LG G3 hits assembly line; shooting for 10mil units

The LG G3 doesn't have a specific launch date yet, but many believe that it will drop sometime near the end of May.

And LG must be a a little busy bee, as the Korean manufacturer is aiming to sell 10 million units of the smartphone at its release.

What further gives credence to these rumors is that LG has announced that it will be throwing an event on May 27th in May, San Francisco, New York, and London. The following day, the same event will take place in Singapore, Seoul, and Istanbul.

So what will be headlining the event? Why not the company's upcoming flagship smartphone? It seems like a safe bet that the LG G3 will be the star of the show.

Now 10 million units certainly seems like an almost unattainable sum for LG, given the manufacturer's earlier production difficulties.

It doesn't help either that the G3 is going to be a specs beast: it'll pack a 2.5GHz quad-core processor, 3GB RAM, a 13MP camera, Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box, 16 or 32GB storage options, and a 5.5” QHD screen, which is the main attraction of the device.

Anybody think that LG will reach its target of 10 million units?

Source

Another alleged Apple iPhone 6 dummy unit makes the rounds

Samsung ships more smartphones than major competition combined

Samsung is ubiquitous; there’s no doubt that they are a mobile powerhouse, however, the latest IDC quarterly update gives us a look into just how much of a powerhouse the Korean manufacturer is.

30.3% of total smartphone market share is controlled by Samsung, which is about 85 million units, in Q1 2014.

Now compare this number to Apple, Huawei, Lenovo, and LG, who account for 15.5%, 4.9%, 4.6%, and 4.4% respectively; .9% less than Samsung’s share.

All “other” smartphones account for 40.5% of the market share, but these are hardly the bigger players that pose a threat to Samsung’s current market dominance.

IDC predicts that smartphone shipments will reach 1.2 billion units, total, for 2014; a 200 million increase from last year. This is due to growth in the smartphone market and the constant spread of new models entering the market, especially low-range handsets.

Anyone surprised at just how dominant Samsung is?

Source | Via

Samsung Galaxy S5 Google Play Edition leaked by Google

Having Google Play Editions of all popular flagships has become somewhat of a tradition. Now that the Samsung Galaxy S5 has been around for a while many fans are wondering if it will also get the GPE treatment.

Apparently, Samsung and Google are working on such edition and Google has just spilled the beans. The device popped up briefly on the Play Store among the others GPE devices.

Well, it didn't appear in its own listing, but under the Galaxy S4 name. Still, the image clearly shows the S5. A photoshopped S5 as it has both hardware and software keys at the bottom, which is not the case. But hey, it is the Galaxy S5 after all, it is on the Play Store, and someone at Google made those efforts to put it there, so this should mean something, right?

Now that the Samsung Galaxy S5 GPE images have appeared on Google Play, we bet the announcement should be around the corner.

Source (Cached) | Via 1 | Via 2

Motorola to unveil a new smartphone on May 13

We just received Motorola's invitation for a special smartphone announcement on May 13. The event will take place in London, two weeks from now, at 8:45 AM local time.

There isn't any other information on the device besides "Made to last. Priced for all", so we'll know more on May 13. There are currently two Moto handsets in the rumorland - the Moto E and Moto X+1.

The invitation text clearly suggest this will be a smartphone event, but we still hope to see more of the upcoming Moto 360 smartwatch too.

You bet we'll be on spot and we'll cover the press event as it unfolds. Stay tuned!

Alleged Apple iPhone 6 dummy shows updated design

We've seen alleged sketches of the Apple iPhone 6, which led to the creation of a 3D render of what the final deice might look like. Now, a "very reliable" source from China sent photos of a physical dummy of the device.

The dummy looks like an iPod touch, except with even more rounded sides. The front shows the outlines of the display (16:9 by the looks of it), but no hole for the Home key and not a lot of room for it either.

Alleged iPhone 6 dummy

The back shows a camera in the upper left with a round hole for the flash next to it. The dual-tone flash on the iPhone 5s was more rectangular than round, but the leaked sketches also showed a round flash. They show a Home button on the front too, as does an alleged photo of the front panel.

There's no size reference in the photos, but the front panel indicates a long awaited screen size increase – 4.7". The dimensions of the device itself are purported to be 137 x 66 x 7.1 mm.

Thanks to Steve for sending this in!

Source (in French)

LG G3 image leaks via a case maker, shows front and back

Yet another case for the upcoming LG G3 leaked showing off the curios back design as well as the front. The G3 keeps the centered power/volume key setup below the camera, but adds a dual-LED flash and what looks like a sensor or an IR blaster flanking the camera.

Alleged images of the LG G3 in a rugged case

The front shows razor thin bezels around what is rumored to be a 5.5" QHD screen. Also the UI matches the leaked screenshots that leaker earlier. This either confirms the new, flat Optimus UI or it just means the leaked screenshot was used.

Anyway, the LG G3 is expected on May 27 with a 16MP camera, Snapdragon 801 chipset, 3,000mAh battery and an water-resistant IPX7 rating.

Thanks to Pest for sending this in!

Source

Moto X to get a price cut on May 1 for a day only

The Moto X got its price cut to $400 on January 1, then there was a temporary discount later the same month and now there's another one. If you missed that one, you'll be pleased to hear there's yet another discount.

Motorola will offer a discount on the 16GB, 32GB and Developer versions on May 1 only.

Model	Normal price	Discounted price	Price drop
Moto X 16GB	$350	$300	$50
Moto X 32GB	$400	$325	$75
Moto X Developer Edition	$450	$325	$125

The offer is available tomorrow, May 1, from 12:01 ET and will last 24 hours. Unfortunately, this price cut is US-only. The phones are carrier-free and you can customize them.

Source | Via

LG G3 launch event to take place on May 27

LG has started sending out invites for their event on May 27 and 28. Although not explicitly mentioned as such, the event is likely going to be the launch of the highly anticipated LG G3 smartphone.

The event will take place over two days, with May 27 seeing the launch in San Francisco, New York, and London and on May 28 in Seoul, Singapore, and Istanbul.

The launch invite simply has a quote from American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, saying "To be simple is to be Great." The text is placed on a brushed metal background but even if the phone does sport this finish it doesn't necessarily mean it will be made out of metal.

We'll likely be seeing and hearing more of this phone in the coming month before the launch.

Source

Sony Z Ultra Google Play edition gets a $200 price cut

Google has dropped the price of the Sony Z Ultra Google Play edition. The phone was launched at $649 back in December last year and is now available at $449, a solid $200 drop in just four months.

As you may be aware, the Sony Z Ultra Google Play edition is a variant of the Xperia Z Ultra sold by Sony but comes with stock Android instead. It also has a humongous 6.4-inch, 1920x1080 display, quad-core Snapdragon 800, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage space with microSD support, 8 megapixel camera, 3,050mAh battery, waterproof design and Android 4.4.2 KitKat with the promise of quick updates.

For the kind of hardware you are getting, if you don't mind the rather large size of the device, the new price makes it a pretty good deal.

Source

Google tipped to replace Nexus family with Android Silver lineup

LG G3 shows its back in an alleged live photo on Twitter

SA: Samsung and Apple lose ground to Huawei and Lenovo

Strategy Analytics has released its latest report on the smartphone market. The smartphone shipments worldwide throughout the Q1 this year grew 33% annually setting another record with 281 million units. The mobile phone shipments (including featurephones and smartphones) also grew by 9.4% to 407.9 units shipped globally.

Even though the smartphone shipments are growing rapidly, the top manufacturers are losing market share in favor of the second-tier ones. Samsung keeps its first place in the smartphone market with 31.2% share, dropping 1.2% down from Q1 last year. Apple also lost 2.2% share and is now holding 15.3% at the second place. Huawei kept its third place with minor boost, while Lenovo shipments grew by 0.8%.

Global Smartphone Vendor Shipments (Millions of Units)	Q1 '13	Q1 '14
Samsung	69.4	89.0
Apple	37.4	43.7
Huawei	10.1	13.4
Lenovo	8.4	13.3
Others	88.7	125.6
Total	213.9	285.0

Global Smartphone Vendor Marketshare %	Q1 '13	Q1 '14
Samsung	32.4%	31.2%
Apple	17.5%	15.3%
Huawei	4.7%	4.7%
Lenovo	3.9%	4.7%
Others	41.5%	44.1%

All global mobile phones shipments, as we already mentioned, have also reported a noticeable increase. Here Samsung, Nokia, and LG are all losing small bits of market share in favor of Apple, Huawei and the second-tier of manufacturers (TCL-Alcatel, Coolpad, Lenovo, Xiaomi and others).

Global Mobile Phone Vendor Shipments (Millions of Units)	Q1 '13	Q1 '14
Samsung	106.6	113.0
Nokia	61.9	47.0
Apple	37.4	43.7
LG	16.2	16.4
Huawei	11.6	14.2
Others	139.0	173.6
Total	372.7	407.9

Global Mobile Phone Vendor Marketshare %	Q1 '13	Q1 '14
Samsung	28.6%	27.7%
Nokia	16.6%	11.5%
Apple	10.0%	10.7%
LG	4.3%	4.0%
Huawei	3.1%	3.5%
Others	37.3%	42.6%

Now that Lenovo is on the verge of acquiring Motorola and Microsoft has just completed its Nokia Devices deal, we should be seeing some interesting changes in those reports throughout the upcoming quarters.

Source 1 | Source 2 | Via

HTC One (M8) Harman/Kardon edition goes official for Sprint

At an event in New York City, Sprint and HTC took the wraps of a special edition One (M8) Harman/Kardon. The previously leaked, premium audio-centric smartphone will be sold exclusively on Sprint Wireless in the United States in a black/gold color scheme.

As expected, the biggest change which the Harman/Kardon M8 brings is enhanced audio experience. The handset offers lossless HD audio via a 24 bit/192kHz DAC. The latter delivers roughly six times the information of compact disc music and 60 times the information of an MP3 or streaming music source when playing FLAC files.

HTC One (M8) Harman/Kardon edition official photos

Furthermore, the special edition device will ship with Harman Clari-Fi application. Available for the first time in a mobile device, the app “rebuilds” a track’s audio quality which was lost during its compression.

The rest of the device’s specs have remained unchanged. The HTC One (M8) Harman/Kardon edition totes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC with 2.3GHz quad-core CPU, 5” 1080P display, Ultra Pixel camera, and Sense-d Android 4.4.2 KitKat.

In addition to the attractive new color scheme, the HTC One (M) Harman/Kardon edition will ship with Harman/Kardon AE-S headphones in the box. Users who opt for the smartphone will also be able to snag a Harman/Kardon Onyx Studio speaker for $99.99, down from its regular price of $399.99.

To top things off, Sprint customers will receive six months of free Spotify premium. All they need to do is opt for the carrier’s Framily plan.

The special edition HTC One (M8) Harman/Kardon will be available to order online this Friday, on May 2. It will hit retail stores on May 9. The smartphone can be purchased with $0 down and 24 payments of $28.34 (a total of $680.16).

Source

Sprint's G Flex and Verizon's Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 get KitKat

Two new Android 4.4 KitKat updates are now seeding Stateside. LG is now upgrading the G Flex on Sprint, while Samsung is doing the same for the Galaxy Note 10.1.

The firmware update for the curved LG smartphone brings performance improvements, updated status and navigation bars, improved battery life, Knock Code feature and cloud printing.

The update process is gradual though it has already begun and should be completed by May 7.

Samsung is also rolling out an Android 4.4 KitKat update. It's for the Verizon's Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition and includes faster multi-tasking, could printing, multi-user mode and immersive mode (automatic full screen mode). There are also the usual bug fixes.

Both updates are available over-the-air or via manufacturers' dedicated update tools.

Sprint | Verizon | Via

UK retailers will finally get the Sony Xperia Z2 in May

EU takes action to reduce smartphone patent wars

The European Commission made a landmark ruling on Tuesday regarding an infringement claim by Motorola against Apple regarding the use of a standard-essential patent it had licensed.

The Commission decreed that smartphone and tablet makers could no longer seek injunctions against rivals they had signed patent licensing agreements with, a step that should significantly reduce patent wars within the confines of the EU.

In light of the numerous legal disputes with rival manufacturer Apple, the EU's anti-trust enforcement office has also accepted an agreement from Samsung Electronics not to seek injunctions against rivals it currently licenses patents from. The Commission also ordered Motorola to resolve its legal disputes with the Cupertino company outside of the courtrooms through arbitration.

Jaoquin Almunia, the European commissioner in charge of anti-trust enforcement, said decisively that patent wars should not come at the expense of consumers.

"While patent holders should be fairly remunerated for the use of their intellectual property, implementers of such standards should also get access to standardized technology on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms."

The ruling sets a precedent that will likely be imposed on other manufacturers looking to pursue legal action against rivals within EU member countries. This should hamper the likes of Samsung and Apple, currently suing each other in more than 10 countries, from further widespread litigation - at least in the confines of the EU.

Source

Nokia unveils Q1 results: phone division sales take a hit

Nokia posted an operating profit of €304 million (11.4% of net sales) in the first quarter of this year, up from €254 million (8.1% of net sales) for the same quarter.

This will be the last but one quarter with the phone division on Nokia's books – it spent the month of April with the Finns, but as of a few days ago it's part of Microsoft. This may be sad news for fans, but financially it's good news for Nokia.

The phone division (now labeled "discontinued operations"), brought in €1.93 billion with an operating loss of €326 million. That's a decline in sales from €2.77 billion, but an increase in loss from €120 million.

Nokia's Continuing operations totaled €2.67 billion with an operating profit of €242 million. Most of the cash came from Nokia Networks - €2.33 billion (17% down from €2.8 billion in the year ago quarter).

HERE brought in €209 million in revenue (down from €216 million a year ago) with an operating profit of €10 million. Technologies raked in €131 million with an operating profit of €86 million (at a high operating margin of 65.6%).

The sale of Nokia's Devices & services division closed at a price of €5.44 billion, €170 million higher than the initial price. The Indian plant whose fate was uncertain will remain with Nokia. Nokia will produce phones for Microsoft there.

Nokia's cash and other liquid assets declined €2.3 billion over the past year, largely due to debt facilities of €1.8 billion in Q1 this year. If Nokia had sold its Devices & services division prior to Q1, gross cash would have totaled €10.5 billion, rather than the €6.9 billion it is now.

Also, Nokia is welcoming a new President and CEO - Rajeev Suri.

Hit the source link for more detailed numbers.

Source

LG Q1 2014 results show 12.3 million smartphones sold

LG's financial report for Q1 2014 is out and things are looking good for the Korean company as it managed to ship 12.3 million smartphones for the period. That's a 19% increase compared to the same quarter of 2013 and helped LG's mobile division to ramp up its revenue to KRW3.41 trillion ($3.19 billion) - a 6% YoY increase.

Out of the 12.3 million smartphones, 5 million were LTE-enabled, which is the highest the company has sold in a quarter so far.

Additionally, the financial results press release points to the launch of the upcoming LG G3 in Q2. Not only did it confirm the name of the phone, but it also confirmed the launch of more L-series III smartphones.

We saw the LG G3 leak in an exclusive picture sent to us by a tipster. The rear-mounted keys are here to stay and the phone is rumored to pack 3GB of RAM and a 5.5" QHD display. We also saw a bunch of screenshot depicting the phone's latest Optimus UI with a flatter design.

Overall, the company's Q1 net profit marks a 319% yearly increase - to KRW92.60 billion ($86.62 million). The consolidated first-quarter revenues are KRW 14.27 trillion (USD 13.35 billion). Compared to the same quarter in 2013, that's a 1.2% increase.

Source

Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo leaks again, 5.1-inch display in tow

The Samsung device that goes by the model number SM-G750 has popped up again on an Indian import database site Zauba. We've seen the model number before and speculations suggest it could turn out be the Galaxy S5 Neo. In its previous leak it sported a screen resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels and an 2.3 GHz CPU.

Though the new leak we gather some new information - the screen size is slated as a 5.1" - the same as the Galaxy S5. The SM-G750 is listed as SM-G750A, SM-G750F and SM-G750H - probably regional options for different markets.

Previously it was though the SM-G750 is the Galaxy S5 mini but that goes by the name of SM-G800 and sports a 4.5" display.

Sadly that's all the info we get at this point. Hopefully the Galaxy S5 Neo goes official and we get some solid information soon.

Source | Via (in Dutch)

Samsung's Q1 2014 results reveal a net profit of $8.2billion

Samsung released its 1 2014 earnings report. In line with the earnings guidance from earlier this month, the Korean giant posted a net profit of 8.5 trillion won ($8.2 billion) from 53.68 trillion won ($51.8 billion) of revenue.

The company’s net profit took a 3% dip compared to the same period last year. Samsung attributed the second straight fall of quarterly profit to a weakness in the market for flat-screen panels and maturing high-end smartphone segment.

Samsung’s mobile division raked in an operating profit of 6.43 trillion Won ($6.2 billion USD) for the quarter. The number is down 1.2% from a year ago, but 18% up compared to the previous quarter.

Unsurprisingly, Samsung Galaxy S5 is expected to lead increased demand over next quarter, despite continued weak seasonality. Samsung expects its current flagship to outsell its predecessor, the Galaxy S4.

Going forward, Samsung expects its profits to increase in the next quarter thanks to improved sales of display panels and home appliances. The upcoming World Cup in Brazil is expected to be a major sales booster for the company.

Source | Via

Samsung announces the Galaxy K zoom camera phone

Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy K zoom camera phone, the successor to the Galaxy S4 zoom launched last year. Like its predecessor, the Galaxy K zoom combines a regular smartphone with the hardware of a point and shoot camera.

On the camera-side, the Galaxy K zoom has a 20.7 megapixel 1/2.3 BSI CMOS sensor and a 10x, 24-240mm F3.1-6.3 zoom lens with optical image stabilization (OIS). The phone has a xenon flash with an LED autofocus assist. On the front is a relatively humble 2 megapixel camera.

On the smartphone side, the Galaxy K zoom has a 4.8-inch, 1280x720 resolution Super AMOLED display, Exynos 5 Hexa SoC with six CPU cores comprising of four 1.3GHz ARM Cortex A7 and two 1.7GHz ARM Cortex A15; along with a Mali-T624 GPU, 2GB RAM, 8GB internal memory with microSD support (up to 64GB), LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, NFC, 2,430mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat.

The Galaxy K zoom will be available in black, white and blue.

Source

More alleged details on HTC M8 Ace make the rounds online

More alleged details on the previously leaked HTC M8 Ace made the rounds online. According to a report in Engadget, the yet to be announced smartphone will offer Samsung Galaxy S5-matching specs for significantly less money.

The HTC M8 Ace will reportedly feature plastic unibody design, similar to the one seen in HTC Desire 610. The specs are tipped to include a 5” 1080p display and Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC with 2.5GHz quad-core CPU.

Most importantly, the launch price of the smartphone is said to be CN¥3,000 (around $480).This means that the M8 Ace will significantly undercut the Samsung Galaxy S5 when available.

Source

Rumored Galaxy S5 Prime spotted in India

There have been some murmurs that Samsung, in an effort to grab some of HTC's premium phone market share (and undoubtedly the upcoming iPhone 6's), release a high-end version of their Galaxy S5 phone, called the S5 Prime. The upgraded version of the Korean manufacturer's latest flagship is supposed to have an aluminum encasing, 2K screen, and 3GB RAM.

Now Samsung has been mum on their plans with the Samsung Galaxy S5 prime, and haven't even acknowledged that they're working on the device, but it seems to be a pretty poorly kept secret with a series of leaks hinting at the phone's development.

The latest development is an Indian shipping manifest that shows a device with a code number SM-G906S, which is supposed to be a regional version of the Galaxy S5 Prime.

The G906S has also shown up on GFXBench, with the following specs detailed:

•5.2-inch 2560×1440 display

•2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor •with Adreno 420 GPU

•3GB of RAM

•32GB of storage

•16 MP rear/ 2MP front-facing camera

•Android 4.4.2 KitKat

We have to yet to see if these rumors are going to turn out true, and in the meantime, we'll just be forced to play the waiting game. Let's say that these leaks are credible and Samsung is indeed planning on releasing a premium version of the S5, would you be willing to pay a premium price for a premium S5?

Source

Alcatel Idol X+ review: Common touch

BlackBerry Z3 goes on pre-order, specs finally detailed

The BlackBerry Z3 which was officially announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this past February alongside the Q20 is now available for pre-order in Indonesia through local carriers Indosat and XL. The device will be launched (and probably shipped as well) on May 13 in Jakarta.

Aside from the standard Z3 there will also be a Jakarta Edition, which will have the name of the Indonesian capital engraved on its back panel. The special version will be available for a limited time to commemorate the launch of the first BB smartphone built for the Indonesian market.

Just as previously promised, the device will cost under $200 - BlackBerry expects a price of IDR 2,199,000 (amounting to around €137 and $190). We also got a recap of the specs of the smartphone - there wasn't much info about those when the Z30 was announced.

The BlackBerry Z3 has a 5" qHD (540 x 960) display, 8 GB of expandable on-board storage, 1.5 GB of RAM to accompany the dual-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 200 processor. The cameras are a 5 MP unit on the back along with a 1.1 MP 720p unit on the front.

There are no physical QWERTY keyboards here, this is a full touch device. The BlackBerry Z3 will carry BlackBerry OS version 10.2.1 and be powered by a 2,500 mAh battery.

Sadly word on availability outside the Indonesian market wasn't given.

Source | Via

Xiaomi Mi3 gets a price cut, 16GB now costs $270

The Xiaomi Mi3 was launched back in September and it has always been known for offering plenty of bang for your buck. To maintain that reputation today the company has announced new prices, which considerably cheaper than before.

Xiaomi has slashed the price of the 16GB Mi3 from $327 to $270, while the 64GB model retails for $320 shortly after the company announced that it intends to bring the Mi3 outside of China. By the end of 2014, you should be able to buy the phone in India, Brazil, and Russia as well as Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.

The device is available with two different chipsets - you can either get a Tegra 4 with four Cortex-A15 cores or a Snapdragon 800 with four Krait 400 cores at 2.2 GHz each. Currently, the Tegra 4 model is available on China Mobile, while the Snapdragon 800 is sold on China Unicom.

The device is very slender at 144mm×72mm×8.1mm and weighs only 145 g. it has a 5" 1080p IPS dislay, Android 4.2.1 skinned with MIUI v5 and covers imaging needs with 13 MP and 2 MP cameras.

The price cut may be Xiaomi's direct answer to the aggressive pricing of the OnePlus One, which was announced last week. The phone retails for $299 or $349 for the 16GB or 64GB model, respectively.

Source

Lenovo S860 goes on pre-order, ships next week

The Lenovo S860 popped up on this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with a 5.3" IPS display of 720p resolution and 1.3GHz quad-core processor, riding on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

The focus in the S860 is extra-long battery life as the smartphone packs a 4,000 mAh juice pack. It's expected to sport a stand by of either 28 or 40 days (on 2G and 3G connectivity, respectively).

Lenovo S860

There's also dual-SIM support but there's no LTE in tow. The device comes in Titanium gray and costs INR21,500 (€255/$355). Lenovo sells the S860 straight off its TheDotStore website in India - you can find it by following the Source link at the bottom of the page.

The specs package you get with the Lenovo S860 is very good for the price but the lack of Android KitKat at launch is rather disappointing. Hopefully Lenovo will make the effort to update the device soon. At the same price range you could go for a Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 or XOLO Q3000 - both fairly popular devices in India.

For more information on the handset - here's our Lenovo S860 hands-on.

Source | Via

Samsung claims only a few Galaxy S5 cameras are defective

The Samsung Galaxy S5 has been having issues with its camera – namely, it stops working after a cryptic warning. Samsung has issued a statement saying the issue affects only a very limited number of devices.

The company declined to specify an exact number, but apparently the problem wasn’t confined to the US and Verizon, but affected a few other countries as well.

According to the statement, the problem was caused by "complications" in the ROM, specifically in the parts responsible for the camera. Samsung has taken steps to prevent this problem reoccurring in newly built devices.

Samsung is expecting lower profits for the first quarter of this year than the same period in the year before. That would be a second quarter of lower profits in a row (Q4 2013 saw a 6% dip in operating profits compared to 2012).

Source

Samsung teases upcoming Galaxy K on Instagram

Samsung is having an event tomorrow where the company is expected to announce the tentatively named Galaxy K device, the successor to last year's Galaxy S4 zoom.

The company has now put up a video on Instagram that zooms into the Red Dot Design Museum, with the caption 'Meet #TheNextGALAXY. Join us for a live update on April 29 at 11AM SGT'. The zoom in the video looks like a hint at the optical zoom in the phone, although the choice of having the Red Dot Design Museum in the video may not just be a coincidence.

We will find out more tomorrow.

Source

Kantar: WP going strong in Europe, Android still dominates

Global analytics company Kantar Worldpanel has released its latest global smartphone market share report for the 3-month period ending in March 2014. The data shows what's the distribution of Android, Windows Phone, iOS and BlackBerry in terms of overall market penetration in Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain (EU5) as well as in the US, China, Australia and Japan.

Starting with EU5, Windows Phone managed to gain 1.6 percent points year-over-year. Italy, which traditionally is a strong WP market, saw the largest growth by Microsoft's mobile OS with 13.9% (3.0 percent points more than the same period in 2013).

Windows Phone marks the least progress in Germany - 0.5 percent points up from March 2013. Android is doing quite well there though jumping from 73.6% to 77.0% share. Italy too is seeing a rise of Android with a 70.7% market share up from 62.5% last year.

Spain is another interesting market, where Android marks a decrease of 5.1 percent points from 93.7% in March 2013 down to 88.6% now . It's still a hard-to-believe dominance, when you consider that BlackBerry has 0% market share, Windows Phone scores 3.0%. Apple's iOS is trending in Spain with a of 4.5 percent points jump year-over-year. iOS now stands at 7.6% market share in the country.

When you add up the top 5 European markets, iOS makes a tiny progress of 0.1 percent points to 19.2%, while Android marks a jump of 1.5 percent points at the expense of BlackBerry. BlackBerry smartphones take just 1.1% of the EU5 market share with a grim forecast to continue dropping.

Dominic Sunnebo, a director at Kantar says that with the Lumia 520, Nokia managed to aggressively penetrate the low-end market, as it managed to capture first-time smartphone buyers and those switching from a Symbian device. "Now, we’re starting to see some really compelling competition at this end of the market from the likes of Motorola (with Moto G) and Samsung (heavily discounted S3 & mini models) eating into prime Nokia territory," he added.

By all accounts then, affordable Android smartphones and the recently announced OnePlus One that's not really a mid-range smartphone are stealing Windows Phone's thunder.

In the US, Windows Phone has captured 5.3% of the market share on the 3-month period ending in March 2014 - a decrease of 0.3 percent points from the same period last year. Interestingly enough, iOS is also losing ground there with a noticeable decrease of 7.8 percent points. iOS now stands at 35.9% there, Windows Phone and BlackBerry take 5.3% and 0.7%, respectively.

The story is quite similar in China, where Android marks a jump with 8.1 percent points and now captures 80% of the smartphone market share. iOS is losing ground at a similar pace to the US market.

Source | Via

KitKat-powered LG L80 goes official in Indonesia

LG Optimus L III series was unveiled prior to the MWC in Barcelona last February. The first three members of the new lineup were showcased on the expo - L40, L70 and L90.

Today LG Indonesia has announced another handset to join the Optimus L III mid-rangers - the LG L80. The device leaked just a few hours ago in live pictures and specs, but now we know it is already official and we van even show you some live pictures.

LG L80 live pictures

LG L80 features a 5" WVGA IPS display and runs on a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm chipset with 1GB of RAM. It comes with a 5MP rear camera with LED flash, 4GB expandable storage and a 2,540 mAh battery.

LG L80 has the same connectivity package as most of its siblings - optional dual-SIM support, 3G with HSPA on SIM1, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 and FM radio. It runs on Android 4.4 KitKat OS with company's proprietary Optimus UI on top of it. Naturally, LG's latest software feature - Knock Code is on board, too.

Black and white flavors of the LG L80 will be hitting Indonesia soon for IDR 2.5 million or €155.

Thank you, Blueniji, for the tip!

Source

4.5" Huawei Ascend P7 mini unveiled with Snapdragon 400

We already know a bit about the upcoming Huawei Ascend P7, which will be officially unveiled on May 7. However, Huawei is also working on a smaller variant of the phone, called the Ascend P7 mini, which has been revealed and will be officially launched with the bigger P7 next month.

The Ascend P7 mini has a 4.5-inch 960x540 resolution display, compared to the 5.0-inch, 1080p display on the P7. The P7 mini also runs on a quad-core Snapdragon 400 SoC, with the CPU clocked at 1.2GHz and Adreno 305 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 8GB internal storage space with microSD card support, 8 megapixel rear camera, 5 megapixel front facing camera, LTE support, 2,000mAh battery and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

The Huawei Ascend P7 mini is expected to cost between 250-300 euros.

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First Samsung Tizen smartphone to debut in Russia this May

Tizen is alive, but unfortunately delayed yet again. However, there might be a light at the end of the tunnel for the joint Intel-Samsung developed OS, as according to a TizenIndonesia, Tizen is going to get its smartphone debut some time in May.

The first official smartphone running Tizen would launch in Russia next month, with Brazil and other developing markets coming next. Additionally, Yoon Han-kil, senior vice president of Samsung's product strategy team said to Reuters that at least two smartphones running Tizen are just around the corner. The first would be a high-end model, not unlike the Samsung Galaxy S4, while the second would be a mid-range model.

However, Yoon says that we should expect both products around the end of the second quarter. So, while Samsung may announce the Tizen smartphones in May, chances are they won't launch until June.

There have been a bunch live photos of Tizen smartphones - the latest being the Samsung SM-Z9005. It's set to feature dual-core Krait processor, 1GB of RAM, a 720p display and LTE connectivity. It's unclear if this is the final hardware, but Samsung has reportedly shipped Z9005 units to developers. We even saw a hands-on video of the device a while ago.

If indeed Samsung manages to keep its own promises, then we should get an official Tizen smartphone available for purchase not too long from now.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime rumored for a June release

The Samsung KQ is allegedly the soon-to-be-released upmarket version of the Galaxy S5 and according to Korean newspaper AsiaToday this might happen in the coming months. Citing unnamed industry sources, the media states that we will see Samsung make the phone official in June.

Project KQ, which was previously mentioned as the Galaxy S5 Prime and is set to feature a 5.2" QHD display (2560 x 1440 pixels, 564ppi), just as its domestic rival the LG G3 (you can take a glimpse of it, too). The Galaxy S5 is no slouch, but Samsung might be looking to extend its lead by releasing yet another flagship, while at the same time countering the LG G3. In addition, Samsung wouldn't want to be beaten to the QHD smartphone market by its arch enemy (the Oppo 7 being excluded).

By all means, Samsung would prefer to be ahead of LG in announcing its first QHD smartphone. It certainly did manage to beat it in the flexible display realm, as the LG G Flex was announced almost a month after the Galaxy Round.

In a traditional Samsung fashion, Project KQ is set to launch with a couple of different versions, each sporting a different chipset. The model destined for South Korea is going to pack the company's latest octa-core Exynos 5430 chipset. The new silicon features quad 2.1GHz Cortex-A15 and quad 1.5GHz Cortex-A7 cores in addition to an 600MHz ARM Mali GPU.

As a comparison, the LG G3 is rumored to sport a 5.5" QHD display (534 ppi) and a Snapdragon 801 chipset with a quad-core Krait 400 CPU.

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LG L80 specs and photos leak ahead of its unveiling

LG unveiled its affordable L Series III range of smartphones at this year's Mobile World Congress and the line-up consisted of three devices - LG L90, L70 and L40. They will soon be joined by a fourth member, L80 and today we get to see how the upcoming mid-ranger looks like.

We got images of the dual SIM version of the L80, which comes with four capacitive touch buttons - back, home, menu and multi-tasking at the front. We assume the single SIM L80 will feature a physical home button as seen in the earlier trio.

Along with the leaked images, we do have some information regarding the hardware specs of the smartphone. LG L80 will sport a 5-inch display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. The smartphone will be powered by a dual-core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz along with 1 GB of RAM.

There will be 4 GB of internal memory with the option to expand it via microSD card. The L80 runs on Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box and packs a 2,540mAh battery. On the software front, the device comes with the company's proprietary feature - LG Knock Code, which allows you to unlock your smartphone by tapping on the screen in specific pattern.

Lastly, we know that the LG L80 will be available in black and white color options. Unfortunately, there is no word on how much the device would cost, but we will know more when it goes official.

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Apple initiates iPhone 5 power button replacement program

Apple has initiated the iPhone 5 sleep/wake button replacement program for those with a malfunctioning button. Under this program, if you have an eligible iPhone 5, Apple will replace the button free of cost.

Apple has determined that the sleep/wake button mechanism on a small percentage of iPhone 5 models may stop working or work intermittently. iPhone 5 models manufactured through March 2013 may be affected by this issue.

Apple will replace the sleep/wake button mechanism, free of charge, on iPhone 5 models that exhibit this issue and have a qualifying serial number.

Apple has setup a website where you can check if your iPhone 5 is eligible for a replacement. Not all iPhone 5 phones have this issue but if you think yours does then this is the time to get it fixed.

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Oppo Joy goes official with 4" screen and dual-core CPU

No carrier will sell Xperia Z2 in the US but Sony will

Sony recently announced that its flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z2 will be available in the US this summer. However, if you were planning to pick the device on a lower price with a contract, then we have some bad news for you.

According to a new report, Sony has confirmed that neither the Xperia Z2 nor the Xperia Z1 Compact will be available in the US stores in the nearest future. Sony will have its flagship smartphone for sale only on its online store in the US. And, if you are planning to get your hands on the Xperia Z1 Compact, then getting it from overseas is your only option.

If you are a Sony or Xperia fan in the US, then all you got at this point of time is the Xperia Z2 tablet, which will hit the shelves on May 4.

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