Motorola Mobility to announce the Moto X in August 1

I saw this on my Google+ stream and it is pretty obvious what it says. Motorola Mobility's G+ page, and probably through their other Social Media accounts, said that by August 1, the Moto X should be unveiled to the world. For those who misses Motorola, August 1, 2013 on your calendars should have a mark. I will because based on rumors this device will be stellar in all aspects. Of course, Motorola's mobile business is now owned by Google, so it is only fitting that the company who made Android what it is today should make Motorola at par with the OS and with the other OEMs out there that are benefiting from the platform.

The new Nexus 7

Google has finally announced the New Nexus 7 (Nexus 7 2) together with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean sometime yesterday. The tablet, which still sports the original 7" screen like that of the first Nexus 7 but is now slimmer and has now a full HD display. The largest screen resolution on a 7-incher for that matter. The device is still made by Asus and will be available starting July 30th. You can also sign-up on the Google Nexus page to get notified if the device has become available. It runs on the latest Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and this tablet is much better when compared to the original Nexus 7, as it should be. Head over the break for the tablet's specs.

LG's Nexus 4 and the Asus' Nexus 7 gets Android 4.3 Jelly Bean

This will be very short and you might be wondering why this post only has those two Nexus devices contained in it. I will be blogging about the Samsung-made devices over Samsung City. Anyway, this does not come as news since everybody knows that when Google announces or releases a new version of Android the Nexus devices will always get it immediately. When Android 4.3 Jelly Bean was announced, Google is already busy pushing the OTA update to there 4 Nexus devices including the LG made Nexus 4 and the Asus-made Nexus 7 (original). So for those who own these devices can manually check if they have the update ready and waiting if your device did not notify you of one yet.

Google officially announced Android 4.3 Jelly Bean

Google, without me knowing, has officially announced Android 4.3 Jelly Bean sometime yesterday. According to articles about the announcement I have read, this version of the platform is not a major update. You can actually tell that by the fact that it is still an Android Jelly Bean and not the rumors Key Lime Pie. This version of the platform is currently the variant that is running on the newest tablet Google has in store for us which I will be posting about after this. With regards to devices getting an update, I will also post them after this. Anyway, head over the break to check the new stuff Google has stuffed into Android 4.3 JB. 

The Motorola Droid Ultra thin as always

Nope, this is not Motorola's flagship smartphone, they still have to announce the Motorola X remember? And we still have to wait for that. But for now, this is the smartphone that I think will sit at the top of the Motorola podium. I have noticed though that all of these three smartphones Motorola have announced all run a dual-core processor. The Droid Ultra, unlike the Droid Maxx, is a thin smartphone (think of the Motorola RAZR), so if you really do not need a huge battery on your device, this is the smartphone to go for. Verizon is also accepting pre-orders of the device at $199.99 with a 2-year contract and is expected to ship starting August 20th.

The Motorola Droid Maxx with 3500 mAh battery

The second device is the Droid Maxx. We've known Motorola with their naming schemes, right? So this is the Droid that packs a huge battery and it does. Running on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with a whopping 3500 mAh battery. It sports a huge 5" display (this could almost be called a phablet) and is being powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core processor. The device is available over at Verizon for pre-orders at $299.99 with a 2-year contract and is expected to start shipping come August 20. 

Motorola unveils the Droid Mini

So, I welcome back Motorola to the game! The now Google owned smartphone maker (Motorola Mobility) has finally, after months of not announcing one, unveiled three new smartphones to the market. First stop is the Droid Mini. It might have the "Mini" name on it but don't judge a phone by its name. It runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and is powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core processor with a 4.3" display. The device has a whopping 2GB RAM. Like all of these new Droids, the Droid Mini will be exclusively sold in the US via Verizon (but I might be wrong on this). For those who wants the Droid Mini, Verizon is now accepting pre-orders of the smartphone for $99.99 with a 2-year contract. Verizon and Motorola is expected to start shipping the Droid Mini in August 29. By the way, Motorola Mobility has their own SoCs now which are called Motorola MX8

Nokia's largest smartphone to date - Nokia Lumia 625

Nokia has announced what seems to be their largest screen on a smartphone ever. The smartphone follows is named the Nokia Lumia 620 and it sports a 4.7" display. It obviously runs on Windows Phone 8 and will start shipping in China, India, and other markets outside the US in the coming months at an estimade price of 22o Euros. The smartphone is a 4G LTE enabled device so it should offer you high speed mobile browsing.

The HTC One Mini made official

HTC has made the HTC One Mini official via emailed press release to publications (excluding TechPump). Anyway, the device, as the name would suggest, is a smaller version of the company's Android flagship smartphone, the HTC One. Unlike Samsung's take on their SGS 4's little brother the SGS 4 Mini, the HTC One Mini is not really a leap smaller than that of its bigger brother. The HTC One Mini sports a, still big, 4.3" display which is only 0.40" smaller than that of the HTC One. The design on the Mini us exactly copied from the HTC One which is a plus because that is what it should be. Also the HTC One Mini runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. HTC is expected to ship the device come August in Europe and then the rest of the world will get it too. 

Nokia beats the hell out of the Galaxy S IV Zoom with the Nokia Lumia 1020

You can actually start forgetting the Samsung Galaxy S IV Zoom because Nokia has officially announced the monster that has stolen the crown from that smartphone. Nokia, in an event in New York, announced a smartphone that sports the best camera, the Nokia Lumia 1020. With that announcement, the Finnish phone maker also announced their newest flagship smartphone that will carry the flag of Nokia. The Lumia 1020 sports a brilliant 41MP rear camera that is stuffed with all the neat and cool camera technology you cannot find anywhere else. I was able to watch the event and apparently, Nokia did take a blow from Samsung's offering and made it look like it was a phone born 10years ago. That is when we talk about these phones' camera. The fact that they both run on different OS-es is an argument already. But this is Nokia's time to shine. And shine they did! With a bang!

Google Chrome 28 now available on Windows

Google Chrome 28 is now out from beta! The stable version is currently only available to the Windows platform and the Mac version of the browser will be available soon. Chrome 28 brings, aside from the normal security and bug fixes on Chrome 27,  "richer notifications". These notifications, I believe, are those pop ups you get from the browser itself. You can actually try out these notifications by using Tweetdeck on Chrome and you'd get those notifs toasts. Anyway, for those who are using Chrome can update their browsers to Chrome 28 by heading to About Google Chrome. For those who has not used Chrome yet you can download the browser here.

AT&T Z10s now getting the BB OS 10.1 update

AT&T BlackBerry Z10 owners are expected to receive their BlackBerry 10.1 update as the carrier have started rolling out the update to users. The update includes improvements to the platform (like notifications) and now includes Skype support. The camera of those who own the Z10 should also get HDR shots. The update is rolled out OTA and Z10 owners should get the notification about the update but for those who wants to wire their devices to a Mac or PC can do so by heading over here.

HTC rolls out the Android 4.2.2 update for the HTC One in Europe

HTC has started rolling out the Android 4.2.2 update of their 2013 flagship smartphone in some European countries. This is great news for HTC users because the company announced the update only a few days ago and then made it into reality that quickly. According to Android Central, the update is being rolled out in Europe to 4G versions of the device which is a 417MB update. These European countries are said to be the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Finland, and Norway. According to the same report, it seems the update is still yet to break into light in the UK. For now, it is only in those countries were the update is being seen.