Meizu MX4 Coming to China in August with 2560x1536 Resolution Display

Word about Meizu planning a new flagship smartphone this year emerged over the weekend when Jack Wong took it on forums to confirm that the new MX4 would be bigger and better than its predecessor.

Although no details on the phone’s specs sheets were revealed by the company’s official, the mere statements regarding the existence of Meizu MX4 caught fans’ imagination. Today, new info on Meizu MX4’s possible release date emerged online via Phonearena. According to Chinese blog site 163.com, the MX4 should arrive in the Mainland sometime in August. Meizu MX4 is said to be priced at around $320 (€230), though Android fans should take the information with a grain of salt until the Chinese company confirms the smartphone’s suggested retail price. No details on the phone’s sheet have been unveiled in the leak, but the latest hearsay claims that Meizu MX4 will boast a stunning 5.5-inch capacitive touchscreen display that supports 2560 x 1536 pixels resolution.

The phone will be available in two versions and at least one of them will be powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 805 chipset. It will also pack 3GB of RAM, 16-megapixel rear-facing camera and 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Meizu MX4 is expected to ship with Flyme 4.0 OS, which is based on the latest version of Android. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

Meizu MX3
Image credits to Meizu

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Motorola to Launch Moto E (XT1021) Model Soon

Last week, mobile phone maker Motorola was rumored to plan the release of some new handsets in the near future, including one that would feature model number XT1021 and a thin body, and some more info on the matter is now available.

According to a recent article on xataka.com.mx, the handset is expected to arrive on shelves in Mexico as Moto E, which will debut a new phone series at the vendor. Motorola was also said to plan the release of new versions of its Moto X and Moto G devices, and it seems that it is determined to expand its portfolio as much as possible this year, though it will continue to focus on the low- and mid-range markets. The new Moto E should pack rather appealing specs for a budget-friendly handset, including a thin form factor, and the latest version of Android loaded on top, which might help it gain traction on the market pretty soon. As previously reported, the mobile phone is expected to arrive on the market with a 4.3-inch touchscreen display of unknown resolution (though it might prove to be a 720p screen), and with a 1GHz dual-core processor packed inside.

Moreover, the handset is said to pack 1GB of RAM inside, as well as 4GB of internal memory, and a microSD memory card slot for expansion purposes. It will be powered by a 1900mAh battery and should sport a 5-megapixel camera on the back, rumor has it. Moreover, the new device is said to be only 6.2mm thick, which should add up to its appeal, that’s for sure. According to the aforementioned website, Motorola will make the phone available for purchase with Google’s Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system loaded on top. The same as Moto X and Moto G before it, the upcoming Moto E is expected to lack software customizations coming from Motorola, thus being capable of providing users with almost a pure Android experience.

Rumor has it that the new smartphone is next on Motorola’s roadmap for this year, and that it will land on shelves sometime in the next few weeks. No specific info on its release date, availability and pricing has been offered as of now, but chances are that it would cost anywhere between 2,999 pesos ($230/€166) and 3,199 pesos ($245/€177), it seems. Provided that the info leaked on this device will pan out, it should not be too long before Motorola makes an official announcement on the handset’s arrival, so stay tuned.

Motorola to launch Moto E soon
Image credits to Motorola

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Aqua Computer Full Water Block for Radeon R9 295 X2 Dual-GPU Graphics Card Released

Dual-GPU graphics cards are special products with equally special demands, and while NVIDIA managed to get away with a more or less common-looking cooler, the same cannot be said about AMD. It looks like there was still room for improvement though.

Aqua Computer has formally launched a full-cover water block for the Radeon R9 295 X2 dual-Hawaii “Vesuvius” graphics card. This is actually a more surprising development than one might think, because the dual-chip graphics card already has a surprisingly good cooler. Instead of using some air-based solution, AMD instead called on Asetek to make a hybrid cooling module that combines the benefits of a heatsink and fan with those of a radiator and two water blocks, one for each GPU. It's why most of AMD's OEMs aren't likely to launch custom-cooled versions of the board: it's not just a simple case of replacing a normal, lackluster reference cooler with a mildly better, custom one. Aqua Computer had the right idea: only a full liquid cooler could replace the default one, even if it did mean loss of independence.

What do we mean by that? The Radeon R9 295 X2 has a closed-loop, all-in-one hybrid liquid cooler, meaning that it can be installed, as is, in any PC. Water blocks need you to already have a water cooling system in your desktop PC though, one with a reservoir, pumps, connection to an outside water source, etc. Fortunately for Aqua Computer, those with enough money to create a PC strong enough to hold the overkill video card should have no trouble covering the costs. Indeed, they may choose water cooling as a default commodity regardless. And now for the actual product. The Aqua Computer kryographics Vesuvius for R9 295X2 is made of high-purity electrolytic copper raw material and weighs 2.72 kg / 5.99 pounds all on its own.

In addition to the GPUs themselves, the RAM chips and the VRM (voltage regulator module), it comes into contact with the PCI Express bridge chip as well. That last one usually doesn't get direct treatment. The areas above the GPUs have a micro structure with 0.5 mm grid, and maintain an even temperature thanks to how water flows through both in parallel. Another advantage is the high gloss polished base which, helped along by thermal grease, should be able to pull and neutralize heat very quickly. As for the cover, it is made of Plexiglass and milled from a single, solid block. It also totally lacks drilled threads, instead using a stainless steel frame to stay in place.The kryographics Vesuvius for R9 295X2 water block from Aqua Computer has a price of €170 / $170, but a nickel-plated variant will come out soon, for €185 / $185.

Aqua Computer kryographics Vesuvius for R9 295X2
Image credits to Aqua Computer

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iPhone 6 with 5.5-Inch Display Could Be Delayed Until 2015

Samsung’s SDI battery division and LG Chemical are being hard-pressed to produce some of their thinnest batteries yet for the unannounced “iPhone Air” launching towards the end of this year, as some analysts have predicted.

Taiwan’s Commercial Times says Apple wants the battery for an upcoming iPhone to be less than two millimeters thick, in what is giving the aforementioned cell makers “headaches.” The unannounced phone is dubbed “iPhone Air” in the report, and it is this particular model that Apple wants to equip with a 5.5-inch “phablet” display, the paper says. Analyst Ming Chi Kuo working with KGI Securities wrote in a recent research note that Apple is indeed planning to deploy such a device, but that the Cupertino company won’t be able to deliver until the very end of 2014 because of several manufacturing issues (possibly including the battery problem). And while the 5.5-inch model will seemingly be called iPhone Air, the smaller 4.7-inch version will adopt the iPhone 6 dubbing, sources say. Apple has two more products called “Air,” one in the tablets category, the other in the notebook line.

iPhone 6 is expected to ship much earlier, indicating that manufacturers are having less trouble churning out the parts for this particular model. There’s even a chance the iPhone Air could be delayed until 2015. A rough machine translation of the key takeaway in the report reads, “By the large size of the cyclone blew smartphone, previously came on the market, Apple will launch two large iPhone, a 4.7-inch, two to emphasize slim 5.5-inch models. Currently 4.7-inch progress clearer, should be available in the second half of this year, but due to technical difficulties iPhone Air may only come out in the next year.” Apple’s first scheduled event for 2014 (in the absence of other announcements that may come soon) is the Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off on June 2 and lasts until June 6.

At the opening keynote, Tim Cook and his fellow executives are expected to spend a great deal of time discussing the latest innovations in software, perhaps with the release of early iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 snapshots (as developer previews). iPhone is no stranger to WWDC, but Apple has refrained from launching new iPhone versions at the event for the past two years. Most analysts expect the company to hold tradition and unveil its new smartphone(s) in fall, again.

iPhone Air concept
Image credits to SET Solution

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Premium Galaxy S5 Leaks as Project KQ with 2K Screen, Snapdragon 805 CPU

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics has been long rumored to plan the release of a premium version of its Galaxy S5 handset, and some new info on the matter has emerged now.

Previously, Samsung’s Galaxy S5 was said to hit shelves in two flavors, including one that would be called Galaxy S5 Prime, and which was expected to pack better hardware capabilities when compared to the standard model, something that could pan out soon. Although Samsung has denied any intention to launch a premium variant of the device, new information that emerged online over at SamMobile suggests that the new handset variant is real and that it could become official sooner rather than later. Said device is supposedly featuring the codename Project KQ, which clearly shows that it would be a Galaxy S5 variant. It should arrive on the market with a more powerful processor inside, as well as with a Quad HD screen, up from the Full HD one available on the currently available model.

Apparently, Samsung was planning the launch of S5 with a 2K screen right from the start, though it abandoned the idea and moved to the 1080p screen in the end. However, Project KQ (Galaxy S5 was known internally as Project K) should go official as the premium version of the device, the one that users have been waiting for ever since Galaxy S5 was still only a rumor. Moreover, it seems that Samsung might pack the new phone not only with the aforementioned 2K screen, but also with a more powerful processor inside. One flavor of the handset might land on shelves with an Exynos 5430 chipset, packing a 2.1GHz quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU and a 1.5GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 one, a nice improvement over the Exynos 5422 processor.

The chip should also feature a Mali GPU clocked in at 600MHz, along with HEVC hardware decoder, and a dedicated (Cortex A5) co-processor for audio encoding, decoding and audio equalization. The premium flavor of Samsung Galaxy S5 is also said to include an Intel XMM7260 Category 6 (300mbit/s) LTE modem, which would mark Intel’s debut into the LTE market for high-end devices. Moreover, Samsung is also expected to launch a version of the device with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor packed inside, which might hit shelves with model number G906S attached to it. No official confirmation on any of the above has been provided as of now, but chances are that the new very high-end Samsung smartphone is indeed nearing its official unveiling. Hopefully, it will be introduced in the next several months, so keep an eye on this space for updates.

Samsung said again to plan the launch of a premium version of Galaxy S5
Image credits to Samsung

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