this week

Android 4.4 KitKat official, aims to reach 1 billion users

Android 4.4 KitKat has been officially announced and as usual, the latest version of the Android OS debuts alongside the a new Nexus, the Nexus 5. So, what's new? Well, the 4.4 KitKat aims to reach the next 1 billion users and it will scale automatically to fit on the devices with as little as 512 MB of RAM.
The design of the OS has been polished and it looks better than ever. Android 4.4 brings a new phone app, which now helps you search across your contacts, nearby places or even through any other Google app accounts, right from your dialler app.
Google's new Hangout app comes out of the box on Android 4.4. It puts all your SMS and MMS under one roof along with other conversations and video calls so that you don't miss messages regardless of how they are sent.
The lock screen now has a camera shortcut and there is an option to rearrange the home screens to match your requirements. All devices without hardware keys now get extra room as the navigation interface disappears as soon as an app is launched.
As one can expect, the newest Android version brings a whole lot of new features for Google's search platform. You can now activate search with keywords and the speech recognition engine is about 25 percent more accurate than before, according to Google.
You can use the hotwords to launch voice search with the Google Now, send a text, get directions or even play a song. The upcoming version of the Google Now will bring new card types that keep you updated with contextual topics of interest to you.
Android 4.4's new framework allows you to AirPrint (a feature similar to wireless printing), which is however limited to HP printers only for now. The OS now supports third-party cloud storage in the Gallery app
Google aims to make Android accessible to everyone, even people with low-end hardware. In the past, due to the memory constraints, some lower-end smartphones couldn't get a taste of the newer Android versions, but with KitKat that's about to change. Android 4.4 KitKat removes unnecessary background services and reduces the memory consumption to a large extent, which now allows the OS to run smoothly even on devices with 512MB RAM. Ironically, the Galaxy Nexus with 1GB RAM will not get KitKat.
Google has also managed to enhance the battery performance through its sensor batching, which reduces the data requests. Lastly, Android 4.4 comes with under the hood tweaks and changes to enhance the overall performance of the OS.
Android 4.4 KitKat will be powering the newly launched Google Nexus 5 out of the box, while the roll out for the other Nexus devices will begin in the coming days.

LG Nexus 5 is official, runs Android 4.4 KitKat

The leak storm is finally over, Google has just made the Nexus 5 official. The latest Nexus smartphone is manufactured by LG. It rocks a 4.95" LCD display with 1080p resolution, which adds up to a pixel density of 445 ppi. The good news keeps on coming with the addition of Gorilla Glass 3 for enhanced screen protection.
Inside the Nexus 5 is a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset with four Krait 400 cores and Adreno 330 GPU. It's definitely not a slouch with 2GB of RAM and Android 4.4 KitKat at the driver's seat.


In a traditional Google manner, internal storage options are either 16GB or 32GB with no microSD card slot to be found. Below the back cover sits a 2,300mAh battery, which isn't exactly the largest we've seen on a 5" smartphone. However, it does support wireless charging, which is cool.
At the back, there's an 8MP with OIS and LED flash. The camera uses a 1/3.2" sensor and an f/2.4 aperture. The camera module protrudes a bit from the rear casing with a LED flash below it. At the front, there's a 1.3MP camera for video calling, too.
The LG Nexus 5 measures 137.84 x 69.17 x 8.59mm and weighs just 130g.
On the connectivity side, the LG Nexus 5 has it all - penta-band 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, A-GPS, NFC and even.
The Nexus 5 will be available in the US and Canada in North America, the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy in Europe, plus Australia, Japan and Korea (and coming soon to India).
The 16GB version of the Nexus 5 is priced at $349 / €349 / £300, while the 32GB versions are $400 /€400 / £340. Sales start tomorrow, November 1 from the Google Play Store. Other than the Play Store, you'll be able to grab one from Sprint, T-Mobile, Amazon, Best Buy and RadioShack.
By the way, the Play Store will also sell accessories for the Nexus 5 - bumpers and QuickCovers.
Update: Boy, that was quick. The US Play Store is reporting that the 16GB Nexus 5s are sold out just a couple of hours after the launch. If you managed to snag one, it should ship by November 8.
Both 32GB versions (Black and White) are still available, but who knows how long this will last. Hopefully, the other retailers will have more units available.

Intel's holdout against making ARM chips comes to an end

Unable to break through with its own mobile Atom chipset, it seems that Intel finally raised the white flag and has decided to begin manufacturing 64-bit ARM chips of its own.


The ARM architecture's supremacy in the mobile market has been a result of the varied and competitive core licensing terms provided by ARM Holdings. This has allowed a variety of manufacturers - including Samsung, Apple, Nvidia and many more - to use ARM's core designs to create integrated SoC's of their own. In 2010 alone, an incredible 95% of smartphones shipped with ARM-based CPU's.
It was obviously in Intel's best interest to stop resisting the adaptation of ARM in the mobile realm, and its decision to enter into the fray against other semiconductor foundries (most notably Samsung and TSMC) brings up some interesting permutations.
First, will Intel's historic rival chipset manufacturers like Nvidia and Qualcomm be willing to do business with it over rival foundries? Second, what sort of advantages will Intel's 64-bit architecture offer?
This also opens up some interesting possibilities for Apple, who would love to be able to break ties with Samsung as the primary supplier of the ARM-based Ax SoC found in its iPhone smartphones and Apple tablets (including the upcoming A8 chip). It's a process that's been hinted at in the past, and estimated to take as long as a year and a half and cost Apple between $1 - 3 billion.
Intel's potential ability to make high quality 64-bit ARM CPU's may be enough to entice Apple into taking the plunge, and perhaps even get an exclusivity agreement in the meantime.

Xolo Q900 is a quad-core smartphone for €155

Xolo Q900, the company's latest quad-core smartphone, has launched in India. It comes with a 4.7-inch 720 display and is powered by the MT6589 chipset with four ARM Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.2GHz, PowerVR SGX544 graphics and 1GB of RAM.

The Xolo Q900 has 4GB of internal storage expandable via a microSD slot. There is an 8MP rear camera capable of 1080p video recording plus a 2MP front snapper. As is usually the case with Xolo phones, the Q900 is dual-SIM-enabled and supports 3G with HSPA. Finally, it comes with a 1,800 mAh battery that should be enough for 10 hours of 3G calls, at least on paper.
Xolo Q900 runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean version.
The smartphone is now available in India for INR 12,900 which translates to just €155.

Motorola announces Ara, a new modular phone concept

We have seen the ambitions Phonebloks concept in the past. But while the idea was definitely amazing, it was hard not to get cynical about its success, considering it was just guy with an idea trying to get the attention of companies around the world to make it a reality.
But what if one of those companies decided to take the idea and do something about it? Presenting the Motorola Ara, a modular phone concept that might actually become real one day.
Just like with Phonebloks, the Ara will have removable modules that will let you replace or upgrade specific parts of the device. This makes repair and upgrading easy but also lets you customize the phone to your exact needs. You can choose only those modules that are important to you and skimp out on the others.
The Motorola Ara project has been in development for a year now, so it's not something Motorola put together when they saw the Phonebloks video. Motorola will also be working with the creator of the Phonebloks concept Dave Hakkens on the Ara project.
Motorola will soon be sending invites to developers to start working on modules for the Ara and an alpha version of a Module Developer's Kit will be released in winter.

LG G Flex with curved OLED display goes official in Korea

LG officially took the wraps off the G Flex smartphone with curved display in Korea. The Android handset will hit all three major carriers in its homeland next month, where it will square off against the Samsung Galaxy Round.

Naturally, the main feature of the LG G Flex is its curved display. It is a massive 6” 720p OLED unit whose IMAX cinema-like horizontal curve in landscape mode will allow for an immersive experience when watching videos or playing video games.
Another peculiar talent featured by the device is self-healing film on its back which can deal with minor scratches in a matter of minutes. LG compares the trick to the self-healing ability of the Wolverine character from the X-Men.
The LG G Flex is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC with 2.26GHz quad-core CPU. The rest of the specs include 2GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in memory, microSD card slot, and 13MP camera. The smartphone packs full connectivity suite, including compatibility with the speedy LTE-A networks in Korea. It will boot Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean dressed in LG’s proprietary UI.
The measures of the LG G Flex are 160.5 x 81.6 x 7.9/8.7mm (the thickness of the phone depends on the point of its curve), while its weight tips the scale at 177 grams. The handset is powered by a 3,500mAh battery which was recently under the spotlight in its own right.

this week

Japan Display unveils 2 QHD smartphone screens

Just two days ago Japan Display announced an amazingly sounding 12.1" 4K display for tablets. That one featured 3840x2160 pixel resolution and 365ppi density.
Today Japan Display unveiled another ultra high resolution display, this time for pocketable mobile devices. The new panel has 1440 x 2560 pixels and is available in two flavors - a 5.4" version with the chart-topping 543ppi density and a 6.2" model with 473ppi.
Both models of the new display have 1mm thin bezels, greater than 160 degree viewing angles and use LTPS (low temperature poly silicon) technology for keeping power consumption under control.
The 5.4-inch unit measures at 69.59 x 126.67 x 1.12 mm and has 1500:1 contrast, while its bigger 6.2" sibling spreads at 80.18 x 146.7 x 1.65 mm and offers a 1000:1 contrast ratio.
It's unclear when we will see an actual product touting these new screens, but seeing how screen sizes and resolutions evolve recently, it might not take longer than until next year.

64-bit Exynos SoC to make it in time for Galaxy S5

Just a month after Korean media outlets reported that Samsung's 64-bit processor is in the final stages of its development, they are again stating the company is "almost done".
The report suggests that Samsung is done with the most complex tasks of the development process and is now dealing with technicalities and logistics. The Korean ittoday.co.kr hasn't specified if the chip is already undergoing sampling, but that should start soon if it hasn't already.

The chips is among the first of multiple 64-bit processors to find its place in the upcoming 2014 lineup of flagships. According to multiple reports and rumors, the first one to use it will be the Samsung Galaxy S5.
The upcoming flagship is said to feature a next-gen Exynos 6 CPU with 14nm architecture and 64-bit support. Alongside it, the next generation Samsung Exynos CPU is said to feature ARM's big.LITTLE octa-core configuration with Cortex-A53/A57 cores. All eight cores will reportedly be able to operate simultaneously using half as much power as the currently available Exynos 5420.

1080p Micromax Canvas Turbo goes official

Today Micromax announced the Canvas Turbo. The smartphone comes with a 5.0-inch 1080p IPS CGS (Continuous Grain Silicon) display made by Sharp and is powered by a quad-core processor.


The actual chipset inside the Canvas Turbo is MT6589T with four 1.5GHz Cortex-A7 cores, PowerVR SGX544 graphics and 2GB of RAM. The smartphone offers 16GB of internal storage, but sadly no microSD expansion slot.
Naturally, the Micromax Canvas Turbo comes with dual-SIM support. You get quad-band GSM plus 2100MHz HSPA support for up to 42Mbps downlink.


The rest of the Canvas Turbo specs include a 13MP rear camera with a LED flash and 1080p video recording, a 5MP front snapper, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, and a 2,000mAh battery.
Micromax Canvas Turbo runs on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean and will launch in India on October 26 in Pristine White and Midnight Blue colors. The suggested retail price is INR19,990, which translates to about €235.

Japan Display unveils 12.1" 4K tablet display

Today Japan Display introduced the world's first 12.1-inch 4K display. Even stretched over 12 inches the 3840x2160 pixel resolution results in the great 365ppi pixel density.
The new display unit measures 273.7 x 164.6 x 1.96mm and offers viewing angles wider than 160-degree. It uses LTPS (low temperature poly silicon) technology, which enables the high ppi and keeps power consumption under control.


The rest of the 12.1" 4K display specs include 1000:1 contrast, 500cd/m2 brightness and 3600mW power consumption with the backlight turned set at its maximum level. If no backlight is used, the display consumes just 360mW.
There is no info when these displays will enter mass production, but it seems unlikely we'll see them in actual products before the second half of next year. Japan Display is one of Apple's suppliers of screens, so who knows, this might as well turn out to be the next iPad's key feature.

Next-gen Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8084 chip leaks with Adreno 420 on board

A mysterious new Qualcomm Snapdragon system chip has appeared on the AnTuTu synthetic benchmark app and it’s a hint of what’s to come next in high-end smartphones and tablets. 

The chip, bearing the codename APQ8084, has the capacity to reach a whopping 2.5GHz clock speed. That’s 200MHz more than the current maximum of the quad-core Snapdragon 800 - it runs at up to 2.3GHz. The new chip is also listed as a quad-core one, but it’s unclear whether we’re talking about Krait 400 processing cores as the ones in the current top-shelf Qualcomm chip, the Snapdragon 800, or a newer modification.

Another interesting features to get unveiled in the mysterious chip’s appearance is the Adreno 420 graphical processing unit (GPU). It is expected to run at higher speeds than current cream of the crop Adreno chips and reach 500MHz clock speeds. The Adreno 4xx series of chips are expected to add support for DirectX11 and WebGL2.0 graphical standards. Looking at pure performance, the new Adreno 420 should get a 10% bump in pixel fill rate when fared against the Adreno 330.

There are a few other improvements expected to happen in this new Snapdragon chip and probably the most important one is support for 64-bit DDR3 memory bandwidth. The whole chip however is still expected to run on a 32-bit architecture and not 64-bit one like the newest Apple A7.

Earlier this year, Qualcomm’s full roadmap leaked out and it now seems that with testing obviously undergoing for the APQ8084, the chip maker is on track to realize its roadmap plans. The Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8084 release is expected to happen in the first half of 2014, and it might well end up on some of next year's top smartphones.

Nokia Lumia 1520 with 6-inch 1080p display and 20MP Pureview camera announced

Nokia has finally announced the Lumia 1520, the company’s latest flagship smartphone at an event in Abu Dhabi. It packs a 6-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) full HD capacitive touch screen ClearBlack display with Gorilla Glass 2 protection, quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and runs on Windows Phone 8 with the latest GDR3 update and Lumia Black update. It packs a 20-megapixel autofocus rear camera with new oversampling technology,ZEISS optics with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), 2x lossless zoom dual LED flash, 1080p video recording 30 fps. It also has Nokia Camera app that combines the Smart, Pro and Video modes. It comes with 32GB of internal memory and a micro SD card support.


Nokia Lumia 1520 specifications

• 6-inch (1920 × 1080 pixels) capacitive touch screen ClearBlack display with Gorilla Glass 2 protection
• 2.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor
• Windows Phone 8 OS
• 20MP camera with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), High resolution zoom 2x, Autofocus, dual LED flash, 1080p HD video recording at 30fps
• Nokia Camera app
• 1.2MP HD front-facing camera with wide angle lens
• Dimensions - 162.8 x 85.4 x 8.7, Weight - 209g
• Rich Recording with four microphones; Wideband Voice and multi-microphone noise  reduction with four microphones
• Dolby Headphone, Graphic equalizer, Audio leveling, FM radio
• LTE / 3G HSPA+ 41Mbps, WiFi (2.4/5Ghz) a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS with Glonass, NFC
• Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Magnetometer, Gyroscope, Ambient Light Sensor
• 2GB RAM, 32GB internal memory, micro SD card support up to 64GB
• 3400 mAh (integrated) with built-in  wireless charging (Qi compatible)

The Nokia Lumia 1520 comes in Glossy Red, Yellow, White and Black colors and is priced at $749 (~Rs. 46238) without taxes. It would roll starting in Q4 2013 starting from Hong Kong, Singapore, U.S., China, U.K., France, Germany, Finland and other European markets.

Nokia Lumia 1320 with 6-inch 720p display, 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400 processor announced

Nokia has announced the Lumia 1320, a new smartphone in the Lumia series along with the Lumia 1520 at the Abu Dhabi event. It has a 6-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD LCD IPS Super sensitive display and Gorilla Glass 3 protection, powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and runs on Windows Phone 8 OS with the latest Lumia Black update. It has a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front-facing camera. It ha Nokia Music for free streaming of ad-free music and HERE maps and location services.

Nokia Lumia 1320 specifications

• 6-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD LCD IPS Super sensitive display and Gorilla Glass 3 protection
• 1.7 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400processor
• Windows Phone 8 OS
• 5MP Auto Focus camera with LED flash, 1080p HD recording at 30 fps
• VGA front-facing camera
• Dimensions - 164.25 x 85.9 x 9.79 mm  Weight - 220 grams
• 1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, micro SD card support up to 64GB
• 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio,
• HD Voice, HAAC mic
• 4G LTE/ 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 + LE, GPS / aGPS, NFC
• 3400 mAh (integrated)

The Nokia Lumia 1320 comes in Orange, Yellow, White, and Black colors and is priced at US$ 339 (~Rs. 20,900) before taxes and subsidies. It would rollout starting in Q1 2014 starting from China and Vietnam, followed by other Asian markets India and Europe.

The Lumia 2520 is Nokia’s first tablet

Over at its Abu Dhabi Keynote Nokia released its first slate dubbed Lumia 2520. The tablet runs on the Windows RT, has a 10.1″ FullHD display a Snapdragon 800 chipset and comes with a variety of color options – black, blue, white and red. The price before subsidies will be $499.

You can get the Lumia 2520 slate with an add-on keyboard, dubbed Power Keyboard, with additional USB ports, battery and integrated kick-stand.
Nokia is very proud of the Gorilla Glass 2-covered display on the Lumia 2520 tablet, which has reflects just 6% of the external light and has a peak brightness of around 650 nits. There’s also a polarizer on board for better outdoor usability.

Thanks to the Snapdragon 800 chipset, the Lumia 2520 also features global LTE connectivity. The body has thinned edges in favor of better handling and weighs 615 g. The cameras are 2 MP on the front for video calling and a 6.7 MP with F/1.9 ZEISS optics on the back. Inside Nokia managed to squeeze in an 8,000 mAh battery and 32 GB of storage, which is expandable via the microSD card slot.
There are microUSB 3.0 and HDMI ports on the tablet body with NFC and GPS coming on board too. There won’t be a Wi-Fi only variant of the slate, which seems logical as the Snapdragon 800 SoC has integrated LTE on all of its variants.
The Power Keyboard, which will cost and additional $150, folds over the display of the Lumia 2520 tablet and attaches to it via magnetic flap. It weighs 150 g, has two USB ports and a 15 Whr battery inside, which promises to add 5 hours of battery life.

Nokia Asha 503 with 3G, 5MP camera with LED flash announced

Nokia has announced the Asha 503, the company’s first full touch phone in the Asha series with 3G support as they promised earlier this year at the 501 launch. Other than the 3G support most of the features are similar to the Asha 502 that was also launched at the Nokia World 2013. It has a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 3.0-inch QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) display with curved Corning Gorilla Glass 2 protection. It runs on the latest Nokia Asha software platform with Swipe UI and the new update would also be available for the Asha 501, says Nokia.
It has Nokia Fast lane multi-tasking screen that brings all the recent activities together which also has option to add or remove fast lane widgets. It comes in both Single SIM and Dual SIM variants, has 3G, WiFi,Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM and FM Radio. It comes with 10 free downloadable games from the Nokia store and comes with WhatsApp,  Foursquare, Facebook and  Twitter apps.

Nokia Asha 503 specifications

• 3.0-inch QVGA 320 x 240 pixels display with curved Corning Gorilla Glass 2 protection
• 5MP rear camera with LED Flash
• Dimensions: 102.6mm x 60.6mm x 12.7mm; Weight: 111.4  g
• Dual SIM with dual standby (Optional)
• 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n , Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM  and FM Radio
• Nokia Asha software platform with Swipe UI
• 10 free Games downloadable from Nokia Store
• 64MB RAM; up to 32GB micro SD card support
• 1110 mAh battery with up to 12 hours of talk time (2G) and up to 20 days of standby (dual SIM)

The Nokia Asha 503 comes in Bright Red, Bright Green, Cyan, Yellow, White and Black colors and is priced at US$99 (~Rs. 6100) before taxes or subsidies. It would roll out in Q4 2013 starting from Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

Nokia Asha 502 Dual SIM phone with 5MP camera and LED flash announced

Nokia has announced the Asha 502, the company’s first phone in the Asha series to feature a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. Other features are mostly similar to the Asha 501 that was launched earlier this year. It has a 3.0-inch QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) display and is based on the latest Nokia Asha software platform with Swipe UI. It has Nokia Fast lane multi-tasking screen that brings all the recent activities together. It has Dual SIM support, 2G, WiFi,Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM and FM Radio. The phone has new crystal-clear look fusion of ice-like transparency and bold inner color similar to the Asha 501.

It comes with 10 free downloadable games from the Nokia store, Nokia Express Browser that compresses data up to 90%  and comes with WhatsApp,  Foursquare, Facebook and  Twitter apps.

Nokia Asha 502 specifications

• 3.0-inch QVGA 320 x 240 pixels display
• 5MP rear camera with LED Flash
• Dimensions: 99.55mm x 59.50mm x 11.10mm; Weight: 100 g
• Dual SIM with dual standby
• 2G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n , Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM  and FM Radio
• Nokia Asha software platform with Swipe UI
• 10 free Games downloadable from Nokia Store
• 64MB RAM; up to 32GB micro SD card support
• 1110 mAh battery with up to 13.7 hours of talk time and up to 24 days of standby

The Nokia Asha 502 comes in Bright Red, Bright Green, Cyan, Yellow, White and Black colors and is priced at US$89 (~Rs. 5490) before taxes or subsidies. It would roll out in Q4 2013 starting from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.

Nokia Asha 500 full touch phone with new transparent design announced

Nokia has announced the Asha 500, a new phone in the Asha series at the Nokia world event in Abu Dhabi. The phone has new crystal-clear look fusion of ice-like transparency and bold inner color. It comes with a comes with 2.8-inch QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) and is based on the latest Nokia Asha software platform with Swipe UI. It has a 2 MP rear camera, Nokia Fast lane multi-tasking screen that brings all the recent activities together. It also comes in Dual SIM variant, 2G, WiFi, Bluetooth and FM Radio.
It comes with 10 free downloadable games from the Nokia store, Nokia Express Browser that compresses data up to 90%  and comes with WhatsApp,  Foursquare, Facebook and  Twitter apps. It has 2G (EDGE), WiFi 802.11 b/g/n , Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM for quick sharing.

Nokia Asha 500 specifications

• 2.8-inch QVGA 320 x 240 pixels display
• 2MP rear camera
• Dimensions: 100.3mm x 58.1mm x 12.8mm; Weight: 101.3 g
• Dual SIM (optional), with 2G, WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM  and FM Radio
• Nokia Asha software platform with Swipe UI
• 10 free Games downloadable from Nokia Store
• 64MB RAM; up to 32GB micro SD card support
• 1200 mAh battery with up to 14 hours of talk time and up to 22 days of standby

The Nokia Asha 500 comes in Bright Red, Bright Green, Cyan, Yellow, White and Black colors and is priced at US$69 (~Rs. 4250) before taxes or subsidies. It would roll out in Q4 2013 starting from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

Apple refreshes 13″ and 15″ MacBook Pro laptops with Intel Haswell

Apple has just announced its refreshed 13″ and 15″ MacBook Pro notebooks, which now flaunt Intel Haswell CPUs as well as Retina displays. On top of that, they’ve been put on a diet and are now lighter and slimmer.

In addition to the Haswell CPUs, the new MacBook Pro notebooks sport Iris graphics, like the latest MacBook Air. Performance is further improved thanks to PCI Express SSD storage for both models.
Apple has slashed a bit of weight and thickness from the latest MacBook Pro laptops. The 13″ model now measures 1.8cm thick and weighs 1.56kg.
Apple has updated the connectivity options of the new lineup of MacBook Pro laptops and they now boast Wi-Fi 802.11ac for faster speeds and enhanced range. The 13″ MacBook Pro’s battery is estimated to last for up to nine hours on a single charge, while the 15″ MacBook Pro managed an hour less than this.

Running Apple OS X 10.9 Mavericks out of the box, the MacBook Pro are available for purchase starting today. The base price of the 13″ model starts from $1299, which gets you a dual-core 2.4GHz Intel Core i5, 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSD.

The 15″ MacBook Pro comes at a base price of $1999 and for that you get a quad-core 2.4GHz Core i7, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD storage.

Lenovo A10 announced as the company’s first Android powered laptop

Lenovo announced its first Android powered laptop today – Lenovo A10. Lenovo A10 is targeted at being an affordable and ultra-portable laptop that runs on Android OS. The dual-mode laptop from Lenovo weighs less than a kilo-gram and is no more than 17.3mm thick.
Lenovo A10 comes with dual-mode – stand mode and laptop mode. In the laptop mode, users will be provided with a new unique and customized launcher that comes with a task bar, app launcher and status bar. Also laptop mode will provide a more convenient way of multi-tasking and switching between the apps. File-manager has been modified to make searching files and file operations easy. One of the key features in the laptop mode is its full-size AccuType keyboard.
The Lenovo A10 has a 10.1 inch HD display sporting a resolution of 1366×768 pixels(155ppi) and the screen can be flipped around 300 degrees. When the screen is flipped, the tablet is in stand mode and provides a rich touch experience for touch-enabled apps(all apps). There is a 0.3MP camera at the front and stereo speakers that give a great video chat experience.

In terms of specifications, Lenovo A10 is powered by a RK3188 processor which is a quad-core A9 processor clocked at 1.6GHz and it has 1GB RAM. There is 16GB SSD internal storage which can be expanded. The battery on the Lenovo A10 gives it a battery life of about nine hours of continuous video playback.
There is no information about the pricing or the availability of this Android powered laptop yet. We will bring you more information as soon as we have it.

White Nexus 5 official shot surfaces

Google's Nexus 4 was announced and launched last year in just a single color version - black. The white edition surfaced many times but it didn't go official until May this year.
The Nexus 5 announcement will supposedly happen on October 28 side by side with the Android 4.4 KitKat premiere. We know all there is to know about the smartphone, but until know it has always leaked in black color.
Yesterday we saw a purported white Nexus 5 retail box. It had the smartphone painted with a white back, but with a black front panel.
Today's render image shows a Nexus 5 variant entirely painted in white, not just its back. We are not sure if this is the real deal or not, but it surely looks gorgeous in these snow-white clothes.

Indications are growing stronger that Google will be launching a white Nexus 5 as well. October 28 is just around the corner, so we'll know for sure soon enough.

First true octa-core smartphone unveiled

MediaTek was the first to announce a chipset with a true octa-core processor back in June and now the first phone utilizing it has gone official. The UMI X2S broke cover at the Autumn Edition of Hong Kong Electronics Fair.
All of UMI’s phones are intended for the Chinese market and that’s why you’ve probably never heard of the brand. The UMI latest X2S smartphone is powered by MT6592 chipset with an octa-core Cortex-A7 1.5GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. There is no word on the GPU, but when the MT6592 got benchmarked it was rocking a Mali-450, so that's probably it.
The rest of the UMI X2S specs include a 5” 1080p display, 32GB internal storage, a 13MP camera with Sony lens, and NFC connectivity. Since MG6592 is LTE-capable, we guess the X2S should be LTE-enabled as well.
There is no info on the pricing and availability yet, but the gadget is supposed to be very affordable, despite its fancy CPU.
MediaTek was indeed the first one to design and release a true octa-core chip and will probably remain the only one for a while as early hopes of Samsung enabling 8-core processing on its Exynos 5 Octa via a firmware update were squashed. And the revised Exynos 5 is unlikely to make it in actual hardware before the Galaxy S5 comes around next year.

this week

Vivo breaks the 1080p barrier with the first 2K smartphone

While we're still far from getting 4K displays on smartphones, but the latest news from Asia indicates that Chinese manufacturer Vivo is in production of a display set to feature 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution.
Vivo teased its upcoming product today, hailing it as the first 2K smartphone, but wasn't courteous enough to reveal the exact diagonal of the display, or provide anything more than the graphic below.


There's some speculation that the panel in question could be the 5.5-inch prototype demoed by LG at the start of the year. That one boasted a pixel density of 534 pixels per inch so it should be the new leader in what has become a ppi arms race amongst smartphone manufacturers.
Other rumored specs of the XPlay35 include a Snapdragon 800 chipset and 4G TDD/FDD LTE support across the big three Chinese carriers.
While a 2460 x 1440 display may seem like overkill, the same was said when a 5-inch 1080p display debuted on the HTC Butterfly at the start of the year. Now, almost all self-respecting mobile flagship or phablet have one.

More Android 4.4 KitKat screenshots make the rounds

After showing up alongside a Nexus 5 late last week, Android 4.4 KitKat appeared yet again in a series of leaked screenshots. This time around, the upcoming Android release got caught running on an ASUS Nexus 7 (2013).

In line with previous leaks, the screenshots reveal some of the UI changes which Android 4.4 KitKat will bring. They include mildly redesigned stock apps including Quickoffice integration, new additions to the settings menu, as well as the cool-looking Android KitKat Easter egg.
According to the source of the screenshots, the Android build captured in them predate the official KitKat announcement. This explains the presence of a Key Lime Pie codename in them.

Usage of Sapphire in smartphones set to increase

Sapphire is turning out to be one of the most popular materials used to build a smartphone, according to a study from IHS. The research firm also reveals that the usage of the material is expected to reach 54 kilometers - not those kilometers, but instead the unit that is used to measure this type of usage - by the end of the year.


Furthermore, this usage is expected to reach 84 kilometers by the end of 2016. The demand is largely due to the production of LEDs, which will result in an increase in demand for the material by 20%. The fact that sapphire is stronger than glass and is extremely scratch resistant is perhaps Sapphire's most appealing aspect from a manufacturing standpoint.
According to IHS, sapphire is used to cover lenses, buttons and displays. Also, since sapphire is the second hardest stone in the world after diamond, the material can be used to build consumer electronic devices, too.
For now, Apple is one of those known smartphone manufacturer that makes use of sapphire to a very large extent. The Cupertino giants used sapphire in its iSight camera lens cover in the iPhone 5 before bringing it to the Touch ID on the Apple iPhone 5s

Samsung Galaxy S5 rumored to pack 14nm Exynos 6 chipset

A report in Korean media has emerged, potentially shedding light on the CPU of the yet to be revealed Samsung Galaxy S5. Reportedly, next generation Samsung Galaxy S smartphone will pack an Exynos 6 CPU with 14nm architecture and 64-bit support.

Along with 64-bit support, the next generation Samsung Exynos CPU is said to feature ARM’s big.LITTLE octa-core configuration with Cortex-A53/A57 cores. The latter can operate simultaneously using half as much power as the currently available Exynos 5420.
If the report turns out to be the real deal, Samsung will make quite a jump in the manufacturing process used in the making of the Exynos family of CPUs. The current generation uses 28nm process, while previous rumors have suggested that Samsung is working on 20nm architecture. The latest report about 14nm chips sounds great, though we do recommend that you take it with a pinch of salt.
According to a report from last week, Samsung will take the wraps off the Galaxy S5 in January.

WP GDR3 goes official with 1080p, Snapdragon 800 support

Microsoft has finally announced the much anticipated GDR3 update for its Windows Phone smartphone 8 platform. Its rollout will begin over the coming weeks but will take "several months" to complete. We're yet to find out specifics about device update eligibility but we're guessing Nokia's higher-end Lumia range and HTC's 8X and 8S seem certain.
We saw quite a few leaks prior to the official announcement and it seems sources were mostly correct.
GDR3 brings support for larger displays (5 and 6-inch) with a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The quad-core Snapdragon 800 is also now given the green light for debuting on Windows Phone.


Now every horizontal line on the start screen supports 6 Live Tiles and not four. You can finally close apps in the task switcher interface by hitting the little X on each app's thumb.
There's a also new Driving Mode, which gets everything out of the way except your navigation instructions.
Custom ringtones are now available for instant messages, emails, voicemails and reminders. There's a screen orientation lock feature (finally), improved accessibility for disabled users - screen reader, calendar, calls, texts, emails and low battery can be spoken out loud.

ASUS Transformer Pad TF701T hands-on as the review is cooking up

ASUS announced its latest convertible tablet at this year’s IFA in Berlin and it’s called the Transformer Pad TF701T. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that ASUS has dropped the Infinity moniker and has chosen a simpler naming scheme for its premium tablet.

Just like its predecessor, the Transformer Pad rocks a 10.1″ IPS display. Unlike it, however, it’s an IGZO panel, which promises richer, more accurate colors and improved brightness. It’s also featuring a higher, 2560 x 1600 pixel, resolution which results in a pixel density of 300ppi.

ASUS has chosen to partner with Nvidia for the chipset of the beast. As a result, the Transformer Pad is among the first devices to feature the high-end Tegra 4 T40X chipset with a 1.9GHz quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 72-core GeForce GPU.

Impressive specs indeed, which in tandem with the tablet’s Mobile dock might let it replacing an old laptop or netbook. Unlike the tablet, which is made out of brushed aluminum, the Mobile Dock is entirely made of plastic, but is well put together. The only gripe we have is that when under pressure, the keyboard gives in a little bit.

NVIDIA announces G-SYNC technology for smoother gaming experience

If you’re a PC gamer (or just a geek in general), you may have heard of the term V-sync. It works by delaying the image frame update until the vertical blanking interval of the display, so that there is no overlapping of frames that leads to screen tearing. While this does eliminate screen tearing, it causes performance issues with low framerate and a jerky mouse response. This leads to most people choosing to keep it disabled to get higher framerate and response at reduced visual quality.

The problem today is that LCD monitors usually have a fixed panel refresh rate of 60Hz and unless the GPU is attaining anything other than 60fps, the result is less than ideal performance. Current V-sync technology makes the GPU run through hoops to match its speed with the display’s refresh rate. This is where NVIDIA’s G-SYNC comes in.

Unlike V-Sync, G-SYNC works by having a variable display refresh rate. Here, instead of delaying frames to match the display’s refresh rate, the display itself alters its refresh rate to whatever the GPU is sending (there is obviously a lower and higher limit to what the refresh rate can be for any given monitor). This means that the display is always in lockstep with the GPU, refreshing only when a new frame is sent. This perfect synchronization results in extremely smooth graphics, even if you are not exactly playing at insane framerates, with no visual artifacts.

For G-SYNC to work, first of all you need a monitor with variable refresh rate. Secondly, you need the dedicated G-SYNC module connected to the monitor that works in tandem with your GPU. And lastly, you need a Kepler based GPU (GTX 650 Ti Boost and above). Currently, only the ASUS VG248QE monitor supports the G-SYNC module. The module would be available later this year for around $175. The module will eventually be available other for other monitors and you will also be able to purchase monitors with it built-in

Purported leaked packaging for the Nexus 5 reveals a white variant

Can’t get enough of the Nexus 5 leaks? Well, good news, for we have one more for you. The latest one shows what is supposedly the packaging for the phone. The very Nokia-esque blue box has the image of the phone on the front and the back next to the Google logos, with the LG logos placed on the side.

But what’s more interesting than the packaging itself is the image of the phone depicted on it. You’ll notice that it is, in fact, white in color whereas all the leaks we have seen so far, including the official image and listing on Google Play, have only shown the black model so far.

Google has traditionally offered a while version of the Nexus phone since the days of the Nexus S, so this isn’t a huge surprise but we can see what the phone would look like in this lighter shade. As you can see, the white is only limited to the back panel, with the front and sides being completely black, again, not very unlike previous Nexus phones.

Seven-inch Amazon Kindle Fire HDX shipments kick off today

Amazon announced that the 7” Kindle Fire HDX tablet is now shipping. The Wi-Fi-only models are the ones available for the time being. LTE-capable slates will be shipping on November 14.

Pricing of the Android tablet starts at $229 for a 16GB Wi-Fi version with ads on the lockscreen, and tops out at $324 for a 64GB device with no ads. The entry-level price tag of the 7” Kindle Fire HDX is right in line with that of its biggest rival, the 2013 Nexus 7.

iPad mini won’t be reading fingerprints

New images of the alleged next iPad mini and iPad 5 have leaked just days before the Apple October 22 event.

The images show the iPad mini 2 next to the iPhone 5s and with another iPad lurking in the background. Notice how the home button isn’t TouchID but a vanilla one? Previous leaks suggested the iPad mini 2 will have TouchID, but this seems to put those speculations to rest.

It’s all but certain that the big upcoming iPad will have TouchID, have the same narrow-bezel design as the current mini and be more compact than the iPad 4.

We’ve seen both upcoming tablets in pictures and a video – perhaps Apple should at least try and regain the secrecy it was once a synonym of.

Perhaps the omission of the TouchID home button was necessary in order to keep the price under control. Would a Retina display also be omitted from the list for the same reasons? Not long now, just four days until Apple’s event

Nokia has been working on a smartwatch concept of their own

Suddenly, everyone is interested in smartwatches (and by everyone I mean the companies making it because the average customer still doesn’t care). Samsung has made one, Apple and Google are supposedly making one and now it seems so is Nokia.

Code named ‘Facet’, Nokia’s smartwatch concept is by far the most outlandish that we have seen, mostly because it looks very little like a traditional watch and is mostly just a band with displays all over it. Facet has a modular design wherein you plug in these small watch faces within a circular band. You’ll have at most one or two displays pointing towards you but you can swipe on the screen so the info on the screen moves up or down to the next screen (or you could just turn the band). You can also use other gestures such as pinching out to expand app on one screen to two screens or pinch sideways to swap apps between screens. You can rearrange screens without having to physically plug them out.

The design is pretty crazy and will probably remain just a concept like so many other Nokia designs we have seen in the past. Also, with Microsoft having acquired Nokia’s hardware division, the chances of this seeing the light of day are even slimmer

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LG G Pad 8.3 launches in the USA

LG has just announced the USA availability of the G Pad 8.3 slate. You can pre-order it today exclusively on BestBuy online for $349.99 with free shipping.

The LG G Pad 8.3 will become available through various retailers starting November 3 with BestBuy being the first to get it.

There is no estimated delivery date on BestBuy.com right now, so there is a chance you get it on November 3 as well.

LG has already announced its plans to launch the G Pad 8.3 in 30 countries by the end of the year. It already kicked off in Korea, while UK and Ireland will be getting it by the end of October

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Windows Phone 8.1 to power 10″ tablets, swallow up Windows RT

Windows Phone and Windows RT might merge but a new rumor suggests it will be more like Phone displacing RT. Microsoft is working on a Windows Phone 8.1 update, which will allegedly add support for 7 to 10 inch screens to enable WP8.1-powered tablets and merge parts of the API so developers can easily create apps for both platforms.

Multitasking is reportedly the biggest issue ahead of this plan – the GDR3 update will let users close apps manually, but apps running in the background are still a no go. Not until the 8.1 update that is.
Microsoft is working on “universal binaries,” which combine the WP8.1 and RT code in one package. At the moment only 33% of the APIs between the two OSes match, but with WP8.1 that will increase to 77%. This will make developing apps for both platforms much easier.
And it’s exactly apps that are Microsoft’s problem, the rumor claims. User satisfaction with Windows Phone handsets is at 53%, behind iOS and ahead of Android. Apparently, the majority of unsatisfied users claim lack of apps is their biggest issue, but Microsoft thinks it needs only about a dozen key apps to satisfy most complaints.
Finally, an interesting change that will affect the UI is the removal of the back Button – Microsoft will allegedly drop that button and have users exit apps with the Home key instead, as some find the Back button confusing (it’s a common problem on Android too).
There’s also the leaked notification center.
Keep in mind that this is all an unconfirmed rumor, but with the massive underperformance of Windows RT, I won’t be terribly surprised. In fact, I was surprised to find Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 were separate OSes when they were announced – Microsoft hit the reset button after WP7 anyway, having a combined OS made sense.
Microsoft is reportedly looking to expand Surface 2 availability with trials starting in Australia, so that the company doesn’t repeat the Surface RT fiasco.

Pantech Vega Secret Note goes official, packs a ton of features

As expected, Pantech took the wraps off its latest Android phablet. The Pantech Vega Secret Note packs a chock full of top shelf specs headed by a fingerprint reader, stylus, and LTE-Advanced support.

The specs of the Pantech Vega Secret Note allow the phablet to easily go head to head with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The latest member of the Vega family packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 5.9” 1080p LCD display, and 13MP main camera coupled with front-facing unit capable of capturing Full HD videos.
The phablet has 32GB of built-in memory which can be further expanded. Full connectivity suite is unsurprisingly built-in. The OS on tap is Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
The Pantech Vega Secret Note measures are 159.4 x 81.5 x 8.85mm, while its weight tips the scale at 190 grams. The device is powered by a 3,200mAh battery.
The phablet will be available on all three major carriers in Korea in black or white. The estimated off-contract price is around $839.

Samsung Galaxy Round with curved display goes official

Samsung took the wraps off the Galaxy Round – the world’s first smartphone with curved display. The peculiarly designed handset will be available in Korea on October 10.

Undoubtedly, the biggest highlight of the Samsung Galaxy Round is its curved display. The latter is a 5.7” Super Flexible AMOLED unit with Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels). You may remember that back in the day the Samsung-made Nexus S also had a slight curve going on, but in that case it was just the screen glass that was curved, and not the panel itself.

The rest of the Samsung Galaxy Round are quite Note 3-ish: there is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC with quad-core Krait CPU clocked at 2.3GHz, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in memory, and microSD card slot. There’s a 13MP camera on the back of the device, a 2MP front-facing unit, as well as full connectivity suite on board.
The Samsung Galaxy Round measures are 151.1 x 79.6 x 7.9mm, while its weight tips the scale at 154g. The handset is powered by a 2,800mAh battery.
The Samsung Galaxy Round boots Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, dressed in Samsung’s latest TouchWIz UI. Samsung has naturally added a couple of tricks to utilize the curved screen of the device. They include Bounce UX for controlling the device’s music player by tapping on its sides, and Gravity Effect for interacting with the display by rolling it. You can check out the latter in action at the video below.
The Samsung Galaxy Round will be available in Luxury Brown for KRW1,089,000 (approximately $1,000). More colors will be available soon.
Unfortunately, currently there are no plans for international availability (as in outside South Korea).

Lenovo negotiating an HTC acquisition, report says

It's no secret HTC has been in trouble this year. There were supply bottlenecks, patent infringements and its flagship sales are definitely not what the Taiwanese manufacturer was hoping for. HTC has even sold its Beats Audio stakes and it's uncertain what will happen with the audio enhancement for the upcoming HTC phones. Finally, HTC has posted its first net quarterly loss.
And when a company has been on the downwards trajectory for as long as the Taiwanese have been, rumors of acquisitions are bound to appear.
The latest report coming from Taiwan's Apple Daily suggests Lenovo has been having talks with HTC to discuss the terms of a possible acquisition deal to be completed in the first half of 2014. According to the report, meetings have been held since late August, but there's no mentioning of how much the deal will be worth if it goes through.


There is no official confirmation whatsoever, of course, but we can't deny HTC needs help. And it better gets it earlier, rather than when it's too late.
Lenovo is a very strong brand in the Chinese market, and worldwide renowned laptop manufacturer and a company with good and growing profits. In fact Lenovo owns the latter to its acquisition of IBM's ThinkPad, so this won't be the first time it tries to bring a fallen giant back on its feet.

Nokia releases teaser picture of a phablet, tablet and a laptop

Nokia spilled the beans about the Abu Dhabi event on October 22 – details are still scarce, but as they say a picture is worth a thousand words. The picture in question shows a phone (possibly a phablet), a tablet and a laptop.

A quick peek at the rumor mill will tell you that Nokia is working on the Lumia 1520 phablet and the Lumia 2520 tablet. As for the laptop, we haven’t heard anything about a Nokia-made laptop since the Booklet in 2009.
The Nokia Lumia 1520 is allegedly a phablet with a 6" 1080p screen, powered by Snapdragon 800, while the Lumia 2520 is a Windows RT tablet, also powered by Snapdragon 800 and potentially featuring a kickstand and a 1080p screen like its Surface 2 sibling.
The October 22 event will be livestreamed, so check back with us in a couple of weeks for the stream and coverage. There will be additional speeches, their topic will be announced later.

Tag Heuer Merediist 2 goes official, costs £3,300

Tag Heuer, which are known for producing some pretty great watches, has unveiled the Meridiist 2 phone. This is the company's third phone after Tag Heuer Racer and the first generation Meridiist that was launched way back in 2008.
Tag Heuer Meridiist 2 is built from stainless steel with a sapphire crystal screen and a watch face on the top. The phone boosts a battery, which lasts for about 28 days on a single charge.
The second-generation Meridiist comes with access to a round the clock concierge service, meaning you are always just a few taps away from reaching your personal fixer to deliver a dinner reservation.
Meridiist 2 is a lot thinner than its predecessor and sports an OLED display on the top that shows the time. The latest Tag Heuer phone also boasts two SIM-card slots.
The luxurious Tag Heuer Merediist 2 is all yours for a price tag of £3,300 (about $5,300) and is available in five different colors. If you got some cash to burn, then head on to the source link below to make your purchase.

LG announces curved battery for phones and wearable devices

LG Chem (a battery manufacturer) is not square – no really, the company just announced they are breaking away from rectangular batteries. Those don't fit well into certain phone designs, like LG's own G2, which has a curved back.


LG Chem has started production of curved batteries this month, which will power the next line of LG phones, but can also be used for smartwatches and smart glasses. These batteries will work well with curved displays and LG's flexible displays.
While it's not clear if the curved batteries will be able to bend like the display, the cable battery is much more versatile. As the name suggests, it's shaped like a cable and will continue to deliver power even if you tie it in a knot. This battery doesn’t heat up much and is water-resistant, which makes it perfect for wearable devices like smart watches and smart necklaces (still waiting on Kickstarter projects for this one).
LG Chem is also positioning itself to be the top stepped battery maker - the LG G2 battery has a stepped design, meaning it's really two batteries stacked on top of each other to better fill out the internal volume of the phone (and give it an impressive 3,000mAh capacity, 16% more than a traditional battery). The Moto X (also with a curved back) uses a stepped LG Chem battery too. LG Chem has been making such batteries in its Nanjing plant since July.
The company is aware of competitors also making stepped batteries and it's ready to take things to the next level with 3, 4 or more steps depending on the target device.
LG Chem will be demonstrating these batteries and "related products in a private zone" on October 16.

KDDI unveils LG isai, Fujitsu Arrows Z, Sharp Aquos Series

SoftBank's winter lineup, let's take a look at what its KDDI rival is preparing for the winter season.
Two popular models are going to launch on its network in late October - the Snapdragon 800-powered Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phablet and the Sony Xperia Z1 smartphone.
There are four newly introduced phones though that will become available in late November - LG isai, Fujitsu Arrows Z, Kyocera Digno M, and Sharp Aquos Serie.
LG and KDDI partnered to make the LG isai smartphone. It has a 5.2-inch 1080p IPS display and probably runs on the Snapdragon 800 chipset though that hasn't been officially confirmed in the press release.
The rest of the specs include water and dust resistance, 13.1MP rear camera, 32GB expandable storage, LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, Infrared port, 2,500mAh battery and Android 4.2. The available colors for the LG isai are aqua, blue, black and white.


Sharp Aquos Phone Series is a mixture of the SoftBank's Aquos Xx and Aquos Xx mini. It packs a 4.8" 1080p IGZO display and should also run on Snapdragon 800 with 2GB of RAM though it isn't officially mentioned in the press release.
Just like the other Aquos phones, this fella is water and dust resistant. The Aquos Phone Serie other highlights include a 16.3MP rear camera, expandable 16GB storage, LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, a 3,000mAh battery and an extra called Grip Magic that wakes up the phone only by touching its frame. The Sharp Aquos Phone Series runs on Android 4.2 and will launch in white, blue and black flavors.


Fujitsu Arrows Z also has familiar specs even though its looks different. It can run for a day on a 10 minutes charge and three full days after you charge it up to 100%.
Snapdragon 800 chipset ticks inside, while the Arrows Z comes with a 5" 1080p RAM TFT display. The specs sheet continues with 13.1MP rear camera, 32GB expandable storage, LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, Infrared, and even water resistance. Android 4.2 is in charge of operations.


Finally, there is the Kyocera Digno M. The water and dust resistant Digno M comes with a 5.0" 1080p display and is also most probably powered by Snapdragon 800 chipset.
It packs a 13MP camera, 32GB expandable storage, LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, Infrared and Android 4.2. The available color options for the Digno M are white, blue and pink.


As we said, all those newly announced phones will become available on KDDI's network in late November. Pricing is yet to be confirmed.

SoftBank announces Sharp Aquos Xx and Aquous Xx mini

The Japanese carrier SoftBank has just announced the Sharp Aquos Xx 302SH and Sharp Aquos Xx mini 303SH. The duo is joining the recently unveiled Fujitsu Arrows A as part of the carrier's winter lineup.
Both Sharp smartphones are LTE-enabled and run on the latest Snapdragon 800 chipset (quad-core 2.2GHz Krait 400, Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB of RAM). Also, both Aquos Xx gadgets feature 1080p IGZO displays and run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The connectivity departments of both Aquos Xx phones are identical too - LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth, GPS and Infrared port. Quite as expected Aquos Xx and Aquos Xx mini are water and dustproof.
The bigger Aquos Xx 302SH comes with a 5.2" display, 32GB of expandable internal storage, 16.3MP rear camera and a 2,600mAh battery. The phone will be available in blue, white, black and pink flavors.


The smaller Aquos Xx mini 303SH features a 4.5" screen, 16GB expandable storage, 13.1MP rear camera and a 2,120mAh battery. It will hit the market in turquoise, black, white, red, blue, gold, light pink and vivid pink colors.


There are no official prices just yet, but the previously announced Fujitsu Arrows A and the 5.2" Sharp Aquos Xx will hit Japan in December, while the Aquos Xx mini will launch in February.

Nokia ending support for MeeGo and Symbian January 1

In a rather easy to predict move, Nokia announced that it will be dropping support for the Symbian and MeeGo operating systems at the end of this year.

While apps will still be available for download to customers (and developers will still continue to receive revenue for published apps), developers will no longer be able to publish or update apps on the Ovi Store after the January 1 deadline.
While it was only a matter of time before this happened, the pending Microsoft acquisition of Nokia might have something to do with speeding things up.

LG flexible OLED smartphone display enters mass production

LG's curved display production plans are coming along nicely, as the company has officially announced today that its first flexible OLED panel for smartphones has entered mass production.


The company expects a rapid success of the flexible smartphone displays saying that other products are also going to benefit from the new technology. Such candidates include tablets, automotive displays and wearable devices.
The flexible OLED display in question is 0.44mm thin making it the slimmest among existing mobile device panels, according to LG. Furthermore, the display itself is built using plastic substrates instead of glass. This makes it virtually unbreakable, while remaining quite bendable.
We're yet to see the company announce any smartphones with said flexible OLED display. There are rumors that Korean giants Samsung and LG will unveil curved OLED smartphones in October, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
LG's device has been rumored to debut the company's Z series and the company appears to be in a furious race with Samsung to unveil such a smartphone.

Nikon announces D610 full-frame DSLR

Last year Nikon launched the D600, a full-frame DSLR with a pricetag that didn’t require you to sell your kids to be able to afford it. Now, they have launched the new D610, that features some minor improvements over its predecessor.

One of the new features is a quiet, continuous shutter mode, that allows photographers to shoot discreetly at 3fps in burst mode. Nikon has also improved the white balance on the D610 over its predecessor and it now captures more natural colors than before. Lastly, the speed and performance has also been improved and the D610 is now faster, allowing it to capture at around 6fps in burst mode.
Other than that the D610 is similar to the D600, with the same 24 megapixel full-frame sensor, ISO 100 – 6400 range (can be boosted to 25,600), 39-point auto-focus system, 100 percent frame coverage, 3.2-inch, 921k dot LCD, 1080p30 video recording and dual SD card slots.
The D610 will be available in body-only configuration for $1,999.95 and with AF-S NIKKOR 24-85MM F/3.5-4.5G ED VR lens for $2,599.95 starting late October.

Samsung showcases 13MP camera module with OIS

 

Samsung skipped optical image stabilization (OIS) on both its high-profile phones this year (Galaxy S4 and Note 3), while competitors HTC and LG both count on that to gain an edge. Samsung is working on an OIS-enabled camera though, the company demonstrated a 13MP camera module with OIS and improved low-light performance compared to current models.
The new module can correct up to 1.5°, while HTC One's camera tops out at 1°. Samsung also says that the camera's low-light performance for shots and videos is up to 8 times better than current cameras, though it didn’t go into details how that was achieved (OIS probably helped).
The camera module measures 10.5 x 10.5 x 5.9mm and will feature reduced power consumption. Samsung will be showcasing a prototype at the Kintex Exhibition Center starting today. The module will go in production early next year.
While Samsung's press release doesn’t mention models by name, it's quite likely that next year we'll be seeing the Galaxy S5 and Note 4 with OIS-enabled cameras. Samsung allegedly tried to do it with the Note 3 (but we got 2160p video instead) and is working on a 16MP OIS camera too.

Nexus 5 service manual leaks, confirms most key specs

A leaked service manual of the LG-D821 a.k.a. Nexus 5 reveals most of what there is to know about the device - design, specs and even how to open it.
We already knew the most important features from various leaks, but here is the real deal. The Nexus 5 packs a 4.95" 1080p IPS display and runs on the Snapdragon 800 chipset with a quad-core 2.3GHz Krait 400 CPU, Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM. It has a 1.3MP front camera, an 8MP OIS camera with a LED flash at the back and a 2300mAh battery underneath the rear cover.


According to the service manual,the Nexus 5 supports GSM, 3G, CDMA and LTE connectivity plus NFC and Bluetooth 4.0. The phone also comes with a Slimport-enabled microUSB and wireless charging support. As it turns out the Nexus 5 will come in 16GB and 32GB flavors, but as was to be expected there is no option for memory expansion.
The last notable specs are the notification LED and the microSIM slot. Android 4.4 KitKat will be in charge of operations, of course.
There are a few pictures of the Nexus 5 itself in the manual and we've extracted those for you.

LG Nexus 5
Here is the full manual if you are interested in all details and technicalities.
The Nexus 5 is rumored to launch on October 30, so we are not far from its official announcement.