The Samsung Galaxy S4 is many things, but tough it is not, as many a drop test has proved. Seemingly taking note of it's slightly weedy defences, Samsung have supposedly put together the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, a ruggedised version of their flagship smartphone, with its specs leaking online.

Photos picked up alongside a spec sheet by GSMArena show the Galaxy S4 to be very similar to the regular edition, with the introduction of dust and water-proofing and a striking red casing.

Each corner is protected from drops by a supporting rivet, while a plastic cover keeps the charging port from being exposed to the elements. Rubberised buttons are in play instead of touch ones too, letting them work underwater.

Under the hood the phone sounds impressive too, supposedly sporting a 1.9GHz quad-core processor, a 5-inch full HD screen and an 8MP camera on the rear (a bit of a downgrade from the 13MP sensor on the standard S4).

All in, looking far more attractive a prospect than your standard rugged phone. We'll bring you any details of an official launch and UK-specific pricing and features if and when we receive them.

Overnight smartphone charges may soon become a thing of the past thanks to a new invention by 18-year old high school student Eesha Khare.

The California resident received the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award of $50,000 for the invention of a tiny energy-storage device called the "supercapacitor".

With the potential to charge a smartphone in just 20 or 30 seconds and offering 10,000 charge/recharge cycles (10 times more than a standard rechargeable battery), it could remove the power bottleneck that has seen smartphone fans tied to their chargers over the past few years as mobile technology becomes increasingly more energy-hungry.

"My cellphone battery always dies," Khare told NBC News, revealing the inspiration behind her work. The project allowed her to focus on her interest in nanochemistry -- "really working at the nanoscale to make significant advances in many different fields."

"It is also flexible, so it can be used in rollup displays and clothing and fabric," Khare added.

"It has a lot of different applications and advantages over batteries in that sense."

So far Khare has used the supercapacitor to power an LED, though all involved see the potential application within smartphone power sources.

And all at just 18! I'm pretty sure I was just sitting in my pants all day playing PlayStation at that age. Good on her.

Sony have officially announced a new entry into its Xperia smartphone family, the Sony Xperia UL.

Set to be a Japan-only release for the time being, headed to the KDDI network on May 25th, it offers a 5-inch 1080p display running Android 4.2.

A chubbier take on the Xperia Z, Sony have popped a quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) processor under the hood, powering an Exmor RS 13MP camera capable of shooting 15 frames per second. A physical shutter button is also onboard to court smartphone snappers.

Connectivity includes NFC alongside the Felica wireless payment system, while a water (IPX5/8) and dust resistance (IP5X) casing (coming in white, black and hot pink shades) is also in attendance.

Check out the handset in action in the video below.

The HTC One is the best Android phone on the planet at the moment. Check out our full review to find out why.

However, it may be about to be bested by a new variant of the very same handset out of HTC's stable. The HTC J One will be a Japan-only revision of the impressive HTC One (or at least at this moment it doesn't seem to be headed to any other territories), landing on the Japanese KDDI network and adding microSD support (up to 64GB) to the original HTC One's feature list.

That's in addition to the One's already-stellar feature list that includes a nifty all-aluminium chassis design, the Ultrapixel camera, Blink Feed software and BoomSound speakers.

A promotional video (popped at the bottom of this post) also reveals what appear to be new camrea software features for the HTC J One, including a time-shift feature that will let you pick out the best smiles from a series of shots of your friends, not unlike similar features found in the latest BlackBerry 10 software. There's also a host of new accessories to go with the handset, including the HTC J One Mini Bluetooth sidekick handset.

Though we're not holding out hope for a UK release to accompany this Japanese one, we'll keep you posted if that changes.

If you've got £100 burning a hole in your pocket and are on the hunt for a budget-friendly Android smartphone, it looks as though Vodafone have been reading into your mind beams and answered your prayers. They've just revealed the Vodafone Smart III, an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean smartphone that's going to keep your wallet healthily plump with its £95 Pay As You Go pricing.

Also available on £13 a month 24 month contracts, the handset has a four-inch WVGA screen, running off a 1GHz processor backed by 512MB of RAM. Hardly the most extravagantly powerful phone in the world, but when it costs less than a ton, what do you expect?

Elsewhere, the phone offers up a 5MP rear camera snapper with LED flash, WI-Fi and GPS connectivity, and full Google accreditation giving access to the Google Play store and pre-loaded Google apps.

Ready to take a punt? The perfect second-smart phone in time for festival season, perhaps? Click here to give it a look.

There's no shaking Google's Android and Apple's iOS from first and second place respectively at the top of the smartphone user number rankings charts, but the battle for third place is a corker. The latest stats have just come in from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, covering Q1 2013, seeing Windows Phone overtake BlackBerry for third place.

Microsoft's mobile OS now sits at 3.2% of the smartphone market share, up from 2.0% last year, with BlackBerry dropping down to 2.9%, a considerable fall from their 6.4% share a year earlier in Q1 2012.

While that's a 133.3% growth for Windows Phone, BlackBerry's share has shrunk by 35.1%. This is despite a gigantic new hardware and software push from the Canadian company, launching new handsets like the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10, as well as the well-considered BlackBerry 10 OS. While the Nokia and Microsoft partnership across the Lumia line-up is finally making headway it seems, leading the Windows Phone charge, it must be very worrying times over at Blackberry HQ.

"Windows Phone claiming the third spot is a first and helps validate the direction taken by Microsoft and key partner Nokia," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

"Given the relatively low volume generated, the Windows Phone camp will need to show further gains to solidify its status as an alterative to Android or iOS."

As expected, Google's Android OS retains the top spot with 75% of the market share (that's 79.5% year-on-year growth), with Apple's iPhone line taking a 17.3% share in second place.

For more from the report, click here.

Samsung have struck smartphone gold again, revealing that their latest flagship Galaxy handset, the Samsung Galaxy S4 has already achieved six million sales (as of May 10).

That's despite the handset only being made available since April 26 2013. And with initial shipments numbering only four million handsets, it seems Samsung have had to restock suppliers, presumably selling faster than the company had anticipated.

"As of Friday [May 10], we have sold more than 6 million units, and we predict that we could break the 10-million mark by as early as the end of this month," a Samsung executive revealed to Korean newspaper Chosun.

What's not been made entirely clear however is how many of those 6 million units have actually been sold on to customers or have just been sent on to retailers. The actual number of people that own the handset could be notably smaller.

Regardless, even retailer shipment figures that high bode well for the Samsung Galaxy S4, which now appears to be well on its way to breaking the Galaxy S3's sales record of 20 million sales in 100 days.

Samsung make lovely phone hardware, but they've still not quite got that interface stuff sorted yet. Their TouchWiz UI, placed over the top of stock Android on their Galaxy range of smartphones is put together with the best of intentions to add extra functionality to your phone, but is incredibly garish and, at times, a bit of a resource hog. It's one of the few bugbears people have with the otherwise-great Samsung Galaxy S4.

Rumour now has it that Samsung are sitting up and listening to the criticism directed at its custom interface. According to Geek.com, today's opening of the annual Google I/O developer conference will see Samsung launch a "Google Edition" of the Galaxy S4, running the stock Android interface.

Due out in June according to the report, the phone will not only push the more attractive standard Android build to the fore, but will also free up a substantial amount of internal memory currently given over to the TouchWiz UI.

As it stands, those who otherwise want to run stock Android on a Galaxy S4 have to first root the phone and install the Cynogen custom rom, which voids warranties.

With the conference opening in a matter of hours, we'll keep you posted whether or not the report's details indeed turn out to be true.

Nokia have officially revealed the Nokia Lumia 925 handset, a new flagship Windows Phone from the Finnish mobile giants that aims at a more premium build quality than the company's current offerings.

Built with a mixture of aluminium and polycarbonate (polycarbonate covering on the back, aluminium around the edges), it's a push towards the high-end designs of the iPhone and the HTC One. Measuring just 8.5mm thick and 139 grams, it's far more svelte than the Lumia 920 (that handset sits at 10.7mm thick and 185 grams). The handset retains a little bump around the camera that pushes the thickness a tad wider at that point, but the curved-edged design is attractive nonetheless.

Under the hood, specs stay very similar to the Lumia 920. A 1.5GHz dual-core processor powers the phone, backed by 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage (less than the 32GB present in the 920), with 4G connectivity onboard.

The screen is a 4.5-inch OLED with a 1280 x 768 resolution, while the company's PureView camera system is paired with an 8.7MP rear sensor and 1.2MP front facing snapper. Optical image stabilisation and a dual-LED flash are also present. A new Smart Camera shooting mode will also be added, using a new UI that allows for motion focus features and the ability to blur, alter or remove altogether background elements from photos.

A tie-in with the upcoming Man of Steel Superman flick will also see Lumia 925 owners get exclusive content relating to the movie pre-loaded on the handset. Man of Steel / aluminium body, get it?

Unlike the rest of the Lumia line, the Lumia 925 comes in just two subdued colours - grey and black. If you want a more vibrant look you'll have to grab an additional sleeve that clips onto the back of the device, coming in red, yellow black and white shades. They also add wireless charging capabilities to the handset.

Though exact worldwide pricing hasn't been revealed, from the 469 Euro asking price given for European territories, we'd put the Nokia Lumia 925 at around the £400 when it hits UK stores. Expect to see it filling mobile retailers shelves from June, with sales starting in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and China before rolling out to further territories.

As for carriers, Vodafone have announced as that they'll be exclusively carrying a 32GB variant of the handset at launch.

The HTC First, the affordable Android smartphone that puts Facebook front and centre by coming pre-loaded with the Facebook Home operating system reskin, is reportedly selling so badly that AT&T are considering discontinuing sales of the handset.

Launching on April 12, the HTC First has been sold just 15,000 times as of last week, according to BGR, with AT&T supposedly now preparing to send the remaining stock back to HTC.

This is despite AT&T's best efforts, with the US network cutting the handset price to a mere $0.99 (£0.64) on two year contracts. But even that hasn't been enough to inspire a sales rush, with AT&T now just waiting until an in-store display contract on the handset expires before pulling the plug.

The HTC First is the first (and so far only - and likely it seems to stay that way) handset to come with Facebook Home pre-loaded, revealed onstage by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in April alongside the unveiling of Facebook Home.

However, despite being downloaded over 1 million times by Android users with compatible handsets, it has not proved universally popular, sitting with just a 2 out of 5 star score on the Google Play Store. Facebook Home's focus on the social network actually necessitates a drop in functionality for the Android OS, which has put off many potential users.

Nokia have officially revealed the Nokia Lumia 928, their new flagship Windows Phone handset. And with it comes the first hands-on clip with smartphone, courtesy of the official Nokia Conversations channel. Hit the clip above to check it out.

Set to be an exclusive for the Verizon network in the US, it sees Nokia focussing their energies on the onboard camera system, with the phone carrying PureView branding and a a Carl Zeiss f/2.0 wide angle lens. An 8.7MP sensor features, with Nokia promising top-notch photos thanks to optical image stabilisation, even if you're capturing a busy action shot. The inclusion of a Xenon flash too will make low-light, indoor shooting far improved too.As well as still image quality being touted, Nokia are pushing video capture quality too, with full HD video captured sharply alongside distortion-free audio capture and playback.

In terms of size and screen specs, the Nokia Lumia 928 rocks a 4.5-inch AMOLED display at a 1280 x 768 resolution (15:9 aspect ratio), with a pixel density of 334ppi.

Under the hood sits a 1.5GHz Qualcomm dual-core chipset, with 1GB of RAM to aid multitasking. 32GB of storage space is included alongside 7GB of SkyDrive cloud storage space, though there's no storage expansion through microSD. A 2000 mAh battery is also in there too, as is 4G connectivity."Verizon Wireless customers, we heard you and the wait is over - we're excited to offer a Nokia flagship smartphone, specially designed and optimised for the nation's largest 4G LTE network," said Matt Rothschild, vice-president, Nokia North America.

Verizon are putting the Nokia Lumia 928 on their 4G network from 16 May for $99 (£65) following a $50 rebate on a new two-year contract. Black and white versions of the handset will both be available.

Which leaves one question: what's Nokia got planned for May 14, the date they've had tech journalists the world over pencilling into their diaries? Safe money is on it being news of the Nokia Lumia 925, a worldwide variation on the Lumia 928. We'll keep you posted on what the eventual reveal proves to be.

Following the early sales success of the BlackBerry Q10 as a Selfridges exclusive at the end of last month, a new white variant will hit UK stores Carphone Warehouse and Selfridges.

Previously only available in black, the phone features a full QWERTY keyboard as well as the new BlackBerry 10 operating system that first debuted in the touch-only BlackBerry Z10 (which is now also available in white).

The BlackBerry Q10's spec sheet includes an 8MP camera, a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and storage expansion support over microSD. If you sign up with a contract from EE, you can also get the phone with superfast 4G mobile data connectivity ahead of the roll-out of the mobile network from competing operators later this year.

Carphone Warehouse have the white Q10 listed as free on £33 a month, 24 month contracts, with the phone up for grabs at £579.95 SIM-free.

For an indepth look at the BlackBerry Q10 operating system that runs on the phone, click here.

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Despite no official confirmation being given, it's pretty much a given that Amazon would be planning to put out a smartphone carrying the Kindle branding, given the success of their Android-based Kindle Fire tablet line. But this latest rumour has us broadsided - Amazon may be planning to put a 3D display in their secret handset.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon are developing a high-end smartphone with a 3D screen that wouldn't require 3D glasses, much like the Nintendo 3DS. The handset would use "retina tracking" technology to shift perspective on the display, giving the impression that items are floating above the screen and allowing users to control and access content with movements of their eyes.

The report offers scant few other details on the handset (other than that it is being developed at Amazon's Lab126 facility in Cupertino, California), but they do mention a few other gadgets in development at the company.

The first is another smartphone (without the 3D display), while the second is an audio streaming device, likely tapping into Amazon's cloud service. Finally, there's rumours that Amazon are also putting together a set-top box, tapping into the company's many media channels.

Amazon wouldn't be the first company to be putting out a 3D smartphone. Back at MWC 2011 LG released the LG Optimus 3D, which used a lenticular display to present 3D graphics without glasses. You can check it out in the video below:

A new mobile phone aimed specifically at children four years old and up has launched, sparking controversy among childcare experts.

Called the 1stFone, it's been developed by OwnFone and only allows children the ability to call a preset series of numbers (such as "Mum and Dad" or "Home"), with no access to the internet of text messaging capabilities.

Costing £55 on Pay As You Go and also available on contract deals, OwnFone see the handset as another way to ensure the safety of children, helping them stay contactable should they become lost without exposing them to the potential seedy dangers of the internet.

"It's up to the parent at what age they feel their child needs to be contactable, we just want to ensure when that time comes, there's a product that minimises usage and poses no threat or danger to their safety." said Thomas Sunderland, founder of OwnFone.

OwnFone are no strangers to making handsets aimed at less tech-savvy demographics, having made a handset designed for the elderly alongside Age UK.

However, many have been quick to chide the chastise OwnFone, seeing it as a cynical move to draw more money from children and introduce them to adult concepts too soon.

"The marketing of technology to very young children is just a hook to get them into techno-consumerism," said Sue Palmer, author of Toxic Childhood and a former teacher, speaking to the Telegraph.

"It's a very tricky one. I would love to see a phone marketed for children under the age of 14 with no access to the internet. But four years old is extremely young. The point is it's once they are going out on their own.The point is to look at what's sensible, healthy and reasonable for children."

What do you think? Is it a good idea to let such young children have mobile phones, or, as Palmer sees it, an attempt to get their consumerist passions boiling at an early age? Let us know in the comments section below.

Nokia have launched a new budget smartphone, the Nokia Asha 501, and with it comes the new Asha operating system.

A pint-sized device measuring just 99.2 x 58 x 12.1mm and with a 3-inch 320 x 240 touchscreen, it's a budget handset aimed at the entry level market and emerging markets. Instead of using the Windows Phone OS, Nokia have opted to launch a brand new operating system alongside the handset called Asha, with a keen focus on social media and sharing.

Check out the OS in action in this video of the new device:
Though cheap, the Asha 501 has some decent specs, including a 5MP camera and a choice of single or dual-SIM options. 128MB of onboard memory, alongside the low-res screen, betrays it's budget orientation, though a 4GB MMC card is included, with the option to swap in a 32GB card instead. No processor of battery capacity details have been shared, but Nokia are quoting standby time of 48 days and 17 hours of talk time.

Pre-installed software will include a bespoke Facebook (who have partnered with Nokia to promote the device, with time spent using Facebook's mobile services not being charged to any data plan) and Twitter app, as well as an instant messaging client and Weather Channel apps. Gaming titles, courtesy of Gameloft, will also come pre-installed and include Big Little City and Real Football 2013. EA are also offering a deal with the phone, offering owners the option to download any of 40 free games up for download through the manufacturers store.

Costing $99 and available in black, green, white, blue, red and yellow shades, expect to see the phone hitting UK stores at the end of the summer, with India the first territory to get the phone from next month.

Rumours of a budget iPhone launching this year from Apple have been given a significant boost today, with Apple's manufacturing partner Pegatron announcing that it will increase its number of workers by 40% in the second half of the year.

It has lead many analysts to believe that Pegatron (which makes many iOS devices for Apple), will be the lead manufacturing partner for a cheaper iPhone, aimed at courting customers in emerging markets such as India and China.

Adding further fuel to the fire, Pegatron's chief financial officer Charles Lin revealed that the company expect 60% of its revenue for 2013 to come during the second half of the year, with 40% of that figure made up revenue made from the manufacture of communications products. Communications products like a cheap iPhone, perhaps?

Another factor pointing to Pegatron's work on the budget iPhone is falling demand for the iPad Mini, an Apple device they manufacture. It's lead to a decrease in second quarter revenue as production has slowed, with Apple seemingly turning their attention to the next wave of devices.

Indeed, Apple CEO Tim Cook has himself teased that the company will be introducing "exciting new product categories" from the Autumn through to 2014. And though a budget iPhone wouldn't constitute a brand new product category for the company, it would be a new venture for a company that deals primarily in premium products. Morgan Stanley analysts have even stated that a budget iPhone could increase Apple's lucrative Chinese market share from 10% to 30%. And even if the cannibalisation of premium iPhone devices is a factor, the increased traffic to the iTunes and App Store could make up the difference.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 already has a host of nifty camera tricks tucked inside its software, but the latest rumour suggests that Samsung may be planning a new version of the phone with an even keener focus on photography.

According to Sammobile, the South Korean tech giants are lining up the release of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, with a headline feature being a 16MP camera sensor. That's compared to the standard S4's 13MP sensor.

And, while there's no confirmation from Samsung yet to support this, the rumoured name hints at the possibility of an optical zoom lens being employed, making the device not unlike the Samsung Galaxy Camera. Indeed, an optical zoom on a smartphone would be a unique selling point, one that even Nokia's PureView systems currently do not boast.

Other speculated features of the Zoom from the Sammobile report include a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED screen (considerable less impressive than that of the standard Galaxy S4) Android Jelly Bean, 8GB of storage space and Bluetooth 4.0.

Potentially set to come in black and white, it seems then to be a mid range smartphone, but packing in a killer feature for amateur photographers. We'll be keeping a close eye on this rumour and will report back once we've got something confirmed to share.

A large, high resolution screen on a smartphone is usually enough to set alarm bells ringing when it comes to battery life, but Sharp believe they've cracked it with their new AQUOS 206SH smartphone.

Packing in a 5-inch 1080p display, Sharp are claiming that the AQUOS 206SH can go a full two days without needing to be charged.

It's a mixture of old and new techniques employed by Sharp in order to this. Firstly, there's a massive 3,080 mAh battery under the hood, as well as Sharp's "Eco Tech" controls for throttling the 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro quadcore processor when its full power isn't needed.

More interesting though is the use of a CG (continuous grain) silicon display. It's used in the backplane instead of standard amorphous silicon usually found in LCD TFT panels, which helps make a thinner, higher quality display that can run with lower power requirements.

The 443ppi-screened phone also has a 13.1 MP camera, runs Android 4.2, is waterproof and will be sold alongside an optional desktop charging dock.

Se to hit Japanese stores in late June, there's no word yet on a western release. With few Sharp smartphones seeing a release in the UK, we wouldn't hold our breath on this hitting your local phone retailer anytime soon, but hopefully the advances in low-power screen technology will be picked up on by a wider array of smartphone manufacturers, and that Sharp will start offering the technology to the many companies they supply displays to.

LG's Nexus 4 Google flagship phone was, despite supply shortages, one of the best phones of last year, if not the best thanks to its affordable pricing. Now it seems as though Google and LG are looking to team up once more for new tech treats in 2013.

According to The Korean Times, Google CEO Larry Page has shared a coffee or two with LG's chief executive Koo Bon-joon, with the pair discussing a potential successor to the Nexus 4, as well as exploring possibilities relating to LG's OLED technologies.

Google in particular are said to be incredibly keen to use LG's OLED tech, not just in phones, but possibly in a big-screen tie-up with Google TV.

With the recently announced rollout of LG's curved OLED TVs, could Google be looking at getting in on a premium TV set release?

If the rumours are true, they seem to lay to rest claims that LG were at fault when it came to the Nexus 4's frustrating supply shortages. Many felt that the blame laid at the feet of LG and their manufacturing partners as Nexus 4 stock ran incredibly low, put it's possible it was a cynical move by both Google and LG to limit supply to increase demand. We all want what we can't have, right?

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HTC have posted their earning for the first quarter of 2013, and they show the company to still be struggling.

HTC posted quarterly revenue of NT$42.8 billion (around £930 million), and a gross margin of 20.3%, with the operating margin sitting at 0.1%.

Net profit sits at NT$85 million (£1.8 million) - that's down a staggering 98% from NT$4.5 billion ($152 million) a year ago, despite the rave reviews the company's new HTC One flagship smartphone is receiving.

"This was a pivotal quarter for HTC," said CEO Peter Chou, looking for the silver lining on what's becoming a very dark cloud indeed.

"In February our teams set a new standard for smartphones, launching the new HTC One. The reviews of fans and critics alike have been overwhelmingly positive and we look forward to delivering on the promise of this device."

The HTC One is estimated to have sold 750,000 units since launching in April, despite supply delays in major territories such as the US, with the company expecting to sell more than three times that amount in the second quarter. Ten million HTC One handsets are expected to be sold by the end of 2013, a figure that pales in comparison to 60 million estimated sales of the Samsung Galaxy S4 before the end of the year.

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