After launching the G4 in leather and ceramic white variants earlier this year in India, LG has now launched the metallic options as well. The metallic variant comes in two colors, gold and titanium black, with a similar diamond shaped pattern on the back. It must be said though that even though LG calls it metallic, it’s still very much plastic just like the ceramic version.

The rest of the phone is identical to the leather and ceramic variants, with a 5.5-inch QHD display, Snapdragon 808, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, 16 megapixel rear camera with laser autofocus and OIS, 8 megapixel front camera, removable battery and microSD card slot.

The metallic variant of the G4 is priced at INR 40,000…

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John Sculley – former CEO of Pepsi and Apple – has gotten into the Android-phone game. The new company, Obi Worldphone, which aims to offer premium-designed phones to developing markets. Both are dual-SIM and cost between $130 and $250.

The Worldphones will launch in Vietnam, India, Tukey, Pakistan, South Africa, Nigeria, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates (and others) soon.

Obi Worldphone SF1

The higher end of the two phones, it has a 5″ IPS screen with 1080p resolution. A “signature floating glass display” gives the front a distinct look (it’s Gorilla Glass 4, by the way).

The Obi Worldphone SF1 runs Android 5.0.2 customized with the Obi Lifespeed user interface. The software is powered by a Snapdragon 615 chipset with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. That’s the $200 version, for $250 you can have 3GB RAM and 32GB storage (both have microSD slots).

The phone boasts fast Cat. 4 LTE connectivity (it takes one micro and one nanoSIM), along with dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n (2×2), Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.

Obi Worldphone SF1

The 13MP camera (Sony IMX214) with an f/2.0 aperture shoots 1080p video and offers OptiZoom multi-frame super-resolution. There’s a 5MP selfie camera with its own too.

The unibody features metallic accents and measures 146 x 74 x 8mm and weighs 147g, it has a generous 3,000mAh battery. By the way, SF stands for San Francisco.

Obi Worldphone SJ1.5

Despite the higher number, this is the more affordable of the two. The Obi Worldphone SJ1.5 is priced at $130 and also comes with a 5″ IPS screen and dual-SIM connectivity.

The screen has 720p resolution though, while mobile data is capped at 3G (both card slots are microSIMs). That’s backed by Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.

You don’t get a 32GB version, but the microSD slot should be enough. The SJ1.5 is also more modest when it comes to computing power – a MediaTek chipset with a quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM. It runs a newer version of Android though, v5.1.

Obi Worldphone SJ1.5

The camera is an 8MP shooter (OmniVision sensor) with f/2.2 aperture. The selfie camera is the same 5MP shooter too.

The Obi Worldphone SJ1.5 (San Jose) features a Magnesium-Titanium alloy chassis covered in polycarbonate. The whole thing measures 146 x 73 x 8mm and weighs 131g. Like the SF1 it has a 3,000mAh battery.

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ZTE is prepping for one of the biggest events in the mobile world in Berlin. This year’s IFA takes place September 4-9 and as always will gather all the big names with their latest and greatest devices.

What the Chinese company will bring to the show is members of its four global product lines – Axon, Blade, Nubia, and Spro. The ZTE Axon top model is the obvious choice to lead the pack – ZTE’s first flagship, available globally.

Joining it will be the Blade V6 – a more affordable entry, positioned in the midrange, and the thinnest Blade. Multiple Nubias will be present too, as ZTE attempts to make its sub brand more recognizable across the world.

Smartphones aside, the company will showcase its oddball Spro 2 projector. True, the device has already been available for some time, but it’s a head-turner nontheless, so it makes for a nice event attendee.

On a press-only breakfast ZTE will have photographer Ed Kashi as a guest speaker, as it has become the norm for manufacturers to invite pro photographers to convince us on the merits of smartphone cameras. Additionally, a ZTE Fun Day will have German musicians Culcha Candela and Albert N’Sanda perform for the public on September…

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Canon has announced the EOS M3 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera for US. We talked about it earlier when it was launched in Europe back in February. The camera will go on sale in the US in early October for $679.99 body-only. You can also get it with the EOS M3 EF-M 18-55mm IS STM lens kit for $799.99. Additionally, a two lens kit featuring the EOS M3 with the EF-M 18-55mm IS STM lens and the EF-M 55-200mm IS STM lens will be available for $1,049.00.

The EOS M3 is the successor to Canon’s first mirrorless interchangeable lens camera, the EOS M. The EOS M wasn’t much of a success and it was panned for its lack of features and slow autofocus performance compared to other mirrorless cameras in its range, making it look like a rather lazy effort from Canon to avoid hurting its low-end DSLR sales.

The M3, however, does seem like a much better camera, with a new 24.2 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with an ISO range of 100 – 12,800 and a new DIGIC 6 image processor, 49-point Hybrid CMOS AF III autofocus system, which is said to be 6.1x faster than the one on the EOS M, front and rear control dials, 3.0-inch 1040k dot tilting touchscreen display, and built-in Wi-Fi and…

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LG has developed what it is calling “the industry’s first solid rollable wireless portable keyboard.” Dubbed Rolly Keyboard, the device folds into a stick that you can easily carry in your pocket, purse, or briefcase, the company claims.

In its unfolded form, the keyboard is capable of connecting to two different devices at the same time via Bluetooth 3.0 – you can toggle between the devices by pressing a key. The device also has a couple of arms that fold out to support smartphones as well as tablets in an upright position. It is powered by a single AAA battery which LG claims gives up to three months of average use.

“LG Rolly Keyboard is just one of the many premium input devices we’ll be unveiling in the coming months as we expand our accessories offerings,” the company said. “The goal was to create a product that could add more value to LG smartphones and tablets at the same time offering a unique design proposition that hadn’t been explored before.”

The keyboard will be showcased at the upcoming IFA event in Berlin, and will be launched in the United States shortly thereafter. It will land in Europe, Latin America, and Asia in Q4 this year. There was, however, no word on…

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Popular productivity app company Evernote has announced that it is killing off its Food app, which was released back in 2011 and allowed users to find and save recipes and click food photos.

“As of September 30th, we’ll no longer support Evernote Food for iOS and Android,” the company said in a blog post. “This means the apps will no longer be available for download and we won’t be making any further updates to them. It also means that features within the apps, including sync with the Evernote service, will no longer work.”

In addition, Evernote said that its core apps and Web Clipper are now capable of doing what Food did best: clipping recipes and snapping photos of meals. The company is also suggesting users to check out its App Center Food Collection that features Evernote-integrated food-centric…

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Amazon Prime Instant Video, a subscription-based service that allows users to stream movies and TV shows to their device, will be launched in Japan next month. The service will be available at no extra cost for members of Amazon Prime, which launched around a decade ago in Japan, and is available for $32.50 a year or $2.71 per month in the country.

As for the content, Prime Instant Video will include popular US and Japanese movies, TV shows, variety shows, anime, concerts, as well as Amazon Originals like Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent, and Tumble Leaf. Select titles will also be available in 4K Ultra HD.

The service will also be available on the Amazon Video app for iOS and Android phones and tablets, Fire tablets, game consoles, and smart TVs.

Incidentally, Netflix is also launching its streaming service in Japan next month – precisely, on September 2, i.e. next week.

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Alleged press shots showcasing Microsoft’s upcoming duo of flagship smartphones made the rounds on Twitter, courtesy of @evleaks. Sporting the codenames Cityman and Talkman, the devices are expected to debut in the near future with 5.7″ and 5.2″ display respectively.

Before the official images from @evleaks leaked out, the Microsoft Cityman showed up in a blurry photo. The handset will likely launch as Microsoft Lumia 950 XL (the blue device), while the Talkman will be unveiled as Lumia 950 (pictured in black).

Both Windows 10 smartphones will feature QHD display, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, 20MP PureView main camera, 5MP front-facing unit, and USB Type-C port. In line with past leaks, the Lumia 950 XL will pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC and 3,300mAh removable battery, while its smaller sibling will pack a Snapdragon 808 SoC and 3,000mAh swappable battery.

An infrared iris scanner will be featured on both smartphones. The Lumia 950 XL will have integrated Qi wireless charging, while the Lumia 950 will support the feature via an optional cover.

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After Apple, Google, Microsoft, and a few other, smaller companies, Facebook is now jumping straight into the virtual assistant space. The social network’s newly revealed competitor for the likes of Siri, Google Now, or Cortana is called M. It lives inside Facebook Messenger.

M is for now getting a very limited release, with just a few hundred people in the San Francisco Bay Area being lucky enough to be able to use it. It will be quite a long time before every one of the 700 million monthly users of Facebook Messenger will get M as an option in the app, especially because of how M is said to pair AI with actual human input.

That will be its biggest differentiating feature, Facebook thinks. On one level, M works like its competitors – you can ask it stuff, and it will answer. It can also plan things for you, but it’s capable of pulling off stuff out there ‘in real life’ too.

For example, it can complete certain tasks, from organizing dinner parties to “tracking down an unusual beverage in New Orleans”, or redecorating your office or whatnot. It will even call your cable company and endure through the hold times and various automated messages you hear before you can actually speak to a customer rep.

All of this is possible thanks to “M trainers”, Facebook employees who will make sure that every request made to M is answered. You won’t know whether what M outputs comes from its AI or from actual humans working behind the scenes, however.

At the moment, M is only using the data in Messenger to base its answers and suggestions on, not the stuff in the main Facebook app. That may change in the future, though.

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After having gone on sale in certain markets such as Hong Kong already, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 and Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 are now up for pre-order in the US.

If you’re after either tablet in Wi-Fi-only form, then you can already order from Samsung’s own US online store. Each model comes in three color options: black, white, and gold.

The 8-inch model is priced at $399.99, while the 9.7-inch Tab S2 goes for $499.99. So they’re identical to Apple’s latest iPads in this regard.

More retailers should offer these devices later today, including Amazon and Best Buy. If, on the other hand, you’d rather get your Tab S2 from a carrier, complete with 4G LTE support, then both AT&T and T-Mobile will be happy to oblige.

AT&T will start taking orders for the 9.7-inch version on September 4. The carrier will only have it in black, for $0 down and 20 monthly installments of $30. Alternatively, you can get it for $499.99 with a new two-year contract.

You’ll find the same 9.7-inch Galaxy Tab S2 at T-Mobile one day earlier, on September 3. To purchase one, you shell out nothing upfront, then followed by 23 monthly installments of $27.09 and a 24th monthly payment of $26.92. That all adds up to the tablet’s full price of $649.99.

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