Counterclockwise: iPhones, Nokia E series and Lumias

Each weekend we put our arcane knowledge of phones to good use and we pen the Counterclockwise article. This time we look at smartphone's struggle to turn from simple texting machines to the digital camera of the 21st century. Camera, lights, iOS update! The iPhone launched with a fairly basic camera that didn't even have video recording. In 2009...

OnePlus One will get CyanogenMod 12S update soon

OnePlus One will receive the much awaited CyanogenMod 12S update in the next few days. The Chinese manufacturer's co-founder announced that the ROM has received certification from Google. .@jorgepenteado CM12s just passed certification today. Thanks for the patience, expect rollout in the next few days.— Carl Pei (@getpeid) April 10, 2015 The CyanogenMod...

Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime lands in the US at Cricket

The Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime that made its international debut last fall is now available at a US carrier for the first time. Said company is Cricket Wireless, the AT&T subsidiary focused on prepaid plans. The Grand Prime is already listed in Cricket's online store. It's priced at $179.99. Since this is a prepaid carrier, the price is without...

LG G Pad 7.0, 8.0, and 10.1 will get Lollipop on April 12

So far the only LG tablet to get updated to Android Lollipop is the G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition, unsurprisingly since in that case such rollouts are handled by Google. However, if you own one of LG's three midrange tablets launched last year, you're apparently in for a treat too. The LG G Pad 7.0, G Pad 8.0, and G Pad 10.1 (pictured below) should...

Charge test: Battle of the fast chargers

Smartphone batteries piggybacked on the growing screen size to go up in capacity to support both the screen and faster chipsets. Slower to deplete, the new batteries also proved slower to charge so manufacturers tackled the issue with new standards.Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/charge_test-review-1239.p...

HTC Desire EYE is getting Android 5.0.2 Lollipop update

HTC has started rolling out the new Android 5.0.2 Lollipop update for its selfie smartphone - Desire EYE. To our surprise, the Taiwanese company has started seeding this Lollipop update first in its home country - Taiwan. HTC Desire EYE (Taiwan) receives Android 5.0.2. ROM version is 2.19.709.1 (1008.9MB).— LlabTooFeR (@LlabTooFeR) April 10, 2015...

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge is getting Android 5.0.2 Lollipop update

Samsung is busy shipping out and making the new Galaxy S6 edge available in several markets today. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S6 edge is getting its first official firmware update - Android 5.0.2 Lollipop. The new Android 5.0.2 Lollipop update measures 250.53 MB heavy and mostly brings improvements for better performance. The curved touchscreen will become...

Asus Zenfone 2 arrives in Malaysia on May 9, after all

The Asus Zenfone 2 range is conquering new grounds wekkly and we previously reported that a Malaysian launch is scheduled for April 21. Well, apparently we were a little off, but fret not, as the smartphones are coming. The final date is May 9 and is as official as it gets, coming straight from the Twitter feed of the company's Malaysian branch. The...

Xiaomi to launch a global Mi phone in India on April 23

Chinese startup Xiaomi just celebrated its fifth birthday by offering great deals and availability of its products to more than one commerce platform in India. Now the company's official Twitter account has shared an invite for a probable new smartphone launch on April 23 in New Delhi, India. i IS COMING. Register for our global Mi phone premiere...

Vivo Xshot successor tipped to come with phase detection AF

The Vivo Xshot was just over at our office for the usual review routine, but apparently it's successor is well in the works. Evidence coming from an internal company meeting suggests further steps are being taken towards a more serious photography-oriented package. Auto-focus was one area, where Vivo saw room for improvement, and insider info claims...

Samsung Galaxy J5 specs show up in a GFXBench listing

The Samsung Galaxy J1 is soon not going to be the sole member of the J-series as larger, better-equipped models are coming. Industry insiders revealed a few days ago the hardware inside the upcoming Galaxy J5 and J7, and a fresh listing on GFXBench website confirms the specs of the former. The device, which is positioned in the middle of the lineup,...

Lenovo A1900 is new $60 droid with a quad-core CPU

It's not all flagships out there, but in between the review craze after the release of one and the buildup to the launch of the next, lower-key announcements may easily go unnoticed. One such case it the brand new Lenovo A1900 - an entry-level device, that's set to retail at the equivalent of $60. A level head knows not to expect miracles at this...

Huawei P8 Lite leaked in a set of live images

It's no secret that parallel to its top-end P8 model, set to debut on April 15, Huawei is working on a smaller, more affordable device. Part of the P8 family, the P8 Lite went as far as receiving TENAA certification, without any official word from the company. Now, a sample unit has apparently fallen into the hands of a user, keen to share. The four...

Apple Watch now available for pre-order on Apple online store

Apple has opened up the pre-orders for the Apple Watch. All three versions - Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport, and Apple Watch Edition - in various color, size, and strap combination, are now available. The prices range from $349 for the base model, which is the 38mm Apple Watch Sport with the Sport Band and goes all the way to an eye-watering $17,000...

HTC promises a software update to fix One M9 camera woes

HTC America's president, Jason Mackenzie has confirmed that a software update to fix the camera woes of HTC One M9 will be released in the United States between April 10 to April 17. The rollout of the new firmware will be dependent on the device's carrier version. @Monica_Renata @Crofty_71 @HTCUSA camera to see improvement w/ sw update coming tomorrow...

Galaxy S6 sales on T-Mobile "nearly double those" of S5

T-Mobile US announced that sales of Samsung Galaxy S6 are "nearly double those of the Galaxy S5" in the first ten days of offering the device. The Big Magenta began shipping pre-orders of the new smartphone to its customers last week. The wireless carrier offers both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. T-Mobile customers who order the smartphones...

Sprint's Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note Edge receive Lollipop

Sprint is now in the process of pushing out the update to Android 5.0 Lollipop for both the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy Note Edge. This follows last month's software release for the Galaxy Note 4 units sold by this particular carrier. In both cases, the updates are rolling out over-the-air, so your handset should notify you when it's ready...

Huawei SnapTo becomes official, will be released on April 17

A couple of days ago the Huawei SnapTo was spotted at Amazon, and now the Chinese company has officially announced it. The SnapTo looks like a direct competitor to Motorola's Moto G, both in terms of pricing as well as when considering the specs in play. The Huawei SnapTo has a 5-inch 720p touchscreen, a 5 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 2 MP front-facing...

Huawei P8, P8 Lite press images leaked

Huawei is set to launch the new P8 and P8 Lite smartphones on April 15. A recent promo video teased the P8 smartphone briefly and left many wondering what the final product would actually look like. The Huawei P8 is set to arrive with a 5.2" 1080p display, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB storage. The Chinese company is reportedly using homegrown Kirin 935 chipset....

Nokia Lumia 640 available in the UK, 640 XL by the end of April

The Nokia Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL went up on pre-order in the UK in mid-March. Now the smaller of the two is available in stores, however if you wanted the 5.7" XL you'll have to wait until the end of the month. The Nokia Lumia 640 starts at £100 with a £15.50 a month contract. It's available at Carphone Warehouse, EE, O2, Vodafone, Three, Amazon,...

Purported Sony Xperia Z4 press image spotted online

We reported that Sony is working on the Xperia Z4 smartphone set to launch sometime soon. While the specifications leak, we eagerly wait to see if there are any design changes. To our surprise, there are barely any visible changes as per a new leaked press image. Previously leaked press renders showed off the white colored model and this new leak...

Samsung expects Galaxy S6 models to sell in record numbers

Samsung's latest pair of flagship devices have been generating a veritable storm of interest ever since their announcement at MWC 2015. Both eager customers and carriers have been piling up preorders, like there is no tomorrow and at this pace, the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are set to swiftly break sales records. At a media event, this Thursday, Samsung's...

The Apple watch might come as late as May for some buyers

If you have been following the developments around Apple's smart wearable, you are surely aware of two important dates - April 10 and April 24. Preorders for the Apple Watch start tomorrow and initial units are said to ship two weeks later. As we recently mentioned, the gadget will be available for in-store pickup, but if you really want to be among...

All glass Oppo A31 with LTE launched for $160

Oppo Mobile has quietly introduced a new dual-SIM phone - Oppo A31 for China. The new A31 features glass panel at the rear to join the competitive mid-range segment at $160. Bearing the dual-glass design, a metallic frame is what binds the glass panels together in an 8mm thin profile. Oppo has used a 4.5-inch display with 480x854 pixel resolution...

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge official drop tests released

A couple of days ago Samsung disclosed their official bending test routine, in light of a controversial third-party test, which claimed the Galaxy S6 edge brittle as, well, glass. It was only natural then that the company's own drop tests were released to the public, after countless Youtube attention-seekers had already published their own take and...

The 16MP camera of LG G4 has been developed in-house

The 16MP main camera module of the upcoming LG G4 has been designed in-house. The Korean giant's components manufacturing arm, LG Innotek developed the high-end sensor, which is already in mass production. LG's innovative camera unit has a wide f/1.8 aperture. The latter allows the camera to receive 80% more light than the already stellar 13MP snapper...

Alleged Huawei P8 prototype poses for the camera

Alleged live photos of a Huawei P8 prototype made the rounds online. The Chinese tech giant's next flagship smartphone will make its official debut next week, on April 15. The images reveal the upcoming smartphone in a case, which is designed to hide its identity. Manufacturers usually ship unannounced devices to in such covers to wireless carriers...

vivo Xshot review: Shot in the dark

Another Chinese flagship but with a twist. If vivo rings a bell at all, it's most probably the X5Max, the world's slimmest phone. Not a bad thing to be known for but vivo isn't just about looks.Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/vivo_xshot-review-1238.p...

Sony Z Ultra Google Play Edition gets android 5.1 Lollipop

Android 5.1 Lollipop began seeding to Sony Z Ultra Google Play Edition. Sony's phablet is the latest stock Android device to receive the update - the Google Play editions HTC One (M8) and LG G Pad 8.3 also got the treatment over past couple of days. The update has build number LMY47D. It brings a host of bug fixes and improvements to the smartphone...

Apple's iOS 8.3 is now out for all supported devices

After a few betas for developers and a couple of public beta releases for consumers, iOS 8.3 has been finalized by Apple. The new software version is now in the process of rolling out to all supported mobile devices. iOS 8.3 brings with it a very large number of bug fixes, but also some new features. Among these is a new emoji picker, new diversified...

HTC Desire 626G+ gets announced for India

Today HTC has unveiled a new smartphone for the Indian market. It's called Desire 626G+ and all appearances point toward it being just a regional variant of the Desire 626 - which HTC launched in its home market of Taiwan back in February. As you may have inferred from the Desire branding, this is a midrange offering, not a flagship device (HTC has,...

Android in March: Lollipop inches past 5 percent

Another month has passed and the statistics are out for the Android versions distribution. The data is gathered over a seven day period prior to the release and the chart is based on the number of the devices that have visited the Google Play Store over that time span. With manufacturers gradually ramping up Lollipop builds for their smartphones,...

Samsung Galaxy J5 and J7 specs leak

The Galaxy J-series is part of Samsung's recent mobile portfolio expansion and representative of the new, single-letter naming convention, which could finally put some order in the manufacturer's lineup. Currently, we have only seen one member of the J-line - the Galaxy J1, but naming conventions and a few Samsung trademarks have led us to expect...

Sony Xperia Z4 leaked case confirms controls placement

The Sony Xperia Z4 is set to complete this year's flagship team when it launches sometime in the summer. It will come bearing few surprises though, as the device was already leaked in press images, as well as spotted live, multiple times. In another round of revealing photos, we now get to see a set of bumper cases for Sony's upcoming high-end device....

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 with a new 64-bit chipset

Samsung has been testing an updated version of the Galaxy Tab 4 family for quite some time. The Galaxy Tab 4 8.0 was the first spotted running a brand new CPU and now rumors about the Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 following suit have been confirmed. The update in question has to do with the chipset. The old Snapdragon 400 is being swapped with a new 64-bit 410...

Asus to launch three ZenFone 2 models in India on April 23

Asus has finally started sending out invites for the launch of the ZenFone 2 on April 23. Scheduled launch will happen in the country's capital - New Delhi, and hopefully all models will be shown. On April 21, the ZenFone 2 will be launched in Malaysia as reported earlier. The Taiwanese company teases in its invite - World's First 4GB smartphone....

Huawei devices to start getting Lollipop next month

Huawei is one of the companies lagging behind in the roll out of the Android 5.0 Lollipop update. Yet the Chinese company is bringing some good news now, as it has put up a list of smartphones pegged to get the Lollipop update starting next month. Of course, the updates will be rolled out in phases. The Ascend Mate7 will be the first to get Lollipop,...

Lollipop for Xperia Z3 Dual, Z1, Z1 Compact, Z Ultra due next week

Sony is already rolling out the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for its Xperia Z2 and Z2 tablet across different regions. In the mean time, the company has promised to release the Lollipop update for the Xperia Z3 Dual, Z1, Z1 Compact and Z Ultra devices the next week. 2/2 #Xperia Z3 Dual, Z1, Z1 Compact and Z Ultra next week, followed shortly after by...

HTC One M9+ with 5.2" QHD screen, duo camera unveiled

Since the MWC 2015, HTC has been caught in the whirlwind of rumors and badly kept secrets about the One M9+ as well as the two One E9 variants. Today the Taiwanese handset market has formally launched the new One M9+ at a press event held in Beijing, China. The One M9+ features a 5.2" QHD (1440 x2560 pixels) display and runs Android 5.0 Lollipop with...

LG to give out 4,000 G4 trial units to consumers before the launch

LG has announced a new promotional campaign for its upcoming flagship smartphone - G4. As part of this campaign, the company will dole out 4,000 G4 smartphones to select individuals from 15 different countries as part of a public testing campaign. LG has made the the testing program page live in Korea and confirmed it will soon also come to Turkey,...

Android 5.1 Lollipop is now seeding to HTC One (M8) GPE

Android 5.1 Lollipop is now seeding to HTC One (M8) Google Play Edition. The new firmware is seeding to the device over-the-air. The update is a tad larger than 244MB. It brings a host of bug fixes and improvements to the smartphone headed by beefed up security and HD voice support. Other Android 5.1 goodies include the ability control paired Bluetooth...

Huawei SnapTo is a Moto G rival with a $179.99 price tag

Huawei is about to launch a Motorola Moto G rival in the United States. Priced at $179.99 with no contract, the LTE-capable Huawei SnapTo will launch on Amazon across the Atlantic in a couple of days, on April 9. The Chinese giant's budget smartphone is already available for pre-order on Amazon in black or white color scheme. The retailer has listed...

Alleged photos and video of iPad mini 4 housing leak

Live photos and video footage of an alleged Apple iPad mini 4 housing made the rounds online. The yet to be revealed slate is expected to be a significant improvement over the iPad mini 3 it is bound to replace. The leak comes courtesy of Nowhereelse and is said to be from a reliable source of past tips. It reveals that the upcoming tablet will feature...

Sony Xperia C4 gets pictured in live image leak

Just yesterday we saw a purported leaked render showing the upcoming Sony Xperia C4, and today we're treated to an alleged live image of the handset. As you can see, this is an actual photo, in which the Xperia C4 is seen in working condition. The design we see here lines up pretty well with what the leaked render from yesterday showed us, so at this...

New HTC One M9+ images surface ahead of tomorrow's unveiling

The HTC One M9+ will finally be announced tomorrow at a special event in China, according to previously leaked promo materials. In the meantime however, we're treated to a couple of new images depicting the upcoming smartphone. This may actually be the last M9+ leak before the unveiling, for what it's worth. HTC One M9+ This device has been in the...

ZTE Nubia Z9 will have no side bezels, official confirms

Last month ZTE made the Nubia Z9 Max official alongside the Nubia Z9 Mini, but many have been wondering why the flagship Z9 itself wasn't unveiled. Apparently ZTE is still working on the Nubia Z9, and it's finally due to be announced soon. The smartphone has leaked a lot over the past few months, and many times we've heard it would come with practically...

LG G4 event invitation confirms f/1.8 lens, LED flash, laser focus

The wait is drawing to an end for yet another of this year's major flagship announcements. The LG G4 is coming and invitations for the launch event are more revealing than ever. An official press image of the back camera highlights its lens' aperture - a confirmation of the fast f/1.8, which was already teased in a promo video. Instrumental in capturing...

The Golden editions of Lumia 930 and Lumia 830 now available

Microsoft officially announced golden versions of the Lumia 930 and Lumia 830 in early January this year, saying they will be available "soon." Well, not quite soon but the Nokia Lumia 930 in Gold is now available from select retailers in Europe, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific and Africa. The Nokia Lumia 930 in Gold comes unlocked. Unfortunately...

Sony Lavender rumored in works with 64-bit MediaTek SoC

Sony is about to introduce yet another mid-range smartphone with interesting set of specifications. The serial leaker upleaks has shared details of an upcoming device codenamed Sony Lavender. Sony Lavender：Model Number E5503, Type Number PM-0861-BV, Software 29.x, FHD Display, MT6752.— @upleaks (@upleaks) April 7, 2015 Bearing the model...

Sony Xperia Z4 Ultra reportedly in the works

Sony has definitely been taking its time with device announcements, most notably the Xperia Z4. The company's eagerly-anticipated flagship has been keeping fans on their toes for a few months now and, judging from what we have already seen, when it does finally arrive, it might be more of a disappointment, than anything else. That being said, a new...