Advertisement

Mobile Miscellany: week of March 25th, 2013

zachary lutz
Updated ·5 min read
0

If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week, an unknown T-Mobile handset with Snapdragon 800 internals lit up the benchmarks, Sony was foiled at the lock screen and Rogers made 44 new promises without saying much at all. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of March 25th, 2013.

Sony joins the screen lock exploit club

We've recently seen lock screen vulnerabilities from Apple and Samsung, and now Sony's here to make it a trio. This week, Scott Reed revealed a bypass method for the Xperia Z, which disturbingly enough, brings full and unfettered access to the smartphone. You'll find the proof for yourself in this 35-second video, which reveals the necessary string of characters that must be entered into the phone's dialer. While a glitch in the video initially put our suspicions on high alert, we've come across several confirmations that reveal the exploit not only works for the Xperia Z, but also the Xperia S and Xperia P. Pretty disturbing, right? [GSM Arena, xda-developers]

Benchmark reveals Snapdragon 800 lurking within LG D801 for T-Mobile

Mobile Miscellany week of March 25th, 2013

Hold onto your hats, folks, because the Snapdragon 800 just spanked the competition in a GPU benchmark test, and in the process, a potential superphone was pegged on T-Mobile's horizon. The phone in question is the LG D801, which reared its head with the Qualcomm MSM8974 SoC at its core. According to GLBenchmark figures (which have since been taken offline), the handset soundly trounced both the HTC One and the latest iPad, which is no doubt thanks to the Adreno 330 GPU. It should come as no surprise that a 1080p display was revealed for the LG D801, and if the device strings have any bearing, we may see this one branded as the Optimus G2. Seeing that LG was first to market with both the Snapdragon S4 Pro and the Snapdragon 600, it certainly wouldn't shock us to see the manufacturer pull off a three-peat. [GSM Arena, Droid Life]

Promotional codes are one step closer to reality in BlackBerry World

Mobile Miscellany week of March 25th, 2013

If a leak from the crew at N4BB is any indication, BlackBerry World may soon find support for promotional codes. That's because buttons and dialogs were recently uncovered on a BlackBerry Dev Alpha C unit, which clearly shows BlackBerry's intention to implement the feature. While it's not the biggest revelation, the move could be lucrative for developers, and it'd also bring BlackBerry World one step closer to parity with other content ecosystems. Here's to moving in the right direction. [N4BB]

Rogers teases springtime LTE rollout for 44 markets, 2600MHz deployment

This week, Rogers announced that LTE coverage will be extended to 44 new markets over the coming months. Of these markets, it'll extend its relatively young 2600MHz LTE service to 34 of the new areas, which is said to offer faster connection speeds, up to a highly theoretical (and entirely unrealistic) 150 Mbps. Upon completion of the rollout, Rogers' LTE service will extend to 21.5 million Canadians, or roughly 65 percent of the population. Unfortunately, Rogers is also being rather coy with its announcement, and so far has only named Saint John, New Brunswick; Medicine Hat, Alberta; Sault Ste. Marie, Guelph, Muskokas and Collingwood, Ontario; and "multiple cities in Quebec" for the LTE rollout. [MobileSyrup]

Other random tidbits

  • The LG Optimus G is now available for purchase in the UK through Expansys, where it retails for £469.99. [Unwired View]

  • Bell Mobility now has the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2 on store shelves, which we previously reviewed at the MiFi Liberate for AT&T. The touchscreen-enabled hotspot retails for $199.95 outright, or $49.95 with a two-year contract. [MobileSyrup]

  • If you're living in the UK and you've been holding out for a BB10 device with a physical keyboard, you'll be glad to know that O2 has identified the BlackBerry Q10 for a May arrival. No word on pricing, though. [Unwired View]

  • AT&T has activated its LTE network to Watertown, N.Y., Harrison and Eureka Springs, Ark., Hilton Head and Bluffton, S.C., and Hernando County, Fla. The carrier has also extended its 4G coverage in Princeton and Gloucester County, N.J., and Gary, Ind. [AT&T 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

Must-read mobile stories

[Mobile Miscellany photo credit: Thristian / Flickr]