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YotaPhone 2 battery life test

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YotaPhone 2 is an innovative smartphone with two displays – a regular 5″ AMOLED screen at the front and a 4.7″ electronic-paper display over at the back. It uses a Snapdragon 801 chip and offers a quite capable 8MP snapper.

We’ve already met the YotaPhone 2 and we confirmed it is indeed a very interesting and unique flagship phone, which can be used and operated in lots of different ways. Saving battery has never been so easy thanks to the rear display and the dedicated monochrome widgets and apps. You can mirror the entire Android OS at the back, but this reduces the e-paper display lifespan and doesn’t saves that much energy. Read more »

Xiaomi Redmi 2 hands-on

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Xiaomi Redmi 2 has paid us a visit recently and we took it for a long spin. The Redmi 1S successor has lost some weight and body mass, it brings a 64-bit processor to the table and its dual-SIM capabilities don’t come at the expense of LTE connectivity.

Xiaomi Redmi 2 has the same 4.7″ 720p display as its 1S sibling, but runs on the Snapdragon 410 chipset with a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A53 processor and Adreno 306 GPU. There is a flavor with 1GB of RAM and 8 gigs of storage, as well as a model with 2GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage. You can pick what suits you best. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 gets free Montblanc pen in the UK

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A few months after entering into a partnership with Montblanc, Samsung is running a new promotion that offers a complimentary pen manufactured by the premium writing instrument maker with every purchase of a Galaxy Note 4.

The deal is only available to UK customers, who will have to purchase the device from Samsung UK’s website by using the coupon code “NOTE4MB”. While the promotion is valid until 23:59 pm tomorrow, it is applicable only to the first 150 customers purchasing the device. Read more »

These Samsung Galaxy S6 concept renders might be right on the mark

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We stumbled upon a duo of Samsung Galaxy S6 concept renders that might not be too wide off the mark. The images suggest that Samsung’s highly anticipated 2015 flagship will feature similar look as the Galaxy Alpha.

Codenamed Project Zero, Samsung Galaxy S6 is expected to feature radical new design, coupled with cutting edge hardware. Read more »

Microsoft is giving away a free Lumia 435 for every Lumia 535 buyer in Italy this Valentine’s Day

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Slowly, but surely, we’re starting to hear more and more about this year’s Valentine’s Day offers and deals. The latest such promotion to get unearthed comes from Italy, where Microsoft is preparing a pretty sweet deal.

If you buy a Lumia 535 from February 4 to February 15, you’ll get a free Lumia 435. This is however limited to Italy, so if you’re not there, you can’t take advantage of the offer. Read more »

OpenSignal: About a quarter of Android smartphones are dual-SIMs now

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With communication shifting towards IM and VoIP apps, one might think that dual-SIM phones are on their way out, but it turns out that’s not the case. According to OpenSignal about a quarter of Android smartphones tend to be dual-SIMs.

It’s a very regional thing – countries with strong carrier subsidies have very few multi-SIM devices, while countries with a “bring your own device” model tend to have a lot more. Read more »

Octa-core Windows 10 phones expected to arrive soon

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January 21 marked an important milestone for Microsoft as the Windows 10 Next chapter event took place and revealed an amazing amount of new information concerning the future of the popular OS on both desktop and portable devices. One of the things that became abundantly clear is that us tech giant is really making progress and investing in its new One Windows philosophy.

Windows 10 on smartphones and tablets will essentially share the core of the full distribution and more importantly will support a uniform app ecosystem that allows the same applications to be used seamlessly across the entire range of Windows 10-powered devices. This is all very exciting, but even though Microsoft cleared the smoke around a lot of aspects of the new OS there are still some pressing questions of availability and future devices. As we have already reported, the new OS will surely be available for the Microsoft Lumia 435, 735 and 930 and if Microsoft keeps its word, most other current Lumia devices as well. This is an admirable decision, but we can’t help that the Microsoft mobile family is severely lacking on flagship models lately. Luckily this might change pretty soon. Read more »

HTC will launch online store in Taiwan next month to better fight against Xiaomi

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HTC is set to start operating its own online store in its home market of Taiwan. This has been known ever since December, when HTC North Asia President Jack Tong made the plans official. The store will officially open at 10 pm local time on February 4.

The move is said to be all about better positioning HTC to compete head-on with Chinese competitors such as Xiaomi when it comes to the sales of cheap smartphones. Read more »

Last quarter saw Apple selling its billionth iOS device – a 64 GB iPhone 6 Plus

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Apple has revealed that it sold its one billionth iOS device in Q4, 2014 – on November 22 to be precise. The revelation was made by CEO Tim Cook during an analysts’ call yesterday (after the company released its first-quarter earnings report), where he also said that it was a space-gray 64-gigabyte iPhone 6 Plus.

“One billion devices is an almost unfathomable milestone and we are all incredibly proud to be a part of it,” Cook said. Read more »

Motorola offers $140 off for purchases of $499.99 for Valentine’s Day

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Motorola has just announced its Valentine’s Day promotion. If you buy from the phone maker’s website directly, you’ll be able to save as much as $140 for a purchase of at least $499.99. The details are a little bit complicated however.

It all starts on February 2 at 11 am CT. From that time and until 11:59 pm CT on the same day, you’ll be able to register for a promo code worth $140 for a $499.99 purchase, or $50 off a purchase of at least $249.99. Read more »

Lumia 535 now available in the UK for £79 off-contract, locked though

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Microsoft have flooded the lower smartphone segment with a plethora of Lumia 400s and Lumia 500s. New ones are released regularly, and existing ones remain in the lineup. The Lumia 535, which stands atop the 500 series, can now be purchased for £79 off-contract.

A minor note though, off-contract doesn’t mean unlocked in this case, as the Tesco offer is limited to the carrier’s network. Read more »

€100 cashback on Samsung Tab S 10.5 and Tab S 8, Germany only

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If you’ve been postponing the purchase of a Samsung tablet on grounds of unacceptable price, now might be the best time. Provided you’re lucky enough to live in Germany, that is.

The company has announced a limited time €100 cashback offer on its premium models, the Tab S 10.5 and Tab S 8. The promotion covers both the WiFi-only and LTE enabled versions of the tablets, with a variety of color options too. Read more »

Meizu M1 Note teardown reveals phablet’s innards

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Seemingly every new smartphone out there is bound to get the teardown treatment at some point, and the Meizu M1 Note is no exception. The handset which was unveiled late last year has been carefully dismantled in its home country.

The phone bears all, letting us get one or two (or three) glimpses into the components that make it up. The whole thing is held together by a magnesium alloy chassis which is incredibly light, weighing just 16g. Read more »

Opera takeover of Nokia Store and Nokia Xpress Browser begins

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Last year Microsoft announced that Opera will take over the browsers and app stores running on Nokia’s former platforms – Series 30+, Series 40, Symbian and Nokia X.

The transition is starting this month and Microsoft promises it will be an easy change. Read more »

Wireless charging comes to the Samsung Note 4 via dedicated back covers

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It’s still a rare occurrence to find a smartphone with built-in wireless charging capabilities these days with the notable exception of the mid-to-high end Lumia lineup. Samsung has opted for a different strategy for several generations of Galaxy flagships, providing optional back covers to those who want to do away with cables.

The Galaxy Note 4 continues this tradition and, in typical Samsung fashion, two options are available, a plain charging back, and an S-View case. Read more »