The G Surge

South Korean handset maker Samsung has just released a new mid-range smartphone in the Galaxy series, the Galaxy Trend 3. The handset has been silently introduced in China, but details on availability and price tag are still unknown for the moment. As the name suggests, this is the third Galaxy Trend smartphone that will soon go on sale on the market. The other two were not that popular among Android enthusiasts, but now Samsung is trying to bring the Galaxy Trend series to a much larger market, China. The Galaxy Trend 3 will be available in the Mainland through all four major carriers in the country, which means that Samsung will launch four different models, one for each network operator.

  On August 1, mobile phone maker Motorola officially announced the long-rumored  Moto X smartphone, with a near-stock Android experience loaded on top, and with a series of unique features packed inside as well.  The handset is set to arrive on the market in the United States via all major wireless carriers in the country, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, and US Cellular, and will feature a price tag of $199.99 (€151) with the signing of a two-year contract agreement.  The smartphone was announced with a 4.7-inch touchscreen display capable of delivering a 720 x 1280 pixels resolution, while being powered by a  1.7 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro  CPU, paired with an Adreno 320 quad-core GPU.

Today, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia officially announced the upcoming availability of the  Nokia Lumia 1020  smartphone on the market in India.  The Windows Phone 8-based device will become available for purchase in the country starting with October 11, the company announced.  Nokia didn’t  reveal the price of  Lumia. The company says it will release the price on 10 October. According to sources reports, Nokia didn’t reveal the price due to the fluctuating rupee and the phone is likely to priced close to Rs 50,000.

Acer's Aspire R7 laptop came out some time ago, but the product has been upgraded, now that IFA 2013 has rolled around. One of the new additions is an active pen, which visitors can lay their eyes and hands on at Acer's booth here in Berlin, Germany. What I can confirm, though, is that Acer has updated the CPU to Haswell. The model in the gallery below runs a Core i7. Still, at the  end of the day, the Ezel hinge steals the show. It allows one to switch from laptop to tablet form whenever they want, with a single hand. The hinge even allows the keyboard half of the laptop to act as a stand when flipping the display backwards. Once the field of view flips in turn, you can use the 15.6-inch screen for drawing, watching a film, etc.

The Xperia Z1 is Sony’s new flagship smartphone and packs all the features that an Android enthusiast would want from a powerful device. According to  Sony Mobile , Xperia Z1 will be available for purchase in Black, White and Purple, beginning later this month.  Additional details on the phone’s price tag will be unveiled later this week, but we will likely get more details as soon as Xperia Z1 gets listed at major retailers across the globe. As expected, the Xperia Z1 comes equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor clocked at 2.2 GHz and the Adreno 330 graphics processing unit. Unlike the Galaxy Note 3, which packs 3GB of RAM, Sony’s flagship handset packs only 2GB of RAM, but that is more than enough to handle even the most demanding operations one would want from his/her  smartphone .  The 20.7-megapixel rear-facing camera and the 5-inch display are definitely the strong points of the Xperia Z1. 

Microsoft is reportedly trying to clear out Surface RT inventories in anticipation of the  second-generation model  which, according to people familiar with the matter, is projected to go on sale this year. While details on  Surface 2.0  is pretty vague right now, a report published by  PhoneArena  and citing a GFX benchmark test reveals that Microsoft might equip the new model with a Tegra 4 processor. That would of course provide enhanced hardware performance, while also making room for new technologies and features, as Microsoft has promised to deliver important updates for both the RT and the Pro models. In addition, it appears that the new Surface could come with a resolution of 1371x771, as compared to 1366x768 on the old model.

Rumors on Nokia’s first 6-inch smartphone, the Lumia 1520, emerged a few weeks ago, but the Finnish company denied any comment on the information. Earlier this week, we’ve been presented with the  first screenshot  taken from the alleged Nokia Lumia 1520, which shows the new Live Tile interface and confirms that the smartphone boasts a very large display. Today, the first press render showing the Nokia Lumia 1520 in all its glory has just been published online via  evleaks . Unfortunately, no details on the phone’s specs sheet have surfaced yet, but we expect that more info will emerge in the coming weeks. Nokia’s Devices & Services division has been recently  acquired  by Microsoft, which might delay some of the smartphones the handset maker intended to announce this year. However, there’s a high chance that Lumia 1520 will go official later this year, so stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

We've made it to Berlin a couple of days before the real action starts, because we have appointments at some nice, early launch events from  Samsung  and  NVIDIA , among others. Unfortunately, this means that most booths haven't even been built to completion yet.   So if you were hoping for some quick hands-on photos early on, you're not in luck. From what we've seen so far, they're all still in their crates.  That doesn't mean I don't know what they are though. I was able to find out some of the things we'll get a chance to hold in our hands over the next few days, like Acer's lineup.  So far, I can confirm the arrival of the 7.9-inch Iconia A1 tablet, the 7-inch Iconia B1 tablet, the Aspire R7 laptop (featuring that unusual but cool Ezel hinge), the Liquid S1 smartphone, and the Aspire P3 convertible ultrabook, and the Aspire S7-392 full-feature ultrabook.  Presumably, the Liquid S2 phone is in a box somewhere as well.

One of the first companies to launch their new products at IFA 2013 trade fair, Alcatel has announced the upcoming availability of yet another Android smartphone, the One Touch Idol ALPHA. At first glance, the One Touch Idol ALPHA doesn’t stand out and may give you the impression of an average mid-range handset.  However, Alcatel claims that the phone features translucent edges that illuminate in various modes such as charging, video, notifications, and more. Aside from this nifty feature,  Alcatel  One Touch Idol ALPHA is said to have a unique and sleek design with nice curves, a metal case and aluminum metal frame.  The One Touch Idol ALPHA is only 7.5mm thin and has a “distinctive finish” that doesn’t seem obvious from the press pictures.

The Fonepad series of tablets seems to have some success among Android enthusiasts otherwise it would have been less likely for Asus to launch a new smartphone/tablet hybrid. During its press conference at IFA 2013, in Berlin, Asus unveiled the Fonepad 7, a weird  phone/tablet hybrid that offers Android fans both worlds a large screen and full voice telephony. Aside from that there’s really nothing that would want you grab it over a pure smartphone or tablet. According to Asus, Fonepad 7 “features a new non-slip finish” and comes with HSPA+ and 3G connectivity that allows up to 42Mbit/s download speeds. In addition, Fonepad 7 is equipped with an Intel Atom Z2560 processor with Hyper-Threading technology that offers smooth multi-tasking performance with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

With just a few days left until IFA 2013 trade fair opens its gates, Alcatel has announced its new flagship Android handset, the One Touch HERO. Alcatel One Touch HERO is a beast and comes packed with a huge 6-inch full HD IPS capacitive touchscreen display, as well as a powerful 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, which is complemented by 2GB of RAM. On the back, the high-tier smartphone boasts an impressive 13-megapixel photo snapper with autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording. There’s also a secondary 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls and self-portraits.