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TAIWANESE GADGET MAKER Asus’ next generation Transformer tablet has been leaked by the Thai web site NCCC.

The leaked images include a document from Quietek specifying the device as the TF300T. This sounds like it will be the next model following the original Transformer TF101 and the Transformer Prime TF201.

The next generation Transformer looks like a cross between the first two models. It has the thin and rounded design of the Transformer Prime but the rear panel looks more like the original.

It will have the same 10.1in screen but no other specifications have been revealed. It’s possible the tablet will be a budget version of the Transformer Prime for those who can’t stump up the high price tag.

We assume it will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich like the Transformer Prime and come with a keyboard dock. The change in the rear panel is likely to be due to the WiFi and GPS problems that the Transformer Prime reportedly has suffered recently.

Asus said the metallic casing could affect the GPS signal and removed the GPS from the tablet’s specification sheet. Yesterday Asus again denied that there are hardware problems with the hybrid tablet.

There are a lot of unknowns, including whether the firm will announce the tablet at this month’s Mobile World Congress. µ

KOREAN HARDWARE GIANT Samsung is reportedly delaying its announcement of the Galaxy S III smartphone.

The firm had been expected to announce its next flagship smartphone at next month’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, where it announced the Galaxy S II last year. However, The Verge said Samsung has chosen to wait until later in the year.

There’s no date set for the announcement apart from that it will be “out there before the Summer”. Samsung is apparently unhappy with a long time gap between global and US availability.

Unsurprisingly Samsung is keeping quiet on the subject and said it doesn’t comment on rumours. It told The INQUIRER, “We will share our plan to announce the new product when we are ready.”

With the US being an important market maybe Samsung needs more time to get the launch together so the yanks don’t have to wait so long to get their hands on it. If Samsung doesn’t unveil the Galaxy S III at MWC then it will probably focus on tablets and maybe new Windows Phone handsets.

Some possible specifications for the handset came to light last September. They include a 2GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage and a 10MP camera. Of course, we expect it will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

It might also have a 4.65in super AMOLED III screen with 1280×1024 resolution and near field communication (NFC) technology. MWC is fast approaching, so we will soon find out what happens. µ

Work on CyanogenMod 9 continues: yesterday saw the release of an experimental development build for the Samsung Galaxy Note, the first port of the new Ice Cream Sandwich-based OS to support the device. Samsung's official Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade for the Note is scheduled to be released before the end of the first quarter of 2012.

The new port is labeled "experimental" for good reason – while wi-fi, cellular data, audio, the touchscreen, and the GPS and sensors should be working properly, Bluetooth, battery usage, MTP mode, and the camera aren't. The team says that the camera won't work until it gets access to one of Samsung's official Android 4.0 builds for the Note, while the build's current graphics drivers are Gingerbread-based and can cause some rendering problems. As with any in-development software, you should hesitate to put this on any phone you rely on in your day-to-day wheelings and dealings.

While CM9 builds to this point have mostly targeted Samsung phones, as development continues we should see builds made available for most CM7-compatible devices beginning with the most recent hardware and working backward (excluding the original Motorola Droid). The download page for the Note port confirms that the CyanogenMod team is still targeting a January or February date for a final release, though we probably won't see all older devices supported until a few months after that.

Source: XDA

MOBILE SOFTWARE HOUSE Google has started rolling out Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) to the Samsung Nexus S smartphone.

Much to the delight of its users the Nexus S is receiving an upgrade to ICS just in time for Christmas. The announcement means that the handset is the first to be bumped up to the most recent version of Android.

Google said, “We’re rolling out Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, to GSM/UMTS Nexus S devices over the coming month, starting today. Enjoy the tasty update! Once you get the update, check out some tips and shortcuts for getting started at the Android 4.0 Help Center.”

The Nexus S was previously running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, so Google has helpfully detailed some of the changes to help users avoid getting confused. ICS is a mash-up of Android 2.3 Gingerbread and Android 3.x Honeycomb.

Google warns that some apps might need upgrading before they will work with ICS and suggests that users upgrade to the latest version of Flash. We heard at the beginning of the month that the firm was testing out ICS on employees’ Nexus S handsets so we suspected that the upgrade might come this month.

If you have a Nexus S smartphone but haven’t received the upgrade automatically then you can go check for it manually to get your festive treat. µ

SOFTWARE HOUSE Microsoft has won a victory against Motorola over alleged patent infringement in Android.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Motorola Mobility infringes Microsoft patents that cover the use of mobile scheduling and meeting tools that appear in Motorola Mobility’s Android devices.

This is an initial ruling and is just one of many accusations thrown at Motorola by Microsoft in August last year.

“We have a responsibility to our employees, customers, partners and shareholders to safeguard our intellectual property,” said David Howard, Microsoft corporate VP and deputy general counsel for litigation at the time. “Motorola is infringing our patents and we are confident that the ITC will rule in our favor.”

This is the second time that the ITC has sided against the Android operating system and yesterday it ruled that HTC is infringing an Apple patent.

Like HTC, Motorola Mobility was glad that it was found to be infringing only a small number of patent claims.

“We are very pleased that the majority of the rulings were favorable to Motorola Mobility,” said Scott Offer, SVP and general counsel at Motorola Mobility in a statement. “The initial determination may provide clarity on the definition of the Microsoft 566 patent for which a violation was found and will help us avoid infringement of this patent in the U.S. market.”

Patent litigation is part of the mobile world we live in, so we can expect more of the same in 2012. µ

TABLET MAKER Asus is being sued by Hasbro over the Transformer Prime because of its name.

The toymaking company has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles asking for an injunction banning the device as well as payment of damages. Hasbro markets the Transformer action toys, one of which is called Optimus Prime. It claims that Asus is violating its trademark.

Hasbro told Paid Content, “Hasbro continues to aggressively protect its brands and products and the specific actions we are taking today against Asus underscores yet again Hasbro’s willingness to pursue companies who misappropriate our intellectual property for their own financial gain.”

The Transformer Prime is a follow-up device to the Transformer, which Asus launched in May. Hasbro never bothered to take any action over that tablet so we’re surprised that it has taken it this long.

There’s a chance that Hasbro will lose the lawsuit because the products are so different and therefore it’s hard for a consumer to get confused between them.

The Transformer Prime isn’t available in the UK yet. If Asus is forced to withdraw the device from the market this will no doubt disappoint large numbers of customers who have pre-ordered the tablet or are planning to splash out on one next year.

We’ve contacted Asus for its response to this situation but have had no reply yet. µ

CANADIAN MOBILE FIRM Research in Motion (RIM) has proudly though belatedly announced that it can now offer its users Angry Birds on their Playbook tablets.

The Playbook has been somewhat slow to impress people and has not set the tablet market alight in ways that perhaps the firm had expected.

Still, it is no doubt a lot more fun to use now that you can play a game on it that has been available on other devices for more than a year.

Three versions of the game are available on the Playbook, the original Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio, which was released to coincide with a film of the same name.

You know the drill, you fire birds at pigs in order to kill them and save unhatched eggs. Given that the birds you send die in the explosions it is possibly a rather self defeating exercise.

Anyway, it is in the Blackberry App store now. We could only find the US price, despite looking in the UK store, and this is .99 for each game. µ

A HACKER has rejigged Apple’s voice-activated personal assistant Siri to control a TV, with some interesting results.

The hacker, Tood Treece has posted a short blog and a video of Siri in action, which can change channels and switch the TV off with just voice commands. However, some additional hardware has been introduced for the system to make it work.

Siri responds to questions such as, “Siri, can you change the channel to the History channel?” and it responds with information about what’s playing on that channel and asks the user to confirm the switch.

We particularly like the response Siri gives after discovering Piers Morgan Tonight is on CNN. “Do you really want to watch this crap?”

The Iphone sends a command to an Arduino microcontroller via transmission control protocol (TCP) and the required information is gathered from a TV guide web site.

This project is based on the same open source proxy code as the thermostat hack we saw last month. It’s an expensive way to control your TV, but Siri type technology is looking more and more likely to be the future of controlling the home. µ

Siri Universal Remote from toddtreece on Vimeo.

THE MAN who co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak has accepted a Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone from Google.

According to the Telegraph, Wozniak was given a Samsung Galaxy Nexus device when he visited Google’s campus.

In November 2010, Wozniak appeared to tell Dutch paper De Telegraaf that the Android operating system was better than IOS at the time.

However, Wozniak subsequently claimed he had been misquoted and that he would never say Android was better than IOS.

Last month, Wozniak told The INQUIRER that IOS 5 bricked two of his Iphones, one of which was unrecoverable and had to be replaced.

His favourite feature of the new operating system would have been Siri, the voice activated personal assistant, if it wasn’t specific to the Iphone 4S. He also said that he enjoyed using the greeting card making app because it’s unusual.

In general he admitted to not really noticing the changes in IOS 5 and asked us to make a list of them so he could pick more easily. µ

ANOTHER HANDSET designed by Taiwanese phone maker HTC has been leaked, following the leak of the firm’s first quad-core handset yesterday.

According to BGR, the HTC Ville will be one of the company’s Mobile World Congress announcements alongside the quad-core Edge handset.

The Ville is expected in April 2012 with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and, for the first time, HTC Sense 4.0. The device will feature a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display and is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon Series 4 processor.

The HTC Ville will also have an 8MP rear illuminated camera with HD 1080p video capture support.

It will be less than 8mm thick, have Beats audio and will not feature near field communications (NFC) apparently. It will be a HSPA+ device powered by a 1,650 mAh battery.

We reported yesterday that the HTC Edge is set for a launch in the first half of next year and will have an Nvidia Tegra 3 Kal-el quad-core processor. The handset looks similar to the Titan but will run Android instead of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango.

The only other device we know of that will definitely come with the Tegra 3 chip is the upcoming Transformer Prime tablet and notebook that Asus unveiled today.

The Edge could also come with version 4.0 of Sense and a bunch of HTC services such as ‘Listen’, ‘Read’ and ‘Play’ for music, books and games, respectively. HTC ‘Watch’, its film rental service will offer high definition content. µ