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FINNISH PHONE MAKER Nokia has served up its second Windows Phone device and the handset is almost a carbon copy of the Lumia 800 in terms of specifications.

The Lumia 710 features a 3.7in Clearblack display, a 1.4GHz single-core Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage.

The Windows Phone operating system is loaded on the handset and the mid-range price tag – free on a £20 contract – might make it an attractive buy. µ

INTEL is gearing up to push into the smartphone market by launching Android devices that run Intel Atom Medfield chips. The chip maker has created a reference design to give manufacturers an idea of what the final design could look like.

Key specifications include the 1.6GHz Intel Atom Medfield single core processor, a 4.03in screen, 8-megapixel camera and support for Android Ice Cream Sandwich. There is no set release date yet, but Intel will need to move as quickly as possible if it wants to take on ARM.

TAIWANESE GADGET MAKER HTC has updated the Flyer tablet to Android 3.2 Honeycomb so we take a look at what’s changed.

The device has been bumped up from Android 2.3 Gingerbread to the tablet specific edition. This means the hardware buttons are no longer in use, apart from the dedicated stylus button.

Naturally the user interface looks different and the stylus functionality has been enhanced, so HTC must have read our review of the Flyer. There’s no word on an upgrade to version Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich but our fingers are crossed. µ

THE INQUIRER met up with US tablet maker Motorola earlier today in central London where we got up close and personal with the Xoom 2 tablet.

In the video above we take a few minutes to look at the smaller of the two models. It’s 8.2in as opposed to 10.1in and is called the Media Edition. The tablet comes with Android 3.2 Honeycomb, a Texas Instruments 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

Some things we forgot to mention in the demonstration are the microHDMI port, splash guard technology and the Motocast app for remote file access. The tablet will be available to buy within the next few weeks priced at around £360.

We also got a look at the larger Xoom 2 so be sure to check out our hands-on review of both tablets. µ

STRUGGLING PHONE VENDOR Nokia’s Lumia 800 is the first high-end smartphone from the Finnish phone maker that runs Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system.

Key specifications include a 1.4GHz single core Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and an 8MP camera.

Nokia is set to launch the phone in several European markets including the UK during November, with pricing around €470. µ

ONE THING that separates the Iphone 4S and the Iphone 4 is Siri, the voice controlled personal assistant, so here we take a look and see what it can and cannot do.

Siri comes with IOS 5, but if you’re upgrading from an Iphone 4 or older handset then Siri won’t be included. You can ask the talking software questions or tell it to carry out tasks on your Iphone 4S.

The software is very accurate most of the time, but as you’ll see in the video it isn’t quite perfect. It can do a lot of helpful things if you don’t mind talking to your Iphone. The biggest drawback and disappointment at the moment is the lack of location based services here in the UK. µ

An Intel engineer by the name of Eric Gur started an AVSForum thread indicating he had begun work on enabling Quick Sync support in FFDShow's video decoder. Quick Sync is typically known as Intel's hardware accelerated transcoding engine found in Sandy Bridge, however there are both encode and decode aspects to the engine. Gur's work focuses on the latter.

To access Intel's hardware video decode acceleration application developers typically turn to the DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) API. Sandy Bridge's hardware decode engine interfaces with DXVA and can return decoded frames not run on the x86 CPU cores. As we've lamented in the past, open source DXVA decoders haven't typically worked all that great for Sandy Bridge (or previous generation Intel GPUs, for that matter). FFDShow users have often avoided DXVA solutions as they can't be used with any custom post processing FFDShow filters.

Gur's Quick Sync filter for FFDShow gets around all of this. By accessing SNB's video decoder through Quick Sync, FFDShow gets full hardware acceleration by going through the Intel Media SDK and not through DXVA directly. It can also be used on non-Sandy Bridge systems, but, with higher CPU usage. The filter is obviously unsupported software but head on over to AVSForum if you're interested in checking it out. If you want more technical details check out the related thread on the Doom9 Forums.

TAIWANESE PHONE MAKER HTC’s Sensation XE is first phone in a line of smartphones to feature Beats audio technology.

It improves on its predecessor the Sensation with upgrades to a 1.5GHz dual core processor and an extended battery. It’s available from 1 October on a £26 per month contract, or around £500 SIM-free.

When used with Beats by Dr Dre in-ear headphones, the handset automatically switches to the bespoke Beats by Dr Dre sound profile, delivering audio tracks tuned specifically for the headphones.

The HTC Sensation XE ships with an 8GB or 16GB microSD card, and the exclusive Beats by Dr Dre in-ear headphones feature a remote control, allowing you to pause, play or skip through tracks and answer or end calls while the phone is in your pocket. µ

RESEARCH IN MOTION’S Blackberry Torch 2 retains the same hybrid touch-screen and keypad design as its predecessor, with the majority of changes under the hood.

RIM will ship the 3.2in smartphone with a 1.2GHz processor, 8GB of internal storage and Blackberry OS 7.

The handset is aimed at those who like a large touch screen alongside the traditional Qwerty keyboard.

The Torch 2 is set to go on sale in the UK during September, and will be available on major networks. Pricing is yet to be confirmed. µ

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