We have been itching to get our hands on Windows 8 – which is still just a working title, by the way – ever since the first screenshots surfaced. But when Microsoft officially unveiled it to the public yesterday the itch turned into a proverbial rash.

Luckily, we won’t have to wait for long to try it out for ourselves because Microsoft has has finally released the Developer Preview on their website for everyone to download. Read more »

Today at its developer-focused BUILD conference Microsoft is showcasing (currently) the latest major release of its wide-spread Windows OS – dubbed Windows 8. It features a new UI – Metro Style, which looks like an overgrown version of its WP7 for smartphones, improvements on performance, security, privacy and reliability, and more.

Windows 8 tries to substitute what we do with a mouse and keyboard with touch swipe gestures, while at the same time still providing the same experience if you want to go the peripheral way. The new Metro UI features the all-too-familiar live tiles from Windows Phone 7, which are implemented in the Metro UI’s Start Screen. This screen unites all of your live tiles, widgets, apps, people, content and more. It’s basically your main homescreen. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy S II is just about to hit US shores and we just got its first video ad. It’s quite different in style to the ads released in Europe, going for the more serious tone this time.

Now we are not sure anyone needs convincing about purchasing the Galaxy S II at this point. The handset took its sweet time crossing the Atlantic, so most users have probably made up their mind already. But some publicity never hurt anyone’s market prospects so we can see Samsung’s point. Read more »

A Samsung-made tablet has leaked from Microsoft’s BUILD developer conference, sporting what appears to be Windows 8. The device is a demo one intended to be given to devs (exclusively) to begin testing on.

It could be the Samsung Series 7 Slate PC, which was revealed at IFA at the beginning of the month, meaning it will have an 11.6″ capacitive touch display with 1366×768 pixels resolution and 400 nits of brightness and a selection of Sandy Bridge Core i3, i5 and i7 (all should be Ultra low-voltage ones) processors with the generous 4 gigs of DDR3 RAM. The Series 7 Slate PC will feature Windows 7 upon launch and will be upgradable to Windows 8, once it’s let loose by Microsoft. Read more »

As far as hardware mods for the Apple iPhone 4 go, this is one of the coolest we have seen. And the considerable boost in the exterior is achieved by modifying just the apple logo at the back.

Thanks to the UK-based company iPatch, you will be able to make that logo glow, just like it does on the MacBook lineup. And you won’t be sacrificing anything in terms of thickness or usability. Read more »

Today Nokia introduced a new application for their Symbian smartphones, designed to make them easier to use when you are driving a car. Called Nokia Car Mode, the standalone app features an optimized user interface simplifying the access and use of Nokia Drive (voice-guided car navigation with Nokia Maps), traffic updates, music and voice calls while driving.

Nokia Car Mode also supports the MirrorLink standard, which lets your smartphone integrate with supported car’s audio, video and navigation systems. Thanks to MirrorLink you can control your smartphone via the car dashboard and use the handset’s navigation on the car display – it’s as cool as it gets, really. Read more »

Sony introduced its new Walkman Z line of Android-running PMPs at the IFA last week, but back then they gave us very little information about it. Well, now we have the complete specs sheet, the estimated release date and the pricing information, so the puzzle is almost complete.

The 4.3″ Sony Walkman Z will start spraying its Gingerbread magic across Japan from December 10th. It will come in three versions with regard to available onboard storage – 16GB, 32GB and 64GB, which will be priced at ¥28,000 (~$360), ¥33,000(~$430), and ¥43,000(~$560), respectively. Read more »

Intel’s Atom E6xx series of processors will have Android Gingerbread support and that’s coming in January, 2012. This was uncovered in a video by the world’s largest semiconductor maker, detailing the Atom processor. This means that we may see Android 2.3 ported on all kinds of Atom-based devices like netbooks, tablets and more.

Intel is a high-class player in the CPU business but smartphones are a closed ARM gang and competition will be steep. Not to mention that the timing isn’t exactly perfect as Ice Cream Sandwich is coming in the October/November period Gingerbread will hardly be hot stuff in January 2012. ICS is rumored to bring the best of Android for handhelds and tablets into one awesome OS and it makes more sense for it to be supported instead of Gingerbread. Read more »

Panasonic introduced the first Android-running addition to its Toughbook lineup of elements-defying devices at the annual Defence and Security International exhibition that started today in London.

Curiously, Panasonic chose to leave the 10.1″ tablet nameless for the time being and it didn’t provide the most detailed specs sheet for it. Still, we know it comes with a XVGA touchscreen, which remain perfectly legible even in bright sun and supports stylus input (an active stylus is included in the package). Read more »

T-Mobile might have another Samsung device join the Galaxy S II at launch. A version of the tablet supporting the T-Mobile 3G frequency just got the mandatory FCC clearance ahead of its US launch.

Of course, the FCC sketches aren’t enough to give us a full run-down of the T-Mobile Galaxy Tab 10.1 specs, but it’s pretty safe to guess that it will be identical to its European sibling. The 4G marking at the back (see image below) couldn’t mean anything else, but HSPA+, as that’s as good as it gets on T-Mobile. Read more »

Samsung Germany still can’t promote or sell their Galaxy Tab 10.1, but it looks like that doesn’t stop anybody else from doing so. This is probably going to leave a bitter taste in Apple’s mouth too.

Those in the know will be aware of Apple’s multi-pronged attack on Korean tech giant Samsung for infringement on patents pertaining to i-products versus Galaxy Tabs across various countries worldwide. Read more »

Continuing their efforts to woo handheld gamers (and failing spectacularly at it), Nintendo has announced one of the most awkwardly designed accessories known to mankind for their 3DS console. The add-on analogue pad doohickey is supposed to make up for the fact that Nintendo forgot to put one in while designing the 3DS.

The analog pad has its own pair of built-in AAA batteries and will even get a handful of games to makes itself useful, such as Monster Hunt 3 G, Biohazard Revelations, Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D, Acecombat 3D Cross Rumble, Dynasty Warriors VS and Kingdom Hearts 3D, starting November and into next year. Read more »

It seems these days if you are a tablet manufacturer other than Apple, the only way to get your device noticed and start flying off the shelves is to give ridiculous discounts on the price.

After the HP TouchPad fire sale a few weeks back, Fusion Garage, who were planning on announcing their Android-based Grid 10 tablet this month has decided that their original $499 and $599 price tags for the Wi-Fi and the Wi-Fi + 3G model was perhaps a bit too ambitious. Fearing they may have another JooJoo on their hands, they have announced a rather generous price-drop. Read more »

In case you have been worrying about the future of Meego OS lately, we have some good news for you. The latest addition to the already impressive ASUS portfolio of netbooks, the X101 appears to have enough arguments to put the yet to become popular OS back to relevance.

As you have probably guessed already, Read more »

Windows Phone 7 could soon receive its Mango update and we mean next week-soon and that it will be available to existing WP7 devices. This was brought on by the popular WP Developer Podcast, claiming next week to be “big” because “Mango will be dropping” along with the final tools for developers.

Now this isn’t a definite confirmation but Lewis and Ryan Lowdermilk are relying on “various sources”. And we should take into consideration that the same WP7 Dev team has given us reliable information before. Read more »