HTC suggests that its All New One has a place in the history of mobile music

HTC today tweeted the image embedded above. As you can see, this presents "A History of Mobile Music" in HTC’s vision: from the Transistor Radio of 1954 to Personal Compact Disc Players (1984), generic smartphones (2007), and, finally, to the 2014 HTC One.

What should make the All New One a great mobile music player is the BoomSound technology used for its speakers. As you may have heard, HTC already confirmed that the upcoming smartphone would have BoomSound speakers. These will be similar to those found inside the 2013 One, but improved at the same time. 

The All New HTC One (known as the HTC M8 since last year) will be officially announced on March 25. It will probably be released shortly after that, and we’re hearing that it may reach 110 countries. In the US, all major carriers are expected to launch the handset.

Meanwhile you could let us know what you think: is BoomSound enough to make history when it comes to mobile music?

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Nokia App Reality video suggests that Windows Phone isn't far behind Android and iOS when it comes to apps

Nokia and Microsoft want to make sure that consumers will no longer see Windows Phone as that mobile OS that doesn’t have enough apps. Nokia released a video which presents the

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Apple might turn the iPhone into an answering machine, a recent patent suggests

The Cupertino giant has just patented an audio call screening feature, which might enable iPhone users to listen to a voice message while the caller is leaving it. Apple's US Patent No.8,666,034 allows "a user to screen messages being left at a hosted voicemail system from a telephone terminal".

What does this mean, exactly? Simply put, it's an answering machine for your iPhone. Just as the conventional answering machines for landline phones, Apple's audio call screening system allows you to listen to a voicemail message while the caller is leaving it. If you decide that the call is important, you can answer the phone, thus cancelling the further recording of the given voice message. Of course, you can allow the caller to leave his voice message.

It seems that this call screening system creates a conference call between the caller, the voicemail server, and the telephone terminal. Apple's newly-obtained patent states that "the telephone terminal is equipped to open only the speaker channel for monitroing the message and will provide a fully bi-directional connection using a microphone channel".
This patent was one of the roughly 6,000 patents that Nortel, a network equipment manufacturer, sold to Rockstar, a consortium between Apple, Microsoft, Sony, ant others. After Nortel went bankrupt back in 2011, it sold this plethora of patents to Rockstar for some $4.5 billion.

Only time will reveal if this audio call screening system will make its way to the next iPhone. What are your thoughts on the matter?

US Patent No.8,666,034 images Fullscreen More popular slideshows

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Unknown Sony phone pops up in photos, suggests new Z1 variant could land at MWC

Sony is doing a pretty job keeping itself in our line of sight right now. Not only did it out two (or almost two) new handsets at CES (the Z1 Compact, and a T-mo only Z1S), it also released a brace of mid-rangers a few days later. Today is all about the mystery handset you see in the picture above. A user on XDA claims the handset shows the model number Xperia D6503, and is potentially another Z1 variant. All we know from the image is that the mic grille is now three holes (not a mesh), and the lanyard hole is in a different location. Judging by the crash report on screen, there's some unstable software running, so if it's not a prototype Z1, then it's still almost certainly a pre-production model. XDA user iRimas claims the device has the familiar metal body, but that the thinner bezel houses a screen nearer to 5.2-inches. So, MWC is just around the corner, and Sony likely doesn't want to turn up without something new to show, but whether it's a Z1 "L"-type deal or the fabled/logical Z2/Sirius (or just a prototype) remains to be seen.

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LG Lifeband Touch leak suggests fitness wearable could be imminent

evleaks), pictured above, is most likely the wearable that was hinted at just last week. The fitness band is likely an evolution of that which we saw back at CES, and at a guess, we might see again in the next week or so (unless we're made to wait until MWC). The name -- and image -- suggest a touchscreen component making this a swipe-friendly FuelBand competitor. Whether it'll be an LG G2 companion (as rumored) or a standalone device is yet to be known (we're hoping maybe a bit of both). Unless LG has had a change of heart, it's also likely to include an altimeter, some mobile notification features and play nice with the firm's Smart TV fitness/dance apps. What certainly is clear, however, is that there's going to be even more competition for your wrist in 2014.

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