Just a few hours after we gave you an exclusive sneak peek at the device’s photo and specs, the Samsung Galaxy J1 has been made official – it is now listed on the company’s Malaysia website.

Pretty much in-line with what we’ve already noted, it’s an entry-level smartphone powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor. The device sports a 4.3-inch WVGA (480 x 800) display, and comes with 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal memory (expandable up to 128 GB via a MicroSD card).

The smartphone features a 5 MP camera with LED flash on the back, a 2 MP front snapper, and also packs in a 1850 mAh removable battery that the company claims provides up to 10 hours of talk time. Connectivity includes Wi-Fi b/g/n with Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS + GLONASS.

On the software side, the device boasts a Palm Selfie function that the company claims can detect the movement of your hand, so you can easily snap a photo with a simple hand gesture. There’s also a Tap to Take Pics feature that lets you take photos by simply tapping anywhere on the screen. The smartphone also features Ultra Power Saving mode.

Weighing in at 122 grams and measuring 129 x 68.2 x 8.9 mm, the J1 comes with Android 4.4 KitKat on board, and is available in blue, black, and white.

Source |…

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Qualcomm confirmed that the high-end Snapdragon 810 chip will not feature “in the upcoming design cycle of a large customer’s flagship device.” The San Diego-based chipmaker announced its first quarter results for the fiscal 2015.

A series of rumors point at Samsung Galaxy S6 as the most likely device to ditch Snapdragon 810 for another solution. The Korean giant’s next flagship smartphone will likely utilize a beefy Exynos 7420 chipset with 14nm architecture and octa-core CPU.

Qualcomm posted a stellar net income of $2.1 billion from $7.1 billion of revenue for the quarter it reported. However, due to the Snapdragon 810 snub and increased competition from China, the company lowered its earnings expectations for the second half of the fiscal 2015.

Overall. Qualcomm somewhat confirmed the floating rumors about Snapdragon 810 not being up to snuff. Losing a “large customer” is certainly not something the company is used to – its silicon featured in just about every high-end smartphone over the past couple of years.

Source…

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If you've been wondering what other smartphones HTC has in the pipeline for this year aside from the One (M9), then you'll be very interested in this.

According to a new (and yet unconfirmed) rumor, the Taiwanese mobile device maker is going to release a handset called One M8i at some point this year. It's currently codenamed M8_QL.

The name in use here implies that it will resemble the One (M8), which is pictured to the left, perhaps in terms of design. On the inside, however, the M8i will be a midranger through and through.

It will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset, namely the MSM8939. This has an octa-core Cortex-A53 processor. Four of its cores can be clocked at up to 1.7 GHz, while the rest only go up to 1 GHz.

Unfortunately we don't yet have any other specs to speak of, but the chipset choice indicates we might also see changes in other hardware areas compared to the One (M8).

As always with rumors though, don't take anything you just read too seriously, at least not until we get some more leaks and details about this device – if it exists at all, that…

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A couple of days ago we told you that Huawei might announce a new smartphone at MWC this March, namely the Mate 7 Compact. As its name clearly implies, this is going to be a smaller version of the already launched Mate 7 phablet.

The Mate 7 Compact is rumored to get a 5.5-inch display, half an inch smaller than the 6" panel on the 'full size' Mate 7. And today it's allegedly been seen in the first live images, which you can feast your eyes upon below (click the thumbnails for the full pictures).

Huawei Mate 7 Compact

This leak unfortunately doesn't bring us any additional details about the Mate 7 Compact, just those two photos. Since we have no way of verifying that they are in fact real, don't forget your grain of salt for this one.

For now the screen size is all we have to go on in terms of specs. That said, seeing a HiSilicon SoC inside the Mate 7 Compact would not be surprising at all, given Huawei's general preference for using its own chipsets in its…

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The LG G Flex 2 is indeed heading to Vodafone in the UK, just like we heard it would earlier this month. What's more, this particular operator will even be the exclusive seller of the bendy handset for the first six weeks of availability.

Pre-orders for Vodafone's G Flex 2 are set to start at Carphone Warehouse on February 28. The phone will finally be in stock on March 19.

So there's still a lot of waiting left to do if you're in the UK and crave a G Flex 2. But at least the release details are now out. Carphone Warehouse has put up a special page for the device, where you can register your interest. If you do that, you'll apparently be contacted when you can order one.

The G Flex 2 was announced at CES as the successor to the original bendy handset from 2013. It has a 5.5-inch 1080p curved touchscreen, and it's powered by Qualcomm's latest and greatest, the Snapdragon 810 SoC – which sports an octa-core CPU in a big.LITTLE configuration. You have four Cortex-A57 cores clocked at 2 GHz, and four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.5…

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Market analyst Juniper Research has just published a report, stating that phablets will surpass one fifth of total smartphones shipped in 2019, with 400M large-screened pocket devices sold. The phablet term encompasses devices within the 5.5-6.9" screen range, according to the company.

Juniper Research notes several market tendencies that will lead to the phablet's prominence. The constant increase in screen sizes will likely put most company flagships within the quoted range by year 2019, a trend we're already seeing. The larger displays provide a more appropriate stage for mobile gaming and multimedia content consumption.

With Apple finally yielding to market demand and launching a 5.5-inch iPhone, the segment has seen further exposure, the report indicates. That being said, the majority of those 400M devices are projected to be budget offerings.

Another point the researchers make is that smaller-screened tablet sales will take a hit, with smartphones catching up to them in size. On the other hand, the higher asking prices of larger tablets might drive consumers away entirely. This grim outlook on tablet future is, however, largely applicable to China, where the smartphone is the predominant means of…

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Among the clamor of the Meizu m1 announcement today, a new version of its bigger brother, the m1 note, almost flew under the radar. The China Telecom dedicated variant packs a Snapdragon 615 chipset, as opposed to the Mediatek silicon of the regular version.

The Snapdragon 615 is Qualcomm's upper midrange 64-bit offering, sporting an octa-core processor with performance cores clocked at up to 1.7GHZ (1.5GHz in m1 note's case) and power-efficient cores ticking at 1.0GHz. Graphics are handled by the Adreno 405 chip clocked at 550MHz.

The rest of the hardware has remained unaltered. The smartphone packs a 1080p 5.5-inch display with minimal bezels. 2GB of RAM is on board, internal storage is non-expandable and is either 16GB or 32GB, depending on the version. The main camera sports a 13MP imager behind an f2.2 lens, while selfies are taken care of by a wide angle 5MP snapper.

The Snapdragon 615 version carries a CNY100 price premium over the Mediatek models and the 16GB option costs 1,099CNY ($176) with the more spacious 32GB of storage setting you back 1,299CNY ($208).

Source (in Chinese) |…

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Two representatives of Samsung's new metal A-series – the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 are apparently making their way to the UK market. The devices will be available starting February 12 from Samsung UK, as well as a number of retailers, like Carphone Warehouse, O2 and EE.

Preorders should start today for both the Pearl White and Midnight Black color options, but pricing is still unclear. The two smartphones themselves are mid-range offerings, despite their flashy metal finish.

They come equipped with a Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410 SoC and an Adreno 306 GPU. The main difference being the displays – a 4.5-inch 540 x 960 pixel unit on the Galaxy A3 and 5-inch 720 x 1280 pixel on the Galaxy A5 and RAM which is 1 GB and 2 GB, respectively.

We will be keeping a close eye on availability and if you are in the market for a mid-range Samsung device you could look into the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 in our reviews. Hopefully The Korean tech giant is planning to push along the Galaxy A7 as soon as possible and offer a broader range of hardware choices with the new metal design.

Source |…

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The ZTE Blade S6 was announced today and will be headed around the world to deliver dual-SIM, LTE connectivity plus Lollipop on 64-bit power on a budget.

The phone is built around a 5" IPS LCD with In-cell touch tech and 720p resolution. It runs ZTE's MiFavor 3.0 interface and Smart Sense motion gestures, which can activate play music, snap a series of photos or turn on the flashlight.

ZTE Blade S6 will also come in Matte Pink

The Blade S6 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset and will be among the very first to run Android 5.0 Lollipop on that chipset. The chipset has eight Cortex-A53 cores (half clocked at 1.7GHz, the half at 1GHz), those are 64-bit cores too.

Lollipop is the first Android version to make proper use of the new instruction set. Anyway, there's 2GB of RAM and Adreno 405 GPU. The storage is 16GB out of the box plus whatever you add with a microSD card.

The main camera packs a 13MP sensor (Sony IMX 214), while the selfie camera is a 5MP shooter with a wide-angle lens. The phone measures 7.7mm thick and will be available in matte Silver and Pink.

ZTE Blade S6 official photos

Connectivity combines practicality with speed – LTE gets up to 150Mbps and there are two nano-SIM slots. There's also a side dish of Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio and A-GPS too. The phone is powered by a 2,400mAh battery.

AliExpress will sell the ZTE Blade S6 has globally at $250, in select markets it will also be available through Amazon and eBay. In Hong Kong there's an exclusivity deal with carrier…

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Gigabyte announced today a trio of new Android smartphones which cover the high-end, mid-range and entry-level market segments. They're the GSmart Guru GX, GSmart Mika MX and GSmart Roma RX, but let's kick things off with the GSmart Guru GX, the most premium of the three.

The Guru GX is built around a 5" 1080p IPS display covered with Gorilla Glass 3 resulting in a pixel density of 441 ppi. The phone is quite thin measuring 139 x 69 x 7mm and features a non-removable 2,300mAh battery. Gigabyte estimates it will be good for 14 hours of talk time and 200 hours of stand-by.

Under the unibody design, the Guru GX is powered by a Snapdragon 615 chipset featuring a 1.5GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU and 2GB of RAM. Internal storage is 32GB and is expandable via the microSD card slot.

At the back, the Guru GX sports a 13MP camera with Sony Exmor-RS sensor, while at the front a 5MP camera, again with BSI sensor, takes care of selfies. The phone runs Android 4.4 KitKat and is expected to debut in March.

Gigabyte GSmart Guru GX

Next up is the GSmart Mika MX, which has a 5" qHD IPS display and is powered by a Snapdragon 410 chipset with a 1.2GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 and 1GB of RAM.

The phone measures 143 x 72 x 9.8mm and weighs 165 grams. Part of the added weighs is the 3,000mAh battery, which is also removable and can last up to 20 hours of talk time. At the back, there's a 5MP camera with auto-focus and a 2MP at the front. Internal storage is 8GB with an additional option to expand it via the microSD card slot on board.

Gigabyte GSmart Mika MX

Connectivity options include Cat 4. LTE, Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. The Mika MX runs Android 4.4 and will be available in a dual-SIM version starting in February.

Finally, there's the entry-level GSmart Roma RX with a 5" FWVGA (854 x 480 pixels) display. Its measures are similar to the Mika MX at 142 x 73 x 9.5mm and the weight is set at 155 grams. However, it has a significantly smaller 2,000mAh battery.

Under the hood of the Roma RX is a MediaTek MT6582 with a quad-core 1.3GHz CPU and 512MB of RAM. Internal storage is 4GB plus a microSD card slot to expand it further by 32GB. At the back of the phone is a 5MP camera with fixed-focus and a VGA at the front.

Gigabyte GSmart Roma RX

Expect the Roma RX to launch in February. Sadly, Gigabyte didn't provide pricing for any of its new…

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