Is this the iPhone 5?

Here’s the video so you can see it for yourselves. And honestly, it does look legit no matter how hard it is to believe a working iPhone 5 unit has escaped Apple’s stringent security.

Update: All evidence leads to this video being an incredibly carefully staged fake. We noticed that when launching the two apps – Safari and the game – the guy never lifts his thumb off the icon and iOS doesn’t work that way. The game level also starts without anyone touching the Touch To Start button. Then the dates on the lockscreen and on the homescreen don’t match up. The guy also doesn’t show the phone all around and even makes a point of hiding the home button the whole time. We bet the whole thing it’s probably shot on video and then used much like that elaborate joke we did for April’s Fools Day back in 2010 – pretending we’ve installed iOS on the HTC Hero. So what do you say?

The device was allegedly bought off eBay and much to the surprise of the buyer (and everyone else) it was found to be running Ice Cream Sandwich. Of course, the buyer then wasted no time in putting up a video of the UI for everyone’s viewing pleasure.

One look at the UI and we can see it matches what we have already seen of it. The homescreen now has four icons at the bottom next to the application drawer button, the folder function seems to have had a makeover, there’s a new look notification screen and an application drawer that looks straight out of Honeycomb as does the new task manager with large thumbnail images of the running apps.

What we haven’t seen before is the new lock screen. You can now see that you will be able to launch the camera app right from the lock screen. Android phones from HTC and other OEMs have had this functionality before but it’s only now that Android is getting it by default. Hopefully this feature is customizable so you will be able to add other functions as well other than the camera app.

The camera app itself is new as well. Other than the UI changes, you can also see the addition of a panorama mode

The changes are nice and we’re sure there will be more under the hood that we are not seeing in the video. Hopefully, stuff like GPU accelerated UI and optimization for CPUs with multiple cores will be present as well.

It finds itself as the most compact of its brothers measuring just 102.8mm x 57.2mm x 12.9mm and sporting a 3.2″ HVGA display. The Explorer comes into HTC’s product range underneath the Wildfire/Wildfire S and puts the Brew-based HTC Smart out to pasture whilst it’s at it.

Being the scrawny new handset in the smartphone world can be daunting, but the Explorer has got a decent amount of hardware to keep it afloat. It essentially runs the Wildfire S hardware rebodied, but with HTC’s intentions to make this their most affordable smartphone yet, aspects like the camera resolution have been turned down to 3.15MP (from the Wildfire S’ 5MP unit) for example.

Beyond this however, the Explorer promises a full Android smartphone experience, complete with the latest Sense 3.5 UI. There’s full web browsing with Flash support, social network integration and many other popular features that HTC consistently improve on.

A couple of extra features, unique to the Explorer that HTC are pleased to point out are the inbuilt data monitor, which based on the users they expect to go for this device, allows you to track and manage your data allowance and usage on your package, without looking for a 3rd party management system.

One other key ability that the Explorer possess is an exchangeable back cover system. Nothing new on its own, but the first in the current line of HTC droids, presumably just to mix things up. Colors include; Active Black, Active Navy, Metallic Black and Metallic Navy when purchased, with India-based customers having the additional options of Active Royal and Metallic Royal. Extra covers can be purchased separately in a further 4 colors at least; Active Blue, Active Orange, Active White and Active Purple.

The HTC Explorer should become available in Q4 this year with planned launches in key markets in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Samsung also has a pair of high-end mobile cameras headed for the production line. One is a 16MP main shooter with a back illuminated sensor for better low-light performance (expected to ship in November) and the other is a 1.2MP module with 720p@30fps capture capabilities for front-facing cameras.

We can’t quite make out the Google-translated press release but it seems the front facing camera will have 1/8.2 sensor (that sounds pretty small, but we’ll see) and the ISO of the main shooter goes up to 1,600.

Going back to Exynos, it’s built using the 32nm process and was designed with 3D performance in mind. Gameloft is apparently showing interest and will offer several titles to put the new SoC to good work.

The Korea-bound Galaxy S II LTE and Galaxy S II HD LTE will sport Exynos chipsets with the CPU clocked at 1.5GHz, which makes them the most likely candidates for being the first phones with the new chipset.

Samsung already has a 1.4GHz version of Exynos that’s powering the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Tab 7.7, but there’s no info what kind of change in performance we can expect in the 3D department (beyond the obvious gain from the faster clock speed).

Closing the factory in Cluj, Romania, will leave approximately 2200 people unemployed. Nokia promises to help those people find new jobs though.

Additional 1300 employees from Location & Commerce (NAVTEQ, Social services, etc) Nokia division will be affected by those reorganizations. Those are spread around the world through Berlin and Bonn in Germany; Boston, Chicago and Malvern in USA; and even more cities. Nokia will close the sites in Bonn and Malvern, while the rest will be probably reduced.

So, after reorganizing the R&D departments, Nokia is now targeting the production lines. According to Nokia, the Asian factories are the most productive in making feature phones since lots of suppliers are working on Asian territory. So all Nokia plants outside Asia will continue to manufacture smartphones but the focus will gradually shift to “customer and market-specific software and sales package customization”.

As things are shaping up, this won’t end well for at least 3500 employees.

The Korean company has already sent-out the invitations for the Unpacked event, which will be held at the CTIA expo and will be co-hosted by Google. And that might mean just one thing – it will be the event that will see the introduction of Android Ice cream sandwich and its first bearer – the Nexus Prime.

This also aligns nicely with the lengthy video demo of new Android version that we saw this morning. The platform seemed in pretty good shape on that demo, so it should be ready to hit the stage.

And it’s not just the new reincarnation of the world’s best-selling popular OS that deserves attention. The Samsung Nexus Prime should be a pretty hot piece of technology itself with its rumored 4.65″ HD Super AMOLED screen and powerful Exynos chipset with a couple of 1.5 GHz CPU cores.

October seems like the month that will set the tone for the next year or so in the smartphone race.

We’ll start with the IP57-certified Sharp AQUOS PHONE 102SH. This one is built around a 4.5″ LCD of HD resolution (329dpi) that supports glasses-free 3D and a TI OMAP 4430 chipset with its 1GHz dual-core CPU and 1GB of RAM.

The element-resistant smartphone is just 9.7mm thick and runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Its main camera does 12 megapixel stills and 1080p videos, while connectivity includes everything from 3G to Infrared.

Panasonic Lumix Phone 101P

Next comes the Panasonic Lumix Phone 101P with its 4″ qHD LCD and 13 megapixel camera with Lumix sensor. It shares some of the major features of the AQUOS 102SH – the TI OMAP 4430 chipset, the waterproof body and the Android 2.3 platform.

The Panasonic Lumix Phone 101P weighs in a mere 128g and measures just 9.8mm in thickness. The Lumuix Phone 101P and the AQUOS PHONE 102SH are also sporting digital TV antennas as customary for Japanese high-end handsets.

Dell Streak Pro 101DL

Finally, we have the Dell Streak Pro 101DL, which makes it the third Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone announced today. Its 4.3″ qHD AMOLED display sounds really exciting and the Snapdragon chipset with dual 1.5GHz Scorpion cores is not bad to have either.

The Streak Pro 101DL, however, is not as much of a shutterbug as the other two. Its camera maximum resolution is “only” 8 megapixels, but it does have the same excellent connectivity.

No wonder RIM are extra cautious. They had a couple of scouts in touchscreen territory that didn’t return. The Storm phones were exposed despite their SurePress disguise. Now, this time RIM are not beating the drum. Their first real touch-only phone doesn’t seem to warrant its own name. It’s simply a regular team member. A keyboardless model in the Torch lineup.

We bet any of the Storms would kill to be in its place rather than a footnote in BlackBerry history. A history heading towards tablets, history in which the likes of the Torch 9860 will be playing an increasingly greater role.

BlackBerry Torch 9860

BlackBerry’s latest OS 7 and the real-deal touchscreen experience will help the Torch 9860 find a niche of its own. Not that BlackBerry purists will ever get over the lack of a physical keyboard, but the Torch 9860 is not looking at them.

Instead, it has plenty to offer to long-term BlackBerry users with a taste for experiment. The Torch 9860 is part of a new generation of 1.2GHz-powered phones running the latest OS 7. It promises a new touchscreen experience and better specs across the board.

In case you wonder though about QWERTY in the list of cons – it felt right to sound a warning to traditional BlackBerry users. It’s too radical a change. So, the Torch 9860 will have a massive point to prove. You can take the QWERTY out of a messenger but never the messenger out of a BlackBerry. Coming up next is our pros and cons list, so let’s get down to business.

Key features:

3.7″ 16M-color TFT touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
Quad-band GSM support and quad-band 3G with HSDPA
Single-core 1.2GHz QC8655 processor
768MB RAM
BlackBerry OS v7
BlackBerry’s proprietary email service and data security
Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity
GPS receiver and BlackBerry maps preloaded, digital compass
5 megapixel camera with autofocus and a LED flash
HD video recording, 720p@30fps
2.5GB of inbuilt storage
4GB MicroSD card prebundled
Optical trackpad
Four physical buttons at the bottom
Solid build
Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
DivX and Xvid video support
Office document editor
3.5 mm audio jack
Smart dialing
Ultra-fast boot times

Main disadvantages:

BlackBerry Internet Service account is a must to enjoy all phone features
No physical QWERTY keyboard
No videocalling and no front facing camera either
No NFC
No Flash support for the web browser
No FM radio
No haptic feedback

The Torch 9860 has all the makings of a fine smartphone, down to the very price tag. That last one is no joke. RIM have always charged a premium on their phones. Nowhere to run if you need their service.

It’s the latest generation however that’s finally becoming relevant in the outside world. More and better features, and refined user experience, RIM are keen to catch up with the standard-setters. It won’t happen overnight and the Torch 9860 probably won’t live to see it. But it won’t be sorry for not trying.

BlackBerry Torch 9860 live photos

As you can see above, the covers, designed for the yet to be announced iPhone, come courtesy of Case-Mate – one of the major suppliers of this type of accessories for the current iPhone generation, and feature three different varieties. In case you are interested how they look, click here.

As you can see in the picture above, the Nokia Sabre was mentioned along with its Searay counterpart, and two Samsung devices, dubbed Yukon and Wembley. Unfortunately, there is no available information on the device’s specifications at this point.

As far as the Samsung devices are concerned, there is a strong probability that one of them might be the recently announced Omnia W.