Pocketables

KDE Plasma Active's $265 Spark tablet is looking to be one of the better tablets out there; it's a little more expensive than the Kindle Fire and a few other tablets, but the Spark has one special differentiating factor: it runs Linux.

By running linux, the Spark is completely open, meaning that owners can hack, customize, and do whatever they want to the tablet. And the tablet comes with some good specs, too: a 1GHz processor, Mali 400 GPU, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage round out the innards. 

The video that was released today shows off how well the tablet performs. It's very reponsive to touch, and the animations look very smooth as well. Hopefully the Spark will ship sometime in May, but there's no guarantee exactly when it will ship. 

When it is released, are you going to pick one up? 

[Aseigo Blog]

LG has begun to make its way into the US smartphone market in a big way. Other manufacturers like HTC and Samsung have been releasing many phones here for a while, but the company that claims "Life's Good" introduced its first smartphone in 2008, and had stayed relatively quiet since then until the beginning of last year. Now, LG is pumping out numerous devices for the US market, running either Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 or Google's Android.

The latest LG smartphone is the LG Miracle, which we covered on Tuesday. It's running Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, and is destined for either AT&T and T-Mobile. While Tuesday brought us the specs and a leaked promotional image of the device, today brings us actual images. 

Those images will be past the break, but let's run through the specs once more. Like I already stated, the Miracle will be running Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, which will be driven by the following: 4-inch 800 x 480 NOVA display, 1GHz processor, NFC connectivity, 5MP back camera, and VGA quality front camera.

We don't know exactly when this device will be officially announced, but we do know that it will be announced at some point in Q1 2012. To me, that sounds like we'll see some mention of it at MWC, and hopefully a release soon afterwards. Of course, if you're seriously considering a Windows Phone, you're probably looking towards a Nokia-branded one. I have a feeling this will be a not-so popular device, unless it's offered at free on contract.

The rest of the images are past the break, but are you interested in this phone?

Two of HTC's upcoming smartphones for this year, the Ville and Edge, have already been revealed in leaks. They would already make a pretty impressive lineup by themselves, at least if they were on multiple carriers. However, despite their resolution to focus on better quality with less hardware, HTC has managed to add at least one more new device to their plans.

What you see in the image to the left is the latest leaked HTC smartphone, which looks something like the Droid Incredible with thanks to a topographical battery cover. Its specs, however, are more in line with the HTC Ville. According to the leak, it brings to the table a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 8MP rear and VGA front cameras, and an AMOLED display

Both the resolution and size of the display are unknown, but it appears to be at least a 4.3-inch panel, and I would hope that HTC includes at least a qHD resolution. 720p would obviously be preferred, but that would make this device very similar to the Rezound.

On the software side, this device is running HTC's custom Sense 4.0 UI on top of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. As usual, Sense doesn't look particularly bad, but stock Ice Cream Sandwich would almost certainly have been better.

The source of the photos has supposedly confirmed that the device is headed to Verizon's 4G network, which would make its status as the Droid Incredible 3 even more likely. While it would have been nice to see a quad-core processor, if the unnamed device/Incredible 3 does end up with a 720p display, it could make a nice alternative to the Spectrum.

[phoneArena]

This week has been pretty dedicated to Windows news, but that doesn't mean other companies haven't made announcements and product releases of their owns. One of those companies is Enspert, who today announced that its E201 Identity Tab is purchasable for a mere $149 today.

The tablet is already a little over a year old. In fact, the last time it was covered on Pocketables was when Jenn unboxed it on January 31st of 2011. Of course, back then it was a still reasonable $349, but today's cut of over $200 makes the device actually worth taking a look at this far into its life. 

Let me tell you about the specs as a refresher, since it has been a year since you last heard about them. It's got a 7-inch display with a low resolution of 800 x 480, 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 512MB of RAM, HDMI out, SD card slot, 8GB of internal storage, and 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1.

Naturally, when considering devices in the $100-$200 range, one also has to take into account the Kindle Fire which, for $50 more than the Identity Tab, will get you a higher resolution screen and a dual-core processor. You don't get HDMI out, SD storage expandability, or cameras with the Kindle, but the decision is obviously yours; pick whichever one fits your needs the best. 

Hit up the Dynamism source link below to order yours. 

[Dynamism via Liliputing]

One of the most common complaints about Android devices is the lack of updates from the manufacturers. Usually, we attribute this to the manufacturer's custom software skins, but Motorola has come out blaming the wide range of Android hardware for delays in updates. In General Manager Christy Wyatt's own words,

I'd say it's the hardware that's the long pole in the tent...dealing with the software is not the hard part."

It seems clear that Motorola is trying to divert attention from their decision to continue using their custom skins on their devices, because a commonly proposed solution is for them to ship with stock Android and differentiate with hardware. So, if hardware is actually to blame for the delays, then there is less of a reason for users to want custom UIs removed. (Other than the fact that they simply aren't any good.)

However, this argument doesn't make any sense at all. Developers who work only in their spare time can often get incredibly stable ROM's based on the latest software out within a couple months. So, while diverse hardware certainly adds to the problem, software customizations are still one of the main holdups. Hopefully the Google acquisition will result in Motorola shipping stock Android, but until then we need to keep the pressure on Motorola and other manufacturers to ship stock Android on their devices and update existing hardware in a timely manner.

 [CNET]

On top of everything else that has been announced for a launch at Mobile World Congress, NVIDIA has just sent out these invitations for its MWC event, in which the company will show off its quad-core Tegra 3 processor for use in smartphones. 

The market is already starting to proliferate with Tegra 3 devices, but all of them have been tablets and not phones. This event by NVIDIA will be showing off "Quad-core performance and great battery life" and "just how far NVIDIA has taken these innovations."

Companies should be showing off their own quad-core phones by themselves, too, so hopefully MWC 2012 is the "MWC of quad-core." That was, admittedly, pretty cheesy, but I do believe we'll see a ton of awesome quad-core phones from a lot of manufacturers, most of which will run Android. 

How many cores does your current phone have? And are you expecting to upgrade to a quad-core phone once they're released?

[MobileSyrup]

The Nokia N9 is an impressive piece of hardware, but it never really went up for sale in the US, and Nokia has actually stopped supporting its MeeGo OS thanks to a deal with Microsoft. As such, few people got to enjoy the long anticipated piece of Nokia hardware based on a Linux OS, which is now likely to be the last such device from Nokia.

Thanks to the power of open source, however, N9 fans have another option. The NITDroid project is an effort to get Android running on, you guessed it, Nokia hardware. While the actual project has been around since the days of the N900 and N810 (quite some time ago), the latest development is especially exciting. 

After quite a lot of effort, developers have gotten Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to start up and function on the N9. Now, function is used lightly, as there are obvious render anomalies on the display, but the touchscreen is said to function properly. Of course, this is not intended to be a user release anyways, and is only the developers showing that they can in fact run ICS on the N9.

However, according to the source of these images, a method is in the works to allow N9 users to dual boot MeeGo and Android, and will be released sometime soon. Most of us agree that Nokia makes some very striking hardware, and if this port functions even on a basic level it would only make the hardware that much better. In fact, now that it is selling for about $450 on Amazon, I may have to consider picking one up myself.

[My Nokia Blog]

Hey! Are you tired of hearing about Windows 8? No? Good. Neither are we!

Today, Windows President Steven Sinofsky wrote a blog post on the Building Windows 8 blog, detailing the process that went into developing Windows for use on the ARM architecture, as well as confirming (and denying) a few myths about the next iteration of Microsoft's desktop operating system.

First off, WOA (Windows on ARM) will be able to run the traditional Windows desktop. Devices using those processors will have complete access to the desktop, along with desktop versions of apps — including Microsoft Office. In Sinofsky's own words: 

"...we’ve designed WOA to look and feel just like you would expect. WOA enables creativity in PC design that, in combination with newly architected features of the OS, will bring to customers new no-compromise experiences."

Unfortunately, not everything is perfect. Sinofsky stated that you won't be able to install WOA on other devices, nor will you be able to install apps from outside the Windows Marketplace. That certainly won't go over well with people who are used to Windows; after all, in existing Versions of Windows, users can install apps from wherever they want.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, WOA PCs are estimated to ship at the same time as their x86/x64 counterparts. This means that WOA should take off at a rapid rate when compared to the competition, especially given the fact that you can get a full desktop experience with better battery life. 

I won't make any rush decisions on what I feel about Windows 8 just yet, but I am super happy to hear that ARM tablets/PCs will be able to access the traditional desktop. Let's just hope we can also access the traditional Start button, too.

[Building Windows 8]

Android is being used more and more on all kinds of devices, including business tablets and smartphones. However, sometimes you just need to have a full operating system to get something done. While Windows 8 is certainly looking promising for mobile users who need that kind of functionality, SDG Systems has already announced a rugged tablet with a full desktop operating system that is based on Ubuntu.

The tablet, called the Trimble Yuma, is actually a slight redesign of a previous Windows 7 business tablet, but with slightly updated specs. Its hardware matches up nicely with netbooks, as it includes a 7-inch display, 1.6GHz Atom processor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 32GB or 80GB SSD. It does have some additional consumer/business oriented features, like GPS, dual cameras, and SDHC and ExpressCard slots.

As far as ruggedized goes, the Yuma looks very good compared to some other "ruggedized" hardware we have seen. It has a magnesium alloy case to protect everything, is water and dust-resistant, meets the United States Military Standard for durability, and has an Ingress Protection rating of 67.

Last year, we heard of Canonical's (Ubuntu's parent company) plans to bring the Ubuntu OS to mobile devices, and while it doesn't appear that SDG Systems is affiliated with Cannonical, they have done just that. Unfortunately, their device has been designed strictly for the business side of things, with a consumer shocking $3695 a device sticker price.

Still, the Trimble Yuma is pretty cool simply for being a practically indestructible tablet with a unique OS, and something that I would own if I could afford it. The KDE Spark tablet may be a better fit for consumers, this might serve as a good baseline example what Ubuntu and Linux can be on a full fledged Micro PC, and get people interested in full featured operating systems on tablets.

[PCWorld]

In just three days, the Nokia and Microsoft partnership will be one year old. A lot of good things have come out of it already, like the three (official) Lumia Windows Phones from Nokia. 

However, it might be working a little too well. Nokia VP Victor Saeijes told a Swedish newspaper that the only future option for the company is Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. In fact, Nokia doesn't even have a true plan B! "Plan B is that Plan A must succeed," said Saeijes.

Here's more of the interview, which gives a good, in-depth look at how Nokia views Windows Phone:

“It’s like starting all over again. But we must succeed in the U.S. if we are to succeed in the world.” 

Granted, Nokia is still dishing out Symbian updates for existing phones, but this is a pretty clear indication that it's a platform that will be abandoned quite soon. In any case, I'm happy that Nokia has a set path that it's going to take for the foreseeable future, as I'm a huge Nokia fan and I would hate to see the company perish. 

[Dagens Industri (Translated)]