The latest app to announce support for Android Wear, Google’s smartwatch platform, is none other than BBM. BlackBerry’s messaging service will soon be available for Android Wear devices (in “early 2015″), though an exact release time frame hasn’t been given.

BBM for Android Wear will let you access your messages straight on your watch, without the need to reach for your smartphone all the time. Read more »

Back in September last year, when Panasonic announced its smartphone/high-end camera hybrid Lumix CM1, the company said that the device would launch only in select European markets. But that’s all changing as it has now been announced that the smartphone is headed to the US, where it will go on sale later this year. The announcement was made during a press event at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The smartphone will be available as an unlocked GSM version for $1000, which means that it will be compatible with either AT&T or T-Mobile’s network, although Panasonic is in talks with other carriers for future versions of the device. Read more »

Last November, Microsoft launched a preview of Office for Android tablets. However, this was only available to you after you completed a survey, and if you then got invited. Starting today, though, the preview has thankfully arrived on the Google Play Store, which is where you can go to download the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps for Android tablets.

What’s more, there’s now support for Android 5.0 Lollipop, so those of you who have Android’s latest on your tablet can finally try out the Office apps too. Read more »

The most popular custom ROM for Android has entered the age of Lollipop, with the release of the first nightly builds based on the latest OS version from Google. CyanogenMod 12 builds come with Android 5.0.1 Lollipop, and they’re already available for 31 devices.

Obviously, more handsets and tablets should get CM12 support in the future. And like with all CM nightlies, keep in mind that these too can have (many) bugs. If you aren’t comfortable with that, you should wait for an “M” release based on Lollipop. Read more »

Razer is getting out of its comfort zone for CES 2015. The gaming peripheral company announced an Android-based gaming console dubbed Forge TV. For good measure, Razer also revealed the Nabu X, a simple and affordable smartband with just three LED lights.

The Razer Forge TV is quite compact at just 4 x 4 inches and houses a Snapdragon 805 chipset with a quad-core 2.5GHz Krait 450 CPU, 2GB of RAM and an Adreno 420 GPU. Read more »

Sony’s once massive Walkman brand is still going, however the glory days are long gone. I’m not sure how much market there is for music players in general, Walkman or otherwise, but I can guess the market size for a $1,200.

It’s as high-quality as a pocketable player gets – it supports FLAC/ALAC (up to 96kHz/24-bit) and Bluetooth with SBC/LDAC hi-fidelity codec. Dual-band Wi-Fi is also available for DLNA playback. Read more »

Just a few months after it went on sale, Sony has unveiled a stainless steel version of the SmartWatch 3, giving it a fashionable finish. The company said the wearable device will be rolling out globally from next month.

As it turns out, apart from the new look, the stainless steel edition is essentially the same as the original release. This means that it also features the same 1.6-inch, 320 x 320 pixel transflective LCD, Qualcomm processor, built-in GPS, and standard microUSB port charging. However, the water and dust resistance rating has been upgraded from IP58 to IP68. Read more »

The recently announced Meizu M1 note will cost more in stores than on the web. The budget-friendly, colorful smartphone will cost CNY 999 (about $160) online.

There is no word on what price premium will the smartphone carry in stores. Read more »

Nokia’s mapping solution may only have officially arrived to non-Samsung Android devices last month, but it’s already making significant gains. The software has crossed the 1 million downloads mark as testified by the app profile on the Google Play store.

The number doesn’t include downloads from the Samsung Apps store, where the app has been available for a while longer, nor side-loads. Read more »

The popular 2014 time wasting phenomenon Flappy Bird is now unofficially available for Android Wear. A crafty developer ported the title to Google’s wearable device platform.

As as an unofficial port, the game is not available to install from Google Play. Read more »

Oppo N3 is surely a very interesting smartphone with motorized 206-degree rotating camera, a worthy successor of the Oppo N1 cameraphone. The N3 isn’t all about its camera, though, as it is also a real beast when it comes to features and performance.

Our review is welcoming readers at our homepage, and today we are ready to share with you our complete battery life impressions. Note that the Oppo N3 is in fact a dual-SIM capable smartphone, so we’ve naturally put its battery in charge of two SIM standbys and here comes our findings. Read more »

Motorola has introduced a new variant of the Moto X Pure Edition. For an extra $50 over the 32GB variant, you can get the new 64GB variant for $599.99.

The 64GB model is only available in the SIM-free unlocked Pure Edition model through Motorola’s website. If you want it on a contract, you will have to choose between the 16GB and 32GB models only. Read more »

Xiaomi’s held another weekly flash sale in India today. This one was for the Redmi Note 4G, and in fact this was the first time that you were able to buy the LTE-capable iteration of the company’s phablet in the subcontinent. So, understandably, the interest was high.

In fact, 200,000 people registered for the sale. Of those, however, only 40,000 people managed to get a Redmi Note 4G, as that’s the amount of units that were made available. The entire batch sold out in six seconds, which sounds incredible until you realize it’s definitely not the first time something like this has happened with Xiaomi products over there. Read more »

The Yotaphone 2 is definitely a peculiar take on smartphone design with its dual-display setup, powered by a more than adequate set of hardware. The Russian innovation has definitely been gathering gazes and exciting tech fans all around.

The handset is available at a promotional price of RUB 36,990 (about $640), instead of the usual RUB 39,990 (about $718). The special offer will be valid between December 30 1014 and January 7 2015, after which the normal price tag will apply. Read more »

As part of its Creatography movement, HTC teamed up with the British garage inventor/YouTube sensation Colin Furze to showcase the video capture chops of the One (M8). The end result from the team up is 1080p footage at an altitude of 106,500ft (32,461m), with some firework along the way.

In order to make the trick happen, twelve balloons were launched, each carrying between 2 and 4 HTC One (M8) units. Read more »