The OnePlus One is getting a tasty treat today, as the company launches an Android 4.4.4 KitKat stock ROM as an alternative to the phone’s custom CyanogenMod 11S ROM.

Thanks to the new piece of software, OnePlus One owners can have a 100% vanilla Android feel on their phones, that’s officially developed by OnePlus. Read more »

Samsung’s marketing team is probably large enough to populate the Allure of the Seas ocean cruise ship and its members certainly don’t lack inspiration. None of ads we’ve seen recently, however, comes close to company’s promo spot for the Association of Surfing Professionals, which it is sponsoring.

The product per second ratio is pretty low compared to the standard norm of Samsung ad spots, but that’s intentional, as the video’s mission is to inspire you. Its tagline is “Every day is day one” and stands behind the message that whether you’re a pro or a rookie, hopping on the surfboard and riding a wave is as exciting as your first day. Read more »

Alongside the Nokia Lumia 530, the company also unveiled a cool portable speaker that carries the 530′s budget-oriented spirit. Dubbed the Bang by Coloud, the speaker costs just €19 and you can connect it just by a 3.5mm audio cable.

Nokia claims the Bang can produce a seriously impressive sound considering its dimensions. They’re 75 x 51mm and the whole thing weighs just 96 grams. The cable that it comes with is 17cm long. Read more »

Microsoft is shutting down Nokia’s Android program, but this can’t stop the determined Finns from bragging their custom launcher on the Nokia X2.

Despite that all future Nokia X designs and devices will be immediately transferred to Windows Phone, Nokia has launched a promo video of the enhanced Fastlane feature on the X2, which is now smoother and offers more information with a quick glance. Read more »

AppAnnie is a mobile application statistics aggregation company and it has published a report on how Android and iOS apps have been doing in Q2 of this year. Both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store did great for the quarter, besting their results in Q1 by 60% and 45%, respectively.

That gave the Google Play Store, nearly 50% more downloads compared to the iOS App Store. It terms of revenue, however, it’s the Apple repository that still comes ahead. Read more »

The QHD titan duo is up next in our traditional weekend battle. It’s the LG G3 vs. the Oppo Find 7, which are now transferring their rivalry in our blog, after their fight in our extended versus review is over.

So now, it’s up to you to decide which one is the better one in five key categories. Let’s start with the aesthetics of the two flagships. Read more »

AMD reported less-than-expected second quarter results with a net loss of $36 million, despite an increase in quarterly revenue. AMD made $1,44 billion for Q2, 24% more than it did for the same period in 2013.

Because of the net loss, AMD’s stock fell 15%. The company also reported that revenue from its Computing Solutions Group dropped 20% from a year ago, to $669 million. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 rocks a potent Exynos chipset with an octa-core CPU in a great looking 6.6mm thick shell. However, several early adopters have noticed that the tablet is overheating when put through its paces and this leads to unwanted consequences.

The back of the tablet is deforming because of the excessive heat and in the photo above you can see the back panel has noticeable defects. Read more »

The Nokia Lumia 930 is starring in a new advertisement accenting in its wireless charging capabilities. The ad is posted by the UK branch of the company and displays the Lumia 930 in various environments doing its wireless charging thing with the DC-50 portable wireless charger.

It’s not really surprising that the ad is coming from UK, considering the phone comes with the accessory as a bonus in the country. You also get the MD-12 Wireless speakers if get the smartphone in Britain. Read more »

Just yesterday the Chrome team pushed an update for the iOS version of its browser and today it’s Android’s turn. Chrome for Android reaches version 36.0.1985.122 and addresses important issues and bugs.

One of the key improvements is the better text rendering on websites that aren’t mobile optimized. Chrome 35 brings similar improvements on Windows with a feature called DirectWrite, and makes fonts look much better. Read more »

Feeling the pressure from losing ground under its feet, BlackBerry is no stranger to publicly attacking the competition. Following the jab at the Android KNOX security feature, BlackBerry has set its aim at the new smartphone maker behind the security-oriented Blackphone. On one of its official blogs, the Canadian phonemaker states that the Android-powered Blackphone is “inadequate for business”.

But Toby Weir-Jones, chief executive of SGP Technologies, maker of the Blackphone handset wouldn’t have any of this and retaliated with a blog post hitting BlackBerry where it hurts most. Read more »

Asus is currently pushing an update for the Transformer TF701T tablet to Android 4.4.2. The OTA update takes the tablet from Android 4.3 Jelly Bean to a more recent version of KitKat, but the company isn’t bragging about it as there’s no official information on exactly what the update changes.

Nevertheless, our tipster who has received the update in Spain, says that there’s now a Powered by Android logo added to the boot animation. Read more »

The BlackBerry Passport, which the company’s CEO recently unveiled, rocks a square 4.5″ QHD display cropped to 1:1. This gives it a resolution of 1,440 x 1,440 pixels and anxiety that some Android apps (which BlackBerry OS can run) will look visually unpleasing. As n4bb.com found out, that’s not the case.

The Passport has been snapped in the wild to be running a couple of Android apps, which scaled perfectly on its 1:1 display. Since the company debuted the squared display concept on BlackBerry 10 devices with the Q10, we doubt that native apps will experience any issues. Read more »

The iOS version of Chrome has received an update bringing it to version 36.0.1985.49. The latest iteration of the Google-made web browser brings the long-awaited Cast support.

Now, users with Cast-enabled devices can stream web pages seamlessly with their Chrome on iOS. The updated version of Chrome also should be more stable and with less bugs. Read more »

Microsoft is expected to undergo massive staff layoffs this week. According to a report by Bloomberg citing company insiders, Microsoft’s job cuts will be the biggest in five years.

The reductions in staff will be primarily in the Nokia handset division and its portions that overlap with already existing Microsoft structures. This includes departments such as engineering and marketing. Read more »