Category: Mobile phones
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Mozilla and partners to bring back flip phones and sliders with Firefox OS

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The established players are staging flashy events for its devices, but Mozilla has roped in an impressive number of new partners off-stage. Working with carriers spanning the globe from east to west – KDDI, LG U+ and Verizon Wireless – the maker of Firefox OS plans to resurrect old form factors.

The touchscreen consolidated phone shapes into one – the ubiquitous rectangle – but Firefox phones will soon come in flip, slide and other form factors. Read more »

Windows 10 to bring USB OTG functionality

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Microsoft is slowly but steadily catching up to Android, and is planning to bring USB OTG capabilities along with Windows 10. The feature has been supported on Google’s OS since its 3.1 version, and by now has become virtually ubiquitous.

The official announcement will take place at the Windows Hardware Engineering Community event, which will be held a couple of weeks from now on March 18-19 in Schenzhen. Read more »

Acer Liquid Leap+ smartband updated to bring multi-OS support

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Acer unveiled today an updated version of its Liquid Leap wearable, adding a “plus” to the name. It does bring more to the table though, than the marginal name change suggests.

Most importantly, the smartband offers support for all three major operating systems, so you can pair it with the smartphone of your choosing. Read more »

YouTube app update for Android enables video trimming

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Google has released a new update for the YouTube app for Android devices with a capability to trim videos before uploading to YouTube.

Select a video from the phone using the YouTube app and it will show you the new trimming interface. Read more »

Xiaomi Mi Note battery life test

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Xiaomi Mi Note, the company’s highly anticipated flagship, has come recently to our office and we did an in-depth review. The article is now live at our homepage and you can read all about our encounter right here.

Our review process includes a battery life performance test and we’ve put the Xiaomi Mi Note through all our routines. It runs on the popular Snapdragon 801 chip, has a 3,000 mAh battery and utilizes a 5.7″ IPS 1080p display. We’ve met various smartphones powered by the S801 platform and most of them scored about 65h endurance ratings. Read more »

Weekend poll results: LG G Flex2 gets fan approval, fields a few jokes

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Last week we asked you what you think about the LG G Flex2. It’s the first Snapdragon 810 device and it’s a notable improvement over the original, making it all the more likely to become the first commercially successful bendy phone (it helps that it’s cheaper than its predecessor too).

The LG G Flex2 is already on sale, so if you were considering getting one you might want to learn what the public thinks of it. Read more »

Meizu keeps on teasing the MX4 Ubuntu Edition, due to be unveiled at MWC

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For almost two weeks now Meizu has been teasing the upcoming release of the Ubuntu-running edition of its MX4 smartphone. At first, things were pretty cryptic, but yesterday the Chinese company published the first official screenshots of Ubuntu running on the MX4 – so all was clear. Today it’s keeping the teasing campaign going with the image you can see below.

So we get yet another confirmation that the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition will finally become official during MWC next week. Meizu even found time to take an ever so subtle jab at the BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition, which was the first ever handset to run the mobile version of the OS. But indeed that is no “premium device”. Read more »

20MP Toshiba camera module in the HTC One (M9) tipped from another source

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MWC is nearing and HTC’s “Utopia in progress” event is only days away. If you consider March 1 distant future though, we have some more info on the company’s next-gen flagship.

Coming from a different source this time, we get confirmation that the One (M9) will utilize a Toshiba sensor for the main camera, as we previously reported. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy S6 wireless charger spotted in FCC database

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It was a repeated theme in Galaxy S6 rumors that the upcoming high-end smartphone will be equipped with wireless charging capability, and Samsung all but confirmed it. Now we may have stumbled on another tangible proof of that feature. American regulating authority FCC has certified a Samsung wireless charger and all clues point to a unit, that will accompany the hotly-anticipated flagship.

The charger’s model designation is EP-PG920I, containing the magical 920 number that the Galaxy S6 is set to bear. Read more »

HTC One (M8) gets a new special Champions League edition

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With MWC right around the corner the One (M9) is definitely on everybody’s minds, but this definitely does not mean that HTC doesn’t have other agenda to attend to. You might remember that last September the company put out a limited edition version of its flagship device to honor the Champions League.

Apparently the experiment was fruitful as today another UEFA commemorative version of the same handset saw the light of day. The phone in question is, of course, the HTC One (M8), but this time around it is not getting a render of the tournament’s and cup. Instead the smartphone is engraved with the names of every past CL winner, since the first installment in 1992. Read more »

Kyocera to show a solar charging smartphone prototype at MWC 2015

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Kyocera has announced to show a working prototype smartphone with solar charging capability at the Mobile World Congress 2015 next week. This prototype is basically last year’s TORQUE smartphone.

The TORQUE KC-701 smartphone prototype is rugged and design reflects the original TORQUE SKT01 model. Kyocera has used a French company SunPartner Technologies’ Wysips Crystal panel to enable solar charging on the phone. Read more »

First batch of Sony Xperia E4g and E4g Dual promo videos is out

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The Soy Xperia E4g tiptoed onto the stage, a 4G LTE version of the Xperia E4 that was announced just two weeks ago. Besides LTE, the new phone will have a slightly faster chipset and dual-SIM connectivity remains an option.

Sony has released no less than three videos to introduce the new phone. Read more »

Motorola Nexus 6 becomes officially available on Amazon

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Amazon is the latest major retailer to officially begin offering Motorola Nexus 6. Previously, the high-end phablet was available only through third-party sellers on the online megastore at a higher price.

For the time being, you can order only the 32GB version of the handset directly from Amazon. Read more »

Pebble’s new smartwatch has color e-paper like display, is wider

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Pebble is ready to launch the next generation smartwatch tomorrow and the company has also put up a timer on its homepage. Above the time is pixel-art of a pebble watch and no visible hints about the new smartwatch are easily visible.

However, an image of the new Pebble smartwatch has been spotted on the official website and reveals the features that are expected. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy S6 will feature a new antenna design to combat metal body interference

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Widely criticized for the use of less than premium materials unworthy of upmarket devices, Samsung has made the move recently to metal frames, and the upcoming Galaxy S6 will allegedly join the trend. Solving one problem typically creates others in the process, though, and antenna interference is one result of the metal used on the Galaxy S6′s body.

A report in Korean media states that Samsung is resorting to FPCB antenna technology for the future flagship, aiming to battle the negative effects of the metal frame on signal reception. Read more »