According to Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist, popular instant messaging platform Viber is currently in talks to be acquired by a rival company in Asia. While nothing is confirmed just yet, it’s said that the Asian instant messaging company has made an offer for Viber worth $300 to $400 million dollars.
Popular Asian mobile chat applications include WeChat (China), Line (Japan) and KakaoTalk (South Korea), but the newspaper doesn’t confirm which one has placed the bid. Viber boasts 200 million registered users based in 193 countries and is available on nearly ever mobile and desktop platform there is. Read more »
The Windows Phone 8.1 update is expected to come in a couple of months, bringing the widely requested notification center to the Microsoft platform. Yet, until now, we didn’t have a very good idea of what it will look like.
This changed today, though, thanks to a couple of leaked screenshots that allegedly come from an internal Microsoft document. It shows that the notification center will actually be called Action center and will contain connectivity toggles in addition to notifications. Read more »
Sadly, there’s not much truth to this story, but it’s always cool to look at concepts of what might be. It’s especially cool when dealing with flagships – the phones that will shape the mobile landscape in the future year.
This time we’ve got two concepts of an Apple iPhone 6, built around rumors of bigger-screened iDevices we heard recently. Both rumors suggest a 4.7″ and 5.7″ iPhone, but in these concepts we get a 4.7″ and 5.5″, both of 326 ppi sharpness thanks to their respective 750 x 1338 and 878 x 1568 resolutions. Read more »
There were some reports last year about Apple opening a Sapphire Crystal furnace factory in Arizona.
It turns out that the Cupertino-based tech giant is pushing hard to get the factory up and running as soon as possible. So why the rush from Apple? Read more »
According to e report by Nikkei, Sony is planning to sell its Vaio division which designs and manufactures personal computers. The move is dictated by the business unit’s poor performance, as well as the Japanese giant’s desire to shift its focus on smartphones.
Sony will reportedly sell its PC business to the investment fund Japan Industrial Partners with the estimated price ranging between ¥40 billion and ¥50 billion ($391 million to $489 million). Read more »
Whenever Apple announces that they’re working on a new product, the rumors begin to run rampant and fly all over the place, and Apple’s planned piece of wearable tech, the “iWatch”, is no different.
Well the New York Times has a bit of information that might make the “iWatch” more attractive to consumers, and it has to do with how the device will be charged. Read more »
SamMobile has been able to gain access to a new app that Samsung intends to launch with the Galaxy S5. Dubbed Life Times, it’s sort of a personal diary app, which collects information from a list of apps in order to create a comprehensive log.
Life Times automatically gathers information from the list of apps (Camera, Email, Location, Memo, Messages, Music, phone and S Health as well as a list of social networks), which makes it similar to Samsung’s Story Album app. This begs the question if Life Times is destined to replace it or not. Read more »
Samsung put out a sweet AMOLED-packing tablet in 2011 but, disappointingly for AMOLED fans, hasn’t produced a sequel yet. The wait may be coming to an end – according to Korean publication ETNews Samsung Display will start mass production of tablet AMOLED screens next month.
According to the report, the display will be 10.5″ big and pack QHD resolution (2,560 x 1,440). Read more »
Nintendo is certainly not in the most favorable of positions right now. Following the price cut of its unsuccessful Wii U gaming console, a report by Japanese news outlet Nikkei suggests the company may be looking to expand its business to Android games.
Currently, Nintendo’s strategy is to release self-made games only for its consoles, but not for anyone else’s. The report cites a source that’s previously been accurate about Nintendo’s plans, who claims that in 2014 the Japanese company will release “minigames” for Android phones. Read more »
Microsoft is done with 8.1 for its mainline OS (both x86 and RT), now we’re waiting for 8.1 to hits the phone platform. While we wait, we get the occasional leak to give us a better idea on what to expect – like on-screen buttons, a file manager and now redesigned HERE Maps and Games Hub.
The changes in HERE Maps are relatively small, but may signal a new direction for the looks of the interface. Read more »
A new Lenovo smartphone with the codename Kingdom has appeared on AnTuTu benchmark test results in China. The upcoming smartphone is said to be the successor of the popular K900 smartphone and is expected to take up the flagship responsibility for the rapidly growing Chinese manufacturer.
Image of Lenovo K900
The alleged benchmark results also reveal that the smartphone will be called K7t and will feature a display with 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution. Read more »
Nokia’s Android prototype codenamed Normandy has leaked numerous times before in live pictures, officialrenders, detailed specs and more. We pretty much know everything there is to know about the Normandy but one – will it ever go official.
One of the recent leaks gave us a glimpse of Nokia’s proprietary Android launcher. The guys over TechRadar made a concept video of the interface based on those leaked screenshots. It looks really nice and is definitely a breath of fresh air among the competition. The Metro-like parts of the UI may not be everybody’s cup of tea though. Read more »
Munster consensus numbers indicate that Apple could have moved 24-25 million iPad units in Q4 2013. These numbers gain more credence when you consider that Fortune magazine echoed pretty much the same figures.
Many analysts believe that Apple could have sold even more iPads had it not been for the shortage of retina displays for the iPad mini. Couple this with the fact that the iPad air didn’t hit shelves until November 1st, and we could continue to see strong iPad sales even throughout Q1 2014. Read more »
Around this time last year, Sony enabled magnetic charging of its smart devices via pogo pins starting with its Xperia Z flagship.
Charging dock solutions have since been outed for several Sony smartphones since, with a newly leaked model, the DK36, being poised to serve an as-yet unannounced Xperia flagship. Read more »