European carriers reportedly mass order nano-SIM cards

According to the Financial Times, the majority of European carriers have placed mass orders for nano-SIM cards. The reason for this is the next iPhone featuring the recently approved 4FF nano-SIM card design.

The new nano-SIM card is 40 percent smaller than the existing micro-SIM and has recently seen wide support with smartphone manufacturers besides Apple.

Motorola, Nokia, RIM and Apple have proposed a design for the nano-SIM to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), which eventually chose the Apple solution. Still, if the current micro-SIM is anything to go by, don't expect the new nano-SIM standard to become mainstream for at least another year or two.

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Samsung break smartphone sales record in Q2

The official numbers aren't out just yet, but according to Reuters, Samsung might have broken the smartphone sales record in what is otherwise considered a pretty slow quarter.

Reuters polled 41 analysts and, based on their estimates, claim that the Korean company shipped 50 million smartphones in Q2. That would make Samsung an undisputed smartphone leader as the second-placed Apple reportedly experienced a drop in its sales and shipped 30 million units compared to 35 million in Q1.

Undoubtedly the strong performance of Samsung is helped by the launch of its flagship device - the Galaxy S III, which first became available at the end of May. With the smartphone only finding its way to the US shelves in Q3 we should probably expect more good news from Samsung in three months' time.

As for Apple - the demand for the iPhone was naturally weaker in Q2 as it's starting to show signs of age (the 4S was already 8 months old at the end of the quarter). There are also rumors that this has forced Apple to move the launch of the iPhone 5 to an earlier date, reportedly at the start of August, instead of the planned October release.

	Mean	Median	High	Low	No	Yr ago	Change	Prev.Q
Global Smartphones	151	151	163	126	17	89.0	69.7	145
Global Cellphones	405	400	422	375	25	365	11.0	398
Samsung -Smart devices	95.8 50.0	94.5 50.0	105 55.0	88.0 46.0	12 9	70.0 17.0	36.9 194.1	93.8 42.2
Nokia -Smart devices --Windows	80.1 10.4 3.71	81.0 11.0 4.00	90.0 13.0 5.00	70.0 5.00 2.00	40 33 24	88.5 17.0 n/a	-9.5 -38.8 n/a	82.7 11.9 2.00
Apple	30.5	30.0	37.0	26.0	16	20.3	50.2	35.1
ZTE	24.3	24.5	29.0	21.0	6	13.0	86.9	19.1
LG	14.4	14.0	17.0	13.0	12	24.8	-41.9	13.7
Huawei	17.7	16.0	23.0	14.0	3	11.9	48.7	10.8
HTC	9.52	9.50	11.0	8.30	13	12.1	-21.3	7.70
Motorola	9.32	9.00	11.0	8.00	14	11.0	-15.3	8.90
Sony	8.11	8.00	10.0	5.70	12	7.60	6.7	7.90
RIM	7.99	8.00	11.0	6.00	16	13.0	-38.5	9.90

The Reuters report also points at Samsung as the World's number one cellphone manufacturer in general, a title the company holds for a second consecutive quarter after overtaking Nokia in Q1. According to the analysts the Koreans sold a total of 95.8 million mobile phones (that's smartphonesand featurephones) during Q2, compared to the 80.1 million that Nokia managed.

The bit of good news for Nokia is that the company managed to ship 3.71 million Windows Phone smartphones, which is a more than 85% increase over the 2 million in the first three months of the year. If the Finns manage to retain the same level of growth through the year they might be back in the smartphone game come the holiday quarter.

Source | Via

Windows Phone 8 to get mass storage and screenshot support

We are hearing reports of two often requested features on Windows Phone making their way in Windows Phone 8.

The first is mass storage mode. When Microsoft announced that they were adding support for microSD cards in Windows Phone 8, it was unclear whether they would go with the popular mass storage protocol or the media transfer protocol. Well, it seems they are going with the former, a decision that we applaud.

Next comes the ability to take screenshots. This has been a bugbear with Windows Phone right from the start where if you weren't a developer there was no way to take a screenshot on the device itself. Now we are hearing that Windows Phone will let you grab screenshots by pressing the Windows key and the camera key simultaneously.

Now there is nothing particularly new or exciting about these features. That is, until they are missing. Which is why we are glad to see that Microsoft has added them in Windows Phone 8.

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Apple iOS 6 beta 3 is now seeding to developers

Three weeks after iOS 6 beta 2 became available, Apple has began seeding the third beta version of its latest mobile OS. The iOS 6 beta 3 update is available as an over-the-air download to everyone running the previous release.


As always, the update offers various bug fixes and performance improvements. They include the addition of more 3D city flyovers in the Maps application, as well roadwork and traffic information. Furthermore, the update brings the beginning of the migration of MobileMe (me.com) email addresses to iCloud.com ones.

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A Verizon branded LG Optimus Vu gets caught in spy shots

It looks like the US version of the Samsung Galaxy Note is about to get some competition in the phoneblet realm in the immediate future. LG's answer to the Note - the Opitmus Vu has been caught in a series of spy shots, sporting Verizon Wireless livery.

As you can notice in the photos above, the handset will run Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich when it gets unveiled. The rest of the its specs are the same as in the LG Optimus Vu, which we recently reviewed.

Launch date and pricing of the Verizon Wireless flavored LG Optimus Vu are yet to be announced. We doubt it will be a long wait though.

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Unlocked Xperia S, P and U arrive to the Sony US store

Sony's NXT line is now available in the United States via the company's stores and its website. TheXperia S comes in black and white and will set you back $559.99, the Xperia P comes in black, red and silver and costs $479.99, while the Xperia U comes in Black/Pink, Black/White and White/Yellow variants for $299.99. Naturally these are all prices for unlocked smartphones and you don't need to sign any kind of contract.

The trio will also be offered via Newegg.com and other online retailers, but pricing may vary as the above prices are manufacturer suggested.

All three of Sony's NTX smartphones share a common drawback in the lack of expandable storage but make up for it with cool design, great build quality and Sony's custom Android skin. If you're considering purchasing either of the three you might want to check out our Xperia S, Xperia U and Xperia P full-fledged reviews. Source

Meizu MX 4-core is now available globally, pricing still steep

The original (dual-core) Meizu MX is one of the most popular smartphones in China. Shortly after the launch there, it was quietly made available around the world from various retailers. Later, after the huge success of the MX, Meizu announced a quad-core version – the MX 4-core.

Well, the quad-core model is now selling globally as well. Unfortunately it costs north of $650 for the 32GB version, which seems a bit steep compared to the Chinese price of CNY2999 ($470). And if you want the 64GB model, prepare to part with another $100 (there is no 16GB version). Not that the other quad core smartphones cost much less, but one would expect Meizu to offer more attractive pricing than the established smartphone players. We do believe the international price will drop a bit after a few weeks, though, so maybe not all is lost.

We already got the Meizu MX 4-core in our office and the review is in the works. You can check its first benchmark results and how those stacks up against the other members of the quad-core gang right here.

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