Successors for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S line are coming

According to a new rumor, Samsung is already busy working on developing successors to the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (pictured to the left) and Galaxy Tab S 10.5 tablets that it launched last year. The main standout feature for the existing Galaxy Tab S models is the fact that they both employ Super AMOLED touchscreens, something that had previously been missing from the mobile world for a few years.

The upcoming tablets will obviously keep the AMOLED technology of their predecessors' displays. The new models will be SM-T710 and SM-T810 (the originals are SM-T700 and SM-T800, respectively).

While no other details about the new devices are known at this time, it's safe to assume that they won't get some earth-shattering hardware upgrades. We might see them ship with a new chipset, perhaps Samsung's Exynos 7420 which is expected to make its debut in the Galaxy S6 on March 1.

That may help the new Tab S generation perform better than the original tablets. We apparently shouldn't expect to see the new Tab S line unveiled at MWC alongside the Galaxy S6, since work on them isn't that advanced yet. They will be announced later, perhaps towards the middle of the…

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Lenovo plans to upgrade 7 phones to Lollipop in Q2

While other mobile device makers have been busy updating their products to Android 5.0 Lollipop for many weeks now, Lenovo has just announced which of its handsets will eventually run the latest version of the OS. And it's not a long list. In fact there are only seven phones on it. Sure, the company may add more in the future, but for now these are the only Lenovo devices confirmed to get Lollipop.

We're talking about the A5000, A6000, P70, S90, Vibe X2, Vibe Z2, and Vibe Z2 Pro. That's it.

The updates to Android 5.0 Lollipop for these smartphones are still far out, though, with Lenovo only committing to releasing them sometime during the second quarter of this year.

That could be at any point between April 1 and June 30, so if you own one of these you're still looking at quite a wait. But at least in this case you know your particular Lenovo handset will taste Lollipop. If you have another device made by the company, things aren't looking…

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Asus to release Qualcomm and Mediatek-powered Zenfone 2

The Asus Zenfone 2 was one of the major announcements at CES in the beginning of January, offering powerful hardware in a budget-conscious package. Aiming to diversify its component suppliers list, the Taiwanese company is set to release more versions of the smartphone, replacing the Intel chipset with Qualcomm and Mediatek offerings.

The original Zenfone 2 is equipped with either an Intel Atom Z3580 or Z3560 and 4GB or 2GB of RAM. The Qualcomm variant will sit in a lower-priced market segment, and will become available in Q2. The Mediatek-powered option will be targeted at markets like India where LTE capability can be omitted. Adding to the company's already less-than-obvious naming scheme, the new models may further complicate selection.

The specsheet of the smartphone is otherwise headlined by a 5.5-inch IPS display of 1080p resolution for a 403ppi density. A number of storage option will be available ranging from 16GB to 64GB. A 13MP/5MP camera combo is responsible for picture taking and the whole thing is powered by a 3,000mAh battery.

A detailed availability roadmap has also been revealed. The Zenfone 2 will first arrive in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and surprisingly France, in March. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Italy and the US will follow suit in April, while Japanese folks may get it in May. Brazilians will need to be even more patient and wait until June.

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Samsung’s TheNextGalaxy video teases the Galaxy S6 camera

The new Samsung Galaxy flagship dropped a teasing hint on Twitter – a short video that talks about "great vision" and a "unique view" and finishes with the silhouette of a camera module. The video itself is pretty abstract, the camera moves through a dark tunnel and there's light at the end of it.

We could debate the symbolism of that – the Galaxy S6 camera will allegedly have a 20MP sensor with optical image stabilization that should do well in low light conditions. There was even talk of RAW shooting with complete manual controls.
I am #TheNextGalaxy. Be inspired by my vision at #Unpacked.
http://ift.tt/1ElpkCW TheNextGalaxy (@SamsungMobile) February 13, 2015

Anyway, it's not just the video – Samsung Mobile's Twitter account has been redubbed TheNextGalaxy and the profile pic has been changed to the camera module silhouette, right in front of the teasing curve of what's most likely the Galaxy S Edge.

The culmination of this campaign will come on March 1 in Barcelona during Samsung's Unpacked event.

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HTC One (M9) Hima leak reveals all key specs

The specifications of the soon-to-be-revealed HTC One M9 (Hima) have leaked here and there, but now we have the full list of the phone's features thanks to the detective work of upleaks.

The phone is built around a 5" IPS display and packs 1080p resolution. At the back, the 20.7MP camera is confirmed and it will sport dual LED flash. For now, there's no information whether it'll record 4K video, but we will be surprised if it doesn't.

At the front, it will be backed by a 4MP UltraPixel camera, probably the same as the One (M8)'s. Contrary to previous rumors, the latest leak doesn't suggest a dual 20.7MP camera configuration at the back.

The HTC One (M9) draws processing power from a 64-bit Snapdragon 810 (MSM8994) chipset with a 2.0GHz quad-core Cortex-57 and a quad-core Cortex-A53 running at 1.5GHz. There's 3GB of fast DDR4 RAM and graphics are handled by the Adreno 430 GPU. HTC will offer the One (M9) in 32GB and 64GB flavors and the phone will run Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with Sense 7.0 out of the box.

We saw an allegedly official photo of the One (M9) next to the One (M9) Plus and caught the nicely designed BoomSound speaker holes. LTE 6 support will give users up to 300Mbps download and 50Mbps upload speeds. On the side, there's a microSD card slot.

The battery of the HTC One (M9) is 2,840mAh, which is 240mAh larger than its predecessor. We're yet to see how much of a difference this will make in our battery test. As a reminder, the One (M8) scored an endurance rating of 77 hours.

Upleaks reports three variations of the One (M9) – UHL, which will launch in Asia, Europe, Africa, UAE, Russia, Turkey, China(Mainland), USA(include AT&T, T-Mobile US, and Developer model), Canada(include ROGERS, TELUS), Latin America; the WHL for Sprint and China Telecom; and the WL for Verizon.

Finally, we have information regarding the accessories and their model numbers:

HTC DotView 2 (with more colors than before) – HC M231/232
Clear Case – HC C1153
Stand Case – HC K1150
Waterproof Case(has IP68 rating) – HC C1152
Waterproof Headset – RC E250
Headset 2015 – MAX 500
HTC BoomBass with WiFi support (requires Sense 7)
Screen Protector – SP R230A

HTC's March 1 press event called "Utopia in progress" will reveal the rest of the new features the company has been working…

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Samsugn Galaxy Note 4 boards the Lollipop train in Europe

Samsung's latest phablet flagship is finally getting the Lollipop treatment. The version to go first is the SM-N910F, which is the European Snapdragon version of the handset. The update saw some delay due to problems with Gear VR support.

However Android 5.0 for the Exynos-powered variant of the phablet is already well under way and is available in its native South Korean market and also as a soak test in Poland. This is the first time we are seeing an official Lollipop ROM for the Snapdragon-powered Note 4, which is the most widely-spread one.

Today's update comes along with a Lollipop build for the Galaxy Note 4's extremely popular predecessor – the Galaxy Note 3. Interestingly enough the two updates are starting to seed simultaneously which might hint that Samsung intentionally held back the Galaxy Note 3 package to avoid the inevitable backlash when an older device is updated before the new one.

Despite the chaotic update schedule Samsung seems to mean well enough when it comes to delivering Lollipop. The rather odd Samsung Galaxy S4 support is also complimented by an equally impressive news that the Korean tech giant intends to bring Android 5.0 to the rather aging, but still capable Galaxy Note II as well.

So if you are on a Snapdragon Note 4 be sure to check for that update package regularly as the Lollipop goodness is here.

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TouchWiz on the Galaxy S6 to be stripped of Samsung apps

While the exterior and hardware aspects of the Samsung Galaxy S6 have been exposed in a plethora of leaks throughout the last couple of months, the software side of the phone has remained pretty much a mystery. TouchWiz is bound to go through some drastic changes, though, if SamMobile's insider source is to be believed.

TouchWiz on the latest Galaxy Note 4

According to the unconfirmed information, Samsung will trim some pre-installed Samsung apps such as S Voice, S Health, S Note and Scrapbook. Those apps will be available for download through the company's Galaxy Apps store. Interestingly, it's reported that Samsung will pre-install a bunch of Microsoft apps in their place as a result of the deal between the two companies regarding their patent royalty case.

If true, the Galaxy S6 will come with Microsoft OneNote, OneDrive, Office Mobile bundled with a free Office 365 subscription as well as Skype. Trimming the TouchWiz features is also allegedly making the Galaxy S6 Lollipop experience a lot more fluid and quicker than the similarly updated Galaxy Note 4, according to the source.

Historically, the Galaxy S-family is the best selling series of smartphones Android has ever seen. The presence of Microsoft apps will certainly give the company a boost in the use of its cloud services.

Finally, the latest version of TouchWiz will offer a number of visual enhancements, too. There are more theme options, more colorful Samsung apps, app drawer grid options, and the default Samsung keyboard is changed to allegedly look more like the one in iOS.

We'll find if these claims are true at the upcoming Samsung Unpacked event on March 1….

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Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005 receiving Lollipop OTA in Europe

Samsung's last generation phablet flagship finally received the much anticipated Lollipop treatment it was promised. And before the comment section goes up in flames about the on-going soak test in Russia the new ROM is intended for the most wide-spread Snapdragon 800-based version of the device (N9005) and not the Exynos one.

The Galaxy Note 3 was supposed to be first in line for Android 5.0 after the current generation Galaxy S5 and Note 4, but interestingly enough it was overtook by the Galaxy S4 LTE-A (I9506).

It seems that with recent developments around Samsung and their own in-house Exynos SoC taking center stage in future devices instead of Qualcomm chips the Korean tech giant is naturally focusing on their own architecture and pushing updates along much faster on Exynos devices. This might just be a marketing trick but it is still a fact that Samsung seems to be taking care of that limited line of devices first and then moving on to Snapdragon.

Regardless is seems the long wait is finally over for Note 3 users as the package is already available on major carriers in the UK, Austria, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Hungary and a few other countries. You can keep a close eye on the OTA seeding progress here.

So if you are on a Snapdragon Note 3 be sure to check for that update package regularly as the Lollipop goodness is…

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HTC’s mid-range Desire 626 coming to the US

When HTC launched the Desire 626 in Taiwan earlier this week, there was no word on whether the device would be available in other countries. But now, it looks like the mid-range smartphone is heading to the US at least.

According to popular leakster @upleaks, the Desire 626 would be launched in the US as a prepaid smartphone by Sprint, which is the third-largest cellphone carrier in the country behind Verizon and AT&T.

For those who are not in the know, the device is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU and sports a 5" 720p display. It has 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory, which is expandable via microSD card. The device sports a 13MP rear camera and 5MP front snapper, and packs in a 2,000mAh non-removable battery.

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