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Following the likes of Meizu and Xiaomi, another star is born in the Chinese smartphone market. In fact, some may already know the man behind this new Android-based Smartisan OS: Luo Yonghao, a self-taught ex-English teacher (and later becoming the principal of his own English school until last August), as well as the founder of influential blogging platform Bullog.cn (now Bullogger.com) and the chairman of Chinese font studio Redesign. Luo is also a relentless consumer advocate, with his most notable act being his fridge-smashing protest outside Siemens' Beijing headquarters in November 2011, in order to highlight the company's refusal to acknowledge their faulty fridge doors (all explained in the "More Coverage" link at the bottom).

Already a bit of a legend in China, the 40-year-old serial entrepreneur announced last April that he had formed Smartisan Co., Ltd. to work on a smartphone OS, and that it would shame all manufacturers with its revolutionary user experience. Having missed the December target that he promised, Luo eventually stood in front of some 3,000 people -- many bought tickets -- in Beijing last week to spend well over three hours going through the thought process behind his Smartisan OS, so bear with us here.

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Canonical's preview of a smartphone- and tablet-friendly flavor of Ubuntu has finally arrived for folks willing to flash a Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4 or a Nexus tablet. Shuttleworth and friends stress that the release is intended for developers and enthusiasts -- not those eyeing it as a daily driver, mind you -- and that it's not yet kitted out with its complete functionality. As of now, the Ubuntu touch dev preview contains the shell, core applications, WiFi networking, support for front- and rear-facing cameras and Android Developer Bridge tool connectivity. In addition, the operating system allows Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 handsets to connect to a GSM network, make phone calls and send texts. Along with the sneak peak, the Ubuntu SDK has been badged with the alpha moniker since it's flaunting a host of new features, including the ability to deploy and execute apps straight from the IDE. Ready to download the OS image and development kit? Hit the neighboring source link to get cracking.

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Ubuntu's Touch Developer Preview was originally put forward as something for "enthusiasts" as well as developers. Well, having been hands-on with the code that will be made public tomorrow, we'd say it requires enthusiasm a-plenty -- perhaps even amateur coder quantities of the stuff. That's because a lot of core functionality is still missing from the OS, such as the ability to play music files or import real-life contacts, and there's a long way to go if it's to be signed off as "code complete" in October.

On the other hand, this is really just a statement of the obvious. Canonical has been pretty clear that the main purpose of this early release is to lure in developers and get them to contribute to the fundamental stages of the project. Furthermore, the video after the break shows that there are many aspects of the OS which work fine -- such as the gallery and video apps, the "side stage" and HUD features, and also general performance on the Nexus 10's hardware. The UI merges some Kindle- and Windows 8-esque features with things that are totally original -- like responsive design which allows the exact same OS and apps to run on a phone, tablet, TV or desktop. We certainly hope it generates interest -- not only among developers but also among device manufacturers who want to do more than just talk about differentiation.

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It's not like we didn't have ample warning, so by now anyone wanting to try out the new Ubuntu smartphone OS should have gotten hold of a Galaxy Nexus to be their test device. Still don't have one? Then you'll be pleased to know that a Nexus 4 will actually serve just as well, and you have six days to get equipped. The Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview will be made public on February 21st alongside the open source code and all the tools necessary to flash those two devices.

The official aim is to help devs and enthusiasts learn the platform and start building software for it, whether for core functions or for when a full third-party app store eventually goes live. The bigger picture is that, by the time Ubuntu 13.10 launches in October, an app written in this platform's Qt/QML lingo should be able to run on any Ubuntu device -- whether it be a PC, TV, tablet or smartphone -- with no porting required. Rest assured that we have a couple of Nexii at the ready and we fully intend to give this newcomer a thorough hazing / write-up as soon as possible.

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Well, it's finally here. Sort of. It's been a long and winding road for BlackBerry 10, and as has been RIM's way, the company continues to out new BB10 details just a bit at a time. As you may recall, we got a good look at RIM's original Dev Alpha hardware back in May, and were able to swipe our way through a good bit of BB10 a month later. It's BlackBerry Jam time now, though, and RIM gave us a more thorough look at the OS than ever before, and we got to see it running on a new Dev Alpha B handset. We couldn't pry loose any details about the hardware inside the new dev phone (other than it's got a BB10-standard 1280x768 screen), but we did get a few fresh facts about the software running on it. Once again, RIM reminded us that the software we saw was not the final version, but that shouldn't deter you from reading on past the break and seeing a video of BB10 in action.

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Like Jelly Beans, custom Android ROMs tend to have different flavors -- and CyanogenMod happens to be a fan favorite. Good thing then, that the CM10 team is now serving nightly builds of its Jelly Bean-based custom ROM update. According to the CyanogenMod Google+ page, CM10 nightlies are now available for the US Samsung Galaxy S III variants, the original Galaxy S and the Galaxy S II (i9100g), the Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus S and Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (P3), Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (P5), Nexus 7, Transformer and Transformer Prime tablets. The list will fill out with more devices when they are ready, the team says, and will continue to have CM9 updates (now weekly, rather then nightly) at their disposal.

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Ready for the latest bout of XDA Recognized goodness? If you own a Nexus 7 or global Galaxy Note (oh yeah) then you'll find official preview builds of CyanogenMod 10 for each device at the source links below. They'll bring some added sparkle, like an almost-buttery version of Jelly Bean on the Note and USB storage on the Nexus 7, but neither build is ready for daily dependence -- so tread carefully or just consider them proof that the CM and Team Hacksung folks are almost there.

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Amidst the upheaval in Espoo Nokia continues to push forward, and tonight its Facebook page has already posted a couple of teaser images, including the one seen above, suggesting there's big news due on June 18th. Astute observers will note that's also the day its good buddy Microsoft has already planned its own high profile and highly secretive event, although you may not want to connect the two just yet. One of the images is a map of Hawaii, which AllThingsD notes is home to area code 808, a possible reference to Nokia's PureView 808 41MP cameraphone technology, which was followed up by the above image, with tempo cranked all the way up (ready to go boom...like an 808?). Draw your own conclusions -- of course we'll be hanging around Monday to see what happens.

Update: If the Roland TR-808 image wasn't explicit enough, Nokia US has dropped another hint on its Facebook page, featuring what appears to be artwork cropped from the 808 State album ex:el.

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You remember that Galaxy S II? A phone so good they launched it, well, a whole load of times. But after seeing phablet cousins and LTE variants, the true handset sequel is finally here. The Galaxy S III is moments away from being outed in front of journalists and Sammy's business partners in London, but in advance of the big reveal we were given a few hours to acquaint ourselves with the new star away from the crush of the show floor.

And what did we make of it? In short, Samsung's tried to bring its Galaxy S series in line with (and in some ways, further ahead of) what its team-up with Google accomplished. It's added some new quad-core Exynos processing juice, a 4.8-inch, HD Super AMOLED screen and a handful of Galaxy S III-only features in an earnest bid to maintain its place at the top of the Android pile. You'll find our detailed impressions and a hands-on video just after the break.

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It's been a long time in the making, but the once-mythical cloud storage service known to all as Google Drive is real, and it made its official debut today -- and even though Goog's taken plenty of time to make it available to the masses, our impatience certainly got the worst of us, and we immediately started digging through the new service. So what does this online storage option entail? Will it make you delete your Dropbox and SkyDrive accounts and jump for joy? Or has Google simply waited too long to start playing the game? Read on to find out our first impressions.

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In case you hadn't heard, Spotify's finally given its Android app the update love it deserves. It's looking for feedback in the form of an app preview, available to download now -- if you're willing to install from "unknown sources". The update is a top-to-bottom refresh, bringing the sort of functions (lockscreen player?) we've been patiently waiting for, all wrapped up in Android's Holo theme. How does it all fare? Step beyond the break to see.

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