LG starts rolling out G Flex in global markets.

   LG has announced that they will start rolling out their innovative G Flex smartphone globally starting this month. The phone will initially be available in key Asian markets and then in other regions around the world.

   In Singapore, you will be able to pre-order the G Flex starting December 8 whereas those in Hong Kong will be able to get their hands on it on December 13 through major carriers and retailers.
LG G Flex is the first phone with a flexible Plastic OLED (P-OLED) display that not only has a slight curve but can also be bent to some extent. It also has a unique self-healing back that hides minor scratches after some time. Inside, it has the same basic hardware as the LG G2 but with an even bigger 3,500 mAh battery despite the curvature.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 benchmark reveals 2K screen.

   While the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is busy tending to its flagship duties for Samsung, the heir to the Galaxy S4 is making headlines steadily building up the hype.
The latest rumors concern its body and some of its specs. According to EMSOne, a Japanese-based website, ODM Catcher Technology (Taiwan), BYD (China) and Ju Teng (Taiwan) has been assigned to make between 10 and 30 million unibody metal shells for the next high-grade Galaxy device. That could very well turn out to be the Galaxy S5.

  This fits nicely with the leaked metal frame we've seen before which was also said to be for the Galaxy S5.
Some rumors are hinting at a two-pronned approach by Samsung - producing a metal-clad flagship of a new F series along with an all-plastic S-series member.
And in other news a device, by the name of Samsung SM-G900S, has popped up on GFX Bench running on a highly-clocked Snapdragon 800 chipset and the Adreno 330 GPU. The clock is at most 2.46GHz. Sadly this isn't the Snapdragon 805 with Adreno 420 GPU nor is it the 64-bit Exynos chip we're hoping to see sooner rather than later.
  There's more, though - the SM-G900S sports a screen resolution of 2560 x 1440 or 2K. And if the rumors of either a 5 "or 5.2" screen turn out true we may be looking at an insane density of over 560 pixels per inch. As far as results go, the device in question rounded up 27.7 fps on the T-Rex 1080p Offscreen test - on which we've found the Galaxy Note 3 to be the best with 26 frames per second.
Other rumors suggest the Galaxy S5 will be launched (or at least shown) as early as Q1 of next year, have a 16 MP snapper with the ISOCELL tech, perhaps without optical image stabilization and possibly with some elements resistance in tow. That is hard to take in all at once, we know.
But let's not get too ahead of ourselves as we highly doubt the Galaxy S5 to premiere with a mid-2013-grade chip inside (no offense, Snapdragon 800). We'll have to wait a little longer.

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Apple strikes a deal to offer the iPhone on China Mobile.

   According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Apple has struck a deal with China Mobile to officially sell the iPhone on the carrier. The deal is said to have the Apple iPhone devices available on the carrier's shelves later this month - around December 18.

   The agreement between Apple and China Mobile will open for the Cupertino giant the doors to the largest wireless carrier in the world. China Mobile has over 700 million subscribers.

The Apple iPhone 5s and 5c both feature support for China Mobile's TD-LTE network. The devices have already received regulatory approval.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 could come as early as Q1 next year.

    Korean site ETNews is reporting that Samsung is already preparing to start production of its newest Galaxy flagship, the Galaxy S5. Mass production will get underway in January of 2014, with an eventual market release slated for February or March.

  Highlights surrounding the expected specs of the Samsung Galaxy S5 include a 64-bit CPU, which could the first iteration of Samsung's Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) Exynos big.LITTLE chip capable of running on eight cores simultaneously. There's also talk of Qualcomm's Snapdragon being thrown in the mix as well, which could indicate two S5 variants.

  Other potential improvements include the inclusion of a flexible OLED display like on the Galaxy Round, and a high capacity 4,000 mAh battery - all within a 5-inch frame. The Galaxy S5 is set to run Android 4.4 KitKat out of box, but really anything less would have raised more than a few eyebrows.

  Also rumored is the release of the Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch, which is slated to be some 15-20% thinner than the first generation. It could possible come bundled as a peripheral to the Galaxy S5, and will supposedly offer support for Galaxy S5 games, entertainment and health apps.

While much of what's rumored may be a bit of a stretch, particularly the Q1 release date, a February release date does coincide with the 10 month period between the Galaxy S III and S4. Samsung's been around the block a few times when it comes to top-selling flagships, so we wouldn't put an early 2014 flagship release past them.

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Samsung working on 20 megapixel camera for next Note.

  Samsung will be the latest manufacturer to get into the megapixel race, according to a report from ET News. The company's Mobile Advanced Development team is already working on 20 megapixel camera modules.

  The global market leader is allegedly still facing difficulties with the implementation of Optical Image Stabilization option, so it's looking for other means to differentiating its products.

Samsung's upcoming camera module is expected to debut in the second half of next year. This means that it will likely debut on the next-generation Galaxy Note phablet, but there is no official word at the moment.

The South Korean manufacturer expects to ship 90 million smartphone units in 2014 with 16 megapixel camera sensors.

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Samsung unveils Galaxy Note 3 in red and rose gold.

Today Samsung has issued a press release announcing not two, but three new editions of the Note 3 color palette.

Basically there is just one new color options - the Merlot Red. The other two are new accents of the popular Jet Black and Classic White flavors called Rose Gold Black and Rose Gold White. Those editions keep the base color, they just replace the silver elements (the framing around the phone, the camera, the Home key and the S-Pen) with Rose Gold ones.





The new Rose Gold White edition will hit the Chinese market this month, while the other color options will roll out gradually within the next few months on the international markets. There won't be any difference in the pricing and internals of those devices, of course.

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Android in November 2013: KitKat enters with 1.1%.

  Google released its traditional monthly Android version distribution numbers. The latest state of the platform saw Android 4.4 KitKat debut with 1.1% share of all installs.

Unsurprisingly, Android Jelly Bean and all its varieties continue to gain ground as well. All three builds saw an increase in their share compared to last month.

Android 2.2 Froyo, 2.3 Gingerbread, and 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on the other hand, continue their slow decline. All three versions dropped their cut of the overall distribution. Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich were the biggest losers with 2.2% and 1.2% drops respectively over the past month.

Curiously, Android 3.2 Honeycomb is still around and kicking. The tablet-only Android version continues to sit on a .1% share – the same as a month ago.

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