Are you considering picking up an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S? You might want to hike over to the nearest Target location.

According to a recent report from 9to5 Mac showing the above image from a tipster located in Orlando, FL indicates both the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 4S models are available for $174.99, and $274.99. The $25 mark down applies to the 8GB iPhone 4 as well, which can be had for $74.99.

The deal appears to be going on in Orlando till the end of the month. With 37 million iPhone 4Ss sold already I can’t imagine retailers are sitting on massive amounts of inventory they need to push, which is why the Target deal is somewhat surprising.

Although, the recent release of the new iPad has led to price cuts of the iPad 2 with numerous locations selling one or more models cheaper than the already reduced prices. Micro Center has the iPad 2 16GB Wi-Fi model for $359.99 which is $40 cheaper than the recently reduced price of $400.

Keep an eye out for deals like above, and look for Apple and second-hand retailers to have a large supply of refurbished iPad 2s for sale in the near future as well.

Stay tuned for more information by following us onFacebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

[Source: 9to5Mac]

Samsung may be keeping the Galaxy S III on the hush hush, but that hasn’t stopped the press images from leaking all over the web. While it is entirely debatable that the majority of these leaks are indeed fakes, the latest one has caught our attention, with the signs suggesting that this particular leak may be the real deal after all.

The recent image spotted courtesy of a Reddit user who uploaded it recently. The image itself shows what appears to be Samsung’s new flagship Android smartphone, with the suggestion that it will be announced during a Samsung Unpacked event in London, England on May 22nd.

Samsung has been unusually coy over its latest handset. After receiving flak for the delay between announcement and US release of the Galaxy S II, Samsung is preferring to take the Apple approach of only announcing the product when it is ready to ship in mass. This has led to an unusual vacuum of information, and one which has been filled by countless rumors.

One tidbit that lends credence to this photo more than others is the inclusion of the name of a PR firm, Weber Shandwick, on the images. Weber Shandwick is a firm that Samsung has used in the past, and it was the firm behind the CES 2010 Samsung press event. If this image is indeed a fake, someone has gone to a lot of trouble to add a little authenticity.

Still, it wouldn’t be the first time now, would it? Stay tuned for more information by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

PayPal officially announced the mobile payment solution with the free “PayPal Here” reader and accompanying free iOS and Android application.

PayPal’s system can accept all major credit cards and offers a few more ways to get paid outside of credit cards. Merchants can accept direct PayPal payments and checks, yes hand written checks, in addition to credit cards. The funds (except for payments via check) are available the same day in the user’s PayPal account.

With the PayPal Here card reader and application PayPal has positioned themselves in direct competition with Square’s reader and accompanying iPad and iPhone applications. The application also manages to undercut Square’s transaction fee by .05% coming in at 2.7% per transaction.

The ability to create invoices and track cash payments is standard fare but the odd triangular design of the reader itself is an interesting choice to say the least. But, it appears the Pay Here app allows merchants to add items to a simple inventory list. It’s no where near squares digital storefront, but definitely encouraging to have the added functionality this early.

The reader or the accompanying app are not yet available, but for those who are interested can sign up for notification as soon as they become available. The additional payment methods definitely make PayPal Here an enticing offer.

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[Source: PayPal]

C Spire Wireless is now offering iPhone 4S for only $149.99, a $50 decrease from their original pricing. Getting with C Spire does come with a major prerequisite – living in a certain location, but if you’re good with that then getting an iPhone 4S for only $149.99 with a two year contract is going to be simple. The 32GB and 64GB iPhone 4S models also have $50 deducted from their prices ($249.99 and $349.99 respectively).

C Spire has a CDMA cellular service provider that utilizes EV-DO 3G just like Verizon and Sprint do with their iPhone 4S. This means if you go out of range of C Spire’s network, you’ll pick up roaming from Verizon or Sprint. Citing C Spire’s Web site, the company offers plans that start with $25/month and go up to $100 a month for unlimited data, streaming, texts and voice.

While the $149.99 iPhone 4S may seem like a good deal, the contract still locks you in for two years and makes you pay much more than meets the eye.  If you can get in the range of C Spire’s network, then their pricing may be worth a new iPhone 4S with the discounted price.

Stay tuned for more news and info on this topic by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

[Sources: 9to5Mac]

Rumor mill has it that Microsoft is in talks with record labels on creating a new music service that caters to Xbox and Windows Phone 7. The software giant is planning on creating a delivery service that would supply music service to Xbox as well as the upcoming Windows based phones, according to an exclusive report on CNet.

Considering that the company already possesses music licenses, there’s no mention as to how this service will differ from Microsoft’s Zune Music Pass, which is the music service currently available to Xbox subscribers. It’s still unclear whether Microsoft must acquire new licenses for its service and that will depend on how Microsoft wants to do with the new music service.

According the post, “Negotiations are still in a preliminary stage and the two sides have yet to drill down into all the specifics“. Microsoft has roughly outlined a service that could launch sometime this year and include streaming music as well as downloads.

A spokeswoman for the company said, “Microsoft does not comment on rumors and speculation.“

Google did much the same thing with Google Music and its Android operating system. In addition to Google, many of the top phone makers like HTC and Research In Motion are trying to break into the field.

As for Microsoft, we’ll keep you posted on the company’s music aspirations, stay tuned for more news and info on this topic by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

A recent report from Digitimes claims that the Android’s new OS dubbed “Jelly Bean” is scheduled to launch at some pint in the second quarter.The publication feels confident enough to quote a number of Taiwanese suppliers claiming that we will see a range of tablet devices and notebooks which are capable of running dual operating systems.

The publication also claims that vendors will be able to add Android 5.0 to a Windows 8-based tablet or notebook, allowing users to switch between the operating systems without a reboot.

Google could be looking at Android 5.0 Jelly Bean as a way to resurrect its notebook/netbook ambitions. Google already has a netbook OS, called Chrome, but it has failed to really grab any share. It is available in a handful of inexpensive netbooks from manufacturers such as Samsung.

The latest version of the Android operating system, known as Ice Cream Sandwich, was announced in May of last year before being showcased on the Galaxy Nexus smartphone later in October. Four months down the line and it seems that only approximately 1% of Android devices are running versions of Android 4.0, bring about big concerns and showing that the adoption of the latest OS has been a lot slower than expected.

With Microsoft getting set to release its brand new Windows 8 operating system in the third quarter of 2012, the speculation suggests that Google are looking for an end of quarter two release for Jelly Bean to provide competition for Windows 8.

Considering that the hardware requirements for Windows 8 would prevent users from installing a second OS on ARM-based PCs due to a locked Secure Boot system. What’s not known is if Microsoft’s manufacturing partners would have permission to ignore that when designing machines. What’s also interesting is that no mention of smartphones is made with respect to Android 5.0. Google specifically designed Android 4.0 to combine the best features of Android 3.2 with Android 2.3 and create a master platform that works equally well on smartphones and tablets. So far, only one Android 4.0 smartphone is available, though Android 4.0 tablets are expected to arrive soon. Android 4.0 has barely had a chance to get a foothold in the market.

Google also pushed its I/O developers conference back by six weeks, to the end of June rather than the middle of May. Does Google need this extra six weeks to finish work on products that will be announced at I/O?

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A recent post from Digitimes suggests that Windows Phone 7 Tango update would go live in March or April, based on Microsoft’s roadmap for Windows Phone outlined in a rumor.

The largest update, Apollo or possibly Windows Phone 8, was slated for its expected late 2012 release. However, a “large volume” of devices based on it would ship in the initial half of 2013.

The Tango updates are believed to be adding support for true native apps, more languages, lower memory requirements, and support for lower resolutions to cater to a primarily Asian demand for cheaper models. WP8/Apollo would fundamentally change the architecture to bring in similarities to Windows 8 without sacrificing app compatibility. It would get some Skype integration and support for considerably more modern hardware, such as multi-core chips, microSD storage, and HD displays.

Early supporters of Windows Phone 8 weren’t definite and appeared to be more speculation than definite fact. Dell and HP were floated as possible candidates for a comeback with Acer making a sequel. HTC, LG, and Samsung were put in some doubt after having been burned by low sales, although it’s doubtful they will drop Windows Phone given the likely discounts on Android device royalties they get for making a token amount of Windows Phones.

Stay tuned for more information by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

Indian government is planning a law that will require all phones to display how much electro-magnetic radiation they generate. Radiation is measured in SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) and the Indian limit has been lowered to match the USA’s 1.6W/kg, whereas before it followed the European ceiling of 2W/kg. But even handsets that meet this criterion may have to declare their SAR level, and also carry a message asking people to keep their calls or short or use SMS instead — implying that the Indian government regards radiation as dangerous at any level.

All the mobile handsets that will be manufactured, sold or imported from other countries in India will have to be checked for compliance of the SAR limit. The companies manufacturing handsets in India will be required to self-declare SAR value of each handset.

In case of imported handsets, apart from self-declaration of SAR value, manufacturers will have to specify the SAR information in their documentation and an appropriate authority will verify them.

A final list of SAR values of different mobile phones will be uploaded on the DoT and TEC websites. So far, India along with Europe, Japan, Taiwan and Australia have followed ICNIRP standards, while markets such as the United States, Canada and South Africa follow IEEE standards.

The government also wants the instructions in the consumer handset booklet or user manual to contain five new safety precautions, these include:

• Use a wireless, hands-free system with a low power Bluetooth emitter;
• Ensure that cellphone has a low SAR;
• Keep voice calls short or send text messages instead – an advice that applies especially to children, adolescents and pregnant women;
• Use cellphone when signal quality is good; and finally
• People with active medical implants should preferably keep mobile handsets at least 15cms away from the implant.

[Source: Time of India]

There were several rumors regarding the possibility of Apple’s next smartphone featuring NFC technology in the months leading up to Apple’s iPhone announcement in the fall. Many competitors in the market have had the wireless payment technology for some years but it really only started to gain some traction recently. As you can all tell, the rumors were ended up being false, since there isn’t any kind of NFC chipset in the iPhone 4S.

This doesn’t mean that Apple is completely looking over the technology though. The company was recently awarded a patent regarding Near Field Communications in mobile devices. According to the folks over at Patently Apple, Apple recently won its first NFC patent related to retail transactions. Their patent document explains a method of establishing a master/slave relationship amongst two smartphones, both of which use NFC. The whole procedure described in the patent sounds very similar to many of the rumors that were flying previously.

The patent seems to specifically narrow in on the technology being used in retail situations. What this means is that Apple may be amidst an NFC-based mobile payment system. It is quite possible but nothing is certain as of yet. Patent details can be found below (courtesy of Patently Apple):

Apple also recently updated its retail experience by opening up the option of utilizing Apple’s EasyPay application. The updated version of this application allows users to scan products that they plan to buy at Apple stores allowing you to read reviews and check prices, than ultimately give you the option to pay via credit card (allowing you to skip the long lines). The EasyPay application might be the foundation of something much bigger that Apple plans to venture in.

Would you like to see Apple using NFC technology in the next iteration of the iPhone? Share your thoughts below!

Source: Patently Apple

The enthusiast developers at ChevronWP7 have released their inexpensive Windows Phone unlocking tool, ChevronWP7 Labs. This tool provides users with a way to inexpensively “developer unlock” their device, providing them with two key capabilities:

• Inexpensively run self-created apps on a physical device — Normally, budding developers would need to pay for Microsoft’s expensive ($99 per year) developer program, App Hub for Windows Phone 7, to run self-made apps on a physical device. (Enthusiast developers can run self-made apps for free in an emulator.) But ChevronWP7 Labs provides the same developer unlock capability for just $9. Not $9 per year; $9. So this is a very inexpensive way to run homebrew, self-made apps on physical devices. And if you decide to “go pro” later, you can do so after having had fully-developed your app, not before.

• Run homebrew apps — With a normal, retail Windows Phone handset, you can only run apps that Microsoft provides through the Windows Phone Marketplace. However, if you developer unlock your phone, using ChevronWP7 Labs or via Microsoft’s expensive developer program, you can also run homebrew apps that were made by other developers.

One thing that ChevronWP7 Labs doesn’t do, and this has been miscommunicated via many blog posts over the past few days, is jailbreak a Windows Phone.

“Jailbreaking is typically done to give you unfettered root access to the device,” says ChevronWP7′s Rafael Rivera, who is also (full disclosure) my Windows Secrets co-author. “We don’t do that. We enable developers to write code for the device without sacrificing the IP protection that Microsoft has put in place. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

To find out more about this tool, please read the introductory blog post, ChevronWP7 Labs Availability, or check out the ChevronWP7 Labs web site.

Source: ChevronWP7

Update: According to the Chevron WP7 team, there are some delays and issues they are working with. Wait times to unlock your device may be a bit large right now. We would recommend waiting until further notice. The two tweets mentioned the following:

We’re aware some users are still experiencing issues with the updated client. We’re looking into them.

We have over 400 people in queue now. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND people to AVOID attempting to unlock right now as it is a very very long wait.