Oppo R1 New Hands-on Photos Emerges

Soon, Chinese mobile phone maker Oppo should make official a new handset in its R-Series of devices, one that has leaked in a new series of hands-on photos.

These are the clearest images with the smartphone available as of now, and, as GSMInsider notes, they offer a better look at what will be coming to the market in the not too distant future. The mobile phone reportedly packs model number R829T and sports a glass design similar to the one that Sony packed its Xperia Z1 smartphone with.

Oppo R1 is said to feature a 5-inch 720p screen, while being powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582 processor, paired with 1GB of RAM. The handset will also feature 16GB of internal memory, while packing an 8-megapixel camera on the back, and a 5MP camera on the front. The smartphone will run under Google’s Android operating system, though specific info on the actual version has yet to be unveiled.

Oppo R1
Images credits to Weibo via GSMInsider

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Official CyanogenMod Cases for Nexus 5 Launched

Owners of Nexus 5 devices who are also CyanogenMod fans can now grab official CM cases for their smartphones.

The new accessories come from Cruzerlite and the CM team and are presented as the Official CyanogenMod cases for the latest Google phone out there. There are four different color options available for them, namely Black, Clear, Smoke, and Teal, so that users can personalize their experience with the Nexus 5 even more than before.

“Available in your choice of four colors, this design comes from community member Asher Simonds – who also made the Nexus Experience pattern wallpapers seen in CyanogenMod,” the CM team announced in a recent post on Google+. Those who order these cases now should receive them by the end of the week, the aforementioned post also announced. Buy links for each of the aforementioned color options are available in said post as well.

Official CyanogenMod cases for Nexus 5
CyanogenMod on Google+

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Sony to Launch D650X (D6503) and D53XX (D5322 /D5303) Handsets in 2014

Next year, Sony Mobile is expected to bring to the market some appealing new devices running under Google’s Android operating system, and info on two models has emerged over on the Indonesian Postel website.

Apparently, there will be a new flagship smartphone from the company, one that will sport model number D650X (D6503), complemented by a mid-range device, which should feature model number D53XX (D5322 and D5303). As XperiaBlog notes, the D650X should be in line with the Xperia ZL in terms of specs and features, while the D530X would be launched in the same range as the Xperia SP.

What remains to be seen is when exactly these new devices will arrive on the market, and whether Sony will launch the aforementioned flagship in two flavors, as it did this year with the Xperia Z (C660X) and Xperia ZL (C650X).

Sony models numbers for 2014 emerge online
Image credits to Postel Indonesia

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Jolla’s Sailfish OS Smartphone Now Available Across Europe

Today, Finnish startup Jolla announced the availability of its Sailfish OS-based phone in more countries around the world, as the device went available through its online store for customers in Europe, starting with Switzerland and Norway.

The company has a new batch of Jolla smartphones up for grabs, claiming that those who order it now will receive their units in two to four weeks. The handset features a price tag of €399 ($546), contract-free, with VAT included, and runs under a beta version of the Sailfish OS. The company appears very happy with sales of the device so far, especially since it has had it available for pre-order twice and sold out all units both times. “Sales of Jolla smartphones are off to a great start and it is time to move on to the next phase by offering a new batch of Jolla smartphones to new customers across Europe,” says Tomi Pienimäki, CEO of Jolla.

Jolla has also confirmed that users who pre-ordered the handset before its official release will be receiving their units before Christmas. Newly placed orders will start shipping only in early January 2014. “After solving some technical logistics issues all the shipments to pre-order customers in the EU will be shipped by Christmas. We want to thank all of our valued customers for their great support and patience to make this happen,” Pienimäki also said. In addition to announcing the expanded availability of the smartphone, Jolla unveiled plans to allow users to get involved in the development process. Thus, the company has launched a new portal at together.jolla.com, so that customers could discuss and vote features that should be added to the company’s platform. There, they can also report issues and submit ideas.

“We launched Jolla with Sailfish OS Beta to put the product in the hands of real customers as soon as possible. We have received a lot of valuable feedback, for example, regarding power management and most wanted features, and we are reacting quickly,” Pienimäki also said. “We have already released two updates for the OS and are expecting to rapidly improve the capabilities with frequent over the air updates.” Those who would like to purchase the Jolla phone should head over to shop.jolla.com for that. Additional details on the smartphone and the mobile operating system are available there as well.

Jolla's phone now available in more markets
Image credits to Jolla

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Tizen UI Screenshots Leaked

We reported earlier today that Samsung and Intel confirmed that they would bring the first Tizen OS devices at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014 in February, and now it looks like the first screenshots showing the new platform’s UI have just leaked.

SamMobile reports that the new screenshots have been taken from the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service database. Although Tizen UI is still subject to change, from what we can tell from the screenshots below, the new UI is clearly different from previous versions.

Obviously, Tizen UI resembles Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface, but the former looks a bit much cleaner and nicer. If Samsung indeed showcases the first smartphones powered by Tizen next February, they might go on sale a few months later, most likely after Samsung Galaxy S5 is out. Stay tuned for more on this one.

Tizen UI (click for larger images)
Images credits to Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service

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NVIDIA GeForce 800M Maxwell Mobile GPUs Set for February 2014 Release

NVIDIA hasn't provided an update in regard to its GPU roadmap recently, but that doesn't mean that others can't do it. Case in point, laptop manufacturer CLEVO provided one.

As you can see in the image above, the first GeForce 800M graphics processing units will debut in February 2014. They are (probably) Maxwell GPUs called GeForce GTX 880M (N15E-GX-A2), GeForce GTX 870M (N15P-GT) and GeForce GTX 860M (N15P-GX). In that order, they will have 8 GB, 6 GB and 4 GB memory, or maybe 4GB, 3GB and 2GB, with the others being SLI configurations.

That said, besides these chips, there will be a GeForce GT 840M (N15S-GT1) and a GeForce GTX 850M (N15P-GT). The latter will probably really be called GT 850M (no X), but we can't be sure. These two will probably be rebranded Kepler units, not Maxwell.

CLEVO Maxwell Roadmap (click for larger image)
Images credits to Clevo via ComputerBase

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