MasHD Blog

A new report indicates that Sony could launch two new flagship devices in the second half of the year, with the devices currently known as the Togari and Honami. Naturally, this is just a rumor for now, so, as always in such cases, take everything that follows with a grain of salt. The Togari is said to sport a Full HD (1920 x 1080 resolution) 6.44-inch display and offer a design similar to the already launched Xperia Z. The handset (phablet if you will) would come with a very slim profile like the Xperia Z and Xperia Tablet Z products and will feature a back made from glass. The Togari would be available “at least” in white, and could ship as early as July in Sony’s home country, or right in time to take on the Galaxy Note 3. Or better said, right in time to beat the Galaxy Note 3 to market by a few months, Samsung’s upcoming high-end player in the big smartphone business – of course, assuming that this new rumor is accurate. Coincidentally, the Xperia Z was launched well ahe

It looks like HP might be preparing a major Android push in the near future. With the HP Slate 7 now out the door, there have been two new HP Android devices allegedly revealed today, both thanks to AnTuTu benchmarking scores. Earlier we reported on the HP Slate 21 AIO, and now it looks like a device called the HP SlateBook 10 X2 is also in the cards. Just like the HP Slate 21 AIO , the SlateBook 10 X2 benchmark reveals a device equipped with a Nvidia Tegra 4 processor and running on Android 4.2.1. While they run the same processor, the SlateBook X2 actually scored a bit higher on the posted results with a 27,259 versus the Slate 21′s 23,584. Of course, benchmark results can vary wildly from test to test, so the difference in scoring might not mean much. So is this legit? Hard to say, as benchmarks can certainly be faked. If they are indeed real, it’s interesting to see HP is not only embracing the high-end of Android, but doing it with Nvidia as a partner. So far the only other

HP the leader of PC manufacturing has recently launched his first Android power Tablet, HP Slate 7. Hp has something interesting in his Lab for you. A new AnTuTu benchmark score has shown up for HP Slate 21 AIO, running Android 4.1.2 Jellybean and packing a Tegra 4 processor. The device will have 21 Inch display. As we know, Asus has already unveiled a massive all in one/tablet powered by Android named The 18.4 inch Transformer AiO and Transformer AiO runs both Android and Windows. Tegra 4 processor is to power several gadgets starting this quarter. Till now there are no words about Slate 21 AIO by HP official. The Actually Benchmark score for the Device’s Tegra 4 processor was only 23,584. The new chip was said to score over 36,000 points, so the Slate 21’s 23,000 is actually pretty disappointing. But the device is under the pre-release prototype, so we should expect better scores once the device will be out. There are many question about HP Slate 21 AIO will unanswered, incl

As far as rumors go - the next version of iOS (which might get introduced at WWDC 2013  in June ) will feature a metro like -flat design which is said to take away most of the polish and the leather - luxury accents in most stock apps  Jony Ive, Apple Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, will be redesigning Apple’s iOS software and the new design is said to be more metro-like. According to several of 9 to 5 Mac’s sources, Ive is set to flatten out the user-interface in iOS, getting rid of all of the glossiness and skeuomorphic designs and going for a more flat look slightly resembling the flatness of Windows Phone’s interface. Alongside the new, flat look, Ive will also be replacing all of Apple’s native app icons with new, fresh icons. He will also be implementing polarizing filters that will make it more difficult for onlookers to spy on what you’re doing. He wants to implement a “glance-able” interface that will let you view more information within one screen.

People have been waiting on a Retina display-equipped iPad mini ever since the small form factor tablet first came out. However, it looks like it may not see a 2013 release, since it’s said that the 2nd-generation iPad mini won’t begin production until October of this year, which rules out a fall release date According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the Retina iPad mini won’t enter production until the fall, and since it takes a few months for the production to build up enough inventory to begin selling to consumers, it seems that the 2nd-generation mini tablet won’t launch until 2014 — possibly not until Apple’s next update cycle in the spring of next year. Apple is rumored to refresh a handful of its iOS devices this fall, but the iPad mini may be one device that gets left out of the bunch. Kuo cites the difficulty of producing the smaller Retina displays as the reason behind the production timeline of October. However, Kuo says that a cheaper iPad mini could be made i

The Sony Xperia Tablet Z is now available for pre-order in the U.S., which should be pretty good news for tablet buyers with a taste for Sony’s sleek designs. If you’re looking forward to buying the Xperia Tablet Z, the wait is almost over. If you pre-order it now from the U.S. Sony Store, the Xperia Tablet Z  should be in your hands in less than a month – Sony says that the tablet should be shipping around May 24. That’s about when the tablet will be delivered to UK customers, too. Both the 16 GB and the 32 GB versions are available for pre-order, but the 16 GB version can only be pre-ordered in black, while the 32 GB one comes in both black and white. Prices are $499.99 for the 16 GB version and $599.99 for the 32 GB one (be it black or white). There’s a further incentive if you’ve decided on the white 32 GB version – Sony will throw in a charging cradle, worth another $44.99. This is a Sony Store exclusive, and no explanation on why only the white version qualifies has b

The Nokia Asha 210 has just gone official and it is the QWERTY phone Nokia teased two days ago. Just as we thought, it is not a Windows Phone Lumia device, but instead is an affordable Asha phone standing out with colorful design, single and dual-SIM versions and a dedicated WhatsApp button. The Asha 210 is clearly shooting for heavy texters, especially those who use WhatsApp as the service is integrated deep even in the contact book. It also has the Nokia Slam feature for sharing images and videos via Bluetooth without having to pair first. "The Nokia Asha 210 really stands out giving super-social consumers new ways to express their personalities through design, colour and innovations like the world's first WhatsApp button," Nokia Mobile Phones executive VP Timo Toikkanen said. "It has been designed to allow people to easily update their social networks, stay in touch with friends and share user created content." The device is also comes with Facebook

Chances are you've owned a "free" phone at some point or another, a beater that cost zero-down with your contract. That's still nothing compared to this $12 off-contract "Gongkai Phone" you can pick up from the Mingtong Digital Mall. But what is in one of those? Not much. The folks over at Bunnie's Blog picked up one of the suckers and opened it up in what might be the most budget teardown in history. Inside the snap-together plastic case, there was a 32-bit, 260 MHz processor, 8MB of RAM, a two-color OLED, and of course, a battery. But it's not just the quality of components used to save a buck, they're almost all soldered directly to the board as another cost-saving shortcut. But clearly, a beater phone this spare isn't likely to be your primary device; it's a backup that, for some reason or another, needs to be dispensable. And for $12, that's not a bad deal. You can hop over to bunnie's blog for even more details on t

Earlier this month, it was revealed that the HTC One X might be getting the update to Android 4.2.2 in June or July, but now an unconfirmed report says that the update to the latest version of Jelly Bean will be the last operating system upgrade the HTC One X gets. According to HTC leakster @LLabTooFeR, Android 4.2.2 will be the last update the HTC One X receives, meaning that it won’t be getting Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie, which Google should announce in May during the search giant’s I/O event. Considering that the Android 5.0 hasn’t been announced yet, there’s still a spark of hope that the One X could get it, as this is an unconfirmed report and isn’t anything official from HTC. On the other hand, @LLabTooFeR has been a reliable source in the past, so it is possible that this is legit information. Regardless, being an unconfirmed report, we’re going to have to take this with a grain of salt for now, as HTC hasn’t announced anything and Google hasn’t even revealed Android 5.0

Nokia is making an announcement for one or more new mobile phones on the 24th of April, according to a company blog post. The timing of the announcement, set at 7am Greenwich Mean Time, suggests it will be for a device destined for release primarily in Europe and Asia, with the accompanying image giving a few clues as to what it could be for. The image appears to show a pronounced curved corner that isn't typically associated with Lumia devices, a point compounded by the post telling of a Q&A session with Neil Broadley from the Mobile Phones team, rather than someone working just on the Lumia range. Part of a keyboard is visible, showing an arrow and what appears to be the letter Z. This has been shown before in earlier Asha devices, including the Asha 302. A new feature-phone with QWERTY keyboard may help the phone producer rebound from its small first-quarter loss. In the quarter, it managed to sell 61.9 million devices, 5.6 million were Lumias, and 400,000 were sold t

Asus is continuing its brilliant record in bringing updates to its devices, with the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update rolling out to users of the ASUS MeMo Pad Smart ME301T. The update will bring a host of new features like lock screen widgets, an improved keyboard experience, and a host of bug fixes. The MeMo Pad is the cheapest 10-inch tablet Asus offers and comes with some very respectable specifications. With a 1280 x 800, 10.1 inch screen, a Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor clocked at 1.2Ghz, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of memory, all for a sweet deal of $299. If those specs sound familiar, it’s because this tablet is sort of a big brother of the Nexus 7, with a great price, the same solid specs, and a 10.1 inch screen. The update is currently rolling out for U.S. MeMo Pads. Asus hasn’t given a time frame for a roll out to the rest of the world, but we wouldn’t expect too much of a wait. For those living in the U.S. who have yet to receive the update notification you can click here

Over the last few years there have been quite a few products come to market that boast the ability to be controlled using your thoughts. Most of these items have been thought-controlled toys, but we have seen systems that promise to allow you to control your music using your thoughts. Electronics giant Samsung is working with researchers at the University of Texas on a project that has to do with providing control of a tablet using brain waves. This could be very significant, particularly for users that have limited mobility due to disease or paralysis caused from an accident. The project Samsung and the researchers are working on uses EEG caps to give users control over tablets and smartphones. Samsung is reportedly wanting to take this technology mainstream. For now, the technology is limited to use with those that have disabilities. The system has participants wear EEG caps that are able to measure the electrical activity along the scalp. The participants in the program are a

Twitter Music  After months of speculation , Twitter has finally released their music service called "Twitter #Music" .The service currently is accessible through the web and through a app for iPhone  . The service runs with 4 tags - #NowPlaying, Popular, and Emerging and it has Rdio and Spotify intergration as well . The music can be arranged according to your likes and you can always check out what your followers /following are listening to as well .And if you have a iOS device , the list will sync with iTunes as well .The app is now available for download for iPhone but Android users might have to wait a bit longer but for now you can use the web version right here HTC M4 Will be  available in June  HTC M4 is rumored to be the second in line in the 2013 HTC One series lineup , following the footsteps of its predecessor - the HTC One S , this will feature most of the features from the flagship HTC One but it will come in a smaller footprint and it will cost s

Nokia's aluminum Lumia device, codenamed Catwalk, may have made its way into the wild. Designed as a Lumia 920 successor, Nokia's latest Lumia appears to have leaked in two images posted to Chinese site Baidu today. The images show a device that may sport an aluminum frame. The Verge is unable to immediately verify the images, but a source familiar with Nokia's plans has confirmed the Finnish phone maker is currently testing devices with a hump around the camera section. The images show a repositioned USB port at the top of the device, or micro HDMI slot. The rear of the device appears to be made of plastic, with three connection points at the bottom that are identical to those found on Nokia's Lumia 720. They provide wireless charging support by using a removable sleeve. A camera is also present at the rear, but the flash is repositioned and the lens appears to be part of a hump that's likely associated with Nokia's plans to make its Lumia devices thinne

Motorola is going to be launching a series of next-gen phones that will forgo Motorola’s old, bloated UI, and offer the Stock Android experience instead. In an interview with PC Magazine, Motorola’s Design Chief, Jim Wicks, says that the company plans on releasing Google-influenced smartphones to the market the second half of this year. Not only will the phones feature a stock experience, they will also be smaller than the current smartphones on the market. While Motorola’s RAZR line-up was great, it didn’t have the “wow” factor that Google was looking for, at least according to Google’s CFO Patrick Pichette. Because both Motorola and Google wanted to create devices that would “wow” the community, they have been working together for over 8 months on a new generation of phones. Throughout various discussions, Motorola realized that it needed to drop its bloated UI, and go for the natural Android experience. Both sides also agreed that bigger isn’t always better, so Motorola adopted

One of the better phones we’ve seen turn up over the last several months from HTC is the HTC One. One of the big downsides to that particular smartphone was that the price was too high for some users. If you like the overall design and style of the HTC One, but wish for something a bit cheaper, it appears that the leaked HTC 606w may be exactly what you’re looking for. A few details of the smartphone turned up in the Chinese TENAA database and shows a smartphone that reminds me a lot of the Thunderbolt. The device is said to feature many design cues from the Chinese only One SU smartphone, particularly in the silver area around the camera. The front of the camera shows what looks like a pair of front facing speakers hiding above and below the screen. The 606w also appears to have the same dual soft key implementation as the One. Other features tipped for the device include Android 4.1.2 for the operating system. The device is also said to feature a 4.5-inch display with a resolu

We’ve been hearing talks of the future formation of a colony on Mars, and it seems that space agencies and companies are quite adamant to get it going. In particular, a non-profit organization by the name of Mars One is planning to put four astronauts on Mars in 2023 to begin the process of forming a Mars colony, and they will begin the recruiting process in July. Mars One will begin accepting video submissions for this first round of astronauts, and while anyone can apply, the organization is looking to weed out the spammers and time-wasters by instituting a $25 entry fee, which certainly isn’t a lot, but it could help with separating the serious candidates from the ones who simply just want to have fun. The fee will also be put towards funding for the entire project. Mars One hopes to raise millions of dollars from the application process alone, and they expect that a million applications will be sent in, and some of the video applications may end up going viral, which hints

The Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone will be available initially in two color options only but Canadian carrier Telus revealed in its press release that additional color options for the handset will arrive “later this year.” The Galaxy S4 can be pre-ordered in Canada from various carriers including Bell, Rogers, Telus, Videotron and Virgin, but, like in other markets where the device is available for pre-order, early buyers can only choose from two color flavors: Black Mist and White Frost. Those of you not happy to buy either a black or white Galaxy S4 version should know certainly keep tabs on Telus, as the carrier may offer the handset in additional colors later down the road. From the press release: At Canadian launch, two color options will be available – Black Mist and White Frost; with additional color options to follow later this year. Similarly, the Galaxy S3 was available in only two color versions at launch, Pebble Blue and Marble White, but Samsung launched the handset

Google’s Glass Explorer Edition headsets will come with a set of usage, tech, and app limitations at odds with the freedom Android developers are used to, including blanket permission to remotely strip out functionality from the wearable computer. Glass, which Google announced had begun shipping in partial numbers from Monday, comes with a new Terms of Sale agreement as part of the setup process, with strict limits on who you can allow to use your headset, and how Google can update it to remove features it may decide are dangerous or simply not in keeping with how it feels the wearable should evolve. Would-be international developers have already voiced their frustration about Google’s decision to limit availability of the Glass Explorer Edition to those in the US only; even the Glass companion app, freshly released into the Play store, is geo-restricted to those in the US. However, the conditions of use for the developer headset are even stricter than normal: “Unless otherwise a

We knew it was only a matter of time until photos of the Vega Iron smartphone from Pantech became available online. Today, the first Pantech Vega Iron sighting was made on a South Korean forum. And not only that, but the device’s official colors have finally been revealed. Above, you can see the first hands-on photo of the Pantech Vega Iron on the Internet. And based on the other photos that were posted alongside it on the above-mentioned online forum, it will apparently be made available in two colors: black and white. It’s clear from the above hands-on photo of the Pantech Vega Iron that it will be quite big in the hand. This should come as no surprise since one of the handset’s highlight features is its 5-inch Full HD (1920×1080 pixel) touchscreen display. It also comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel camera with LED flash, NFC wireless, up to 32GB storage, and built-in 4G LTE connectivity. Its default operating system is Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Kobo has just revealed its new, limited-edition E Ink Reader that will be available for pre-order beginning tomorrow for the price of $169.99. The eReader is dubbed the Kobo Aura HD, and it will be available in 3 colors: Ivory, Espresso, and Onyx (White, Brown, and Black). This new eReader is what Wayne White, the EVP and GM of Devices for Kobo, calls, “The Porsche of eReaders”. He says that it pushes the boundaries of eReading, and is designed for those who are in the “driver’s seat of their eReading adventures.” The Kobo Aura HD features a 6.8-inch Pearl E Ink 265dpi touchscreen display, a 1GHz processor, which Kobo says “makes it the fastest eReader on the market,” 4GB of storage (with a microSD card slot for expandable storage of up to 32GB), two months of usage on a single charge, and many software features. There are 10 fonts included in the Aura HD with 24 adjustable font sizes, “displaying each letter with perfection”. Just last September, Kobo launched a new line-up of

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft is working with suppliers to develop a new touch-enabled watch device, which sees it jumping on the same rumored bandwagon as Apple and Samsung. Citing executives from Microsoft's suppliers, the Journal reports that Asian manufacturers have been shipping components to Ballmer and co so that the company can start developing "a watch-style device". Apparently those components include a 1.5-inch display, but other details are scant. The sources go on to point out that it's "unclear whether Microsoft will opt to move ahead with the watch". But with the emergence of wearable tech gaining attention and—to some extent—traction, it's certainly believable that Microsoft is lending the idea some serious thought. (  Gizmodo )

Alleged Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 Detailed specifications of two upcoming Samsung tablets have just surfaced. The third generation of the Galaxy Tab mid-range lineup will feature a couple of slates armed with a 10.1" and an 8" display, respectively. Interestingly, the picture that came along with the leak confirms the hardware home button, which is still unusual for Android slates. Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 will run on Andrdoid 4.1 Jelly Bean and will be powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and will have 1GB of RAM. That might as well be a typo as the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 is said to have 2 gigs of operating memory. Unfortunately, earlier reports of a 2560 x 1600 pixel display weren't confirmed and the new rumors point to a resolution of just 1280 x 800 pixels. The Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 will reportedly have 16GB of internal memory, which will be expandable through the microSD card slot. Connectivity options will include Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, st

Google may be one of the world's largest collectors of information, but Eric Schmidt thinks people would be uncomfortable with drone surveillance by their neighbors — and that this discomfort will spur tighter regulation. In an interview with The Guardian (available for subscribers only), Schmidt predicts that private drone operation will become a bigger issue in the coming years, for both weaponized and non-weaponized models. "If you look at the miniaturisation of drones, there will be restrictions on them," he says. "I'm not going to pass judgment on whether armies should exist, but I would prefer to not spread and democratise the ability to fight war to every single human being." Schmidt gave a potential future scenario. "You're having a dispute with your neighbour. How would you feel if your neighbour went over and bought a commercial observation drone that they can launch from their back yard. It just flies over your house all day. How wou

Back in 2008, Jason Koger had the misfortune of running over a downed power line on his four-wheeler, being shocked with 7,200 volts of electricity, and ultimately having both his hands amputated. Now, he's had the good luck to get a pair of new ones that can be controlled by an iPhone app. The i-Limb (*groan*) Ultra Revolution was developed by UK-based prosthetic developers Touch Bionics and offers five independently powered fingers including a fully rotatable thumb. It's smart enough to auto-grasp objects like cups or utensils, but through the use of the associated app, Koger also has access to a library of 24 other grip patterns for more complex activities. The I-Limb doesn't look like it's quite as natural as the real-life Terminator limb, but Koger is duel-wielding, so he gets extra points for that. And both are still a far cry from real, brain-controlled prosthetics, but they're also much, much better than any inert lump of plastic. Koger just better make

And if that wasn't enough, the man used chopsticks to pickpocket from a woman riding a bicycle. And she apparently didn't even notice and continued pedaling! Photos of the "suit man", surnamed Wang, pulling off his amazing petty crime in downtown Zhengzhou recently appeared online in China. Wang would later say he began committing crimes to support his young daughter. According to ShanghaiIst, the suit man finally called a journalist after seeing his face splashed all over the news and turned himself on April 9 in at a local police station. If there's not a loophole making it legal to picketpocket from cyclists while using chopsticks, there damn well should be. via - Kotaku

Unveiled less than two months ago, the S Pen-toting Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 is already available in the US of A via a number of online retailers. That’s the good news, seeing as Sammy has kept its promise from a few days ago, but we also have some bad news for you. The 8-incher is up for grabs for a pricey $399.99, as expected. And that’s with just 16 GB of on-board storage and no cellular connectivity, mind you. How steep is that price? Pretty steep, but then again the GNote 8.0 doesn’t exactly play in the same league as Google’s Nexus 7 or Apple’s iPad Mini. Instead, this snazzy-looking slab of silicon ups the ante considerably in the hardware department, with a zippy quad-core 1.6 GHz Exynos 4412 CPU and 2 GB of RAM. The 4,600 mAh battery is pretty comfortable, while the 1,280 x 800 pix res panel is nothing to sneeze at. Oh, and did I mention the S Pen support? Anyway, you probably know already if the Note 8.0 suits your needs and, if it does, you’re only a couple of clicks

On Thursday, April 11, the sun let off an M6.5 solar flare and its accompanying coronal mass ejection, more commonly called a CME, which is directed at Earth. The solar particles that result from such an event are traveling at a speed of about 600 miles per second, and are expected to reach Earth Friday night into the weekend. Such an event disrupted some radio communications. Before you begin imaging a scenario similar to certain end-of-times movies where characters go from innocently watching television to being shrouded in darkness and chaos, keep in mind this event will be far less eventful, possibly disrupting radios and GPS starting Friday night. Because the event was observed, some preparations can be made in anticipation of the incoming solar particles, helping protect satellites and other vulnerable equipment from damage. A CME that is Earth-bound, according to NASA, can result in a geomagnetic storm as it colides with the magnetosphere. In addition, this particular even

Next episode of "Mayday" might feature this app  The Hack in the Box security conference is taking place in Amsterdam this week, and one of the talks was fairly interesting. Hugo Teso, who is a security professional as well as a licensed pilot demonstrated how one could remotely hijack an airplane using nothing but an Android device as the tool. It turns out that two important aviation systems — the Automated Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) — are completely unencrypted and unauthenticated, allowing anyone with the right tools and a little know-how to access the system remotely without too much trouble. Teso simply hit up eBay for “actual flight code software” that’s normally used for training pilots, as well as nabbing a radio transmitter. During the demonstration, Teso audited real aircraft code by searching for vulnerabilities on a fleet of virtual aircrafts (using real airplanes in

According to the latest leaks a certain Nokia Lumia 928 is on its way to Verizon and judging by the leaked renders of the black phone, as well as the follow-up white phone render, it appears to be a Lumia 920 on steroids, while maintaining the general aspect and feature guidelines of the Nokia flagship. Most probably based off of these leaked renders user PhoneDesigner on Facebook has published these renders of the “Lumia 928″. The back grill as well as the PureView branding on the camera and the Xenon flash also seems to match the leaked renders, in addition to the speaker below the Windows home button. The Verizon branding seems to be missing and the Nokia logo appears to be centered, hence this is an “unofficial render of a global Lumia 928″. How about that for a render? How about that for a phone? Article and Pictures from - Pocketnow

Analytics firm Piper Jaffray has offered up the latest iteration of its twice-yearly survey of teenagers around the United States. The survey looks at all sorts of things that gadget fans don’t care about including the favorite restaurants for teens and their favorite clothing brands. However, the report does looking digital devices and specifically seeks out what type of smartphone teenagers plan to purchase According to the survey, 91% of teens say that their next high-tech device purchase will be a smartphone. That’s an increase from 86% in the same time period of last year. Looking at the gadget market overall, 59% of teens surveyed said that they are likely to purchase an iOS device while 21% are likely to buy Android. The survey also showed that 70% of teens from high-income families prefer iOS. The survey considers high-income families to have a household income of at least $104,000. The survey also found that 48% of teens already own the iPhone compared to 40% last fa

S-Freeze   Police have raided one of Samsung's offices in Asan, South Korea, after being tipped off about the possible theft of OLED TV technology from rivals LG. Bloomberg reports that the police were looking for evidence that people connected with LG had leaked secret OLED data to Samsung. It's currently not clear what came of the raid, and police have yet to issues a public statement. Understandably, Samsung is defensive. Speaking to Bloomberg, one spokesperson explained that the company had "no reason to steal other companies' technology" as it already has "the world's best OLED technology". Meanwhile, LG denies speaking to the police in relation to the incident. It's not the first time that Samsung and LG have been embroiled in this kind of drama: last year, six LG employees were charged over the theft of OLED technology from Samsung. Gizmodo via Bloomberg

We have news today that Chinese manufacturer Oppo is to release a new smartphone on April 26 and is claiming that this will be the world’s slimmest. The Oppo R809T is set to release on April 26, only two weeks away and we think there will be plenty of people hoping to get a look of this device that will measure only 6.13mm thick/thin. The Oppo Find 3 was a previous smartphone from the company that was at one time the worlds thinnest but as is always the way with the mobile industry no record lasts for too long and Oppo soon had competition from Alcatel and Vivo with devices of approximately 6.5mm. With the Oppo R809T though the difference in the thickness of the device should be noticeable once more and for a while at least Oppo will reclaim its title for world’s thinnest smartphone. You can see a leaked image of the phone above although we cannot verify this is authentic. As for specs, the R809T will be powered by a Mediatek MT6589 quad-core processor, have a 4.5-inch 720p disp

The number of apps removed from the Google Play Store has reached a record in February, with almost 60,000 apps being shown the door, in what is the biggest effort so far to clean things up in the store. Not all of the apps have been removed by Google, says TechCrunch, quoting a company in the mobile industry with knowledge of the matter. Some were taken off by their publishers, for various reasons. Most of the removals have been made by Google though, for breaching the Play Store Developer program policies (it’s what happened to AdBlock Plus, an app that continues to be developed, but outside of the Play Store). Although the Google Play Store (which is getting a bit of a redesign soon) has a different vetting policy from Apple’s App Store (apps are scanned after they are added to the store, while Apple pre-approves them), that doesn’t mean Google is not strict about what is allowed and what not. The company is permanently searching for and deleting apps that don’t comply. The s

Volume production of the fifth-generation 9.7-inch iPad will kick off in July-August 2013, according to sources with Taiwan-based supply chain makers. Yield rates for key components, especially touch panels, will be a major concern for smooth production. The sources pointed out that the new iPad will be thinner and lighter than the fourth-generation one and will adopt a slim bezel design, similar to that of the iPad mini. The new iPad's display is expected to be supplied by LG Display and Sharp, while the touch panel assembly will be conducted by TPK and the ITO thin film supplied by Nitto Denko and Teijin, the sources added. (via - Digitimes )

Acer will be releasing another tablet to join the ranks of the Nexus 7 and the iPad Mini in terms of size and form-factor. While some may say that Acer is a little late to the game, it is very clear that high-powered, smaller tablets will always appeal to consumers. The Acer Iconia A1-810 will sport a 7.9-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1024 x 768, putting it right on par with the iPad Mini’s display and only slightly inferior to the Nexus 7’s offering. It is expected to run Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the gate and offer a 1.2GHz MediaTek MT8125 ARM Cortex-A9 quad-core processor. It will also feature all of the popular connectivity options like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS. The A1-810 also packs an micro HDMI port, a 5MP rear camera, a VGA front-facing camera, and a 3,250 mAh battery. The tablet comes with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of flash memory. The device itself clocks in at 460 grams and measures 208.7 x 145.7 x 10.5 mm. Currently, only the French retailer Rue Du Com

A new Kickstarter campaign describes a “mini MicroSD reader for Android smartphones and tablets” that could be used with devices that don’t have microSD support including the Nexus 7, but also with devices that support “USB host or USB-OTG (On-The-Go).” Hating the Nexus 7’s lack of MicroSD storage expansion, brothers Andy and Rich developed the prototype and now are looking to raise $5,000 to start production for the tiny gadget – at the time this article was written, 344 backers had already pledged $3,789, with 28 days to go. The mini MicroSD reader/writer is about the size of a quarter and will let users “read/write MicroSD cards, copy files between your phone/tablet and a MicroSD card.” The device will support MicroSDHC cards of up to 32GB and MicroSDXC cards of up to 64GB and it will be compatible with a variety of Android smartphones and tablets. On the Kickstarter page, the following devices are mentioned: Samsung Galaxy S2, S3, Note, Note 2; Class 1 support. Motorola

If you’re familiar with the Alienware X51 , you know you’ve only had it available with Windows software out of the box until now – now you’ll find Ubuntu leading up the show. This machine brings on a rather small form factor you can use to replace your gaming console – if you dare – a possibility made even more real now that Valve’s Steam gaming interface works with Linux natively. You know good and well you’ve wanted to try it since that bit was announced. Ubuntu is being pushed with this machine as an ideal environment for gamers of all kinds, specifically because of its low-weight abilities. You’ve got an extremely clean build with this operating system right out of the box, with only the basics loaded immediately – you choose what you want when you want it – you also get Ubuntu-specific interfaces through Ubuntu’s Software Center, with “thousands of free applications” at your fingertips. Several builds are ready for gaming action with the Alienware X51 this week, the least