Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 to be launched in India on January 15

One of the most anticipated devices to hit Indian shelves in 2013 will be Nokia's Lumia 920. The Lumia 920, along with its smaller sibling, the Lumia 820, will be launched in India around January 15, said our sources in the grey market. They also mentioned that the device may be launched a couple of days late, depending on Nokia. Nevertheless, the devices should be available across the country from January 17. The Lumia 920 is set to cost between 38,000 and 40,000, while the 820 will be in the 25,000 to 28,000 price bracket. When we reached out to Nokia, the company said that it has not yet made an official statement about the launch of the devices in India. The Lumia 920 is priced in Singapore at SGD 899, which roughly translates to Rs 40,750, whereas the Lumia 820 costs SGD 699, which is approximately Rs 31,700. However, one should not expect the prices to be the same when the handsets come to India—the additional taxes could make the devices cost a bit more. Coming mid-January It was revealed earlier this month that the Indian variant of the Lumia 920 is set to support nine 4G bands. This gives it a significant edge over the other big release of the year, the iPhone 5, which supports only five LTE bands. Another place where the Lumia 920 wins out is that it is pentaband WCDMA, as opposed to the iPhone 5 being quadband. Nokia has a lot depending on the success of these handsets, and has already launched an advertising campaign. Nokia first took the wraps off its Lumia 920 at the Nokia World 2012 event in New York City. Featuring a polycarbonate body, the Nokia Lumia 920 packs in a Snapdragon S4 processor and a PureView sensor. It also comes with the Blink app, which is the smartphone's Burst mode. The smartphone will feature an LCD display, which is a little better than the HD displays available now. The Nokia Lumia 920 includes the latest Nokia PureView camera, which the company claims captures five times more light than competing smartphones. It gives bright pictures without flash, even indoors and at night. It also features built-in wireless charging, making it easy to keep the battery topped up throughout the day.   The Nokia Lumia 820 offers exchangeable covers in a range of colours. Both phones have the option of wireless charging, a sensitive touchscreen and Nokia ClearBlack display technology. The Lumia handsets come with the full suite of Nokia navigation applications, including Nokia City Lens and Nokia Music, which streams unlimited music directly to the phone.

Verizon's NFL Mobile App Gets Slightly Less Terrible With Free Tablet Streaming For Verizon FiOS Subscribers

We've lamented the various restrictions on NFL Mobile's streaming audio and video before: the fact that it costs extra even for games on public broadcast, the fact that you can't use it with HDMI output, and most of all, the fact that it's only available on Verizon. Today the app gets a little less restrictive, at least assuming that you use Verizon FiOS for your home Internet connection. The latest update indicates that FiOS subscribers will be able to access NFL Mobile live streaming on their tablets for free. I guess they figured that they've got enough of your money.

The update text reads as follows: "Now Verizon FiOS customers can enjoy Live video on Android Tablets." We don't have a connection to test, but we suppose that means that WiFi tablets are fair game for streaming, so long as you have a FiOS account.

[New App] GMD Smart Rotate Copies Samsung's Camera-Based Orientation Control - Perfect For The Frequently Horizontal

Does the fact that your smartphone or tablet's orientation control conform to its orientation rather than yours constantly enrage you? Well, you could go buy a late-model Samsung device for its Smart Rotate feature, which uses the front-facing camera to see which way your face is pointing and adjusts the screen accordingly. Or you could download GMD Smart Rotate, which does the exact same thing.

  

GMD replaces the accelerometer function with facial recognition, meaning that if you hold your phone in portrait mode even when you yourself are horizontal, it will know not to rotate the screen. I can think of exactly one amazingly good use-case scenario: when you're lying on your side and want to read or watch something, and don't have five precious seconds to toggle the auto-rotate function in stock Android. I tried the app out and it seems to work well, though there's a slight delay in order to let the camera snap a temporary photo. You've also got to make sure that your whole face is clearly visible to your front-facing camera - an optional notification makes this easier.

The free version of the app does what it says on the label, with a few extra bells and whistles. The reasonably-priced $2 pro version adds features that will keep the screen on while you're looking at it, hide the notification bar, and allow you to customize the rotation behavior on an app-by-app basis.

Via Addictive Tips

DirecTV Genie whole-home DVR review

We're very happy that 2012 ended up being the year of whole-home DVRs. We reviewed Dish Network's Hopper earlier this year and now we've spent some quality time with DirecTV's Genie -- can't say we expected the cute names. Capable of serving up to eight rooms in your house (but only four at once), the Genie system works with a variety of setups, including being built into some newer Samsung TVs. Only available as part of DirecTV service, the Genie can be had for free by some new DirecTV customers who are willing to sign a term agreement and select the right package, and available to existing customers as an upgrade for $300 depending on the circumstances. If DirecTV didn't already have you at five tuners, 1TB and up to eight rooms, then click through for a full rundown on the latest the original direct satellite broadcast TV provider has to offer.

More BlackBerry N-Series images surface, appeases QWERTY lovers with sharper focus

Remember this little guy? It was Christmas Eve when Mr. Blurrycam gave us a look at this keyboard-equipped BB10 prototype. Skip to the present, and N4BB has apparently come across news images of it, minus the fuzz. Aside from being clearer, the phone's screen is notably powered on in this round images -- essentially proving it's more than a dummy. While we've known the unit is likely part of RIM's N-Series, the site notes that its actual model number may officially be presented as the X10 (not to be confused with Sony Ericsson, Klipsch and Fujifilm offerings of the same moniker). Things will certainly become even clearer on January 30th, that's for sure -- for now, hit the source link for a couple of more images.