Nokia Asha 501 to illuminate UK in next few weeks

Already tempted by the Asha 501, Nokia's featurephone disguised as a smartphone? Well the phone is about to roll out globally, meaning it won't be long until you can pocket Nokia's vibrant little number.

The Finnish phone maker confirmed that the Lumia-like handset will be launching in Thailand and Pakistan this week and then roll out to Europe and other countries in "subsequent weeks". This one won't be hitting the US and Canada for now.

Don't get too excited about the specs though - with only 2G connectivity on offer, the 501 is the budget buyer's choice. It also packs a 2-inch QVGA display, 3.2MP camera, along with a 4GB memory card in the box.

The phone runs on Nokia's overhauled Asha software, which brings in the big Windows Phone icons and simple swiping. Meanwhile there are two main screens, the 'Home' and the 'Fastlane'. The former has the traditional grid of apps while the latter is a feed of messages and updates, as well as recently-used applications.
Phoenix from the Ashas

Still, set at a recommended retail price of €75 (about £65), it promises to be perfect for those bridging the gap to a full smartphone, or for festival-goers looking for a decent backup handset that won't break the bank.

Not only will it be coming in at a budget price, it'll also be presenting itself in six colours: yellow, cyan, bright red, bright green, black and white.

Nokia claims that the phone will also offer 47 days of battery life on standby, and 17 hours of talk time. Not bad if you ask us.

Galaxy S4: what it means for Apple's iPhone 6

The Samsung Galaxy S4 launch was much more interesting than the Galaxy S4 itself. The tone was way off - CNet called it "shockingly sexist" - and like recent Apple launches, the device was evolutionary, not revolutionary. The Daily Mash nailed it with its report of "state-of-the-art pointlessness" that means "if you are watching a video you can pause it while being attacked by a wolf."

Many of the new features are old features, such as the tilt scrolling Instapaper offered in 2008 or the infra-red transmitters Nokia churned out by the truckload in the early 2000s. Other features have appeared on earlier Samsungs, or are available in apps such as Google Translate. Add-on games controllers are hardly a new idea either.

That's not to say that any of these things are bad - the wheel's been around for a while now, and that's still pretty handy - but of course if this was the iPhone 5S we'd have the entire internet telling us that Apple is doomed.

Samsung largely escaped that, although it was funny to see the odd bit of rumour-fuelled disappointment when the S4 didn't turn out to include a giant robot horse. Apple launches have had rumour-fuelled disappointment for years!

Cheap gags aside, can Apple learn anything from the S4?

I think it can.

It's all about the experience - and the apps

Samsung knows that it can't really stand out with hardware alone - let's be honest, bar the odd gimmick there's not a huge difference between the S4 and the S3, any more than there's a huge difference between an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 4 - and it can't really stand out with stock Android, because everybody's got that.

In fact, the word "Android" was conspicuous by its absence last night, and you got the distinct impression that if Tizen was ready, the S4 would be running that.

There's only so much you can do with the hardware. Sure, Apple can give us a bigger screen, a finish that doesn't scratch itself to death if you look at it funny, and it can boost the processor and the battery life and the megapixelszzzzz

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Sorry, where was I?

What's interesting now isn't the hardware, but the overall experience. The ecosystem. The apps.

That's where Apple could do so much better.

Take Siri, for example. It's a superb technology that doesn't do very much. Let me control my phone with it, activate Airplane Mode or find a particular video clip and send it to my Apple TV.

Give developers an API so they can expand it into the areas Apple doesn't do or hasn't got round to. Siri should be an oracle and a Babel Fish translator, a taxi booker and a cheap flight finder and a Netflix controller and a song identifier and anything else developers can come up with.

It'd be nice to see Passbook actually do something too. My wallet's full of paper and plastic cards - gym memberships, petrol vouchers, loyalty cards, gig tickets - and Passbook could easily replace the lot of them, but right now it's a dead app.

Get the big names on board, get Siri to find the voucher or card I'm looking for.

Better sharing between apps.

A lock screen more like Google Now.

*cough* Maps *cough*.

You get the idea, and I'm sure you have your own suggestions (please, share them in the comments, we're all ears).

That's my wish list for the next iPhone. What's yours?

Windows Phone 7.8 update paused by Microsoft

Microsoft has stopped Windows Phone 7.8 updates for an aged Windows Phone smartphones like a Nokia Lumia 800, Lumia 900 and Lumia 610. The association is operative to repair a program glitch in a release, though it\'s misleading how long a suspension will last.

The folks during CNET explain to have received an acknowledgment for a halt of an update from Nokia as well. According to a deputy of a Finnish company, a glitch seems to be a teenager issue in a Windows Phone 7.8 program and a roll out will resume shortly.

The latest Windows Phone 7.8 refurbish comes with a rested home-screen and resizable live tiles. Unfortunately, this seems to be a last major refurbish for a Windows Phone 7.x smartphones as Microsoft has already reliable that these smartphones will not be removing to ambience Windows Phone 8.x.

Apple vs. Samsung, Round 2 to proceed in California court

A judge in California has ruled that a patent infringement lawsuit between Apple and Samsung Electronics will continue, after indicating earlier that she would like to put the case on hold pending resolution of an appeal in another patent dispute between the two companies before the same court.
samsung, apple

The two sides will, however, be required "to limit their asserted patent claims and accused products to twenty-five per side," Judge Lucy H. Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division, wrote in her order. The judge also plans to put a limit on the number of experts produced by each side. Unlike in the other case, the court "will not permit the parties to involve over fifty experts in this litigation," she wrote.

A judge in New york has ruled that a patent infringement lawsuit between Apple and Samsung Electronics will continue, after indicating earlier that they would like to put the case on hold pending resolution of an appeal in another patent dispute between the companies before the same court.
The sides will, however, be necessary "to limit their asserted patent claims and accused products to twenty-five per side," Judge Lucy H. Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New york, San Jose division, wrote in her order. The judge also designs to put a limit on the number of specialists produced by each side. Unlike in the other case, the court "will not permit the parties to involve over fifty specialists in this litigation," they wrote.

Samsung filed in November to adjust its infringement contentions to include the iPad mini and latest versions of the iPod touch and iPad, among other changes, as the products were released by Apple after Samsung submitted its original infringement contentions on June 15, as well as a motion to supplement on October one that added the iPhone five to products that allegedly infringe its patents.
Apple, which brought the cases against Samsung, wishes them to proceed in parallel, while an attorney for Samsung, which has countersued, stressed the overlap between the cases. Both companies have included a number of each other's recent product introductions to the list of infringing products in the lawsuit.

Wishes to cover new products

Apple also filed for leave to adjust its contentions to include Samsung's Galaxy S III walking the Android Jelly Bean operating process, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Tab 8.9 walking Ice Cream Sandwich, Galaxy Tab two ten.1, the Rugby Pro, and the Galaxy S III Mini. It later dropped the Galaxy S III Mini from the infringing products after the South Korean company said it had no immediate designs to release the product in the U.S.

In joint status document before the court last week on the continuation of the litigation, Apple argued that there wasn't an overlap between the suits before the court as there was a difference in the patents alleged to have been infringed by Samsung, infringing products and their accused functionality. Of the 23 accused Samsung products in the case, only are at issue in the other, and the accused features of those products differ, it added.

Most of the products are new and based on recently released versions of the source code of the Android operating process, Apple said. The company said it would be harmed by a stay of the lawsuit as "Samsung will continue to capture first-time smartphone buyers with continued sales of accused infringing products as well as sales of additional newly launched infringing products."

Infringing on Siri?

Apple claims that Samsung infringes in the Fast Search Box of Galaxy Nexus, of the allegedly infringing products, a unified search feature used in the Siri voice assistant, which is disclosed in a patent bearing U.S. patent number 8,086,604. Another patent in the case is five, 666,502, known as the "history list" patent, which describes a way of making text entry simpler on a small device by presenting users with a list of historically in the past typed terms.

In the other lawsuit before the court, a jury decided in August that Samsung must pay Apple US$1.05 billion for infringing several of its patents in Samsung smartphones and tablets. But Apple's gains were whittled down recently when the judge cut about $450 million from the award, and ordered a retrial to choose the correct damages related to about a dozen of the Samsung smartphones and tablets at issue in the trial. Judge Koh said the jury had applied an "impermissible legal theory" when calculating the damages. Earlier the judge had denied Apple a permanent injunction on several Samsung products.

Samsung's position is that a stay of the second suit will, among other things, promote judicial economy, and avoid wasting the time of the court and the jury.

HTC to miss target for One roll out, pushes it to April instead

Mobile retailer Clove revealed now that it won't start selling the HTC a single of the U.K. on March FIFTEEN as by now announced, and in a method opened up a Pandora's Box of revelations regarding the phone's global availability.

Turns out the delay affects all global shipments - all, that is, except O2 in Germany.

"We will start fulfilling pre-orders from end of March in certain markets and will roll out to more markets as we approach April," HTC said in a statement sent to TechRadar.

Clove's announcement pinned the phone's U.K. launch on March 29, though HTC offered no specific shipping date pertaining to pre-orders.

What gives?

HTC's brief statement and Clove's website-posted words gave nothing by way of explanation regarding the April roll out. The simply clue we have to go on comes from Clove, signaling that the root of the issue difficulty stems from the phone maker:

"We apologies regarding this delay, however you'll delight that this is out of our manage," read Clove's post.

March was pegged as the target time towards the single to reach a figure of markets, however a precise U.S. release date was never revealed.

Investment bank KGI Securities claimed to have in pertaining formation that certain elements of the fresh phone, as well as its signature camera module, were in short supply.

Supply difficulty’s for the camera or any other pieces are probable the culprit here, however we'll update this story when and when we obtain official word.

They no press is atrocious press, however with Samsung's imps toping Galaxy S4 launch, HTC could expect to stir up some indisputable fresh’s pertaining to its new phone ASAP.