We just got our hands on a retail unit of the Xperia Z5 Premium, but before we started our review routine, we spent some time marveling its 4K screen. Marveling quickly turned into examining and before you know it, we set out on a mission to find out whether we would readily spot the difference to other 5.5-inch smartphones with lower resolution.
Our weekly news recap is due, with a roundup of the most interesting stories from the past few days. The Pepsi Phone P1 was by far the most intriguing read of the week - it's got to be the first time we've seen a beverage company slap its brand on a smartphone, and it is a pretty well-specced one, at a bargain price, too. And "bargain price" is all that can be said of the LG Lucky LG16 smartphone, listed on Walmart for less than ten bucks, though unavailable at the moment. Another top story was the launch of the Lenovo Vibe X3. A total of three versions, one of them practically a different phone, were unveiled in China and we're waiting for the global variants. And as if there weren't enough One-branded devices already, HTC pulled the wraps off the One M9s this week - with the body of an M9 and downgraded hardware. There was about the usual amount of iPhone rumors too. The potential 4-inch iPhone keeps entertaining tech minds, and this latest bit claims it will be based on the 5s. And then the proper iPhone 7 could be waterproof, why not? Samsung on the other hand went bonkers and launched a flip phone with dual 3.9-inch AMOLED displays, Exynos 7420, and a price tag upwards of $1500. Don't go rushing to the store as it's only available in China. Samsung's sane release of the week was the Galaxy J3 - an affordable 5-incher. Benchmark results of the Exynos 8890 also caught your attention. Microsoft-related news also gathered a lot of interest. The mystical Surface Phone allegedly showed up on a browser benchmark, fueling rumors that Microsoft might indeed be working on 100% home-grown smartphone breaking all ties with the Nokia heritage. Feel free to hit up the following links for more details on all of the above topics. .news-item .n-left { float: left; width: 28%; text-align: center; } .news-item .n-right { float: left; width: 70%; } .news-item a { padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; } .news-item .n-right h2, .reviews-item .n-right h2 { clear: both; padding: 0 0 3px 0px !important; font: 400 19px Google-Oswald, Arial; margin-top: -4px; } .n-right p { line-height: 155%; } .news-item { padding-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc; } .news-item p { margin-left: 0; } .n-right h2 a { text-decoration: none; color: #000; } Pepsi Phone P1 - an affordable, metal phone with a fingerprint reader The soda-branded smartphone has a 5.5" 1080p screen, octa-core processor and dual-SIM LTE connectivity. Lenovo Vibe X3 launched in three versions Two of those come with a Snapdragon 808 and 23MP camera, the third uses a Mediatek chip and 16MP shooter, all of them FullHD 5.5-inchers. HTC One M9s launched, yet another One A mixture of existing models, this new one comes with a 5-inch display in a metal unibody, Helio X10 chip and 13MP camera. Next 4-inch iPhone to be based on the 5s, new rumor claims This new information seems to contradict previous mumblings that spoke about a plastic iPhone 6c being on the way. iPhone 7 might come with 3GB of RAM and waterproofing A new rumor claims these will be the two main new features for the next generation of Apple smartphones. Samsung W2016 high-end clamshell gets official in China The phone comes with two screens, pretty good specs, and a form factor that reminds us of the past. Benchmark score shows Exynos 8890 will be the next king of multi-core performance However, the Apple A9 still packs the heaviest punch per core. Samsung Galaxy J3 launched with quad-core CPU, 720p screen Listed as Galaxy J3⑥ on Samsung's China website, the device has design and specifications similar to the J3 model that recently passed TENAA. Microsoft Surface Phone shows up in browser benchmark This could mean the company is looking to expand its Surface brand beyond tablets and laptops in the future. Wait, what? An Android smartphone for less than $10? An Android-powered smartphone carrying a price tag of just $9.82 has been spotted listed on...
Facebook at Work has gotten its first mobile app. Called Work Chat, the app lets Facebook at Work users to communicate with each other over one-on-one chats, group messaging, and voice calls. It's basically Facebook Messenger, but for Facebook at Work. For those not aware, Facebook at Work is Facebook's corporate service for companies. In order to use it, your company needs to sign up with Facebook, after which you can have your own little social network with your office employees within Facebook. Now with the new mobile app, it just got a little easier to keep in touch with your colleagues. Work Chat is only available on Android for now, with the iOS version still in development. You need a Facebook at Work account to use it. Source •...
It's been a while since our last giveaway, and now it's time for a new one. This weekend, we're giving you the chance to win a brand new Meizu PRO 5, courtesy of our partners at HonorBuy. The Meizu PRO 5 is here to save you from a boring weekend and give you the chance the experience the best its maker can offer. This is certainly one of the best smartphones currently on the market and we are excited that one of you will get to enjoy it as a free gift! The Meizu PRO 5 unit has been provided by HonorBuy, who also occasionally supply us with phones for use in our reviews. There are several ways to enter the giveaway - check out the list below. How to enter Share the news about the giveaway via your Twitter account (1 entry). You can do that once per day and each tweet will grant you a new entry. Set an avatar for your GSMArena account (2 entries). You need to log-in on our site using either Facebook or Google+ and then visit your account page and set an avatar or Gravatar. Important: to claim the entries you only need to enter your nickname, but if we detect that you did it without setting an avatar you will be disqualified. Also, if you already have an avatar or Gravatar, you can just claim the reward - there's no need to change it. Refer friends for extra entries (1 entry per referred friend). Follow us on Twitter (1 entry). Again, if you are already following us there's no need to do anything - just claim the reward. Visit Honorbuy's website (1 entry). Check out the website of the Giveaway sponsors. Visit Honorbuy's Facebook(1 entry). Check out the FAcebook page of the Giveaway sponsors. Good luck, everyone! Meizu PRO 5 Giveaway Contest rules The submission and winner drawing process is operated by our partners from Gleam. The contest is open to people 18 or older from all countries We may be unable to ship the prize to your country - in that case you will be compensated with an online gift card of equal value to the prize. We cannot be held responsible for lost shipments or items damaged during shipping Any duties and import taxes that you may incur are the sole responsibility of the winner. Only 1 registration per person - you can collect multiple entries, but don't register more than one email and then claim entries with them. If we detect multiple registrations by the same person they will be disqualified. GSMArena reserves all rights to make changes to the giveaway in case of unforeseeable circumstances The prize will be shipped directly from our partners from Honorbuy. Winner will be requested to take a photo with the prize upon receiving it for our winner...
Announced a couple of months ago, the consumer edition of the Samsung Gear VR headset has been up for pre-order in the US for a couple of weeks, and in Europe for the past few days too. Well, it's started shipping in the States, and if you weren't among the early birds, you should be able to order yours today on Amazon and BestBuy, though both retailers list the $99 device as out of stock. Logistics are one thing, content is another. If for example you want to catch a glimpse of what it's like being on Mars, you'd be able to do so thanks to Twentieth Century Fox. The film studio has released a preview of 'The Martian VR Experience' - a 360-degree look through the eyes of an astronaut on the Red Planet. Image credit: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment The sneak peek is available on Samsung's Milk VR platform, and the full VR movie is due to be out next year, all 15 to 20 minutes of it. Produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Robert Stromberg, the reel was shot parallel to the old-school 2D motion picture The Martian, on the same sets and with the same actors, not that it was particularly crowded during the Mars...
First mentioned in a trademark filing all the way back in March, the Samsung Galaxy A9 is about to materialize. Indication of that comes from a listing on GeekBench, where a Samsung SM-A9000 model has been put to the test. Dated yesterday, the entry in the database now sees the Galaxy A9 appear with its genuine model number. Back in September another Samsung device was listed with identical specs but an unintelligible name, though it was already speculated then that it was indeed the A9. It later showed up on Antutu as well, sporting the same chipset. So the Galaxy A9 will indeed feature a Snapdragon 620 SoC(MSM8976), its CPU having a dual quad-core big.LITTLE arrangement with a cluster of Cortex-A72 cores and another one with Cortex-A53's. What's new this time around, is that the chip is geared towards better single core performance (1,446 points versus 1,325 in September). The multi-core result, on the other hand, is some 300 points lower now. With the Galaxy A3 (2016) and A5 (2016) now having passed FCC certification, and live units of those two plus the A7 (2016) out and about, we could be looking at an all new A-series lineup any time soon, save for the only even-numbered Galaxy...
