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 »

Those familiar with Humble Bundle would know that other than having a great bunch of games for a really low price, they usually also tend to add more games later at no extra cost to those who purchased the bundle by paying over the average amount.

Humble Bundle has now updated their latest bundle for Windows and Android with three new games: Bad Hotel, Solar 2, and The Bard’s Tale. This is in addition to Little Inferno, Gemini Rue, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome, Jack Lumber, Hero Academy and Anomaly 2 already present in the bundle. Read more »

Avegant announced that it is working on a wearable display product known as Glyph. The upcoming gadget will make use of a virtual retina display, which beams the images right into your eyeballs.

The Glyph focuses on portability as the device is said to be very light and consumes very little power. Avegant has announced that the company will be showing its latest development at the Consumer Electronic Show in January. 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 »

Amazon is giving away $5 store credit to app shoppers this holiday season. And all you have to do is download an app from their Appstore.

To get the $5 store credit, all you have to do is go to the Amazon Appstore app on your Kindle Fire or any other compatible Android device and download any app, including a free one. You’ll soon get an email informing you that $5 credit has been added to your account, which can then be used to purchase more apps or games from the Amazon Appstore. Read more »

After releasing the Android based portable gaming console, Shield, NVIDIA is now entering the popular 7-inch tablet category with the Tegra Note. Just like the Shield, the Tegra Note tablet focuses on gaming but also bundles in stylus functionality at a very attractive price point.

Unlike the Shield, NVIDIA won’t be selling the Tegra Note tablet directly. Instead, it will be manufactured for NVIDIA by OEM partners across the world and sold under their own brands. What we are looking at today is the XOLO Play Tegra Note, which is manufactured and sold by XOLO for NVDIA in India and is similar to the Tegra Note tablet offered by other OEMs such as Gigabyte, EVGA and ZOTAC in other markets. So let’s take a closer look at NVIDIA’s first tablet. Read more »

The majority of the products that shipped with NFC on board during the past year were smartphones, a new research claims. The latest data from ABI Research says that 4 out of every 5 NFC-enabled devices are smartphones.

Near Field Communicatio usage, or NFC as it’s more popularly known, has recently been on the rise. From making contactless payments through pairing seamlessly devices to even transferring small chunks of data, the short distance radio communication standard is being adopted in various electronic gadgets. More so in smartphones, as it seems. Read more »

CES is just two weeks away now it’s the time of the year when ASUS starts building up the hype for its upcoming devices. After launching the invite dubbed In Search Of Incredible a few days ago the company is now airing the first video trailer on YouTube.

This one has the US symbol, the Statue of Liberty, as the main character. Instead of holding up its torch it holds up two fingers in the V formation and then splits the tabula ansata (meaning tablet with handles) in two. What we can gather from this is that we may be in for a new transformer slate from ASUS showcased on the CES floor. 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 »

To say that CyanogenMod has made some waves this past year would be an understatement. The team started as a community of hackers that provided fast and more feature-packed custom ROMs, which retained the stock Android look free of-charge. Now, after being asked by Oppo to release a special edition of their mods for their newest phone, Cyanogen is fast becoming a recognizable power in the Android world, and the first video on their official Youtube page shows off their very own edition of the Oppo N1.

The video showcases all of the features that set apart Cyanogen’s build of Android from other versions. Advanced camera options, a better privacy guard, the option to control CPU behavior, added themes, and other features are all laid out in the video. There is no out of the box root access, which is understandable as the phone will not pass the Android Compatibility Test suite, but don’t be surprised if Cyanogen creates a one-click app for the device that will be readily available. Read more »

So our cell phones can be used for pretty much anything: finding movie times, uploading YouTube videos, GPS navigation, and of course, the occasional phone call. But can a smartphone and some cool accessories that pair with it help you get a girlfriend? Samsung says, “Absolutely.”

In a recently released commercial (more like a promotional short film), Samsung shows off all the capabilities of the new Galaxy Gear Smartwatch when paired with their Note 3. In the video, two smartphone carrying Romeos vie for the affections of a young woman while at a ski resort. 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 »