The makers behind the popular benchmark AnTuTu have compiled statistics from their app to try and paint a picture of the global popularity of Android phones. The results show Samsung and Google Nexus have a huge presence and so does (surprisingly) Xiaomi.

It should be noted that 50% of the info for these statistics came from users based in China, which clearly skews the results. Read more »

The next generation Galaxy S Zoom device will be dubbed Galaxy K Zoom instead and will be unveiled in less than two weeks. The number of leaks for the K Zoom has been relatively low, but now the first alleged camera sample has appeared.

Update:It turns out that the photo is actually coming from a Sony H200 digicam and not the upcoming K Zoom smartphone and the EXIF has been modified. Move along people, there’s nothing to see here.

The EXIF info lists the device as Samsung SM-C115, in line with previous leaks. Read more »

Samsung’s ad campaign is going in full swing now that the Galaxy S5 and the new Gears are on sale. The latest ad is a colorful, sort-of psychedelic look of what the wearables and the new flagship phone can do for you throughout your day.

The ad really consists of 5 short segments with a common music, by the looks of it those are meant as short, separate spots. Read more »

Last year we saw that the iPhone 5s fingerprint scanner is not foolproof and can be bypassed by a “fingerprint spoof” – an artificial print created from wood glue and a photo of a latent fingerprint taken with a regular smartphone camera.

As it turns out, the Samsung Galaxy S5 fingerprint scanner can be fooled by a spoof too – in fact, it was the same one previously used on the iPhone. Read more »

OnePlus continues to tease its first phone called the One. The maker has revealed it will use the Snapdragon MSM8974AC chipset – the one with Krait 400 @ 2.5GHz – and 3GB RAM for its debut handset.

OnePlus released a screenshot of an AnTuTu 4 score, which tops all current flagships. Read more »

How easy are watches to repair? Mechanical watches take years for a watchmaker to learn his skill, but digital smartwatches seem to be a whole lot easier if the Samsung Gear 2 is any indication.

iFixit took it apart quite quickly and gave it a high 8/10 repairability score. That’s very impressive for a IP67-certified watch. Read more »

Robert Downey, Jr. (aka Iron Man) is still a spokesperson for HTC and the company just came out with a one minute video ad of him talking up the new One (M8). He starts off by mentioning HTC won “best phone” at the MWC two years in a row.

However, there are no specifics of why the M8 is “somehow even better” than its predecessor. Read more »

Some people are unhappy that smartwatches need the support of smartphones to do anything interesting. Those people would prefer if smartwatches could do at it alone – according to The Korea Herald, Samsung will make just such a watch, dubbed Samsung Gear Solo.

Samsung has filed a patent with the Korean Intellectual Property Office for the Gear Solo name, but that name might change before the smartwatch hits the market. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is bound to become one of the hottest selling handsets and so it must undergo heavy scrutiny. Battery life is an everyday worry, especially with bigger screens and faster chipsets.

The Galaxy S5 screen isn’t much bigger than that of its processor (5.1″ vs. 5″), but it is brighter. The Snapdragon 801 chipset should also offer a big performance boost over the Snapdragon 600 of last year. Read more »

Nokia finally started making Android phones but made sure the interface looks anything but Android. This includes a Windows Phone-like start screen and Nokia’s Fastlane feature from the Asha handsets.

Smartphone users are perhaps not familiar with it, so the company released a video demo of it running on the Nokia XL. Read more »

The Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet is one of the hottest new pieces of Android hardware – it’s hard to believe how thin and light it is until you hold it in your hand. At 6.4mm thick, there’s not much room so the tablet uses a 6,000mAh battery, the same capacity as the previous model.

Snapdragon 801 is a power-efficient chipset (it’s in phones with less than half the battery capacity), but there’s still a 10.1″ screen, which would probably be the main power drain. Read more »

Rovio, known for the Angry Birds franchise, has released an expansion for Tiny Thief and it’s free to play. Tiny Thief features cute, cartoony characters once again, but instead of flinging birds at pigs, the player takes the role of a cunning thief who has to brave pirates, witches, the Dark Knight and even a robot.

Check out a short game play video after the jump or visit the Tiny Thief web site. It’s beautifully designed and side-scrolling through it gives you an immersive peak into the game’s world. Read more »

These days kids tend to get a new smartphone for their birthday instead of educational toys, but there’s no reason the two can’t be combined. A $30 lens can add 150x magnification to your smartphone or tablet camera and allow you to explore the microscopic world.

The Micro Phone Lens is a Kickstarter project by Thomas Larson who already created a similar 15x lens last year. Read more »

Line, the instant messaging app from Japan, has announced that it reached 400 million registered users, after hitting the 300 million mark in November last year. Note that “registered” is different from “active” users, a number which Line did not unveil.

The instant messenger boasts that it now has over 10 million users in 10 countries (including the US). Read more »

Viber updated its eponymous app for Windows Phone 8 to version 4.1, which enables Viber Out – the service that allows users to place regular calls (as opposed to Viber VoIP calls) to many countries on the cheap.

“Viber Out has been a game changer for our users and allows them to rely on Viber for all their communication needs,” said Talmon Marco, CEO of Viber. Read more »