Samsung Galaxy S 4 logs record pre-regs with Carphone Warehouse, four times the S III

Samsung Galaxy S 4 logs record pre-regs with Carphone Warehouse, four times the S III European mobile retailer Carphone Warehouse issued a press release that the interest it sees in the Samsung Galaxy S 4 pre-registration is unprecedented. The chain has registered no less than four times the rate it logged for Samsung's last year bestseller - the Galaxy S III. The third Galaxy flagship edition last year broke all registration records as well, and now its successor proves how ingrained in the minds of consumers Samsung has become.

There is formidable competition this year, though, with the Xperia Z, HTC One and the Optimus G Pro, so it's early to tell whether the final sales results will break records again.

Nokia updates its Maps app with real-time traffic updates

Nokia has launched a free real-time traffic updates service for its Maps/Drive applications. Currently, the service is live only in Mumbai and Delhi, but Nokia is promising more cities to benefit from the service in the near future.



The Fins say they've covered as much as 1,500km of the road system across the two cities and have shared a bit about the way their real-time traffic updates service works. Interestingly enough, if you own a Nokia running Symbian or Windows Phone and use the Maps app, you are the backbone of the service.

That's because Nokia takes the data from its users who use location services on their Nokia phones and use them as "probes", as is the popular term in the navigation industry. Using that information, Nokia is able to determine if the traffic is busy or light and assign it a color from red to green accordingly.

Windows Phone Marketplace app selection zips past 70,000

Microsoft’s Windows Phone might have not yet gotten the traction it needs to compete with the big two iOS and Android, but it definitely caught developers’ attention. The Marketplace, Windows Phone’s app catalog, now consists of over 70,000 applications and is growing by a healthy 300 new apps added every day.

This is also the first time Microsoft has officially used its channels to announce the achievement, so obviously the company is proud with developer engagement. That’s to a large part due to Microsoft taking apps seriously from the very start when it offered incentives to some software companies to port apps and code for Windows Phone.

70,000 itself can’t match the hundreds of thousands of applications available on both Android and iOS, but we’d argue that while the total number has some significance, after you’ve got some healthy competition the actualy figures give away their place to the quality of the applications.

Another important development for Microsoft’s Windows Phone is its expansion to 28 more countries, adding to the existing 63 regional markets. So far, our initial impression of the Marketplace is that it’s got almost all of the essential apps present on other platforms, and while it might be a bit behind in certain areas, the real problem might be the slightly bigger prices on some applications. What are your impressions from the Marketplace and app shopping on Windows Phone in general? Sound off in the comments below.

Galaxy S 4 - Infographics

Is this Nokia Lumia PureView?

What we have for you here are two leaked slides, which allegedly show a concept design and the actual specs of the upcoming Nokia Lumia PureView. It should be the Windows Phone twin of the Symbian-based 808 PureView.

According to those slides, the Lumia PureView should pack a 4.3-inch HD screen, a dual-core 1.5GHz Krait processor, Adreno 320 graphics, a 41MP camera sensor – same as on the Nokia 808 PureView with 1080p video recording and Windows Phone Apollo ticking inside.

Straight Talk and Net10 To Offer SIM Only Service Option

Straight Talk has confirmed on its Facebook page that it will offer a SIM-only option for the first time along with its sister brand in Net10 within the next few days. The dedicated page for the offering is now live and features options for regular full-size SIMs as well as the increasingly popular microSIMs used in newer smartphones, including the iPhone. Read more for all the key details and the full breakdown of the service.

The offering also marks a shift for Tracfone as the service provider typically bundles service with its SIM capable phones while binding them together with questionable legalese and locks that would prevent usage on unlocked phones. The new offering may in fact be a response to the increasing popularity of purchasing Straight Talk Nokia smartphones with unlocked SIM cards that would work on unlocked or AT&T branded phones.

Tag Heuer announces Racer luxury smartphone

If you are the sort of person who likes to have carbon fiber on your phone and have the bank balance that can support such needs then your options just increased by one. Famous watch maker Tag Heuer has just announced their new Tag Heuer Racer luxury smartphone.




Most of its salient features can be seen right on the outside, where it makes generous use of carbon fiber and also titanium for its construction. The rest of the body is made of rubber, which makes it shock-proof.

Small nano-SIM cards causing big industry stir, Apple willing to forfeit any related patent fees now

The nano-SIM kerfuffle is in full swing in Europe, since this week the ETSI standradization body is supposed to announce its verdict in France. Last week Nokia, RIM, Motorola and the others complained that Apple is trying to outvote them in favor of its own nano-SIM standard by registering subsidiaries with voting rights in the last moment.

Apple's solution for the upcoming nano-SIM standard is still tray-loading, which Nokia says is inferior to its own solution, since it occupies the same space as a regular SIM card, and jams into existing micro-SIM slots anyway. 

Apple's solution, which will benefit its current tray SIM card slot design, has received the backing of most major EU carriers, but the European Commission is known for putting the carriers in their places on numerous occasions, such as setting price ceilings for their roaming charges, so the backing doesn't mean much.

Nokia acknowledges Lumia 900 issues, offers a fix

Nokia Lumia 900 has become available just recently and exclusively (for now) for AT&T in the USA. Unfortunately, some users reported inability to establish or loss of data connection. Often those people were cut off from the LTE network completely.

Nokia’s response came rather quickly – the issue is said to be software-related and the fix is already in the works. The firmware update to resolve it will become available on Monday, April 16.

In case you own a troubled Lumia 900, but don’t want to wait for another week, you are welcome to switch your unit for a new and updated one at the AT&T’s stores immediately.



As an apology for the inconvenience Nokia is giving $100 credit to the AT&T’s bill to everyone, who bought or plans on buying the Lumia 900 until April 21.

Nokia Lumia 900 is available only (for a limited time) on AT&T and costs $100 with a 2-year contract. And if you get one until April 21 you’ll get that $100 back. Now seems like the right time to buy one, isn’t it?

Samsung Galaxy Note shipments exceed 5 million

The failure of the Dell Streak may have told us otherwise but it seems there is a demand for gigantic smartphones/tiny tablets after all and that people have no problem stretching their hands and pockets as long as the device in question is good (which the Streak clearly wasn't).





This is being proved by the strong demand for the Samsung Galaxy Note of which 5 million handsets have been shipped till now. It's still not as good as some of the other popular handsets out there, including Samsung's own Galaxy S II but considering the phone's rather odd dimensions we think the phone is doing rather well.

The phone will be going on sale in Japan shortly, which is sure to further bolster its sales. The phone will be offered on NTT DoCoMo's LTE network and will be sold under the name 'Docomo Next Series Galaxy Note SC-05D' (because Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch wasn't a ridiculous enough name).