This must be really awkward for the party involved. The security-heavy, Android KitKat-toting Blackphone handset got rooted in five minutes at the BlackHat security conference.
To make matters even more interesting, the abovementioned feat was achieved without the need to unlock the Blackphone’s bootloader.
Huawei is running a promotional offer on their website that lets customers purchase accessories for the Ascend Mate2 at a 40% discount.
To avail the discount, you have to enter the code HW40OFF and you will get a 40% off on your price. The list of accessories include items such as headsets, cases, Bluetooth speakers, car chargers, external power packs, and charger cables.
The HTC One (E8) sheds the weight of the aluminum unibody and drops the low-res UltraPixel camera in favor of a 13MP shooter. Neither of those affects battery life compared to the One (M8) and the battery capacity is still at 2,600mAh.
What could affect the battery endurance is the new chipset – the One (M8) we tested used a Qualcomm 8974AB while the One (E8) uses 8975AC.
The HTC Desire 616 dual sim has a large 5″ screen, eight CPU cores and two SIM cards – add those up and you’d think the phone needs a big, beefy battery. Except HTC decided that 2,000mAh should be enough.
How did that work out? Well, the endurance rating is good enough but that big screen and octa-core CPU really take their toll.
The time has come for another weekly poll of ours. This time we up the ante and turn the poll rivalry to eleven (minus 5). In the spirit of our recent flagship camera shootout, we’re asking you which out of the mighty six you think is the best in four distinct categories.
The contestants are the Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G3, Sony Xperia Z2, Oppo Find 7, Nokia Lumia 1020 and the Apple iPhone 5s. They’re competing in over four categories – best camera features, daylight image quality, low-light image quality and video recording quality.
Another Xperia smartphone landed in our office this week. We’ve already met the Xperia T2 Ultra, Xperia Z2 and Xperia M2, but we were also eager to check out what the Xperia T3 has to offer. And now we got the chance to give you a glimpse of what to expect in our in-depth review.
The Sony Xperia T3 packs a 5.3″ IPS display of 720p resolution and is powered by the popular mid-range Snapdragon 400 chipset. Sony has provided the Xperia T3 with an 8MP ExmorRS camera sensor and the phone comes with the Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS out of the box.
The week is done and so is the last poll we did. It faced probably the best portable tablets on the market currently in the face of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and the Apple iPad mini 2.
You guys gave your votes and now that we’re about to close the subject we can reflect and see what’s what. Some fights were very close the whole week and ended close, others ended with a big difference in scores. The verdict – sorry Apple fans but your portable slate got its digitizer handed to it in a statement win for the Galaxy Tab S 8.4.
The day finally came when Samsung unleashed a powerful mini to go along with its flagship smartphone. The Galaxy S5 mini isn’t just an under-powered lookalike of the Galaxy S5 but retains most of what makes the S5 one of the most desirable smartphones on the market, only in a more pocketable form factor.
Samsung has gone with a bigger 4.5″ display (compared to the 5.1″ of the Galaxy S5 and the 4.3″ of the Galaxy S4 mini) but more importantly, it has still bundled the mini with a superb Super AMOLED panel. The fingerprint scanner and IR blaster are here as well and so is the water resistance – yay!
Samsung has started rolling out a software update for Gear Live. The update will change the build number to KMV78Y, which is about the only thing we know it does so far.
The update had started rolling out for the LG G Watch earlier and it fixed the corrosion issue with the charging connectors on the watch. The Gear Live had no such issue, so it’s hard to tell what exactly the update does on the latter, other than bringing the two devices at parity.
As has been expected for quite a while, Facebook has started taking the Messenger part out of its official app for iOS and Android this week, prompting those who want to use the feature to install the standalone Messenger. To say that this hasn’t gone well with users would be an understatement.
Facebook Messenger is now the No.1 app in the iTunes App Store for iOS, but it has a paltry one-star rating. It’s unclear if something like this has ever happened before – for the most downloaded app in the App Store to have such dismal reviews.
The controversy surrounding the OnePlus One smartphone seems to be a never-ending industry topic. We sat down with Carl Pei, Director of OnePlus Global, in an attempt to clarify some of these burning questions that are setting our editorial mailbox on fire these days.
OnePlus is a young Chinese mobile phone manufacturer who already managed to make a splash even before their first product was out. Thanks to clever online marketing, each one of their product teasers made the headlines across the world with promises for a disruptive smartphone with high-end specs and unseen before pricing.
Of course, with expectations running so high, once the OnePlus One smartphone hit the market there were bound to be disappointed users along with the happy ones.
To make matters worse, the smartphone is still playing hard to get with only the few people who possess the privileged right of an invite being allowed to purchase the device. That certainly played out well as people are always bound to crave something that they can’t readily have.
I first met Carl back when he was hard at work making a name for Oppo – and quite successfully at that. Now he has focused his energy into turning OnePlus into an (at least) equal success.
Carl is composed and outspoken and behind his easy going smile, he’s a creative professional with broad knowledge across various industry subjects and some really sharp thinking. I am more than curious to see how the OnePlus will turn out with his guidance. But I digress. On with the interview…
The Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 is the Chinese company’s first tablet attempt, and we’ve got our hands on the import in our latest hands-on video.
The Mi Pad takes some obvious design cues from the Apple iPad mini 2, but comes in significantly less than the Cupertino offering. But is it worth it? Let’s find out.
Meta used to be the king of the smartwatch roost back in the day, but they’ve been pretty quiet on the wearable front. That is, until now.
Meet the Meta M1, which goes on pre-order today.
The Chinese designer and manufacturer of high-end smartphones Oppo released a new ColorOS Beta for the Find 5. Version V2.0.0i brings a host of improvements to the company’s 2012 flagship, though there’s no official word on which Android version it is based on.
Color V2.0.0i Beta brings a revamped, more minimalistic UI redesign.
Samsung and Barnes & Noble announced a partnership that should have come to fruition in early August. However, it’s early August already and the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is nowhere to be seen. A press invite for August 20 means things will finally get a move on later this month.
Samsung and B&N will be hosting the event at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square, New York.
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