Last week AT&T made the update to Android 5.0 Lollipop available for its Samsung Galaxy S5 Active units, and now the time has come for that device's predecessor to get its taste of the new software too.

Today AT&T will start rolling out the Lollipop release for the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active. It will reach your device over-the-air, and a Wi-Fi connection is required to perform the update.

The download comes in at around 1GB, so there's good reason for that. After having applied the update you'll be running Android 5.0.1, build number LRX22C.I537UCUCOC6.

Aside from everything that's new in Google's Lollipop (and Samsung's usual modifications on top of that), it doesn't look like there's anything else bundled with this update.

If you get impatient while waiting for the download notification, you can manually check for the update by going to Settings > About device > Software…

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Sony's affordable E-series has definitely come a long way and with its current fourth generation. The company is really going to great lengths to deliver abundant functionality and usability at a modest price tag.

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Micromax has added yet another smartphone to its entry-level Canvas series. The all new Canvas Spark boasts of running Android 5.0 Lollipop update out of the box and is priced at INR4,999 ($79) for India. Following Xiaomi’s strategy, Micromax will offer the Canvas Spark through flash sale exclusively at Snapdeal.

The Canvas Spark packs a 4.7-inch qHD display covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and is powered by a MediaTek MTK6582M chipset with a quad-core 1.3GHz CPU and 1GB of RAM. The smartphone offers 8GB of expandable storage and sports an 8MP rear camera/ 2MP front camera combo.

Canvas Spark supports dual-SIM with support for 3G in one of the slots and offers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS as connectivity options. Bearing a thin metallic frame running round the sides, the Spark is mere 8.5mm see and weighs 134 grams including the 2,000 mAh battery.

Those eager to buy this Redmi 2 competitor can register at Snapdeal from April 22 for the flash sale set to start on April…

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Samsung Pay launched with the Galaxy S6 duo with certifications from Visa and MasterCard, plus collaborations with various large banks around the world. The service is secured by Samsung KNOX though and that gets disabled when you root your phone.

This means rooting will disable the Samsung Pay service. KNOX has been around for a while now and people eventually found a way to root a Galaxy S5 without tripping the KNOX detection, but there's no such method for the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge yet.

Still, root allows you to give apps additional privileges and access to Android's internals, which may compromise the security of Samsung Pay. We wouldn’t want to risk leaving our wallets exposed like that, so if you plan on trying Samsung's mobile payment system you'll have to go without…

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is now long overdue for a strong market comeback. The once powerful and highly-influential chip manufacturer has been lacking behind in die technology lately and is currently reduced to picking up the leftovers after Samsung claims major contracts with huge industry names like Apple and Qualcomm.

To address the issue TSMC is planning a huge leap in manufacturing technology. The company has scheduled the move to its 10nm manufacturing process in mass volumes for some time before the end of 2016.

To do so, the Taiwanese giant is going to start work in a brand new facility, or fab, as it is known in the industry, at its 12-inch silicon wafer plant in central Taiwan this June. TSMC chairman Morris Chang made it clear that the fab is specifically designed to manufacture chips using a 10nm technology, which will effectively put the company on the bleeding edge of silicon technology. That is, if Samsung doesn't have a major process improvement planned for the upcoming months.

Currently, Samsung is employing 14nm technology for some of the chips it manufactures, like the in-house Exynos line and as we found out that brings great rewards. 10nm, however, is definitely not unheard of. Samsung has successfully tested its own technology to achieve the shrink, called FinFET and Intel has scheduled its own 10nm chips for 2016 as well. Both companies have even ventured further and there have been talks about 7nm and even 5nm, so TSMC is definitely not breaking new ground here.

If the schedule does pan out and TSMC manages to beat the competition to the mass production, it will undoubtedly make the market leader once…

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The original Motorola Moto X, released in 2013, has been in disadvantage since the official Lollipop release. Due to the dated Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset the Android updates need further tweaking before their rollout and first-gen Moto X was always the last of the Moto lineup on the update queue.

The Moto X (2013) got its official Android 5.0 Lollipop update just a month ago after a few delays and soak tests. Today, a new soak test begins in Brazil and this time around it's for the latest Android 5.1 Lollipop OS.

The 5.1 version of Android is already available on the Moto X(2014) and it brings bot usability and stability improvements. It enhances the quick settings, gives better control over notifications and interrupts, improves the performance of the camera and Android system, plus it contains lots of bug fixes.

A similar update is now rolling out in Brazil for the first generation Moto X. If all goes smooth it should roll out worldwide in May. Motorola is dedicated to providing regular updates for the Moto X (2013) until the end of 2015, so more Android updates will be following later this year for…

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The Samsung Galaxy Tab A went official a while ago and from the looks of things, it is going to be Samsung's next budget-oriented tablet series. Now, the first Tab A devices are closer to consumer markets than ever.

Both the Galaxy Tab A 9.7 and Tab A 8.0 devices will be up for preorder in the US, starting May 1. Both tablets were already officially announced in Russia last month, so we have a pretty thorough idea of their specs sheet.

The Galaxy Tab A tablets are the first to show Samsung's switch to the 4:3 screen ratio, which will reportedly feature in the new generation top-of-the-line Galaxy Tab S models. Both come with an XGA PLS TFT display with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels and a ppi number of 160 and 132, respectively.

Other than the obvious difference is screen size, the devices share the same, rather modest, specs sheet. Both models are powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, presumably within a Snapdragon 410 chipset. The rest of the specs include 2GB of RAM, 16GB of onboard storage and the bigger one comes with a dual-speaker setup.

The camera setup sounds perfectly adequate as well, especially, considering the budget nature of the tablets. It consists of a 5MP main shooter and a smaller 2MP one on the front. The battery pack also differs depending on screen size. The smaller 8.0-9nch one is equipped with a 4,200mAh, while the 9.7-inch model boasts a significantly more spacious 6,000mAh.

The new Tab A series also come with some advanced features, found in the company's premium Tab S line. These include the famous Multi Window feature, which is invaluable for multitasking and taking full advantage of a bigger screen. It fits perfectly with the Microsoft Office pack and 100GB OneDrive storage that come bundled with the devices. The list of software goodies is long and includes such services as Milk Music, Quick Connect, Smart Switch, and SideSync 4.0. Both tablets also run Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box, with convenient multi user and parental control features.

As far as pricing goes, the smaller Galaxy Tab A 8.0 comes in White, Smoky Titanium, and Smoky Blue and is priced at $229.99 and the bigger 9.78-inch one will set you back $299.99, with the same choice of paint jobs. There is also a 9.7-inch Titanium version of the tablet, which comes with an S-Pen and a price tag of $349.99. Both devices will be up for preorder across the US from Samsung stores, as well as Best Buy, Amazon, and HH Gregg starting May 1. And the special Titanium version will come around May…

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Samsung has an advantage in chip making and it's starting to snowball – now even Qualcomm may switch to Samsung's foundries to manufacture the upcoming Snapdragon 820 chipset. The current 810 is built by TSMC (which also produced previous Snapdragons), but it has been underperforming.

Qualcomm rushed to add 64-bit capability to its chipsets, which led it to use the standard ARM Cortex cores instead of the next generation custom chips – those just weren’t ready. Still, Samsung is using the same Cortex-A53 and A57 in its Exynos chipset and it's getting better results, thanks to the 14nm manufacturing process compared to TSMC's 20nm.

Snapdragon 820 will mark the return to custom Qualcomm cores, sporting the 64-bit ARMv8 instruction set, those are dubbed Kryo and are expected to power flagships in 2016. Even if the company manages to make cooler-running cores than the ARM designs, it still wants the advantage of the smaller manufacturing process.

Qualcomm also wants back into Galaxy flagships – those sell tens of millions, but Samsung will need convincing to switch away from the Exynos, which reportedly saves on licensing fees. Exynos uses an external modem though, which is pricier than having it integrated into the chipset like Snapdragon designs.

Neither Samsung nor Qualcomm have officially confirmed the move yet, but this cant' be good news for TSMC. Apple will also turn to Samsung for the A9 chipset for the next-generation of iGadgets.

Source |…

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The upcoming Oppo bezelless flagship has been showing up in live videos lately with some consistency as to its design. However, a new render now claims that the Oppo R7 will look nothing like, instead boasting a crazy thin profile and yes, some bezels.

The design of smartphone in the image shows a marked resemblance to the iPhone 6, even down to the screen size, which the source claims to be 4.7 inches. That would be a step back from the 5.2 inches of the Oppo R5, and should raise the first flag of suspicion as to the image's authenticity.

Possibly the most striking feature is the smartphone's slim waistline, but with Oppo's history of making thin devices (the R5 briefly held the crown for thinnest smartphone), it wouldn't be all that surprising if the company tries to shave off a fraction of a millimeter in the future device.

A careful observer will notice that in the render the camera lens sits flush with the back panel, a design deemed impossible in such thin devices by industry heavyweights. That, along with multiple videos and photos of people actually holding a working bezelless device, should be enough of an indication the image we're looking at is either an artist's vision of the R7, or an entirely different device.

On the other hand while it has been assumed that the bezelless device will carry the R7 name, it hasn't exactly been set in stone. So in the end we may get both the crazy slim phone pictured above, and the other one with the display stretching from edge to edge. We'll need to play the waiting game a little while longer to find out.

Source |…

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LG's upcoming flagship smartphone, the G4, will hit the stores in its home market on April 29, the South Korean company has confirmed.

Yesterday, there were reports that the device will release on May 31. However, that information turned out to be false, as it was based on incorrect translation of an LG Social post.

"May 31 is the end of the promotion (read about it here), not the shipping date of G4. Reservations are being accepted now and Korean customers will be able to pick up their G4s on April 29," LG confirmed to us. The device is set to be unveiled on April 28 at two parallel events in London and New…

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