Lenovo has announced the PHAB Plus in China, 6.8-inch monstrosity that is more tablet than smartphone. The phone is being launched on China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile for now for CNY 2,599 ($407).

The PHAB Plus has a 6.8-inch 1920×1080 display, Snapdragon 615 processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage, dual SIM support, 13 megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash, 5 megapixel front camera, LTE, 3,500mAh battery, and Android 5.0 with Vibe UI on…

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LG just unveiled its Watch Urbane Luxe smartwatch – its answer to the Apple Watch Edition. It sports 23-karat gold finish coupled with an alligator leather strap.

LG didn’t pull this one off by itself and has partnered with jewelry company REEDS Jewelers. The packaging oozes premium, too, with the watch shipping in a piano-gloss lacquer case.

LG Urbane Luxe official photos

The clasp has been changed from the original Watch Urbane and for the Luxe edition LG has chosen a deployment clasp. The result is a less bulky look, while the 50 separate steps used for the creation of the alligator leather band will sure make you feel exclusive.

LG has produced only 500 Watch Urbane Luxe smartwatches and each will be engraved with its own serial number. Initial availability is limited to the USA and the cost is $1,200. The Watch Urbane Luxe will be on display at IFA, so expect us to tell you first hand how it…

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Sony is expected to launch the new Xperia Z5 series of devices this week, which comprises of the Xperia Z5, X5 Compact, and Z5 Premium.

We have heard rumored specifications of these devices in the past. Now, in a leaked hands-on video, Marketing Director of Sony Mobile France talks about the devices and what you can expect.

Since the video is in French, we had to piece together translations from many of the French speaking readers who replied to the original post. From that we gather that the Xperia Z5 Premium will have a 5.5-inch 4K UHD display, the first of its kind on the market, while the Z5 will have a 5.2-inch 1080p display. All three phones will have a 23 megapixel camera on the back, with ‘fastest autofocus on the market’ with focusing speed of 0.03 seconds and improved low light performance over the previous Xperia flagship. You can now also choose the resolution in the Superior Auto mode between 8 megapixels (16:9), 20 megapixels (16:9), and 23 megapixels (4:3).

All three phones are also said to have the new fingerprint sensor on the side. The phones will be waterproof as before and the microUSB port is capless once again. The phones are said to have 2 days of battery life.

From our previous info we know that all phones will run on the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 from the Z3+, have 3GB of RAM, 32GB storage, and an 8 megapixel front facing camera.

You can watch the video below but it’s advisable to turn down the volume even if you do speak…

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Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 is the Korean giant’s latest entry into the market for premium full-size tablets. Launched alongside a compact variant with 8″ display, the ultra-thin newcomer is aimed squarely at Apple’s iPad family in its segment.

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Alleged press renders of Moto 360’s upcoming successor made the round on Twitter, courtesy of @evleaks. Motorola’s next smartwatch is expected to debut during IFA in Berlin this week.

The leaked images of the smartwatch confirm past reports that the wearable device will be available in two sizes. The smartwatch will also have a new location of its sole physical button – a 2 o’clock as opposed to three in the first generation.

The second-generation Moto 360 has a already made a number of unscheduled appearances in the flesh. Depending on its size, the smartwatch will feature two different battery sizes – 270mAh and 375mAh.

Source…

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These are some of the best apps and games of the week.

Swype

Swype 2.0 for Android brings with it two new features. The first is a theme store where users can purchase additional themes for the keyboard, including the new Star Trek theme. Second, there is now an emoji drawer, which allows you to pick and choose all the system emoji. Other than that there is also support for two new languages, improved auto-correct, and bug fixes.

Price: $0.99

Download: Android

Instagram

Instagram 7.5 brought with it a major change for those who regularly use the platform. You can now upload images and videos in landscape or portrait orientation and are no longer restricted to the 1:1 square aspect ratio. All you have to do is click a button while picking the image from the gallery and you can upload it in the original aspect ratio (limited to 3:4 vertically). This feature is available on the iOS and Android versions of the app.

Price: Free

Download: iOS • Android

WhatsApp

WhatsApp for Android finally got updated on the Play Store, which brought with it several new features. You can now mute individual contacts by opening their profile and clicking the mute option. You can also mark conversations as read or unread by pressing and holding on them. There are also new emoji and some of the existing ones get the multi color skin tone option as first seen on iOS 7. You can now also choose to reduce the WhatsApp call quality to save data.

Price: Free

Download: Android

Lara Croft GO

Lara Croft GO is a new action/adventure/puzzle game from Square Enix. The game is built along similar lines as Hitman GO, where you move the character along a grid of lines but there is less emphasis on the board game aspect this time. Still, you move Lara along the lines on the floor and walls and this presents some interesting challenges as you can’t just move around freely. This is especially true when you are facing enemies and traps and have to navigate the grid skillfully. Lara Croft GO has a lot of fun moments and plenty of throwbacks to older Tomb Raider games, such as the circular carousel menu, the sounds when you pick up a hidden item and some of the movement animations. It’s a wonderful combination of the new Hitman GO gameplay and Tomb Raider elements. If you enjoyed Hitman GO, you’re going to love this.

Price: $4.99 (iOS) / $6.99 (Android)

Download: iOS • Android

Whispering Willows

Whispering Willows is a 2D side scrolling horror game. You play as a young Elena Elkhorn who is out to find her missing father in the Willows Mansion. Her amulet allows her to astral project her spirit into the ghostly realm and communicate with the dead. You have to use the project to solve puzzles and find out the secrets of Willows Mansion. The game features beautiful anime style hand-drawn 2D graphics and a creepy background score. If you buy it now you can get 50% off the price ($4.99).

Price: $9.99

Download: iOS • Android

Ember’s Journey

Ember’s Journey is a side scrolling 2D puzzle game where the only light source is the little cube you are controlling and the rest of the level is dark. This means you can only see a small part of the level at a time and only things that are very close to you. You have to navigate the level using the bleak light of your cube and find your way to the glowing blue line at the end.

Price: $1.99

Download: iOS • Android

Doodle Jump DC Super Heroes

Doodle Jump DC Super Heroes is a spin-off on the original Doodle Jump and is based on DC superhero characters. Episode 1 of this game features Batman as he fights against Gotham’s biggest villains: Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Riddler, and Joker, in typical Doodle Jump style gameplay. Future episodes of the game will feature other superhero characters.

Price: Free

Download: iOS •…

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Business is a numbers game and selling 1 million units of anything is always a good reason to pop open a champagne bottle. The big names in the mobile industry do it easily, but we’ll look at some of the celebrations that have faded from memory. We’ll also take a peek at Nokia’s attempt at computers and a couple of cancellations.

Million sales club

iPhones and Galaxy quickly blow past the 1 million sales mark, but those get enough exposure. Let’s think back to phones that have been largely forgotten instead.

Back in 2009 LG was on a roll. It sold 5 million Viewty phones, a touchscreen device known for its camera. Afterwards the affordable touchscreen feature phone, the Cookie, also hit 5 million. Then the LG Arena reached the same benchmark, a premium flagship handset.

Samsung’s low-cost touch feature phone, the Star, was doing great too. It reached five million sales in about three months.

In 2009 “touchscreen” was a must for a hot-selling device, but smartphone wasn’t necessarily a requirement even though the iPhone and Android were already changing the market. Eventually smartphones took over and some of the biggest companies on Earth are phone makers.

A new class of device has been heating up recently. The Pebble smartwatch reached 1 million sales even without Apple or Samsung’s marketing presence. To put things in perspective, the Apple Watch sold 1 million units on its launch day. At one point in 2013 Samsung sold 1 million phones each day.

Another underdog, OnePlus, also celebrated 1 million sales this year. Even Samsung isn’t successful in everything it does – it’s still trying to develop an alternative to Android, but after Bada failed and despite delays Tizen found some success. The only phone so far – the Z1 – made it to 1 million sales in 6 months and celebrated with a gold color option.

Nokia laptop

Nokia started life when a paper mill and a rubber factory joined but you probably know it for its phones. The rubber business expanded to communications, insulation for telegraph and telephone cables at first but this was a gateway to electronics.

The company even made a computer for a Finnish nuclear plant and there were Nokia home computers too. In 2009 the Finns tried to rekindle that business with the Nokia 3G Booklet – a beautiful aluminum netbook, 20mm thick and weighing 1.25kg.

Nokia 3G Booklet is Nokia’s first notebook

As the name suggests it packed a 3G/HSDPA modem and a GPS receiver, plus Nokia Maps (naturally). The 10″ netbook boasted up to 12h battery life and sounded like a great option for road warriors but it never caught on.

Nokia would return to non-mobile Windows with the Lumia 2520 tablet but that didn’t catch on either. These days the company is back to communication (for cell carriers) after selling the maps division. The rubber business is still going.

Cancelled!

We started on a positive note, but couldn’t help noticing some high-profile cancellations in our archives dating to the last week of August.

In 2011 HP cancelled the Pre 3 launch in the US and slashed the European price. Earlier the company had started a fire sale of the TouchPad tablet at just $99 – a steal, especially after devs started working on an Android port for it.

Either way, these were the death knells of WebOS as a mobile platform. At least until LG resurrected it to power the LG Watch Urbane LTE though the company was very reluctant to even mention “WebOS.”

A year later T-Mobile US quickly axed the Samsung Galaxy Note. Samsung’s original phablet wasn’t at fault though, it was a case of the carrier being tardy – by the time it was supposed to launch the Note, the Galaxy Note II would have been only a month away. Yep, T-Mo trailed the AT&T launch by seven months (a year if you look at the international…

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As anticipation for IFA builds rumors dominated the news, but new devices got an unexpectedly strong reception.

The Sony Xperia Z5 family was showered with interest, the Z5 Premium in particular (it’s set to become the first phone with a 4K screen; note: QHD != 4K). The Z5 generation will also have a new 23MP sensor (first upgrade since the Z1) with fast, advanced focusing.

Lumia’s return to the flagship market was met with great interest too. Images of the Microsoft Lumia 940 and 940 XL duo leaked out along with info suggesting they will launch on October 19.

Microsoft got in the news with a very different device too – the Nokia 222 and 222 Dual-SIM. Series 30+ feature phones with social networking and messaging on board they will launch in emerging markets for $37.

The Nexus devices did a poor job of staying hidden, the large Nexus 6 by Huawei was photographed in the wild while specs rumors stabilized on Snapdragon 810 instead of 820. Samsung is said to be interested in the 820, but it the timeframe for a Nexus launch is just wrong.

HTC has fallen on hard times and is in bad need of a best-selling flagship. The HTC A9 Aero has such ambitions though photos of it (if real) make it look like an iPhone knock-off.

Another down on its luck maker, BlackBerry, will be shifting to Android with a new Passport version (which we saw on video) among other devices.

Samsung was in the news a lot this week, but not in a good way. The Galaxy Note5 and S6 edge+ may have 4GB of RAM, but they clean it aggressively (which affects multitasking). The Note5’s trademark S Pen stylus was a headache too as it breaks if you insert it the wrong way around.

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Purported Sony Xperia Z5 Premium leaks in live photos
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium shows its face on live pictures, should feature a 4K display and metal body.

Huawei Nexus 6 photographed in the wild
The images match the 3D render we saw earlier, down to the raised camera ridge.

Microsoft Lumia 940 and 940XL rumoured to launch on October 19
In addition, the Surface Pro 4 tablet as well as a new Microsoft Band could also be introduced on the same date.

Sony teases advanced focusing for upcoming Xperia Z5
An announcement is scheduled for September 2, days before IFA kicks off in Berlin.

HTC A9 (Aero) gets photographed in the wild looking like an iPhone
This is supposedly going to be HTC’s new flagship smartphone, launching before the end of 2015.

BlackBerry Passport Silver Edition with Android OS gets showcased in a lengthy video
The smartphone features the same design and specifications as the recently released variant with BlackBerry OS.

Archos unveils three new smartphones, one runs Windows 10
The Archos Diamond S, Archos 50e Helium, and the Archos 50 Cesium have all been announced today.

Samsung is said to be intensively testing the Snapdragon 820
The Korean company is apparently going to use it in the Galaxy S7 if all the testing goes well.

Meet the Nokia 222 and 222 Dual-SIM: leftovers from a previous era
With prices starting at $37 (before taxes and subsidies) these are only for regions with poor access to cheapo smartphones.

WhatsApp for Android gets updated, adds new emoji and features
You can now mute contacts, mark messages as read or unread, lower call data usage, and choose different colors for emoji.

Samsung Galaxy Note5 battery life test
Samsung surely raised a few eyebrows by…

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There were no high-profile launches this week but there was still plenty of action in our Trending Top 10 chart.

The Samsung Galaxy Note5 and Motorola Moto G (3rd gen) held their first and second spots respectively, but the Galaxy Note 4 fell of the chart – it was pushed out by the iPhone 6 (the roles were reversed last week).

The Samsung Galaxy J5 climbed to third place, swapping places with the Grand Prime which fell to fifth position. It was a good week for the J series, the Galaxy J7 clawed back in after falling off the chart several weeks ago.

The Galaxy A8 rose in popularity slightly (we like to think our review helped), displacing the Galaxy S6. Like the J7, the Asus Zenfone 2 returned to the Top 10 after a few week’s absence.

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Samsung Galaxy Note5
RANK: 1WAS: 1

specs review

Motorola Moto G (3rd gen)
RANK: 2WAS: 2

specs review

Samsung Galaxy J5
RANK: 3WAS: 5

specs gallery

Samsung Galaxy J7
RANK: 4NEW IN

specs gallery

Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime
RANK: 5WAS: 3

specs review

Samsung Galaxy A8
RANK: 6WAS: 7

specs review

Samsung Galaxy S6
RANK: 7WAS: 6

specs review

Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML
RANK: 8NEW IN

specs review

Lenovo K3 Note
RANK: 9WAS: 9

specs gallery

Apple iPhone 6
RANK: 10NEW IN

specs…

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Our weekly poll stretched for a fortnight this time, but it was only for the better. It gave you the opportunity to gain a better perspective on the Samsung Galaxy Note5 and S6 edge+ and cast a more informed vote on the matter of their hotness.

Far from a raving reception the two have gotten, but the response is positive overall. The first glance at the results may evoke a bewildered look on your face – the Note5 getting more upvotes than the S6 edge+ in a mostly superficial poll, where design would seem to matter more?

That proved not to be the case and productivity won over looks, with the S Pen tipping the scales in the Note’s direction, flawed design or not. That’s not say that the Galaxy S6 edge+ doesn’t have its fans, it gets a similar 3 out of 5 positive votes.

The approval rates, however, are among the lowest of late – the Sony Xperia M5 and C5 Ultra gathered upwards of 80% two weeks ago, and so did the Moto X Style a while earlier. It’s perhaps a bit too early, though, for these numbers to be considered a cause for concern for…

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