Samsung's first Curved Smartphone hits South Korea

Samsung's first smartphone with a curved display screen has entered the South Korean market, as the electronics giant seeks to maintain its lead in the increasingly saturated market.

Galaxy Round -- a 5.7-inch handset with a display that is slightly rounded on both sides -- will hit stores in South Korea, said SK Telecom, the country's top wireless operator that carries the device.

Curved screens -- said to be lighter and thinner than current display panels -- are at a nascent stage in display technology, which is shifting towards flexible panels that are bendable or can even be rolled or folded.

The new phone is priced at about 1.08 million won ($1,000), said Samsung. 

It did not say when the new phone -- powered by Google's Android system and which offers a 2.3 GHz quad-core processor -- would be available globally. 

The latest device arrived as global smartphone makers vie for growth in the increasingly saturated market.

The displays are supposed to offer a more immersive viewing experience but are significantly more expensive than standard screens.

Nokia 808 PureView offers 41-Megapixel Camera

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia has announced the 808 Pureview, a flagship Symbian device with a 41-megapixel camera.

Yeah, you heard it right, 41 megapixels - Nokia has made this happen by combining Carl Zeiss optics and Nokia-developed pixel over-sampling technology. Although, high megapixel count does not equal quality photos, only time will say how PureView tech works in real life.

Of course, the PureView technology will be coming to upcoming Nokia phones as well, so get used to phones having crazy megapixel numbers in the near future.

The device will retail for 450 euros, hitting the market in May.

Samsung to debut Smartphone-turned-Projector, Galaxy Beam

Mobile World Congress will be host to the announcement of the Galaxy Beam, Samsung’s second iteration of the first Android phone that packs a projector.

“Galaxy Beam provides mobile freedom, enabling a unique shared experience around digital content for everyone - anywhere and instantly,” said JK Shin, President of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics.

The first Beam was released back in July 2010 to the Asian and European. As the first Android phone to sport a Droid 2.1 OS, packed with a pico-projector, the Beam finally made it to North America about a year and a half ago.

The new Galaxy Beam is a slightly upgraded version of its predecessor, with changes to its OS, screen size and exterior design. Its OS has been upgraded to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), and its screen size has been expanded from 3.7-inches to a full 4 inches, though the resolution remains at 480×800 pixels. Despite the brick-like design of Samsung’s first iteration, the latest Beam sports a sleek, albeit thick, exterior at 12.5 mm - 2.4 mm thinner than the original Beam.

The device is fitted with a 15-Lumen LED-powered, nHD projector. Unfortunately, Samsung has surprisingly skimped out on the camera: the device comes with a 5MP rear-facing lens, a strange downgrade from the 8MP camera on the first Beam. Overall, the Galaxy Beam is fairly middle-of-the-road in today’s mobile phone market. From what we can discern, the incentive to purchase this phone lies solely in its projection capability for the purpose of entertaining guests ,or using it as a backup projector for meetings.

With the first Beam’s retail price at nearly $600, we’re expecting a similar price point for the Galaxy Beam. But for that price, you may as well invest in a hand-held projector, and save yourself $400. As far as straight phone specs go, the Beam’s 1.0GHz dual-core processor is greatly overshadowed by the debut of LG’s Optimus 4X HD, a powerhouse revealed at Mobile World Congress 2012, which boasts the first ever quad-core processor in a smartphone.

The Samsung Galaxy Beam’s price is has yet to be announced, and should begin selling first in the UK in April.

HTC launches HTC One X Smartphones

HTC has launched a new flagship Android smartphone, the HTC One X, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The majority of mobile giants had their announcements before the actual start of the MWC – including Samsung, LG and Sony. HTC had the last, and perhaps the most glamorous event of the day, held in a huge rounded dome at the top of the Cúpula las Arenas next to Fira de Barcelona, where the main conference is held.

The HTC One X (the first in a new line of devices called simply HTC One), unveiled by the company CEO Peter Chou, is a 4.7-inch, quad core Tegra 3-powered beast in a polycarbonate white shell.

The device also brings a vastly improved camera experience, called Image Sense. The camera takes photos quickly - in 0.7 seconds. It has 8 megapixels and uses an f/2.0 lens, which captures more light than any other HTC smartphone camera. It also takes great photos in unfavorable light conditions, thanks to the device’s HDR algorithm.

An on-screen comparison with the photos taken with an HTC One X and an iPhone 4S portrays HTC’s device seems to be the winner.

HTC is bundling a bunch of extras with the device: 25 GB of free Dropbox-powered storage, Beats Audio sound (HTC acquired Beats Audio in August 2011) and a feature called Media Link, which takes your photos and videos from the smartphone to the TV (through a special gadget that connects to any TV) with a three-finger swipe on the smartphone’s screen.

The company also launched two other HTC One devices with slightly lower specs – the HTC One S and the HTC One V.

All three devices should be hitting the market in the next two months, likely in April.

Nokia unveils cheaper Windows smartphone Lumia 610

Nokia has unveiled a new, cheaper smartphone using Microsoft's Windows Phone software, in an attempt to reverse its declining market share.

Nokia last year dumped its own smartphone software in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone to step up its fight against rivals such as Apple's iPhone, but the move has so far had limited impact due to the high prices of phones using it.

Nokia said its new Lumia 610 model would carry a price tag of $250, excluding subsidies and taxes, when it goes on sale next quarter.

"The 610 takes Nokia's Lumia portfolio to an encouraging new price point in its pursuit of cheaper Android rivals," said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight.

Nokia also announced a global version of its high-end Lumia 900 phone at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.

It also unveiled a new top-of-the range cameraphone 808, which comes with a 41 megapixel camera sensor, and three more basic models.

Wall Street and industry analysts say that though the latest Windows phones could be worthy competitors to Apple's iPhone and top-of-the-range Android handsets, the devices lack unique qualities to make their sales take off.

Tegra 3-powered LG Optimus 4X HD coming soon

While 2011 was the year of mobile phones with big screens and dual-core processors, 2012 is expected to be all about the quad-core processor and despite devices using such a chip failing to appear during CES 2012, they’ll be making a big splash at Mobile World Congress.

The rumors have been spreading for months, beginning with last year’s announcement of the Tegra 3 and Qualcomm’s APG8064, then continuing with talk of various tablets and phones such as the HTC Edge/Endeavor, the Samsung Galaxy S III and the LG X3.

Being first out of the gate with a quad-core device is important for the marketeers, who just love the opportunity to liberally sprinkle press releases with the phrase “world’s first,” and once again it’s LG who gets that honor.

Seeing as the Korean company gave us the “world’s first” dual-core smartphone, the Optimus 2X, it seems fitting that this year we’ve got the Optimus 4X HD - the first official quad-core smartphone.

Tegra 3:
It’s not just any quad-core chip either, but Nvidia’s impressive Tegra 3, as seen in another “world’s first,” the Asus Eee Pad Transformer 2 tablet. Rated at 1.5Ghz, the 4X HD’s chip is slightly more powerful too, plus the phone has 1GB of RAM to keep things running smoothly.

Ever since the Tegra 3′s announcement, Nvidia has tried to explain its clever architecture, where the four cores are supported by a fifth core which will take care of the more mundane tasks, and therefore putting less strain on the battery.

It has now come up with a more “unique and descriptive” name to help customers understand why their new quad-core phone really has five cores. Nvidia’s calling the system 4-PLUS-1.

Optimus 4X HD:
While the Tegra 3 chip may be stealing the headlines, the rest of the Optimus 4X’s features are similarly high-end. As you may have guessed from the use of HD in its name, the phone’s 4.7-inch LCD screen has a resolution of 1280 x 720, so the sharpness should still be there despite its size.

Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is the operating system of choice, to which LG has added its own user interface over the top. Other features include 16GB of internal memory, DLNA connectivity and a hefty 2150mAh battery, and yet LG has squeezed all this into a chassis which measures 8.9mm.

On the rear of the phone is an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, while around the front is a 1.3-megapixel video call lens, however as yet there’s no mention of either an NFC chip or a 4G LTE variant.

Launch date:
More information on the Optimus 4X HD will be provided during Mobile World Congress next week, and LG says the phone will be released in Europe between March and June, but it has yet to confirm an international or North American launch.