Google Nexus S - curved display?

Following yesterday's appearance of the Nexus S comes a bit of odd gossip - its display is curved. In the middle, the phone is thinner than at the top and bottom, making the whole screen concave, it's not just a chin.

Apparently, Samsung did some research and concluded that concave displays have better usability than flat displays - or at least give the impression of better usability. This technology isn't new - the rumor states that Samsung has been working on it for a while and they even got Sprint interested in it.

The Nexus S has a curved screen (we added the red line to make it easier to see)

The deal fell through because Samsung couldn't manufacture enough curved displays to fill Sprints needs for this holiday season. So, what is this display doing on the Nexus S? It could be better - a hands on will decide that - but if Samsung really can't manufacture enough, then the Nexus S doesn't stand a chance of becoming a mass market device?

The Nexus One didn't sell very well, so Google might be expecting similar sale numbers from the Nexus S. Or has Samsung somehow solved the manufacturing problem?

Either way, we're always interested in innovation and we're eager to find out how a curved display would affect usability and pocketability. It could be the best thing since capacitive displays or it could just end up an oddity in touch phone design (like circular displays)।

Sony Ericsson X12 - Anzu

The highly rumored Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 successor, the X12, popped up a few times last week and now we get the chance to see it in action. The company's upcoming flagship has just been previewed, despite the fact that it hasn't even been announced yet.

As expected, the thing is still running the Android 2.1 a.k.a. Eclair but word is the Anzu will be powered by Froyo by the time it hits the stores (some time in the beginning of 2011) and in late summer 2011 it should get a Gingerbread update.

Meet the X12, yet again • image source

We also got to know more about the specs sheet of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X12 smartphone. The Anzu is said to come with an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM 7230 processor, a 4.3" (or 4.2" according to another rumor) WVGA X.LED touchscreen (with multi-touch support), 802.11n Wi-Fi support, an HDMI port as well as a standard 3.5mm audio jack.

The successor of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is expected to be between 8।7mm and 10.9 mm thin and to be powered by a promising 1500mAh battery. As far as the Anzu camera is concerned, it should either be a 12MP or an 8.1MP one (with Exmor R technology) and will be capable of shooting 720p HD videos.

Qualcomm new dual-core Snapdragon with 5x performance

Qualcomm, the company behind Snapdragon, teased its successor - the MSM8960 has two cores, five times the performance, better graphics and a multi-mode 3G and 4G modem. They also have a couple of other dual-core systems using the current Snapdragon core but at higher frequency.

Two Systems on a Chip (SoC) we'll be seeing next year are the MSM8260 and MSM8660. They pack two Scorpion cores (same core as current generation Snapdragons) but run at 1.2GHz and they're shipping to manufacturers already.

The MSM8960 SoC steals the show however. It is based on a newer core and it has two of them - and they will have 5x the performance, compared to a single-core Snapdragon SoC. The new Adreno GPU gives a 4x boost to the graphics compared to current Adreno GPUs (like in the HTC Desire) and Qualcomm claims the performance will be similar to that of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

It's a pretty bold claim, considering the MSM8960 also boasts a 75% reduction of the power consumption. Anyway, besides the CPU and GPU, the SoC also includes support for all 3G modes and LTE Multi-Mode.

Current Snapdragon SoC powers both high-end Androids and Windows Phone 7 mobiles. They will be replaced by the new additions - in 2011 at the earliest.

Texas Instruments have talked about their next-gen CPUs - Cortex A9 and one of the SoC based on it is the NVIDIA's Tegra 2 platform. There are phones and tablets based on it that are in the works (or shipping already)।

XPERIA X10 (Android 2.1)

With a large high-res screen, a Snapdragon CPU and ample amount of RAM the XPERIA X10 is nothing short of the top-end Android smartphones currently on the market. However its outdated Android version was holding it back and it found it hard to compete in the top tier.

Android 1.6 Donut wasn’t terribly bad for its time but it’s no match for either the functionality or the performance of Eclair and Froyo. That’s why we felt that the recent Eclair update it received was significant enough to justify a new article, rather than just update the old review.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 official photos

Of course we aren’t going to repeat everything and we are going to focus on the new stuff only. If you feel like reading about the hardware we suggest you check out our original review.

Now let’s start with the XPERIA X10 update changelog so you know what to expect here.

• 720p HD video recording
• Continuous auto focus in video recording
• 5 homescreens
• Live wallpapers
• HTML5 support in web browser
• Backup and restore app
• New lock screen

Now these are only the big ones – the ones you notice straight after powering the phone on. There are also a few dozens of minor tweaks including new system fonts, a thicker notification bar, etc.

There are also a couple of notable absentees from the list. Multi-touch and 16M color support are still a no-go on the XPERIA X10, even after the Eclair update, which got Sony Ericsson quite a lot of critics already.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is back at the office

Now those two aren’t deal-breakers in isolation, but they certainly matter and give the X10 somewhat of an uneven start। They have basically reduced the XPERIA X10 error margin to a minimum so let’s hope all the rest of it works as promised.

Nokia C6-01

The Nokia C6-01 comes in as a reasonably priced and well-built smartphone with great all-round connectivity and a unique feature to set it apart from rivals. The ClearBlack display can actually give Nokia quite an edge if it lives up to the expectations.

The Nokia C6-01 has got a tall task on its hands. It comes to replace an iconic phone like the 5800 XpressMusic. The Nokia 5800 (despite all its imperfections) introduced Nokia to the touchscreen game with a winning move but now it’s time for it to bow out of the way with dignity.

Nokia C6-01 official photos

One bestseller out – the next one in. The next generation is here and we’re happy to greet the Nokia C6-01. Let’s start with a quick check-up.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Quad/Penta-band 3G with 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA support
• 3.2" 16M-color ClearBlack AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
• 8 megapixel fixed-focus camera with dual-LED flash and 720p video @ 25fps recording; geotagging, face detection
• Symbian^3 OS
• 680 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 256 MB RAM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• TV-out functionality (SD)
• GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation
• Digital compass
• 340MB on-board storage, microSD expandable
• DivX and XviD video support
• Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• microUSB port with USB On-the-go support
• Flash and Java support for the web browser
• Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
• Excellent audio quality
• Smart dialing and voice commands

Main disadvantages

• Symbian^3 is still behind Android and iOS usability (mostly in text input and web browsing)
• The camera is a fixed-focus unit, tends to oversharpen images by default
• No office document editing (without a paid upgrade)
• Relatively limited 3rd party software availability

The Nokia C6-01 seems better equipped indeed than most of its direct competitors. HVGA (320 x 480 pixels) seems to be the standard in this price range and nHD (360 x 640 pixels) trumps that and even keeps some deeper blacks in reserve. Not to mention stuff like HD video recording, USB On-the-go, DivX and XviD or Flash support, which are still rare enough to make a great selling point.

Nokia C6-01 at ours

From where we stand there are some personality issues the C6-01 needs to tackle if it wants to keep the competition at a safe distance. The Symbian^3 shortcomings (no split-screen typing and a sub-par web browser) may not be make-or-break in the mid-range but they certainly matter. The other thing is the fixed focus imaging Nokia are so fond of.

Anyway, this phone looks good and we really hope it delivers on the promises it makes। It’s not the top of the smartphone food chain and the C6-01 doesn’t feel particularly threatened. On the other hand, strong newcomers are always welcome in the midrange.