The Nokia Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL went up on pre-order in the UK in mid-March. Now the smaller of the two is available in stores, however if you wanted the 5.7" XL you'll have to wait until the end of the month.

The Nokia Lumia 640 starts at £100 with a £15.50 a month contract. It's available at Carphone Warehouse, EE, O2, Vodafone, Three, Amazon, Tesco and Virgin. If you don't want a contract you'll have to shell out £144 for the LTE model.

Color choices include glossy cyan and orange plus matte black. Carphone will offer a glossy white version exclusively.

The bigger Nokia Lumia 640 XL will be available SIM-free from a number of retailers at £220. It will come in matte cyan, orange, black and white, plus glossy white.

Both 640 phones will come with Windows Phone 8 but will be updated to Windows 10 when it becomes available later this…

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We reported that Sony is working on the Xperia Z4 smartphone set to launch sometime soon. While the specifications leak, we eagerly wait to see if there are any design changes. To our surprise, there are barely any visible changes as per a new leaked press image.

Previously leaked press renders showed off the white colored model and this new leak shows the black version. Sony has followed its familiar OmniBalance design language. The control placement has been confirmed with the recent case leak.

The Sony Xperia Z4 is expected tofeature a 5.2″ Quad HD display, powered with quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC, 4GB RAM, 32GB/64GB built-in storage, 20.7MP camera, and will pack non-removable…

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Samsung's latest pair of flagship devices have been generating a veritable storm of interest ever since their announcement at MWC 2015. Both eager customers and carriers have been piling up preorders, like there is no tomorrow and at this pace, the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are set to swiftly break sales records.

At a media event, this Thursday, Samsung's own J.K. Shin, gave his two cents on the matter and even expressed concerns about not being able to cope with overwhelming market demands, especially for the double-edged model. Even though all predictions indicate that the flat Galaxy S6 model will sell in greater numbers, especially in its native Korean market, there might be supply issues with the Galaxy S6 edge, as it is more difficult to produce. So, we can quite possibly expect initial shortages of the new curved Galaxy on various markets. As HMC Investment analyst Greg Roh noted:

Some carriers are switching existing orders to get more of the S6 edge, and it looks like demand for the model will exceed supply throughout this year. That means average selling price will fall at a slower rate, which will have a positive impact on Samsung overall.

What this all boils down to is a major chance for Samsung to regain some lost profitability in the next quarter. Even better, it seems the long-standing sales champion – the Galaxy S3, might finally be dethroned. Since its initial launch in 2012, the device has sold an estimated 80 million units. Samsung has declined to share its expectations of Galaxy S6 sales, but analysts believe the number might exceed 50 million in this year alone.

More sold units, naturally equals more income for the Korean giant, but with the latest Galaxy model this is truer than ever, as, unlike most of its predecessors, it relies solely on Samsung's own Exynos chips. This could potentially boost profits even more. But does this mean that there will be no more Qualcomm SoC's in Samsung's future handsets? J.K. Shin made it clear that the partnership between the two companies is still strong and the motivation behind the switch in silicon is simply that:
We have to use the best engines to make our products competitive, which is why we opted to use our own chips.

The president and CEO also noted that:
We may very well end up using products from Qualcomm again in the next Galaxy phone….

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If you have been following the developments around Apple's smart wearable, you are surely aware of two important dates – April 10 and April 24. Preorders for the Apple Watch start tomorrow and initial units are said to ship two weeks later. As we recently mentioned, the gadget will be available for in-store pickup, but if you really want to be among the first to get your hands on one, it's all about the timing and preordering online is shaping up as a necessity.

New information, suggest that even if you time everything right and preorder your unit as early as possible, come April 24, you could be set for a major disappointment. It turns out, that on certain online retail stores, most notable in Germany and the UK, shipping dates for different Apple Watch models vary significantly and extend well into May.

This data comes from Apple's official German website, which had delivery estimates posted. It is still unclear if this was an accident or if the story is true for that matter, but a few shots of the market place, seem to have captured the delivery information, before it was taken down. Here is a synopsis of the different Apple Watch models and their expected shipping dates, according to the source:

• Apple Watch Sport: Usually ships "24.04. to 5.8. "

• Apple Watch with modern leather bracelet: Usually ships in "4 to 6 weeks"

• Apple Watch Link Watch: Usually ships in "4 to 6 weeks"

• Apple Watch with leather strap with loop: Usually ships in "4 to 6 weeks"

• Apple Watch with classic leather strap: Usually ships "24.04. to 5.8. "

• Apple Watch with Milanese bracelet: Usually ships "24.04. to 5.8. "

• Apple Watch with Sport Armband: Usually ships "24.04. to 5.8. "

• Apple Watch Edition: Usually ships "MAY"

Initially limiting walk-in purchases could have been just one of a broader set of precautions the Cupertino giant has taken to prevent severe stock shortage. In this respect, postponed deliveries, especially outside the US are a definite possibility.

So if you live outside the US and are hoping to get your hand on the new Apple Watch as soon as possible your best bet seems to be to preorder and hope for the best. Also, you might want to steer clear of Apple stores come April 24, as the launch is shaping up to be a crowd-packed mass event of Apple fans.

Source |…

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Oppo Mobile has quietly introduced a new dual-SIM phone – Oppo A31 for China. The new A31 features glass panel at the rear to join the competitive mid-range segment at $160. Bearing the dual-glass design, a metallic frame is what binds the glass panels together in an 8mm thin profile.

Oppo has used a 4.5-inch display with 480×854 pixel resolution which might be a little setback. The phone is powered with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chipset tha features quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU coupled with 1GB RAM, 8GB built-in storage, and micro SD slot to hold up to 128GB card. By default, it will run ColorOS based on Android 4.4 KitKat.

At the rear is a 8MP camera sensor with f/2.2 aperture for covering wider area and LED flash to support it. In the front is a 5MP camera for clicking selfies and video calls. The A31 supports 4G LTE network SIMs in both SIM slots and packs a 2,000 mAh battery.

For now, the phone will be made available in China and then hopefully in other markets such as India and select European countries.

Source |…

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A couple of days ago Samsung disclosed their official bending test routine, in light of a controversial third-party test, which claimed the Galaxy S6 edge brittle as, well, glass. It was only natural then that the company's own drop tests were released to the public, after countless Youtube attention-seekers had already published their own take and we reported on one doing it with particular zeal.

There's nothing surprising in Samsung's test, and it's the same rig we already saw when the Galaxy Note 4 was released. The setup offers repeatable results and takes as much of the human factor as possible out of the equation.

Both the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge devices are released into a free fall from chest height with the back hurtling towards the ground, with no major obvious consequences. The Galaxy S6 edge gets a dedicated test of its own, where it falls on its edge, possibly the least favorable scenario. It survives that too.

Samsung goes on to explain how the smartphone is designed so the fist thing to hit the ground is the aluminum frame, thus minimizing the impact on the glass. Additionally the insides are supposedly arranged in such a way as to share the stress and limit the chances of breakage.

Naturally, in a disclaimer of sorts, the video states that with proper enthusiasm you could actually break your Galaxy S6. But so you could break your watch' face and your car's windshield, so the difference between a surviving smartphone and a dead one is more or less the level of…

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The 16MP main camera module of the upcoming LG G4 has been designed in-house. The Korean giant’s components manufacturing arm, LG Innotek developed the high-end sensor, which is already in mass production.

LG’s innovative camera unit has a wide f/1.8 aperture. The latter allows the camera to receive 80% more light than the already stellar 13MP snapper found in LG G3.

The 16MP main camera of LG G4 has been paired with an 8MP front-facing unit, whose resolution is the highest offered by LG for a selfie camera to date. The new front-facing camera features ultra-thin IR filter, which keeps infrared light from entering the camera lens.

LG G4 will debut later this month, on April 28. The Korean manufacturer already confirmed that the smartphone will feature a new-generation 5.5″ QHD display….

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Alleged live photos of a Huawei P8 prototype made the rounds online. The Chinese tech giant’s next flagship smartphone will make its official debut next week, on April 15.

The images reveal the upcoming smartphone in a case, which is designed to hide its identity. Manufacturers usually ship unannounced devices to in such covers to wireless carriers for testing.

A shot of the device’s settings menu reveals its specs. They include 1.8GHz quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in memory, and 1080p display. The OS on board is Android 4.4. with EMUI 3.0.

Past rumors have pointed a 3GB of RAM for the device, though we won’t be surprised if Huawei offers different memory variant as it has don't in the past.The lower amount of RAM could also mean that the device in question is the previously leaked Huawei P8 Lite.

So far, it seems that Huawei P8 will be available in a number of different variants. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait long to find out what the company has in store.

Source (in French)…

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Another Chinese flagship but with a twist. If vivo rings a bell at all, it’s most probably the X5Max, the world’s slimmest phone. Not a bad thing to be known for but vivo isn’t just about looks.

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Android 5.1 Lollipop began seeding to Sony Z Ultra Google Play Edition. Sony’s phablet is the latest stock Android device to receive the update – the Google Play editions HTC One (M8) and LG G Pad 8.3 also got the treatment over past couple of days.

The update has build number LMY47D. It brings a host of bug fixes and improvements to the smartphone headed by beefed up security and HD voice support.

Other Android 5.1 goodies include the ability control paired Bluetooth devices from Quick Settings. Users can also join Wi-Fi networks in similar fashion.

The new firmware will begin seeding to the smartphone in batches. If you are an owner of a Google Play Edition Sony Z Ultra, head over to your device’s settings to check if the update is…

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