Android 5.0 is slowly making its way to more devices. So slowly, in fact, that as of January 5 it didn't even get its slice in the pie chart of the operating system's distribution. However, for the lucky owners of a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in Russia, the update is already seeding, beating the Galaxy Note 4 in the race to get it.

Users in different parts of the world, who can't wait for their localized versions, can download the coveted update and apply it manually by following the link at the bottom.

The Lollipop update for the Galaxy Note 3, which we saw previewed in a beta, brings the modern Material design to the aging 2013 top-tier phablet. Samsung's TouchWiz overlay on the Note 3 was criticized for not being optimized for the large screen, and that is now going to change.

Other improvements, inherent to the new OS version are increased battery life and a general performance boost. The Android 5.0 update is said to carry some of the latest Galaxy Note 4 features over to its older brother, better multi-window support being one example.

Now that the official update has started rolling out, we could only hope that global availability will follow…

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Just as promised today, at the "connected" event, Meizu announced the latest addition to its smartphone lineup – the Meizu m1. The budget-friendly device is Meisu's answer to the Xiaomi Redmi 2, which recently received a hardware update with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.

The new m1 is a bit larger than the rival Xiaomi with a 5-inch 1280×768 pixel display with 300 ppi density. The chipset was also showcased as being superior – the smartphone uses a 64-bit Mediatek MT6732 SoC, which features a quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU, clocked at 1.5GHz, as opposed to the 1.2GHz Cortex A53 chips in the Redmi 2.

Generally there was prevailing trend of direct comparison between the two devices all throughout the event, which even extended to a slide with benchmark scores as a testament of superiority. Despite the in-depth overview of the m1, Meizu simply skipped over the device's RAM suggesting that the phone will initially ship with only 1GB of RAM, half of what Xiaomi will offer after the upcoming update. This is definitely the weakest aspect of the m1, but perhaps Meizu will decide to go down the same road and quickly churn-out an updated version with 2GB.

Going further down the specs sheet we find 8GB on onboard storage, but with 128 GB microSD card support, presumably again to shine over the Redmi 2 with its 16 GB and 32 GB microSD. However, seeing how we are talking about budget-devices, investing about as much in a huge memory card to go along with it seems highly unlikely and 16GB would have been a better choice, despite what the presentation wanted us to believe.

Cameras on the Meizu m1 seem more than adequate for the price range. The main snapper boasts a formidable 13MP sensor, again dwarfing the 8MP shooter on the Xiaomi front and the front sensor is an equally nice 5MP unit with F2.0 aperture. Meizu did not skimp on the battery either as the m1 is equipped with a 2,610 mAh cell, more spacious that the 2,200 mAh in the Redmi 2.

As far as physical appearance goes, the m1 has a slick unibody design with brightly colored plastic (did someone say iPhone 5c?). Initially it should be available in peppermint green, yellow, pink, blue, green and white. Its exact dimensions are 140.2 x 72.1 x 8.9mm, which is a bid bigger than the Xiaomi, but distinctly thinner.

The first Meizu m1 units should be available for pre order in China on February 5 for CNY 699, or about $110. At this price tag the m1 is indeed a tantalizing alternative to the Xiaomi Redmi 2, especially if Meizu decides to update the handset with more RAM shortly. If you are considering both devices bear in mind that both offer LTE connectivity, but only the Redmi 2 is dual-SIM…

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Samsung has announced the availability of the Galaxy Note Edge in Canada. The device, which was spotted up for pre-order on Best Buy Canada website a couple of days ago, is priced at CA$400 on-contract, or CA$900 outright, and will go on sale in the country on February 18. Both Rogers and Bell will sell the device, which will be available in Charcoal Black.

"The Galaxy Note Edge is one of our most innovative and unique smartphone designs to date, which once again demonstrates that we are listening and responding to our consumers," said Paul Brannen, Executive Vice President, Mobile Solutions, Samsung Canada.

The key selling point of the Galaxy Note Edge is the curved display present on its right edge. "The Edge Screen helps busy Canadians get more done on-the-go with incoming calls, texts, emails and alerts appearing neatly contained in the Edge panel without interrupting your main screen experience, Brannen said.

The smartphone is powered by a Snapdragon 805 chipset with 2.7GHz Krait 450 quad-core processor and Adreno 420 GPU. It sports a 5.6-inch 1600 x 2560 Super AMOLED display, 16 MP rear camera, and 3.7 MP front snapper. The device comes with 3GB of RAM, 32/64GB of internal storage (which can be expanded up to 128GB via MicroSD card), and runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat.
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Xiaomi has finally launched the Mi 4 smartphone in India. The phone is priced at Rs. 19,999 ($320) and will be available starting February 10 through Flipkart. The phone will only be available in white with 16GB memory and no LTE connectivity.

The Mi 4 has a 5.0-inch, 1920×1080 LCD, Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB RAM, 16GB internal memory (non-expandable), 13 megapixel rear camera, 8 megapixel front camera, 3080mAh battery, and MIUI 6 on top of Android 4.4 KitKat.

In China, the phone is available in black/white and 16GB/64GB configurations and with LTE, so it's rather odd to see Xiaomi introduce the lowest tier model, that too in just white color in India. It's likely that Xiaomi is selling the lesser popular model in India to clear old…

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According to report in Reuters, Sony is about to cut 1,000 jobs in its smartphone business. The Japanese tech giant is expected to officially announce the measure on February 2 during its earnings report.

Sony’s workforce reduction will take place mostly in Europe in China. The cuts are in addition to those announced by the company last year and will take place by March 2016. By then, the staff in Sony’s smartphone business will shrink by 30%.

Despite churning out quality smartphones, Sony Mobile has struggled to keep up with the competition from the likes of Apple, Samsung, and the increasing number of Chinese manufacturers. Sony is open to all options to turn the ailing business around including a sale or a joint venture.

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Apple will begin shipping its smartwatch in April. Tim Cook, the Cupertino giant’s CEO, confirmed the news during today’s quarterly earnings call.

As it turns out, Apple Watch will ship later than expected. Recent reports suggested that the wearable device will ship in March. No specific date for the launch of the smartwatch is set just yet.

A slightly underwhelming battery performance might be the underlying reason for the delayed shipping of the Apple Watch. The device was initially supposed to become available in “early…

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Apple announced a record-breaking 74.5 million iPhone units during the first quarter of the fiscal 2015 that ended on December 27. The Cupertino giant posted a record-shattering quarterly revenue and net profit of $74.6 billion and $18 billion respectively.

The financial results amount to a net profit of $3.06 per share. The numbers show a staggering 30% increase over the same quarter last year. The latter ended with $57.6 billion of revenue and net profit of $13.1 billion ($2.07 per share).

At 21.4 million, Apple iPad sales came in slightly lower than expected (21.5 million). The company moved 26 million slates for the same period a year ago.

The iPhone sales were not the only reason for the record performance. Apple posted “all-time record revenue” from Mac (5.2 million sold) and App Store transactions. The company didn’t mention iPod sales this time around.

Going forward, Apple expects between $52 billion and $55 billion of revenue during next quarter. The company’s board of directors declared a cash dividend of $.47 per share for the quarter it just reported.

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Today Apple has released the latest software updates for both its mobile and computer operating systems.

iOS 8.1.3 is now rolling out with a handful of bug fixes in tow. Perhaps the most important thing that it changes is the amount of space you need on your iPhone or iPad to be free before you perform such an update.

This should ensure that more people will be able to seamlessly stay up to date in the future. Many were unable to make the jump to iOS 8 specifically because of this issue, while others had to pretty much delete everything on their devices to perform the procedure. Obviously, phones with 8GB of storage were most affected, but devices with 16GB of space weren't immune either.

The iOS 8.1.3 update comes in at around 250MB on an iPhone 6, but the exact size of the update will vary depending on device. It also fixes a problem with entering the Apple ID password in Messages and FaceTime, addresses an issue with Spotlight, and one that prevented multitasking gestures from working on iPads.

At the same time, Apple has made Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 available. This is also primarily a bug fixing release, so there's just one small new feature tow – namely, the ability to browse iCloud Drive in Time Machine has been added.

This update is expected to fix quite a few issues, from Wi-Fi disconnects to Web pages loading slowly, to unexpectedly having languages switched. The newest version of Mac OS also addresses some problems with Spotlight, VoiceOver speech performance, and Safari stability and security. Audio and video sync when using Bluetooth headphones has been improved too.

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More and more things about the upcoming HTC One (M9), codenamed Hima, are starting to leak. This time around we're hearing that despite what some previously leaked pictures have shown us, the device won't be almost identical in terms of design to its predecessor, the One (M8).

In fact, in certain aspects it will be quite different. For the design of its front, and specifically the BoomSound speakers, the One (M9) will reportedly be inspired by the Nexus 9 tablet, also made by HTC and pictured below.

Hence, the M9 is rumored to come with an edge to edge glass panel on its front. The speaker panels will no longer be exposed like they were in the original One and the One (M8). Rather, they will be enclosed within the aforementioned glass. This will get two 45 degree cutouts for the slit speaker grills, which will span around 50% of the handset's top and bottom edges.

And this will apparently make the One (M9)'s design closely resemble that of the Nexus 9. According to the source of the information, the new style will enable a "slicker" and "more refined" look on the new flagship smartphone when compared to its predecessors.

The black bar which rested under the screen in the One (M8) and housed the HTC logo will be gone from its successor, to the relief of many. This will happen because HTC made the plastic speaker panels, which are used to cover the speakers and amplifier, taller in the Hima. This means there's no need for that infamous black bar anymore, so it will be gone.

No matter how good all of this sounds, don't forget to keep in mind that we're only talking about a rumor for now and none of these details have been confirmed…

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After a recent survey confirmed Apple's dominant position on its home US market, statistics now show that China has been conquered as well. Market analyst Canalys reports that the Cupertino giant is in top spot by units shipped in Q4 2014, a first for the company.

Apple's sales in the country have so far been hindered by the company's reluctance to move to a larger screen size, apparently a must for Chinese users. With the new generation addressing that issue, picky Chinese customers were left with one less reason to complain. Apple has also been able to reduce the grey imports from Hong Kong, which have previously impacted the numbers in China.

Additionally, the September launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is in favor of Apple, as the devices were riding the wave of that brand-new-iPhone hype during the surveyed period. We'll have to wait and see how they fare once the market settles down and Xiaomi flagships start shipping.

Moving down the chart, Apple is followed by Xiaomi, Samsung and Huawei, but no actual figures were…

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