A couple of days ago, Qualcomm dedicated an entire blog post detailing the design of its upcoming Snapdragon 820 system-on-chip (SoC), with special focus on Kryo, its first custom-designed 64-bit quad-core CPU. The company claimed that the chipset will be up to twice as powerful and energy efficient as its predecessor, Snapdragon 810.

Being related to SD820, the post, obviously, received widespread coverage. However, many popular online publications interpreted Qualcomm’s claim on SD820’s power efficiency as saying that it will double your device’s battery life – see reports from Economic Times, The Next Web, and WMPoweruser.

Independent analyst and consultant Richi Jennings was the first to point this out, claiming that the interpretation isn’t correct. “OK, so obviously there’s a world of difference between an SoC that’s up to 2x as efficient and an entire phone getting double the battery life,” he said in an article on ComputerWorld. “For starters, the 820 isn’t going to make today’s huge displays suck any less power, amirite?”

He also pointed to a Forbes article that explains how the 820 is so much more efficient – you can read that article…

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Samsung’s freshly announced Gear S2 smartwatch has piqued our interest ever since we caught a first glimpse of its circular display and sleek UI several months ago. The Tizen OS wearable device made made a brief cameo at the Samsung Galaxy Note5 launch event last month, followed by its official debut a couple of days ago.

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WhatsApp has surpassed 900 million monthly active users, according to a Facebook post by CEO Jan Koum.

WhatsApp crossed 800 million monthly active users back in April and around 600 million around this time last year. The company was acquired by Facebook back in February 2014 for $19 billion and since then has seen consistent growth. India remains the biggest user base for WhatsApp, followed by…

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ZTE’s Axon brand already launched in China and the US and by the end of the month it will set off for the rest of the world with the ZTE Axon Elite leading the way. The initial rollout will concentrate on Europe and will go through eBay.

Starting September 24 the phone will be available in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK for €420 and £300 respectively. Soon after that ZTE will open up a more traditional retail channel in partnership with MediaMarkt retail chain in Germany. Brick-and-mortar availability will expand to Spain and France later on.

ZTE Axon Elite

Going forward, the ZTE Axon Elite will add more stamps to its visa: Turkey, Mexico, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Russia and the Philippines. We don’t have prices yet, but they should follow local conversion rates and taxes.

The highlights of the Axon Elite include a dual-camera setup (13MP for photos + 2MP for depth effects), three-fold biometric security (fingerprint, voice and eye scanning), 5.5″ 1080p screen and Snapdragon 810 chipset.

Note that this is different from the Axon Pro that’s sold in the US and which we’ve reviewed recently. The major differences are the Pro model has a QHD screen, but lacks the biometric authentication…

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T-Mobile has launched a new feature that lets you make video calls from within your smartphone’s dialer, similar to the way you make normal phone calls. Dubbed Video Calling, the feature doesn’t require you to download and install additional apps, the company said.

“On devices with T-Mobile Video Calling, small camera icons appear next to contacts with devices able to receive video calls,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s CTO, in a blog post. “If the person you’re calling can’t take video calls, the video call icon is greyed out.”

Currently, the feature only works for T-Mobile users, i.e. for calls made within the magenta carrier’s network. However, Ray said they’re working working with others to make it available across wireless networks.

Supported handsets include Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy Note5, Galaxy S6, and Galaxy S6 edge. The first two already have the feature available through simple software updates, while the latter two will get it next week. Users of these devices can install the update by heading to Settings -> About Device -> Software Update.

Three more devices will be added to the list by the end of the year, Ray…

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Mozilla has announced that it has started rolling out the first public preview version of Firefox for iOS in New Zealand. The company said that the aim behind the move is to collect feedback, which in turn will help it create a better browsing experience.

The version that is rolling out contains several features, including Intelligent Search, which provides suggested search results and option to choose search providers.

There’s also a Firefox Accounts feature, which helps you transfer your Firefox browser history, passwords, and tabs from your desktop to your iOS devices, as well as a Visual Tabs feature that lets you keep track of your open tabs.

The preview version will be rolled out in few more countries, Mozilla said, adding that the app will be available in the App Store sometime later this…

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Sony is now rolling out the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update to another of its devices, but this time it’s not a member of the Xperia Z line of current and former flagships.

Today the newest version of Google’s mobile operating system is hitting the Sony Xperia T2 Ultra Dual, which is the dual-SIM version of the Xperia T2 Ultra from last year.

There’s no word yet on when the same software release should reach the single-SIM iteration of the same model, but it’s clearly due to happen soon.

In the meantime, if you own the T2 Ultra Dual, expect to see an update notification popping up any day now. After you’ve gone through the necessary steps and installed the new bits, you’ll be on build number 19.4.A.0.182.

Android 5.1 is mainly a bug-fixing release, and with this rollout Sony is thankfully also patching the much-discussed Stagefright vulnerability, so it won’t affect the Xperia T2 Ultra Dual after the update is up and…

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Samsung’s already announced the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic smartwatches on Monday, but today the company held a special event at IFA in Berlin just for them. The new wearables are clearly the most attractive ones the Korean company has ever produced, and they’re also its first to sport a round touchscreen.

If you like what you’ve seen so far about the Gear S2 and S2 Classic (perhaps by having taken a look at our hands-on report), then you might be wondering how much they will cost.

The answer is that neither will be cheap. The company seems to think that their new features (such as the rotating bezel) along with its Tizen-based watch UI are worth quite a sum.

In Europe it’s expected that the Gear S2 will be priced at €349, while the Gear S2 Classic will go for €399. These pricing levels have only been confirmed for Finland thus far, but we see no reason for them to differ in other Eurozone countries.

As for the US, given what usually goes on in the mobile world when it comes to converting prices from one currency to another, we expect to see the Gear S2 selling for $349, with the Gear S2 Classic having the asking price of $399. Obviously the 3G-capable version of the S2 should be more expensive than either of these, but just how much more so isn’t known yet.

The Gear S2 and S2 Classic are supposed to become available worldwide sometime in October.

Source |…

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It looks like Micromax-backed Indian smartphone brand YU is now ready to launch its next device. It’s still unclear what it will call the handset that will be next in line following the Yureka, Yureka Plus, and Yuphoria.

But what is clear is that the company has scheduled an event for September 8, and it’s now sending out press invites for it.

On that occasion, we’re told we’ll see the future meeting the past, in order for “the next wonder” to be unveiled. Could this hint that the device in question will be named Wonder? Maybe, maybe not.

Anyway, no other details are apparent from the invite itself and we haven’t seen any recent leaks of YU smartphones, so this one is still very much a mystery. What we do know is that the new product will be offered via Snapdeal, probably through an exclusive-type…

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Last month we heard a rather outlandish claim – that Samsung is working on bringing to market a tablet with a whopping 18.4-inch touchscreen. Not long after that, a new report seemingly confirmed the information. What’s more, this also brought us a list of leaked specs for the gigantic device.

And today Samsung itself may have confirmed its existence, while also revealing what it will be called. At the end of its press conference focused on the Gear S2, the Korean company outed a very short teaser for the Galaxy View tablet.

No other details, aside from its looks and name, have been made public at this point. So we should probably expect those to come at some point in the (hopefully near) future. This type of teasing isn’t actually new for Samsung – when it introduced the Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ in August the Gear S2 smartwatch got the same treatment.

If what you see pictured above is in fact the rumored 18.4-inch tablet, then it should come with a 1080p touchscreen, a 64-bit Exynos 7580 chipset with 1.6 GHz octa-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, an 8 MP rear camera, a 2.1 MP front-facing unit, and a 5,700 mAh battery. It will run Android 5.1.1 Lollipop if we were to…

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