Rumor Fridays - iPad Mini

We’re all thinking about the 12^th of September the ‘’big’’ Apple event where we all thing we will see a new iPhone, but a rumor has been circling  around for a month or more now talking about not only a new iPhone but a new iPad. The rumored device is a smaller 7 inch iPad mini or ''nano'' if you like.

                This device as said has been rumored for quite some time now, sources saying about a smaller, cheaper iPad which would be a competition to the Kindle Fire (the Fire 2 is expected to come out some time in September also) and Google Nexus 7. This device was less likely to hit the market when Steve Jobs was still alive as a big hater of screens smaller than 9.7 inches saying that smaller screened tablets were not "sufficient to create great tablet apps" and would be "dead on arrival" but in the biography about Steve Jobs there was a line saying that Steve said yes to this 7 inch smaller iPad idea just before he died so this might contribute to the rumors.

                This device would have a 7 inch screen, running iOS 6 (it would be interesting to see what iOS would look like on this size screen), maybe a back iSight camera and a front facing VGA camera (?),the new rumored 9 pin connector, dual-core A5x chip well we think it will have the specifications of the 3^rd gen iPad but would that make for a cheaper tablet?

                Well now all that remains is to wait for a week or two to see if we are going to see a iPad mini or not and if we see it what the specifications and price are going to be. 

Samsung turning pages? Introducing the ATIV series

                It seems that after the verdict of the Californian court and after paying Apple 1 million $ Samsung turned its back to Google and Android seeing that it brought him no good. Now Samsung is changing its strategy and focusing more and more on the Windows platform. Samsung introduced a lot of new devices on IFA 2012 in Berlin already and one of the biggest is Samsung’s ATIV series of devices.

                Samsung ATIV series is a lineup of devices running on the Windows platform. Samsung introduced a notebook called the ATIV Smart PC and ATIV Smart PC Pro. The ATIV Smart PC is designed for Windows 8 RT and the ATIV Smart PC Pro is designed for Windows 8 Pro. This is a transformer notebook. Or is it a tablet with a keyboard dock? Well it’s both. This notebook comes preinstalled with Windows 8 but is fully compatible with Windows 7. When the tablet is docked in to the keyboard dock you get a bigger battery life. Samsung says this is a device for great portability and maximal productivity.

                Another device from Samsung new lineup is the ATIV S a new and first Windows Phone 8. This phone packs some great specs, with a dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, 4g LTE connectivity, 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED screen. The phone shares the design principles that were used in designing the new Galaxy S 3.

                When the ATIV line sis going to hit the market remains a mystery as well as the price of this devices.

Samsung ATIV S – first to run Windows Phone 8

This year's IFA 2012 fair which is held in Berlin is going to be packed with new stuff from the world of ICT technology. A real treat comes from Samsung which presented the ATIV S the first phone running the new Windows Phone 8 platform.

                The device is enveloped in a thin 8.7 millimeter thing aluminum housing, it contains a Super AMOLED 4.8 inch screen (Corning Gorilla Glass 2), dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM memory, back-facing camera of 8 megapixel and a front one which is 1.9 megapixel and it comes in two versions one 16 GB and one 32 GB of internal memory.

                This phone is a classic example of the new design principles in Samsung which they first introduced with the Galaxy S III.When and at what price is the ATIV S going to hit the market remains a mystery. 

It's official the new Galaxy Note 2

This has been rumored for a while and finally Samsung unveiled their new generation of the last-year’s Galaxy Note, the completely new Galaxy Note 2. Samsung unveiled it at the IFA 2012 fair in Berlin.

                From the images it is clear that Samsung completely embraced the design principles of the Samsung Galaxy S III.

                The Galaxy Note 2 has a HD Super AMOLED screen which is 5.5 inches (16:9 aspect ratio), a completely new S Pen which is bigger, longer and overall more ergonomically designed for perfect holding. 1.6 GHz quad-core processor, it has HSPA Plus or 4G LTE connectivity, it’s running Android 2.1 Jelly Bean (which is Androids latest and greatest), it comes in version of 16, 32 or 64 GB of internal memory with the possibility of expanding the storage via microSD card, the battery is a giant 3100mAh and a back camera which is 8 megapixels and a front one which is 1.9 megapixels.

                The new Galaxy Note 2 is available in marble white and titanium silver and it’s expected to hit the market on October throughout Europe, Asia and countries of the Middle East. 

To check the full galery of pictures and videos go to http://samsungifa2012.com/

The new iPhone set to launch on the 21st?

        Judging by the events inside AT&T, iPhone could hit the US market on the 21^st of September. Namely, AT&T has reportedly prohibited vacations for all of its employees from the 21^st to the 30^th which means something big is happening in this timeframe. The launch of a new version of iPhone is as important in the USA as in the rest of the world.

        Unofficial and confidential sources have transferred this rumor but the spokesman of AT&T negated all of it. This cannot affect all of the Apple ‘’fanboys’’ to expect the launch to be on the 21^st. Apple has set an event to take place on the 12^th and it is expected to be the event where the new iPhone (or iPhone 5/6) is going to be released, also a big rumor this past few weeks is a rumored iPad mini which is also expected to be presented on this event. The iPad mini is a 7 inch version of the current iPad. Steve Jobs gave the green light for the device just before he died otherwise a big hater of screens smaller than 9.7 inches.

        Like always just before the official Apple event rumors are flowing like crazy and nothing yet is completely known for sure. The only think we know is that Apple is going to show us something on the 12^th but we don’t know what for sure. However the clue is enough for the excitement.

The new iPhone. Worth the hipe?

Everybody is jumping around Apple now because of the soon to be released iPhone 5 or whatever they are going to call it (if you don’t know Apple is going to release the new iPhone on 12^th September which is 2 weeks from now), but let me just ask you is it really worthy of the hipe? If it’s to judge by the pics and leaks online I don’t think so!

                        Here’s a picture of the ‘’supposed’’ iPhone 5 which was leaked a few weeks ago. So if you look at the picture the new iPhone shares the same design principles as the iPhone 4/4S but the back is now brushed aluminum and glass. Also it has a longer profile and a 16:9 aspect ratio 4 inch screen. We don’t know much about the camera but we suppose it’s going to be about 10 MP, dual-core 1.5 GHz or maybe even quad-core we don’t know. And that’s it, it will run iOS 6 which doesn’t have the new features we want. If Apple doesn’t have ‘’one more thing’’ with this device it won’t be worth the upgrade.

            iOS 6 doesn’t have that many new user features, the only major thing in this is the Passbook app, the user-interface stays the same since 2007 and the original iPhone, we would for one like to see some widgets integrated maybe in the notification center or see some ‘’live’’ backgrounds. iOS 6 was introduced on WWDC 2012 and all of the features that were seen there are not so great. If Apple doesn’t show more great features with the launch of the new iPhone it’s doomed to fall (well not really, Apple is now the most valuable company in the world).

             iPhone 4S had the Apple’s ‘’one more thing’’ and that was Siri, your personal assistant integrated into your iPhone. It was respected and jumped around at first but now it just got boring. So what might we see on the new iPhone remains a mystery. But whatever Apple does with this phone we know that it’s going to become one of the most popular phone at least 2 quarters from release.

Samsung's next big step in inovation ft. Windows 8

As you can see from the picture the word is about a tablet with a keyboard dock. The tablet is probably going to feature a S pen that we've seen in the Galaxy Note line. The tablet is going to run Windows 8.

We are used to see Samsung's name next to the words lawsuit or Apple, but today we write about something completely different from Samsung. Samsung posted a video on Youtube which shows just the siluete and lines of a new product.

It’s not completely sure about what kind of mobile device it’s all about, but there is a keyboard visible and also a stylus which is integrated in the housing of the device. This suggests that this device will be a clear competition to the whole rain of tablets coming this fall. This device is supposed to be presented on IFA in Berlin which is starting in just few days.

In the video the device is under the slogan ‘’Something smart is coming’’ and in the video Samsung uses a lot of Leonardo Da Vinci like visual references with which they are trying to show that it’s truly word of innovation.

In the description of the video Samsung says: ‘’ The time is near for the big reveal! Take a look at this video for a glimpse into our newest Windows-8-ready innovation’’. So we know that this device is going to have a keyboard and a touch screen and if it is not coming with Windows 8 it’s sure that it’s going to be compatible.

Week Recap

This week was an interesting one in the world of tech. All eyes from the tech world were pointed at the Apple vs Samsung lawsuit, we also had a few leaks and more.

A lot of hipe was around the icopedance of Zuckerberg to run a huge company like Facebook, so we wrote about why Mark is not right for the place of CEO of Facebook. Also on Monday we had a leak of new Windows Phone 8 Nokia phones, to to be exact. One is supposed to be a new Lumia and the other one to be a new Nokia Phi. Reed here

Microsoft changed its logo after a full 25 years using the old one. This was all over the news because the new logo uses Microsoft's ''modern'' look which means they are really serious about the new interface. Reed here

The big news this week was the Apple vs Samsung lawsuit, actually there were two lawsuits one was in South Korea and one in California, the one in Korea was won by Samsung, some of Samsung’s and Apple’s older phones will not be sold in South Korea anymore. The one in California, however was won by Apple (apple sewing Samsung for stealing their design and UI patents) and Samsung had to pay 1,05 billion $ to Apple. Story 1 & Story 2

Leaked Nokia Phi?

There was a leak on twitter today. @camb078 published pictures of the suposed Windows Phone 8 nokia device Phi. If we could belive this pictures (and this is less likely) the Nokia Phi will be coming in more colors then classic cyan, white and hot pink. We could see a yellow, flourescent green and orange. The Nokia Phi is supposed to have a 4.65 inch screen size. So we don't know if to thrust this photos but Mynokiablog says that @camb078 is a valid source. 

As we wrote in a previous article Nokia will be holding an event in New York on 5th September where we suppose they are going to introduce new Windows Phone 8 devices.

Apple's lawsuit against Samsung - Apple wins, gets 1,05 billion dollars

It was a furious fight but it seems that Apple had won in the end. But we think in this case it is
safe to say '' The battle has been won but not the war'' - we think this is just another
lawsuit in Apple's attempt to rule the market.

Finally after 21 hours of presenting their explenation the jury of the Californian court brought a unanimous decision -  Samsung is guilty for breaking Apples pettent rights.

Apple's representatives told that they are really happy that justice has been served and that the court sent a clear message that theft is not allowed.

On the other hand Samsung's representatives told that this is a huge loss for American public and that this dosen't mean anything but more expensive phones and lack of inovations.

At least this part of the saga between Apple and Samsung is over - for now. It is sure that  one or even both sides appeal against the final verdict of the Californian court. After all the court ordered Samsung to pay Apple 1.05 billion $ in compensation which is reasonably less than the innicial 2.75 billion $ that Apple asked from Samsung.

Apple loses, Samsung didn't copy Apple design

As we are still waiting for the final verdict of the Californian court, in part of the Apple vs Samsung lawsuit where Apple is looking for 2,5 billion $ compensation, the final sentance of the southkorean court. Samsung did not copy Apple's design of the iPhone and the iPad.

Also the verdict states that Apple is guilty of using Samsung's patents in wirelles technology, but Samung is guilty of using Apples patent of ''bouncing'' display when reaching the end of the menu.

The district court in Seoul introduced a partial stop of distribution of Apple's and Samsung's older products the iPhone 3GS , iPhone 4 as well as the first and second gen iPad, also Samsungs Galaxy S II, the new Galaxy S III and iPhone 4s are safe for sale for now. Of course the verdict is for the southkorean market only.

This is Samsungs small win in it's home court but we still need to see what the Californian court will say in its final sentence.

After 25 years Microsoft changes their official logo

This year Microsoft has a boatload of new things to show us like the new Windows operating system Windows 8, a new mobile platform Windows Phone 8, a completly new office and also new Xbox services and other cool things thats why Microsoft has choosen this year to be the year that they change their official logo.

Microsoft has really embraced the new ''modern'' look trough out it's services and products but now they are implementing it in their new logo. The new logo is made out of a simbol with the onecolored tiles and text. Microsoft has used the tiles that had been used in the Windows logo but the Windows logo has been also changed with the new version. The text in the logo is Segoe - also an element that they use.

A brief presentation of the new look:

Mars Curiosity Rover found life on Mars!

It was only a matter of time. Since NASA's rover Curiosity landed on Mars on 6th of August all eyes are on the material that has been sended to Earth. And here are the first that indicate that there is life on mars.

Something feathery.

And angry.

https://www.facebook.com/angrybirds

Leaked Nokia Windows Phone 8 device

An event was scheduled by Nokia and Microsoft on 5th September and we can only guess whats that going to be about. Of course, Nokia is going to launch it's new Windows phone 8 devices. As this event draws near there are more and more rumours and leaks.

One of the latest leaks was a front panel of a Windows Phone 8 device ( see the buttons and the Windows Phone 8 logo) with a Nokia logo on top and also a hole for a front-facing camera. Sources say that this device is codenamed Phi and it is going to belong to the mid-range market and is going to replace the Lumia 800. The phone has a 4 inch screen and also which is not visible in the picture it's going to have a curved front just like the Lumia 800. The thing that remains a mistery is the space below the capacitive buttons.

The launch of Windows 8 devices by Nokia is scheduled on September 5th but it is expected that they won't hitt the market until november.

When is Zuckerberg going to leave Facebook?

In an article that The Los Angeles Times wrote it's time that Mark Zuckerberg leaves Facebook as its CEO. The main reason is the fall in price of Facebook stocks. When Facebook's stocks went for sale in May they were priced 38 $ pre stock, but now the prices have fallen big and now they are priced at only 20 $.

Thoughts of Stock market analytics Zuckerberg is a visionary in his work and knows in which point move his social network. But he is know-nothing in running a big company like Facebook and is incabable of being it's CEO. Mark has till now shown to be unready for supervising financial operations and daily contacts for potential investitors which are crucial for financial growth of the company.

For all of this Zuckerberg hasn't got the will, he says that he doesn't like them on a personal level or that he can't handle their daily scheduals ( he sleeps till afternoon and for him morning meetings are a no).

Many investitors want to pull out of the company, so that means that there are some changes needed, first the frontman of this comany.

A smartphone without the phone? - Samsung Galaxy Player

The team at SamMobile blog have put their hand on a piece of information involving Samsung to announce the multimedia device Galaxy Player at the cosumer electronics fair IFA 2012 in Berlin.

Judging by the photo Of the Samsung Galaxy Player it has the same design principles as the Galaxy S III but without the function of the classic mobile phone (telephoning). Of course, nothing is stopping you to communicate trough apps like Viber, Skype etc. thanks to the fact that this device is running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The rest of the Galaxy Player's specs are dimensions of 165,8 x 85,9 x 10,8 milimeters, a 223 gram weight, a 5,8 inch screen, dual-core processor clocked at 1GHz, 1 GB of RAM, 3 MP bac camera and a front-facing VGA camera, the battery has a 2500 mAh capacity.

More details on this device and also the Galaxy Note 2 will be known after the keynote on IFA 2012.

Find out how many unactive or fake followers you have on Twitter

As in every other segment on Twitter the rule is - more is better. But ''more'' always has a flaw. Today we show you a online tool which will show you how many unactive and fake followers you have on Twitter. The tool called Faker Scores will show those numbers in percents.

As you can see our Twitter account doesn't have any fake followers but has 22% inactive followers.

But the thing that isn't clear to us is how does the company StatusPeople with their tool find out how many users are indeed fake or inactive, but we will just have to thrust them on this one becouse they do work with social networks.

Try out Faker Scores.


P.S. when we are already talking about Twitter is there anyone who doesn't follow @techsnackblog?

The new Skype. Awfully good and completely ''modern''

As we all know Microsoft's new user interface isn't called Metro anymore, temporarely it was called Windows 8 style UI but lastly Microsoft has gone with the name Modern UI. So now all Windows 8 and Windows phone 8 apps have the implemented Modern UI. The new Skype is no exception it has win over all of the Modern UI features and is now completely designed for Windows 8.

The team over from Neowin had the chance to play with the new version of Skype, the application for comunication and VoIP calling and as told they were realy thrilled with it. Not only does the app run realy stable but has a great elegant design.