Apple talking Turkey: $4 billion Apple iPad deal coming?

When you are negotiating a deal reportedly worth $4 billion with the president of a country, you call out the big guns. And that is why there is a rumor that Apple CEO Tim Cook is going to be part of a group of Apple executives that are planning to visit Turkey in February. The entourage will visit Turkish  president Abdullah Gül to help with his "FATIH" project, which replaces blackboards and textbooks in the classroom with tablets like the Apple iPad.

In the first phase of the deal, the country would purchase 10.6 million slates with another 2 to 2.5 million iPads arriving shortly afterwards. The entire program would run over 4 years and cost the country $3 billion to $4 billion U.S. Dollars.

While in Turkey, there is speculation that Cook will also visit the first Apple Store in the country. Located at Istanbul's Zorlu Center, the store is inside an all-glass cube, similar to the Apple Store on New York's tony Fifth Avenue. The store offers 21,500 feet of retailing space, and gives Apple a brick and mortar presence in the country to go along with the online Apple Store it opened in October.

source: emlakkulisi.com (translated) via AppleInsider

Android 4.4 starts rolling for the LG G2

Android 4.4 starts rolling out in Korea for the LG G2

Earlier this month, LG's own Korean website revealed that the Android 4.4 update was going to be pushed out to LG G2 units in the country, some time this month. Well, "some time" is today. As an early holiday gift to some Koreans toting LG's flagship Android model, KitKat is being sent out OTA. According to one report from inside the country, Korean carrier KT is sending out the update sequentially. The report failed to mention whether the mobile operator is looking at model numbers, date of purchase, or another piece of data to determine the order in which the update is sent out. The update weighs in at 637.39MB.

Android 4.4 is rolling out to LG G2 owners in Korea

Owners of the LG G2 in Canada are expected have their phone updated at the end of next year's first quarter, which includes the period from January through March. Owners of the device throughout the globe were upset a few weeks ago when it appeared that LG was updating the older LG Optimus G to Android 4.4 in Estonia. However, that turned out to be the result of a poorly worded announcement that was supposed to say that the device was being updated to support 4G in the country.

The LG G2 is certainly one of the most powerful Android handsets available now, and was named by us as one of the best smartphones in 2013. There is speculation that a mini version of the LG G2 is coming. A mysterious LG handset recently went through the GFX benchmark and there is some thought that the LG D-410 is the bite-sized version of the LG G2. If so, the device will feature a 4.3 inch screen with resolution of 540 x 960 and will be powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 CPU.

Thanks, Anonymous Tipster!

source: Ruliweb (translated)

12-inch Galaxy Note Pro soon?!

Samsung could launch a second 12-inch Android tablet alongside the Galaxy Note Pro

South Korea’s Samsung may soon unveil not one, but two new 12.2-inch tablets. We already told you about one of them, expected to be called Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (model numbers SM-P900 and SM-P905). 

Another 12.2-inch Samsung tablet was recently discovered listed on an Indian import/export tracking website: it’s the SM-T905. According to the website, this has the same value as the alleged Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (around $610). Moreover, its model number indicates that it could be a high-end tablet in the same series as the rumored Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 (SM-T320, SM-T325) and Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (SM-T520, SM-T525). 

We could speculate and say that the SM-T905 is partially similar to the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2, featuring a 2560 x 1600 pixels display, but without including an S Pen. So we may have a Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 here. But that, of course, is just a wild guess. 

Samsung might announce at least a few of its new tablets at CES 2014 (January 7 - 10). If not, we’ll probably see some of them at MWC 2014 in February.

At the moment, Samsung is the world’s largest Android tablet maker, and all the recent rumors about its upcoming devices suggest that it doesn’t what this to change in 2014. 

sources: Zauba, Sam Mobile

HP to unveil large-screen Android handsets

HP rumored to unveil large-screen Android handsets this month

According to a new report, HP has plans to reenter the smartphone market. The electronics giant allegedly has plans to release large-screen Android smartphones by the end of the year.

The six and seven inch devices are said to be headed to emerging markets such as India, China, the Philippines, etc. Their off contract pricing will reportedly range between $200 and $250.

The new rumor about the return of HP to the smartphone market matches with past reports. The company’s CEO Meg Whitman has also indicated to media that HP will ultimately release a smartphone.

The low-cost orientation of the rumored devices also falls right in line with the company’s budget-friendly Android tablet range. Earlier this month, HP launched a quartet of affordable Android slates.

Source (registration required) | Via

UBUNTU AND ANDROID - DUAL BOOTING

Ubuntu Touch gets official dual-boot with Android

Sometimes, it's really hard to choose just one platform. Many of us dual-boot systems on our desktops, be it a combo of Windows and Linux, MacOS and Windows, MacOS and Linux, or maybe even the rare tri-boot with all three. We've seen some manufacturers offering dual-boot mobile devices, almost always Windows and Android tablets, but now Ubuntu has an official dual-boot option with Android.

The option is obviously still in the early works, but Canonical has tried to make it easy for you both on the Android side and the Ubuntu side. The dual-boot option is available with most Android distributions, although it is still limited to the devices that have either official Canonical support or community support. Then, once you're in each system it is easy to reboot to the other platform either using an app. 

Of course, Canonical is very clear that you should know what you're doing if you want to test this out, because Ubuntu dual-boot does flash the Android recovery. If you don't know how to fix that in case of an error, you may want to steer clear. Still, Ubuntu Touch is getting closer and closer to its proper release on some official hardware, but in the meantime work is continuing on giving the platform all of the features you may want. Dual-boot definitely falls into that category. 

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source: Canonical via pocketnow

Is battery in iPhone 5S so great or...?! Find it here

Apple iPhone 5s battery life test

The Apple iPhone 5s battery life is a topic of heated debate, but how good is it really? Is the iPhone 5s battery better than that of the iPhone 5, or has it actually gotten worse? We at PhoneArena have developed a custom-designed battery life test that puts a device through its paces in a way similar to the way an average real person would use it. 

Good news is that the iPhone 5s has a slightly but noticeably improved battery life compared to last year's iPhone 5. The iPhone 5s scored a respectable 5 hours and 2 minutes. That’s exactly the time you should expect your phone to last if you use it non-stop, the way you usually would.

However, in real life - thank god - we don’t stay glued to our phone screen all the time and when you are not using your phone it’s using much less energy. In our personal experience with the iPhone 5s we have noticed that under heavy use and on a 4G LTE network, the phone manages to last a full day even under heavier use. This means you have to charge it daily. If however you use your device very scarcely, have strong signal and are not on a 4G LTE network, you could easily get two days between charges.

How does that compare to other devices? Interestingly, the iPhone 5s lasts more than some of its direct rivals like the Samsung Galaxy S4. It falls short of other competitors, though, like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the LG G2 and the HTC One, all of which last longer. We’d say that Apple has nailed a good balance with a phone that keeps reasonably good looks and a small battery, yet last an above average (but not outstanding) amount of time.

Here are some basic facts about the iPhone 5s Li-Ion battery and how it compares to the batteries in earlier generations of iPhones.

Apple iPhone 5s battery, image courtesy of iFixit.

As for our battery test, we use a simulation of real-life usage. A smartphone nowadays is used for much more than calling and texting, so we had to take this into account. The average smartphone user actually spends most of the time on the web and social media, and you might be surprised that this average Joe of a user actually listens to music and plays games more than he talks! To get a better understanding of that average use, feel free to take a look at the top activities we do on our smartphones.

Finally, here are two tips to help you get the most juice out of your iPhone. First and most influential tip is to try and keep brightness at the lowest possible level. It’s the screen that consumes the most power! And second, make sure to go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and disable apps there as they may run in the background without you noticing and drain your battery. For more battery advices, check out our smartphone battery life tips and tricks.

APPLE IPHONE 5S BATTERY TEST RESULTS

We measure battery life by running a custom script, replicating the power consumption of typical real-life usage.

NAME	TIME HIGHER IS BETTER

LG G2	6h 48 min
SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 3	6h 8 min
HTC ONE	5h 45 min
APPLE IPHONE 4S	5h 4 min
APPLE IPHONE 5S	5h 2 min
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4	4h 59 min
SONY XPERIA Z1	4h 43 min
APPLE IPHONE 5	4h 22 min

Source: phonearena.com

FIRST NOKIA WINDOWS DUAL SIM PHONE TO COME SOON

Nokia's first dual SIM Windows Phone handset seems to be the Moneypenny (Lumia 630 / 635)

It appears that Nokia is finally ready to launch a Windows Phone 8 handset with dual SIM capabilities. Only a few days ago we told you aboutNokia Moneypenny - a codename that stands for two slightly different smartphones: Lumia 630 and Lumia 350. We assumed that one of these was a dual SIM device. And it looks like we were right. 

Famous leakster @evleaks tweeted a screenshot that’s reportedly from the Moneypenny's UI. 

The image reveals Windows Phone 8 (obviously) and the existence of two SIM cards that both have access to 3G networks. Also revealed are the presence of Nokia MixRadio, HERE Maps, and the official Vine app for WP. 

The 

screenshot's resolution is 480 x 854 pixels. Windows Phone 8 does not support this resolution, but it supports, among others, the 720 x 1280 pixel resolution - which has the same aspect ratio as a 480 x 854 image. So we're inclined to believe that the Moneypenny is a 720p handset. 

Little else is known about the upcoming device for now. However, since dual SIM smartphones are quite popular in emerging markets, that's where Nokia will likely release the Moneypenny first. But let’s better wait for an announcement from the company to see exactly what this is all about.

source: @evleaks