Alleged live photos of LG G4 make the rounds online

A quartet of alleged live photos of the unannounced LG G4 made the rounds online. The images were posted on the web by a crafty member XDA Developers.

In line with past reports, the photos reveal that LG G4 will pack a stylus. The accessory is located in the top right corner of the smartphone and will allow it to go head to head with Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

Overall, the design of the LG G4 appears to follow closely that of its predecessors, LG G2 and LG G3. The device appears to sport a slightly curved display – once again in line with past rumors.

The images reveal that the G4 boots Android 5.0.2 Lollipop. Naturally, the OS has been heavily customized by LG.

Set to debut at some point this spring, LG G4 is expected to feature a more premium build than its predecessor. Purported specs of the device include Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC, 16MP camera, and QHD display.

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Motorola Nexus 6 arrives officially in six new markets

Google expanded the availability of Motorola Nexus 6 to six new markets. The Android 5.1 Lollipop phablet is now available to purchase from the new Google Store in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, and Portugal.

This means that Google’s flagship handset is now available directly from Google in a total of 21 markets globally. The search giant and Motorola have clearly caught up with the brisk demand for the device, which caused quick sellouts at launch.

On a side note, Google also officially brought the Asus-made Nexus Player to the United Kingdom. The TV console is available from the Google Store and Amazon among others for £79.99.

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Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge US pre-orders open tomorrow

Samsung announced the availability for the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge for the United States. Quite expectedly the flagship duo will be released on April 10, while the pre-orders open tomorrow – March 27.

All US carriers will be offering the Galaxy S6 smartphone. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon will be carrying both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge, while Boost, Cricket and MetroPSC will offer the Galaxy S6 only.

AT&T will launch the 32GB Galaxy S6 for $22.84 via the AT&T Next 24 plans, while the Galaxy S6 edge will cost $27.17 on the Next 24. You can also opt for the Galaxy S6 with a 2-year contract for $200 or the Galaxy S6 edge and a 2-year agreement for $300. Contract-free prices are $685 for the Galaxy S6 and $814 for the Galaxy S6 edge.

T-Mobile's leasing plan for the Galaxy S6 has it on $28.33 for 24 months or $680 contract-free. The leasing for the Galaxy S6 edge is at $32.50 for 24 months or $780 cash commitment free.

Boost Mobile will be offering the 32GB Galaxy S6 for $650 free of contracts.

Finally, Sprint lists the 32GB Galaxy S6 for $80 per month for 2 years – device leasing and carrier services included. The 32GB Galaxy S6 edge monthly payment is a total of $85. If you are interested into the 64 or 128GB models just add $5 or $10 to those fees.

You will be also able to get Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge through various partners such as Best Buy (Samsung Experience Shops), Amazon, Costco Wholesale, Sam's Club, Target and…

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HTC One M9 available in the USA tomorrow

AT&T begins taking orders for the HTC One M9 at midnight in just few hours. All orders placed until 1PM CT will ship the same day, while the rest will be fulfilled within the days after tomorrow.

AT&T offers the HTC One M9 for $199.99 with a 2-year contract. AT&T Next payment plans are available too – Next 24 has it on $23.64/month, Next 15 – for $29.55, and Next 12 is at $35.45. The contract free price of the HTC One M9 32GB at AT&T is $708.99.

AT&T One M9 sales open at 12:01AM ET tomorrow, Friday, March 27, and if you are fast you can have it in less than 24 hours. The HTC One M9 in-store availability will kick off April 10 nationwide.

T-Mobile US will be launching its sales campaign for the HTC One M9 tomorrow, too, only it's only taking pre-orders. The first batch of the One M9 will include only Gunmetal Gray and Gold on Silver paintjobs.

Pre-orders open at 6:00 AM PT. The One M9 costs $0 upfront and $27.08 for 24 months. Those who pre-ordered the HTC One M9 via T-Mobile will get it a few days earlier than retail premiere on April 10, but the magenta carrier didn't specify how early exactly.

If you are interested in the HTC One M9 – you may want to check our in-depth review right here.

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Apple planning to release three new iPhones later this year

Apple has built a formidable track record of sticking with pretty much the same release cycle for its iPhone models. Handset releases come a year apart and have mostly been following a "tick-tock" scheme with the S models.

Ever since the iPhone 5, we have begun to expect a new iPhone every September and there is no reason to believe the Cupertino tech giant will deviate from this schedule with the next round of smartphones. A new rumor, courtesy of industry inside sources, has come to our attention that might shed some light on the upcoming phones. And, we have to say, it is pretty much what everybody expected.

According to the information, Apple is working on two natural successors to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, named iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. But there is still somewhat of a plot twist in the story, as the US company will allegedly be bringing back the infamous C model, in the form of the iPhone 6C.

This is quite an odd choice, indeed, seeing how the iPhone 5C was quite a failure and widely regarded as a shameless effort to trick buyers, not to mention an affront to Apple's trademark style. But, perhaps, sales report tell a different story and make the idea of a iPhone 6C a viable market strategy.

The rumor goes on to detail that the C model will feature a 4-inch display, which is kind of odd, seeing how the form factor was last seen a generation ago in the iPhone 5c and 5s, so there might still be hope that the 6C is more than a stripped down iPhone 6.

The is further proved by the rumor that all three devices will be equipped with LTPS panels, courtesy of Japan Display and LG for the 6S models, as well as Sharp for the 6C. Then again, the two 6S version should be powered by the all new A9 chip, while the rumor states that the 6C will have the A8, found in current models, so things can still go either way for the little handset. We have also heard that the iPhone 6S will pack 2GB of LPDDR4 RAM in a previous rumor.

Corning Gorilla Glass, NFC and fingerprint scanning technology will also be found in all of the models. Wistron should be in charge of manufacturing the 6C units and the rest are left to Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) and Pegatron.

We should note, that the above is a rumor and while it does sound pretty logical and believable, should be taken with a grain of salt, perhaps even a…

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Samsung to bring back the microSD slot with the S6 Active

Samsung Galaxy S6 turned out not the flagship many was hoping for. It ditched the SD expansion slot the water protection and removable battery for good, in favor of refined design and improved user experience.

Now that those features are a lost cause for the Samsung Galaxy S6, many are hoping Samsung would reconsider for the upcoming Galaxy S6 Active edition of the flagship. A reddit user spent some quality time with a Samsung rep, who shed some light on company's plans for future devices and past decisions.

First, let's check out what's coming in the Galaxy S6 Active. Reportedly the device will keep the Galaxy S6 specs, but will lack fingerprint scanner and heart-rate monitor. Instead it will come with front physical keys and will look a lot like the recently announced Samsung Galaxy Xcover 3.

The highlights of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active will be, of course, the water and dust protection plus Samsung promises to keep the microSD card slot and the removable battery. Currently Samsung has no plans for giving up on the memory expansions slots in the rugged smartphones.

The Galaxy S6 Active should be launched in mid-summer this year, but the pricing is yet to be announced.

The reddit user garshol also asked the Samsung's rep about the decision to cut off the water-proofing and the SD slot. Apparently Samsung did a study among the users about the water protection and they concluded the people prefer the freedom from port covers in favor of water endurance.

The microSD slot on the other hand was removed in order to fit more technology on its place and for a better and more refined design.

You should take all these pieces of information with a healthy pinch of salt, as usual.

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Samsung plans to triple the production of Galaxy S6 edge

The special sibling to Samsung's latest flagship, the Galaxy S6 edge, is apparently even hotter than the company had foreseen. After forecasts by market analysts reached a 55M total Galaxy S6 units sold throughout the year, the Korean giant is finding a hard time keeping up with the demand.

As it turns out, the ~€150 price premium that the edge variant commands over an identically specced regular Galaxy S6 is proving to be less of a deterrent to prospect buyers that previously suggested. Now equal quantities of both are now expected to be sold and Samsung is planning on tripling the originally planned output.

It was previously reported, that the limiting factor in the smartphone's production may be the curved glass, but new info in Korean media claims that it's in fact the touch screen panel behind it. So far a single company has been producing the touch screen panels for the Galaxy S6 edge, Japan's Alps Electronics. With the demand increasing, Samsung is turning to the domestic industry and Korean manufacturer S-MAC has been mentioned by insiders as a future Samsung partner in the field.

With the pronounced trend towards more unorthodox screen implementations and the purported dual edge Galaxy Note 5, the Korean display industry can reap benefits from such partnerships for years to come.

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Moto X 3rd Gen (2015) coming this fall

Rick Osterloh, Motorola's President, spilled the beans on company's plans about the next Moto X. He answered to a question on Twitter as part of the #AskRickO initiative. He was asked about the time-frame for the third generation Moto X.

Apparently the Motorola will be trying to keep an annual cycle for all its products, including the Moto X, which means we can expect the third Moto X to go official in August or September.

Earlier this year Qualcomm and Motorola revealed the company's next flagship will be powered by the latest generation Snapdragon 810 chip, which suggests the next Moto X might indeed use the Snapdragon 810 SoC. There are some overheating issues with this chip though and the current crop of flagships resolves them with a proper CPU throttling.

A cooler Snapdragon 815 successor is already in the pipeline, and the Snapdragon 820 is already official, so hopefully the Moto X will be utilizing S815 or S820 instead of the 810 model, no matter the earlier announcement. We'd hate to see another phone threaten by the user concerns for its hardware.

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HTC One E9 and One E9+ coming soon, rumored specs in tow

HTC One E9 has been in our rumored section for quite a while. It leaked with specs and live pictures numerous times, but as it turns out the leaked device was actually an upcoming HTC One E9+ model.

HTC One E9 (A53), according to the popular @upleaks tipster, will pack a 1080p display and a 13MP rear snapper. There is no info on the display size, but it will be either a 5" unit as the HTC One M9 or a 5.5" as the rumored One M9+ and One E9+ phablets.

HTC One E9+ (A55) is the device we kept meeting over the past few weeks. It has a 5.5" Quad HD display, runs on the MT6795 chip with an octa-core Cortex-A53 processor with 3GB of RAM, and has a 20MP rear camera – probably the same as on the HTC One M9.

HTC One E9+ is very similar with the rumored HTC One M9+ though it is made out of plastic. According to @upleaks One E9 and One E9+ will feature similar designs with plastic panels.

The One E9 phones were rumored to go official this month, but March is almost over, so they'll probably premiere in April or…

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ZTE Nubia Z9 Max and Z9 Mini now official

On a dedicated press conference in Beijing today ZTE unveiled the long-awaited and oft-teased Nubia Z9, or two of them, to be precise. The high end Nubia Z9 Max is a 5.5-inch phablet, while the Nubia Z9 Mini is a more affordable 5-incher, but both have 1080p screens.

The flagship ZTE Nubia Z9 Max packs the ubiquitous Snapdragon 810 chipset with all the good and bad implications that carries. It's joined by 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. Battery capacity is 2,900mAh, and the whole package measures 154.8×76.6×7.9mm and weighs 165g.

ZTE Nubia Z9 Max and Nubia Z9 Mini

The midrange Nubia Z9 mini is equipped with the popular Snapdragon 615 and 2GB of RAM while storage is again 16GB complemented by a microSD slot. The same capacity cell is fitted in the decidedly more compact 141.3×69.8×8.2mm body, which tips the scales at 147g.

Both smartphones come with a 16MP main camera on the back, behind a fast f2.0 lens, with support for 4K video recording. An 8MP front unit will please the selfie-loving crowd. Out of the box, the Nubias boot Android 5.0.2 with ZTE's custom Nubia UI launcher in its 2.8 iteration.

ZTE Nubia Z9 Max and Nubia Z9 Mini

The smartphones sport a premium build with a metal frame all around. The smaller brother has a dotted pattern on the back which is made of plastic and a number of different styles will be offered including bamboo and denim among others. On the other hand the Nubia Z9 Max has an all-glass back which is not replaceable.

ZTE Nubia Z9 Max and Nubia Z9 Mini

As expected from the market position, both devices come with a comprehensive network support, including LTE capability. The smaller Nubia Z9 Mini will set you back CNY1,499 (or around $240), while the 5.5-inch Nubia Z9 Max commands a higher CNY2,499 ($400) price tag.

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