Nexus 5 camera samples crop up on Google+

The Nexus 5 is the first Nexus device with optical image stabilization. Officially it has a 1/3.2″ 8MP sensor and an f/2.4 aperture but the EXIF info on photos taken with the Nexus 5 report f/2.53.

That’s right, Nexus 5 photos are already on the web even if yours won’t ship for a week (it’s good to be a Googler).
Anirudh Dewani shared a 7 photo album and separate photos, Julián Toledo also has a couple of shots.

Nexus phones are not known for their good cameras and the 8MP shooter of the Nexus 5 doesn’t look like it will topple the Android flagships. Videos might look good with that OIS though, we have yet to see a sample.
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Apple, Best Buy will price match iPad Air to $480 in brick and mortar stores

The new Apple iPad Air was going to cost $500, but Walmart decided to knock $20 off. Apple itself along with Best Buy will be price matching the offer so a 16GB iPad Air will cost $480 at launch (which is today).

9to5mac cautions that this deal (unlike Walmart’s) is valid only in stores – the online sites of Apple and Best Buy list the full $500 price.
If you don’t want to go to a real store, you can also check Staples, which has iPad Air at $480 on its site. RadioShack won’t take part of the price cutting, instead hoping to lure in consumers with $300 trade-in programs for old iPads and iPad minis.
The iPad mini 2 is not available today – “It’s unclear whether we’ll have enough for the quarter or not,” says Tim Cook, CEO at Apple. It should have at least limited availability by the end of the month.
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Apple’s iPad Air teardown reveals the magic internals

Apple just released its iPad Air slate and as tradition dictates it has joined the long list of devices to undergo iFixit’s teardown treatment.

The teardown of the iPad Air reveals that the slate uses separate components for the LCD and the front glass, which is protected by a thinner display produced by LG.
iPad Air also makes use of two-cell battery, making it one of the most difficult battery removal procedures to date, according to the experts at iFixit.
All most all the internal components of the slate are glued, which makes it almost impossible to remove the hardware and fix anything by yourself. As a result, Apple’s iPad Air manages a poor iFixit score of 2 out of 10. You can check out the source link below to know more about the teardown process

Huawei Ascend W2 is a budget WP8 handset

In case you forgot Huawei is a Windows Phone partner. And the Chinese brought the first non-Nokia WP8 launch in a while, the Huawei Ascend W2 (the successor of the Ascend W1). The phone goes after the Nokia Lumia 520 by targeting "value-savvy" consumers.


It has a 4.3" IPS LCD screen with WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels, 217ppi). It also features super sensitive touch technology, so it works even if you're wearing gloves. The phone is rather large for a 4.3" device though, measuring 134 x 67 x 9.9mm, it's almost the size of a 5" phone. The 160g of weight don't help its cause either.
Anyway, the Ascend W2 comes in several color options (that's the strength of the WP lineup, right?), from standard Black to Blue, Red and Yellow.
The phone is powered by a Snapdragon MSM8230 chipset with a dual-core Krait CPU running at 1.4GHz, Adreno 305 GPU and 512MB RAM. It has 8GB of built-in storage and no expansion slot.
There's a 5MP camera on the back that can shoot 720p videos. On the connectivity side there's 3G, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and microUSB 2.0. The battery has 1,700mAh capacity.

Motorola Moto G specs and pricing confirmed

Motorola's upcoming midrange Moto G smartphone has been hinted at several times over the past few days, first as a phantom reference on Motorola's homepage next to the Moto X, then last night from @evleaks.
Now, we've got a fresh promo card from our own tipster, purportedly destined for a Phones4u store.

As you can tell from the image, the device is targeted at midrange smartphone holiday shoppers' pockets with a 4.5" 720p edge-to-edge display covered in Gorilla Glass and 1.2GHz quad-core CPU. There will be just 8GB of storage, a 5MP shooter capable of 720p recording with 1.3MP front-facer, Bluetooth 4.0, running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (sorry no Android 4.4 KitKat build on release).
According to our tipster, the device will be priced at £134.95 off contract.
It's unconfirmed what sort of battery will power the Moto G, although if past leaks are confirmed it will be of the 1,950 mAh flavor.
No release date as of yet, although it certainly will be here by the holidays, and it looks like it will be heading overseas as well. Previous rumors also suggested interchangeable back panels (also hinted at in the lower left of the above image), with possible dual-SIM capabilities. At £135, the Moto G could do some serious damage at the midrange price point this holiday season.
Thanks to nerdjunkies.com for the tip!
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Black Nexus 5 16GB out of stock, others ship with delay

The Google Play Store was out of Nexus 5 16GB stock a couple of hours after the device was officially announced. The 16GB units are still out of stock in the US Play Store.
There are 32GB units available – both Black and White – but the bad news is if you haven't pre-ordered one already you're in for a wait. The Nexus 5 32GB in the US Play Store comes with the note "Leaves warehouse in 2 - 3 weeks".


In the UK Play Store, the White Nexus 5 units (both 16GB and 32GB) will ship in 1-2 business days, while the Black units will leave the warehouse "by November 8".
The German Play Store is also out of stock of Black 16GB units, while the 32GB Black units will ship by November 15. The 32GB White units will come the soonest – ship by November 8 – while the 16GB White ones will take 2-3 weeks.
It seems that Google has learned nothing (or refused to learn) from its previous device launches. We get that the Nexus 5 is a relatively low-margin product, but not even coming close to meeting the demand is still very annoying.

Apple iPad Air goes on sale today, iPad mini 2 nowhere in sight

Just as Apple promised at the announcement event, the iPad Air is up for sale now. The Apple Store, major carriers worldwide as well as select brick-and-mortar and online stores are offering the latest and greatest iOS slate.

The Apple iPad mini 2 runs iOS 7 out of the box and boasts storage options ranging from 16GB all the way to 128GB. Color options are just Silver & White and Space Grey & Black. As usual there will be Wi-Fi and 3G/LTE versions.
Checkout the image below to see how each of version of the iPad Air is priced in the US.


Pricing in Europe is a bit steeper than this. We've organized how prices stand and compare in the UK, German and French Apple Stores. Here go the pricing tables.

United Kingdom

Germany

France

As for the Apple iPad mini 2 with Retina display, it's going to become available for purchase around the end of November. Apple hasn't officially stated the reasons why both iPads haven't launched at the same time, but it's pretty clear that it's all due to supply shortages.
Tim Cook feels confident that his company will dominate the tablet market this Christmas. "I think it will be an iPad Christmas," Tim Cook said.
According to analysts, however, the second generation iPad mini is having serious production issues. As a result, only a limited number of iPad mini 2 units will be available for this holiday season. This could turn out to be quite a headache for the company and its next quarterly financial report.
Cook's comment regarding potential iPad mini 2 shortages states that "It's unclear whether we'll have enough for the quarter or not,". The fact that even Apple admits there is a problem with supply suggest that getting an iPad mini 2 before 2014 might be quite problematic.
Indeed, a new report surfaced today saying that the situation might be even worse than previously expected. The info comes from China and says that one of the two iPad mini 2 screen suppliers (LG Display) is having huge issues with the production and Apple was even forced to turn to Samsung to save the day. However, even so, full production is reportedly not coming until we are "well into next year"

HTC bringing Android 4.4 to all the HTC One in the US in 90 days

HTC has shown remarkable commitment to the HTC One regarding the software updates, eschewing traditional notions that OEMs don't update their phones in a timely manner. Sticking to that commitment, HTC has now announced that it will be updating the HTC One to Android 4.4 KitKat.
Jason Mackenzie, president of HTC America, has confirmed that the carrier locked version of the HTC One in North America will receive the 4.4 update within 90 days. Although that's a pretty large time frame, at least HTC has given one, unlike most other OEMs out there.
Meanwhile, those who purchased the unlocked developer edition of the handset will be receiving the update within 30 days. Finally, those who bought the Google Play edition will get it the quickest, that is, within 15 days.
So far, Motorola is the only other OEM that has announced Android 4.4 update for their handset. We are hoping other OEMs will join in on the KitKat party soon

SA: Android takes a 81% slice of the Q3 smartphone pie

The analysts over at Strategy Analytics has posted a report on the global smartphone shipments for Q3 2013. For the period, over 251 million smartphones have been shipped worldwide.


This marks a significant growth of 45% on an annual basis - Q3 2012 saw the shipment of 172.8 million smartphones. The main force behind the growth is "robust demand" for Android and Windows Phone devices in Europe and Asia.
Android took a whooping 81% global share with 204.4 million units sold. Google's market dominance means four out of every five smartphones now runs Android. Strategy Analytics points out Google's mobile OS keeps gaining user base at the expense of BlackBerry and Apple.
The Canadian manufacturer's smartphone position slid even further down from 4 percent in Q3 2012 to just 1 percent. Its BlackBerry OS 10 running smartphones combined sold just 2.5 million for the quarter. In comparison, in Q3 2012 BlackBerry sold 7.5 million units.


The surprise of the report comes from Redmond, Washington DC. Microsoft's Windows Phone now powers 10.2 million smartphones - a stark jump of 178% over the 3.7 million units that were sold in Q3 2012. As a result, the company's smartphone market share has doubled from 2 percent to 4 percent in the past year.
The success is largely due to the success of the Nokia Lumia line up in Europe, Asia and the US. Windows Phone is still struggling to gain traction in Japan, South Korea and Africa, Strategy Analytics points out

Motorola to update DROID Mini, Maxx, Ultra and Moto X to 4.4

Yesterday, Motorola announced the Android 4.4 KitKat update, arriving on the Nexus 5 first and some of the other Nexus devices later. Now it's the turn of the Android OEMs announce when they will be bringing the update to their devices. Being a wholly owned subsidiary of Google, you'd expect Motorola to be the first one to confirm, and the company has delivered.

Motorola has confirmed through a post on Google+ that it will be bringing Android 4.4 to some of its devices shortly. The list of devices includes the DROID Maxx, DROID Ultra, DROID Mini and the Moto X.
Motorola is making no promises regarding when the update will actually be made available but it's good to see at least a confirmation of the update arriving at some point in future, hopefully a not too distant one.