Wednesday 12 October 2011

Photos from the Samsung Galaxy Nexus found on Google+


It would appear that shots found on Picasa albums shared between two Google engineers, Roman Kirillov and Chris Yerga, are taken from the camera of the yet-to-be announced Google phone, the Nexus Prime.
The photo's EXIF data states that the cameras used to take these images are in fact from the 'Galaxy Nexus' or as we've been calling it, the Nexus Prime. Unfortunatley, whether the cameras have been purposfully set to a lower resolution or uploading from the Google+ app has lowered the quality automatically, the images in question are fixed at 3 megapixels, making photo comparison somewhat impossible.
With the Nexus Prime's launch event whipped from beneath our feet, we still don't know when the phone's new grand unveiling will be re-scheduled for, although a source from Verizon allegedly hinted at a November 3rd date change, this is one point however we are wary to trust entirely.
Originally the 'Unpacked' event's cancellation was supposedly linked to the recent passing of Apple's former CEO Steve Jobs, but serial blogger Eldar Murtazin actually ties the Prime's delay to changes and the removal of features from the upcoming build of Android Ice Cream Sandwich, which is intended to launch simaltaniously with the Nexus Prime at the aforementioned Unpacked event. The tweaks and changes being carried out are as a result of the ongoing patent war between Apple and Samsung.
Despite the compression, we already have a rough idea of the camera setup the Prime would bring to the table. A 5 or 8 megapixel snapper capable of full HD 1080p video tied into a 4.65" Super AMOLED HD display, which should keep everyone happy, with of course plenty of Ice Cream Sandwich to go around too.
Check out the source to see just how the EXIF data came to light. Also it's worth noting that the photos in question have disappeared off Picasa, somewhat promoting their legitimacy that little bit more.

Impressive real-life demo of Siri on the iPhone 4S


One of the key selling points Apple have used to drive the newly announced iPhone 4S is its voice recognition software, Siri. The software itself goes beyond pre-designated voice commands and uses speech pattern recognition along with articificial intelligence applications to allow users to search the net, write messages, set alarms, check the weather and generally access the plethora of features available on their iPhone, all by voice.
The company in charge of Siri were until recently, independant of Apple, with their iOS app being one of the first major products out of the company. Following Apple's procurement Siri from SRI International in late April last year, any possibility of these advanced voice-recognition features coming to Android or Blackberry were scrapped, a shame considering there was serious talk of the service extending in those directions prior to the takeover.
But now we have the Siri we got a brief taste of in Cupertino just the other week. The software has been assimilated into the iPhone infrastructure and is ready to show off just what it can really do.
Here's Apple's official Siri promo video:



Of course seeing it running in an edited, professional commercial, the service looks great, but what about in real-life testing? Well, the team from Stuff.tv managed to get a pretty lengthy demo at what appears to be the Covent Garden Apple Store in London, take a look.




Not only did it have no trouble working with either a British or American accent, but it could reply in them too. The technology behind Siri really does appear to work and honestly we can't wait to put it to the test ourselves.
Despite the advancement in personal voice recognition that we're seeing on the 4S, just how likely do you think you are to use this feature in day to day use? Checking the weather by talking at your phone on a busy train carriage and it then talking back to you might come across as a little odd to say the least, but who are we to judge.
Let us know what you think, is Siri a feature you're glad to have, or are Apple using it to side-step any shortcomings fans might have felt there were following the announcement of the iPhone 4S? Post your thoughts in the comments.

Samsung-Google Unpacked event allegedly rescheduled for 19th


After Steve Job's death, Samsung and Google decided to postpone their 'Unpacked' event, saying that 'it wasn't the right time to announce a new product'. However, no information was given as to which date the event was postponed to.

But we are now hearing that it won't be far from now. According to Engadget, the event has been rescheduled to October 19 and the venue has been shifted to Hong Kong and will coincide with theAsiaD: All Things Digital event that will also be held in Hong Kong.
We are looking forward to an official announcement from Samsung/Google, which should be coming any time now, considering the proximity of the event.

Nokia 800 ad leaks, confirms the name of the WP smartphone


More proof that the Nokia 800 is going to be announced at Nokia World at the end of this month just came from India. It was brought by a leaked poster, advertising the availability of the Windows Phone Mango-running smartphone on Airtel.
The Nokia 800, which will share its design with the Nokia N9 (but for the three keys that have replaced the bottom part of the display) was previously said to be named Nokia Sun, but that name is nowhere to be seen on the poster. It was either a codename (though we also saw Sea Ray as the codename for this device) or the name of some carrier-specific edition of the smartphone.
The new leak brought no new information about the Nokia 800 specs, but those are pretty clear already. The Nokia flagship for Windows Phone will come with a 3.7" AMOLED of WVGA resolution, a 1.4 GHz CPU and a plastic unibody (that will hopefully be in-depth colored as the one of the N9).
We also got word of the availability of the Nokia 800 in India. The Asian country won't make it into the first wave to get WP7.5 devices by Nokia and it will have to wait until Q1 of 2012.
Just two week until the official unveiling, so we'll know everything else there is to know pretty soon.
Thanks, Sushant for sending this in