At its big event on October 6, Microsoft unveiled a pair of flagship smartphones as well as a more affordable handset. That latter model is the Lumia 550, and it’s the one that should bring Windows 10 Mobile to the masses.

It turns out it may start doing that in the very near future, since it’s already up for pre-order in France. Amazon’s local arm is listing the device in white and black, priced at €129.90. Unfortunately a shipping date isn’t mentioned yet, but the retailer does say that the phone will be available soon.

We assume the Lumia 550 will slowly be put up for pre-order in more European countries in the following days, and hopefully its release is actually near.

The Microsoft Lumia 550 has a 4.7-inch 720p touchscreen, a 5 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 2 MP selfie shooter, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 chipset at the helm (with a 1.1 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU), 1GB of RAM, 8GB of expandable storage, and a 2,100 mAh battery.

Source | Via 1 (in Italian) • Via…

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3D Touch or curved Edge screen? Metal or glass? LCD or AMOLED? iOS or Android? Speed and silky-smooth response or heavy-duty multitasking? These are the questions and no one’s got better answers than you. And if the answers consistently put you on this or that side of the line, you know all there is to know.

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Samsung’s first round smartwatch has been available in the US since the beginning of the month, if you prefer the model sans mobile data connectivity. If you’re more inclined to get your wearables from a carrier, then this is for you.

The mobile data-enabled version of the Gear S2 is now available for pre-order at Verizon. You need to shell out $299.99 for it if you don’t mind signing a new two-year contract, or $349.99 without an activation. The watch will be in stores on November 6. Big Red offers the Gear S2 in silver and dark grey.

On the other hand, T-Mobile will begin selling the smartwatch on November 15, in the same two colors. To purchase one, you either pay the $359.99 full price, or go for the magenta carrier’s installment plan. Using this method, you shell out nothing upfront, then followed by 23 monthly payments of $15 and a final installment of $14.99.

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Apple’s latest pair of iPhones are doing pretty well, especially in the US – no surprises there, but the question is still out on how actual sales compare to the initial record-breaking 76 million units estimate. As usual, Cupertino has remained quiet on the matter and won’t probably break the silence until it is ready to post its Q4 2015 financial results at the beginning of 2016.

Naturally, that has left a lot of room for various analysts to weigh in on the matter and opinions are rather conflicting. On the one hand, we have Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty, who claims that the 6s is going even stronger than its predecessor. Her conclusions are mostly based on a survey of buying intention among smartphone customers, which shows a 10% year-over-year rise of the people who plan to buy a smartphone in the next twelve months. According to Katy, this, coupled with raising iPhone user loyalty, especially in the US and China is enough to conclude that Cupertino will exceed its Q4 estimates.

On the flip side, however, we find Pacific Crest Securities analyst John Vinh, who claims that the 76 million unit sales by the end of Q4 2015 are way too overestimated and in reality will translate to 67 million. He also seems to base this analysis on some more concrete evidence, namely feedback from Asia chip suppliers that claim Apple has cut down its component orders by roughly 15% to adjust to lower market interest. In addition, a recent survey among carriers in West Europe and North America has shown that most of them are yet to deplete their iPhone 6s stocks.

Regardless of what the actually sales figures reveal, we are not really concerned whether the iPhone is a profitable venture – that is a certainty. It is, however, interesting to see weather Apple’s newest creation will manage to outshine its predecessor in terms of popularity, or is Cupertino starting to stall in its tracks.

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The launch of the Huawei-made Nexus 6P smartphone in Canada has been delayed. While it was earlier supposed to go on sale in the country on October 26, the device is now expected to hit the shelves on November 2.

An internal Bell note (shown above), which was accessed by Canadian tech blog MobileSyrup, reveals that the reason behind the move is “supply issues.” While it isn’t yet clear what exactly these issues are, going by the language of the note, it’s safe to assume that the issues will affect other Canadian carries as well, although there’s no official confirmation on the same.

This comes just a few days after the smartphone was taken off from Google Play in Canada. Those who managed to place orders for the device prior to that are now being told that they will receive it between October 29 and November…

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Just a day after OnePlus posted a teaser suggesting that the rumored OnePlus X smartphone would be unveiled on October 29, the device’s price has been leaked.

According to renowned Chinese leakster Leaksfly, the handset will carry a price tag of RMB 1,399, which translates to $220. He revealed the information on Weibo, which is popularly known as China’s version of Twitter.

A quick look at the X’s TENAA listing now reveals complete specs of the device, including quad-core 2.0GHz processor, 4.99-inch OLED display with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, 3GB RAM, 16GB internal memory, 13MP/8MP camera combo, and Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS.

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The Samsung Galaxy Note5 smartphone, which was launched back in August this year, now comes in two new colors: Silver Titanium and Pink Gold. As of now, both variants will only be available for purchase in the company’s home country of South Korea.

Technically speaking, the Silver Titanium variant isn’t new given that Samsung showed off the variant at the smartphone’s launch in August. However, it was only now that it’s being released. On the other hand, Pink Gold is a completely new color for the Note5.

While Samnsung didn’t provide an exact date for the launch of the Silver Titanium variant, the Pink Gold model will be available for purchase in South Korea from October 23. As for the price, the former will carry a price tag of 899,800 won ($800) and 965,800 won ($860) for the 32GB and 64GB model, respectively, while the latter will set you back 965,800 won ($860) for the 64GB…

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Welcome to another episode of “Japan gets all the fun phones.” We saw the Lumia 950 duo and it had great cameras and such, but the design was pretty plain. A number of makers – including Vaio! – showed off phones running Windows 10 Mobile at an even held by Microsoft Japan.

Note that this was mostly a showcase of prototypes, not production-ready phones. And Vaio, Sony’s former PC division, only showed off a non-working dummy, but it’s still interesting to see it consider entering the smartphone market while its former parent considers leaving.

NuAns Neo

This one has a curious design, joining two materials including wood and other options.

NuAns Neo

ThirdWave Digginos Mobile DG-W10M

This one packs a 5″ 720p display and 16GB of storage and an “affordable price” but that’s about it.

Digginos Mobile DG-W10M

Freetel Katana 02

This one has a 5″ 720p screen, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. It will cost JPY 29,800 ($245/€215).

Freetel Katana 02

Acer Liquid M330

We we may actually see the Acer Liquid M330 in the west, it promises an entry-level experience with a 4.5″ 480 x 854px, Snapdragon 210 chipset and a 5MP camera.

Acer Liquid M330

Genesis WPH-451

Genesis WPH-451

Source (in Japanese) |…

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The lucky winner has been drawn, congratulations to Daniel G. from the US! We’ve contacted him and will coordinate with HonorBuy to send out the prize – a brand new OnePlus 2 64GB.

We’d like to thank everyone for the amazing participation. Over 25,000 people signed up for our inaugural giveaway, totaling nearly 80,000 valid entries.

Those that didn’t win shouldn’t despair, We’re working to set up a new giveaway shortly. Once again congrats to Daniel and good luck to everyone else next…

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The Huawei Mate S smartphone, which was made official at this year’s IFA last month and listed for pre-order in Europe a few weeks later, will be launched in Malaysia on October 22, according to a report. The device will carry a price tag of RM2,698 (around $650) in the country.

Specs-wise, the handset is powered by a HiSilicon Kirin 935 chipset with an octa-core CPU clocked at up to 2.2 GHz, and sports a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with FullHD resolution. It comes with 3GB RAM and 32/64/128 GB internal memory options, and packs in a 2700 mAh battery.

In terms of camera, the Mate S features a 13MP rear unit with OIS and dual-LED flash and an 8MP front shooter with a LED flash of its own. It runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with Emotion UI 3.1 on top., and features a Force Touch as well as a fingerprint…

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