The Huawei Nexus is back in the spotlight, this time showing us the angles we missed yesterday. For one we can see the USB Type C on the bottom (the phone itself is in a bulky case) and we even get to see the bootloader screen.

It shows the chipset – MSM8994, aka Snapdragon 810. So much for the Snapdragon 820 hopes. Anyway, the chipset is hooked up to 3GB of RAM (LPDDR4, Micron chip) and boasts 64GB of built-in storage (Samsung chip).

Huawei Nexus photographed in the wild

While there will probably be a 32GB version, the RAM situation is likely settled. We’ve recently started seeing 4GB devices, but the next Nexus phablet won’t be one of…

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Each flagship Galaxy smartphone is eligible to the so-called Galaxy Gifts – a package of premium apps and subscriptions you are getting for free. Those gifts are naturally found in the Galaxy Apps repository, but some of those (Dropbox, OneDrive) may have already been pre-installed.

Anyway, the new Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5 are also granted a huge package of freebies. There are various popular apps and subscriptions, and those should be available for download right away within the Galaxy Apps store.

Here is the complete lest of free stuff:

Apps: Art Rage, Komoot, Sketch Book

Games: Driver Speedboat Paradise, Empire: Four Kingdoms, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, PES Club Manager

Subscriptions: 6 months for The Economist, 6 months premium for The Guardian, One Kindle ebook each month, 6 months Gold for Lifesum, 6 months for NY Times, 100GB OneDrive for 2 years, 3 months unlimited access for Scribd

Bonus: 15% off of your next reservation via TripAdvisor (up to $100)

You’ve probably noticed some of the apps/games are free by default in the Play Store, in which cases you’ll receive some free in-app content, which otherwise will cost you some cash.

If you already own a Note5 or S6 edge+ you may want to check with the Galaxy Apps. A free Samsung account is required for the download.

Source |…

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Samsung opted not to release the Galaxy Note5 phablet in Europe, but things might change soon enough. First we saw the N920F model leak through the India’s import database and later it popped on the Bluetooth SIG’s website.

What’s so special about this particular F model is that the F suffix has always marked the European models of the Galaxies prior to the Note5. The EU models of the Galaxy S5, S6, S6 edge, Note 4, Note Edge, the A and E series, and some Neo models all have F post their model numbers.

So, the latest appearance of the SM-N920F Note5 model is in the USA’s FCC. The device was submitted in late July and has a 180-days of confidentiality request for the phone’s test photos. This means the announcement of the EU model should happen by the end of January next year.

Of course recent rumors point out the EU flavor might be going official as soon as August 28. While Samsung hasn’t expressed interest in selling the Note5 in Europe, it has never denied the possibility.

The Note5 sales are going well for now and we guess Samsung may want to give the EU market a chance too. If the launch doesn’t turn out on August 28, we guess the upcoming holiday season might be a good enough guess for a deadline.

Thank you, Dennis Soleymani, for the…

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WhatsApp has rolled out an update for the Android app on the Play Store, which brings features that have been available on the beta for a while now.

One of the new features is the ability to mute contacts individually, whereas previously you could only mute groups. You can now also mark chats as rear or unread. WhatsApp also added some new emoji, like the middle finger and spock emoji, and now you can choose different skin colors for some of the emoji. There is now also an option to reduce call quality and use less data. Lastly, there is now support for Urdu and Bengali languages.

You can download the update now from the Play…

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There’re are new Nokia phones! We tried saying that with excitement, but we can’t just muster it for the Nokia 222 and 222 Dual-SIM, “two new Internet-enabled feature phones.” Prices start at $37 before local taxes and subsidies and that’s just too close to the Lumia 435 (especially when it’s on promotion, which is always).

So, what do you get other than the spectacular battery life? (we do miss that sometimes) The 222s are Series 30+ phones with a 2.4″ QVGA screen – that tiny by today’s standards but will have to be enough for Opera Mini and Bing Search.

There’s no Wi-Fi though and you only get 2G/EDGE connectivity. That may be limited but the Nokia 222 gets you Facebook and Twitter for social, FB Messenger and GroupMe for messaging. Bluetooth-based SLAM is available for local file sharing.

The phones have good entertainment value too – they come pre-loaded with Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Midnight Pool 3 (don’t expect anything like the desktop/console counterparts, naturally). There’s a microSD slot for up to 32GB of storage and an MP3 player, FM radio too. They can run close to 50 hours if the phone is off.

The camera is a 2MP snapper and only manages 320 x 240px video at 15fps. That makes even Lumia 435’s 2MP camera look impressive (480p @ 30fps). There’s an LED flashlight, but it’s on top so you can’t use it as camera flash.

The Nokia 222 and 222 Dual-SIM will come out in September, though they will probably hit only emerging…

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Sony has started building up hype for this year’s IFA by publishing a teaser on Twitter, suggesting a hybrid autofocus system for what is likely an upcoming Xperia Z5. The lone blurry image is apparently not shot with the said device as it’s all out of focus, though.

On a more serious note, the “greater focus” mentioned in the tweet likely indicates a phase detection system to complement the more trivial contrast based autofocus. Sony has implemented such a mechanism in the already announced Xperia M5, so it’s only natural that it makes it to the flagship.

Get ready for a smartphone with greater focus. All will become clear on 02.09.2015. http://pic.twitter.com/Mm7HjWKojA— Sony Xperia GB (@sonyxperiagb) August 24, 2015

Mind you, we are only assuming that the Japanese company is talking of a Z-series top model. However, given the cold reception of the current in-between flagship Xperia Z3+ and the multitude of leaked images of an alleged Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact, the launch of the next generation is logically nearing.

After all, there is but a week until September 2, when the above image will start making more…

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A variant of the recently introduced BlackBerry Passport Silver Edition appeared in a lengthy video with Android OS on board. The handset features the codename Oslo.

This is not the first time we caught a glimpse of the device in the video above. A couple of days ago, @evleaks also posted a render of the smartphone on Twitter.

According to a past leak, the specs of BlackBerry Oslo include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 13MP main camera, square 1440 x 1440 display, and a beefy 3,450mAh battery. There is no word on the release date of the smartphone just yet.

Source |…

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A couple of weeks ago we first heard that Samsung might use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chipset for next year’s Galaxy S7, and now a new report pretty much confirms this possibility.

According to a Korean publication, Samsung is currently busy putting the Snapdragon 820 through some very intensive testing. The results of all those tests will have a bearing in whether Samsung decides to use the Snapdragon 820 in the Galaxy S7 or not.

At the moment things seem to be going well, which means we may once again see a Samsung flagship with two SoC choices, each offered in certain markets only. This was the case for a few years, until this year when the Galaxy S6 only went with Samsung’s own Exynos chipset. The reason for that probably has something to do both with the performance of the Exynos 7420, but also with the much-publicized overheating problems that the Snapdragon 810 encounters.

Its successor, the Snapdragon 820, is set to be quite different in that regard, though, so it may once again be seen in a high-end Samsung device.

Source (in Korean) |…

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HTC is now running a new promotion hoping to convince as many people as possible to buy its One M9 smartphone. This time around we’re not talking about a price reduction per se, though the Taiwanese company is basically giving away $100 for every purchase of its flagship product.

Here’s how it works. If you buy a One M9 in the US, and you get it directly from HTC, then you’ll receive $100 in Google Play credit for free. You can spend that on anything you want in Google’s store.

The offer is valid for devices purchased before the end of November, and you’ll have to redeem your credit by the end of the year. Oh, and you need to spend the $100 you get before December 31, 2016. That’s it, there are no other caveats. If you’re a big spender in the Play Store, then this could turn out to be quite useful.

Source |…

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After having announced it in China in June, Huawei is expected to unveil the Honor 7 for the UK (and the rest of Europe) at an event on August 27, which is this Thursday.

The Chinese smartphone maker has been selling quite a few Honor-branded devices in Europe (and the UK, specifically), but so far it’s always chosen the route of partnering with major retailers such as Amazon.

According to a new rumor, however, that’s about to change. Huawei will reportedly launch its own online store in Europe. This already exists in China and it’s called Vmall. Through this avenue Huawei will be able to sell directly to consumers, thus cutting out the middlemen (and their profits).

As the Honor 7 will apparently be the first smartphone to be sold by Vmall in Europe, it will launch with a special offer. It’s said to be priced at under £200 for a limited time (and with limited stock). After this promo period ends, the price is expected to go up by around 20 to 40%, so, if true, this will be quite the opportunity to pick up the handset for cheap.

Of course this is just a rumor right now, but we’ll know if there was some truth to it in just a few days. Given its specs, the £200 price would make the Honor 7 a very attractive device.

It sports a 5.2-inch 1080p touchscreen, a 20 MP rear camera with phase detection autofocus and dual-LED flash, an 8 MP selfie snapper, 3GB of RAM, Huawei’s Kirin 935 at the helm (with an octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU clocked at up to 2.2 GHz), and a 3,100 mAh battery. It runs Android 5.0 Lollipop with Emotion UI 3.1 on…

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