Nokia 701, 700 and 603 to get Belle FP1, same as 808 PureView

Nokia revealed that the Nokia 808 PureView runs Nokia Belle OS Feature Pack 1, which brings a number of improvements. Also, they have some good news and some bad news for owners of current Belle devices too, depending on what device you have.

The good news is that if you have Nokia 701, 700 or 603, then you'll be getting the feature pack soon. The bad news is that other devices (like the older ones that launched with Symbian^3 or the Nokia 500) are not invited to the party.

Here's some more good news/bad news - the 701 and 700 will both have their CPUs bumped to 1.3GHz by the update, matching the 808 PureView. The Nokia 603 will remain on 1GHz.

The Belle Feature Pack 1 update also brings a new, faster, HTML5-capable web browser, the Microsoft Apps and the latest version of Nokia Maps.

Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Headphone will enhance the audio experience for both music and videos.

Belle FP1 will also improve the user interface though details on that are scarce - the multitasking bar has been updated and the notification bar is "even better". There are 20 new widgets included too.

The release for Belle Feature Pack 1 is planned for som

etime in the next few months.

Nokia 701, 700 and 603 to get Belle FP1, same as 808 PureView - GSMArena.com news

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Mobile World Congress 2012 coverage

The Mobile World Congress 2012 has closed its doors and what a wild ride it was. We saw all sorts of new gadgets and software and we did our best to cover everything interesting in sight. We've written tons of news, blog posts and hands-on impressions and have added many new phones and tablets to our specs database.

To make your life easier and save time navigating the content, we have our complete MWC 2012 coverage at a glance, including phone specs, news and hands-on impressions.

http://www.gsmarena.com/

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Sony releases Android 4.0 Beta ROM for certain Xperia handsets

Sony Mobile has released a beta of the Android 4.0.3 ROM for certain Xperia handsets. These include the Xperia arc S, Xperia neo V and Xperia ray. Compared to the alpha ROM released back in December, the beta enables GSM radio and FM radio functionalities, which means you can make and receive calls and browse the web. However, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionalities are still unavailable.

 

The new beta ROM includes features such as the new lockscreen, which includes the ability to control the music player and launching the camera. Sony will also include the face unlock feature found on the Galaxy Nexus in the final version, but it is currently unavailable. Other new features include the ability to bring up a list of messages that you can send after you decline a call and a new dialler app which features the highly useful quick dial mode.

Apart from this you get the usual Ice Cream Sandwich goodies, such as the new multi-tasking view and notification screen where you can use the swipe gesture to remove items from the screen. The beta ROM does not include the usual Google applications, however, such as Gmail, Google Maps, Android Market, etc. but they will obviously be added in the final version.

The ROM is now available for download on Sony's website but before you go ahead and download it do keep in mind all the limitations of the current ROM mentioned above. There are also some issues, such as having to unlock the bootloader, which means you won't be able to download the final version when it comes out a couple of months later. So make sure you go through all the warnings and instructions in the source link below before you install it on your phone.

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Acer CouldMobile shown off in a hands-on video

The Acer CloudMobile was recently shown off at an event in Milan, Italy to the press. The folks at Cellular Magazine who attended the event thankfully managed to get a hands-on video of the device in action. Unfortunately, the video is not in English but you can get a decent idea about the phone.

 

The Acer CloudMobile is easily the most interesting phone to have come out of Acer. In fact, it won an iF design award even before it was officially launched. But it's not just the design that's great about it. The CloudMobile also comes loaded with some pretty great features.

For starters there is Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich available out of the box, which instantly earns it major brownie points. Next it has a 4.3-inch, 720p display with on-screen virtual controls, just like on the Galaxy Nexus. The device in the video above also has a separate row of capacitive keys below the display but that can be excused since it is a prototype device. The device shown in the press images does not have these extra keys.

Next there is a 1.5GHz dual-core processor on the inside, 8 megapixel camera, HSPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC connectivity.

The phone is expected to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress next week, which is when we will find out more about it.

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LG Optimus 4X HD, 3D Max and Vu get the hands-on treatment

 

The Italians are on a roll with the hands-on videos. After a hands-on video of the Acer CloudMobile by Cellular Magazine, we now have a trio of hands-on videos of the latest LG smartphones by Telefonino.net.

The first one, which we have embedded below, is of the Optimus 4X HD, which runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and has a 4.7-inch HD display.

 

As you can see in the video above, LG's UI customizations aren't as extensive as Samsung or HTC's. You can easily tell that the phone is running on ICS, but they have added some touches that would help them differentiate their product without going overboard. The lockscreen, for example, is different, with a new unlock method, large date and time display and the presence four shortcut buttons below. The homescreen has a different dock and different animation for homescreen navigation. LG has also changed the way you add widgets on the homescreen by adding a Honeycomb-like drawer at the bottom.

The application menu is similar to stock ICS but includes another tab for downloaded apps. You can see more customizations in the video, such as the use of different icons and a navigation bar at the bottom of the browser.

You can check out the Gingerbread running Optimus 3D Max and Optimus Vu in the second and third source links below, respectively.

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Hizbullah Kecam Pembakaran Alquran oleh NATO

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KABUL--Kelompok perlawanan Libanon, Hizbullah telah mengutuk penodaan Al-Quran oleh pasukan AS di Afghanistan. Mereka menyebutnya kejahatan terbaru dari militer AS.

Hizbullah mengatakan, "Tindakan dari pasukan asing adalah kejahatan baru yang mengungkapkan AS-Zionis terhadap penodaan kesucian Islam dan menertawakan perasaan lebih dari satu miliar umat Islam. Tindakan terang-terangan pasukan pimpinan Amerika yang dilakukan terhadap kitab suci umat Islam, akibat peningkatan penghinaan kesucian Islam. Ini mengungkapkan kampanye sistematis untuk menodai kesucian islam di wilayah kami," katanya, Selasa (21/2), Press tv melaporkan.

"Hizbullah mengutuk tindakan kriminal yang menyinggung semua prinsip, etika, dan agama dan memanggil orang-orang bangsa untuk meningkatkan suara mereka, mengutuk aksi yang provokatif, dan mengecam semua upaya untuk menodai kesucian, apakah Islam atau Kristen," dia menambahkan.

Pada Senin malam, pasukan AS di Lapangan Udara Bagram di luar Kabul membakar Al-Qur'an dan materi keagamaan lainnya seperti sampah, menurut pejabat NATO dan Afghanistan.

Demonstran Afghanistan marah, dan melancarkan demonstrasi anti-AS di Kabul dan beberapa kota lain Afghanistan. Mereka juga menyerukan para penghujat itu diadili di pengadilan hukum.

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Sony Xperia U live photos leak again, still hot looking

We are really starting to worry that at the rate these leaks are going, Sony won't have much news for us at its MWC press conference on Sunday. The Sony Xperia U, which is one of the smartphones to go official there, leaked once again - this time in an extensive live photo session.

The Sony Xperia U was previously known by its codename Kumquat and by its product code - ST25i. It has much of the styling of the high-flying Sony Xperia S, but has a slightly tuned down specs sheet and should come with a lower asking price.

Sony Xperia U live photos

The Xperia U is said to be built around a 3.5" qHD LCD and feature a 1GHz dual-core CPU and 512 MB of RAM. A 5 megapixel camera replaces the 12 megapixel monster we saw on the Xperia S, but the OS at launch should still be Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich should be pushed as an update shortly after, though.

Sony Xperia U live photos

And with the Sony Xperia U mystery all but gone, we start wondering what other cool devices we will see in Barcelona come this Sunday. Just make sure you stick around so you don't miss anything.

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