ZTE has launched the Grand S II in India. The phone will be sold exclusively through Amazon India and is priced at just Rs. 13,999 ($225). The Grand S II has a 5.5-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB memory with microSD support, 13 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front camera, and 3100mAh battery. The only drawback is that the Grand S II runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and ZTE will not be updating to the phone to KitKat, leave alone Lollipop or any future...
Sunday
Purported specs of HTC's upcoming M9 flagship emerge
Alleged specs of HTC's next flagship smartphone made the rounds on Chinese social media. The high-end handset will likely debut in the first quarter of next year with the model number M9. HTC One (M9) is tipped to pack Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset and 3GB of RAM. The display of the device is a 5.5" QHD unit. A 16MP camera with optical image stabilization, 3,500mAh battery, and stereo speakers with Bose tech round up the leaked specs. The specs you see above appear legitimate for a flagship smartphone, though we advise you to take a pinch of salt when you read through them. Quite frankly, we will be surprised if the Taiwanese manufacturer's next flagship doesn't ship with 64-bit Snapdragon 810 silicon. A "Prime" version of the upcoming device is also mentioned in the rumor. However, there are no details about it beyond its name. Source (in Chinese) |...
HTC One (M8 Eye) review
The HTC One (M8) was one of the best phones to have come out this year. It excelled in many things, including the design, build quality, display, loudspeaker, software, hardware, and battery life. Yet it had a big drawback and that was the UltraPixel camera on the back. Being identical is not a bad thing [...]
2015 Chevrolet Colorado
The mid-size pickup market had, until this year, been almost completely stagnant for the better part of a decade. Few new additions joined the ranks, and those on offer were largely stuck in the late 1990s or early 2000s in terms of technology, capability, and features. That has changed for the 2015 model year, and the latest upgrade...2015 Chevrolet Colorado
The mid-size pickup market had, until this year, been almost completely stagnant for the better part of a decade. Few new additions joined the ranks, and those on offer were largely stuck in the late 1990s or early 2000s in terms of technology, capability, and features. That has changed for the 2015 model year, and the latest upgrade...Nokia Lumia 530 is on sale at Amazon UK, costs £50
USA is always getting the cool Windows Phone deals and there is no denying that. Microsoft has always been promoting the Windows Phone OS throughout super affordable Lumia phones in its homeland for years, mostly using carrier or major retailer campaigns. In these rare occasions, such as today, other countries also enjoy similar promotions. The affordable Nokia Lumia 530 is even more affordable in the UK today for the next 10 hours, if you opt to get it contract-free from Amazon UK. The retailer is selling it online for just £49.99, which is at least £30 less than competing retailers' listings. Australians seems to be getting quite a treatment if they opt for the phone through Telstra. If you chose to get Telstra's Pre-Paid $2 Starter Kit, you can have the Nokia Lumia 530 on half the price at AU$39.50. It seems Microsoft is pushing the Lumia 530 in various deals worldwide, so you might be getting it cheap in your market very soon. Source 1 (Amazon) | Source...
2015 Mazda 5
The Mazda 5 has a charming simplicity. It combines all the usefulness of a minivan with the nimble driving feel of a small hatchback. It's arguably a more exciting option than some of the crossovers most newly minted small families are likely to choose. It provides a good transition vehicle from a family sedan to a minivan, or can do...Saturday
Motorola Nexus 6 battery life test
The top-shelf internals of the Motorola Nexus 6 are powered by a beefy 3,220mAh battery. As the first handset to run Android 5.0 Lollipop, we were really curious to put the Pure Google phablet through the paces out battery test. The score of the Nexus phablet falls short of the 87-hour rating of the Samsung [...]
Alleged iPad Air Plus details make the rounds
According to the Japanese publication Mac Fan, Apple will released a 12.2" iPad Air Plus in the spring of next year. The report is featured in the magazine's January 2015 issue and includes alleged details about the upcoming slate, including a blueprint with physical measures. Apple iPad Air Plus will unsurprisingly sit above the iPad Air 2 when it launches. Purported measures of the previously rumored device are 305.31 x 220.8 x 7 mm (12 x 8.7 x .28 inches). The slate is said to feature Apple's next generation A9 processor. The potential launch of a 12.2" iPad would make sense considering Apple's latest product launches. The company delivered a significant upgrade over last year's model with the iPad Air 2, but barely touched anything with the iPad mini 3. Apple's Lack of attention towards the compact slate makes sense with iPhone 6 Plus in the marketplace. As we found out earlier this week, people fancy their large-screen iPhones a lot more than their iPads. One thing we wonder about is what will happen with the MacBook Air family if a 12.2" iPad launches. Our guess is that Apple might simply merge its MacBook Air and Pro families into a single product range in order to make space for the massive iPad Air Plus. Source |...
Opus 3 is Xolo's new selfie-centered midranger
The Dual SIM Xolo Opus 3 has been announced in its home country India. The smartphone is a midranger with a focus on selfies as it's got a wide-angle 5MP front snapper. The smartphone's midrange status is most noticeable in the choice of chipset - it's got a quad-core 1.3GHz Mediatek MTK6582M chipset with 1GB RAM at its heart. Other than that, the rest of the specs are pretty well stacked up. The Xolo Opus 3 has a 5-inch 720p IPS screen and a Sony-made 8MP auto-focus camera with 1080p video recording. In terms of connectivity, the Xolo Opus 3 enjoys HSPA+ support, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, FM radio and Bluetooth 4.0 support. The 8GB worth of on-board storage is expandable via the microSD slot and the battery capacity is 2,500mAh. The handset runs Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box. The Xolo Opus 3 will become available in a few days for 8499 Indian Rupee, which is about US$135. Source |...
LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play edition gets Lollipop update
The Google Play edition of the LG G Pad 8.3 is now receiving the Android 5.0 update. It may not have been as quick as one would have expected, with Google definitely not being as quick as before for rolling out the updates for its own devices but better late than never. Being the stock version of Android, the 5.0 update should bring all the Lollipop goodness, including the new Material Design, updated lockscreen, new notifications, improved performance, and (supposedly) improved battery life. If you have one of these devices then check to see the update is...
Sony working on e-paper watch
Sony is working on an e-paper display. Called the FES Watch, the watch is one of the things under the FES group of devices with e-paper displays.
2015 Mazda CX-9
The 2015 Mazda CX-9 is an outlier compared to Mazda's newest products. It's by far the brand's largest vehicle, it's the only Mazda to come with a V-6 engine, and it doesn't benefit from the automaker's recent focus on making lighter, more-efficient cars and crossovers. Like other Mazdas past and present, however, the CX-9 puts...Friday
HTC Desire 620 goes official in Taiwan with mid-range specs
HTC took the wraps off the Desire 620 mid-ranger in Taiwan. The dual-SIM Android 4.4 KitKat smartphone will be available in two different versions - Desire 620 with 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SoC and Desire 620G with MediaTek MTK MT6592 SoC. Both versions of the smartphone feature 5" 720p display, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of expandable memory. The Snapdragon model can take microSD cards up to 128GB in size, while the MediaTek has to make do with 32GB cards. The handset is powered by 2,100mAh battery. HTC Desire 620 has an 8MP main camera with 1080p video and Eye Experience, coupled with 5MP front-facing unit. The Snapdragon-equipped model has LTE connectivity, while the MTK version tops out at WCDMA. The latest mid-range handset from HTC will be available in Taiwan on December 1. The Snapdragon 410 model will cost TWD $6,990 (about $225), while the MediaTek version will be priced at TWD $4,990 (around $161). There's no word on international availability yet....
Huawei Honor 6 Plus (6X) comes on Dec.16, priced at $536
The Huawei Honor 6X which got certified for sale in China earlier this month might actually end up being sold as the Honor 6 Plus. Regardless of which name Huawei will use, the handset is due to be unveiled on December 16. And according to Chinese media, it will be priced at CNY 3,299. That's around $536 or €431 at the current exchange rates, and represents a slight departure from the Honor brand's traditional affordability. Especially in China cheap smartphones come with good specs, so this price level isn't necessarily what you'd expect from an Honor phone. Thus, it looks like Huawei is trying to play the premium game here. That is, of course, if the pricing rumor pans out. Moving on, the handset should apparently be powered by Huawei's own Kirin 925 chipset, coming with a 1.8 GHz octa-core CPU, a Mali-T628 GPU and support for LTE Cat.6 networks. The processor has four Cortex-A15 cores for performance, and four Cortex-A7 cores for battery life. A benchmark shows the screen resolution of the Honor 6 Plus as 1,800x1,080, which means Huawei will employ software-rendered Android buttons for this model - and the full display resolution will be 1080p. However, the main selling point of the Honor 6 Plus will undoubtedly be its dual rear camera setup, which has already been revealed (as has been the fact that it will have 3GB of RAM, for example). Source (in Chinese) |...
Samsung SM-E700F joins the upcoming E series
Just a few days ago a Samsung SM-E500F was spotted entering India for testing purposes by an import tracking website. And now it's been joined by the Samsung SM-E700F, and in this case we're even graced with a couple of specs for the device. The E700 will apparently come with a 5.5-inch touchscreen, as well as dual-SIM support, though no other details about it are known at this time. Still, this is more than we know about the previously mentioned SM-E500F. These handsets could very well be two members of a new Galaxy E series of devices from Samsung. The Korean company has been rumored to adopt more and more letter-based lineups, following the first one which was the A series. That was recently made official with the announcement of the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5, and a Galaxy A7 should join those two pretty soon, as it's just been given the go-ahead at the FCC. Since the A3 and A5 have the model numbers SM-A300 and SM-A500 respectively, you can see why we'd assume the SM-E500 and SM-E700 will be sold as the Galaxy E5 and Galaxy E7. If that happens (which is by no means a given), then expect the E5 to be smaller and perhaps a bit lesser-specced than the E7. Source |...
LG G Flex 2 rumored to get a January unveiling at CES
The LG G Flex (pictured below) was announced last year as one of the first two smartphones with a bent screen, along with Samsung's Galaxy Round. While Samsung has introduced the Galaxy Note Edge recently, LG is yet to follow up its G Flex. The G Flex 2 has so far been rumored to be made oficial either by the end of 2014, or in the first quarter of 2015. And it turns out that the latter estimation may have been right after all. According to a new bit of information coming from unnamed sources, LG will unveil the G Flex 2 during CES in early January. The show starts on January 6, so we might be just over one month away from the introduction of the Korean company's next curved smartphone. As for specs, we can apparently expect a "major upgrade" over the original G Flex. The new model will once again sport a plastic OLED screen, though it's said to be 1080p this time around. The self-healing coating will be improved too, and the next G Flex should be smaller than its...
Newest Nexus 9 batches come with improved buttons, less light bleed
The initial batches of Nexus 9 tablets manufactured by HTC apparently suffer from having hardware power and volume buttons which are hard to press, and have almost no travel. Additionally, the tablet’s screen has been found to suffer from pretty extensive light bleed.
OnePlus One won't be supported by Cyanogen in India
Earlier this month Micromax, the biggest Indian smartphone maker, announced a partnership with Cyanogen, Inc., the company behind the popular CyanogenMod custom ROM for Android. Cyanogen's software was said to be powering a new, upcoming line of devices from Micromax, which are going to be sold under the Yu brand. When the original announcement came, it was apparently lacking one very important detail: Cyanogen has effectively committed to offering Micromax exclusivity when it comes to future software update support for the Indian market. This puts OnePlus in an awkward position. The Chinese startup is due to launch its One smartphone in India on December 2, which is next Tuesday. Due to Cyanogen's decision, those who buy a OnePlus One from India won't receive any software updates for it. So OnePlus has decided to fast track its own ROM development efforts, which were initially only meant for its next handset. Thus, the company will release a beta version of a new ROM for the Indian market sometime in December, with a full release planned for February. This ROM will be based on Android 5.0 Lollipop, and OnePlus promises it will be free of bloatware, and will keep Google's Material Design philosophy. So, if you buy a OnePlus One from India, it will come running CyanogenMod 11S - just like the other handsets sold outside of China. But you won't receive any updates from Cyanogen. Then, in December you'll be able to flash the beta version of the new OnePlus ROM, and the final version in February. OnePlus has committed to two years of software support for the One from the time when the first build is released. If you buy a OnePlus One and you're in a country that isn't India or China, you'll still get it running CyanogenMod 11S and you'll receive future updates from Cyanogen. In China, the phone is sold running Color OS, the Android overlay developed by Oppo. What prompted Cyanogen to do this to OnePlus is still unclear, and it amounts to yet another hiccup in the very tumultuous life of this startup. Source 1 • Source 2 |...
GSMArena tablet buyer's guide: November 2014
Black Friday is upon us and the holiday season is just around the corner. Without doubt many of you will be shipping around for a new tablet and the latest edition of the GSMArena.com tablet buyer's guide is here to give a helping hand...
New Oppo R8207 unveiled at TENAA, 7a gets Black Friday deals
A new smartphone by the Chenese maker Oppo popped up on the website of the China certification authority TENAA. According to the posted specifications the Oppo R8207 will feature a 6.85mm body, a 5 inch TFT screen with a resolution of 720 x 1080 pixels. Other hardware on the device includes a 1.5 GHz octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB onboard storage plus an SD card slot, as well as two cameras - 13 MP main and 5 MP front. Design-wise the smartphone does resemble the iPhone 6 and to some extent the upcoming Samsung A series and will probably be aiming at the same consumer niche. If Oppo play their cards right and give the device a competitive price tag, just like their track record suggests, it might fare nicely against competitors, considering what it has to offer. In other news, the Chinese company is also participating in the annual Black Friday frenzy. The Oppo online store, Oppo Style, is currently offering the Oppo Find 7a in all its variants for $499 along with a full pack of accessories: a cover, screen protector, 32GB microSD card and they are even throwing in a complimentary Bluetooth Headset. The Oppo Find 7 flagship can also be picked up with the same pack of goodies and will set you back $609. Interestingly enough Oppo Style does also offer an extended battery option of 3000 mAh instead of the standard 2800 mAh one, which is nice touch for the 7a model. Oppo R8207 TENAA shots Source 1 | Source 2 |...
Pantech Vega Pop-up Note phablet sold out in few hours
A few months after filing for bankruptcy, South Korea's No.3 smartphone maker Pantech has released a new phablet which has some really solid specs and a low price tag. Dubbed Vega Pop-up Note, the device has reportedly been a runaway hit, with the initial 300,000 units getting sold in less than half a day. Featurewise, the device packs in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset as well as a 5.6" 1080p display, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of flash memory, which can be further expanded via a microSD card slot. There's a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and autofocus, 2.1-megapixel front camera, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 LE adapters, and a removable 3220 mAh battery. There's also a stylus that doubles as a digital TV antenna. As for the price, the Pop-up Note retails for just 352,000 Korean won, or $317, and that's not even including carrier subsidies, post which the price comes down to less than 200,000 Korean won, or $180. This compares to Samsung's Galaxy Note 4, which retails for 957,000 won, or $861, in Korea. Source |...
Samsung patent for ring-operated smartwatch surfaces
Smartwatches are this year’s hot trend and with the round form factor, already a summit firmly conquered, designer are now focusing on reimagining other traditional watch components. Apple has already pioneered this tendency with the inclusion of a digital crown on the Apple Watch that serves some secondary functions, such as zooming in and out. [...]
AdDuplex: WP8.1 update now on over half, Lumia 63x on the rise
This month Windows Phone reached an important milestone - the latest version (WP8.1) now powers over half of all devices. Added together with devices still on WP8.0 (which could be updated to 8.1), that leaves about one seventh as legacy devices (WP7.x, which cannot be updated). There's more good news too, new devices are climbing up in market share. There's a bit of bad news to go along with that too, it's the Lumia 63x that is seeing the biggest gains. The Other group keeps growing - this month by 2% - which suggests there is some diversification going on in Windows Phone land, but the market is still heavily skewed towards the entry-level devices. "Other" grew when it comes to manufacturers too, but Nokia - that is Microsoft - still has 95% of the market. That will change soon, but only because Microsoft has retired the "Nokia" brand in favor of its own. Source |...
Xiaomishop offers $50 off the Mi 4 in Black Friday price reductions
Xiaomishop, one of the more popular resellers for Xiaomi devices is currently offering customers spherical offers on many popular devices, including Xiaomi Mi 4 and Redmi Note 4G.
Xiaomi to start manufacturing smartphones in India and Brazil
Just a few months after announcing its plans to enter 10 new markets by the end of 2014, Xiaomi has pushed back the expansion plans for some markets, and has said that it will instead focus on existing markets such as India and Indonesia, according to a Bloomberg report. "We realized that it's a smarter thing to do to scale back a bit and put a ton of effort in India and Indonesia before expanding further," said the company's vice president Hugo Barra, who was previously VP of Google's Android division. Despite being a newcomer, Xiaomi's products have been selling like hotcakes in India with the company struggling to meet demand. The report notes that in the past two months, the company had to charter special flights four times to make scheduled deliveries into India. "We're shipping absurd quantities into India," Barra said. "We went from shipping 50,000 a week into India to 200,000". In an effort to solve the supply-demand problem, Xiaomi is now planning to produce its smartphones in India as well as Brazil, and is already in talks with electronics manufacturer Foxconn. While production in India will likely begin in the next couple of years, Brazil may start sooner, the report notes. The news of delay in expansion comes nearly a week after Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said that the 4-year-old company could become the world's biggest smartphone maker in 5-10 years. Last month, the company became the world's third largest smartphone maker. Source |...
Chrome Web Store gets seven new apps, including Couchsurfing and OverDrive
Google has added seven new Android apps to the Chrome Web Store, including cooking community app Cookpad Recipes, travel app Couchsurfing, eBook and audiobook lending service OverDrive, and more.
Samsung Galaxy A7 gets closer to launch after FCC visit
The Samsung Galaxy A5 is currently on sale in China and the Galaxy A3 soon to follow, but the top of the line Galaxy A7 is yet to come out. The phone's visit to the FCC is a strong indication that this will happen sooner than later. In the process, the specs of the Galaxy A7 were also revealed. They are align nicely with the the ones leaked in the end of October. The phone is built around a 5.2" display of 1080p resolution and is powered by the Snapdragon 615 chipset with 64-bit 1.5GHz octa-core CPU and 2GB of RAM. Internal storage is 16GB, but there's no information if there's a microSD card slot on board yet. The main camera is expected to be a 12 MP unit with Full HD video recording, while the selfie snapper will top out at 5 MP. The phone will also have an accelerometer, Bluetooth, a compass, GPS, NFC, and Wi-Fi. Here's hoping the phone launches by the end of the year. Pricing and official information regarding availability are unavailable at the moment, though. Source |...
Archos fully unveils the 80 Cesium tablet – a €150 Windows 8.1 tablet
Archos did its usual pre-IFA mass announcement of multiple devices, including the Windows 8.1 running Archos 80 Cesium. Little was known about it other than that it was supposed to launch in October. Better late than never I suppose. There’s an HDMI cable if you want to hook up an external monitor and the microUSB [...]
OnePlus One available without invite for the next 3 days
OnePlus One has really been generating a stir in the smartphone market the last couple of months. If you have been eyeballing the premium device, nicknamed "flagship killer", but have not been able to get your hands on an invite you might be in luck. For the next 72 hours only and with limited quantities all of the versions of the smartphone can be ordered freely! But don`t get too caught up in the Black Friday storm, because the device is still only available in select markets. Furthermore there is no actual price reduction, but that is more than justifiable given the overwhelming interest. The 16GB Silk one is priced at $299, while the more spacious 64GB Black version will set you back $349. This is definitely a premium, but do get very high-end hardware for that price. The OnePlus One is powered by a formidable Snapdragon 801 8974-AC chip at 2.5 GHz, with 3GB of RAM, a 5.5 inch LTPS display and runs CyanogenMod 11s. The Chinese manufacturer also promises, that any order placed in the next 3 days will arrive just in time for the holidays so be sure to check the source link if you want a new...
Black Friday Android wear deals. Google offers LG G Watch for $99 plus $50 store credit
Today Google threw another surprise in the Black Friday pool of deals. If you happen to live in the US, you will be able to pick up the original LG G Watch for a total of just $99, which is about $130 off its regular price. The 5-month old device might already be outshined by [...]
Infinity Blade Saga coming to Xbox One in China
You may have seen console titles appearing on the mobile platform every now and then but you don’t often see the reverse happening. But apparently that is exactly what is going to happen, as popular iOS title Infinity Blade is making its way to the Xbox One.
Thursday
Gionee W900 with two 1080p displays passes TENAA
An upcoming Gionee W900 smartphone with two 4" 1080p displays passed through TENAA in China. The Android 4.4 KitKat flip phone will almost certainly not launch outside of its home market. Thanks to their modest size and high resolution, the duo of displays found in the handset sport a rather impressive pixel density of 550ppi. The downside of the device's dual display setup is thickness of 14.8mm - a sharp departure from the 5.1mm waistline of Gionee Elife S5.1. The device's TENAA page reveals details about its specs. They include 1.5GHz quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, 13MP main camera, LTE, and 5MP front-facing snapper. Gionee W900 is powered by a 2,050mAh battery. Source (in Chinese) |...
Pebble gives its duo of smartwatches a major price cut
Pebble gave both its smartwatch models a major cut for Black Friday. Both the original Pebble and the Pebble Steel are now available with 20% and 25% off their usual retail price in the manufacturer’s official retail store.
Microsoft's Lumia 535 is coming soon to the UK
Following its official announcement a few weeks ago, and subsequent special introduction for the Indian market, the Microsoft Lumia 535 is also headed to the UK. This has been revealed by Microsoft itself, which has listed the Lumia 535 on its device website for the UK. Next to the phone sits a "Coming soon" notice, and not much more - we don't get an estimated launch date or anything like that. Not yet, at least. But if you're in the UK and are interested in the first smartphone to bear the Microsoft brand after the company bought Nokia's devices business, then you'll at least be happy to know that it's on its way to your neck of the woods. The handset has also been spotted up for pre-order in Germany, so it looks like it should be headed to the major European markets in due course. The release date for Germany seems to be December 5, so perhaps we should expect something similar for the UK. The Lumia 535 will probably be priced around £100, if not lower (in Germany it starts at €120, which at the current exchange rates means £95). The phone comes with a 5-inch 540x960 touchscreen, a 5 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 5 MP front camera, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage (with microSD expansion), and a 1,905 mAh battery. It runs Windows Phone 8.1, and it's powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 SoC with a 1.2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU and Adreno 302 GPU. Source |...
LG G Watch can now be bought from Verizon for just $99.99
The G Watch is LG’s first attempt at an Android Wear-running smartwatch, and it was actually one of the first devices to use this platform. It doesn’t have a round screen like the Korean company’s other wearable, but it’s now received a hefty price cut.
Microsoft to detail Windows 10 for phones, tablets in January
There's already a Technical Preview of Windows 10 out, which you can download and install if you're so inclined, but that's only for computers. When Microsoft first introduced its next version of Windows back in September, it mainly presented the new developer-focused features of the OS, along with just a few consumer-oriented tidbits. Ever since that point, Microsoft has been promising a consumer announcement of Windows 10 which should come in the future, and now a rumor claims that will happen in January. Although Microsoft will be present at CES in early January, that's not the avenue it will use for the Windows 10 intro. Apparently the company will hold a separate conference towards the end of the month, and it could be a more comprehensive one compared to the one from September. Alongside making all the consumer-facing features of Windows 10 known, during the same late January gathering Microsoft will also unveil Windows 10 for phones and tablets. This will thus be the first time we'll get a glimpse at the mobile version of the new OS. Windows 10 is designed to run across multiple devices, such as PCs, tablets, phones, and the Xbox One. The exact date of the event in January is expected to be made official by the end of this year. Source |...
Jolla Tablet gets additional funding goals to finance new features
Today Jolla has announced three “stretch goals” for its already highly successful tablet project. If reached, these funding goals will allow the company to bake in some additional features for the tablet.
Low-end Samsung SM-J100F surfaces via benchmark
Just a few days ago the Samsung SM-E500F got leaked for the first time, and back then we speculated that it could be the first member of an upcoming Galaxy E series from the Korean smartphone maker. We arrived at that idea based on the E in its model number. Samsung hasn't so far released a phone with that letter in its model number, and the recently unveiled Galaxy A devices both have A in their model numbers. If all of this pans out, then there's another lineup of handsets coming from Samsung in the future too, and these ones could be called Galaxy J. That's because a previously unheard of Samsung SM-J100F got put through the paces of a graphics benchmark for Android. As always, this has resulted in a list of its most important specs becoming public. The J100F boasts a 4.8-inch 480x800 touchscreen, a 5 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 5 MP front camera (both with 1080p video recording support), 1GB of RAM, and 4GB of built-in storage (of which 2.2GB will be user accessible). Running the show is a not often seen Marvell PXA1908 chipset, which has 64-bit support and a 1.2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU. A Vivante GC7000UL GPU is also present. Although exact mobile data connectivity options haven't been revealed by the benchmark, the SoC in the J100F does support 4G LTE Cat.4 (with theoretical peak download speeds of up to 150Mbps), so hopefully that's made it into this smartphone. The benchmarked handset runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat, and it also has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS. It's clearly a low-end offering through and through, we'll have to see how well it's going to be priced in order to know whether it will sell in any significant numbers. Source | Via (in...
Amazon.de is giving away over 100€ worth of apps
Amazon.de has posted a deal offering 41 premium paid apps for free up until November 29. The collective value of the applications is over 100€ and can only be downloaded from the Amazon App Store for Android.
New E-Label act might dispose of ugly FCC mark on back of Apple devices
President Obama signed the E-Label act today, proposed back in July. The new regulation allows manufacturers to remove the physical FCC markings from certain electronic devices and display them inside the software instead.
Best Buy’s Apple discounts are already in effect, iPad Air 2 lineup is $100 off
Best Buy unveiled its planned price cuts for Black Friday, but apparently it couldn’t wait until midnight and Apple products are already discounted – and some devices already running out.
The Galaxy Note 4 with Exynos chipset has an ISOCELL camera
Samsung was strangely vague about the image sensor in the Galaxy Note 4. It bragged about its in-house ISOCELL sensor in the Galaxy S5, but not a peep about who made the Note's sensor. The deal was resolved with the simplest solution - an eyes on test, which found a Sony IMX240 sensor. Or was it? New evidence suggests there's more than a difference in chipsets between the two Galaxy Note 4 versions - the Snapdragon 805 one and the Exynos 5433 one. Using a hidden service menu the camera firmware version was checked to find that the two different models report two different things. The Exynos-based Note 4 version string is very similar to what the Galaxy S5 reports, while the Snapdragon variation just outputs SONY_IMX240. You can check your Note 4 phablet by opening the dialer and typing *#34971539# and hitting the ISP Ver Check button. Anyway, this raises the question - does the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (Exynos) camera support phase-detection autofocus? The sensor does and it is used in the Galaxy S5. Samsung tries to equalize performance between the Snapdragon/Exynos versions but the ISP version does differ from that of the...
2015 Toyota Prius V
2015 Toyota Prius C
2015 Toyota Prius V
IDC: India is fastest growing Asia Pacific smartphone market
IDC put out a new report, stating that India continues to be the fastest growing Asia Pacific market for smartphones. The Q3 smartphone sales saw a growth of 82% over the same period of 2013. The data also mentions a quarter-on-quarter growth of 27%. This exponential growth has largely been boosted by the festive demands. There are also a number of other reasons that have played a crucial part in forming the favorable statistics that exceed every other market in the Asian Pacific region in terms of growth. Karan Thakkar, senior market analyst at IDC India, puts a lot of emphasis on positive customer attitude toward the market and mostly the existing low levels of inflation. He believes, that these are the needed ingredients to ensure a fast paced and quickly refreshing device market. When the intensifying push towards 4G is added to the mix, Karan predicts an even greater spike in demand, reaching upwards of 80 million units in 2015. Another peculiar trend, identified by the same researcher is a possible rise in interest towards phablet devices, which the IDC defines as having a screen size between 5.5 and 6.99 inches. At current their overall market share in India is pretty low and constant at 6%. Consumers still regard smartphones with screens between 4.5 and 5.5 inches as the ideal everyday device. Karan, however believes that richer media content and faster data connection will bring about a need for higher resolution and bigger screens and definitely sees this type of hardware making a return. Source |...
Motorola offers seperate leather and metal bands for the 360
Motorola has started offering standalone band purchases for the Moto 360. Now, you can buy additional bands from Motorola and they come in five options. You can choose from three 22mm leather options, including the standard black and stone and there is now a new cognac leather option as well. In metal, you can choose between 23mm black and silver options. The leather belts cost $29.99 while the metal ones cost $79.99. The Moto 360 can also be purchased with new thin 18mm gold and silver bands but those cannot be purchased separately. Source •...
Opera Subscription Mobile Store lets operators set up branded subscription-based stores
Opera is now offering mobile operators an easy way to set up their own, customized and branded mobile application store. The service builds upon Opera`s already existing extensive library of applications across multiple mobile platforms, including Android, Java, Symbian and BlackBerry.
Karbonn Sparkle V to be the first Android One device in Europe
Google's Android One series of smartphone recently launched in India but has been limited to one country for now. However, the phones will now be available in Europe, with Amazon beginning the sales of the Karbonn Sparkle V on its UK website. The Sparkle V is available for £129.99 on Amazon UK SIM free, which about the same as other low-end Android phones in the market such as the Moto G. As an added bonus, the phone will be available on Black Friday for £99.99, making it really good value. So far only one of the three Android One phones is being launched in Europe but with all of them being mostly identical it shouldn't matter much. Source •...
LG appoints new mobile head in annual management restructuring
LG electronics has just appointed a new head of its mobile division. Juno Cho will be taking over the position of president and CEO of the division from Park Jong-Seok, who has been dealing with health problems, but will retain a supporting role in the management. The new CEO will be in charge of leading a formidable expansion in global markets, which builds upon the company's recent success in the mobile sector. This year the second largest Korean handset manufacturer regained profitability, with a formidable 16.3% market share in North America during Q3. This is in large part thanks to the huge success of their flagship device, the LG G3. This sets a veritable record for LG, with almost double the market shares from last year. Furthermore the company announced its highest operation profits, since 2010 at $152 million. Juno Chou can already boast formidable success at LG. He is largely credited for the North America branch success around the mid-2000s and the very well-received Chocolate Phone in 2006, which he was in charge of. This track record has made him a perfect candidate to lead LG mobile sales into foreign markets and especially China. The announcement also commented on several other management rearrangements. Kwon Bong-suk, who is currently heading LG Corp's Synergy Division, was promoted to president and CEO of the entire consumer electronics segment at LG. It seems that this is part of the expansion of OLED TVs, planned for next year. This drive towards the technology is also supported by the decision to keep Han Sang-beom as CEO of LG display. Several other rearrangement are also set to occur in LG affiliates - LG Display, LG InnoTek and LG Chem, but they concern mostly mid-level...
Wednesday
The latest batch of Samsung Galaxy Note 4 promo videos is too cute to miss
Samsung just released its most adorable batch of Galaxy Note 4 promo videos to date in an attempt to find “the cutest animal in the Galaxy.” The latest marketing stint by the Korean giant features a trio of rare and adorable animals – a quokka, a river otter, and a blue penguin.
Android 5.0 is now seeding to Nvidia Shield Tablet LTE
Android 5.0 Lollipop is now seeding to Nvidia Shield Tablet LTE over-the-air. The gaming hardware manufacturer delivered the news about the update on Twitter roughly a week after the Wi-Fi model got the same treatment. Better than ever: #NVIDIASHIELD Tablet LTE, the first US LTE tablet running Android 5.0 Lollipop! Upgrade now via system settings.— NVIDIA Tegra (@NVIDIATegra) November 26, 2014 The OS update makes Nvidia Shield Tablet LTE the first slate with 4G connectivity to boot Android 5.0 on the US market. HTC Nexus 9 LTE is not available to order for the time being. Android 5.0 Lollipop brings new functionality to the Nvidia Shield Tablet. The slate now features updated stock apps and the ability to stream a number of PC games via Nvidia Grid game service. Source |...
Original leather and metal bands for Moto 360 are now available
The original leather and metal replacement bands Moto 360 smartwatch are now available to order in Motorola’s online store. The leather option for the smartwatch is priced at $29.99, while the metal band costs $79.99.
2016 Acura ILX Preview
Owners of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus use their iPads less
Users of Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus spend significantly less time with their iPads than owners of older iPhone models. The data that confirms the new state of affairs comes courtesy of the developers behind Pocket. The latter is a popular award-winning app, which allows users to save articles, videos, and other web content for later viewing. As it turns out, iPhone 6 owner spend 72% of their time viewing Pocket content on their handset versus 28% on their iPad. The figure jumps even more in the case of the iPhone 6 Plus - 80% on the phablet versus 20% on the iPad. For comparison, iPhone 5s users spend 55% of their time on the Pocket app on their handset and 45% on their Apple slate. The iPhone 6 Plus Pocket usage time distribution matches exactly the consumption pattern of Android users. This should hardly catch anyone by surprise as large-screen Android smartphones have been the norm for quite some time now. Pocket developers' data also reveals that 2.5x more users of the app prefer iPhone 6 over its bigger brother. The data falls right in line with a recent report. Source |...
2015 Kia Sorento
2015 Infiniti QX50
2015 Infiniti QX70
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