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Verizon’s Sony Xperia Z4v will be released on August 13

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Last month Sony and Verizon announced the Xperia Z4v, a slightly enhanced version of the Z3+ which will be exclusive to the carrier nicknamed Big Red. This arrangement follows in the footsteps of the Z3v from last year, so it's no surprise really.

One of the important details that was missing from the unveiling of the Z4v was its release date. Thankfully though, Sony has now decided to give us that.

As you can see, it will be August 13. The image above is basically a screengrab of Sony's official microsite for the Xperia Z4v, so we expect the date to be correct.

Unfortunately we still have to wait in order to find out anything about how much you'll have to pay for the device. That said, we can't imagine it will be cheap given its high-end specs.

The Z4v sports a 5.2-inch QHD touchscreen, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 20 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 5 MP selfie shooter, and a 3,000 mAh battery. It runs Android 5.0…

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Microsoft lays off 7,800 people, writes off Nokia acquisition

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Through the voice of Satya Nadella (pictured below), its CEO, Microsoft today unveiled some bad news for a significant portion of its employees.

In an email actually addressed to Microsoft employees, Nadella announced that up to 7,800 jobs will be slashed globally, primarily in the company's phone business.

That's the one it acquired from Nokia in 2013. But the bad news related to this deal and Microsoft's standing in the smartphone world doesn't stop there.

The company has also unveiled that it "will take an impairment charge of approximately $7.6 billion related to assets associated with the acquisition of the Nokia Devices and Services business in addition to a restructuring charge of approximately $750 million to $850 million".

That's basically the entire amount Microsoft paid for Nokia's phone business. The aforementioned write off obviously comes as Microsoft hasn't been able to reach any reasonable market share numbers in the smartphone space throughout the world with its own handsets. And, of course, Windows Phone itself isn't doing better either.

That leads us to another point in Nadella's message. Apparently it's time for Microsoft to focus its phone efforts "while driving reinvention". There will be a move "from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem that includes our first-party device family". So presumably Microsoft wants to churn out less own-brand devices and see more partners adopt its mobile OS.

As for its own smartphones, those will address three customer segments: businesses, value phone buyers, and Windows fans (who will get "the flagship devices they'll love"). This doesn't leave a lot of room for mid-range offerings in Microsoft's portfolio in the…

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Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and S6 edge Plus hardware detailed

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Samsung's future high end phablet lineup is drawing more attention by the day and a few extra details have now surfaced on the Galaxy Note 5. Along with that, we're also being treated to a few specs of the Galaxy S6 edge Plus, which appears to be the name Samsung has settled on for the edge-screened upmarket phablet.

Starting with the Note 5, the source states that it will feature a 5.67-inch QHD Super AMOLED display, a bit of a departure from the 5.89 inches we were previously led to expect. The smaller diagonal means a 70.6mm display width, and that somewhat clashes with the narrow bezels and overall 77.3mm width in the latest leaked renders, so something may be off here.

Befitting its top shelf nature, the Note 5 will be powered by the in-house Exynos 7422 SoC, a reworked version of the already familiar 7420 inside the Galaxy S6, but with built-in cellular modems this time.

The Galaxy S6 edge Plus (we'll see how Samsung goes about the use of capital letters here) on the other hand will carry the signature dual-edge display curves on the same 5.7-inch diagonal. This one will come with a Snapdragon 808 SoC, which by the time of launch will likely be the manufacturer's third most powerful, behind the S820 and S810 models.

We get a few more numbers for the S6 edge Plus, namely 32GB of storage, a 16MP primary camera with OIS and 2160p video recording (not that you would've guessed otherwise), as well as a 5MP front shooter. It has also been said to come with a 3,000mAh battery and Lollipop 5.1.1 upon launch.

Both devices are tipped to have glass backs, Galaxy S6-style, so we'd have to wave goodbye to the user-replaceable battery, less of an issue on the Note 5 with its rumored 4,100mAh cell capacity. There's no word on the inclusion of a microSD slot, so there's still some hope on that front.

The bottom line is the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 will be aimed at the power user with its top-of-the-line chipset and large battery capacity, while the Galaxy S6 edge Plus will cater to the vain and deliver a large-screen experience in a more stylish package. We're looking forward to the next batch of leaked live images, to see what part of this checks…

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New leak details the new Moto G and reveals a Moto X Sport

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A couple of rather interesting, albeit pretty low-quality shots have surfaced online. They are said to come from Entel – Chile's largest carrier and seem to show two upcoming Motorola devices. One is the Moto G (2015) or 3rd gen. The legendary budget handset has come a long way since the original came out in 2013 and the latest iteration promises to pack even more Android goodness and productivity without breaking the bank.

The headset was already spotted in a few live photos and a video back in June, so, we have a pretty good idea what to expect. This new leak confirms a lot of this initial information. The Moto G (3rd gen) bears a lot of visual resemblance to the current second generation and has also kept the 5.0-inch display size and most-probably the 720p resolution as well.

As far as we currently know, the CPU is also upgraded to a quad-core unit, running at 1.4GHz, most-probably the Qualcomm Snapdragon 410. RAM should be set at 1GB and 8GB for onboard storage. Thankfully, there is a microSD card slot and judging from previous Moto G models, other storage variants as well as a dual-SIM variety should follow shortly. The camera setup is also bumped up quite a bit with a 13MP shooter on the back, dual-LED flash and a 5MP one on the front.

The other phone featured in the leaked photos looks to be a rugged Moto X variant. The title leads us to believe that it is dubbed the Moto X Sport. The headset is equipped with a 5.2-inch screen, just like the current Moto X, but perhaps with some extra protection, which we can't really tell from the photo. The rest of the specs sheet includes a 16MP main camera and a 5MP selfie one, which is an upgrade over the current Moto X. We do also have some info on the chipset – mainly that it is a quad-core chip, running at 1.5 GHz, but a make and model is not mentioned.

Last, but not least, the leak leads us to believe that both models will be unveiled in August, which is just a few weeks away, so, prepare for a new batch of Motorola goodies shortly.

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