Chinese company LeTV’s latest smartphone – the Le Max Pro – will carry a price tag of RMB 3,500 (around $535) in China. This was revealed by a leaked screenshot/teaser obtained by a Chinese website.

If you aren’t already aware, the Le Max Pro was unveiled by Qualcomm as the first Snapdragon 820-powered smartphone at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this week.

As for other specs, the handset has a 6.3-inch (2,560 x 1,440 pixel resolution) display and 4GB RAM, sports a 21MP rear camera, and runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow with custom LeTV skin on top. It also features ultrasonic fingerprint technology and supports WiFi ad.

There’s currently no information on when the Le Max Pro will go on sale.

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When Lenovo completed the acquisition of Motorola Mobility back in 2014, it said “We plan to not only protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger.” However, looks like the Chinese company’s priorities has changed with changing times as the brand is now being phased out.

“We’ll slowly phase out Motorola,” said Motorola Chief Operating Officer Rick Osterloh.

Motorola’s phone business will now come under the Lenovo name, meaning it will be merged with Lenovo’s phone business, with high-end smartphones using the Moto branding while budget devices using the Vibe brand.

You’ll also see future Moto products featuring the blue Lenovo logo, although Motorola’s batwing-like “M” logo will still be there. The Motorola name, however, won’t vanish completely – it’ll live on as a division under…

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This year the CES expo in Las Vegas is mostly about HDR TVs and smart appliances (fridges, washing machines) rather than smartphones and slates. LG is among the few manufacturers to bring new mobile gadgets – the LG K10 and LG K7.

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4K simply isn’t enough for Sony anymore. After having launched the world’s first smartphone with a display that can sometimes show 4K content (the Xperia Z5 Premium), the company is now aiming even higher. Much more so.

Sony is now boasting about having created the world’s first “48K” 360-degree video. This has not been achieved using some yet-unreleased camera technology or anything like that. In fact, the company has used no less than 12 Xperia Z5 Compact units at the same time – all of which were placed inside a custom 3D-printed rig.

The 12 phones covered the entire 360-degree range, and each one was recording video in 4K. Sony has arrived at the “48K” count by simply multiplying 12 by 4. The resulting “48K” 360-degree can be seen above. For best results, make sure you watch it in a Google Cardboard-type viewer, using the YouTube Android app.

Even if you don’t employ such a setup, you should still be able to “look around” inside the interactive video by using the four navigation keys that show up in the top left. The footage was shot at the Rise Ski & Snowboard Festival in Les Deux Alpes,…

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The Facebook team has just boasted that its Messenger reached yet another milestone and now has over 800 million active user. The 700 million mark was breached back in June 2015 and before that, 500 million was achieved as early as August 2014, so their service has been expanding rapidly in popularity.

Stan Chudnovsky, head of the Messenger product comments:

We are growing very, very fast, and it’s all shaping up into thinking about what we can make this year better than last year.

What started out as merely a nuisance after Facebook decided to break off its IM feature into a separate app in 2014, later grew into a huge tension point and major drawback from the social network itself for a lot users when the second application became a mandatory download. But despite the apparent tidal wave of negative feedback, the bold move might have actually provided the initial boost Facebook Messenger needed to explode into a vast and popular communication platform of its own in later years.

Messenger has really come a long way since its humble IM roots. It now lets you send money to contacts, no longer requires a Facebook account to chat and even make calls and has its own dedicated web client.

For 2016, the Messenger team is working on new concepts, Chudnovsky said. For example, Messenger now lets people make video and voice calls without requiring a phone number or even being Facebook “friends.” “All you need is just a name as Messenger provides that capability to find anybody by name or the name of their business.

And the future holds even more exciting innovations for Facebook Messenger, like the company’s own take on a virtual voice assistant, called M that lives inside the app or its plans to introduce Snapchat-like ephemeral…

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Over at CES Polaroid has announced a couple of new smartphones (or 4, if you count display diagonal options). Not a major player on the smartphone scene, Polaroid has placed the focus of the new models on affordability.

Polaroid Snap

The Polaroid Snap is the lower-specced model, and comes in three display sizes: 5″, 5.5″, and 6″. Whatever the diagonal, resolution is 1,280 x 720 pixels, so pixel density gets progressively worse with the larger displays, dipping as low as 244ppi.

The Snaps are all be powered by a quad-core processor as part of an unnamed chipset, and feature 1GB of 2GB of RAM paired with 8GB and 16GB of storage respectively. They sport a 13MP/5MP camera combo and snappers are coupled with LED flashes.

LTE radios are on board and the Snap will launch on Android 5.1.1 with a Marshmallow update coming some time in the future. List prices range from $130 to $180, depending on display size.

Polaroid Power

The Polaroid Power is a more heavily-equipped phablet with a FullHD 6-inch display. There’s an octa-core processor running things, but again Polaroid chose not to reveal its make and model. The chip may be unknown, but the smartphone comes with a generous 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

The rear camera is the same as the one on the Snap, on paper at least, employing a 13MP sensor. On the front though, there’s an 8MP cam without a flash – there’s no room for gimmicks on the more serious Power.

And if you think Power makes it sound like it will have a whopping battery, you’re wrong, and then you’re right. The power pack inside the smartphone has a 3,000mAh capacity, but Polaroid is bundling an 8,000mAh power bank with the smartphone. LTE support, Lollipop out of the box and Marshmallow later – same as the Snap. This one will cost $250, which is not entirely unreasonable for the hardware.

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Samsung announced the other day that it’s working on bringing iOS support for the Gear S2 smartwatch. And when you hear that it’s undergoing development, you’re likely to assume that’s marketing talk for “not gonna happen anytime soon”.

Not true – compatibility is coming in mid-January, Samsung has told Pocket-lint, and it would most likely be implemented through a dedicated app that you’ll be able to install off the App Store.

Android Wear watches have been (sort of) compatible with iPhones since the end of August. However, the Gear S2 runs on Tizen and not Google’s wearable platform, so it wasn’t an option for iPhone users until…

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US-based smartphone maker BLU used CES 2016 to announce its latest phones – the BLU Vivo 5 and Vivo XL. Both feature 5.5″ Super AMOLED screens, MediaTek chipsets with octa-core CPU and metal unibody design.

BLU Vivo 5

The BLU Vivo 5 comes with a 5.5″ Super AMOLED screen of 720p resolution resulting in a pixel density of 267 ppi. Inside the metal unibody, there’s a MediaTek 6753 chipset with a 1.3GHz Cortex-A53 octa-core CPU, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

BLU Vivo 5 official photos

At the back of the Vivo 5, there’s a 13MP camera coupled with a 5MP snapper at the front. The battery is 3,150mAh and the phone runs Android 5.1 Lollipop.

Capable of LTE connectivity, the Vivo 5 also has dual-SIM card slots. Expect the phone to be available next month on Amazon and BestBuy for $199. Available colors are White-Silver and Solid Gold.

BLU Vivo XL

Despite what the phone’s name suggests, the Vivo XL features the same 720p 5.5″ Super AMOLED display and chipset, but it has slightly downgraded memory specifications.

RAM is down to 2GB, while the internal storage of 16GB supports expansion via microSD card slot. There’s a slight difference in terms of the build, as the Vivo XL features a glossy finish complete with a subtle pattern at the back.

BLU Vivo XL official photos

The BLU Vivo XL will cost $149 and its sales start some time this month on Amazon and BestBuy. Color options include Liquid Gold, Chrome Silver, Midnight Blue and Rose Gold.

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Launched back in November last year, the HTC One A9 has been available in Carbon Gray, Opal Silver, Topaz Gold, and Deep Garnet colors. Now, the Taiwanese company has added another color option – Pink.

The Pink-colored One A9 is currently limited to the company’s home country, and there’s no word on if and when it will be available in other markets worldwide. The device will go on sale in Taiwan on January 15, with 2GB/16GB variant costing NTD 14,900 (around $450) and 3GB/32GB variant setting you back NTD 15,900 (around $480).

The new model comes just days after the Deep Garnet version of the smartphone was launched in the…

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Nubia, ZTE’s premium sister company, is planning to launch a couple of devices on its January 18 event. As it’s often the case, one of the phones to be announced at the event has leaked.

What you see below are live photos of the Nubia X8 – a metal-clad smartphone with a fingerprint sensor below the main camera. According to the source of the photos, the phone features a massive 6.44″ screen akin to its predecessor, the Nubia X6.

Rumor has it, that the Nubia X8 will pack a Snapdragon 820 chip as well as a 4,500mAh battery. We’ll know everything about the phone once it becomes official. Hopefully, Nubia announces it on January 18.

Lastly, the company is anticipated to reveal the Nubia Z11. It is said to feature a curved glass and a Snapdragon 820 as well.

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