Lenovo serious about smartphones; eyes possible RIM partnership

Not long after RIM had let it be known that they are open to all options in 2013, including selling off the hardware division, Lenovo has registered its interest in a partnership, as it looks to strengthen its own standing in the smartphone market.

Just days after Research In Motion CEO, Thorsten Heins had made it clear that the company would consider all options, Lenovo has registered a clear interest in a possible partnership. This comes at a time when Lenovo is looking to add a strong smartphone portfolio to go with its computing devices.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Lenovo Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai Ming told Bloomberg, "We are looking at all opportunities - RIM and many others. We'll have no hesitation if the right opportunity comes along that could benefit us and shareholders."

This news was the latest good news for RIM, as stocks went up 3% immediately. Incidentally, the same stocks had seen a 13 month high when the CEO announced they are open to an alliance.

Lenovo is currently on target to become the largest PC maker in the world. RIM, on its part, is fairly confident of a successful BlackBerry 10 launch, both for the hardware and on the critical operating system side.

However, any partnership or deal for RIM would not be very easy, whoever the other party may be. One of the reasons for that is that Canada considers RIM as a “crown jewel”. After Heins’ comments earlier this week, Canada's Industry Minister Christian Paradis told Reuters that Canada may even go to the extent of reviewing a sale of RIM's handset business if such a deal was proposed.

"Research In Motion has made an important contribution to information and communications technology in Canada, a sector that is so important to the Canadian economy. We hope they continue to do so well into the future," Paradis said in an emailed response to the Lenovo comments on Thursday.

Alternatively, thanks to its Chinese roots, Lenovo will face scrutiny from the U.S. government, since the Department of Defense and other government departments rely heavily on the BlackBerry service, for possible data security concerns.

Google Image search gets a new design, will load faster

Google has just revamped how Image search will work on the search engine. The new search format which will be rolled out in a couple of days, will see images load faster and in a newer, cleaner design.
Google made the announcements on its webmastercentral blog.
Once the changes come into effect, users will be able to quickly flip through a set of images by using their keyboards. What this will mean for search results:
• Google will now display detailed information about the image (the metadata) right underneath the image in the search results, instead of redirecting users to a separate landing page.

Image from Google.

• Key information such as the title of the page hosting the image, the domain name it comes from, and the image size will be displayed much more prominently next to the image.
• The domain name is now clickable, and there’s a new button to visit the page the image is hosted on.
• The source page will no longer load up in an iframe in the background of the image detail view. This speeds up the experience for users, reduces the load on the source website’s servers, and improves the accuracy of webmaster metrics such as pageviews.

Acer unveils mid-range Jelly Bean-based Liquid E1 smartphone

Acer has added a new device to its mid-range smartphone portfolio. Called the Liquid E1, the device has a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Acer has officially added the Liquid E1 to its smartphone portfolio. Acer is positioning the device as a mid-range smartphone. Acer hasn’t yet announced the pricing and availability of the device.

Under the hood, the Acer Liquid E1 has a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean straight out-of-the-box. It has a 4.5-inch display with a 960x540 pixel (qHD) resolution. The rear of the device has a 5MP camera with an LED flash whereas the front has a 0.3MP camera for video chat.

Looking at the specs, this could very well be the Acer V360 we'd heard of in December, a device that was supposed to be the company's first Jelly Bean handset.

The Liquid E1 weighs 130 grams and has dimensions of 132 x 68.5 x 9.9 mm. It also has a 1760mAh battery, and Acer claims that the battery should last for 8 hours of talk time and 400 hours of standby. The Liquid E1 has 4GB of built-in storage expandable via a microSD card. It also features an FM radio, a feature that is surprisingly absent from most high-end smartphones today.

It has been a while since Acer launched a mobile device in India, after a series of Liquid devices in 2011. The company's tablets, such as the Iconia family, have continued to make their presence felt in the Indian market however.

If you are in the market to pick up a budget phone today, you can take a look at our best budget smartphones in India today here. If you are looking to pick up your next smartphone, you can take a look at our top 10 smartphones here.

Leaked Huawei Ascend P2 product shots confirm 13MP camera

The device is expected to be 6.45mm thin, so it’s a little surprising to see that the device is so thin and yet houses a 13MP camera.

In terms of other specifications, the Ascend P2 is expected to have a 5-inch 720p HD IPS display, 1.8GHz quad-core HiSilicon K3V2 processor along with 2GB of RAM. It has 8GB built-in storage and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean straight out-of-the-box. A 3,000mAh Li-on battery is supposed to power it.

At CES 2013, Huawei showcased the Ascend Mate and The Ascend D2. The Ascend Mate has a 6.1-inch display with a 1280x720 IPS+ display and has a 1.5 GHz Hi-Silicon quad-core processor under the hood combined with 2GB of RAM. It runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean straight out of the box and is powered by a 4050mAh battery. The Android OS is skinned with Huawei’s Emotion interface. It has an 8MP AF rear-facing camera with HDR and 1MP HD front-facing camera for video calls.

The Ascend D2 will sport a 5-inch IPS display has a resolution of 1920x1280p and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean straight out of the box. The OS is skinned with Huawei’s Emotion interface. In terms of specifications under the hood, the D2 has Huawei’s K3V2 1.5 GHz quad-core CPU along with 2GB of RAM. It has a whopping 13MP BSI rear-facing camera along with a 1.3MP front-facing camera for video calls. It also sports a 3000mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy S4 to be launched on March 22

Release date rumoured to be in April

Samsung's yet to be announced Galaxy S4 will reportedly be announced at a launch event on March 22.
According to Asian Economies News, the Galaxy S4 smartphone will be revealed at a Samsung Mobile Unpacked event on 22 March. The site claims the launch event will take place in the US and is expected to be the largest ever.
This matches up to many rumours suggesting a launch in March following Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with a release in April. Last year, Samsung launched the Galaxy S3 in May at its own event in central London instead of MWC amongst its rivals.

Leaked image of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone

There are also a couple of suggested release dates flying around for the Galaxy S4. The first is that it will be release on 15 April, according to SamMobile. Alternatively, a leaked image (above) claiming to be the Galaxy S4 has a date on the screen of 22 April which many are pegging as the release date.

Whether any of these dates are correct is up for debate and should be taken with at least a small pinch of salt. Samsung has made no announcement on the situation so we'll have to wait and see.
Rumoured specifications for the yet Galaxy S4 include an Exynos 5 Octa 8-core processor, 4.9 inch Full HD screen, a 13Mp camera, wireless charging and will run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

Surface Pro Tablet, New Surface Accessories to Land on Feb. 9 in U.S.

Part two of Microsoft's Surface saga debuts next month, along with new Touch Covers, Wedge mouse, and Surface RT option.

If you've been waiting to touch a Surface Pro tablet in the living, breathing, once-molten-magnesium flesh, you can finally mark a hard date on your calendar: The Windows 8 Pro version of Microsoft's tablet will go on sale Feb. 9 at Microsoft stores, microsoftstore.com, Staples and Best Buy in the U.S.
The 64GB version will retail for $900, while the 128GB model will cost a cool $1,000. Both models will come with Microsoft's new Surface pen writing stylus (which I used during a brief hands-on at CES), but neither model comes pre-loaded with any version of Office, which has been a nice bundled addition for Microsoft's struggling Surface RT model.
While Surface RT is loaded with Windows RT, the hobbled OS incapable of running desktop apps, the upcoming Surface for big boys and girls runs the full version of Windows 8 Pro, and is a complete, 64-bit PC by definition. This is self-evident during a quick scan of its Ultrabook-caliber hardware specs.

Yep, that's the new Surface Pro, with its Surface pen at the ready.

Surface vs Surface
Where Surface RT has an Nvidia Tegra 3 ARM chip and 2GB of RAM, the Surface Pro packs a Core i5 and 4GB of RAM. And where the RT's 10.6-inch display has a 1366-by-768 resolution, the Pro keeps the same screen dimensions but increases the pixel grid to true HD at 1920-by-1080.
USB, you ask? The RT tablet is limited to USB 2.0, whereas the Pro gives you USB 3.0 support. And of course the Pro version comes with the Surface pen for writing in digital ink, and also boasts a Mini DisplayPort for driving behemoth desktop monitors.
All of this is packed in a sleek, silky VaporMg chassis that's only slightly larger and heavier than what you'll find in a Surface RT. The RT clocks in at 0.37-inch thick and 1.5 pounds, while the Pro is 0.53-inch thick and 2 pounds. Unfortunately, while the Pro version has a beefier battery than its RT sibling (42 w-h to the RT's 31.5 w-h), customers should expect much poorer battery life.

Behold, the Surface pen. It lets you jot notes directly on the tablet's capacitive touch screen.

So, yeah, that ARM processor in the Surface RT is good for something.
Sorry, Surface RT fans, but I stand by my position that Surface Windows 8 Pro is the full realization of the Surface concept. Sure, Surface RT offers a fine tablet experience, but given the lack of compelling Windows Store apps, I need a full desktop experience--if only to get my job done while working on the road. And in the Surface family, a fully functioning desktop is only available in the device that debuts Feb. 9.

The Surface family expands
The launch of Surface Pro is the big news, but on Feb. 9 eager Surface fans will also be able to buy a couple of new accessories, plus a new Surface RT option.

Three new Touch Cover designs also go on sale Feb. 9.

First up, Microsoft is releasing some "limited edition" Touch Cover options sporting three laser-etched designs.There's a new cyan cover with a vaguely skater-ish skull motif, a magenta cover with a floral print, and a red cover that pays homage to Chinese New Year with a "Year of the Snake" design.
I saw two of the new covers at CES, and they looked, well, pleasant. If I were in the market for a Touch Cover, I might buy one of the limited edition models if they didn't cost $130, which is $10 more than unadorned Touch Covers. Then again, I don't put play with stickers any more, so maybe I'm not the target market.

Slightly more interesting is the Surface version of Microsoft's Wedge Touch Mouse, which costs $70 and is clad in a color-matched veneer to look right at home beside the VaporMG chassis of your Surface Tablet. The original version of the Wedge Mouse also costs $70, and is expressly designed for Windows 8, offering four-way touch scrolling, Bluetooth connectivity, and BlueTrack technology, which allows it to perform well on pretty much any surface save clear glass and mirrors.
Finally, on Feb. 9, Microsoft will also begin selling a new version of Surface RT. To date, if you wanted the 64GB of Surface RT, you could only get it bundled with a black Touch Cover for a total price of $700. Well, now that 64GB version can be purchased solo for $600, and no keyboard cover whatsoever will be foisted on you, against your will or better judgement. This, of course, frees up some cash so you can buy a Type Cover (the cover option with actual moving keys), or perhaps one of the more fancy "limited edition" Touch Covers that's about to go on sale.
Microsoft tells us we should be getting our Surface Pro hardware in the next couple of weeks, so please stay tuned for my final review.

Google Looks to Kill Passwords, but Experts say Not So Fast

While passwords security is not ironclad, experts say they need to be in the mix with device-assisted authentication as an additional layer.

Google's security team is experimenting with ways to replace passwords for logging in to websites. But while acknowledging passwords alone are no longer enough to protect users, security experts believe they shouldn't be tossed.
Google is testing device-assisted security as a possible password replacement. Ideas include a small Yubico crytographic card that could be inserted into a USB reader to log in to a Google account or some other supporting website, Wired.com reported Friday. Such a mechanism would have to be supported by the Web browser.
Other authentication options might include someone tapping their smartphone or a smartcard-embedded finger ring on a computer. Details on Google's thinking are contained in a research paper that is scheduled to appear this month in the engineering journal IEEE Security & Privacy

Magazine. Google Vice President of Security Eric Grosse and engineer Mayank Upadhyay wrote the paper.
Google was not able to make Grosse or Upadhyay available for an interview, but said in an emailed statement, "We're focused on making authentication more secure, and yet easier to manage. We believe experiments like these can help make login systems better."
The diminishing effectiveness of passwords is seen everyday by the amount of spam spewing from hacked Web mail and social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter. Consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu predicts that more than 90% of passwords generated this year would take only seconds for a hacker to crack.
While passwords fail to provide ironclad security, experts believe they need to be part of the mix with device-assisted authentication as an additional layer.
"The cell phone is the weakest option, but any sort of two-factor authentication is a serious improvement," said Chester Wisniewski, security adviser for Sophos. "It is important for people to know that this doesn't replace passwords, it simply augments them."
The general principle for strong authentication advises using something you know, something you have and something you are, such as a password, a USB token and a fingerprint reader, respectively. While expecting consumers to have all three would be impractical, having a couple of them would be much stronger security than having just one.
"The notion of authentication strategy is if you start mixing these things, then it's a lot harder for a bad guy to break the system," said Eve Maler, an analyst with Forrester Research.
New layers of authentication are also being invented, Maler said. For example, when a person makes a purchase through PayPal, the online payment site will check the authenticity of the request through algorithms that consider multiple factors, such as the IP address of the computer, what's being purchased and for how much.
"They're silently observing your behavior," Maler said.
Such techniques can go a long way toward augmenting passwords, Maler said. However, users will still have to choose much stronger passwords than they do today. In its 2012 list of worst passwords used on the Web, SplashData found the top three passwords to be "password," "123456" and "12345678."
The use of any device in authentication opens up the possibility of having it lost or stolen. One answer would be biometrics to established the identity of the user. "There needs to be an accompanying mechanism to ensure that your device can only be used by you," said Dan Olds, an analyst with the Gabriel Consulting Group.
How far Google can take its ideas toward widespread adoption remains to be seen. But recognizing and trying to solve the password problem is a step in the right direction.
"It's about time we got serious about replacing passwords," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle. "Maybe news of Google's experiments will encourage other vendors to look seriously at alternatives."