Dh400,000 diamond-studded gold iPhone5 goes on sale; anyone?

  18ct Solid Gold Superstar iPhone 5 and the 18ct Solid Gold Diamond Studded Superstar Ice, laced with around 364 diamonds. (SUPPLIED)

Goldgenie, a UK-based company that had earlier launched a Dh9,300 (£1,597) BlackBerry Q10 in gold bezel, is back with another expensive version of a popular smartphone, this time an Apple iPhone 5 sporting both gold and diamonds with a price-tag that only a select few will be able to afford.

“Goldgenie have secured exclusive worldwide distribution rights to the Superstar iPhone 5. The phone comes in two editions: the 18ct Solid Gold Superstar iPhone 5 and the 18ct Solid Gold Diamond Studded Superstar Ice, laced with around 364 diamonds,” the company said in a statement.

Last month, Goldgenie announced its Bahrain franchise, which means that those interested in turning their handsets to gold can now do so within the region. Goldgenie Bahrain, established by franchisee Kingsley Dodwell, is the latest Global Master franchise set to make record sales, after creating the Bahrain Royal Crest Gold iPhone 5.

According to an earlier statement, Kingsley decided to launch in Bahrain after reading of the growth of the Goldgenie brand, as well as celebrity support and endorsements from clients such as the Beckhams, Elton John, Denzel Washington and Usain Bolt, not to mention a host of Premiership footballers and clubs.

The new limited edition version of the iPhone 5 that comes with solid 18 ct gold and 364 certified (5.5ct in total) diamonds is available for (widen your eyes) £68,000, or Dh393,000 at the current exchange rate.

“The Superstar ICE can be covered in 364 diamonds (5.5 carats in total) or any precious stone that you require,” the company says. All for just Dh400,000 or thereabouts.

If you don’t have that kind of money idly sloshing around in your study, there is a cheaper version too, sans the diamonds for those a little short on cash.

“The Superstar iPhone 5 blends high-spec technology with one-of-a-kind design. The Solid Gold Superstar weighs 180 grams and is priced at £48,000 (Dh278,000),” the statement reads.

“Purchase of either Superstar iPhone comes with a luxury oak finished customised box,” it adds. We’re absolutely sure that the oak-finished customised box completely justifies the exorbitant price!

It isn’t the first time Goldgenie has dabbled into Apple’s products. “This release is the latest in our prestigious Superstar range, and follows the hugely successful Superstar iPhone 4,” says the company.

It also boasts of the iPad mini embellished in 24ct gold, rose gold or platinum (for Dh9,300) and gold iPod Touch (ranging between Dh3,100 and Dh4,800). But that’s peanuts compared with the current offering.

“Goldgenie’s Swiss specialist designer can also offer a super update to any of the most current iPhone, BlackBerry, Samsung, or HTC smartphones, in fact any mobile phone,” the company claims.

Laban Roomes, Goldgenie CEO, said: “Goldgenie’s flagship offering has to be the Superstar Ice solid gold iPhone; 180 grams of pure gold which envelopes the iPhone 5. This very special piece of craftsmanship also incorporates 5.5 ct of clear or coloured diamonds to suit any taste.” Clearly.

Roomes, who founded the company in 1995, started by gold-plating car emblems for Lexus and body-piercing jewellery, before growing the company into an international pioneer of mobile phone and gadget customisation. Appearing on Dragon’s Den in 2007, Roomes attracted the backing of renowned entrepreneur and dragon James Caan.

Today, Goldgenie has master franchisees in 20 countries, at a wide variation of national economic profiles; from France to Zambia.The company specialises in customising and embellishing a range of items, from roses to game consoles, as well as supplying selected exclusive and luxury products to high end retailers such as Harrods and Selfridges.

Apple officially unveils iOS7 at WWDC 2013, Twitter reacts to its ‘childlike’ design

Apple plans to make iOS 7 available in the fall.

Apple unveiled its biggest change to its operating system on the iPhone.

The operating system has been given a radical visual overhaul, described as the “the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone,” by Apple CEO Tim Cook.

As Apple kicked off its annual conference in San Francisco for its developers, the executive gave a detailed comprehensive explanation on all the new features in the new operating system.

The key features on iOS 7 are:
Notifications Centre: The notifications panel isn’t laced with dark grey linen anymore, but actually has a very flat look to it. There is a today view, that lets you see friends birthdays, upcoming invitations, calendar, stocks, and a quick look at tomorrow.

Multitasking: If you have an app that you’re always using, iOS 7 will make note of that and make sure its updating in the background. So if you tend to check your favourite social app at 9:00 am every day, your feed will be ready and waiting for you.

Control Panel: Control Panel is a pull-up tray that is available in your lock screen. You can adjust brightness, volume, and other settings including Wifi, Airplane mode, rotation lock, or Bluetooth. The Control Panel even offers a flashlight, along with tabs for music, camera, and other quick-access apps. The Control Panel takes on the environment it’s in, so if you swipe up while you’re in mail, it will have the same blue and white colouring under that translucent panel.

Camera And Photos: The Camera app lets you swipe between your various camera types, such as panorama or HDR so you can quickly take a pic instead of fumbling around with settings. Photos marks the first update to the photo gallery on iOS since it was introduced.You can search based on date, and location, within the photos app. Apple has introduced photo filters so you can add a little professionalism to the picture. Users can share via AirDrop, iCloud photo-sharing, as well as shared Photo Streams. You can even share video with iCloud photo-sharing.

AirDrop: You can share share sheets with other people by simply tapping their name. No NFC required. Airdrop supports iPhone 5, iPad 4th gen, iPad Mini

Apple’s Craig Federighi had joked during the keynote that users won’t have to go around bumping phones to share files and photos.

Siri: iOS 7 also has a new voice, a new interface and sound wave at the bottom.You can choose a male or female voice, if you like. Voices include languages like French, German, and other languages “over time.” The visual UI has also been upgraded, with a sound wave going along the bottom.

Siri has also been integrated with settings, letting you tell her to turn on bluetooth, or lower the screen brightness. The company has also added support for Twitter, Wikipedia, and shows web search results direct from Bing.

Find My iPhone: The new feature ensures that if your phone is stolen and somebody tries to turn off Find My iPhone, they will require your Apple ID and password. Also the Apple ID and password are will be required before anyone can reactivate the phone. Users can also block messages and calls from other users.

Safari: Safari opens straight into full screen mode now, with the option to pull down to bring up the search bar at the top.The search field has been improved to be a unified smart search field, which lets you have access to all your favourite websites with a single tap.Tabs come with a totally new interface, scrolling in a vertical carousel, and there are no longer any limits. In other words, you can have as many tabs as you want, as opposed to just 8 like before. Swipe a tab off to the side to throw it away. The new Safari is integrated with iCloud keychain from OS X Mavericks, and also comes with parental controls.

iOS in the Car: iOS in the Car depends a lot on Siri.It puts the iOS home screen on the screen of your car, and lets you search for directions, listen to music, etc.

App Store: You can now search for apps based on location. In other words, search for apps by the Louvre and see a lot of French museum apps The App Store also automatically updates apps for you in the background now.

iTunes Radio: Apple has finally introduced the much-anticipated iTunes Radio, which gives a Genius-like experience to the entire 26-million title iTunes catalogue. You can see the full list of songs on each station by clicking history, with purchase and preview buttons built right in to send you to the iTunes store. iTunes Radio also lets you customise each station by clicking a star to show that you want more of this type of music.iTunes Match users will get an ad-free experience, but others will be able to use the app for free with a few audio and text ads.

The executives also showed off a new line of Mac computers and said that updated Siri voice software used on the iPhone now incorporates Microsoft Corp’s Bing search engine.

iTunes Radio, which will compete against Pandora Media Inc , allows users to customise by genre and personal taste. The service is free with ads across Apple’s devices, including Apple TV. It is free of ads for subscribers to iTunes’ Match, a digital content feature. 

Apple plans to make iOS 7 available in the fall.

The iOS will be compatible with iPhone 4, 4S and 5. It will also work with iPad 2, 3 and 4 and iPad mini and iPod touch.

Tasneem Akolawala 

Apple dumps 8 million defective iPhone5

 

Apple Inc.’s Chinese manufacturer Foxconn recently got a very expensive lesson in quality (and a rude shock too) when the Cupertino-based technology giant shipped back, with a return-to-sender note, a consignment containing up to 8 million defective iPhone 5 smartphones.

[Representation Image]

While that has triggered online speculation about another delay in the unveiling of the much-awaited and hugely rumoured transparent iPhone 6 smartphone, the rejected consignment most probably belongs to the current generation of the smartphone, the iPhone 5, and not the upcoming iteration.

Nevertheless, the rejection of the entire consignment, first reported by China Business News is estimated to cost Foxconn upward of $250 million in just labour costs, not to mention the cost of the parts and inventory that will go into replacing the defective devices.

The report (translated by Google Chrome) maintains that, on March 15, 2013, Apple returned five million mobile phones citing “non-compliant” and “dysfunction” issues with the devices. Considering that Foxconn will have been, by now, fairly adept at manufacturing the iPhone 5, this lends further credence to rumours that the rejected lot might well be of the upcoming iPhone 6 or iPhone 5S devices.

Quoting unnamed “Foxconn insiders,” the report says that the number of rejected phones could go up to as much as 8 million. It says that Terry Gou, Chairman and President of Hon Hai Precision Industry (a.k.a. Foxconn) walked onto the shop-floor of the manufacturer on April 16, and urged supervisors and workers “to enhance the yield, professional training, the promotion of morale” while announcing the setting up of a quality control office after the latest debacle.

China Business News maintains that Foxconn stands to lose 200 yuan ($32) apiece in labour costs, which would add up to $256.8 million for 8 million faulty iPhones. It adds that this would imply that two-thirds of Foxconn’s profits for 2012 “will go down the drain”.

The portal did not clarify which model of the iPhone failed Apple’s quality tests, and this is fuelling rumours about a delay in the upcoming iPhone 6. But if it’s the iPhone 5 that Foxconn got wrong, we’ll soon know because an 8 million hole in the supply chain will not go undetected at the retail front, where customers will be told to wait longer than usual for the arrival of the device.

In addition, keep an eye out on ‘scrap sales’ in China for iPhones if they can’t be salvaged to Apple’s liking by Foxconn.

Four Young Indians Create a True ‘Smartwatch’ Before Apple

Off late, wrist watches have changed their image from a necessary time tracking device to an accessory, which doubles as a phone. It not only tells time but notifies you on incoming calls, previews the text messages, reads mails and a lot more.

However, none of these “Smartwatches” are not exact replica of a phone. They sync with the phone through Bluetooth and works accordingly. But many tech titans including Apple and Samsung are reportedly on final stages of developing Smartwatch, which is said to be the new ‘hot gadget,’ and a ‘killer of Smartphones.’

But before all of them, here is a watch developed by four Indian youngsters, which according to the developers, is a true wearable phone with size and design of a wristwatch, or a “Smartwatch”, reports TOI.

The four lads behind the innovative gadget are three 24-year olds and a school boy- software developer Ankit Pradhan, communications professional Pavneet Singh Puri, lawyer Apurva Sukant and Siddhant Vats, a 17-year old schoolboy the youngest member in the team. Four of them have formed their company, Androidly Systems Private Limited

“There are other such products in the market, but they mostly sync with Smartphones and are not phones in themselves. We have ported Android on to a much smaller board and built a wearable phone,” says Sukant, a Beethoven fan who is the resident designer of the group.

The watch with 2-inch screen has a 2-mega pixel camera and runs on an older version of android operating system. The device is built with a speaker and mic. Besides, the end of the wrist-strap can be plugged into a USB socket to charge the phone as well as to be used as a storage device. According to the developers, the device will be available in Indian markets from March 15 as well as abroad and each set will cost 12000.

The smart watches have been around more than a decade but it has failed to grab the attention as the lucrative touch phones ruled with their innovative designs, finish and software. Apart from the Indian quartet, other multinational companies like Apple and Samsung are also working on the similar, wearable devices with some of them like pebble, already available in the market.

For instance, wearable devices like Sony SmartWatch, LG Watch Phone, Samsung Cell-Phone Wristwatch and Nike+Fuelband were some of the popular ones. But none of them turned out to create a new space in the market.

The story of the device named to be ‘Androidly’ is quite interesting. “We have all been friends for years now and would hang out at Rajinder da Dhaba a lot. I was a member of my college student council then and was getting a lot of calls regarding the college fest. That day, my phone rang at a time when my hands were dripping with chicken curry. And I just couldn’t retrieve it from my pocket,” says Puri, who had been working two jobs in Melbourne during the development stage of the Smartwatch.

Hailing from middle-class backgrounds, the youngsters started their own company will little help from home. Currently, they are on the process of finding investors to have a close contact with Chinese manufacturers.

 

Ten Most Famous Business Cards Of Legends

In an era of Facebook, iPhone and Smartphones; the humble business card is at the brim of turning outdated. But once, the captivating business cards, of rich and famous tech tycoons, celebrities and politicians have marked a remarkable change from being pragmatic to giving an insight into their personality sticking to an old-fashioned manner but in their own unique style.

Here are the 10 famous business cards that belong to the some tech titans and celebrities which everyone would love to have a look at.

#10 Steve Jobs

There was a time when walkman was the future and iPod was outlandish. At that point of time, Steve Jobs, founder and CEO of Apple was in immediate need of business card to flourish his business. Following, he came up with a variety of business cards in a simplistic and unique manner. He started his creation of business cards from 1979.

#9 Eric Schimdt

Eric Schimdt, according to his card holds the title of “Chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO of Google”. Schimdt’s card was actually a talk of the town soon after it was created due to its typo errors. It created hype in the media because of his power and designation as the Search Giant’s CEO.

#8 Mark Zuckerberg

“I’m CEO, Bitch”, Facebook CEO and billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, shows the world that you can get away with anything and everything when you’re the boss. The story of this title has been the talk of the town since 2009. The film “the Social Network”, based on Ben Mezrich’s book, announced the phrase to the world. Through his card, he shows that you’re the boss and can put anything on the card and no one can deny it. It marks a bold statement and presents an impression of radicalism or lack of concern and considered expression.

#7 Bill Gates

The colorful visually-appealing business card introduced by Microsoft founder and billionaire, Bill Gates. Back then, Microsoft was headquartered in Albuquerque. The card introduces the founder with a full title.  He might not carry the prestige of a former President, but his contributions to the society are far-reaching. The business card design and possibilities reached a matured stage where he has made the best use of it.

#6 Steve Wozniak

One of the coolest and most modern business cards we’ve ever seen comes from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. The card is made of stainless steel with creative design and laser etching. It is custom made and includes designs, both etched and printed. It is sleek, smooth sexy lines wrapped around future-proof metal.

#5 Evan Williams

Evan Williams, the founder of several internet companies, is known to be the creator of two most popular internet websites, Blogger and Twitter. Williams’ business card carries a logo of Twitter on one side along with his name, designation and the company name where he has looked forward to make it simple. It was created soon after he was raised as the CEO of the social networking site, Twitter.

#4 Barack Obama

The Senatorial business card of Barack Obama presents a rare archive of the 2008 Presidential elections. Barack Obama, the junior United States Senator from Illinois was elected as the first African American President of the United Sates. The business card carries the patriotic raised seal of a gold eagle and his name, designation and office details as United States Senator. It guarantees authenticity as it comes with a certificate.

#3 Walt Disney

The animation giant, Walt Disney, popularly known as Disney, created a business card hand-drawn which obviously sounds and appeals cool. It provided a taste of his passion and illustrative skills on the card which shows a vivid example of who he is and what he does.

#2 Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga teamed up with Polaroid in 2011 with an aim to restore the famous brand. The company designed a business card for the pop-music star which is quite innovative and catchy. It is designed with a logo of the company in bold characters alongside her name and designation as “Creative Director”. The texts, probably supposed to be the company’s address is striked off whch have made it catchy.

#1 Albert Einstein

Known to be the father of modern Physics, Albert Einstein, had a surprisingly plain business card which hardly had any justice to his theories, his personality nor his appearance. He has mainly focused on the simplicity of the card, rather than revealing his identity and profession.

Kawai Crystal Grand Piano

The piano may be the best known and loved of all musical instruments. It also has the broadest range of any instrument, so music for all other instruments can be composed on it. It can be played solo, but most other instruments, including the voice, use the piano for accompaniment. Technically, the piano may also be the most complicated musical instrument with over 2,500 parts.

These 26 Smartphones Got Price Cut in October

After the three editions of the “Price Cut” Stories we have come up with the fourth edition. With the festive season around the corner the price cut in these 26 smartphones has come at a good time. You can always gift your loved one, one of these special smartphones.

The price cut varies from 500 to 5000. So read on to find out some amazing price reductions in amazing smartphones.

Apple

1. Apple iPhone 4S
Old Price: 40,500 New price: 38,500

Well the day has come when Apple finally reduced the price of one of its most successful smartphones; iPhone 4S. This smartphone comes with a 3.5 inch LED-backlit IPS TFT, capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 640 x 960 pixels. The iPhone 4S is powered by an A5 processor backed by 512 MB of RAM. The phone also has an 8 mega pixel camera. The phone is available in three memory variants; 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB.

2. Apple iPhone 4
Old Price: 37,000 New Price: 28,500

The biggest surprise and happy news is that iPhone 4 was reduced by 8,500. The iPhone 4 comes with a 3.5 inch LED IPS TFT capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 640 X 960 pixels. This smartphone comes with a 5 mega pixel rear camera. iPhone 4 is powered by an A4 processor and it is available in three memory variants; 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB.

Samsung

3. Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos
Old Price: 12,000 New Price: 11,400

The dual SIM smartphone from Samsung comes with a 3.5 inch TFT capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 320 X 480 pixels. The smartphone operates on Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. A feature that is very interesting and useful is that the user can switch between SIMs without having to turn off the phone. Also the user will never miss a call as the other SIM will get automatically transferred to the SIM which is active. With a 1,300 mAh battery the user is guaranteed up to 6.5 hours of talk time with a single charge.

4. Samsung Galaxy S Duos
Old Price: 17,990 New Price: 16,900

Galaxy S Duos from Samsung is also a dual SIM smartphone which saw a price cut of 1,090. The smartphone comes with 4 inch TFT capacitive touch screen with resolution of 480 X 800 pixels. The smartphone functions on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and it is powered by a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It comes with 4 GB internal memory storage along with a slot for a microSD card with expandable memory up to 32 GB.

The smartphone comes with a 5 mega pixel rear camera with auto focus and LED flash and a VGA front facing camera for making video calls.

Nokia

5. Nokia 808 PureView
Old Price: 32,000 New Price: 31,500

The first thing that comes to one’s mind when they think about the 808 PureView is the rear camera with a resolution of 41 mega pixels. The smartphone comes with a 4 inch AMOLED capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 360 X 640 pixels and it is powered by a 1.3 GHz single core mobile processor backed by 512 MB of RAM.  The rear camera comes with features like Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus and Xenon flash.

Sony

6. Sony Xperia U
Old Price: 16,100 New Price: 14,790

The smartphone Xperia U got a price cut of 1,310. This smartphone comes with a 3.5 inch screen that has Sony’s Bravia Engine Technology in it. The screen comes with a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels. The screen of this smartphone is scratch proof. It is powered by a 1 GHz Dual-core A9 Cortex processor. Xperia U functions on Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system.

7. Sony Xperia Go
Old Price: 18,500 New Price: 17,700

Sony Xperia Go comes with a 3.5 inch reality display with resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. It is powered by a 1 GHz dual core processor backed by 512 MB of RAM along with 8 GB internal memory. It functions on Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. The phone has a 5 mega pixel rear camera with features like autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, 3D sweep panorama and image stabilization.

8. Sony Xperia Ion
Old Price: 35,300 New Price: 32,490

Xperia Ion comes with a gigantic 4.6 inch LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 1280 X 720 pixels. This smartphone is scratch resistant and shatter proof. These two features make this smartphone a favorite among the users. The phone is powered by 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor backed by 1 GB of RAM. Like Xperia SL, Ion is also PlayStation certified. Ion comes with 12.1 mega pixel rear camera along with a 1.3 mega pixel front facing camera that allows the users to make video calls. The phone comes with 16 GB internal memory but it is missing a slot for the microSD card.

9. Sony Xperia P
Old Price: 24,400 New Price: 22,490

The Xperia P comes with a 4 inch LED-backlit LCD capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. It is powered by a 1 GHz dual core processor and functions on Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. The phone comes with an 8 mega pixel rear camera with features like LED flash and auto focus. It also features a VGA secondary camera which allows the user to make video calls. The smartphone comes with 16 GB internal memory but doesn’t have a slot for a microSD card.

10. Sony Xperia SL
Old Price: 31,000 New Price: 30,700

The smartphone Xperia SL comes with a 4.3 inch LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. Xperia SL is powered by a 1.7 GHz Qualcomm dual core processor and it functions on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. To make it more attractive Sony has also added the Walkman feature in the phone which makes sure that the sure enjoys his music no matter where he is. The smartphone comes with a 12.1 mega pixel camera and a front facing camera which allows the user to make video calls. The phone is PSP certified and will allow you to play PlayStation games with virtual keys.

Huawei

11. Huawei Ascend G300
Old Price: 12,300 New Price: 10,500

The smartphone Huawei Ascend G300 comes with a 4.0 inch WVGA screen which supports a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. The smartphone is powered by a 1 GHz CPU processor backed by 512 MB of RAM and it functions on Android 2.3 operating system. The phone comes with a 5 mega pixel rear camera with features a LED flash, but this phone is missing a front facing camera. The phone comes with 4 GB storage along with a slot for a microSD card which allows the user to expand the memory up to 32 GB.

HTC

12. HTC Desire VC
Old Price: 20,650 New Price: 19,600

The newly launched Desire VC comes with a 4 inch capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. This smartphone comes with dual SIM functionality and functions on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. Desire VC is powered by 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It comes with 4 GB internal memory which a slot for a microSD card which allows the user to expand the memory up to 32 GB.  If you are a kind of person who stores a lot of data HTC also offers the user with 25 GB of Dropbox space. Along with this the smartphone also features Beats Audio which improves the quality of the sound and thus makes listening to music a pleasurable past time.

13. HTC One S
Old Price: 28,700 New Price: 25,600

The smartphone HTC One S comes with a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED display touch screen with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. The screen comes equipped with Gorilla Glass technology which makes the screen tougher.  It is powered by a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 mobile processor backed by 1 GB of RAM. Along with this One S comes with 16 GB of internal memory space. The phone has 8 mega pixel rear camera and a VGA front facing camera.

14.  HTC Desire V
Old Price: 20,500 New Price: 17,000

HTC Desire V comes with a 4 inch capacitive touch screen display with a resolution of 480 X 800 pixels. This smartphone is powered by a 1 GHz processor backed by 512 MB of RAM which functions on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. This is a dual SIM smartphone and comes with 4 GB internal memory along with a slot for the microSD card which allows the user to expand the memory up to 32 GB. Desire V comes with a 5 mega pixel rear camera but it does not have a secondary camera.

Blackberry

15. BlackBerry Torch 9860
Old Price: 20,800 New Price: 19,700

The BlackBerry Torch 9860 comes with a 3.7 inch touch screen with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. RIM says that this is the largest screen that has been produced by them. The smartphone is powered by a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm processor with 768 MB RAM. The smartphone comes with a microSD card which allows the user to expand the memory up to 32 GB. The phone comes with a 5 mega pixel rear camera with a flash.

16. BlackBerry Curve 9360
Old Price: 18,000 New Price: 17,500

BlackBerry Curve 9360 comes with a 2.44 inch touch screen with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels. This smartphone functions on the BlackBerry 7 operating system and is powered by an 800 MHz single core processor. Curve 9360 comes with a slot for the microSD card with expandable memory up to 32 GB. It also comes with a 5 mega pixel rear camera with features like LED flash, geo-tagging, face detection and image stabilization.

17. BlackBerry Bold 9790
Old Price: 26,450 New Price: 24,500

Blackberry Bold 9790 features a 2.44 inch TFT capacitive touch screen display with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels. It is powered by a powerful 1 GHz processor. The smartphone has 8 GB of internal memory along with a microSD card to expand the memory up to 32 GB. It also has a 5 mega pixel auto focus camera. It operates on BlackBerry 7.0 operating system.

18. BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300
Old Price: 13,500 New Price: 11,170

The Blackberry Curve 3G 9300 comes with a 2.46 inch TFT screen which supports a resolution of 320 X 240 pixels. This smartphone comes with a slot microSD card comes with expandable memory of up to 32 GB. The phone supports a 2 GB rear camera. The phone functions on BlackBerry 5.0 operating system.

19. BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900
Old Price: 32,100 New Price: 30,600

BlackBerry Bold 9900 comes with 2.8 inch TFT capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 640 X 480 pixels. It is powered by a 1.2 GHz processor backed by 768 MB of RAM. The device features 8 GB internal memory along with a slot for a microSD card which allows the user to expand the memory up to 32 GB.  Bold Touch comes with a 5 mega pixel rear camera with features like LED flash, geo-tagging, face detection and image stabilization. The phone functions on BlackBerry 7.0 operating system.

20. BlackBerry Curve 9320
Old Price: 15,500 New Price: 14,700

BlackBerry Curve 9320 comes with 2.4 inch display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. The smartphone functions on Blackberry 7.1 operating system. It also comes with a slot for a microSD card which gives the users the opportunity to expand the memory up to 32 GB. The phone comes with a 3.2 mega pixel camera with LED flash and image stabilization.

21. BlackBerry Torch 9810
Old Price: 27,500 New Price: 26,500

BlackBerry Torch 9810 supports a 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 480 X 640 pixels. The phone functions on Blackberry 7 operating system and is powered by a 1.2 GHz processor. This phone comes with a slide out keypad as well. It comes with 8 GB of internal memory with a slot for the microSD card which allows the user to expand the memory up to 32 GB. The Torch comes with a 5 megapixel camera with flash.

22. BlackBerry Curve 9380
Old Price: 16,800 New Price: 15,790

BB Curve 9380 comes with a 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 360 X 480 pixels. The smartphone is powered by an 806 MHz processor backed by 512 MB of RAM. Curve 9380 comes with 512 MB internal memory along with a slot for a microSD card which allows the user to expand the memory up to 32 GB. This phone has a 5 megapixel camera with features like LED flash, geo-tagging, face detection and image stabilization.

Motorola

23. Motorola Droid Razr
Old Price: 24,200 New Price: 22,00

The smartphone from Motorola, Droid Razr comes with a 4.3 inch AMOLED touch screen with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. The screen features a Corning Gorilla Glass which protects it and makes the screen stronger. The phone is powered by a 1.2 GHz mobile processor backed by 1 GB of RAM. The phone comes with an internal memory space of 16 GB along with a slot for a microSD card which allows the user to expand the memory up to 32 GB. It functions on Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. The phone also features an 8 mega pixel rear camera with a front facing camera that allows user to make video calls.

24. Motorola Atrix 2
Old Price: 19,500 New Price: 18,500

Motorola Atrix 2 has a 4.3 inch TFT LCD capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 540 X 960 pixels. The phone is powered by a 1 GHz dual core mobile processor backed by 1 GB of RAM. The smartphone features 8 GB internal memory along with a slot for the microSD card which allows the user to expand the memory up to 32 GB. The phone functions on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. The phone features an 8 mega pixel rear camera with features like autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging and image stabilization.

25. Motorola Defy XT
Old Price: 15,790 New Price: 13,900

Motorola Defy XT smartphone comes with a 3.7 inch TFT capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 480 X 854 pixels. This phone is water proof, scratch resistant and dust proof. The phone is powered by a 1 GHz single core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor backed by 512 MB of RAM. The phone features a 5 mega pixel camera along with a VGA front facing camera that allows the user to make video calls.

26. Lava Xolo X900
Old Price: 22,000 New Price: 17,500

The Android smartphone from Lava, Xolo X900 features a 4 Inch LCD touch screen with a resolution of 1024 X 600 pixels. The phone is powered by a 1.6 GHz application processor. Xolo X900 is the first phone to run on the powerful processor from Intel. The phone comes with 16 GB internal memory along with a slot for the microSD card that allows the user to expand the memory up to 32 GB. It also comes with an 8 mega pixel rear camera with LED flash. It also has a secondary camera that allows the users to make video calls.

A Gold-Plated iPhone 5: Insanely Great or Just Insane?

Sure, the iPhone 5is the most sought-after new phone on the planet right now, but for some it just doesn’t have enough bling.

For those high flyers, Gold & Co. of London has created a 24-karat gold-plated iPhone 5, which will go on sale at the Collector’s Palace in Dubai Mall in the United Arab Emirates. The price of the item hasn’t been disclosed. A top-of-the-line iPhone 5 with 64 GB retails for $849 without a contract. Gold-plated iPhone 4S devices run as high as $1,224 while a gold-plated iPad from Gold & Co. fetches around $4,600.

by Todd Wasserman

Image courtesy of Gold & Co.

 

 

 

Samsung Adds iPhone 5 to Patent Lawsuits

 

Samsung had warned in late August that if Apple’s iPhone 5 had LTE, it would sue the company. Now, Samsung has made good on its word.

Court documents filed by Samsung revealed that it plans to add the iPhone 5 to its existing patent lawsuits against Apple, according to Reuters.

A Samsung rep confirmed the report offering the following statement:

We have always preferred to compete in the marketplace with our innovative products, rather than in courtrooms. However, Apple continues to take aggressive legal measures that will limit market competition. Under these circumstances, we have little choice but to take the steps necessary to protect our innovations and intellectual property rights.

Reuters quotes the following language from the filing:

Samsung anticipates that it will file, in the near future, a motion to amend its infringement contentions to add the iPhone 5 as an accused product. Based on information currently available, Samsung expects that the iPhone 5 will infringe the asserted Samsung patents-in-suit in the same way as the other accused iPhone models.

Samsung’s move comes after a California jury ruled in favor of Apple last month, awarding $1 billion in damages in a case in which Samsung accused the company of infringing on various smartphone and tablet-related patents. Samsung has vowed to fight that ruling.

It’s unclear whether Samsung will seek an injunction for iPhone 5 sales to counter sales injunctions initiated by Apple. (The Samsung rep declined to comment.) Apple blocked sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the U.S. this summer because of alleged infringements on iPad patents — a decision a federal judge upheld this week.

However, Gerry Elman, president of Elman Technology Law and a patent attorney, said the odds of Samsung actually blocking sale of the iPhone 5 are “pretty darn remote.” Elman said since the Supreme Court’s in the 2006 eBay v. MercExchange case, injunctions have become harder to implement, particularly if the defendant can prove that blocking the sale of an item would be against the public’s interest.

Meanwhile, on Dec. 6, a U.S. court will hear Apple’s request for an injunction against the sale of several Samsung Android phones because of alleged patent infringement.

Todd Wasserman

 

 

 

 

iPhone5 – Thin, sleek, and very capable.

Apple has finally unveiled the hugely anticipated iPhone 5.

CEO Tim Cook took the stage in San Francisco, saying ‘Apple has never been stronger’ as the new handset was revealed.

It has a larger 4″ screen, along with a new dock connector and headphone design.

The phone will go on sale on September 21st, and will cost the same as the previous version, the 4S.

With a casing made from glass and aluminium, is it also the thinnest iPhone ever made, at just 7.6mm thick

It also contains an eight-megapixel camera which can take 28-megapixel panoramic shots.

iPhone 5 measures a mere 7.6 millimeters thin and weighs just 112 grams.¹ That’s 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than iPhone 4S.

The handset also has a new chip, the Apple A6, which is twice as fast as previous versions but 22% smaller.

The iPhone is expected to become the biggest selling in Apple’s history, with an estimated 8m set to be sold as Apple fights increasing competition from Google’s Android software and Microsoft’s Windows Phone.

Apple boasted the new handset has eight hours of 3G talk time, and a 225 hour standby time.

It also has an eight megapixel camera with a 3264×2448 sensor, and has improved its performance in low light, and a lens made from sapphire crystal.

The handset also now has a panorama mode to create wide shots. ‘The ocean looks bluer, kids look happier,’ joked Phil Schiller, Apple’s vice president of marketing.

Schiller also confirmed the handset has a controversial new connector.

‘The iPhone from its start used the 30 pin connector, and it has served us well. A lot has changed and it is time for the connector to evolve – and out new connector is called Lightning.’

Apple also showed off a connector allowing people to use their existing chargers and accessories.

The handset will use iOS 6, and dumps Google’s maps for Apple’s own.

‘We’ve built in free turn by turn directions,’ said Scott Forstall of Apple as he demonstrated the new Apple Maps app.

‘We use a cinematic camera angle to fly you around corners.’

The firm also showed off a 3D flyover feature allowing people to virtually fly over an area, and showed off the software ‘flying’ over Big Ben in London.

A new app called Passbook also allows people to collect store cards, tickets and other information in a single app.

It can be used to show boarding passes on planes and for entry to concerts and sports games that support the codes.

Users can also share photo albums easily, and Apple’s speech recognition software Siri has been updated to give people sports scores, and even book restaurants.

Facebook has also been integrated into the service, allowing people to update their status via speech.

Sir Jonathan Ive, the man who designed the new phone, said: ‘When you think about your iPhone, it is the product you have with you all the time – we take changing it really seriously.

‘We want to make a much better phone.

‘What makes iPhone 5 so unique if how it feels in your hand.’

Apple also gave a glimpse of the manufacturing behind the iPhone.

‘We use crystalline diamond to polish the handset,’ revealed Sir Jonathan.

‘The variance between products we measure in microns’

The handset will cost the same price as the iPhone 4S, $199 to $399 depending on size.

It will begin shipping on September 21st in US, Canada and several other countries, and customers can pre-order from this Friday.