Androids lose resale value faster than iPhones, study shows

An interesting new startup called Priceonomics tackles a question that we all face eventually - how much can I sell my old phone for? According to their research, iPhones have the best resale value, while Android is almost tied with BlackBerrys in this respect.

If you try to sell your 18-month old phone, you'd get 53% of its original price on average if you have an iPhone, 42% if it's a droid and 41% for a BlackBerry. Check out this graph that shows how quickly smartphones deprecate in value.

To make things more specific, if you buy an iPhone, you can sell it for $13.20 less for each month you keep it. BlackBerrys and Androids on the other hand lose more - 40% more in the case of Android.

Motorola launches Motoluxe and DEFY Mini in Germany, UK

Motorola announced the availability of its latest Android smartphones for the German and UK markets. The company, which is soon to be acquired by Google, will be taking the Motoluxe to Germany and UK, and the DEFY Mini to Germany.

The Motorola Motoluxe will be hitting the UK in late February at a yet undisclosed price and Germany the following month for €279. Deutche Telecom (T-Mobile) will be one of the carriers offering the Motoluxe, but there's no saying what other stores and carriers will get it.

As for the rugged and compact Motorola DEFY Mini - it will be catching the plane to Germany in March. Pricing and carrier availability is yet to be announced, but we are hoping it will be able to offer the attractive bang for buck ratio of the original Defy.

                                         

HTC Sensation XE coming to Clove UK

The HTC Sensation already got a white dress and now it's time for the Sensation XE to change from black to white too. The white version is already available in some markets, but now the e-tailer Clove is bringing it to the UK.

The HTC Sensation XE is a souped up version of the regular Sensation and also the first phone to pack Beats audio and the iBeats headset. Clove's site shows the black headset, but we hope that's just the wrong promo image as the white iBeats headset will look better with the white XE.

The headset alone costs a cool £54, so getting it in the box is a pretty sweat deal.

HTC Sensation XE in white and the iBeats headset

The red "Beats audio" logo and red accents of the black Sensation XE are preserved and look even better on the white version. All the other specs are the same, you can read our review for more details.

Anyway, Clove UK will sell the white HTC Sensation XE for £408 and you can pre-order it right now. The first units are expected to be in stock in the week which starts on February 20.

By the way, there's no price difference between the white and black XE - the black one currently goes for £408 too.

Top 3 Hottest gadgets at the CES 2012

From the world's thinnest smartphone to Samsung OLED televisons, here are the hottest gadgets that were unveiled at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Huawei Ascend P1 S is shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas January 11, 2012. Huawei claims it is the world's thinnest smartphone at 6.68mm and will be available later this year.

A G6 series LG Smart TV with Google TV is displayed at the LG Electronics booth at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 11, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Motorola's Droid 4 on display at the Motorola booth at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 10, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

World's first bamboo smartphone

In a world's first, a 23-year-old British student,Kieron Scott-Woodhouse, has designed a mobile phone made from bamboo. The new smartphone, called 'ADzero', which is expected to launch later this year, is made from organically grown bamboo that has been treated to improve its durability.

The new smartphone, called 'ADzero', which is expected to launch later this year, is made from organically grown bamboo that has been treated to improve its durability

The phone, made by Kieron Scott-Woodhouse, from London, runs on Google's Android operating system.

Scott-Woodhouse, a full-time student on Middlesex University's Product Design course, said he designed the phone in his spare time because he was frustrated that so many existing models looked similar to each other. 

Middlesex University said that a technology entrepreneur contacted him after posting designs online.

Made from four-year-old organically grown bamboo, which has been specially treated to ensure durability.

Initially intended for the Chinese market, an enthusiastic reception in the UK means that the phone will go on sale in design retailers later in 2012.

There is no confirmation on when it will actually be released, but it looks like it will only be available in the UK and China at first. 

Dhanush At Nokia Lumia Smartphones Launch

Accurate to the theme of ‘Amazing Everyday’, Nokia celebrated the start of its Nokia Lumia smartphones in the town with a grand and surprise bash for shoppers with an energetic overall performance by Dhanush and Mir with Bandage at a mall.

The marketing campaign attained its peak with a sequence of impromptu live shows that were kicked off in Delhi a number of days again with the songs composer couple Vishal and Shekhar. In Bangalore and Mumbai, consumers were dealt with to performances by artists Raghu Dixit and Indian Ocean and KK and the evergreen band Parikrama at a mall respectively.

Buyers welcomed and cheered Dhanush and encouraged encores of his popular “Kolaveri Di”. A chilly Christmas turned out to be exciting with audiences singing and dancing to it. A number of even speedily captured Dhanush’s appearance on their mobiles and shared it with friends on the web.In addition, citizens of Delhi were dealt with to a shock cricket match with Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh with shoppers at a mall on Christmas Eve.

Is the Nokia N8's successor to be the last Symbian device ever?

Say 'bye bye to Symbian' is essentially the message coming from Nokia as it looks to bring about the end of its legacy platform sooner than many expected.

Despite talks of Symbian Carla and even Symbian Donna in the works for current and new devices alike, it now appears that the successor to the Nokia N8 might be the last new Symbian device we shall see from the Finns.

Nokia had originally promised continued support for Symbian following their plans to switch to Windows Phone as their primary OS last Mobile World Congress, with the intention of selling 150 million more Symbian devices before completely phasing the OS out.

Nokia Asha 200 review: Dual SIMpatico

Introduction

Nokia's Asha is back for another round of bargain basement action and we find ourselves wondering how much cheaper it can get. Most of the time it makes sense to be skeptical of the lowest bidder but we've found the Finns' budget lineup to be efficient and dependable.

So, cheap it is. And although there're lots of bad ways to be cheap, the Nokia Asha 200 seems to get it right. It's a QWERTY messenger with dual-SIM support. There isn't a whole lot more to it than that - but Nokia are getting ready to sell big. You don't offer eight - repeat, eight - paintjobs unless you anticipate huge demand.

The Nokia Asha 200 is two phones in one and we don't mean the dual SIM support only. The Asha 200 is literally made out of a couple of fairly recent Nokia handsets. And it's pretty obvious which two ended up in the blender. The Nokia X2-01 provided the S40 interface and QWERTY keyboard, while the dual SIM support and colorful bodywork is courtesy of the x1-01.

 

Key features

• Dual-SIM, dual-standby phone, hot swap
• Dual-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• QWERTY keyboard
• 2.4" 256K-color QVGA TFT display
• 2MP camera
• Series 40 UI
• Stereo FM radio with RDS, recording
• Bluetooth 2.1 (with EDR)
• Standard microUSB port
• Hot-swappable microSD card slot (32GB supported)
• 3.5mm audio jack
• Good audio quality

Main disadvantages

• No Wi-Fi
• No 3G
• Basic camera
• No multitasking
• No smart dial
• No USB charging

Samsung Galaxy R vs. LG Optimus 2X: Affordable dual-cores

Introduction

Yep, you read that right. Affordable and dual core wouldn't normally belong in the same sentence. In 2011. And you don't need to press fast forward. Just sit back and enjoy. There's a lot stewing in the industry's pot and we think the place smells of quad core already.

So, two affordable dual-core Android smartphones it is. The Samsung Galaxy R and the LG Optimus 2X have been duly and thoroughly reviewed but we thought a head-to-head comparison wouldn't hurt - we've certainly been asked plenty of times which one is better.

The LG Optimus 2X prides itself in being the first dual-core smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy R follows at quite some distance but runs on the same chipset - the NVIDIA Tegra 2. Both have comparable screens too: 4" of WVGA IPS LCD on the Optimus and a 4.2" WVGA SC-LCD on the Galaxy R.

Future iOS devices will boast of fitness sharing technology

The future iPhones, iPads and iPods might help you finally get that ripped body you always desired. According to new patent, Apple’s new devices will share your fitness data with other users and help you not only be competitive, but even get fitness tips on the go.

Apple has given the example of two runners on different treadmills as an example while applying for the patent. The patent suggests,” These treadmills may be located in the same building, or they may be located in different buildings, in different cities, or even in different continents, in this example, media on one media player can be shared between the two treadmills. Also, data from both treadmills can be displayed on each treadmill, thus showing the users their respective standings in the competition.”