Given that the LG G Flex and G Flex 2 were unveiled at the last two CES events, it would have been reasonable to expect a G Flex 3 announcement at CES 2016. However, if a latest report from South Korea is to be believed, that’s not happening.

In fact, the report says that the company might even skip the G Flex 3 smartphone altogether, although there’s no word on why LG would that. This is also contrary to some previous rumors that suggested the device would be unveiled in March next year, and even revealed some of its key specs: SD820 chipset, 6-inch QHD touchscreen, and metal construction.

Among other prominent devices from LG’s 2016 line-up, the report notes that the G5 will be made official in April 2016, and we will also see a successor to the LG V10, which will be launched in H2…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1P3cfVj
via IFTTT

OnePlus might be prepping a third model to expand its portfolio and it looks like it will compete in the mini-flagship category. The info comes from a GFXBench listing, where the specsheet of the OnePlus Mini (for lack of an official model name) has been fully detailed.

You may have thought that OnePlus was done scaling down after the X, but that’s not the case, it seems. The Sony Xperia Z5 Compact will finally meet its match, as the alleged OnePlus Mini packs top class hardware in a similarly small package. The OnePlus X wasn’t quite a flagship per se, being powered by a year-and-a-half-old Snapdragon 801.

It all starts with a 4.6-inch display, a diagonal familiar from Sony’s so far one-of-a-kind offering. Where the OnePlus beats it, is resolution as its Mini comes with a 1080p display, and the Xperia Z5 Compact (as well as the older generations Z3 Compact and Z1 Compact) relies on a 720p unit. It’s debatable whether the resulting 479ppi density makes any sense on this diagonal, but we’ll stay away from that discussion.

The rest of the innards come straight from OnePlus’ current true flagship, the Two. You have the Snapdragon 810 with its octa-core CPU, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. GFXBench lists the camera as 12MP, but we all know that the quoted 4,160 x 3,120 pixels add up to 13MP, so the shooter comes from the big brother too, as does the 5MP front-facer. One important bit remains a mystery and that’s battery capacity.

And here we all thought that OnePlus’ iPhone 6s case was just a publicity stunt, but it may very well have been a hint at what’s to come.

Source |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1Rkd7bw
via IFTTT

The Microsoft Lumia 550 got discounted just last week and now it took another pay cut – the UK price dropped from the £90 from last week to £60. The US and EU prices don’t seem to have followed this second reduction though.

Anyway, new customers can now grab a 550 from Carphone Warehouse for £60 + £10 top-up for a Pay as you go plan with EE. Upgrades get it for £50. The retailer has exclusivity on the White color option, but the phone is also available in Black.

O2 is in on the deal too, offering the phone at £60 on a Pay & Go plan. Make sure to go through the O2 site though, Carphone Warehouse’s offers for O2 are for…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1Orpexd
via IFTTT

It seems that in Lenovo’s roster of yet to be announced phones, one was counted twice. The Lenovo A7010 turns out to be the lite version of the Lenovo Vibe X3.

The X3 moniker hints at three devices – two will be pretty high end and the third will share their design, but will feature some more modest specs.

This Lenovo Vibe X3 Lite packs a 5.5″ 1080p screen like the big guys and you get a pair of 1.5W Dolby Atmos speakers with TI OPA1612 amps and a Sabre 9018C2M DAC.

The expected price for the X3 Lite is around €270/$300, so the phone swaps the Snapdragon 808 for a MediaTek chipset and the 23MP/4K camera for a 16MP unit. Also, storage is reduced to 16GB.

Lenovo Vibe X3 press images

Note that the Lenovo Vibe X3 has already launched in China, but this Lite model is yet to officially go on sale in Europe. Also, it’s not clear if all there models will be available worldwide.

Source | Via (in…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1I42Ayz
via IFTTT

Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S7 flagship smartphone – which has already been the subject of several leaks and rumors until now – will feature a pressure-sensitive display similar to that offered by Apple’s newest iPhones, according to a new Wall Street Journal report.

While we already know that device will come in as many as 4 variants, the report notes some of the variants could feature a retina scanner, and the non-curved variants will likely also have expandable storage. The flagship will also come with a USB Type-C port and an improved camera optimized for low-light photography.

It’s worth mentioning that some of these features have been rumored earlier, too.

Overall, the report says the design of the Galaxy S7 flagship will be similar to the Galaxy S6, except for the rear camera unit, which won’t be bulging out this time, although the recently leaked renders suggest otherwise. They also show no USB Type-C port or expandable storage, so take this report with plenty of scepticism.

As for the availability, while the announcement is expected on the sidelines of MWC in February, the US launch is said to be in…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1Z7CNtk
via IFTTT

Dubai may have started off as a fishing village and the sea still plays an important role for the city. This is why the iPhone 6s Calypso by Givori taps mystical sea creatures for inspirations of this bejeweled smartphone.

Each Calypso phone features 117 individually carved “scales,” which are inlaid onto a gold grid on the back of the phone.

The iPhone 6s Calypso Diamond Edition brandishes 1,091 precious stones, totaling 10 carats. They adorn the back and serve as highlights around the Home key and camera. The precious metal used for the exterior are White gold and Black platinum.

This one is hugely expensive – UAE 110,000 or $30,000/€27,000. Only 50 units have been made.

Calypso Diamond • Malachite/Yellow gold • Mother of pearl/Rose gold

Assuming you’re not a crown prince, you can get the base iPhone 6s Calypso versions, which feature Malachite (set in Yellow gold), Mother of pearl (set in Rose gold) or Onyx. This one is “only” UAE 23,000 or $6,250/€5,700.

You can find the Givori iPhone 6s Calypso and Calypso Diamond in Dubai, specifically Harvey Nichols, Bloomingdales, select Damas boutiques and Axiom…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1McMzRI
via IFTTT

Huawei has launched a new variant of the Honor 7 smartphone in China. Dubbed Honor 7 Enhanced Edition, the device differs from the standard model in two aspects: it has 32GB internal memory and runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow, compared to Honor 7’s 16/64GB storage options and Android 5.0 Lollipop.

The rest of the specs remain same, meaning it is powered by Kirin 935 chipset and sports 5.2-inch FullHD display. RAM is 3GB, while camera configuration includes 20MP rear unit and 8MP front shooter. It also packs in a 3,100mAh battery, and features a fingerprint sensor at the back. The new variant comes only in gold color.

The Honor 7 Enhanced Edition carries a tag of RMB 1,990 (around $310), compared to the $278 cost of the Honor…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1Ns8Uwm
via IFTTT

Xiaomi’s next flagship model has been shrouded in a lot of controversy and mystery. It seems we still can’t quite put a finger on its exterior nor the exact specs sheet. We have already seen quite a few leaks, regarding a physical home button design – a Xiaomi first. But, none of the images seem to match up perfectly, making even this major novelty uncertain at this point.

Today, however, brings the first more tangible information about the Mi 5’s hardware. It appears that Xiaomi has decided to bring back the NFC chip that was dropped from the Mi 4. The information comes from a document released by China UnionPay – the sole domestic payment gateway supplier and card organization, detailing support for its newly released NFC-based payment system.

The platform translates loosely to “Cloud Lightening Pay” and much like Android Pay, leverages NFC for authentication purposes. The upcoming Xiaomi Mi 5 can be found on the list, as one of the initially supported 32 devices, proving that it will indeed have NFC.

This theory is further backed up by the apparent presence of the Mi 3 on the list as well, which is the last of the family to feature NFC. As already mentioned, it was dropped from the Mi 4 after the OEM discovered that only 1% of Mi 3 and Redmi 2A users were actually using it. But, the new payment system does look like a perfect reason to reintroduce NFC to the device lineup.

As for other preliminary info on the Mi 5 and its alleged Mi 5 Plus sibling, we have heard that the pair will probably use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC, but sadly without support for the company’s next-gen fingerprint scanning technology (called Snapdragon Sense ID)….

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1TKNmPo
via IFTTT

“Marty, you have to come back with me!” Amazon is worried about the rash of “hoverboards” catching fire and has notified all sellers of the electric gadgets that it needs documentation that their batteries meet safety standards.

Swagway (probably Segway’s fly cousin) stated that their boards are already fully certified and is glad that Amazon “decided to take steps to weed out the low quality boards.” The company is also working on ways that will allow consumers to verify that they got an authentic Swagway.

It seems that Amazon has already pulled some listings for hoverboards (even the reportedly compliant Swagways). Others (like Razor and Jetson) are still available…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1QgG3Bi
via IFTTT

Samsung Galaxy A9 will be joining the recently announced A3, A5, and A7 models of the refreshed Galaxy A (2016) lineup. The smartphone leaked via official promo pictures and is expected to go official later this month.

The Galaxy A9 is going to feature a 6″ Super AMOLED screen of 1080p resolution and run on the Snapdragon 620 chipset with 3GB of RAM. The 620 platform offers a powerful octa-core 1.8GHz processor with 4x Cortex-A72 and 4x Cortex-A53 cores, while the GPU in charge of graphics is Adreno 510.

The Galaxy A9 will be following the trend established by the smaller A3, A5, and A7 from the 2016 lineup and will be built around a metal frame and dual 2.5D glass panels.

The rest of the specs of the Galaxy A9 include a 13MP rear camera with optical image stabilization and bright f/1.9 aperture. There is also an 8MP selfie snapper with support for panoramic pictures, 32GB expandable storage, LTE Cat.7 connectivity, and a 4,000 mAh battery.

With such a beefy juice pack, the Galaxy A9 is touted to feature power bank capabilities. Those should be supported natively by Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but the Galaxy A9 will be launching on 5.1.1 Lollipop, so we can’t confirm this feature availability just yet.

Finally, the Galaxy A9 will support Samsung Pay and will feature a fingerprint scanner. It will be launching on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, but a Marshmallow update is scheduled for the months post the release.

Samsung Galaxy A9 is expected to go official very soon and hit the stores around Christmas or in early January. The price in China will be north of CNY 3,000, which means more than €430.

Source •…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1IPs82v
via IFTTT