New Version Of Google Wallet Coming Soon

Google has quietly updated the website for Google Wallet, its mobile-payments service, to advertise "the next version of Google Wallet, coming soon."

Visitors can request an invite. We did, and Google asked us what kind of device we used—offering a choice of iPhone, Android, or "other."

That suggests that Google is getting away from its earlier dependence on special hardware on Android phones and is looking to broaden Wallet's acceptance among consumers and merchants.

While Google ran a lot of ads on buses and billboards for Wallet, the mobile-payments service never appeared to take off with consumers—in part because it was limited to specific phones carried by Sprint and Virgin Mobile and relied on NFC, or near-field communications, a short-range wireless technology.

Google also offers a Web-based version of Wallet for online payments, including purchases of digital content and apps in the Google Play store. It has offered a similar service for years, previously under the name Google Checkout.

Black Samsung Galaxy S3 will hit Stores in October 2012

Samsung will release the black Galaxy S3 version on October 24, thus answering calls for the traditional black color that seems to make any smartphone look strikingly pleasing. Samsung originally planned to replace black with Pebble Blue, which was as close as Samsung got to black, without it actually being black. But this was not enough to meet the expectations of a vast worldwide audience. The buyers wanted more, and more is what they got, with Samsung unveiling several Galaxy S3 color versions in recent months.

Expansys tells us that come October 24, or just in two days from now, shipments of the black Samsung Galaxy S3 will start arriving. The retailer will sell the 16GB black version of the flagship device for £409.99, which is obviously the unlocked price of the smartphone.

For those who don’t live in Europe, Verizon’s black and brown versions of the device have already been released. Moreover, the device is available in Garnet Red from AT&T. While the black variant has been sighted on Samsung’s Facebook page at the London Olympics, snapping photos and sharing files via S-Beam, we got to take it for a hands-on spin only at IFA 2012 in Germany.

On a different note, Phandroid reports that a 64GB Galaxy S3 model could soon be available from Verizon, although nothing is certain yet. The model is also said to feature an Exynos chip instead of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 SoC found on all U.S. Galaxy S3 versions. Android enthusiasts may remember Samsung promising a 64GB Galaxy S3 at the London launch event, but the device failed to show up on the shelves. It was assumed that Samsung slated the idea, an ideology the company eventually denied – but we’re yet to see a 64GB Galaxy S3 in stores.

Airtel becomes fourth largest telecom operator in the world

Airtel becomes fourth largest telecom opIndian telco Bharti Airtel has become world’s fourth largest telecom operator, reports Press Trust of India, citing research firm Wireless Intelligence.

According to PTI, Airtel follows China Mobile (No 1, 683.08 million connections), Vodafone Group (No 2 386.88 million) and America Movil Group (No 3 251.83 million) in the top five.

Bharti Airtel currently has 250.04 million subscribers followed by Telefonica Group with 243.51 million.

Wireless Intelligence states in its “Mobile operator worldwide group global ranking by connections (Q2, 2012)’” report that Airtel is the only other telco in top ten apart from China telecom to move up in its ranking. It was earlier at the fifth spot.

While Airtel might have improved its ranking, Bharti’s mobile revenue at $3.04 billion in Q2 is much lower than the other operators in top fiveerator in the world

Acer to launch an Intel powered smartphone by the end of 2012

After Motorola, another big manufacturer is planning to launch Intel-powered smartphones. According to a report in China Post, Acer is gearing up to release its first Android smartphone with Intel chip inside by year-end.

The smartphone is currently a mystery, but we think, it will come with 2GHz Intel Atom processor, which was last seen in Motorola RAZR i.

The news of Acer Intel phone is coming from Peter Shieh, who is the vice president of Acer’s corporate account business division in Taiwan. He stated that Acer plans to pre-install its own cloud service on the new model.

Acer currently uses chips from Qualcomm, MediaTek and NVIDIA (for tablets) and Intel chips will help it diversify its portfolio even more as the company struggles to gain ground in the smartphone and tablet market.

“Intel is a more familiar partner to us because we have been working together in the PC sector for a long time,” Peter Shieh said.

Company has also launched its first Jelly Bean tablet in the North America on Thursday. The tablet has been priced at USD 229.99 and will go on sale starting October 30.

Vodafone’s Galaxy S3 getting Jelly Bean update today

It’s safe to assume that owners of Samsung Galaxy S3 on Vodafone won’t be hit with a bout of the blue Mondays. As expected, the wireless carrier has started pushing out the Android 4.1 update for the Galaxy S3 today.

Following Samsung’s confirmation that all UK-based Galaxy S3 smarphones will be getting Jelly Bean in the coming weeks, Vodafone was the second mobile operator in the country to serve Google’s latest and greatest mobile operating system. Remarkably, there’s no hint of a delay and the software upgrade seems to be rolling out smoothly.

Seeing that it’s being released in batches, you may not receive an update notification on your device right away, and it may take several days or more for the new firmware to reach everyone. If you don’t see any over-the-air prompt yet to download and install the file, it’s worth connecting your beloved Galaxy S3 to your PC and use Kies software to manually check for the update.

Google will unveil the LG Nexus 4 on October 29, confirmed by LG

This one comes as no surprise after so many leaks - LG has now confirmed that Google will unveil the Nexus 4 next Monday, on October 29th

"Google will unveil the LG Nexus on October 29 and the phone will be available in the Indian markets by the end of November," LG Mobile Product Planning head Amit Gujral said. The LG executive mentioned that the device will have a 4.7-inch display and a 1.5GHz quad-core processor.s

With the new Nexus flagship (it seems there will be one new Nexus phone only after all), Google will bring a brand new version of the Android operating system. Android 4.2 was widely rumored and now LG is confirming this as well.

Google is said to be doubling its security efforts with 4.2 (which could be called Key Lime Pie). It’s also allegedly bringing a new Gmail, a quick settings panel, a revised gallery application and multiple accounts for tablets.

Nokia launches Asha 308 in India at Rs. 5,685

The Asha 308 is a full-touch feature phone running on Series 40, which has been a huge success with Asha 305 and the Asha 306. Asha series has been a huge hit for Nokia, regardless the fact that there are affordable Android smartphones available in the market from local vendors. Nokia has reported that in the last quarter the company has shipped over 6.5 million units of the Asha series of feature phones.

This new addition to the series sports a 3-inch capacitive display and is dual-SIM capable. The device also features a 2 megapixel rear camera, microSD card slot, 20MB built-in storage, 64MB RAM and 128MB ROM. Additionally, the device has FM radio capability, however it lacks Wi-Fi connectivity.

Apart from this Nokia has pre-loaded social networking apps including – Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. It comes with 40 EA games titles for no extra money.