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Sony's forthcoming 4.6-inch Android ICS slab has appeared at the FCC, and has revealed a few more details on what appears to be the company's next flagship smartphone. The highlight of the federal-sanctioned autopsy of the Xperia GX reveals an interesting point; a pentaband 3G radios capable of HSPA speeds, something that's still a rarity among global smartphones. The filing otherwise offers up a not-so-thrilling glimpse at the hardware labeling and, well, not much else. See for yourself at the link below.

Industry rumors usually come with a heaping helping of salt, unless they're being issued from a trusted source. In this case, it's Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet spilling some beans regarding Microsoft's release roadmap. Though we've already caught wind that Windows Phone 8 devices would be arriving sometime this fall with nearly all major carrier support, Foley's source is now pegging the RTM build of that mobile OS for September, with the finalized consumer version and accompanying hardware hitting the marketplace in November. Given that timing and an impending October 26th bow for Windows 8 also on the horizon, any plans Redmond might've had for a dual platform launch will have to be shelved. That's all she wrote for now, folks -- we'll surely find out more concrete details in the coming months. So, take this gossamer morsel for what it's worth.

Huawei's Ascend P1 is making its way to the UK (and Canada) just in time for the country's belated summer. The 7.7mm (with a hump) dual-core handset packs a 4.3-inch qHD display and the same CPU as the Galaxy Nexus -- so while it won't catch the One X napping, it's no slouch either. It looks like the company had an eye on gazumping budget rival ZTE, which unveiled its Grand X yesterday, undercutting it by a solitary pound. It's arriving on Wind from today, free with a $49 contract and Vodafone in August, free on plans costing £26 or more a month.

Well, you can't get Firefox OS on a phone yet, but you can fire it up on your computer and give the HTML5 and JavaScript mobile platform a try for yourself -- right now! Mozilla has begun uploading nightly builds of the project formerly known as Boot to Gecko to its FTP servers. You can pull down a nicely wrapped package for Windows, Linux or OS X, or you download the source and build your own. It's not as simple as installing an app, there is some configuring you'll have to do, but the process is relatively simple and you'll find complete instructions at the more coverage link. Obviously the OS is still in the very early stages and is can't be considered representative of what the final product will be like. Still, its a nice glimpse at the progress Mozilla has made in just a single year of development. So, go get your own hands-on time with the next player on the mobile scene.

Kodak's recent announcements may have circled around patent brawls (and victories), but if you've indentured yourself to the company's range of all-in-one printers and digital photo frames, you might want to pick up its new Windows Phone app. Pic Flick will share your images with compatible hardware through WiFi -- provided you're connected to the same network on your phone. It's largely identical to the existing iOS version, albeit cocooned in Microsoft's metro style, and includes a handful of simple editing tools and filters. However, you will need to check that your Windows Phone is running version 7.5 or later. If you pass that requirement, hit up the source for the download.

The Chinese government has issued a study revealing that the smartphone has overtaken the PC as the most popular device to surf the internet with. China's Internet Network Information Center revealed that 538 million people -- around 40 percent of the country have internet access. It recorded 388 million instances of surfing from a mobile handset, compared to the 380 recorded from PCs. Microblogs are also popular, with around 43.8 percent of phone users documenting the minutiae of their lives on Weibos like Sina and Tencent -- which reminds us, we need to tweet about what we're having for dinner.

Primed goes in-depth on the technobabble you hear on Engadget every day -- we dig deep into each topic's history and how it benefits our lives. You can follow the series here. Looking to suggest a piece of technology for us to break down? Drop us a line at primed *at* engadget *dawt* com.

Digital audio. There's a very good chance that you've enjoyed some today. It's one of the more universal aspects of technology. In fact, perhaps the more relevant question would be, when was the last time you listened to an analog format? The truth, for many, will be quite some time ago -- vinyl purists and the odd cassette fanatic aside. Yet, despite its ubiquity, there's a lot of misunderstanding and confusion about digital audio. Some believe it'll never match analog for true fidelity, some assert quite the opposite. Many lament the lack of a tactile format, while others love the portability that comes with zeros and ones.

In this installment of Primed, we take a look at the history of digital sound, as well as provide an introduction to some of its key components, with the view to helping us understand it better. Wondering what bitrate to encode your MP3s at? Or whether you should choose a 96 or 44.1KHz sample rate? We thought as much. By the time we're through, these questions should no longer lay heavy on your mind, and you can enjoy that latest Knife Party, or Britney track as much as its bit depth allows. What's bit depth you say? Well, read on to find out...

Ever get the shakes sending out an angry text message? You'd better be careful if you buy a BlackBerry in the future, as RIM is trying for a patent that would telegraph all that wrath to the recipient on the other end. The technique uses a myriad of sensors, like an accelerometer, front camera or pressure sensor, to gauge just how emotional a smartphone owner might be and convey that through livelier messaging styles. Get flustered and that BlackBerry Messenger font gets big, bold and red; mellow out with a smile, and the conversation text becomes almost cuddly. Whether or not the patent is granted, let alone used, is very much an unknown. We have a hunch that RIM would rather not make BlackBerry users keep a poker face.

Nokia is still taking its lumps in earnings, but CEO Stephen Elop has an idea as to how the troubled phone giant can carve out its slice of the smartphone market: like a real estate agent, it's all about location, location, location. As he outlined in the company's fiscal results call, the aim is to make Nokia the "where?" company -- the go-to for location-based services, whether it's Drive, Transport or anything else that locks in on our whereabouts. Facebook and Google are the "who?" and "what?" companies, Elop says. He also imagines that his own firm "could be a leader" in sensors as a whole, tracking subtler cues like the owner's pulse rate. Whether or not Nokia puts itself in front through positioning, the executive gave a small tease of the future during the call -- the next wave of Lumia phones will have "more differentiation," and both Windows Phone 7.8 as well as Windows Phone 8 will make their way to budget Nokia hardware.

Virgin Mobile USA is adding actual bricks and mortar to its primary selling channels -- the internet and box stores -- but said that a new flagship Chicago store will not just be about the phones. The location has been set up like a casual, music-themed lounge, where customers can recline while testing devices and salespeople will run workshops on subjects like apps and how to install them. The Sprint-owned company will add 14 more locations in the city by summer's end and hopes to use the launch as an archetype for key stores in its other major market cities. The concept sounds a bit like a certain other starkly designed iChain -- but the rock 'n' roll decor is pure Branson.

This morning Verizon trotted out its latest financials, and amongst the numbers was a noteworthy stat. According to the big red, for the first time ever, 50 percent of its postpaid customer phone base is of the smart variety. This figure is up three percent from the last quarter, and won't factor in certain recent arrivals. Verizon's recent plan revamp is likely an attempt to cater for this trend, and ties in generally with the recent market share analysis reports. Now if a few other things come to pass, then this number is surely set to keep heading north.

Update: Appleinsider reports that to date, Verizon has sold 2.7 million iPhones, and 2.9 million Androids (some 2.5 million of which, are LTE), giving some insight into what makes up that 50 percent total.

The past three months haven't been the best for Finland's former world number one. It hasn't been helped by the three biggest credit agencies lowering the company's bond rating to "junk," and the Lumia 900's violently slashed price. Unfortunately the latest results reveal continuing gloom: the manufacturer made an operating loss of $1.01 billion dollars for the quarter. The company managed to make €7.5 billion in sales ($9.2 billion, down .5 billion since the last quarter), shifting four million Lumia handsets in the process. In fact, the only cause for optimism is that sales of the Lumia range have roughly doubled each quarter.

The number of handsets pushed out the door increased (thanks to the Asha range of budget phones) with the company selling 73 million phones. That said, the company has clearly failed to crack America, selling a paltry 600,000 handsets in the States. The cash pile has also continued to dwindle, with the piggybank currently standing at €4.1 billion ($5.1 billion), down from $6.3 billion in Q1, despite getting a further $250 million in kickbacks from Microsoft. Unsurprisingly, the prediction for the third quarter of the year was similarly dour, summed up rather euphemistically as "difficult."

Continuing this morning's Jelly Bean soap opera, we've just heard that Nexus S owners on Vodafone Australia won't be getting their pioneering update today -- despite the fact that only 24 hours have elapsed since the carrier said the roll-out was on its way. According to the carrier's official blog, the update has been delayed because Android 4.1 "does not meet all Australian regulatory requirements related to emergency calls." Ouch. On the other hand, that sounds eminently fixable.

[Thanks, Daniel]

HTC has a long history of both raising and dashing hopes of Android upgrades on its devices. Moreover, the Australian network Telstra has often led that emotional rollercoaster, which means the detail on its software update page above is probably best approached with an air of detached calm. It tells us that both the HTC One XL (the global version of the American One X) and the One S have official Jelly Bean updates being "prepared" by HTC -- which is slightly more specific than what we last heard on this subject, when the manufacturer said it was "excited" about Google's latest OS version and planned to support it "across a variety" of handsets. If you happen to own a non-LTE, Tegra 3-based One X, then the absence of that handset on the list doesn't mean much -- that model simply isn't part of the carrier's line-up.

[Thanks, Will]

As much as N-Trig is an old hand at supporting styluses, it's had to focus on tablets and other larger devices due to technology limits: the HTC Flyer is about as small as the company has gone to date. A new version of N-Trig's DuoSense chipset family could be the ticket to going to much smaller sizes. The new 4000 series condenses both pen input and multi-touch finger gestures into a combination of one chip and one sensor, letting any entrepreneurial device maker stuff the two control methods into a handheld device with as little as a 5-inch display. Naturally, the chip line scales all the way to 15.6-inch panels for creatives poking at the screens of laptops and larger Ultrabooks. We're told that both Android and Windows slates will get N-Trig's tinier touch tricks before the end of the year -- whether or not that includes phablets with the same girth as the Galaxy Note or Optimus Vu, however, is left to our wild imaginings.

Smartphones and email-equipped feature phones have proliferated in even the most resource-dry areas of Asia, Europe and North America, but for many subscribers in Africa, SMS is the only option for text-based communication on the go. And, to give residents a more consistent method for reading and responding to email from their mobiles, Google just launched Gmail SMS in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya. To sign up, simply head over to the "Phone and SMS" settings page in Gmail, add your mobile number and complete a verification process. Once enrolled, the service will automatically forward all email to devices as text messages. The service could even be useful for those that do have access to Android, iOS or Windows Phone devices -- data outages can cripple smartphones, forcing users to turn to phone calls and SMS to connect with family, friends and colleagues. Geva Rechav, a Google product manager for emerging markets, confirmed in a blog post that Gmail SMS messages will be free to receive, but standard fees will apply for outgoing emails. You'll find full signup details at the source link below.

Yesterday, rumors about the meaty 64GB GS3 model having reached a discontinued status started circulating around the interwebs -- much to the disappointment of power users looking to snag the roomy handset. As it turns out, however, Samsung's told The Verge that this is far from the truth, saying the proportionally spacious Galaxy S III is coming "during the second half of this year," but also noting this "may vary and will be determined at the time of release." In other words, not all is lost, though it looks like anyone wanting to grab one of these is going to have to wait it out on the sidelines for just a little longer.

Ever since introducing the Google Music app in beta last year its developers have been hard at work trimming away the rougher edges and that's never been more evident than in the new 4.3.606 version now available for download. While Google Play Music's overall look hasn't shifted significantly, the changelog and a quick spin using it reveal nearly every screen has had some slight change. As seen above, the recently played screen now features larger album art, while the action bar has been adjusted with different transport controls. In this version, users have the ability to adjust and reorder music in the Now Playing queue, while a refreshed widget shows off album art and allows for thumbs up without opening the app. The settings menu has a direct link to the Nexus Q control app (assuming you can run it, and have one), hit the Play store for the updated version to try it out yourself.

With other national (and international) carriers slowly enabling carrier billing on content purchases, it was only a matter of time before the second largest network in the States would start adapting said payment method. And while AT&T's been offering the service for application buys through Google Play, up until now it'd been leaving out all media-related goods. Luckily for some, the Rethink Possible outfit has announced its plans to begin offering carrier billing options inside Sammy's Media Hub, with the Captivate, Galaxy Exhilarate and that modish Galaxy S III to be among the first to help kick things off. Meanwhile, everyone's favorite phablet (aka Galaxy Note) and the somewhat aged Galaxy S II will be able to join the others as soon as they swallow up an upcoming software update. More importantly, are you planning to add those movie purchases to your monthly AT&T tab? Say the word in the comments below.

Enabling persistent location in a third-party mobile app isn't always easy -- it usually requires either cautious uses of updates, like iOS 5's geofencing, or an acceptance that there will inevitably be a knock to the battery life while it's running. Skyhook doesn't want there to be any compromise, at least on Android: an update to its developer kit has rolled in an Always-On location option that theoretically represents the best of both worlds. Third-party app writers can opt for position refreshes as quick as 30 seconds apart, if that birthday gift reminder needs just that many updates, but will supposedly face "little to no noticeable impact" on how quickly users' smartphones sip energy. We like the idea of guilt-free GPS, and there's even an airplane tracking mode for when you just have to check into Foursquare from 30,000 feet in the air. Developers can start working on the option today; until implementations reach the wild, everyone else will have to make do with a clip of the airplane tracking feature after the break.

Qualcomm is reporting its financial numbers for the last quarter and has been the trend, it's a good time to be everywhere in the wireless business. Continued strong demand for 3G and 4G-connected hardware is keeping sales high, driving "strong year-over-year growth" according to CEO Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, contributing to a bottom line of $4.63 billion in revenue and net income of $1.21 billion. The company's MSM (mobile station modem) chipsets continue to be the main contributor with 141 million units sold, also up yearly by 18 percent but down 7 percent from Q2, with reported device sales following the same pattern at $47.8 billion.

About that slight drop from last quarter, the Doctor continues by saying the company expects demand to be back-loaded as "new devices" are launched for the holiday season. With that in mind, it's ramping up production for 28nm Snapdragon S4 chipsets, a move that reportedly has required help from Samsung and UMC. With the next iPhone, new Android Jelly Bean hardware, Windows Phone 8 / Windows 8 devices and much more expected to arrive soon, we'll keep the old money-flying-at-Qualcomm's-HQ graphic close by. For more details, hit the source link for the PDF or read the press release after the break.

With the introduction of AT&T's Mobile Share this morning, the two largest mobile operators in the US (the other one, of course, being Verizon) have officially embraced the idea of pooled data plans. The concept is simple: bundle talk, text and data together in the same family plan, instead of forcing each individual member to pay a separate fee if they want internet access. With the announcement of these plans, we were instantly curious to find out if these new options will save customers money on a monthly basis -- and which company offers the best value. Determined to get some answers, we've broken down AT&T and Verizon's plans and will highlight the pros and cons for you after the break.

HP's plans to open-source webOS included mention of Enyo 2.0, a framework designed to spread webOS' learnings to other platforms -- to spread the love around, so to speak. The code foundation, while behind schedule, has just left beta: any developer with a mind to producing web apps can now create interface elements and whole apps using the technology derived from Palm's legacy. Any reasonably modern browser will run the end result, whether it's running Android, iOS or a full-fledged desktop release. We may never recreate the exact feeling of using an HP TouchPad on our iPads and Galaxy Tabs, but we know that some of its software design heritage will carry on.

Summer in Paris -- you can't walk a block on Champs-Élysées without locking eyes with at least one camera-equipped tourist. But Steve Mann's shooter wasn't dangling from his shoulder and neck; it was mounted on his head, with a design strikingly similar to Google's Project Glass. Unlike that mainstream Mountain View product, however, Mann's version has reportedly been around in one form or another for 34 years, and was designed with the objective of aiding vision, rather than capturing stills and video or providing a bounty of database-aided readouts. It's also street-ready today. While on vacation with his family, the Ontario-based "father of wearable computing" was sporting his EyeTap as he walked down the aforementioned French avenue, eventually entering a McDonald's to refuel after a busy day of sightseeing. He left without his ranch wrap, but with seriously damaged hardware.

What allegedly occurred inside the restaurant is no doubt a result of the increasing presence and subsequent awareness of connected cameras, ranging from consumer gear to professional surveillance equipment. As Mann sat to eat, he writes that a stranger approached him then attempted to pull off his glasses, which, oddly, are permanently affixed to his skull. The man, at that point joined by one other patron and someone that appeared to be a McDonald's employee, then pushed Mann out of the store and onto the street. As a result of the attack, the eyewear malfunctioned, resulting in the three men being photographed. It wouldn't be terribly difficult for police to identify those involved, but this encounter may have greater implications. McDonalds has since launched an investigation into the matter and seems to be denying most of the claims, but it'll be some time yet before the full truth is uncovered. Still, the whole ordeal got us at Engadget thinking -- is the planet ready for humans to wear video recorders, and will it ever shake a general unease related to the threat of a world filled with omnipresent cameras? Join us past the break for our take.

If this is the "advanced gaming smartphone" that ZTE teased a few days ago, then we can't help but feel a little miffed. It'd be fairer to describe the Grand X as the most advanced phone in ZTE's growing budget line-up, and if you look at it from that perspective then it's rather more impressive. For £190 PAYG with Virgin Mobile in the UK, you're getting a 4.3-inch qHD LCD touchscreen, dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor (no Nexus 7 guts here unfortunately), microSD expandable storage (plus 4GB built-in and 512MB RAM), 5-megapixel rear camera and VGA front-facer, sub-10mm thickness and -- ta-da! -- stock Ice Cream Sandwich, albeit accompanied by legacy Gingerbread navigation buttons. We'd have liked to see the proper, up-to-date Android 4.0 button layout, but in any case the absence of ZTE's Kanzi skin or indeed any other customization is a welcome change, because Google juice tastes fine served neat.

Now, we already did an early hands-on with this phone in June (not to mention its previous incarnation, the Mimosa X) and noted its fluid operation, solid build quality and capable display, and all of those things remain true in the retail-ready handset we've seen in the UK. The budget scene has certainly come a long way since last year, but do we expect the Grand X to have an easy ride on the market? Probably not -- at least not when a phone like the Orange San Diego are offering a more modern processor, more RAM and better pixel density for just £10 more. That said, if a pure and uncluttered version of the OS is a priority, and if you can get this phone on a great deal when it arrives at Phones4U and Virgin Media stores at the beginning of August, then the Grand X is certainly worth a look.

ZTE Grand X UK version

ZTE Grand X hands-on