About two weeks ago a prototype Samsung phone running Tizen was demoed and things started to look very nice for the platform that’s being developed with the cooperation of many big companies. The likes of Vodafone, Orange and Sprint are part of the project, that actually started with Samsung and Intel combining their forces.

They merged their Meeo and LiMo divisions and started work on this new OS, that might actually replace Bada OS, as Samsung’s favourite software project. Considering expectations, the number of partners and compatible hardware, this OS might even become the big third platform in the mobile world, after iOS and Android. It may replace Windows Phone if it gets enough traction. Samsung did a fine job with Bada OS, selling millions of units and they can use that expertise to kill Windows Phone’s market share.

Anyway, know that other new players have joined Tizen, companies such as Panasonic and NEC, while Acer and ASUS are said to be working on notebooks with this OS on board. The notebooks are meant for emerging markets, so they will have killer prices. Recently Tizen was spotted running Android apps, so that opens up even more possibilities. What do you think, will Tizen manage to dig Windows Phone’s grave once and for all?

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We’ve seen transparent or partly transparent handsets before, but never one with a transparent color touchscreen, like the model shown below and demoed by NTT DoCoMo in Japan. A couple of years ago LG launched a transparent keyboard phone, then we had the Xperia Pureness and its transparent monochrome screen and recently the Xperia S with that transparent bar at the bottom.

However, this device is an entirely different thing, albeit it’s in prototype phase. Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo demoed it and showed that you can use both sides of the touchscreen to operate the handset. Another interesting feature is the ability to change screen taps so they’ll work much like the Shift key on traditional keyboards. A demo of a Rubik’s cube being solved with taps on both sides of the screen was shown, to emphasize the use of the transparent dual screen. This reminds me of the PS Vita console, that uses a front touchscreen and back touchpad to solve similar puzzles in games.

A DoCoMo representative also mentioned that viewing the screen in sunlight may pose some problems, but if you place a dark object behind the screen, visibility will be improved. I’m curios if we’ll ever see this product on the market and if so, who’s going to make it. My money’s on companies like Panasonic, Fujitsu or Sony.

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This summer we’ll have two major sporting events in Europe, the EURO 2012 football cup and the Summer Olympics in London. The latter has Samsung as major sponsor and Galaxy S III as the official phone. Now it appears that the Galaxy Note will also be tied in with the event, as shown by the custom version for the Olympics pictured below.

A Twitter user posted this pic of the unique device, with the Union Jack back cover and also a packaging that brings you some British symbols. I wonder if there’s some Olympics-related content installed on the device, but since the packaging says nothing about that, I doubt it. It appears that this model will be sold in the UK through O2 and Samsung will also launch a Galaxy Y Olympics version. The new back cover of this Galaxy Note isn’t the only thing special about it and it seems that with each purchase you will donate $1.55 to the Team GB athletes of the future.

You also get a chance to win tickets to the Olympics by buying this 5.3 inch smartablet. I’m really curios to see how Samsung will continue to link their products to this sporting event and how Galaxy S III plays a major part in the tech area of the competition this summer.

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It’s not all smiles and sunshine in the world of HTC, although their One series models are proving to be hits. It appears that the HTC Amaze 4G model’s online orders have been delayed indefinitely. That’s because of the recent patent battle between HTC and Apple, that might result into the local ban of some models.

HTC is working on cleaning up that patent issue, as the US Customs will forbid the handsets from coming into the country. Customers who order the Amaze 4G from T-Mobile’s site will get an email that notifies them of the delay. The mail says that the device has been delayed because of an “unforeseen issue with receiving the product from the manufacturer”. There’s not even an estimate provided for the arrival of the product and T-Mobile even recommends selecting another device, like the Galaxy S Blaze 4G.

The ITC ruled that HTC is in breach of some patent related to the links to phone numbers in mails or texts, if I’m not mistaking and that affects quite a bunch of devices. Will this end well for the Taiwanese company?

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Retailer MTS has just announced in Russia the debut of a new smartphone, that’s both affordable and packed with useful mapping features. I’m talking about the MTS 962, a handset with satellite navigation system, supporting both GLONASS and GPS.

MTS 962 offers a pedestrian and automobile mode and has 3D maps of Russia and foreign countries, plus voice prompts. It can also show good routers, traffic jams and traffic changes. The phone costs $169 dollars and comes bundled with special offers for free package minutes, SMS and Internet traffic. The handset also ships with a preinstalled mobile payment functions, Mobile TV access and a special media portal app. As far as specs go, the phone supports 3G connectivity, weighs 122 grams and measures 12.4mm in thickness.

The device runs Android 2.3.7, supports Google Play Store access and features a 3.2 inch display with a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels. There’s a 3 megapixel camera at the back, FM radio too, a microSD card slot, WiFi, Bluetooth and a Li-Ion 1150 mAh battery.

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We’ve heard that the firmware for Samsung Galaxy S III was leaked a week ahead of the release of the handset and now it appears that the ROM of the quad core Samsung phone gave us a very interesting function/app. I’m talking about the much coveted S Voice, that can now hit your Android 4.0 phone thanks to the leaked ROM.

Developers tinkered with the software and extracted this feature, so there’s an APK waiting for you right here. This Siri-style voice control app works on any Ice Cream Sandwich device and it runs without issues. It appears that S Voice was created with Siri as inspiration, making us wonder if we’re to expect further lawsuits between Samsung and Apple. There’s even a very similar microphone icon at the bottom, if you want similarities. The software allows you to enter calendar events, send texts, get answers to questions (powered by Wolfram Alpha), get weather forecasts and much more.

Voice recognition is solid, although it has trouble with the names you pronounce. Also, S Voice is not created for natural speech like Siri is, so you can’t say you’re in the mood for Chinese food, since that won’t work. It will only send you to Google results and the only quirk it has is telling you the meaning of life is 42. Anyway try it for now, but remember that the only genuine experience with it is on Samsung Galaxy S III.

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The last hurdle in the path of Google’s purchase of Motorola was China’s approval. The US and European regulators have already given their blessing and the Chinese ones also agreed to the transaction that involves $12.5 billion. The integration of the companies will take a while longer, though.

China had a condition for this approval: Google has to keep Android an open source OS for the next 5 years. Android’s open source nature is the reason why so many companies adopt it and customize it according to their needs. Manufacturers, developers and end users appreciate this platform because of its open source nature. Google committed to the Chinese condition, which was expected. The only thing that makes us wonder how open exactly is Android is the Honeycomb source code being kept under lock for 8 months.

In November last year, the source code was released with Android 4.0 ICS, that can be adapted to tablets and smartphones easily. Keep in mind that the reason why Honeycomb wasn’t available straight away is that Google didn’t want it to reach phones in a malformed version. China has all the reasons to be interested in Android, since it’s a platform that arrives on many of its low end devices that ship all over the world and generates serious profit.

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Back when we reviewed the Sony Xperia S handset we’ve shown you its unboxing first, that revealed a box with the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich symbol on it and a promise of an update. Now, Sony finally announced when we’ll be getting the much coveted update on the handset: in June.

The Xperia S is a pretty hot phone with a 4.3 inch HD display, great pixel density and a 1.5 GHz dual core processor and 12 megapixel camera. It’ll get the latest Android release next month, which is certainly fit for a flagship. Everyone was surprised when Sony announced its first own phones without SE branding and they lacked Android 4.0. Now, that problem will be fixed and Android 4.0 should bring improved stability, better multitasking, better battery and camera UI.

My objections for the Xperia S were the long time it took for pics to load in the gallery and the poor focusing abilities when trying to capture video. Hopefully they will be solved through the Android 4.0 update. Also, it will be nice to see how Sony customized the Ice Cream Sandwich experience this time.

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You’ve heard a lot of talk about the ASUS PadFone, the famous hybrid between a phone and tablet… Well, here it is in the video below, previewed by our sister site, Tablet-News.com. The handset part of this hybrid looks particularly appealing, with a metallic edge around the handset, a very clean facade and a nice insertion mechanism for the tablet.

The combo between the two will set you back 699 euros, if recent rumors are to be believed and the launch is supposed to go down in late May, at least in Europe. Aside from the tablet and handset, you can attach a keyboard dock to the device, that is rumored to cost 149 euros. The PadFone handset features a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED display with qHD resolution, an 8 megapixel camera at the back and a Snapdragon S4 dual core processor at 1.5 GHz. That’s actually the CPU powering both devices, once the handset is inserted into the tablet.

The PadFone measures 9.2 mm in waistline, it weighs 192 grams and it felt extremely light in the hand of the Tablet News folks. Its battery is a 1.520 mAh unit and while it may seem feeble considering that the Droid RAZR MAXX has twice the capacity, know that the PadFone Station tablet will increase its capacity 5 fold and with the dock it goes to 9 fold. Over the following days Tablet News will also offer a review for this prototype, so stay tuned!

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