The smartphone news is coming thick and fast in the lead-up to Mobile World Congress 2012. Here are the latest stories.
Motorola Medfield smartphone images surface
Images and details thought to belong to Motorola's first handset with Intel's Medfield chipset and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich have surfaced on Pocketnow.
We first heard that Android would be optimised for Intel chips towards the end of last year and clapped eyes on Lenovo's China-bound K800 prototype – the first Intel-powered Android phone – at CES last month. This would make Motorola's offering the second.
For those unfamiliar with the term, Intel's Medfield system-on-a-chip has been touted as the company's make-or-break venture into the smartphone market. Reports have said Medfield prototypes are capable of streaming Blu-ray quality video to a TV. Impressive.
According to those in the know, the Medfield chip has been designed specifically to speed up Android apps and web browsing. While spec details are thin on the ground, there are rumours that the phone will pack an instant-on camera that can shoot 15 frames per second.
Based on the above renders, it looks like the Android 4.0 UI has been tweaked to work with Motorola's own user interface – and the phone's light grey hue is a far cry from the all-black 'droid devices we're used to seeing from Moto.
Whether or not we'll see any Medfield smartphones – including Moto's efforts – at MWC is anyone's guess. But what better platform to use as a launchpad for this new breed of Intel-powered devices?
Sony PlayStation games coming to HTC mobiles
Sony PlayStation games – previously only available on Sony Ericsson mobiles – could soon be coming to other platforms, with HTC first in line. The announcement, leaked by
an insider, could come officially at Mobile World Congress later this month.
The Sony certification program is a cross-platform genius-idea that means Android smartphones and tablets could soon have access to PlayStation branded classics like Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider or even Uncharted.
First in line for PlayStation certification is HTC – and between its Beats Audio-toting smartphones and quad-core Tegra 3 Endeavour handset, it could give even the PS Vita a run for its money. Will Apple ever get on board with Sony's scheme? Seems unlikely at this stage, but if it wants to compete it might need to start thinking about playing with the other kids at the sandpit soon.
Huawei to bring quad-core Ascend D1 Q to MWC?
Back at CES in Las Vegas last month Huawei introduced us to the world's thinnest Ice Cream Sandwich-toting dual-core smartie – the Ascend P1 S (pictured). We gave it the hands on treatmentand were suitably impressed with its powerful insides and stunning, yet uber-thin good looks.
If a slip of the tongue from Huawei's Chief Marketing Officer is anything to go on, it looks like Huawei is set to impress us again at MWC with a powerful quad-core powerhouse – the Ascend D1 Q – alongside the MediaPad 10.
According to Japanese website Weibo, the 'D' stands for diamond and the 'Q 'stands for quad-core. It's also thought that the D1 Q is a little more high-end than the P1 – well, diamond is more plush than platinum.
As for the MediaPad 10, we're expecting a 10in version of the 7in MediaPad.
Quad-core smartphones are set to take centre stage at MWC – and with NVIDIA's press invite promising a bunch of quad-core firsts, it looks like Huawei will be touting of those firsts at the show.
Little else is known about Huawei's purported smartphone, but we'll be bringing you all the latest from the MWC front line.
BlackBerry 10 OS images leaked
Those BlackBerry addicts over at CrackBerry have managed to get their hands on an internal email from RIM containing snapshots of its next-gen BB 10 OS. The hardware belongs to the Torch 9860, but the OS is all-new territory.
Having given the images the once over, one thing is clear – the BB 10 OS has undergone a radical transformation and is a far cry from what we're used to when it comes to the king of QWERTY.
The most obvious cosmetic change lies on the homescreen, which see BB 10 taking design cues from Windows Phone 7 with a selection of large live widgets. As you can see, live information like weather, call information, location and album art are all represented in standalone widgets for quick and easy access.
While clearly tailored for touchscreen use, it is not yet known how RIM will tweak its conventional QWERTY handsets to play nice with its new OS. You can see more pics and additional details here.
