The Oppo F1 is the ambassador for a whole new potential line of handsets within the manufacturer’s portfolio and as such, it definitely deserves some attention.

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HTC has released its financial report for Q4 2015, which in the case of the Taiwanese company is the quarter ending on December 31, 2015 (in the US that same period would be Q1, 2016). The consolidated results show a continuation of a positive trend for HTC, though it’s still far from breaking even.

The company reports a TWD 3.4 billion net loss after taxes, or roughly $101 million. That number was $139 million in Q3 and $252 million for the previous three months, so the upward trend is clearly visible. Revenue is quoted at TWD 25.7 billion ($766 million), which puts a halt on the free fall the company had been experiencing for the past year.

This quarter’s growth is attributed partially to the warm reception of the HTC One A9 in Asia, the US and Europe, and also the Desire series selling well during the holiday season. The UA HealthBox also got a mention in the report, though being announced in January, it can’t really account for any cash brought in during the reported period, if ever.

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OnePlus is offering its take on Valentine’s day specials and is now bundling a free Rosewood case with OnePlus X purchases. What you need to do is enter the XOXO promo code upon checkout.

Alternatively, if you’re after the OnePlus 2, you can get a Black Apricot StyleSwap Cover free of charge. The promo code for this one is LOVE.

A couple of caveats though. Only these two specific styles are part of the offer, one for each smartphone. If you’ve chosen a different case/cover, entering the promo code will add the correct one, deduct its price, but still keep the one you originally selected, so make sure you delete it.

Additionally, if for some reason you’ve decided that now’s the time to get both the OnePlus X and OnePlus 2, you can’t claim both promo codes in the same order. Also, the fine print contains the magic words “while supplies last”, so make sure you act…

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A new press shot of the upcoming Microsoft Lumia 650 is now out of the leak factory, courtesy of @evleaks. The photo shows the front of the device, which is rumored to sport a 5″ 720p display and either a Snapdragon 210 or Snapdragon 212 chipset.

Visually, the phone will look just like the Lumia 550, save for a metal frame, which add some extra polish. This isn’t the first time we see a press shot of the phone, as it leaked in white and the phone even went on pre-order by mistake last week.

Back then, the listing revealed the full spec list showing an 8 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 1.1 GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of expandable storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a 2,000 mAh battery. It runs Windows 10 Mobile, naturally, and weighs 150g.

Expect the phone to cost about $199 unlocked in the US, while in the Eurozone its price could be something like €199. Most probably, the phone will go official at MWC 2016 at the end of the month.

Source |…

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Lenovo just did what Google could not – it broke even on Moto phones. The Mobile Business Group (which combines Lenovo and Motorola phones and tablets, plus smart TVs) posted quarterly sales of $3.2 billion (down 4% YoY).

Motorola contributed $2 billion to that and saw shipments rise 25% quarter on quarter. Lenovo didn’t quite break even though, it posted $30 million in pre-tax loss.

As for phones bearing the Lenovo brand, they saw a huge rise in India and Indonesia (doubling and tripling sales) with 83% of sales coming from outside of China.

It’s not all good news, though, total smartphone volume fell 18% to 20.2 million units sold. In case you haven’t heard, Lenovo will merge its smartphone brands and Motorola will soon become Lenovo Moto, joining the Lenovo Vibe brand.

The company as a whole returned to profitability with $300 million net income on a revenue of $12.9 billion (down 8% YoY, 2% in constant currency).

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ZAGG, makers of InvisibleShield screen protectors, tablet keyboards and more, will acquire battery case maker Mophie. The deal is expected to close at the beginning of April, subject to regulatory approvals.

The merger will create a leader in market share for the two companies’ respective fields. It will also improve product development and expand distribution.

This will come from strengthened manufacturing in China and will leverage established distribution in the US, Europe and Asia. With combined engineerings and branding efforts, ZAGG believes it can bring better product development and increase brand recognition.

ZAGG will pay $100 million, plus a bonus based on whether Mophie sales surpass $100 million for the year following April 1 2016. Mophie CEO and COO will keep their current positions, but will now answer to ZAGG CEO, Randy Hales.

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Samsung has been seeking beta testers for its latest Android 6 Marshmallow updates in various markets such as South Korea, UK, and the US. If chosen, the users were able to install the beta version of Marshmallow on some of the Galaxy S6 smartphones.

Samsung seems to be readying the Marshmallow update for Galaxy Note5 as the company has begun selection users in the US to receive the test build. About 200 people from the AT&T networks with Note5 devices have been chosen and if they followed the instructions correctly, the update should be already available.

The Marshmallow firmware looks the same as on the Galaxy S6 series and utilizes the latest security improvements, too.

The beta firmware update weights about 1356MB and has a build date of February 2.

If you own a Galaxy Note5 from AT&T (the SM-N920A model), and you’ve signed up for beta updates, maybe you should check your email to see if you were chosen to be a beta tester.

Anyway, this beta Marshmallow update means the firmware is almost finalized and the regular users should be getting it in a few…

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Yesterday offered us a set of hands-on photos of the Microsoft Lumia 850 and today, samples from the same batch have resurfaced from yet another source adding quite a bit to the authenticity of the leak. Joining them we have a few fan-made renders that lets us get a better idea of the smartphone’s looks.

This is the latest in a long line of news and various info on the handset, reaffirming that the mid-range Windows 10 phablet will be outed this year. Without diving too much into the shots themselves, we will just note that even though the Lumia 850 is expected to come with a plastic body, like many of its siblings, there clearly looks to be some extra detail on the frame, maybe perhaps some metal.

Other obvious changes include a repositioned microUSB 2.0 connector – now on the top and a 3.5mm jack on the bottom. As for specs, we currently believe that the Lumia 850 will be powered by a Snapdragon 617 chip – one of Qualcomm’s new mid-range offers that just happens to be Microsoft’s last addition to the Continuum requirements sheet, which naturally suggests support for the new phablet. The display is said to be a 5.7-inch one with a FullHD resolution, but there is still no info on memory.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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Uber has done a complete rebranding, with a new design, new logo typeface, new icon, and some backstory about bits and atoms that we don’t need to get into.

The first thing you’ll notice is the new app icon after you update the app. It might seem like an inverted U at first, but that’s not it. At the center is what Uber calls the Bit. The consumer app will have one line joining the Bit at the center. The partner app will have two lines joining the Bit at the center. Since Uber now does more than just run a cab service, difference services in future will have different icons, all with the Bit at the center.

The logo typeface has also been changed, with the curved ends giving way to a bolder, more prominent typeface with rounded corners.

Lastly, the company is also exploring color schemes for different regions. Although not available right now, in future the apps will have a color theme and color palettes specific to your region.

The updated app is available on iOS right…

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MediaTek entered the news yesterday for the wrong reason, with rumors of the Helio X20 chipset suffering from overheating issues, Snapdragon 810 style. Sources claimed that industry heavyweights Xiaomi, Lenovo and HTC were put off by the SoC’s thermal behavior and weren’t using it for future smartphones.

The Chinese chipmaker was quick to respond, and has now insisted on Weibo that the Helio X20 is in mass production, no heating issues are observed, and it’s business as usual with its partners. And while that was to be expected, the truly interesting bit is how the chip actually handles the high temperatures.

Apparently, when the pair of Cortex-A72 cores inside the CPU reach a certain threshold, they are shut down and the processor turns into an octa-core Cortex-A53 affair. MediaTek has been using the True octa-core concept in previous designs, meaning that all cores can run at the same time, as opposed the big.LITTLE architecture, where two separate clusters handle tasks depending on performance requirements.

So in effect, the 10-core CPU is such for a limited amount of time and then turns into your regular octa-core Cortex-A53 familiar from current designs, like the Helio X10. It will be interesting how that translates into repeated benchmark runs and, more importantly, continuous real-world use.

Source |…

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