NPD’s data for the first month of this year has arrived and its reveals status quo in Xbox One vs PS4 battle. Like December 2015, Sony’s gaming console held onto the top spot in terms of sales in the US. As is usually the case, specific sales numbers weren’t revealed.

“Thanks to our fans and partners for making PlayStation 4 the top-selling platform and software sales leader in January, according to NPD,” Sony said. “PS4 also saw impressive year-over-year growth in both hardware and software sales. We appreciate the support and will continue to deliver on our promise to bring the best entertainment experiences to gamers.”

While Microsoft again had to settle for the second spot, it still had something to trumpet – the number of gaming hours. “In January, the total number of hours spent gaming in one month on Xbox One worldwide surpassed 1 billion hours,” the company said.

“Looking ahead to this spring, fans can enjoy more great games with the upcoming releases of ‘Quantum Break,’ ‘Rocket League’ and ‘Tom Clancy’s The Division.’ We can’t thank our fans enough for their continued support and passion for Xbox, and we’re looking forward to bringing more of the games and experiences our fans want most in 2016.”

The NPD report revealed a decline in overall hardware sales. “As we enter 2016, the majority of console hardware sales will occur on eighth generation consoles as evidenced by the 96% share of console hardware sales from eighth generation consoles, up from 84% in January 2015,” the market research firm said.

In the battle of games, Call Of Duty: Black Ops III bagged the top spot – it was at the top in December as well as for the whole of 2015,…

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Less than a week after there were reports that Google is planning to launch a Samsung Gear VR competitor later this year, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Mountain View, California-based company is also working on a standalone VR headset.

Google’s existing Cardboard VR headset (Star Wars edition)

As the term suggests, a standalone VR headset is one which doesn’t rely on a smartphone, PC, or a gaming console to function. Currently, there isn’t any such VR product in the market.

“The headset will include a screen, high-powered processors and outward-facing cameras,” the report said. It “appears to aim for a middle ground: a quality experience not tethered to an expensive PC or game console.” Startup Movidius will supply the technology for the headset.

As for the availability, things aren’t set in stone it seems. While one of the WSJ’s sources said the device could be unveiled this year, others refrained from offering any specific timeline, cautioning that it’s in early stages of development and could even be scrapped.

The Samsung Gear VR competitor, meanwhile, could be unveiled at Google’s this year’s annual developer conference along with a new VR-compatible Android version, the report…

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LeTV’s claim for fame was at this year’s CES where Qualcomm announced LeTV would be the make+r of the first phone with the high-end Snapdragon 820 chipset.

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Unveiled late last month in India, the Huawei Honor Holly 2 Plus smartphone will go on sale starting next week – February 15 to be precise. Carrying an INR 8,499 (around $125) price tag, the device will be available for purchase through online retailers Flipkart and Amazon.

Specs-wise, the handset is powered by a MediaTek MT6735P SoC, and sports a 5-inch HD IPS display. RAM is 2GB, while internal memory is 16GB, although expandable. It packs in a large 4,000mAh battery.

The camera department is handled by a 13MP rear unit and a 5MP front shooter. Featuring textured design on its back and a poly-carbonate body, the Honor Holly 2 Plus runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with EMUI 3.1 on top. The handset is scheduled to get the Android 6.0-based EMUI 4.0 update soon.

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