The last time HTC teased a smartphone unveiling event, we assumed it would be for the much-rumored A9 (codenamed Aero), which is supposed to be the ailing Taiwanese manufacturer’s next high-end offering. Instead, the ‘big’ reveal yesterday was the decidedly mid-range Desire 728. And so the A9 still isn’t official.

That could all change on September 29, however. HTC has started sending press invites for an event on that day, which will happen in its native Taiwan.

The invite mentions something along the lines of “dual flagships”, which means we may in fact see not one, but two smartphones getting unveiled on that occasion.

Taiwanese media speculation has it that the Butterfly 3 will certainly make its debut, and it might be joined by the ever-elusive A9. That’s not a given, though, as we may also see an M9+ with an enhanced camera. This is an intriguing prospect since absolutely nothing about such a device has been leaked so far. It’s now rumored to get optical image stabilization and faster focusing.

As for the Butterfly 3, it’s expected to hit stores in Taiwan sometime in October for around TWD 20,900 ($637 or €570 at the current exchange rates). This price would be in line with that of its predecessor, the Butterfly 2. The Butterfly 3 should make its way to Japan too.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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The Finnish gods of rebirth have sent an omen – live photos of the Android-powered Nokia C1. To be clear, that’s Nokia Nokia, not the Microsoft sub-division. The handset looks pretty much just like the renders we saw earlier.

Interestingly, the screen is now reported as 5″ 1080p, rather than 720p, which was the original rumor. Also, it allegedly runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow (pretty vanilla by the looks of it) on an Intel Atom chipset (with 2GB of RAM). From the photos it’s still not clear if the phone is made of metal or plastic.

Of course, the phone won’t come out until next year. That’s when the company is scheduled to make its return to the phone business. However, R&D and manufacturing will be based in China.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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Sony stole the show at IFA by introducing the world’s first 4K display in a production smartphone, the Xperia Z5 Premium. The debate is still ongoing as to the practical use of the ridiculous 806ppi density, but there’s also been a fair share of skeptics claiming that the smartphone doesn’t even have an actual 4K panel and has a 1080p one instead.

The doubts have been additionally fueled by the fact that the most obvious way to ascertain the panel’s resolution – taking a screenshoot and checking the details, yields 1,080 x 1,920 pixel images. We did it too. Various apps we downloaded off the Play Store tell the same story – 1,080 x 1,776 pixels is the reported result, with the missing 144 pixels in height taken up by the on-screen buttons.

Out comes the microscope. What the software tried to fool us into believing, optics quickly exposed not to be the truth. Our shot reveals the teeny-tiny subpixels that comprise the Z5 Premium’s display, and there’s so many of them.

Expectedly, the subpixels are arranged in an RGB fashion, but a somewhat unorthodox one. Immediately noticeable is the herringbone pattern which changes direction every fourth row, with adjacent rows offset by a subpixel to either side.

That poses the question what happens to straight vertical lines, and the most obvious answer is some sort of subpixel rendering which employs neighboring pixels. It’s either that, or the resolution is simply so high that the subpixel arrangement doesn’t interfere with what you see with a naked eye.

We’ve also included our microscope shot of the OnePlus 2 here for comparison. It’s a 5.5-inch RGB panel too, but with “only” 1,080 x 1,920 pixels resolution, and its subpixels look huge compared to those of the Xperia Z5 Premium. The herringbone pattern is present too (as is, in fact, on most RGB LCD displays), only here it’s on a smaller scale – each row has its own slant, and the direction alternates with every row.

Which brings us back to the question of reported resolution. It’s entirely possible that Sony has opted to keep the interface rendered at 1080p most of the time for better efficiency, only switching to full-blown 4K when the displayed content requires it. We’re speculating here, but if the intended purpose of the display is indeed some sort of VR use, then the respective app might be able to trigger the screen to go into 2160p.

It’s also worth noting that we’ve been dissecting a pre-production unit with non-final software, so our findings may very well not apply to commercially available devices. For all we know, the retail units may be working in 4K full-time.

Hypotheses aside, the 2,160 x 3,840 pixels display of the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is very much…

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The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are going official this Wednesday – September 9 – and the rumors are naturally coming at an insane pace lately. It seems we knew everything about the new iPhones but the latest report suggests otherwise.

While all sources agree on the addition of a Force Touch display, today we got some interesting info regarding the actual touchscreen. It seems Apple may have developed a more advanced Force Touch display for the new iPhones than what we saw on the Apple Watch and the new MacBooks.

The so-called 3D Touch Display will react on three types of gestures – tap, normal press and deeper press. All of these will allow for different iOS 9 functions and interactions. One example of Force Touch on an iPhone is using the deep press on a link in Safari to see a preview of the destination’s page.

The new 3D Touch Display is also rumored to be a part of the long rumored iPad Pro slate, which should be announced later this year.

We are just two days away from the official iPhone 6s duo premiere, so we’ll know everything very…

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Micromax subsidiary Yu has launched a portable device that lets you instantaneously print photos from your smartphone. Dubbed YuPix, the printer prints 2.1 x 3.4 inch, 291 dpi pics in 60 seconds.

The device offers NFC and WiFi connectivity. You need to download the YuPix app on your smartphone to print photographs – the app also lets you edit the pics before you print them. Thanks to the Dye Sublimation technology the printer uses, its cartridge – which includes ink ribbon with photo paper – doesn’t require any cleaning roll.

Measuring 2.99 x 6.01 x 0.94 inch and weighing in at 273g, the device is water and fingerprint proof, packs in a 750 mAh battery, and is compatible with both Android and iOS handsets. It is available for purchase from Amazon.in at INR 6,999 ($105).

Source | Via 1…

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Oppo has quietly listed a new addition to the R7 family, and it now includes the brand new R7 Lite. Identical to the R7 on the outside, the Lite brings a few hardware downgrades, and a due price reduction.

The most readily noticeable change is the display resolution, which is 1,280×720 pixels for the Lite, compared to the R7’s FullHD. At 294ppi, the pixel density is still okay, and it is again an AMOLED panel. RAM has been reduced to 2GB, and that’s about it.

You still get the Snapdragon 615 chipset, 16GB of built-in storage, which can be expanded, and the 13MP/8MP camera combo. A VOOC charger is in the bundle too, to fill up the same 2,320mAh battery.

Oddly enough, the R7 Lite comes with an Android 5.1-based build of Color OS 2.1, while the regular R7 was launched on KitKat, and is still waiting for a Lollipop update. So the Lite actually has the upper hand here.

Although Oppo’s official online store Oppostyle.com doesn’t list the R7 Lite just yet, the smartphone has shown up on an Indonesian retailer’s stock. The R7 Lite is listed at IDR 4,999,000 ($280), whereas the R7 is IDR 3,999,000 ($350).

Meanwhile, Oppo sells the R7 for €350 in Europe or $400 in the US and the rest of the world. So the R7 Lite could be expected to cost €280 in Europe and $320 elsewhere, when it makes it to more markets.

Source 1 Source…

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Remember the Sony Xperia Z5 prices? Great! Now, forget them. Sony Mobile UK slashed the prices of its Z5 family, just days after the handsets went up for pre-order on Sony’s site. If you’ve pre-ordered from Sony UK, make sure you’re getting the new, lower price.

Those prices are much closer to the ones set by other stores like Amazon and Clove UK. Here’s the new deal, in table form.

.atable tr:first-child td { width: 160px !important; text-align: center; font-size: 1em !important;} .atable td { text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; font-size: 1.5em; } .atable td:first-child { font-size: 1em !important; } .atable .slash { text-decoration: line-through; font-size: 0.7em; }

Sony Xperia Z5 Sony Xperia Z5 Premium Sony Xperia Z5 Compact

Sony Mobile
£550£600 £630£700 £430£550
Amazon UK
£550 – £450
Clove UK
£525 £630 £440

We checked the prices in other countries where the Sony Mobile shop operates and they haven’t changed (they were much more competitive than the UK prices to begin with).

Source |…

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The next-gen Apple TV, which is expected to be unveiled on September 9 alongside the new iPhones, is aimed at the gaming market, according to a latest report from the New York Times.

As per the report, the device will come with more power for better graphics, a new remote that could also be used as a controller, and a dedicated app store to get games. As for the price, it is said to be $150.

With hard-core gaming fans already hooked up to Microsoft’s Xbox One or Sony’s PS4, Apple could target casual gamers – those who like to play games but find Xbox and Playstation require too much time and cash investment – with its new device, the report says.

Previous reports have revealed that the device will be powered by the company’s A8 SoC, and come with increased storage and Siri on…

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Samsung has launched its latest smartphone, the Galaxy Note5 in India, at an event in New Delhi. The phone is priced at INR 53,900 ($807) for the 32GB model, and INR 59,900 ($897) for the 64GB model.

The Galaxy Note5 is the latest in Samsung’s line of Note devices. Internally, the phone is quite similar to the previously launched Galaxy S6 but features a larger 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED display, 4GB RAM, bigger 3000mAh battery, and Fast Wireless Charging. It also has the S Pen stylus that the series is known for.

Compared to the previous Galaxy Note 4, the Note5 loses the faux leather back finish, instead opting for the new glass back similar to the S6. The battery is also sealed in this time and there isn’t expandable memory, again like the S6. The Note5, however, loses the IR blaster, that both the S6 and the Note 4 have.

The Note5 will be available in Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, and Silver Titanium starting September…

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The Lenovo Vibe X3 smartphone – which was part of the February leak that mentioned a total of 5 Lenovo smartphones, and spotted on GFXBench early last month – has been certified by Chinese telecom regulator TENAA.

According to TENAA’s listing, the device – which measures 154 x 76.4 x 9.4 mm and weighs 175 grams – is powered by a Snapdragon 810 SoC, and sports a 5.5-inch 1080p display. It has 3GB RAM and 32GB expandable internal memory.

In terms of camera, the Vibe X2 successor features a 21MP rear unit and an 8MP front shooter. It offers LTE connectivity, has dual front-speakers, and runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop…

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