Those looking to get their hands on the successor to the Asus PadFone 2 will have their wish granted very soon. The much-awaited Padfone Infinity is slated to be out in Singapore on June 1 from M1 and StarHub as well as authorised dealers in time for the upcoming PC Show 2013. …

M1 is rolling out a service that makes use of customers’ home or office broadband links to provide a better connection on the cellphone, whether this is to make calls or surf the Web.

Instead of connecting to the nearest base station that may be several kilometres away, these users’ phones hook up wirelessly to a femtocell device installed indoors, next to their broadband modem, and tap on the faster wired connection to reach the cellphone operator.

In essence, this offloads the traffic from the often congested cellphone networks to much faster, and often under-used fixed line networks.  …

Consumers who constantly worry about losing or damaging their phones or tablets may be pleased to know that they can now purchase insurance for their mobile devices.

An Irish insurance company specialising in mobile devices, Mobilecover, recently started offering such a service in Singapore, providing insurance coverage against damage, loss and theft for smartphones and tablets.

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HP has released an affordable, entry-level Android tablet, the HP Slate 7, which looks set to challenge Google’s Nexus 7 in the 7-inch tablet arena.

The most attractive thing about the HP Slate 7 might just be its price – at a mere S$249, the Slate 7 is S$100 cheaper than the Nexus 7 in Singapore. Pre-order it online at the HP online store and the HP Slate 7 costs only S$199 – that’s substantially cheaper than the Nexus 7, which is priced from S$349. …

It was the device that Android geeks had been dreaming of. A phone stuffed with all the best hardware, run on a clean, fast interface that does away with any bloatware.

When Google unveiled plans to sell a version of Samsung’s popular Galaxy S4 with its stock Android interface on Wednesday, many Android fans must have got their credit cards out ready to spend. The bigger question, though, is whether this is the start of a trend – a good one.

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Phone users in Singapore can finally say no to annoying spam SMSes or phone calls by adding their phone numbers to a much-awaited do-not-call registry from January 2, 2014.

When it swings into action, telemarketing companies will have to check against the registry to ensure that they do not call, SMS or fax people who have opted out of marketing messages.
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You’ve got to give it to BlackBerry for sticking to its guns.

Close to 5 months after re-branding itself from Research in Motion to BlackBerry and unleashing the first BlackBerry 10 devices into the world, the Canadian company is still showing no signs of the demise that many have gleefully foretold, even turning a profit of US$94 million in Q4 of 2012.

At its annual BlackBerry Live conference in Orlando earlier today, BlackBerry unveiled the new BlackBerry Q5 smartphone (pictured above), a QWERTY device (similar to the Q10) aimed at the company’s strongholds in emerging markets such as Indonesia. …

It’s got a metallic case, it’s slimmed down drastically and it has the great camera as before. Say hello to Nokia’s new Lumia 925, which was unveiled hours ago as the follow-up to the flagship Lumia 920. …

For BlackBerry die-hards who are still firing away e-mails everyday on their phone’s keyboard, the new Q10 is the device they’ve been waiting for.

This is the one with the familiar, easy-to-use keyboard and it is built like a solid and dependable – if rather less sexy – corporate tool that many had first come to know BlackBerry for. …

Users will spend US$65 billion on e-books, games and other content on their smartphones and tablets by 2016, up from this year’s US$40 billion, according to a research report released today.

The upsurge, according to Juniper Research, will be fueled by tablet users buying games, videos and e-books on their mobile devices, along with easier direct payment methods offered on smartphones by telecom operators. …