Innovation reinvented: Nokia 3310 PureView pops up with 41 MP camera and Windows Phone

Ever wondered what the great phones of yesteryear would look like with a modern mobile OS and beefed-up specs? Well, you can tell your imagination to give it a rest now, as Nokia has posted pictures of its evergreen 3310, now running Windows Phone, and having a telling "hump" on the back. That protrusion turns out to be none other than the 41 MP PureView camera module we know from the Lumia 1020, which will ensure oodles of photographic fun with the reinvented 3310. Nokia managed to stuff a dual-core processor, 2 GB of RAM, and a microSD slot in dimensions close to the ...

Nokia workers in India go on a one-day strike

Nokia workers throughout India have staged a one-day strike, and workers at the Chennai plant in particular have started a hunger strike, in a demand to get more job security. The Chennai plant is at the center of a heated (and expensive) tax dispute between Nokia India and government officials.



Workers there at Chennai have accused Nokia of slowing production there, from more than 13 million units-per-month to under 4 million units-per-month, and that Nokia has shifted the entire Asha line of smartphones to facilities in other countries.



Nokia offered no comment about the accusations ...

In China, Apple releases the TD-LTE packed Apple iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display

Apple has just announced that starting Tuesday, it is offering a version of the Apple iPad Air, and the Apple iPad with Retina display, that is compatible with the LTE networks used in China. Apple has not offered an iPad in the country that supports both Retina display and China's LTE signal. But with this announcement, the 9.7 inch Apple iPad Air, and the 7.9 inch Apple iPad with Retina display are now available in China with TD-LTE connectivity. These models will join the Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + 3G cellular versions of the iPad that were already offered in China.



The new LTE models are ...

Windows: State of the Platform part 3 - Hardware and a new CEO

As we covered in Part 2, Windows Phone is expected to take a big jump with its feature set when version 8.1 hits. When you combine that with the reportedly aggressive licensing fees and expected expansion into more emerging markets, and there are good reasons to expect that Windows Phone can continue growing its market share in 2014. Although, without some incredible hardware and marketing, it's hard to tell exactly if continued growth will be enough to really allow Windows Phone to cement its place as one of the leaders of the mobile ecosystem.



Of course, the marketing budget will always ...

Windows: State of the Platform part 2 - WP 8.1 and Expansion

The mobile ecosystem is a diverse and amazing place. It's why we all gather here, because we all want to learn more about it. So, it is good to take a moment once in a while to really look at what has been happening in the mobile ecosystem. We've covered the Android platform, iOS, and what happened with Windows in 2013. Now, it's time to take a look ahead at 2014 for Windows.

As we covered in Part 1, 2013 wasn't as big a year for Windows as you might have thought. The software didn't see much change aside from a couple minor updates; the hardware saw some impressive moves, but ...

Screens for Apple iPhone 6 to go into production in May?

According to a report published on Monday, supply chain sources are saying that 4.7 inch screens for the Apple iPhone 6 will go into mass production starting in May. Japan Display, LG Display and Sharp will be rolling the glass off their respective assembly lines. A larger 5.5 version will be delayed due to problems with the in-cell technology used in the production of the screen. The report says that JDI will be the first to start production, at its plant in Mobara. The other two are expected to start their production of the panels in June, with the phone launching in the autumn.



Since ...

Windows Phone makes sales gains in Europe and US, Motorola back on the map

Microsoft continues to see robust growth for Windows Phone sales, and the Moto G has put Motorola on the map since it launched late last year thanks to its impressive featu.



Motorola’s success, according to the newest report from Kantar Worldpanel, is notable because the company soon to be acquired by Lenovo, “was nowhere in Europe before the Moto G launched in November…but the new model has since boosted the manufacturer to 6% of British sales.”



Despite Motorola’s impact in the United Kingdom, over the past three months (ending February) sales of Android did seem to slip a bit compared ...

The HTC Gluuv is a smartglove that syncs with the new HTC One (M8); too bad it's just a joke

HTC posted some teasers on its website of a thrilling new wearable called the HTC Gluuv. The smartglove syncs with your HTC One (M8). It also syncs with a HTC branded boom box called the HTC BoomBass, which is durable, humongous, and completely wireless. And with the Social Fingerz feature, giving a real thumbs up gesture will automatically "like" someone on Facebook. Don't forget that 87.2MP camera that comes with the Gluuv.



With Holograms and HoloCalls, the Gluuv sounds like a great product, except for one thing. It is an April Fools' joke from the Taiwan manufacturer. And HTC isn't the ...

Knock-off Apple iPhone charger explodes, leaving the victim in the hospital for more than a week

Starting last July, when a shock from an Apple iPhone 5 was blamed for the death of a 23 year old stewardess in China, a number of scary events involving shocks and exploding iDevices took place. One even involved a man who claimed that a shock from his daughter's iPad sent him flying across the room. Apple immediately declared war on third party chargers, even offering to sell discounted Apple chargers to those who brought in counterfeit plugs.



But sometimes, the lure of saving a buck is just too much. Minnesota resident Tim Tyrrell was looking for a second charger for his Apple iPhone. ...

HTC's octa-core Desire 616 to cost around $200

Initially spotted in China last week, the Desire 616 is HTC’s first smartphone to come with an octa-core processor. This processor seems to be a MediaTek MT6592 - the same that’s used by Xiaomi in its new Redmi Note (which allegedly hit 100,000 units sold in less than 1 hour).



Chinese websites are reporting that the Desire 616 will not cost more than $210 (12,990 CNY) when it launches in April. While that’s definitely a low price, it’s not lower than the price of Xiaomi’s Redmi Note, which appears to be one of the main competitors of the new Desire. Even so, HTC might sell quite many Desire ...

Samsung Fingers with flexible display - Samsung's April Fools' joke

It’s April Fools’ Day already in South Korea, and Samsung is trying to prank fans with the announcement of Samsung Fingers. In Samsung’s own words, this is the company’s “first wearable glove” (not that we’ve seen any glove that is not wearable), and it packs a whole lot of high-end technology.



There’s a 3-inch “flexible UHD Super Emo-LED” display at the center of Samsung Fingers, and an S Laser beam projector just below it. We’re also treated with a 16MP hidden camera, built-in speaker and microphone, 4GB of RAM, 32G/64GB of internal memory, plus a wide variety ...

New study: $2.6 billion a year can be saved in the U.S. by adding a Kill Switch to smartphones

Consumers could save $2.6 billion a year if a Kill Switch is added to all smartphones, allowing a stolen phone to be remotely shut down. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by Creighton University professor William Duckworth, Ph.D. Like many others who have studied the issue, including San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Duckworth believes that the threat of having a stolen smartphone completely shut off would lower the incentive for thieves to rip off Apple iPhones and other models.



Duckworth came to the $2.6 billion figure ...

Windows State of the Platform Part 3: Hardware and a new CEO

As we covered in Part 2, Windows Phone is expected to take a big jump with its feature set when version 8.1 hits. When you combine that with the reportedly aggressive licensing fees and expected expansion into more emerging markets, and there are good reasons to expect that Windows Phone can continue growing its market share in 2014. Although, without some incredible hardware and marketing, it's hard to tell exactly if continued growth will be enough to really allow Windows Phone to cement its place as one of the leaders of the mobile ecosystem.



Of course, the marketing budget will always ...

Display Mate: Samsung Galaxy S5 has the "best performing smartphone display that we ever tested"

Display Mate did its usual through job analyzing the display on the Samsung Galaxy S5, and came away calling it "the best performing smartphone display that we have ever tested". The screen was cited for its brightness, color accuracy, contrast ratio and more. In fact, according to Display Mate, the Samsung Galaxy S5 "raises the bar for top display performance up by another notch."



The screen on the Samsung Galaxy S5 is 22% brighter than the Samsung Galaxy S4's screen and 13% brighter than the display on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. When automatic brightness is turned on, the Galaxy S5's highest ...

Buy-Backs helping Apple iPad mini gain market share in India

Without a true low-end smartphone model to compete with in India, Apple decided to pull the Apple iPhone 4 out of retirement this past January. Apple is doing the same thing with the tablet market. Using the Apple iPad mini as its entry-level slate in the country, the tech titan plans on challenging Samsung in the Indian tablet market. In February, the Cupertino based manufacturer started a buy-back plan in conjunction with the iPad mini and saw tablet sales rise 35% since then.



In some Indian channels, Apple has sold out the 16GB Wi-Fi only version of the iPad mini. Thanks to the buy-back ...

Windows State of the Platform Part 2: WP 8.1 and Expansion

The mobile ecosystem is a diverse and amazing place. It's why we all gather here, because we all want to learn more about it. So, it is good to take a moment once in a while to really look at what has been happening in the mobile ecosystem. We've covered the Android platform, iOS, and what happened with Windows in 2013. Now, it's time to take a look ahead at 2014 for Windows.

As we covered in Part 1, 2013 wasn't as big a year for Windows as you might have thought. The software didn't see much change aside from a couple minor updates; the hardware saw some impressive moves, but ...

Windows State of the Platform Part 2: WP 8.1 and Nokia hardware

The mobile ecosystem is a diverse and amazing place. It's why we all gather here, because we all want to learn more about it. So, it is good to take a moment once in a while to really look at what has been happening in the mobile ecosystem. We've covered the Android platform, iOS, and what happened with Windows in 2013. Now, it's time to take a look ahead at 2014 for Windows.

As we covered in Part 1, 2013 wasn't as big a year for Windows as you might have thought. The software didn't see much change aside from a couple minor updates; the hardware saw some impressive moves, but ...

Specs leak for Samsung ATIV SE, no Windows Phone 8.1 out of the box

We've seen a few leaks involving Samsung's upcoming Windows Phone powered release for Verizon, the Samsung ATIV SE. For example, we've seen an alleged press shot of the phone from evleaks, and another leak revealed that the device will supposedly be released on April 18th with a full retail price of $599. Today, someone claiming to have knowledge of Verizon's plans, said that the Samsung ATIV SE will not have Windows Phone 8.1 installed out of the box. That would seem to dovetail with reports this weekend stating that the new build of Windows Phone would not be made available until April 23rd, ...

Foxconn insider leaks photos allegedly showing the Apple iPhone 6

A Foxconn insider has allegedly leaked pictures of the upcoming Apple iPhone 6 getting tested inside a Foxconn facility. The new iPhone is supposed to be thinner, which, as we've mentioned previously, could lead to the camera protruding. If you look closely at one of the images, you can see a diagram showing the side view of the device, which reveals a protruding camera.



Earlier this year, there was speculation that Apple would use design cues from the Apple iPad Air for its next handset. There was even some talk that the model would be called the Apple iPhone Air and have a thickness of ...

Using back-backs and other promotions, the Apple iPad mini is gaining market share in India

Without a true low-end smartphone model to compete with in India, Apple decided to pull the Apple iPhone 4 out of retirement this past January. Apple is doing the same thing with the tablet market. Using the Apple iPad mini as its entry-level slate in the country, the tech titan plans on challenging Samsung in the Indian tablet market. In February, the Cupertino based manufacturer started a buy-back plan in conjunction with the iPad mini and saw tablet sales rise 35% since then.



In some Indian channels, Apple has sold out the 16GB Wi-Fi only version of the iPad mini. Thanks to the buy-back ...

BlackBerry World turns 5 today and celebrates with free apps and games

While it is BlackBerry World that is celebrating its fifth birthday today, the presents will be going to BlackBerry users in the form of free premium apps and games. Starting today, and running through April 4th, BlackBerry 10 users can download and install for free Tilt, Scan to Text, InstaVenue, Uno and Doodle Jump. Those with a BlackBerry device running an older OS build can download and install Iron Man 3, Uno & Friends, ColorID, Photo Studio Pro and Keep Calm-o-matic Theme.



To grab your free apps, you need to visit BlackBerry World, tap on the banner that reads Birthday Gifts, select ...

Think you're good at doing math in your head? Try Math Effect

There are 10 types of people - those who understand binary and those who don't. This nerdy joke, however, has little to do with the app we've got to highlight for you today - Math Effect. We're dealing with a piece of software that's part game, part tool for forging your ability to rapidly solve simple algebraic equations without the aid of a calculator or pen and paper. Or In plain words, it is a speed math game and an app that can definitely make you a smarter person. Do we have your attention already?



Math Effect has three different game modes to offer. The first one (we spent the most ...

HTC One M8 mini to be launched in May?

The rumored HTC One M8 mini might be available sooner than you’d expect. If you remember, last year’s HTC One mini was released five months after the original HTC One. But the new, yet to be confirmed One M8 mini could be out only two months after the 5-inch One M8 (which is available in a few markets since last week).



According to 3G.co.uk, HTC intends to start selling the One M8 mini in May. There is no word on how much the M8 mini will cost, and neither if it’s going to be widely available around the world (it probably will be, though).



Previous rumors had it that the One M8 ...

Sprint starts KitKat rollout for its version of the LG G2

Sprint customers sporting the LG G2 will start receiving the Android 4.4 update today. The update will add a number of new features while removing some bugs. It also adds support for cloud printing and fixes an issue with Next Radio. KitKat is being sent out OTA, and Sprint says that you need to follow the directions on the screen.



If you don't receive the update today, there is no reason to call up LG to chew out a phone rep. Android 4.4 is being sent out in waves, which means that it could take some time before it finally arrives. You can also try to manually grb the update out of your ...

LG is the fastest growing Android manufacturer in the U.S. states report

A new report from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, shows that Android is expanding its share of the U.S. smartphone market. After the release of the Apple iPhone 5s and Apple iPhone 5c last September led to market share gains for iOS in the states, Android has regained momentum. The latest stats show that Google's open source OS has added 3.9 percentage points to its slice of the U.S. smartphone pie over the last year.



Among the myriad Android manufacturers, none is adding to its share of the U.S.market any greater than LG. The Korean manufacturer is now the third largest smartphone producer in ...

LG's new L70 and L40 smartphones are available now (in Europe)

Two of LG’s latest lower-end handsets, the L70 and L40, are now available to purchase in Europe - which is the first region to get the devices. Amazon is currently selling both these L Series smartphones in Germany and Italy (see the source links at the end of the article), and we assume that a wider availability will follow shortly.



The LG L70 isn’t as cheap as you’d expect. Although the handset will be sold in China for the equivalent of $160 beginning next month, prices start at about $246 (€179) in Europe.



The L70 runs Android 4.4 KitKat, and sports ...

Xiaomi sold 11 million smartphones in three months, aims to push 60 million units in 2014

It's the end of Q1 2014, and China's Xiaomi is boasting with a record 11 million smartphones sold and shipped across the past three months. That's an extremely impressive achievement for a small four-year old Chinese company. Consider that Samsung, with its humongous scale and gargantuan marketing presence, managed to sell 30 million Galaxy S4 handsets in three months last year. Today, Xiaomi is just 4 million sales short of reaching half of the South Korean giant's numbers. It seems they don't call Xiaomi "China's Apple" for no reason. The company is growing astonishingly fast on the backs of ...

Shazam for iOS receives a more social look and better audio recognition capabilities

Shazam! The popular music recognition service just got better – well, at least on iOS devices. The latest version of the Shazam app for Apple-branded devices received several nifty improvements both in its interface and under the hood.



The app now comes with a redesigned share page, which allows you to pair your Shazam and Facebook accounts in order to see what kind of songs your friends are discovering. This feed can be easily controlled from within Shazam.



Another overhauled feature of Shazam is the track page – now, it shows the lyrics of the tagged song in real time. If there ...

Samsung Mobile's CEO received a $5.8-million salary in 2013, Apple's Tim Cook "just" $4.25 million

Have you ever wondered how much money do the high-ranking executives of the major smartphone manufacturers make a year, exactly? Well, the largest phone company in terms of volumes at the moment, Samsung, just revealed some inside information about the salaries of its CEOs.



Apparently, J. K. Shin, the current CEO and President of Samsung Mobile, received a $5.8-million paycheck back in 2013, the South Korean company revealed. This puts him well above Tim Cook, the CEO of Samsung's biggest rival – Apple. Cook's compensation for last year was roughly $4.25 million, ...

Official Coursera app available for Android devices

The online education powerhouse Coursera has published an official Android app. Looking it at, the app has all it takes to bring the platform's extensive catalog of university courses in the palm of your hand. It duplicates the functionality on the website while streamlining it for better navigation on your smartphone or tablet. Lectures can be streamed or saved for offline viewing, while study materials can be downloaded and managed with a built-in download manager.

At this point, Coursera hardly needs an introduction. We're quite partial to the platform and rather excited to see it reach ...

BlackBerry Z10 sells out in India

BlackBerry is still a big deal in some parts of the world. In India, it took only three days for fresh inventory of the BlackBerry Z10 to sell out in both brick and mortar, and online stores. A report published on Monday states that stores are selling 10 to 15 BlackBerry Z10 units every 30 minutes, with the country running out of stock every 72 hours.



The report cites the low price of 17,990 Rupees ($300 USD) as one of the reasons for the heavy demand. But some retailers are able to maintain sales of the phone at the higher price of 20,000 Rupees ($334 USD). The demand for the Z10 in India ...

John Chen speaks: "We are here to stay, I know I have to make money"

BlackBerry won't go without a fight. This was declared by its CEO, John Chen, in a recent interview with a Canadian business show. Apparently, Chen believes that his company has "a lot of values" and the CEO claimed he won't sell BlackBerry unless the company's shareholders demand it. Still, if they decide to do so at the moment, they might lose profits, Chen declared.



The head of BlackBerry also revealed that in order to stabilize the troubled Canadian manufacturer, he and his team will focus on the enterprise and high-end consumers even more in the near future. Still, "BlackBerry ...

Mobile Olympics: phones with the best battery life

As proved by numerous surveys, battery life turns out to be one of the most important, and sometimes the most important feature that needs improvement in modern smartphones. Camera quality, processing speeds and screen resolution seem to have reached a pretty satisfactory level on modern phones, even on most midrangers, but daily juicing is still required for the vast majority of them, unlike in days past, where you only needed to top off once or twice a week.

That is why we took a peak in our battery tests database to see which phones offer much more endurance than others, and, ...

OnePlus One's CyanogenMod 11S OS revealed in leaked images

We already knew that the upcoming OnePlus One smartphone would be launched running a custom version of CyanogenMod OS. It turns out that this is called CyanogenMod 11S, and it looks quite different from the CyanogenMod 11 that’s been available since November last year.



Engadget today received two screenshots of the OnePlus One’s OS (see above), thus confirming that this is based on Android 4.4.2 KitKat. The image on the left shows the lock screen, which displays weather information, messages, and battery status, among other things. The screen looks fresh and quite ...

Kantar: Motorola grabs 6% of U.K. smartphone market, thanks to the Motorola Moto G

The latest report from analytics firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, shows that the £135 ($225 USD) Motorola Moto G is working its value-priced magic on consumers in the U.K. That shouldn't be too much of a surprise. After all, Motorola senior vice president Rick Osterloh has called the phone the highest selling handset in company history.



Kantar's report shows that the Moto G has been taking sales away from Samsung and Nokia in the low to mid-range arena. The result is that the Lenovo subsidiary now controls 6% of the U.K. smartphone market. That is a big deal considering that prior to the ...

HTC One M8 vs Sony Xperia Z1S

Introduction

Now that Android smartphone manufacturers no longer have to be so focused on achieving a good level of performance or building a portfolio or unique software features, they can start thinking more about design and build quality – characteristics that are typically overlooked in the Android world, save for a few exceptions. One such exception is HTC – a company that has traditionally paid close attention to what its phones actually look like, as well as what they are made of. The Taiwanese have recently been joined by Sony – under their new CEO, Kazuo Hirai, the Japanese company's ...

Do you expect an industry status-quo change in 2014?

Volatile, fast-changing, and just unpredictable overall. Those adjectives fit well with the smartphone industry, and indeed any industry that is making headway towards "perfect" competition. Or well, that's at least one way to look at it. BlackBerry and Nokia, albeit the long face, would agree.

There's just no way of reliably forecasting in a consistent manner. Bets are made, of course, and most of those are a little more than just educated guesses, but the facts remain: although unlikely at this exact moment, there's no telling if Samsung and Apple won't follow into BlackBerry's ...

iPhone 6 schematics leak out, putting the Apple rumor season in full gear

Images of the schematic design of the alleged upcoming iPhone 6 have leaked out, and they depict both a phablet-sized iPhone, as well as a smaller, 4.7” iPhone. Problem is, however, that there are two images from two different sources, and the two paint starkly different pictures of Apple’s upcoming iPhones.



First, Japanese publication Mac Otakara (the name of the blog, by the way, translates as ‘Mac Treasure’) suggested an upcoming 4.7” and 5.7” models of a plastic iPhone (allegedly, iPhone 6c). Then, Japanese magazine MacFan obtained a document with very interesting drawings of the alleged ...

OIS (LG G2) vs. OIS+ (LG G Pro 2): video comparison

When LG launched its G2 flagship last year, the industry as a whole had some pretty high expectations. Some seriously bleeding edge internals tend to cause such hype. But one specific part of the hardware sheet of the G2 stood out in our eyes, as it essentially cemented the notion that a new kind of tech is planning on sticking around: OIS, or Optical Image Stabilization.

Of course, LG didn't pioneer OIS in smartphones, much less the underlying tech. The G2 instead followed in the footsteps of devices like the Nokia Lumia 920 and the HTC One. Regardless, LG's extra dime paid ...

Nokia Lumia 1520 tops our blind camera comparison while Nexus 5 ends up last; HTC One (M8) finishes sixth

Blind camera comparisons are a great indicator of which phone takes best photos. Bias is brought down to a minimum since voters pick the images they like best, without knowing what phone they're actually voting for. And according to our most recent one, the Nokia Lumia 1520 is the king of the hill, although it isn't leading by much. Nokia's phablet got first place, having collected 17.9% of our readers' votes. The highly-acclaimed LG G2, however, was a close second with a result of 13.95%, and the Sony Xperia Z1S finished in third place with 12.91%.



We were expecting for HTC's new ...

Family Guy Photobomb lets you stick Peter Griffin's chin next to yours

Can't think of anything interesting to add to your selfies lately? Don't hurry to the plastic surgeon's office just yet. Instead, get 99centbrains's Family Guy Photobomb app. It lets you put Peter Griffin's spectacular chin next to your pretty face. Isn't this fantastic enough? Of course, if you'd rather present yourself with his awkward daughter Meghan, the series' chief canine protagonist Brian, or someone else from the Griffins and their bright neighbors, do so at will. You might have to pay, though.

The app is modeled after 2013's very successful Snoop Dogg-powered Snoopify, which is ...

Deal alert: Grab a high-capacity 3,000mAh rechargeable battery case for Apple iPhone 5/5S, just $15

There are a lot of battery cases out there from any number of outfits. Battery cases are a great solution for anyone that considers themselves a power user or those that are in the field a lot without access to electricity to make it through the day.



The options are plentiful, and so are the price tags. The really nice battery cases for the iPhone cost well over $100 dollars.



As cases go, this 3,000mAh accessory battery case is really more like a back plate with a pretty thin profile, though that may appeal to some folks that like to keep their gear “naked.” This battery should ...

Japan Display shows off 5.5-inch, Quad HD display: could this be the display in the iPhone 6?

Japan Display (JDI) has announced that it’s developed a Quad HD (2560 x 1440-pixel) display, and it's ready to start mass production in April. The panel measures 5.5 inches, and it will be manufactured using JDI’s improved low-temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) technology that enables low power consumption of the module.

The big question lurking around this announcement is whether this could be the screen Apple uses in its next iPhone. Coincidentally, the alleged iPhone 6 is - so far - rumored to come in a 4.7-inch and a 5.5-inch version (sized just like that JDI panel). However, size is not ...

Apple tried to hire Swiss watch-making experts to work on the iWatch

According to a Financial Times report, Apple tried to bring Swiss watch-making expertise to its fabled iWatch project. In its perfectionist pursuits, the company reached out to talent from esteemed brands to work on what could be a smart-watch with a traditional mechanism. But, so far, Apple's efforts have failed. Apparently, the company tried to hire watch-making experts from LVMH Hublot, Swatch, and "several Swiss parts manufacturers", but none of Hublot's workers accepted, and, most likely, neither did others from the industry.

As a whole, Switzerland's watch-making elite remains skeptical ...

Poll results: HTC One M8 Duo Camera - useful innovation or a gimmick?

The unique Duo Camera on the HTC One M8 utilizes two camera sensor/lens sets, in order to capture a more complete depth of field information about a scene, and use it for various post-shot effects. We already made a thorough camera comparison with the HTC One M8, and demonstrated all the new modes and effects that the Duo Camera makes possible.

Furthermore, we asked you last week whether you consider the new Duo Camera set on the HTC One M8 an innovation for the sake of it, or something truly practical, whose virtues you would be using on a regular basis. ...

EU tones the rhetoric down a notch against Huawei and ZTE

Huawei and ZTE have been under the microscope by EU regulators, but not for the same reasons they have been all-but-blacklisted in the United States.



The European Trade Commission has been spending the past couple years preparing an anti-dumping case against the two equipment makers. The EU believes that Huawei and ZTE have been pushing gear with ultra-low price schemes through back-end government subsidies in China.



For a while, it looked as though the EU was going to assess a series of fines, or tariffs on equipment imports to Europe. However, such action might have been countered ...

Huawei reports 34.4% growth in net profit for 2013, its strongest growth in four years

Chinese technology firm Huawei reported its strongest profit growth in four years on Monday, led by strong demand for its smartphones. Besides producing handsets, the company is also known for networking equipment. Huawei is now the second largest network equipment provider and third largest smartphone manufacturer on the planet.



The company's latest earnings report got a boost from Chinese carriers who are now switching over to 4G LTE networks. Huawei is missing out in the U.S., where it is not allowed to sell its telecom equipment due to fears that the company's pipelines are being used ...

Another Microsoft executive, Antoine Leblond, to depart

For better or for worse, another executive that was instrumental in the development of Windows 8, along with the cloud services and Windows Store, is leaving the company after 25 years.



For most of his career, Antoine Leblond worked with the Office team and Steven Sinofsky before they both moved to Windows. There they delivered the highly praised Windows 7 operating system and further guided Microsoft to deliver the modern experience delivered in Windows 8 and Windows RT.



Leblond is just the latest of visible figures to explore other opportunities in the wake of the Microsoft reorganization ...

Nokia Lumia 930 to miss BUILD conference; Windows Phone 8.1 OTA update coming in May?

Recently, we passed along some speculation that the Nokia Lumia 630, and the Nokia Lumia 930, would both be unveiled at the BUILD conference on April 2nd. Since that rumor started making the rounds, we have seen many leaks related to the Lumia 630, including a video of the phone running Windows Phone 8.1. At the same time, there has been nothing about the Nokia Lumia 930.



The lack of any leaks involving the Nokia Lumia 930 could be due to a new rumor, which states that the Lumia 930 will not join the Lumia 630 at the BUILD conference after all. According to the rumor, the low-end Nokia ...

Koh already rules against Samsung; objection to video on patents overruled

On Saturday, we told you about Samsung's objection to a video made for jurors called "How patents work." The video, which was produced to help members of a jury understand the complex world of patent law, contained images of certain Apple devices. During this portion of the video, the narrator talks about how the disclosure of a patent could "inspire new inventions." Samsung's objection was that the placement of Apple's devices on the video "strongly suggests that Apple's products are innovative and patentable."



Now, on the eve of the second patent trial between Samsung and Apple, Judge ...