First Intel based smartphone to go on sale in India tomorrow

For years, Intel has been saying that they’ll one day enter the smartphone market. And for good reason too. During the fourth quarter of last year, for the first time in recorded history, smartphone sales eclipsed PC sales. At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show show in Las Vegas, the chip company showed off a reference design and promised that it would hit the market during the first half of this year. We’re delighted to say that Intel has kept their promise. Lava, a phone manufacturer we’ve never heard of, is going to start selling the Xolo X900 in India tomorrow. It’ll have a 1.6 GHz Intel Medfield processor, 4 inch screen, 8 megapixel camera,...

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Subaru launches iPad brochures for its 2012 vehicle range

Paper brochures are so 20th century with more and more people owning a tablet these days. Subaru of America knows that, hence it launched not one but an array of iPad apps, each showcasing one of their 2012 vehicles. In other words, there are apps for the 2012 Subaru Impreza, Impreza WRX/STI, Outback, Legacy and Forester. As you can imagine, each app rocks fully photographic exterior and interior 360-degree views that also allows you to experiment with paint colors and interior trims. Moreover, there are interactive feature demos, videos and comprehensive specifications. The 2012 Subaru model iPad apps build on the Dynamic Brochure program,...

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LG Optimus Elite joins Sprint’s and Virgin Mobile’s eco friendly range

Sprint announced a new member of its eco-friendly family of devices LG Optimus Elite, which supersedes pretty popular Optimus S model. This low-to-mid end smartphone is ULE Platinum Certified for sustainability, sporting an outer shell that is made of 50% recycled plastics. Moreover, it’s also an RoHS compliant device, meaning it is free of hazardous materials like PVC, phthalates, halogens and mercury. Finally, the packaging is also green with Sprint’s version sporting a fully recyclable, glue-free box, printed with soy inks and containing 87% post-consumer paper; Virgin Mobile’s variant, on the other hand, comes with the packaging that contains...

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Giveaway: Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch and Motorola PHOTON 4G

DROID RAZR and BIONIC, and now it's time to take care of Sprint's users as well! For those lucky fellows, what we have here are a Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, and a Motorola PHOTON 4G, which means we'll again have not one, but two winners. As you probably already know, this month (April 1-28) is RadioShack's Mobile Makeover Month, which aims to help you get rid of some unused technology by guaranteeing a minimum $30 (and a maximum $300) trade-in value for your old phone, upon purchasing a new one. Of course, you can trade-in all kinds of working gear: phones, cameras, MP3 players, etc., so you not only get rid of old tech and make a few...

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most anticipated laptops of 2012

If you've watched our extensive laptop coverage from CES 2012, only to look down at your own busted-up old clunker of a machine, then 2012 might be the year you buy a new laptop. And with so many high-end, high-design systems hitting store shelves this year, there are more worthy candidates than ever to choose from, and many of them fall into the still-new ultrabook category.  If you need a refresher on what "ultrabook" means, it's an Intel marketing term (much like Centrino was), encompassing a growing category of Windows laptops that are thin and reasonably powerful (typically under 188 millimeters thick with the latest Core i-series processors),...

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AMD Shows Brazos Powered Tablet Running Ice Cream Sandwich

Unlike Intel, which showed off its Android-running Medfield chip at CES, AMD has no official plans to support Google’s mobile operating system. Still, that hasn’t stopped the Android development community from porting Ice Cream Sandwich over to the MSI WindPad 110W, a Windows tablet powered by AMD’s Brazos platform. At CES last week, the company showed off a hacked WindPad 110W with Android 4.0 on it. In a brief demo, AMD reps showed  how the Brazos C-50-powered tablet could run an animated fishtank wallpaper smoothly, pinch-to-zoom on web pages in the browser without any lag, and even play a 3D basketball game with great aplomb. Though...

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Toshiba Satellite P855 glasses free 3D laptop announced

Toshiba has announced the arrival of the Toshiba Satellite P855 series laptop, which brings the company's glasses-free 3D technology to its mid-price laptops for the first time. Announced at Toshiba's 2012 Partner Summit, with TechRadar in attendance, the laptop offers a brushed aluminium finish, with Harrman Kardon speakers, the latest Intel Series CPU, Nvidia 630 GT series graphics and it also comes with a 15.6-inch screen. Toshiba has also remade its trackpad to free up some space. The trackpad is actually bigger as it does away with buttons and brings click-down technology instead. Look ma, no glasses. Toshiba debuted its glasses-free 3D...

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This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

As well as the new iPad review, we've also got a whole host of other reviews awaiting your perusal on TechRadar. We've checked out several new Intel Ultrabooks including Dell's XPS 13 and the Samsung Series 5 as well as the thin-and-light but officially not an Ultrabook Samsung Series 9. And then there's the Panasonic DMP-BDT220 Blu-ray player among plenty of other cool kit. Check out the full list below. Dell XPS 13 review There's only so cheap you can go with a thin and light chassis, Intel Core i7 under the hood, 4GB of memory and a 128/256GB SSD. Dell hasn't managed to make the XPS 13 as cheap as some competing Ultrabooks but this shouldn't...

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New iPad 3 review

The new iPad, the iPad 3, the new iPad 3 call it what you want, but it's a device that from the outside looks remarkably like the iPad 2 but with an overhaul on the innards. The design of the new iPad 3 isn't really anything different from the original duo from Apple's tablet range. Actually, while we're thinking about it, it looks almost identical to the iPad 2 – to the point you'd struggle to tell them apart when turned off. The new iPad, the iPad 3, the new iPad 3 call it what you want, but it's a device that from the outside looks remarkably like the iPad 2 but with an overhaul on the innards. The question most people ask us when it comes...

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Philips Fidelio L1 review

The Philips Fidelio L1 headphones represent the famous Dutch company's latest offering in the world of premium headphones.Designed for use in the home as well as on the move, Philips is hoping to strike a chord with that rare beast. the iPod owner who cares deeply about clear, natural sound quality. You only need to look at the number of people still rocking the bundled white earbuds to see that sound quality is simply not a consideration for the majority. And with celebrity-endorsed ranges like Beats by Dre occupying entire sections in highstreet shops and subsequently hoovering up a large portion of those people who think they care about sound...

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Samsung Series 9 review

When you think of the thinnest and lightest laptops in the world, a few names immediately spring to mind. For most people, the Apple MacBook Air would be the first, and for those in the know, the first Samsung Series 9 900X3A would be second. Samsung has now released an update, concisely named the Samsung Series 9 900X3B, but the similarities between the two Series 9 codes doesn't really matter. The new 13.3-inch Series 9 will not only supersede its older brother as the flagship Samsung model, it also takes the crown of the world's thinnest laptop. Wow factor and desirability are key to what Ultrabooks stand for, and this is also the ethos that...

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Panasonic DMP BDT220 review

The days when a Blu-ray player merely spun discs and made tentative contact with the internet via BD Live, are long gone. Decks like this Panasonic DMP-BDT220 are network connected in the truest sense, as happy to stream IPTV as they are to play the latest 3D Bu-ray releases. The DMP-BDT220 is one five new 3D compatible BD players from Panasonic for 2012. It sits just above the entry-level DMP-BDT120, and below the more advanced DMP-BDT320 and the audiophile grade DMP-BDT500. Joining it in the range is the oddball DMP-BBT01, a compact designer player not much bigger than a couple of Blu-ray cases. Not that this model is carrying any surplus...

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Dell XPS 13 review

There's no doubt among many that, so far, the Asus Zenbook UX31 13.3-inch has been the best of the Ultrabook bunch. Despite the detestable trackpad, it offers Core-i7 goodness and a fantastic design for £999, while you can get the 11.6-inch Asus Zenbook UX21 version for £800. Dell hasn't been quick to get into the market, but it has waited for rivals to make their move - something that could play to its advantage. The sample we're looking at here was sent to us before the XPS 13 was formally launched this week - and although our unit seemed pretty final to us, Dell says it will send us another one once full production units are out and about....

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HP reveals first Ivy Bridge laptops

HP has quietly launched its first laptops to feature Intel's Ivy Bridge processors. The mid range Pavilion DV4-5000, DV6-7000 and DV7-6000 are now listed on HP's website, but the price-points are not yet available and the device's aren't available to pre order. All three include the new, third-generation Intel i7 processor, known as Ivy Bridge, with varying screen sizes and storage options. The DV4-5000 will have a 14-inch screen with a 1366 x 768 resolution, along with up to 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard-drive and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M graphics card. The DV6-7000 has a 15.6-inch screen which improves resolution to 1600 x 900. It boasts the same...

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Best Ultrabook thin and lights

Many of this year's hottest new laptops are about one word: Ultrabooks. The term Ultrabook is actually pure marketing, dreamt up by Intel for a new generation of portable PCs featuring its technology. Like Centrino but unlike Viiv, it's starting to stick as a catch all term for thin and light laptops, or ultraportables as they're sometimes classified. The best way to think of an Ultrabook is a MacBook Air that isn't made by Apple, a netbook that isn't underpowered or a laptop that's been on a crash diet. Ultrabooks all feature a Core i3, i5 or i7 processor, plus fast SSD storage and USB 3.0 connectivi...

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Retina Display makeover for MacBooks

Apple may be preparing to bring its stunning Retina Display technology from iOS to OSX devices. The latest developer version of Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion has uncovered some app icons appearing at double the usual resolution. A developer with access to the latest Beta told Ars Technica says the 2x resolution icons are popping up in 'erroneous' places. This suggests the high pixel density screen which has helped propel Apple's iPhone and iPad lines to new levels could soon do the same for MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lapto...

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Inside Apple Cupertino's secrets revealed

We're exaggerating, but only just. In Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, he describes Ive's design studio as "shielded by tinted windows and a heavy clad, locked door. Just inside is a glass-booth reception desk where two assistants guard access. Even the most high-level Apple employees are not allowed in without special permission." In a wonderful bit of pot kettle black criticism, other Apple employees describe Ive's design team as "secretive". When you're accused of secrecy by people who work for the most secretive company in the world, you must be pretty good at keeping secrets. Secrecy is in Apple's DNA. Everyone from the Board...

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TechRadar is offering chance to win a sleek black HP Pavillion g6 1331sa

TechRadar is offering a lucky reader the chance to win a sleek black HP Pavillion g6 1331sa, one of the latest notebooks powered by Vision technology from AMD to hit the shelves this spring. The HP Pavillion g6 1331sa features cinema quality graphics that will allow you to enjoy the most amazing possible entertainment experience. Offering brilliant HD quality, with great sounding audio, makes this notebook perfect for everyday use. Also with AMD's AllDay power, whether you are on a long train or plane journey, you won't be constantly reaching for your power co...

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Sony Vaio E Series 14 laptop announced

Sony has taken the wrappers off of its latest Vaio PC range, with the introduction of the Vaio E Series 14. On a day when Sony's financial woes were revealed to the world, the arrival of the E Series 14 will be welcomed by many who would rather focus on the company's products rather than the doom and gloom of its financials. The Sony Vaio E Series 14 is a laptop with a 14-inch screen – the clue was in the name there – and is a computer with the style brigade in its sights. For a start, the design of the E Series is centred round a 'wrap-around' look, one which Sony reckons stands out from the crowd and the laptop is available in a variety...

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New Ultrabook designs forthcoming, starting at $699

According to published reports, Intel has 75 Ultrabook models already in development for this year, and expects prices to plummet to a low of $699 for base models over the summer just in time for the all-important back to school season. Current Ultrabook models start around $800. Intel's Ultrabook concept is barely a year old, and models with long battery life and rapid-fire boot times are expected to make these slim PCs nearly as attractive as tablets. The chipmaker invested $300 million into the technology behind Ultrabooks, which spawned 21 such devices. What's more, Intel plans to offer a variety of choices, ranging from Windows 8-based...

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smartwatch Pebble breaks Kickstarter record for Android and iOS compatiblity

Pebble smartwatch has been capturing plenty of attention around the web in a very short amount of time. It launched on Kickstarter about a week ago with a funding goal of $100,000. With 31 days remaining for the project, it already broke a new Kickstarter record: $3.77 million in funding. Pebble is a very interesting concept that will now certainly become a reality. The headline feature is its ability to connect to an iPhone or Android device via Bluetooth to gather notifications from different services and present them to you right from your wrist. You can see incoming caller ID, email notifications, calendar alerts, Facebook and Twitter notifications,...

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iPhone helps the blind!

Known to his followers as the blind film critic, Tommy Edison shares his unique view of the world as a person who’s been blind since birth. Edison hosts both a popular movie review series and an entertaining weekly video series, the Tommy Edison Experience, that focuses on his daily life. In the latest Experience episode, Edison tackles the smartphone and shows us how he uses the accessibility functions of the iPhone 4S to tweet and connect to Facebook. He notes in the comments that the Galaxy Nexus, though not as polished as the 4S, works pretty well, t...

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Current Windows Phone devices will not get upgraded to Windows Phone 8

The bigger and more important question: Should you buy a Windows Phone today? Nokia fans are not going to like this answer but here it goes: We don’t think today’s version of Windows Phone is competitive enough when compared to Android and iOS. If you’re thinking of snatching up a Nokia Lumia 900 for free with a two year contract because you think it’ll get a software update to Apollo, then you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. What device should you buy? That depends a lot on your budget and what you plan on doing with your phone. It’s easy to say “just buy an iPhone!”, but there’s also the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the Samsung Galaxy...

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Sorenson Media surveyed MP4 is the top video format for mobile

Sorenson Media surveyed video professionals and discovered that most producers turn to MP4 and the H.264 codec when publishing a video for the web and mobile devices. Sixty-nine percent of respondents use the MP4 format for the web and 58 percent use it for mobile.MP4 may be the leading file format, but it doesn’t have a lock on the category. Right behind MP4 is Flash video, which is used on the web by 54 percent of respondents and on mobile devices by 16 percent. Flash is lagging on mobile devices because Android is the only platform to support Flash and Adobe has stopped developing the mobile product. HTML5-based video is the future for mobile...

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BlackBerry PlayBook gets OS update to 2.0.1 and enhanced browser tops at HTML5 test site

Even though the BlackBerry PlayBook hasn't exactly been flying out the door, RIM is continuing to tweak with the tablet, looking for something that will propel sales. For example, leaked photos that we showed to you recently featured what appeared to be a 4G LTE model of the tablet, with BBM. Additionally, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0.1.358 is now available as an OTA update by clicking on the update notification, or manually by going to settings and then hitting "update software". Users activating a PlayBook after Tuesday will have their tablet automatically updated to the latest OS. The new update includes optimizations to video chat, PIM and...

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LG Prada 3.0 ICS update coming soon

Make of it what you will, but the image that you see here recently landed in our inbox. It appears to be a screenshot of an LG Prada 3.0, as indicated by the LG-P940 model name, updated to Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich. "Coming soon" is the comment that accompanied this tip, which lead us to believe that the ICS update for the LG Prada 3.0 might be nearing its release.  Could this be a fake? Certainly! However, we noted that the interface follows the same black and grey styling that is currently present on the device, so we might be looking at the real deal indeed. On the other hand, this could be nothing more but a screenshot from a...

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Samsung trying hardware manufacturing ChatON app for BlackBerry and Android tablets

Samsung is trying really hard to go beyond hardware manufacturing. The Korean giant already has its Android UI (TouchWIZ), app store (Samsung Apps), mobile platform (Bada), as well as a number of app/content Hubs like the Gaming Hub, Social Hub and Learning Hub. Like that’s not enough, they also have their own group messaging client – Samsung ChatON, which until recently was available for Android and Bada devices, only. Then Sammy launched iOS and Symbian apps, and now it’s taking an additional step forward with the launch of a BlackBerry client. Available for both touch and non-touch BlackBerry smartphone, the application comes with all of the...

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Free GPS dongles Asus starts offering for Transformer Prime users

Asus will offer a free GPS dongle for Transformer Prime to fix positioning issues some users had with the tablet. The company has started sending out the following email to its customers. Although the TF201 is not a professional GPS device, as part of our unwavering commitment to our customers we are offering all customers who purchased a TF201 system a free external GPS extension kit, called a dongle, which may help improve signal reception and optimize the user experience. We are pleased to announce this offer as part of our commitment to customer service, but it does not replace, alter or amend any existing warranties you may have… This...

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Responsible for the Beats deal HTC replaces their Chief Financial Officer

HTC’s Chief Financial Officer. He’s been replaced by Chia Lin Chang, who is not only a former Motorola engineer, but also a former Goldman Sachs partner. So why did HTC do this? These next few weeks are going to be absolutely vital for the company’s future. They have to prove to the world that the One X and One S are worth buying. They have to prove that people should still pay attention to HTC after Samsung announces the Galaxy S III in less than three weeks. They have to prove … a hell of a lot. According to Reuters, who quotes Tom Tang, a vice president at Masterlink Investment Advisory in Taipei, he says. “When a company changes its CFO,...

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LG,s smartphone battle now ready

Life’s not that good for LG’s mobile arm right now, as the company has fallen from its third largest cell phone manufacturer slot, it has been outpaced and outclassed in the smartphone market while also being squeezed in the entry level side. In a meeting at its Seoul headquarters, the company admitted its failings but believes it is now well-positioned to fight its way back to the top. LG was really hitting its stride a few years ago with its feature phone portfolio, as devices like the Chocolate were well received and generated a lot of revenue. The iPhone then came out and greatly accelerated the adoption of smartphones and like many handset...

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Spotfiy for iPad spotted

Spotify took the US by storm last year after a successful launch in Europe. The music service offers free PC/Mac streaming for all users, with mobile listening added when you sign up for a $10 per month account. While $10 per month certainly sounds like a lot of money to shell out when there are cheaper alternatives out there, Spotify’s streaming solution blows other companies out of the water. Even on Sprint’s lackluster 3G network, songs immediately start playing and switching between songs is seamless, while my Pandora and Slacker accounts struggle to find connection. Spotify has been a bit behind the 8-ball when it comes to the iPad, not...

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HTC Titan II vs Nokia Lumia 900

Introduction:Windows Phones have been tearing it up over on AT&T’s lineup, as both the HTC Titan II vs Nokia Lumia 900 came storming onto the scene simultaneously. AT&T is the premier carrier of choice when it comes to Windows Phones in general, but surely enough, we’re betting that a few of you are still holding out to find out which one you should invest your hard earned money into. Well folks, you won’t have to wait a single moment longer because we’re pitting these two top shelf Windows Phones to find out exactly which one can claim the throne to itself. Design:Despite being a typical quality HTC made smartphone, the Titan II...

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Samsung Galaxy Nexus is now live with Sprint's pre order page

Samsung Galaxy Nexus: Samsung Galaxy Nexus is now liv with Sprint's pre order page we’re now finally getting some definitive and concrete dates. For starters, Sprint’s pre-order page for the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich powered smartphone is now live and ready to accept your cold hard cash. Specifically, you can grab yourself a pre-order right now for a cool $199.99 with a 2-year contract if you’re adamant on picking it up. Furthermore, although it’s not necessarily coming in the form of an official press release, the page also clearly mentions the following. We'll charge your card for your phone today. Shipping: We'll do our best to get it...

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Australian customers and inform Apple for iPad name change over 4G incompatibility

Apple’s new iPad woes continue down under, as mediation between Cupertino and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) failed to resolve all the issues of the ACCC. Apple has already agreed to contact all Australian customers and inform them that the new iPad does not work on Australian 4G networks, and to offer refunds if customers wish to return their shiny new tablets. The ACCC wanted more, apparently asking for a name change; while quasi-official name for the new iPad is…”the new iPad”, in Australia much of the marketing refers to the cell-enabled version of the device as the iPad Wifi + 4G. Since the device does not actually...

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