UK retailers will finally get the Sony Xperia Z2 in May

European launch of the new Sony Xperia Z2 flagship was pushed from mid-April to May and May is fast approaching. UK retailers have started lining it up to launch.

Sony's official web site claims deliveries are expected to start at the beginning of May. Carphone Warehouse warns of limited pre-launch stock but expects to have the Xperia Z2 in its stores on right on May 1.
That's ahead of Clove UK's goal of shipping on May 9. Clove's offer includes £200 of free stuff – a Sony SRS-BTM8 Bluetooth speaker, MDR-NC31EM noise-cancelling headphones, 6 digital movie downloads and 30 days of Sony Music Unlimited.
Carrier EE has set the delivery date "within 28 days," while Vodafone is still claiming April 14 (which clearly didn’t pan out).
We tried checking elsewhere in Europe, the most accurate shipping date info we could find was "in 4-6 weeks" (one store even had a warning "shipping date unknown").
The Canadian launch will also happen in May, while the US launch won't happen at all with carriers (Sony will be offering it through its own store though).

Achievement unlocked: Sony is experimenting with a game-like UI

Sony is working on a strange experiment – EvolutionUI. A “gamified” UI for Android smartphones that enables new features as you unlocks achievements.

You read that right – getting to use more advanced features on a phone could become similar to leveling up in a game.
“This topic is getting more and more popular, and it’s no surprise – people learn how to play games much more easily than they learn to use applications,” says Sony and points to badges on sites such as Stack Overflow and Foursquare.
Here’s a video demo of a prototype gamified homescreen. After you open an app five times (any app), you’ll gain access to all apps. Putting five shortcuts on the homescreen gives you access to more than one homescreen pane (obviously, you need to unlock the first achievement before doing this).

There’s more to EvolutionUI than the video showed. Experience points (XP) will be tracked for any action the user makes, e.g. 1 XP for opening an app, 10 XP for making a call. After the user scores enough XP to unlock a feature, it will not be activated – users need to do that for themselves (if they want).


Users will also level up – getting to a new level gets you a coin, so you can enable yet more features. This system also lets you compete with other users. Overall it sounds like an interesting alternative to the usual tutorial that just pauses and show textual explanations.
Read more details about EvolutionUI here.
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Not Like Everybody Else is the first joint ad by Nokia and Microsoft

Nokia joined Microsoft last Friday officially but since today is the first working day after the agreement was done Microsoft has issued an ad on YouTube that portrays the big happy family as Not Like Everybody Else.

In the ad Microsoft is the colorful person out of a crowd of black and white street-dwellers in a black and white murky world. As he moves along, being cool and different he sees another colorful person (naturally using a Nokia slate) and finally at the end of the ad we see the colorful protagonist through our own point of view (suggesting perhaps we’re black and white as well).
Microsoft has had it fair share of ads on YouTube and elsewhere – some good, others cool and bizarre or funny but Nokia just kills it every, single time and then some. Nokia does great ads even when it doesn’t mock its competition. We hope those ads continue to entertain us.

Here’s the ad itself.
And if you’re interested what the #MoreColorful tag at the end of the video is, you can join an Ask Me Anything session starring Stephen Elop over at the Nokia Conversations blog at 1 PM GMT.

Xolo Q1010i review

Xolo launched its newest smartphone dubbed Q1010i онлъ a few days ago. The device was said to be designed to bring excellent camera experienced at an affordable price tag.

The Xolo Q1010i comes with a quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex A7 CPU along with Mali 400MP2 GPU on a MediaTek MT6582 chipset. The device also sports an 8 megapixel Sony Exmor R sensor with f/2.0 aperture, 1.4 micron pixel size and a 5-element lens. We’ll see how it performs as a camera smartphone and of course, as an everyday device.
Unboxing
The Xolo Q1010i comes in a standard retail box, where you can find the A/C adapter, USB cable, headset, USB host-cable, some paperwork, screen protector as well as the nice surprise that is the flip
cover.

Design
Xolo has really stepped up its game and the overall design brings a lot of novelties. The Q1010i is built using high quality plastic with brushed metal frame running around the device, which gives a premium look to the smartphone – something rather hard to find at this price point. The device is a bit on the heavy side but that also contributes to the very solid in-hand feel it gives.
On the front we have the display along with the three capacitive touch buttons – home, back and menu. The virtual buttons are not placed on-screen and are found on the bezel, below the display. There is a secondary camera along with an array of sensors located on top.

The power button is on the right side of the smartphone, while the volume rocker is on the left. The 3.5mm audio jack is placed at the top and USB port is at the bottom.

The back of the smartphone is where we see the 8 megapixel camera lens, the LED flash and the microphone for noise cancellation. The speaker grille is also here, at the bottom right corner. Underneath the back panel lies the non-removable battery along with the three card slots – one for the microSD card and two for SIM cards.

Display
Xolo Q1010i sports a 5-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. The numbers add up to a 294 ppi pixel density, which is quite sharp by any standards and you will have a hard time telling individual pixels apart.

The screen offers great colors and the overall quality is quite good. The viewing angles are pretty wide and we did not observe contrast compression or color shift when viewing the display from various points.
User Interface
The Xolo Q1010i runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, which is quite disappointing in the day when 4.4 KitKat is available. The overall looks of the UI is quite similar to stock Android, but the device does include a few software customizations from Xolo.

More often than not, the smartphones runs smoothly without any hiccups, thanks to its quad-core CPU and 1 GB of RAM. There is occasional lag, but we believe that’s largely due to some bugs the device comes with.
The first interesting bit of home-backed software that the Xolo Q1010i brings is the power management app that is dubbed Xolo Power. The specially designed app is aimed to enhance the overall performance of the device’s battery.

The interface of the Xolo Power is quite simple and user friendly. The app shows you the remaining battery level, temperature of the smartphone’s battery and estimated hours of usage.
The Xolo Secure is other interesting app from the company. The security app allows you to protect your smartphone in case it gets stolen or misplaced. With Xolo Secure, you can back up your personal data to the cloud and all you need to activate the app is to login with your Google account and provided all the necessary permissions.

Once that is done, you get to configure the Anti-Theft options, using which you can remotely track your smartphone, wipe all its data, secure lock or even secretly capture images from it.
Synthetic Benchmarks
We decided to take the Xolo Q1010i for a spin in an attempt to stack it up against some of its rivals. The Cortex A7 CPU is not exactly a king of benchmark scores, but has the company managed to get the most out of it? Well, let’s see.
First up was the single core performance test with the help of the Benchmark Pi app. It was really surprising to see the smartphone punch above its weight with a healthy score of 275.

Benchmark Pi

• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini 166
• Sony Xperia Z 264
• HTC Butterfly 266
• Oppo Find 5 267
• Xolo Q1010i 275
• HTC One X+ 280
• LG Optimus G 285
• HTC One mini 293
• Karbonn Titanium X 298
• Samsung Galaxy Express 346
• Xolo Q900 388
• Sony Xperia M 400
• Lenovo P780 407
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus 409
• Sony Xperia L 435
• Gigabyte GSmart Maya M1 v2 488
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini 499
• Sony Xperia go 543
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim 554
• Samsung Galaxy Core 578
• HTC Desire X 639
• Sony Xperia E dual 800
• Samsung Galaxy Young 831

The second challenge was when we aimed to test the overall performance of the device with the AnTuTu benchmark. The result revealed that the device is fully capable of carrying the flagship tag as the performance of the smartphone matched some of the far pricier ones.

AnTuTu

Higher is better

• HTC One 22678
• Sony Xperia Z 20794
• Xolo Q1010i 17000
• Karbonn Titanium X 15397
• Oppo Find 5 15167
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini 14518
• Lenovo P780 13611
• Xolo Q900 13292
• Gigabyte GSmart Maya M1 v2 13216
• HTC Butterfly 12631
• HTC One mini 11434
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim 11203
• Sony Xperia M 9902
• Sony Xperia L 9746
• Nokia Lumia 620 9140
• Samsung Galaxy Core 7408
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 6650

We then had the Mali 400M2 GPU sweating it out at the Epic Citadel test. The Xolo Q1010i managed to come up with a respectable score that is on par with the 2012 flagship smartphones.

Epic Citadel

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa) 59.8
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)57.1
• HTC One56.4
• HTC One mini 56
• Sony Xperia Z 55.6
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 55.5
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini 54.7
• Nexus 4 53.9
• Asus Padfone 2 53.4
• Sony Xperia M 53.2
• LG Optimus G 52.6
• Xolo Q1010i 50.9
• Karbonn Titanium X 46.2
• Lenovo P780 44.1
• Samsung Galaxy S III 41.3
• Gigabyte GSmart Maya M1 v2 34.0
• Samsung Galaxy Core 24.9

Last up was the analysis of web browsing performance of the Xolo Q1010i. And, the smartphone again came up with impressive numbers that almost matched those of the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Vellamo

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia SP 2497
• HTC One 2382
• HTC One mini 2252
• Sony Xperia Z 2189
• Samsung Galaxy S4 2060
• Xolo Q1010i 2025
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini 2019
• HTC Butterfly 1866
• Sony Xperia M 1800
• Sony Xperia L 1640
• Karbonn Titanium X 1614
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim 1572
• LG Optimus 4X HD 1568
• Xolo Q900 1563
• LG Optimus G 1522
• Gigabyte GSmart Maya M1 v2 1471
• Lenovo P780 1452
• Samsung Galaxy Core 1366
• Nexus 4 1310
• Samsung Galaxy Fame 1234
• Samsung Galaxy Young 1072
• Sony Xperia E dual 1065

Camera
The camera interface is largely similar to what we had seen on the Xolo smartphones in the past. The UI is quite simple and the settings menu is divided into three categories. The general tab is where we find settings like the exposure bias, color effect, scene mode and white balance. The specific still image settings and video capturing options are organized under the other two tabs.

Xolo gives you a range of different shooting modes such as HDR, Panorama, multi angle view image, macro and many other such options, which you could choose easily from the bar running on the left side of the camera interface.
We took a few samples from the 8 megapixel snapper on the Xolo Q1010i and we were pleased by the overall image quality. The color rendering is quite good and the resolved detail is decent. There is quite a lot of noise, but it’s still among the better shooters in this price range.

Conclusion
Xolo Q1010i is priced at $230 and is already available in the Indian market. The smartphone is an interesting offering especially considering its display and performance. The MediaTek chipset offers a solid smartphone experience, which is still rather rare in the lower mid-range.
The 8 megapixel rear camera is undoubtedly the standout feature of the device. The performance of the shooter can hardly be matched by any of its competitors that are currently in the market.
Unfortunately, while the hardware specifications are impressive for its price, the software running on the Q1010i comes with a fair share of bugs that often has a negative impact on the real-life performance of the device. As long as Xolo can correct that with timely patches and upgrades, the company might have a real winner on its hands.
Brand name aside, the smartphone can easily compete against the likes of Motorola Moto G, Sony Xperia C and Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo and a few other smartphones that are priced well above Q1010i.
All things considered, the Xolo Q1010i hardware does more than enough to justify the price tag it comes at. With a premium design, a good screen, quality camera, impressive performance and dual-SIM capabilities the device has got more character for a mid-ranger.
Pros
• Premium build
• Great display
• Decent camera
• microSD card slot
Cons
• Buggy software

Leaked HP Slatebook 14 video shows a 14″ Android laptop

A leaked video demo reveals the HP Slatebook 14 – an Android-powered laptop with a 14″ 1080p touchscreen. It’s not a hybrid (detachable tablet + keyboard dock) like the Slatebook X2, nor is it a dual-boot device, it’s pure Android.

The specs are a bit unclear, but the video is promising a slim and lightweight design. Without the need for a second battery behind the screen like on the Slatebook X2, this new device should be thinner than 20mm.
It’s positioned as an affordable device, though so we shouldn’t expect anything too cheap. The body seems to be made of polycarbonate and will likely be available in bright colors.
The HP Slatebook 14 features a 1080p screen, but a cheaper version with a lower screen resolution might be available too. It will be powered by Tegra 4 with rumored 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, expandable via a microSD card slot. The Android version is unclear, but it’s rumored to be 4.2 Jelly
Bean.

There are also three full size USB 2.0 ports, a full-size HDMI port, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The connectivity features include a SIM card slot, presumably for HP DataPass. The Slatebook 14 also packs Beats audio speakers.
Note that the HP Slatebook 14 isn’t official yet, but with Computex 2014 just around the corner (it starts June 3) it should be announced fairly soon. Until then, check out the video in question:

Samsung Enterprise SSDs with 3-bit NAND enter mass production

Samsung announced today it has begun mass producing of the industry’s first 3-bit NAND-based SSD designed specifically for servers and large data centers. The new 3-bit NAND technology is going to enable data centers operate more efficiently and manage heavy workload better. Ultimately, this would benefit complex queries common with social networking, web browsing and email.
The new PM853T SSD will be available in 240GB, 480GB and 960GB sizes and will deliver a 30% boost in manufacturing efficiency compared to 2-bit NAND SSDs. The new drive is capable of reaching 530MB/s of sequential read speed and 420MB/s sequential write.
It also will read data randomly at 90,000 IOPS and handle sustained random writes at 14,000 IOPS. Pricing isn’t yet known, but it should be cheaper than currently existing drives of the same capacity.
In December last year, the company announced its first 1TB mSATA SSD. Currently, Amazon UK sales it for a nudge below £400, so the 960GB flavor of the PM853T SSD should be a bit above this pricing.
Source

Free smartphone in Hyatt Regency hotels

One of the most annoying aspects of traveling abroad is the disruption of your mobile communications. Popping out and changing sim cards, getting data plans, or, if you’ve got money to spare, dealing with egregious roaming charges. It all becomes frustrating after a while.
Well the Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong have gone and done something novel: give their guests a smartphone during their stay with the hotel.
And it isn’t just a phone that is for talking and texting: they’ve gone all out and have included unlimited mobile data, tethering, calls to Hong Kong, the US, Australia, the UK, China, and Singapore, all included in the price of your room (aka, free).
So what phone is it? It’s the Alcatel Idol X, a decent mid-ranged Android phone packed with popular applications like Facebook, Instagram, Skype, Twitter, and a whole mess of local interest and travel-centric applications. When you check out of the Hotel, you click a “clear data” button, and it gets rid of all your usage history on the handset.
If you do plan on using the phone during your stay, just don’t try losing it: the hotel will charge you $250 for a replacement.

Anyone think that this will become a trend in hotels all over the world?
Source