Category: Handsets (General)

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 820, 35% faster.

According to a leaked image posted on social networking site Weibo, the next new processor from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 820 (which is expected to be launched later this month) is 35% faster than the current leader the Snapdragon 810. Right here’s the geeky bit. The 820’s newer Hydra …

Over a million waiting for a Oneplus Two invite

The Oneplus One launched last year amid a blaze of PR blunders.  Accusations of sexism, strange competitions and phone smashing were rife as Oneplus created a storm of publicity. So far however their “flagship killer” is creating a little bit of a fuss. Once again Oneplus are using …

Honor 7 – 200,000 units sold in just 2 minutes

Chinese phone manufacturer Huawei has managed to sell out of Honor 7 handsets incredibly quickly. They shifted over 200,000 of their new flagship handset – the Honor 7 – in just two minutes during a recent promotional sale. The Honor brand has been gaining ground recently and this …

Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus revealed.

Newly leaked photos showing the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge Plus and the Galaxy Note 5 have emerged on the internwebs. The photos show the S6 edge Plus as having a model number of SM-G928A, and the device is running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. There’s also snaps of the Note 5 …

New design language for the 2015 Moto X

According to the invites sent out for the upcoming event on 28th July, Motorola promises it will change your “relationship status” with your phone. It’s believed that Lenovo-owned Motorola will reveal a new Moto G and Moto X for 2015. Coming from unconfirmed sources the 2015 Moto X …

BQ Aquarius E5 – Unboxing

I’m going to start with a brief bit of background. Those of you who visit the site regularly will be aware that I have had the chance to test the BQ Aquarius E4.5 Ubuntu Edition. I was using the phone for a short time and something with it …

YotaPhone 3 on the horizon

The dual-sided YotaPhone series made a big splash at MWC, but it wasn’t picked up by the major networks over in Blighty. However, we quite liked it all in all, so when news of the YotaPhone 3 leaked, colour us excited. The e-ink screen is a great idea …

Samsung Galaxy J7 & J5 Leaked.

In typical Samsung “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks approach” to mobile devices, two more units have been leaked, these being the Samsung Galaxy J7 and J5. From the images that have appeared we can see that the devices are made from the good old …

Archos 50 and 55 Helium Plus, UK-bound in July.

Following their announcement earlier in the month, two devices from the French manufacturer Archos will be available in the UK soon enough. These will be the 50 Helium Plus and 55 Helium Plus. Both the devices are classed as “budget” handsets and both have almost identical internals. Archos have posted …

Text walking lanes introduced in Brussels

We’ve seen something like this before. China tried it but, from what I remember, it was abandoned because mobile phone users didn’t see the signs or the phone-only walkway. Now something similar is rolling out in Antwerp, with “text lanes” trying to separate “phone zombies” from other pavement …

Cyanogen OS CM12.1 for the One Plus in testing.

OnePlus have announced that the latest version of Cyanogen OS, Cyanogen OS 12.1 (based on Android 5.1), which is currently undergoing testing and Google certification. On the other side of things OxygenOS, which is OnePlus’s own operating system update based on Android 5.1, is in the works. Sadly …

Carphone Warehouse’s iD network to stock Huawei P8

  Huawei has just announced that its new flagship smartphone, the P8. Our very own James reviewed here and it’s now available for pre-order exclusively on iD, the new network from Carphone Warehouse. It costs £21.50 on a almost unheard of 12 month contract, which gives you 300 mins, 5000 …

Apple Pay coming to UK

  Currently confined to the US Apple Pay, (the tap to buy service that uses the NFC to beam your relevant card details to the vendors terminal, similar to “contactless payment we already have fitted to some UK credit/debit cards.) might not be US only for much longer. …

Sony Xperia Z3+ – Photo Special

Today we were lucky enough to get hands on with Sony’s new flagship the Xepria Z3+. This is a really nice evolution of the Z3 and one that would make a nice upgrade from anyone who is using a Xperia Z or Xperia Z2. It is also a …

LG G4 Black leather option now exclusive to CarphoneWarehouse.

Independent UK mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse has announced that it has started sales of the latest LG flagship device the G4, and the retailer has the black leather clad device as an exclusive, while also stocking the brown leather option as well as the plastic-clad grey model. …

IDC publishes another load of analyst prediction guff

Here is the smartphone market share according to IDC. Have a look at that purple line. That’s Windows Phone. As you can see, for 3 years, it’s not really moved a great deal. I’m not going to say anything more about that. I wish Windows Phone was more …

Xperia Z3+ announced

Today Sony announced an edition to its Xperia Z3 range, imaginatively titled the  Xperia Z3+ The newly announced device is both slimmer (6.9mm) and lighter (144g) than the Xperia Z3, and is available in four colour options to meet your individual taste and style. Choose from classic black, white or …

Oppo tease out the R7 and R7 plus

Chinese phone manufacturer Oppo is due to announce their next flagship device, the R7, on May 20th. However, prior to the official launch date the company have released some teaser images of the phone. The images appear to show a full metal body and ultra thin bezels. Oppo …

Independent retailers taking LG G4 pre-orders

Following on from the announcement of the latest flagship from LG, two of the largest UK independent retailers have today started taking pre-orders for device. The G4 appeared just yesterday, with the launch attended by our very own Leigh. You can catch up on his LG G4 overview …

ZTE Blade S6 4G – Unpacking

It’s another day and the review kit is coming thick and fast. Today we have the ZTE Blade S6 4G, an affordable Android Lollipop phone sitting in the mid level price bracket (currently £189 on Amazon). The phone is available now, and we had a brief hands on …

EE runs out of Power Bars

A short time ago, we reported that network provider EE were giving away a power bar to customers, and would exchange a “empty” one with a “topped up” in store. Well, it appears that the promotional idea has been taken up by the bargain hunting British public, with the …

OnePlus Invite system is over.

On the 23rd of April 2015 the OnePlus One is one year old (to many ones there), and today OnePlus  announced that the hoop jumping invite system ( I know I was a hoop jumper, but to be fair I love my OnePlus one)  to buy the device …

OnePlus One starts receiving Cyanogenmod OS 12 OTA

After somewhat of a delay, Cyanogen have finally began the roll out of  Cyanogen OS 12 the Android 5.0 based update for the OnePlus One.  The update has all of Google’s features introduced in Android 5.0 including Google’s new Material Design.   As always the Cyanogen team, have included tweaks …

Carphone Warehouse & O2 now stocking the HTC One M9

  Independent phone retailer Carphone Warehouse, has been taking pre orders for the HTC M9 for some time now, but today the retailer has announced that you’ll be able to get your hands on  the device now. The latest flagship from HTC is listed on contracts that start from £37.50 …

Oppo’s bezel free device leaked.

Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Oppo looks set to release a handset with  jaw dropping bezel free display. The new smartphone has been anonymously leaked online, flaunting almost no bezels on either side of the screen and Running Oppo’s own operating system ColorOS. The only other handset without a curve that …

More HTC One M9 Plus images leaked.

  HTC has sent out invites in which it clearly teased a new HTC One M9 variant with the One M8 Duo camera set up. Tie this in with the leaked images from the normally spot on @Upleaks on twitter, and could this be the rumoured HTC M9+? From viewing …

Oxygen OS & CM12 Delayed Say OnePlus

On the 18th March I posted an article about fledgling phone manufacturer OnePlus stating that by the 27th of March this year, their very own Oxygen OS would be available and the CM12 update would be available by 30th March, which you can read here. Since the beginnings …

Amazon – permission much? – opinion

Oh Amazon, what are you up to? Why do you want so much from us? If we say yes, what are we letting ourselves in for? These are some of the thoughts that flew across my mind when my phone wanted to update the Amazon app. Granted, I …

Acer Liquid Jade S – Unboxing

A package arrived the other day and in it there was a very shiny box with an Acer Logo on it. Why don’t you join me while I unbox this little shiny box? What we have here is a pretty neat phone that is coming in a suitably …

128GB Internal storage coming to mid range devices say Samsung.

High capacity internal storage is the realm of top-of-the-range flagship devices, which in turn commands a top price. Today Samsung announced a 3-bits-per-cell flash memory chip that promises 128GB of storage for “mass market” (read: more affordable) mobile devices. The 128GB storage solution is built using the more prevalent …

OnePlus increase the price of the One.

OnePlus – the company famous for their purchase invite system and high spec, low price devices – have announced that due to the declining Euro they will be increasing the price of the OnePlus One in Europe. Currently the 16GB Silk White and 64GB Sandstone Black OnePlus One retail …

Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge pre orders on March 20th in the UK

Ahead of it’s 10th April release, Samsung today have announced that those of us here in the UK can pre-order either the S6 or S6 Edge on the 20th of March. No doubt our very own Dan will be mashing F5 at 1 second past midnight. 😉 On …

One Plus One Lollipop update coming by end of March.

Today One Plus announced that the long awaited Lollipop update will be available by the end of March. They’re so confident of hitting this deadline that they’ll give away five 64GB devices if they miss it. By March 27th OnePlus plans to release their own Lollipop-based ROM, using …

Dyson to help boost your smartphone battery life

You probably know about James Dyson. He’s a British guy who struggled to sell his bagless vacuum cleaner to the major manufacturers. After being told that the “bags make us money” and “you’re basically bonkers”, he went on to create a solid British brand, making products for Britain …

Sony Xperia Z4 image leaked

Online serial “leaker”, @Onleaks, has provided the interwebs with what is to be believed to be the next flagship device from Sony – the Xperia Z4. Measuring in at 146.3×71.9×7.2mm, the Z4’s measurements are very similar to the current Z3, as is the actual look of the device. There’s …

Vaio announce their first smartphone – the VA-10J

Following on from it’s sale by Sony to a local investigative firm, VAIO Corporation has launched the VAIO Phone (VA-10J). It is the company’s first dabble in to the smartphone world, made in partnership with Japan communication. When it was first seen, comments were made that the phone shares …

The story of the mobile phone

Last night I stumbled across an old video from 1979 which showed something that was pretty amazing at the time. A truly portable phone. It started me on a bit of a journey into the history of mobile phones, so here’s what I’ve dug out of the archives. …

Leaked renders of the LG G4 published.

Rumoured for a next quarter anouncement, (which fingers crossed is April not May) more leaked renders LG’s next flagship device the G4 are hitting the internet. It’s said to be powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor, having a 20 MP rear camera, a 5MP front-facing camera and …

MWC- Lenovo release two new smartphone’s and projector.

We were keen to see what Lenovo would be bringing to MWC 2015 since their recent acquisition of Motorola Mobility in the past year. Well they certainly haven’t disappointed they have brought no one but 2 phones to show off we will start with the lower tier model …

EE announce the S6 and S6 Edge

Along with Samsung announcing the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. EE have confirmed they will be supplying the handsets when they’re available from Samsung. The full colour range will be available to buy from Launch – Black, White, Gold and Blue for the S6 and Black, White, Gold …