COMPANIES

Giant Chinese telecom firm ZTE is all set to play the high-end smartphone game with a slew of devices that the company plans to unveil come the 2013 CES gadget showcase next week in Las Vegas.

Rooting Motorola RAZR M is now easy and unrooting the device is simple too. Users are always warned about rooting any device due to warranty void but unrooting it will definitely restore back the warranty as if nothing happened.

Gaming before was exclusive to console devices such as Xbox and Playstation and then later to PC units with multiplayer features too. However, in the last decade, games flourished in portable devices including smartphones and Android is becoming more prominent in the gaming world today.

In 2013, more Android devices will receive Jellybean updates, but most likely will have 4.1 firmware versions instead of the 4.2.1. HTC One X+ users will not expect just an update yet of Jellybean 4.2.1 version, so Cyanogen mod developers provided a stable Jellybean 4.2.1 firmware.

The new Samsung Galaxy S4 will have thinner shell and wider screen, likely reaching 5.0-inch mark, based on a rendering video prepared by a Russian website.

Google’s Nexus 4 remains out of reach but fans of the popular but hard to get smartphone have devised ways to make the waiting a bit easier. If you are one of the many wanting to own the LG-manufactured handset, head out to Google Play store now.

Mac and iPad uses their internal hard drives for both running and storing data. The best way to avoid piling up data inside these devices is by using an external hard drives and transfer them if not usually used. The internal hard drive, like any other smartphones or computers, records traces of programs, applications and other tasks and stores cache memory for faster access the next time a user accesses it.

Samsung has finally announced the upcoming update for the Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 with the Android Jellybean Premium Suite.

Apps are very important to any smartphones, and without it, the device appears like the old technology mobile phones sold before. Tablet computers have the same needs for new apps to maximise its use as well as make it an enjoyable experience for iPad owners.

Trent Martin, an Australian research analyst, was indicted on Wednesday in the U.S. over alleged insider trading linked to International Business Machines' (IBM) purchase of SPSS for $1.2 billion. SPSS is an analytics software company.

Users of iOS devices such as iPad and Mac are mostly joyful once they get their hands on these Apple-made gadgets. Most of the users who have switched from Windows or Android to iOS come to that realisation with a pleasant surprise from the new experience.

New Year 2013 will begin with a bang for all users of Android and iOS as they all wait for the upcoming new releases in May and March, respectively. Android will likely release the new version of its open-source OS platform called Key Lime Pie and iOS is rumored to have a new iPad device.

There are hundreds of thousands of apps available for the iPhone that are considered secure and very useful. Although awesome to download, some of these apps are for purchase with corresponding price tags.

Obviously, the world didn't end on Dec 21, 2012. After recovering from all the media frenzy the non-event generated, the question in many people's mind is what's next until the next cuckoo predicts another Doomsday and candles, shelters and miniature Noah's ark become bestsellers again?

As expected, Australian shoppers filled up shopping malls on Wednesday, Boxing Day, for reduced prices of items which saved buyers an estimated $600 million across the country.

Android lovers would agree: Firmware updates from handset manufacturers remain its weakest link but the best in this woeful lot, that is to provide the most current Android patch cycle, is HTC.

Google is reportedly ramping up its hardware business by coming up with another signature smartphone on 2013, which reports said is tentatively dubbed ‘X Phone’ and now under development by Motorola.

The Mayan Calendar may have renewed a cycle but its predicted date of doomsday has faded away. However, the future of Android lies ahead and the predictions about it apparently happening every day in this age of technology.

In 2011, Ice Cream Sandwich was on high demand by various users with flagship smartphones because of its cool features and performance improvements. Brand manufacturers are coping with demands for requests of updates up to the version 4.0.3.

Samsung is reportedly issuing replacements for faulty units of the bestselling Galaxy S3 following numerous complaints that the bestselling smartphone was experiencing ‘dying out’ episodes some months after owners’ initial use.

Android is never going to stop on its onset revolution in the mobile OS platform battle. For 2012, Google released Android 4.1 and 4.2 Jellybean as their latest firmware version and next year, Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie will set foot before Jellybean could ever complete one cycle.

With the four overnight cash rate cuts made by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in 2012, Australian borrowers saved more than $21 billion in extra interest payments, data from Treasury said.

Google set the stage via the Nexus 7, prompting Acer to jump into the cheap tablet segment with the new Iconia B1 slate, which reports said will carry a sticker price of around $US100 and will hit store shelves within Q1 2013.

Google and Asus are reportedly collaborating anew to deliver another version of the hit quad-core tablet Nexus 7, this time to be priced at a starting point of $US99 and set for unveiling in the initial months of 2013.

Apple’s iOS 6 experienced significant surge in adoption in the past weeks not only on fresh sales numbers chalked up by the iPhone 5 but also on OS upgrades downloaded by iPhone 4S owners.

Cash registers will be ringing ka-ching, ka-ching from Friday as different parties will be held all over the world to celebrate - not the Mayan New Year - but the failure of the Mayan Long Count Calendar prediction that the world would end on Dec 21, 2012.

If you are a Nexus 10 owner or considering a purchase of this Samsung-manufactured big-sized tablet for Google, take pleasure in knowing that charging this Android device would be more convenient over the next few weeks or even days.

Rumours are spreading about the upcoming Mobile World Congress in February 2013. Speculations are that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will not make it to the Consumer Electronic Show or Mobile World Congress in January and February, respectively.

Before, Samsung Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note users had to wait for a long time to obtain updates of Android Ice Cream Sandwich because both devices were released with Android Gingerbread, which dates back as the first very stable firmware version.