The hotly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S3 will be launched officially on the 3^rd of May, but nobody knows what the device looks like or what it has under the hood, although we do know that it will be a quad core phone. Some people have managed to get their hands on an unannounced Android phones before, sometimes they are kind enough to show it to us. What you see in the photos comes to us courtesy of the folks at Gizmodo Brazil who claim the handset could possibly be the S3.

From the looks of things, Samsung has decided just an incremental update and not a major overhaul. The device is said to be thinner, but heavier, and it is coming equipped with a 12 megapixel camera, which is good news for the shutterbugs.

According to Gizmodo Brazil, the device’s serial number is Samsung GT-I9300, which suggests that the device could be the recently leaked Galaxy M, a mid-range handset. But their source believes that it is the high-end S3 “because of the speed and screen”.

We surely won’t have to wait too long to know about what the device looks like and what it packs. But make sure that you stay tuned to this space for updates.

The post Take A Look At The Upcoming Samsung Galaxy S3 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

This is in response to Gizmodo’s post, “We’re done with Kickstarter.”

The basis that Gizmodo has chosen to blacklist the creative community Kickstarter is insulting and should really have us take a closer look at the ethics and morals of Gawker media as a source of information we can trust.

The Kickstarter community is hardly a “mob of drooling optimistic simpletons,” as Gizmodo editor, Joe Brown cleverly called us while including himself in order to lighten up the attack.   Kickstarter is mostly built up of engineers, product designers, creative videographers, photographers, writers, musicians, the list goes on, the community supports itself in essence, by creators backing creators.  Some Kickstarter projects get mainstream coverage, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to get funded.

I love Kickstarter and what it has brought the world.  Never before have we been able to create anything we dreamt up and have people stand next to us, voting with their money and seeing it through from design to delivery.  In a pre-kick world there was very little means for anyone to fund something they were passionate about, unless they had their big bucks behind it.  Kickstarter changed that.

Sure, Kickstarter has gained popularity over the last year, and this has caused more projects and ideas to come to the drawing board.  It’s the next logical step really.  And no, there is no filter to Kickstarter, anyone can post a project so long as they have an account and an idea. Which is a great thing.  What this does is it gives us the opportunity as supporters to mindfully decide what we want and who we would like to support.  If it was any other way, some private group of individuals would be picking through what they think we should support.   That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.  If I happen to like the idea of strapping a camera on a set of roller blade wheels, or docking my iPhone directly into a wall socket to charge, then perhaps I should be the one to decide and vote whether or not it is going to see the light of day.  I understand that the person behind it may  not design something as high-end as Bose or Manfrotto could, but you know what, there is also a chance they might make it better.  To put a filter on Kickstarter is to put a filter on the creative minds of everyone.  I for one will continue to support Kickstarter’s for as long as they are around.

The post Kickstarter Rules appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Reports about a man flapping his engineered wings and flying are circulating all over the internet. Although there have been mixed reactions from experts around the world, many strongly believed that the video involved was not a fake, probably because everyone loves the idea of flapping their wings and flying to the office or the park. But it appears like the whole thing was without a doubt, a pretty good fake.

Gizmodo got in touch with some of the experts in the field of CGI and here are some of the reactions they got:

“Okay, so I don’t see any glaring visual problems, but that’s expected when the quality is as shitty as this. But that’s the first thing that makes me question its authenticity. They’re able to afford to build this thing, but can’t invest in proper video equipment, or… a tripod. If I were to make a fake video with the intention of going viral, I would make certain that the quality was as poor as possible to disguise any flaws in poor cg work. Another big visual issue I have with this video is the stability of his head during flight. Try and keep your head that still while waving your arms up and down when they aren’t attached to a giant wing contraption”.

“The camera seems very strange. I know that when I am flying in an airplane, I don’t look straight ahead all of the time. Also, the only way people have been able to propel themselves above the ground have been by bicycle arrangements to power a fixed-wing aircraft. A human powered helicopter managed 10 seconds of flight about 5 inches above the ground. The legs are much more powerful than the arms. I have serious doubts about it just on the physics and physiology points alone“.

“Bad physics, shaky cam with bad focus (always a giveaway) and the most steady head I’ve ever seen on a guy flapping his arms in order to not break every bone in his body. FAKE“.

“I have to wonder where the power is coming from (where are the batteries, etc). The most efficient for human transportation appears to be a fixed wing aircraft. You can get very good results from a good laminar wingform and a low power engine/motor. His wings will definitely not provide the aerodynamics to haul a 180 pounds in the air. The largest bird had a 23 foot wingspan, and was only 171 pounds. It also had very large pectoral muscles to handle the power needed”.

Check out one of their other videos below, this was a “test flight attempt” which obviously did not result in a flight. After 1:50, you will clearly see that the wing is CG.  And of course, the whole shooting the grass to switch between CG and Real is a dead giveaway.  The dynamics of the guy running don’t even look real to be honest.  Have a watch below and you can see how fake these guys are.

But although it’s a fake, it definitely is a pretty impressive one. The CGI masterminds who gave out their comments were certainly impressed. As one guy says, “I take my hat off to these artists for their commitment to this project, creating and releasing so many videos with convincing graphics that have fooled a LOT of people. It’s the perfect PR for a visual effects studio. Wish I’d thought of it”.

The post Flying Bird Man Is A Total Fake (Video) appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The HTC One X certainly looks like it’s going to make things difficult for all the other phone manufacturers from around the world. And it appears like the other devices in the HTC One series are going to add to their agony. The HTC One Smay not be as beastly as the One X, but it has a really solid build and is really fast as well. And the One V is quite impressive for a low-end model.

Looking at the features, you will find a lot of similarities between the One S and the One X. Both runs the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS with Sense 4.0 UI and are coming with ImageChip, free Dropbox space, HTC MediaLink, and 4G support. But let’s take a peek at what all things are different.

According to Gizmodo, the device has a fantastic build which feels good in the hands. The handset’s aluminum body has ceramic-like qualities via a multi-arc oxidation process. Although light, the handset feels really strong and is very thin at only 7.9mm. The device’s screen won’t be as impressive as the one on the One X. The 4.3 inch qHD Super AMOLED display will have lower resolution than the One X’s 720p Super LCD2. But you will get to enjoy deeper blacks and vibrant colors on the Super AMOLED.

As we told you earlier, a quad-core Tegra 3 processor is what makes the One X a monster device. But Gizmodo’s Brent Rose found the One S’ dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor “extremely fast”. But we will be taking a closer look at it sometime soon and we will let you know all about it.

The One S has been slated to arrive within the next 60 days and will be launched on T-Mobile’s network first. We are expecting it to hit other networks as well. We will keep you updated on the device’s availability and price, so stay tuned.

The One V is a low-end device and it features a 3.7 WVGA Super LCD, and a single-core 1GHz processor. But it’s not that low end. The handset features the same image chip and optics as the other devices in the series, although the cam is only a 5MP one. But this ‘One’ also comes with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with Sense 4.0. That’s a great addition into an entry-level device. Gizmodo says that the device’s aluminum frame feels solid and its performance, although slow when compared to the One S and X, was better than most low-end handsets out there.

The post MWC 2012: HTC One S appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

According to an article on Gizmodo, phone cases are unnatural. The phones that are painstakingly designed by different manufacturers should be allowed to “roam free, nude, as nature intended”, showing off the beautiful designs to everyone. And it’s not worth all the protection as people will end up upgrading to the latest device as soon as their two-year contract is up. The author has even said that a few scratches will also be a great memory, a reminder of who you used to be. And apparently the techies at the above said website are united on the matter as revealed by a quick survey.

But we are sticking to another formula, no phone case = broken phone. And every human being has the tendency to become clumsy at some point in their lifetime. And most families have at least one Bart Simpson type in their home to bring about a few scratches on their most beloved gadgets. So which way do you go?

We can take as example one of the most popular devices out there – the Apple iPhone. Both the faces of the iPhone are made up of glass and those faces have been placed at a raised position above the frame. And the bezel around the edge of the glass is very tiny as well. The conclusion: the device has not been designed to be used without a case.

And of course, it’s fun to show off our latest tech to everyone. But what if there is nothing left to show off? And most people find their device as precious things; they want to keep it with them as long as possible. There is no two year limit to their gadget love. And memories? Seriously, do you want to end up remembering the night you got so drunk that you used your phone as a foot rug?

And we are tempted to say something about that nature intended thing that they were talking about. Evolution did not design man at first with clothes on. Does that mean we should also set ourselves free?

The post Are We Ruining Our Phones With Phone Cases? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Have you ever wondered what that little cylinder-shaped lump phone on many power cords, monitor cables, and other such devices is for? Is it just there to make us wonder what its for? Actually, it turns out that it does in fact serve a very real purpose.

Giz helps dispel any mystery that might have surrounded the little cyst-like contraption coming out of cords.  If you were to open one up, what would you expect to find? If you were thinking some kind of small circuit board or transformer, you would be completely off.

The cylinders are actually known as ferrite beads or a choke, and is used as an electromagnetic wave-bouncer. Without the ferrite it is possible that many of our devices would cause signal interface with each other and other distortion that the choke prevents, such as screen flicker, a buzzing noise in your speakers, or even in extreme cases it could mess with components in your PC hardware.

So there is no longer a need to wonder if the cord lumps service a purpose or not. Although not exactly attractive looking, its good to know that they are what is protecting our devices from having electromagnetic interface that gets in the way.

The post Ever Wondered What The Lumps On Certain Cords Are For? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 Photo: Gizmodo

Gizmodo got their hands on one of the first BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphones from RIM.  Their verdict? The screen has such a low-res, it’s like going back to SD after watching HD for a year. It’s a 480×360 display and a “grisly sight,” the text is jaggy and ugly when compared to an Android or iPhone display.  Why RIM did not advance their display technology, especially after seeing the fantastic response Apple received from their fancy Retina Display is beyond me.  Unfortunately, the BlackBerry 6 software we were hoping would make a big difference – has not really changed much.  Giz explains “The software is a mess and fixes none of the major problems with BlackBerry.”

RIM put 512MB of ram inside, which matches the iPhone 4.  But with a 624MHz processor, it’s still crippled.  “It often hangs and stutters moving from app to app.”  Universal search is perfect, it finds exactly what you need, whether it may be an mp3, contact, or file.  Just start to type it out, and it’s there.

Some good points about the Torch are that it’s still built like a BlackBerry, tough and reliable.  The keyboard is fantastic, and its probably the best BlackBerry ever made, but that isn’t saying much in a world with the HTC Incredible, Samsung Galaxy S and iPhone 4.

Check the full in-depth review over at Gizmodo.

The post BlackBerry Torch review finds abysmal display appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Affidavit released pertaining to "stolen" iPhone 4G prototype

The missing iPhone 4G that Gizmodo acquired has been the most popular in a slew of found iPhone prototypes that have arisen over the last few weeks.  Since the Gizmodo iPhone 4G was found, there has been a controversy arisen as to how it was acquired, and the means Apple took to get it back.  Apple was so desperate to get the iPhone prototype back that it filed a warrant to retrieve the phone, and any related material to it. Now, the media has managed to get the Affidavit unsealed, making the details of the warrant available to the public.

The full report, available on Wired (PDF Link), is over 20 pages long, and sheds light on what was actually going on through the whole episode.  Inside the report, Apple and local Police considered Gizmodo legally at fault for receiving or purchasing stolen goods.  The report also states that several Gizmodo employees are now suspects in felonies.  Another key was the actual terms of sale of the iPhone prototype to Gizmodo were disclosed.  These payments included $8,500 for the device, and another bonus payment to be released if the new iPhone is released over the summer.

Perhaps most interesting in the report was the documentation of the falling apart in relations between Apple and Gizmodo over the iPad launch.  Brian Lam, editor of Gizmodo wrote an email to Steve Jobs, saying, “The thing is, Apple PR has been cold to us lately. It affected my ability to do my job right at iPad launch. So we had to go outside and find our stories like this one, very aggressively.”

The investigation is still ongoing, but it seems that for the time being, almost everything we have wanted to know about the episode have been answered.  The only remaining question of course is whether Gizmodo or the finder of the iPhone will be prosecuted.

The post Affidavit released in Gizmodo iPhone controversy appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Jason Chen of Gizmodo showing iPhone prototype

Gizmodo’s actions could have consequences, severely.  Apple’s attorneys have sent notice to Gawker Media, the owners of Gizmodo requesting the unit to be returned immediately.  Bruce Sewell, the attorney representing Apple wrote the formal letter.   No mention of any legal action against Gizmodo or Gawker was mentioned, however Apple does have recourse according to Apple Insider.

Jason Chen of Gizmodo published the letter responding that “we didn’t know it was stolen” referring to the iPhone 4th generation that they paid $5,000 to obtain it from the person who claims to have found it in the bar. Regardless of this knowledge, the legalities involved when buying stolen merchandise (applies to whether the buyer knows they are stolen or not), the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act could apply.

Section 3425.1 states “misappropriation of trade secrets” is a civil code violation, including the release of trade secrents, publishing them in any form to earn money and notoriety.

The code further explains:

(b) “Misappropriation” means:(1) Acquisition of a secret of another by a person who knows or has reason to know that the secret was acquired by improper means; or (2) Disclosure or use of a secret of another without express or implied consent by a person who:(A) Used improper means to acquire knowledge of the secret; or (B) At the time of disclosure or use, knew or had reason to know that his or her knowledge of the secret was: (i) Derived from or through a person who had utilized improper means to acquire it; (ii) Acquired under circumstances giving rise to a duty to maintain its secrecy or limit its use; or (iii) Derived from or through a person who owed a duty to the person seeking relief to maintain its secrecy or limit its use; or (C) Before a material change of his or her position, knew or had reason to know that it was a secret and that knowledge of it had been acquired by accident or mistake.

(d) “Trade secret” means information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process, that:(1) Derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to the public or to other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and (2) Is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.

Remedy for “misappropriation of trade secrets” are:

§ 3426.3 (a) A complainant may recover damages for the actual loss caused by misappropriation. A complainant also may recover for the unjust enrichment caused by misappropriation that is not taken into account in computing damages for actual loss.

(b) If neither damages nor unjust enrichment caused by misappropriation are provable, the court may order payment of a reasonable royalty for no longer than the period of time the use could have been prohibited.

(c) If willful and malicious misappropriation exists, the court may award exemplary damages in an amount not exceeding twice any award made under subdivision (a) or (b).

Apple has three years to file suit against Gizmodo and or Gawker Media.

§ 3426.6. An action for misappropriation must be brought within three years after the misappropriation is discovered or by the exercise of reasonable diligence should have been discovered. For the purposes of this section, a continuing misappropriation constitutes a single claim.

This shines more light on the legitimacy of the iPhone prototype, whether this design is final or not is another question. However it does seem close to the iPhon3 4G concept renderings we posted back in February, and yes! It has a front facing camera.

The post iPhone 4G prototype real: Apple says we want it back appeared first on Mobile Magazine.