Alleged HTC One M9 Plus mockup reveals its design

A mockup render of the unannounced HTC One M9 Plus made the rounds on Twitter, courtesy of @OnLeaks. The image compares the M9 Plus to the regular HTC One M9 and is said to be based on a prototype of the device.

As you can see in the render above, the biggest difference between HTC One M9 Plus and One M9 is the presence of a physical home button below the display. The solution splits the BoomSound speaker in two and could also utilize a fingerprint scanner.

The circular camera of the handset should hardly catch anyone by surprise. It has already appeared in live photos.

HTC One M9 Plus might debut with two different chipsets – a MediaTek MT6795 model could cater to the Chinese market, while a Snapdragon 810 version will be sold elsewhere. The rest of the device’s rumored specs include 5.2″ QHD display, fingerprint scanner, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of expandable memory.

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LG G4 will reportedly not feature a metal body

According to a report from Korea, the soon to be revealed LG G4 will not feature a metal body. However, the Korean giant is expected to launch a metal-clad smartphone before the end of this year.

The first LG device with metal body will allegedly be the upcoming G4 Note. The previously rumored high-end handset will reportedly compete with the likes of Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Apple iPhone 6 Plus when it becomes available.

LG G4 will not get the metal treatment due to the costly nature of the switch to CNC equipment. Leaked press renders of the LG G3 successor have all but confirmed that it will feature a polycarbonate body.

Source (in Korean) |…

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Leaked roadmap shows Meizu’s plans for Lollipop updates

A purported leaked roadmap showing Meizu's plans for updating its devices to Android Lollipop has surfaced in China today. And it's all good news if you own a flagship device made by the Chinese company.

According to this leak, Meizu plans to bring the latest version of Android to at least five of its handsets, namely the MX4 Pro (pictured to the left), MX4, MX3, MX2, and M1. This is quite something, when you consider that the MX2 was released back in 2012.

Regarding the affordable M1, keep in mind that this designation could refer to the M1 series, meaning both the M1 and the M1 Note – since they were outed within weeks of each other.

As for the actual schedule, the MX4 Pro and MX4 could be blessed with Lollipop around April 28. The MX3 and MX2 should get their taste in May, while M1 owners will have to wait until June for their treat.

Obviously this isn't official, so things might still change. On one hand, it's good to see phones from 2012 running the latest version of Android, yet on the other hand by June Lollipop will have been out for around eight months already – so maybe in the future Meizu can also work on how fast it delivers such updates.

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Lenovo K3 Note is a new 5.5-inch midranger for $145

We wrote a while ago about Lenovo's scheduled press event on March 23, expecting to see the new company flagship. Well, the date has come and Vibe Z3 Pro remains elusive.

Instead, Lenovo chose to unveil an affordable midrange phablet, targeted squarely at the Meizu m1 note. The new smartphone is called Lenovo K3 Note, and its a larger, better-equipped version of the existing Lenovo K3.

Lenovo K3 Note

The Lenovo K3 Note comes with a 5.5-inch FullHD display and rocks a fresh yellow paintjob with a distinctive circular bump on the back – purely a design element. The smartphone is powered by a 64-bit Mediatek MT6752 chipset, and an octa-core processor ticks inside at 1.7GHz. 2GB of RAM are on board and internal storage is 16GB, expandable by up to 32GB via microSD. A 13MP camera sits on the back, coupled with a dual-tone LED flash, while a 5MP front snapper take care of selfies.

The Lenovo K3 Note comes with dual-SIM dual-standby capability and SIM1 supports 2G/3G and LTE, while the second slot is GSM-only. The engineers have managed to fit a 3,000mAh battery in a body just 7.6mm thin, while weight has been kept at around 150g.

The smartphone gets a list price of CNY899 (~$145) for the regular version and CNY999 (~$160) for the Teana called option. The CNY100 premium is justified by a special "ceramic piece vibration speaker", which supposedly pumps out more decibels. Meanwhile, the 16GB version of the similarly specced Meizu m1 note retails at CNY1,099, so the Lenovo K3 Note is a pretty attractive…

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Samsung Galaxy S6 Duos pops up in Russian online store

The eagerly-anticipated Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are set to hit stores in April and after a record number of preorders, it seems neither users, nor retailers can wait to finally get their hands on Samsung's latest flagship devices.

And while we think we already have a pretty nice idea of what to expect in terms of pricing for the devices in different markets, a Russian retailer, recently threw a major curve ball on the scene by listing a Duos version of the Galaxy S6 in its online store.

While the dual-SIM version is not unheard of, this is only the second time we have seen in priced and this time it's in an actual listing.

According to the source, the Galaxy phones will hit the Russian market starting April 16. The 32GB Galaxy S6 is priced at RUB 49,999, or about $843 and the 64GB dual-SIM model will set you back RUB 52,990, or about $893. The S6 edge is even steeper at 54,990, or about $927.

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Galaxy Tab S 10.5 gets Android 5.0.2, France is first

Samsung has started rolling out the Lollipop update for the Galaxy Tab S 10.5, which was released back in July last year. The update comes in the form of Android 5.0.2, and is currently only available in France.

The over the air update is currently only rolling out for the Wi-Fi model of the device, with model number SM-T800. It carries a build date of March 17, 2015, and bumps the firmware version to T800XXU1BOCC.

Users of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 in France can check for the update by heading to Menu -> Settings -> About device -> Software update on their device. The update can also be installed through Samsung’s Kies software…

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HTC One M9+ measurements reveal the cost of a 5.2″ screen

HTC left the One M9 alone to bathe in limelight of the MWC, but it has a second slightly bigger device on the way. The HTC One M9+ will have a 5.2" screen allegedly and all indications are that it will be HTC's first QHD display (1,440 x 2,560px).

The One series hasn’t had the slimmest bezels recently and in seems that the One M9+ will not be a tiny device either. The handset is rumored to measure 150.9 x 72.5 x 10.2mm, compared to 144.6 x 69.7 x 9.6mm for the base One M9.

Another comparison will be with the LG G2 and it's 5.2" screen, the tiny bezels around it make it only 138.5 x 70.9 x 8.9mm. Of course, it doesn’t have stereo speakers on the front, which do add some bulk. The Sony Xperia Z3 (also 5.2" screen and stereo speakers) is 146 x 72 x 7.3mm.

The HTC One M9+ rumors also promise a fingerprint reader, though leaked photos doesn’t show any such thing on the back, so that probably also goes on the front.

Other specs include a MediaTek MT6795 or Snapdragon 810 chipset (region dependent), 3GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage and the same 20MP camera as the regular One…

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Photos show Oppo bezelless display in the flesh

Just a few hours ago, we received an exclusive tip about Oppo's new display technology which visually eliminated the display bezel. It does so by the use of clever light diffraction, which makes it seems like the display panel extends further sideways than it actually does.

The information we received earlier was of a filed patent and today we found a couple of live photos that seems to show the clever new display technology in an actual device. Now, as far as we can tell, the two shots look real enough and the promised visual effect is definitely there. The accompanying text talks about a 5.5-inch screen size and also mentions that the technology is similar the one used in the Sharp Aquos Crystal.

Looking closer at the first shot, the one in "mid-swipe", it does seem that the numbers and symbols are slightly distorted once they reach the edge of the display, where the illusion takes place. This might simply be due to the change in surface angle or maybe the photo is slightly out of focus. There are some concerns around the technology and how it affects image quality and clarity toward the edges, but it is too early to comment on the matter and the photos are not really enough to go by.

Hopefully, the new technology will allow the manufacturing of edge-to edge screen devices in a cost-efficient manner, so we can see such screens on mid-rangers and even budget phones in the future. As we mentioned in the previous article, the patent is already granted and should be available online within three to six months, so it would be fair to assume, that we might start seeing it employed in actual devices after that.

The unit in both photos looks pretty generic and mostly resembles the Oppo R5, as far as the company's current lineup goes. This, of course, might simply be a coincidence, but it could also signify that the R-lineup will be the first to receive a model with the new screen technology.

What do you think of the photos? Do you think they might contain "traces of Photoshop" and are you excited about what Oppo is developing in general?

Source (in…

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Lollipop update for Sony Xperia T2 Ultra gets certifiaction

A tweet from @SonyXperia broke many hearts when it claimed that only Sony's premium Xperia Z line will get updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop. A Bluetooth certification labeled "Tianchi Update to L" shows this might not actually be the case.

"Tianchi" was the codename for the Sony Xperia T2 Ultra and "L" should be pretty easy to guess – until Google reveal the official treat, Android 5.0 was known just as "L."

The certification itself was granted on March 11 and the results listed a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, this is where the duties of the Bluetooth SIG end, there's no indication when the update may be released. This is subject to making sure the software works and collaborating with carriers to push out the update.

The Sony Xperia T2 Ultra launched on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean then got updated to 4.4.2 KitKat (and 4.4.3 after that).

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Sailfish OS alpha is out for the OnePlus One

Jolla outed an alpha version of Sailfish OS for the OnePlus One. Sailfish OS was spotted running on the phone in the beginning of the month, but now you can run it as well.

Since this is an alpha, some crucial functionality is missing such as Wi-Fi connectivity and the camera app isn't operational. Additionally, support for Android App installs isn't available as well as OTA updates.

If you want to see the alpha ROM run on a OnePlus One unit before attempting to flash it on your own, here's a video.

Follow the second link below to check out the list of instructions if you want to try the Sailfish OS on your OnePlus One.

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