Okay, we’re officially confused. The Lumia 650 was supposed to be the absolute midranger, while the Lumia 850 was meant to sit higher up the Microsoft smartphone lineup, and rock a front-facing flash, and the general consesus was that both will be 5-inchers.

These latest live images that have just surfaced, coming out of China, seem to paint a different picture. The source states that the smartphone in the photos is the Microsoft Lumia 650 XL, with a 5.4-inch 720p display. Judging by the side-by-side shot with a Lumia 1520, the alleged 650 does indeed look like a 5.4-inch device.

There’s nothing inherently wrong about that, the previous generation Lumia 600-series had the 640 and 640 XL at 5″ and 5.7″, respectively, so even if one diagonal is smaller, two differently-sized versions are sort of the norm with Microsoft (you’re not forgetting the Lumia 950 and 950 XL either, are you).

Scrolling down the Baidu post, we see that the 650 XL is powered by the Snapdragon 210/212 (only difference being CPU clock rate, both go by the MSM8909 internal designation at Qualcomm). Rumors so far had settled on this chip for the 650, so it looks entirely plausible that this 650 XL packs the same silicon.

But here’s where the puzzle falls apart – this supposed Lumia 650 XL looks just like the Lumia 850 from previous leaks, pretty detailed as of late too. Single speaker cutout towards the top of the front glass panel, instead of the 650’s slits at the edges, a metal-looking frame, and most importantly – a front-facing LED flash.

Alleged Lumia 650 XL/Lumia 850?

So it’s the 850 XL then, you say, or simply the Lumia 850, and it just comes in a single display size at 5.4 inches, instead of the rumored 5 inches. Well, alright then, by how can the 850 be powered by the lowly Snapdragon 200-series, what’s going to happen to Microsoft’s upper midrange? After all, there’s not much space between the 850 and 950 for yet another device with, say, a Snapdragon 617, which was so far the rumored 850 chipset.

Hopefully, some of these questions will be answered soon, if the Microsoft Lumia 650 does indeed get unveiled later this month.

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BlackBerry has just parted with “approximately 200 employees” total in both Waterloo, Ontario, and Sunrise, Florida. The company hasn’t disclosed which branches of its operations the cuts are focused on, but earlier reports pointed at the BlackBerry 10 and Devices departments.

The news comes a month after CEO John Chen asserted that the company’s OS is “far from dead”, a statement which was needed to clear the air after the previous day it was announced that BlackBerry will be switching entirely to Android for future smartphones. And while continuing support for existing devices certainly means that the OS is “far from dead”, the lack of future BB10 devices does warrant cuts in the workforce.

The layoffs are part of the struggling company’s turnaround plan, which seems to be on the right track, given the last financial reports from December last year. At $15 million in the red, the company’s loss was 4.5 times less than analysts had predicted, and the Priv seems to be doing nothing but good for BlackBerry.

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Apple is now officially selling the View-Master Virtual Reality Starter Pack through its own stores, both physical and online. The VR/AR rig, similar to Google’s Cardboard, but with View-Master’s signature reels added on top, has already been available for both Android and Apple devices, but it’s only now that the Cupertino company has made it available in its own retail chain.

You can order it online, but it’ll take a lengthy 3-4 weeks to ship. If you want one today, you can pick up a View-Master in Apple’s physical stores, just check online if the one near you has it. The more prudent among you will certainly prefer Amazon, though, where the headset is available for $17.74 right now.

Additionally, Apple stores are carrying the Experience packs (the reels, plus a card), each priced at $14.95. You need the card to unlock the experience in the app on your phone and to enjoy the augmented reality features.

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Samsung introduced built-in wireless (or rather inductive) charging capability with the Galaxy S6 a year ago, and made strides into making it nearly as quick as true wired charging by launching the fast wireless charger when the Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ came out last fall.

Well, the Galaxy S7 range won’t be missing the feature either, judging by a listing on a UK retailer’s website. Clove’s brief description of the accessory mentions that it’s optimized for the upcoming Galaxy S7/S7 edge but will also be compatible with other smartphones complying to the Qi standard.

And it’s all fine and dandy, but the pictures show the existing Wireless Charging Pad mini, which has been available for a while now. The listing is clearly just a placeholder at the time, and it also doesn’t seem too likely that Clove will give you a pound to pick up a charging pad, as the -£1.00 price suggests.

The good bit is that Samsung isn’t abandoning useful features (like microSD slot and removable battery) this time around. Wireless charging, coupled with the alleged 2-day endurance and 17 hours of video playback make a compelling case for the Galaxy S7, if they prove to be true.

Thanks for the tip,…

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The Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact will finally be available in the US starting this Sunday, February 7. The first retailers selling the latest Sony flagship phone will be: Best Buy, B&H, and Amazon.com.

The Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact feature a 5.2 inch 1080p or 4.6 inch 720p Triluminous display, a Snapdragon 810 paired with 2 or 3GB of RAM, a 2700 or 2900mAh battery, and an immersion rating of IP68 with capless USB port.

Remember, though, Sony is not including the fingerprint sensor on its Z5 line of devices for the US for some reason, most likely due to logistics.

The Xperia Z5 will be available unlocked for $599.99 while the Z5 Compact will go on sale for…

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This is not the first, second, or third time that we’ve seen the Nexus 5X go on sale since its release this past fall. This time around, you can get a 16GB Nexus 5X for a full $100 less than the launch retail price of $380 from eBay.

The listing only has the Quartz and Carbon colors available and ship from Nashua, New Hampshire. They even come with the Google Play Music promo card inside the box.

So if you haven’t jumped to the Nexus 5X yet, this is a great deal. Though, you might want to hold off for a 32GB model. Still, the Nexus 5X embodies everything the Nexus branding stands for while maintaining a low cost and receiving the latest updates directly from Google.

The Nexus 5X features a 5.2 inch 1080p LCD IPS screen, a 2700mAh battery, Marshmallow 6.0 out of the box, a quick Snapdragon 808 hexa-core chipset paired with 2GB of RAM, all enclosed in great looking hardware crafted by LG.

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Last year Samsung managed to anger many Note series fans in Europe by not officially launching the Galaxy Note5 on the continent in 2015. For some reason, Samsung decided that only the Galaxy S6 edge+ was to be sold in Europe, at least at first. While the Note5 did eventually become available too, many early adopters didn’t like how they were forced to pick the phablet with the curved screen even if they wanted the one with the S Pen.

Amazingly, Samsung seems to have learned something from that ordeal. If a new report is to be believed, the Korean company will not repeat that story. What’s more, its strategy for this year’s flagship phablets seems to be exactly the opposite, at least for the UK. Namely, it’s said that Samsung will bring the Note 6 to the UK from the beginning, while the Galaxy S7 edge+ will not see an official launch in the country. Ever.

It’s probably safe to assume that the same thing will happen in Continental Europe. The information allegedly comes from a “source high up at one of the UK’s major networks”. The reason for the change in strategy has to do with a “backlash from loyal Note fans” over what happened last year. And sales of the S6 edge+ (pictured above) in the UK were quite disappointing, which is possibly why that market won’t see its successor.

The Galaxy Note 6 is due for release in August. The 5.1-inch Galaxy S7 and the 5.5-inch S7 edge are going to be unveiled on February 21 at MWC in Barcelona, and they are to go on sale in early March according to the same source.

Hopefully you have taken all of this with a grain of salt, since we’re still many months away from the Note 6’s announcement – hence, even if these plans are true right now, there’s still time for them to…

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In the hopes of selling some more units undoubtedly, HTC has today unveiled a new version of its Desire 626 smartphone in India. This is an ever so slightly revamped iteration of the original 626 from last year, packing in the dual-SIM support of the Desire 626G+, but pairing it with 4G LTE capabilities as well.

The new Desire 626 has a 5-inch 720p touchscreen, a 13 MP rear camera, a 5 MP selfie shooter, the MediaTek MT6752 SoC at the helm (with a 1.7 GHz octa-core CPU), 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, and a 2,000 mAh battery.

Most of those things have been seen before in the 626 range, but what’s definitely new is the software. The revamped Desire handset runs Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box, with HTC Sense on top. That’s in stark contrast to the original 626 shipping with Android 4.4 KitKat on board.

The new device will become available in the subcontinent soon, priced at INR 14,990 – which means about $220 or €198 at the current exchange rates. The color versions are going to be called Blue Lagoon and White Birch. It’s still unclear if it will ever launch elsewhere.

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The Honor 5X is surely a widely talked about phone. Especially with the company’s first US-bound smartphone hitting the virtual shelves at the end of last month. The Honor 5X is a #NoNonsense smartphone with flagship-level features, all for $200 unlocked.

The Honor 5X has a 5.5 inch 1080p LCD IPS display, a fast fingerprint scanner, a hefty 3000mAh battery, a 13MP camera, and Huawei’s own feature-rich EM UI layered on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, upgradable to Marshmallow and powered by a Snapdragon 615 chipset.

We are currently working on the full length written review, so we wanted to give you a teaser of what to expect with the Honor 5X. We’ve compiled a video showing off the well-roundedness of the Honor 5X and what you really get for $200.

Stay tuned for our in-depth written review of the Honor 5X as…

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Samsung has finally started rolling out the Tizen 2.4 update (Z130HDDU0CPB1) to its Z1 smartphone. The update weighs in at around 262MB (~17MB for Tizen 2.4 Beta users), and is currently only available to users in India.

Several new features are included in the update, such as WhatsApp Calling, Ultra Data Saving Mode, as well as the ability to create password-protected memos. In addition, many of the existing apps – including Camera, Message, Music Player, Smart Manager, Video Recorder, and Settings – have also received some changes.

The OTA update is currently rolling out, so it may take a while before it hits your device. However, if you’re feeling impatient, you can head to your device’s Settings and check for it manually. Other countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are expected to get the update next week.

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