Samsung unveils Galaxy S5 Plus with Snapdragon 805

With a quiet whisper Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S5 Plus - a Snapdragon 805 version of the company's 2014 flagship. This is the small late season upgrade, similar to the Galaxy S4 LTE-A that launched late last year. Just like its predecessor the new Plus model brings a faster LTE connection in addition to the improved performance. The Galaxy S5 originally launched with the Snapdragon 801 chipset that included a 2.5GHz quad-core processor. The new processor is also at 2.5GHz but it's a new core - Krait 450. The chipset also has a new generation GPU - Adreno 420 - breaking away from the 3xx series. The other change is LTE Cat. 6, upgrading from Cat. 4. The difference is 300Mbps downloads instead of 150Mbps, the uplink remains at 50Mbps. If you were thinking it, yes, this is the same Snapdragon chipset that the Galaxy Note 4 comes with. The Samsung Galaxy S5 Plus is otherwise identical to the version that launched early this year. It has a 5.1" 1080p screen and not a QHD screen like the Galaxy S5 LTE-A. There's a 16MP camera with 2160p video (no OIS like the Note), 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, the same 2,800mAh battery too (though the new chipset should be more power efficient). Dimensions and weight remain the same, the IP67 rating too. Right now the phone is available only in the Netherlands from what we can tell, Samsung's press site doesn't even have a press release for it. Thanks for sending this in, Gijs! Source | Via (in...

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_unveils_galaxy_s5_plus_with_snapdragon_805-news-9999.php

Apple Watch the most anticipated wearable, PwC study finds

PricewaterhouseCoopers has published a study on the smart wearables market, which shows that the Apple Watch is the most hotly anticipated device. 59% of people questioned said they are looking forward to trying the first Apple smartwatch. A potential smartwatch by Amazon would also enjoy significant interest - 57% of the survey participants would like to see the retail giant come up with its own wearable. Google-powered devices aren't that far behind with 53% interest. Of course with Android Wear smartwatches already on sale for a few months, chances are plenty of people have already jumped on board and aren't on the waiting list anymore. In fact, according to the study one in five US adults already own a smart wearable of one kind of another, which means that pioneers have been handsomely rewarded for their speed. However, 33% of those early adopters have abandoned their purchasing device within one year so there's obviously huge potential for improving. 76% of all respondents said that they don't see the smart wearables as a potential replacement for a gadget they already have - instead it should serve to bring new functionality. There's obviously huge potential in the smart wearable niche at present given the sheer number of large players that aim to participate and the amount of marketing dollars they bring to it. We'll have to wait for at least another year until for things to settle down before we find out who manages to get the largest slice of the pie,...

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/apple_watch_the_most_anticipated_wearable_pwc_study_finds-news-9998.php

Apple now requires iOS developers to use 64-bit code

Ever since Apple unveiled the iPhone 5s, it has been keen to brag about the 64-bit support of the Apple A7 chip. Starting February, it will require developers to develop their apps to work on the 64-bit architecture as well as the 32-bit one. This means that the company is slowly but surely moving to a 64-bit only support in iOS. There are currently Apple products that are still using 32-bit CPU architecture, so the company is unlikely to require developers make apps using only 64-bit compliant code for at least another year. In addition, Apple has also launched a Swift mini-site to lure developers to start using its capabilities. Swift is Apple's new programming language for iOS and Mac applications. Google is also headed in the 64-bit code direction with the launch of Android 5.0 Lollipop. The search giant still doesn't require developers to start making 64-bit compliant applications yet, but we're sure this time will come sooner or later. Source |...

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/apple_requires_ios_developers_to_use_64bit_code-news-9997.php

Meizu MX4 gets a gold version, pre-orders start tomorrow

Looking to get an MX4 with a touch of extra bling? Meizu has you covered as the company has just announced a gold version of its latest flagship. The new variant was announced at a Flyme + YunOS presentation held in China today and pre-orders will start tomorrow. You can book your unit from Taobao, Tmall and through Weibo starting from 10 AM tomorrow morning. Pricing and specifications remain unchanged over the silver version. Unfortunately, unless you live in China, you chances of getting a gold Meizu MX4 now are pretty slim. There will be just 10,000 units available initially and they will all be distributed in the manufacturer's homeland. We are hoping that by the time Meizu finally expands the availability of the MX4 abroad there will be more units available, though. Meizu has promised to share more details on the international release of the MX4 shortly - we'll naturally keep you in the...

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/meizu_mx4_gets_a_gold_version_preorders_start_tomorrow-news-9996.php

Latest Oppo N3 teaser confirms fingerprint scanner

Oppo keeps its N3 teaser campaign going and the latest image it has shared once again is once again about the rotating camera of its upcoming phablet. And while the precision optics are clearly the focal point, the most interesting bit is a bit further down the back of the phone. The image shows the fingerprint sensor, which we first saw in a leaked live photo last week. It's centrally located on the back panel so it falls underneath your index finger when you hold the phone. At this point it's unclear what kind of functionality the finger scanner will enable (outside of securely unlocking your phone), but we hope Oppo has though of a few cool uses of it. We are also yet to find out if it will be a swipe-scanner similar to the one found on Samsung Galaxy smartphones and the HTC One Max or a touch one like the ones on the Apple products and the recently released Huawei Ascend Mate7. The latter has the coolest implementation we've seen so far and we hope the Oppo N3 manages to match it. The wait until we find out certainly isn't going to be long - the Oppo N3 will premiere next week, on October 29. We'll be covering the whole thing live, so make sure you tune to our homepage when the time comes for the full scoop of the device. Source |...

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/latest_oppo_n3_teaser_confirms_fingerprint_scanner-news-9995.php

LG's Odin-powered phone coming this month, joining the G3 family

LG's in-house chipset codenamed Odin has been in the rurmorland for two years already. As the rumors have it, the Odin smartphone was delayed numerous times due to overheating issues and production hiccups. According to the latest report though those have been solved and we are going to see the mysterious phone announced any moment now. If those report is authentic, then we should be seeing the Odin-running smartphone as early as this week. The insider claims the phone will be launched as part of the LG G3 series and it will be a test run for the proprietary chipset. Apparently LG isn't ready to promote the Odin on a flagship device just yet and wants to play it safe. The Odin chipset is rumored to feature a big.LITTLE configuration for the processor with four Cortex-A15 and four Cortex-A7 cores. This is a powerful combination, but it should be retired soon in favor of the 64-bit ARM cores already premiering on the Exynos 7 Octa and a few Snapdragon chipsets. Hopefully LG will surprise us with the GPU - it could either be ARM's Mali-T604 (for the quad-core variant), the Mali-T760 (for the octa-core CPU), or maybe even a PowerVR Series 6. Just three weeks ago we saw an LG Liger (F490L) device make it through the Bluetooth certification authority and it is highly possible this is indeed the upcoming Odin-powered smartphone. So, the announcement should be happening any moment now, but there is no into yet if the phone will be a South Korea exclusive or...

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/lgs_odinpowered_phone_coming_this_month_joining_the_g3_family-news-9994.php