Leaked shots of the Sony Ericsson MT27i 'Pepper' emerge

Cast your eyes on the yet to be announced Sony Ericsson MT27i, codenamed 'Pepper'. This is to be the intended successor to the Xperia neo V, which launched back in October.

Based on the design language we've seen from the likes of Sony Ericsson's worst kept secret, theNozomi, there's definitely some shared DNA here and not just aesthetically.

  

Along with the hard edges and sharp corners in this prototype (as marked in the images), sources say the hardware will place the Pepper underneath the Nozomi and share a number of elements with its predecessor, the neo V too.

On the inside, the Pepper is expected to utilize an ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500 chipset with a 1GHz dual-core CPU alongside a full 1GB of RAM (the Nozomi uses a 1.5GHz dual-core but also has a gig of RAM). Then we have graphical power courtesy of an Adreno 220 GPU and user storage built in at 16GB, but it has to be said, no SD slot.

The neo V similarities then come into play with a 3.7" display of the same (480x854 pixels) resolution on the front and a similarly equipped 5MP autofocus camera complete with LED flash on the back, also capable of 720p HD video at 30fps.

As you can see above, the front of the Pepper swaps hardware for capacitive Back, Home and Menu keys and on the device's back you can spot a noise-cancelling microphone to the left of what we assume to be a loudspeaker grill.

We hope Sony Ericsson will be unveiling the Pepper in a more complete form once CES kicks off, but if we are made to wait, we can then only assume that they're saving its debut for Mobile World Congress in February.

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Lenovo unveils Ideapad S2, the S2 smartphone and K91 TV

Lenovo has officially outed the IdeaPad S2 slate, which is direct competitor to the Asus Transformer duo and the S2 smartphone - a midrange Android Gingerbread-running device.

The S2 IdeaTab is a 10" slate running on Android 4.0 (just like the Transformer Prime) has a 1280x800 LED-backlit IPS panel, Snapdragon 8960 chipset with dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait CPU, 1 gig of RAM, SSD internal storage of up to 64 GB, a 5 MP autofocus snapper on the back and a quoted battery life of up to 9 hours.

   
Lenovo S2 IdeaTab

What makes the IdeaTab S2 a Transformer rival is the optional keyboard dock, which has another battery built in. Thanks to that dock, the S2 can last for up to 20 hours on a single charge.

The S2 smartphone was announced for China last month. It runs Android Gingerbread on a single-core 1.4 GHz processor, has a 720p-capable 8 MP sharpshooter on the back and boasts Kernel-level security, meaning it will be harder for users to fall prey to phishing, data theft, SMS traffic and the likes.

  
Lenovo LePhone S2

The S2 smartphone and IdeaTab S2 tablet will be immediately available for the public in China, while global availability plans will be disclosed at a later date.

 
The Lenovo LePhone S2 hands-on pictures

The company has also announced the K91 Smart TV, the first to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It offers a FullHD IPS panel at 240hz with SRS TruSurround, voice control, internet applications, Video on Demand and more.

It will also have a customized Sandwich UI which we're yet to see in action. The K91 Smart TV will also be available in China right away but we'll have to wait for more information on global availability.

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Huawei Ascend P1 and Ascend P1 S droid beasts announced

Huawei just unveiled two super-sleek Android smartphones - the Ascend P1 and P1 S. At just 7.69mm the Huawei Ascend P1 S is one hot droid, while the P1 S profile measures the amazing 6.68 mm.

   
Huawei Ascend P1/P1 S

And the fun doesn't stop there either - both new Huawei smartphones have 4.3" Super AMOLED displays of qHD (540 x 960) resolution (much like on the Motorola RAZR) with Gorilla Glass on top. The Ascend P1 and Ascend P1 S are powered by the same TI OMAP 4460 chipset with a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 1.5 GHz processor and a PowerVR SGX540 graphics chip and run the latest and greatest Android 4.0 ICS.

   
Huawei Ascend P1/P1 S

The Ascend P1/P1 S come with 1 gig of RAM and 4 gigs of storage memory.

On the back there are 8 MP sharpshooters with Backside illuminated sensors for better low-light performance, dual-LED flashes, HDR effect and 1080p video capture. The duo also packs 1.3 MP front-facing cameras with 720p video capabilities.

   
Huawei Ascend P1/P1 S official shots

Both of these beasts will feature quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE support plus pentaband UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0 HS.

Here's a promo video by Huawei detailing some of the main highlights of the P1 S.

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White Galaxy Nexus image surfaces, not as white as expected

Every streak has its end and the HTC two-year streak of continuous growth came to an abrupt halt over the holiday season. The Taiwanese company posted net profit of $364.26 million, which is a 25.5% decrease compared to the same period of last year.

And while the company already warned that it won't be making its previously set targets, it even failed to meet the revisited goals. Obviously the company's current portfolio is not faring particularly well, with the increased pressure from Samsung and Apple quoted as the main culprit.

To make matters worse, the company expects to see more of the same in the first quarter of 2012 with net profit expected to continue sliding.

There's still no reason to panic of course, as the company is still making cash rather than losing it and it's probably just a hit product away from going back on the right road. Plus, the company was so successful recently that it saw its shares triple in just 14 months - there is no way it was going to maintain that kind of performance forever.

We are holding our breath for the new HTC announcements that should come at CES next week and then later, at the MWC in February. The company is expected to unveil the world's first quad-core smartphone at one of these events and we can't wait to get our hands on that beast.

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Here's the real Sony Ericsson Nozomi again, this time with benchmarks

The Sony Ericsson Nozomi (or Arc HD if you will) is certainly not enjoying anonymity. The smartphone leaked so many times that we are afraid its manufacturer will have little news for us at the announcement event, which is scheduled for next week.

Today, we got another batch of live shots of the Sony Ericsson Nozomi, and while those weren't of a particularly high quality they told us more about the smartphone internals. According to the screenshot of the Quadrant benchmarking app, the arc HD is said to sport a 1.5GHz single-core CPU, but the source of the leak assures us that it's a dual-core unit that is ticking inside.

  
Sony Ericsson Nozomi (a.k.a Sony Ericsson Xperia arc HD)

According to ITProPortal, the smartphone will, in fact, be named Sony Ericsson Xperia HD and will run on an MSM8660 chipset, which also powers the HTC EVO 3D. The RAM will be 1GB and there will be a 12 megapixel camera at the back of the new Sony Ericsson flagship.

Sadly, there won't be a microSD card slot so the internal storage is all you will get with the Sony Ericsson Nozomi. And you might be interested to know that the Android 2.3.7 Ginerbread-running smartphone will take microSIM cards, instead of the regular ones.

  
Sony Ericsson Nozomi (a.k.a Sony Ericsson Xperia arc HD)

We are sure Sony Ericsson will be updating this one to Ice Cream Sandwich eventually, but it's too early to give a timeframe for that.

Now it's too early to be drawing any conclusions, as the official announcement hasn't even taken place, but it appears that Sony Ericsson is taking an interesting approach to its top end products.

You see, the Nozomi would be a fine competitor for the ultimate smartphone if it was released about six months ago, but given that it will only be announced now it will have a somewhat different mission.

Just like it did with the Arc and Arc S, the company will probably be positioning the Nozomi just below the best in class, aiming to fill the niche right underneath the flagships of Samsung, HTC, Apple etc. It worked pretty well the last time around, so why wouldn't Sony Ericsson try it again?

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The next Sony Ericsson Xperia teased, could it be the Arc S

Today we got the third teaser about the upcoming new Xperia phone. It will be announced on CES in Las Vegas in a few days.

Unfortunately, all three teases show a device awfully similar with the arc/arc S rather than highly awaited arc HD, codenamed Nozomi. We already met the Nozomi/arc HD and it looks nothing like the previous Xperia arc phones.

Here are the three teasers so far, so you can see for yourselves.

  
The new Xperia teasers

And here is the Xperia Nozomi a.k.a. arc HD.

   
Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc HD a.k.a. Sony Ericsson Nozomi live shots

So, we could be wrong but it seems to us Sony Ericsson is preparing to announce the US version of the arc S, rather than the dual-core arc HD. If this scenario really happens, the arc HD will be most probably unveiled on the upcoming MWC in Barcelona.

Anyway, these are all just some teasers and they can mean literally anything. At least we won't have to wait much longer before we learn the truth.

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Two official ICS ROMs from Samsung leak for the Galaxy S II

Samsung may not update the Galaxy S to Ice Cream Sandwich, but they've been hard at work on mixing the new Android 4.0 with their TouchWiz UI for the i9100 Galaxy S II. A proof for this are two official Samsung ROMs that have leaked for the company's Droid flagship. The two versions in question are I9100XXKP4/OXAKP4 and I9100XXKP8 / OXAKP8 based on Android 4.0.1 and Android 4.0.3, respectively. SamMobile.com is reporting that while both are early alpha versions of the final update supposed to hit all Galaxy S II devices early this year, the more stable one is the latter. Here are some screenshots of how the Ice Cream Sandwich update looks on the S II.

As you can see Samsung have done a great job of coating their TouchWiz UI onto the Ice Cream Sandwich. Finally, take a look at the alpha ROMs in action. If you simply can't wait any more for Samsung to release the final ICS update for your Galaxy S II, then jump to the source links below for full instructions on how to get the updates now.

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New Sony Ericsson smartphone coming up next week?

Sony Ericsson is going to start the New Year with an announcement. The company will be unveiling a new smartphone at CES, which starts next week in Las Vegas. The company mentioned on its Twitter and Facebook accounts that it's going to make a major announcement in exactly seven days and urged users to guess what it will be all about. And, seeing that the attention of everyone in the teaser image is focused on that large-screened smartphone the girl in the blue shirt is holding, that's not quite so hard a challenge.

What's a bit trickier is to guess what exactly Sony Ericsson is going to announce. Currently two of its smartphones are doing the rounds in the rumor mill - the Nozomi and the Nyphon. Logic dictates that it will be the Nozomi, as last year Sony Ericsson announced their Arc flagship at CES and it'll make sense for its successor to appear there, too. Plus the Nyphon is said to be the first smartphone to make do carry the Sony logo, instead of the Sony Ericsson one. And since the merger won't happen before the middle of the year, it's probably too early for this one. In any case, we'll be there and covering the whole thing live for you, so you will know what gets unveiled as quickly as possible.

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