LG Optimus Note Appears In Photos With Its 1.2GHz Dual-Core CPU

With Samsung recently announcing its outrageously huge Galaxy Note, LG should probably reconsider the name of the phone which is pictured above, called Optimus Note. It surfaced in a blurry picture as well as press render and, as you can see, it's a QWERTY slider.

What you can't see is that it appears to pack a 1.2GHz dual-core Tegra2 chip inside to power Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It also features a four-inch NOVA display (LG's own technology for ultra-bright screens), five-megapixel camera, VGA front-facer, 8GB of internal storage and 12.3mm thickness to accommodate the four-row QWERTYkeyboard. Not sure how closely the Optimus Note is related to Sprint's upcoming Optimus Slider, but we've heard the specs of the upcoming Sprint-phone will be more in the Optimus One range.

AT&T Adding Sony Ericsson Xperia Play 4G To Its Stable This Month

Earlier this summer, AT&T revealed that the SonyEricsson Xperia Play, the "PlayStation phone" with a slide-out gamepad instead of a QWERTY keyboard, would be finding a home with the carrier. So far, Android gamers in the States have only had the option of using the Xperia Play on Verizon. Come September 18, AT&T will join the fray with the Xperia Play 4G.

Besides the switch to a GSM radio, as in the international version of the smartphone, there's nothing changed from the Verizon edition. That means having a single-core 1GHz Snapdragon, Adreno 205 graphics, 512MB of RAM, and a four-inch FWVGA display.

AT&T is trying to make its Xperia Play stand out by offering the phone in a "stealth blue" shade, throwing in a Sony Ericsson Multimedia Dock and music cable, and loading the phone with some games to get you started; Dungeon Defenders Second Wave, Asphalt 6 Adrenaline, Star Battalion, Madden NFL 11, The Sims 3, Tower Bloxx: My City, and Crash Bandicoot make the cut.

When the Xperia Play 4G arrives on the eighteenth, you'll be able to pick it up for about $50 on-contract. 

LG unveils S430, S530 Aurora laptops for people who like muted hues

LG has added two new stars to its constellation of Aurora laptops, with the LG S430 and LG S530. Both models are powered by an Intel Core i5 processor, with the S430 boasting a 14-inch, 1366 x 768 HD LCD and the S530 rocking a slightly larger, 15.6-inch display, available in either HD or HD+ (1600 x 900) resolution. Both also feature 8GB of DDR3 memory and up to 750GB of HDD space (5400 RPM), along with your standard WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and USB 2.0 connectivity. Perhaps most notable, however, is their sleek, metallic veneer and crystalline, scratch-free finish, available in both purple and blue. Pricing remains a mystery, but the pair should be available in Africa, Asia and the Middle East by early next month, before making their way to Europe and the US shortly thereafter. Details galore await you after the break, in the full PR.
UNIQUE CRYSTALLINE FINISH AND TOP PERFORMANCE SET LG'S NEW AURORA NOTEBOOKS APART

With Powerful Features and Eye-Catching Designs, LG S430 and LG S530 Offer an Enticing Package
SEOUL, Aug. 26, 2011 – LG Electronics (LG) today announced two new notebooks in their Aurora series -- the LG S430 and LG S530. With attractive, brightly colored exteriors and boasting 14-inch and 15.6-inch HD LED LCD screens, the LG S430 and LG S530 offer an alluring design with a sleek, Crystalline Finish, while also delivering outstanding computing power.

The LG 430 and the LG S530 provide an outstanding value package through their ingenious Crystalline Finish lids. Using NCVM (Non-Conductive Vapor Metallization) technology, an innovative coating process that produces a colorful metallic veneer, LG Aurora notebooks have a pellucid, glossy exterior that provides genuine value to customers through improved scratch resistance and a strengthened cover. Bold chamfer cutting around the chassis enhances the slim, sharp feel of the Aurora notebooks, while bold coloring – in Aurora Purple or Aurora Blue – delivers the perfect highlight.

"We've designed our notebooks to offer a computing experience that is as stylish as it is powerful," said J.J. Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of LG Electronics PC Business Unit. "With its unique Crystalline Finish, the LG S430 and LG S530 set new standards in design while offering features and functions that can compete with any notebooks in their class."

The LG S430 and LG S530 include optimized features that let users carry out everyday tasks or enjoy multimedia content with absolutely no frustration. With a second generation Intel? Core™ i5 processor – which is 20 percent faster than the previous generation of Intel processors – and an external graphics card, the Aurora notebooks deliver faster, smarter performance. In addition, content-sharing software lets users wirelessly share videos, photos, and music from other DLNA-enabled devices to then enjoy on the notebook.

Supported by the "Crystalline by Aurora" campaign, the LG S430 and the LG S530 will be available in the Middle East, Africa and Asia early September followed by Europe, the Americas and CIS soon after.

Samsung Galaxy S II White Available From Vodafone U.K.

If you feel it's time to be a little different than all of your friends rocking a Samsung Galaxy S II, it's time to get a white version of the phone, given of course you can cope with the lighter color. It's now available from Vodafone in the U.K.

There are really no differences between the white and black flavored smartphones in terms of specs except for the paint used by the manufacturer on the outside part of the case. You can get it for free from Vodafone U.K. given you sign a contract starting from monthly £36. You get the same 1.2GHz dual core processor, 1GB of RAM, 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, and eight-megapixel camera. Now, if only this was theGalaxy S II LTE... 

Microsoft Wants To Find The Location Of Every Windows Phone

This is a strange one: apparently, Microsoft is looking to hire "highly motivated, extremely intelligent, and deeply technical people" in order to build a "core location service platform".

The timing is a little bit off: Microsoft has beenaccused of tracking location without the user's permission and has issued a response. In the light of these events it is not really clever to look for people in order to facilitate and create a "service to find the location of every Windows Phone device in the world, either by assisting GPS, or by using signal-analysis techniques to compute location where GPS cannot".

Here's the complete job description before it got pulled: "The team is looking for highly motivated, extremely intelligent, and deeply technical people to build the core location service platform. We are tasked with delivering a highly scalable service to find the location of every Windows Phone device in the world, either by assisting GPS, or by using signal-analysis techniques to compute location where GPS cannot. You will work closely with MSR and other research groups to improve our algorithms for mining large amounts of data using Bayesian analysis and other machine learning techniques. We have incredibly hard problems to solve in the coming year such as solving the indoor positioning problem as well as motion detection and relevance based positioning."

Needless to say that the job posting, which went up today, has been already pulled. Microsoft is already able to track the location of Windows Phones for its Find My Phone service which does, of course, need the users approval in order to collect data. Either Redmond is looking to improve the already existing service or is into something different which will probably make huge waves.