If when you see those Facebook and Twitter share buttons across the Web the first thing that comes to your mind is “why doesn’t Skype have one?”, then you’ll be happy to know that Microsoft has obliged.

The Skype team has announced its own share button today, one that webmasters can add to their websites (naturally). And when you, a visitor of a website, click or tap on that Skype share button, you can easily share the content with your friends.

Here’s what happens. After you click or tap on the button, a window comes up onto the page asking you to sign in to Skype. After you do that, you need to pick one or more Skype friends you’d like to share with, and then just hit Send. You can even add a message to be shared along with the link.

Skype says its button “works great for both desktop and mobile sites”, and there are several versions of it for you to choose from (if you’re a developer). All the necessary information for adding the Skype share button to your website can be found here.

The button is already live on MSN.com (yes, it still exists, amazingly), as well as sify.com. And you should probably expect to see it in a lot more places very…

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Samsung is definitely a veteran on the smartwatch scene, perhaps even more so than LG. The Korean giant has already done a few experiments in the field, some of which arguably quite successful, but the Gear S2 might just be the biggest one yet.

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At the end of September an Oppo A33 got detailed thanks to the fact that it was certified by TENAA, China’s equivalent of the FCC. And now the regulatory agency is at it again, outing yet another unannounced Oppo device – the A53.

As their respective model numbers imply, the Oppo A53 is a bit higher-end than the A33, though you shouldn’t expect flagship-quality specs here. In terms of looks, the A53 (which you can see below) is clearly recognizable as an Oppo handset, sporting design cues that have been seen in past offerings from the Chinese company.

The Oppo A53’s listing by TENAA has also thankfully revealed most of its specs. It has a 5.5-inch 720p touchscreen, a 1.5 GHz octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a 13 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 5 MP selfie shooter, and 16GB of expandable storage. It runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and has 4G LTE support.

You can expect to see it launching in silver and gold color options, at least in China. It’s still unclear what it will be called when it becomes official, or whether it will be sold internationally as well.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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Now that the word is out that Samsung might be going in a whole new direction for the Galaxy S7’s camera, sources have dug up a patent filing that all but confirms the rumor. What could BRITECELL possibly mean, but a rather obvious word play on “bright” indicating a sensor with low light shooting capabilities, just like we’d expect from a 12MP type 1/2″ imager.

And we know it’s a sensor that the trademark defines, because Samsung’s current lineup of smartphone sensors is called ISOCELL. That, and also the fact that the patent docs contain the words “image sensor for mobile phones”.

Meanwhile, another source in Korea reports that the Galaxy S7 will be released in early February 2016. That rings well with previous rumors for a January launch – an announcement in late January could very well mean availability in the first weeks of February.

Additionally, the same report states that the Galaxy S7 will be the first smartphone to support Cat. 12 LTE for exorbitant 600Mbps downlink speeds (theoretical, but still). We already know that the Snapdragon 820 is one chip that will be able to achieve this feat, and it seems a proper time for it to hit the market – the Snapdragon 810 premiered on the LG G Flex2 around the same time this year.

Then again, the source states that the Exynos 8890, due to enter production next month, also integrates a Cat.12 modem. So, apparently, at least two of the rumored three chipset variants of the next-gen flagship will come with support for highest available cellular data speed transfers.

Via 1 Via…

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Vivo was expected to unveil the successor to the Xplay 3S today, instead the company offered a teaser – an image of a gift box with X6 on its lid. There’s not much else about this new device, except that it will focus on four things: stability, speed, battery life and durability.

This more or less lines up with what we’ve been hearing about the Xplay 3S, it may just turn out to be a case of mistaken identity.

The rumor mill paints an impressive picture, though don’t trust it fully. If the rumors are correct, the Vivo X6 will somehow fit a big 4,000mAh battery inside a 4mm chassis. The phone is expected to have a Nexus 6-like 6″ QHD AMOLED display with Force Touch.

Vivo X6 teaser image

As for speed it will allegedly come with MediaTek’s 10-core Helio X20 chipset and 1GB of dedicated video RAM. All current split one pool of RAM between the CPU and GPU, so the X6 could be a pioneer. A 21MP main camera and 12MP selfie camera are also in the cards.

Vivo will reveal more info about the Vivo X6 to its Weibo followers in the coming days, seemingly culminating in a November 9 announcement. The fate of the Xplay 3S is not clear.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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Last month, we told you about the existence of the Elite versions of the ZTE Nubia Z9 Max and Nubia Z9 Mini smartphones. Turns out it has just been certified by Chinese certification authority TENAA, adding weight to the expectation that the devices will be launched soon.

The listing for the Nubia Z9 Max Elite reveals pretty much what we already know: 1.8Ghz processor, 5.5-inch 1080p display, 16MP rear and 8MP front camera, 3GB RAM and 16GB internal memory, as well as a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.

In addition, it was also revealed that the handset runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out-of-the-box, measures 154.79 × 76.69 × 8.0 mm, weighs in at 165 grams, and will be available in black and white colors. Connectivity options include WiFi, Bluetooth, and 4G LTE. The smartphone is also expected to pack in a 2,900 mAh battery and feature a USB Type-C port.

Source (translated) |…

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There have been “iPhone mini” rumors since before Apple introduced the 5.5″ iPhone Plus, but now that the 4″ has languished people are starting to miss it. So much so that KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple can move 20-30 million of such a phone.

He gives the following prescription for the specs: metal casing (since the 5s far outsold the 5c), Apple A9 chipset to handle iOS9 and 10 (since the A7 in the 5s is getting really rusty), no 3D Touch (to differentiate the bigger phones).

Kuo believes that Apple will hand the manufacturing contract to Foxconn exclusively sometime in the first half of next year. The analyst says Apple will move to further differentiate the biggest and mid-size iPhone 7 models, by giving the Plus extra RAM.

Again, this is what an analyst believes is the best move for Apple, whether the leadership at Cupertino agrees remains to be seen. Looking at Android, there’s basically no 4″ flagship, even the Xperia Z Compact line is at 4.6″. Would you pick a 4″ iPhone 7 over a 4.7″ one?

Source |…

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What if you could take your iPhone to the shop and have more storage added? It’s no longer an “if,” at least in China where one repair shop has cracked the puzzle of upgrading iPhones and iPads.

Apple has software protection in place that verifies that the hardware is the right configuration. That is circumvented through a loophole that may be closed in the future. For the time being, the shop owner reports that 70+ devices have been upgraded and they work fine.

Some app data might be lost, some apps may need to be re-installed, but ultimately an iCloud backup can save you most of the headache.

Working with these chips by hand is difficult, but special tools were created to help with the process. Even so, the motherboard on the iPhone 5s is too small and cramped to safely swap out the memory chip.

An iPhone 6 is much easier and most iPads reportedly work. There’s no word on the new iPhone 6s generation though.

As for the price, CNY 580 ($92/€84) nets you 128GB storage, CNY 450 ($71/€65) gives you 64GB. Most people go for the bigger option as a lot of the cost is for the work involved. Considering Apple is charging $100/€110 to go from 16GB to 64GB, it’s a pretty sweat deal. One that will probably end soon when Apple catches wind of this.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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While we already knew that Samsung’s Gear S2 smartwatch has been a hit in the company’s home country of South Korea, a new report is indicating that the wearable is creating waves in China, too.

As per the report, the demand for the Gear S2 in China is soaring, with the launch sale on popular third-party retailer JD.com seeing 180,000 units of the smartwatch getting sold out in less than eight hours. For those who aren’t already aware, in China, the wearable device carries a price tag of CNY 2,198 (around $350) for the standard model and CNY 2,398 (around $380) for the Classic model.

Previously market research firm Strategy Analytics said that the Gear S2 – which is already available for purchase in the US and UK – could turn out as a serious competitor to the Apple…

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If you’re on Twitter, you may have noticed a new UI change on the company’s website and mobile apps. The longstanding star button for favoriting tweets has now been replaced with a heart button.

You can say a lot with a heart. Introducing a new way to show how you feel on Twitter: https://t.co/WKBEmORXNW http://pic.twitter.com/G4ZGe0rDTP— Twitter (@twitter) November 3, 2015

The functionality is identical; instead of a star you now have a heart. Twitter is going with the familiar terminology Likes/Liking to go with the new button. There is also a neat little animation that takes place when you click on the button.

Twitter’s ideology is that the previous star button could be confusing to newcomers, whereas with the heart button there is no confusion as to what the functionality is. Also, the heart button works across a number of situations, such as showing appreciation or support whereas the star button was more. emotionally stunted, so as to speak.

Naturally, this caused a bit of an uproar among some who preferred the star button but overall most people seem to be taking well to it. It probably won’t seem like a big deal to most people, though. That’s because it isn’t,…

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