With both major events on the calendar falling in the first quarter, the April to June period was a quieter time. The most read story was the announcement of the Lenovo K80 – an Intel Atom-powered 5.5-inch phablet with 4GB of RAM and a 4,000mAh battery. Oddly enough, it was also the last time we heard of the K80.

Nokia made the news despite not being an actual player in the smartphone world. Or thanks to that, as every time word got out on its return, you flocked to read the details.

Yu only made it to the third spot this quarter with the launch of its second smartphone, the Yuphoria. The announcement of the Xiaomi’s Mi 4i was another top read, in the absence of a Mi 5.

An alleged Sony Xperia P2 leak caused the Internet to explode, but the device never really materialized, and in hindsight it was likely just someone’s vision of the perfect Sony smartphone. Instead, Sony’s interim flagship Xperia Z3+ launched in Japan, carrying a Z4 badge.

A couple of weeks before its announcement, the LG G4 was leaked in full glory making for one of our top Q2 stories. Perhaps that’s why you don’t see the actual unveiling in the list below.

It was around this time that we first heard of the BlackBerry Priv. BlackBerry’s first Android device first showed up on April 27, but no one was talking about Android just yet, and neither did the screenshots suggest such a development.

There was the obligatory Lollipop update buzz too, with the Samsung Galaxy A7 leading the way. The Xperia Z-series started getting Android 5.0 during this period too. You were also queuing up to read what Google had in store for you with Marshmallow, at the time only known as Android M.

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Lenovo unveils K80, a phone with 4GB RAM and 4,000 mAh battery
This comes a few months after Asus announced the ZenFone 2, the world’s first smartphone with 4GB RAM.

Nokia will launch new smartphones in 2016, CEO now says
The Finnish company won’t be directly producing them, instead choosing to license its brand to partners.

Yu Yuphoria brings metal frame, 4G LTE at INR 7,000 price point
The Yu mid-ranger runs Cyanogen OS 12 and packs a Wolfson audio chip. Registrations start today.

Micromax Canvas Spark with Lollipop launched for $79
The phone will be offered via flash sales exclusively on Snapdeal from April 29.

Sony Xperia P2 leak promises compact phone with great camera
A massive battery too, a whopping 4,240mAh . The camera is rumored to have large pixels and OIS.

Huawei G Play Mini becomes official in Italy
This smartphone shares all of its specs with the Honor 4C, but has a slightly different design.

Android 5 Lollipop now seeding on Samsung Galaxy A7
Samsung began seeding Android 5.0.2 Lollipop on Galaxy A7, Russia is the first to get it.

LG G4 gets revealed ahead of its scheduled debut
A product page of the smartphone with a number of official images and specs went live for several hours.

Huawei devices to start getting Lollipop next month
The Lollipop update wrapped in Emotion UI roll out plan pans out from May to September.

Elephone P8000 packs a 4,200 cell and 3GB of RAM for $210
The 5.5-inch Chinese smartphone comes with Lollipop and worldwide LTE support.

New Samsung Galaxy Tab 5 specifications leak
The next flagship tablet by Samsung will come in two variants – SM-P355C and SM-T355C.

Sony Xperia Z4 launches with 5.2″ FHD…

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First phones, now phablets – Samsung made it a clean sweep in our devices of the year polls. Last week, we asked you to pick your favorite phone of the year, which turned out to be the Galaxy S6 and this week in the Phablet category the Galaxy Note5 received the same resounding support.

There is no denying it, with a total score just shy of 40%, Samsung is basking in fan love yet again. It is also quite encouraging that even four months after its initial release the fifth iteration of the original phablet family is captivating fans and keeping prospective EU buyers on their toes, pending the still eagerly-anticipated 2016 release on the Old Continent.

The rest of the top ten phablet chart also offers an interesting insight into fan preferences. We find the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium at second place with a respectable runner-up score of 15%. A quick look at last week’s phone poll, reveals that the basic Z5 scored around the same ball park with 18% (especially considering that chart had only eight participants). This consistency is definitely encouraging for Sony and its long-overdue proper flagship line, but the same can’t really be said for the Apple duo. Although still in the honorable fourth spot, the iPhone 6s Plus can only boast 9% of votes, compared to 19% for its smaller sibling. Again, these results are not exactly directly comparable, but it is definitely clear that Apple loyalists still tend to go for the more compact form factor.

Quite the opposite observation can be made about the new Nexus family. The Huawei Nexus 6P gathered a lot of approval, snatching 12% of all votes, more than double the interest shown for the LG Nexus 5X last week. The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL and LG V10 also deserve a mention, both with 8% of votes in the Phablet…

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We greeted the New Year with fanfare and it’s time for a recap of the one we sent off. And because we’re all about order, we’ll do it chronologically, starting with the most interesting stories from the first quarter of 2015.

The top-read article, by a long stretch, was the market launch of the Yu Yureka. Micromax’ subsidiary was a prominent player throughout the year, but it was precisely the Yureka that started it all.

A distant second in terms of hits, the announcement of the Lumia 640 and 640XL at MWC was another hot topic. A whole bunch of Samsung Galaxies were unveiled on January 6, and also made for a top-three story.

You were curious to read about Tizen’s compatibility with Android apps on the Samsung Z1, and that even topped the announcement of the company’s flagship pair Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. Lollipop updates were eagerly anticipated and the Android 5.0 firmware for Motorola’s original Moto G accumulated the most hits, with a subsequent 5.1 release also making the chart.

The promise for a bezelless Oppo R7 was another interesting read, and even though in the end it turned out little like the initial leaks, the smartphone and the entire family it ushered in proved to be solid performers. Meanwhile, the Xiaomi Redmi 2 netted half a million hits in just its top two articles, and there were quite a few more stories around it.

A chart topper in the bang-for-buck category, the Asus Zenfone 2 was announced at CES in January alongside the Zenfone Zoom. A smartphone with 4GB of RAM for $200 was sure to entice readers, though it did turn out that that the two numbers didn’t come in a single device.

An LG clamshell, what year is it? That’s what you thought, apparently, and clicked to find out more. And then a Lenovo leak from February revealed most of the company’s lineup for the year, with devices gradually getting official the following months.

Wrapping up this improvised top 20 list is the article with the Galaxy S6’s camera samples. It was an incessant stream of contradictory leaks regarding sensor manufacturer and megapixel count and you were curious to find out what Samsung did eventually.

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Micromax Yureka now available for purchase in India on Amazon
The phone is running Cyanogen OS 11 out of the box and is available for just $145.

Microsoft unveils 5-inch Lumia 640 and 5.7-inch Lumia 640 XL
Both will launch with WP8.1 but will be updated to W10. The Lumia 640 XL packs a 13MP Zeiss camera.

Samsung launches Galaxy E7, E5, A5 and A3 in India
Samsung is launching the Galaxy A3, A5, E7 and E5 in India, announcing the last two as well.

Samsung’s Tizen-based Z1 will run Android apps upon launch
OpenMobile’s ACL will bring some of Android’s versatility to the budget platform.

Samsung unpacks Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge at MWC 2015
The first Samsung unpacked event for 2015 brought us a duo of flagships – Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge.

Moto G Lollipop update now rolling out in India
Both the first and second generation models are being upgraded to Lollipop.

Xiaomi Redmi 2 officially updated with 2GB RAM, 16GB storage
Pricing and launch date is unclear though. Also, some already bought the 1GB/8GB version, now what?

Micromax announces Lollipop update for its Canvas phones
The Micromax Canvas Xpress A99 will be the first Micromax phone to get the Lollipop update.

Leaked video shows the bezelless OPPO R7 in action
The Oppo R7 has almost no bezels at the sides and expected to be as slim as…

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