Samsung jumped head first into the smartwatch field with the Galaxy Gear. It’s made out of stainless steel for the body and futuristic material for the strap. The heart of Gear is a 1.63″ Super AMOLED touch screen with 320 x 320 resolution (that’s 277ppi pixel density).

In a throwback to the S9110 watch phone, the Galaxy Gear features a speaker and mic, so it can handle calls (with a noise cancellation mic), but also understand voice commands with S Voice. Read more »

Sony isn’t doing a great job of keeping those QX cameras secret – the press release for them plus the complete specifications have leaked, including pricing, and it’s still hours before the announcement event even starts. And yesterday we saw the promo video, too.

Most of the specs we’ve seen already, but there are questions regarding video recording and dimensions that had so far gone unanswered. And by the way, just for the record, the QX10 and QX100 are called “lens-style cameras”. Read more »

A disobedient promo video for Sony’s attachable camera modules, the CyberShot QX100 and QX10, has jumped over the virtual fence and gives us a minute and a half look of one of Sony’s big announcements tomorrow (the other being the Xperia Z1 / Honami).

The QX devices are cameras that have been stripped down to the basics – lens, sensor and power to keep it all going. Read more »

Microsoft is buying Nokia’s Devices & Services division, along with Sales&Marketing for $4.99 billion and will pay an extra $2.17 billion to license Nokia’s patents for 10 years. Yup, I still can’t bend my head over the fact that it’s unlikely we would see a new Nokia smartphone ever. After all, in some regions, the word Nokia is synonymous to a mobile phone.

And $4.99 billion? This certainly sounds like a lot of money, but is it enough?

With big-buck deals such as this one, it’s easier for normal people like us when we put things into perspective. For instance, do you remember how much Microsoft paid for Skype? Or how much did Google pay for Motorola Mobility? No, well, we’re here to remind you the numbers, and in both cases it’s more than what Microsoft is paying for Nokia’s Devices unit. Read more »

It’s hard to say it was unexpected, but it still came as a shock when earlier today Nokia announced it’s selling its Devices & Services division to Microsoft. The announcement of this move caused a tsunami across the internets and we’ve seen countless comments by fellow tech journalists, industry analysts, past and current Nokia employees and regular users alike.

Even though Nokia held a dedicated live press conference in Finland to announce the move, there are many burning questions that weren’t answered and currently are subject to interpretation. What will happen to the Nokia phone brand, will Stephen Elop replace Ballmer as Microsoft CEO, what current and ex-Nokia employees think of the deal, how will the deal affect other Windows Phone makers, what does the deal mean for the WP platform itself and what will become of Nokia? Well, by going through all the available information, hopefully, we have some of the answers here now. Read more »

Sony’s QX detachable lens modules should be unveiled tomorrow at the company’s IFA event, but what they look like will not be a surprise – with today’s leak, virtually all press images of both models have leaked.

Besides looks, the images give out some of the vital specs and reveal a new way to attach the module to an Xperia Z1 (Honami). Read more »

You may or may not know this but Nokia is behind the maps in most in-car navigation systems (4 out of 5 cars, claims the company) and today Nokia is introducing HERE Auto, which brings their mapping and smartphone prowess to the car.

Here Auto is Nokia’s offline navigation solution – turn by turn voice guided navigation for 95 countries (in 2D and 3D, with street level and satellite images). There’s an SDK too, so HERE Auto functionality can be extended with music and social networking apps. Read more »

The Sony Xperia M packs a dual-core Krait processor, which is a rarity in the entry level, but is very power-efficient. The 1,750mAh battery is relatively big for the class too, it’s as much as the HTC One mini has.

The relatively small (these days) 4″ screen with FWVGA should be easy on the battery too. Read more »

Sony has released several interesting images and even a video to build up buzz for the yet to be announced Sony Xperia Z1 (codenamed Honami), but this latest post in the #bestOfSony campaign is less imaginative.

It’s the round aluminum power button that’s a trademark part of Sony’s OmniBalance design. Read more »

Companies behind mobile OSes love bragging about how many apps there are in their respective app stores, but mobile app testing company StarDust has conducted a 6 month long study and found things they wouldn’t be so proud about.

The study looked into how many old apps get updated and how many don’t get updated at all. The results of the study are presented as an easy to digest infographic. Read more »

Panasonic announced a Windows 8-powered 20″ tablet with 4K resolution at CES in early January this year and has since shown it off a few more times. The company has announced what it will also be bringing its products to IFA and a 20″ 4K tablet is on the list.

So, why is Panasonic showing the same tablet over half a year later? Read more »

Sony’s unusual lens-cameras look like eccentric gadgets but early pricing rumors have them priced quite reasonably. They will come in high-end and entry-level options, helping push people who might be on the fence.

The high-end model – the QX100 – will reportedly use the same 1″ sensor and optically stabilized lens with F/1.8 aperture and 3.6x zoom as the Sony RX100M II. Read more »

Microsoft sent out the finished version of Windows 8.1 and RT 8.1 to manufacturers and announced that users will have to wait until the official October 18 launch date to get it (even MSDN and TechNet subscribers). Well, you don’t have to wait, Windows 8.1 RTM has leaked (but it’s the Simplified Chinese version).

If you don’t read Chinese and can wait three weeks until the official version is out, you can just put on one of the 8.1 wallpapers. Read more »

BlackBerry Messenger was supposed to hit the Android and iOS app stores today, but there’s nothing just yet (but you can try the beta). More interesting is that Samsung has now kicked-off its promotion of BBM – earlier this month the two companies struck a deal to promote the messenger in Africa.

CrackBerry forum member PauloPlmenta spotted an ad of the Galaxy S4 running BlackBerry Messenger during a football game (Manchester United vs. Chelsea) broadcast in Mozambique. Read more »

Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 have hit the RTM stage, meaning Microsoft has sent them out to device markers and with their help will do the finishing touches to the updated OS. The update will be released to the public on October 18.

Windows 8.1 is part of Microsoft’s new strategy – instead of waiting years to deliver new major features to their flagship OS, the company will move to a quick release schedule. And so, just 10 months after the initial launch of the OS comes its first major update. Read more »