HTC T6 to Arrive in Q3 as HTC One Max

Mobile phone maker HTC has been long rumored to plan the launch of a new high-end smartphone running under Google’s Android operating system.

This device is expected to be larger than the HTC One, and some more info on it is now available.  Supposedly codenamed HTC T6, the smartphone is now said to arrive on shelves during the third quarter of the year, featuring the name of HTC One Max. The smartphone is expected to sport a 5.9-inch touchscreen capable of delivering a full HD resolution, and might also pack a Snapdragon 800 processor inside, rumor has it.

According to a recent article on Ausdroid, the smartphone will hit the market with Google’s Android Key Lime Pie operating system loaded on top, rather than Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. For the time being, however, nothing has been confirmed on this.

HTC to Launch One Max phablet in Q3
Image credits to HTC

Read more »

Windows 8.1 Update Won’t Be Mandatory

Windows 8.1 Preview will start showing up in Windows Store on June 26, so users will be allowed to install it with just a few clicks.

Since we’re received quite a lot of questions regarding the way Microsoft wants to use to push the update to Windows 8 workstations, here’s a very important thing. Users will be allowed to decide whether they want to install Windows 8.1 or not, so in case you’re already satisfied with what Windows 8 has to offer, you could delay the update as long as you want.

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed for ZDNet that Windows 8 users will have the option to install Windows 8.1 or completely skip it, but the update will continue to be available in the Store, just in case they change their mind.

Windows 8.1 will be available via the Windows Store
Image credits to Microsoft

Read more »

BlackBerry Z5 Emerges in Leaked Image

BlackBerry 10, the latest mobile operating system from the Canadian handset vendor, is expected to arrive on more devices before the end of this year, and the newly leaked BlackBerry Z5 is said to be one of them.

The smartphone has emerged in a leaked photo with a full-touch display, which means that it will most probably be marketed as a cheaper flavor of the BlackBerry Z10. No specific info on the device has been provided, though berryflow, which published the photo, claims that it will indeed be launched as a mid-range smartphone.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether BlackBerry will indeed name the new mobile phone BlackBery Z5.The rumor might pan out, given that a BlackBerry Q5 has already been unveiled as the a cheaper QWERTY-enabled BB10 smartphone.

BlackBerry Z5
Image credits to berryflow

Read more »

BlackBerry’s BBM to Get Pre-Loaded on Rival Handsets

Last month, BlackBerry officially announced that its BlackBerry Messenger service will soon be available for the owners of devices running under more mobile operating systems out there, namely Android and iOS.

It seems that it is actually looking to achieve more than that. Dedicated BBM mobile clients will be released for Android and iOS later this summer, yet new reports suggest that the company might also aim at having the app pre-loaded on specific devices. "There is interest from other handset makers," BlackBerry Chief Operating Officer Kristian Tear said, according to a recent article on CNET. Unfortunately, he did not provide specific info on when the service will go live for the owners of said devices, but rumor has it that we’ll be able to see it before the end of this month. However, Tear did say that BBM has a large customer base and that it is being used as the primary means of communication by users in a wide range of markets.

Apparently, it is these markets that handset vendors would like to target with smartphones packing BBM on them right from the get-go. No details on what companies are interested in the service were delivered.  According to the aforementioned report, BlackBerry is also confident that its BlackBerry 10 platform will prove highly successful, and that the availability of BBM on more platforms won’t pose a threat to its own devices. "We don't feel like that is a risk. Obviously, if we did, we might have acted differently." Tear reportedly stated when asked whether users won’t drop BlackBerry but keep BBM accounts for use on Android and iOS. "BBM is a strong platform that provides a different way of communicating," he also said. At the moment, the BlackBerry Messenger service has an active customer base of 61 million.

BlackBerry Messenger
Image credits to RIM

Read more »

Nexus 4 Gets Fedora 19 Installer

Owners of unlocked Google Nexus 4 smartphones out there can now get a taste of a new Linux OS for their devices, as a Fedora 19 installer is now available for download for them.

The software enables them to easily install Fedora 19 for ARM on this Google phone, though it should be noted that this is not an official Fedora Linux project. As phoronix notes, the installer comes from Rob Clark, who has been working on enriching the Freedreno Gallium3D graphics driver, and who used the Qualcomm A320 graphics in Nexus 4 for that.

The Fedora 19 installer that he wrote in the process is now available for download on GitHub as freedreno/nexus4-fedora, but might not receive support moving forth. For enthusiasts, however, it might prove an interesting software to take for a spin on a Nexus 4, that’s for sure.

Google Nexus 4
Image credits to Google

Read more »

Sony Xperia Z with Stock Android to Arrive in July

Japanese mobile phone maker Sony Mobile is rumored to plan the launch of a new flavor of the Xperia Z flagship device, meant to provide users with the stock Android experience starting with the next month.

The move would allow the handset vendor to join the vanilla Android party along with Samsung and HTC, both of which have already announced smartphones that would feature the stock Android experience. For the time being, however, we should take the info with a grain of salt, although Android Geeks, which first reported this, claims that all will be officially announced in the not too distant future.

An Xperia Z “Google Edition” would certainly help the vendor boost sales, while also allowing it to keep up the pace with rival high-end smartphones such as Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One.

Sony Xperia Z
Image credits to Sony

Read more »

EVGA Classified Series Graphics Cards: GeForce GTX 770 and 780

The ACX cooler is a particularly competent, dual-fan solution that EVGA likes to use on its high-end graphics cards.

And since NVIDIA released the GTX 770 just a while ago, EVGA decided to install it on it. And to make things complete, it has revealed a GTX 780 equipped with it too. It may or may not be a warm-up for when EVGA, and NVIDIA's other partners, finally get permission to custom-design GTX Titan. The new GeForce GTX 770 and GTX 780 bear the Classified brand and have 14-phase VRMs, two PCI Express power inputs, and redundant BIOS.

GTX 780 also has a header for EVGA EVBot technology. The two devices were placed on display at EVGA's booth at Computex 2013, taking place in Taipei, Taiwan (June 4 - 8).

EVGA GeForce GTX 770 Classified

EVGA GeForce GTX 770 Classified

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Classified

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Classified

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Classified
Images credits to TechPowerUp

Read more »