Now that we’ve told you a few of the speculations surrounding the iPhone 5, you can now feel free to go over to iPhone5.com and continually refresh the web page until something shows. If it does please let us know here at the Gadget Helpline!

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In recent months it’s become clear in the smartphone world that HTC has been trying to slim down its product portfolio, sticking with three Android phones in the new ‘One’ series.

However, things are now starting to get a little messier, with the company just announcing the Desire C; a budget ICS smartphone with the same software and style as the One X and One S, but going back to last year’s Desire model name.

Things could get even more confusing, as a new HTC phone has leaked out under the name of the ‘Ville C’. We’ve heard the codename ‘Ville’ before, because ahead of the One series launch at MWC in Barcelona it was the codename for the HTC One S.

The Ville C looks, by it’s nature, to be similar to the One S, but more in the same ‘cheap’ vein as the recently revealed Desire C. Perhaps the ‘C’ stands for cheaper – who knows.

Brief Mobile got their hands on a spec sheet for the Ville C, which is billed as an ‘Ultra slim PDA phone’, running Android Ice Cream Sandwich (v 4.0) along with HTC Sense 4.5. The latter is intriguing, as HTC has just launched Sense 4.0 with the One series, so it could be a while before we see the Ville C and an update to sense.

In the spec sheet we’re told that the Ville C will boast a dual-core Qualcomm MSM8260 processor clocked at an impressive 1.7GHz, although it’s believed this to be a typo, and that the clock speed will in fact be 1.2GHz. The screen size is the same as the One S at 4.3-inches, although the quality may be slightly lower in the Ville C as it uses a regular AMOLED display, not the ‘Super AMOLED’ option that’s in the One S.

Elsewhere inside this mystery phone you’ll find 16GB of internal storage and 1GB of RAM to back up the Qualcomm processor, a reasonable 1,650 mAh battery and an 8-megapixel rear camera that features a backside illuminated autofocus sensor, Full HD 1080p video recording and a ‘power LED flashlight’.

The Ville C has certainly piqued our interest, and we’ll keep our fingers crossed for more information in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

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Via: Brief Mobile

Sony has officially confirmed that its flagship smartphone the Xperia S will be updatable to newest Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich from this month and early June, denying previous rumours of a July roll out.

The word from the legit source reads “Xperia S is planned to get ICS somewhere around late May/early June. That’s what’s been said and that’s still what we’re sticking to. Any other dates (such as “June/July”) is just speculation. The roll out is, as always, gradual and will not happen overnight for all phones. Some phones might get the update in late May whilst other will get in mid June etc.”

A reminder of that impressive Xperia S as it prepares for upgrading, the gadget packs Gingerbread from the offset, Sony has opted to not join the quad-core market just yet, so the S is driven by a high end 1.5GHz dual-core beast of a processor supplied by Qualcomm, with a whopping 1GB of RAM and 32GB storage, which more than makes up for the absence of MicroSD support. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and NFC are thrown in for internet and connectivity features and the Xperia S boasts a 12-megapixel camera with Sony’s Exmor R Sensor and LED Flash, with a video output of 1020p HD.

The Gadget Helpline gave the handset a good fondling in a recent video review which you can check out in a previous feature – Here.

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Slip in a SIM card and slip the Glove One on your hand and you’ll have the power to access to calls on the move literally in the palm of your hand, with the bends in our inner fingers housing rubberised numerical keys (not digital or display ones) these to be pressed by the opposite hand to dial up a friend. Calls can then be heard and spoken by making the universally recognised hand gesture for “call me” and raising your digits to your ear and mouth receivers in the glove will deliver the message. It’s a pretty bonkers idea that needs to be seen to be believed.

Augmenting ourselves to better the relationship between man and machine is an ever growing idea and we’d much rather be seem wearing this sci-fi inspired mobile communications gadget than to inject our skin with Bluetooth responsive vibrating ink as Nokia recently proposed – much to the dismissive amusement of tech industry peers. We love Android gadgets, but really don’t think we’re ever like to actually become an Android!

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According to recent reports, it would seem that the world’s largest mobile network, China Mobile, is in talks with Apple in order to bring the in-demand iPhone to its customers.

The primary reason as to why China Mobile doesn’t currently stock any iPhone products is due to the fact that there have been compatibility issues with the iPhone and the company’s 3G network – At the moment, the iPhone will only work on the much slower and older 2G infrastructure. The compatibility issue stems from the mobile network being set the challenge by the Chinese government to create the country’s own 3G standard, instead of the globally recognised standard for 3G connectivity.

However, it’s quite possible that the problem could be resolved when Apple unveils the next version of the iPhone (hopefully later this year) and China Mobile upgrades its infrastructure to 4G standards.

As mentioned, China Mobile is the world’s biggest mobile network with around 660 million customers and is the only network in the country that is not currently selling the iPhone. However, it’s thought that around 15 million of its customers are using iPhones which are connected using the slower 2G technology. Over the last couple of years though, China Mobile has invested heavily in Wi-Fi hotspots to try and offer customers with iPhones faster data speeds when on the move.

Reports suggest that Apple and China Mobile may have been in talks for years about bringing the iPhone to the network. The likelihood of it actually happening now seems to be more realistic, mainly because it’s expected that the next iPhone will feature the new LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard – something that is currently seeing a trial deployment, and hopefully will be approved soon by the Chinese government.

You can also check out our “Compare Phone Prices” tool for the best Contract, Pay As You Go and SIM free deals by clicking the tab above.

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The trial for a mobile version of this feature is being rolled out in Facebook’s favourite testing ground New Zealand and is available for iPhone. Just like “regular” Facebook the new app will bring up notifications strictly for the page you’re logged in as – which Page owners will know is often a pain when you’re trying to track down most recent activity with the current Facebook app.

At the moment we in the U.K can only use the main Facebook app to view activity or “Insights” on our Pages, as if we were just a visitor to it. But we can still post and comment directly from the Page if we have the admin settings in place to do so. However, on Facebook main through a PC or Laptop there’s the handy option to use Facebook “as the Page” – meaning you are able to manage settings and view statistics relating to your Page such as the amount of likes you’ve received or how much social reach your page has gained and you will only see news feed posts specifically from your own page’s favourites – so only all the relevant information will be shown and can be shared.

This is reportedly how the Facebook Pages App will function too and we’re looking forward to more information and when the feature will arrive in the U.K and we’ll be able to view all of your comments through the Gadget Helpline page via our mobile gadgets.

Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.

Image Source: thenextweb.com

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After months of beta testing, Valve’s online gaming platform Steam will be officially launching its remote Steam download feature to all of its users after it finishing its Beta testing period.

The feature enables Steam users to manage their library of games remotely via the internet, so that if you are at work or away from your main PC you can continue to have access to your download, new releases and latest purchases, as soon as they’re available.

Users will also be able to login via mobile access as long as you leave Steam running on your PC or Mac at home so that you can even manage your downloads on the move using a smartphone or tablet.

This will enable users on a game’s release day to remotely access their accounts, set downloads of a new release and by the time they get home from their daily grind the new game or add-on pack will be all downloaded and ready to go.

You will be able to manage and use remote Steam download from the Games list on the Steam Community site, which you can access from a web browser or the Steam mobile app.

Once in your games list you can select a game to download, hit install and wham, bam, it remotely  downloads to your computer.

This should save a lot of time for eager gamers who have wanted to play a new game but that pesky work or school gets in the way. With the new feature you can assure yourself that the second you get home you have dedicated gaming time, not waiting for a download and installation!

Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.

Details are scarce about the strangely titled South Park: The Stick of Truth at present but we know it is in development by Obsidian – creators of the latest Fallout subtitled New Vegas. Throwing away those haunting memories of paintballing killer turkeys in a shoddy alien invasion plot that we were subjected to in 1998 as a quick cash-in to the uber-popular series, the new game will feature a fully-immersive town of South Park, complete with virtual dioramas from the hit Comedy Central cartoon as well as an interactive cast of familiar characters.

The four lads themselves will not be playable, however, and players will need to create a new persona to explore within the town of South Park while playing out a storyline involving magic and task solving – which will be penned by the DVDA duo. Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Windows PC gamers will get South Park: The Stick of Truth when it eventually launches sometime next year.

THQ took a blow last year when it had to cut its U.K force and release a number of staff from its California HQ, so this year should have come without a hitch. Sadly the delay of one of the company’s most-anticipated 2012 offerings casts a poor shadow. However there is news of THQ launching new titles in the popular Saints Row and WWE series as well as others which should be detailed at the upcoming E3 conference in June. For those awaiting the South Park can console themselves with the shows 16th season which is currently airing.

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A new report suggests that the world’s most popular web browser, Google Chrome, is making its way to the iPhone this year.

The news comes from a group of analysts at Macquarie Capital, who sent out a email note titled: “The Browser Wars Part Deux; Google Chrome Browser for iOS is Coming,”

The note said the app will be available very soon and they even reckon Google might have already submitted the app for approval from the Cupertino tech giant.

The analysts in question believe this move by Google will be the next chapter in the browser wars, but with this battle taking place in the mobile space.

Web browsers are inherently free; but companies like Google do make money from them. Google, and others, pay browser companies a percentage of revenue gained from search requests using Google’s search box.

For example, if you search for a holiday in the search bar in Safari and then select an ad, Google will pay a percentage of the revenue made from that interaction. So Apple gets money from Google and Google gets money from the advertiser.

Apparently, Google currently pays anything from 50% to 60% of revenue made from searches on the mobile version of Safari.

This generates quite a sizeable amount of revenue for Google, but if Apple was ever to drop the Google search from Safari then the search giant would lose a lot of revenue. The move to make Chrome available on the App store is thought to be a preemptive step to move users from Safari to Chrome and secure the revenue it might lose if Apple did dump Google.

Google applied a similar strategy four years ago when it originally launched Chrome. Back then, Google would pay Microsoft and Mozilla a cut of revenue – fast forward four years and Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers around – and it would like to do the same with mobile browsing.

Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.

Wi-Fi, Mi-Fi, Hi-Fi – all these techy abbreviations can get a bit confusing, can’t they? Mi-Fi is a combination of Wi-Fi and Mobile Internet, because that’s pretty much what it is.

A Mi-Fi device is like a Wi-Fi router, except it broadcasts an internet signal that’s gained from a SIM card and a mobile network, the same way that your phone does.

Three UK has announced a brand new and cheap MiFi router for those who need to share a mobile broadband connection with other devices. It’s made by Huawei, the company that has slowly started to appear everywhere with top-notch, low-price smartphones, tablets and dongles, and it goes by the model number of ‘E5331’.

With this little gadget, you insert your Three SIM card as you would with a mobile broadband dongle, hold down the power button and voila! You’ve created a network that can be connected by up to 5 different devices – laptops, computers, smartphones, tablets – you name it, if it can connect to Wi-Fi you can connect it to this clever little device.

Three already offers a selection of MiFi routers also made by Huawei, but this new model is a fair whack cheaper, or so we’re told.

A Micro USB socket allows the E5331 to be charged up using the same charger as your smartphone or tablet (unless it’s Apple!), and should last 4.5 hours from a single charge. A simple LCD display will show you the strength of signal and your remaining battery, as well as any messages you’ve received and the status of your network.

Three is the self-proclaimed biggest 3G network in the UK, so you should almost always have a data signal that can be shared. Download speeds of up to 21Mbps and upload speeds of 5.76Mbps can be achieved with this nifty device, so hooking it up to your laptop should give you a similar web browsing experience to the one you’ll get at home on broadband – pages should load in seconds and emails will fly out and in.

Despite it being a cheaper alternative, we’re not exactly sure on the price of Three’s new MiFi device at the moment. We’ll keep you updated though.

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