T-Mobile’s Galaxy Note 4 finally gets Lollipop update too

T-Mobile is the last of the 'big four' carriers in the US to push out the Lollipop update for its Galaxy Note 4 units, but it's finally done so today. This follows similar rollouts already commenced by Sprint, AT&T, as well as Verizon – many weeks ago.

Yet if you bought your Samsung Galaxy Note 4 from the magenta carrier you've been patiently waiting to get a taste of Lollipop, until now that is.

The update comes over-the-air in the form of a 1.1GB download, so you'll have to get it via Wi-Fi. Other prerequisites to perform the update are at least 50% battery life at the start of the procedure, and 3GB of free storage.

Once it gets going, the download should take around half an hour to complete, while the installation itself may take up to an hour, depending on the number of apps you have. After everything's finished, you'll be running Android 5.0.1, software version N910TUVU1COD6.

If you haven't yet received the update notification, you can manually check through the About phone Settings menu, or use Kies, Samsung's desktop PC software, to install the new bits.

Source |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1GpBIBu
via IFTTT

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge video review

If you've already read our regular Galaxy S6 and S6 edge reviews, you may be wandering what this is doing here. Well, it's popcorn time today as we've prepared the first ever video version of our trademark reviews. One thing's for sure – you've never seen us do a phone review like this before.

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1bwslYG
via IFTTT

Three new Blackberry phones leaked in photos

Blackberry has definitely been going through some hard times lately. The legendary company hasn't quite managed to stay relevant and is left targeting a pretty narrow, niche consumer market. The company's latest smartphone, the BlackBerry Leap, which came out at MWC 2015 didn't really manage to impress,, but there might still be some hope for the Canadian company to rekindle at least some of its former glory.

As some of you surely remember, at the very same Barcelona venue last month, Blackberry gave us a quick tease by bringing up on stage what clearly looked like a slider with a double-edged screen. A new set of leaked images seems to showcase the very same phone, as well as two more BlackBerry devices, so fans have a lot to look forward to.

First up, is the aforementioned curved device. It is dubbed the BlackBerry Slider or BlackBerry Venice and it is gearing up to be a true flagship offering. It should feature a 5.1-inch display, with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels. Currently, we can't really say in the display is actually curved, like the one on the Galaxy S6 edge, or the effect is achieved by some clever optical work, like with the upcoming Oppo R7, but that is really beside the point. The smartphone looks quite nice and a very pleasant change of pace for BlackBerry. Its specs sheet should also include an octa-core CPU, a 16MP main camera, 5MP front-facing shooter and a 3,650 mAh battery, so it is definitely studding into flagship territory.

There are two other new devices that are featured in the leaked photos. One is said to be a direct successor to the current BlackBerry Passport. As far as we know, it will bear the name Oslo and share much of its sibling's specs sheet, like the same 1440 x 1440 pixels display, Snapdragon 800 chipset, a 13MP camera with OIS and a 3450 mAh battery. The device also looks to be quite similar on the physical side, with the same spacious physical QWERTY keyboard.

Last, but not least, we have a device, allegedly bearing the model number P'9984, which could only mean one thing – a new Porsche Design handset. It also looks to be modeled after the BlackBerry Passport, but bears that signature design and color-pallet.

Neither of the devices has been discussed at lengths by BlackBerry, so we can don't have any info on availability or pricing.

Source (in Chinese) |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1Dtjn4u
via IFTTT

Samsung’s new custom CPU cores 45% faster than A57

Samsung has undoubtedly secured its top-dog position in terms of current gen mobile SoC performance. The latest Exynos 7420, powering the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge has proven itself more capable than anything Qualcomm or Mediatek currently have to offer. But, in today's fast-paced mobile realm tides can shift almost instantly and Samsung doesn't intend to let its competition catch up.

A few weeks ago, we heard a rumor, that the Korean giant is currently hard at work on a custom CPU core design of its own. This is, actually the next logical step in evolving the company's own Exynos chipset family, as, even though, the Exynos 7420 is manufactured with proprietary Samsung technology, it is still based on standard Cortex A57 and A53 cores.

The new silicon, codenamed Mongoose, is said to employ an entirely different architecture altogether and according to some preliminary benchmarks and estimates, in churns out 45% better single-core performance than the Exynos 7420. As far as we currently know, the 64-bit Mongoose chips should cover an ARMv8 instruction set and offer clock speeds of up to 2.3 GHz. There is, however, a lot more that contributes to a mobile chip's performance and proper heat management is another key factor. Samsung has led us to believe that Mongoose will be build using 14nm FinFET technology, just like the current Exynos 7420.

In other words, Samsung, needs to really implement things right, or else it might risk causing another overheating fiasco, like the one still plaguing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810. Another interesting rumor concerning the upcoming chips is that Exynos M1, which will supposedly be the first Mongoose chip, might employ a Heterogeneous System Architecture. This would be an exciting step forward for mobile tech, as the concept of employing GPU processors for genera-purpose calculations has really caught on lately. Furthermore, Samsung is, in fact, part of the HAS Foundation, along with other major industry names, like AMD, ARM, Imagination Technologies, MediaTek, Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, which makes the leap to heterogeneous computing all that more plausible.

As far as availability goes, industry source estimate that the first Mongoose chips might enter into mass production in 9 to 12 months. If Samsung sticks to its standard release schedule, this could mean that the company's next flagship device, presumably the Galaxy S7, will be the first to use the novice architecture.

Source |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1dkeDJq
via IFTTT

Lollipop update rolling out for Samsung Galaxy Alpha

Looks like Samsung has started rolling out the Android Lollipop update for the Galaxy Alpha (SM-G850) smartphone. According to a report from Sammobile, the device has started getting Android 5.0.2 in South Korea, where the update is available OTA (over-the-air) as well as through the company's Kies software utility.

For those who aren't in the know, the Android 5.0.2 update mostly brings performance and stability-related improvements and better battery life. It is expected that the update will roll out soon in other markets as well.

The news comes just a few days after the South Korean company started updating the Galaxy A3 with Android…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1EcIts0
via IFTTT

BlackBerry Classic white version launches

BlackBerry announced a white color version of the Classic smartphone, which was launched back in December last year, and was available only in black.

As for the availability, the Canadian company has said the white variant will start rolling out this week in Hong Kong through authorized distributors, and the UK through ShopBlackBerry and Amazon. It will also be available in Italy, Vietnam, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks.

Specs-wise, the BlackBerry Classic is powered by a Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon chipset with dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait CPU, and sports a 3.5-inch touchscreen display. It comes with 2GB RAM, 16GB expandable internal memory, and 2MP front- and 8MP rear-facing camera. The device also features a traditional QWERTY keyboard as well as a…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1bKnDag
via IFTTT

TRAI releases emails of Net Neutrality supporters

In a rather appalling move, the TRAI or Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, has published the email IDs and contents of emails sent to them regarding Net Neutrality in India.

A few weeks ago, TRAI had asked the people of India to voice their opinions regarding the new Net Neutrality laws, especially in the light of companies like Bharti Airtel deciding to charge VoIP calls separately. Over a million people responded by sending emails to the designated email ID.

What do the people get in return? While the net neutrality laws are yet to be put into place, all the email IDs and the contents of the emails that people sent to TRAI are now published in plaintext on their website. Spammers are likely having a field day, as not only do the emails have the IDs but also the phone numbers and other details in the signatures of some of the people. Simply put, if you sent TRAI an email, your email ID, along with your name and possibly your phone number is now with some random company who will be more than willing to spam you.

While this could be attributed to simple stupidity rather than malice, the fact that an organization that claims to be the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India could be so utterly careless and clueless about how the internet works is just downright baffling and embarrassing. Unfortunately, the details are still posted on the company's website despite the backlash from the media and people on social networks. We won't be posting the link here to prevent further spread of private information but it shouldn't be hard to find for someone who's interested.

We are yet to hear from TRAI regarding this…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1GolFDW
via IFTTT

LG G4 said to be cheaper than Galaxy S6 in Germany

Just a few days after there were reports that LG's upcoming flagship smartphone, the G4, will be costlier than the Galaxy S6, it is now being said that the device will actually be cheaper than the Samsung's flagship, at least in Germany.

The news comes from German website WinFuture, which is reporting that the 32GB version of the G4 will cost somewhere between €679 and €689, which is €10 to €20 cheaper than the S6.

The report, however, notes that the prices are only for the base model which doesn't feature a leather back. Other models in the category will be priced somewhere in the range of €729 to €739, which is more than the S6 but cheaper than the Galaxy S6 Edge.

The G4 is set to be officially unveiled tomorrow, and will be released in Korea the day after.

Via 1 (translated) | Via…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1zdTlam
via IFTTT

Sony Xperia P2 leak promises compact phone with great camera

Some rumors just sound too good to be true, but with the modest update to the Xperia Z flagship Sony's hottest phone may land in a forgotten mid-range series. The Sony Xperia P2 borrows the transparent strip of its 2012 predecessors and spices up the looks with super-thin bezels.

Leaked diagrams and specs point to a 5.2" Triluminos IPS screen with 1080p resolution, basically the same screen as the Xperia Z4. Side by side, however, the P2 looks tiny – 137.3 x 67.2 x 10.9mm. Compare that to LG G2's 138.5x 70.9 x 8.9mm. The screen glass will be beveled at the edges at a thickness of 0.8mm.

Okay, the Sony Xperia P2 sounds a bit thick, but the back is curved ranging from 8.9mm to 10.9mm. The payoff is the huge 4,240mAh battery inside, that's more than most phablets and the Moto Maxx/Turbo.

Sony will allegedly revamp the camera department that hasn’t seen a major upgrade since the Xperia Z1. The new camera will have an Exmor RS sensor of the same size (1/2.3") but at lower resolution (12MP) meaning bigger pixels.

It will feature a Sony G OSS lens, which essentially means optical image stabilization. It will be a wide-angle 25mm lens with f/2.0 aperture and there is a dual-LED flash below it in the diagram. The camera will will record 2160p video. For still images ISO will range from 64 to 25,600 and 12-bit RAW.

The selfie camera is slated to be a 5.1MP/1080p shooter.

According to the leak the Sony Xperia P2 will be powered by a Snapdragon 810 chipset that may be slightly downclocked – the four big A57 cores are listed at 1.9GHz instead of the usual 2GHz. This may be to reign in the heat. The phone will have 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage. The status of an expansion slot is unclear.

There are no stereo speakers in sight either, but the transparent strip below the screen will probably be illuminated like on the original Xperia P, which was an attractive design element. The Xperia P also had a metal back too, unfortunately there's no image of the back of the P2.

The Xperia P2 sounds like a dream phone so far with a few catches – the biggest of which is that it might all be a fan-made concept.

Source (in Chinese)|…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1KmVOQL
via IFTTT

YU announces a design challenge for its upcoming smartphone

After crowdsourcing the name of their upcoming smartphone, and settling on YUPHORIA, YU is now asking its fans to design a UI set for the phone.

Participants in the challenge can either design the entire set, including icons, controls, status bar, navigation bar, and the wallpaper, or individual elements, including wallpaper, boot animation, or ringtones.

Those who choose to design the entire set can stand to win up to Rs. 100,000 ($1570) in cash prize and individual element creators can win up to Rs. 10,000 ($157) in Amazon credits.

The closing date for the challenge is May 10, so make sure you send your entries before then. Check the link below for further…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1Gzc6aF
via IFTTT