Media Phone

Intel Corp. reportedly plans to acquire Via Telecom, a designer of system-on-chips and baseband processors for mobile devices. The deal would add several new telecommunications products into Intel’s portfolio, which will strengthen its positions on the market of low-end smartphones eventually. Intel and Via Technologies are in the final stages …

Samsung Electronics this week said that it had started to mass produce a family of NAND flash memory devices for mobile applications that are compliant with the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 standard. The new chips will be used for smartphones and tablets and will enable SSD-class performance on mobile …

Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Corp. have restarted talks about a possible merger, according to a media report. If the companies become one, they will be the world’s largest manufacturer of telecommunication equipment with formidable portfolio of telco patents. The Manager Magazin reported this week that Nokia, with its strength in wireless networks, …

Microsoft Corp. this week officially started to phase out the Nokia brand-name from its smartphones. A post on Nokia France’s Facebook page claims that shortly the page will be renamed to Microsoft Lumia. The software giant yet has to show the visual of the new name as well as new …

Intel Corp. and Tsinghua Unigroup, a China state-owned limited liability corporation, confirmed that they have signed an agreement under which Intel will acquire 20 per cent stake in the Chinese holding company, which controls two developers of mobile system-on-chips (SoCs), for $1.5 billion. It is believed that that the SoC …

Intel Corp. has quietly acquired a 20 per cent stake in a Chinese holding company that controls developers of system-on-chips for smartphones and other mobile devices, according to two media reports. It is expected that the chip designers will develop application processors for mobiles powered by Intel’s x86 cores, which will …

As announced, Microsoft Corp. no longer wants to develop software for its feature phones and entry-level smartphones, however, the company will continue to sell such handsets for a while and therefore needs to keep them competitive. On Thursday Opera Software said that Microsoft had licensed its Opera Mini browser and …

Allwinner, a Chinese maker of application processors for mobile devices, said this week that its A33 system-on-chip is now in mass production. The A33 is the world’s first quad-core application processor that costs only $4 and thus can enable very affordable smartphones or tablets. Moreover, the developer claims that the …

It is not a secret that Intel Corp. pins a lot of hopes on its code-named SoFIA system-on-chips for affordable smartphones and tablets. The company needs to drive its x86 architecture to these markets so to ensure that it can sell chips for mobile devices going forward. While SoFIA promises …

While Microsoft Corp.’s chief executive officer Satya Nadella outlined a lot of details about the future strategy of the company last week, recently some additional details have emerged. As it appears, the strategy of the company when it concerns smartphones in particular and mobile communications in general is very simple and …

The sale of Nokia Corp.’s devices and services business unit to Microsoft is set to be closed this month and it looks like the situation with Nokia brand and the future of Nokia itself are getting clear. A letter from Microsoft suggests that the company will give its smartphone division …

Unless you are a disciple of Samsung or Apple, buying a new smartphone is a tricky business. You want all of the features but, ideally, not so much of the price tag. The chaps at Mediacom believe they have a plan. KitGuru captures their thoughts. Smartphones took ages to gain …

Nokia Corp. on Monday introduced its first smartphones based on highly-modified Google Android operating system. Designed for customers in budget, Nokia X-series handsets feature Windows Phone-like user interface, Microsoft services, Nokia maps, navigation and so on. The family of Nokia smartphones based on Google Android OS consists of three models …

Foxconn Group, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics, is set to take over Socle Technology, a developer of system-on-chip solutions. The buyout will bring additional capabilities to the holding also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry and will help it to gain more customers and diversify its business. Socle …

The relatively unknown hardware developer Kogan has just announced a new quad-core smartphone for the mobile device market. Hopefully the new Agora 5.0 will be able to compete with all the bigger contenders such as Samsung, and HTC, but it should be able to keep pace with the lower price …

At CES this year Sony have announced their latest Xperia Z smartphone which will be sure to attract attention. The smartphone has a list of high powered specifications, but Sony are focusing on the waterproof abilities. Sony claim the phone can stay submerged for up to 30 minutes without a …

When you last used a digital camera you may have considered that the firmware they run on is often clunky, slow and generally just plain poor. Finding any specific setting is often unnerving and it appears that Samsung has realised this; they may be planning a Android powered camera. This comes after …

Got a thing for cool gadgets and tech in cars? this one should definitely grab your attention. Kickstarter is a company that makes the path from concept to reality easy thanks to crowdfunding techniques. With their latest project they've come up with Dash, aka “The smart phone car stereo”. Unlike …

Once the undisputed brand leader in the electronic entertainment space, Sony has seen its Walkman brand totally usurped by Apple's ability to deliver high-quality, high-priced multimedia devices – while at the same time, Nintendo's portable/affordable game playing systems has moved in to own the dedicated mobile play space. What next …

We've all been in that situation where we go to use our smartphone on the go and find that the battery is flat.  This is why a number of companies have produced battery packs that can be used to charge an array of different mobile devices on the go.  We …

There are a lot of ways to make calls in the world, and some are stranger than others. One of the more unusual couplings is using a phone call application like Skype to make phone calls over the web connection provided by a phone. KitGuru's heard Rumblings-Over-IP about a possible …

It appears its impossible to keep Apple out of the news lately as Research in Motion (RIM) have showcased a new BlackBerry phone which is clearly targeting the Apple iPhone market. Analyst reports appear mixed however with some saying that it will not blow rivals away. The BlackBerry Torch is …

It has been hard to escape the recent news coverage detailing Apples contempt for Flash on mobile devices. Many enthusiasts have stated that Steve Jobs has been very unfair with his dismissal of Adobes media software within the mobile platform. Jobs has said it destroys battery life, reduces security and …

KitGuru loves HTC and has done for a long time, in spite of the absolutely rubbish ability of Windows Mobile to actually do email. With so many great multi-function phone on the market, we wanted to see which we’d buy if pushed. The box is attractive, neat and simple. One …

Blackberry, iPhone or Smartphone – which is best?  With the most attractive contracts running around 2 years, your next choice could be with you for a very long time. KitGuru opens the lid on mobiles to help you decide, which one’s best for me? Technologies If you type a lot, …