A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Acer pop-up store in Bondi Junction and put down my debit card for an Iconia W511, a convertible tablet in the style of the Asus Transformer series, but running Windows 8 and with a SIM slot for 3G connectivity. It didn’t have to be this way. In a parallel universe, I would have bought a Chromebook or a Nexus 10 and I would’ve thrived in the growing ecosystem of Android or Chrome OS apps. In the end, however, I made the purchasing decision I did because, based on what’s happened in the tech industry lately, I came to this realisation: that Google has shown no long-term interest in letting me …

A little surprise this afternoon: we’ve found that JB Hi-Fi has started to sell the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 here in Australia as of today! Our own editor-in-chief Josh caught sight of the Note setup and a box of the sweet tablets in a Melbourne store earlier this afternoon; when prompted, a JB representative noted that yes, these are on sale as of today, at least at that store.

We don’t yet have details on price, but as soon as we know we’ll update this post with pricing details. Update: we’re looking at $456 for the 16GB WiFi model.  We’re also finding out if other JB stores also have stock of the Note 8.0.

Are any of you holding out …

It’s arrived in Australia a little later than expected, but the LG Optimus G has finally landed on our shores and is on sale now from Telstra. With competitors like the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4 fast approaching, and its cousin the Nexus 4 attracting plenty of attention, how does LG’s latest Australian flagship superphone fare? Read on for our full review!

Telstra, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile have announced that they will be carrying the just-launched Samsung Galaxy S4 on their respective networks. All listed carriers will have more details in the coming weeks closer to launch concerning pre-orders and pricing. Interested Telstra customers they can register to receive more details about the Galaxy S4 release date at this link, and interested Vodafone customers can catch up on the report on Vodafone’s blog post here.

We’re yet to receive an official response from Optus, but given that Virgin Mobile has announced it is carrying Samsung’s latest flagship, it’s all but guaranteed that Optus will as well.

Update from Samsung:

“Following the massive success of the Samsung GALAXY S III in

…

Because I’m a huge camera geek, the amount of marketing buzzwords thrown in to describe the HTC One’s camera really intrigued me. “Ultrapixels”, you say? 3x the light capturing ability, you say? I don’t believe in buzzspeak, I believe in results; so I decided at the HTC launch to put the One up against the best cameras in the smartphone business: the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Nokia 808 PureView. Check out the sample images after the break.

Last night, at an event hosted at the MCA overlooking Sydney Harbour, HTC Australia gave local and regional tech media their first hands on look at the just announced HTC One. Armed with a camera and a selection of the current flagship phones out today, we put the One through its paces. Read on for plenty of images and our detailed impressions!

With the release of the much-awaited Sony Xperia Z in Australia fast approaching, we thought it was about time we got some hands-on time with the device here in Australia – so we did! Read on for more pictures and our first impressions.

If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on a Nexus 4 but have been frustrated by near-immediate sellouts and lack of supply on Google Play, we have some good news for you. LG has sent through a press release stating that the Nexus 4 will be available through Harvey Norman stores on the 1st of February, both outright and with Optus plans. Pre-orders are available now for stock available on the 1st.

Notably, Harvey Norman will only be selling the 16GB version of the Nexus 4, at an outright price of $496, a premium of almost $100 over the listed price on Google Play. On-contract prices with Optus haven’t been announced, but will be available on the Harvey …

Just in time  for Christmas, the 4G version of the Samsung Galaxy Note II is now available through Telstra’s website. There’s no mention of availability in stores in the communication we’ve received from Telstra, but delivery of the phone is free when ordered online. The Galaxy Note II 4G is available for $84/month over 24 months on the Telstra Every Day Connect 60 Plan.

We’ve already reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Note II 4G, and according to Josh the Galaxy Note II is a great device that bridges the gap between  phone and tablet and can work well in both use cases.

Are any of our readers going to bite at this? Let us know below!

Source: Telstra

In case the latest batch of quad-core mobile processors found in the Nexus 4 and the Samsung Galaxy Note II weren’t fast enough for you, details of NVIDIA’s upcoming processor, code named “Wayne”, have leaked on the Chinese forum Chiphell. A slide purportedly from an internal NVIDIA presentation outlines what will presumably become the Tegra 4 SoC, and it’s looking mighty juicy. In summary, we’re given details about a quad-core Cortex-A15 design, with a much improved GPU, support for ultra high resolution displays, and a move to a 28nm manufacturing process at TSMC.

A recent job posting on LinkedIn has sparked rumours about whether Nokia, purveyor of the Lumia range of Windows Phones, was poised to explore making an Android phone. Although quite a few blogs picked up on the story, it was quickly debunked by Nokia, stating that the job listing was in reference to their Here mapping solutions, which are headed to Android.

The persistence of the Nokia-Android rumours is a testament to the number of people who crave the flexibility and benefits of the Android OS combined with the well-respected design and construction of Nokia hardware. However, this is wishful thinking; it makes little business sense for Nokia to adopt Android given its current position, and given the cutthroat …

‘Big things do come in small packages’

Telstra’s 4G range of Android phones has expanded with the introduction of the Motorola RAZR M, the little brother of the flagship RAZR HD. However, “little brother” doesn’t mean “rubbish phone” – this is a well-made phone that matches the flagship devices of today and proves once and for all that small phones don’t need to have big compromises. Read on for more details!