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The Nokia X, a.k.a. Nokia Normandy, has been talked about for some time now. The latest information regarding Nokia's first ever Android smartphone comes again from evleaks, who has provided some of the key specs of the device. One of the leaked specifications is a dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Exact SoC is unknown but previous reports had suggested the Snapdragon 200 8225Q, although that is a quad-core chip. The phone will also have 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage memory. Other specs include a 4.0-inch, WVGA (800 x 480) display, 5 megapixel camera, dual-SIM support and a 1,500mAh battery. If there was ever doubt that this is going to be a low-end device, this should take care of it. The Nokia X will have Nokia's own application store on board, just like Amazon has on its Kindle Fire devices but you will also be able to install third party apps by sideloading them. The phone will allegedly be available in six colors. GSMArena

Yes, you read that correctly. Apple is relaunching its popular iPhone 4 in the Indian market. The phone was all the rage back in 2010 but is now barely running iOS 7 on a single-core 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM and lowly 8 gigs of storage. Then there's the pricing - instead of going for something reasonable Apple has priced the iPhone 4 at Rs 22,900, the equivalent of around $370. That's for an 8GB version, mind you. It seems that the pricey iPhone 5s and uninspiring iPhone 5c aren't doing it for Apple in India where users aren't thrilled by the company removing the iPhone 5. The iPhone 4S looks a more reasonable smartphone at that price, even though it's over two-years old itself. So what do you think - a blatant slap in the face of Indian buyers, an entirely cash-motivated move by the company or the cheapest way to get an iOS 7 smartphone? GSMArena

A "jelly doughnut-sized" rock has appeared in front of the Opportunity rover on Mars, and scientists can't figure out where it came from, Discovery News reports. The discovery was revealed by Mars Exploration Rover lead scientist Steve Squyres in a "10 years of roving Mars" keynote at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory last night. "Mars keeps throwing new stuff at us!" he exclaimed, discussing past rover findings, but this time, he meant it literally. The rock, which scientists have dubbed "Pinnacle Island," appeared in front of Opportunity for one of two reasons, NASA says: the rover flipped the rock as it maneuvered, or the rock landed there after a nearby meteorite impact. Either way, the intrepid Opportunity now has something new to look at. "[The rock] obligingly turned upside down, so we're seeing a side that hasn't seen the Martian atmosphere in billions of years and there it is for us to investigate," Squyres s

Google has been the subject of some protesting ire in San Francisco in recent times, something that resulted in one company bus being vandalized via slashed tires and a rock being thrown through a window. It seems the tech giant has responded to this in the form of bus stop-located security guards, which keep roost at employees' bus stop in San Francisco's Mission District area, and possibly others. Google has declined commenting on the matter, but reports have surfaced regarding men wearing plain clothes and ear pieces standing at one of the bus stops where Google employees board the company shuttle. These individuals reportedly don't board the shuttle, but instead remain present as the other company buses show up. Witnesses have reported seeing one bus driver wave to one of the individuals, receiving a wave back, and another has been seen writing notes on a yellow pad. The men were approached and asked if they are security guards for Google, at which point one reque

President Obama has defended the NSA's spying actions, arguing that the continuing pace of technological advancement means surveillance is essential, though revealing a "series of concrete and substantial reforms" he believes will address public concerns. The proposals, already being picked apart by privacy advocates, include changing the controversial section 215 metadata program, and what Obama described as the "unprecedented" extending of rights around monitoring to non-US citizens outside of America. Obama contrasted the NSA's data collection with how corporations like Google mine metadata for information around which advertising campaigns can be built. However, "the standards for government surveillance should be higher" the President conceded, admitting that "history has too many examples of when trust has been breached." Obama refused "to dwell" on NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, saying only that "our nation&

There's no doubt that Google is becoming a full-fledged hardware company, but the latest Google X project is a lot different that tablets and smartphones — the company just announced that it's building a "smart contact lens." However, it's not meant to be a miniaturized version of Glass — it's meant to help diabetes patients keep track of their glucose levels. Inside the lens is a miniaturized wireless chip and glucose monitor that will measure the glucose levels of the wearer's tears. Google's hoping that it'll be a less painful and invasive way to monitor glucose levels than the typical method of pricking a finger and testing blood droplets multiple times a day. Ideally, the sensor would be able to generate a reading once per second, and Google wants it to act as an early warning device for when glucose levels start dropping — the company imagines putting a minuscule LED light in the lens that could indicate levels dropping above or below a s

PHOTO     Nick Leghorn/Thetruthaboutguns The Colt SWORD (Sniper Weapon& Observer Reconnaissance Devices) Technology Demonstrator connects a variety of COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) and MOTS (Military Off-The-Shelf) components together into a deployable package. The system is hard to describe in a single sentence. Colt describe it as “a Small Arms Fire Control System based upon Colt Canada’s Patented Small Arms Network Power Data System”. It is probably best described as a local area wireless network of sensors, communications, power systems and video feeds that can receive and transmit data to/from a wider area military or government networks if required. The heart of the system is a 3G wireless base station. The base station is a fully integrated battery powered system that can be connected to external systems via. satellite modems if required. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the base station, just imagine a green rectangular box about 12″x12″x4″ with two antenna

We're not saying that Samsung has announced the same tablet four times in a row but it's hard to deny that the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite 7.0 is almost the same as the regular Tab 3 7.0, which in turn was almost the same as the Tab 2 7.0, itself quite similar to the Tab 7.0 Plus. Well, here go the specs. Again. The Galaxy Tab 3 Lite 7.0 has a 7" screen of WSVGA resolution (1,024 x 600 pixels) and a dual-core 1.2GHz processor (unknown chipset) with 1GB RAM. The tablet runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, has 8GB of storage and a microSD card. This is where things start to deviate a bit – the rear camera is a 2MP units instead of 3.15MP and there's no front-facing camera. The tablet is a bit thinner at 9.7mm (down from 9.9mm) but is taller and wider by 5mm. It's also a few grams heavier, despite the "lite" name. More importantly, the battery capacity is down to 3,600mAh, which is phablet territory (the Huawei Ascend Mate has 4,050mAh battery). Sam

Owners of the Sony Xperia SP, Xperia T, Xperia TX and Xperia V have grown impatient waiting for their Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update and have pressured Sony to release more information. As a result, Sony has announced on one of its Twitter accounts, that its currently undergoing final preparations and will start rolling the update from the end of January through early February. The update will commence at different times for all regions and carriers. The Sony Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR and Tablet Z were already graced by Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, but the waiting of their lower standing siblings is now almost over too. The update brings various changes and additional features, which you can check out here. As for those awaiting for Sony to move on to Android 4.4 KitKat - we have no new information. Back in November, the company said that the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia Z1, Xperia Z Ultra and the Xperia Tablet Z will be in the queue to get the latest 4.4 KitKat update. The Sony Xpe

The gold-painted LG G2 leaked a couple of days ago, but as it turns out it wasn't the only new color the Korean manufacturer has been working on. The company officially announced two new limited edition colors for its flagship smartphone - Red and Gold. LG introduced the new paintjobs to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday season. Both new versions sport a textured back cover, which is different from the original black and white variant. The new back is not fingerprint prone and said to offer better grip in your hand. The red and gold paintjobs of the LG G2 carry the same price tag as the standard models. In Korea, the smartphone costs about $496 for the 16GB model, while the 32GB version is priced at $562. LG's new color additions will go on sale in Singapore, starting from January 18 and the device will be available from Starhub, SingTel and M1 for SGD898 (about $701). GSMArena

Paranoia or privacy? Some people are pledging to return their Nest thermostat now that Google is buying the company that makes the popular “smart home” device for $3.2 billion in cash. Their reasoning: Buying Nest Labs could help Google Hoover up a whole lot more of our personal information to slice and dice for advertisers. Google already understands everything about our online behavior — and that knowledge is what it sells to advertisers. But Google has far less insight into our habits and preferences when we are not staring at the screen of a personal computer or mobile device. Enter the Internet of Things, wireless devices that collect data in the home and can be controlled with a smartphone. Many people believe this represents the Internet’s next big growth phase. Nest makes Internet-connected devices for the home such as thermostats and smoke alarms. It has a host of products planned to make your home more “conscious” by connecting it to the Internet. Google says it

One of the biggest problems in recent times is the digital surveillance by that invades our personal privacy. Well, with the upcoming smartphone named Blackphone, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Silent Circle in association with Geeksphone has announced Blackphone, which according to the firm is the world's first smartphone that gives you full control over your privacy. So, what platform does the smartphone run on? Blackphone is powered by a custom build security oriented operating system called PrivatOS that is based on the popular Android software. The new secured version of the Android OS allows you to receive phone calls, exchange texts, transfer and store files and video chat without having to compromise any of your data stored on the smartphone. The newest invention is said to be a result of several careers' worth of effort. Phil Zimmermann, who is one of the creators, said "I have spent my whole career working towards the launch of secure telephony products.

The Oppo Neo is built around a 4.5" IPS LCD display, which is extra sensitive and is capable of detecting touches even when you are wearing gloves. The screen packs a rather low resolution of 854 x 480 pixels, resulting in a pixel density of 217ppi . This places the Oppo Neo straight up into the mid-range smartphone category, where it'll be providing backup for the Oppo R819. The Neo is powered by a 1.3GHz dual-core CPU, but there's no information of the processor architecture, internal memory or RAM at this point. The Oppo Neo weighs just 130 grams and measures 132 x 65.8 x 9.2mm, which is pretty thin for the price range. It runs Oppo's ColorOS skin on top of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. At the back, there's a 5MP snapper, while at the front, there's a 2MP camera for video chatting. Specifications of the main camera are missing at this point - we guess it's going to record up to 720p videos, but Oppo is yet to confirm or deny that. On the software side

We already knew that HP was working on its own phablet and tablet duo and today, the company has official announced the two new devices. The first one is a phablet that is named Slate6 VoiceTab and the second one is a tablet, which is dubbed Slate7 VoiceTab. As the name itself suggests, both new additions will have the voice-calling capabilities. The new entries are powered by quad-core processors, which according to HP lets you multi-task without having to compromise with its performance. HP Slate6 and Slate7 are expected to come out with 6-inch and 7-inch displays respectively. The devices are also rumored to run on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean out of the box, but the official hardware specs of the both the devices are unknown at the moment. Previous rumors suggest that the 6-inch Android phablet will be priced under $250, while the 7-inch model is said to come with an even more affordable $199 price tag. HP Slate 6 VoiceTab and HP Slate 7 VoiceTab is expected to go on sale in India

Three days before President Barack Obama will allegedly announce major changes to the NSA's surveillance programs, The New York Times has a story addressing one particularly controversial practice: intercepting laptops purchased online to insert bugs that can phone home — or even give remote access — to the US government. According to the Times, not only does that practice take place, but the bugs are now installed in nearly 100,000 computers around the world as part of a program code-named Quantum. However, the publication's government sources say they aren't being used inside the United States, but rather to spy on allleged Chinese and Russian military hacker groups, Mexican drug cartels, European "trade institutions," and alleged terrorists. Since the devices have their own radios, they can allegedly tap into computers that aren't connected to the internet. While officials reportedly told the Times that the devices are mainly intended for defense, their

If you’re a fan of older iPhones we might have some good news for you. There’s a rumor going around that Apple might do the unthinkable and re-launch the iPhone 4 (8GB) in the Indian market. The story comes via the Economic Times of India, which cites unnamed industry sources. Apple is supposedly choosing this strategy to counteract the drop in marketshare it has seen in the country. The recent launch of the iPhone 5S and 5C has done very little for Apple as the company has effectively priced itself out of the market even with the supposed cheaper version of the iPhone 5C. A relaunch of the iPhone 4 would give Apple a somewhat strong contender in the middle to low-end segment of the market, being priced somewhere around the $250 price point. Of course Apple stopped producing the iPhone 4 quite a while ago, so any new devices would be unsold stock from around the world being brought into India. If true, the devices might start to hit stores as soon as next week. We’ll have to wa

Sony Xperia E1 and T2 prices are official - click here to read more Sony has announced its new Xperia E1 smartphone ahead of Mobile World Congress next month. The E1 appears to be a mid-range handset that sticks to Sony's Walkman heritage. Sony claims this is the best mid-range handset in its class. The Xperia E1 comes with a 100dB speaker and 30 days free access to Sony Entertainment Network. It also uses the Sony's Walkman heritage with controls like shake to shuffle and a dedicated button plus a Walkman app. The E1 features a 4-inch WVGA display offering 800 x 480 (233ppi) resolution. A Qualcomm MSM8210 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 512MB of RAM power the handset which offers 4GB storage. A 1700mAh battery should keep it going even while using the dual SIM capabilities. As you can see from the photo it also comes with a camera, but Sony hasn't mentioned the specs of this in its release so don't expect much. The Sony Xperia E1 will come in white,

Gartner predicts the open-source platform will reach about 1.1 billion users, which is a 26% increase over what it currently has. The research firm also anticipates over 75 % of Android overall active users to come from emerging markets by 2017. With Android 4.4 KitKat focusing on reaching more end users from the developing markets, the forecast seems quiet reasonable. Mobile phone shipments are expected to increase by 5% in the calendar year, taking the overall figure to 1.9 billion. The future of tablets, hybrids and ultraportable laptops is bright with the analysts predicting a growth rate of 54%. The worldwide tablet market will also see an increase of 47%, provided the average selling prices of slates goes down. Gartner has also made several predictions on the PC market, which you can check out if you follow the source link right here. GSMArena

ZTE is set to grab some serious attention this year at CES, announcing five new Android phones and the company’s very first smartwatch – the ZTE BlueWatch. The announcement from ZTE is more of a tease for what’s to come at CES, but we were given a few details regarding the features that ZTE’s new devices will offer. Grand S2 ZTE Grand S II Listed as ZTE’s latest high-end Android phone, the ZTE Grand S II is the first device to offer ZTE’s very own voice control technology, enabling voice recognition unlocking and “voice-to-phone photography.” ZTE did note that the grand S II will feature triple-MIC noise reduction for improved voice calling, but they failed to mention the size of the display and processor. Nubia 5S mini ZTE nubia 5S and nubia 5S mini Both devices come with “screaming-fast” quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processors and “professional-grade” camera hardware. The ZTE nubia 5S is highlighted with a 5-inch Sharp 1080p FHD display, 13 megapixel camera with

Joining the newly unveiled Samsung WB350F compact camera  unveiled today at CES is the WB2200F, an all-together more hefty super zoom camera with an optical zoom rate of 60x and a dual-grip design. Though higher-end, the camera comes with all the social-centric goodies found on the smaller WB350F, so sharing images is not a hassle. The WB220F features a 16-megapixel backside-illuminated CMOS sensor, as well as a 20mm wide-angle lens and a 3-inch hVGA LCD. There's an electronic viewfinder, as well as I-Function for manual control. Videos can be recorded in up to Full HD at 30 frames-per-second, while images are saved in JPEG format in up to 16MP resolution. There are various modes, such as Panorama, Macro, and Continuous, as well. The WB2200F has both WiFi and NFC, as with the WB350F, offering AutoShare for saving images in real time after connecting with Samsung's new Tag & Go technology, an tap-to-connect service between the camera and one's smartphone. There'

Samsung has introduced two new cameras today, among them being the WB350F compact zoom camera. As the name suggests, this latest compact Samsung entrant has a high room rate of 21x optical zoom. This is accompanied by a 23mm wide-angle lens and a variety of other noteworthy specifications, all of them working together to create an all-around higher-end point and shoot that could meet many consumers needs. The WB350F features a 16-megapixel backside-illuminated CMOS sensor, which -- as Samsung says -- means the camera should be able to hold its own in low-light situations. Beyond that, the unit also features a 3-inch hVGA touch-enabled LCD, while the camera itself measures in at about 113 x 65 x 25 millimeters and weighs, without battery, 216 grams. There's a microSDXC slot, as well, that supports capacities up to 64GB. The camera is big on connectivity and sharing options, with the former being composed of both WiFi and NFC. Samsung is utilizing its new Tag & Go technolog

Sony has rolled out a new digital camera with interchangeable lenses at CES 2014. The camera is the a5000 ILCE-5000 and Sony says that it is the lightest interchangeable lens camera with WiFi built in. The camera is also very compact at less than 8 ounces. Sony's a5000 camera has a 20.1MP APS-C sensor that is paired with a new Bionz X processor. That is the same processor used in the Sony a7 and a7R full frame cameras. The camera's large APS-C sensor and the Bionz X processor work together to deliver high quality video and still photos. The a5000 has sensitivity up to ISO 16,000. The integrated WiFi connectivity allows the user to connect the camera to Xperia and NFC equipped Android smartphones for image transferring and sharing. The camera also supports Smart Remote Control allowing the smartphone or tablet to be used to activate the shutter remotely. The a5000 can transfer images and video, and supports remote shutter functionality with other smartphones and tablet

Nikon has rolled out a new digital camera today that fits into its DSLR line. The camera is called the Nikon D3300 and it features 24.2MP resolution. The camera also takes advantage of the Nikon EXPEED 4 image processor. The D3300 is able to take high-resolution still photos and record full HD resolution video. The camera also has a guide mode to help new users learn about photography. Nikon gives users the option of adding WiFi connectivity to the D3300 with the WU-1a Wireless Mobile Adapter. The D3300 has in-camera effects and has a compact AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II lens. The camera features enhanced auto white balance and the image processor makes for improved image quality at high ISO settings. The camera has an ISO range up to 12,800 that can be expanded up to 25,600. Nikon fits the D3300 with an 11-point Autofocus System. With the optional WiFi connectivity, images and video can be shared and uploaded to social networks. The user can also use a smart device as

Coming out of CES 2014, Panasonic has introduced their latest model Toughpad. This one is arriving as the FZ-M1, and similar to other models in the lineup, this one is fully-rugged. Basically, another waterproof, dustproof and shockproof tablet. The FZ-M1 sports a 7-inch display and will arrive running Windows 8.1 Pro. The power comes by way of a 4th generation Intel Core i5 vPro processor, which coincidentally has this being touted as the first rugged 7-inch tablet with a fanless design. That bit allowed the tablet to meet the IP65 standards which protects it against rain and dust. Panasonic also has this model certified for MIL-STD-810G and ANSI 12.12.1. The latter means it is certified for use in incendiary environments. The display has a resolution of 1280 x 800 and it is 10-point capacitive multitouch with an available (and optional) stylus pen. Along with the Intel processor, the FZ-M1 has 8GB of RAM, 128GB or 256GB of SSD storage, dual-band WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetoo

The latest Slate 21 Pro AiO from HP comes with Android out of box, but also has the ability to act as a touchscreen display for a Windows 8 PC. HP also took advantage of the pre-CES festivities by announcing the ProOne 400 and 205 AiOs, the Pro x2 410 and 350 G1 notebooks, and the HP 200 Microtower. The most notable of the five new products launched by HP yesterday, the Slate 21 Pro is the first from the company to run Android 4.3 Jelly Bean rather than Windows. The 21.5-inch IPS-toting fullHD all-in-one is powered by a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 4 CPU, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal memory. There’s also an HDMI port for using the Slate 21 Pro as a touchscreen for any connected computer, alongside three USB ports, a SD card reader, 720p webcam, and wired ethernet alongside WiFi. Also revealed were the HP ProOne 400 and 205 all-in-ones. The ProOne 400 features a 19.5-inch display with a native resolution of 1600 x 900 available in both touch and non-touch variants. Intel Core

Related - Sony Xperia Z1s for TMobile Sony has just announced the Xperia Z1 Compact at CES 2014. Unlike most mini flagship variants, it features a specs sheet that doesn't compromise, and has almost identical specs to the Xperia Z1 flagship. A closer look at the specs sheet, and you'll see Sony have managed to fit in the same CPU, camera, memory, and internal storage into a size that's truly compact: Dimensions: 127 x 64.9 x 9.5 mm, 137g Display: 4.3" Triluminous IPS display of 720p resolution, 341ppi Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800; quad-core Krait 400 at 2.2GHz, Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB RAM OS: Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (planned upgrade to 4.4 KitKat shortly after launch) Camera: 20.7 MP, Carl Zeiss optics, optical image stabilization, autofocus, LED flash, 2MP front-facing Video camera: 1080p @ 30fps video capture with both cameras Storage: 16GB built-in, microSD card slot with support of up to 64GB Connectivity: NFC, A-GPS+GLONASS, WLAN (2.4/5Ghz) a/b/g/

RELATED ARTICLES ASUS Zenfone 4,5,6 ASUS VivoTab note8 ASUS Transformer Book duet ASUS Padfone Mini An update to the best phone-to-tablet transformer series we've seen is landing exclusively at AT&T. That makes the Asus PadFone X the first of this line to come to a US carrier. We're no strangers to Asus' PadFones. Thanks to the addition of Android 4.4 KitKat and Voice over LTE (VoLTE), which will support voice calls over the data network, this carrier-branded version is an even more promising performer than its cousin, the Asus PadFone (September 2013). Apart from OS and this carrier partner, the specs we know of so far is very similar to September's unlocked, global model. A 5-inch 1080p HD smartphone slides into a connector bay on the back of the tablet docking shell, then uses the phone's battery and Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor to power the pad Interestingly, the tablet portion of the PadFone is smaller this time around, just a 9-inch HD

RELATED ARTICLES Padfone X for ATandT ASUS Zenfone 4,5,6 ASUS VivoTab note8 ASUS Transformer Book duet Shortly after AT&T said that it will bring the Asus PadFone X smartphone/tablet hybrid to US customers, Asus announced that it has manufactured a junior-sized version of it as well. Aptly named the PadFone Mini, this device still enables users to plug their handset directly into their tablet, but in a smaller package. The Mini smartphone includes a 4-inch IPS+ display with an 800x480-pixel resolution and Android 4.3 (which Asus reported will be upgradable to 4.4 KitKat at a later time). Powering the device is a non-removable 1,170mAh battery. Though this handset doesn't include LTE, it does include dual SIMs for those who travel frequently or desire two separate phone numbers. Along with a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, the device features an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera. This five-element lens shooter packs a backside-illumination sensor from Sony, as well as