GTA V Delayed, New Release Date Announced

Last autumn Rockstar announced its plans to release the Grand Theft Auto 5 this spring on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Unfortunately, the game has been delayed.

According to Rockstar, the studio needs some more time to polish the game and it’s release will be pushed back to the Fall.

Luckily, Rockstar pinpointed a release date – September 17, 2013. Just as planned, the game will launch on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. There is still no word on the PC version.

HTC M7 to go on sale from March 8, new color option revealed

HTC will be holding two press conferences simultaneously in New York and London on February 19. According to numerous leaks the Taiwanese company will reveal its latest M7 flagship smartphone at those.

Now a new rumor has it that the HTC M7 is expected to go on sale starting from March 8. Unfortunately, there are no confirmations on which carriers will have the device up for grabs. Earlier we heard the smartphone will be available in UK and the rest of Europe before it reaches the US.

The launch date aligns well with the earlier leaks and HTC is allegedly working on manufacturing about 4-5 million units of M7 in the Q1 of 2013.

If this new info comes out correct the M7 will be made available in Black and Silver/White color variants.

LG Optimus L7 II Dual unveiled, a dual-SIM dual-core droid

The LG Optimus L7 is getting a sequel with improved specs and dual-SIM capabilities to boot. The LG Optimus L7 II Dual updates the design a bit, going for a less angular look and has moved to capacitive keys only.

The regular Back / Home / Menu keys are joined by a SIM switch key for easy toggling between the two SIM cards.

The Optimus L7 II Dual keeps the 4.3” IPS LCD screen of the original but bumps up the CPU spec to 1GHz dual-core (of unknown architecture) and adds a better camera that shoots 8MP stills and 720p videos. The phone will run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box and comes with LG's home-brewed QSlide, QuickMemo and QuickTranslator software.

The battery has gotten a nice upgrade too – it has 2,460mAh capacity, which should last for two days according to LG.

The LG Optimus L7 II Dual will launch in the second half of February in Russia for 12,990 rubles ($430, but note that phones in Russia are usually pricier than in most other European countries). The phone will come in black and white.

Case-Mate announces a range of cases for the BlackBerry Z10

Case-Mate has announced a whole range of new cases for the brand new BlackBerry Z10 announced yesterday. You have a choice of wide range of materials and colors to choose from at different price points.

If you want something in wood, there is the Crafted Rosewoodand Crafted Zebrawoodfor $80 each. If metal is your style, then you can go for the Refined Brushed Aluminumfinished case for $50. Those who like leather can go for the Black Signature Flipcover ($50) made from handcrafted, genuine leather. Then there are the two Olo cases, Tough Classicand Barely There for $35 and $30 each.

BlackBerry chief confirms BB10 update for all the existing PlayBooks

BlackBerry’s latest BlackBerry 10 OS will be available for all the existing PlayBook tablets, confirmed Thorsten Heins, during the Q&A session after the platform’s launch. The different variants of the 7″ PlayBook tablets will soon be on the latest version of the OS.

According to Heins, BlackBerry is currently trying to figure a way to sell the tablet with services to bring in more cash as the company is not making sufficient profits by just selling the hardware.

BlackBerry’s goal is to quickly become the third biggest name in the smartphone market, but can it achieve this goal ?! we will see soon.

BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 unveiled, first BB10 smartphones

RIM has opened a new chapter in the history of its platform with the release of its first to BB10 OS devices, the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10.The new OS is centered around touch gestures, even the Q10, which has a hardware QWERTY.

The BlackBerry Z10, however, joins the ranks of the touch-only army with a 4.2” WXGA screen (1,280 x 768, 356ppi pixel density). A dual-core Krait CPU at 1.5GHz has been enlisted to run the new OS and there’s 2 gigs of RAM to make sure there’s room for multitasking, which plays a huge part of the new experience.

The company also made sure the Z10 is capable in terms of multimedia with an 8MP main camera that has TimeShift (Scalado-powered tech) and shoots 1080p video and an HDMI port. The phone packs 16GB of storage and you can throw in a microSD card (up to 32GB) to expand it.

On the connectivity side, there's LTE (market dependent), Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC.

The Z10 boasts an advanced touchscreen keyboard, which should completely make up for the lack of hardware keyboard.

And if you still need a physical keyboard, the BlackBerry Q10 is the one you should be looking for. The smartphone keeps the trademark hardware QWERTY keyboard. It has a touchscreen too - it's a bit unorthodox, a 3.1" square with 330ppi pixel density

The chipset of the Q10 is the same as the one on the Z10.

The BlackBerry Z10 will launch in UK first (tomorrow!) from all the major carriers. It goes to Canada on February 5 for $150 (with three-year contract). US consumers will have to wait until March though. Then they'd be able to snag it for $200 from AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint(with a two-year contract).

128GB Apple iPad with Retina Display is now official

Apple has just made the 128GB edition of the iPad with Retina Display official.

The fourth-gen Apple tablet will not replace any of the already established storage capacity options of the slate, and will be sold alongside them. Safe for the increased storage, the inwards of the latest version of the iPad 4 remains virtually the same with the Apple A6X chip, Bluetooth 4.0 and FaceTime HD camera.

The 128GB iPad with Retina Display will go on sale on February 5 and follows the usual Apple pricing scheme adding $100 more on top of the 64GB model. The 128GB Wi-Fi version of the iPad will retail for $799, while the Wi-Fi + LTE version will be going for $929. Pricing of the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB iPad remains unchanged at $499, $599 and $699 for the Wi-Fi model, respectively.

Microsoft Office 2013 and Office 365 Home Premium go on sale

The Microsoft Office 2013 and Office 365 are finally on sale. The Office 365 Home Premium is currently available for $99.99 a year as expected. For that kind of cash you get to install the software on up to five PC’s or Macs.

Office 365 is also available in a “University” version for all the college students and the variant is priced at $79.99 with a four year plan. Microsoft is giving away free 20GB of SkyDrive storage with each subscription.

Microsoft Office 2013 Home and Student is currently available for $139 and comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. The Home and Business package also adds Outlook and costs $219, while the professional package comes with all the above plus Access and Publisher for $399.

All these Office 2013 offers include one user lifetime license, but do not come with any free cloud storage space.

Microsoft Surface Pro’s 64GB version will come with 23GB of available memory out of the box

For those of you who are getting ready to shell out $899 for a Microsoft Surface Pro on February 9, there’s a rather unpleasant surprise waiting for you. It turns out that the 64GB version of Microsoft’s über tablet will come with only 23GB of available memory out of the box.

The 128GB version of the slate will come with 83GB of available storage. All in all, it looks like the Windows 8 OS, together with the built-in apps and recovery partition take up a cool 40+ gigs of the tablet’s built-in memory.

Users of the tablet will be able reclaim some of the storage space by creating a bootable USB for recovery. Furthermore, the slate packs USB 3.0 port and a microSDXC card slot, so memory expansion should not be an issue, save for the added expense associated with the process.

Google Drive for iOS updated with QuickOffice integration

Google Drive now has an updated application for iOS to include QuickOffice integration.

Google has been working on bring QuickOffice to Google Drive ever since it purchased it back in June of last year.

Google Drive for iOS now allows you to open and save QuickOffice files to Google Drive, as well as upload multiple photos and videos to the Drive.

There’s also support for Helvetic Neue font for Docs and sheets now get diagonal scrolling and cell formatting. Other improvements include better slideshows and animations with added pinch-to-zoom on slides.

Google Drive for iOS is available here.

Facebook Adds Video Recording, Voice Messaging to iOS App

Facebook is by far the most popular application in the iOS App store, and the good news is that the app is updated with voice message recording, the ability to post videos to the timeline, along with an improved Nearby tab.

The latest version of the application allows you to record voice by just tapping the ‘+’ button, which is located next to the writing box, then tap on the ‘Record’ option and hold down the record button while you talk. When released, your voice message is sent.

The new update also let’s you to record video and post it to a timeline, alongside the ability to send still photos.

Furthermore, the revamped Nearby tab now offers recommendations via Facebook’s knowledge Graph. This feature has been updated in order to compete with other applications such as Foursquare.

Facebook for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store.

Canon updates PowerShot line with three cameras, one can upload photos to your phone over Wi-Fi

Canon announced three new point-and-shoot cameras for its PowerShot ELPH / Ixus line, which range from a simple shooter to a high-end model with wireless connectivity and accompanying Android / iOS apps.

The Canon PowerShot ELPH 330 HS (Ixus 225 HS in Europe) packs a 12.1MP CMOS sensor and DIGIC5 processor, 10x zoom lens (24mm to 240mm in 35mm equiv.) and built-in Wi-Fi connectivity.

With that connectivity you can upload photos and videos directly to Facebook, Canon’s iMAGE GATEWAY or to a remote computer. Or, if you have an Android or iOS device and the CameraWindow app, you can have the ELPH 330 HS upload them to your phone or tablet, which has advantages over uploading them directly from the camera.

On the more technical side, the ELPH 330 HS can shoot photos at up to 6,400 ISO, do 6.2gps burst capture and record 1080p video with stereo microphones. ECO mode can extend battery life by 30%. The Canon PowerShot ELPH 330 HS / Ixus 225 HS will be available in black, silver and pink, and is set to hit shelves in March at an estimated price of $230.

The Canon PowerShot ELPH 115 IS / Ixus 132 is next in line, featuring an 8x zoom lens (28mm to 224mm in 35mm equiv.) and 16MP sensor with DIGIC 4 processor. It records HD video and also has ECO mode.

The ELPH 115 IS / Ixus 132 will hit the shelves in March too at $170, with black, silver, pink and blue color schemes.

Finally, the Canon PowerShot A2500 is the entry-level member of the lineup. It also has a 16MP sensor with DIGIC4 processor, this time mated to a 5x zoom (28mm-140mm) lens. The camera can record HD video, has ECO mode and a Help button for quick info on how to use the camera, in case you’re not tech savvy.

The PowerShot A2500 will come in April at $130, with black, silver and red color options.

Next generation Nexus 7 rumored to pack full HD display, to be revealed at Google I/O in May

According to the latest rumors the Google Nexus 7 is going to become a lot more so come May, when the next generation of the slate is expected to be announced.

According to a report by DigiTimes citing upstream supply chain sources, ASUS and Google are currently working to unveil the next generation Nexus 7 tablet packing a full HD display at the upcoming Google I/O 2013. The tablet is also alleged to boast a thinner display border giving it a fresher look.

The new Nexus 7 is expected to cost the same $199 and $249 for the 16GB and 32GB model, respectively.