Samsung’s Galaxy A-series are due for an update, the earlier ones now approaching the ripe old age of 12 months. There have been indications that the next-gen mid-range models with a premium build are in the works, and things have gotten to a point where we’re now being treated to a few live photos of the successors to the Galaxy A5 and A7.

The two smartphones have been brought up to check on current upmarket Samsung design, featuring a flat glass rear panel, a lot like the Galaxy S6 generation. Unlike the truly premium handsets, however, the future Galaxy A5 (2016) and A7 (2016) will have nothing but a single-LED flash next to the prominent camera hump. Obviously a heart-rate sensor is out of the question in this segment, but the news is that Samsung has relocated the loudspeaker, likely to the bottom of the devices.

Alleged live photos of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) and A7 (2016)

The front sees fewer changes, especially on the smaller A5 model. Apart from the rearrangement of the sensors around the earpiece, the most notable difference is the taller home button, hinting at a fingerprint sensor, which has already made its way to the A-series with the A8 and yet-to-be-released A9. The images appear to show a 2.5D front glass on the face of the Galaxy A7 (2016), but not on the A5 (2016), an odd discrepancy with an older leak.

If the naming is any indication, we’d expect the two models to be released no earlier than January next year – bang on time for the A7 to meet its one-year update deadline, and a couple of months late as far as the A5 is…

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Gionee has announced the new Gionee S6, the latest in its line of slim mid-range smartphones.

The Gionee S6 has a 5.5-inch 720p AMOLED display, MediaTek MT6753 SoC with 1.3GHz octa-core CPU and Mali T-720 GPU and 3GB RAM. The 32GB internal memory is expandable via the microSD card slot while the camera pair includes a 13 megapixel main unit and a 5 megapixel front snapper.

There’s a hybrid second SIM slot, so you can choose between dual SIM and single SIM and memory expansion. You get LTE support, USB Type-C connector, and a 3150mAh battery. The phone is running on Android 5.1 Lollipop with Gionee’s AMIGO OS 3.1 on top.

The S6 is a sleek device with a metal body, unlike the previous S-series devices that had glass back. It also has really thin bezels on the side, and Gionee claims the phone has a display to glass ratio of 77.8%. The phone is just 6.9mm thick at its thickest point.

The Gionee S6 is priced at CNY 1699 ($266) and will be available from November…

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vivo is starting to make a habit out of leaking its upcoming devices in PR shots. Either that, or some of the Chinese OEM’s employees show little restraint in taking yet-to-be official prototypes on a night out. After the vivo X6 was spotted is one such photo, along with Harper’s Bazaar magazine materials and Victoria’s Secret passes, another mysterious vivo phone is making the rounds online in a similar setting, only this time in what appears to be a National Geographic promotion.

It is clear that this new unit is a different upcoming vivo phone, as it looks nothing like the aforementioned fashion show attendee. It also comes with a fingerprint reader on the back, though, so this is starting to look like a new trend for the manufacturer. The shots also come with some yet to be confirmed info that this is the vivo Xshot successor – vivo Xshot 3.

We don’t really have much to go by to prove this theory, but the sizeable camera sensor does add some credibility to the assumption. This could mean that the Xshot 3 will have an even larger aperture than its sibling, for better low-light performance, as well as possibly an even wider angle lens. The unit also looks to be a bit larger than the current Xshot, but it could also be a matter of perspective.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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The Google engineer Benson Leung, who’s been testing USB Type-C accessories lately, reported that the two OnePlus products are out of spec and can harm your device’s port, PC hub or charger plug.

The reason turns out to be a wrong resistor in both the USB cable and the USB adapter – it’s a 3A identifier resistor instead of “Default USB Power”, required by the USB Type-C spec. Apparently this mistake may harm either the device or the plug/port on the other end.

Benson Leung suggest to use only the cables and charger plugs that came bundled with your device and not to mix them with other gadgets. If you need such accessories, he reviewed quite a few over Amazon and the one with 5* rating from Leung are the ones you should be looking to purchase if you want to be sure they are spec-compliant.

While the USB Type-C standard is targeted for a mass spread over the next couple of years, we guess you should all be careful with the first batch of accessories, as mistakes are obviously possible.

Source •…

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A OnePlus staff member shared the company’s Android plans over the OnePlus official forum. The shared details include timeframe for OnePlus One, Two and X.

OnePlus One will be the first to get Android Marshmallow as Cyanogen is already working on its next major version and the update will begin seeding in Q1 2016. OnePlus also offers Oxygen ROM for the OnePlus One, but it will receive the Marshmallow update at a later point, following the Cyanogen OS release.

OnePlus 2 will also be getting its Marshmallow-sweeten Oxygen update through the first quarter of 2016. This update will also allow users and developers to use the default Google API for the fingerprint scanner, as it is currently locked to non-default apps by not having a proper API.

Finally, OnePlus X is also greenlighted for Android 6 Marshmallow update, but its time frame is yet to be announced. Judging by the plans for Q1 release of the One and Two updates, we guess the X may be getting it in Q2 next…

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Back in November last year, it was revealed that Sony is working on a watch with e-paper display, although nothing more was confirmed at that time. Fast forward a year and the timepiece, dubbed FES Watch, is all set to go on sale – if only in Japan for now.

The watch – which is not a smartwatch FYI – will be available for purchase from MoMA Design Store (located on Omotesando) starting November 21 – this Saturday. In addition, boutique department store Isetan in Shinjuku will also carry the device, but from December 1. The latter also carried the Apple Watch at launch.

Those looking to purchase the watch – which carries a price tag of 29,700 JPY (~$242) – online have two options: the MoMA online store and First Flight. The latter will begin shipping the watch this Saturday.

Source (translated) |…

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The Huawei Mate 8 smartphone – which recently cleared China’s 3C and is expected to be unveiled on November 26 – will be available in several variants differing in screen sizes and other hardware specs, according to a new report.

As per the report, there will be three models: one with a screen size between 5.5- and 5.7-inch, other having a large 6-inch display, and a third one with a whopping 6.2-inch screen. The base model will have a memory configuration of 3GB/32GB, while the top model will come with 128GB internal memory.

The report also notes that the 6.2-inch model will have a 2K (although that probably means QHD as 2K has never been a phone resolution) display, while the smaller models will feature a 1080p screen. As for the OS, all three models are said to be running Android 6.0 Marshmallow out-of-the-box.

Needless to say, none of this has been officially confirmed by the Chinese company, so take it with a healthy dose of…

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Earlier we had reported the list of Samsung devices that would be getting the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update but back then there was no tentative date available as to when the updates will be rolling out.

Today, we have the release schedule for some of the Samsung devices that were listed earlier, courtesy of Times News UK.

The list includes two phases, with phase 1 including the flagship (and thereby, high priority) devices. As you can see the most recent Note5 and the S6 edge+ will be the first to receive the Marshmallow update in December, with the S6 and S6 edge receiving it in January. They will then be followed by the Note 4 and the Note Edge in February.

Two of the phase 1 devices, and all of the phase 2 devices, are currently awaiting approval, with no ETA on when they will get the update. There is also a phase 3, not shown in the image, that includes additional devices that will be getting the update some time next year, so if you don’t see yours in the list above and is a reasonably recent device then you can expect it to get the…

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Facebook has confirmed that its Instant Articles feature – that brings full news stories and videos from local publishers directly to a user’s News Feed, saving load times and enhancing reading experience – is now available in India, where users of the social networking company’s Android app will currently be able to access it.

“We at Facebook are really excited to be rolling out Instant Articles in India on Monday,” said Andy Mitchell, Facebook’s director, news and global media partnerships. “We are working with a publisher ecosystem that is varied and we are excited to see how this product will resonate with Facebook users and publishers in India.”

As of now, Facebook has collaborated with five well known Indian publishers, including India Today, The Quint, Aaj Tak, Hindustan Times and The Indian Express. The platform will be made accessible to other publishers early next year.

For those who aren’t already aware, the Instant Articles feature is already available to iOS users in the US and parts of…

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As expected, the Flyme 5 update for the Meizu Pro 5 flagship smartphone – which was announced with 5.7 inch display and Exynos 7420 chipset back in September this year – has finally arrived.

While that’s certainly good news for Pro 5 owners, it’s worth mentioning that the update will not be available over-the-air (OTA) as it’s still in beta. This means that for now, those interested in having the new firmware installed on their handsets will have to do it manually.

As for the update, aside from design changes, it also brings several new features, including split screen functionality and card taskbar. In addition, the device’s camera UI has also been updated with several new options. Hit the Source link below for more details on the update.

Source (translated) |…

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