According to a new report on the web, the successors of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus might have a body made of 7000 series aluminum. The innovative alloy is currently utilized in the entry-level Apple Watch Sport.

Commonly used in competition bikes, the 7000 series aluminum is 60% stronger than regular aluminum alloys, yet it offers one-third of the stainless steel’s density. In the case of the Apple Watch, the Cupertino giant has treated the lightweight metal with microscopic zirconia beads, which give the metal a nice satin finish.

New aluminum alloy might not be the only innovative feature in the iPhone 6 family. Recent report suggests that the successor of iPhone 6 Plus will pack a Force Touch sensor.

Apple is expected to unveil the next iPhone family at some point in September. Until we hear an official word from Cupertino, we suggest that you take all rumors with a grain of salt.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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Recently Microsoft's mobile division has unveiled quite a few lower-midrange smartphones, such as the Lumia 640 and 640XL, Lumia 540, and Lumia 430. But the company is reportedly also working on higher-end offerings for the future.

Two of these will be flagships when they launch. Although it's unclear what names they will be sold under, we'll call them Lumia 940 and Lumia 940XL. The former should sport a 5-inch touchscreen, while the latter will be a 5.7-inch phablet.

Otherwise, though, their specs could be almost identical, with a 24-25 MP rear camera, a 5 MP (or higher-res) front snapper, and native pen support. These devices will launch running Windows 10. As that version of the OS supports hexa-core and octa-core CPUs, perhaps such a part will end up being used in the 940 and 940XL.

Today's rumor doesn't have any exact details about their screen resolutions or chipsets, but it does mention that Microsoft is pushing for bleeding-edge specs for these handsets. They may also get some interesting-sounding features such as 3D interaction and iris scanning.

Since Microsoft may push Windows 10 for phones to vendors by the end of Q2, these smartphones may be unveiled in early Q3.

Moving on, there's also said to be a sort of Lumia 830 successor in the works – let's call it 840 for now. This will come with a 13 to 14 MP PureView main camera, a 5 MP front-facing unit, a screen around 5 inches in size, and a better processor compared to the Lumia 830. It will get a similar design to its predecessor though.

Another midranger could be the Lumia 740XL, with a 5.5" or 5.7" display, and similar cameras to the aforementioned Lumia 840 but sans PureView branding. Once again, the name is just tentative, as the source of this information isn't sure exactly what each of these handsets will end up being…

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While other manufacturers have been releasing updates to Android 5.0 Lollipop for their devices left and right, Lenovo has so far stayed out of this game. A couple of months ago we found out that a few of its smartphones would in fact be graced with the new software version, but not before the second quarter of this year.

Well, we're already in Q2 right now, so you may be wondering when to expect those updates on a Lenovo smartphone near you. As it turns out, if you own a Lenovo Vibe X2, then you should see the Lollipop update notification popping up on May 27.

This info comes straight from the Chinese company itself, through its Twitter account for the Middle East region. The account responded to someone's question about the update for the Vibe X2 with the aforementioned date.

We don't yet have news about any other Lenovo devices and when they are supposed to receive Android 5.0 Lollipop – other than the rough time frame of Q2. So, to recap, before the end of June the following handsets should also run the new software: A5000, A6000, P70, S90, Vibe Z2, and Vibe Z2 Pro. And those are probably going to be the only Lenovo-branded phones to be updated to Lollipop, since the company hasn't expanded the list.

Thanks for the tip, moamen!

Source (in…

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Back in January, Xiaomi announced two new high-end phablets – the Mi Note and the Mi Note Pro. Since then, the former has been available in China through the company's signature flash sales, but so far the Mi Note Pro hasn't been released.

If you've been waiting for it, though, you won't have much more of that to do from this point on. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun posted on his Weibo account that the Mi Note Pro will finally become available to order starting on May 6.

It's still unclear if orders placed then will ship immediately or not. That said, at least you will be able to order one, after many months of waiting.

The Mi Note Pro looks just like the Mi Note on the outside, but it's got higher-end internals. It comes with a 5.7-inch QHD touchscreen, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and it's powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 SoC, which brings with it support for Cat.9 LTE (with 450Mbps peak downloads).

The cameras are still 13 MP on the rear and 4 MP on the front, just like those on the Mi Note, and the battery has the same capacity too: 3,000 mAh.

For all of this you need to pay CNY 3,299, which right now translates into approximately $532 or €496.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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Last month ZTE made the Nubia Z9 Max and Nubia Z9 Mini official, but not the Z9 proper. This odd situation won't last for long, though.

Today the Chinese company has announced that it will unveil the Nubia Z9 on May 6. What's more, the teaser for the launch seems to confirm that the device will come with 'bezelless' screen sides.

This design detail has been leaked before regarding the Nubia Z9, most recently just a few days ago, when we saw a couple of purported renders of the handset. They do indeed show a display that has virtually no lateral bezels, and seems to curve slightly at the sides, just like Samsung's Galaxy S6 edge (though the curve is much less pronounced in the Nubia Z9).

This same '2.5D' effect is also said to be present in Oppo's upcoming R7, so we may be witnessing the start of a trend here.

As for internals, the ZTE Nubia Z9 is expected to be a real flagship offering, pairing a QHD touchscreen with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 chipset and no less than 3GB of RAM (possibly even 4GB). The main camera could be a 21MP unit, while a fingerprint sensor may sit on the phone's back just below it.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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LG India launched a new promo campaign today – #TryLGG4. Basically it will give a selected people the new LG G4 for 30 days worth of beta testing.

LG wants the users to participate in shaping the final stages of the LG G4.

"A smartphone doesn’t solve its purpose if it tops all the speed and benchmark tests but fails to satisfy the consumer needs. Realizing this, LG India is bringing this exciting and unique way to get our most important mobile product of the year, the LG G4, close to the consumers. I hope that the consumers like this offering by LG and participate in large numbers in this programme."

If you live in India and you are interested in getting a LG G4 ahead of everybody else – you should sign up on this website. There are ways to increase you chance of winning by just spreading the word across the social hubs.

There are no more details on this campaign and its aftermath, so we can’t tell you if you will be able to purchase the G4 with a discounted price after the trial is over or what happens if accidentally break it.

The LG G4 is going to premiere on April 28, while the winners of the #TryLGG4 campaign will be selected on May 8. You can apply for the program until May 5. LG has already kicked off the official teasers for the G4 and you can learn more about them here.

Source |…

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Sony Xperia Z4 rumors abound, but a recent one threw a spanner in the works – it suggested that all Xperia Z4 rumors so far actually relate to a refreshed Z3 model called Xperia Z3 Neo. The latest Z4 gossip claims that the flagship model will dump the glass back and go all-metal.

Also, the Power button – a centerpiece of the OmniBalance design Sony premiered with the original Xperia Z – is getting redesigned, it will reportedly feature a fingerprint reader. We haven’t seen such a big change in the leaked live images and cases, but this could be because those were for the Z3 Neo instead of the actual Xperia Z4.

April 20 often gets cited as the unveiling date for Sony's new phone, which will just undercut LG's unveiling of the G4 on April 28.

Whatever the name, the next high-end Xperia is set to pack a 5.2" screen (either 1080p or QHD), Snapdragon 810 chipset with 4GB of RAM, the usual 20.7MP camera and the IP68 waterproofing. With the Xperia Z4 Tablet already official, we hope the Xperia Z4 Compact won't be pushed back for a separate unveiling.

Thank you, Tizzo, for the…

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Earlier this year there were claims that Microsoft will invest in Cyanogen Inc., though that was later refuted. A Microsoft/Cyanogen partnership is still happening, except instead of money Microsoft will contribute its apps and services.

Bing services, Skype, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook and Microsoft Office will be integrated natively into Cyanogen OS and distributed on the phones that support it. Microsoft will be assisting with the integration into the custom Android OS.

It's not clear if and how this will affect CyanogenMod, the open-source Android branch that shouldn’t be confused with Cyanogen OS, which includes proprietary features. There's no timeframe either, but since version 12 is already out we're probably looking at Cyanogen OS 13.

Redmond's presence on Android is growing, Samsung already bundles a number of Microsoft apps. This comes just after unconfirmed reports claim Microsoft will accept lower royalties from Android manufacturers if they pre-install the company's…

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Xiaomi’s penchant to introduce smartphones in different colour options for its home region. The Chinese company has quietly announced yet another limited edition variant at $400 – Mi Note Black Edition along with new album of famous Chinese singer Jason Zhang.

The Mi Note Black Edition will arrive with the singer’s 10th album in an exclusive black packaging and the company noted that 30,000 units of the same will be put up for sale.

In past couple of weeks, the Mi Note has already embraced the Bamboo edition and Pink edition. Just like those two editions and the original one, even the Mi Note Black edition packs the same set of…

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The Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the YU Yureka was sent for certification a couple of days ago and today it received the stamp of approval. The update will roll out in phases over the next three days, so you may have to wait until the weekend to get it.

The latest software is based on Cyanogen OS 12 and brings additional theming support, improves mail with CyanogenMail and Exchange support, plus multiple account integration.

Android 5.0.2 running on the YU Yureka

The update was originally scheduled for the first week of April, but better late than never. You can join the others waiting for the OTA roll-out to reach their Yureka over at the YU forums (follow the source link).

Thanks to Pankaj for tipping us…

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