After the next-gen Samsung Galaxy A7, the Galaxy A5 (2016) with model number SM-A5100 has also been certified by Chinese certification authority TENAA, confirming some of its key specs.

As per the TENAA listing, the device is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core CPU and sports a 5.2-inch (1920 × 1080 pixel resolution) OLED display. It has 2GB RAM and 16GB expandable internal memory. In terms of camera, the handset features an 8MP or 13MP rear unit and a 5MP front shooter.

Weighing in at 145gms and measuring 144.7 × 70.8 × 6.9 mm, the Galaxy A5 successor runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out-of-the-box, and will be available in golden color option. It’s worth mentioning that the new A5 has already cleared the FCC hurdle, revealing a 2,900mAh battery.

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The following eleven music services have been added to T-Mobile’s “approved” list of content providers that won’t count against your monthly data allotment:

Aud.io High-fidelity internet radio
Dash Radio DJ-driven radio, zero commercials, 24/7
DatPiff Mixtapes, hip hop music, videos and underground
Jango Internet radio that plays music you’ll love
KCRW Music discovery, NPR news, cultural exploration and informed public affairs
Noon Pacific A weekly mixtape of the best songs hand-picked from the best music blogs
Radio Danz The world’s pure dance channel
SomaFM Ambient, downtempo and chill beats from well-known and unknown artists
Spinrilla Hip-hop mixtape downloads and streams with no downloading limits
StreamOn Streaming music services powered by StreamOn. Next-level streaming products for the next era of radio
TuneIn Premium 100,000 radio stations, 5.7 million podcasts, language learning and more

The addition of these 11 services brings ol’ Magenta’s Music Freedom to a total of 44 streaming services you are free to jam to without worrying about using up any data.

T-Mobile is dedicated to bringing customers more Music Freedom services. Its website even tells you to tweet @TMobile with the hashtag #MusicFreedom if you wish to suggest any music services that aren’t part of Music Freedom.

T-Mobile was also notably mentioned for launching its Binge On™ campaign in November which offered a similar freedom for video streaming services that don’t count against your data…

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The BlackBerry Priv gets its first monthly maintenance patch via a 475 MB OTA update. While this particular update isn’t a Marshmallow overhaul, it does offer a bunch of new changes, improvements, and optimizations.

BlackBerry’s official blog outlines the major changes in the update including:

An improved camera: We’re implemented a number of tweaks that improve the speed of our camera app, and re-tuned it for better low-light image quality.
Better performance: We’ve also tweaked the PRIV’s software to improve overall system performance.
Improved stability: The update further includes a number of adjustments designed to improve device reliability and reduce instances of crashing and freezing.
Enhanced security: Lastly, the release includes December’s security patches – rest easy knowing your device is protected against the latest Android security threats.

The blog also mentions that the update is now available to all BlackBerry Priv units purchased through ShopBlackBerry.com by checking for system updates in the settings menu. Carrier versions’ update will begin rolling out on December 7.

BlackBerry’s official apps will also be updated via the Google Play Store starting December 14 with new camera filters and keyboard tweaks. The Hub & Contacts apps will also be updated to support WhatsApp.

DTEK will also be updated with new ways for your device to notify you of suspicious activity with sensitive information performed by your…

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The Snapdragon 820 is yet to appear in an actual device, but it seems the industry is really wasting no time, with focus already shifting towards its alleged successor. Of course, at this point in time it is far too early to have any actual information on the chip, but various sources have already been tossing around some pretty ambitious speculations. However, this might actually be the biggest one yet – support for up to 8GB of RAM.

The official reasoning behind such a statement is that the next wave of flagships will, in fact, incorporate enough computing and musty-tasking power to make the extra RAM necessary. This theory comes from Chinese analyst Pan Jiutang, who also reassures us that Qualcomm’s next beastly chip will be have a model designation “MSM8998”.

Now, it goes without saying that this should be taken with a grain of salt, or perhaps the whole salt shaker, as it is definitely way too early to have any concrete information on the silicon. Still, it is a pretty nice opportunity to strike up a debate on whether or not such power would be useful or practical inside a handset.

We see little logic behind essentially closing the hardware gap between personal computers and smartphones, as long as the current usage scenarios are in place, but is the status quo quickly headed for a change? Could projects like Microsoft’s Continuum be a valid path to a new personal computing revolution? What is your take on the matter?

Also, while we are still deep inside the rumor mill, it is worth noting that the alleged Snapdragon 830 has also been involved in another recent speculation, hinting at a new 10nm production process for the chip.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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Ever felt like your iPhone 6s is missing that Flagship Killer vibe only a OnePlus 2 could carry? Well, OnePlus has a solution for you ready to ship for the holiday season.

The OnePlus Sandstone Case is now available with a texture matching the company’s signature sandpaper smartphone backs. It is said to fit both the iPhone 6s and last year’s iPhone 6, but so far no model is available for the Plus-sized iPhones.

The case measures 138.7 x 70.2 x 10.5mm, meaning it adds 50% to the smartphone’s thickness, but the upside is that the camera will be nicely protected. The case weighs a hefty 20g too, and putting it on the iPhone 6s (already quite heavy thanks to the 3D Touch) will make for a chunky 163-gram 4.7-inch phone – not the best weight-to-screen ratio.

OnePlus Sandstone Case for the iPhone 6s

There’s another spin to the story, too. OnePlus is also bundling a physical invite for a OnePlus X. Some of those invites could be for the Ceramic limited edition version, and the company also hinted at free devices.

Either way, the case is available right now, and is reasonably priced at $20/€20/£16. Find out why you’d want one in the video…

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Early this year Omate showed off some smartwatches, including the 2G-enabled Roma. Those weren’t Android Wear watches though. Now the company is back with the Omate Rise – a 3G-enabled Android (not Wear, full Android) watch.

Unlike the latest crop of smartwatches, this one uses a regular SIM card – a microSIM, not even nano. Great news if your carrier doesn’t yet support the e-SIMs used by the likes of the Samsung Gear S2. Also, the chipset supports 1,900MHz (US) and 2,100MHz (EU) 3G bands, plus quad-band 2G/EDGE.

The Rise will be offered for pre-order on December 7 with a unique 48-hour IndieGoGo promotion. Super Early Bird and Early Bird backers will get a free Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor (by Nordic Semiconductor), which normally costs $50. The watch itself does not have a heart rate sensor.

Prices for the watch will be $200 and $210 for the first 500 backers of each Early Bird deal, the full retail price is expected to be $350 when the watch launches at the end of March.

The Omate Rise features a fully round 1.3″ display (360 x 360px) with sapphire coating. The screen is surrounded by a carbon fiber bezel -the reason for the IndieGoGo campaign, the company needs $30,000 to buy the tooling to manufacture it.

The watch is powered by MediaTek MT2601 chipset (dual-core Cortex-A7 and Mali-400) with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. Connectivity and sensors include Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, microphone + loudspeaker and, of course, 3G. The battery is good for two days of use. It has 580mAh capacity.

The watch is rated at 1 ATM water resistance and features replaceable 22mm bands. The Rise runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with Omate OUI 4.0 on top (it’s compatible with Android 4.3+ and iOS 9+). Omate has already open sourced its code at XDA-Developers so devs can play with it.

Again, the IndieGoGo campaign starts Monday, December 7 at 10am New York time and will run for only 48 hours. If you want one, it’s best to get one of the Early Bird deals – for the price cut and for the heart rate monitor, later units will be pricier and you’ll have to bring your own HR…

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Yu’s upcoming smartphone Yutopia, which has been the subject of a quite a few teasers in the last few months, will finally go official next week. The company has sent out invitations for the launch event, which is scheduled for December 7.

Yu is a Micromax subsidiary and a relatively young company. All the devices it has launched till date either fall in entry- or mid-level segments. However, going by whatever information has been teased until now, the Yutopia is expected to be Yu’s first proper flagship smartphone.

Rumors say that the Yutopia will be powered by a Snapdragon 810 SoC and sport a 5.2-inch QHD display. It will come in 3GB/4GB RAM options and will offer 32GB of internal memory. The handset will feature a 21MP rear camera and an 8MP front shooter. Sporting a metal body, it will run Android 5.1 Lollipop-based Cyanogen OS 12.1 at…

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OnePlus has launched the Wild Phone Case for the OnePlus 2 in India. It’s a premium leather case made by Hard Graft and is priced at a steep INR 7499 in India ($99.99 on the US Store).

The Wild Phone Case is made out of washed Tuscan leather and comes in an ash gray color. The insides of the cover are lined with wool that cleans the phone every time you slide it in, and there are pockets to store your credit cards and some currency. The cover has a small opening at the top for the headphone jack.

The Wild Phone Case is available for purchase through Amazon in…

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Yesterday, as promised, Chinese manufacturer vivo held an even to officially introduce us to its latest flagship duo – the X6 and X6Plus. Both the 5.2 inch and 5.7 inch handsets had quite a lot to offer, including full metal bodies and Super AMOLED screens and they stole the show from Y51 and Y51L models, which debuted at the venue as well.

Apparently vivo didn’t want any distractions from its power duo an instead opted to silently out said handsets, well, at least the Y51, which now has its own page on vivo’s official website. This, of course, allows us to take a better look at the device with detailed renders and a full specs sheet. It comes with a 5.0-inch display with a resolution of only 960 x 540 pixels, which is quite outdated, so we can only expect it to be a real budget-friendly offer. The Y51 is powered by a 64-bit Snapdragon 410 SoC with 2GB of RAM and runs on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop.

Storage is set at 16GB, but there is also a microSD card slot for up to 128GB extra. The camera setup is nothing special and consists of an 8MP primary shooter and a 5MP selfie one.

The Y51 measures 143.8×71.7×7.52mm and weighs in at 157g, which includes the 2350 mAh battery. There is LTE support, as well as optional Dual-SIM. Connectivity is also surprisingly rich with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, FM radio and, interestingly enough – Infrared.

As for the Y51L model, as well as a few others that have been circulating in rumors, like Y51A and Y37A – we have no additional info to share yet. But, given the current turn of event, we can only assume they will be silently listed at some point as well.

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Sony has set its CES 2016 press conference for January 5 at 5PM local time. The company’s teaser includes its most popular consumer tech across several categories, including smartphones, VR headsets and TV.

While we haven’t seen any Sony phones leak recently, the teaser suggests we might see a new announcement there. It’s almost certain that we’ll get new TV sets, headphones and digital cameras, too.

At last year’s CES, Sony announced the Smartwatch 3 and its then unexpected NW-ZX2 Music Player. It was not too long ago the company revealed its plans to crowdfund a new smartwatch, which just recently went on sale in Japan – we might hear something on international availability…

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