Category: Mobile

Smartphone News and Reviews, Latest Cellphones, Accessories, New Launches, Specifications, Details with Image and Video from Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, Moto, HTC, Xiaomi, Oneplus, Meizu, Sony, Lava, Micromax Yu Mobile and More.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Seen in First Live Image

We’re only a few days away from the unveiling of Samsung’s next flagship smartphone at the MWC ‘unpacked’ event on February 21 and it’s only expected that leaks and rumours will come in plenty until the day. Today, we have the first live image of the Galaxy S7, which puts to rest all the renders we have come to see of the device.

The leaked image comes in from Vietnam and shows the back of the device which tells us a lot of things. Firstly, the rumours that all the S7 models will have an ‘edge’ is true. The image shows the 5.1-inch Galaxy S7 variant having a curved back. We also see that the camera on the back comes without a bump, which again confirms past rumours.

The back seems to be of glass, and indeed, that’s what we’re expecting. The device also comes with a metal frame. This may be a prototype device and the final product will look a lot more polished. On the design front it looks like Samsung has another winner on its hands.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 upon launch is expected to to feature a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display with Quad HD resolution, a new 12 MP BRITECELL camera with f/1.7 aperture, and a 5 MP secondary cam. Two SoC configurations are expected. One being a Exynos-based version and the other a Qualcomm-powered model. The battery is expected to be upwards of 3500mAh.

February 9, 2016
Samsung’s New Patent is for a Stylus that Folds and Works as a Stand

Samsung found itself at the centre of controversy last year owing to the whole ‘Pengate’ scandal. Apparently, users of the Galaxy Note 5 did not prove to be as smart with the stylus as their smartphone, or so Samsung claims. The S Pen on the Note 5, when inserted the wrong way, would not only get stuck inside the Note, but would also damage the sensing mechanism of the display. Basically rendering your phone into a regular non-Note Samsung device.

However, now, reports of a new patent suggests Samsung may have found a solution to this problem either way.

The image shows that the S-pen can be fitted at a 90 degree angle and be used as a stand if the device is needed to be kept stable for watching videos. It can also be folded and put back in its position neatly once done serving as a stand.

Whether this tech would be up for usage in the next Samsung device, or in a device which comes later is unclear at this point. Either way, it seems like an interesting development that has got us curious.

February 8, 2016
Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro Specifications Revealed

New leaks have surfaced on the internet regarding the Galaxy A9 Pro which not only provide further proof of its existence but also takes the lid off certain important specifications of the phone.

Latest GFXBench entry of the phone has revealed the phone to come with a 5.5-inch display. This is in conflict with earlier reports that the phone will come with a 6-inch display. This news will come as a surprise as the Galaxy A9 (2016) is already available to Chinese markets coming in at a size of 6-inches. Even the A7(2016) which has recently made its way to Indian markets comes in at 5.5 inches so this news of the phone being equipped with a display of the same size does not sound believable.

Coming to the other specs, the benchmark pegs the phone to come in with a Snapdragon 652 CPU running at 1.8GHz inside a Qualcomm chip. The SoC will be coupled with 4GB RAM for smooth performance. Camera at the back is a 15-megapixel shooter, while the front will be a 7- megapixel shooter. Battery is expected to be a massive 3500 mAh.

There is nothing concrete on the handset as of now, but the way these leaks are coming thick and fast expect the phone to be unveiled sometime in the month or so.

February 8, 2016
Microsoft Lumia 650 Dual-SIM Variant Passes FCC

A month ago, the single SIM variant of the Microsoft Lumia 650 had passed the FCC hurdle. The leaked live image of the device also confirmed a metal frame for a more premium finish. Today, the second, dual-SIM variant of the device with the model number RM-1154 was FCC certified and has been approved for sale.

The 5-inch 720p display device is likely to come bearing the Snapdragon 210 chipset clocking at 1.1GHz. A 2,000mAh battery pack in the 650 is small, especially when compared to the Lumia 640 (2,500mAh) and the Lumia 550 (2,100mAh).

It is also rumoured that there will be a larger Lumia 650 model expected with XL attached to it. The Lumia 650 XL is said to sport a 5.4-inch screen while most of the specs under the hood will remain the same as the Lumia 650.

From what the specs tell us, and this is yet unconfirmed, the Lumia 650 lacks both juice and power, but does well with the exterior design, and a pricing of under Rs. 10,000 (similar to the Lumia 550) will be needed for this device to tempt the masses.

February 8, 2016
Samsung Galaxy S7 Latest Benchmark Test Show Impressive Results

As MWC 2016 nears, and all sorts of rumours and leaks regarding the Galaxy S7 make way across the Internet, it’s really difficult to not stand up, and be impressed by what could potentially be the best Galaxy lineup of phones in the past few years.

Earlier today we reported that the Galaxy S7 on the back of certain improvements to its internals and the UI will come with a promise of great battery life which if reports are to be believed could even take you through two days on a single charge.

And now, to add to that, new reports suggest that the S7’s performance could be far better than what we had earlier expected. GeekBench scores of what is a unit bound for US with Snapdragon 820 SoC on board has clocked some pretty solid numbers on benchmark tests.

The benchmark results from today are much higher than initial benchmarks of the phone suggesting that the manufacturer has carried out some serious optimization work on the handset. Having said that, single core performance still sees Qualcomm’s 820 lag behind the A9 SoC found on the new iPhones.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 upon launch is expected to to feature a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display with Quad HD resolution, a new 12 MP BRITCELL camera with f/1.7 aperture, and a 5 MP secondary cam. Two SoC configurations are expected. One being a Exynos-based version and the other a Qualcomm-powered model. The battery is expected to be upwards of 3500mAh.

February 6, 2016
iPhone 5se to Come in a ‘Hot Pink’ Colour Variant

After witnessing decline in sales of iPhones, Apple looks in no mood to let things get worse in the coming quarters and hence is planning to launch a smaller screen variant of the iPhone for emerging markets where buyers can’t pay as much as their counterparts in western economies. A couple of weeks ago, rumours about a 4-inch iPhone began doing the rounds, and so happened iPhone 5se.

There have been numerous leaks about the design and body of the new iPhone and the latest addition to the lot is a new colour variant. iPhone 5se is expected to come in a ‘hot-pink’ colour variant. This colour has been a topic of discussion since the iPhone 6 ever came out. The rose-gold variant of the 6s can be seen as a culmination of these rumours from the past. But looks like Apple is going to get more interesting with the colour choices it will offer this year.

Report of this new colour variant comes from a Japanese blog Mac Otakara. Interestingly enough, this report doesn’t mention the gold variant. If we are to go by this source, the iPhone 5se would be available in Pink, Space Grey and Silver.

The iPhone 5se is expected to be powered by the A9 chipset, and come equipped with an 8 MP or 12 MP rear-facing camera and Live Photos. The handset will miss out on the 3D Touch feature. The display would be the same as on the last 4- inch iPhone, the 5c.

The 5se will be offered in two storage options, 16 GB, and 64 GB. Pricing is expected to be around $450 (approximately Rs 30,000). It is expected to be unveiled at the official Apple event on the 15th of March, along with iPad 3.

February 6, 2016
Samsung Galaxy S7 to Last Two Days on Single Charge

Samsung S7 launch is right around the corner, and it seems that the rumour mill has decided that its about time it goes into overdrive mode.The last couple of days have seen a number of leaks and rumours about the phone surface, but today’s probably the most interesting we have come across for a while.

Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin has made an interesting revelation about battery life of the S7. He says that the phone might last up to two days of continuous use on a single charge.

Murtazin, who previously claimed in an extensive pre-release review of the handsets that the Galaxy S7’s battery lasts for 17 hours while playing video with the screen at 100% brightness, today posted new screenshots from a dual-SIM version of the Galaxy S7. Murtazin has claimed today that the phone can last upto 2 days with a single charge with the battery draining 4G LTE on, and the phone’s brightness set at 75%.

????? ????????? Samsung ???????? ????? ????? ? ?????? (??????? 75%), lte ?????? (3gb) ? ??? ????? pic.twitter.com/dZBfKhqNdn

— Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) February 3, 2016

The new Galaxy S7 phones are said to come in packing bigger battery packs of over 3500 mAh. Along with this, the phone is expected to also come with a better-optimized OS for improving battery life and the switch to Qualcomm 820 with better thermal, and power management is also expected to do well for the Galaxy S7 when it comes to providing good battery life.

February 6, 2016
HTC One M10 Leaked Image Shows Front Design

HTC is ready to out its newest flaship device. However, this won’t happen at the MWC this month where Samsung and LG and ready to unveil their own flagships. HTC is planning to hold a standalone event for the One M10 in March. Today, we have a new leaked image courtesy poplular leakster @evleaks that shows off the front look of the One M10.

As @evleaks had posted a few days earlier, the One M10 indeed looks a lot more like the One A9 and a lot less like the One M9, according to the image. From what we can tell, the most obvious feature missing here is the second front-facing speaker under the display, which means the One M10 will not have BoomSound speakers.

Besides this, the One M10 also sports a rounded home button much like the One A9, and it may also house a fingerprint scanner and a rigged power button on the right side to distinguish it from the volume buttons.You also notice that the bar under the display which had HTC’s logo is nowhere to be found here. This is a welcome sight for HTC fans who were not all too fond of the black bar that simply took up unwanted space on the device.

The rumoured specs of the One M10 suggest a 5.1-inch QHD AMOLED touchscreen, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chipset powering the device with 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and a microSD card slot. On the camera front lies a 12 MP UltraPixel rear camera with laser autofocus and optical image stabilization. The device will likely run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with HTC Sense 8 atop. We’ll know more as we approach HTC’s event in March.

February 6, 2016
iPhone 7 To be The End of Physical Home Button on Apple Phones

Apple for what it’s worth is exploring ways of getting rid of the bulky home button on its future iPhones. Apple’s 3D Touch technology could be at the heart of this change if the Cupertino-based company does end up going ahead with the idea.

A new patent out of Cupertino shows how Apple might combine Touch ID fingerprint recognition and haptic feedback into a single module. The patent which was finally approved this week after 3 long years of talks shows what looks like an idea for a “Force-sensitive fingerprint sensing input.”

This will essentially mean the iPhone’s home button will not remain a physical button if and when Apple decides to implement this tech on their future handsets. Instead, it could simply merge into the rest of the flat touch sensitive surface.

Apart from the fact that it will herald an all new change in the way Apple uses home buttons on its phones, the idea of a button-less display without any capacitative buttons on it sounds pretty cool.

And if that’s not good enough for you, then try this for kicks. Apple details more features in the patent that could be possible with this new technology. The flat button space may recognize various gestures and even “near touches.” So yes, you basically interact with the button without even touching it. Don’t know about you, but we are already excited.

February 5, 2016
Adreno 530 GPU to be Good News for Gaming on Android

As MWC 2016 nears, news of new smartphones using Qualcomm’s latest 820 SoC is going to start coming in thick and fast. The snapdragon 820 SoC is slated to come with Adreno 530 GPU which is said to give almost 40-50% more performance than last year’s Adreno GPU, and as claimed by Qualcomm is going to be more energy efficient too.

Well, for starters Snapdragon 820 is a chip built from scratch. The CPU cores, the GPU, the DSP, the modem, the image processors. everything has been upgraded after the debacle that the Samsung 810 was. On this new architecture, Qualcomm claims to have upgraded things across the board.

The Adreno 530 will be offering up to 2.5 times an increase in video performance. It will also be coming with full support of OpenCL 2.0, Renderscript, Vulkan, OpenGL ES 3.1 + AEP. Shared Virtual Memory, which comes with OpenCL will now allow data sharing between an Open CL’s host and the device’s GPU.

Last year’s GPU was a nightmare for Android gamers who faced grave heating issues owing to the GPU of the chipset while all the time having to deal with dismal graphics performance. Qualcomm has revealed that a lot of work has gone into the GPU on the 820 SoC to ensure that the 530 can achieve 40-50% performance boost at acceptable energy levels.

Seeing is believing, and as such, early GFXBench tests have also revealed that the Adreno 530 might just really be the beast Qualcomm claims it to be. The 6-Core GPU, PowerVR GT7600 found on the iPhone 6s Plus comes close to the might of the Adreno 530 but loses out to it in the end.

Surprisingly, the only GPU that did beat the 530, and that too by a small margin, was the Nvidia Tegra X1 chipset. Worth a mention is the fact that the Tegra X1 because of its form factor is found on large tablets. Such is the might of the Adreno 530 that other GPUs like the Mali-T760MP8 and the Mali-T880 MP4 couldn’t even come anywhere close to it in the benchmark tests.

This will come as great news especially for those of us who are looking to buy the Galaxy S7 once it arrives. Samsung’s flagship offering from last year, the S6, and S6 Edge, though being heavy on specs did lose out to the iPhone lineup when it came to raw graphics processing power.

The Mali T760MP8 on the Exynos and the Adreno 430 on other Android handsets sporting the Snapdragon 810 were significantly under-powered for graphics tasks. The resurgence of Snapdragon with the 820 could close the huge divide that had been created over the last year.

For gamers and power users who prefer the Android platform this could indeed turn out to be a good year.

February 5, 2016
HTC Desire 626 Dual-SIM with 4G LTE Support Launches in India

HTC’s newest addition to the smartphone industry Desire 626 launches in India today. The phone has a 5-inch display and resolution of 720 x 1280. Internal storage of 16 GB expandable up to 32 GB with the microSD card, and 2 GB of RAM are some of its other specifications.

Desire 626 is powered by 7 GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6752 processor, while its Android OS is coupled with HTC Sense. Thought HTC hasn’t specified it yet, we can expect the device to run on Lollipop 5.1.1. The phone has a main camera of 13 MP a BSI sensor, f/2.2 aperture, and a front camera of 5 MP, again with BSI sensor. Further, Desire 626 packs a battery of 2,000 mAh.

The handset comes in two colour variants – Blue Lagoon and White Birch and will be available with major retailers for Rs. 14,999 in the coming weeks. Watch this space on all the latest updates on pricing and availability.

February 5, 2016
Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro Makes its Way to India for Testing

Last week, reports coming out of Samsung’s manufacturing and assembly units in China brought to us news of a new beast of a phone arriving in the coming months. The reports talked of Samsung working on a new extra-large smartphone which, if sources are to be believed,will be called the Galaxy A9 Pro.

And now it looks like this elder sibling of the China bound A9 looks to be more real than it was first thought to be. Latest reports suggest the Galaxy A9 Pro was imported to India for testing. The A9 Pro, as it had been reported earlier, is listed with a 6-inch display, the same as the regular Galaxy A9 that was launched late last year for Chinese markets.

The A9 Pro is expected to be powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 652 processor. The phone will reportedly also include 4GB RAM and 64GB inbuilt storage. The hardware will interact with the user through Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) out of the box. A battery pack of 4000mAh will power the Pro.

The pricing for the device as listed on import export tracking website Zauba is $360 (about Rs.24,000) , but owing to Zauba’s track record so far, this pricing source should not be considered too reliable.

February 5, 2016
Xiaomi Mi 5 to Come with 5.7-inch Display and Glass Back

The Chinese tech giant, Xiaomi is all set to unveil its next handset to global audiences on the 24th of this month, and as we near the launch date leaks and rumours regarding the phone are heating up. Details of the SoC on board have already been revealed by the company, but Xiaomi has decided to keep a tight lid on everything else about the handset.

Latest leaked pictures of the phone reveal it to come with a glass back, something that had been widely reported for some time now, but what came as a surprise to us was that the previous leaks failed to reveal that this glass back would have a beautiful pattern running all over it.

A new GFXbench listing though has revealed something not as welcome. According to the report, the Xiaomi Mi 5 will have a 5.7-inch, 1080p display and will be powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 820 SoC. This contradicts the 5.5″ and 5.2″ size reports, as well as QHD resolution rumours that have been making rounds for the past couple of days.

The listing pegs the Mi 5 to come with 3GB RAM and 64GB for storage. No other variants are listed. Apart from this, the Xiaomi Mi5 will have a 16MP main shooter with f/2.2 aperture and an 8MP camera on the front. Other expected features include Bluetooth 4.0, GPS with GLONASS, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, BDS, OTG and NFC.

February 5, 2016
VAIO Unveils Windows Powered Phone with 5.5-inch Display

The Japanese manufacturer of personal computers launched its first smartphone, the VAIO Phone (VA-10J) running on Android last year. This year VAIO has added yet another name to the smartphone industry. Called VAIO Phone Biz, for reasons unknown, the handset marks a switch from Android to Windows in VAIO smartphones. The move is a little surprising after the lack of popularity of Windows as an OS among smartphone users.

However, the device will support Continuum, a Windows feature that allows the phone to be used as a computer once it has been plugged into a television set or a monitor.

In terms of specifications, the Phone Biz has a 5.5-inch FHD display with a resolution of 1920X1810. It is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 octa-core SoC clocked at 1.2GHz, along with 3GB of RAM. Internal storage of 16 GB expandable up to 64 GB makes for the memory specifications of the smartphone. Phone Biz has a 13 MP main camera, 5 MP front camera, 4G LTE support and a 2,800 mAh battery.

The phone comes in a Silver coloured variant and will be priced close to $430 (approximately Rs. 29,000) when it enters the Japanese market in April.

After providing a consistent and reliable range of laptops, VAIO seems to be turning its attention to another aspect of the tech-world. While VAIO laptops have pretty much performed well, let’s see if the computer manufacturer manages to achieve the same results with its smartphones as well. Perhaps only time will tell. There is no word on when Phone Biz will arrive in markets outside Japan. Watch this space for all the latest developments.

February 4, 2016

Samsung Galaxy A5(2016): Hands On

Samsung today unveiled the refreshed models of the budget, Galaxy A5 and A7 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Galaxy A5 2016 model is priced at Rs 29,400 in India, and will be available through Samsung’s e-retail partner, Snapdeal, and other offline retailers.

The refreshed A5 features the glass and metal design found on the Samsung Galaxy S6. The A5 (2016) model also comes equipped with a fingerprint scanner. The phone will be available in three color variants gold, black and white.The A5 in terms of design, just like the A7 (click here for A7’s hands on), does look and feel extremely premium.

The Galaxy A5 (2016) comes packing a 5.2 inch Super AMOLED display with full HD resolution. It is powered by an Octa-Core processor clocked at 1.6GHz paired with 2 GB of LPDDR3 RAM. The memory on board is 16 GB which is expandable to 128 GB using a MicroSD card. 4G and Dual – SIM connectivity.

The phone has a 2900 mAh battery. This is a significant bump up from the last generation A5 which came packing only a 2300 mAh pack. To add to this, the A5(2016) also features Fast Charging which is sure to bring smiles on a lot of faces reading this hands on.

The A5 (2016) offers a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5 megapixel front camera. Both the front and rear cameras of the phone come with a f1.9 aperture. The rear camera on the back of the refreshed Galaxy A5 also has an Optical Image Stabilisation feature.

The phone overall is nice. The refreshed A5(2016) does not come with great under the hood specifications. For the price it’s being sold at the return feels inadequate. Full HD display and 2 GB RAM without the capability of capturing 4k Video that even the Rs 10,999 Le 1s comes equipped with only shows the disparity between options in the market and what Samsung is offering here.

Another thing worth mentioning is that Samsung’s Galaxy A5(2016) is still stuck on 5.1.1 and does not come with Android Marshmallow out of the box. But for all its shortcomings what does work in the handset’s favour is the fact that it feels extremely premium when it comes to looks which might help buyers gloss over the hefty price tag that Samsung plans to sell this handset at.

Specification	Galaxy A5(2016)
Display	5.2″ FHD Super AMOLED
Processor	1.6GHz Exynos Octa-Core Processor
RAM	2GB
Front Camera	5.0MP(f1.9)
Rear Camera	13MP (f1.9) AF with LED Flash
Storage	16GB
Expandability	128GB
Battery	2,900 mAh, Fast charging
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth® v 4.1, ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC (UICC, eSE)
Operating System	Android 5.1 (Lollipop)
Price	Rs. 29,400

February 4, 2016