If you are an HTC fan who was not too excited with their flagship One, maybe this is the phone that is destined to reach your hands. HTC has unveiled their Butterfly S, the successor to the original 1080p Butterfly handset.

The device is coming equipped with a 5-inch, 1080p Super LCD 3 display with scratch-resistant glass. That’s 440ppi for all you pixel freaks out there. It has a 2.1-megapixel front cam and a 4-megapixel UltraPixel back camera with support for HTC Zoe. So the device’s HTC ImageChip 2 processor will create 30 second clips using your snapshots.

Under the hood, there’s a quad-core 1.9GHZ Snapdragon 600 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage. Unlike most One versions, this one gets a microSD card slot. And it runs Android Jelly Bean and also has front-facing BoomSound stereo speakers, Sense 5, and a whopping 3,200mAh battery, so you don’t have to think about juicing it up all the time.

The HTC Butterfly S will retail in Taiwan for NT$22,900 ($767). It will be available from July in grey, white and red. No announcements have been made regarding availability or pricing in other countries, though we wouldn’t be terribly surprised if this eventually made its way to Verizon as the HTC Droid DNA 2 (though that’s just speculation). We will keep you updated, so stay tuned.

Are you interested in this device? Do you feel that this device is what the HTC One should have been?

The hands-on video posted below comes to us courtesy of Engadget China. It’s in Chinese, of course, though you can take a good look at the device.

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The post HTC Butterfly S Now Official (Hands-On Video) appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Sony has plans for a “big surprise” at an event in Paris which has been scheduled for the 4^th of July. The tall and slim device that you see in the French press invite above is thought to be an upcoming phablet from the company.

Rumor suggests that the device, which is expected to be called the Sony Xperia Z Ultra (remember the Xperia ZU?), is coming equipped with a 6.4-inch screen with 1080p HD resolution (342 ppi). But what’s more exciting is that the phablet could arrive with a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor. So it will be one powerhouse of a device, especially compared to devices like the Galaxy S4 which feature a Snapdragon 600.

Other rumored specs include 16GB of internal storage, NFC, an 8-megapixel camera and a 1.3 megapixel front cam, 2GB RAM, and it is said to be compatible with a stylus and objects like pencils. And like the Xperia Z smartphone and tablet, the device will be dust and water resistant. It is thought to be capable of surviving immersion up to one meter for 30 minutes.

So, will you be interested in the device if it’s indeed coming? Or is that screen a tad too big?

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Apparently several analysts have forecasted that the sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 will be lower than the company’s expectations, and things may get worse once new Apple and Nokia devices arrive. Luckily Samsung has been pretty aggressive with its S4 line, expanding the family out to several new devices like the S4 Active. Now they are planning to launch an S4 with LTE-advanced 4G technology as well.

J.K. Shin, Samsung co-chief executive, told Reuters, “We’ll be the first with the commercial launch of the advanced 4G version of the smartphone“. The device will have a slightly higher price tag than the S4 and will be launched in South Korea as early as this month. They have been in talks with several foreign carriers, though there haven’t been any hints about which ones.

The S4 device which will be using the high speed network will be coming equipped with Qualcomm chips. LTE-Advanced, an upgrade from LTE, is already available in some parts of Russia. The network provides up to twice the speed available via normal 4G. Russian carrier Yota, which was the first to launch LTE-Advanced, is promising speeds of 300Mbps.

Shin said, “As operators seek to provide more data-centric mobile services, I think this will become mainstream 4G technology globally in the coming years”.

But the co-exec’s words are certainly no confirmation that the device will be launched in the U.S. Of course, the network has to launch first. AT&T’s LTE-Advanced is coming in the second half of this year, while Verizon will launch soon by utilizing AWS frequencies. T-Mobile is also expected to launch the network sometime in the future, but no hints about any LTE-A plans from Sprint.\

Can we expect anything else out of the Galaxy S4 with LTE Advanced? While nothing else is confirmed, previous rumors suggest this model might ditch the Snapdragon 600 in favor of a much more impressive Snapdragon 800 processor. What do you think of all these variants of the S4, is this a good thing or are there too many at this point? Share your thoughts below!

The post Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE Advanced Smartphone Coming Soon appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The assumption is that AT&T has built up a strong enough infrastructure with its LTE network to now support the increased load necessary to handle its GoPhone prepaid service too. This support will open up next week on June 21st. If you’re a GoPhone user and you have an LTE-compatible device, you should be able to connect starting then.

If you’re on the GoPhone service (or want to sign up) and don’t have an LTE device, AT&T is helping with that too. The budget-oriented Samsung Galaxy Express has the looks to stay in line with the Galaxy line but at a more affordable price. Selling for $249.99 sans contract, the Galaxy Express has a 4.5-inch WVGA AMOLED display, 1.5GHz dual core processor, 5MP camera and 8GB of storage.

As far as the LTE-compatible GoPhone plans go, they all include international texts from the US to Canada, Mexico and about 100 other countries. The cheapest plan is $25/month for 250 minutes, but you need to tack on $5 for 50MB of data. Going through 50MB on LTE is really fast, so you might consider the higher plans. For $40/month, you get 200MB, 500 anytime minutes and additional data at $5/100MB. The highest plan is $60/month and it has 2GB of data with unlimited calling. Add more data at a rate of $10 per gig.

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The post AT&T GoPhone Prepaid Getting Access to 4G LTE Network Next Week appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Apparently what we’ve seen so far with T-Mobile’s UNcarrier approach is just the beginning, at least if the latest rumor proves correct. Supposedly two other phases will eventually roll out bring more changes, with phase 2 likely coming sometime around mid-July.

So what changes will phase 2 bring? Apparently there will be some new no-credit check options for those that either have poor credit, no credit or simply wish to avoid having their credit checked for whatever reason.
This doesn’t mean that you’ll qualify for any purchase plans, it just means that you can get in on a Simple Choice plan by buying your device outright. Basically it will be like prepaid – but not.

Supposedly there is also plans to combine their UNcarrier approach with MetroPCS, and is expected to tie in with 15 additional markets that MetroPCS will be launching in.

As for phase 3? We have no clue at the moment.Either way, these supposed phases are merely rumors at the moment, so take them with a grain of salt. What do you think of T-Mobile’s no-contract approach so far, is a real game-changer or more of a gimmick than anything? Let us know what you think!

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While the Sony Xperia Z is capable of withstanding harsh treatments, when it comes to the specs the Galaxy S4 is certainly superior. So those who bought the Samsung device have to be more careful, you ask? Maybe not, as it appears like the S4 is pretty rugged itself.

Samsung has posted a video on YouTube which shows the Galaxy S4 being punished in a variety of ways and the device seems to be surviving everything. Of course, they wouldn’t have released the video if the S4s that were tested didn’t make it.

As you will see in the video below, which is in Korean with English subs, they are putting it through punishments such as dropping it from a height, punching it, covering it with dust, keeping it under water, giving it an electric shock, and even baking it. The device is doing well against all those attacks.

Check out the video and leave your thoughts below. They are saying about “thousands of other tests” that they aren’t able to show us. What could those be, we wonder.

Want even more protection out of the Galaxy S4? You could always consider the Galaxy S4 Active instead.

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Losing your smartphone is never fun, especially when it was straight-out phone theft that led to its disappearance. When a phone is taken from you, there isn’t much you can do, other than wipe/lock the device if you happen to have some kind of security app/service supported on the device.

Apparently San Francisco and New York prosecutors want to go to war with smartphone theft in a bigger way, by launching the “Save of Smartphones Initiative”. The idea here is that the group would work with various consumer groups and organizations to put pressure on smartphone makers to place tighter restrictions on stolen devices – with the hopes that this would discourage theft in the first place.

Earlier this week, Apple took its own step forward with security by introducing a new feature in iOS 7 that it make it much harder for unauthorized individuals to reactive a phone. It still remains to be seen how effective this will be, however.

Do you agree with the “Save the Smartphones” initiative, should carriers and smartphone makers take more responsibility for preventing the sale and distribution of stolen devices? Or is it up to the consumer to protect their device and use free/low-cost tools (when available) to help protect their important data in the event it falls into the wrong hands? Share your thoughts below.

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It looks like the Xperia Z is getting a bigger brother. According to new exclusive info from ePrice, we now know a lot more about Sony’s upcoming Xperia ZU.

First, the latest member of the Z family will allegedly be announced on the 25th of this month. Second, the phone will be powered by a 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 processor. We also know it will have 2GB RAM, an 8MP camera and a non-removable 3,000 mAh battery.

As for the display, the phone is expected to feature a monster 6.4-inch 1080p screen. Like the Xperia Z, the ZU will also be waterproof and apparently will also feature a unique new tech that makes it possible to use just about anything as a stylus. This means that while it won’t include a stylus, you can grab just about anything around you and make it work with the display.

In short, the Xperia ZU is a premium rival to Samsung’s Galaxy Mega, though it certainly packs quite a bit more punch. This also means the handset will likely be quite expensive. No word on what markets Sony plans to bring to the ZU to, so here’s to hoping it makes its way outside of Japan.

Excited by the prospect of a phone/tablet hybrid from Sony, or couldn’t care less?

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The post Sony’s 6.4-inch Xperia ZU Coming June 25th? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

While we’ve known about the HTC One Mini (aka M4) for a while now, we’ve yet to see a clear, credible image of the device – until today. A trusted source of Engadget has now supplied new information about the HTC M4 (One Mini), alongside the image you see above.

As you can see, the phone clearly borrows from the design language of its bigger brother, to the point that you probably couldn’t even tell the difference at first glance.

So we know that the HTC One Mini is a smaller version of the HTC One, but what else do we know about it? The report suggests the phone will have a 4.3-inch display (likely 720p), a dual-core 1.4GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, and will feature Android 4.2.2 with Sense 5.

Now we just have to wait for HTC to go ahead and make it official. As for when its coming, the HTC One Mini supposedly is scheduled for launch in Q3 of this year. That means it could be coming in just a few short months.

What do you think of the 4.3-inch Mini, would you consider it over its bigger brother or not?

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The post New Image of the HTC One Mini Leaks to the Net appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Symbian is dead. I know it, you know it. Nokia knows it.

Whether you loved Symbian or not, the OS has fallen behind over the years as Nokia has instead pushed hard into Windows Phone territory. While it has been obvious for a while now that Symbian wasn’t a priority, Nokia is now reportedly killing off the OS this summer.

Part of this change is because while Nokia still sold 500,000 Symbian smartphones in 1st quarter 2013, Windows Phone 8 is finally starting to outsell the aging platform. There has also been several high-quality Nokia handsets that are low enough in cost to compete in the developing space in the way Symbian previously has — the Lumia 520 series comes to mind.

While the days of Symbian might be winding down, we can’t help but applaud the OS for a good, long run. After all it was only around two years ago that Symbian still retained its position as the best-selling smartphone platform in the world.

Do you feel that Nokia made the right decision by pushing away from Symbian and moving over to Windows Phone? Anyone still clinging to Symbian OS, other than for possible financial reasons? Share your thoughts below.

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