HTC J Butterfly transforms into a beautiful HTC Deluxe

HTC's 5-inch monster could make it to UK

 

 

The HTC Deluxe has been outed on Twitter, suggesting the HTC J Butterfly could be going global.
This has all come about thanks to EvLeaks, which tweeted a picture of the device along with the message "HTC Deluxe, global edition".
Back in October we saw HTC unveil the J Butterfly, boasting an eye-popping full HD 5-inch display, 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 8MP rear camera, 2.1MP front camera, 4G connectivity and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Big in the States

The super-sized handset has already made an appearance in the US, coming under the moniker HTC Droid DNA, as it looks to tackle the big phone of the moment, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
We could well see the HTC Deluxe break cover at MWC 2013 in Barcelona and TechRadar will be there to bring you all the news live as it happens.
There is a slight twist in this tale though, as we contacted HTC last month and a spokesperson said the firm had "no plans to bring the J Butterfly to Europe", so we're not getting carried away about the HTC Deluxe just yet.
We contacted HTC again regarding the Deluxe, but the Taiwanese firm would not be drawn to comment on the rumour.

HTC outlines priorities for Jelly Bean updates, some phones left out

HTC One X and One S first in line 

 

After initial reports indicated HTC would be rolling out Android 4.1: Jelly Bean in October, there's been little to no movement from HTC in regards to pushing the update to any of its handsets.

Though the HTC One X, One S and One XL were confirmed to be the first to receive the update, none of those smartphones has been upgraded as of yet.
HTC finally broke its silence Monday, revealing in a new frequently asked questions post its plans for the future of the Android update.

2012 phones get priority

As of Monday, only the One X and One S were confirmed by HTC as being eligible for a Jelly Bean bump.
While the company claimed other devices are currently being reviewed for Jelly Bean, HTC has decided to "prioritize review for devices launched in 2012" before moving on to devices from 2011 and earlier.
The good news is that only two phones from the manufacturer's entire lineup have been completely ruled out for the update.
HTC stated devices with 512MB of RAM or less will not get Jelly Bean, which, translated, means anyone with a One V or Desire C will be left behind.
Of course, that doesn't mean further support and updates will be taken away from those phones entirely; just that those devices won't earn the latest Android OS.
The Jelly Bean update also brings with it HTC Sense 4+, but there's no indication from HTC as to whether or not only phones getting Jelly Bean will gain access to the latest version of Sense.

If not now, when?

Unfortunately, there is still no timetable in sight for when the Jelly Bean update will begin rolling out to One X and One S users.
HTC claimed there were "many aspects to the software development process that make it difficult for us to give specifics on upgrade timing."
Citing different testing protocols for each carrier and region as chief factors in the long wait for Jelly Bean, HTC assured that once testing was successful, the update would come.
The same could be said for the developer version of HTC's Jelly Bean update, which the company will announce whenever it is ready.
Not every user will get the update at the same time, but HTC also assured that every user would see Jelly Bean within 45 days of its release in a given region.
Though it's promising to hear HTC is somewhat closer to releasing Android 4.1 to its flagship phones, the lack of a concrete date is still disheartening.
Hopefully users won't have to wait much longer to enjoy all that Jelly Bean has to offer

New technology could double smartphone battery life

Making smartphones more efficient

 

While tremendous advances are being made in smartphone hardware, each new technology is still at the mercy of the phone's battery, a power source that can be maddeningly inefficient.

Batteries aren't going away any time soon, but a team of researchers at Massachusetts-based startup Eta Devices have reportedly found a way to reduce battery consumption by half.

One of the most wasteful power drains on a smartphone battery is the power amplifier, a chip used to convert electricity into radio signals and maintain handsets' connection to a wireless network.

Power amplifiers in smartphones waste approximately 65 percent of handsets' power and are what cause a smartphone to heat up when streaming video or uploading large files.

Eta Devices has redesigned the power amplifier using a technology called asymmetric multilevel outphasing.

The technology intelligently chooses the minimum voltage necessary to maintain a connection, updating as often as 20 million times per second to ensure the highest efficiency.

Battery blues

Eta Devices is currently developing its power amplifier technology for cellular base stations, which suffer similar power inefficiency problems, with the new chips getting put to use starting in 2013.

However, the startup firm has aspirations of creating a single power amplifier chip to revolutionize energy efficiency on smartphones.

With double the efficiency in the new power amplifiers, smartphone batteries would burn out half as fast.

What's more, it would also facilitate advances to make greater strides in CPU and display technology that would be impractical with the energy efficiency level of current devices.

Huawei Ascend Mate could be 6.1-inch giant

A mammoth 6.1-inch smartphone could be in the works over in China, as details of the Huawei Ascend Mate get their first airing. According to a report from MyDrivers, the super sized device was apparently spotted on Huawei's Chinese website, sporting a huge 6.1-inch, 1080p display which would put the 5.5-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 2 to shame. As well as the screen size, other details of the monster phone were also leaked, including a 1.8GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 4,000mAh battery.

World's most powerful smartphone  

If these specs are to be believed then the Ascend Mate is set up to be the world's most powerful smartphone, an accolade currently held by its closest rival, the Galaxy Note 2. The Ascend Mate will apparently measure a relatively slender 9.9mm in depth, and while there's no official word from Huawei about the device, it wouldn't be a surprise to see other manufacturers take on Samsung's mega-super-phone. There are no details surrounding a potential Huawei Ascend Mate release date or price, so we've contacted the Chinese firm to see if it can shed any light on the news.