Apple Announces Schedule for iOS 7 'Tech Talks' Tour in U.S., Asia, and Europe

Back in April after tickets to its Worldwide Developers Conference sold out in just two minutes, Apple announced that it would be launching a series of Tech Talks later in the year, taking seminars and hands-on help to a number of cities around the world...

Read the full story here... Source: Mac Rumours

Apple Announces iPhone 5s With 'Touch ID' Fingerprint Sensor

At its media event today, Apple introduced the new iPhone 5s. In line with expectations, the iPhone 5s will be the same size and design and the current iPhone 5 but will feature improved specifications and will be available in three colors: Silver, Gold, and Space Gray.

Internally, the iPhone 5s will feature a 64-bit A7 processor that will be up to twice as fast at CPU tasks. Another significant new feature is a "Touch ID" capacitive fingerprint sensor built into the home button that's capable of scanning sub-epidermal skin layers. Touch ID can be used to unlock an iPhone and authorize iTunes purchases...

Read the full story here... Source: Mac Rumours

Asus announces the Asus Fonepad Note 6E

In a burst of announcements Asus has announced the Fonepad Note 6, a direct competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone line, with some great specs.

The Fonepad Note 6 features a 6-inch Full HD Super IPS+ display, a stylus which can be docked in the actual device like the Galaxy Note range, and dual front facing speakers with ASUS SonicMaster audio technology...

Read the full story here... Source: Android Authority

Motorola announces Intel-powered RAZR i, launches in Europe next month

Motorola's revealed the first smartphone to be borne from its team-up with Intel. Here in London, UK, it's a familiar-looking Android smartphone with an important internal difference. The RAZR i will be running on one of Intel's latest mobile chips (2GHz processor), differentiating it from what we saw from the Google-owned phone-maker a few weeks earlier. Motorola's calling the phone its biggest launch in the UK since the original RAZR.

Motorola's touting the (almost "edge-to-edge") 4.3-inch AMOLED display, 2,000mAh of battery and the same Kevlar coating -- it's water repellent this time. But this event is also about Intel's 2GHz processor inside. The chipmaker says it's optimized the architecture for web browsing, especially for Java-based activities. It's also pushing for power consumption even on processor-intensive activities like gaming -- but we'll have to wait for our own tests to check it out.

The RAZR i also packs a similar 8-megapixel camera and interface to those other new Motorola phones, with under a second start-up to get the camera app running -- we bet that dedicated camera button helps there. Intel made similar promises with the Orange San Diego, but were already intrigued by that Vanilla-looking interface.

NFC is already baked in, with Android Beam taking control of what you need, while its bootloader arrives unlocked. The RAZR i appears to be packing some iteration of Android 4 -- but we're still checking on whether it'll be coming with ICS or the newer Jelly Bean. The phone will arrive in the likes of UK, France, Germany and Brazil -- but no news on whether it'll appear inside North America's borders.

[Source: Engadget] [Photos: Geekanoids]

Apple Announces Over Two Million iPhone 5 Pre-Orders in First Day of Sales

Following today's announcement by AT&T sharing word that the iPhone 5 has broken pre-order sales records at the carrier, Apple has issued a press release noting that it too saw record-breaking pre-orders of over two million units in the first 24 hours of availability. The performance breaks last year's record of one million iPhone 4S units pre-ordered on the first day of availability.

“iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, the most beautiful product we’ve ever made, and we hope customers love it as much as we do.”

The iPhone 5 will be available beginning this Friday, September 21. The first pre-orders have begun shipping from China, but delivery companies will be coordinating to hold the shipments until Friday. Customers who did not pre-order the device have also begun lining up at a few Apple retail stores ahead of Friday's launch, although most of those seen so far are lining up for promotional purposes.

[Source: MacRumors]

LG announces 27-inch Personal Smart TV ahead of IFA

No room in your apartment for LG's upcoming 84-inch monster? Don't worry, the Korean outfit has something in your size, as well. The company's TM2792 promises the same Cinema 3D passive glasses technology as its big brother in a more compact 27-inch frame. The tube also promises to play nice with your other devices, featuring a MHL and WiDi for screen and content sharing. No word on pricing yet, but LG says the Personal Smart TV should land in European markets this September. Hit the break for the official press release, or sit tight: LG is bound to reveal more at the TV's official IFA debut.

[Source: Engadget]

Sony announces new Exmor RS cameraphone sensor: upgraded signal processing, HDR video recording

That camera sensor in your smartphone is very likely to be a Sony-made module which means it's worth keeping an eye on the company's latest sensor developments. Your next phone could be packing one of its latest Exmor RS camera modules, a stacked CMOS image sensor that's currently being readied for future smartphones and tablets. At the moment, three components fall under the new RS label, with two eight-megapixel sensors (one with new camera signal processing tech) and a top-drawer 13-megapixel module. Alongside the new sensors, Sony's crafted new f/2.2 lenses alongside a refreshed auto-focus module and all of them will be capable of HDR video recording. The company's now working on improving sensor behavior, image quality and keeping it all tiny enough for that next pricey phone contract. The first products are expected to arrive in October, so we may not see it in Sony's very next tablet, but development could be done in time for next year's effort -- and help validate the manufacturer's imaging investment.

[Source: Engadget]

Taiwan market: Lenovo announces new ultrabook with carbon-fiber chassis

Lenovo has announced its latest ultrabook – ThinkPad X1 Carbon – in Taiwan, adopting a carbon-fiber reinforced plastic chassis to strengthen its sturdiness, while reducing thickness.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon features a weight of 1.36kg, a thickness of 1.88cm at its thinnest place and a 14-inch panel.

Lenovo's continued rising shipments are starting to gain the company advantages over component purchasing as well as its channel marketing. Meanwhile, the company has also been aggressively establishing new plants in countries such as Japan and Brazil, and is reportedly planning to set up plants in Germany, a country that has a rather high employee salary rate, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

The sources noted that Lenovo is expecting to further enhance its manufacturing quality through better management and is hoping to achieve similar results to Apple, which also adopts strict quality controls over its products. With ODMs to start seeing more purchasing restrictions from Lenovo, figuring out a way to respond to the vendor's requests will become a new lesson for the ODMs

[Source: DIGITIMES]

Sky announces iPad remote control functionality, due later this summer in Sky+ app

Sky is announcing a number of changes to its Sky Go, Sky+, and Sky Anytime UK TV services today. Perhaps the biggest change is a promised Sky+ mobile app update for iOS. Due later this summer, the update will allow Sky customers to use their iPad as a remote control to pause and rewind TV by swiping within the iPad app. Sky HD users will also be able to view the planner feature within the iPad app and delete or add shows to the recording list. The update looks like it will arrive ahead of rival TV provider Virgin Media's own iPad offering — set for release in September.

Sky is also planning to add eight live kid's channels to its Sky Go application next month, boosting its offering to 32 live channels on its smartphone, PC, Mac, and iPad apps. Alongside the Sky Go updates, the company's Anytime service will include Channel 5 catch-up programs later this year — an addition that will help it compete with the broader catch-up services offered on Virgin Media's range of set top boxes.

[Source: The Verge]