Did the Microsoft Lumia 940XL Just Get Certified in Indonesia

For a while now we have seen a new device from Microsoft making it's round on benchmark sites with the model number RM-1106.  Now it seems that there is another device the RM-1104 has popped up in Indonesia, where it has passed certification, a new report confirms.

This device is believed to be the Microsoft Lumia 940XL.  Sadly there is very little new information to gleam from this report.  What type of specs could we be looking at?

• 5.2-inch display on the 940
•  5.7-inch display on the 940XL
• hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor
• 20-megapixel PureView camera
• 5-megapixel camera on the front
• 3D user interaction software
• iris scanner
• Running the new Windows 10 OS

These devices are not expected to come out till fall and there will no Windows flagship devices over the summer.  While Microsoft is clearly headed in the direction they continue not to go there fast enough to keep pace with Google.

VIA

 

Sony Seeks Chinese Expansion for Imaging Tech

Sony’s success in image sensors has been well documented recently, the company holds over 40% of the market and supplies camera tech to many of its smartphone rivals. Not many in China though, something the Japanese giant is hoping to change as it continues to shift the focus of its business to imaging technology and away from hardware.

China is arguably the most important smartphone market right now, home to a mature economy but still an emerging market of sorts. Like other companies (for different reasons), Sony is looking to tap into China. At the moment the company provides components for Xiaomi’s high end handset cameras, but Sony wants to branch to other major Chinese brands like Lenovo, ZTE, and Meizu, and provide for their portfolios.

Tomoyuki Suzuki, chief of Sony's device solutions business, said that the company is going to increase sales of imaging tech to 50 billion yen (around $4 billion USD) during 2015. He added that the company will now be looking to increase partnerships with Chinese smartphone manufacturers to use Sony's image tech.

ASUS Sells 1.5 Million Smartphones in May

ASUS has never been amongst the top smartphone brands, but the ZenFone range is helping the company to make the leap to that level. The interesting, affordable, and admired ZenFone 2 has helped ASUS make money from its smartphone division during May, with 1.5 million units sold throughout the month. The Taiwanese giant says that in June is plans to sell a further 2 million handsets and turn a profit once more.

May saw the ZenFone 2 launch in the United States, surely a boost to ASUS’ sales, while the 4GB RAM, 1080p version also arrived in global markets. The company had said earlier in the year that it would sell some 30 million units during 2015, putting it among the top 10 manufacturers. However, after a slow April ASUS lowered expectations to 25 million, although after an impressive May and strong estimates for June, perhaps the company will be able to best its new sales predictions.

Facebook Lite is Coming Soon

Facebook has just announced a new version of Facebook that is meant to use less data and work in more countries where the cell service is well.....kinda slow.  This is called Facebook Lite. This is an Android app and is only coming to emerging cell phone markets for now.  You can check out the full presser below.

Today we’re introducing Facebook Lite, a new version of Facebook for Android that uses less data and works well across all network conditions.

More than a billion people around the world access Facebook from a range of mobile devices on varying networks. In many areas, networks can be slow and not able to support all the functionality found in Facebook for Android. Facebook Lite was built for these situations, giving people a reliable Facebook experience when bandwidth is at a minimum.

Facebook Lite is less than 1MB so it is fast to install and quick to load. It includes Facebook’s core experiences like News Feed, status updates, photos, notifications and more.

Starting today, we are rolling out Facebook Lite in countries across Asia, and over the coming weeks Facebook Lite will be available in parts of Latin America, Africa and Europe.

HTC One ME Announced

HTC's comeback started with only one device the HTC One M7 and while they where trying to keep afloat that's was pretty much all they had to offer.  However now that they are solidly making a profit and not going anywhere choices abound.  The latest offering is the HTC One ME...how is it different then the other One devices?  Lets find out.

Spec wise you are looking at:

• 64-bit 2.2 GHz octa-core chip
• fingerprint sensor (on the front)
• BoomSound speakers
• 3GB of RAM
• 5.2-inch quad HD display
• 20MP 4K-capable camera
• 4MP front-facer
• 3GB of RAM
• 32GB
• microSD-expandable storage
• 2,840 mAh battery
• Dual Sim
• Helio X10 processor

This device will come in three colors meteor grey, gold sepia, and rose gold.  We don't know a price on this device quite yet but since it's expected to be only for the Asian markets if you can get your hands one it would be on Ebay where the sky's the limit on price.

VIA

Huawei’s Honor 7 is Shaping Up to be a Bargain

Huawei is getting ready to introduce the Honor 7 at a press event to be held on June 8th, and the handset is ready to go after passing through TENAA (China’s electronics regulatory body). That certification has revealed the specs for the metal clad mid-range device, and some of them are surprising (in a good way) considering its humble price point.

For a start, the Honor 7 will get a fingerprint scanner, which you can actually see in the photo above. It will also support TD-LTE, FDD-LTE, TD-SCDMA, WCDMA, CDMA2000, CDMA 1X and GSM connectivity, and have a version with 64GB storage and 4GB of RAM. There will also be another variant with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.

In other aspects the Huawei Honor 7 will have a Full HD 1080p screen (5-inch), a Kirin 935 chip, a 3280mAh battery, a 13 megapixel rear camera, and micro SD card support. For a mid-range device, this is solid stuff, especially when the handset is expected to cost $322.

T-Mobile Updating Xperia Z3 to Android 5.0 Lollipop

T-Mobile has confirmed that it is updating its Sony Xperia Z3 to Android 5.0 Lollipop, starting tomorrow (midnight). It is good news for Xperia Z3 users in the United States as T-Mobile is the only carrier to offer Sony’s former flagship (recently replaced by the Xperia Z4 and Z3+).

At under one year old, the Xperia Z3 was always going to get Android 5.0 Lollipop eventually with T-Mobile, but the fourth largest carrier in the United States has been a little slow issuing the upgrade. Indeed, many other global versions of the handset received their update back in mid-March. The Magenta network has been testing Android 5.0 since mid-May and is now ready to update.

Software Update: @TMobile #Z3 - #Lollipop + Band 12 support! Should start after Midnight Pacific ?Des http://pic.twitter.com/766pvQpKsq
— Des (@askdes) June 2, 2015

As is normal, the update with be rolling out OTA, but it will be arriving in stages so you may have to wait a few days from the download notification. You can check out the availability manually by heading to Settings > About Phone > Software Update.