Nokia announces two low cost phones, Nokia 207 and Nokia 208

Nokia has just announced two new low cost phones, the Nokia 207 and the Nokia 208.

Both, the Nokia 207 and the Nokia 208 share the same specs, a 2.4-inch QVGA display, 256 MB flash memory, SD card support up to 32GB, 3.5G HSPA internet support, Bluetooth 3.0, micro USB, 3.5mm AV connector and 1,020 mAh battery that offers more than a month of standby time and talk time up to 12 hours on a 2G connection.

The only difference is that the Nokia 208 comes equipped with a 1.3-megapixel camera on the back and will be available in two versions, dual SIM and single SIM, while the Nokia 207 will be available only as a single SIM and without the camera.

All three variants will be available in black, white, red and cyan color options sometime in Q3 and will cost around $68 before local taxes and subsidies.

Motorola Moto X sign up page goes live

Today, Motorola has launched a sign up page for its upcoming flagship smartphone, the Moto X.

Last month during the D11 conference the company has confirmed the handset but additional info regarding the look and the specs were not unveiled.

From the page we can see that "the first smartphone designed, engineered and assembled in the USA is coming." Motorola notes that the Moto X "it's also the first smartphone that you can design yourself". Whatever this means we can only hope that Motorola will come up with something interesting and innovative for the customers.

If you are over 16 years old and you are interested in new information about the Moto X visit this link and sign up.

Xperia Honami, Sony’s upcoming camera phone photos leaked

Photos of the upcoming camera phone by Sony, the Xperia Honami, leaked the net.

The Sony Xperia Honami is rumored to feature a 20-megapixel camera on the back with a xenon flash, a 5-inch Triluminos display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, will be powered by a quad core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, Adreno 330 GPU, microSD memory card slot, a dedicated camera button and magnetic charging dock.

It's expected Sony to unveil the handset at IFA trade show in Berlin in September.

Samsung Galaxy Memo leaked?

The guys over at SamMobile have received renders of what they believe is the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Memo.

According to the rumor, the Galaxy Memo will feature a 4.5-inch Full HD TFT LCD screen, a 1.4 GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 8-megapixel back camera, a stylus support (shown on the render below) and to run Android 4.2.2 with TouchWiz Nature UX on top of it.

Take this rumor with a grain of salt, SamMobile notes the renders they received were sent from a new, unknown source.

Microsoft Should Give Away the Windows Phone 8 OS to Phone Manufactures

While Windows Phone is growing as an OS and more and more manufactures are making WP8 devices the OS is not catching fire like Microsoft would have hoped. I believe one of the main reasons for this is the fact that Microsoft charges a licensing fee for every WP device shipped.  When a OEM is looking to build and sell a phone cost is one of the major factors in all of their decisions. So what if just to get the Windows Phone ball rolling faster they gave the OS away for a limited period of time?  Say just a year?

The fact that Android was free to use a few years ago brought in more than one OEM  into the fold and kept them there long enough for Google to improve the OS till was actually usable. (HTC didn't dump all that money into Sense for nothing you know.) After a while almost all the major OEM's were using Android (expect Nokia and Apple) mainly because it was free and the consumers adopted it simple because it was there. Which made developers flock to it so they could make money on their apps, which in turn made more consumers buy phones running the OS.

Now would Microsoft be able to work the same magic with Windows Phone if it was free? Short answer, nope not chance. However they would be able to get more OEM's in the Windows Phone game, sell devices at lower price points and move quicker than ever before on taking the two spot from iOS. While short term Microsoft would lose money in the long run it would be the profitable thing to do. They would make more money in the selling apps in the store, they would get more ad money from Bing, etc... Not only that but once a OEM starts to make Windows Phone devices and the OS really starts to pick up users people will come to expect a Windows Phone device from almost every manufacture. At that point Microsoft starts charging for the Windows Phone OS again when OEM's would be willing to pay for it simply because their customers expect it.

Will Microsoft ever make this move and give away their OS free? (they can call it advertising expenditure if it makes them happy) Not if the past is any indication of the future they will not. This is a shame too they need to strike before Apple stops playing catching up (you know before they do something innovative like they use to)  and while it would be still be easy to put the final nail in Blackberry's coffin.

Nokia Asha 501 to launch this week

The Nokia Asha 501 was unveiled last month, and now Nokia has announced that the latest Asha handset will go on sell this week.

The first countries to get the Nokia Asha 501 will be Pakistan and Thailand. The rollout will continue in India, followed by countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. Customers in Brazil and other Latin American countries will get the handset in late summer.

The Nokia Asha 501 is the first smartphone running the new Asha Platform and features a 3-inch QVGA display, 128 MB Flash, 4 GB of internal memory (expandable up to 32GB), 3.2-megapixel camera, WiFi, Micro USB, 1,200 mAh battery that provides 17 hours of talk time and 48 days in standby and interchangeable back cover.It will be available in cyan, bright red, yellow, bright green, black and white for $99 before local taxes and subsidies.

Are you getting a Nokia Asha 501?

Sony Xperia ZU photo leaks

Just one day before the official announcement, photo of the upcoming Sony Xperia ZU have leaked the net.

The Xperia ZU (Z Ultra) is expected to feature a 6.44-inch 1080p display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, Android 4.2 and a new screen technology from Sony that allows you to use a pencil or a pen instead of a dedicated stylus.

Tomorrow at Shanghai's Mobile Asia Expo 2013, Sony is holding a special press where is expected to announce the Xperia ZU.

Xperia ZU screenshots leaked, specs confirmed, Sony adds extra column and row of icons

There have been rumors about upcoming Sony Xperia ZU (codename Togari) phablet, but now we have some screenshots that unveil (confirm) the specs of the device.

Earlier rumors suggested that the handset will come with a 6.44-inch 1080p display but according to the leaked screenshots, the Xperia ZU will have a slightly smaller 6.21-inch 1920x1080 display (maybe the 0.23-inch difference is the size of Sony's navigation bar). Other confirmed specs are a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and Android 4.2.2.

Also, there are some screenshot showing the launcher of the Xperia ZU. Thanks to the bigger screen, Sony has managed to “squeeze” additional column and row of icons.

Sony is holding a special event next week (June 25) in Berlin where is expected Xperia ZU to be officially announced.

Unnamed, Unreleased Nokia Lumia EOS Gets Reviewed

In perhaps either best leak or the worst kept secret in the world  the unreleased Nokia Lumia EOS has now been reviewed. That's right we now have a review by ViziLeaks on their own blog on the Lumia EOS. While they can't give away to much information without giving their source away there is some new nuggets that I will summarize for you below.

The Lumia EOS is cool and metallic, The top contains a micro-sim card tray (yes, because its a non-removable cover), 3.5mm headphone jack, and a noise cancellation microphone. The bottom contains a drilled speaker grille, a micro USB socket, followed by a lanyard u-port.

They also noted that besides the camera hump on the back of the device that it looks pretty much like a Lumia 920 and while they can't give out specs of this device GSM Arena is closest to the truth. You can check those specs out here.

Here is a short video where you can see the 41-megapixel camera.

Official launch is rumored to be early next month. I hope Nokia can leave some surprises under their hat about this device till then.