In a (barely) surprising fashion, Microsoft has reached a deal to acquire Nokia's devices and services units. The deal will also include the Finnish company's patents and mapping services.
Under the reached upon agreement between the two companies' boards of directors, Microsoft will pay €3.79 billion for the devices and surfaces business. Nokia's patents will fetch an extra €1.65 billion, thus bringing the transaction total to €5.44 billion. The Redmond giant will pay the sum in cash.
The deal will see Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop return to Microsoft, where he will head the Devices division. Risto Siilasmaa will be Nokia's CEO on an interim basis going forward.
Once the deal closes, 32,000 people will transfer to Microsoft. Out of those, 4,700 are in Finland, while 18,300 are directly involved in manufacturing and assembly of products worldwide.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014, after it goes through the usual round of regulatory approvals.
Pretty soon, those Lumias will be made by Microsoft
Some may argue it was inevitable following the deal inked over two years ago that saw Nokia exclusively offer devices running the Windows Phone operating system, but Microsoft has just announced its intentions to purchase Nokia's devices and services divisions.
The deal - which seemed doomed to fail back in June - also sees Microsoft license all of Nokia's patents as well as licensing and using Nokia's mapping services.
Of course, that kind of acquisition doesn't come cheap. The deal is setting Microsoft back €3.79 billion ($US5 billion, £3.2 billion, AUD$5.6 billion) for the devices and services divisions, and €1.65 billion ($US2.18 billion, £1.4 billion, AUD$2.4 billion) to license Nokia's patents.
The deal is expected to be finalised in the first quarter of 2014, provided Nokia's shareholders and industry regulators approve.
The Steve and Stephen double team
More than 32,000 Nokia employees from all around the world are expected to move to the Microsoft family as part of the acquisition, but according to the men who orchestrated the deal, the real advantage will be the accelerated growth of the company's mobile device offering.
In the joint press release from Nokia and Microsoft, outgoing Redmond boss Steve Ballmer claims that "It's a bold step into the future – a win-win for employees, shareholders and consumers of both companies. Bringing these great teams together will accelerate Microsoft's share and profits in phones, and strengthen the overall opportunities for both Microsoft and our partners across our entire family of devices and services."
Stephen Elop, who has moved from Nokia President and CEO to Nokia Executive Vice President of Devices & Services as part of the deal, echoed Ballmer's thoughts, saying: "Building on our successful partnership, we can now bring together the best of Microsoft's software engineering with the best of Nokia's product engineering, award-winning design, and global sales, marketing and manufacturing."
Elop, along with four other Nokia directors, will transfer to Microsoft as part of the deal as well when it becomes finalised.
Microsoft, the biggest phone brand?
The acquisition of Nokia's devices division includes both the company's smart devices unit, meaning all the Lumia phones from the Lumia 520 to the Lumia 1020, and the mobile phones business unit.
That latter division accounts for hundreds of millions of mobile phones sold every year around the world, with 53.7 million units sold in the second quarter of 2013 alone and also incorporates the Asha brand of phones.
However, there aren't plans to kill off the Nokia phone brand just yet, with Microsoft licensing the Nokia brand for use with current Nokia mobile phone products.
And speaking of licensing, the patent license agreement will last for 10 years from when the deal is finalised, and sees Nokia assigning its current licensing arrangements with Qualcomm to Microsoft.
The Nokia HERE licensing arrangement is a little bit shorter at just four years, although the deal has been reciprocated for Nokia to use Microsoft patents in its HERE mapping services.
While numerous rumours had 3GB RAM slated for the Note 3, a tweet from @evleaks is "confirming" that a screenshot showing Note 3 specs – which shows that the handset has only 2.5GB of RAM – is real.
Though it is only a 500MB bump down in RAM, this is one of the first rumours we've seen of a RAM-spec drop down for the device as nearly all previous Note 3 rumours agreed on 3GB.
The screenshot also shows that the smartphone is powered by Android 4.2, and an Antutu benchmark screenshot gives the device a score of 24,497.
According to the report, a slide from a press conference hosted by KT Telecom (Korea Teleocm) showed the Galaxy Note 3 alongside the LG G2 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A as it spoke about LTE-A technology and Snapdragon 800 SoC.
While rumours of the device and this processor has been prevalent over the last few months, it seems like this report is as close to an official confirmation we'll be getting before Samsung's announcement at IFA 2013.
It won't be long before we know the truth about the phone's specs, so it's still probably best to take both "confirmations" with a grain of salt until then.
TechRadar will have all the details from Samsung's Unpacked event, but until then, why not check out our round up so far of all the news and rumours from IFA 2013 and what we've gathered so far about the Galaxy Note 3.
And right on cue, just two days before its scheduled unveiling at the IFA tech show in Berlin, Xperia Blog has gotten its hands on some pretty official-looking renders showing the new flagship device in all its glory.
The 'final hi-res' images came from an unnamed Asian retailer and show the slimline design, two-tone metal frame, microSD card and the 'G Lens logo' on the rear to indicate the new camera tech.
The familiar Sony power button, the volume rocker and camera trigger can also be seen on the sides of the handset.
The successor to the popular Xperia Z is likely to pack Android 4.3, a 20-megapixel camera with an improved shooting interface and a 5-inch Full HD display.
As well as the advanced stills photography tech, it has also been rumoured that the Z1 will shoot video at 4K resolution, making it the first big manufacturer to include the tech within a smartphone.
Now the official-looking shots are out there, all that's left for Sony to do is reveal the device itself. There's less than 48 hours to go.
The oft-leaked iPhone 5C model has been (supposedly) spotted yet again in various manufacturing plants in Asia. The device has been pictured with in iPod-esque packaging showing off the new color varieties with matching backgrounds.
There's also a few shots showing what's inside the packaging, which include matching oval-shaped documentation, and a SIM ejector tool.
The low resolution of several of the shots does bring into question their legitimacy, but the sheer number of leaks over the past several months almost certainly means that such a model is in the works.
The Apple iPhone 5C is expected to be announced alongside the new iPhone 5S flagship at an upcoming Apple event on September 10, where the new devices are expected to be shown alongside the release of iOS 7. Keep in mind that none of this has been confirmed by Apple, so we'll just have to wait and see.
The ZTE Blade V is a phone that will both perplex and amaze you in equal measure; it's not the most auspicious opening for a new handset, but it's one that had us scratching our heads a little.
For on the one hand, you're looking at a phone that can be had for as little as a shade over £70, and it comes with a, frankly unbelievable, quad core Qualcomm processor, clocked at 1.2GHz and backed by a solid 1GB of RAM too, which means it should fare pretty well in the speed stakes.
However, on the other hand, you're seeing a 4-inch WVGA screen, only 2GB of user-accessible memory, a bog-standard 5MP camera, and a battery that's only got 1800mAh -worth of power on board.
So the headline CPU is going to grab some attention, but what about the rest of the phone?
Well, the ZTE Blade V is easily the best phone to come from the Chinese brand, with a speed under the finger that actually represents the processor and RAM combination.
With only an Adreno 203 GPU on offer there was a suspicion that this could be all power and no trousers, but in reality there's a real step up in terms of quality from the other Blade phones in the range.
While ZTE hasn't put too much emphasis on the Android skin, the phone still packs enough animations to make it look distinctive, with the unlock screen coming with a cool glowing ring when opening up your handset.
It's the same as used on the others in the Blade range, but all animations and screen transitions are faster than before.
This could also be down to the Blade V running Android 4.1, which should help make elements like this run a little faster, but whatever the reason the latest handset from ZTE ticks all the boxes in terms of speed.
Everything from opening and closing applications to running through the web happened as quickly as we were hoping, and the phone itself never seemed to warm up or get overly tired from such exertions.
However, that's pretty much where the fun ended, with not much else really wowing with the Blade V. One of the capabilities of the uprated CPU was the improved video handling, with scrolling described as smooth and seamless through a movie.
This was mostly true (although not the fastest we've seen), but it was nullified by the fact we wouldn't recommend the Blade V as a handset to be using if you're something of a video warrior on the commute.
The WVGA is far from high quality, meaning that everything we watched was either too washed out or nowhere near as clear as on other devices.
It seems funny to be saying this just 20 months after WVGA screens being the norm for high-end smartphones, but in that time we've come to expect anything from qHD to 1080p screens in our pockets, so something at this level just doesn't cut it.
The overall design of the phone is in the same vein: with a larger chassis, you can't help but feel like you're getting a cheaper device, and the 4-inch screen actually feels a little smaller thanks to the expanse of bezel all around. The Blade V feels slightly weightier too, despite only coming in at 130g, which is testament to a lower focus on the overall design.
But once again it's worth mentioning here the fact that this is one of the cheapest phones on the market, even before you realise it runs a (fairly) up to date version of Android and comes with that impressive CPU, so it still is ahead in terms of value for money despite the design issues we've mentioned.
There is one issue we can see on the horizon: the lack of internal memory. It's an issue that's constantly rearing its head with phones at the moment since the issues with the Samsung Galaxy S4, and is clearly going to be an issue here.
While there is a microSD card slot under the battery cover, the Blade V only has 2GB of addressable memory, which means any large app is going to be a no-no, even if you throw all video, music and photography onto an external card.
With apps increasingly munching down space within phones, it won't be long before the dreaded 'internal storage insufficient' notifications start appearing, forcing you to head into the file system and work out what's going on.
It's another consideration you'll need to take on before buying this phone - sure, it's really rather cheap, but does that mitigate the fact you won't be able to do a lot of the things your friends with fancier phones will be able to do?
We assume elements like camera quality and screen clarity are areas to skimp on, but most people think apps should just work, no matter the phone.
Early verdict
When you first pick up the ZTE Blade V, you'll probably dismiss it as another handset from the Chinese brand with a range of fairly run-of-the-mill specs. Then you'll hear about the CPU, and an eyebrow might flicker.
Then comes the price, and you'll be bowled over. Metaphorically, of course... the phone doesn't have enough kinetic energy to achieve that.
But is a super cheap price enough for us to be excited about this handset? In a word: no. It's not really got much going for it beyond 'it's really rather cheap for a quad core device' and that's not enough to warrant a purchase.
Most users won't ever get the most out of having such power under the hood, and with the low-end GPU on board, combined with smaller battery, we can see the Blade V chewing through your power faster than a greyhound gunning for the fake hare that it mistakenly believes killed its mother.
We're ready to be proved wrong when we subject the Blade V to our in-depth review process, but we get the feeling this could be all headline price and no substance underneath.
Sony Xperia Z1 a.k.a Honami has appeared in numerous leaks and we even saw a press image of the upcoming cameraphone from Sony. Now, the high-res versions of the official press renders of the Xperia Z1 have been leaked ahead of its announcement at IFA, Berlin.
The high-resolution images show us the elegant design of the Sony Xperia Z1 along with the power button, volume rockers, dedicated camera button and the microSD card slot on the sides of the smartphone.
Sony's upcoming flagship smartphone is rumored to sport a 5-inch Full HD display and a 2.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2 GB of RAM, 20.7 megapixel camera and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
Sony Xperia Z1 will be officially unveiled on September 4 at the company's IFA event. Do remember to check back with us as will be bringing you all the latest news, hands-on images and videos from the trade-show.
In an effort to beat the IFA 2013 hoardes, ZTE has let its smartphone cat out of the bag ahead of the tech show, unveiling the ZTE Blade V.
It comes with a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm processor behind a 4-inch IPS screen, all for the bargain price of £72 on Virgin Media PAYG.
There's also 1GB of RAM on board, 4GB of memory (plus microSD support), a 5MP camera with flash and "access to an array of Android applications" which ZTE says is "ideal for those on the go".
Blade V of glory
Those not on the go may also enjoy the Android apps, and the phone comes with Kingsoft Office on board as standard.
The handset weighs in at 130g (that's the same weight as the Samsung Galaxy S4, fact fans).
ZTE has partnered with Virgin Media again, with Branson's network offering the handset for free on a £15 monthly contract if you don't fancy shelling out £72 in one go.
See what we made of the Blade V's predecessor: the ZTE Blade 3
Meizu has officially announced its latest flagship smartphone, dubbed MX3. Meizu's newest addition packs a punch with its powerful hardware and brings a touch of class with its Android 4.2 Jelly Bean-based Flyme 3.0 user interface, which is said to bring 324 updated interactions and 1,579 new visual features.
Meizu MX 3 comes with a 5.1- inch display with an unusual 1800 x 1080 pixels resolution and just a 2.9mm of screen bezel. The smartphone measures 139 x 71.9 x 9.1 mm and weighs about 143 grams.
Under the hood is an Exynos 5 Octa chipset that has four Cortex A-15 cores running at 1.6 GHz along with the quad Cortex A7 clocked at 1.2 GHz. MX 3 also features 2 GB of RAM, a Sony-made 8 megapixel sensor that comes with f/2.0 lens, zero-delay image stabilization and Fujitsu's ISP to enable capture speeds up to 20fps. The 2-megapixel front facing shooter completes the camera department.
Meizu MX3 is equipped with Wolfson audio chip that gives 113dB signal-to-noise ratio with a low distortion rate of 0.002%. The Dirac HD codec and a dedicated audio amplifier are also present along with the triple-mic setup for a better voice clarity.
Meizu's latest smartphone comes with a wide range of connectivity options that include NFC, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.
The juice for the elegant device is provided by a 2,400mAh battery, which according to the company lasts 9 hours on 3G browsing, 10 hours on Wi-Fi or 7 hours on 1080p video playback.
Meizu MX3 will be available in 16, 32, 64 and 128 GB of memory options and the device will be up for grabs starting from CNY2,499 (about $410) and reaching CNY3,999 (about $650) for the 128GB version. Unfortunately, there is no word on the global availability of the smartphone.
Oppo will be unveiling its N1 cameraphone on September 23 at a special event in Beijing, China. The Chinese manufacturer has been teasing its upcoming handset with countdown timers, sneak peaks of its camera and its unique rear touch panel features.
We have also seen the live image of the upcoming Oppo N1 along with the details of its rear panel touch. Now, Oppo has revealed the availability details of the smartphone, through Google+ post and as expected, the cameraphone will be available later this year.
Oppo has also confirmed that the successor of the Find 5 will be coming in late 2014. However, at the moment, the Find N7 is mostly rumored any there is very little we know about it.
This just in: from a press conference held by KT Cordporation, formerly known as Korea Telecom, we learn that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note III phablet will carry a Snapdragon 800 chip inside.
The network provider is the first to officially acknowledge the Note III's innards reconfirming that the phablet will offer the powerful quad-core chip.
There's some question whether the initial Note III batch will feature a model with the Exynos 5 Octa 5420 chipset as some sources suggest Samsung is having issues with it. There's also word of a cheaper Note III with an 8 MP snapper and LCD screen for emerging markets, although it's unclear what SoC will power that one.
As the IFA 2013 show is about to unfold in Berlin, Acer has jumped the gun announcing the first smartphone with 4K video recording support - the Liquid S2. The device comes running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and is powered by a Snapdragon 800 chipset with a quad-core 2.2 GHz processor and 2GB of RAM.
At the front you get a 6" Full HD IPS display (368 ppi) covered in Gorilla Glass 3, while inside a 3300 mAh battery provides the juice. The 16 gigs of storage is expandable by a whopping 128 GB thanks to the microSD card slot.
The main camera on board is a 13 MP unit with a 28 mm wide-angle lens and a back-side illuminated sensor. The front cam features an ultra-wide 88-degree 24 mm BSI sensor of 2 MP resolution and 1080p video recording. Speaking of which the Acer Liquid S2 can capture 4K UHD (Ultra HD) video along with high-framerate Full HD (60 fps) and slow motion video.
There's a panorama mode that produces up to 27 MP shots, quick first shot lets you capture an image straight off the unlock screen.
The Acer Liquid S2 footprint measures 166 x 86 mm and the phablet is 8.99mm thick. There's 4G LTE support, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi ac/a/b/g/n as well as the usual connectivity goodies - 3G and GPS.
The Acer Liquid S2 will launch at the end of October across Europe, but there's no word on specific countries availability or price just yet.
"4K recording" seems set to be this year's phone buzz-feature (sorry, "world's slimmest", you've had your day) and Acer is first to out its offering, the 6-inch Acer Liquid S2.
With a full HD IPS screen, the handset comes running Android 4.2 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 2.2GHz processor which gives it that 4K capability.
Of course, it needs a camera too and its rear-mounted sensor is a 13MP one replete with LED ring flash.
On board storage tops out at 16GB so we're not sure how much Ultra HD video you'll be able to hang on to - we're waiting to hear if there's a microSD slot on board too.
Red elements
While Acer's going big on the Ultra HD recording, it reckons "the real beauty of the smartphone" is "its iconic soft round curves" and the "red elements" surrounding the camera and on the earphone mesh.
Yes. Real beauty.
The 6-inch screen puts the Liquid S2 firmly into 'phablet' (sorry) territory, backed up by 2GB of RAM, 4G LTE connectivity and a 3,300mAh battery.
While we expect to get our hands on the Liquid S2 at IFA 2013, the handset will hit European shop shelves at the end of October - no word on a US release or any pricing at all as yet.
It's a big week for tech as IFA 2013 kicks off - follow all the action here
