The round smartwatch field may heat up very quickly – Motorola is taking its sweet time to put the Moto 360 on sale, while Samsung has already patented three round smartwatch designs. OnePlus may also throw its hat in the ring as there are already 3D renderings for promo material of the OneWatch.

A photo of what appears to be the product page of the OneWatch along with some sketches reveal the smartwatch’s specifications and that it might be close to ready. Read more »

The HTC Desire 616 dual sim is like a smaller version of the Desire 816 but it has an attention-grabbing octa-core processor. And the processor has eight Cortex-A7 cores instead of big.LITTLE architecture.

The Desire 616 has a large screen for a mid-ranger but with 720p resolution it won’t be fighting flagships any time soon. This fits the style of smartphone popular in East Asia – screen size takes precedence over resolution, dual-SIM is a must and the more cores the better. Read more »

You own a Galaxy Gear and need to get somewhere but don’t know the way. While Google Maps integrates with Android Wear, your Tizen-powered Samsung Gear smartwatch can’t use Android Wear apps. How to get out of this conundrum? The free D.M.A. Navi Watch app.

The app still uses Google Maps for navigation, but transfers the notifications put out by Maps onto your wrist. Read more »

It may sound unlikely but some manufacturers of Windows 8 tablets are trying to bring the price fight to Android with $100 tablets. Back in June we saw the 8″ Emdoor EM-i8080 and now the Kingsing W8 enters the stage.

The Kingsing W8 is powered by a quad-core Intel Bay Trail-T processor clocked at 1.8GHz paired with Intel HD graphics. This is proper Windows 8 too, not the failed RT branch. Read more »

Amazon may be working on a revamped flagship tablet, the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9. The original one launched with the then-current Snapdragon 800, while this new version spotted by the AnTuTu team uses the latest Snapdragon 805.

Other key specs seem unchanged – like the 8.9″ 2,560 x 1,600 screen, 2GB of RAM or 8MP / 1MP camera setup. Read more »

Apple refreshed its MacBook Pro lineup but it’s a relatively small upgrade. The 13″ and 15″ are more or less as rumored yesterday. This update comes less than a year than the previous one.

They are still powered by Haswell-based Intel Core processors, but with some new options. You also get 8GB RAM as standard on the 13″ MacBook Pro and 16GB on the 15″ model (last year it was 4GB / 8GB). Read more »

Sony is the leading supplier of smartphone and tablet camera sensors and it will be expanding production with a 35 billion yen ($345 million) investment. The sensors will be based on Sony’s stacked CMOS design (like Exmor RS).

The increased production will come from two factories (located on the island of Kyushu) and will represent a 13% jump in overall production by August 2015. Read more »

Xiaomi let reporters fondle its new flagship, the Mi 4, so now we have the first benchmark score and several photos from the 13MP camera.

Also, hands-on photos show off two of the custom backs for the Xiaomi Mi 4 – wood and stone. Read more »

The newly-announced Nokia Lumia 530 will be in stores next month but here’s your first chance to see more of the device in the official hands-on video. The video touts the 530′s colorful back panels that can be changed on a whim and the many apps Windows Phone 8.1.

Focusing on apps is no surprise, “Nokia” is really a division of Microsoft now and Windows Phone is its growing smartphone ecosystem. Read more »

Motorola US is doing some spring cleaning and has put up an array of accessories on a clearance sale. The prices of some products have been significantly slashed so if you wanted a power pack, headset or other accessory for your Moto now’s the time.

Also cases and shells for the Moto X and Droids are 50% off, screen protectors – 25%. Read more »

Disk maker Western Digital has expanded its NAS-centric Red line with 6TB hard disks (the increased capacity is headed to the consumer-oriented Green line). WD has also introduced the new Red Pro line for medium to large businesses.

The Western Digital Red disks now range from 1TB to 6TB and support 1 to 8-bay NAS setups. Read more »

The HTC One (E8) launched first in China to great acclaim but HTC has just now released the first Chinese ad for the dual-SIM version of the flagship. The video is not for the regular One (E8) – instead it touts “HTC One Fashion Edition” if we can believe Google Translate.

Not sure what’s “fashion” about it though, it’s still a polycarbonate body available in Black, White, Red and Blue as the regular version. Read more »

MediaTek unveiled a new 64-bit octa-core chipset and almost lost among the many features on its specs sheet is Super-Slow Motion. The feature can capture 1080p at a brisk 480fps framerate – for comparison current flagship smartphones usually top out at 720p @ 120fps.

With 480fps video the camera can slow the action down to 1/16s of real time. Read more »

Sony has allowed users to unlock the boot loaders of their phones since 2011 (barring carrier restrictions) and now the company is re-launching the service with improved usability. The unlock process consists of just three steps and after the update the tool’s web page will be more helpful in guiding you through the process.

Here’s what it takes to unlock the boot loader of your Xperia – go to unlockbootloader.sonymobile.com and select your device, enter your IMEI number and unlock the device with the provided code. Read more »

Wearables are gaining ground but there’s a revolution brewing in home appliances too – Google recently acquired Nest Labs while Samsung announced its own home automation platform. Instead of developing multiple incompatible technologies Nest, Samsung and others have united to create Thread.

Thread is built on 802.15.4 – a low-power wireless standard already used in home automation – but the Thread Group says previous standards built on it were developed before the Internet of Things. Read more »