NOKIA WANRS OF WEAKER HANDSET SALES

Finland-based mobile phone maker Nokia Tuesday warned of lower than expected sales and margins in its key devices and services unit in the second quarter because it is selling fewer phones at lower prices than it expected.More after the break...

US lags in broadband adoption and download speeds, still has the best rappers

U, S, A! We're number nine! Wait, nine? At least according to a recent broadband survey by the FCC, yes. The good ol' US of A ranked ninth (out of the 29 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in fixed broadband penetration on a per capita basis, and 12th in terms of pure percentage -- behind the UK, South Korea, Iceland, the Netherlands, and plenty of others. Though, granted, these nations lack the sprawling amber waves of grain that America must traverse with cables. The US also trailed in wireless broadband adoption, ranking ninth yet again, behind the likes of Ireland, Australia and Sweden. Worse still, even those with broadband reported slower connections than folks in other countries. Olympia, Washington had the highest average download speeds of any US city with 21Mbps (New York and Seattle tied for second with 11.7Mbps), but was easily topped by Helsinki, Paris, Berlin, and Seoul (35.8Mbps). Well, at least we beat Slovenia... if only just barely.

Sony Ericsson is today launching a competition to find the best reviewer of one of its two new feature phones.

Reaching out to a Facebook fanbase of over 4.5 million, entrants will be asked to first answer a simple question then explain why they should get the chance to be the first to review one of them. 12 lucky fans will then receive a phone and be asked to design an entertaining 45 second video review. 4 of the best video reviews will then be featured on Facebook where other fans will vote for their favourite. The review that receives the most ‘likes’ will then receive the grand prize – a set of 10 more for their family and friends.
“This is an exciting new competition to help us to keep in touch with our fans. Whether they are social media addicts or karaoke kings and queens, this is a great opportunity for them to get involved with our products before anyone else. Once launched, these two new phones will add even greater choice to our existing line-up of entertaining phones.” said Quentin Cordier, Product Marketing Manager, Sony Ericsson. Steps & more after the break...

REVIEW - ENERGIZER INDUCTIVE CHARGER

PhoneArena reviews the Energizer Inductive Charger.

The Energizer Inductive Charger is one of those new devices that are trying to change the way we do things since it takes the pain of having to manage all those cables and pesky different chargers for our devices. And honestly, who doesn’t want the charging process to be more streamlined than it already is

HTC Puccini touted as a 10-inch LTE tablet with 1.5GHz processor, Honeycomb flavor

Hey look, the Flyer just got itself a bigger brother. A 10-inch tablet codenamed the HTC Puccini has been revealed by our old buddy 911sniper (who has a habit of finding and leaking HTC ROMs), living up to a longstanding rumor that places two 10-inch Android slates on HTC's roadmap for this summer. It's said to pack LTE for Cingular (AT&T) in the US and to be built atop Android 3.0.1. A dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8660 offers plenty of processing power and screen resolution should match the 10-inch pack with 1280 x 800 pixels. Gazing at the above screenshot reveals a UI very similar to the Flyer's Sense 3.0 look, including the Notes app being in a prime position, which could very well mean Magic Pen compatibility will also be part of the Puccini's arsenal.

Samsung's foldable AMOLED display: no creases, even after 100,000 tries

Samsung demoed some fascinating AMOLEDs at this year's CES, including 4.5-inch flexible and 19-inch transparent displays -- neither of which, sadly, will reach the market any time soon. But the innovation train keeps on rolling, and Sammy's Advanced Institute of Technology now has a prototype foldable display, which may or may not be the same reference design spotted at FPD 2008. Its two panels have a closing radius of only 1mm, meaning they practically touch when closed, yet show no visible crease when opened. In fact, the developers performed 100,000 folding-unfolding cycles to test the junction; the negligible 6% decrease in brightness was invisible to the human eye. They used commercially-available silicone rubber to achieve that seamless look, and the prototype featured a protective glass cover which could also function as a touchscreen. Obviously there's a market for touchscreens you can fold up and put in your pocket; here's hoping Samsung can make them available sooner rather than later.

INTRODUCING THE SONY ERICSSON XPERIA MINI

Who better to introduce the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini than Sony Ericssons very own Fredrik Mansson?  The Xperia mini and mini pro, compact yet powerful smartphones. Featuring HD video recording, 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ processor, Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine and running on Google’s Android Gingerbread 2.3

LG Optimus Pad coming to Rogers May 17th

It's already made its rounds of the European continent, and now LG's Optimus Pad seems poised to make its North American retail debut via Rogers in Canada. A helpful tipster sent us the above screenshot that reveals Rogers will be the exclusive career of the Honeycomb tablet (known as the G-Slate in the US), with a $700 starting price. With a data plan, the price ranges from $450 for a three-year contract to $650 on a month-to-month contract. Users seeking a one-year deal will shell out $600, while a two-year contract comes with a $530 asking price. The 8.9-inch slab should land up north May 17th, so plan your life accordingly.

LG Optimus Black review

If you asked us to design our ideal Android phone, it might well end up looking like LG's Optimus Black. The handset that was once known under the codename "B" features a clean, elegant and exceedingly thin exterior, which is garnished with a 4-inch IPS display capable of generating 700 nits of brightness. There's the usual litany of added features, too, like a 5 megapixel shooter with the ability to record 720p video, a special G-Key for motion controls, and Wi-Fi Direct for peer-to-peer file transfers. Of course, looks and headline features are just the tip of the iceberg that is user experience.Review after the break...

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 coming May 17th, with Gorilla Glass screen and spill-proof keyboard

Man, Lenovo isn't even trying to keep the ThinkPad X1 under wraps anymore. The slinky new MacBook Air competitor has just slipped out in a video commercial on the company's own YouTube channel, where it shows off a keyboard that's both backlit and spill-resistant, and a Gorilla Glass screen that is apparently girlfriend-proof. See the video after the break and circle May 17th as your acquisition date if you're after one -- that's when Lenovo promises the X1 will be arriving.

GOOGLE IO - iROBOT ATONOMOUS BOT WITH ANDROID TABLET APPS

At Google I/O 2011, the guys at intomobile takes a look at the autonomous iRobot devices that also integrate with Android tablet apps. This could be the future we’re looking at.

INTRODUCING MUSIC BETA BY GOOGLE

Google Music Beta lets you upload your personal music collection to listen anywhere, keep everything in sync, and forget the hassle of cables and files.

Google partners with OEMs and carriers to guarantee timely Android updates

We're here live at Google I/O, and the folks from Mountain View have just shared something rather sweet -- a coalition of manufacturers and carriers committed to making sure their Android devices receive the very latest updates. All four major US carriers (and Vodafone) as well as HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG and Motorola are on board, and all will guarantee you timely upgrades to the latest version of Android for eighteen months after release, provided the hardware's capable. Now that's change we can believe in.

Microsoft's next major release of Windows Phone will be previewed on May 24th

Been jonesing for more news about Microsoft's upcoming Mango OS update? So have we, and now all of us, VIPs and commoners alike, can circle the 24th of May as the date when Redmond will dish the full details of its next major software release. Notably, the mango(ish)-colored invite makes no mention of Windows Phone 7 anywhere, leading us to suspect that Microsoft will likely upgrade its mobile nomenclature as well as feature set.

Apple brand valued at $153 billion, scoots ahead of Google for first place

What is the world's most valuable consumer-facing brand? If you'd asked the guys behind the BrandZ survey at any point over the last four years, they'd have told you "Google," but in 2011 their answer has changed. Apple is now the hottest property in terms of consumer goodwill, earning an estimated valuation of $153.3 billion and leading a pack that includes the likes of Coca-Cola, BMW, HSBC, and Disney. The tech sector had a very strong year as a whole, with Facebook's brand improving in value by a staggering 246 percent (to $19.1b) and Amazon becoming the world's most valuable retailer (at $37.6b) in spite of having no actual stores. Sadly, there were some downers too, as Nintendo lost 37 percent of its brand worth over the past year, Nokia dropped by 28 percent, and the BlackBerry marque was considered 20 percent less awesome than before.

SNAPLET - WRISTBAND COMPUTER THAT SENSES ITS SHAPE

Snaplet is a wrist worn thin-film wearable paper computer based on a 3.7″ flexible electrophoretic (E Ink) display. It features touch sensors for navigating applications, and bend sensors that allow Snaplet to determine its current functionality depending on its shape. Phone calls can be made by removing the wrist band, and curving the screen. Calls are dropped by popping the display. Snaplet also features a flexible wacom pen tablet that allows users to write on it as if it were a piece of interactive paper.

Google and Sprint respond to Google Voice integration issues

You may recall from yesterday that early adopters were having a variety of issues after activating (or attempting to activate) Sprint's new Google Voice integration feature. Well, a full day has passed, and we've had several calls with GV lead Vincent Paquet as well as Brian Smith, Sprint's director of product development. Both executives have said that their respective companies have been hard at work on resolutions to each of the issues we outlined Thursday night, and some customers we spoke to yesterday are now back online. Jump past the break for a quick summary of what's been fixed, and what remains on the to-do list. Update & more after the break...

THE FUTURE OF SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS - PAPER COMPUTER?

PaperPhone is the world’s first nextgen, thin film smartphone and interactive paper computer. It is based on a 3.7″ flexible electrophoretic (E Ink) display that does not consume electricity when it is not refreshed. Thinfilm sensors allow the phone to respond to bending of the screen to navigate pages in ebooks, play or pause mp3s, make phone calls, or navigate apps. A flexible wacom tablet allows users to draw on the screen with a pen as if it were a sheet of paper.

HTC starts OTA Gingerbread updates for Desire HD and Incredible S

QML SHADERS PLUGIN - QT QUICK 1.0 APPLICATION RUNNING ON NOKIA N8

A Qt Quick 1.0 application running on N8, demonstrating some effects using the shaders plugin, and then the same application running on five different platforms: Symbian^3, Maemo 5, Mac OS X, Windows 7, and Ubuntu.