Snapdragon 810 proved both its parent company, Qualcomm, and client phone makers in a very tough spot. The company can see the light at the end of the tunnel though and revealed some official info about the Snapdragon 820.

First things first – I will use custom 64-bit Kryo cores, bye bye Cortex. But what the company has revealed is mostly about the GPU and ISP.

The Snapdragon 820 will use the new generation Adreno 530 GPU, Snapdragon 618 and 620 will use 510. All 5-series Adrenos will support OpenGL 3.1 (with 3.2 coming later) and the new Vulcan API. Qualcomm claims a 40% jump in performance along with a 40% cut in power usage. The Adreno 510 GPU should deliver similar improvements over the 405.

Part of that will come from the new process – not official yet, but we’re likely looking at 14nm or 16nm chips (down from 20nm for the S810). Another power efficiency boost comes from a standalone power manager for the GPU.

The GPUs support HDMI 2.0 and up to 4K @ 60fps output, they’ll even manage 4K output wirelessly (though capped at 30fps).

Another upgraded part of Snapdragon 820 is the ISP. The Spectra camera Image Signal Processor is to handle small camera pixels better, hybrid autofocus (i.e. added phase detection AF), low-light performance and leaning on the GPU for software “optical zoom.”

Like the Snapdragon 810, the 820 will feature support for dual cameras on the back. But this time they can have different focal lengths. The ISP and GPU will simulate zoom steps in between both focal lengths to achieve a smooth transition similar to proper optical zoom.

That’s the official info for now, there’s nothing on the Kryo cores, not even how many of them will be in the S820 (seems like 4 for now). There’s nothing on connectivity either, though at this point carriers are well behind even current chipsets in LTE.

Devices based on Snapdragon 820 are expected to be available in 1H 2016.

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The upcoming Nexus phones will be split between two makers – LG bringing a more compact 5.2″ handset and Huawei making the larger 5.7″ phablet. We’ve seen rounds of leaks detail the specs, but it looks like they will be roughly the same device differing mostly in size.

The LG Nexus will pack a 5.2″ in a (probably) metal body. Front-facing speakers bump up the size of the thing to 146.9 x 72.9 x 9.8m (8mm at the thinnest part). Other goodies include a fingerprint reader on the back and a USB Type C.

#LG’s New #NEXUS: Likely Metal Body,roughly 146.9×72.9×8/9.8mm,5.2″ Screen,Front Facing Speakers,Fingerprint Sensor on the Back,USB Type-C— OnLeaks (@OnLeaks) August 12, 2015

The Huawei Nexus will have 5.7″ screen in a (more certainly) metal body with front-facing speakers again. This bumps up the size to 159.4 x 78.3 x 8.5mm (6.6mm at the thinnest). The back fingerprint sensor and USB Type C will also be on board.

#Huawei’s #NEXUS: Metal Body,roughly 159.4×78.3×6.6/8.5mm,likely 5.7″ Screen,Front Facing Speakers,Fingerprint Sensor on the Back,USB Type-C— OnLeaks (@OnLeaks) August 12, 2015

An earlier leak showed an impressive score from the LG Nexus (though we wouldn’t put much weight on benchmark scores this early) and revealed a 1080p screen resolution. The Huawei Nexus meanwhile will probably be powered by a Snapdragon 820 and feature a QHD…

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LG has announced the new Music Flow HS8, a wireless sound bar that is also curved to match your curved TV.

The sound bar pairs wireless with your TV or smartphone to transmit audio using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The dynamic i-Sound Mode automatically tweaks the sound depending upon what is playing on the TV. The Google Cast support lets you stream audio content from your Android device to the sound bar. It can also connect with other LG Music Flow speakers wirelessly and stream music across your home.

The HS8 is a 4.1 channel speaker system with a 360W amp. The system has four tweeters, two on the front and two on the sides. It is wall mountable.

The LG Music Flow HS8 will be displayed during IFA at the LG…

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ZTE’s former Nubia Z7 flagship came along with two siblings – the Z7 Max and Z7 mini. The device still has a lot of appeal with a stylish exterior and good specs, but as with most other Chinese handsets – acquiring it outside the Asian market is usually a hustle and piles various taxes and costs on top of the price tag.

However, if you have taken a liking to the Z7 you can pretty much get it trouble free with little to no markup form Chinese e-tailer Gearbest. The website currently has the handset listed for $299.99 (50% off) and better yet, with free worldwide shipping. Some regional restrictions, taxes and local duties do apply, so you have to take that into account as well. You can also expect to wait on the unit for a month or so, depending on where you live. Still, at $300 it is a fairly good deal, although only slightly cheaper than the LG G3.

The ZTE Nubia Z9 was created as a direct contender to the LG G3. Just like it, it is powered by a Snapdragon 801 chipset and has a 5.5-inch QHD screen and 3GB of RAM. It is even equipped with something called Display RAM, which allows the ZTE to render static screen content without bothering the chipset – just like the LG G2 does.

ZTE Nubia Z7

The camera setup is also almost identical in specs. The Z7 has a 13MP camera with f/2.0 aperture and optical image stabilization. The front camera has a 5MP sensor. The smartphone is dual-SIM with FDD-LTE support. It also has dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac and a 3,000mAh battery.

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The Sony Xperia M5 is the first in its family to get Phase Detection autofocus as part of the Hybrid AF feature (a combination of traditional contrast AF and Phase Detection AF). The company promises an autofocus lock in just 250 milliseconds thanks to this new feature.

The phone was shown off at a demo in Taiwan where ePrice got some hands-on time and put it up against the traditional autofocus of the HTC One M9+. The video below makes the difference in speed quite obжious:

Keep in mind that the Xperia M5 is not the first phone to use phase detection, the Galaxy S5 and LG G3 were among the first, their successors have the feature too.

Anyway, here are some camera samples from the M5 and M9+. Sony’s self-described “mid-range flagship” has a new generation camera, which gives us a taste of what’s to come with the Xperia Z5 family.

Sony Xperia M5 camera samples

HTC One M9+ camera samples

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“When in doubt, launch a new One M9 version” is probably HTC’s motto. This isn’t official mind you, but a poster on ePrice claims that the embattled company is looking to relaunch the One M9 with a MediaTek chipset.

Allegedly the other specs will be the same – 5″ 1080p screen, 20MP camera, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage stereo speakers and presumably no fingerprint sensor.

Except the sizzling Snapdragon 810 will be swapped out for a MediaTek Helio X10 (octa-core CPU at 2.2Ghz) or Helio X20 (ten-core at 2.5GHz with two A72 cores).

We’d consider this rumor unlikely, though in 2015 HTC has launched several variations of the M9 and even last year’s M8 (not that competing makers aren’t guilty of launching many [model name] [extra adjective] phones).

But if the rumor is true, where does that leave the HTC One M9+, which has a better screen (5.2″ QHD), a fingerprint reader and an octa-core CPU on a MediaTek chipset? And existing S810-powered M9 users? Well, maybe the rumor is just that – a rumor.

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The HTC-made Google Nexus 9 tablet – which was launched back in October last year – is now available at discounted price on Expansys.

The online retailer is selling the 16GB WiFi variant of the device for just $290 in the US. That’s a steep discount given that the model usually sells for $399 on Amazon, although it is currently listed for $359 there.

However, if you are interested in Samsung’s latest Galaxy Tab S2 instead, it’s worth mentioning that both 8-inch and 9.7-inch variants of the device are now available for purchase from Expansys, with prices beginning from $380 and $470, respectively.

The tablet is already available in South Korea and Hong Kong, and is currently up for pre-order in Europe.

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Snapchat has released an update for its iOS and Android apps that brings with it two new features.

The app now has a Travel Mode that can be enabled in the settings, which prevents stories from loading when you’re on your data network, useful when you’re outdoors as the stories can use up quite a bit of data.

Secondly, you can now put even more emoji on your snaps. There is a button at the top that has the full set of emoji that you can tap and add to your images. You can drag them around, pinch to resize them and drag the back up to remove them. Snapchat is using the Twitter emoji set for this feature, possibly to stay neutral instead of using either Apple or Google’s emoji set.

While it was possible before to put emoji on the snaps you couldn’t move them around much as you please as they were treated like text. This will also let people who might be on older versions of Android to enter emoji as the OS doesn’t support entering it natively prior to KitKat.

The update is now live for both iOS and…

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The Sony BSP60 Smart Bluetooth Speaker, which was unveiled back in March at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) and went on sale in Europe a few months later, is now available for purchase in the United States.

Strangely, although the device is listed on Sony’s eShop in the country, you are taken to a third-party retailer’s (MobilePlanet) website when you click the Buy now button. As for the price, it will set you back a good $319, with standard shipping costing an extra $5 while next day shipping costing an extra $28.

Feature-wise, the speaker – which looks like a retro style alarm clock when operational – is a voice-controlled, NFC-enabled device that has its own display with buttons to control volume and other functions. It can check, display, as well as read out smartphone notifications, and also comes with a phone finder feature.

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The HTC One M9+, which was released back in May this year and went on sale in Europe a couple of months later, is being taken off shelves from several retail stores in the Netherlands.

Popular retailer Phone House sent out the following statement (translated) to its offices: “At the request of HTC, we ask you to HTC M9 plus immediately, until further notice to withdraw from the sale. We will let you know in a few days how this further to deal with.”

Although the exact reason behind the move isn’t yet known, it is being said that the handset is experiencing issues with 4G LTE connectivity in the country.

Meanwhile, the Taiwanese company has come out with the following statement (translated): “HTC puts the quality of its products and providing an optimal user experience first. In that context, we are currently investigating the HTC One M9 +. This device we have to pick that reason temporarily, from the sales. Once more is known, we will let you know. Thanks in advance for your understanding and patience.”

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