BB Sold Just for $4.7 Billion-CHEAP

It is being valued like a broken company

BlackBerry Ltd., once valued at US$83 billion, may be stuck with the cheapest valuation ever for a North American technology or telecommunications takeover.

While the company has six weeks to seek other bids, Pacific Crest Securities said investors should be happy to get the US$9 a share that Fairfax is offering. Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins, who took over in January 2012, didn’t publicly disclose the company was for sale until last month after almost a year of canvassing potential buyers. Now, BlackBerry has posted a string of quarterly sales declines and lost almost US$79 billion in market value as it fell behind Apple Inc. and Google Inc. Last week, BlackBerry said it will cut a third of its workforce and take a writedown of as much as US$960 million.The smartphone maker said Monday it reached a tentative agreement for a US$4.7 billion buyout by a group led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., its biggest shareholder. Including net cash, the proposal values the Waterloo, Ontario-based company at an 80% discount to its book value and just 0.17 times its sales, the cheapest revenue multiple on record among similar-sized North American telecommunications or technology acquisitions, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Iphone 5 with iOS 7-The More You Say It' Still less

Introduction

The last couple of iOS updates were hanging on the wrong side between too little and too late. The user interface is six years old now and while it has been repeatedly polished in every revision so far, it was decidedly starting to look stale. And it's not just a matter of visuals either. iOS 5 brought little to nothing in terms of new features and some would even argue that iOS 6 was actually a step back. It seems though that Apple has found inspiration again and is ready to take the game to the opposition.

The UI that launched on the original iPhone way back in June 2007 has finally been put to rest. Android has stepped up in big strides since Gingerbread to dominate the smartphone game. Meanwhile, Windows Phone keeps bringing new features, and even the conservative BlackBerry broke with the old ways and completely redesigned its platform. It was about time Apple did something different with the iOS.

The iOS 7 is among the largest upgrades the OS has ever been given - not quite the game changer that the iPhone OS 2 and the App Store were, but it certainly took a lot of effort. It not only brings some key new features and a few cool system apps, but it also completely overhauls the user interface and tweaks the right things under the hood.

Key features

• Complete UI overhaul with adaptive colors and system-wide Back swipe gesture
• New system icons and folders, animated icons available
• System-wide parallax effect
• Dynamic wallpapers
• Control Center with toggles, multimedia controls and shortcuts
• Updated Notification Center with three tabs
• All apps multitasking with new card interface
• Updated Safari browser with unified search filed
• iTunes radio
• AirDrop file sharing
• Inclinometer within the Compass app
• Camera filters with live preview and new square mode
• New Photos app with better photo organization, picture editing
• Weather app with live weather animations
• Updated Maps with Night mode and Turn-by-Turn walking directions
• New Siri interface, new supported commands, new voices
• Contact Blacklist
• FaceTime audio
• Activation lock
• Automatic app update
• Cellular data usage breakdown
• Chinese-English, Italian, Korean and Dutch dictionaries
• iOS in the Car coming in 2014 in selected cars

Main disadvantages

• Very iTunes dependent for uploading files and multimedia
• No open file system means you often have to duplicate files
• Limited integration of 3rd party social networks and services
• No widgets
• Air Drop works only between selected iOS 7 or later running devices
• No lockscreen shortcuts (besides those in the Control Center)
• Very basic camera UI with limited features and settings
• Limited codecs support
• iTunes radio only works in the US

The iOS 7 indeed has gone flat, but brings dynamic wallpapers and parallax view to make those flat icons pop to life. Indeed, the parallax effect is one of the few among the newly introduced features that is truly unique to iOS (yes, it is available as an app for Android, but here it's baked right into the OS). There is lots of transparency throughout the iOS, brand-new flat theme, all-new system apps, live icons, and a lot more.

From a functionality perspective, Apple has finally decided to give us connectivity toggles organized within the new Control Center, iTunes radio streaming service, the notification center has been completely redesigned, there is AirDrop for easy sharing between different iOS devices, and even more capable Siri.

Of course, there are still missing features. And while our prayers of an open file system were always likely to remain unanswered, those for better utilization of the lockscreen (with widgets and shortcuts) had a chance. Well, you can't have it all, they say.

The iOS 7 update will be seeded to iPhone 5, 4S and 4; iPad 2, 3, 4 and mini; and iPod Touch 5 generation. But not all features will become available on all devices. We also believe the iOS will be the last upgrade for the iPhone 4 and iPad 2.

To help you quickly identify what you'll be getting on your iPhone, iPad or iPod, we've got a handy table that lets you see everything at a glance.

Blackberry Kopi-Leaked

Following the footsteps of the C-series  we saw a couple of days ago, another unannounced, low-cost BlackBerry 10 smartphone has made an unscheduled appearance. Codenamed Kopi, the upcoming smartphone offers a combination of a hardware QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen.

   
The BlackBerry Kopi will reportedly sit below the already budget-friendly Q5 in the troubled manufacturer’s range. The handset is rumored to pack faster chipset than the BlackBerry Q5, as well as removable battery. The BlackBerry Kopi won’t support LTE networks, so we are likely to see it released only in emerging markets.

Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue review: Budget extravagance

Introduction

A bit odd actually that no one thought of it so far. We mean, the ultras come by the dozens, and so do the pluses, ones, plays and, obviously, droids. The question is though, do we need to be wary of anything called Vogue and coming from China.

Oh well, the MediaPad 7 Vogue isn't front-page stuff obviously - not the cover of the namesake magazine anyway which, apropos, has had a Chinese edition for nearly ten years now. But that's not the point, far from it. It's a tablet signed by Huawei, whose devices have been consistently delivering good bang for your buck.

    
Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue official photos

While Huawei have been raising its own bar slowly but determinedly, the MediaPad 7 Vogue isn't actually an upgrade. The 7" tablet lineup is being built top to bottom obviously. The original MediaPad, which we quite liked more than a year and a half ago, was followed by a trimmed down MediaPad 7 Lite. In 2013, the MediaPad 7 Vogue joins the ranks alongside the MediaPad 7 Youth.

All those sequels are focusing on affordability - the screen resolution is down from WXGA (800 x 1280) to WSVGA (600 x 1024). On the other hand they're a tad more compact and lighter than the original, and powered by quad-core chipsets.

Here's what the Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue has to offer and what didn't make the cut.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE; dual-band 3G with HSPA
• 7" IPS+ LCD capacitive touchscreen, 600 x 1024
• Android OS v4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Emotion UI 1.5
• SIM card slot with data and telephony support
• Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9, 16-core GPU; Huawei K3V2 chipset
• 1GB of RAM
• 3.15MP fixed focus camera, 720p video recording; VGA front-facing camera
• Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• 8GB of built-in storage
• microSD card slot, side-mounted, hot-swappable
• microUSB port with USB host and MHL 2.0
• Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, EDR
• FM radio
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• Plenty of juice in the ample 4100 mAh battery

Main disadvantages

• Lowest resolution to have on a tablet
• Reflective screen with poor sunlight legibility
• Screen lacks any sort of additional scratch protection
• No microHDMI port

It's the second generation of seven-inch MediaPads, but building on the predecessor in every way possible wasn't an option for Huawei. To get some breathing space in such a busy market, the MediaPad 7 Vogue had to strike a fine balance between its level of equipment and affordability.

Two generations of the Nexus 7 are tough competition even for reputable manufacturers like Samsung and Acer, but Huawei might as well have found a way to make their offerings relevant. It may look like they threw in the towel by settling for the lowest tablet resolution, but the MediaPad 7 Vogue isn't entirely clueless about what users want.

The full telephony capabilities, a side-mounted microSD card slot and solid battery life sound like the right things to put forward. Good thing the Vogue has kept the unibody design of the original MediaPad - who would say no to the good looks and solid build, entry level tablet or not.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra review: "Ultra Cool"

Introduction

With the Xperia Z Ultra, Sony is finally turning its attention towards a market segment it has avoided so far. The market headstart of their flagship Xperia Z along with the subsequent releases in the upper midrange has set quite a serious foundation for Sony's mobile phone business creating an excellent possibility for experimenting in a niche that has been invented and so far dominated by Samsung's Note series.

   
Sony Xperia Z Ultra official images

Of course, a 6.4" phablet stands little chance of matching the sales of a proper flagship such as the Xperia Z, but it's all about sending a message. And the message is loud and clear: "Be my guest, Galaxy Note III". There's more to it of course - it's about the company's level of confidence to venture into unknown territories. Indeed, it's not every day that we see a device that not only dwarfs the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3, but is getting ready to challenge the Note III. It takes courage to stand up to the standard-setter but, at least on paper, the Xperia Z Ultra has the looks and the powerful hardware to pull it off.

Before we proceed any further, here's the cheat sheet for this review.

key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support; 3G with 42Mbps HSPA; 150Mbps LTE
• 6.4" 16M-color 1080p capacitive touchscreen Triluminos display (344ppi pixel density); X-Reality engine
• Android OS v4.2.2 Jelly Bean with custom UI
• Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400 CPU, 2 GB RAM, Adreno 330 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset
• 8 MP autofocus camera with geo-tagging, HDR
• 1080p video recording @ 30fps, continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• 2 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording
• IP 58 certification - dust resistant and water resistant
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA; Wireless TV out
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• 16GB of built-in storage; microSD card slot
• MHL-enabled microUSB port
• Bluetooth v4.0
• NFC
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• Gorgeous design and impressively slim waistline
• Ample 3050 mAh battery

Main disadvantage

• Unwieldy size for a phone
• Non user-replaceable battery
• No camera flash or camera shutter key
• Below average loudspeaker performance (probably due to the increased water tightness)
• No proper video playback decoders (XviD, DivX) out of the box

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is one beast of a smartphone (although at this size it already steps on tablet territory). The Snapdragon 800 chipset brings a meaningful performance improvement over an already very snappy Snapdragon 600, while the screen packs all the latest technology Sony has its hands on. The Triluminos display of 1080p resolution promises to solve the long-standing viewing angle issues in Sony's lineup, while the X-Reality enhancements means punchy colors and impressive contrast.