Take a Look at Sony Xperia Z4 Dual SIM’s UI Design

In recent times we told you Sony was expected to lose money this year on a net basis for the sixth time in the last seven years.

To do some damage control, the company is looking to shift its focus to PlayStation and the camera sensor division. At least for the next three years, Sony will be taking a different direction in the hopes of increasing operating profit by 2500% over the period. But this doesn't mean we won’t see any new Sony flagship throughout this time. As we previously told you, the company plans to unveil its next-gen Xperia Z4 handset sometimes this summer, thus skipping the major MWC 2015 event.

This is how Lollipop looks on the Sony Xperia Z4

As the rumor mill has indicated, the Xperia Z4 will arrive in single SIM and dual SIM versions. Now, the folks at Xperia Blog have spotted a bunch of screenshots showcasing the dual SIM’s variant UI. As you can see for yourself in the gallery, we just got a confirmation that the Xperia Z4 will run on a MSM8994 chipset (aka Snapdragon 810) and will run Android 5.0.2 out of the box. Although Android 5.1 should be out by summer. Anyway, the interface has the distinctive Material Design feel even if Sony has made a few modifications of its own.

Until now, Sony had a flagship refresh cycle of about 6 months. The original Xperia Z was introduced in late 2013, while the Xperia Z2 made an appearance in early 2014. In late 2014, we saw the Xperia Z3 arrive. But given that Sony’s plan is to shift focus away from its smartphone business, it does make sense the Xperia Z4 won’t come exactly after 6 months since the release of the predecessor.

Rumored Sony Xperia Z4 specs

The Sony Xperia Z4 is expected to arrive donning a 5.2-inch display with 1080p or QHD display, the rumor mill is quite ambivalent about this aspect. As spotted in the screenshots, the handset is fitted with a Snapdragon 810 chip in combination with 3GB of RAM and probably at least 64GB of internal storage. The phone should also enjoy a 21MP camera, waterproof body and stereo speakers. Sony is also reportedly planning to launch a host of other devices including the Xperia Z4 Compact, Z4 Ultra and Z4 Tablet (which is apparently going to bundle 6GB of RAM).

Sony Xperia Z4 settings

Sony Xperia Z4, About phone

Sony Xperia Z4, phone dial

Sony Xperia Z4 , watch app
Images credits to Digi-Wo

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Meizu MX5 Rumors: 5.5-Inch 2K Display, MediaTek CPU and Crazy Nokia-Made 41MP Camera

Earlier today we just showed you a concept image of Meizu’s upcoming flagship, the MX5. Since the MX4 was launched back in September, we dare say we have quite a few months ahead before seeing the MX5 make a debut into the wild.

In all possibility the handset will probably launch somewhere in Q4 2015, but even so Chinese website MyDrivers has apparently managed to get its hands on the preliminary specs of the upcoming Meizu handset. According to the leak, the Meizu MX5 will arrive with a 5.5-inch QHD display (2560 x 1440 pixel resolution and bizarre 5:3 aspect ratio) and a fingerprint scanner. It’s unclear at the moment whether Meizu will continue to position the scanner on the back of the device, although a new device might bring a new design arrangement into the picture.

The Meizu MX5 has the chance to be great

We’re also told the device will be powered by a MediaTek chip, although the report doesn’t mention which one we should expect. We could speculate that Meizu will end up using the MT6795 platform which bundles some impressive capabilities, like the ability to shoot super slow-motion 1080p video at 480fps. The handset will be among those monsters which will pack a hefty 4GB of RAM, so it should run pretty swiftly. Another interesting piece of information is that the handset will be accompanied by a colossal 41MP camera with a Nokia PureView sensor running the shots. This part sounds a little wild, but at some point rumors emerged saying Nokia and Meizu are looking to partner up for the development of a handset, although the tidbit later proved to be a fake one.

On top of that, consider that the MX4 and MX4 Pro are both loaded with a 21MP Sony IMX220 camera, so Meizu will have to almost double the capacity with the next-gen flagship. Will it be able to do that? It remains to be seen. In related news, the Chinese device maker is known to have taken a partnership with major Asian retailer Alibaba which will develop an OS for its handsets. Meizu is also expected to be an important presence at MWC 2015 in Barcelona, where it will launch an Ubuntu-powered smartphone.

Meizu MX5 concept
Image credits to Phone Concept

Meizu MX4
Image credits to UnBox

Nokia Lumia 1020 has a 41MP camera
Image credits to Economic Times

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HTC One M9 Gets Listed with Retailer, Shows Specs and Price

We’re just a few days away from one of the tech world’s biggest gathering, MWC 2015, which will be take place in Barcelona.

HTC is going to be one of the major brand vendors coming at the event with one purpose in mind: to unveil its latest flagship, the One M9. Many details have popped up online regarding the HTC One M9, even if they don’t all agree with each other. Anyway, not so long ago the first real-life images of the HTC One M9 showed up on the web, showing an awful resemblance to the current One M8.

The HTC One M9 shows up on website

Well, this week German retailer CyberPort has listed the upcoming flagship, thus revealing a bunch of images showcasing the model plus specs. Since then the mentions have been removed, but luckily the folks over at Mobile Geeks have managed to retain an overview of the listings before they were taken down. According to this information, HTC will be offering the flagship in either gunmetal gray or gold or silver. As for specs, we are shown the handset will boast a 5-inch display with 1080p, exactly like the One M8. Hopefully, for those of you who crave a 2K display smartphone in your life, HTC will also roll out the One M9 Plus to appease more demanding customers.

Going back to the One M9, the processor pumping life into the handset is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, just like in the case of the LG G Flex 2 and Xiaomi Mi Note Pro. The smartphone bundles 3GB of RAM (maybe the Plus version will take things further to 4GB of RAM), 32GB inbuilt storage which is expandable to 128GB via microSD card. In the photography department, we have a primary 20MP sensor with optical image stabilization and dual LED and dual color flash, while on the back lives a 4.0 Ultrapixel camera. The One M9 is expected to be a tad lighter than its predecessor coming in at 157 g / 0.28 inches but also a bit thicker at 9.61 mm / 0.37 inches due to its larger 2,900 mAh battery.

Last but not least, it appears the HTC One M9 will go on sale for a hefty price of €749 / $850 which might as well indicate that the handset will sell for $750 / €660 when it arrives on US grounds.

HTC One M9
Images credits to Mobile Geeks

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Gemalto SIM Card Maker Promises to Investigate Claims of NSA Hacking

It looks like the Gemalto, the biggest mobile chip maker in the word, has been the victim of a hack by N.S.A. and British spy agencies back in 2010.

The information has been reported by investigative online publication The Intercept and comes directly from whistleblower Edward Snowden. Following the report that claims NSA and GCHQ spy agencies manage to hack Gemalto for millions of SIM card encryption keys since 2010, the company issued an official statement: “We cannot at this early stage verify the findings of the publication and had no prior knowledge that these agencies were conducting this operation.”

The company further states that the the Gemalto is taking the “publication very seriously and will devote all resources necessary to fully investigate and understand the scope of such sophisticated techniques.” How long this will take and whether or not Gemalto will make the results known is unclear, but the report published last week seriously affected the company. Immediately after The Intercept's news about the hack went online, Gemalto's shares dropped by 7.5% on Friday afternoon. We'll be keeping an eye out for any additional details on this matter and will continue to report on the results of the investigation, so stay tuned for more info.

SIM cards

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Encased Huawei P8 Leaks in Live Pictures Ahead of April Announcement

Chinese handset maker Huawei is one of the biggest smartphone makers in the world, especially thanks to its sales in the Mainland. Although the company is not present in several important markets, the sales in China brings Huawei a big chunk of its profits.

The next high-end smartphone Huawei plans to launch in Q2 2015 is P8, the sequel to Huawei P7. However, if you expect to see the Huawei P8 at this year Mobile World Congress trade fair, then you might be disappointed to hear the smartphone won't be officially unveiled until April. This means that there are still two months until the P8 will be officially announced during a dedicated event confirmed for April 15. The first details on Huawei P8 leaked a few weeks ago when a prototype unit has been tested in AnTuTu and the specs leaked online.

Now Italian blog site AndroidHDBlog has published the first live pictures of the Huawei P8, though the smartphone is encased in a special case with which most of these prototypes are coming to hide their design. Still, we have noticed the Huawei P8 will come with microUSB and 3.5mm ports, as well as stereo speakers that seem to have been placed on the bottom side of the smartphone.

A Lite variant will be launched as well

Other specs of the P8, which might or might not be confirmed by Huawei when the device goes official, including the company's proprietary 2GHz octa-core Kirin 930 processor, as well as 3GB of RAM. The smartphone is also expected to pack 64GB of internal memory, but there might not be microSD card slot included in the P8. On the back, Huawei P8 will pack a 13-megapixel photo snapper, while in the front there will be an 8-megapixel camera for selfies and video calls. Huawei stated numerous times that it will not launch smartphones with 2K displays, which is why we expect the P8 to feature a 5.2-inch capacitive touchscreen display that supports full HD (1080p) resolution.

Obviously, the smartphone will be powered by Android 5.0 Lollipop and Huawei is expected to launch a lite version of the P8, but more details will certainly be revealed on April 15.

Encased Huawei P8
Image credits to AndroidHDBlog

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