Xiaomi traditionally serves the Asian market, but there’s talk that the new Xiaomi Mi 5 will be its first phone to officially launch internationally. Sony, meanwhile, said the Xperia X Performance will definitely launch in Asia while its European availability is still being sussed out.

Both phones stick to the 5″ 1080p format (the Mi 5 is 5.15″, but close enough). They bring powerful Snapdragon 820 chipsets and a heavy focus on camera – 16MP OIS for the Xiaomi, 23MP for the Sony.

The Xperia X Performance is waterproof (only one in the current X lineup) and features Sony’s traditional front-facing stereo speakers. This model has an option for a beautiful brushed metal back.

The Xiaomi Mi 5 comes with a glass/metal build as standard, but the premium Pro model will use ceramics and have a roomy 128GB storage option (there’s no microSD slot here).

Both companies stepped up their design game, but spotty availability may hamper their growth. Still, if it was available in your region which one would you pick – the Xiaomi Mi 5 or the Sony Xperia X Performance?

Think about it and cast your vote, you have a week to…

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MWC is a truly amazing event not only for the sea of tech announcements that take place at the venue but also for the amazing experiences the Barcelona gatherings provide every year.

We really feel blessed to be able to see the show floor for ourselves, and while we take pride in reporting on the news and informing you on all the novelties in the tech world, our work doesn’t really convey the true experience at MWC.

We could have tried to convey our personal impressions, but we thought it would be more fitting to the GSMArena spirit to show you around the event floor and Barcelona itself in a short 4K timelapse video.

We hope you like our quick timelapse and be sure to leave us you comments and suggestions about our MWC coverage this…

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Samsung has announced that it has started rolling out the latest Android security update to its “major flagship models.” The update includes patches from both Google and Samsung.

What’s worth mentioning here is that the South Korean company didn’t explicitly mention which of its flagship devices are getting the update, although reports say the list includes the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6 family, Galaxy Note 4 and Note5, as well as the Tab S and Tab S2.

Of the devices mentioned above, the Galaxy Tab S2 has already started receiving the February security update. In addition, handsets from Huawei, Motorola, and BlackBerry, as well as Nexus devices have also received the…

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Popular mobile messaging service WhatsApp has announced that it will be ending support for all versions of BlackBerry OS – including BlackBerry 10 – by the end of 2016.

Other platforms that will be removed from WhatsApp’s support list include Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian S60, Android 2.1, Android 2.2, and Windows Phone 7.1. WhatsApp says it wants to focus on platforms that the vast majority of people use.

“While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future,” the company said in a blog post. “If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone before the end of 2016 to continue using…

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The 64GB variant of Axon’s ZTE Pro smartphone has received a price cut in the United States, where B&H Photo is currently selling the model for $323.95. Those purchasing the device from the retailer will also get a gift card worth $50.

ZTE is officially selling the 64GB version for around $380 in the country, meaning B&H photo is offering over $50 direct discount, which coupled with the included gift card takes the total discount figure to over $100. Available color options include silver, gold, and blue.

Amazon also has the device listed for around $325, but the blue color variant is currently out of stock.

Source (B&H) | Amazon |…

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A month after the OxygenOS 2.2.0 update started rolling out to the OnePlus X, the company has pushed out another update that it says includes a hotfix for an image corruption issue with the device’s camera. The issue in question has been reported by some users following the last update.

The update weighs in at 9.5MB. It’s an incremental roll-out, meaning it may take some time before the update hits your device if it hasn’t already. “We will try to cover everyone within the next 48 hours,” OnePlus said in a post on its official forum.

For those who aren’t already aware, the last month’s OxygenOS 2.2.0 update brought along things like manual mode and save to SD card option in Camera App, USSD bug fix for India. as well as some other…

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Motorola started rolling out the Moto X Pure Edition Marshmallow update back in December last year. Now, a couple of months after that, the first Android 6.0 factory image for the device has been made available for download.

The image carries a build number of MPH24.49-18_18, and to download it you need to first request access to a Google Drive folder, something which you can only do after logging in with a Motorola or Google account (head to the Source link below).

In case you missed, the Moto X Pure Edition has also started receiving the latest Android security update which brings up the handset’s security patch level to February 1, 2016.

Source |…

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Remember the LG H840 which was spotted on GFXBench earlier this month with Snapdragon 652 chipset and 3GB RAM? We initially thought that it could be a ‘lite’ variant of LG’s latest G5 flagship, but turns out it’s a special LG G5 model aimed at specific markets.

While LG made no mention of an SD652-powered G5 at this year’s MWC (where the flagship was unveiled), it has now come to light such a souped-down variant exists and will be available in Latin America at-least.

Confirming that Latin Americans won’t officially get the standard SD820 G5, LG’s Sales manager for Chile, Cristián Correa, said that the decision was taken based on the feedback they received from several operators in the region as well as keeping in mind the currency appreciation in Latin America.

What’s more, the LG 360 virtual reality headset – one of G5’s friends – will also not be available in the region. Correa cited Latin America’s lack of interest in VR as the reason behind the move.

Via…

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The US Court of Appeals has overturned the 2014 verdict of a California federal court that held Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s smartphone patents and directed the former to pay $119.6 as damages.

Apple had dragged Samsung to court alleging that the latter infringed on its “quick links” patent along with two other patents covering the iPhone’s slide-to-unlock and auto-correct features. For those who aren’t aware, the quick links feature lets devices recognize data such as phone numbers and turn them into clickable links.

In its verdict yesterday, the appeals court rejected Apple’s allegations saying that Samsung did not infringe on the iphone maker’s “quick links” patent as the South Korean company’s technology for detection and linking is completely different, and adding that the other two patents cited in the case were invalid. Interestingly, the court observed that it is in fact Apple which has infringed on one of Samsung’s patents.

Commenting on the decision, a Samsung spokesperson said, “Today’s decision is a win for consumer choice and puts competition back where it belongs – in the marketplace, not in the courtroom.” On the other hand, Apple declined to offer any comment.

The verdict comes less than a month after Apple – in a separate case – asked the US Supreme Court not to take up the South Korean company’s appeal. That case has so far seen Samsung agreeing to pay Apple $548 million to settle…

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The highly anticipated Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are expecting to break last year’s initial number of Galaxy S6 units in the first three months following its announcement.

A Korean media outlet reports that Samsung is preparing to manufacturer a total of 17.2 million Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge units by April of this year.

Samsung is really hoping to break its previous record set by the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge which sold roughly 15.8 million units in its first three months after launch with the second most successful device title held by the Galaxy S4 selling just over 15.2 million units in its initial sale period.

Also, the company has reportedly changed its ratio of S7 and S7 edge where the S6 was manufactured 4:1 with the S6 edge constantly in short supply. This time around, Samsung wants to use a 6:4 ratio since it was not able to predict the roaring demand that the S6 edge had last year.

Samsung hopes the overwhelming reception to the Galaxy S7’s announcement this year at MWC is indication to the S7 and S7 edge’s success and should break the S6’s record for the first three months of sales.

Source |…

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