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The Nokia Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 will be launched here in Malaysia in a few days but if this photo – accidentally mistaken for a Lumia 800 by Nokia themselves — is anything to go by, then we can expect at least one more Lumia making its debut here.

Earlier thought to be a US-only version, what we see here is very possibly a GSM version of the Lumia 900. What’s the difference between the device you see here and the recently announced white Lumia 800 we mentioned earlier? The biggest difference between the Lumia 800 and 900 is of course the screen size but that’s not clearly obvious in pictures, what is evident is the difference in the placement of the micros USB slot. On the Lumia 800, the micro USB slot is located underneath the micro SIM tray cover at the bottom of the device but on the Lumia 900, the slot is located exposed at the top, as you can see in the picture above (thanks for correcting us on this in the comments joevo2).

We’ve established that this is a Lumia 900, but what makes this a GSM version? For one, the obvious omission of the logo of US carrier AT&T is a tell-tale sign. Currently the Lumia 900 is only sold in the US by AT&T, so what’s with this official looking press picture not having an AT&T logo? That points to the device being available for other operators, very likely on GSM networks as well.

The Lumia 900 brings a larger 4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack display versus the smaller 3.7-inch AMOLED CBD display on the Lumia 800 but with identical screen resolution at 800×480 pixels. Also, you get a 1.3MP front camera and because the Lumia 900 is running LTE in the US and have a bigger screen, the device also gets a bigger 1,830mAh battery compared to the 1,450mAh in the Lumia 800.

Those are the features that separate Lumia 800 with the Lumia 900. The 1.4 GHz processor, eight-megapixel rear camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash, 16 GB internal memory and 512 MB RAM are identical on both devices. We’re hoping the larger battery stays in the GSM Lumia 900 as well.

So can we expect the Lumia 900 to come to Malaysia? It’s very possible but without an official word form Nokia, don’t expect this phone to be here anytime soon. Although we do expect to see the GSM Lumia 900 making its debut at Mobile World Congress at the end of this month.

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Telcos especially 3G players often cringe with the thought of offering unlimited downloads. However in Russia, things are very different over there. Putting the 140% and “In Russia” jokes aside, one 3G telco by the name of Megafon had defied convention by encouraging its subscribers to push the limits of “Unlimited Downloads” with a contest from November 2011 till January 2012. As a reward, they are giving out 1 million rubes (about RM100,000) worth of prizes.

One subscriber managed to clocked 419GB downloads in a week and was rewarded an overseas trip worth 150,000 rubes (RM15,000). That’s almost 60GB a day or 2.5GB per hour which calculates an average of 5-6Mbps. The contest was also a publicity stunt by the telco to prove that it is capable of delivering high speed and unlimited usage nationwide. The 2nd and 3rd place winners came from small towns which proved its wide coverage into rural areas.

All this sounds too good to be true but a quick check on Megafon’s site reveals that the Unlimited Package isn’t without limitations. They have 3 plans on offer at 1Mbps (approx. RM35), 2Mbps (approx. RM55) and Uncapped speed (approx. RM75) options but there’s a certain limit of quota before it gets throttled to 64kbps.

For the highest unlimited plan, the allowed FUP quota increases depending on duration. The first month you’ll get 8GB before throttle and this will be increased gradually each month – 10GB, 12GB and 14GB (maximum). So the “all you can eat offer” was just a time limited promo. Nevertheless, it was a good way to promote its nationwide high speed 3G capabilities.

[ SOURCE, Photo Credit ]

Update: Word has it that Celcom and Maxis will jump on the Nokia Lumia bandwagon as well. Expect plans for the Nokia Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 from Celcom, DiGi and Maxis at launch day (February 10)

The Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 shall be officially available this coming Friday, 10th of February. If you’re wondering which telco is offering it on contract bundle, DiGi has posted a teaser on its Facebook page.

It will be offered on DiGi’s Online Store just like the recent new devices and there’s a possibility that DiGi might be doing an early pre-order where you can order it and have it delivered directly to you on launch day. If you want to try it out, the Lumias are already being displayed at several Nokia stores.

Don’t forget to check out our hands-on video for both Lumia 800 and 710 if you haven’t.

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HTC is expected to make a come back this year and the next biggest thing from the Taiwan maker is the HTC Ville. Earlier on, the HTC Ville was rumoured to be under 8mm thin and runs on a dual-core 1.5GHz processor.

Now a couple of hands-on photos of the HTC Ville has surfaced with more details of the device. According to the source, the Ville will run on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC Sense 4.0 UI.

In terms of hardware, it doesn’t differ from what was revealed earlier with a 4.3″ AMOLED qHD Display, 8MP Camera, 1GB of RAM and comes with 1,650mAh battery. For audio, there’s the usual Beats Audio enhancements as well.

Currently the HTC Ville is expected to be officially revealed at MWC 2012. From the pic, the back appears to have a gradient metal finish and capacitive buttons are also visible on the front. Overall, it’s a sleek looking device but the design remains very conservative. Hopefully the final product would look better than these photos.

Head after the break for more photos.

[ SOURCE, VIA ]

With over 20 million users there’s no denying that Instagram is a very popular application but at the moment it is for iOS only. The developers have mentioned that an Android version is currently in the works but there’s no indication of when users can expect the popular app to make the leap. But if this screenshot captured from a promotional notification on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is anything to go by, Instagram for Android may only be days away from its much-awaited debut.

This is still far from definitive but it gives a glimmer of hope that Instagram could only be a few day away from being available in the Android Market. Would Instagram for Android be a big deal for you?

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There were talks of an N8 successor in the guise of a Lumia device running Windows Phone complete with a 12MP camera. While still very much a rumour, many got excited at the prospect of a device that could carry forward the N8’s pedigree of amazing imaging prowess. With the ease of use and functionality of the Windows Phone platform, this rumoured Nokia – dubbed the Lumia 910 – could very well be one of the most anticipated phones in 2012.

Unfortunately, this will not be the case because officially, the Lumia 910 doesn’t exist. Damian Dinning, the head of Imaging Experience of the Nokia Smart Devices division was asked by a fan on Twitter to comment on the rumors of the Lumia 910 and as definitive as can be he responded that no such device exists.

So, if a 12MP Windows Phone smartphone is not on the cards, what will Nokia unveil at the MWC at the end of this month? Our hunch, Nokia’s not going to rely on phones to pull crowds at its MWC return, instead, Nokia will be talking about something bigger. 2012 could very possibly be the year we see a Nokia tablet – running Windows 8, no less. Now, that is something worth getting excited about.

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Update: Nokia has just officially announced the White Lumia 800 saying that the device will launch first in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Finland, Poland and Switzerland, with other countries to follow. Pictures of the Nokia Lumia 800 in snow white is available after the break.

Nokia Denmark has just drop a hint that white version of the Nokia Lumia 800 exists and it will be coming — to Denmark at the very least. The Nokia Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710 will be launching in Malaysia on February 10 with a selection of colours but white will not be one of them.

So will the white version of the Lumia 800 be coming to Malaysia? One can certainly hope but it will all come down to how well the Lumia devices sell in Malaysia. Come February 10, if the reception is good and the sales figures show it then there’s definitely no reason for Nokia to not bring the white Lumia 800 to Malaysia but if the sales figures are lacklustre, Nokia wouldn’t want to worry about how to sell yet another version of the Lumia 800 here in Malaysia.

It certainly is a critical time for both Nokia and Microsoft. The launch of the Lumia devices is one of the most important launches of this year for the two companies as it could very well determine how the Malaysian mobile landscape will look like in the years to come. Will it be a two horse race with iOS and Android duking it out? Or will we see Windows Phone and Nokia emerge as a viable contender in this hotly contested market segment? It’s all pretty much up to you guys at this point. What are your thoughts?

[source 1, source 2]

After weeks of hype, here it is, the Samsung Super Bowl ad featuring the Galaxy Note with a backing track from, once famous rock band, The Darkness. The Galaxy Note was just only recently launched in the US. The ad follows along the “Samsunged” track laid down by Samsung’s latest series of commercials (you can see the whole “Samsunged” series here).

In terms of the commercial itself, it’s nothing special actually. In fact, we’ll go as far to say that the previous Samsung ads were so much better and judging by the Twitter responses after the ad aired, it’s pretty much safe to say that many that followed the hype were underwhelmed with the ad as well. We expected much more from the ad considering the hype and the quality of the previous ads in the series.

When we heard that the Samsung ad will also feature footage shot using the Galaxy Note, we expected to see the device used extensively in the production of the commercial. Once again, we were left disappointed as only a few snippets of the ad had footage recorded using the Galaxy Note. Out of the full 1 minute 30 seconds duration of the ad, we saw less than 5 seconds were footage taken using the Galaxy Note and they are not immediately noticeable as well.

If you didn’t notice the snippets in the ad shot using the Galaxy Note, there are on min 00:55, 01:02, 1:12 and min 1:16. In each segment, the snippet was around a second and no more than two or three seconds, max.

It’s quite a “meh” ad for us. What do you think? Sound off in the comments section.

Samsung Malaysia dropped another clue via Facebook on the launch of its Galaxy Tab 7.7 saying that it will be available in the country in around a couple of week or so. While that’s certain not a rock solid commitment on Samsung’s part, it does give us an indication on when the device will be launching in Malaysia.

Earlier, Samsung revealed that the Galaxy Tab 7.7 will retail for less than RM2,500. Our estimates put the device around the RM2.2k mark mainly because of the 7.7-inch 1280×800 Super AMOLED Plus screen – possibly the largest Super AMOLED Plus display on a consumer device to date. Naturally, you can expect a premium for that display. Because the Galaxy Tab 7.7 is also essentially a mobile phone, you can expect operators to offer with plans for the device as well.

Just a little recap on specs if you are not already aware, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 packs a 1.4GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM (similar to that in the Galaxy Note) and runs on Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS (Samsung has confirmed that the 7.7 will be getting ICS later in the year). In terms of imaging, there’s a 3MP Autofocus camera with 720p video recording capabilities at the back and a 2MP front facing camera. There are three storage variants — 16GB/32GB/64GB – and all will have a MicroSD card slot that supports cards up to 32GB.

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 comes with a generous 5,100mAh battery and weighs only 335g, which is 45g lighter than the original Galaxy Tab. When compared to the larger Galaxy Tab 10.1 (8.6mm thickness), the Galaxy 7.7 is thinner at 7.89mm.

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Crittercism — a mobile app monitoring startup – painstakingly compiled data of mobile app crashes between November and December 2011, covering over 23 different permutations of the iOS operating system and over 33 Android versions, and over 214 million app launches between all those OS versions.

The data shows that iOS apps crashed more frequently than comparable apps on Android. As you can see in the data presented, iOS apps on iPhone, iPad and iPods Touch make up nearly 75% of total crashes in the period that the data was gathered.

The researchers suggests that the reason why Android apps see far less crashes than iOS apps is because the Android platform allows developers to send out updates faster and users are able to set their Android devices to auto-update apps which allow bugs to be fixed much faster than can be done on iOS. On iOS developers pushing updates have to go through an approval process which can take weeks and there is no auto-update for users using iOS.

From our own experience, we agree with the data. On a day-to-day basis we do see more app crashes on iOS than on Android. The apps that we use that crash on a daily basis include Safari, Twitter for iOS and Facebook for iOS, just to name a few.

So iOS and Android users, offer your thoughts, is the data indicative of your own user experience? Let us know.

A more detailed break down of the data sets is available after the break.

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