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Tag: Smartphones

  • New HTC One (M8) Officially Unveiled

    New HTC One (M8) Officially Unveiled

    During dual media events in both New York and London HTC Corporation today officially unveiled its long-rumored new HTC One smartphone. Dubbed the HTC One (M8), the device is HTC’s latest flagship smartphone and carries on the manufacturer’s tradition of providing high-quality device for the high-end smartphone market.

    Throughout the past few months rumors and leaks have detailed almost every aspect of the new HTC One. The official announcement confirms many of these features and specs, making the HTC One (M8) one of the worst-kept secrets in the tech industry.

    Like previous HTC One smartphones the HTC One (M8) boasts a metal unibody case. The device has a 5-inch 1080p display (no Ultra HD yet, as predicted due to manufacturing difficulties).

    The new smartphone also has dual rear cameras with dual flash that HTC says will help the device take pictures in a wide range of lighting conditions. The cameras’ depth sensor is also included for what HTC calls “a range of artistic effects and tools.” The device also has a 5MP front-facing camera.

    On the inside, the HTC One (M8) has a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 2,600 mAh battery. The device comes with either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage and supports extra microSD card storage of up to 128GB.

    “In 2013 we introduced the best smartphone in the world, but we never stopped challenging ourselves and the status quo in this category,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. “As pioneers in mobile innovation, we continue to design and build devices that will dazzle, inspire and transform the smartphone industry. Today I’m proud to launch the most stunning, intuitive and advanced handset that the industry has seen to date, the new HTC One (M8).”

    The HTC One (M8) was rumored to be launching sometime in April, but HTC has vastly improved its launch efforts this year. The new device is available for purchase through all major (and most minor) mobile providers and smartphone retailers as of today. The unlocked version of the smartphone retails for $650 and come in “Gunmetal Gray,” “Glacial Silver,” and “Amber Gold.” The Amber Gold can only be bought through Best Buy at launch.

  • HTC One (M8) Available From Tuesday

    Carphone Warehouse said in a statement that the next HTC One (M8) smartphone will be announced at press events in London and New York on March 25, and immediately be available for purchase at select retailers in London.

    “In a retail first, Carphone Warehouse has revealed that the new HTC One (M8) handset will be available from selected stores from around 4pm on Tuesday 25th March – just minutes after it is officially announced,” it said in an email.

    The new HTC flagship device will be announced in London and then handsets will be transported to six Carphone warehouse retail stores in London.

    Locations in Westfield Stratford, Westfield White City, Oxford Circus, Centrepoint and Tottenham Court Road stores will each be hosting special events celebrating the launch, alongside Carphone Warehouse at Selfridges.

    These stores “will all be hosting special events celebrating the HTC launch with entertainment and giveaways as well as the first chance for customers to get their hands on the new device. Carphone Warehouse at Selfridges will also be stocking the handset from the same time,” the statement read.

    No photos of the device have officially been released by Carphone Warehouse or HTC at this time.

    Rumors circulated that the next generation HTC One will have a five-inch HD display screen covering a 2.3GHz processor. Photos leaked through various sources showed the device to have two rear cameras for 3D video capabilities.

    A Carphone Warehouse spokesperson said the following:

    “The HTC One is an award winning handset that set the bar for design during 2013 and made many sit up and take notice – the new HTC One M8 is likely to continue that trend and will cement HTC’s future as a heavy-hitting smartphone manufacturer.”

    “We know how keen customers are to get hold of the latest tech as soon as possible and that is why we are so excited to be able to offer the new HTC One so quickly after it is unveiled.”

    Image  via Wikimedia Commons

  • HTC One Expected to Launch in April

    For over a month now details have been leaking out about HTC’s next flagship high-end smartphone. Taking a page from Apple’s iPad line HTC is expected to name the device the (all-new) HTC One. Rumors hold that the phone’s screen is a five-inch HD display covering a 2.3GHz processor. Photos leaked through various sources have also shown the device to have two rear cameras for 3D video capabilities. It is also expected to be offered in a shade of gold.

    The device will be announced on March 25 at widely publicized HTC press events in London and New York. Though most smartphone announcements are followed by a long wait for the actual release, this time HTC appears to be doing its HTC One launch the right way.

    According to a BGR report , smartphone accessory stock release dates suggest that the all-new HTC One will make its debut sometime in mid-April. This date would put the HTC One in direct competition with Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 smartphone.

    Not only is the HTC One expected to debut shortly after its announcement, but some customers might even get their hands on the device the same day it is announced. UK retailer Carphone Warehouse has announced that the new HTC One will be available in some stores around London at 4 pm on March 25.

    Based on early reports it appears that HTC has once again created one of the best high-end smartphones on the market. The only question now is whether the company can successfully market the device well enough to climb back out of the hole the company has dug for itself.

    Last fall HTC announced a $119 million quarterly loss, the first ever in the company’s history. This came shortly after the company began a reported $1 billion ad campaign starring Robert Downey, Jr. in a series of bizarre commercials. HTC has already released a similarly weird teaser for its HTC One announcement, foreshadowing what might become yet another flop for the company.

    Image via HTC

  • “2K” Smartphone Shipments to be Limited in 2014

    TV manufacturers are feeling giddy over the chance that ultra HD TVs could raise demand for new TV sets. This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was filled with “4K” (and even “8K”) displays from nearly every tech manufacturer.

    At the same time, PC manufacturers are hoping that Ultra HD displays will spur notebook and desktop PC sales before mobile devices are able to catch up. Unfortunately for them, analysts are already predicting “2K” and higher-resolutions displays for mobile devices in the coming quarters.

    The mobile industry won’t be flooded with ultra HD devices just yet, though. A new DigiTimes Research report today predicted that the 2K mobile display market will be slow during 2014. This is based on its belief that low yield rates and a small manufacturing infrastructure capacity will simply limit the number of higher-resolution panels that can be shipped throughout the year.

    With the ultra HD hype in full swing during CES many industry watchers anticipated that new devices coming in the spring from large brands would sport 2K or higher displays. This turned out to be wrong as new high-end devices from Samsung, LG, and Sony were all recently announced to have normal HD displays.

    As manufacturing capacity improves brands will be able to include higher-resolution displays in their high-end devices as standard. According to DigiTimes this could happen as early as the second half of this year as quickly-rising Chinese brands look to improve their lower shipment counts with higher-quality features such as ultra HD displays.

  • Wireless Charging Set to Take Off

    Wireless Charging Set to Take Off

    Wireless charging has appeared as a feature in a number of mobile devices over the past two years, but consumers have yet to largely embrace the benefits of such systems. This could all change in the coming years, however, propelling wireless charging into billion-dollar territory.

    Market research firm IHS today issued a new report predicting that sales of wireless power transmitters will top $8.5 billion in 2018. This represents a massive increase over the estimated $216 million spent on such devices last year. Even this coming year the segment is projected to increase 264% year-over-year to $785 million in sales.

    The cause of this surge in interest is likely because technical hurdles encountered to marketing the technology are quickly resolving. ABI points out that just this month the Alliance for Wireless Power and the Power matters Alliance have agreed to partner on a common standard for wireless charging. This consolidation will lead to a greater adoption of wireless charging in mobile devices. The technology has already been seen in high-end smartphones such as Nokia’s Lumia devices and Google’s Nexus line.

    “Makers of smartphones and tablets increasingly are integrating wireless power functionality directly into their products,” said Ryan Sanderson, principal analyst for wireless power at IHS. “Meanwhile, conflicts over standards are being resolved, removing a major barrier to widespread adoption. For consumers, this means easier charging of their mobile devices and the elimination of pesky power cables.”

    ABI predicts that loosely coupled technology will soon be commonly used in wireless power solutions, leading to easier infrastructure adoption. In addition, multimode solutions in the near future will allow customers to wirelessly charge without worrying about charging specifications.

    Image via Nokia

  • Lenovo Could Overtake LG in the Smartphone Market

    For years now the smartphone market has largely been largely dominated by Apple and Samsung. Apple has set trends for the high-end market and Samsung has followed along while also flooding the smartphone markets with a wide variety of devices at every price point. Other Android smartphone manufacturers’ market share falls far behind that of Samsung, but the battle for third place is still wide open.

    Currently another Korean company, LG, holds third place in global Android smartphone market share. It could be, however, that one of the up-and-coming Chinese companies could soon overtake it.

    A new DigiTimes report this week points out that Lenovo, one of the current fastest-growing smartphone (and PC) manufacturers, could soon overtake LG. The report’s unnamed “Taiwan-based supply chain makers” claim that Lenovo’s recent Motorola acquisition will bring it immediately into market share close to companies such as LG, HTC, and Sony.

    Lenovo already controls a significant portion of emerging market Android smartphone market share. Motorola also controls a well-known brand in established western markets. As industry growth shifts to countries such as China, Lenovo could continue raising its shipment quantities at a variety of price points.

    At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Lenovo showed off its Vibe Z, a high-end smartphone that the company released first in markets such as Indonesia and Malaysia. The company also unveiled two mid-priced S-series smartphones and the low-end A859, demonstrating that the company is well ahead of manufacturers such as HTC and BlackBerry, which are just now beginning to focus on the low end of the market.

  • Smartphone Runner-ups Shift To Lower-Priced Handsets

    It’s become increasingly clear over the past two years that Samsung and Apple are dominating the smartphone industry. While Samsung has flooded worldwide markets with a variety of Android handsets at all prices and sizes, Apple remains the guiding player in the high-end smartphone category.

    Far behind the market share of those two companies comes a group of smartphone manufacturers that, at this point, could almost be described as also rans. LG, Motorola, HTC, and Sony have all released impressive hardware that hasn’t made a dent in the high-end dominance of Apple and Samsung. With Chinese companies now sucking up market share at the low end of the market these companies are now shifting strategy to focus on the section of the market that remains.

    A DigiTimes report this week reveals that HTC, Sony, and LG have all shifted their smartphone divisions to focus more on the mid-range segment. According to the report’s “industry sources” this portion of the market encompasses smartphones priced from $300 to $400.

    Of course, these companies are still producing handsets for the high end of the smartphone market (some of the best in a few cases) for established markets such as the U.S. and Europe. The mid-range lines detailed in the report are primarily being marketed to emerging markets such as China. According to DigiTimes the HTC Desire 816 will be coming to China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom in the near future.

    Image via HTC

  • Mobile Market to Follow Apple’s 64-bit A7 Processor

    Mobile Market to Follow Apple’s 64-bit A7 Processor

    The iPhone 5S was a disappointment for many Apple fans. Though the device undoubtedly contains better hardware than the iPhone 5, the iPhone 5S was more of an incremental improvement than the yearly leap iPhone lovers had become accustomed to.

    The biggest change in the latest iPhone was the implementation of Apple’s new 64-bit A7 processor. Though it is still unclear why a 64-bit mobile processor might be needed for an iPhone, the hardware does future-proof the iPhone line somewhat and provide direction in a market where Apple design still sets trends.

    Market research firm ABI Research today confirmed that mobile makers will be once again following Apple with new 64-bit processors of their own. The firm’s new report predicts that more than 182 million 64-bit mobile processors will be shipped during 2014. Of these, only 20% will be found in Android, meaning Apple will sustain its huge early lead in the market. ABI estimates that more than 1.12 billion 64-bit processor-equipped smartphones and tablets will ship in 2018, a majority of all devices predicted to ship that year.

    Though chip manufacturers such as Intel, Qualcomm, and Nvidia have all announced 64-bit mobile processors, ABI pins the release of these new processors to the release of the next revision of Android. This could come late in the year, explaining the low market share estimates for 64-bit Android smartphones.

    As with Apple’s A7 both manufacturers and consumers are not quite sure of the benefit of 64-bit processors in smartphones and tablets. That won’t, however, prevent marketing departments from portraying the hardware as the biggest leap since 4G data.

    “A number of early adopters will initially use 64-bit as a catchy marketing strategy to easily communicate differentiation using ‘more-is-better’ adage previously used for promoting performance in the multi-core processor race,” said Malik Saadi, practice director at ABI. “This is not to say that 64-bit processing will not add any significant value to the Android sphere but the benefits of this technology will become apparent only when its implementation over Android matures,”

  • Windows Phone Gaining Traction in Emerging Markets

    Windows Phone Gaining Traction in Emerging Markets

    In terms of the overall smartphone market, Windows Phone holds only a tiny fraction of the world’s market share. Android and iOS continue to dominate smartphone shipments, as Apple’s brand continues to draw customers in mature markets and Samsung floods the world with smartphones of all prices and sizes.

    Microsoft did see a glimmer of hope recently in the U.S. market, where Windows Phone has now surpassed BlackBerry OS. Even so, signs point to slowing smartphone market growth, meaning that the game might end before Microsoft makes much of an impact with Windows Phone. That means emerging markets are the last best hope for Microsoft’s huge investment in mobile.

    A DigiTimes report today shows, though, that Microsoft may have picked up a few emerging market victories lately. The report’s unnamed “industry sources” claim that certain Chinese and Indian smartphone brands have recently begun to embrace Windows Phone. According to the report Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Gionee, Lava, and Karbonn could release Windows Phone devices at some point, including a possible dual OS device.

    This shift towards Windows Phone reportedly happened due to the more entry-level-friendly policies Microsoft has adopted recently. According to DigiTimes the company has lowered the hardware specs for the Windows Phone platform and provided reference designs, making it easier for emerging market manufacturers to embrace the OS. Microsoft has also reportedly eased licensing restrictions for the OS allowing for manufacturers to develop software that might run on top of Windows Phone the way Android is currently used.

  • Windows Phone Leads BlackBerry in Latest Smartphone Numbers

    Holiday season 2013 capped off another record year for tablet shipments, but market watchers are now beginning to see the rapid growth of the smartphone market reach saturation points in established markets. As these mature markets reach their peaks, the market share story is becoming cemented, though not surprising.

    The latest smartphone industry number from market research firm comScore show that Apple is still on top in the U.S. market. Over 41% of U.S. smartphone subscribers (41.6%, to be exact) were using some kind of iPhone from November 2013 to January 2014. Another 26.7% were using a Samsung device and the rest were using LG (6.9%), Motorola (6.4%), HTC (5.4%), or some other brand of smartphone.

    This domination by Apple and Samsung is nothing new, and those companies also dominate the mobile industry throughout the world. What is new in the latest comScore numbers is that Windows Phone has now surpassed BlackBerry in smartphone OS market share.

    The comScore report shows that during the latest three-month period only 3.1% of American smartphones were running a BlackBerry OS. Windows Phone has finally edged out the Canadian company with 3.2% of U.S. smartphone users. Blackberry had still held market share over Windows Phone as of the three month period ending in October 2013 with 3.6% of the smartphone OS market. Windows Phone market share has not increased since that period.

    Google’s Android, of course, still tops the OS market. Over half of U.S. smartphones (51.7%) are running some version of the Android OS. Another 41.6% are running on Apple’s iOS platform.

  • Samsung Offers More Details On The Galaxy S5

    Samsung Offers More Details On The Galaxy S5

    In February, Samsung announced the inevitable Galaxy S5 at Mobile Word Congress in Barcelona. The new flagship device sports the usual upgraded specs and display, but it didn’t look all that different from its predecessor though. Outward appearances aren’t everything, however, and Samsung has the software to back it up.

    In a new overview video, Samsung takes us on a tour of all the new hardware and software additions coming to the Galaxy S5. The main selling point here is quality of life. In other words, Samsung wants to create hardware and services that doesn’t so much push the hardware envelope, but rather improve the quality of its customers’ lives.

    Part of that quality of life commitment comes in the form of a heart rate monitor on the back of the device. This ties into the new series of health apps available on the Galaxy S5 that help users keep track of their exercise routine and heart rate.

    The Galaxy S5 will be out in April on all major carriers.

    Image via Samsung Mobile

  • Ashton Kutcher Is Designing Lenovo Smartphones That Will Launch This Year

    Remember when Lenovo announced that Ashton Kutcher was their new product engineer last October? Well, apparently that was a legitimate title and Kutcher is going to have significant influence on the company’s next product line.

    According to Re/code, Kutcher is in the process of designing a set of special edition smartphones for Lenovo which will launch some time this year.

    “This partnership with Lenovo brings together my love of technology and design that makes your life better, said Kutcher back in October. “I can’t wait to dig in and help Lenovo develop future mobile computing products, starting with the Yoga Tablet.”

    Though it might seem to some that the Ashton Kutcher/Lenovo partnership is a marketing ploy or at best simply Kutcher lending his name–which has considerable sway–to the company’s new products, Lenovo says that’s not the case. According to Lenovo CMO David Roman, Kutcher is really taking a hands-on approach to designing these phones.

    “I know on one level, it sounds corny, but it is real,” Roman told Re/code. “He not only sees himself as an engineer, but he is an engineer. If he sees a problem, he wants to solve it.”

    For Lenovo, this news comes while the company is in the process of acquiring Motorola Mobility from Google. For Kutcher, this comes as he is no doubt planning a wedding. Tech news be damned–Kelso and Jackie are getting married y’all.

    Image via YouTube

  • Smartphone Growth to Slow Significantly in Coming Years

    Since the debut of the first iPhone the smartphone market has been bursting with growth. The entire mobile device industry has grown at an astonishing rate, a trend which looks to continue in the coming years as wearable devices become the norm. The explosive growth of smartphones can’t last forever, though, and market watchers are already seeing signs of growth slowdown in the market.

    Market research firm IDC today released a new report predicting that smartphone market growth will slow to just 6.2% by the year 2018. To compare, IDC’s estimate for year-over-year smartphone industry shipment growth in 2013 was 39.2% with over one billion smartphones shipped worldwide.

    Established markets such as the U.S. will begin to see much slower growth rates even sooner, as smartphone shipment volumes shift to emerging markets such as China. IDC forecasts that the U.S. and Europe could see single-digit growth by as early as this year.

    Meanwhile, the rush to establish brands in emerging markets will drive smartphone prices down, with IDC predicting an average sale price of only $260 by the year 2018. BlackBerry demonstrated the concept just this week with its announcement of the BlackBerry Z3, a mid-range, low-priced smartphone targeted specifically at Indonesia and other emerging markets.

    “In order to reach the untapped demand within emerging markets, carriers and OEMs will need to work together to bring prices down,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager for mobile phones at IDC. “Last year we saw a total of 322.5 million smartphone units ship for under $150 and that number will continue to grow going forward. We’ve already seen numerous smartphone announcements targeting this price band this year, with some as low as $25. Just as the dynamics have changed for overall smartphone growth, so have the dynamics for smartphone pricing in the markets where continued growth is expected. Not all vendors will want to get into this space, but those that do must make deliberate choices about their strategies in order to succeed.”

    Image via Samsung

  • Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 615 Is The World’s First 64-Bit Octa-Core Chipset

    Apple made headlines last year by introducing the first 64-bit mobile chipset in the iPhone 5S and iPad Air. The company said the move to 64-bit would allow for better performance while retaining backwards compatibility with 32-bit apps. Android device manufacturers were a little slower on the draw, but now they’re starting to introduce their own 64-bit chips.

    Qualcomm announced its next 64-bit chipset today with the Snapdragon 615. This particular chip also has the distinction of being the world’s first octa-core 64-bit mobile chip which will allow it to run more applications at once thanks to its large number of cores.

    Alongside the 615, Qualcomm also announced the Snapdragon 610 as its mid-tier quad-core 64-bit SoC. Both chipsets sport Qualcomm’s latest LTE modems which allows for manufacturers to outfit their devices with a single chip that will work across all markets and LTE bands. That alone is a major improvement over previous devices which would sometimes require a different chip for each region due to differences in wireless frequencies.

    Qualcomm notes that both chipsets will also sport the Adreno 405 GPU. The Adreno 400 series has so far only been seen in Qualcomm’s high-tier Snapdragon 800 SoCs. The adoption of the Adreno 400 series in the Snapdragon 615 and 610 ensures that these mid-tier SoCs will support all of the latest mobile graphics technologies while offering better performance than previous Snapdragon 600 series SoCs.

    “Qualcomm Technologies is redefining the user experience for high-end mobile devices by amassing the unparalleled trilogy of an industry-leading LTE modem, 64-bit multicore processing, and superior multimedia,” said Murthy Renduchintala, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and co-president, QCT. “64-bit processing capabilities are now an industry requirement for this tier, and we are meeting our customers’ needs with both octa- and quad-core configurations, as well as bringing our superior Adreno 405 graphics and powerful suite of connectivity technologies to the Snapdragon 600 family of chipsets.”

    So, when we still start seeing devices with these SoCs in them? Qualcomm says that it will begin sampling both the 610 and 615 in the third quarter of this year while the first Snapdragon 615 devices will start shipping in the fourth quarter.

    Image via Qualcomm

  • Thermometers for Smartphones are Here

    Thermometers for Smartphones are Here

    If you’ve ever been in the throes and wondered if it was just a thing or if you actually had a fever, you might have checked your phone’s app store to see if there was a thermometer handy to quell your curiosity. As you already might know, there are apps that call themselves thermometers– but actually aren’t. In the vein of great news, Yahoo tells us that Kinsa, a 2012 startup company, is ready to change that.

    The Harvard Medical School-trained CEO of the company, Inder Singh, promises to bring the Kinsa Smart Thermometer to the public as early as next month. Presales are already over 2,500 at its $19.99 price, and Singh expects prices to soon drop after volume increases. As of now, the thermometer is currently compatible with the iPhone 4S, 5, 5C, 5S and iPod Touch 5. Kinsa has leaked the device to a few folks and companies, and it looks like the response is raving:

    Kinsa keeps it simple–after you download their free app, you simply attach the thermometer through the headphone jack in your smartphone to take temperatures. The only FDA-approved thermometer on the market also helps you locate the nearest doctor, and the company is also working on a feature termed “local health weather” that lets you know of any conditions spreading around your area via other user’s input, the CDC and social media.

    Although the thermometer device is specifically designed for parents and their children, it certainly benefits anyone. The company ran a “Freebie Friday” special yesterday; keep up with any possible upcoming specials by following Kinsa’s Twitter account.

    Image via Twitter

  • Samsung Teases The Galaxy S 5 Ahead Of Reveal

    Samsung Teases The Galaxy S 5 Ahead Of Reveal

    We all know that Samsung will be unveiling the Galaxy S 5 on Monday. Samsung knows that we know, and has been hyping up the device without actually sharing real information on it. The latest tease is a continuation of its hype train as it continues to associate its latest flagship device with the finer things in life.

    In the latest “trailer” for the upcoming Galaxy S 5, Samsung associates its device with a number of buzzwords, like explorer, curiosity, create, surprise, fun and dad. All of these are then taken to the fifth power which seems to indicate that the Galaxy S 5 might actually have a superscript 5 instead of the usual number.

    In other words, Samsung may be going the obnoxious route with its latest flagship device’s name – Galaxy S5. Trust me, it’s more obnoxious to format superscript than you might think.

    Anyway, check out Samsung’s latest teaser to get a taste of all the things they’re taking to the fifth power with their latest device:

    While teaser videos are nice, we still don’t know anything about the actual specs of the device. According to Digital Trends, Samsung’s latest flagship may come in two flavors – standard and prime. Both devices will share a 5.2-inch display, but that’s where the similarities end. The standard will sport a 1080p display powered by a Snapdragon 800 CPU and 2GB of RAM. The Prime will up the resolution to 2560×1440, sport a Exynos 5 Octa CPU and upgrade the RAM to 3GB.

    The Samsung Galaxy S5 will be unveiled on February 24 at Samsung’s event in Barcelona. We can only hope that they actually don’t go with the superscript in the name.

    Image via Samsung Mobile/YouTube

  • T-Mobile’s Jump Being Changed For The Better [Report]

    T-Mobile’s Jump Being Changed For The Better [Report]

    In its quest to shake up the mobile industry, T-Mobile revealed Jump last year as a way to allow consumers to upgrade their devices twice a year. It also instigated a six month waiting period between signing up and being able to upgrade. All of that may be gone by next week.

    TmoNews reports that T-Mobile will be introducing a new Jump program on February 23 that will remove pretty much all of the restrictions found in the original. No more will you have to wait six months before signing up and upgrading. There will be no more limits on how often you can upgrade. Tablets will also be added as eligible devices.

    So, how will the financials of all this work? When upgrading, you will bring in your old phone and trade it in. Upon doing so, T-Mobile will offer you some trade-in credit for your old device. If the payments you’ve made on the phone combined with the trade-in credit meet or exceed 50 percent of the original purchase price, T-Mobile will take care of the remaining cost of the phone. From there, you’re free to upgrade to the latest and greatest device.

    What about current Jump customers? Will they still get this deal? The leaked memo states that current Jump customers will get all the features found in the new Jump if they’ve been a member of the old program for six months or more. We can assume that recent signups for Jump will have to wait six months before being transferred to the new plan, but we’ll likely find out more on this next week when it’s announced.

    It will be interesting to see if T-Mobile announces anything else at its upcoming press event on February 23. The carrier seems to not be finished with shaking up the wireless industry for the better and we’re interested to what it does next.

    In the meantime, enjoy these silly Valentine’s Day breakup macros T-Mobile CEO John Legere has been sharing all morning:

    Image via TMobile/YouTube

  • LG Announces The G Pro 2, Will Be Shown At MWC

    Last year, LG introduced the world to the G Pro – a smartphone that attempted to take on the Galaxy Note. Now LG is back with a successor featuring improved hardware, software, and some silly additions from the LG G2.

    LG announced this morning that the G Pro 2 is indeed real and that it will make its public debut at Mobile World Congress later this month. Stylistically speaking, the G Pro 2 is very similar to the original with a massive screen-to-frame ratio, but with the addition of the G2’s silly backplate buttons.

    As for specs, the G Pro 2 is a considerable upgrade from last year’s model. The G Pro 2 features a 5.9-inch 1080p display, a Snapdragon 800 CPU, 3GB of RAM, a 13MP rear-facing camera capable of capturing 4K video footage and a 3200mAh battery. As expected, the device will ship with Android 4.4.

    Interestingly enough, LG will be introducing a new feature called Knock Code with the G Pro 2. As its name implies, users will be able to turn on and unlock their devices using one of “86,367 ‘knock’ combinations.” In other words, you’ll finally be able to use that secret knock from third grade again when unlocking your phone.

    “Knock Code is an example of LG bringing simpler, more convenient solutions to consumers’ mobile lives,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “Whereas in the early years of smartphones it was a contest to see how many features could be stuffed into the phones, our researchers took a long, hard look at how consumers were really using their devices in their daily lives and included just the most useful UX features. We think customers will agree.”

    The LG G Pro 2 is currently only announced for South Korea at this time, but it will make its way to other markets at some point this year. If you want to see it up close, LG will be showing it off at Mobile World Congress later this month.

    Image via LG

  • Smartphones Outsold Feature Phones Last Year

    Though feature phones have passed out of style in western markets, the low-cost devices are still very popular in many parts of the world. Even that is set to change in the near future, however, as consumers in emerging markets flock to low-end smartphones priced to compete with feature phones.

    Market research firm Gartner this week issued a report showing that smartphone sales topped those of feature phones for the first year ever. The firm estimates that 968 million smartphones were sold (to customers) during 2013. This number represents an over 42% increase from smartphone sales in 2012 and accounts for nearly 54% of all mobile phone sales last year.

    Though the smartphone market is still growing significantly, Gartner, like other analysts, sees the market’s growth slowing. This is largely due to market saturation in established markets such as the U.S. and Europe. Much of the smartphone market’s growth over the next few years is predicted to come from emerging markets such as China, Brazil, and India.

    Another factor could be that modern smartphones are simply good enough to perform all the tasks consumers might want, slowing the rapid upgrade cycles seen over previous years.

    “Mature markets face limited growth potential as the markets are saturated with smartphone sales, leaving little room for growth with declining feature phone market and a longer replacement cycle,” said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Lack of compelling hardware innovation has further exacerbated replacement cycles for high-end smartphones in 2013 because consumers don’t find enough reasons to upgrade.”

    Image via Nokia

  • SanDisk Makes Mobile Data Management More Convenient

    SanDisk Makes Mobile Data Management More Convenient

    Generally speaking, nobody is ever going to say it’s hard to move content between a smartphone and a PC. Every mobile device comes with a USB cable that can be plugged into your PC for easy transfer. While it may be easy, it can sometimes be inconvenient thanks to the USB cable being plugged into a wall outlet halfway across the room. For those moments, SanDisk is here with a convenient solution.

    SanDisk announced today that it wants to make file transfers between mobile device and PCs more convenient with the SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive. The little flash drive features a USB 2.0 connector on one end and a micro-USB on the other. It comes in sizes ranging from 16 to 64GB and is compatible with all mobile devices that support USB on-the-go.

    “The SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive provides a simple, convenient way to offload and backup files from smartphones and tablets – with the peace of mind that comes with the trusted SanDisk brand,” said Dinesh Bahal, vice president, product marketing, SanDisk. “This new drive integrates with SanDisk’s Memory Zone app to make freeing up space on mobile devices simpler than ever, improving the user experience.”

    Speaking of Memory Zone, SanDisk’s Android app allows you to access your smartphone’s internal and SD-card based memory for easy transfer and removal. Obviously, it will also support the Ultra Dual USB Drive when it comes to moving content from your phone to SanDisk’s newest flash drive.

    The SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive is now available in price ranges from $19.99 to $49.99.

    Image via SanDisk/Business Wire

  • Samsung Teases Galaxy S 5 Features Ahead Of MWC

    Samsung Teases Galaxy S 5 Features Ahead Of MWC

    Samsung has traditionally showcased its latest Galaxy S smartphones at its own events instead of revealing them at industry events like Mobile World Congress. If a teaser from the company is any indication, that may be changing this year.

    This morning, Samsung shared a teaser image via its official Twitter account that shows what some of the icons on the Galaxy S 5 may look like. These icons also give us hints in regards to what kind of features we may see on Samsung’s latest flagship device. Some of the features, like Social and Privacy, are no brainers, but it’s interesting to see Fitness, Life, Outdoor and Curiosity make the list as well.

    At this point, we don’t know what a lot of these features correlate to, but it’s always fun to speculate. For Fitness, Samsung could be more deeply integrating the Galaxy Gear into the Galaxy S 5 to better track your exercise and fitness goals. As for Life, it could mean that Samsung could be getting a head start in Quality of Life devices that are expected to hit the market in the coming years.

    While Samsung would have you wait until later this month to learn more, the ever reliable @evleaks has a few more details on what me may be able to expect from the Galaxy S 5. Two tweets from late January indicate that the S 5 may have a fingerprint reader as well as software that renders maps in 3D.

    It’s also been revealed by @evleaks that the Galaxy S 5 will get a completely revamped UI that looks a lot like Windows Phone 8’s Metro UI.

    Here’s another look at the UI from early January:

    While this all certainly looks like a lot, we still know next to nothing about Samsung’s latest flagship device. Compared to the Galaxy S 4, it’s kind of surprising that Samsung has been able to keep so much a secret until now. We’ll likely hear more about the device, however, as we approach its unveiling. We always do.

    Image via Samsung Mobile/Twitter