Neo N003 Phone-Tablet with 5.3-Inch HD Display and 13MP Camera Costs Only $160/€120

One of cheapest Android smartphones to feature a higher than 5-inch display, the Neo N003 will soon be available for purchase for only 1,000 yuan outright, which is about $160 or €120.

Aside from the fact that it boasts an impressive 5.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display that supports HD (720p) resolution, the N003 is powered by a quad-core Mediatek MT6589 processor, probably clocked at 1.2 GHz. On the back, Neo N003 features an enhanced 13-megapixel photo snapper with autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording. The phone also packs a secondary front-facing camera for video calls.

Last but not least, the phablet drains energy from a high-capacity 3,000 mAh Li-Ion battery, which has yet to be rated by the manufacturer. According to GizChina, the smartphone is expected to be officially announced in March and will go on sale in April or May. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

Neo N003
Image credits to GizChina

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ZTE V987 Gaining High Scores in AnTuTu Benchmark

ZTE V987 is one of the latest devices that Chinese mobile phone maker ZTE has made available for purchase in its homeland country, with an outer design similar to that of Grand S, and with quite appealing performance capabilities, it seems.

The 5-inch Android-based mobile phone was spotted in the AnTuTu benchmark, where it managed to score 13,026 points, mydrivers notes in a recent article, an appealing result for this affordable handset. The handset features a 1.2GHz MediaTek MT6589 quad-core processor, paired with 1GB of RAM, while running under Google’s Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system.

The smartphone also packs 4GB of internal memory, along with an 8-megapixel photo snapper on the back, front camera for video calling, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD memory card slot, a 2500 mAh battery, and dual-SIM with dual-standby capabilities.

ZTE V987 in AnTuTu
Image credits to mydrivers via GSMInsider

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Huawei Ascend P2 (P2-6011) Emerges in AnTuTu

Huawei’s upcoming Ascend P2 smartphone has just made an appearance in the AnTuTu benchmark, supposedly en route to shelves in Japan at EMOBILE.

Featuring model number P2-6011, the smartphone emerged in AnTuTu with a score of 16,862 points, while featuring a 1.5GHz processor inside. According to a recent post on Ameblo, the handset might sport a HiSilicon Technologies K2V2 chipset inside, based on the processor frequency and the aforementioned score.

The Ascend P2 was spotted with Google’s Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean operating system loaded on top. What remains to be seen is whether the international flavor of the smartphone will sport similar specifications. Some of the latest reports on the matter suggested that it might actually sport an 8-core processor inside when made official at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month.

Huawei Ascend P2 in AnTuTu
Image credits to Ameblo.jp

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Oppo Find 5 (X909) Receives FCC Approvals

Following its official landing on shelves in China, Oppo’s Find 5 smartphone appears ready to become available for purchase in other markets around the world as well.

The handset has been spotted at the FCC with model number X909 attached to it, supposedly its international flavor. The handset has emerged at the Federal Communications Commission with support for GSM and W-CDMA networks, as well as with Wi-Fi connectivity capabilities. Should it ever arrive on shelves in the United States, Oppo Find 5 will also pack Bluetooth and NFC connectivity capabilities, just as the Chinese version does.

For the time being, however, no official info on when the smartphone might be launched in the United States has been provided, though such details might be unveiled in the not too distant future, so stay tuned to learn the news.

Oppo Find 5
Image credits to FCC

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Huawei Invitation to MWC Event, 8-Core Ascend P2 Expected

Chinese mobile phone maker Huawei is gearing up for the launch of a new smartphone at the upcoming 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and it has already started sending out invitations to a press event set on February 24.

No specific info on what will be unveiled there has emerged so far, but rumor has it that the company might make official its first 8-core smartphone, the Ascend P2. Provided that this pans out, Huawei would become one of the first smartphone makers in the world to launch a device featuring double the cores of today’s high-end handsets.

The company has already managed to impress with its 6.1-inch Ascend Mate and 5-inch full HD Ascend D2 that became official at CES 2013 in January, and could be set to do so once again at this month’s event.

Huawei sends invites to a press event at MWC
Image credits to GSM Arena

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HTC to Announce New Device, Could Be the Rumored M7

Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC Corporation is supposedly gearing up for the launch of a new high-end Android-based smartphone before the end of this month, one that might arrive on shelves under the name of M7, and which appears to have been teased again.

The company has shown the image above in Germany, suggesting that a new superphone was heading to the market, a recent post on bestboyz.de states. As SlashGear notes, the company might be referring to the aforementioned HTC M7, which is rumored to arrive on shelves with a 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset packed inside, complemented by 2GB of RAM.

Featuring a 1080p display, the smartphone is also expected to land on shelves with a new camera sensor, thus being capable of providing users with a brand new experience while on the go.

HTC teases new launch soon
Image credits to bestboyz.de

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How Evasi0n Works – Evad3rs Member Planetbeing Explain

David Wang / Planetbeing, a member of the evad3rs team who recently rolled out evasi0n, agreed to be interviewed this week to share some intriguing details about their work, and how they managed to circumvent Apple’s security measures.

Forbes says evasi0n is the most elaborate jailbreak ever released for iOS devices. The business mag is no expert in hacks, but they’ve managed to get ahold of David Wang (@planetbeing), who shared with them the entire method he and his fellow hackers used to jailbreak the latest software from Apple. Wang says the jailbreak tool “alters the socket that allows programs to communicate with a program called Launch Daemon, abbreviated launchd, a master process that loads first whenever an iOS device boots up and can launch applications that require ‘root’ privileges, a step beyond the control of the OS than users are granted by default.” He crunches down these definitions to a simpler explanation, saying, “That means that whenever an iPhone or iPad’s mobile backup runs, it automatically grants all programs access to the time zone file and, thanks to the symbolic link trick, access to launchd.”

Wang carefully describes every important detail of the jailbreak process, such as coming up with the first exploit in the iOS backup system to evading (pun intended) kernel code signing. Forbes cites Wang as saying, “Once it’s beaten ASLR, the jailbreak uses one final bug in iOS’s USB interface that passes an address in the kernel’s memory to a program and ‘naively expects the user to pass it back unmolested’.”  “That allows evasi0n to write to any part of the kernel it wants. The first place it writes is to the part of the kernel that restricts changes to its code–the hacker equivalent of wishing for more wishes. ‘Once you get into the kernel, no security matters any more,” says Wang. ‘Then we win.’” Check out Forbes for the full scoop.

David Wang (@planetbeing)
Image credits to gdeluxe.com

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Windows Blue UI Concept Envisioned

Microsoft is yet to publicly confirm work on Windows Blue, but according to sources familiar with the matter, the next contraption is very likely to be released as soon as this summer.

While no information is available, DeviantArt user Daniel Skrzypoń has created one of the first Windows Blue concepts based on the user interface currently available in Windows 8. Of course, Windows Blue has the potential to bring major UI changes, especially because users are often criticizing essential Windows 8 features, such as the Start Screen and the lack of a Start button.

In addition, Windows Blue could become the first OS in Microsoft’s history to be offered with a freeware license or, at least, for a very low price, as the Redmond-based technology giant is looking into ways to move users from old platforms such as Windows XP.

This is what the upcoming Windows Blue could look like
Image credits to Daniel Skrzypoń

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