Samsung to start mass production of the 5" 1080p display this month

We know that Samsung is working on a 5-
inch 1080p Super AMOLED display for Q1
of this year – it was on a roadmap on its
booth. Now DDaily is reporting some
more concrete dates – according to
industry sources, the display will enter
mass production at the Samsung Display
plants near the end of this month.
The display units will reach Samsung
Electronics in early March – just in time
for an April launch of the Samsung Galaxy
S III successor. Or maybe they'll manage
to produce enough units for a late March
release.
The screen will have 440ppi pixel density
and according to DDaily will be
manufactured using Samsung’s FMM (Fine
Metal Mask) method, which points to a
PenTile display. Even if that is the case
though, we doubt it would matter much at
that pixel density.

Samsung Galaxy S IV rumored to launch on March 15

Samsung's next generation Galaxy S
flagship smartphone will be launched on
March 15, according to a "trusted" insider,
who has confirmed the arrival to
SamMobile. Earlier, an internal raffle doc
leak at a New Zealand retailer had
suggested that the device might be
available from April, but we can now
expect the smartphone to hit the stores
from the beginning of April.
We already know Samsung's Unpacked
event won't happen at the MWC, but the
company is expected to send the invites
after the conclusion of the industry's
largest event.
Samsung's 2013 flagship smartphone is
rumored to sport a Super AMOLED display
of FullHD resolution and a whopping 8-
core Exynos 5 Octa processor, 8-core
Mali-T658 GPUand 2 GB of RAM. A 13-
megapixel rear camera with the ability to
shoot 1080p full HD videos at 30 fps will
be mounted at the back, while 2-
megapixel front camera will take care of
video-calls. The next Samsung flagship will
reportedly be powered by Android 4.2.1
Jelly Bean.
It the rumors are to be trusted, the
smartphone will be available in Europe
first, with the whole Asian market is
expected to follow by the end of April.
Galaxy IV will make it to the shores of
America, Australia and Africa by the end
of Q2.
The report also confirms the model
number of Galaxy S IV to be I9500 as well
as its Black and White color options.

ASUS might showcase its Intel powered 7- inch Fonepad tablet at MWC

7-inch Intel-based tablet was expected to
be a part of the Asus CES campaign, but
for one reason or another it missed the
US show. However, Asus has not given up
on it and it might be showcasing it at the
upcoming MWC in Barcelona.
The tablet has a model designation
ME371MG will be Asus Fonepad,
according to a POSTEL database. Another
leak, this time from the internal system
of an online retailer points to a price tag
of 7,900 Thai baht (about $265). Before
the database entry was taken down, the
product page revealed that the slate will
be available in two different color
variants.
Asus Fonepad, which is expected to be
showcased at the end of the month is said
to feature a 7″ IPS display, 1.2 GHz Atom
Z2420 processor along with 1 GB of RAM,
8 or 16 GB inbuilt memory and well-
geared connectivity. The tablet will come
with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of box.
Furthermore, the name suggests that the
device might have the ability to make
voice calls, but there is no confirmation of
that just yet.

Huawei Ascend P2 blurry shots leak, price in tow

Two spy shots of Huawei's upcoming
Ascend P2 leaked. The phone has been
rumored to sport a 5" 1080p screen, later
a 4.5" one and now rumors suggest a
4.7" at the front.
Others information suggests that the
Huawei Ascend P2 will be powered by an
8-core processor, which will probably be
along the lines of Samsung's big.LITTLE
chip where four Cortex-A15s handle big
loads while four Cortex-A7s are there for
the power saving.
The leaked images align nicely with the
leaked official photo of the Ascend P2
we've seen.
The camera on the back of the device has
been hidden in these images, which
inclines us to think that the Ascend P2
could sport an above 13 MP snapper. It
could be just a coincidence, though.

Huawei is set to hold a press event on
February 24 at this year's Mobile World
Congress and we'll probably see the
Huawei Ascend P2 debut there. The
smartphone should go on sale in 1GB and
2GB RAM options with pricing starting
from CNY3,000 ( about $480).

Nokia to bring out a Lumia device with 41- megapixel sensor

Nokia's 41-megapixel sensor, which
was showcased for the first time at
MWC 2012, bought a whole new
dimension to the cameraphone game.
After its recent success with the 808
PureView, Nokia will be bringing its
class-leading 41-megapixel sensor to
its Lumia lineup.
New reports from The Guardian back
up previous rumors that the 41-
megapixel Lumia device will be
dubbed EOS, and the smartphone is
expected to launch in the summer in
the US. Unfortunately, there are no
confirmations on the specifications of
the device yet.
The Lumia EOS is expected to capture
images with about 5 megapixel
resolution, using oversampling, just
like the 808 PureView did in its default
Auto mode.
The latest Nokia Lumia 920 comes out
with a floating lens technology, which
is actual optical image stabilization - a
first for a smartphone.
Combining the two technologies could
result in a smartphone too tempting
for cameraphone lovers to resist,
regardless of their opinion on WP8.

Samsung Galaxy S II Plus now available, starts at €315

The Samsung Galaxy S II is soon to be
replaced by the recently announced
Galaxy S II Plus model. The new mid-
range smartphone is based on a
different (and as we found out way
more efficient) chipset and has a new
finish, but offers similar performance
and overall experience to its
predecessor. The good news is that the
Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean smartphone
is already available for purchase and
the most impatient among you will be
able go get it very soon.
The Samsung Galaxy S II Plus is
expected to become available
worldwide until the end of Q1 this year
and Finland seems to be the first
European country to get it as the
smartphone's Dark Blue version is now
on sale there, while the Chic White will
be coming on March 1.
The Galaxy S II Plus costs €378, which
seems a bit steep, but that's not
usually the case with those early
launches. The price will probably go
down a bit once availability expands
and Samsung catches up with the
production.
Update: As it turns out the Galaxy S II
Plus is also available in Russia at about
€440 and through Orange Romania for
just €1 with a contract or €315 for the
SIM-free device.

BlackBerry OS 10 devs can get a special edition red Z10

BlackBerry knows how important a
rich app store is and it has been hard
at work courting developers to bring
their apps to BlackBerry World. The
latest treat it offers is a special, limited
edition of the BlackBerry Z10 – with a
cool red paint job.
The BlackBerry Z10 units for regular
users are either Black or White, but if
you submit a BlackBerry 10 OS app by
the end of this month you can get one
of the 12,000 limited edition ones.
BlackBerry is mum on plans to sell red
Z10s to users in the future – for now
the color is reserved for a special
“thank you” to developers. It is pretty
certain that at least a few hundreds of
those will end up on eBay, though, so
you will have your chance at snatching
one. Pricing will be a whole different
matter, of course.
Anyway, if you are a BB10 OS dev,
check out this post at BlackBerry's
DevBlog for more info on how you can
snag one.