HTC may be shipping its One X flagship phone today in Singapore, but it is also eyeing a version of the phone that logs on to the faster long-term evolution (LTE) networks later this year.

The LTE-version, able to connect to the Web several times the speed of current 3G networks, is to be tuned for Singapore and the region, which run their LTE networks using frequencies that are different from the United States.

This so-called One XL – L for LTE – is expected to have its frequencies aligned with one or both of the 1,800 and 2,600MHz bands used in Singapore, for example, when it hits the stores here in the coming months of 2012, according to sources. …

It’s April Fools’ Day and Google is playing a prank on users with an 8-bit version of Google Maps. The pixelated maps are meant to emulate the low-resolution graphics of the original Nintendo and Famicom video game consoles that many of us grew up with.

To switch to the retro-looking “8-bit Quest Maps”, click on the Start Your Quest box at the bottom left hand corner of the screen in Google Maps. In a dig at users, Google says the “8-bit Quest Maps is our Beta Maps technology and has certain system requirements. Your system may not meet the minimum requirements for 8-bit computations”. …

When everyone was going ga-ga last week over Apple’s new iPad, I went out to a small store in Funan and bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, a tablet that I had under-estimated when I first saw it earlier this year.

I had thought this was simply a refresh of the 7-inch Galaxy Tab that marked the Korean firm’s entry into the tablet market in 2010. But I changed my mind the moment I saw the screen on the new tablet. It is sharp, bright, has great contrast, and is quite stunning.
…

“While it is only one day, this is a milestone,” said Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter in a statement Wednesday, adding that Chrome still faces a battle to unseat rivals such as IE and Firefox in countries like China, United States and Germany. StatCounter based its numbers on some 15 billion page views per month (4 billion from the US) from its network of over three million sites. …

Instead of a thin and light design, Sony last year came up with a tablet that had a book-like shape so users holding on to its Tablet S could easily imagine they were reading a book or magazine.

This year, the Japanese firm is looking to a unique clamshell design in its new Tablet P. In terms of looks, this tablet is one that will not fail to catch the eye if you see it at a shop front next to other tablets. …

The Sony Xperia S is the first flagship phone for the Japanese electronics giant after it took over control of Sony Ericsson last year, and it certainly looks the part and competes well in a crowded arena of Android phones. …

At this time last year, Samsung was agonising over how slim its Galaxy Tab 10.1 was going to be to challenge Apple’s iPad 2.

Just like Apple this time, its updated Galaxy Tab 2 tablets, unveiled recently at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, seem more poised and you could say, possibly more confident of the response from potential buyers.

Besides having Google’s Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich operating system out of the box, no big changes exist in the two versions of the Galaxy Tab 2, either in their 7-inch or 10.1-inch versions.

…

The Korean phone maker finally released its official Ice Cream Sandwich update for the popular Galaxy S II phone, after weeks of leaked rumours that it would be available this month.

The update brings the S II on par, at least in terms of the software, with the Galaxy Nexus, along with several other features like an improved Gmail experience, a new task manager and improved browser.

However, the release is only available for South Korea and several European countries like Poland, Hungary and Sweden, and there is no news still of availability for Singapore users, who have had the phone since last year.

Samsung said on a Facebook post today that it was still working with other wireless carriers in other markets to get the Android 4.0 operating system out to more users.

…

When Apple took the covers off its latest wonderful, magical and “resolutionary” device last night (Singapore time), it surprised many fans who had waited for a new iPad 3 or iPad HD, which had done the usual rounds of hype just before another Apple show-and-tell.

The new iPad will simply be called, well, iPad, according to new CEO Tim Cook.

There were no 7-inchers to rival smaller tablets from the Android camp. And the 9.7-inch 2012 iPad actually got thicker and heavier than the previous iPad 2. Yet, underwhelming as it may seem to some existing iPad users, the new tablet actually makes a lot of sense for Apple. …

Credit: Barry Soon

Here’s a 7-inch tablet that will wow you without burning a hole in your wallet – as long as you accept that it’s not an Apple, Samsung or Motorola, but an Ainol product.

While tablet geeks may have heard about the Chinese electronics maker being the first to make an Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich, tablet late last year, most consumers in brand-conscious Singapore are probably not even aware of the Shenzhen-based Ainol.

Yet, one of the most appealing tablets now on the market is drawing the crowds in at Sim Lim Square, where the 7-inch Aino Novo 7 Aurora is on display to curious, surprised shoppers. …