We’re only a day from the official announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S III, but that doesn’t mean the leaks are done. One of our contacts sent us a photo of the Samsung Galaxy S III’s boot screen as it is turning on, but wouldn’t allow us to post photos of the actual device. Maybe next time! Samsung is set to unveil the highly anticipated Galaxy S III during a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

We have seen a number of leaked images showing a variety of handsets said to be the Galaxy S3 trickle out over the past few weeks. According to reports, this is by design — Samsung reportedly housed test versions of its next-generation Galaxy smartphone in a number of decoy cases in order to prevent the actual design from leaking ahead of the phone’s unveiling. On Tuesday, however, Samsung blog SamMobile.com published photos of what it claims to be the final release version of the Galaxy S3. The unannounced handset shown features a sleek design, a unique rounded glass face and a 12-megapixel camera, and a screenshot shows handset model number GT-i9300 and Android version 4.0.4. The site’s source says Samsung also plans to unveil a second device at its upcoming press conference, the GT-i9800, however no additional information was made available. Samsung’s next Galaxy smartphone will be unveiled on Thursday during a press conference in London. A second leaked photo of the purported Galaxy S3 follows below.

UPDATE: Images removed at owner’s request.

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Google Maps has been updated to allow users to access new “photo tours” within the service. The feature uses contributed photos from around the world that are stitched together to give a 3D photo scene of a popular location. Photo tours are available for more than 15,000 popular sites around the world and can be initiated through Google Maps in two ways. “First, when you search for a place, such as Trevi Fountain, the results in the left panel will indicate if there is a photo tour available: click either the thumbnail image or the link to start the tour,” Google wrote on its blog. “Alternatively, if you’re browsing the map and click on the label for a particular landmark, the info window that appears will indicate if a photo tour is available.” The tours require Google Maps with WebGL and are available now. A photo tour demonstration follows below.

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New images and video of the unannounced next-generation Galaxy S smartphone were published on Friday morning. The source, Vietnamese blog Tinhte, has a solid track record of publishing images, videos and other details surrounding unreleased devices, and the smartphone shown off by the blog is believed to be authentic. In an interesting twist, however, this may not be the Galaxy S III we see announced on May 3rd during Samsung’s “Unpacked” event in London. Read on for more.

The smartphone pictured carries the model number i9300, which a trusted BGR source has confirmed belongs to the next-generation Galaxy S smartphone. According to Tinhte, the phone features a quad-core 1.4GHz processor, a 4.6-inch 720p HD display, Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich, 16GB of internal storage, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera, NFC and a 2,050 mAh battery. These specs vary in several instances with the numerous details reported earlier by BGR, and Tinhte may have the explanation why.

According to the blog, this device is likely close to the final version of the phone, however Samsung has taken measures to prevent the finished design from leaking ahead of the vendor’s upcoming announcement. Loosely translated from Tinhte’s post, which has since been removed, ”Samsung has used a fake outer shell designed to ensure the machine is not exposed until it is unveiled.” The blog’s video has vanished along with its original post, however Engadget managed to download a copy that is still available on its site.

The launch version is expected to appear in a ceramic and metal or metal-look case, and two color options will be blue and white. BGR has also been told that there will be 16GB and 32GB models available at launch, and Samsung is planning a massive marketing blitz that will see the Galaxy S III become the official handset of the 2012 Olympic Summer Games.

Several additional images of the incognito Galaxy S III can be viewed below.

[Via Gizmodo]

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Images of an unannounced Samsung smartphone were published by Gizmodo Brasil on Wednesday evening, and they may reveal the South Korea-based vendor’s next flagship handset. The quality of the leaked images is very poor, but the basic look of the device can be made out along with the presence of a wide home button and a unique oval-shaped glass panel covering the display. Gizmodo Brasil’s source states that the model number of the phone is i9300 — which a BGR source has previously stated is indeed the model number of the Galaxy S III — and the device pictured reportedly features a 12-megapixel camera. The Galaxy S III is expected to feature a 4.8-inch 1080p HD Super AMOLED display, a quad-core 1.5GHz Exynos processor, 4G LTE, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and an ultra-thin case made of ceramic, and Samsung will likely announce the new flagship smartphone during a press conference on May 3rd. Another image of the handset follows below.

[Via Gizmodo]

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Sprint and HTC have been partners for years, but it wasn’t until the HTC EVO 4G launched in June 2010 that the companies realized their potential. HTC’s sleek, technology-packed flagship smartphone and Sprint’s unlimited data plans were a match made in heaven for smartphone power users, and the EVO 4G was the first handset to truly offer a complete package to Sprint subscribers. While Sprint’s EVO line of devices has remained popular for the carrier — Sprint has sold more than 7 million EVO-branded smartphones and tablets to date — the company has yet to recapture the magic introduced with the original EVO 4G. With the new HTC EVO 4G LTE that Sprint and HTC unveiled on Wednesday, however, Sprint hopes to do just that. Hit the break for our hands-on impressions of Sprint’s new flagship smartphone.

We spent some time with Sprint’s flagship device for 2012 ahead of tonight’s press conference, and we left impressed. Powerhouse Android smartphones seem to be a dime a dozen these days, and although the EVO 4G LTE is certainly a cut above almost every device currently on the market, it doesn’t quite recapture the magic created by the EVO 4G, which was among the first of its kind.

The handset’s hardware is truly unique, and it is instantly recognizable as an EVO device. The red accents are unmistakable and the kickstand made famous by the EVO 4G is back — and improved. The red aluminum kickstand on the EVO 4G LTE is now spring-loaded, so it can support the device in landscape orientation with the display turned to the left or to the right.

The case on the EVO 4G LTE is made from a single piece of anodized aluminum that has a great look and a nice, soft feel. As an added touch and a means of further distinguishing this smartphone from the pack, HTC machined the edges of the smartphone to remove the anodized coating and leave a smooth polished aluminum finish that circles the outer edge of the device.

While we weren’t able to spend as much time as we would have liked with this sleek new smartphone, we did give it a quick spin and walked away very impressed. The 4.7-inch Super LCD display with 720p HD resolution is absolutely gorgeous, and the dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor helps the Sense 4.0 user interface jump from screen to screen with ease. We fired up as many apps as we could launch on the new EVO and the phone was completely unphased.

Our biggest qualm with the handset after the short amount of time we spent with it is absolutely the styling. This is a slick smartphone with a unibody anodized aluminum case and brushed detailing on the edges, but it is completely ruined by the glossy black cover at the top of the device’s back. HTC had to use a material that would allow radio waves to easily pass through, but a matte rubber-feel plastic like the material used on the back of the HTC One S would have looked infinitely better. We’re sure there is a reason HTC chose the material it did, but the glossy plastic really does ruin the look of this otherwise sleek smartphone.

While Sprint hasn’t yet announced a release time frame beyond some time in the second quarter, the HTC EVO 4G LTE will be available for pre-order starting May 7th, and it will cost $199.99 on contract. We’re definitely looking forward to reviewing this new flagship smartphone but in the meantime, be sure to check out our hands on photos of the HTC EVO 4G LTE, which are linked above.

Sprint and HTC on Wednesday unveiled the HTC EVO 4G LTE during a joint press conference in New York City. As a customized version of the HTC One X, Sprint’s new flagship smartphone features a 4.7-inch Super LCD display with 720p HD resolution, a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, an 8-megapixel camera powered by a dedicated ImageChip, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Sense 4.0, 16GB of internal storage plus microSDHC support, 1GB of RAM, NFC, 4G LTE and a 2,000 mAh battery. The smartphone will also be Sprint’s first device to feature HD voice, an enhancement that will be enabled by Sprint’s Network Vision efforts. The service is not yet enabled, but we were told that the difference between standard voice and HD voice is akin to the difference between a standard-resolution television and an HDTV. HTC EVO 4G LTE pre-sales begin May 7th for $199.99 on contract, and the device will launch some time in the second quarter. Sprint and HTC’s joint press release follows below, and be sure to check out BGR’s hands-on preview of the HTC EVO 4G LTE.

HTC EVO 4G LTE, Exclusively from Sprint, First HD Voice-capable Smartphone Available in the U.S.;
Offers Best-in-Class Features, including Beats Audio,
Amazing Camera and HD Display

Next-generation EVO offers the ability to enjoy industry-leading features
without fear of overage charges or throttling with unlimited data plans
for new and existing Sprint customers

Available in Q2 for $199.99; Register for updates at www.sprint.com/evo4glte

NEW YORK – April 4, 2012 – Sprint (NYSE: S), the only national wireless carrier offering truly unlimited data for all phones while on the Sprint network¹, and HTC, a global designer of smartphones, announce the next evolution of the  award-winning HTC EVO™ family: HTC EVO™ 4G LTE. HTC EVO 4G LTE focuses on exceptional improvements in camera technology, audio and voice quality on both the network and device.

HTC EVO 4G LTE will be available in the second quarter for $199.99 (excludes taxes and surcharges). The availability date will be announced later. Customers can sign up for updates today at www.sprint.com/evo4glte, and pre-order will begin Monday, May 7, at www.sprint.com.

HTC EVO 4G LTE is built on Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, integrated with HTC Sense™ 4. HTC EVO 4G LTE boasts brilliant features, including a vibrant 4.7-inch HD display, HD voice capabilities, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, large 2000mAh embedded battery and dual-cameras (8-megapixel rear-facing and 1.3-megapixel front-facing) with instant capture capability. HTC EVO 4G LTE brings back the fan-favorite kickstand built into the smartphone’s refined, slim design.

With the launch of HTC EVO 4G LTE, Sprint becomes the first U.S. carrier to announce plans for a nationwide HD Voice network beginning in late 2012 as part of Sprint’s Network Vision program.

HD Voice is the next-generation evolution of voice quality and the future of voice communications for mobile phones. The service will provide fuller, more natural-sounding and less fatiguing voice quality and should reduce troublesome background noises often found in a cafe or on the street.² Users should expect to identify voices and hear every word better than ever. Sprint’s commitment to HD Voice starts with HTC EVO 4G LTE, Sprint’s first HD Voice capable device.

“Sprint has a long history of leading the wireless industry in innovation, and the debut of HTC EVO 4G LTE marks another chapter in that innovation story,” said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. “Once again, we are partnering with HTC to deliver the benchmark Android device for the year with the next generation of our award-winning EVO brand. We know our customers will appreciate the focus on audio and voice quality with EVO 4G LTE, including the addition of Beats Audio and HD Voice capability.”

HTC EVO 4G LTE is Sprint’s first device with HTC’s Authentic Sound experience integrating Beats Audio™. The technology enables customers to hear music the way the artist intended with unique audio tuning that delivers thundering bass, soaring midrange and crisp highs.

HTC EVO 4G LTE incorporates Beats Audio across the entire phone experience, including playing music stored on the device, streaming from a favorite service, watching a movie or YouTube™ video, or playing the latest hot game. HTC Sync Manager software also lets users easily get their music on the device from their PC, and it works with current programs, including iTunes^®.

“The partnership between HTC and Sprint has resulted in one of the most popular and successful smartphone brands of all time with over 7 million EVO devices sold to date,” said Jason Mackenzie, president, HTC Corporation. “With HTC EVO 4G LTE, we’ve created a desirable successor that is sure to excite the millions of current EVO customers and beyond with HTC’s distinct design, amazing camera and authentic sound.”

ADVANCING SMARTPHONE PHOTOGRAPHY

HTC EVO 4G LTE makes mobile photography and video easy and intuitive.

• The on-screen photo and video buttons are right next to each other so users don’t have to switch modes. This allows the user to take video and still photos concurrently.
• It makes the whole idea of “video mode” or “photo mode” irrelevant. While shooting a video, the user can just tap the shutter button and it captures a still image of that exact moment. Still images can also be captured during video playback.
• HTC EVO 4G LTE’s camera has a super-fast start-up and auto-focus time. With the fast auto-focus, users can easily stay with a moving object or person, taking numerous pictures just by holding the shutter button.

In addition, HTC ImageSense™ technology combines hardware and software advancements to the camera lens, sensor and software, including integration of a new custom HTC ImageChip, to take great photos even in adverse conditions. The best-in-class f/2.0 camera lens lets in 44 percent more light than the lenses used on most camera phones. The Smart Flash also adjusts the flash strength based on how far away the object is, so users won’t get photos where everything looks washed out.

REFINED STYLE AND DESIGN

Crafted from aluminum spaceframe in an anodized black finish, HTC EVO 4G LTE delivers cutting-edge function and style in a thin and distinctive design. The smartphone’s 4.7-inch display and 80-degree viewing angle makes it easier to share pictures and video with others. The multiposition kickstand allows users to watch videos hands-free.

HTC EVO 4G LTE customers can enjoy an unlimited data experience with Sprint Everything Data plans. Sprint’s Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, Anytime^SM includes unlimited Web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $79.99 per month for smartphones³ – a savings of $40 per month vs. Verizon’s comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and 2GB Web, or $10 per month savings vs. Verizon’s 450-minute plan with unlimited text and 2GB Web.

Sprint recently announced Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio are expected to have 4G LTE and enhanced 3G service in mid-year 2012. Sprint 4G LTE will enable faster speeds for data applications, and the enhanced 3G service promises better signal strength, faster data speeds, expanded coverage and better in-building performance. The launch of these large metropolitan areas demonstrates the continued commitment by Sprint to invest in its network through Network Vision. Sprint customers in these areas will soon enjoy ultra-fast data speeds and improved 3G voice quality. Whether a Sprint customer is using a smartphone to share a video, checking the Web via a mobile hotspot, Sprint 4G LTE will make it easier. And, when someone makes an important voice call, they can expect to find a clearer connection and a stronger signal in more areas. For the most up-to-date details on Sprint’s 4G LTE rollout, please visit www.sprint.com/4GLTE.

Nokia is in a bind. The company announced more than a year ago that it planned to abandon both Symbian and MeeGo in favor of Windows Phone, the emerging mobile Microsoft platform that is currently still emerging more than two years after it was introduced as “Windows Phone 7 Series” in February 2010. Nokia and Microsoft had a lot in common, of course. Beyond an executive who ran Microsoft’s business division before joining Nokia as its CEO, both companies were once giants in the smartphone space. Microsoft had long since toppled, and Nokia’s market share was plummeting as its products continued to struggle against Android and the iPhone. Just two smartphones have emerged so far from Nokia and Microsoft’s deal since it was announced more than a year ago, and only one launched with carrier support in the United States. Now, Nokia is preparing to release its first flagship Windows Phone for the U.S. market — the Lumia 900 — and I spent the past week testing the handset in order to determine whether or not this might finally be the device that puts both Nokia and Microsoft back on the map.

The Inside

In a world where smartphones are judged on paper long before they find their way to consumers’ hands, the Lumia 900 is a tough pony to bet on.

Several smartphones with quad-core processors will launch in the coming months and the Lumia 900 has a single-core 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU. We already have phones with giant qHD and 720p HD displays on the market — Samsung is even prepping its first smartphone with a 1080p HD display according to BGR’s sources — and the Lumia 900 has a 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display with 480 x 800-pixel resolution. Apple’s iPhone 4S includes as much as 64GB of internal memory and numerous Android handsets come with 32GB of internal storage expandable to 64GB thanks to microSDHC support, but the Lumia 900 comes with 16GB and no memory card slot.

Nokia itself doesn’t quite know how to position its new flagship smartphone on paper. Case in point: “Bing,” Internet Explorer 9″ and “HTML5″ are three of the first six items Nokia lists at the top of the Lumia 900′s specs page.

Lucky for Nokia, this “world” of specs and paper champions is a relatively small one that is generally confined to gadget reviewers, tech bloggers and smartphone enthusiasts. While the spec-head mentality sometimes trickles out into the mass market, consumers by and large don’t care about the technology that powers their gadgets. Even if they toss out the term “dual-core,” they typically have no idea why a dual-core chipset may or may not be better than a single-core processor. Instead, they simply want their gadgets to perform well.

The Lumia 900 is a remarkably smooth smartphone, thanks in no small part to Microsoft’s mobile platform. The user is greeted on the home screen by two columns of brightly colored tiles that make up the most recognizable part of Microsoft’s “Metro” user interface. Each tile represents a different application, for the most part, and tiles configured to do so can display live information such as unread message counts, current weather conditions or top headlines. A swipe to the left reveals the full list of apps installed on the phone, and those are the only two screens on the device that aren’t inside an app.

Of course bad apps are bad apps regardless of a device’s platform or specs, and some third-party apps I tested had a very difficult time running on the Lumia 900. Interestingly, I find that the worst offenders among my regularly used apps — that is, the apps I use that have trouble running on every Windows Phone I’ve tested — seem to have even more trouble on the Lumia 900 than they do on other devices. So, where an app might take occasionally get stuck refreshing a screen for a second or two on the HTC Titan, that same app might get stuck for three seconds on the Lumia 900.

Nokia’s new smartphone also features 16GB of internal memory that is not expandable, and 512MB of RAM. Local connectivity options include Wi-Fi, USB 2.0 and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and the Lumia 900 features compatibility with 10 different cellular bands — GSM 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA 850/900/1900 and LTE 700/1700/2100.

This will be the first Windows Phone to launch in the U.S. with 4G LTE support and while AT&T’s LTE network is still quite young, users with coverage will notice the speed boost immediately; during my tests, I saw download speeds that averaged more than 15Mbps and upload speeds in excess of 5Mbps. Unlike Verizon and Sprint, however, AT&T subscribers also have a speedy previous-generation network to fall back on. I experienced download speeds in excess of 6Mbps on the Lumia 900 in and around New York City on AT&T’s HSPA network, while Verizon and Sprint’s 3G networks typically deliver download speeds in the 1Mbps to 1.5Mbps range in my region.

An 1,830 mAh battery powers the device and while it certainly doesn’t last as long on a single charge as some other modern handsets, I found that the Lumia 900 could easily power through a full day of moderate usage that consisted of sending and receiving dozens of emails, taking a few phone calls, various sporadic app usage, snapping a number of photos and uploading them to Dropbox, streaming some music using a third-party Pandora app and more. Wi-Fi seemed to have a big negative impact on battery life, and streaming video for even 20 minutes over Wi-Fi one morning made it difficult for the battery to make it all the way to the end of my work day.

As is common among Nokia smartphones, I found reception on the Lumia 900 to be very solid. The fact that the phone includes an “LTE” indicator for 4G LTE signal and a “4G” indicator for HSPA signal is horribly confusing and more than a little disturbing, but I found that the Lumia 900 consistently showed more bars than other AT&T smartphones in the same room. Voice calls were loud and clear on the ear speaker, the quality of the speakerphone was above average, and I didn’t drop a single call during a week of testing the device.

The Outside

Full-touch smartphones are a dime a dozen right now, and to say smartphone designs are beginning to blend together is putting it mildly. Nokia’s Lumia 900, however, does not blend.

Even without the phone’s unique color choices, the Lumia 900 features a fantastic design that is unlike any other smartphone. Aside from the Lumia 800. And the N9. Nokia’s manufacturing process transforms a single piece of polycorbonate into a stunning unibody smartphone case, and the result may be one of my favorite smartphone designs in recent history. The Lumia 900 is gorgeous.

A large panel of Gorilla Glass covers the phone’s 4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack display along with a front-facing camera and Windows Phone’s three mandatory hardware buttons, taking up most of the Lumia 900′s face. The display, I should note, is very competitive with leading smartphones — color are vivid and I found visibility in sunlight to be much better than on a number of rival phones with AMOLED displays.

The bottom of the handset is home to a microphone and loudspeaker, while the top of the device includes a standard 3.5-millimeter audio port, a secondary microphone for noise cancellation, a microUSB port and a microSIM slot.

The smooth, curved right edge of the Lumia 900 includes plastic volume rocker, power and camera buttons, and the left side is completely bare. The back of the phone is home to a dual-LED flash and a small chrome insert featuring Carl Zeiss and Tessar branding along with the rear camera lens. Overall, the smartphone is 5.03 x 2.7 x 0.45 inches in size and it weighs a hefty 5.6 ounces. It does feel a bit large and heavy in the hand, but it’s no larger than other phones with similar display sizes and I like the weight — it makes the phone feel substantial.

The clean lines on this remarkable design are largely uninterrupted, and it really pops in cyan and white, though the white version of the Lumia 900 will not be available until later this month. In black, the smartphone is much more understated but still a sight to behold. And it’s not just the overall look of the phone that separates it from the pack, it’s the minor details as well. Things like the tapering of the ends of the curved case that lead to the perfectly flat top and bottom, or the 1-millimeter raised glass edge that surrounds the display add unique touches that come together to further separate this smartphone from the pack.

The Upside

The overall user experience offered by the Nokia Lumia 900 is fantastic. This stems from Microsoft’s mobile platform which, despite being praised regularly by gadget reviewers, has failed to gain widespread adoption. Despite Microsoft’s muscle and support from several big-name vendors such as Samsung and HTC, Windows Phone has been ignored by end-users for the most part.

In the United States, industry watchers tend to place a good deal of blame on carriers for Windows Phone’s slow adoption — Android and iOS are currently the darlings of U.S. carriers, and little effort is made on the part of sales associates to push devices running Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS to end-users. While it is true that Android devices and Apple’s iPhone are pushed much harder than other platforms, we’ll soon find out what kind of impact real carrier support will have on Windows Phone sales.

Windows Phones are incredibly responsive in most cases, and Nokia’s Lumia 900 is no exception. The interface on this phone is glued to the user’s finger during operation, and scrolling is nice and smooth. Animations are fluid and like other Windows Phones, multitasking is a breeze on this device. A one-second tap on the capacitive back button brings up the task switcher, which automatically displays the user’s most recently-used apps. This makes flipping back and forth between the email composition screen and a web page, for example, an absolute breeze.

There are still a number of apps that aren’t compatible with the “tombstoning” feature introduced with Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, however, and waiting for those apps to start up again after having switched back from another app is a hassle. Tombstoning is simply Microsoft’s terminology for the process that pauses an app when it is sent to the background and allows it to restart from its paused state when the user opens it again.

Another one of my favorite Windows Phone features, and therefore Lumia 900 features, is the implementation of “live tiles.” A quick glance at Windows Phone’s home screen reveals that the OS makes use of a terrific variation on the concept of app icons. While Windows Phone uses a grid of images to represent applications on a device just like any other OS, Microsoft’s platform transforms these icons from static graphics to living entities that exist somewhere between icons and widgets.

Live tiles can display a wide variety of information immediately as it becomes available, and the live tile system’s utility is limited only by developers’ creativity. Messaging apps can display unread message counts. Weather apps can display forecasts and snow alerts, news apps can display headlines and sports apps can display scores. Some live tiles can also utilize basic animation, so Microsoft’s Pictures tile is an ongoing slide show and the People tile flips through images of a user’s contacts.

As has likely been made clear, I am also a huge fan of the Lumia 900′s design. The hardware has a terrific weight and the shape is outstanding, with well-placed curves that manage to look fantastic and fit perfectly in the hand.

The unit I reviewed is cyan, and I have yet to come across a person who had something bad to say about the color. It catches the eye immediately and yet still manages to maintain a level of sophistication that pink phones and other crazy colors quickly lose. It does attract a fair amount of attention, though — people were constantly checking out the Lumia 900 any time I pulled it out in public — so users who don’t want the added attention may want to stick with black.

The Downside

Considering Nokia’s pedigree, I was absolutely shocked the first time I used the camera on the Lumia 900. To put it plainly, as good as the hardware design is on the Lumia 900 is as bad as I found the camera to be.

In a world that was once dominated by Nokia, the Finnish vendor’s competitors have made huge strides in recent years with regard to camera phones. Apple’s iPhone features one of the most impressive smartphone cameras on the market, and HTC just set the bar several steps higher with the cameras on its new One-series smartphones. These cameras, which are driven by a dedicated microprocessor, are capable of capturing a RAW 5- or 8-megapixel image, converting it to JPG, saving it, and returning to a ready state in 0.7 seconds.

Meanwhile, I found that the Lumia 900′s camera takes very poor images compared to these market leaders. Colors were washed out and didn’t pop at all like they do on the iPhone. The edges of objects were extremely blurry rather than sharp and clear like they are on the HTC One S I have been testing.

I also had a great deal of trouble focusing on objects at close range. Even when I tapped on an item to focus on it and snap a picture, the phone still focused on something in the background instead. Macro mode did nothing to resolve the issue.

I’m hoping some of these issues will be fixed in upcoming software updates. Considering the quality of images taken using other Nokia handsets, I have to imagine these are not problems with the optics or other camera hardware Nokia used in the Lumia 900.

Outside of the camera, apps are one of this phone’s biggest barriers. This is hardly a new issue, and it is certainly not one that only impacts the Lumia 900 or even just Windows Phone. Mobile developers, for the most part, focus their attention on iOS and Android for obvious reasons.

Nokia and Microsoft have not been shy in recognizing this issue, and the companies are both throwing money at it. Also, I think we’ll see some interesting integration with both Xbox and Windows 8 in future versions of Windows Phone that will make the mobile platform even more attractive to developers. If they can continue to woo big-name developers — and maybe even get a few exciting exclusive titles on the platform — it should help draw more attention and ensure Windows Phone can remain competitive. In the meantime, users looking for popular titles like Words With Friends, Draw Something, Temple Run and Instagram will have to look elsewhere.

Selling users on a platform where they’ll have to ditch several of their favorite apps will never be an easy task, regardless of how much incentive AT&T sales representatives are given and regardless of how gorgeous a device might be.

Beyond those major qualms, my remaining issues with this handset are relatively minor. The phone’s oleophobic coating, for example, is not on par with many rival devices. All touchscreen phones gather oils from the hand, but Nokia’s Lumia 900 seems to gather more grease than other phones. This handset also seems to hold onto oil a bit more than other devices, and I found a mobile cloth worked much better than a t-shirt to clean the display. Also, it would be nice to see this flagship phone ship with a pair of earbuds like most comparable devices do.

The Bottom Line

If the Lumia 900 fails to gain traction in the U.S. market, it will pose a huge problem for Nokia and for Microsoft. It won’t signal the immediate end for either company in America, of course, but will leave both companies in a very difficult spot.

Nokia’s Lumia 900 on AT&T is the total package in every sense of the term. It is a phone with gorgeous hardware that manages to be both classic and unique. It will launch alongside a massive marketing and advertising effort. AT&T’s retail staff is being given Lumia 900 handsets and extensive training, and the device will have prime positioning in the carrier’s stores. And on top of everything else, this flagship 4G smartphone is just $99.99 or even less on contract.

This is Windows Phone’s shot.

If the Lumia 900 cannot succeed in the U.S. under these conditions, it begs the obvious question: what else can be done? The biggest barrier, beyond the established positions and momentum currently enjoyed by iOS and Android, is likely apps.

The absence of popular apps certainly won’t be a deal breaker for everyone, however, and as someone who regularly uses all mobile platforms, I have personally been able to fill most gaps on Windows Phone with somewhat comparable apps. WhatsApp is a perfectly suitable alternative to iMessage and BBM, for example, and while there is no official Pandora app for Windows Phone, there are several third-party options such as MetroRadio. GoVoice fills in for an official Google Voice app on my Windows Phones, and there are plenty of high-quality mobile games to replace missing titles that are popular on Android and iOS.

Windows Phone is smart, fast, responsive and very well-designed, though its UI tends to be polarizing. Most people I have come across offer praise for the Metro UI in general, though some suggest that they miss a more graphics-heavy interface. I enjoy the Metro UI a great deal, though I find that there are some apps that would be better off with a more traditional interface. From what I understand, the next major version of Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform will offer a host of new options to developers that should bring immediate improvements to the quality and variety of apps on the platform.

Nokia’s Lumia 900 is a terrific smartphone that gives Windows Phone its best shot yet to succeed. The hardware is well-designed and unique, the software is intelligent and smooth, the price is right, and the 4G data speeds along with excellent reception and call quality seal the deal. AT&T’s new flagship phone is not without its faults, of course, but this handset can most certainly go head to head with the best devices on the market when it launches on April 8th.

Samsung’s highly anticipated next-generation flagship smartphone has reportedly been pictured. Dutch mobile blog GSM Helpdesk on Wednesday published what it claims to be an official press photo of the Samsung Galaxy S III, obtained from an unnamed source. The site also reasserts a wide range of specs exclusively reported by BGR over the past few months, including a full HD Super AMOLED display, Android 4.0 with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI and a 1.5GHz quad-core processor. The device pictured is in line with previously leaked renders, though we can now see that Samsung appears to have opted for capacitive hardware buttons in place of the on-screen navigation buttons seen in other Android 4.0 builds. A potential date for Samsung’s announcement has been reaffirmed as well; the weather in London and the Unpacked Event calendar entry pictured on the home screen point to a May 22nd press conference in London.

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It’s doubtful that anyone will ever find a way to avoid looking ridiculous while capturing images with a 9.7-inch tablet in public, but those unafraid of how they are viewed by peers will be pleased to know that Apple has delivered on its promised of a much improved camera in the new iPad. The camera on Apple’s previous-generation iPad 2 was subpar at best, and now Vietnamese blog Tinhte.vn — the site that posted an unboxing video featuring Apple’s new iPad on Tuesday — has published the first set of photographs captured with the new iPad’s 5-megapixel camera to its forum. The images aren’t terribly impressive compared to dedicated digital cameras or even to class-leading camera phones like the iPhone 4S or Carl Zeiss-equipped Nokia handsets. The new iPad camera is clearly a step in the right direction compared to the awful optics on the iPad 2, however. A few more images follow below, along with a link to the full set.

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Toward the end of Apple’s iPad event in San Francisco, the Cupertino-based company announced iPhoto for iPad. Along with Garage Band and iMovie, Apple has now brought its entire iLife suite of programs to its popular tablet. “With the introduction of iPhoto, we’ve brought the entire suite of iLife apps to iOS and users are going to love it,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Whether brushing an effect onto a photo, shooting a movie trailer or jamming with friends to record a song, iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand let you make amazing creations on iPad and iPhone.” The application relies heavily on gestures and features smart browsing, auto-enhancing, professional-quality effects, brushes, photo beaming between devices, photo journals and multi-touch editing. iPhoto for iPad supports images up to 19-megapixels and allows users to share images via Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, email and more. The app will be available today in the App Store for $4.99. Read on for Apple’s press release.

Apple Completes iLife for iOS With Introduction of iPhoto & Major Updates to iMovie & GarageBand

SAN FRANCISCO—March 7, 2012—Apple® today introduced iPhoto® for iPad® and iPhone® and major updates to iMovie® and GarageBand®, completing its suite of iLife® apps for iOS. iPhoto includes breakthrough Multi-Touch™ features so you can use simple gestures to sort through hundreds of photos and find your best shots, enhance and retouch your images using fingertip brushes and share stunning photo journals with iCloud®. iMovie now gives you the ability to create amazing Hollywood-style trailers as you record HD video on your iPad and iPhone. GarageBand introduces Jam Session, an innovative and fun feature that allows a group of friends to wirelessly connect their iOS devices to play instruments and record live music together. Each app takes full advantage of the stunning Retina™ display on the new iPad for incredibly sharp and realistic images and video. The new iPad also features a 5 megapixel iSight® camera so you can record, edit and watch 1080p HD video all on the device.

“With the introduction of iPhoto, we’ve brought the entire suite of iLife apps to iOS and users are going to love it,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Whether brushing an effect onto a photo, shooting a movie trailer or jamming with friends to record a song, iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand let you make amazing creations on iPad and iPhone.”

iPhoto, Apple’s popular photography app, has been completely reimagined for iOS to take full advantage of the Retina display and intuitive Multi-Touch gestures on iPad and iPhone. Simple gestures can be used to select and compare photos side by side and flag your best shots. iPhoto gives you full control over color, exposure and contrast, and you simply touch the parts of the image you want to change. You can enhance pictures by adding beautiful Apple-designed effects with just a tap, or apply adjustments exactly where you want them with fingertip brushes. In addition to posting photos to Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, you can beam photos between your iPhone and iPad; stream photos and slideshows to your Apple TV® with AirPlay®; and use iCloud to publish photo journals to the web and share your stories with friends and family in a whole new way.

iMovie now allows you to turn the HD video on your iPad and iPhone into beautiful Hollywood-style trailers, even as you’re recording. The new Theater view lets you preview and choose from nine templates in a range of genres including Fairy Tale, Superhero and Romance. Trailers feature gorgeous, customizable graphics with soundtracks written by legendary composers such as Academy Award-winner Hans Zimmer and performed by world class musicians like the London Symphony Orchestra. You can also share your movie trailers to YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook, and use AirPlay to stream them to Apple TV in high definition resolutions up to 1080p.

With the new Jam Session feature in GarageBand, you can invite up to three of your friends to get together and wirelessly connect your iOS devices to play and record as a group. Jam Session automatically synchronizes the tempo, key and chords of your Touch Instruments so everyone sounds great. After jamming, everyone’s tracks are automatically collected on your iOS device for you to edit and mix. GarageBand also introduces Smart Strings, a new Touch Instrument that allows you to play an entire string orchestra with just one finger, and the new Note Editor allows you to fine tune a Touch Instrument recording instead of replaying it from scratch. Integration with iCloud keeps your GarageBand songs up to date across your iOS devices, and you can share your finished songs directly to Facebook, YouTube and SoundCloud.

Apple today also updated its iWork® for iOS apps to take advantage of the stunning Retina display of iPad and to offer 3D charts so you can create and view impressive 3D bar, line, area and pie charts. Pages now includes support for landscape orientation on iPhone and iPod touch®, and Keynote® gains new builds and transitions including Iris, Shimmer, Wipe, Flame, Swing and Fade Through Color.

Pricing & Availability
iPhoto, iMovie 1.3 and GarageBand 1.2 are available today for $4.99 (US) each from the App Store (www.itunes.com/appstore). Keynote 1.6, Pages 1.6 and Numbers 1.6 are available today for $9.99 (US) each from the App Store. Updates are available for free to existing customers.

Apple’s iOS platform seemed to come out of nowhere and take the world by storm in 2007. The introduction of the first-generation iPhone set in motion a chain of events that lead up to the holiday quarter in 2011, when Apple recorded the most profitable quarter in technology history thanks mainly to unbelievable iPhone, iPod touch and iPad sales. No platform is selling as quickly as Apple’s mobile platform right now, but iOS is still in its infancy and the fact remains: as hot as iOS is right now, and as popular as smartphones and media tablets are, no platform installed base on the planet even comes close to approaching the size of Windows right now.

The Future

Microsoft said this past December that there are now more than 1.25 billion PCs running the Windows operating system. Billion, with a “B.” Smartphones are the hottest segment in consumer electronics right now and people are buying Apple’s iPad in droves, but even still, more people around the world rely on Windows than ever before. This is because the software that powers countless businesses from the ground up is built on Windows. From web browsers to accounting software to point-of-sale systems to 3D animation software to word processors to custom proprietary solutions and far, far beyond… Entire industries are built on Windows.

The future is anything but “post-PC.”

We are now entering the post-post-PC era, and its focus is the PC. A new, smarter, more versatile PC. A PC that lets users browse the web casually in bed and work with massive databases in SQL Server. A PC that can run a $0.99 news reader as well as it can run proprietary $99,000 CRM software. A PC that is as ideal for playing Angry Birds as it is for running a modeling environment that allows its user to build schematics for a skyscraper. This is the future of computing.

That is not to say Windows 8 is an “iPad killer” or that media tablets are going away. Far from it. While their functionality may overlap in a number of areas, light-duty tablets and full-fledged PCs serve different purposes and will continue to coexist for some time. What we will see, however, is media tablets becoming more capable and more powerful as PCs become better suited for touch input. At some point down the road the two categories may merge, but neither will “win” or “lose.”

The OS

I’ve spent the past week playing with and working on a Samsung tablet powered by Microsoft’s new operating system. It’s nice to be able to work and play on the same tablet.

While Windows 8 is not quite in a state where it is ready to be released to the public, it is a completely different beast than the Developer Preview Microsoft released more than five months ago. During a meeting with Microsoft executives, I was told that the Consumer Preview version of Windows 8 includes tens of thousands of changes compared to the version that was released to developers in September. Thousands of changes are system-level items that I’m sure I didn’t notice, but thousands more are user-facing changes that have helped improve the user experience dramatically.

One of my favorite features is the implementation of swipe gestures. As can be seen in the second and third images within our Windows 8 screenshot gallery, Microsoft has tweaked the main menus used to navigate the OS and perform a variety of key functions. While using a touchscreen to interface with Windows 8, these menus are opened using gestures.

A swipe from the bezel around the screen in from the right opens the start menu, which includes a search button to search for files and apps, a share button to share the current page via email or using other services, a start button, a devices button that lists devices connected to your PC, and a settings button that provides quick access to basic settings such as brightness and speaker volume, as well as a link to more system settings. A swipe in from the left switches between open apps, and a swipe in from the left and back out to the edge of the display opens the app-switcher. Within an app, a swipe down from the top or up from the bottom opens app-specific menus.

While using a keyboard and mouse, gestures from the sides are replaced by keyboard shortcuts or mouse touches to the corners of the screen. A touch to the top-right or bottom-right corner mimics a swipe in from the right and opens the start menu while a touch to the top-left or bottom-left corners opens the app-switcher.

There are countless other great features new Windows 8 Consumer Preview; from picture password, an enhanced security feature that lets the user unlock a PC by tracing preset patterns on an image of his or her choosing instead of using a simple alphanumeric password, to “roaming,” which automatically syncs settings, apps and other data between different Windows 8 computers. While one convertible slate can handle duties as a tablet, notebook and desktop computer, Windows 8 is all about choice. Some users may opt for a single device while others will want a lightweight 7-inch ARM-based tablet in addition to an eight-core beast of a desktop PC.

In terms of performance, Windows 8 exhibited the smoothness and stability we’ve come to expect in a post-Vista world, and this is just a preview version. There were hiccups, of course, but overall the experience was vastly superior than it has been with any other version of Windows. The setup is remarkably fast and easy, touch responsiveness is iPad-like and I was quite impressed with the versatility of this platform. To understand the concept of one device for work and for play is one thing. To sit in bed hopping around lightweight apps and then walk over to your desk, dock your tablet, and have desktop-grade productivity software running on the same device is something else entirely.

The machine I tested Windows 8 on is a pre-release dockable Samsung tablet with a 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM. Yes, it’s a tablet with a fan. It’s also a tablet that can run your existing desktop-grade enterprise software, consumer software and lightweight Metro-style apps. Get over it.

The Endgame

Windows 8 gives us a glimpse at the future of computing, but it’s not quite there yet. While the version I spent time with is merely the Consumer Preview and not the release build of Windows 8, it gives us a very good idea of what Microsoft’s new operating system will look like when it launches. The concept is fantastic and I very much like Microsoft’s execution thus far, but it still feels like a marriage of two completely different operating systems rather than a fusion of two experiences.

This is by design, in part. Because the function of a true PC varies so greatly from the function of a media tablet (as we know this category of devices today), Microsoft has created separate experiences for each category. There is a tablet experience with the fantastic Metro UI, a desktop experience reminiscent of Windows 7, and a bit of overlap with each, intended to create some amount of cohesiveness. The end result, however, is not a consistent experience.

There is a disconnect that can be felt across Windows 8. Again, this is mostly by design. In what I call “tablet mode,” the user is presented with an interface that is quite clearly built to be touched. It is characterized by a cascade of large tiles that display live data and can be poked to open apps. The Metro-style apps that are revealed house nice big buttons and a touch-friendly design. Metro-style apps also take up every last pixel of the display, which is a fantastic canvas on which developers can paint terrific experiences.

In “desktop mode,” Windows 8 has the look and feel of Windows 7. In fact, it basically is Windows 7. There are some elements of Metro that spill over into desktop mode — such as the app-switcher and Windows Phone-like lock screen, which displays notifications from up to five apps — but they are effectively completely separate platforms.

Desktop mode has not been optimized for touch at all. In fact, tapping in a text field while no physical keyboard is attached to the tablet doesn’t even bring up the virtual keyboard. Instead, the user must tap on a small keyboard icon in the task bar to open the keyboard, and then he or she must tap another two buttons to close the keyboard once finished typing. And while in desktop mode, by the way, I found that the keyboard often obscured the text field in which I was typing.

Perhaps I can better illustrate my point about the disconnect with this simple example:

Windows 8 ships with two completely separate web browsers. One is called “Internet Explorer”. The other is called “Internet Explorer.”

Internet Explorer is a fantastic Metro-style browser that is designed with touch in mind. Controls are large and easy to poke, menus retract and let web pages occupy every inch of the display, and pages load lightning-fast in this lightweight tablet browser. Then, in desktop mode, users can browse the web using Internet Explorer, the same robust web browser hundreds of millions of people currently use around the world on their Windows PCs.

Confused yet?

Microsoft’s inclusion of two completely different web browsers that share the exact same name is indicative of the separation present in Windows 8. One tablet OS and one desktop OS, together on the same machine.

In the end, this disconnect is probably a good thing for now. Windows users come in all shapes and sizes, and millions of people who will upgrade to Windows 8 in the coming years will be terrified of doing so. They are used to Windows as we know it today, and the look and feel of Metro is a complete departure from the Windows they currently rely on day in and day out. After the initial shock wears off, these people who are so scared of change will find themselves eased into the new Windows because desktop mode is so familiar, and because “tablet mode” is so separate from it.

But this is not the future of post-post-PCs.

Windows 8 is the tip of the iceberg. The start of a shift that will eventually see the “tablet” UI and the “desktop” UI merge into one comprehensive user experience. Apple is taking a different approach; as we’re seeing in OS X Mountain Lion, Apple is slowly readying its desktop user interface for a touch environment by taking some of the elements from its gorgeous mobile UI and adapting them for desktop computers. This varies dramatically from the path Microsoft is taking with Windows 8, but the endgame is the same: one experience that is as capable as it is versatile, and as user-friendly as it is beautiful.

This is the future of computing.

Microsoft’s Windows 8 Consumer Preview will become available to the general public on Wednesday as a free download with an initial cache of more than 100 apps in the Store, all of which will be free during the preview period.

You would think that, given the impressive specs of its new CloudMobile smartphone, Acer would want to place this thing front and center at Mobile World Congress. Think again. For some reason, the company decided to hide its new flagship model within the Google booth. Location aside, the handset’s specs are nothing to scoff at. A 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon chip powers this monster, which sports a 4.3-inch 1,280 x 800-pixel HD screen with a truly incredible range viewing angles, and a really well-engineered tooled metal exterior. The CloudMobile software itself is heavily guarded at the moment, and Acer wouldn’t give us so much as a peek at any screens related to its upcoming cloud service, but company reps assured us that we would be “impressed” when launch time comes around. Let’s hope the software lives up to the promise of the hardware. In the meantime, be sure to check out our hands-on photos, which are linked below.

These three new devices announced by Samsung at Mobile World Congress are each intended to occupy different spaces in the mobile market. The Galaxy Mini 2 is a diminutive little smartphone with pretty unimpressive specs, but it is aimed at the entry-level crowd where it may fare well. The 3.27-inch small handset sports a single-core 800mhz processor, Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread with TouchWiz, a 3.2 megapixel camera and a positively terrible HVGA display. It feels odd to use the word “terrible” when describing a Samsung display, but Samsung cut some corners to keep this phone’s cost down and the display was definitely one of them. Performance in use was lackluster as well, but then again, if you’re in the market for a phone like the Mini 2 you’re probably not very concerned with the latest and greatest. Hit the jump for more.

The Galaxy Ace 2 is the European version of the Blaze 4G and, as such, slots in between the last-generation Galaxy S and the current Galaxy II. A dual-core 800MHz processor powers a TouchWiz-skinned version of Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread, and the WVGA display is far less impressive than the Super AMOLED screens used in other Samsung devices.

Finally, the Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 provides an alternative for those who don’t need a device with embedded cellular connectivity. Sporting Wi-Fi only, the Galaxy WiFi 4.2 has a nice glossy white finish and it is extremely responsive. It’s also just 9 millimeters thick, and the TFT IPS screen is quite beautiful. It only has a 2-megapixel camera though, so you’re not going to be shooting any Leibowitz-grade images with this puppy, but all told it’s a nice entry into the PMP game.

Be sure to check out our hands-on photos of the Samsung Galaxy Mini 2, the Galaxy Ace 2 and the Galaxy S WiFi 4.2, which are linked above.

Samsung has a number of new devices on hand at this year’s Mobile World Congress, and one of them was the Galaxy S Blaze 4G set to launch on T-Mobile later this year. We got a chance to check out the Blaze 4G, and we left relatively unimpressed. To be fair, the Blaze is a lightning-fast smartphone on par with a number of recent additions to Samsung’s Galaxy line, but it’s hard to get excited over a phone that is only a modest upgrade compared to T-Mobile’s current Galaxy S II. The Blaze 4G features a 1.5Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, a 5-megapixel camera and Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread. It’s certainly a solid phone but with HTC’s One S heading to T-Mobile in April and Samsung’s full-HD Galaxy S III on the way as well, T-Mobile subscribers looking for the latest and greatest may want to sit tight and wait another month or so. The Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G launches in March for $149.99 on contract, and our hands-on photos of the handset follow below.