A LTE-enabled variant of the Moto G (2014) has been circulating in the rumor mill for quite some time now and now it's finally become a reality. Motorola has apparently opted out of an official announcement and instead the new handset crept up on us and appeared on the manufacturer's Brazilian page and is already available to purchase.

The move was only logical since the first generation Moto G proved to be such a huge hit, both in emerging markets and even in places like the UK with the LTE upgrade only sweetening the deal even more. The budget-oriented, Moto G 4G (2015) offers a slick and clean almost pure-android experience just like its predecessors and comes with a few notable modifications over the base version.

First and foremost Motorola has decided to stick with the dual-SIM setup and make it available in the 4G variant as well. The phone comes equipped with two micro SIM slots with presumably only one capable of LTE speeds. Other notable changes over the Moto G (2014) include a larger, 2,390mAh, battery which should compensate for the increased power consumption from the new modem. Onboard storage will be 16GB with no 8GB option available and physically the smartphone will retain its compact dimensions with only about 6g of extra weight due to the beefier battery.

The rest of the internals are unchanged. The handset is still powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 400 SoC, clocked at 1.2GHz, has the same 5-inch 720p display and the same camera setup – 8MP main and 2MP front-facing shooter. A small, but significant detail to note is that the new device will be shipping with Android 5.0.2 Lollipop, while previous Moto G phones are still mostly running 4.4 KitKat and despite Motorola's best wishes are still waiting on an update.

The new Moto G 4G (2015) can already be purchased from a Brazilian retailer for BRL 899, which is about $345. This definitely seems like a premium for a device that is supposed to be budget-oriented and it is. Brazilian handset prices are traditionally very high and not representative of what smartphones costs elsewhere.

Despite its inconspicuous arrival the new Moto G 4G (2015) has all the right ingredients to continue to legacy of its predecessor and if Motorola manages to keep costs low than the handset definitely has a bright future ahead of…

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Samsung has always aimed to have a few devices on every shelf, top to bottom. Outdoor-targeted smartphones are no exception, but the two most recent offerings, Galaxy S5 Active and Galaxy S4 Active, have been based on the respective flagships. The more affordable Xcover range hasn't seen an update for two whole years, with the latest Galaxy Xcover 2 launched in January 2013.

Well, that is about to change, as we've just been treated to an exclusive peek at the entirely new Samsung Galaxy Xcover 3. The device carries a model designation SM-G388F, and is fitted with distinctly average hardware.

Samsung Galaxy Xcover 3

The tough smartphone packs a Marvell Armada PXA1908 chipset with a quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU and 1GB of RAM. No other specs have been revealed, but judging by the photos we could speculate that the screen size is close to 4.3 inches corresponding to a total footprint of around 150x78mm. The SoC supports resolutions up to 720p, but achieving that is rather unlikely at this size and price range.

Performance isn't the Galaxy Xcover 3's main selling point though, ruggedness is, and by the looks of it, the phone will deliver. Design cues have been borrowed from the latest Galaxy S5 Active, namely the toughened corners, button shape and arrangement and sensor placement.

The back reveals its status, however, with flash-camera-speaker layout of more lowly Samsung phones of late. It's also nicely textured and appears to provide a secure grip in muddy or wet hands, a supposedly frequent scenario.

The upcoming smartphone will run Android 4.4.4. No word is out on pricing and availability, naturally, but stay tuned.

Special thanks to our anonymous…

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While we know that Q4, 2014 was a blockbuster quarter for Apple, which sold a whopping 74.5 million smartphones during the period, the question whether that was good enough for the Cupertino-based company to become the top smartphone vendor in the world apparently doesn’t have a single answer – it depends whom you ask.

While IDC acknowledged that it was a close contest, with Samsung ahead of Apple, Strategy Analytics said it was a tie between the two companies. Now, another research firm by the name of Counterpoint is claiming that Apple actually shipped more smartphones than its South Korean competitor in Q4.

The Counterpoint report notes that Apple led the smartphone market with 20.2% market share, followed by Samsung, which shipped 73.8 million units, good enough for 20% share of the market. Lenovo, Huawei, and Xiaomi rounded up the top five with 7, 6.6, and 4.6% market share,…

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