The Mini Paceman John Cooper Works leaked before its official release

Bucking modern automotive trends, Minis keep getting bigger, heavier and more fuel-thirsty. The latest in this prodigious power progression is the Paceman John Cooper Works.

Mini, much like Porsche, has been keen to continue its iconic bodylines in each of its models with little change. Unlike Porsche, however, Mini seems to have been forced to get questionably clever with some of its newest models due to its arguably limiting design. Take the Paceman, for instance. Based upon the massive four-wheel drive, four-door Countryman, the Paceman is a bulky Mini coupe available in both front and all-wheel drive. Having just debuted the Paceman at this year’s LA Auto Show, Mini wasn’t ready to release its high-octane version: the Paceman John Cooper Works.

To our delight, however, the Paceman JCW was leaked well in advance of its official unveiling. Looking every bit the part of a JCW Mini, the Paceman has been given extended side skirting, larger tailpipes, and a John Cooper Works badge.

The big differences of the JCW version lie under the hood. Final power numbers are not yet known but Autocar is reporting that the JCW Paceman features the same turbocharged 1.6-liter inline four-cylinder engine that is found in the Countryman Cooper S. Power, however, is supposedly up 34 horsepower and 30 pound-feet of torque for a total of 249 horsepower and 237 pound-feet. The powerful four-cylinder will be mated to a six-speed manual transmission.

The Countryman Cooper S will make a 0-62 run in 7 seconds and onto a top speed of 140. We can only presume, however, that the Paceman JCW will be a bit quicker given its diminished stature.

What makes the Paceman stand out from the rest of the Mini lineup is its new color LCD screen in the center of the dash, where previous Minis featured an analogue speedometer. The standard Paceman is a hip and youthful progression of the ever-growing brand. The John Cooper Works version adds some additional testosterone into the Mini Paceman mix.

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BlackBerry 10 L Series phone leaked again, still weeks away from launch

Research in Motion's touchscreen BlackBerry 10 handset, the L Series, has been leaked again, this time showing it compared to a BlackBerry Bold 9700. RIM will officially announce BlackBerry 10 and its hardware on January 30 next year.

The L Series BlackBerry 10 phone has been leaked again, this time appearing in CrackBerry.com’s forums, where a handful of pictures showed the phone up close, as well as being compared to a BlackBerry Bold 9700.

Research in Motion’s L Series handset is one of two phones on which it will launch the BlackBerry 10 operating system next year, where it will be joined by the more traditional QWERTY keyboard-equipped N Series.

In the snaps, the L Series — marked as an evaluation unit — looks the same as it did back in September, when both it and the N Series phone last appeared. The long, black chassis remains, while the front has the slight look of Sony’s Xperia range to it, thanks to the edgeless screen. Sitting next to the Bold, it also looks quite long.

The source of the leak hasn’t provided any more information on the specification, but if previous rumors are correct, that’s a 4.2-inch screen with a 1280 x 768 pixel resolution, and a dual-core processor should be hiding inside.

RIM has already announced when the L Series will be made official, as it will be holding an ambitious, global launch event for BlackBerry 10 on January 30 next year, where both phones and the new software will finally make their public debut.

There were concerns RIM would miss the first quarter release date, which it has continually stood by, but according to the company’s COO Kristian Tear, BB10 handsets will on sale within 30 days of that event. This means it’ll make its self-imposed deadline, but only by a whisker.

Despite the fact the OS is still a bit of a mystery, and there are several months to go until we get to try it out, the company’s stock has been performing well; perhaps assisted by BlackBerry 10 gaining government security clearance and RIM drip-feeding us details on new, interesting features such as BBM Voice.

Will the L Series be enough to tempt iOS, Android and even Windows Phone fans away and into RIM’s waiting arms? We’ll find out next year.

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Leaked OS 7.1.0.714 for the BlackBerry Bold 9900

 

OS 7.1.0.714 has leaked for the BlackBerry Bold 9900. This is an unofficial (leaked) OS, so while it's mostly safe to install, remember to use caution when updating your device. If you need help along the way, you can head into our help forums or check out some of our BlackBerry 101 articles including How to Install or Upgrade to a new OS or How to Upgrade Your BlackBerry OS Using App Loader. If you do install this OS, hit up the forums thread below for findings, fixes and more discussion.

*OS Disclaimer - Please Read: Keep in mind this is NOT an official release and as such is not supported by RIM or your Carrier. If you choose to install, do so at your own risk and only if you're comfortable in the process of upgrading and downgrading your device software. It is quite normal during operating system development for certain features to be crippled or disabled while others are tested, and these beta builds often reflect that. They are not always better. Depending on your BlackBerry comfort level, it may be best for you to wait for community feedback on a build before deciding to download and install for yourself or simply wait for the next official release. If you require support, you will find it in our CrackBerry forums via our extremely knowledgeable community base - do not contact your carrier or RIM for Beta OS technical support (their first course of action will be to advise you to downgrade to a supported OS). *

Download OS 7.1.0.714 for the Bold 9900
Discuss more in the forums

Source: N4BB 

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Leaked Roadmap - Verizon to get Nokia Lumia 920, HTC 8X and Samsung ATIV S

Verizon set to get the 'big 3'?

Although unverified at this point, the site PhoneArena is claiming to have the Verizon roadmap for upcoming new devices, including those rumored “multiple” Windows Phone 8 phones.

The good news if accurate is Verizon is getting all of the big guns, including the Nokia Lumia 920, Samsung ATIV S and the recently announced HTC 8X—all considered to be the top of the line launch devices for Windows Phone 8, due to occur at the end of October.

Looking for release dates? All they have penciled in is November, meaning a launch window is in place but subject to outside circumstances. Our bet is we’ll see them sooner than later.

So, to our long beleaguered Verizon readers, has Verizon satisfied you with their WP8 lineup? Does it make up for only having the Trophy?  And which will you get (take our poll).

Source: PhoneArena; Thanks, DavidinCT, for the tip!

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LG Venice leaked for Boost Mobile, as ZTE Warp Sequent goes on sale

Those crazy tipsters at @evleaks are back once more, and today they bring word of a mid-range LG device heading to Boost Mobile. What we see here is supposedly the LG Venice, aka, a renamed LG Optimus L7. Otherwise -- as ever -- we get nothing but the name and an image. Given recent leaks from these guys though, we'd be surprised if this wasn't in stores in the not to distant future. 

The L7 itself packs a respectable spec list for a mid-range smartphone. Part of LG's style series, it brings with it a 4.3 inch display and Ice Cream Sandwich overlayed with LG's Optimus UI. 

In other Boost Mobile news today, the ZTE Warp Sequent is now available from the carrier. Costing just $199.99 off contract, the Warp Sequent looks a lot like the ZTE Grand X while packing different specs. Differences include the processor -- 1.4GHz processor, type not known, in place of the Grand X's Tegra 2 -- and just three capacitive buttons unlike its European counterpart. The same 4.3 inch display remains, as does the 5MP rear camera and stock Android 4.0. 

Sources: @evleaks, Boost Mobile

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Leaked photos of cancelled Nokia “Lauta” RM-742 N9 Successor prototype

How would you like one of these running Apollo?

My Nokia Blog have received a photo collection of an N9 successor, codenamed 'Lauta'. If it were released, it's reported to have been the immediate successor to the N9 and would have been launched soon after, but was subsequently scrapped due to Nokia's decision to support Windows Phone and drop MeeGo.

While in the photos the display and main body of the device are different colours, My Nokia Blog notes that retail units would have sported one complete theme. As well as a similar look and feel of the N9, the 'Lauta' sports identical internals, sharing the same specification sheet as its predecessor.

Check out some more photos below.

We've asked this before, but how would you have liked a QWERTY version of the Lumia 800 / 900? Would you like to see Nokia head down a physical keyboard path?

Source: My Nokia Blog

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Droid RAZR HD video tutorials leaked (update - and now they're gone)

Update: Well, looks like the YouTube account that uploaded the videos has been closed. That's the way it goes with leaks sometimes. 

A few video tutorials have leaked out, very similar to ones we've seen before for other Motorola devices, showing basic functions of using what we presume is the Droid RAZR HD. Although the device isn't actually properly called out as such, it's a pretty safe bet at this point given the design, Verizon branding and timing. Leaks like this line up with what we're assuming will be the launch of the device at a Verizon and Motorola event on September 5th.

The videos are pretty run of the mill, showing off basic functions of the latest Motorola UI over Ice Cream Sandwich -- which looks extremely similar to what we've seen on the Atrix HD. Unfortunately they don't give away much in the way of specs or a look at the rest of the device, but we'll know soon enough. Take a gander after the break at the rest of the videos.

Source: Droid Life

"Forever tinkering with gadgets."

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