The HTC Desire 200, which has an internal model number of 102e, turned up in a filing in Taiwan. Little else is known about the device other than it will support 3G and uses the same 1500mAh battery as found in the HTC Desire C. The Desire C was a 3.5 inch device with a 320 x 480 pixel display released during May 2012. The Desire 200 could be its replacement but maybe with a better display and processor.

According to benchmarks found on GFCBench, HTC are also working on the HTC Desire 600. The benchmark results show a phone made by HTC Europe (meaning it is probably destined for the European market) that supports dual-SIM and runs Android 4.1.2. The CPU is clocked at a maximum of 1209MHz and it uses the Ardeno 203 GPU. The only processor which fits these specifications is the dual-core variant of the Qualcomm Snapdragon Play. Although there is also a quad-core variant of the Snapdragon Play, which is also clocked at 1.2GHz and uses the Ardeno 203, this is unlikely as the display on the Desire 600 is reported to only be 960 x 540, making it a lower-end phone. Another intriguing possibility is that the phone will use the Snapdragon 200, however if it does it will be under clocked as the Snapdragon 200 can run at 1.4 GHz.

Not everyone has the budget for HTC’s flagship HTC One, do either of these two phones sound tempting to you?

South Korea is home to two of the world’s most popular Android smartphone makers – Samsung and LG. But as Yoda once said, “there is another.” Pantech is South Korea’s third largest handset maker. The brand isn’t as well known as Samsung or LG but the company has enjoyed some success in its home country as well as in the USA after entering into a  debt rescheduling program in 2007. Pantech’s creditors have since freed the company from the debt rescheduling and now Samsung Electronics has decided to buy a 10 percent stake in the company. According to Samsung the $47.6 million deal will help “further solidify bilateral cooperation in smartphone and other business areas.” This cryptic comment from Samsung is connected with the fact that  last year Pantech purchased electronic parts worth over $200 million from Samsung.

Pantech recently joined the full HD bandwagon when it announced the Vega No.6 a 5.9 inch Android smartphone with a 1,920 x 1,080 IPS Pro LCD panel. Other features include a 13MP rear-facing camera and 4G support. The Snapdragon S4 Pro based device has been seen outside of South Korea but the company hasn’t been too vocal about a full international release.

The 10 percent stake doesn’t make Samsung the largest shareholder. As part of its debt restructuring Qualcomm previously converted Pantech’s royalty debts worth some $75 million into equity, making it the company’s second-largest shareholder behind the state-run Korea Development Bank, which each owns 11.96 percent.

What is strange about this deal is that now Samsung has invested in a rival handset maker which is also partly owned by a rival semi-conductor company. But this isn’t the first time that Samsung has made such an investment. In March the world’s largest smartphone maker invested in Sharp in March and agreed to spend around $112 million for a 3.08 percent stake in return for “greater access to its technology.”

Have you heard of Pantech? Now that Samsung is a stake holder would you be more interested in its phones?

The Tablet Z is generally seen as the best tablet Sony has made to date and so its global release has been greatly anticipated. Sony are touting the device as “the world’s slimmest, lightest premium Android tablet.” The 10-inch 1080p tablet has a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, 2GB of RAM and a minimum of 16GB of internal storage. Along with a microSD slot for additional expansion, the device comes with an 8MP Sony Exmor R camera and optional 4G LTE connectivity.

Until this official word from Sony there has been several different rumors about the Tablet Z’s launch including hopes of a mid-April launch in the UK. This was then pushed back to May. In the USA Amazon.com are currently listing the 16GB version for $499.99. The current estimated delivery date is May 24th. In the UK Clove are listing the 16GB LTE version of the device for £499 with a slightly later delivery date of June 1st.

According to Sony’s UK website there will be three versions available the 16GB Wi-Fi version for £399. A 32GB Wi-Fi version for £449 and the 4G at £499 as Clove are listing. In the US the official Sony prices are $499.99, and $599.99 for the 16GB and 32GB Wi-Fi versions.

As well as weighing just 1.09 lbs (495 grams), the Sony Xperia Tablet Z is water and dust resistant. Sony reckons the device can be submerged in up to 3 feet of water for 30 minutes without any problems!

Now that the device will be hitting the stores are you going to get one? If you can’t make up your mind, checkout our Sony Xperia Tablet Z vs Google Nexus 10 comparison and watch our hands on video below.

Hardware

At the heart of the W100 is the MTK6589, a quad-core A7 processor designed for low power but yet quad-core performance. A7 cores are becoming increasingly popular and are starting to replace the Cortex A9 cores that were popular in dual-core phones. By using the A7 core the MTK6589 is able to reduce its energy needs, but at the same time offer quad-core performance. Here are the full specs of the ThL W100:

• 4.5 inch, 960 x 540, 5 point multi-touch IPS display
• Android 4.2
• 1.2GHz MTK6589 quad-core CPU
• PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU
• 8MP Rear Camera + 5MP Front-Facing Camera
• RAM: 1GB
• Dual-SIM
• 3G: WCDMA: 850/2100MHz
• 2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
• WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n
• GPS
• Bluetooth
• Full support for Google Play
• Micro SD Card Slot
• Proximity Sensor
• Accelerometer Sensor
• Light Sensor
• Magnetic Field Sensor

The device is 134 mm long, 70 mm wide and 9 mm thick which is reasonable considering the 4.5 inch display. However the phone is amazingly light. It weighs just 102 grams and when I first picked it up I thought I had forgotten to put the battery in! Much of this lightness is achieved by using lots of plastic, so no aluminum uni-body designs here, but still it is pleasure to hold.

The phone only comes with 4GB of internal storage that is divided into 1GB phone storage and 3GB external storage. This can be a problem for larger apps or games as they simply won’t fit into the 1GB of phone storage. However the good news is that a microSD card can be added and in the settings the microSD card can be set as the default write location. This helps keep the price down but doesn’t leave the user frustrated with no hope of expanding the storage.

Although the resolution of the screen is “only” 960 x 540 the display is remarkably high quality. The IPS screen has excellent viewing angles, the colors are vibrant and when on full brightness the screen doesn’t look washed-out.  Below is a photo comparing the same image on a HTC One S, a Nexus 7 and the ThL W100. Although the HTC One S offers deeper coloring, I think the W100 is actually the best of the three displays (in terms of color at least).

Connectivity

The phone has all the standard connectivity options like Wi-Fi ( 802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth, 2G GSM and 3G. It doesn’t have NFC nor does it support LTE but for only $169 that isn’t a problem!

There are two SIM card slots both of which can be used for normal GSM services and messaging but only one of which can be used for 3G. It doesn’t matter which slot is used for 3G as everything is configurable via the settings. Which SIM is used by default to make calls, which SIM is the default for SMS and which SIM should be used for 3G can all be set accordingly. Both slots are unlocked and will work with any SIM card, contract free.

For 3G the phone only supports 850 and 2100MHz.  The latter number is the “normal” 3G frequency and should work in most places around the world, however a lot of carriers also use a secondary 3G spectrum range. In Asia this tends to be 850MHz, as supported by the W100, while in Europe it tends to be 900MHz. I tested the 3G slot with a local carrier which uses 2100MHz and 900MHz networks. The 3G worked fine but the range and effectiveness wasn’t as good as a phone that also supports 900MHz. The 3G connectivity will be optimal in areas with only a 2100MHz network or with a 850MHz/2100MHz network.

I compared the Wi-Fi signals strengths of the W100 with a HTC One S and a Nexus 7 using the free “Wifi Analyzer” app from the Google Play Store. The W100 performed just as well as those two devices and I was able to access the Internet from all around the house and outside without any problems.

Software

The phone runs Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean and includes Google Play and Google Now. The phone is running a slightly tweaked version of stock Android. The most noticeable difference is the transparency of the app draw. When the app draw is opened the background (but not the desktop) can still be seen. It is visually pleasing and a nice touch from ThL. The other thing I noticed was that the settings app uses color icons. Other than that, everything looks to be stock Android.

The device supports Google Play and although not all the official Google apps like YouTube etc are pre-loaded, it is a simple matter to install them via the Play Store. Using Google Play was simple and I didn’t encounter any “incompatible” apps. All the top free, paid and essential apps like Twitter, Yahoo! and Facebook all reported compatibility with the W100. For those who like customization it is worth noting that the phone isn’t rooted by default.

Performance

The MediaTek MT6589 is becoming increasingly popular at the lower end of the quad-core smartphone market and since it uses one of the the latest core architectures from ARM, it is a good choice for this phone (and other in the range).

I previously tested the 5.8 inch, 720p Mithril phone which uses the same processor and the results are very similar with the W100 getting slightly higher benchmark results mainly due to its smaller screen (and hence less effort needed by the CPU/GPU).

The phone scores 13,041 on AnTuTu (compared to the Mithril’s 12,737). Putting that into some context it means that AnTuTu rates the W100 as being faster than the Google Nexus 7, the Asus Transformer Prime (both of which are Tegra 3 quad-core devices) and faster than the Samsung Galaxy Note. Similarly the W100 scores 4006 on Quadrant putting it on par with the Asus Transformer Prime. For further comparison the ThL W1, which is powered by a 1GHz dual-core Cortex A9 based MT6577, scored 6436 on AnTuTu and 2737 on Quadrant. Older dual core phones like the HTC One S score just under 7000 on AnTuTu. Overall the phone performed well and there was no lags or annoying pauses. It felt as fluid and usable as any of the Android devices I have at hand, maybe even better.

A quick test using Epic Citadel showed that the W100 can manage an average of 47.4 frames per second at 960 x 544 using the high resolution mode. The Tegra 3 based Asus Transformer TF300 manages 46.5 FPS and the Nexus 7 53.7 FPS.

Camera

The W100 includes an 8MP camera which takes vibrant pictures and is certainly well beyond what to expect in this price range. Also the inclusion of a 5MP front facing camera is remarkable. The built-in camera app includes features like face detection, HDR, continuous shooting and panorama. The camera works well for quasi-macros shots and I was able to get a good focus lock on objects even when quite close. The dandelion picture below demonstrates this the best.

Battery

In the box ThL provide two 1800 mAh batteries. The advantage of two batteries is that you can leave home with both fully charged and know that you will get double the battery life during long journeys or times away from a mains socket! The device includes a fairly standard USB mains charging adapter and the phone can also be charged from a laptop or PC since charging only requires 500mA. My battery tests revealed that the ThL W100 can play video for about six hours on one charge. In another test I found that a full battery will allow you to watch YouTube videos over Wi-Fi for about five hours or play heavy 3D games for about three hours.

Conclusion

For those with questions about buying electronics online from China, see our guide (part one, part two) – it isn’t as difficult as you might imagine. For $169 this phone could be missing half the features it has an I would still recommend it! OK, this isn’t a Samsung Galaxy S4 or a HTC One, but it costs a lot less than they do. The W100 has a quad core processor based on ARM’s low power consumption Cortex A7, a vibrant IPS display, good connectivity options, reasonable battery life and a nice 8MP camera. The support for only 850MHz and 2100MHz on the 3G  side could be limiting to some, but there are other advantages like dual-SIM support plus features like GPS and a compass. All that from a branded Chinese company for just $169.

Besides all the sophisticated features like code completion, code analysis, and Android specific code re-factoring, the new IDE includes a built-in layout previewer. This will be a big bonus for app developers for a couple of very important reasons. First getting an app’s user interface right can be hard. Although actually adding the different components to a UI is relatively simple, actually making that design easy to use and intuitive can be difficult. By adding new design tools including the preview mode Google is trying to make that job easier. Often the difference between a good app and a bad app can just be the design of the UI, regardless of the level or completeness of the functionality. The new preview window is live in the sense that it reflects changes to the XML in the layout file as the developer types. As soon as a new component is added it will appear in the preview without the need to manually re-render it.

The second reason the new design preview is important is that it allows developers simultaneously to see how the app looks across a range of devices. The new “preview all” function will populate the preview pane with all of the currently defined virtual devices. This means that the current UI can be previewed across phones and tablets (in a landscape or portrait) simultaneously. This is a huge benefit for developers as getting an app to look good on a a 3.5 inch phone, a 5 inch HD phone and a tablet can be a significant challenge. The IDE also understands custom layouts meaning that if the app uses a different layout for tablets then the preview will show the right layout on the right device.

This preview mode also extends to translations. The IDE includes built-in functionality to create multi-language apps. The IDE is language sensitive and when editing the code it can look up the hard coded strings and show the actual string in the editor rather than the function calls which gets the right string for the current language. Likewise the preview can be set to display all the languages simultaneously meaning that verifying the design across the different languages becomes a lot easier. For example if the font size of a label is increased it might look fine in English, but in Spanish the label may become cropped. This can be easily spotted in the preview mode.

The new IDE is available for Windows, OS X and Linux. To run Android Studio and to create Android apps you need to install the Java Development Kit which can be downloaded from Oracle’s web site. Google is still working on the IDE and at the moment it is considered to be only a preview version, however it is worth downloading and taking a look at where Google is heading with its Android app design tools.

At the top of the Store there are buttons for Apps, Games, Music and so on and the redesigned store used a fairly unattractive grey box look for these buttons. The new store uses lots of color with some fading towards the end of the button. These make the different sections look more inviting and the design is a better fit overall.

Google has also tweaked the way wishlists work on phones. On a tablet when items are added to the wishlist (which is now listed as ‘My wishlist’ rather than ‘My Wishlist’) they appear using a card index style, however on phones it was a visual list. With the new Play Store update the wishlist items on phones are now displayed using the card style previously used only on tablets.

There are also a few minor, but welcome, changes in functionality. When a update to an app is considered large, the Play Store will now warn you about downloading it when you are using a  mobile data connection. Also ”Update All” now works for apps with new permissions. When updating these you will be asked to approve each new set of permissions.

As with previous updates to the Play Store it can take a few days for it to reach everyone, so if you don’t get it today just wait a bit, it will surely arrive!

Codenamed M7 – after the internal development name of the device, the nightly builds aren’t yet considered stable but are working sufficiently well for enthusiasts to use. The biggest bug at the moment seems to be that the audio on outgoing calls can be “hit or miss”. The current workaround is to enable the ‘touch sounds’ and start a call using the dial pad, that way you will have audio on the outgoing call. This doesn’t affect incoming calls which are behaving normally.

The steps to get CM10.1 on your HTC are pretty much the same as for other devices. The bootloader needs to be unlocked and ClockwordMod-Recovery installed. The the CM10.1 build needs to be copied over along with the Google apps. A quick boot into recovery mode will allow the CM10.1 firmware to be flashed onto the device (along with the Google apps) and after a reboot CyanogenMod 10.1 should be running rather than the factory version of Android supplied by HTC.

CyanogenMod is a free, custom firmware based on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and is designed to increase performance and reliability over the stock version of Android. But be warned, you flash at your own risk and by replacing HTC’s firmware you void your warranty. If you hate HTC Sense 5 and don’t get on with BlinkFeed then CM10.1 might be the way to go, but it is worth noting the other features which don’t currently work including the IR blaster and Wi-Fi Calling for T-Mobile.

There are wiki pages for the M7 (GSM) and the M7 (Sprint) variants  with some preliminary information and the nightly builds can be downloaded from the two different M7 download sections (GSM or Sprint) of the CyanogenMod site.

The leaked specifications show that the S4 mini will be powered by a 1.6 GHz dual-core Exynos 5210 processor. This is a vast improvement over the S3 mini which used the almost unheard of NovaThor U8420 from ST-Ericsson. At the moment little is known about the Exynos 5210 as it doesn’t appear to be the same processor as the “standard” Exynos Dual which was previously known as the Exynos 5250.  Some reports suggest that the Exynos 5210 is in fact a big.LITTLE architecture processor using two A7 cores (for power saving) along with two A15 cores (for performance).

The S4 mini’s screen will use a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 540 x 960. Although this is quite low and at least 720p would have been nice, it is again an improvement over the S3 mini’s 480 x 800 display.

In terms of memory the S4 mini is expected to provide 1GB of RAM, however there is a possibility that the LTE version will have 2GB. The phone is expected to pack an 8MP camera on the back (again better than the S3 mini’s 5MP) and there will be some form of front camera, but its resolution has yet be revealed. What is interesting is that the specifications for the memory and the camera are similarly to those of the Galaxy S3. Even the 2GB of memory for the LTE version is the same as the S3. Does this mean that Samsung have taken the S3, put a smaller display on it and called it the S4 mini? An interesting notion. If that is so then we can expect at least a 1.9 megapixels front facing camera which can record 720p HD video at 30 frames per second.

The only strange thing about the report is that it claims the Galaxy S4 mini will run Android 4.0. Clearly this is a typing mistake or a misunderstanding as even the S3 mini runs Android 4.1. Probably the S4 mini will use Android 4.2, most likely 4.2.2 like the Galaxy S4.

What would you like to see in the Galaxy S4 mini and would you buy one?

Latest figures show that Android was the operating system of choice for over 182 million smart devices that were shipped during the first three months of this year. According to a new report by research company Canalys, 308.7 million smart mobile devices (which includes notebooks as well as tablets and smart phones) were made in Q1 and Android powered 59.5% of them!

What is interesting about these numbers is that Canalys has added notebooks into the equation. This gives Microsoft a better representation and means that this isn’t just another set of Google vs Apple statistics. If you include notebooks and Microsoft Windows then Apple only has a 19.3% share of the market (with iOS and OS X) and Microsoft has an 18.1% share (with Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 RT, Windows Phone 8).

Tablets continue to be the fastest growing segment with worldwide tablet shipments growing by 106.1% year-on-year to 41.9 million units. Apple’s dominance in this area can’t be denied and iOS has a 46.4% share. However Apple’s market share is shrinking and Q1 was the third consecutive quarter where Apple lost market share to Android.

The bulk of the 308.7 million smart devices shipped in Q1 were smartphones with just over 216.3 million shipped. Android was the dominant OS with 75.6% of smartphones shipped using Google’s open source OS. Samsung continues to dominate increasing its volume by 64.3% year-on-year, while Apple saw only a modest annual growth  of 6.7% in its smart phone shipments.

The growth in sales of the iPhone is at its lowest level since the launch of the original iPhone back in 2007 and clearly the Cupertino company faces some strong challenges. To be fair it isn’t the end of the world for Apple (yet) as it did ship over 37 million iPhones but clearly Android phones like the Galaxy S4, the HTC One, the LG Optimus G Pro and Sony’s Xperia Z are more than a match for the iPhone.

What can Apple do?

All the current Android flagship smartphones use much bigger displays than the iPhone (which now even at 4 inches is looking small). They all have quad-core processors, they all have 2 GB RAM and they have HD (1080p) displays and they all offer NFC. None of these things are true for the iPhone 5.

For Apple to maintain its momentum the next iPhone can’t be just a tweaked version of the iPhone 5. Traditionally Apple released a new design (iPhone 3G, iPhone 4 and iPhone 5) every two years and in the in-between years it released a tweaked, faster version (iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4S). If the next iPhone from Apple is the iPhone 5S with just a faster CPU and a few tweaks then the company will be in serious trouble. Product naming aside it needs to release a new design (an iPhone 6) with a HD display, a bigger screen and more CPU power. Apple also needs to embrace NFC.

But that isn’t all. iOS needs to be updated radically. Sir Jonathan Ive is now hands-on with the design of iOS after Scott Forstall left (was pushed) Apple. He needs to radically refresh the current iOS UI which is six years old and is missing lots of “standard” features that Android smartphone users are used to.

What can Microsoft do?

This is a tough question. I will go out on a limb here (bullet proof vest on, helmet secure) and say that Windows Phone 8 isn’t actually that bad. Please don’t shoot! The problem Microsoft has is that it’s business model is broken. Google went open source with Android which means that every manufacturer from Samsung down to some small Chinese outfit can make Android phones. Second, Google went into the hardware business (with partners like LG and Asus) in a way that actually boosts sales of Android. When Microsoft went into the hardware business it just annoyed its OEMs.

Apple is different as it is at the “high end”. The iPhone is seen historically as a premium product. Its marketing is based on a small number of models at the top end (compare how many models of iPhone there are to how many Samsung devices you can buy). Microsoft are stuck in an old business model with only one or two major hardware partners (Nokia and HTC) trying to convince the world that Windows 8 on the desktop is just like Windows 8 on a phone or tablet!

What Microsoft need to do is lure developers and handset manufacturers to Windows Phone 8. There are several ways it can do this, it will never open source Windows Phone 8, but it could open source parts of it and offer developers (and manufacturers) the freedom to tweak the OS. It could also tempt developers with special handsets at reduced prices etc. To get more handset manufacturers it could also relax the procedure for becoming a OS partner, maybe waive some fees etc. Once developers and handset manufacturers are truly keen on Windows Phone 8 and once they have some freedom to tweak and differentiate then the consumers will come.

What do you think, is Android destined to be the dominant mobile device OS? What can Apple and Microsoft do?

The electronics and entertainment giant Sony Corporation has made its first profit in five years and according to its fiscal report the company saw its sales increase by 4.7%, primarily due to the benefits of folding Sony Mobile, what was Sony Ericsson, completely into the company. This is good news for the Japanese company which in the same period last year made a loss of around $4.6 billion. Although this year’s profits aren’t in the billions, it is just $435 million, its turnaround has been impressive.

Looking just at the mobile segment, Sony reckons that its phone revenues have increased 18%. This substantial rise was partly due to higher unit sales but mainly due the shift in the market from feature phones to smartphones. Since smartphones are more expensive then the total amount of revenue is higher. Looking at just the last three months, Sony’s mobile phone unit saw an 82% jump in revenue, to roughly $3.6 million. Unfortunately overall Sony’s Mobile Products & Communications business, which also includes personal computers, made a loss of just over $1 billion.

Other parts of Sony are also doing well. Its movie business managed to make $509m in profit because of some big box office successes like The Amazing Spider-Man and the 007 blockbuster Skyfall. Similarly Sony Music reported a profit of $396 million. Its gaming unit managed to make a small profit of $18 million but Sony is still struggling after a 12% decrease in sales of its PlayStation range of products.

Sony is confident that it can keep making a profit and its mobile phone division is expected to see significant increases in sales during 2013-2014, primarily due to anticipated sales of its high value-added smartphone models (i.e. its Xperia range). It also hopes to make more money in the PC arena by introducing more high value-added PCs.

Do you think Sony can compete with Samsung and HTC at the high end of the Android smartphone market?