Today’s the day and the wait is nearly over – Microsoft will finally pull the wraps off a couple of flagship smartphones, the Lumia 950 and the 950 XL. The latest top-end offering, the Lumia 930 (still Nokia-branded, mind you), is now a year and a half old.

A few other smartphones down the ranks are not out of the question, though obviously a bit less exciting. The x50 generation may see members of the 8, 7, and 5 series come to life today, though none of those have been supported by the usual piles of leaked photos and documents. If the Lumia 850, 750 and 550 are indeed marked on Microsoft’s calendar for today, it’s likely they’ll take stage early as a buildup to the flagships, so there won’t be much of a wait for these.

But it’s not just smartphones, you know. A brand new Surface Pro 4 has been in the works and it would make sense for it to make an appearance at a #Windows10devices event, wouldn’t it? Display diagonal is the big mystery here, and whether it’s 12″ or 14″, the rumored nearly non-existent physical bezels when docked might be complemented by software ones for an additional gripping area, when used in full tablet mode.

HoloLens was Microsoft’s take on augmented reality, showcased all the way back in January. The fact that it was part of a URL earlier today, which led to the live stream, might be an indication of interesting developments on that end as well.

All in all, we’re expecting a whole bunch of #Windows10devices, and our cautious forecast here at the office is for a 2-hour event. Whether we’re right or not, you can watch the whole thing live…

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Nearly a month ago, Samsung’s latest SoC featuring custom Mongoose CPU cores (codenamed Exynos M1) was spotted running GeekBench and today the latest results of the SoC’s performance leaked.

Judging from the new GeekBench results, Samsung has clearly tried its best to make the Mongoose cores perform even better than before. The Exynos M1’s (likely carrying the 8890 model number) cores are clocked at 2.3GHz and have scored 6,908 points in the Multi-Core test. Single-core performance is measured at 2,294 points.

The Mongoose CPU continues to impress in power saving mode as well. It manages to beat the performance of the Exynos 7420’s Cortex A57 and A53 cores and scores 1,710 points versus 1,486 points in single-core tests. The difference in the multi-core test is minimal at less than 100 points.

Chipset
Single-Core
Multi-Core

Samsung Exynos M1 Mongoose – 2.3GHz
2,294
6,908

Samsung Exynos M1 (Mongoose) – Power Saving
1,710
4,896

Samsung Exynos M1 (Mongoose) – Ultra Power Saving
1,100
3,209

Samsung Exynos 7420
1,486
4,970

Apple A9
2,487
4,330

As you can see in the table above, the Exynos M1 beats the Apple A9 chip in multi-core tests, but doesn’t quite match it at the single-core test component. Of course there’s a lot of time until it releases, so Samsung will have plenty of chances to improve its performance.

According to previous rumors, Samsung should push the Exynos M1 to mass production in about 9-12 month’s time. If the company sticks to its previous release schedules,this means the new SoC won’t debut in the Galaxy S7 flagship next year and we’ll have to wait for the next note at least.

Source |…

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As most of you have surely heard, the wait for a new batch of Windows devices is nearly over. Microsoft’s device unveiling starts in just a few hours in New York, 10:00 a.m. EDT, to be exact and there is almost no doubt that the Lumia 950 and 950XL will be the stars of the show.

There is little mystery left regarding the new flagship duo, as numerous live photos and specs leaks have already uncovered most every detail. Still, it is never too late for one last sneak peek, courtesy of Twitter’s Onleaks. A few photos show both devices in the flesh, once again accenting on the removable battery on the 950XL.

In fact, it looks like the shot we reported on yesterday, revealing the purported 3340 mAh battery pack, is the exact same one we see today, as part of a set, hinting that the shots aren’t exactly a fresh pre-event leak.

The Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL have a 5.2″ and 5.7″ displays, both at QHD resolution, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable memory. The first has a more powerful Snapdragon 810 chipset and a 3,300mAh battery, while smaller Lumia 950 has a slightly less powerful Snapdragon 808 chip and a smaller 3,000mAh battery. Both phones will share a 20MP PureView camera with triple-LED flash. Both phones also have USB Type-C connectors, which Microsoft allegedly plans to use for Windows 10 Continuum.

A few preorder listings have also already provided us with some estimates for pricing. However, despite all this info, there are still some things to figure about the Lumia 950, like weather or not it will have a dual-SIM version and also the possibility of a triple LED flash. Also, let’s not forget that a few other devices should be unveiled at today’s event, most-notably – the Lumia 550, Microsoft Band 2 and Microsoft Surface Pro 4. There has also been talk of metal-laden Lumia 830 successor, so there is still a lot to look forward to at the…

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After launching the m2 note and the MX5, Meizu is now releasing the m2 in the Indian market. The phone will be released next week, Monday October 12. No pricing has been announced at this point.

The Meizu m2 is the smaller variant of the m2 note, and has a 5.0-inch 720p display, with MediaTek MT6735 chipset, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage with microSD support, 13 megapixel rear camera, 5 megapixel front camera, Wi-Fi 802.11n, dual SIM support with 4G LTE on both, 2,500mAh battery, and Flyme OS 4.5 with Android…

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It’s probably a full year now that the Snapdragon 810 is mentioned in every article with the word “overheating” thrown in somewhere. And since the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact is powered by one such Qualcomm chip, it was natural that it would entertain mini-flagship enthusiasts how it would fare in resource-intense tasks such as 4K recording, thermally speaking that is.

Well, an Xperia fan (or the Xperia Fan) has taken to it and put a bunch of smartphones to the test, side by side. The participants are the Z5 Compact, Z3 Compact, Verizon-exclusive Z3v, Z3+ and M5.

A level playing field is achieved by placing all of them in airplane mode with no background apps running. Upon engaging the 4K mode all phones greet you with a customary Sony warning that the phone will overheat and the camera will switch off. The big question is when and the video aims to answer that.

The Xperia Z3v calls it quits first, short of 11 minutes. The Z3+ pops up the overheating warning around the 15min mark, but interestingly it’s the Z3 Compact that throws in the towel second, without a warning, around 17 minutes into it.

It was a close call between the camera used to record the test and the Z3+, but the Z3+ narrowly beat it (or is it the other way around) and gave up in under 21 minutes. Then the Xperia M5 ran out of storage, so it’s result is inconclusive. It could, however, be argued that if it doesn’t overheat while you have room to record it’s doing a fine job.

Which brings us to the Z5 Compact. The warning comes at the half-hour mark, but is perhaps overly conservative, as it takes another 10 minutes, before the heat gets too much to bear – 40 minutes and 15.5GB of 4K video are the end…

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Later today Microsoft execs take the stage at the Skylight at Moynihan Station in NY for the Windows 10 event. We’ll cover the event as it unfolds and write up a hands-on for anything we can get our mitts on, but we’ll take these last few hours to review what we’re expecting.

The event starts at 10am ET (2pm GMT), we’ll post a livestream when it’s available.

Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL

These two are all but certain. It’s been a year and a half since the last Lumia flagship and these are long overdue. They’ll follow the Lumia 640 trend with a relatively compact base device and a bigger, more advanced XL model.

The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL will take the top spot with a massive 5.7″ display with QHD resolution (1,440 x 2,560px). It will revive the dusty PureView name with a 20MP camera with tri-LED flash, plus a 5MP selfie camera with its own flash.

The phone will be powered by Snapdragon 810 and will pack a USB Type-C cable. We’re excited to see if Microsoft can pull off Continuum – the feature that will let a Windows 10 Mobile phone use its TV out capabilities to run a desktop UI (thanks to Type-C the same cable will handle USB for peripherals).

The Microsoft Lumia 950 is much of the same, except the screen is smaller – 5.2″ – but keeps its QHD resolution. The chipset drops to Snapdragon 808, but Windows Phone was never bottlenecked by the chipset.

Some prices from Russia leaked earlier, though phones there get a hefty markup so expect lower numbers elsewhere. The Lumia 950 was at $865 (converted from rubles) and the Lumia 950 XL was $100 higher.

Microsoft Lumia 550

While Windows has been hurting for a flagship phone, it may get an extra entry-level phone too. The Microsoft Lumia 550 is a follow-up to the Lumia 720 and 730 with a 4.7″ or a 5″ AMOLED display with 720p resolution. Or qHD, there’s a lot of uncertainty.

The camera is expected to be pretty basic though – 5MP on the back, 2MP on the front – which is in line with the current 5-series. The chipset won’t be anything special either, a Snapdragon 210 with 1GB of RAM is the current rumor.

Microsoft Lumia 750 and Lumia 850

There have been relatively few leaks for these two. We did see leaked documents detail their specs – both will have 5″ screens with about 720p resolution (the 850 screen will be a bit wider).

They will have PureView cameras with Zeiss optics too, differing on the sensor resolution – 10MP for the Lumia 850 and 8MP for the 720. There’s no indication of optical image stabilization like the Lumia 830 had.

The rest of the specs are expected to be pretty much 6-series stuff. That’s a Snapdragon 410 chipset with 1GB of RAM. Even LTE isn’t listed on the leaked specs, even though the Lumia 550 is supposed to have it. Perhaps this will come in a variety of single/dual SIM, 3G/LTE combos.

Microsoft is rumored to be working on an affordable flagship, one with a metal unibody. The Lumia 850 could well fill those shoes considering the 830 had a metal frame and polycarbonate back.

Microsoft Surface Pro 4

The Surface Pro is due for an upgrade too. We’re hearing some conflicting information – either the tablet will come in two sizes, 12″ and 14″, or it will have razor thin bezels on the screen and switch dynamically between the two.

The 12″ model should be fairly similar to the current Surface Pro 3, while the bigger 14″ model will bump the screen resolution to 2,160 x 1,440px.

Microsoft HoloLens

This has been announced already but it’s certain to show up at the event (the URL for the livestream ends with “octevent_crm_HoloLens”). We hope to get a retail launch date and price for the AR headset, though that’s just wishful…

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Sharp has announced a unique phone that is designed as a humanoid robot. Dubbed RoboHon, the device, which has been developed by the famous Tokyo professor and roboticist Tomotaka Takahashi, will be launched in H1 next year.

As you can see in the image above, the robot phone – which has a height of about 19.5cm and weighs in at 390 g – sports a 2-inch screen on its back and features a built-in camera and projector on its face.

Sharp claims the RoboHon is easy to carry around – you can put it in your pocket or bag. It supports both LTE and 3G, and is capable of walking, notifying new messages, remembering stuff, and even clicking pictures. You can see the robot phone in action in the video below.

Source 1 (translated)…

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After HTC and Motorola, now T-Mobile has released a list of devices on its network that are slated to receive the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update.

The list includes the HTC One M8, M9; LG G3, G4, G Stylo; Google Nexus 5, 6, 7, 9; Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Note5, Note Edge, S5, S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+, and Tab S2.

The magenta carrier explains that the update process consists of three stages: Manufacturer Development (point where the carrier and the device manufacturer agree to support a new software update), T-Mobile Testing, and Completed (update launch approved). Currently, aside from the Nexus devices, all other devices in the list are at the first…

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Reddit is launching a new website that will feature interesting stuff from its own community, according to a report from Wired. Dubbed Upvote, the website will be accessible to the general public today.

As per the report, the idea behind Upvote is to regain the traffic Reddit loses when stories shared on it are picked up by other media outlets.

“The stuff our community creates on a daily basis blows our mind,” said the team behind the new website. “Unfortunately, rather than telling that story, some news outlets take our users’ content and repackage it as their own. They don’t tell the backstory of our communities. We think our users’ stories need to be told, but with them at the center of it.”

Additionally, the site would also attract advertisers given the fact that a dedicated team – led by former Myspace editorial director Vickie Chang – will curate and write stories for it.

Interestingly, unlike Reddit, the new website will neither let you comment on stories, nor will it have any sort of upvoting system, the report notes. However, each story will link back to the original poster as well as its original Reddit thread.

“Everything will have a direct tie back to Reddit,” Chang said. “I want to find the tiny thread that connects it back to…

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Flipkart has started teasing the Nexus 6P on its website. A new page lists all the new features of the phone but does not mention the price and only says ‘Coming Soon’ for release date.

Then again, we already know the price, thanks to the Google Store. As we previously reported, the Nexus 6P in India will be priced at INR 39,999 for the 32GB mode, INR 42,999 for the 64GB model, and INR 47,999 for the 128GB model.

Flipkart hasn’t mentioned the Nexus 5X yet, even though the phone is listed on the Google…

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