SmartPhone News

The Apple Watch was unveiled in September, 2014 during Apple’s annual iPhone event. Set for a release date in spring 2015, we later learned via Tim Cook that it would be coming in April of 2015 and will start at $349.

While we know that the watch will start at $349, there is very little information about how much actual versions will cost – with some predicting that the gold Apple Watch could sell for $10,000 or more.

There was no mention of battery life when Apple announced the watch in September and little has changed on that front. Rumors suggest that it will last “about a day”, but its impossible to know for sure.

So there you have it, your one stop article for getting all the up-to-date news and rumors about the Apple Watch. Remember that the Apple Watch is not a standalone device and will require an iPhone to function (sorry Android users).

The first image is the front of the device which, for lack of better words, nearly looks to be a Galaxy S7-mini. Samsung could install a 5.8-inch RBG AMOLED screen on the Note 6, packing the same pixel density. This new mobile, which is set to be called Samsung Galaxy S7 Active, sports a somehow surprising camouflage paintjob for its back cover.

We have been hearing about Samsung's new Galaxy C series for quite some time now.

After launching its flagship smartphones the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge earlier this year, Samsung is now preparing to unveil the Galaxy C series as well. The phone is supposed to have an IP rating of IP68, which means that the Galaxy S7 Active would be dust-proof and waterproof for up to 30 minutes in up to one meter deep water, Android Authority reported. Samsung already offers similar security options, but the Galaxy Note 6 could put those settings right in the S Note app for even quicker access.

The Galaxy C5 will not come in one, but in two variants of default storage space.

As for the devices that will be arriving in the lineup, rumors indicate they will be the Galaxy C5 and also the Galaxy C7.

Unfortunately, Samsung has yet to make any comment regarding this newly-discovered Samsung Galaxy S7 variant.

Samsung has released the Android Marshmallow update for the Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet, this is the device with the model number SM-T550.

As for the Galaxy J5, it has been released in the mentioned three countries with a 5.2 inch HD display, 2 GB of RAM, a quad core Snapdragon chipset and a 13 MP camera.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5features a retina and fingerprint scanner, and the Note 6 is rumored to feature the same.

The Korean tech company has shipped over 10 million units of Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge in March, which is why it posted a solid first month of sales. A leaked image obtained by Android Community reveals that the upcoming phone would be the size of a tablet when it is unfolded.

Will they kill the 3.5 mm headphone jack or won’t they? Apple’s iPhone 7 and the leaks around the device are causing some confusion. While most of the earlier rumours claimed the headphone jack will be gone in iPhone 7 series, a new set of leaked images indicate something else.

Apple Insider has put out a report quoting French website Nowhereelse that the headphone jack and current Lightning charger are here to stay.

Nowhere else.fr put out pictures of a new part for the iPhone 7, which was spotted on Chinese social media website Weibo. Based on the pictures, the layout looks very similar to the cable for the iPhone 6s, and yes the 3.5 headphone jack is there.

The report contradicts all rumours and leaks that have come out so far, which claimed that Apple was getting rid of the 3.5 mm headphone jack. Some reports also say that the company is working on Bluetooth supported EarPods. Others hinted at new wireless Beats headphones, which could be sold separately.

Recently design schematics of an ‘iPhone 7 Pro’ were published in Japanese Magazine Mac Fan, which claimed that this ‘Pro’ phone will come with dual-lens iSight camera, and no headphone jack. Instead there will be a Smart Connector where battery cases, other docks can be plugged in, claimed the report. The ‘Smart Connector’ photos also showed three dots at the back of the iPhone 7 Pro.

Like all Apple rumours, we’ll have to take these with a pinch of salt. Apple ditching the 3.5 mm headphone jack might be worrying for some of us who rely on regular headphones, but the company is known for technological leaps, and forcing users to give up their old and much loved accessories.

 

 Few vendors near his rural hometown sold upscale phones, the 19-year-old California resident said. Those that did made the customer pay the full price for the phone up front. A Galaxy S6 in Juan's hometown would have cost him 6,000-7,000 quetzales (US$788-919)--a huge sum in a country where gross national income (GNI) is only US$3,410 per year.

What's more surprising, though, is that when he lived in Guatemala, Alvarado didn't even own a simple flip phone. Why bother? Most people back home, he said, didn't have phones either.

As the mobile sector continues to contract, the question of how companies can reach customers like Alvarado's Guatemalan neighbors becomes more pressing. Most new smartphone users in the next five years will come from emerging markets. For example, an estimated 75% of new mobile subscriptions in the first quarter of 2015 came from the Asia-Pacific region and Africa.

Yet customers in these markets don't have the resources to buy what Sony, Apple, and other big smartphone manufacturers are selling. And the alternatives don't really measure up, whatever Silicon Valley tech evangelists may say.

It is true that prices are dropping, especially in emerging markets, due to an influx of cheap Android smartphones from Chinese manufacturers. But a $30 smartphone, like many feature phones, provides a very limited internet experience--which those aforementioned evangelists would know, if only they'd put down their iPhone 6s to try one. I did, when I was a program manager at Facebook working to expand penetration of its mobile app into emerging markets. And I discovered a shocking fact: on cheap smartphones the Facebook app, which is popular even among rural farmers in Myanmar, barely works at all.

The irony is that even if Facebook's many Internet.org connectivity initiatives succeed, it won't get many people access to Facebook--unless they get access to better devices, too. It's a first-world problem.

Hurdles to mobile access exist even in developed countries. In the US, lower income customers tend to buy no-contract prepaid phones; this option denies them access to the carrier subsidies that cheapen devices for buyers who can afford to commit to two-year contracts. Instead, lower income customers have to pay the full price of the device up front--a consideration that pushes them towards cheaper devices that don't offer a full experience.

"It's a huge struggle for our customers," said Alex Reyes, whose company owns 10 prepaid phone stores in California. And that struggle can have a dramatic impact on citizens' ability to access the internet. About one in 10 Americans have no high-speed internet access beyond their phone's data plan.

Many vendors and carriers, including Verizon, AT&T, and Apple, offer some form of installment plan, but they're only accessible to customers with strong credit. Customers like Reyes', who don't have credit histories, are all too often left in the cold.

Alvarado in this case was lucky. In California, he was able to pay for a Galaxy S6 with an installment plan despite his lack of credit history. Now he has full access to apps like Snapchat, Facebook, and WhatsApp, which he uses to keep in touch with friends and family from home.

"Devices, not data, are the answer"

Conversations about widening internet access for the underprivileged tend to focus on the cost of data, not devices. For instance, Facebook's controversial Free Basics service, which lets smartphone users access "essential" websites without data charges (or adequate privacy protections, according to many critics), has a stated aim of bringing more people online. The reasoning seems to be that if data is cheap, the devices to access it will follow.

But in most of the world, as noted by many, the cost of devices is the problem.

About three-quarters of the world's offline population is low-income, rural, and elderly. For these people, smartphones are as far out of reach as other necessities of modern life. That's particularly true of the more expensive devices needed to take full advantage of the internet in 2016. Companies need to innovate less around expanding networks and more around getting adequate devices into the hands of those who need them, whether through widening access to installment plans and carrier subsidies or through other, as yet undiscovered means.

What those who take the internet for granted don't appreciate is that for those in developing countries, smartphones can be a gateway to economic empowerment. They help vendors streamline their retail businesses with mobile payment systems and farmers to research the best fertilizers and crops for their climate. They can also help the unbanked establish their creditworthiness and gain access to loans. And then there are the priceless intangibles, like helping immigrants like Juan keep in touch with their families back home.

If we can smooth the road for the next one billion, it will pay enormous dividends to the global community as a whole.

*Name has been changed to protect privacy.

The shipment delays for the highly anticipated virtual reality (VR) headsets from Oculus and HTC have led to an escalated selling price on eBay for these products. The prices now range between $1,000 and $2,000.

This is a sharp jump from Facebook's $600 Oculus Rift and the HTC's $800 Vive, which means that you just might be tempted to sell yours if it were a gift and double your profits through eBay.

"We're working as fast as we can to get Rifts to customers who pre-ordered," stated a recent Oculus blogpost.

The preorders that opened on January 6 for the Facebook products shipped on March 28. The makers attributed this delay to "an unexpected component shortage," which was not accompanied by any further explanation. In an effort to sweeten the deal, the company has declared free shipment for all the delayed headsets, while the new Oculus VR headset orders are supposed to ship out in July.

Meanwhile, the delay in HTC Vive is not because of any mysterious shortage of headsets, but things like disruption in payment processing and communication. Some Vive delays also pertained to certain banks perceiving the product being a potentially fraudulent charge on the credit cards, which HTC is striving to rectify. The company has also stated that it is handling its hot market products on a first-come-first-serve basis in different countries.

HTC claims to have stuck to its original date of April 5 for starting shipment. However, one shouldn't really expect their April 1 preorder to arrive before the end of the month, provided HTC has given you the green signal for an April delivery.

But none of the reasons really explain the massive delay the first-day preorders are facing. People who have ordered within 15 minutes of the rollout are still yet to receive their shipments. On top of that, it is rumored that people who have ordered an Oculus Rift bundle with a gaming PC (not necessarily preorders) will be prioritized over those waiting for their VR headsets for months.

While the two players deal with their delivery issues, you can, in the meatime, head over to eBay to take a closer look at Oculus Rift and HTC Vive along with their escalated prices.

Photo: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung | Flickr

Samsung has offered both wireless charging standards in its Galaxy S phones for the last two years, and claims to have managed wireless speeds that are faster than some company's walled charger methods - so perhaps it's high time HTC joined the party too.

This device, which runs Android Marshmallow and is powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor, follows similar design lines as its predecessors, but comes with a streamlined, simplistic approach in terms of messaging and user experience.

The body of the HTC 10 is carved out of a single piece of aluminum and its 5.2-inch curved-edge Gorilla Glass display blends directly into the body.

Earlier this morning, HTC announced its new smartphone, the HTC 10, revealing that the Android device will have the ability to wirelessly play audio through devices and speakers that support streaming via Apple's AirPlay feature (via SlashGear).

The HTC 10 is available for pre-order now starting at $700.

As for the cameras, the HTC 10 packs in 12MP (UltraPixel) unit as the primary that features an f/1.8 aperture, laser AF and OIS along with a dual LED flash. When you finally decide to charge it, you'll be able to get it back up and running quickly through the support of Quick Charge 3.0 through its USB Type-C port. Cameras come in the form of a 12-megapixel rear camera which is neatly coupled with a 5-megapixel front-facing option. That model comes with 32GB of built-in storage (you can add more with a microSD card) and a $699 price tag.

For starters the HTC 10 will have a new BoomSound technology; HTC skipped its BoomSound speakers with the previous flagship device, the One A9.

You'll notice that throughout this article we've referred to the next HTC flagship as the HTC 10. It could well be called the HTC One M10, but we'll have to wait and see. Like most devices these days, rumours were rife about the spec and it seems they were on the money for the most part.

 

The new HTC 10 is one of the most exciting new smartphones to hit stores in the next month. We already know that Verizon will start taking pre-orders on April 29, and they claim they will be the first US carrier to offer the device for sale in early May. Verizon will also offer a free ‘test drive’ in any of the Verizon Wireless stores on April 29 – get a real, hands-on look at the HTC 10 with their exclusive in-store preview.

Not only will you get a full preview of the HTC 10, but Verizon is also offering a few bonus promos during this period. For starters, Verizon just did away with their up to $650 promo to reimburse new customers switching from another carrier. However, if you switch to Verizon from another carrier and trade-in your old phone, you can get up to $650 to pay off your old phone or contract. When you purchase an HTC 10 on a Verizon plan, you will get three months of free HBO – catch the season premieres of Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, Veep and more. You can also get this promo if you switch to Verizon, upgrade to a new phone or activate a new line. With HBO NOW, you can stream all of the great programs HBO offers directly to your mobile devices. If you trade-in your old phone, Verizon will immediately apply that value toward your HTC 10 purchase.

The new HTC 10 comes with an all-new metal body that looks like it was chiseled from a solid block of metal. It features a 5.2-inch QHD LCD display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels and 565 pixels-per-inch (PPI). The brains come from a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor and an Adreno 530 GPU that will handle any graphics you can throw at it. It packs 4GB of DDR4 RAM and 32GB of internal memory that is expandable via a microSD card. The power comes from a 3000mAh non-removable battery that offers Quick Charge 3.0. It is running HTC Sense UI over the top of Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.

The HTC 10 does offer a fingerprint sensor in sort of a ‘home’ button position that can be used to authorize mobile payments. HTC did an excellent job in the camera area by using a 12MP UltrPixel primary camera and they even included OIS in the front-facing camera. The traditional BoomSound is changed with a woofer on the bottom of the device and the earpiece acting as the midrange and tweeter. It may be worth stopping by Verizon and take them up on a HTC 10 ‘test-drive.’