Google’s Chrome team has had a busy week. First was the release of the Android-based Chrome browser and now they’ve updated their desktop version to make it better than before. Version 17 is now available in the stable channel and enables faster browsing by pre-rendering the most likely to visit web page.

As for security, Chrome now protects a user from downloading malicious files. The downloaded file including executable like *.exe and *.msi goes through a list of whitelist and if it doesn’t match, Chrome will check the host website to see if they circulate malicious files.

[Via Chrome Blog]

Sony promised to launch the 3G variant of its first Android tablet in a few weeks after the launch of its Wi-Fi-only variant and it seems they’ve delivered on that front. The 3G variant of its Tablet S is now available in the Indian market for around Rs. 34,000. The launch of the 3G variant has also resulted in a price reduction of the Wi-Fi-only variant which now goes for Rs. 27,000.

Sony Tablet S is a pretty decent tablet and far more optimized compared to other Tegra 2 Android tablets.

You can read our review at the link below.

Product Page
Sony Tablet S Review

Nokia and Samsung today announced to launch their respective flagship devices in white hue. Nokia will start selling the Lumia 800 in white from later this month whereas the first Android 4.0 phone – Galaxy Nexus will be available from February 13 in UK.

Going by both the devices, I think Lumia 800 takes the cake with his one as its completely painted in white as opposed to Galaxy Nexus’ back paint job.

Keeping the OS and hardware features aside, which one would you pick?

AT&T has set the release date of Samsung’s Galaxy Note for American consumers. The smartphone / tablet combo will be available in USA from February 19 in carbon blue or ceramic white.

Priced at $299.99 on contract, Galaxy Note is a different device that takes advantage of the S Pen stylus input. Other than that, the device is packed with features like Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.5GHz dual-core processor, LTE as well as 3G support, huge 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display (1280×800), 8MP camera with full HD video recording and playback, front-facing camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, microSD card slot.

Samsung will also sell some optional accessories for the device.

AT&T will also begin taking pre-orders for the device from February 5.

Press Release

It was hours before we got the first glimpse of Galaxy S Advance but Samsung has decided to make it official. The Korean mobile manufacturer has officially announced the upgraded version of Galaxy S aka Galaxy S Advance.

Running the latest version of Android Gingerbread OS, Galaxy S Advance is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor and 768MB RAM. It features 14.4Mbps HSPA support, 5MP camera with LED flash, 1.3MP front-facing camera, A-GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, Allshare DLNA, 8 / 16GB internal memory, FM Radio, microSD card slot, microSD card slot and 1500mAh battery. On the software front, Galaxy S Advance will be loaded with usual Samsung goodies like TouchWiz UI, Live Panels, different Hubs, ChatON messaging service, Samsung Apps and more.

Samsung has confirmed to release the device first in Russia in February followed by the rest of the world.

A rumor from yesterday suggested that Samsung will not show its Galaxy S III device at upcoming Mobile World Congress. Now an official statement during an earnings call says that they’re “reviewing” launch options for the flagship device.

This does not mean Samsung won’t show the device at next month’s mobile expo but considering the fact that the expo is exactly a month away and Samsung is yet to determine the launch date, the announcement looks a bit unlikely.

Samsung is apparently pushing the date to shorten the gap between the launch of an international and US variant.

[Via SammyHub]

Android had a pretty good Christmas going by the numbers put forth by Andy Rubin. According to the Google executive, 3.7 million unit Android devices were activated on the 24th and 25th of December. Although this number might not be enough to beat iOS activations yet, it is assuring that Android is picking up pace and consumers are preferring the green bot as a viable gifting option.

Andy Rubin recently confirmed that over 700,000 Android devices were getting activated every day.

[Via Twitter]

Going by Samsung’s previous record, the news of Samsung not releasing Ice Cream Sandwich OS update for Galaxy S and the original Galaxy Tab is not really surprising. Samsung produces one of the best hardware in the industry but struggles when it comes to do the same on software. Samsung has blamed the limited amount of RAM and ROM on both the devices, which apparently is unable to run the OS smoothly due to some Samsung modifications to the UI, widgets, video calls etc.

Incidentally, Galaxy S’ specs are same as Nexus S but the Google phone can run Android 4.0 since it lacks the TouchWiz UI.

Let’s hope given by the consumer’s wrath with the decision Samsung backtracks and releases a stock version of the OS just to win the consumers’ confidence.

[Samsung Tomorrow via Sammy Hub]

HTC has announced Explorer, an entry-level Android smartphone for the Indian market. Explorer’s claim to fame is the inclusion of full support for Hindi and Tamil languages which allows users to read and write both Indian languages.

HTC reckons India as “one of the fastest growing global smartphone markets with a rich culture and language diversity,” and will work and support more Indian languages in the near future.

On the hardware front, Explorer comes with a 3.2-inch HVGA display, 600MHz CPU, 512MB RAM, 7.2Mbps support, 3MP camera, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi, GPS, HTC Sense UI, microSD card slot and 1230mAh battery.

HTC Explorer is now available for a price of around Rs. 11,650.

The iPhone-Dev team released a new version of its unlocking tool – Ultrasn0w in the Cydia App Store. This update supports the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3G/3GS and is notably important because it supports iOS 5.0.1. As is the procedure, ultrasn0w requires a compatible baseband, so you might want to double check your modem version before proceeding.

For iPhone 3G/3GS supported basebands are 04.26.08 – 05.11.07 – 05.12.01 – 05.13.04 – 06.15.00 whereas iPhone 4 users will have to preserve the old 01.59.00 to unlock.

[Via Engadget]