Gold seems like the new black these days. Apple did it, Samsung did it and we’ve even seen others do it for HTC.

But this isn’t the 24-carat HTC One by Gold Genie, this is the 18-carat through-and-through gold-built HTC One specifically created for the 18 anniversary of the MOBO awards. We’ve got the hands-on treatment inside, let’s go. Read more »

The smartwatch is a relatively new market niche, but seeing the interest it has been getting lately, it will certainly expand quite rapidly in the next few years. And Samsung, being one of the world leaders in smart tech, certainly wants to be a part of that expansion. The Galaxy Gear smartwatch is built around the idea of being an extension of your smartphone and not the sole star of the show. Currently, as of its launch, the Galaxy Gear only supports the Galaxy Note 3 and 10.1, which is limiting its reach quite severely, but Samsung promises to add more devices to the list in the next few months.

Instead of going all sci-fi with the Galaxy Gear, Samsung decided to take the logical path. The smartwatch can help you unlock your smartphone, acts as a fitness accessory, snap a photo or two and mainly, aid you in those cases when your phablet is out of reach or the circumstances just don’t allow you to operate it. Read more »

Google has teamed up with HP to deliver the latest Chromebook, this one sporting an 11″ IPS display of 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, an Exynos 5250 (Exynos 5 Dual) with two Cortex-A15 cores inside and, naturally, Chrome OS. The notebook weighs only 1.04 kg (2.3 pounds).

The little portable computer sports two main colors – black and white – and comes with a variety of accents, emulating Google’s look – green, blue, red and yellow. The device sports a full-sized chicklet keyboard with speakers around it and no moving parts like a fan or hard drive so the device will be very quiet and, hopefully, not too hot. The device will be available in the US starting today at Google Play, Amazon and BestBuy for $279 in Wi-Fi-only flavor. There is going to be an LTE version soon, but no exact date or pricing have been provided. Read more »

We like ultrabooks that go for portability without sacrificing performance. And we really, really like them when they come made from high-grade materials like carbon fiber and magnesium. Add a screen that go great distances with resolution and technology and we are in love.

If you’re like us then you should check out the new Dell XPS 15. It comes in either 15.6″ 1080p glory with a Core i5 processor and integrated graphics for $1,499 or with a Quad HD+ (that’s 3200 x 1800 pixels) touchscreen that goes for around 235 ppi across the 15.6″ panel, quad-core i7 Haswell chip and dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GT750M GPU, 16 gigs of RAM, 512 GB SSD for a price that’s yet to be confirmed. Read more »

Thanks to an insider ninja, Sammobile.com was able to obtain an Android 4.3 Jelly Bean firmware destined for the Snapdragon 600-clad I9505 Galaxy S4. On a related note a very early Android 4.3 Jelly Bean build has been leaked for the Galaxy Note II as well.

The firmware for the Galaxy S4 and Note II are completely flashable through popular desktop app Odin with the one for the S4 built on September 20 with a European stamp on it. It brings a new Reading Mode, which eliminates unnecessary clutter from pages, a working Samsung Knox security app and more. Read more »

Facebook’s personalized Graph Search has been updated to include statuses and posts by people sharing with you.

Once the feature rolls out to you, you’d be able to search for posts, status updates, photo captions, comments, check-ins, etc. which have been shared with you by friends or publicly shared by people you follow. Read more »

Nokia teamed up with hospitality IT solutions company LOCATEL and is set to deliver various NFC-based services to various hotels around the globe.

The new NFC-driven solutions could be used for enhancing the hotel stay experience for Nokia customers by using tags in various locations in the hotel for calling a taxi, viewing mobile TV, downloading apps etc. Read more »

Windows Phone 8 devices have the ability to save maps for offline viewing, but until now when a map has been updated you’d need to delete the stored one and re-download.

Now WP8 smartphones have the functionality to update the maps saved for offline viewing on your device without wasting as much data. The new functionality is available for all Windows Phone 8 smartphones, not just Lumias. Read more »

Well, Happy birthday Google and Google Search! The search giant (along with its bread and butter) turned 15 this month but showed that it’s not just eating cake and celebrating – there was serious work done before the actual party.

Inside the same garage that spawned it in the far 1998, Google announced its new search algorithm, dubbed Hummingbird, which affects 90% of all searches, says Amit Singhal, senior VP of Google. Read more »

This is it – Apple’s flagship device for 2013 – the iPhone 5s. The new phone comes to sweep iFans off their feet with a new Touch ID home button, a 15% larger camera sensor, the spanking new Gold color option and a 64-bit Apple A7 processor.

At first glance the iPhone 5s looks identical to the iPhone 5 but when you look closer, you start seeing the differences. There’s a dual LED flash, the Space Gray version replaces the Black one of old (and looks grayer indeed), while on the front the home button now has a sapphire glass-covered sensor with an aluminum ring around it. Read more »

Oppo, at its Beijing event for the camera-centric N1, showed the latest update to its latest Android OS overlay which it calls Color OS. As before, the proprietary UI follows the basics of Android but has a deeply overhauled look – from icons to its heavily gesture-based functionality.

According to Oppo the OS was developed with lots of research from users and is accompanied by some 43 patents. Read more »

The iPhone 5s is just fresh out the door but it’s already going commando for the iFixit camera, where the guys are quick to undo its glass and aluminum shell and see what hides underneath.

The team deems the iPhone 5s slightly less fun to open compared to its predecessor, to some extent thanks to the short connection cable for the Touch ID sensor. We also get a look at the phone’s bigger 1560 mAh battery, the latest Apple A7 chip and more. Read more »

The LG G Pad 8.3 is a FullHD slate by LG with reasonable specs, which we saw and liked at IFA 2013.

We’ve been in the loop of its availability and know it will hit at least 30 countries by the end of the year but we haven’t heard a whisper about its pricing. Well, sources coming from China indicate a price tag of $299, which would position the 8.3″ slate as a serious contender to something like the Google Nexus 7 (2013). Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is finally here and boy are we excited. It’s the best thing to happen digital notepads in recent times and something of an Android icon in the making.

If you’re up to date with your smartphone news the Galaxy Note 3 is a pretty huge deal and currently the very best Samsung can offer. It’s the first smartphone to bring 3 GB of RAM and microUSB 3.0 to the table, rocks the latest and greatest in computing power thanks to the Snapdragon 800 and Exynos 5 Octa chipset selection, and is one hell of a productivity tool. Read more »

Twitter started its own Google Play beta testing campaign and now the handful of people that registered for the early beta releases on Google+ (now closed) can get to experience the latest version of its Android app.

The latest release – Twitter 5.0 beta for Android brings a significant (and welcome) UI overhaul that changes the fixed clickable tabs for swipeable ones that you can rearrange through the side-accessible menu. Read more »