance official: Android mid-ranger with two CPU cores
This raised our suspicion that it is destined for China, as handsets like the HTC Z710t usually have this chipset specifically because it supports China Mobile's TD-SCDMA network. NovaThor iterations also support HSPA+ networks as well, and the Galaxy S Advance is listed with 14.4Mbps HSDPA radio, so we can very well see it in Europe as well.

There is a 5MP rear camera with LED flash and 720p video recording, as well as a 1.3MP front cam - we don't know what's with Samsung, but the Galaxy R also has a dual-core processor, yet record "only" 720p video. ST-Ericsson lists on its site a NovaThor U5500 dual-core chipset, which has a 14.4Mbps modem integrated with up to 720p video recording, so that's what we might have in the Galaxy S Advance.

The rest of the specs are Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 768MB of RAM, 8 or 16GB of internal memory, and DivX/Xvid video codec support right out of the box. Not a bad configuration with a dual-core chipset, but we will spare final judgment until we get our hands on one, and put it through its paces.
Source-Samsung

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MICROSOFT MIGHT BRING SOME OF THE XBOX LIVE MOBILE GOODNESS TO ANDROID AND iOS

Xbox Live integration is one of the huge selling points of Microsoft's Windows Phone, and with the valid right to be so - it integrates with your Xbox 360 experience, and encompasses or will include TV, video streaming, music and social networking.

With all these under the big roof of its gaming division, which brought us success stories like the Kinect, it is no wonder that Microsoft is looking to bring the Xbox experience to more popular mobile platforms as well, and spread the word.

It's a bit tricky, though, since a full-blown port would cannibalize on one of Windows Phone's competitive advantages, while the lack of the Xbox Live experience would hurt name recognition and Xbox 360 owners who would sport other than WP devices. Microsoft has eventually decided to give it a shot by offering some, but not all, of the Xbox Live functionality, similar to what it did with My Xbox Live for iOS, and its much richer Xbox Companion app for Windows Phone:

''While the Xbox Live experiences and games always work best on the Windows platform, we understand that some Xbox fans may be using other types of devices. To satisfy that need, we are working to extend a few of our Xbox experiences and titles to other platforms.''

There you have it, directly from a Microsoft spokesman. Hopefully this means that we'll finally see some of the Xbox Live functionality and games officially in the Android Market.
Source-phonearena

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GOOGLE+ SAYS 'YES' TO NICKNAMES, BUT NO TO ANONYMITY

Google relaxed the strict naming policy for Google+ users and will allow nicknames and pseudonyms on the social network. The new naming policy, announced by Google’s Bradley Horowitz on Google+, will start rolling out this week and allows users to choose alternatives names, be it nicknames or names in non-Romanized languages. But there’s a caveat.

Even if you add a pseudonym to your Google + account, such as "Jedi Master", people will still see your "real name" adjacent to your nickname (see image below). Much to the chagrin of human rights activists, who have argued it should be easier for Google+ users to protect their true identities, Google does not let you with its move Tuesday.

[Click to enlarge] Since its beginnings seven months ago, Google+ took Facebook’s strategy to use real names to the next level. To enforce the use of real names on the social network, Google disabled users accounts that did not use their (purportedly) real identity. At first, Google was criticized for disabling accounts without notice, and later began sending warnings to address the problem to users infringing the naming policy.

But Google found that 60 percent of Google+ users (now more than 90 million) want to be able to add a nickname to their identity, while another 20 percent simply prefer to use a pseudonym or another unconventional name. As with Facebook, Google also found some 20 percent of signups are businesses that try to create a profile instead of a page.

A Google+ nickname or pseudonym does not mean your full name won’t be displayed on the social network anymore. If you choose an alternate name, it will be added to your real name registered with the account. For example, if John Doe wants to use the "DUDE" nickname, the name will be displayed as either; John “DUDE” Doe or John Doe (DUDE). You can’t just have the nickname displayed. To add a nickname, go to Edit profile, select your name and click on More options.

Good News for Prima Donnas

The good news though is that Google will allow established pseudonyms, such as Madonna, as long as users provide proof to confirm their identity. This may include references in news articles or scanned official documentations, such as a driver’s license. Google will also accept as proof an established identity online with a meaningful following, but it’s unclear how sizeable this following would have to be.

“This seems like a reasonable compromise: all the joys of pseudonymity, without any of the unpleasantness that comes with anonymity,” a Google+ user commented on Horrowitz’s announcement, but most users seem to remain unsatisfied with the change.

“None of us wear ID tags in real life as we walk the streets. We don't show our ID card to the cashier when we shop for groceries,” another Google+ user argued. “But we do write letters to the editor for the local newspaper under a signature of our choice and we have nice and polite conversations to strangers we meet at the public library or on the bus without giving up our identity. Truth is we simply don't need to reveal our identity to each and everyone who happen to look our way (unless maybe we have a very big ego and/or are trying to "brand" our name or something), it works just great anyway.”
Source-pcworld

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WINDOWS 8 TABLETS: STILL HIDING

Considering that 2012 will be the year of Microsoft's dramatic upgrade to Windows 8, one might have thought the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show last week would be filled with prospective hardware platforms for the new Windows operating system. it might have seemed logical to expect that to hear lots about tablets with Windows 8. But news on that front was surprisingly...quiet.

While CEO Steve Ballmer talked Windows 8 at his keynote and showed a Qualcomm prototype tablet running Windows 8, Intel's Paul Otellini briefly showed a and Lenovo unveiled its innovative IdeaPad Yoga, a Windows 8-primed convertible notebook whose screen can twist around to turn into a tablet, little chatter was heard on the Windows tablet front.

The same three companies that showed off Windows 8 on ARM processors at BUILD were in the mix once more. Nvidia got things started by having a Microsoft rep do a five-minute demo of Windows 8 running smoothly on an Nvidia reference platform at its press conference. Then, just hours thereafter, Ballmer was on stage showing the Qualcomm tablet already seen at BUILD. And in private briefings off the show floor, Texas Instruments displayed a Windows 8 reference platform.
Running 7, Testing 8

A few Chinese tablet makers displayed tablets of distinctly generic design running Windows 7, but only one spoke specifically to Windows 8 plans. One tablet maker, Kupa, showed off its X11, a Windows 7 tablet available now that runs an Intel Atom Z670 processor; Kupa exhibited the tablet running the Windows 8 Developer's Preview, and billed it as Windows 8-ready thanks to its 1366-by-768-pixel, 16:9 aspect ratio display -- which matches to Microsoft's optimized target for Windows 8; and to the specs of Samsung's Series 7 tablet, distributed to Microsoft BUILD attendees last fall with the Windows 8 preview preinstalled.

But beyond the Yoga -- an inventive concept that's perfect for making noise at a big event like CES -- none of the tablet makers were ready to talk about Windows 8 on a tablet, and what we might expect to see in that form factor. Samsung had nothing to discuss at the show on the Windows 8 tablet front.

Fujitsu's Paul Moore, senior director of product development, hinted that Microsoft is encouraging a clean look on tablets that will run the new OS, but “they've been a bit vague so far.” Fujitsu, which already has the Stylistic Q550 on the market running an Intel Atom CPU, is looking at least one, maybe two updates to that model's specs by midyear. The company is looking at boosting performance for better video playback. “That seems to be the biggest challenge on Atom,” Moore says. “And that's the noticeable complaint customers have: The video is a little choppy.”
Windows 8: The CPU Question

The Windows 8 interface is clearly optimized for touch, but what remains unclear is what, if any, advantage Windows 8 will have when it comes to the tablet market. That's in part because Microsoft hasn't yet clarified if and how exist Windows apps will work on the Windows 8 version destined for use on ARM processors. ARM tablets will have a distinct weight, power, and likely price advantage over tablets with x86 processors, which makes the ARM tablet space an intriguing one to watch.

Meanwhile, Intel is readying a dual-pronged approached to tablets to compete with the coming ARM onslaught. Its single-core Medfield platform, launched at CES and due in the second quarter, is designed for Android; and its Clover Trail platform, due in the second half of this year, is built from the ground up for Windows 8. Clover Trail will replace the current Atom chips being used in most of the Windows 7 tablets available today, from companies like Fujitsu, Kupa, and Viewsonic; only Samsung, with its Core i5-based Series 7, has released a Windows tablet that uses the beefier CPU common to laptops.

What should users expect from ARM devices? In a private demo, Qualcomm showed off the second public Windows 8 build of its reference system, this time showing that the connected standby feature was enabled, even for connectivity like AT&T 4G LTE. Connected standby, a new state that powers down the system in a way that you can resume immediately, will enable 4G Windows 8 tablets to save power and extend battery life, for example.

“Microsoft has discussed this new [to its OS] concept of always on, always connected. We see this as a marriage of smartphone functionality and computing,” says Qualcomm's Steve Horton, director of software and product management. “The content you care about will be active, and you will be able to program it, and it will be able to be fed.”

While tablet makers were mum when asked how ARM platforms will influence their tablet designs, the use of ARM will no doubt keep things interesting. In a previous conversation at BUILD, Horton noted that with ARM chips, there's no restriction on form factor beyond the fact that Microsoft is asking hardware OEMs to stick to displays with 16:9 aspect ratio to match the optimal screen size for the new Windows 8 Metro interface.

When asked about Windows 8 tablets using ARM, for example, Senior Designer Junghwan Hong and Principal Designer Sangwon Yoon, the Samsung designers involved in creating the gorgeous, lightweight Series 9 laptop, shied away from specifics, but admitted that the prospect of ARM presents a new design opportunity and challenge.

“As designers, we are studying ARM,” Yoon says. “ We have a lot of different form factors for ARM devices. ARM has no fans, so for designers, that's a good feature.” One logistical challenge: ARM tablets will likely carry relatively low prices, which “means we cannot use fancy materials. But they have to look good. That's a challenge.”

And it's likely not the only challenge for Windows 8 tablets. Even without any solid teasers at CES, 2012 promises to shape into an interesting year for tablets running Microsoft's next operating system refresh.
Source-pcworld

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ABSINTHE UNTETHERED A5 JAILBREAK TOOL FOR APPLE iPHONE 4S AND iPAD 2 MADE EASY ON BOTH WINDOWS AND MAC

Now that the Dev Team got around Apple's built-in A5 chip defenses, it released a software for untethered jailbreak of your iPhone 4S and iPad 2. The crew has made it a very simplified process, which rewards you with access to Cydia and all the goodies of jailbroken apps, that make the iPhone and iPad that much more functional.

The tool is called Absinthe (GreenPois0n, we get it), and offers one-click jailbreaking for both Mac, as well as Windows now. If you have been itching to do this, and get access to some of the cool things developers are doing with jailbroken Siri, get the respective Absinthe file for your OS from the source link, and check the instructional video below.

Bear in mind that Absinthe is not an unlocking tool, so if you need to be unlocked, stick with iOS 5.0, this is only for jailbreaking iOS 5.0.1 devices, and you can't come back to iOS 5.0, once you've updated, at least for the time being. Also, don't upgrade to iOS 5.0.2 once it's released, since you will lose the jailbreak.
Source-phonearena

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