After taking a break for a few weeks, the previously leakedNokia Lumia 929 for Verizon appeared in live photos yet again. This time around, the yet to be announced Windows Phone powerhouse showed up dressed in white attire.
Nokia Lumia 929 (click to enlarge)
Alongside the leaked photo, alleged information on the battery of the Nokia Lumia 929 made the rounds. The device will reportedly hit the shelves with a 2,510mAh unit on board.
The previously rumored specs of the Nokia Lumia 929 include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC, 5” 1080p display, and 20MP PureView camera (we’ve seen an alleged sample from it already). The handset will have 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of built-in memory to go with a microSD card slot.
The latest report suggests that the Nokia Lumia 929 will launch on Verizon in the second half of December. Previousrumors about November unveiling have obviously failed to materialize.
The LG G2 received favorable reviews from critics as well as customers. Now that Google has announced the Android 4.4 KitKat update, naturally everyone who bought one is wondering when will they be receiving the update.
According to Mobile Syrup who contacted the Canadian division of LG, the company will be providing the Android 4.4 build to all the carriers in Q1, 2014, near the end of March. From then onwards it depends upon the carriers how quickly they start rolling out the updates. Those are using unlocked version of the handset can probably expect to receive the update a bit sooner.
The LG G2 is currently one of the best Android smartphones available on the market with top of the line specifications across the board. The software has been criticized for being over the top due to the many features LG tends to add in its phones. Although the KitKat update likely won't be fixing that problem, you would get all of the under the hood improvements that Google has introduced. Too bad there is going to be a long wait for it.
Black Friday is now behind us, but the Cyber Monday deals are already starting to come in. BlackBerry is among the first to give you a cool smartphone promotion, letting you have its former Z10 flagship for just $199.
That’s the price for SIM-free BlackBerry Z10 with no commitment to any carrier. Shipping is also free, so the price announced is final (no taxes included, of course). To take advantage of the promotion you need to use the promo code BFEMAILZ10 at checkout.
The BlackBerry Z10 didn’t quite manage to become the best seller its maker so desperately needed and it’s certainly not a device without its flaws, but it’s hard to argue that at $199 contract-free it offers excellent value for your money. If you are willing to stray off the beaten path and try a non-mainstream operating system this seems like a perfectly good chance.
The deal is only valid until Monday, so make up your mind quickly. If you decide to go for it, just follow the source link to place your order. And if you are still sitting on the fence, feel free to check out our review – it should answer all your questions about the smartphone.
Apps open up a whole world of video editing possibilities.
Think of the best smartphone movies and, at best, you'll be imagining that video you once took of your drunken friends trying to push over a cow before falling into a ditch. At least it was in HD.
But you should realise that your smartphone is silently weeping, hating you for not realising the untapped potential in its high power video camera, as quality and affordability have now aligned in such a way that almost anyone can become a filmmaker.
Don't believe us? Just look at the number of smartphone film festivals that have popped up, from Festival Pocket Films in France, to the iPhone Film Festival and Mobil Film Festival in America and the Olleh International Smartphone Film Festival in South Korea. All of these and more are dedicated to films shot largely or entirely on smartphones.
And filmmakers have already found some success in the field. The first feature length smartphone film, 'SMS Sugar Man', was shot back in 2007 on a Sony Ericsson W900i and since then there have been several other full length movies and numerous shorts and music videos.
These include 'Olive', which was shot on a Nokia N8 with a 35mm zoom lens and was the first ever smartphone film to get a cinema release.
Also of note is Park Chan-wook's 'Night Fishing' short, which was shot on an iPhone 4 and won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival and 'Departure', a film shot on iPhones by three different directors in three different countries.
There's clearly an appetite for using the medium of a smartphone to create a feature length piece of cinematic glory, but surely a 'proper' camera makes more sense?
Power within
It might seem weird to think that a filmmaker would choose a mobile for their movie, particularly someone established like Park Chan-wook, who's better known for his award winning revenge thriller 'Oldboy', but with the phones we have today it's not that much of a surprise.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for example can shoot 1080p video at 60fps or 2160p video at 30fps and soon more phones are likely to have 4K cameras, allowing for higher quality videos across a range of handsets.
Indeed Ruben Kazantsev, the co-founder of the iPhone Film Festival, thinks that this isn't a fad created just because the technology is there.
"Smartphone film making is here to stay," he told us emphatically. "We have been running IFF for over three years now and each year the films get better and better. So as the technology changes so will the quality of the films."
There are real advantages to shooting on a phone too. For one thing, it's a lot cheaper than conventional camera equipment, and it also opens up the medium to a gigantic number of wannabe directors as manufacturers have smuggled this high-power tech into your pocket, removing the barrier for entry.
Not only does that empower almost anyone to be a film maker, but it also makes it easier to counter equipment problems on set. Kazantsev, also a producer on the smartphone film 'Departure', highlighted an issue that only a smartphone could have solved:
"During our filming of departure we had a warehouse space for a limited time and we were down to the last scene with 20 minutes left.
"As we were getting ready to start filming I noticed my hard drive was full and had no time to download the footage to make room, since we had 20 minutes left.
"So I asked our crew 'who has an iPhone?' and almost everyone popped one out of their back pockets. If we did not have the backup cameras/smartphones we would have never gotten the last shot."
Filming on a phone also allows more risks to be taken as there's less money at stake. And because of their size and portability, smartphones can film almost anywhere, which potentially allows for shots that a traditional camera couldn't get.
A smartphone film called 'Goldilocks' included a scene where a phone was put in a ziplock bag, then placed in a glass and had wine poured on it while filming. If you're feeling a little more flush with cash, solid state microSD cards can be fitted to phones and flung around to get some truly amazing shots – you might smash the phone, but the footage will survive.
Smartphones also allow for more opportunistic filming, allowing you to capture moments that would otherwise be lost because you didn't have your video camera with you, used more often than you'd imagine in professionally produced films.
Of course there are downsides too. Susan Botello, the person behind the Mobil Film Festival, laments the lack of storage space on phones, telling us that "a phone with a great camera for video [but] low space makes it worthless."
She also argues that most phones have a horrible microphone and that the handling of low light situations needs to improve – elements which are being focused on quickly by the likes of HTC, Nokia and Apple with multiple microphones with dual membranes to improve sound quality, and massively upgraded low light sensors in cameras.
Other issues include the fact that the battery will be drained quickly when filming and ideally you'll probably still want to invest in some other equipment, such as lights, microphones and a tripod.
These issues and more mean that smartphone films haven't yet hit the mainstream. They're still fairly few and far between and the need for smartphone-specific film festivals demonstrates that they're not always comparable to more conventional films.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing. These festivals give mobile film "a platform which is a parallel to the traditional industry and open a door to film makers who use smartphones to shoot" according to Botello.
And in their very nature smartphones are going to attract independent and guerrilla film makers. Those who are unable or unwilling to work within the system and who can't afford the major expenses of a standard film.
This leads to unique projects that perhaps wouldn't be seen in mainstream cinema, such as Luke Geissbuhler's 'Space Balloon' short, which involves an iPhone being shot into space and then falling back down to earth, all while filming.
Quechua in association with Archos has unveiled a rugged smartphone. The handset is designed with an active lifestyle in mind and is resistant to shock, mud, water, sand, cold and snow.
Quechua's newest smartphone is IP 54 certified and is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and has 1GB of RAM on a Qualcomm chipset. The rugged device is built around a 5-inch display and offers a 5 megapixel main camera and 4 GB of internal memory that can be expanded via microSD card slot.
The smartphone runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and packs a 3,500mAh battery, which according to the company lasts for about 22 hours on calling.
Quechua's rugged smartphone is priced at €230 (about $313). Unfortunately, there is no word on the availability of the device at the moment.
A few days after it became available directly from Motorola in the United States, the Moto G also made its way to Amazon. The retail giant now has the budget-friendly Android smartphone up for pre-order unlocked, free of any contract commitments.
Amazon has the Moto G priced the same as Motorola’s own online store. The 8GB version starts at $179.99, while its 16GB sibling goes for $199.99. Both versions are scheduled to ship on December 4 – two days after Motorola’s own online store is scheduled to dispatch its pre-orders.
Unlocked HTC One devices, as well as their Developer Edition siblings are now getting updated to Android 4.4 KitKat with Sense 5.5 in the United States. HTC USA announced the pleasant surprise on its official Twitter account.
HTC surely isn’t wasting time in updating its flagship smartphone to the latest version available. The Sense-d version of the HTC One saw KitKat only four days after the Google Play Edition got treated to the update, and barely a month after Android 4.4 made a debut on the Nexus 5.
Carrier versions of the HTC One in the United States are due to get the update by the end of January. HTC vowed to do so earlier this month.
The rear-mounter volume rocker is the G2's calling card
LG has offered the first indication of when its impressive LG G2 handset will be furnished with the new Android 4.4 KitKat update.
The Korean company told Mobile Syrup that the new version of Google's operating system will begin hitting Canadian networks sometime during March 2014.
While the representative failed to mention US and UK networks it seems reasonable that we could expect the update around the same time, if not a little sooner.
Currently the highly-rated G2 remains on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, so fans of the uniquely designed handset will be hoping for a finger or two of KitKat as soon as possible.
Opinion splitter
The handset arrived in the UK last month, following its launch in August, packing a full HD 1080p 5.2-inch display with a pixel resolution of 424ppi.
It's also got plenty of power, thanks to a with a 2.26GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU and 2GB of RAM.
Aside from its top specs, the G2's calling card is undoubtedly its rear-mounted volume rocker that has so far split opinion among smartphone enthusiasts.
We have some good news for the LG G2 users. The Android 4.4 KitKat update for the Korean unit has been finalized and is already seeding to the the smartphone in its home market. If you live in Korea and you own an LG G2, the new firmware is already waiting for you to get it. You just need to use the official LG Update Tool on your computer instead of the over-the-air service on your phone.
In the beginning of November we also saw a leaked roadmap of the French carrier SFR. It showed us the SFR users with LG G2 will be getting Android KitKat in November or December this year. There is still nothing official though, but December is upon us, so we guess the SFR G2 owners will get to experience the latest Android build soon enough.
Finally, the guys over Mobile Syrup have received some interesting info straight from LG Canada. According to their information, the Canadian G2 smartphones will be getting Android 4.4 KitKat in late Q1, 2014 (that's late March).
It seems the LG G2 around the world will be skipping Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and that's not bad given that it has helped it get Android 4.4 KitKat so soon after its release.
Xolo unveiled a new addition to its smartphone lineup. The Xolo Q500 is an affordable, compact dual-SIM Android phone, which has a 4" screen and measures 118.5 x 63 x 10.7mm.
The screen has WVGA resolution for 233ppi pixel density. The Q500 is powered by a Snapdragon MSM8225Q S4 Play chipset with four Cortex-A5 cores running at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM and Adreno 203 GPU. The phone runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
On the connectivity side, the Xolo Q500 offers two SIM cards with 3G with HSPA (7.2Mbps downlink, 5.76Mbps uplink). There's also Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, A-GPS and FM radio.
The Xolo Q500 has a 5MP camera on the back that can shoot 720p videos and a VGA camera on the back.
A cool software trick lets you snap a photo with Hindi text that will be automatically translated into English. You can have the phone read the translation out loud too. This feature is called X-TransPic and will be available on other Snapdragon-based Xolo phones.
The Q500 packs 4GB of storage that can be expanded with a microSD card (up to 32GB). The battery has 1,450mAh capacity.
The Xolo Q500 is priced INR 7,999 ($130) and is available right now in India.
The LG G Flex could start arriving on our doorsteps as early as December if you're living in Europe.
As flagged by 3G.cn, LG has sent out invites for an LG G Flex event in Hong Kong on December 3, which is reportedly to mark an international launch.
Currently, the phone is only available in Korea, where it went on sale in early November for the eye-watering price of 999,900 Korean Won - about $940 in the US, £583 in the UK and AU$992.
The G Flex will be available in France on Orange towards the start of December - that much we know - so we're hoping to see it hop over to the UK around the same time. As for the US, the flexy phone won't be making its way over until early 2014.
Out of shape
The G Flex, LG's first curved phone, has a 6-inch curved OLED, a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM and a 13-megapixel camera.
It also has a rear case that can heal itself when scratched, which might be even more exciting than the bendy headline feature.
And let's not forget about the Samsung Galaxy Round, which curves along a vertical axis instead. Although there's no guarantee we'll be seeing that outside of Korea any time soon.
Samsung Argentina has unveiled two new colors of the Galaxy Note 3 flagship. Currently the phablet is selling in black, white and pink, but it seems Samsung will be adding more options to the pallete.
The red Galaxy Note 3 is rumored to hit the shelves in the first week of January, while the rose gold edition will launch two weeks later. Both version will be available globally, but some carriers and retails may get some exclusivity deals for a month or two.
Here are some official images of the new flavors.
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in red and rose gold
There is still no official info on when those new colors will be hitting Argentina and the rest of the world.
We all know the dangers. The smartphone is the portal to online shopping, our bank accounts and all manner of social network profiling – for many, it is our digital identity.
We know what we have to do: make sure it has a lock code, and never share it with anyone.
But…what if even that isn't enough?
Researchers at Cambridge University recently proposed a method of discovering the PIN on your Android phone by using a malicious app to capture data through your smartphone's camera and microphone. This technique made headlines as it was able to correctly identify a 4-digit PIN, from a test set, 30% of the time after two attempts, rising to 50% after five attempts.
Flanking manoeuvre
The reason this technique, known as a "side-channel" attack, is so noteworthy, is that it circumvents the supposedly secure split between the Android system and the trusted zone on your smartphone.
"Side-channel" attacks use sensors like the gyroscope and accelerometer, or hardware, like the microphone and camera, in order to capture data that's uploaded to a remote server where an algorithm is used to take an educated guess at your PIN.
The 'trusted' part of your phone is separate from the main OS and is designed to isolate sensitive applications, such as banking apps. This is all part of a move to keep sensitive data like your PIN on separate hardware, with companies like ARM inventing technologies such as TrustZone to ensure this stays secure.
However Laurent Simon, one of the authors of PIN Skimmer: Inferring PINs Through The Camera and Microphone, told us, "it's not obvious that the accelerometer or the microphone could be used to leak information…the focus is on the touchscreen, on securing the screen."
How does it work?
This attack involves using the PIN Skimmer app, which is malware disguised as a game, to record users interacting with the touchscreen.
The front-facing camera can be used to capture a shot of the user and determine what they look like when pressing a specific point on screen. This data can then be used to build a model and analyse a video of them entering their PIN.
This is further bolstered by using the microphone to capture audio of the haptic vibration feedback when the user presses the screen in specific spots.
In fairness to phone developers, victims have to download the app and grant it permission to access the microphone, the camera, and the Internet in the Android system.
Once the attacker identifies a likely PIN, they still need the smartphone physically in hand before they can try it, as Simon explained, "in that sense it's limited, you can't do everything remotely; you would need to [inadvertently] collaborate with thieves."
Before you dismiss this idea as never going to happen to you, consider that malware could also be used to track your location, and smartphone theft is at an all-time high. Earlier this year the Met revealed that there are more than 300 mobile phones stolen every day in London alone.
How can you protect yourself?
Marc Rogers, Principal Security Researcher at Lookout (WHICH IS?), told us "The absolute, most common, method of compromising your smartphone is installing something from a third-party store that will send out your phone number, your contacts list, your SMS messages, and allow someone to remotely control the phone.
"We did a study on the likelihood of encountering this kind of malware and we found in the US and UK that the likelihood of encountering something nasty (a phishing link, adware, or malware) is around 2% to 3%. Your probability of actually encountering malware is about 0.5%."
Those figures are based on data captured from millions of Lookout Mobile users, with Rogers suggesting that to protect themselves users should "stick to [Google's] Play Store and don't go to third-party stores. These don't necessarily have the same level of protection and that's why the probability rises from 0.5% in the UK to around 40% in the Russian Federation and Ukraine."
Simon agreed that "in general Google Play is a safe bet, but that doesn't mean you can't be compromised a different way", citing a Chrome exploit that enabled attackers to gain control over a Nexus 4 and a Galaxy S4 after getting people to click on a link.
Is anyone trying to protect us?
The researchers at Cambridge University are focused on what OS vendors and smartphone manufacturers can do to combat this threat.
The PIN Skimmer research paper suggests various countermeasures, but concedes that one of the main ways is blocking access for various sensors during sensitive transactions, or randomizing the placement of digits on the PIN pad, which would have a detrimental impact on usability.
As Simon suggested, "when you're typing a PIN you don't really need to have access to anything, it takes a few seconds, but it's a big decision for them to say 'we're going to block everything', people might start complaining if they miss a call."
What about biometrics?
Could developments like Apple's Touch ID be the answer? Rogers suggested "it's a really good way to bring security to the masses. It's convenient, it's easy to use and it fits within the user's normal processes.
Is Touch ID the answer?
"The biggest risk you face with the PIN code is that someone is going to trick you into surrendering your PIN, via a website or app. A PIN can be tricked out of someone, but you can't trick a fingerprint out of them. If you marry the two, so that now you need two credentials to gain access, I would rate that security as pretty high."
So biometrics, which also recently debuted on the HTC One Max, are the mobile industry's way of addressing this issue, but it remains to be seen if this is the answer, or if multi-factor authentication is a step further than users would accept for everyday smartphone use.
So in the short term the only option may be to sacrifice some convenience for peace of mind. As Simon said: "anything you can do to make things harder for the bad guys is always a good thing."
Some users are seeing their Samsung Galaxy S4 and S III receiving the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update in Europe.
The update was first rolled-out but was shortly found to be infested by a lot of bugs and was since pulled. Not after AT&T resumed seeding the fixed version of the update. And now the update has started making its way to other regions.
The update brings improvements to performance, the Galaxy S4 gets Galaxy Gear and Knox support along with Group Play 2.5 and more.
Users that have installed the buggy 4.3 update should shortly receive a small patch update through Samsung Kies. And the Galaxy S4 should receive Android KitKat soon as well so this isn't the last one.
This just in from our existing-phones-in-different-colours correspondent: looks like Samsung is going to release the Note 3 in both red and white gold next year.
Samsung is prepping to launch two new colors of the Galaxy Note 3 flagship, according to inside sources. Currently the phablet is selling in black, white and pink, but it seems Samsung will be adding more options to the pallete.
The red Galaxy Note 3 is rumored to hit the shelves in the first week of January, while the white gold edition will launch two weeks later. Both version will be available globally, but some carriers and retails may get some exclusivity deals for a month or two.
The images you are seeing below are just renders made by the guys over at Android Authority and are for illustrative purposes only.
We still don't know what this white gold version is supposed to look like. The champagne which the rendered image suggests isn't quite what white gold looks like but who knows. Anyway, January is just a month away, so we'll find out soon enough.
Leaked images of a Huawei smartphone going by the G750 codename have surfaced. The smartphone is running on MediaTek's new true octa-core MT6592 chipset.
MediaTek has been high on praise for its new chipset, which it claims is the first "true octa-core" solution, being capable of running all eight cores simultaneously. This is in contrast to chipsets like Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa SoC, which runs either its four faster cores or four slower cores depending on processing needs.
The new SoC from MediaTek also has the ability to support 4K video playback and cameras that do up to 16MP stills and fullHD recording,.
But going back to the G750, the device is expected to sport a 5.5-inch screen of a rather disappointing 720p resolution, alongside 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory. According to the about screen, Android 4.2.2 is the OS version.
The G750 shares many of the internals leaked from Huawei's unannounced Glory 4 handset, so it's possible that we're seeing that same device under a new name here.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 launched on Verizon in the US early last month on $300 with contract. In the spirit of Black Friday, the price of the flagship phablet has dropped to $170 on the same deals.
The $170 price comes from Amazon and doesn’t seem to be a part of the etailer's Black Friday promotions (meaning it should be available even after today). This price is for new Verizon accounts.
Upgraders will have to pay a bit more - $200. The Galaxy Note 3 is also available from Verizon's own site at that price.
For comparison, the Note 3 is $220 with a contract with Sprint for new accounts and $300 for upgrades. On AT&T it's $250 for new accounts, $260 for upgrades.
Note that all these prices require a 2-year contract. But don't forget that Samsung will give you $50 Play Store credit.
A new leak from Hungary details the Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2, the successor of its popular dual-SIM Android-powered phone.
It has a 4" WVGA screen (480 x 800) and runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. It's powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz processor with 768MB RAM, though the exact chipset isn't clear. Anyway, the phone has a 5MP camera, 4GB of built-in storage, microSD card slot and a 1,500mAh battery.
The Galaxy Ace 3 has virtually the same specs and it has a dual-SIM version (LTE version too, but that's single-SIM only). The Galaxy Duos 2, as the name suggests, comes only in dual-SIM flavor.
The Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2 was unveiled in Hungary but it will reportedly be available in a few days in India too at INR10990 ($175 / €130). Also note that the phone is very different than the Galaxy S II Duos for China Telecom.
If you're rocking a Samsung device which hasn't yet been upgraded to Android 4.3 you might want to count your blessings, as it appears the Korean firm is still having issues with the latest version of Jelly Bean.
Samsung has admitted to TechRadar there is a new issue, which we were tipped off about. Our tipster highlighted that since the Android 4.3 update on his Galaxy S4, Outlook no longer syncs with the Samsung Kies desktop software or the handset.
It appears that this problem isn't restricted to just S4 handsets, with many Samsung owners reporting similar issues over on the Android Central and XDA forums.
What does this mean for users? Well anyone who relies on Outlook for contacts, calendars and email will be unable to sync these details with their Samsung handset - if it's running Android 4.3 that is.
Fix coming in "near future"
We contacted Samsung to try and find out more, and a spokesperson for the firm told us: "In the near future, an improved Kies tool which will also support 'Outlook sync' will be released.
"This new version of Kies 3.0 will be available in due course from www.samsung.com."
Unfortunately Samsung was unable to tell us an exact date for the new Kies tools, but it's yet another embarrassing turn of events for the Korean firm, so surely it won't be too far off.
Are you having issues with your Samsung post-Android 4.3 update? Let us know in the comments below, on Facebook or via Twitter.
Apple stores will offer gift cards on Black Friday instead of the discounts expected by shoppers.
The day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday, is a day of blissful debauchery for eager shoppers, who swarm retail stores in the wee hours of the morning and all through the day in search of unprecedented once-a-year deals.
But unlike years past, Apple won't offer discounts this time. Instead, shoppers will receive Apple Store gift cards with select purchases.
The coupons are available to shoppers both in Apple's retail stores and online, including in regions outside the US. In fact, Australian shoppers can see them now.
Raw deals
We won't know the exact values of the coupons being offered outside Australia until the promotion goes live in other regions, but shoppers down under who buy any MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or iMac will get an AU$150 ($136, £83) gift card.
The iPad Air, on the other hand, comes with an AU$75 ($68, £41) gift card, while the iPad mini, iPad 2 and iPod touch come with a mere AU$50 ($46, £27).
Even further down the ladder is the iPod nano, which comes with just AU$25 ($23, £13).
Gift cards also come with third-party products like the Olloclip, Parrot AR.Drone, the Fitbit Flex, and Beats headphones.
Apple no doubt figures it will make out just fine tomorrow anyway, what with the hordes of shoppers who will inevitably appear with cash in hand ready to make a purchase.
Hopefully Apple Stores survive the ire of those mobs of shoppers when employees try to hand them gift cards instead of discounts.
Of course, if you really want a discounted Apple product, plenty of other retailers will no doubt be offering the deals Black Friday shoppers expect.
Check out the first glimpse of the Huawei G750 (credit: MyDriver)
It seems Huawei has some Android tricks up its sleeves, one of them being the newly leaked eight-core Huawei G750.
The previously unheard of device reportedly packs MediaTek's powerful new octa-core processor, according to the photos and info that leaked on the Chinese site MyDrivers.
However, it's unclear whether the G750 is merely the codename or model number for the Huawei Honor 4/Glory 4, which are also rumored to be powered by the new MediaTek chip, or a separate device entirely.
Bragging rights
MediaTek has been vocal about its new 1.7 GHz MT6592 System on a Chip (SoC), which it claims is the "world's first true octa-core mobile platform."
The Taiwanese chip maker says in addition to the eight-core chip's raw processing power, it has the advantage of being fully scalable and consuming less battery power than the quad-core processors that are currently popular in various flagship smartphones.
Other than that juicy tidbit, based on the specs pictured in this leak it seems the Huawei G750 will sport a big but disappointing 720p 5.5-inch display, 2GB of memory, 32GB of storage, and 13- and 5-megapixel cameras.
It will also reportedly come with the slightly outdated Android 4.2.2 and be available on China's three big carriers, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom.
There's some powerful, albeit nonsensical, imagery on the Revolution teaser site
Geeksphone said "Happy Thanksgiving" today with the announcement of a new, reportedly higher-end Firefox OS device, the Revolution.
There's a catch, though: the mysterious new smartphone isn't technically running Firefox OS.
According to CNET, the Geeksphone Revolution actually runs Boot2Gecko, an identical Mozilla OS with a different name, because the Firefox OS brand is apparently unavailable to telecoms companies not associated with specific carriers.
Regardless, the Revolution has one very interesting feature: the hardware is capable of running either B2G/Firefox OS or Android.
Split personality
Geeksphone said when customers order the Revolution they'll be able to choose whether they want Mozilla's OS or Android.
The Spanish company dealt in Android phones before throwing its support behind Firefox OS.
Besides that literally no details about the new hybrid phone are known, but Geeksphone's new teaser website at geeksphone.com/revolution teases "a creation with a powerful heart" (is that an amoeba? Nope, looks like a processor!) and recommends we "stay tuned."
(The meaning behind the site's prominent imagery of a very pregnant woman is not quite clear.)
"We are...confident that we will surprise everyone by its very high performance," Geeksphone co-founder Javier Aguera said in a statement. "And it's very competitively priced."
Join the Revolution
Despite the apparent restrictions, Geeksphone is fully behind Mozilla's web-powered OS initiatives. It was one of the earliest supporters of Firefox OS, releasing two phones, the Keon and the Peak, to developers earlier this year.
An upgraded Peak model, the Peak+, is also reportedly in the works, though customers who ordered the Peak+ already can switch to the Revolution at no additional cost. It sounds like the Revolution will drop first.
As CNET noted, the Norwegian company Telenor today launched another Firefox OS device, the Alcatel One Touch Fire, which will be available in regions including Serbia, Hungary, and Montenegro by Christmas.
No word yet on whether the low end One Touch Fire will hit the US or UK, but as always we'll keep an eye out.
Huawei, LG, ZTE, and Sony are also committed to Firefox OS to varying degrees.
Nokia put two Asha 50x phones on sale – the 502 Dual SIM and the 503. The two are based on the Asha 501 design, but add a transparent outer layer on the back (while being every bit as colorful underneath).
The Nokia Asha 502 Dual SIM improves the phone's photography skills by bumping the camera to 5MP and adding an LED flash. The video recording is still at the abysmal QVGA@15fps, though.
As the name suggests, it comes only in dual-SIM. Unlike the 501, this model has only 2G connectivity, but Wi-Fi is still available and so is WhatsApp. Note that the Asha 502 has a slightly smaller battery.
The Nokia Asha 503 comes in single- and dual-SIM versions. It also brings back the 3.5G connectivity from the 501, while keeping the improved camera. The battery is back to the original 1,200mAh capacity too.
Both the Asha 502 and the 503 have 3" QVGA screens (240 x 320) protected by Gorilla Glass 2, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, microSD card slots. They also feature social networking integration (Facebook, Twitter, Sina Weibo, LINE, WeChat) and Nokia's data compressing Xpress Browser.
The Nokia Asha 502 Dual SIM and Asha 503 are available right now in select IMEA (India, Middle East and Africa) and Asia Pacific regions.
HTC offers a mean flagship, in the form of the HTC One. But the firm knows that a lot of the mobile market now lies in the budget sector, and this is where the HTC Desire 500 is pitched. It might not have the super low price of the ZTE Blade V, but even so, the price is hardly going to make your eyes water.
This puts the Desire 500 in direct competition with the Sony Xperia M and the Nokia Lumia 625, and just a little more costly than the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini. It's also worth considering the cheaper Moto G here, which sports a deceptively low price for its feature set.
So has HTC equipped the Desire 500 with the necessary weapons to beat an increasingly difficult market?
It packs Qualcomm's Snapdragon 200 processor, backed up with 1GB RAM. This means that the Desire 500 might not pack the biggest punch, but the 1.2GHz quad-core chip is hardly a slouch.
While the Desire 500 does boast a 4.3-inch screen, it's unfortunately only 480 x 800, meaning a rather low 217ppi.
This is all packed into a 131.8 x 66.9 x 9.9mm plastic chassis, leading to a low 123g weight, and a rather inconspicuous footprint in your pocket. The HTC Desire 500 is ideal then, if you like wearing skinny jeans.
HTC also has also provided the Desire 500 with Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (so no dual band surfing), as well as NFC, GPS and 3G. Unfortunately, there is no 4G.
Design wise, the HTC Desire 500 is very visually reminiscent of the HTC One S. So much so, in fact, that we found it a little difficult to tell them apart.
The plastic casing wraps around the screen, causing us some difficulty when it came to removing it.
We passed it around to a few friends, and eventually they all realized that just pulling gently below the screen would ease it off.
A massive hint for this was that the screen doesn't sit flush within the casing. This is a minor niggle, but made the Desire 500 feel a lot less premium than it could have done.
Sat behind the screen is an 1800mAh battery, which is removable. We're getting ever-more skeptical about the need for a removable battery, but it is a nice touch for intense users.
The microSD slot (supporting up to 64GB) and microSIM port are also hidden in behind the wrap around case.
The Desire 500 is by no means an unattractive device. Our review model was white and red, but we did also get a chance to play with a white-and-blue one (which we preferred), and there is an all-black version.
We can't work out why HTC hasn't done a black and red version, as it's a color scheme we were big fans of on the HTC Sensation XE.
The red wraps around the edge of the Desire 500, as well as providing highlights to the camera and the HTC branding on the back.
Speaking of cameras, the Desire 500 doesn't come packing the same UltraPixel technology that we have seen adorning the entire One range. Instead, the HTC Desire 500 comes with an 8MP sensor, as well as a 1.6MP snapper on the front. Thankfully, there is an LED flash on the rear as well.
In the way of buttons, the Desire 500 comes with two soft keys, sat just below the screen. We felt that this made the handset look a little odd, given the massive gap between the back and home buttons.
Long pressing the home button doubles up as the menu key, but we can't see why HTC wouldn't just put in a dedicated menu button.
For physical keys, the power/lock button is placed in the upper left corner of the HTC Desire 500.
The volume keys are sat on the right hand side, integrated into the red band. This is a great design touch, especially as the small break in the band allows you to easily differentiate between the two buttons, without the need for a rocker.
We found that we were able to hit all the buttons easily one handed, a consequence of the smaller 4.3-inch screen.
HTC has also provided the Desire 500 with the obligatory 3.5mm headphone port (in the top right corner), and the microUSB in the centre of the base.
Overall we're impressed with the design of the HTC Desire 500. It is light, and the 4.3-inch screen means that it sits very nicely in the hand.
The screen not sitting flat with the casing is disappointing, as is the slight unbalanced feel of only having two buttons, but not enough to stop us taking another look.
MediaTek has been vocal about its new 1.7 GHz MT6592 System on a Chip (SoC), which it claims is the "world's first 
