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by Jaime Rivera | March 7, 2013 7:00 AMRead OnMWC is not only a crazy show to cover, but crazier to cover if you plan ahead to also do a behind-the-scenes of it. That said, we did take some time to film ourselves as we filmed stuff for you. Whether it was running down the trade show or figuring out which drink we'd use as an appetizer, we've got it all on film. In our second episode of Pocketnow Insider we go through the various challenges and solutions that we faced in order to bring you the best coverage for the largest mobile show in tech. As you expected, not everything went right at MWC, and if you think of how bad it is to pack ...
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by Jaime Rivera | March 5, 2013 2:26 PMRead OnMWC 2013 was crazy and boy do we have video to prove it! If you think it all goes right on the first take, you'd be surprised. Sure we could just get tongue-twisted, continue talking, and make our videos just like everybody else's, but we strive to make each of our videos worthy of the time you invest in watching them. Sometimes we get it right the first time, sometimes after the third or second try, and some footage just misses the final cut completely because it was plain-out terrible! In our third episode of Pocketnow Bloopers we focus on some of our fun moments at MWC 2013. Yes, it got ...
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by Michael Fisher | March 4, 2013 4:09 PMRead OnMobile World Congress 2013 was, as promised, a boatload of fun and a bucket of hot tech-geek action. While we didn't see everything we wanted to, we were treated to an avalanche of smartphones and tablets running everything from Android to Windows Phone to Sailfish to FirefoxOS. We got a gander at some really impressive form factors too, at sizes ranging from the conventional to the fantastic. If you were off the internet for the duration of last week, or if you simply couldn't deal with the cavalcade of content gushing forth from the tech-news spigot, that's okay. We understand. And we've ...
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by Jaime Rivera | February 28, 2013 7:00 PMRead OnWatch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about Samsung's public Unpacked Event to happen in Times Square, New York. Then we talk about the HTC One winning the MWC 2013 award for best mobile device. Then we talk about HTC Sense 5 and which devices will get it soon. Microsoft is next as we talk about the live tile issues on Windows Phone 7.8. We then end today's show talking about our MWC 2013 wrap-up. All this and more after the break. Stories: - Samsung Announces Public Unpacked Experience in Times Square - HTC One Scores MWC Mobile Device Award - HTC Confirms Sense 5 Updates - Microsoft ...
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by Stephen Schenck | February 28, 2013 12:06 PMRead OnHTC couldn't even wait for the Mobile World Congress to announce the HTC One, showing the Android off to the world at its February 19 launch event. Of course, it still brought along the brand new phone to show off to the crowds, and it looks like it managed to make quite the impression, beating-out all that other hardware announced at the expo itself for the award for best new mobile handset, device, or tablet. This isn't the most surprising news, considering there wasn't any one real show-stopper that dominated our attention at the MWC, but the One still had some decent competition to ...
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by Stephen Schenck | February 27, 2013 7:53 PMRead OnTechnically, the Mobile World Congress may finish-up tomorrow, but with all the big smartphone and tablet events over, we're calling it a wrap. We've had a great time the past several days bringing you news of all the new hardware and software companies came to the event to promote, and as we now begin to recuperate and get back to business as usual, we wanted to take a look back on MWC 2013 and everything it brought us. The week leading up to the MWC was filled with rumors, as we should expect, and while some played out, others fell flat on their faces. LG really got things started early, ...
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by Jaime Rivera | February 27, 2013 7:00 PMRead OnWatch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about the Nokia Lumia 520 and 720 as they've not got both a retail price and a release date. Then we talk about Windows Phone 8, and how it seems that history won't repeat itself when it comes to software updates. Then it's some MWC oddities as we visit the NWC Medias W dual-screen Android smartphone. Samsung's new wallet service is next, even though it looks exactly like Apple's passbook. We end today talking about the Galaxy S IV and the processor selection we'll get when released. All this and more after the break. Stories: - MWC 2013 News and ...
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by Stephen Schenck | February 27, 2013 2:04 PMRead OnThat $10,000 Android we looked at a couple weeks back, the Vertu Ti, might not have been the most impressive phone in the specs department, but it did have one killer feature: a screen made of synthetic sapphire. Single crystals of aluminum oxide like this have a Mohs scale hardness of nine, meaning you're going to need something in the same league of hardness as other sapphires or diamonds in order to scratch them. At the MWC this year, we got to check out a demonstration of just what kind of damage sapphire screens can endure. In the battle of glass versus concrete, concrete will almost ...
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by Stephen Schenck | February 27, 2013 11:48 AMRead OnGoogle's been struggling for over a year now to drum-up interest in Google Wallet, and despite the arrival of more and more Androids with NFC capabilities, it faces some formidable competition from alternate mobile payment systems with carrier backing, like the threat posed by Isis. Now Google could have one more player to worry about, with Samsung announcing its own partnership with Visa and demonstrating its own Wallet app. While Samsung Wallet and its Visa deal are separate arrangements, together they could draw users away from Google Wallet. All new Samsung Androids with NFC will offer ...
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by Stephen Schenck | February 27, 2013 11:11 AMRead OnIt has been a while since we've seen a proper dual-screened smartphone. Sure, we just looked at the fascinating YotaPhone, which is very interesting for what it does, but we're talking about phones with a pair of regular, full-color, full-motion screens. Following in the footsteps of the Kyocera Echo or Samsung Doubletime, we're now taking a look at NEC's Medias W, attempting to finally do this concept some justice. NEC's mechanism is a bit different from the elaborate hinges used on the Echo; when the phone is "closed", both screens are on the outside, and the whole thing measures about ...
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by Stephen Schenck | February 27, 2013 10:28 AMRead OnA little earlier this month we had the opportunity to chat with Jolla CIO Stefano Mosconi about the upcoming Sailfish OS. Originally stemming from MeeGo, birthed under Nokia's watch, Sailfish has since gone its own way and is maturing into a mobile platform getting ready for launch. This week at the Mobile World Congress, we tracked down Jolla and Mosconi again, getting the opportunity in the process to check out a live Sailfish demo. We check out how notifications work, look at the Sailfish take on a status bar, and get to see the media player with all its gesture support. There's a lot ...
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by Jaime Rivera | February 26, 2013 7:00 PMRead OnWatch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about how Google doesn't seem to like the idea of building their own retail stores. We later talk about the rumored HTC Tiara, which proves that HTC is still committed to building Windows Phones. Then we talk about Nokia and their expansion plans, though instead of bringing more phones, they're clearly becoming more of a software company. The dual-screen Yotaphone is next, as we show you some hands-on coverage of the device at MWC 2013. We end today's show talking about how even Apple's Ad gurus admit that Samsung Ads are making a dent in their ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | February 26, 2013 7:00 PMRead OnYes, we do know that it is not Friday but we also do know that it is the last chance to get Anton and Michael in the same room for a while. ...and, it's MWC, so no schedule can be good or strong enough to face the amount, frequency, and speed of happenings that occur at a show with such magnitude. If last week's Live episode was a pre-MWC-one, today's installment is a wrap-up of what we've seen (and not) on the show floor. But it doesn't have to be MWC-only. No, it doesn't even have to be mobile-related! The idea behind Live is that You can get a chance to talk to us about whatever you ...
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by Stephen Schenck | February 26, 2013 2:31 PMRead OnWe've seen Caterpillar-branded ruggedized Androids before, talking about models like the CAT B10 around this time last year. Caterpillar brought some new hardware to the MWC in Barcelona, and we swung by its booth to take a look. This time we're looking at the CAT B15, a thick, rubberized, chunk of an Android that's waterproof, dustproof, and just built to take a lot of abuse. There's Gorilla Glass up front to keep the screen looking nice, and unlike a lot of ruggedized smartphones, this one is actually running some modern software, in the form of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. These kind of ...
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by Stephen Schenck | February 26, 2013 11:45 AMRead OnASUS is the manufacturer behind the Nexus 7 we like so much, and now that the company has a new seven-incher of its own on the way, the just-announced Fonepad, we simply had to see how the two tablets compare. While the materials used may differ, the two tablets certainly share similar looks, though some details, like button placement, get swapped around. The big difference between the two is the Fonepad's inclusion of an earpiece, letting you use the tablet as an (oversized) smartphone. In software, the Nexus 7 is obviously running stock Android, while the Fonepad shows the touch of ...
