MasHD Blog

After leaving nothing to imagination thanks to numerous leaks, Nokia finally took the wraps off the Lumia Icon for Verizon Wireless. The LTE device with Windows Phone 8 will be available in the carrier’s retail stores on February 20 for $199.99 with a two-year contract. Design-wise, the Nokia Lumia Icon looks a lot like its predecessor, the Nokia Lumia 928. The Verizon-exclusive device looks boxy compared to its internationally available siblings. The Nokia Lumia Icon features Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC with 2.2GHz quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of built-in, non-expandable memory on board. The display is a 5” super sensitive ClearBlack AMOLED unit with Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) and pixel density of 441ppi. The main camera of the Nokia Lumia Icon is a 20MP PureView unit with 1/2.5” BSI sensor, f/2.4, OIS, and a dual-LED flash. It is capable of capturing 1080p videos @ 30 fps. Like its Lumia 1520 and Lumia 1020 siblings, the Nokia Lumia Icon can capture full re...

Sony Mobile has never officially confirmed that the Xperia SP is on the list to receive the future Android 4.4 KitKat upgrade. The only devices that will definitely get the update according to Sony are the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia Tablet Z, Xperia Z Ultra and Xperia Z1 (we would imagine the Z1 Compact would also make the list). However, Sony’s product pages for the Xperia SP did hint that Android KitKat is likely as far back as November 2013, with the version overview pointing to KitKat being a “future version”. This status has remained the same, until just now, when the product page has been changed to “Under Investigation”. Given the delayed launch of Android 4.3 for Xperia SP owners, it was initially meant to launch by the end of 2013, maybe Sony has decided not to bother with KitKat. Or maybe, it still is on the agenda, but Sony doesn’t want to get people’s hopes up. Maybe it appeared on the “future version” as a mistake. At some point, Sony will clarify the upgrade cycle ...

We don't see as many new MP3 players these days as we used to. It seems like we used to see them all the time, but many people use their smartphone now rather than having two devices. SanDisk has unveiled a new MP3 player that it is aiming at athletes and other active users. The MP3 player is called the SanDisk Clip Sport. The Clip Sport is a small MP3 player that has a built in clip that is designed to connect to your clothing. The player is available in six colors including black, pink, green, red, yellow, and blue. The player is available with 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB of internal storage. The Clip Sport also has a 1.44-inch color LCD screen with a resolution of 128 x 128. The Clip Sport supports multiple file formats including MP3, AAC, Audible, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, and WMA. The audio player also has an integrated FM tuner so you can listen to your favorite radio station. If you run out of internal storage, the Clip Sport has a microSD card slot for storage expansion. Power for...

According to The Wall Street Journal, Nokia will release its first Android smartphone this month. Known as Nokia Normandy, the low-cost handset will reportedly be showcased during MWC in Barcelona. According to WSJ’s sources, Nokia was hard at work on the device while Microsoft was performing due diligence prior to its acquisition of the Finnish company. The smartphone will allegedly go official as Nokia X. Unsurprisingly, the smartphone is tipped to launch without Google Play support, similarly to Amazon’s Kindle products. Instead, it will be focused on services provided by Microsoft and Nokia. In line with recent leaks, the UI of the upcoming smartphone is also said to be closely related to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8. Rumored specs of the Nokia X include dual-core Snapdragon 200 SoC, dual-SIM, 4” WVGA display, 4GB of built-in memory, and 512MB of RAM. The handset will reportedly be priced in line with Nokia Asha devices. All things considered, The Wall Street Journal report rea...

The state of California has introduced a bill that would require mobile devices to have a ‘kill switch’ which would render them inoperable and impossible to reset if stolen. If passed, Senate Bill 962 would require every smartphone sold in or shipped to California to have the mechanism installed by as early as January 2015, with smartphone manufacturers given until June of this year to come up with solutions for integrating the technology into their devices. State Senator Mark Leno, San Francisco Attorney George Gascon, and other officials and law enforcement officers co-authored the document in hopes that the wireless industry would wake up to the realities of unusually high phone theft statistics in California, AP reported. Mobile phone theft accounts for almost one in three US robberies, according to the Federal Communications Commission. The rates are even higher in California, accounting for 60 percent of thefts in San Francisco and 75 percent in nearby Oakland. San Franci...

Sony's alleged successor to the Xperia Z1, thought to be codenamed Sony D6503 'Sirius' and expected to be released as the Sony Xperia Z2, is once again doing rounds of the internet, with new reports detailing its camera feature. The rumoured Sony D6503 'Sirius', which has in the past been expected to have the same 20.7-megapixel camera as the Xperia Z1, in its recent leak of screenshots of the camera settings, shows off the ability to record 1080p video at 60 frames per second. If true, it will be more than twice as fast as Xperia Z1, which has the usual 30fps recording mode. With the Xperia Z1, users could click 20-megapixels images only in the 4:3 aspect ratio. Users could click widescreen 16:9 images only at a 8-megapixels resolution. With the latest report however, it seems evident that the settings shown on the Sony D6503 "Sirius" suggest that one can also get the same 16:9 aspect shot with 15.5-megapixels. Last month, XDA developer's forum ...

The Nexus 10 2014 edition could be built by HTC, even though it hasn't teamed up with Google on a new device or manufactured a tablet in a number of years.The Taiwanese HTC One smartphone maker is being tapped to make a next-generation Nexus 10, reported salt-required DigiTimes, citing anonymous industry sources.It backs up previous rumors that HTC won the rights to make the Google-branded 10-inch tablet in time for a third quarter release this year.If true, the Nexus 10 2 would mean that HTC is taking over the current Nexus 10 production duties from Samsung, which began making the tablet in late 2012.Samsung, for its part, has moved on to manufacturing its own Galaxy Tab 10.1 2014 anyway, as well as even larger tabs like the Galaxy Pro Note 12.2 and Galaxy Pro Tab 12.2.HTC and Google haven't made a Nexus device since debuting the first-ever Nexus phone, the Nexus One, back in 2010.Google wanted to give it another go with a 7-inch Nexus tablet in 2012, but HTC turned down the...

Halo is undoubtedly one of the most successful franchises in the gaming world. Halo has been an Xbox exclusive. The game has been offered on the PC, but it has never been offered on a game console outside the Xbox realm. Fans of the franchise are always on the lookout for details on new entries to the franchise. Rumors have been running thick in recent weeks about a new game thought to be called Halo 2 Anniversary. Recently a new round of rumors and anxiety about when the game will land came after Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer tweeted a response to a question from a fan. The fan asked specifically about Halo 2 anniversary. Spencer didn’t confirm or deny the game. He remarked that he doesn't mind questions about what is coming, but that they need news at events and can't always comment. That seems to hint details about Halo 2 Anniversary might be coming at a Microsoft event. It would be easy enough to come away with the thought that perhaps at the next big Microsof...

Courts all around the country are deluged with patent infringement suits with many of them coming from the largest firms in the technology realm. Google is one of the companies that has been involved in more than a few patent infringement suits. Google has announced that it has entered into a new patent agreement. The patent licensing agreement is with Cisco and the two firms say that the agreement covers a broad range of products and technologies. Cisco says that the agreement allow the two firms to get value from the patent portfolio and helps reduce risk of litigation in the future. Google made similar remarks about the patent licensing deal reducing the potential for litigation in the future. Google also notes that the deal between it and Cisco is in direct contrast to other firms that are transferring patents to patent assertion entities. That is a direct jab at Microsoft and the other tech firms that are part of the Rockstar Consortium that seeks to enforce patents and sq...

The idea of having the ability to remotely stop a vehicle isn’t new. GM has been able to do that for a number of years via OnStar. If some OnStar equipped cars are stolen, the car can be remotely turned off allowing police to catch the suspects. Authorities in Europe have a plan that could one day require remote kill switches on all cars. The plan would require every car entering Europe to have a system fitted that would allow the car to be tracked and disabled remotely by police. The program is reportedly being developed by the European Network of Law Enforcement Technologies with the goal of building a standard for all automobiles. The plan was revealed by a civil rights group from Europe called Statewatch. Authorities want to make it so police could disable any vehicle remotely at the touch of a button. The police say such a system would end high-speed chases. Statewatch fears that the system would be abused. The GM OnStar system requires the owner of the vehicle to give p...

What if you could dress a wound the way you fix a tire? That's the idea behind Xstat Dressing, an in-development technology that would allow medics to easily dress gunshots or other deep wounds on the battlefield — and it was inspired by the foam used to fix flat tires. "That's what we pictured as the perfect solution: something you could spray in, it would expand, and bleeding stops," former medic and RevMedx co-founder John Steinbaugh told Popular Science. "But we found that blood pressure is so high, blood would wash the foam right out." So instead of foam, Xstat uses small, expandable sponges. The sponges — which are standard medical sponges that have been compressed and coated with a hemostatic agent called chitosan — take just 15 seconds to expand once they're in the wound. They help with clotting and slowing blood flow, while providing enough pressure that no manual pressure is needed. Each sponge is also marked so that it can be seen by an X-ra...

The state of California has ordered Google to move its massive floating barge away from its current construction site in the San Francisco Bay. San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission executive director Larry Goldzband said the four-story structure has drawn numerous complaints. "It needs to move," Goldzband said. He also claims that Google never had the proper permits to start work on the project at Treasure Island. But today's development may not spell any real trouble for Google — the company simply needs to relocate the barge to another Bay facility where construction is fully permitted. The news was first reported by the Associated Press. Sightings of the barge led to rampant speculation about its purpose last year. Google eventually admitted ownership of the San Francisco barge, teasing that it hopes to explore using it as a space where "people can learn about new technology." We reached out to the company for more details on how it p...