Ubuntu smartphones to arrive in October says Canonical CEO

Smartphones specifically designed and
built to run the Ubuntu mobile operating
system are going to start shipping in
October this year.
The information comes from Canonical
CEO and founder Mark Shuttleworth. He
added that Ubuntu for smartphones will
also hit a couple of "large geographic
markets". Although he didn't specify
them, he told WSJ that "North America is
absolutely a key market for Ubuntu.".
Additionally, according to Mr.
Shuttleworth, Ubuntu has got the
necessary attention from multiple
carriers, which are going to back the
newborn mobile OS at its launch.
However, which ones exactly remains a
mystery.
App developers and Ubuntu enthusiasts
will have access to the Linux-driven OS as
early as the end of this month when
Canonical is going to release a special
ROM for the Galaxy Nexus.

Photos of midrange HTC 603e surface in China

The leaked HTC 603е images come from
the Chinese telecommunication
equipment certification authority so these
are quite real. What's not clear however
is whether the smartphone is a
completely new, unannounced model, or
just a version of the HTC One SV , meant
for China.

The HTC 603e has a 4.3" display with
WVGA resolution and is powered by a 1.2
GHz dual-core Krait processor with 1GB
RAM. The camera on the back is 5
megapixel with 720p video recording. The
phone packs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
Some other reports match it to be the
yet unannounced HTC M4, however the
previously leaked M4 specs suggest a
more upmarket device than the HTC
603e.

HTC M7 to hit shelves in France on March 8, priced at €650

At the rate these HTC M7 leaks and
teasers go, we are afraid HTC will have
little to announce at its February 19
event . Today we got to learn the pricing
and release date of the smartphone (or at
least in France), courtesy of a listing from
a local retailer.
According to the leak, the HTC M7 will be
launched on March 8, and it will be using
that exact name. This refutes earlier
rumors that M7 was merely a codename,
which won't be used any more once the
smartphone gets official.
The SIM-free HTC M7 will be priced at a
whopping €649.99(about $879) and is
expected to be available in different
colors.
The listing also confirms the specifications
of HTC M7 to sport a 4.7" Full HD display,
1.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-
core processor along with 2GB RAM, 32
GB internal memory with microSD
support, 4G, NFC, Android Jelly Bean and
2,300mAh battery
Furthermore, HTC M7 will be using a 13-
megapixel camera with stacked sensor
and ultrapixels for the first time and it
will be interesting to see how the camera
performs. M7 is also confirmed to feature
the latest HTC 5.0 sense and Double HP
techno Beats Audio.

Pink Galaxy Note II spotted on Samsung's website

We have seen pink colored versions of
Samsung's smartphones before. There
was the pink Galaxy S III and then the
pink Galaxy Note before that. Now it's
the turn of the new Galaxy Note II to go
pink.
The entire front and back of the phone
gets the new shade of pink, which is
lighter than the one we saw on the
original Note. The stylus also gets the
new color treatment. Other than that the
phone is identical to the other color
models.
Samsung is yet to announce the phone
and so far it exists only on the company's
Taiwanese website. More details
regarding availability should be released
soon.

Sony Xperia SP C530X live photos leak, more specs confirmed

The first photos of Sony's mid-range
Xperia SP smartphone, which was
previously known by its HuaShan
codename, have just surfaced. Those
show the handset alongside the Xperia V
and reveal that the Xperia SP smartphone
has a bigger footprint than that of Xperia
V, suggesting that the smartphone will
sport a display larger than 4.3-inches.

According to the information leaked by
theAndroid-Hilfe tipster, the smartphone
will come with a removable back plastic
cover, which allows you to access the
memory card slot. Meanwhile, the report
also confirms that the battery is not
removable.
The Sony Xperia SP will be available in
three region-specific versions - C5302,
C5303 and C5306. They will all feature a
720p display, Qualcomm Snapdragon S4
Pro MSM8960T chipset with 1.7 GHz
dual-core Krait CPU and Adreno 320
graphics. The C5303 will also add LTE
radio, while the other two will only offer
HSPA.

Australia's Treasury Department switches from BlackBerry to iPhone

In yet another blow to
BlackBerry, the Australian
Treasury Department has opted
to switch away from the
platform in favor of Apple's
iPhone and iOS, with the
transition expected to be
completed within the next
month and a half.
The Treasury will replace 250 BlackBerry
devices with new iPhone 5s, reports
ZDNet Australia, and is also planning to
roll out an as-yet-undisclosed number of
iPads to staff, ministers' offices and other
agencies run by the department.
According to chief information officer
Peter Alexander, the decision to switch
came after the Defence Signals
Directorate, Australia's signals intelligence
agency, certified Apple's iOS for
government applications. Alexander said
the new devices would be controlled by
device management platform AirWatch.
When asked about BlackBerry's
announcement of BB10 and two new
handsets, the Z10 and Q10, Alexander
was unsure if the company would be able
to make a comeback.
"BlackBerry has pretty limited capability,"
he said. "With the new one being
launched, it's almost too late. Maybe it'll
catch up, maybe it won't."
As for Android, the DSD has yet to certify
a single device running Google's mobile
operating system.
"In the coldest and cruelest way to look
at it, there was no decision for us, really,"
Alexander said. "We looked at it in terms
of usability and functionality, Android
phones are perfectly adequate […] but it
was really a decision we didn't have much
option in."
The Australian Treasury Department is
the latest government body to make the
leap to iOS. In Apple's quarterly
conference call for the first quarter of
2013, Chief Financial Officer Peter
Oppenheimer said a number of U.S.
agencies are issuing iPhones "by the
thousands, " including NASA, NOAA,
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement,
and the Transportation and Security
Administration.

ITC to give final ruling on Apple's Samsung complaint Aug. 1

A final ruling in one of Apple's
suits against Samsung will have
to wait until August of this year,
as a judge for the International
Trade Commission on
Wednesday scheduled a final
ruling for the first of that month.
Florian Mueller's Foss Patents reported
Wednesday that Administrative Law Judge
Thomas B. Pender entered a scheduling
order setting Aug. 1, 2013, as a target
final decision date. Pender will have to
make a remand initial determination on or
before April 1.
The ruling will concern Pender's October
decision that found Samsung in violation
of three Apple utility patents and one
design patent. Pender recommended that
the ITC institute a U.S. import ban on
certain Samsung products due to their
infringement of Apple patents on
multitouch, providing translucent images
on a display, headphone plug detection
circuitry, and the design of the original
iPhone.
The ITC in January sent two of the four
asserted patents — audio jack detection
and translucent image display — back to
Pender for reconsideration.
Should Pender eventually rule in Apple's
favor, Mueller notes, import bans on
infringing Galaxy products are not certain.
Samsung has already designed
workarounds for several of the alleged
violations, though it remains unclear the
extent to which such alterations will sway
the court.