The ZUK Company and brand were created with Lenovo’s support earlier this year. Their first product is the ZUK Z1 smartphone – an affordable 5.5″ smartphone priced at about €250. The Z1 was available exclusively in China, but ZUK is now promoting the phone to international release.

According to the official statement – the ZUK Z1 for the international markets will be keeping its specs, but will switch its custom Android Lollipop for a Cyanogen OS 12.1, also Lollipop-based.

The ZUK Z1 packs a 5.5″ 1080p display and runs on the last year’s everybody’s favorite Snapdragon 801 chipset with 3GB of RAM. The rest of its specs include a 13MP main cam, an 8MP selfie snapper, 64GB storage, LTE connectivity, a fingerprint scanner and a beefy 4,100 mAh battery. There is also a USB Type-C port.

ZUK has already announced its partnership with Cyanogen and outside China the Z1 will be running on Cyanogen OS.

ZUK is going to announce the international markets and the pricing tomorrow.

Source |…

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The Next LG smartwatch is rumored to come with a high-resolution screen at 480 x 480px. While the FCC doesn’t test screen sharpness, at least it was kind enough to measure the screen and snap a photo of the new watch.

The images show a rectangular watch with a metallic bezel and a silicone wrist band. The screen of the LG-VC110 smartwatch was measured at 1.77″ making for 383ppi pixel density. Note that the FCC has since removed the pages that contained the images

That would make it the sharpest smartwatch screen yet – beating the 2″ 300ppi screen of the Samsung Gear S and 1.53″ 326ppi of the Apple Watch. It will also blow past the LG Watch Urbane’s 240ppi.

Like the LG Watch Urbane LTE, this smartwatch has its own mobile connectivity – CDMA in particular (compatible with Verizon and US Cellular). It will be the first LG watch with mobile data outside of South Korea.

Source (images removed) |…

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Senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray Gene Munster has been writing about the future of VR and Facebook’s role in it (the social network giant bought Oculus). Munster suggests that the Samsung Galaxy O is a series of phones aimed at virtual reality.

Samsung already has a strong partnership with Oculus, having created a couple of versions of the Gear VR (in partnership with Oculus). There’s a small chance that the Galaxy O may be a standalone headset – no phone required, unlike the Gear VR.

Anyway, the latest Galaxy Note5 launched without Gear VR support so that functionality may be moving to the Galaxy Os. Samsung co-CEO JK Shin did say that the third-gen Gear VR will launch “soon” but didn’t explicitly say that it’s for the Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+.

Oculus is holding a developer conference “Connect2” starting September 23, the other opportunity for a Galaxy O/Gear VR reveal is the fast-approaching IFA where Samsung will show off the Gear S2 smartwatch.

By the way, Munster had something to say about the Oculus Rift too, that pre-orders for the delayed consumer model will kick off in Q1 next year.

Source |…

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At this point rumors about the elusive iPad Pro are getting a little out of hand. After the recent talk of a second-screen case for the mysterious tablet, today brings a new batch of wild speculations – this time about a stylus accessory for the still unconfirmed device from Cupertino.

The rumor talks of a Force Touch stylus, which, like the name suggests, will allegedly be aware of the amount of pressure with which it is pressed and react accordingly. The idea for such an accessory, however, isn’t currently based on any evidence and is simply the result of predictions, courtesy of reputed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. While he does have a pretty good track record of foreseeing Apple’s moves, it is worth noting that the Force Touch stylus is currently nothing more than wishful thinking for a largely unconfirmed device. As Mr. Kuo explains:

We also believe a Force Touch-enabled stylus will enhance productivity as it would offer more precise operation than using only fingers, . Technically, we believe the stylus can be made compatible with iPad models other than the 12.9-inch version, but it depends on the support of software.

The idea of a Force Touch stylus is definitely captivating and would truly let Apple brush elbows with other performance-oriented tablet products, like the Microsoft Surface or Galaxy Note Pro, for example. Still, it is all conceptual, but if such an accessory does exist in the future, chances are that it will be sold separately and perhaps even made compatible with other Apple products.

As for the iPad Pro, it remains just as shrouded in mystery and uncertainty as it was back in 2013 when we first heard rumors about it. It will allegedly be Apple’s biggest tablet to date with a spacious 12.2-inch or perhaps a 12.9-inch screen. Other rumored specs include an A9 CPU, Force Touch, NFC and USB Type C.

Industry sources now suggest a late September on November release date for the product, just in time for the holiday shopping craze, so we just have to wait and see if Apple lives up to fan expectations on this one.

Source |…

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Just when we thought that the Samsung execs were wrapping up the event for the announcement of the Galaxy Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+, they went out and teased the next-gen Gear smartwatch. Round it is, that was clear, but the brief video shown on stage only gave us a short glimpse of what’s to expect.

Good thing then that Samsung has released a new more detailed promo video, showcasing the interface of what’s likely going to be the Gear S2. Sports tracking, heart rate monitoring and weather forecasts are among the key features, and believe it or not, the wearable can also tell the time.

It’s also apparently going to have cellular connectivity, judging by the phone and messaging app icons. Then again, the original Gear S supported 2G/3G networks, so it would actually be surprising if the new one doesn’t.

The new smartwatch is scheduled to be unveiled at IFA in Berlin, with the date set for September…

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The newly announced Samsung Galaxy Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ gathered quite an interest since the announcement but as it turns out Samsung left few important things out. Apparently both the Note5 and S6 edge+ will be available in dual-SIM models.

We already reported the dual-SIM Galaxy Note5 being spotted on pre-order in the Philippines. And it has been also confirmed the second SIM slot won’t take microSD cards as some people were hoping for.

Now the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ Dual SIM is available for purchase on eBay. The seller is from Singapore and has in stock all four color options. He wants $999.99 for the smartphone and will ship it immediately with FedEx.

All the specs remain the same as on the regular Galaxy S6 edge+ and again – there is no option for microSD expansion on the second SIM slot.

There is no official info on which markets will be getting the dual-SIM models, but we know from experience with the past Galaxies that eventually the dual-SIM versions become available almost on every official market.

Thank you, Carnim, for the…

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Alleged tidbits from BlackBerry Venice promo videos made the rounds on Twitter, courtesy of @evleaks. The high-end smartphone might debut as early as next month during IFA with sliding QWERTY keyboard and Android OS.

Eye candy. http://pic.twitter.com/GtJwOfOus8— Evan Blass (@evleaks) August 19, 2015

The latest BlackBerry Venice leak falls right in line with past unscheduled appearances of the smartphone. It once again reveals that the device will feature a screen with slightly curved glass, as well as a loudspeaker that remains visible even when the slider is closed.

.@halfnibble More of an “Android Maya job,” innit? http://pic.twitter.com/4Fhll0Bfv0— Evan Blass (@evleaks) August 19, 2015

Rumored specs of BlackBerry Venice include Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset, 3GB of RAM, QHD display, and 16MP main camera. Last month, @evleaks also revealed that the handset will launch on AT&T.

Source…

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WhatsApp launched its Web interface back in January, but with one glaring omission: it hasn’t so far worked with its iOS app. That all changes starting today.

If you’re wondering why a Web interface for a messaging service has to work with the same service’s mobile apps, there’s a simple explanation. While you can use WhatsApp Web to read and send messages, these aren’t stored at a central location somewhere – they’re still on your phone, which is why the Web UI needs to communicate with the WhatsApp app on your handset in order to work.

And believe it or not, up until now this hasn’t been available for iOS. However, as you can see from the screenshot above, iPhone support has finally been added to WhatsApp Web.

In order to use the Web UI, you first need to make sure that the new “WhatsApp Web” option shows up for you in the Settings menu of the iOS app. If it does, then just head on over to web.whatsapp.com on your computer and follow the easy instructions for pairing with your phone (you basically just need to scan a QR code).

Do note that the functionality seems to be rolling out in a staged manner, so it may not be live for you just yet. But it is (finally) coming.

Source |…

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It was undoubtedly a bit shocking for many people to find out that Samsung actually has no plans of launching the Galaxy Note5 in Europe, at least not until 2016. And that’s especially after all four predecessors of the phablet have been sold in Europe.

LG is now the first competitor to openly mock Samsung’s marketing policy in this regard. Samsung decided that people in Europe don’t have as much use for the S Pen stylus of the Note series as those in Asia and the US, but LG is having none of that.

LG’s arm in Jordan tweeted the image you can see above, obviously implying that if you’re disappointed with Samsung and its antics you should consider buying the G4 instead. LG stresses that its current flagship smartphone is available across the world, without any artificial limits imposed on its distribution. “We’d never do that to you” is the message here, and we hope other manufacturers don’t go Samsung’s way in the future and start to geo-restrict their high-end devices more.

Thanks for the tip,…

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Today Lenovo has announced a new smartphone for the Indian market. It’s called A2010 and it has become the subcontinent’s cheapest 4G-capable handset.

The Lenovo A2010 features a 4.5-inch 854×480 touchscreen, a 5 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 2 MP selfie shooter, MediaTek’s MT6735M 64-bit SoC with 1 GHz quad-core CPU and Mali-T720 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of expandable storage, dual-SIM functionality, and a 2,000 mAh battery.

It runs Android 5.1 Lollipop. Its dimensions are 131.5 x 66.5 x 9.9 mm, and it weighs 137g. It will be offered in black and white.

The black model will be available exclusively at Flipkart through flash sales which start on September 3. Registrations for these are now open. The smartphone is priced at INR 4,990. That’s currently around $76 or €68.

According to a Flipkart exec, today one in three 4G phones sold in India is a Lenovo. So the A2010 could be pretty successful…

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