'Tigers' win no upset'

The Bangladesh cricket team infused life into the Asia Cup when they pulled off a stunning 5-wicket victory over India at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Friday, throwing the competition wide open. Among those who appreciated the

Tigers' rabble rousing performance was Pakistan opener Mohammad Hafeez.

“I watched the match, and I must give the credit to Bangladesh,” said Hafeez while talking to the media at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday. “They were very positive, and they were more aggressive in the field, that is the reason why they won the game. I congratulate them."

The ever-improving all-rounder was not prepared to call Bangladesh's win a shocking result as he felt that they have been on an upward swing for some time.

“I wouldn't call it an upset. I personally feel that Bangladesh are getting towards the positive things, because their approach is getting positive day by day and I think it's a good thing for their cricket,” Hafeez said of their opponents in the first game, in which Bangladesh lost by the narrow margin of 21 runs.

Micromax Asia Cup 2012 Not a dress rehearsal India, Pakistan face off today

When Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in their Asia Cup match on Thursday, and with India due to play Bangladesh the following day, most pundits were predicting that today's hotly anticipated Pakistan-India clash would be a dress rehearsal for the final. The presumption of an India win on Friday and the two great rivals setting up the final was upended but the home team not only put cricketing trends into a spin, the tournament received the much-needed buzz.

Today's match, then, takes on the significance it was meant to have in the first place, especially for India, who desperately need to win not just to stand a chance of making the final but to turn the tide of recent woeful results. It also has an intriguing sub-plot -- for possibly the first time, the crowd at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium will be overwhelmingly behind Pakistan (and not the usual polar support for the two teams); India's loss will put the home side in cool contention and they could seal it if they can beat Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

“We always enjoy playing in Bangladesh and the crowd has always supported us whenever we play against any other country,” said Pakistan opener Mohammad Hafeez at the pre-match press conference yesterday. “So that will be a good sign for us that the crowd will back us.”

On the field of play, it will be India who will have to do all the running, especially with a bowling attack that has been exposed as fragile and pedestrian. Their bowling was subjected to a fearful shellacking by the likes of Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan on Friday, so while India will be looking to maximise returns with the bat and controlling the damage with the ball, Hafeez

said that Pakistan will be looking to exploit that very weakness when they take on their arch-rivals.

“As far as the Indian attack is concerned we will take it as a positive,” said Hafeez. “They have a weaker side as a bowling unit, so we must have a plan on this and attack them. I personally feel that their bowling attack is not in good form at the moment, so we are going to try and exploit that weakness and demoralise their attack, so that we can control our batting too.”

Whenever India play Pakistan, the pressure the teams face is a popular topic of discussion. This time, there is the added dimension of their last encounter, India's 2011 World Cup semifinal victory.

“You cannot take revenge on anyone, but we will try to give our supporters the joy we could not give during that game,” said Hafeez, adding that in terms of pressure Pakistan are in a better position as they have already qualified for the final. “Whenever India play Pakistan there is pressure for both teams. Everyone wants their team to win. So I cannot deny that there will be pressure, there always is in these matches. But I feel that we will be more free because we have qualified for the finals.”

With the weather being foul yesterday, there is a possibility of rain interruptions in today's match. If the match cannot be completed today, it will go into a reserve day on Monday, and if then it cannot be completed, the points will be shared.

In this tournament India and Pakistan have beaten each other four times each in nine games (one being abandoned). Could that also be an incentive to the under-fire Indians?

Android Ice Cream Sandwich release date: October or November

The next big update to Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, will be released in October or November this year according to Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt.

Ice Cream Sandwich will combine elements of the current Gingerbread smartphone and Honeycomb tablet software in order to create one united OS for the Android platform.

We've known for a while that it is coming before the end of the year, but in an interview with Salesforce CEO Mike Benioff, Schmidt was a little more specific.

"We have a new operating system, internally known as Ice Cream Sandwich for some reason, which is being released in October/November, which everyone's really excited about," he said.
Fragmented

Google has been heavily criticised for how fragmented the Android operating system can be, with many devices all running different versions of the software.

The company hopes that Ice Cream Sandwich will remedy those ills creating one master operating system.

The first device to run Ice Cream Sandwich is expected to be the Samsung Nexus Prime, which continues to be at the centre of all speculation.

Ice Cream Sandwich tablet goes on sale

The world's first tablet running the new Android 4.0 operating system has gone on sale in China at a cost of around just £60.

The Ainovo NOVO7 tablet will host the Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS which is currently only available on the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone.

The product website lists the tablet as boasting a 7-inch capacitive multi-touch display with 1080p video as well as front and rear 2-megapixel cameras.

The battery life is advertised at 25 hours for music, 6 hours for games and 7 hours for browsing the web and there's 4GB of external storage and a MIPS-based 1GHz processor powering things.

There's also access to Gameloft titles and Google-endorsed apps.
Rubin-approved

The tablet is even claiming an endorsement from Android chief Andy Rubin who said in the press release: "I'm thrilled to see the entrance of MIPS-Based Android 4.0 tablets into the market.

"Low cost, high performance tablets are a big win for mobile consumers and a strong illustration of how Android's openness drives innovation and competition for the benefit of consumers around the world."

The tablet is only on sale in China, although plans are afoot to bring the tablet west. Check out the device in the video below.

Samsung Galaxy S3 launch date leaked?

We've been kept waiting and waiting, but according to a leaked image we could see the Samsung Galaxy S3 finally break cover next week.

The latest picture was sent to Phone Arena from an anonymous source and shows a render of supposed Samsung Galaxy S3 with the date March 22 on the screen, along with the text "The new Samsung Galaxy S III live at 8:00pm".

Rather conveniently Samsung has set up a press conference in Paris for the date and time mentioned in the image, however it has already come out and said it will not be launching the Galaxy S3 at the event.

Samsung Galaxy S3 - LEAK

Credit: Phone Arena
Hold your horses

So we're pretty sure that the Galaxy S3 launch date is a fake and the rest of the image does not instil us with confidence either.

Text sizes appear confused and poorly designed, icons in the app tray look to be taken from an older version of Samsung's TouchWiz interface and it seems unlikely Samsung would not tweak the notification bar, which is shown as the default Ice Cream Sandwich style in the picture.

Its still unclear when Samsung is planning to launch its highly anticipated Galaxy S3 handset and it looks like we won't be getting an answer soon.

Wondering what the Samsung Galaxy S3 might bring to the mobile party in 2012? Then check out our Samsung Galaxy S3 rumours video below.

Samsung Galaxy S2 Ice Cream Sandwich update: when will I get it?

Now Samsung has confirmed the Samsung Galaxy S2 Ice Cream Sandwich update is landing next week, here's our constantly updated hub of all information for the next level of Android on your flagship Samsung phone.

The problem with Android updates is the process is so staggered, leading to consumers getting angry at the length of time it takes them to receive the next generation of software.

Once Google throws out the source code to the manufacturers, it's up to them to divert resources to combining the latest version of Android with their hardware – this can take longer if there's a skin running atop the OS, as is the case with the Galaxy S2.

And once that's complete, the likes of Vodafone and O2 then have to make sure there are no issues with the new firmware running with their networks – it may sound trivial, but you don't want something like this happening - so check below to see how long you'll be likely to wait for the next generation software to land on your Galaxy S2.

HTC One X to hit O2 on 5 April

O2 will begin taking stock of the HTC One X smartphone on 5 April, with sales set to begin on that date or shortly after.

The 4.7-inch, quad-core, Android 4.0 device was announced at Mobile World Congress last month, but without an official launch date.

However, a tweet from the official O2 Twitter account, in reply to a customer query, seems to suggest that 5 April will be D-Day for the new flagship Ice Cream Sandwich device.
Twit slip

O2 customer Nicole Funning asked: "@O2 any idea on the tariffs and if existing customers need to pay for the @HTC one x?"

The network responded: "Hi Nicole, we're not due to get the HTC until 5th April so no decision on tariffs yet...keep an eye here: j.mp/wAzrCH"

That could either mean the company will be receiving stock on that date, or will start selling it on that date. We'd suggest the latter, but that would be a guess.

The impressively-specced HTC One X is likely to be one of the more popular Android handsets of the first half of 2012.

With a 8-megapixel camera also on board, the device is one of the pioneers of the exciting 1.5GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor.

Via: Gizmodo UK

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S review

Updated: read our Hands on: Sony Xperia S review.

The arrival of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S illustrates how incredibly fast things are moving in the world of Android hardware. The original Xperia Arc launched in April, now here's the upgrade a mere six months later.

Well, we say "upgrade"... what you're getting in the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S is two new features that aren't in the older Arc - a faster 1.4GHz single-core processor, plus the latest Android 2.3.4 update of Google's operating system and Sony Ericsson's user interface skin.

And even then, the 2.3.4 software update is scheduled to arrive as an over-the-air upgrade for the first Xperia Arc this month, meaning that the only real new thing here is the faster processor.

Nikon V1 review A CSC like the J1, but with an EVF and higher resolution screen

Restricting the V1's effective pixel count to 10.1MP means that the sensor isn't excessively over populated, but nevertheless the smaller sensor size means that the Nikon J1 and V1 engineers had their work cut out to keep image noise down. Smaller sensors usually mean smaller photoreceptors (pixels) and smaller receptors gather less light so they create a weaker image signal, which requires greater amplicfication and the end result is usually a noisier photograph.

The most obvious difference between the Nikon V1 and the J1 is that the V1 has an electronic viewfinder (EVF), which adds a lump to the top-plate. While Nikon J1 users have to content themselves with composing images on the 3-inch, 460,000 dot screen, V1 owners can choose between using the EVF or the 3-inch, 920,000 dot screen.

Another key difference between the two cameras is that the Nikon J1 has a built-in flash, whereas the V1 doesn't. The Nikon V1 does, however, have a hotshoe that can accept Nikon's new SpeedLight SB-N5 flashgun.

Nikon v1 review

Because they lack a mirror to bounce light onto a dedicated phase detection autofocus (AF) sensor, an issue with most compact system cameras is that they use slower contrast detection autofocus systems. Nikon's solution to this problem is to use a hybrid AF system that uses phase and contrast detection. Both the V1 and J1 use 73 pixels on their imaging sensor as AF sensors. These pixels are still used to make up the image, even though they're used in focusing.

Phase detection AF is generally faster than and contrast detection AF, but contrast detection is more accurate, so using a hybrid system should bring the best of both worlds.

Unusually, the Nikon V1 has both an electronic and mechanical shutter, and the user can select which to use via the menu. We are told that using the mechanical shutter can cut down on the blooming that can occur around bright highlights when an electronic shutter is used, but after shooting a series of comparison images, we're unable to verify this.

Nikon v1 review

A key benefit of an electronic shutter is that faster continuous shooting rates are possible, and the Nikon V1 and J1 can shoot at up to 60fps, with 30fps and 10fps options also being available.

Full HD 1920 x 1080p video recording is possible at 60i, 30p (29.97fps) or 60p (59.94fps). In addition, slow motion video can also be recorded at 640 x 240 at 400fps or 320 x 120 at 1,200fps, both of which are played back at 29.97fps.

In Motion Snapshot mode, the camera shoots a snippet of full HD footage at 69.94fps for replay as at 23.976fps (making it around one second long) with accompanying music and ending with a still image. Footage is recorded to the buffer memory from the moment the shutter release button is half-pressed, so the video includes slow-motion action from the point immediately before the shutter release is pressed home.

Like the J1, Nikon is aiming the V1 at family photographers and those who want something more than a compact camera without the bulk and complication of a DSLR. These users are likely to rely on automatic exposure modes, but both cameras also have Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual (PASM) exposure modes.

Next Page: Build quality and handling

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HTC Wildfire S Key Features

Band
Quad
Talk time
7 hours
Standby time
360 hours
Weight
105 g
Dimensions
59 x 101 x 12 mm