LG is working on a new in-house flagship-grade chipset, reports in Korean media claim. Arch-rival Samsung has been doing good on that front for some time, utilizing its own silicon in a number of devices. Snapdragon 810 issues, however, have been the catalyst that will aid in putting the Exynos 7420 in Samsung's next-gen flagship Galaxy S6.

Apparently, LG has quickly followed suit and now we find out that the company already has a high-end offering in development and expects to start mass production later this year. Naturally, the new chipset is unlikely to be seen in a working device before 2016, presumably the G5.

The SoC will employ the recently unveiled powerful Cortex-A72 cores alongside the more energy-efficient Cortex-A53 cores in an octa-core big.LITTLE configuration. ARM announced a new Mali-T880 GPU together with the Cortex-A72 and it would be logical to see that one in the LG chipset.

This is not the company's first attempt at producing its own chipsets, though. The G3 Screen, released in October last year, featured the home-brewed Nuclun SoC. It was an underwhelming performer, but the company had to start somewhere, and lessons have likely been learned.

Source (in Korean) |…

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The second video in the #TheNextGalaxy series is out and it's as vague as ever, but it seems to promise fast performance ("The faster I am, the more that gets done") and long battery life ("And the more time I can give to others").

The previous Samsung Galaxy S6 teaser video focused on the camera and changed the profile pic of the Samsung Mobile account to the outline of a camera module.

I am #TheNextGalaxy. See how I give more time to others at #Unpacked.
http://ift.tt/19rPfjc TheNextGalaxy (@SamsungMobile) February 17, 2015

This new video brings a different sigil – a lightning bolt. You could argue this is "lightning fast" and connect it to the chipset performance – Samsung's own Exynos 7420 according to rumors. Another way to read this is wireless charging, we've heard talk that the Galaxy S6 will have only a 2,600mAh battery and use wireless charging to offset the small-ish capacity.

The new flagship will be officially unveiled at the beginning of March at the MWC in Barcelona, but that's not for two more weeks. We should see several other teaser videos until then.

Source |…

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Last week the new Sony Xperia E4 went on pre-order in the UK, since then it has expanded to mainland Europe. It's still a bit difficult to find but we managed to find it in a few stores at €130, practically on par with the £100 pre-order price in the UK.

The shipping date is set for 2-3 weeks from now, but nothing more concrete than that.

The Xperia E4 has a 5" IPS screen with qHD resolution (220ppi) and will launch with Android 4.4 KitKat, though it's on the waiting list for 5.0 Lollipop. It's powered by a MediaTek chipset (quad Cortex-A7) with 1GB of RAM. It has a 5MP/1080p main camera and a 2MP/720p selfie camera.

And more importantly, it costs less than the Moto G (2014), which is already on Lollipop and has a sharper, 720p screen. No 1080p video capture though.

Anyway, there's still no sign of the Sony Xperia E4 Dual, so it's price is unknown.

Source (in German)|…

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Samsung, which was dethroned in China by local upstart Xiaomi last year, has slipped to the fifth position in the country's smartphone market now, according to a latest report from the market research firm IDC.

As per the report, in Q4, 2014, the South Korean company captured just 7.9% of the market, a whopping 50% decline compared to the year ago quarter.

On the other hand, with an year-on-year growth of 150%, Xiaomi occupied the first place, capturing 13.7% of the market. Next came in Apple, with 12.3% market share, followed by Huawei and Lenovo, with 11% and 9.5% market share, respectively.

Overall, a total of 107.5 million smartphones were shipped in the country in Q4 last year, representing a 2% quarter-on-quarter growth.
Source |…

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Smartphone sales reached an all time high in 2014, market analyst GfK reports. Climbing 23% year on year, the billion mark was crossed for the first time, and by a long margin at that, reaching 1.228 billion units sold. It's also an actual representation of devices making it to users' hands, as opposed to other reports, which take into account smartphones shipped by the manufacturers.

.atable tr:first-child th { font-weight: bold !important; } .atable { width: 100% !important; }

Smartphone units sold (in millions)
Market 2013 2014 Difference
Latin America 68.7 109.5 59%
Central & Eastern Europe 50.9 69.8 37%
North America 139.1 177.6 28%
Emerging Asia Pacific 96.9 149.9 55%
Middle East & Africa 99.8 135.2 35%
Western Europe 115.4 128 11%
China 359.0 392.8 9%
Developed Asia Pacific 68.3 65.1 -5%
Global 998.0 1,228.0 23%

The market growth was largely driven by Latin America, where smartphone sales soared, nearly reaching 110M, a 59% increase compared to 2013. The sales value in the region rose accordingly to $31.4B over the previous year's $20.6B, for a 52% difference.

The other market that sees a significant increase in smartphones sold is the emerging Asia Pacific region. What has to be noted there is that the 55% rise in units sold does not translate in respective increase in sales value, where the change is only half that at 27%.

Another trend, marked in the report, shows a significant shift towards larger screens, with a whopping 180% growth in sales of devices packing 5-inch and larger displays. It's also predicted to be the segment with a greatest market share this year.

The forecast for 2015 is less optimistic though. The analyst predicts that market saturation will lead to a decline in growth, but still a 14% increase in units sold is expected, resulting in a 1.368B figure. The price segment above $150 will witness a decline, while more affordable sub-$100 devices will be on the rise. The $100-$150 bracket is expected to maintain its…

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Samsung's pioneer Tizen-powered handset has been getting a lot of attention recently. Despite its plain appearance and unimpressive hardware users seem to be all over the smartphone, presumably because of the brand new and exciting OS and its attractive price tag.

The phone is also very important for the Korean tech giant as it has the tough role of ambassador to Tizen as a full-featured smartphone OS. Consequently development has been very active with a multitude of updates for the only month or so old device.

The Z1 has been so overwhelmingly popular that it has already sold over 100 000 units, mainly in developing markets, such as India and Bangladesh. New rumors have surfaced stating that Samsung has decided to capitalize on the favorable outturn and push another member of the Z series sooner than planned.

The new handset will presumably be called the Z2 in accordance with Samsung's current naming convention. Logic dictates that it should also offer better hardware than its predecessor, but nothing is known yet about possible specifications or a release date. Samsung has left another little hint that a new handset is under way.

It comes in the form of the latest update to the Tizen SDK, which among other things now has support of qHD resolution displays. Seeing how the OS itself currently powers only smartwatches and the Z1 it is only logical to assume that Samsung is prepping developers for a new smartphone with a 540 x 960 pixel screen.

What is your take on the Z1 and its possible successor? Do you think it just around the corner or will Tizen remain a limited experiment for the foreseeable future?

Source 1 | Source 2 |…

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Samsung has been working hard pushing Lollipop updates lately with more and more handsets are now getting the latest available Android.

The Galaxy Note 4 phablet finally saw a major European Lollipop rollout last week and today new information has surfaced that the curved Galaxy Note Edge is joining in on the fun. The handset is already receiving update notifications in Australia, which smells like a soak test. If everything goes smooth we should be seeing a major rollout in a few weeks or maybe even sooner.

Below are the details of the new update package:

Model SM-N915G
Model name GALAXY Note Edge
Country Australia
Version Android 5.0.1
Changelist 4144270
Build date Fri, 13 Feb 2015 23:58:14 +0000
Product code XSA
PDA N915GXXU1BOB7
CSC N915GXSA1BOB7
MODEM N915GXXU1BOB7

The Galaxy Note Edge is almost identical to the Galaxy Note 4 in terms of internals so it was only natural that the curvy smartphone follow closely with Android Lollipop support. The extra screen does pose a lot of software challenges so patience may be necessary to fine tune the new OS to the odd new host.

So if you are on a Samsung Galaxy Note Edge in Australia be sure to check for that update package regularly as the Lollipop goodness should be waiting for you. And be sure to come back with any impressions and interesting finds.

Thanks for the tip…

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Google has launched Android One devices in Philippines. The two phones – the Cherry One and MyPhone Uno – will go on sale in the coming weeks on Cherry Mobile and MyPhone networks, respectively.

Both phones are similar to the Android One devices sold elsewhere but have a newer version of software. While those in India, for example, are still stuck on Android 4.4.4 KitKat, the ones being launched in Philippines are running Android 5.1 Lollipop, similar to the ones launched in Indonesia recently.

Philippines is the sixth country to get Android One, and Google will be bringing it to more countries in the future. Hopefully, that Android 5.1 update is also seeded to other devices…

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Chinese smartphone manufacturer Meizu sold a record 1.5 million smartphones in the month of January. At this rate, there are chances that the company could reach the 20 million figure by the end of the year, however, it seems like that's not what it is aiming at the moment.

According to Meizu's VP of Marketing and Sales Li Nan, selling 20 million devices this year is not the company’s goal. He made the comment on his official Weibo (Chinese Twitter) account.

The news comes just over a week after Alibaba Group announced that it will invest $590 million in Meizu. Just Yesterday, the smartphone manufacturer teased a new OS that could be unveiled at this year's…

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The latest MIUI 6.3.5 arrived on Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G. The update is now seeding to users of the budget-friendly device in India and Taiwan.

Unfortunately, the 577MB-large update is not based on Android 5.0 Lollipop. Users will still have to make to with Android 4.4.4 KitKat for the time being.

MIUI 6.3.5 brings a number of tweaks to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G. They include resolved issue with camera lag and music playback, and improved overall performance of the handset….

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