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The Nintendo Wii U Is Region Locked

Just as I expected, the Nintendo Wii U is region locked. This shouldn’t come as a surprise since previous Nintendo consoles have been region locked as well.

The news comes from Japanese gaming mag Famitsu which posted the following statement (translated):

What can be played on the Wii U is restricted by a region-lock feature; software not sold in the same region cannot be played.

We just hope Nintendo is fair to all regions this time around, you may remember the Xenoblade and The Last Story controversy where Nintendo of America refused to publish the games. Fans had to rally up and show their support for the games after which the games finally got released (Xenoblade was published by Nintendo while The Last Story was published by X-Seed).

The Nintendo Wii U will be priced at $299 for the standard edition and $399 for the deluxe. Release dates for NA are November 18, European games will have to wait a bit longer till November 30th while Japan gets the Wii U the latest on December 8th.

October 22, 2012
PS3 Version Of Black Ops 2 Allows Texture Install To HDD Option

Great news for PS3 owners! The PS3 version of Black Ops 2 will supposedly allow player to install the game’s textures to their HDDs. The news was revealed by Black Ops 2′s game director David “DJ Vahn” Vonderhaar on the Call of Duty forums.

His post is as follows:

This is one the fans having been asking us about demanding for a bit. Black Ops 2 has an option to “Install Textures to HDD.”

When we explained to PS3 folks that installing to the HDD wouldn’t neccessarily give us any significant performance gains, they explained back that the issue is they play so much it puts constant stress on the Blu-ray drive and wears them out.

Roger that.

It’s a non-trivial amount of HDD space to install all the textures. I don’t want to get into exactly numbers because anything can, and does change during development.

You don’t have to install to enjoy the game. We still pre-cache like we did on Black Ops.

David ‘Vahn’ Vonderhaar

I remember Battlefield 3 doing this which worked out great, so having this option in Black Ops 2 is very welcomed. So if you plan to play a lot of Black Ops 2 this and next year then your BluRay drive will have a lot less work to do thanks to this feature.

October 22, 2012
Google sends out invitations for an Android event for October 29th

This should not come as a surprise if you have been following Android related news lately. Google has sent out exclusive media invitations for its Android event that will take place on October 29th in New York City. The event will start at 10 a.m. local time.

While we are not certain what Google has in mind for this Android event, it is widely expected that we will see the announcement of already leaked LG Nexus smartphone also dubbed as Nexus 4 along with the announcement of Android 4.2 update. There could be other announcements as well that we do not know about yet, including a few more Nexus devices as Google was rumored to be releasing more than one Nexus branded smartphone this year.

Here’s the invitation graphic Google is sending out to invite people to its Android event.

For those of you who are equally excited about the Android event as those who are going to be attending it, Google will be live streaming the event on Youtube through its Android channel that can be accessed at youtube.com/Android.

Will Google be able to surprise us or this event will be boring as we already know everything about LG Nexus and a lot about Android 4.2? What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

October 21, 2012
Acer A110 Android tablet with 7-inch screen and Tegra 3 announced for North America

Acer A110 Android powered tablet that was announced for Europe a few months ago is now making its way to North America.Acer A110 is going to directly compete with Google’s Nexus 7 due to its 7-inch display, similar specifications, and low price point.

The device features an impressive Tegra 3 1.2GHz quad-core processor with 1GB RAM, 7-inch display with 1024×600 resolution, 8GB of internal storage that is expandable to up to 32GB thanks to the onboard microSD card slot. Acer A110 has a 5-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front camera for video calling. Other notable features of Acer A110 include Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI out via the dedicated microHDMI port, and more.

The fact that Acer A110 tablet has a microSD card slot, that Nexus 7 lacks will make it popular among many Android users who regularly complain about its absence from Nexus 7. Other than that Acer A110′s specs and other features also make it a worthy Nexus 7 competitor that has yet to see a challenger that could take its top spot it enjoys in the world of Android tablets.

Acer A110 which is also called Iconia Tab A110 will hit the stores in the US and Canada on October 30th, and will cost $229.

Check out the gallery for Acer A110 below. You can also tell us what you think about Acer A110 Android tablet and if you would prefer it over Nexus 7 in the comments section below.

October 21, 2012
Leaked Android 4.2 build has a second pull down panel for quick settings

Android fan site AndroidPolice that recently leaked the unreleased Gmail 4.2 app is back with another leak. Now they claim to have a full build of Android 4.2 which according to them is the entire system dump of LG Nexus phone. The build appears to be still in testing stages and has most apps tagged with version 4.2 just like the Gmail app. This particular build of Android 4.2 identifies itself as JellyBeanMR1 instead of JellyBeanMR0 like Android 4.1.2. The build according to AndroidPolice is very different and isn’t working on current devices yet.

More importantly the new build has some interesting bits of changes that are going to be the new features of Android 4.2 on release. One such feature that has been uncovered in this report is the second pull down quick settings panel for Android devices. What this second panel will do is, it will show the toggles for Wi-Fi, bluetooth, brightness and other settings.

Once user has pulled down the notification menu and it is visible on screen, the user can perform the pull down gesture again to reveal the quick settings menu. The second quick settings menu is quite similar to what we already have on TouchWiz but the double pull gesture makes it unique and better in my opinion. Check out the video below to get an idea of how this second menu will work in Android 4.2.

So far, it looks pretty useful.

October 20, 2012
ASUS Padfone 2 with 4.7-inch screen, quad-core processor and more announced officially

ASUS Padfone 2 that appeared in front of a TV camera a few days ago has been announced officially. The phone that doubles as a tablet thanks to the 10.1-inch tablet docking station is powered by Android 4.0.4 which will be upgraded to Android 4.1 later, and is the second edition of ASUS’s original Padfone.

ASUS Padfone 2 features a powerful 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor with 2GB of RAM. It has a 4.7-inch 720p IPS display that carries a resolution of 1280×720 pixels. The camera found at the back of this device is 13-megapixel and on front it has a 1.2-megapixel camera for video calling and taking self portraits. Other notable features of this newly announced device include LTE, NFC, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, microUSB slot and more. The device comes in two colors including black and white. The tablet docking station comes free of cost with every unit.

The tablet docking station that come with every Padfone 2 and makes it a unique option for Android phone/tablet buyers features a 5000mAh battery which is 1600mAh lower than the previous Padfone whose tablet dock featured 6600mAh battery. This sacrifice was possibly made to make the docking station thinner than the original model.

ASUS is going to release ASUS Padfone 2 in many parts of the world including Europe, where it will cost €799 for 32GB model and €899 for 64GB model. A 16GB model is also promised but details of its release and pricing are unavailable at this point.

October 20, 2012
Upcoming ASUS Padfone 2 leaks ahead of next week’s launch

Many Android fans who were waiting for ASUS Padfone 2 were taken by surprise when the phone that doubles as a tablet made an unexpected appearence on live TV. Anant Dwivedi of the Bloomberg TV was interviewing ASUS CEO Jerry Chen when he was presented with the upcoming and unannounced ASUS Padfone 2 device to play with for a few moments.

CEO of ASUS in an attempt to get most media attention for his company’s next big device leaked it before the official event that is expected to take place next week.

ASUS Padfone 2 just like its predecessor has two components, one is the phone and the second is its tablet docking station that converts it into a tablet. ASUS Padfone 2 features a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdrago S4 Pro processor, 4.7-inch HD display, and a 13-megapixel camera. The phone also has a front camera whose details are unknown at this point.

The tablet docking station of ASUS Padfone 2 has features a 10.1-inch HD display and provides three times more battery life than the original Padfone’s tablet dock.

You can watch the hands on video and more photos leaked by Twitter user @evleaks below.

So what do you think of the ASUS Padfone 2? Good enough to be your next phone?

October 20, 2012
Samsung to release a 10-inch Nexus tablet in the first half of next year

If you were planning of buying a 10-inch Nexus tablet from Google and Samsung you will have to wait for a few months. CNET reports that Samsung is going to release a new 10-inch Nexus tablet that will be co-branded with Google. This new tablet is said to hit the shelves in the first half of the year 2013. The 10-inch Nexus tablet will feature a ground breaking display that will be even better than iPad 3′s Retina Display and pack more pixels in one place.

According to CNET’s report the new 10-inch Nexus tablet will have a whooping resolution of 2560×1600 pixels. For sake of comparison iPad 3 features 2048×1536 pixel density while the new Macbook Pro that Apple is expected to announce soon with a 13-inch Retina display will feature similar number of pixels on a larger area.

The awesomeness of the new display will come at a price though, as manufacturing such a display will be an uphill task and will definitely push the display-manufacturing tech envelope.

If this report by CNET turns out to be true then we will have a 10-inch Nexus tablet with a better screen to compete with Apple iPad 4th generation that the company is expected to announce in the months between February and April according to Apple’s previous release pattern for iPad releases.

October 20, 2012
Pre-orders for Samsung Galaxy S III mini begin in the UK, starting from £25 per month

Samsung Galaxy S III mini that was announced yesterday at an event in Frankfurt, Germany is already available for pre-order for the residents of the United Kingdom. Retailer Phones4U is now taking pre-orders for this mid-range Android device which will cost £25 or more per month. The phone is available from Vodafone, Orange, and O2.

The price range for this new phone is between £25 to £36 per month depending on the tariff. Vodafone is offering the phone at the cheapest rate but with limited hours of talk time package. The best offer for Galaxy S III mini is also from Vodafone that will cost £33 per month with unlimited talk time, text messages, and 1GB data over both cellular and Wi-Fi networks separately. According to Phones4U’s website Galaxy S III mini will be shipping to customers on November 2nd.

As we reported yesterday, the Samsung Galaxy S III mini features a dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 5-megapixel front and VGA back camera, 8 or 16GB internal storage, microSD card slot, 4-inch screen with Super AMOLED display and WVGA resolution, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and more.

October 20, 2012
Microsoft official confirms Office for Android and iOS for March 2013

Ever since tablets became mainstream there have been reports about Microsoft releasing the Microsoft Office for Android and iOS devices. Back in February iPad only magazine TheDaily posted alleged photos of Office for mobile running on an iPad, that were later denied by Microsoft. Now a Microsoft product manager named Petr Bobek has ‘confirmed’ that the software giant is indeed working on Office for mobile devices and it will be released for public in March 2013. He revealed this info at a press event in Czech Republic of all places earlier today.

Tech site TheVerge reports that it has seen the Press Release by Microsoft’s Czech Republic team that confirms the existence of Office for Android and iOS. Here’s what TheVerge writes

A press release, seen by The Verge, from Microsoft’s Czech Republic team confirms the availability for iOS and Android. “In addition to Windows, Office will be also available on other operating systems, Windows Phone, Windows RT, Mac OS, Android, iOS and Symbian,” says Microsoft, while separately noting that there will also be a new version of Office Web Apps too. Office for iPad has long been rumored to be in the works, offering iOS users a way to access Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents from Apple’s tablet and phone devices.

According to the Press Release mentioned by TheVerge, the PC version of Office 2013 will be released to consumers in February while the mobile version for phones and tablets will be released in March of next year.

In response to what its official said in Czech Republic the US representative of Microsoft said that his company has previously announced that Office for mobile will work on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone without revealing any further detail.

October 20, 2012