I had the pleasure to write the first ever public post on the GSMArena blog back in October 2009. Today, almost six years later, I have the honor of writing the last one too.

Don’t you worry, we are not scrapping the project, just on the contrary – we’re promoting it. As part of our redesign and reorganization efforts, from now on, the usual blog content that you know and love will become an integral part of our main website content as a separate tech column.

Throughout all these years we kept the blog running almost like a separate website, using an entirely different content management platform compared to our main website found at GSMArena.com. This presented with lots of challenges in terms of re-using and interlinking content between the two, updating both with new features, patching vulnerabilities and even training editors to work efficiently with two different types of user interfaces – it has generally been a big headache for our developer’s team trying to keep the looks of features and styles consistent across the two outlets.

In the same time we are humbled by the fact that so many people keep choosing us as their source for news about all things tech on a daily basis. We’ve been amazed by the audience response and we’ve been enjoying a healthy traffic growth rate throughout all these years. So we decided that it’s time to make our lives easier and take this blog to the next level with it becoming a fully-fledged part of GSMArena’s homepage where it rightfully belongs.

All the content that we’ve produced as part of blog.gsmarena.com will remain accessible here forever for your perusal – the same goes for the Disqus commenting subsystem. Our new blog column will use the main website’s commenting system where you will have the option of either posting anonymously or logging in with either your Facebook or Google+ account.

It was a fun ride. But there are a lot more fun times ahead and we’re merely changing lanes here. So hop on as we push ahead.

This way to GSMArena Blog 2.0

Collecting phones is a thing you do out of passion. And as passions go, I've rarely seen someone as enthusiastic about old mobile phones as Momchil Nechev - Maxx, who quite happily agreed to bring most of his personal collection of phones to our office.

Going through his stuff, I felt as excited as a boy going through his Christmas presents, only these were not presents I was handed but boxes full of memories. Those boxes held Momchil's memories, but mine as well. It's fascinating how you can share so much with someone you barely know.

Our get-together was a fun experience, and we did a lot of shooting and a lot of talking. You already got a glimpse of what came out of the shooting, and today I have here the result that came out of the talking.

Momchil is a genuinely nice guy and he had a lot to share about what it's like to collect mobile phones. I hope you will enjoy his insight as much as we did. Read more »

The Sony SBH70 is an IP57-certified Bluetooth headset that uses a tried behind-the-neck form factor with in-ear headphones with vented acoustical design (think the Apple EarPods). It is super light (50g) and extremely flexible and overall, a joy to carry and use.

The headset is compatible with Android and iOS and I went through this review using it connected to an Apple iPhone 6. As far as I know there are no features exclusive to Sony smartphones to speak of.
That doesn’t mean to say the Sony SBH70 is lacking in features, just on the contrary. Join me as I explore it in detail. Read more »

Today we saw the unveiling of the LG G4 and we even got a chance to play with it first hand. What we also saw on display was the full suite of accessories, which will be available for styling the LG’s flagship. And no, it’s not just the leather backs.

Indeed, the available accessories will include a handful of premium back covers, but there are also Quick Circle cases and the official premium LG QuadBeat 3 headset. Read more »

Today Huawei introduced their latest flagships – the Huawei P8 and the P8 Max. We’ve already gone through all the juicy details, but I am sure that you are itching to see some of the official promo videos of the two devices.

The two devices may have lost the Ascend moniker along the way, but what they lack in branding, they make up in features. Read more »

We didn’t think much of the VR headset technology so far. Sure, it made for some nice demos but we were slightly put off by the low resolution imagery on the Oculus Rift and the way the Gear VR required you to own and use a specific Samsung model. Today, we finally, tried on the just announced HTC Vive first hand (short for the cheesy Very Immersive Visual Experience), and we were floored.

Still at a pre-production stage, the whole thing looks a lot like a prototype with a special belt you have to wear to carry all the wires with you. But the demoed VR functionality was flawless.

We walked around the simulated environment, exploring it freely – getting closer to appreciate the fine details or stepping back to see the whole thing. But most importantly, we got the chance to interact with it in a way that Occulus Rift and the Gear VR don’t allow you to. Read more »

If you are among the owners of a Windows RT tablet, you may have wondered whether about the future fate of Windows RT devices and whether they might get updated to Windows 10 eventually.

It turns out Windows RT devices will get updated with some of the features of the upcoming OS, but not the OS itself.

Even though Windows RT appeared as the OS of choice on a few quite capable tablets, it never managed to gain traction mostly due to the lack of support for x86 desktop applications.

Today, it’s mostly outphased by a slew of tablets running proper Windows 8.1. Read more »

A new rumor suggests Google might be unveiling a real-time voice translation system sooner rather than later. Skype already offers a similar functionality as of last month.

A report by New York Times claims that the new functionality will be released as an update to Google’s mobile Translate app on Android. But don’t expect real-time translation of voice calls just yet. Read more »

The LG Tone Infinim HBS-900 is the top-of-the-line model in LG’s Bluetooth headset lineup. Its highlight are the retractable earbuds, with the cables hiding inside the body of the neck band.

The harmon/kardon insignia is not present here by accident either. This stereo Bluteooth headset has some serious audio credentials to match its premium price tag.

Another selling point in favor of the headset are the LG G3-specific features. LG has made sure that the two devices are a great match. In fact, at the time of writing this review there is a great Christmas deal going on in certain markets (Germany for one) where you get the Tone Infinim for free with each purchase of the LG G3.

Coming from the lower LG Tone Ultra HBS-800 model and using a phone that’s different from the G3, I was curious to see not only how good the HBS-900 is but also whether it actually deserves the 50% price markup over the LG HBS-800. On its own, the Tone Infinim currently sells for about $150/€150 depending on the region.

Join me as I take a brief look at this stereo Bluetooth headset in our latest flash review. Read more »

The Pangu dev team has now released their iOS 8 jailbreaking magic for OS X.

The Pangu jailbreak tool has been the go-to iOS jailbreak tool for quite some time now. Its latest version has has been released a few days ago, allowing you to jailbreak any device running iOS8 or iOS8.1. This includes the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and the new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3. Unfortunately, it has only been available for Windows computers so far. Today, this has changed. Read more »

It was only yesterday that the iPhone 6 duo went on sale in China and we’re already hearing the first juicy reports.

Apparently, China Unicom, the country’s second biggest carrier, has hired on-site tailors for its store in Shanghai to offer the service of pocket enlargement to those customers who opt for the bigger iPhone 6 Plus.

The photo of the tailor working on a pair of pants at the store is apparently going viral on China’s social network Weibo. Read more »

A true work of art, this Apple iPhoine 6 has been pimped by the Italian company called Caviar, which brought us the gold and titanium Putin edition iPhone 5s .

The company is now busy working on even more luxurious editions of the new iPhone 6, and we have some live shots to show you. Read more »

Windows 9 is close to announcement (September 30) and the leaks of some of the new features have already started cropping up. Today’s leak shows us something that looks like a centralized Notifications center and a new Multi-Desktops feature.

We already showed you the leaked video of the revamped Start menu, but this time the same source has shared demos of the new Notification center and the Multi-Desktop feature, which will be part of the new edition of Windows. Read more »

On stage at the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch announcement today, Apple announced the availability details regarding their upcoming Apple iOS 8.

Apple iOS 8 will be available as a free download on September 17. Read more »

Lenovo just announced its latest generation smartphones, the updated Lenovo Vibe X2 and Lenovo Vibe Z2. Lenovo has already posted a video up online, showing the unique differentiating features that the Vibe X2 possesses.

The Lenovo Vibe X2 has a 5-inch FullHD screen, a 13MP camera on the back and is only 7.27mm thin. It uses a MediaTek MT6595m True8Core processor and runs Andoird 4.4 KitKat with Lenovo’s custom VIBE UI. After that quick specs refresher, we’ll let Lenovo do the rest of the presentation with their video. Read more »