The HTC Desire 500 is running on the Snapdragon 200 platform, which should be rather easy on its battery. The trade-off is low performance, but that’s not what we are discussing in this blogpost.

Behind the back cover of the Desire 500 lies a 1,800mAh battery, which is at least on par with most rivals in the same market space. Android 4.1.2 and the Sense 5 UI on top of it are going to be heavily relied on to ensure the Desire 500 lasts as long as possible. Read more »

Jeff Bezos posted yet another “Dear Customers” letter to the front page of Amazon.com announcing the new Kindle Fire lineup – that’s great advertising right there. The lineup consists of three tablets – the 8.9″ Fire HDX, the 7″ Fire HDX and the 7″ Fire HD.

Jump after the break for more info on the new tablets. Read more »

Google was expected to update its own tracking service, known as Android Device Manager with the remote locking feature. The newest security option is now available on the ADM dashboard and you can remotely lock your smartphone from the web interface.

The newest feature allows you to lock your smartphone with a new password that changes any previous screen unlock setting. Read more »

EA Sports FIFA 14 got a grand release in NZ App Store a couple of days ago and the latest action blockbuster game is now available for both Android and iOS platforms across the globe.

FIFA 14 is up for grabs on App Store and Play Store for free of cost, but the game requires you to make in-app purchases to unlock its premium features. Read more »

Archos brought its first 7-inch Android tablet with hardware gaming controls, dubbed GamePad, a year ago and now the company has revealed its second-generation GamePad in a brief post on a retail website.

Archos GamePad 2 comes with a 7-inch display just like its predecessor, but the resolution has been increased from 1024 x 600 pixels to 1280 x 800 pixels. Read more »

The just-announced Oppo N1 came out with its fair share of fanfare at its unveiling in China, and the manufacturer has posted a few videos detailing the device.

Both highlight Oppo’s design strategy for its new flagship, with one paying particular homage to its manufacturing process. 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 »

According to a reports by a Korean media outlet, Samsung is into the close to completion of a 64-bit mobile processor intended for use in its own smartphones. The report further speculates that the chip will be first used in the company’s next flagship.

The chip will also be used for products beyond smartphones, such as tablets. It wouldn’t be at all surprising if Samsung were to use the 64-bit chip in its upcoming line-up of Chromebooks destined for 2014. Read more »

So after a long time BlackBerry finally decided to release BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM, on the iPhone and Android. The dates were set; September 21 for the Android version and September 22 for the iPhone version. And when the time finally arrived, they dropped the ball.

The first comedy arrived in the form of September 21 coming and going with no sign of the Android version. Thankfully, the company kept their word and released the iPhone version on September 22 but the Android version was still not available despite the fact that it had a one day headstart. And then finally, the company pulled even the iPhone version from the App Store. Read more »

The original Angry Birds Star Wars hit the app stores last year in November and came as a breath of fresh air. Although an Angry Birds game at heart, the game featured brand new birds modeled after Star Wars characters and had their own unique new powers that made the game more exciting than what you’d expect from an Angry Birds game.

Now, Rovio is back with a sequel, with the aptly named Angry Birds Star Wars II that is based on the prequel trilogy of Star Wars movies, and once again features several new characters and environments in dozens of new levels. But after four years and several similar games, is flinging birds at pigs still going to be entertaining? Let’s find out. Read more »

We managed to spend some time with the Best Buy exclusive blue HTC One at a press event in NYC. The smartphone is available in the United States for AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless.

In the flesh, the Best Buy exclusive blue HTC One actually sports a darker shade of the color than the version which broke cover during IFA. Read more »

The hotly anticipated BlackBerry Messenger for iOS is finally official. The app is currently available for download in the App Store.

Update: The unreleased version of BBM for Android has resulted in more than 1.1 million activations in first 8 hours, causing lot of issues for the company. So, BlackBerry has paused the global roll out of BBM for Android and iPhone. Read more »

Sony has just announced its answer to the Google Chromecast dongle. Dubbed BRAVIA Smart Stick, the TV accessory comes with full support of the Google Servicesр, which means Android apps on your TV. This also includes the popular Chrome web browser (with Flash enabled).

The BRAVIA Smart Stick currently only works on the company’s 2013 line-up of BRAVIA TVs and all prospects point at this not changing any time soon. Nevertheless, it comes with a set of cool features. Read more »

Google recently acquired the company behind the Quickoffice app for iOS and Android devices. And just like with Snapseed, they have now made the app free and available on both platforms.

Quickoffice is a mobile productivity app that lets you create, view and edit Microsoft Office files, such as your Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. The new app now also integrates with Google Drive and if you download and log into your Google account from the app, you also get an additional 10GB of Google Drive storage space for the next two years. Read more »

The Sony Xperia Z1 draws the crowds with an impressive camera and powerful chipset, but it’s also worth mentioning that the slender phone packs a large battery as well. It’s got a 3,000mAh fuel tank capacity, let’s see if it will go longer than the Xperia Z Ultra, which has virtually the same size battery (and chipset too), but proved to be a bit disappointing.

Well, the smaller screen should make a big difference (that’s 40% less surface area), but will that be enough? Read more »