Did Samsung show off the Galaxy S III at CES?

With CES behind us, we’re now looking forward to the year’s next big mobile event – Mobile World Congress. Known as the premier big show for all things mobile related, rumors have been hinting of late that we’ll be seeing the Samsung Galaxy S III in the flesh at the event, but interestingly enough, it's possible that we might’ve seen it already.

During Samsung’s CES press conference, they covered a wide array of products from their portfolio, like cameras and other appliances, but at one point during the event when they were talking about the neat features of their Samsung WV850F camera, an interesting looking handset popped up. If you happen to watch the video, at around the 7:10 mark, we begin to see a handset that possibly might be the Samsung Galaxy S III.

Looking very closely at it, we find a device that seems to embody the qualities we’ve come to expect to be a part of a next-generation smartphone – like a super thin bezel and generous sized display. Aside from showing how the smartphone can control the zoom functions with the camera, we don’t get a sneak peek to anything else regarding the handset in question. Nevertheless, it surely makes your head turn knowing that this is possibly the next Galaxy S III.

No doubt there’s going to be a lot of focus surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S III between now and the official start of MWC, but of course, it’ll be an interesting few weeks leading up to the festivities. Still, the handset in the video could also be none other than some sort of mockup or concept they concocted for the show, but nonetheless, we’re sure there’s going to be a lot of excitement around it.

 

New website dedicated to modding Grand Theft Auto III on Android

The site was created by one of the more outspoken and involved people over on XDA named ThexJoker and is still fairly new, having launched almost the same time as the game did. There isn't a whole lot of information over there considering how new it is but we did find a few gems to toy around with such as changing the radio station in-game to play your own MP3 files and a tweak to the control physics that provides some rather unique gameplay such as being able to drive up building walls.

If you are still modding your Grand Theft Auto III game on your Android device, you might want to check this site out and see what else you can do. Of course we will keep publishing modding information here as well. There are also plenty of resources over on the XDA-Forums as well. You can also send us any information and screenshots/instructions on the mods you use as well.

Dance Central 2 Dance Cam iPhone and Android app lets you shoot, remix, and share your own music videos

If you think you're the next Madonna, Kylie Minogue, or Chico Slimani, you may want to check out Microsoft's new Dance Central 2 Dance Cam mobile application, which you can download from the App Store and Android Market for free.

The app features songs from the likes of La Roux, Sean Kingston, and Enrique Iglesias; and allows you to shoot, remix, and share your very own music video.

Yes, once you've finished throwing shapes in your living room, you can upload your masterpiece to Zuckerberg's Facebook and challenge some of your buddies to a good ol' fashioned dance off. [Note to Soccer AM fans: Rocket wuz robbed last week!]

If your pals accept the challenge, the app will combine your performances into a single production.

You can nab Dance Central 2 Dance Cam from the App Store   and Android Market   for free, so go and grab your dancing shoes.

Streetbike: Full Blast

There are an awful lot of products on the App Store. The presentation, scope, and ambition of these titles tends to vary quite dramatically. On the whole, though, the quality bar is astoundingly high.

That’s why playing a game like Streetbike: Full Blast is a little depressing. It’s not going to win any plaudits for originality or innovation, and it doesn’t contribute anything to the genre it inhabits.

It’s just a very average racing game which has both wheels firmly planted in the middle of the road.

Knee scabs

The premise is that you’re racing on a superbike through rush hour traffic on the streets of a gleaming metropolis. You can either take part in league racing, competing in a series of challenges - overtaking a certain number of cars, completing a race without crashing, and so on - and tracks, or you can opt for a Quick Play race on a single track.

You steer with tilt-shift controls that make use of the accelerometer, and there are three buttons for brake, accelerate, and nitro boost. You can also customise the controls so that acceleration is automatic.

The graphics and sound are pretty poor, considering the capabilities of the iOS platform. The bikes and riders are distinguished purely by their colourways, and the sound effects of the engines are just a monotonous drone overlaid with a generic guitar track.

The roads and cities are similarly generic. The cars and trucks you overtake are not much better than pixellated blocks of colour, and the cityscape in the background seems oddly distended. Buildings have a tendency to just pop up on the horizon.

There’s also a lens-flare effect, apparently to heighten the realism of racing in daylight when the sun is high in the sky. This is all very well, but we can't help but feel that developer Turtles Entertainment should have invested less energy in these kinds of flourishes and more in the gameplay itself.

Burnt rubber

A typical race will involve 11 other bikes. While the tilt-shift controls might feel over-sensitive or inappropriate (though these can be tweaked in the options menu), it doesn’t matter how far you fall behind because the rubber-banded AI has a tendency to allow you to catch up and take pole position within a single lap.

This rubber-banding is modulated based on the difficulty settings – based around classes of engines – but it’s definitely in there.

Elsewhere, if you don’t feel like plugging away at the leagues to open up new tracks and earn credits for new bikes you can pay real cash outright to unlock all these features at once.

But without a multiplayer option against other non-NPCs (which is an essential feature of any modern racing game) these spoils will only be appreciated by you and you alone.

Streetbike: Full Blast is very much a racing game, and it incorporates most of the features you’d expect in a racing game. But the quality needed to set it apart is entirely lacking.

Micromax A85 price dropped to INR 15,290

Micromax has reduced the price of its flagship Android smartphone A85 by almost INR 4,000. It will now be sold for INR 15,290, down from original price around INR 19,500. The price-cut has come in the wake of recent decisions from LG and Samsung to do the same with Optimus 2X and Galaxy R.

Powered by Android 2.2 and NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, Micromax A85 at this price is a decent deal right now and if company brings Gingerbread update soon, it would make the deal even sweeter.

Online retailers haven’t updated their listings till now to reflect to price-change, but we expect that to happen within next 24-48 hours.

To remind you, here are Micromax A85 features:

• 5MP rear and .3MP front cameras
• 3.8inch TFT display
• 512MB RAM
• Expandable Storage Capacity of 32 GB
• 1500 mAh battery
• 8GB internal memory

PlayStation Vita launches in Japan, shifts 321,400 units in two days

Kaz Hirai probably had a sleepless weekend as he and the team waited for the two-day sales figures for Sony's PlayStation Vita. He can probably relax a little, knowing that 321,400 of the things were exchanged for cold, hard cash in the retail outlets of Japan. In comparison, Nintendo's 3DS sold 50,000 more units but sales soon stalled -- only to be rescued with a hefty price cut. Of course, now the company has to ensure that the performance issues that early-adopters have been facing are resolved -- we'd hate to experience the same teething trouble when it arrives over here in February.

Microsoft rolls out more new Xbox 360 apps including UFC and Vudu

 

The Xbox 360's most recent dashboard update changed everything around again, but its ultimate effect will continue to be felt over the next few weeks and months as more apps trickle out and add more functionality. A few more selections just went live today, and include highly anticipated options like UFC's PPV app, and access to Vudu (pictured after the break -- also, there's no HDX support yet, just HD) movie streaming. That's not all however as they're also joined by 4 on Demand (UK), ABC iView (Australia), Dailymotion, Demand 5 (UK), plus M6 and MSN Video (France). Also recently announced are plans to bring Orange TV in France to the Xbox 360 in the spring with live streaming of thirty TV channels and VOD access later. For its part, Vudu is trying to entice new customers with a $4.99 credit towards their first rental or purchase, plus a few other promotional pricing incentives. Check the press release after the break for more details, or just power on your console to see the channels that are available in your neck of the woods.