Meizu MX2 to Land Soon in China, Hong Kong and Russia

This week, Meizu made official its MX2 Android-based smartphone, which is expected to arrive on shelves in the near future in a series of Asian and Russian markets, it seems. Although initially expected to land only in China, the phone is now said to be en-route to Russia and Hong Kong as well by mid-December. It has already received necessary approvals, it seems. Featuring internal capacities of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB, the handset is expected to feature a market price of RMB $2499 ($400 / 310 Euro), RMB $2999 ($480 / 370 Euro) and RMB $3999 ($640 / 500 Euro), respectively. The handset is compatible with China Unicom’s WCDMA network, but it is also expected to arrive on shelves with support for China Telecom’s services. The...

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Oppo Find 5 Video Promo

Chinese mobile phone maker Oppo is set to bring to shelves in its homeland market a new device running under Google’s Android operating system, called Oppo Find 5. The main selling point of the new device, which also gave it its name, is the 5-inch touchscreen display that can deliver a full HD resolution. This week, the company made available a video promo for the smartphone stressing on the fact that it can boast an impressive screen resolution at a 441ppi pixel density. The video presents a history of the mobile phone, offering a glimpse at how the smartphone technology has evolved over the years. This is not the first smartphone in the world to boast such a panel on the front, yet it is the first of them to come from Oppo, which makes it highly valuable for the...

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RIM BlackBerry OS 10.0.9 Bundle 1103 Pushed to Developers

Research In Motion has just announced the availability of a new software update for the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha Devices currently in the hands of developers. Released as BlackBerry OS version 10.0.9 Bundle 1103, the new platform release brings along a variety of changes, including a rebranded app storefront. Furthermore, the previously announced changes to the app icons in the upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system have been included in the new platform update. The changelog for the release includes: BlackBerry App World storefront has been re-branded as BlackBerry World BlackBerry World now supports payments for apps and games, and in-app payments BlackBerry Hub placeholder is now available When you turn on Development...

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Contacts App in BlackBerry 10 [Video]

BlackBerry 10, the next major mobile operating system release from Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion, is set to arrive on devices with a focus on making communication much easier than before, it seems. Thus, the company has worked on packing the new mobile platform with a brand new Contacts application, which should provide users with more features than before. According to BBin, which managed to score the video embedded above, users will be able to easily connect with their friends via over Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and BBM, all straight from the Contacts app. Finding info on a contact will work like a charm in the upcoming platform, it seems, the same as discovering new friends would, courtesy of a “Recommendations” tab available in the app. Have a look...

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BlackBerry Hub in BlackBerry 10 OS [Video]

Research In Motion’s upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system will have to offer a nice range of new features to its users, including a so-called BlackBerry Hub, which can be seen detailed in the video embedded above. The Hub represents a one-stop messaging center for users, where all BBM, email, SMS, Facebook, Twitter and more communications are viewable. From there, users will be able to easily reply to any conversation, without having to open each of the specific apps separately when the new BlackBerry 10 platform arrives in their hands in the beginning of the next year. The guys over at BBin have managed to score the demo at a RIM presentation today, offering a visual rendition of the feature, so that users could understand more on what it has to offer to them. more...

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RIM Release Android Runtime for BlackBerry 10 Beta 4

Today, Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion made available for download a new beta version of its Android Runtime for BlackBerry 10. The new flavor of the development tools brings along support for the building of apps with push capabilities, which should enable software developers with the possibility to expand the capabilities of their apps. At the same time, the new release features support for the ambient light and proximity sensors in the upcoming BlackBerry 10 devices. Those developers with applications that take advantage of such sensors can now port them from Android to BlackBerry 10 without having to change the code, RIM notes. To test whether their apps work well on the platform, developers simply...

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BlackBerry 10 to Get BBM Video

BlackBerry 10, the next platform release from Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion, is expected to arrive on shelves with a nice range of new features when compared to what the current platform releases have to offer, including some related to BBM. A certain BBM Voice feature has already been confirmed to arrive on the platform, and it seems that a BBM Video option will also land on the new operating system. According to CrackBerry, a bbm_video folder has already been sported in the latest BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha update. The folder includes a video_chat.m4a file, which is said to be the ringtone for the BBM Video, since it is the same as the ringtone for PlayBook video chat. For the time being, however, RIM...

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BlackBerry Link for BlackBerry 10 Spotted, Updated SDK Available

While gearing up for the launch of its new BlackBerry 10 operating system, Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion is also updating the various tools and applications that both end users and developers need. Among them, we can count the BlackBerry Link desktop app, which should replace the popular Desktop Manager when the new platform release will arrive. The guys over at N4BB managed to grab some screenshots with BlackBerry Link, the app set to provide users with the possibility to easily sync their pictures, video, music, and other files between a BlackBerry device and a desktop computer. Users will benefit from a new UI in this app, with features such as documents viewing and easier syncing of content. In addition...

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BlackBerry 10 L-Series Next to Galaxy Note, Lumia 820 and iPhone 5

Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion still has to officially launch its BlackBerry 10 platform and devices running under it, yet new photos with the first such handsets offer us an idea of what it might look like. A BlackBerry 10 L-Series smartphone, which is said to be the first smartphone that RIM will unveil with the new platform loaded on it, has been recently photographed next to popular devices already available on shelves. The smartphone can be seen in the photo above, available courtesy of BBin, next to a Samsung Galaxy Note, a Nokia Lumia 820 smartphone, and an Apple iPhone 5. We have already seen it next to a Lumia 820 device, but now we can see how it stacks up against other top players on the smartphone...

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Nokia City Lens 1.5 Beta Arrives to WP7 Lumia Devices

A new flavor of the Nokia City Lens application is now available for download for the owners of Windows Phone 7-powered Lumia handsets. The new release takes advantage of the newly introduced LiveSight technology to deliver a more precise and intuitive augmented reality experience to users. Nokia City Lens, the application that Nokia has developed exclusively for its users, is the first in the world to take advantage of the capability. The new Nokia City Lens 1.5 Beta app is the first step that Nokia takes towards delivering a mobile application that fully takes advantage of the power of this technology. Following the testing period, Nokia plans on bringing the app in its final flavor to even more devices running...

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Biostar Hi-Fi A85W Ready for AMD FM2 APUs

FM2 is the socket that AMD's Trinity accelerated processing units use (APUs), which means that the new mainboard from Biostar is the sort of platform that mid- to high-end PCs will use. Advanced Micro Devices has come a long way in its quest to include all possible instructions and interfaces inside a single processor. Currently, its APUs pack not just the x86 cores and GPU (graphics processing unit), but also the memory controller. That leaves the A85X chipset with the minor role of making the connections between the features above and the rest of the things on the mainboard. This is one of the main reasons why motherboard makers don't always mind adding special features to their products. Indeed, if they didn't,...

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Xen Cloud Platform 1.6 Now Available for Download

The Xen Cloud Platform, a turnkey open source virtualization solution that provides out-of-the box virtualization and cloud computing, is now at version 1.6. Xen Cloud Platform 1.6 also features the Xen Hypervisor, an API toolstack for cloud, storage and networking solutions. Highlights of Xen Cloud Platform 1.6: XCP now has Storage XenMotion technology which allows users to freely move running virtual machines, without the need for shared storage; User can now relocate a VM's Virtual Disk Image (VDI) without shutting down the VM; Support for Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) has been added; VLAN Scalability improvements have been implemented; Support for Emergency Network Reset and IPv6 Guest function has been added. Check...

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New Intel Core i3 and Core i5 CPUs Spotted

As odd as it sounds, most of the central processing units from Intel never get more than a passing mention in the press. The Core i3-2348M and i5-3230M CPUs are examples of this. One might say these two don't count, since they have yet to be formally launched. The only reason we know of them is Fujitsu's product listings for Lifebook AH532, N532, NH532 and LH532 notebooks. That is beside the point though. While Intel does have a history of causing a press uproar over its best and brightest chips, the vast majority of them only get discovered by curious tech websites that comb through product spec lists deep within Intel's website. The Core i3-2348M and i5-3230M CPUs were probably never going to get special press releases...

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Gigabyte GA-C847N and GA-C807N, Two New Mini-ITX Motherboards

Most of the big motherboard announcements were made over the past two months, so now we are left with smaller models, many of which are best suited for HTPCs and other small PCs. Gigabyte has just revealed two such motherboards, called GA-C807N and GA-C847N. Both of them ship with a central processing unit (CPU) already installed. The former features the 1.5 GHz Celeron 807 single-core processor, while the latter gets a 1.1 GHz Celeron 847 dual-core CPU. Both platforms possess two DDR3-1333 memory slots, some SATA ports (four and three, respectively, one with SATA 6.0 Gbps support), Gigabit Ethernet a PCI slot, UEFI dual BIOS, 5.1 channel audio and Ultra Durable 4 Classic.  Prices haven't been revealed, unfortunately....

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Raspberry Pi Minecraft Edition Runs at a Blazing 40 fps [Video]

Minecraft: Pi Edition was announced a few days ago, at the MineCon convention in Disneyland, Paris, and the first videos are starting to pop-up. This is not your ordinary Minecraft, it's actually the Pocket Edition ported for Raspberry Pi. It was ported a while ago for Android and it already runs on a large number of devices. Minecraft: Pi Edition comes with an extra feature. Users can program the world. The process is quite simple: set up a network connection to the running game and then send text commands to control the world. This means that users can program the game in any language that supports network connections and they can access the game from any computer connected to the Pi. Daniel and Aron from Mojang,...

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Gigabyte HD Motherboard Family Line

One would think that HDMI and DVI are fairly common sights on the mainboard market now, even together, but Gigabyte does not agree. In fact, the company feels that it is so rare to see the two together that there is enough cause to name an entire series of motherboards after them. Still, since “motherboard featuring both HDMI and DVI” is a chore to blurt out in one breath, Gigabyte chose something simpler. Thus, it was that the HD Series of motherboards came to be. Basically, Gigabyte wants to put an end to the time when HDMI+DVI support is restricted to the high-end market. Given the advanced graphics capabilities of CPUs and APUs, it makes sense for the digital interfaces to become more common. That the company...

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Rumor: Microsoft to Release Windows Blue, the First Free Windows Ever

Although Windows 8 was launched last month, Microsoft is already giving the final touches to Windows Blue, the new Windows iteration that’s apparently supposed to come with some really huge surprises. Citing sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans, The Verge reports that Windows Blue is going to be released in mid-2013 and will comprise significant UI changes, most likely supposed to address the controversial Windows 8 features. The Redmondians are reportedly planning to make Windows Blue a low-cost or even free operating system, just to make sure all users will make the move to the new OS. The Windows SDK would also be updated to the new release, while Microsoft would encourage developers to create apps for Windows Blue, with...

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Meizu MX2 Now Official with 4.4’’ Screen and Quad-Core CPU

Today, Meizu Mobile has made its new Meizu MX2 smartphone official in Beijing, after having announced last month that the phone would be launched today. The new device was announced as the successor of the handset vendor’s Meizu MX, with a nice range of enhancements packed inside, as well as with better hardware specifications. The new mobile phone was made official with a 4.4-inch touchscreen display on the front, capable of delivering a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution (HD+). It also offers a 347ppi pixel density. The smartphone features an incredibly thin bezel and is made of stainless steel. A physical button is also present on the device’s front (which actually makes it resemble the Apple iPhone a lot). The handset’s covers...

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BlackBerry 9620 at Nextel

A new BlackBerry smartphone has made an appearance online today, namely the BlackBerry 9620, which can now be seen on Nextel’s website. Featuring a 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 processor and 768MB of RAM, the new device also sports a 2.44-inch display that can deliver a 480 x 360 pixel resolution. Moreover, the new mobile phone arrives on shelves with 2GB of internal memory, complemented by a microSD memory card slot. It also sports a 5-megapixel photo snapper on the back, along with WiFi connectivity, built-in GPS receiver and PTT support. It runs under BlackBerry OS 7.1. For the time being, no specific info on when the new device will arrive on shelves has been provided, yet the wireless carrier notes on its website that...

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Fujitsu ARROWS V F-04E

Today, Fujitsu and NTT DOCOMO officially announced the upcoming availability of ARROWS V F-04E on the wireless carrier’s network starting with November 28, 2012. The new mobile phone will arrive on shelves with a 1.5GHz quad-core processor packed inside, as well as with support for the operator’s LTE network. The handset was also announced with 64GB of internal memory, as well as with a 13.1-megapixel camera on the back, and with a 2,420mAh battery inside. ARROWS V F-04E should provide users with great performance capabilities, courtesy of its NVIDIA Tegra 3 Quad-Core CPU, the wireless carrier notes. There is also a 4.7-inch HD display that users will enjoy, along with DLNA capabilities, Bluetooth4.0, WiFi, NFC and...

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Huawei Ascend W1 New Photos Emerges

Chinese mobile phone maker Huawei is expected to make its first Windows Phone 8 smartphones official in the beginning of the next year, yet we can already make an idea of what the devices might look like. The company has been rumored to plan the release of Huawei Ascend W1 and W2 next year, and the former can now be admired in a new leaked photo, available courtesy of WPXAP.com (via WMPoweruser), next to other Windows phone handsets coming from Nokia and HTC. The smartphone is expected to arrive on shelves with a 4-inch WVGA touchscreen, along with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512 MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal memory. Moreover, the new mobile phone is also said to sport a 5-megapixel photo snapper on the back, while being...

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Dual-SIM Samsung Galaxy Note II Now Official in China

Samsung China has just announced the upcoming availability of the Galaxy Note II. Nothing unusual here. However, the Chinese Galaxy Note II comes with dual-SIM capability. The smartphone supports both microSIMs and standard SIMs. It will be available for purchase beginning December 3 for 5699 yuan outright, which is about $915/€710. Aside from dual-SIM ability, the smartphone does not come with anything new in comparison with the international version. The phone will ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box. In addition, it will pack a 1.6 GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. Obviously, the main selling point of the Samsung Galaxy Note II is the stunning 5.5-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen...

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Mac Mini 2012 with Ultrafast 450 Mb/s Wi-Fi

The latest Mac minis introduced by Apple in September boast an unadvertised ultra-fast Wi-Fi capable of transferring data at 450 Mb/s – the same as the MacBook Pro and iMac. French site Macg.co ran some tests on Apple’s Late 2012 Mac Mini and found that it features enhanced Wi-Fi antennas, which translates into Wi-Fi speeds of up to 450 Mb/s. Some conditions need to be met to create this ultra-fast wireless but according to the French publication, both Apple’s Time Capsule and Airport Extreme will do the job just fine. Apple this year updated the Mac mini with third-generation dual-core Intel Core i5 and quad-core Intel Core i7 processors with integrated graphics up to 65 percent faster than its predecessor. The computer...

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No Official Jolla Sailfish OS Support for Nokia N9

Jolla’s Sailfish operating system won’t be ported to Nokia’s N9 smartphone, at least not officially, the company has announced on Twitter. The startup said that it cannot deliver official support for Nokia’s products, but that there’s nothing preventing enthusiasts from bringing the platform to the device. “We cannot support Nokia's product officially. Technically there is nothing preventing for porting to eg. N9,” the company said. Owners of the MeeGo-based smartphone who feel that the new operating system would breathe new life to N9 might actually be able to download and install a Sailfish port to it in the not too distant future. However, no specific info on the matter has emerged. “Sailfish OS can be technically...

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Nokia Transport Updated for Symbian, Windows Phone 7 and 8

The Finnish handset maker Nokia has just announced that it has updated its Transport mobile application for Symbian, Windows Phone 7 and 8. In fact, the application has received a major update for Windows Phone 8 platform, whereas Windows Phone 7 and Symbian users will be able to download and install new beta versions of Nokia Transport. Both Windows Phone 7 and 8 versions of the application have received important UI improvements, which makes Nokia Transport more intuitive and easier to use. Moreover, devs added a new segment map that is said to provide a detailed map view for each part of a route the user chooses to follow. For those users who like to plan in advance, Nokia introduced a new feature that allows them...

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Jolla Sailfish SDK Detailed, Built on Qt and Mer SDK Tools

Following the official unveiling of its new Sailfish mobile operating system, Jolla detailed the Sailfish SDK today, offering more info on what developers need to know on the building of applications for the new platform. Jolla’s Sailfish OS has been built on top of Mer project and Qt, while the modern interface it proposes to users was built with QML and QtQuick, designed to offer support for the standard QtMobility APIs. However, Jolla will continue to use the MeeGo API (via the Mer core), including Qt 4.7 [Qt47], Qt Mobility 1.0 [QtMob], and OpenGL ES 2.0 [OGLES]. The company also notes that the Sailfish SDK was built on the underlying Qt and Mer SDK tools. It is developed openly and the work is done in the Mer Project....

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Root Your Sony Xperia AX (SO-01E)

Xperia AX (SO-01E) is one of the most appealing devices that Sony has launched in Japan on NTT DoCoMo’s network with Google’s Android operating system on board. The handset became available for purchase last week, and today a rooting method is already available for it. Unfortunately for those interested in rooting their devices, it seems that the method is not a simple one, and that users without experience in the matter should stay away from it. People still interested in getting through with this will find all the necessary instructions over at Xperia-Freaks (apparently, they flashed the AU ROM from Xperia VL, rooted the device, and then flashed it back to DoCoMo firmware). The process seems rather unsafe, and users...

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Lenovo LePhone S890 Arrives in China

Lenovo’s LePhone S890 smartphone has reportedly arrived on shelves in China, with a price tag of RMB $1,999 (around $320) attached to it. The handset comes to the market with a 5-inch screen with Color Enhance technology, as well as with a dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 processor packed inside. Furthermore, the smartphone has been unveiled with 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel photo snapper on the back, and a VGA camera on the front for making video calls. Featuring support for dual-SIM and dual-standby mode, the Lenovo LePhone S890 sports a 2250mAh battery, while running under Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. Launched in China as the upgraded flavor of LePhone S880, the smartphone is available for purchase...

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Freecom Mg Portable HDD with Dual-Interface, USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt

Anyone who owns an Apple Mac system or laptop, but also wants a portable storage device that isn't a flash drive, may want to check out the Mg series of mini HDDs from Freecom. Already formatted with the HFS+ file system, they support Thunderbolt connectors and, thus, can communicate at up to 100 MB/s. Magnesium alloy holds and protects the inner platters, scribing components and motor. This isn't just something that can be used with Apple products though. Motherboard equipped with Thunderbolt connectors are compatible as well. More importantly, a USB 3.0 port is part of the HDD too. All it will take to make the Mg line compatible with normal PCs is to format it using a different file system. With a capacity...

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ECS Leaks Intel 8-Series Motherboards

We'd love to give some details on all the products that ECS probably didn't mean to spill the beans on, but we cannot. We do not have the information. What we do have, thanks to TechPowerUp, are the names of the platforms that will run Intel LGA 1150 Haswell central processing units: Z87H3-AX Extreme, Z87H3-AX Golden, and H87H3-M4. The Z87 models will be mostly identical, with the exception that the Z87H3-AX Golden has gold-colored components. As for the H87H3-M4, it could be a micro-ATX motherboard. The H87 chipset supports everything the Z87 does, except overclocking. We still have to wait for info on Intel's CPUs, and the chipset for that matter, but at least we know there are at least three motherboards ready to...

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Jolla Demoing Sailfish OS on Nokia N950, Official Handsets in 2013

Jolla’s Sailfish mobile operating system has been made official today at the Finnish Slush conference, yet it won’t arrive on shelves until next year. The company has confirmed that the first devices powered by the new Sailfish OS would be launched in 2013, and it also unveiled that it would focus on making them available in China, the country with the largest mobile user base in the world. No other details on these smartphones have been provided as of now, though Jolla did confirm that they would pack STEricsson’s NovaThor platform inside (though the platform comes with support for other chipset technologies as well). “We warmly welcome STEricsson onboard. It is great that this industry leader is partnering with us and...

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Samsung Showcase 8-Core ARM CPU in 2013

Samsung is one of the first handset vendors in the world to have launched a smartphone powered by a quad-core processor, and it seems that the company is gearing up to push mobile computing to a new level. Next year, the vendor is expected to showcase a new heterogeneous, 8-core processor based on ARM's big.LITTLE computing concept. The chip is said to sport a quad-core 1.8GHz ARM Cortex-A15 CPU aimed at delivering great performance when needed, complemented by a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 CPU that will take over when no heavy computing is needed. No specific details on the 28-nm SoC have been provided as of yet, but Samsung is expected to make it official with support for both smartphone and tablet PC use, it seems. Furthermore,...

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Dual-SIM Samsung Galaxy S III (SCH-i939D) Spotted in China

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung has already registered impressive success with its Galaxy S III smartphone, but appears set to grab even more market share with it, thus working on packing more features inside new models. The Galaxy S III i939D recently spotted in China is one such example, as the device is said to hit shelves with support for two SIM cards at the same time. Featuring model number Samsung SCH-i939D, the device will provide support for GSM and CDMA SIM cards (one of each kind), while featuring the same appearance and specs as the original Galaxy S III. Thus, those who choose to purchase the new mobile phone will be able to enjoy the same 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD touchscreen display on its front,...

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Oppo Find 5 Launch in China on December 12

Android fans in China will be happy to know Oppo Find 5, the latest masterpiece of the Chinese handset maker, will be launched on December 12. Although the Oppo Find 5 was expected to go on sale in the Mainland by the end of November, it looks like the Chinese company confirmed the phone for a December release. This puts it in the same timeline with HTC J Butterfly, though the Taiwanese company’s 5-inch smartphone will be initially launched in Japan. The smartphone is said to boast an amazing 5.0-inch capacitive touchscreen with full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution and 441ppi. And this is not the only strong point of the Oppo Find 5. Even though Oppo has yet to provide details on the Find 5 specs sheet, rumor has...

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