And now, according to Engadget, LG have thrown their hat into the “massive, powerful, big-screened superphone” arena, with the LG Optimus 4X HD, a phone that can best be described as “what an HTC One X would be like if the Koreans made it”.

Yes, the specs really are that similar; this is like the One X’s brother from another mother…

Seriously, both phones are rocking a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, clocked at 1.5GHz, and a 4.7 inch 720p HD screen. Both of them run on Android Ice Cream Sandwich, and furthermore, both of them have the manufacturer’s own custom UI on top (Sense in the case of HTC, and, er, whatever it’s actually called, in the case of LG).Oh, and they both have 8MP cameras, although the One X has ImageSense tech, which makes it superior.

Of course, there’s also a couple of big differences, but that’s covered by the “from another mother” part, innit?

First up, there’s the battery. In the case of the LG Optimus 4X HD, it’s got a 2150mAh battery, and it’s removable. Yeah, that sort of does beat the 1800mAh, non-removable battery in the HTC One X, but ah well, I’m not bitter. Oh, and although it only has 16GB of internal memory, it also has a microSD card slot. But again, I’m not bitter…

And anyway, the HTC One X is still a better looking phone, and its interface is nicer, so there…

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Y’see, according to CNet, we can forget any ideas of having a Terminator-style overlay, over everything we see. I can’t help but feel that’s a tiny bit disappointing, but let’s be honest, it should have been obvious that was never going to happen, because having your whole field of vision obscured by Youtube is sure to have you walking into an open manhole cover and dying…

So, what can we actually expect from the device whose prototype is shown in the pic just up there? Well, as you can see, the teeny tiny screen actually sits right at the upper edge of the user’s field of view, precisely so that it doesn’t obscure their vision. That’s a neat way of doing it, but it does sort of preclude any version of Android advanced as seen in the likes of the HTC One X, or the recently unveiled Samsung Galaxy S3.

So, what will the interface (which isn’t finalised yet, by the way) focus on in Google Glass?

Well, it’s going to be focusing on simpler interactions, naturally. That might possibly include talking (one would assume, anyway), and it definitely includes photo sharing, ‘cos one of the project leads has been sharing photos directly from his prototype glasses. More advanced features like Google Maps are probably right out, for the time being, what with only having a tiny screen, and them needing to cover your whole field of vision to be even vaguely useful.

Still, ’tis intriguing to see where they’re going with this. Personally, I can’t wait for them to get the glasses into full production, so I can try a pair out…

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Weeeeeell, okay, granted, it’s not that exciting, ‘cos the HTC Desire C is an entry-level phone, and they’re bound to be inherently less exciting than something like the HTC One X. Still, it’s quite a nice looking little phone, and do you know why I like it so much? Well, I shall tell ya…

As I’ve said, every single time I’ve spoken about the phone in the past, the HTC Desire C really is a baby One X, and you all know how I feel about that phone, right? So, therefore, a phone that looks like they hit the One X with shrink ray is bound to be a phone I like the look of. QED, or something.

Believe it or not, the similarities aren’t just superficial, ‘cos what HTC have done, here, is make a budget phone that runs on the exact same platform (that’d be Ice Cream Sandwich) as its big brother. Granted, that’s where the similarities end (the HTC Desire C only has a 3,5 inch HVGA screen and a 600MHz processor), but do you expect from a budget phone? The crucial thing is that Android is still nice and usable on that slower processor, and that’s all that really matters, right?

I’m still baffled about the name, though. This would’ve slotted in perfectly at the bottom end of the One range, so I’m a bit perplexed as to why they didn’t call it the HTC One C. Seriously, you’ve the HTC One X as the big top-ender, you’ve got the HTC One S for those who want a superphone that’s cheaper than the absolute top of the line model, and you’ve got the HTC One V for aesthetes (‘cos damn, it really is pretty).

So, why don’t we have the HTC One C, as the One phone that everybody after a budget phone will want?

Ah well, can’t win ‘em all…

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However, according to BriefMobile, it seems that LG might be on course to release a superphone of their own. That’s allegedly it, over there in the pic, and it’s purported to be called the LG LS970.

It’s also said to potentially be even more powerful than the HTC and the Samsung…

Y’see, it has a quad-core Krait processor onboard, and that is better known as a Snapdragon S4. Yes, the Snapdragon S4, the same as the HTC One S uses, only there’s a difference; in the HTC One S, it’s the dual-core variant, and it’s already nearly as fast as the Tegra 3 processor in the One X. So, imagine how stupidly fast the quad-core version in this new LG must be…

Ye gods!

Oh, and it doesn’t end there, because it’s also purported to have 2GB of RAM, and a 13MP camera. So, basically, in other words, if everything we’ve seen about this phone is on the level, then it’s going to be one hell of a powerful phone.

And thus, I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

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And now, according to TheNextWeb, Apple’s Siri has gone one better in the outright bleedin’ funny stakes, because it was telling users that the Nokia Lumia 900 is the best smartphone ever. Are we witnessing the greatest bug ever?

Of course, the other question is: how on Earth did that even happen? Well, apparently, it was because of the “ever” in the search term. If you ask an iPhone 4S what the best smartphone is, it comes back with a selection of “witty” (for Apple, anyway) responses, along the lines of “The one you’re holding.”

However, up till last week, if you asked what the best smartphone ever is, then it didn’t have that phrase stored in its database, so it went searching on Wolfram Alpha. And the results Wolfram Alpha were aggregating from the net said that the Nokia Lumia 900 is, based on customer satisfaction, the best smartphone ever (which I find to be unbelievable in itself, but apparently, lots of Americans like it)…

Of course, Apple’ve sent out an update to fix the bug, but at least we had a week of the iPhone 4S saying that one of its direct rivals was the best phone ever.

And that is funny…

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And do you know something? After reading about it, I reckon my first instincts were wrong. Y’see, the app is called Nokia Reading, and to put it simply, it’s an e-book reader; thus, when I first read about it, my first thought was that the Amazon Kindle app would smash this wee upstart into the dirt. However, there’s actually a very good reason why that won’t necessarily happen…

Y’see, the Kindle service has a fair bit of traction in places like the UK and the USA, but what it doesn’t have, right, is a lot of a traction in, for example, emerging markets. Y’know, emerging markets where Nokia is still the undisputed king of the phone world. But surely, Technical Markus, the Kindle app is also available on Windows Phone? Well, yes, but Nokia Reading also has a couple of extra benefits, like being able to switch it to night mode, where the white page turns black, and the black text turns white.

Less white glare, see.

The big thing, though, is that they plan on releasing local language versions of books, which could be a rather nice differentiator. Anyway, Nokia Reading is apparently available now, for the entire Lumia range. So, if you’ve got the flagship Nokia Lumia 900, the very-definitely-not-a-flagship Nokia Lumia 800, or one of the two cheap ones that no-one really cares about, then give it a shot and see what ye think!

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So yes. Chinese rip-offs amuse me, so imagine my glee when I saw a story on Engadget, about a company who’ve ripped off the phone I myself own, the HTC One X. It’s called the Konka W900 (oh, and humorously, the name uses the Nokia font), and my first thought was that there’s no way it’s as powerful as the One X. And am I right..?

Well, yes, obviously, because for starters, this thing has only got a 4 inch screen. There’s no word on what processor it uses, but I guarandamntee it’ll not be a Tegra 3. Still, at least it runs Ice Cream Sandwich, yes? I mean you can see it’s running Ice Cream Sandwich, in the pic up there, right?

Ah. Well. No, actually…

No, what it’s actually running (despite saying it uses Ice Cream Sandwich) is Gingerbread, and it’s apparently a very buggy version, at that. But what about that interface? Well, what that is, right, is a custom front-end, that’s ripped off from the ICS interface. Thus, what we have here is a rip-off of the HTC One X, with a name that rips off the Nokia font, and an interface that’s ripped off from ICS.

So there you have it. The Konka W900 (oh, and also, the name is a rip-off of an old Sony Ericsson phone); the phone with not a single original idea in its head…

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After that, the erstwhile make of Blackberry phones impressed me again, when I found out that Blackberry 10 would include the really clever imaging technology made by Scalado, and today, I find myself impressed again, courtesy of a story from Engadget. Y’see, RIM has now been granted a patent on a brand new design of keyboard, and it looks rather interesting…

Basically, the keyboard has slanty, trapezoidal keys, laid out in a V-shaped pattern, instead of the old school grid layout that we’re all used to seeing. Why are they laid out like that? Simple, it makes the keys easier to hit, especially for bloaters like me (I will lose weight, one day, promise), with big fingers. Basically, it makes yer typing more accurate.

And that’s all well and good, but that’s not why I like the layout.

No, the simple reason why I like is this: it looks cool! To me, anything that has keys with a non-standard shape, for some reason, always looks more sci-fi. I have no idea why it looks more sci-fi, it just does. So therefore, I like it.

Granted, it’s not enough to take my mind off the HTC One X, but hey, it’s still kinda cool…

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Apparently, according to ITProPortal, it’s actually due to be released as the HTC Desire C. However, if I’m honest, that strikes me as being a little bit odd. Y’see, the phone shares a lot of design cues with the much more powerful HTC One X, and HTC are all about their One series these days. So, why resurrect the Desire name?

Seems a bit odd to me, that does. I mean the whole point about the One series, as it even says on the screen protector on the One X when it’s in the box (it says “I’m the One you’ve been waiting for”, if you were wondering), is that it’s the one phone everyone will want, no matter what demographic they sit in. So, there’s the One X for huge phone nerds like me, there’s the HTC One S, for people who want a cracking good smartphone that’s a bit cheaper, and there’s the HTC One V, a mid-ranger for people who want a pretty phone, but aren’t too fussed about high-end specs.

So, wouldn’t it have made more sense to call it the HTC One C, instead of the HTC Desire C, and promote it as the One phone for people on a budget?

Still, ye never know. The report could be wrong, I suppose, and it might not use the Desire C name. It’d make vastly more sense to me if it didn’t, ‘cos the damn thing even looks like a baby One X. Still, even if the name doesn’t change, it’s going to be interesting seeing Ice Cream Sandwich running on a budget phone.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see…

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Hohohohohoho, this gon’ be good

Anyway, enough with the preamble; what amusing little peccadillo has Elop perpetrated this time? Well, according to Wired (and as I wrote in the title, up there), he reckons that people don’t care what OS their phone runs on.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight…

Well, okay, actually, in his own, actual words, while intimating that consumers don’t care what OS powers their device, he said this: “[What consumers] want is a handset that offers a faster experience and does the job in fewer steps than other platforms.”

Okay, fair enough, I can understand that second point, there, in that people do want their phones to be as easy to use as possible, but surely that’s just common sense, anyway? If Nokia are only just realising that, then I find that worrying. Here’s the thing, though; apart from that point, which should be self-evident to anyone making phones, anyway, I completely disagree with the meat of his assertion. I absolutely refute the idea that people don’t care about their OS. All I need to do is find one person who doesn’t think like that, and it proves his generalisation wrong. So, do I know anyone who really does care about the OS?

Oh yes. Me.

And it’s not just me, either, since I’m in a chat with someone else, right now, as I write this post, who agrees with me (and she also has an HTC phone, so she has common sense). Why did we both choose Android? Well, in her opinion, Windows Phone is just dull, and not actually very inspiring, and as for me… well, I agree with her.

Why do you think I switched from old school Windows Mobile to Android (on the HTC One X), instead of waiting and getting the Nokia Lumia 900, running on Windows Phone?

Oh yes, the OS it runs on…

So, therefore, his generalisation is flat wrong. I will concede that, maybe, some people think like Elop suggests. Maybe. But every phone user ever?

No. Not a chance.

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