Sony has released several interesting images and even a video to build up buzz for the yet to be announced Sony Xperia Z1 (codenamed Honami), but this latest post in the #bestOfSony campaign is less imaginative.

It’s the round aluminum power button that’s a trademark part of Sony’s OmniBalance design. Read more »

Motorola has posted the kernel source code for its latest Moto X smartphone, as required by the Android license agreement.

Source codes are available for all three Moto X device variants, the XT1053, XT1056, and XT1058, and allow you play around with the kernels as you please. Read more »

LG has published a video introduction of its LG G2 flagship. It highlights all important features of the G2 ahead of the smartphone’s premier.

You’ll see what the rear keys can be used for and how the new software features will ease your daily life. Read more »

HTC has decided to go ahead and make a limited edition Hello Kitty model of the Butterfly S (because why not?). The phone will be available in Taiwan starting next week.

The Hello Kitty Butterfly S is similar in terms of hardware to the standard Butterfly S but on the back you have an engraving of a 3D Hello Kitty logo, complete with the customary bow and all. On the software side there are probably some Hello Kitty wallpapers to go with the theme but it doesn’t seem there is much else apart from that. Read more »

Oppo N1 cameraphone will be unveiled at a special event in Beijing, China on September 23. Until then Oppo is teasing us weekly with new details about the upcoming cameraphone.

The latest teaser is a counter that shows the time until something wonderful goes live. We guess this is the time until Oppo give us the next teaser. Read more »

While other companies are prepping to unveil flagships at IFA, teasing upcoming monster droids, or even keeping everything under wraps until September, LG has already announced its G2 top dog and is doing some great PR stuff.

The latest stunt LG has prepared includes the G2 taking a trip to the Earth’s stratosphere. The 1080p camcorder with OIS is put to the task to film Earth. Read more »

The just-leaked Oppo N1 smartphone made waves last week with a risque ad campaign, revealing it as one of the first smartphones to feature a touch sensitive rear panel.

Now, more details have come to light regarding just what you can do with the rear touch panel, including scrolling through homescreen panes and selecting screen elements. Read more »

Nothing ever escapes the custom designed opening picks at iFixit and the new Moto X is no exception. The newly released smartphone from Motorola spent some quality time at iFixit, exposing its insides for all to see.

According to iFixit, the Moto X isn’t particularly difficult to take apart, once you get past the tenacious back cover that uses a copious amount of glue to stick to the phone. The cover itself, however, is made from a nice woven fabric material that is actually see through if you look carefully. Read more »

The 2,200mAh battery of the Moto X has to power a relatively modest by today’s top-end Android smartphone standards’ hardware setup. We were however, curious to measure the impact of Motorola’s Touchless Control and Active Notifications additions on the Moto X’s battery performance.

When we were first introduced to the Moto X, the device’s product management team told us that the goal was for the smartphone to make it through 24 hours of regular use. Read more »

LG G2′s 13 megapixel sensor at the back is one of the most talked about features of the smartphone – the optically stabilized camera and its ability to shoot 1080p videos at 60fps have created a buzz among the tech enthusiasts. We now have a couple of user-captured videos and photos which tell us a great deal about the G2′s main shooter.

The user sample images and videos of the LG G2 come from the administrator of OptimusForums. G2′s camera has been tested out in the outdoor conditions and you can have a look at the samples below. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini comes in a dual-SIM version, just like its big sibling. But with the same chipset and same battery, we can expect lower talk time and standby, with the same web browsing and video playback times, right?

As it turns out, no. Looking at the specs sheet reveals no changes between the single and dual-SIM versions, but there’s potentially a new modem as the talk time went up. Read more »

The Sony Xperia M is the company’s next entry-level dual-core phone. It shares many of the features of the Xperia L but is positioned lower on the ladder with a smaller, 4″ screen (but with the same FWVGA resolution), same chipset and a 5MP / 720p camera.

The Xperia M has a dual-SIM option, making it an direct upgrade over the Xperia E (which also came in single and dual-SIM versions) and it’s a huge improvement over it. Read more »

The newest high-end smartphone from HTC, the Butterfly S, shares many of its features with the HTC One, but one area where it has the aluminum flagship beat flat is battery capacity.

The huge 3200 mAh battery of the Butterfly S rivals the capacity of our current champion, the Motorola RAZR MAXX, but is its software optimized well enough to challenge the Motorola offering? Find out inside. Read more »

Nokia Lumia 1020′s early success is great news for the troubled Finnish company, which is trying to generate even more hype around the cameraphone flagship, releasing quite a few promo videos. This latest one takes place at a school performance and reminds us of the wedding-themed video of the Lumia 920.

There, the kids’ parents are fighting for the top spot to take the best photo. And thus hilarity at the expense of the iPhones and the Samsung Galaxy smartphones ensues. Read more »

We already got a couple of teasers for the Oppo N1 upcoming smartphone, and today the company posted yet another one revealing a unique feature of the handset – a rear touch panel.

The teaser in itself is quite unorthodox, if slightly cheesy, and compares the N1 smartphone to a woman’s body. Oppo promises a “brand new user experience” suggesting the back of the phone features a touch panel. However, said touch panel isn’t evident from the previous leaks of the N1. Read more »