The quarterfinal clashes in the Smartphone Champions League are now over and they certainly were an amazing spectacle. The four games got over 270,000 votes, which is by far the highest we have seen in a single matchday.

Two of the four manufacturers remained in the competition concluded their participation at the quarterfinal stage, while Nokia continued to be the dominant force with its Lumia lineup getting the whooping three spots in the semifinals. Read more »

We are now at the Quarterfinals stage of the Smartphone Champions League and things are really heating up! Only 8 out of 32 participants are now left and every one had to go through tough battles to get here. And four of those will be one step closer to the Winner’s podium after today’s games complete.

We have some high rollers as well as a few surprises entries here and there. The Nokia Lumia 1020 which stands up against the Samsung Galaxy S III, then there are the LG Nexus 5 vs Sony Xperia SP, HTC One vs Nokia Lumia 520 and the Sony Xperia Z1 vs Nokia Lumia 1520. Read more »

LG announced that it will bring the Knock feature to the L Series II family of smartphones. Formerly known as KnockON, the useful gesture allows users to turn their smartphone on by tapping on its display twice.

The second generation LG L Series devices will get treated to the feature via a global maintenance release update. Read more »

Until now, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 owners had to pick between wireless charging capabilities and the cool UI tweaks of the S-View flip cover. However, yesterday Samsung finally started the sales of a wireless charging–enabled S-View cover, which brings the best of both worlds.

It costs $70 and is available in black and white colors, from the Samsung US store (other stores should follow shortly). The price is certainly steep, but if history is any indication it will be cut down to more reasonable levels eventually. Read more »

Debuting in 1990, Final Fantasy III was Squaresoft’s most popular title; and the software manufacturers’ first game to sell over a million copies. You can now play its updated 3D remake on Windows Phone.

If you’re a gamer, then you’ve definitely heard of the Final Fantasy series. You’ve also probably noticed the countless remakes and renditions that have been made available for various platforms – and now also for Microsoft’s own mobile OS. Read more »

Starting today, Samsung Germany is offering their Neujahrsbonus cashback bonus program to all customers who purchase one of the participating Galaxy devices, including the Note 3, S4, S4 mini, Tab 3 8.0, and even the Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

Now that’s Christmas is behind us, this seems like another great reason for celebration by any potential Samsung device purchasers in Germany. Read more »

And then there were eight. The Round of 16 in the Smartphone Champions League is now over and all quarterfinalists have been revealed. We saw for more exciting games draw to a close and set up four interesting battles in the next round.

Going into the quarterfinals Nokia is the best-represented company, having three handsets in the mix. Sony managed to secure two spots, while HTC, LG and Samsung complete the picture with one contender a piece. Read more »

The first four quarterfinalists in our Smartphone Champions League have already been revealed, and now it’s time to learn the names of the other four. Some really exciting games await as 8 more smartphones will battle it out for the remaining spots.

We’ve got the LG-made Google Nexus 5 in actual today against the Apple iPhone 5s in what should be a thrilling encounter. The other Apple smartphone is also going to see some action today, hoping to put an end to Samsung’s participation in the tournament. We’ve also got an in-house battle and a proper mid-ranger contest – all the ingredients of an exciting matchday. Read more »

The first four games in the SCL Round of 16 are now complete, the scores have been counted and now know the names of half of the quarterfinalists.

Sony already has two smartphones in the next round, while Nokia and HTC also got their names on the board. Read more »

Canonical has managed to give Ubuntu enthusiasts a nice Chrimasts present. Developers and advanced users can now download a special preview image of Ubuntu Touch which can dual boot Android.

Yes, you can now have both Ubuntu Touch and Android on a single smartphone with the option to easily switch between the two. Canonical says the image is suitable only for those who are comfortable with flashing custom firmwares on their devices. Read more »

With the Round of 32 part of our Smartphone Champions League now over, it’s time to turn our heads to the Round of 16 where things get more and more interesting by the day. You can check out the results from Matchday 4 to see the which smartphones went through in the opening round and which had to go home after their very first game.

Today we have the first batch of eight handsets who survived the Round of 32. In the Matchday 1 of Round of 16 we’ll see some ferocious battles. There are the Samsung Galaxy S4 vs HTC One, Nokia Lumia 1020 vs Motorola Moto G, Sony Xperia SP vs Nokia Asha 501 and Sony Xperia Z1 vs Sony Xperia Z. Read more »

Round 1 of the Smartphone Champions League is now complete and we now know what smartphones will be taking part in the Round of 16.

The last matchday of the first round turned out to be pretty uneventful with all handsets that managed to secure an early lead holding on to it until the end. Read more »

HTC put out a pretty cool infographic delineating a lot of the strict regulations and rules that govern the UEFA and its players. As a means of tying these statistics with their brand, HTC has named the campaign, “Size Matters”, a nod to their HTC One mini, One, and One Max trio.

Did you know that there must be at least 75 seats available in the press conference room of the stadium, and that the referee must have a dressing room no smaller than 20 square meters? Barcelona FC is also the shortest team in the HTC-sponsored Champions League, with an average height of 5ft 8inches (177 cm). Read more »

So you’re a Windows Phone user and have been itching to deck your device with some cool Gameloft games, but you don’t want to pay full price? Well you’re in luck, as the mobile game manufacturing giant has slashed the prices of some of their most popular titles just in time for the Holiday season.

You can pick up The Dark Knight Rises, Order & Chaos, N.O.V.A 3, Modern Combat 4, and the Amazing Spider-Man for $2.99, and Assassin’s Creed – Altair’s Chronicles, Brain Challenge HD, Uno, and Let’s Golf 2 for $1.99. Read more »

The last four Round 1 games in the Smartphone Champions League are starting today and we’ll get to learn the names of the final four participants in the Round of 16. You can check out the results from Matchday 3 to see the smartphones which already qualified.

We’ve got five manufacturers in action today – Motorola, Nokia, Sony, Samsung and Apple are all in the mix. You probably already know this at this stage, but in case anyone missed it we should note that the draws are only based on popularity in our database, so some strangely matched pairs are bound to clash. Now let’s see who’s facing who in the third day of the Champions League. Read more »