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Vivo X5 Max’s secrets to thinness revealed in teardown

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As part of its teaser campaign for the Vivo X5 Max, the company explained how it managed to make the handset only. 4.75mm thick – by pushing most components around the rim of the device. If that sounds a bit abstract, these teardown photos will help.

The Vivo X5 Max stole the title of “the world’s thinnest smartphone” from the Oppo R5 just a week ago. Read more »

Nest controls will soon make their way to Google Now

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You will soon be able to control you Nest thermostat from Google Now. The functionality is already baked into the search giant’s virtual assistant, though it is yet to go live.

If you ask Google Now on your device to “set Nest to 70 degrees,” it will try and complete the task. Read more »

Oppo N3 hands-on

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We were quite intrigued to see the follow up to Oppo’s last year’s selfie-centered phablet, the Oppo N1. The Oppo N3 builds upon its creator in a way that both expands its abilities and also shrinks its footprint to achieve a better fit for everyone.

Last year Oppo N1 broke a mould or two by introducing a pivoting 13 MP camera lens – the first ever on a mobile phone. Not only that, but it also had a huge 5.9″ 1080p IPS LCD and users had a choice of either Oppo’s Color OS or a tailor-made CyanogenMod OS based on stock Android. That certainly set the bar high of follow-up. Read more »

Oppo R5 hands-on

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Oppo R5 was announced shortly after the Gionee Elife S5.1 and ended its glory as the thinnest smartphone around. The 4.9mm Oppo R5 is so thin that it can’t even pack a proper audio jack.

But there is more. The R5 isn’t just thin, it’s really sturdy – Oppo recently demonstrated in a catchy video that the R5 is equally capable as a fruit cutter and a nail hammer. Razor thin and tough as rock – meet the Oppo R5. Read more »

Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM battery life test

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The Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM offers big screen estate and dual-SIM option on a budget price, something many Windows Phone fans will appreciate. The Snapdragon 200 chip isn’t among the popular choices nowadays and even though its uninspiring GPU performance, we are eager to see how it will affect the battery life performance.

Naturally, now that the Lumia 535 review is pinned on our homepage, we are ready to post our complete battery life test breakdown. Shall we? Read more »

Speed test pits the iPhone 6 against the Nexus 6 and Galaxy Note 4

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The age-old question – which device is faster? – has received an answer in a video, at least when it comes to the two current ‘kings’ of Android and Apple’s finest. Someone decided to pit the iPhone 6, Motorola Nexus 6, and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 against one another in a speed test of sorts.

The test itself is pretty simple. At the beginning, a timer is set on each device. Then, various apps and games are started, and the full desktop Amazon home page is loaded in the browser. Once one of the apps (or the website) has fully loaded, a tap on the Home button comes and it’s on to the next one. Read more »

Check out Oppo’s official R5 torture test

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Oppo has released a rather quirky promotional video for the new Oppo R5. It is all centered around one of the handset’s most prominent features – its 4.85mm body. This is truly an admirable accomplishment in smartphone terms, but maybe not quite as razor-sharp, as the following video seems to imply. The concept is quite original and very much in tune with today’s gorilla-marketing strategies, but perhaps borders a bit on the comic side as almost any device can be smashed into fruit with mostly the same amount of visual carnage.

The Snapdragon 615- powered flagship is in fact quite durable with its 155g 3D-welded aluminum body. Using it as a hammer, however might have also been a step too far. The frame seemed to fair quite well under the ridiculous abuse Read more »

United Airlines will hand out 23,000 iPhone 6 Plus devices to its flight attendants

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United Airlines announced that it will hand out 23,000 iPhone 6 Plus devices to its flight attendants. The airline will begin distributing Apple’s phablet during the second quarter of next year.

As expected, the iPhone 6 Plus units that the crew members will have a number of work tools preloaded. Read more »

You can get the Sony Xperia E3 for just £80 today

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Amazon UK is holding a pretty sweet deal for the Sony Xperia E3 today, selling it for £79.90. That’s £100 less than the phone’s regular price, but if you want to get it, you have to be quick. The deal ends in less than 14 hours, provided that Amazon UK has enough units of the phone in stock.

The Xperia E3 packs LTE connectivity as well as a 4.5″ IPS display with 854 x 480 pixel resolution and is powered by a Snapdragon 400 chipset with 1GB of RAM. At the back, there’s a 5MP camera, which records 1080p video. Read more »

Microsoft offers 12 days of holiday promotions

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Just like last year, Microsoft is again organizing a 12 day long holiday promotion with price cuts on various devices. Much like an advents calendar the US tech giant will be unveiling the special offers one at a time, every day until December 19.

The campaign is, sadly, only available in the US and Canada and kicked off yesterday with the Toshiba Encore Mini tablet. Read more »

You can now order a Jolla Tablet and smartphone bundle

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With a tad over a day left until the end of the Jolla Tablet Indiegogo campaign, the Finnish company sweetened the deal even further. For the next 28 hours, $488 will secure you a Jolla Tablet and smartphone bundle.

The gets you a Jolla smartphone for $279. Read more »

Panasonic FZ-E1 headed to the US, Europe in LTE flavor

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Doomsday preppers behold – the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-E1 is the only phone you need for a zombie apocalypse, if you are a fan of Windows Embedded 8 that is (not WP8!). The handset is rated for IP68 and MIL-STD-810G and can survive drops from 3m (10ft).

And was certified by the GCF in the States, meaning it will be available over there too. Read more »

The latest Samsung Galaxy Note 4 promo videos feature social media artists in NYC

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Samsung’s latest Galaxy Note 4 promo videos take us away from the cute animals, and into the chilly New York City. The trio of clips feature a Snapchat artist and a Vine star, who team up to make New Yorkers’ lives more interesting.

The duo of social media stars connect with people who participate in Samsung’s #NoteMyDay campaign. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Core Prime hands-on

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We have the Samsung Galaxy Core Prime at HQ and decided to bring you a quick video and some photos of it.

The Galaxy Core Prime sits in the lower-bracket of the midrange and its highlights are the 4.5″ screen of WVGA (480 x 800px) resolution, the 5MP camera on the back, capable of 1080p video, and the 64-bit Snapdragon 410, coupled with 1GB of RAM. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime hands-on

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Having a global best-seller is nice, but for a company that makes as many devices as Samsung, targeting different regions with different phones makes a lot of sense. The Samsung Galaxy Prime has modest display specs, while keeping the rest on proper mid-range levels. There’s a dual-SIM option in certain regions.

Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime hands=on

It’s questionable whether it will garner a lot of popularity in the developed western markets, but such phones are selling like hotcakes in the rest of the world. Read more »