With MWC 2015 just over a week away hype is growing around new device announcements. Samsung is definitely in the spotlight with its highly-anticipated Galaxy S6 flagship and so is the One (M9) by HTC. Sony has already made it clear that the eagerly-awaited Xperia Z4 will not be making an appearance at the Barcelona venue, but nevertheless the Japanese tech giant will still be present, even though without a formal press event.

Naturally the manufacturer will be bringing a few new devices to the show and from the looks of things mid-range offers. One of these might have just leaked today in two separate benchmark scores.

The handset, dubbed Sony E2303, is apparently undergoing tests and has been spotted on both Geekbench and GFXBench. Sony has went for upper mid-range hardware and has built the new device around the Qualcomm snapdragon 615, which was the top of the line model from the 600 series before yesterday's announcement of the 618 and 620. The chipset is accompanied by an Adreno 405 GPU.

Going further down the specs sheet we find a 5.2-inch, 720p display, 4GB of onboard storage and 2GB of RAM, or 1.8 GB to be exact. Camera setup also looks adequate for a mid-range offering. The main shooter is a 12MP one with a reported maximum resolution of 4128 x 3096 pixels and Full HD video recording capabilities and the front-facing is a 5 MP module with a resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels and Full HD video as well.

OS is Android 5.0 Lollipop. Sadly there is no info on battery capacity, but there are extensive performance scores available so you can take a more detailed look at the future phone if you desire.

Sony will formally open its MWC booth on March 2 and we expect to find the new smartphone there along with the purple Xperia Z3. Until then we can only wait and see if Sony has some other surprise in store for us.

Thanks for the tip CoolKid.

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The pieces of the puzzle are coming together for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S6 flagship. After the Exynos 7420 was confirmed as the chipset of choice, and the matter of dimensions was settled, we could now be looking at the proof of the battery capacity rumor.

Samsung Galaxy S6 battery

The model number EB-BG925ABE of the battery units goes in line with the expected SM-925 internal designation of the upcoming flagship. A manufacturing date of only a couple of days ago adds further credibility to these images.

We witness a slight reduction in capacity, compared to the 2800mAh battery on the Galaxy S5, brought about by the constant push for thinness. However, advancements in chip technology and Google's optimized Lollipop OS, should hopefully mean that the hit in capacity won't result in poor endurance. Add to that a possible wireless charging capability and things don't look all that grim.

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The Asus Zenfone 2 was announced at CES in early January and while it's still not available, you can pre-order it on AliExpress. Both versions – with 2GB and 4GB RAM – are available though the pricing is different than what was originally expected.

The 2GB Zenfone 2 with a 1.8GHz quad-core Intel Atom processor is priced at $300, while the 4GB one with 2.3GHz processor costs $440. The first model was announced at $200, so that's a little disappointing. We have to wait other retailers to put up their pre-orders to find out if Asus changed its mind on the pricing.

Clove UK has a pre-order page, but no price in sight. Same with Orange South Africa. The official Asus Twitter account maintains the phone will cost $200, so we'd hold off on committing more money for it.

Aside from processor and RAM options, the Asus Zenfone 2 comes with a 5.5" 1080p screen, runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, has a 13MP/1080p main camera and 5MP selfie camera, plus it's an LTE-enabled dual-SIM. There might be a mid-range 5" version on the way too, but that hasn't been confirmed yet.

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Samsung has dropped the prices for the Galaxy E5 and E7 about six weeks from the launch of the two phones in India.

The Galaxy E5 was launched at Rs. 19,300 ($310) but now costs Rs. 17,900 ($288). Meanwhile, the Galaxy E7 price has gone from Rs. 23,000 ($370) to Rs. 20,900 ($336).

The Galaxy E5 and E7 are Samsung's new mid-range dual SIM devices. Although reasonably priced compared to Samsung's older phones, the pricing was still on the higher side compared to the stiff competition from the Chinese vendors in an increasingly competitive market. Samsung has clearly been listening to feedback on the pricing and the price cut is a step in the right direction. Also, it must be noted these are official prices, so the actual prices in stores will likely be a bit lower.

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Google is rolling out Android Wear 5.0.2 update to select Android Wear devices. This includes the Samsung Gear Live, the Motorola Moto 360, and the LG G Watch R.

The update doesn't seem to add any new features; according to Motorola's change log, all it brings is an updated version of Google Play services and a variety of optimizations and security updates.

If you have any of these devices, you should be getting the notification to update any time now. Other Android Wear devices will have to wait for some time.

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According to popular leakster upleaks, HTC will release its new Butterfly smartphone in the second half of 2015. The device, which is said to sport a 5.2-inch WQHD screen, is codenamed the Butterfly 3 or B3.

In addition, upleaks also revealed that the Taiwanese company's own tablet will arrive in the second, or third quarter of the year. It is said to be based on Nexus 9.

If you aren't already aware, HTC is expected to unveil its new flagship smartphone on March 1, at MWC 2015 in Barcelona. The device will likely carry the HTC One M9…

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Sony might exit the smartphone market in a bid to become profitable once again. The Japanese tech giant’s CEO Kazuo Hurai announced at a press conference that Sony will no longer pursue sales growth in the highly competitive field.

Right in line with past reports, Mr. Hirai revealed that the company will consider a sale of its struggling smartphone and television businesses. However, there is no deal currently in the works.

Despite developing quality Android handsets, Sony has struggled in the highly competitive smartphone field. The company has been sandwiched between rivals such as Apple and Samsung in the high end and the army of Chinese companies in the low end of the market.

The company aims to achieve an annual operating profit of $4.2 billion by 2018. That’s a 25-fold increase over its current financial performance.

Sony plans to turn to profit by investing in its already successful divisions. They include production and development of image sensors and the Sony PlayStation gaming business.

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Carphone Warehouse has started accepting pre-registrations for Samsung's upcoming flagship smartphone. Although the UK retailer hasn't revealed the device's name, calling it the 'New Samsung Galaxy', it's all but confirmed that the handset will carry the Galaxy S6 moniker.

Aside from the S6, the retailer is also accepting pre-registrations for HTC's upcoming flagship smartphone, currently know as the new HTC One. The latter is going to debut as HTC One M9.

For those who aren't in the know, pre-registrations only allow people to express their interest in a product, compared to pre-orders that allow you to actually reserve a unit. Both Samsung and HTC are expected to unveil their respective flagships on March 1, at MWC 2015 in Barcelona.
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Samsung has agreed to acquire the provider of mobile wallet solutions LoopPay. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Founded in Boston back in 2012, LoopPay is a mobile payments provider, whose product is a direct competitor to Apple Pay. The company’s Magnetic Secure Transmission tech can work on roughly 90% of all existing point-of-sale terminals.

As part of the agreement, the founders of LoopPay will work with Samsung Mobile. The two companies have been collaborating well before the acquisition, so it is more than likely to see LoopPay mobile wallet tech in the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S6.

LoopPay will continue operating as an independent subsidiary of Samsung going forward.

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Android 5.1 Lollipop has been spotted on many Android One devices in Asia, but so far Google has not announced this version of its mobile OS. Nor has it started rolling out updates to Android 5.1 for the Nexus line of smartphones and tablets.

If you are wondering when this new iteration of Lollipop will finally make it to more devices, the answer could be "in March". This comes from Mo Versi, HTC's VP of Product Management.

He used Twitter to tell an inquiring HTC One Google Play Edition owner that a bug fix he was waiting for would be rolled out as part of "Google's next MR, which is in March".

"MR" stands for "maintenance release", and from what we've heard so far Android 5.1 promises to be just that and nothing more. So there's a high likelihood that Versi was in fact referring to this version in his tweet.

Hopefully this upcoming iteration of Google's mobile OS will fix the bugs that are still present in earlier Lollipop releases. It may also introduce a few small new features, but nothing too big if it's designated "MR".

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