On top of the success of Blackberry Torch, Research in Motion (RIM), the makers of the handset, may soon launch a newer version of the device.

According to sources, the new device will have a 1.2 Ghz Processor as compared to the slower 600Mhz processor of the Torch.

The Torch 2 is likely to feature hardware acceleration for its 3.2 inch capacitive display.

An upgraded 8 GB of on board memory for random storage and 512 MB of RAM might feature in the new BlackBerry Torch. The new smartphone will also feature a newer version of the BlackBerry operating system, the 6.1.

The new device would likely to have the Near Field Communications or NFC technology that makes financial transactions easy and uncomplicated.

It is expected to be launched in the third quarter of this year and may be priced at Rs 35,000.

A phone that runs for days with a very small battery could soon be possible. Engineers from University of Illinois (USA) have developed a form of ultra-low-power digital memory that is faster and uses 100 times less energy than similar available memory.

The flash memory, used in mobile devices today, stores bits as charge and requires high programming voltages and is relatively slow. The higher power phase-change materials (PCM) came as an alternative. But, in PCM memory a bit is stored in the resistance of the material, which is switchable.

The engineer’s group, which worked on the project, lowered the power per bit to 100 times less than existing PCM memory by focusing on one simple, yet key factor: size.

Rather than the metal wires standard in industry, the group used carbon nanotubes, tiny tubes only a few nanometres in diameter — 10,000 times smaller than a human hair.

To create a bit, the researchers place a small amount of PCM in a nanoscale gap formed in the middle of a carbon nanotube. They can switch the bit “on” and “off” by passing small currents through the nanotube.

“Carbon nanotubes are the smallest known electronic conductors,” Eric Pop, electrical and computer engineering professor who is leading the team. “They are better than any metal at delivering a little jolt of electricity to zap the PCM bit.”

Nanotubes also boast an extraordinary stability, as they are not susceptible to the degradation that can plague metal wires. In addition, the PCM that functions as the actual bit is immune to accidental erasure from a passing scanner or magnet.

The low-power PCM bits could be used in existing devices with a significant increase in battery life. Right now, a smartphone uses about a watt of energy and a laptop runs on more than 25 watts. Some of that energy goes to the display, but an increasing percentage is dedicated to memory.

“Anytime you’re running an app, or storing MP3s, or streaming videos, it’s draining the battery,” said Albert Liao, a graduate student and co-author. “The memory and the Processor are working hard retrieving data. As people use their phones to place calls less and use them for computing more, improving the data storage and retrieval operations are important.”

Pop believes that, along with improvements in display technology, the nanotube PCM memory could increase an iPhone’s energy efficiency so it could run for a longer time on a smaller battery, or even to the point where it could run simply by harvesting its own thermal, mechanical or solar energy — no battery required.

And device junkies will not be the only beneficiaries.

“We’re not just talking about lightening our pockets or purses,” Pop said. “This is also important for anything that has to operate on a battery, such as satellites, telecommunications equipment in remote locations, or any number of scientific and military applications.”

In addition, ultra-low-power memory could cut the energy consumption — and thus the expense — of data storage or supercomputing centers by a large percentage. The low-power memory could also enable three-dimensional integration, a stacking of chips that has eluded researchers because of fabrication and heat problems.

The team has made and tested a few hundred bits so far, and they want to scale up production to create arrays of memory bits that operate together. They also hope to achieve greater data density through clever programming such that each physical PCM bit can program two data bits, called multibit memory.

The team is continuing to work to reduce power consumption and increase energy efficiency even beyond the ground-breaking savings they’ve already demonstrated.

“Even though we’ve taken one technology and shown that it can be improved by a factor of 100, we have not yet reached what is physically possible. We have not even tested the limits yet. I think we could lower power by at least another factor of 10,” Pop said.

Microsoft has again delayed the crucial update of its Windows Phone 7 to the second half of March.

A Microsoft blog post says, “This short pause should in no way impact the timing of future updates, including the one announced recently at Mobile World Congress featuring multitasking, a Twitter feature, and a new HTML 5-friendly version of Internet Explorer Mobile”.

The process, referred as ‘copy-and-paste update’, was previously scheduled in the first half of this month.

Microsoft’s first update of Windows Phone 7 last month ended in a disaster with some users complaining that the update created problems in their handsets.

It appears that Microsoft has become more cautious about the entire update process, and seems to be making all the handsets undergo complete testing before the process rolls out. One or two weeks probably would not affect the end users, who would just like to have a good update experience.

The BlackBerry operating systems will soon support the WiFi hotspot feature (also called as tethering)that is already available in the Android and Apple iOS. It enables you to share internet access with five other devices with WiFi support.

News 4 Blackberry has reported how the mobile hotspot feature will work on BlackBerry OS 6.1.

You’ll be able to connect up to five devices over WiFi. It will also allow automatic shut down to save battery life if there’s no activity for a set period of time.

Uses will also be able to share an internet connection over a tethered USB connection without first installing desktop software. At present, users are required to install a software in their PCs to use this function.