Week 6 in review: Galaxy S6, HTC One (M9) and Android 5.1

Another week has passed and its time again to take a look back at what the mobile world excited us with during the past few days. Announcements have been rather slow and justifiably so as everybody seems to be gearing up for MWC 2015. The venue is set for Barcelona and all eyes seem to be on Samsung, with their event scheduled for March 1. The next...

Win 10 Tech Preview for phones tipped to release early next week

Just a couple of days ago, some screenshots of Windows 10 Technical Preview for Phones were spotted in the wild, and now it looks like the first preview build will be available to Windows Insiders soon. According to an NPU report, the build (8.15.12495.44) will be released on Monday, February 9 at 9 am PST. "This build is currently being tested by...

Lollipop update for T-Mobile's HTC One (M8) rolling out on Monday

HTC has announced that the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for T-Mobile's HTC One (M8) will roll out starting next week. Mo Versi, HTC's VP of Product Management, tweeted the news saying that the company has received the technical approval for the update, which will be rolling out over-the-air starting Monday. The announcement came on the same day when...

Motorola COO: Samsung might lose its leadership position

Motorola, which shipped over 10 million smartphones last quarter, up a whopping 118% compared to the same period of 2013, has said that Samsung might lose its position as the world's top smartphone vendor, just like Nokia and BlackBerry. During an interview with Forbes, Motorola COO Rick Osterloh said, "Every seven years, the person who's been on...

NVIDIA Shield Tablet successor tipped with Tegra X1 chipset

According to a new report, NVIDIA is hard at work on the successor of the Shield Android tablet. The sequel of the 8" gaming slate is rumored to launch in mid-March or earlier. Unsurprisingly, the biggest highlight in the upcoming tablet will be its NVIDIA Tegra X1 chipset with Maxwell GPU. Announced during CES in January, the X1 is the first mobile...

NVIDIA Shield Tablet successor tipped with Tegra X1 chipset

According to a new report, NVIDIA is hard at work on the successor of the Shield Android tablet. The sequel of the 8" gaming slate is rumored to launch in mid-March or earlier. Unsurprisingly, the biggest highlight in the upcoming tablet will be its NVIDIA Tegra X1 chipset with Maxwell GPU. Announced during CES in January, the X1 is the first mobile...

Meizu sold 1.5 million smartphones in January

The Chinese smartphone manufacturer Meizu shipped a record 1.5 million smartphones last month. Jack Wong, the company's CEO announced the achievement on the social network Weibo. Sales of the company have jumped 50% on a monthly basis. Back in December last year, Jack Wong announced that the manufacturer is shipping a million devices monthly. Meizu's...

Dual-SIM Microsoft Lumia 435 is now available in India

The Microsoft Lumia 435, which was unveiled in mid-January, has today become available to buy in India. We're talking about the dual-SIM version of the handset, which is currently being offered in white and black by Microsoft's online store for the subcontinent. Green and orange color versions were also presented during the phone's official unveiling,...

Android 5.0 Lollipop for Sprint's HTC One (M8) rolls out today

Yesterday Sprint's version of the original HTC One from 2013 started receiving the update to Android 5.0 Lollipop. And today it's time for its successor to get the tasty treat too. That's right, Sprint has made it official: the rollout for the Lollipop update for the HTC One (M8) starts today. As with all such over-the-air releases though, it may...

Release dates leak for Verizon's Nexus 6, Galaxy Core Prime

For the past couple of days it's been obvious that Verizon is getting ready to sell the Motorola Nexus 6 soon, after all the carrier put this on its own website. If you're dying to know when exactly that will happen, a new leak should help you. According to the document below, which is purported to be some kind of official Verizon communication, the...

Lenovo S90 Sisley review: Under cover

The Lenovo S90 Sisley wants to be many things at once and one up every possible rival in the crowded midrange. An AMOLED screen, an 8MP selfie cam complete with an LED flash, Dual-SIM and LTE in a package powered by Snapdragon 410 and designed by apple but not in California.Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/lenovo_s90_sisley-review-1203.p...

BQ Aquaris E4.5 is the first Ubuntu phone, launches next week

The ever elusive 'Ubuntu phone' concept is finally about to become reality. After the failed Ubuntu Edge campaign, Canonical (the company behind the OS) turned to partnerships with mobile device makers in order to get its software into the hands of consumers. We've been hearing that the first Ubuntu phone will launch soon for a very long time now,...

Tizen-running Samsung Z1 now available in Bangladesh

The first Tizen smartphone - Samsung Z1 - was finally launched last month and the first market to get it was India. According to Samsung about 30% of the Indian phone users aren't relying on a smartphone and this where Samsung Z1 wanted tohelp. After the positive start in India, today Samsung announced it is launching the Tizen-running and TouchWiz-skinned...

New Meizu m1 version certified, 1080p display and 2GB in tow

Meizu m1 went official just a week ago, shortly after its bigger sibling - the Meizu m1 note. Meizu m1 is a very affordable smartphone at $110 with great specs package - a 5" 768p display, MT6732 chip with quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and Mali-T760MP2 GPU, 1GB of RAM and 13MP rear camera. The Meizu m1 note promotes the display to 5.5" 1080p and...

Rumor: Galaxy S Edge screen to be less curvy than Note Edge

The rumor mill is abuzz with Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S Edge tips and leaks. Reportedly the Galaxy S6 and S Edge bodies will be uniformly colored, with the same texture on the front. Apparently even the camera module will get a paint job, it's normally black regardless of the phone's color. Both new Galaxy S flagships will reportedly have metal unibodies...

Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A I9506 gets Android 5.0 Lollipop

If you bought a Samsung Galaxy S4 I9506 - aka S4 LTE-A or S4 LTE+ - you may have been feeling a little left out of the Lollipop update bonanza. This version of the phone has a Snapdragon 800 chipset, just like the Galaxy Note 3 and an update over the Snapdragon 600 in the I9505. Most of its siblings got Android 5.0 - the Google Play Edition and Exynos...

Lava launches Iris X8, priced at around $145

Just a day after it was revealed on e-commerce website Flipkart, the Lava Iris X8 has been officially launched by the company. The device is priced at INR 8,999 ($145). The smartphone is powered by a MediaTek chipset with 1.4Ghz octa-core processor, and sports a 5-inch 1280 x 720 pixel IPS display with Asahi Dragontrail glass protection. It comes...

Alcatel 6045 One Touch leaks with a 64-bit Snapdragon 610

A new Alcatel smartphone with a 64-bit processor has bee spotted at the GFXBenchmark database. Dubbed One Touch 6045, the phone sports a Snapdragon 610 chipset with a 1.5GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU and 2GB of RAM. GFXBenchmark is reporting the device's display to be 13.7" in size, but that's likely a mistake. Nevertheless, the exact size of the display...

Now Android 5.1 spotted running on 2nd gen Moto G

Although Google has revealed the existence of Android 5.1, and there have even been reports that the new version is already being rolled out in Android One markets markets like Indonesia, it isn't yet clear when the update will roll out for other Android devices. However, that might happen soon, as a 2nd gen Motorola Moto G (shown above) has been...

Galaxy S6 case leak confirm a double-edged S Edge exists

With MWC 2015 right around the corner the hype is on for new handset releases all over the place. Naturally Samsung is in the spotlight and the rumor mill has been overflowing with bits and pieces of the new Galaxy S6 flagship. Stories have been ranging all the way from hardware specs, like a supposed withdraw form Snapdragon SoCs and...Source: h...

HTC Q4 2014 financial results show slim profit

HTC has outed a consolidated financial report for Q4 2014 and the company saw a quarterly revenue of $1.524 billion (NT$47.9 billion), $224 million more than the same quarter last year. After taxes, the net profit for the quarter was $15.9 million, while the gross margin was 20.4% and operating margin merely 0.4%. The company didn't share additional...

Lumia RM-1099 with 4-inch display under testing in India

The Lumia RM-1099 successfully passed certification in Indonesia last month, but sadly there were neither specifications, nor photos of the device available at that time because unlike other certification processes, the Indonesian authorities don't reveal any details regarding the product. However, it is now being reported that the device is getting...

Galaxy S6 gets rendered in cases based on actual dimensions

Just a couple of hours or so after a leak showed us the alleged schematics of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S6, now we get some new renders of the device. These are showing it inside cases designed by Verus, a company which claims that the following images are based on the actual size measurements of the highly anticipated smartphone. Samsung Galaxy...

HTC One for Sprint, Dev version now receiving Lollipop

The Samsung Galaxy S5 isn't the only smartphone sold by Sprint that is to be updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop starting today. It's joined by the original HTC One from 2013, which follows in the footsteps of its successor. Sprint has been pushing the newest version of Android to its One units since this morning. The rollout is an over-the-air affair,...

Meizu M1 gets 100,000 orders in just one minute

The flash sale model is really taking off in the mobile world, at least in Asia. Pioneered by Xiaomi just a few years ago, it's now employed by many more companies. One of them is Meizu, which recently announced the M1 smartphone. It went up for pre-order in China, with 100,000 units being made available. And people managed to order all of those in...

Samsung Galaxy S6 schematics show a protruding camera

Newly leaked schematics of the Samsung Galaxy S6 have appeared and are telling a bit of a different story from the initial ones we stumbled upon not too long ago. Apparently, the Galaxy S6 will have a protruding camera module, which isn't ideal as this might make it wobble when placed on a flat surface. Nevertheless, the phone will measure 6.91mm,...

ZTE announces Blade S6 Lux in China

You might remember that ZTE recently unveiled a budget-oriented handset with dual-SIM LTE connectivity. It is dubbed the Blade S6 and should be available from AliExpress globally for around $250 and also through Amazon and eBay in select markets. Today the Chinese manufacturer put a little twist to the story, announcing two devices for their home...

Galaxy Note Edge with Swarovski crystals makes your eyes bleed

There is a Samsung Galaxy Note Edge exclusive limited edition that you probably don't want to be seen with. The special Note Edge model has 1800 shiny Swarovski crystals all over the back. The highlight of this limited Galaxy Note Edge flavor is the recreated with crystals drawing Playing Hands by Albrecht Dürer. Crystalize Your Design has become...

HTC One (M9) leaked again, this time in a Dot View case

The HTC One (M9) is due to be officially announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in the beginning of March. Still, we're only a few leaks away from being able to draw a complete picture of the upcoming flagship. This next piece of the puzzle is brought to us by an HTC employee, who chose (or was he encouraged?) to share live images of...

Gionee prepares an ultra-slim phone for MWC 2015

Gionee has officially announced it is preparing to launch a new, ultra-slim smartphone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March. More specifically, the yet unnamed phone will be launched at Hall 8 on March 2015. "The race to make the slimmest smartphone was getting out of hand. Going so slim is actually not benefiting user experience without...

Sony E2003/E2033 mid-ranger with 64-bit chipset uncovered

A new Sony mid-range phone is in the works, its existence given away by GFX Bench. The Sony E2003/E2033 looks like a successor to the Xperia E3 with a 4.6" qHD screen (540 x 960px) and a 64-bit MediaTek chipset. The chipset is MT6752 with four Cortex-A53 cores (at 1.5GHz), coupled with 1GB of RAM and a Mali-T760 GPU. There's also around 5GB of user-available...

Vertu Clous De Paris is a pricy Velentine's Day gift

Around Valentine's Day we usually see a number of pink phones launching, but Vertu is too classy for that. Instead the Clous De Paris is made of Grade-5 titanium engraved with a guilloche pattern and upholstered with alligator skin crafted by French and Italian tanneries. The phone is based on the Vertu Signature Touch and features Bang & Olufsen...

Lollipop update for Xperia Z2 and Z3 coming soon

Sony has regularly been criticized for its support policies, leaving behind mid-range models and taking its time with flagship updates. The entire Xperia Z lineup has been promised the Lollipop update, though, and the company is slowly delivering. Vodafone Australia has confirmed that the Android 5.0 update for the Xperia Z3 and Z2 is nearing, with...

Snapdragon 618 and 620 specs leak, show Cortex-A72 cores

Leaked specs for two upcoming Qualcomm chipsets, the Snapdragon 618 and 620, reveal they will use big.LITTLE setups with ARM's new Cortex-A72 core. The 620 has leaked previously, but with entirely different specs. According to the new leak, the Snapdragon 620 (8976) has four Cortex-A72 cores (codenamed Maia) and four Cortex-A53. The Snapdragon 618...

20,000 Lenovo A6000 phones sold in 3 seconds

Lenovo conducted its second flash sale of the A6000 and it was as an unmitigated success. The affordable LTE-enabled smartphone went up for sale of Flipkart in India and 20,000 units were snatched in a matter of three seconds. This is becoming a norm for this particular handset as last Wednesday (January 28) the initial flash sale event saw 10,000...

BT confirms EE acquisition in $19 billion deal

Confirming rumours that had been circulating late last year, the British telecommunications giant BT has announced that it has agreed to acquire the UK's leading mobile carrier EE, effectively putting itself back into mobile services. The deal is worth $19 billion (£12.5 billion), with BT paying EE owners Deutsche Telekom and Orange in cash and shares....

Lollipop update coming to Sprint's Galaxy S5 today

Just a day after HTC confirmed that the Sprint HTC One (M7) will start receiving the Android 5.0 update today, it looks like the carrier's Galaxy S5 will get the update too. According to Samsung's official support page, the S5 Lollipop update will roll out today, bumping the device to software version G900PVPU1AOA6, and will also include an enhanced...

Otterbox cases for HTC One (M9) make the rounds

A lineup of Otterbox cases for the upcoming HTC One (M9) made the rounds online. The Taiwan-based manufacturer will reveal a duo of flagship smartphones in less than a month, on March 1 in Barcelona. Showcased in gray and black, the Otterbox cases appear to be from the company's Defender series. The accessories once again reveal the large, squarish...

HTC One (M9) leaks out dressed in gold

Live photos of the upcoming HTC One (M9) made the rounds online yet again. This time around, the upcoming flagship from the Taiwanese manufacturer posed for the camera in gold color scheme. Right in line with past leaks, the live photos once again allow us to catch a glimpse of the large squarish cutout for the handset's camera. The latter is said...

Android One devices in India to get Lollipop in the next few weeks

The update to Lollipop for the three Android One devices available in India will finally be out "in the next few weeks". This is according to Google's Indian arm, so it's official as can be. Unfortunately though, this vague timeline is all we have for now, as the company behind those updates hasn't yet decided to share anything more on the matter....

iOS overtakes Android in the US in Q4 2014, report says

If you needed more proof about how successful Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been, especially in the US market, then this is going to be it. According to the analysts at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, iOS has managed to take the lead from Android in the US smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2014 (so between October and December). Granted,...

Oppo R5 is now available for pre-order in the UK

Oppo's brief world record holder for thinnest smartphone has shown up on Amazon's UK site and is now available for pre-order. The precious units are set to start shipping as early as February 20. The Oppo R5 is a stylish midrange offering, packing a 5.2-inch FullHD display in a slender 4.85mm body. That wasn't thin enough, the competition deemed,...

Android 5.1 Lollipop is now official, changelog coming soon

Android 5.1 Lollipop name has been creating quite a buzz over the social networks through the last few hours. The new version has appeared on various screenshots and its name and build numbers popped up through various logs. Google has already confirmed the next Android iteration - 5.1 Lollipop - via its official Android One page. There you can clearly...

Sony Xperia Z4 to sport slim bezels and new speaker design

The Sony Xperia Z4 is one of the less likely announcements expected to be seen at the MWC a few weeks from now, judging by the lack of tangible info on the device. A recent leak on Chinese social network Weibo, however, might force us to rethink that position. A couple of front panels have appeared in live images revealing interesting facts about...

Xiaomi schedules event for February 12 in San Francisco

Xiaomi may be the world's third-biggest smartphone maker, but most of its products never leave China. The company is reportedly looking to open up shop in India, but now the company is taking a trip to the US. There, in San Francisco specifically, the company will hold an event on February 12. It's not clear what the topic will be though - opening...

Leaked doc points to QHD screen on the LG G4

There are two rumors about the LG G4 - one claims a 3K display, another claims a QHD one (what some might call 2.5K). A third piece of evidence swings the vote in favor of QHD, this comes from a leaked XML file extracted from a Lollipop ROM. The file lists the LG F500 as "G4 (QHD)." It has three versions (S, K and L), which correspond to the three...

Windows-powered One (M9) rumored, to be US exclusive

HTC Hima has been in the rumorland for quite a while, leaking with pictures, specs, camera samples and everything. It should be announced at the MWC in March in Barcelona as the HTC One (M9) and will be coming with a 5" 1080p display, Snapdragon 810 chipset 20MP dual camera setup at the back and an 4MP UltraPixel sensor for selfies at front. The upcoming...

Samsung Galaxy S6 metal frame revealed in photos

The first photos of the Samsung Galaxy S6 metal frame have surfaced. Moreover, the new photos portray the frame from all angles and show the layout of its ports and buttons. Leaked schematics of the phone suggest it'll measure just 7.2mm thick and the sides look have a carved design. At the top, there are plastic cutouts for the antennas, a secondary...

630,000 Galaxy Note Edge units have been sold since launch

Last September, Samsung unveiled two phablet flagships: the Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy Note Edge. Since the only major difference between the two was the screen - the latter, as you'd probably know, features a distinctive curved display on one of its edges - it was a bit difficult to predict how well the Note Edge would sell. But now, it is being...

Sony expects smaller loss in 2014, mobile division slowing down

Sony revealed that it expects the annual loss for its financial year 2014 (which ends on March 31) to be smaller than expected by analysts and the revenue to be bigger. The buoys are the PlayStation and the image sensor divisions, while the Xperia smartphone business is still struggling. Smartphone sales in China are slowing down and Sony cut its...