GSM Arena reported that Sony will be selling their first post-Ericsson smartphone, the Xperia S, through leading UK retailers this quarter.

According to the GSM Arena scoop, Ebuyer will be offering the new Sony handset for £430, ditto with Carphone Warehouse, if their insider information turns out to be accurate. Play.com has the Xperia S listed at £450, and Clove has it at £468. In US currency, that would be roughly $650-750. The prices may seem a little steep, but the advertised costs apply for stand-alone, unlocked versions.

The Sony Xperia S is coming off a successful preview at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show and clearly impressed with its wealth of features. The handset will come with a 4.3-inch, 1280 x 720 touchscreen with 720p HD capability, which is supposedly better than the iPhone 4S’ display. Its 12-megapixel rear-facing camera is a cut above most other smartphones, and with its Qualcomm 1.5 GHz processor, it packs a lot of power underneath. The operating system would still be the older Android 2.3 Gingerbread platform, however an Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) update is expected in the second quarter of 2012.

Previously, release date rumors had been ambiguous, with some sources speculating late January or February launches for the Xperia S.

However, GSM Arena’s gossip has the first week of March as the most likely UK release schedule.

The Apple iPad 2 is without a doubt the leader in the tablet computer market. There doesn’t seem to be any clear-cut choice for runner-up, but according to one financial analyst, Amazon might have grabbed that honor following impressive fourth quarter sales.

According to Jordan Rohan of Stiffel Nicolaus, Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet sold an estimated five to six million units in the fourth quarter of 2011. And that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has seen the Kindle evolve from basic e-reader to highly successful iPad alternative.

At $199, the Kindle Fire is one of the most affordable tablets in the market, with great value for the price range. Also, the recent Christmas season saw a huge spike in Kindle Fire sales, again owing to its inexpensive price tag.

Granted, six million units is a mere fraction of the iPad 2’s sales, but coming in second to Apple is an honor most companies can only dream about. As far as Android tablets go, marketing firm Flurry published figures last week showing the Kindle Fire slightly ahead of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab in terms of applications used.

Regarding iPad 3 scoop, most are still predicting the new device to be out sometime in March, or late this month at the earliest. Rumored features still vary greatly depending on sources.

In any case, many still foresee the iPad 3 to be powered by a quad-core processor and contain some form of high-end display that should be an improvement over its predecessor.

In a statement posted by Clove, the UK retailer announced they will stop selling the ASUS Transformer Prime until further notice.

The issues cited by Clove are nothing new to Transformer Prime users or even casual observers. Again, the tablet’s GPS performance has been cited as a factor, as has the recent update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Poor WiFi performance has also been a pressing concern for the retailer.

So even as Clove had resolved its supply problems by having some units stocked ahead of schedule, it looks like those units won’t even be available for sale, not until the hardware issues are resolved.

ASUS has, for the most part, been evasive about the Transformer Prime’s main drawbacks. When the first batch of complaints came up, they had responded by clarifying that the tablet was not meant to be used as a professional GPS device. They did try to fix the issue with a recent patch, but after that didn’t turn out as expected, they had pulled out any mention of GPS on their advertisements. As for the WiFi, ASUS denied that any WiFi problems even existed for UK users.

Clove did allay the concerns of customers who had already placed orders for the Transformer Prime, stating that payments for the device had not been billed to their cards. They also assured would-be customers that they will inform them via email when the Transformer Prime is once again available for purchase.

Tech blog Boy Genius Report (BGR) posted recently that the upcoming sequel to the Apple iPad 2 may be powered by the A6 processor.

This chipset is the rumored quad-core follow-up to the A5, which should make the iPad 3 considerably faster and easier to operate. BGR cited an unnamed insider, who had supposedly provided the site with photos of what appeared to be an iPad 3 in action.

This, in turn, leads us to another rumor from the site – will the iPad 3 have two separate versions once it is finally launched? BGR’s photos of the iBoot development application are suggesting that two iPads may be released, a pure WiFi version and another with LTE capability regardless of service provider.

It was recently reported that over 15 million iPads were sold in the fourth quarter of last year, well ahead of the competition. Could this display of supremacy make Apple flex even more muscle in the tablet market? A few analysts believe so.

According to Canaccord Genuity’s T. Michael Walkley, even the low price and unique features of the Amazon Kindle Fire failed to pose a significant threat to the iPad. Other tablets such as RIM’s Playbook and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, said Walkley, were even less successful in their attempts to offer consumers a feasible enough alternative to the iPad.

The iPad 3 is widely believed to be due for a first quarter 2012 release. This would stay true to the historical pattern set by the original iPad and follow-up iPad2, which were released April 2010 and March 2011 respectively.

Sprint recently revealed that the carrier’s own release of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will feature LTE and Google Wallet. Although, the carrier didn’t disclose the release date and price of the Galaxy Nexus, tech experts are predicting a Q2 2012 launch for the device and a price tag of $299 with contract.

The unit comes with a 32GB internal memory plus the phone’s published features of a high-definition 720p screen with more pixels per inch on a 4.65-inch Pentile Super AMOLED screen. Samsung also deployed two cameras with the Android 4.0-powered Galaxy Nexus, with its front cam packing a 5MP that is capable of capturing moving images at 1080p.

The overall features lumped with the new Samsung offering has made it a hit among hardcore Android fan base, with some experts conceding that arguably the Galaxy Nexus is the best smartphone so far in the platform.

However, its earlier availability is not a source of worry for Sprint as the company knew that Galaxy Nexus full capability can only be enjoyed with the full implementation of the long-term evolution (LTE) network infrastructure despite the handset’s capability of connecting too via HSPA+.

In fact, Sprint’s planned launch for the Galaxy Nexus will greatly depend on the complete roll out of its LTE network, which company officials said could be realized by the second quarter of 2012. At any rate, tech watchers are taking note that Sprint’s ploy seems to appeal on current Verizon customers, who may be entertaining the idea of making a switch with the Galaxy Nexus package.

Aside from its high-speed connectivity Sprint lures would-be subscribers with Google Wallet, which will come pre-loaded with the carrier’s Galaxy Nexus.

But unlike the online stores selling the Galaxy Nexus, Sprint has yet to provide definite pricing for the Samsung handset, which expectedly should come at lower price as U.S. carriers normally subsidize new handsets.

To resolve mortgage abuses by top U.S. banks, a pending proposal intends to give states the power to enforce penalties on firms mistreating borrowers.

An exclusive report from Reuters said that under the said proposed settlement mechanics now being reviewed will broaden the powers of the state and could enforce monetary penalties of as much as $5 million per violation.

Each state will create a “monitoring committee” to detect the violations of banks servicing home loans.

This proposal has been devised to heed calls from left-leaning activist groups that the states and the federal government led by the Obama administration are too lenient to the private banking institutions.

Nevertheless, the federal authorities needed to negotiate with all the state governments to have single policy to follow because others want to enforce higher penalties. The agreement will also make sure state government reserve their ability to file more mortgage-related suits.

The deal brokered between the states and the federal government to appease the general public had reached its second year, thus a settlement must be made this week.

The core group of banks involved in settlement talks are Bank of America Corp, Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc. and Ally Financial Inc.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said in a briefing last week at the White House, the state governments only have a few days to sign in the agreement.

The regime of very low interest rates in the United States had not raised enough optimism among home buyers as indicated in the 2.9 percent decline in mortgage applications, according to the latest statistics from Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

Data from MBA said that on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, had declined close to 3 percent. Nonetheless, the unadjusted Purchase Index increased 17.1 percent compared to the previous week and was 4.3 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

According to Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics, the markets reacted negatively to the announcement of the Federal Reserve to maintain short-term rates at its current levels of zero and 0.25 percent until 2014.

He said that although total application volume declined on an adjusted basis relative to last week, refinance applications volume remains high.

Frantantoni noted that survey respondents were encouraged to apply to the federal government’s expanded Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). The HARP contributed to roughly 10 percent of their refinance activity.

The MBA survey recorded an 80 percent increase in refinance applications in the state of Connecticut over the December 2011 period from November. Every state in the US saw an increase in refinance volume.

In terms of home purchase activity, the state of Maine saw an increase of 30.8 percent in applications, which is the largest noted among the 52 states. The survey listed only 12 states registered declines in home purchase activity.

President Barack Obama formally unleashed his proposed overhaul of the country’s mortgage system on Wednesday that according to him will offer fresh starts for many Americans and provide them a tool to keep their homes from being foreclosed.

The new legislation, Obama said, will offer assistance to responsible homeowners at record low rates and provide for additional saving that could reach $3000 each year.

The President called his proposal, earlier mentioned at his State of the Union speech last week, as the ‘Homeowners Bill of Rights’ that will simplify the currently complicated process of securing a home loan.

“It’s one straightforward set of commonsense rules of the road that every family knows they can count on when they’re shopping for a mortgage,” Obama said.

If passed by the U.S. Congress, Obama’s proposal will offer simple guidelines and over-the-board fees for borrowers, erasing the likelihood of foreclosures that more often hit those who were already financially struggling.

“If you’re ineligible for refinancing just because you’re underwater on your mortgage, through no fault of your own, this plan changes that. You’ll be able to refinance at a lower rate, you’ll be able to save hundreds of dollars a month you can put back in your pocket,” Obama said.

The President also announced the formal creation of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB), the federal agency that will oversee the implementation of the new mortgage system.

CFPB will be headed by Richard Cordray, Obama said, who introduced last week. His main task is to ensure that consumers will not be cheated by effectively rolling out the new system, in which “terms are clear and fees are transparent.”

“This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and this housing crisis struck right at the heart of what it means to be middle-class in America,” Obama stressed.

The White House proposal is likely to encounter opposition from the House of Representative, with House Speaker John Boehner labeling the legislation as nothing but a rehash of previously failed measures.

“None of these programs have worked … and I don’t know why anyone would think that this next idea is going to work,” Boehner said.

Also, leading Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney has suggested that Obama will fail on his re-election bid November this year because “if you are part of the housing crisis, you are probably not going to get elected president.”

Boehner added that not a few times that the government extended its assistance to troubled homeowners and all those times, the initiatives proved disastrous.

Samsung’s participation in the upcoming 2012 Mobile World Congress to be held next month in Barcelona has been a hotly debated issue. A recent report has indicated that we won’t be seeing the Samsung Galaxy S3 previewed at the MWC after all. Now that’s bad news for tech geeks, but what could be good news is the potential preview of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 11.6.

What’s so special about this latest Samsung slate?

Let’s go back to last month, when Boy Genius Report speculated that the new tablet may measure 11.6 inches, come with the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box and boast of an impressive 2560 x 1600 resolution for the screen. That sounds impressive so far, but there are new whispers circulating about a dual-core 2 GHz processor powering the upcoming tablet.

BGR isn’t the only source reporting the presence of the Galaxy Tab 11.6 at the MWC. Previously, tech blog Android and Me posted pictures on their site of what may have been a prototype for the new product. These pictures are history, though, as Samsung asked the site to remove them soon after they were posted.

TabTech, a German site, is also predicting the Galaxy Tab 11.6 to be unveiled with the aforementioned 2 GHz CPU and the amazing new S-Pen feature found on the Galaxy Note tablet/smartphone hybrid.

A frequent complaint made by many smartphone users has been the lack of battery life in their devices. This is an understandable complaint given the intricacy of these handsets, however there are more phone makers that are seemingly prioritizing battery longevity. Consider Motorola as one of these manufacturers.

In a comparison of 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE)-capable handsets, the Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx lasted an impressive eight hours and twenty-five minutes worth of consecutive Internet access. That’s almost two hours longer than its closest competition, the Samsung Droid Charge, which tallied six hours and 42 minutes. The test was conducted by Laptop Magazine, and required that each phone tested be run on 40 percent brightness as it would be used for accessing the Internet for as long as possible.

However, there is a trade-off for using such a long-lasting handset. The Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx’s battery will make the handset a bit thicker than its predecessor, the Droid RAZR. However, despite thickness being a big deal for some users, it seems like a fair trade-off, especially since the new phone should weigh only 5.1 ounces. The battery is also expected to provide 21 hours consecutive talk time which is, of course, in theory – nobody would carry a phone conversation that long.

Other phones that took part in the longevity test were the Motorola Droid RAZR (4:45), HTC’s Rezound (5:02), LG’s Spectrum (4:10) and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (3:40).

The Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx is available for purchase for $299 with a 2-year contract through Verizon Wireless.