Is this the Sony LT29i Hayabusa first photo?

Sony’s LT29i codenamed Hayabusa just can’t wait for its official announcement. Its first leak was back in January - targeted launch and price. Then in April we got some leaked camera shots taken with the Hayabusa.

Today we finally got to see what the smartphone will look like thanks to a blurry cam photo. It’s really bad and you can see almost no hardware details, but one thing is sure – this is not Sony smartphone we've seen before.

Anyway, the Hayabusa is rumored to be a successor to the Xperia S and pack a 4.55-inch HD screen, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor (probably ST-Ericsson high-end SoC or Krait) and a 13 megapixel camera. The device should run on Android ICS.

According to the first leak, the Hayabusa should launch this July with a price tag of about €500. According to the same roadmap we should expect one more high-end Sony device to launch this year (in September). Judging by its €560 estimated price tag, it might turn out a tablet, though.

Apple releases iOS 5.1.1 update for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

Apple released iOS 5.1.1 today for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. It is just a minor update that focuses on bug fixing rather than adding any new features.

The following is the official changelog for the new update.

As you can tell from the screenshot above, the update was also released as an OTA download for devices running iOS 5 and above and weighs in at just 54MB. If you have an iOS device running a version prior to iOS 5, you'd have to connect to iTunes to download the latest update.

We haven't really noticed any of these bugs in the previous software version so we can't tell if the update really fixed them or not. If you did, then let us know in the comments below.

P.S. Reportedly, the new software can safely be jailbroken (tethered) by using last month's redsn0w.

iOS and Android users be afraid, be very afraid! BlackBerry 10 is coming.

       New WP-powered Samsung 'Mandel' images leak

We first heard about the Samsung Mandel at the end of last year, when it got out that both Samsung and HTC were planning on launching a pair of LTE-enabled Windows Phones sometime in 2012, most likely by the end of Q2.

Whether or not the Mandel will meet that deadline remains to be seen, but we now got a couple of leaked images, showing us what the eventual Samsung smartphone will look like.

The glossy pearl white paintjob looks a bit familiar, especially in light of yesterday's announcement of the Galaxy S III. Could this mean a WP variant of the new Galaxy flagship sometime in the future?

The second image, posted on a Chinese Windows Phone 7 forum, shows us an i667 model number, which is eerily similar to the i677 model number of the Samsung Focus Flash. Perhaps this points to the Mandel becoming the next member of the Samsung Focus family?

Obviously, no word is available on pricing or availability yet, but we'll update you if we hear more about this device.

       The beast released: Samsung Galaxy S III is official

Samsung has just unveiled its new flagship smartphone - the Android-running Galaxy S III. The ICS-running device has some big shoes to fill, but judging by that specs sheet, it might just be up to it.

   
Samsung Galaxy SIII official shots

Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III at a glance:

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps; 4G (regional))
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
• Dimensions: 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm, 133 g
• Display: 4.8" 16M-color HD (720 x 1280 pixels) Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, Gorilla Glass
• CPU: Quad-core 32nm ARM Cortex A9 1.4 GHz processor, Exynos 4212 Quad chipset
• GPU: Mali-400MP
• RAM: 1GB
• OS: Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
• Memory: 16/32/64GB storage, microSD card slot
• Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and image
stabilization; Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps, LED flash, 1.9MP front facing camera, video-calls
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0+HS, standard microUSB port,
GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio, TV-out, USB-on-the-go, NFC
• Battery: 2100 mAh
• Misc: TouchWiz 4.0 UI, DivX/XviD codec support, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor, Swype text input, RGB light

  
Samsung Galaxy S III official shots

The international version of the Samsung Galaxy S III (packing just HSPA+ connectivity) will be released on May 29 and Europe will be the first market to get it. The LTE-enabled version will begin its rollout from the US in June.

       LG has no future plans for Windows Phone devices

LG is dropping from the Windows Phone race and has no plans to release any gadgets of that kind. The decision is not final, of course, and LG will continue its partnership with Microsoft.

As you can imagine, LG’s U-turn is based on the really weak sales and most probably the threat from the Microsoft/Nokia team.

Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer has a scheduled visit in Korea in May to explore partnership opportunities. LG is most probably on the list too, so we’ll have to see what happens then. Keep in mind though, that Samsung will surely be pushing WP8 running devices later this year, which will be an additional threat for everyone else.

Anyway we look at this, it seems a wise decision on LG's behalf - at least for the time being. The Lumia lineup is the most popular WP brand and, combined with the low user demand, it is quite natural for LG to focus completely on Google's Android OS.