MasHD Blog

HTC's new phablet is here , say hello to the new HTC U - a phablet that is set to replace the "Butterfly" series of the past with a all new design  , specs you all want except for a 3.5mm headphone jack . The new HTC U brings a new change to the Taiwanese tech company as it now focuses on a smaller -more streamline lineup which aims to offset the problems caused by the clutter of devices from a few years back . The new phone features a 5.7" 2k (QHD) display which is similar to the ones used on the phablets of the past , but the biggest change to the phone comes in the form of cameras as the new U features a 12MP  1/2.3" with a 1.5 micro-meter pixel layout sensor with a fast f1.5 aperture . The sensor is similar to  the one on the HTC 10 ,the camera features 4K recording as well as optical image stabilization (OIS) .  The second camera on the phone is said to be a 16MP sensor with the ability to downscale images for low light front facing photos . The p...

Asus has announced their latest addition to the Zenfone lineup with the Zenfone 3 Zoom . The handset - set to lead Asus into the trending "dual camera" era is also accompanied by the Zenfone AR - a more extreme device based on Google's Tango system Design and features  The handset which looks a bit similar to (cough cough ) another dual camera smartphone brings a departure to Asus's previous design language and instead gives it a more polished -anodized look . The handset packs a - 5.5"1080p Super AMOLED and it has a fingerprint reader at the back .The phone packs a jaw dropping 5000mAh  non removable battery and has a single slot for dual sims or one sim and one microSD card for expanding the 23.64 or 128GB internal storage options . The phone packs a midrange Snapdragon 625 Soc with 8 (A53) cores and 3-4GB of RAM depending on storage.The device runs Android 6.0 with Asus's own UX Camera options  The handset features a Sony made 1/2.5" 12MP IMX3...

Cameras on smartphones have always been/and will be an Achilles heel as they lack the ability to capture "light" of much larger sensors , but this hasn't stopped them almost destroying the compact cameras and reducing the slr/mirrorless market to only the serious buyers . Kodak - a company which relied mostly on the sale of its compact camera market was one of the worst hit as people no longer take photos to the pharmacy or download them via the camera  and share them to "Myspace"( whats that you may ask ) .In an attempt to "join the trend" ,Kodak too has joined the smartphone market with its new Ektra smartphone - a flagship spec handset with a one of a kind 21MP sensor with PDAF - phase detection autofocus . The specs are listed below , the handset announced a few months back is now said to cost $549 unlocked in the U.S or GBP 449 . KODAK EKTRA Smartphone key features: *ANDROID 6.0 (Marshmallow) *Professional results from a 21MP fast focus...

During the start of 2016 , many of us thought that 4GB of ram was the fixed standard this year , but like everything else in the tech world , Ram never remains a fixed value and phones like the Le Max 2 and the Zuk Z2 Pro are fine examples of that as they are some of the first 2016 smartphones to feature 6GB of Ram .The Zuk Z2 Pro in this case features a Snapdragon 820 soc and the said amount of RAM (6GB) plus a good 128GB storage , but if you are on a slight budget ,you can still spec a 4GB Ram model  which only comes with 64GB of storage . Both models feature a 5.5" 1920x1080p AMoLED display, this is protected by a sheet of Gorilla glass .Camera listed for the ZUK Z2 are as follows - 13MP ISOCELL sensor with a f1.8 aperture .this can record 4K and provide steady panning thanksnto OIS ,a front facing 8mp sensor is available with a f 2.0 aperture Other features include Android 6.0 (Cyanogenmod) ,4G Lte , biometric sensor(fingerprint),USB type C usb 3.1 ,a 3100 mAh battery w...

Le 2 and Le 2 Pro LeEco ,  formally known as LeTV has unveiled three smartphones with...wait for it ..no 3.5mm headphone jack , yes , the newly anounced LeEco Le 2 , Le 2 Pro and Le Max 2 are the first smartphones to drop 3.5 mm headphone support in favor of usb audio , the concept , originally rumored to be introduced and popularised with Apple's iPhone 7 will ditch the old standard as it allows phone designs to be thinner even more .In this sense , the new LeEco Le 2, Le 2 Pro and LeMax 2 are trend setters in their own right as they excel not only in becoming firsts in the tech world, but also setting prices well below the usual "affordable flagship" line . Le Max 2 (below) SPECS AT A GLANCE Le 2 Display- 5.5" 1080p IPS LCD Soc- Helio X20 8 core Processor Ram and storage - 3GB ram , 32GB storage Cameras -16mp PDAF ,LED flash , 8MP fromt Os- Android 6.0 with custom UX Battery-3000 mAh Others - 4G LTE, USB type C for data ,charging and aud...

Alcatel has unveiled a affordable 7" tablet with Android 6.0 for the U.S carrier T- Mobile . The tablet , priced at $0 on contract at $5.5 monthly or $129 off contract features a 7" 1024×768 resolution LCD display  , a 1.1 Ghz Snapdragon 210 Soc , 1GB of RAM , 8GB Storage and MicroSD card support .The tablet features a 5MP rear camera 2MP front camera and supports 4G LTE . The tablet features a 3240mAh battery and doze battery enhancements found in Android 6.0 marshmallow. Source - tmonews .

HTC has  unveiled their flagship smartphone for 2016 , the phone , a successor to the M9 launched last year brings several improvements in order to compete with the flagship smartphones of today . Strangely , HTC has decided to drop the One M branding from this years handset and it has gone with a more direct HTC 10 nameplate instead.  The phone , which is said to bring HTC back into the limelight focuses on refinement as well adopting a more mainstream design inspired from the successful A9 launched last year .The new phone is expected to go on sale this month. UPDATE - pricing for the HTC 10 are as follows U.S -int full price - $700 GB- GBP 570 EU - EUR700-800 depending on state , Germany - EUR700 , France - EUR 750 ,Rest of EU - EUR ~800 SOURCE - GSMArena Display The HTC 10 comes with a 5.2" AMOLED display ,this is HTC's first time in a long time since they used this display technology in a flagship smartphone  S-LCD.The display packs a resolut...

Huawei has unveiled two new flagship smartphones with some serious camera power . The new Huawei P9 and the P9 Plus offer dual camera set ups apparently made with the help of the world famous optic maker Leica .The cameras - prompted as the main selling point of the Huawei P9 series is said to be a 2x 12mp set up with laser autofocus and dual led flash ,both cameras pack a f 2.2 aperture and has 1.25 micrometer size along with the ability of recording 4K . The rest of the specs include Huawei's In house 64 Bit SOC  - Huawei Kirin 955 , a Octa core chipset with 4 Cortex A72 cores and 4 Cortex A53 cores clocked to 2.5Ghz max . The phones come with either 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage or 3GB of ram with 32GB of storage .Both phones feature Huawei's custom Emotion UX and Android 6.0 marshmallow and a platheora of options thanks to the custom skin . Display wise , the phones are either awailable in a 5.2" variant - this is a 1080p NEO LCD unit and has no 3d touch while the b...

Xiaomi - One of China's biggest handset manuf launched manufacturers have officially launched their new flagship smartphone - the Xiaomi Mi5 . The phone , a successor to the Mi4 launched last year brings flagship specs for a price of most midrange handsets (cough cough ..flagship killer) .The phone brings affordable pricing , a  Snapdragon 820 with 4GB of RAM , a 16MP OIS camera and a ceramic unobody design all for the starting price of $251 (RMB1999) MI 5 SPECS: - Snapdragon 820, up to 4GB RAM + 128GB UFS 2.0 - 600Mbps 4G+ download speeds, VoLTE - 3D ceramic/glass body, weighs 129g - 5.15” 16 LED light display, 3D ceramic/glass body - Front fingerprint sensor - 16MP 4-axis OIS + 2µm-pixel 4MP camera - 3000mAh battery, Quick Charge 3.0 - Full feature NFC - MIUI based on Android Marshmallow Written by Rakitha for MasHD Source - miui

Alcatel unveiled their idol 4 series of smartphone at MWC (today) . The two smartphones are basically successors to the popular Onetouch idol 3 launched last year and this year they are back with a bang (for your buck as well) .The company , owned by TCL has changed a few things around this time and so from now on Alcatel will not be using the "Onetouch" name on its products in order to make things short and sweet . The new smartphones feature a familiar metal and glass design element from last year and it also retains the popular multi orientation functionality we saw last year with the idol 3 (this lets you use the phone even upside down as the whole UI changes as the front firing dual speakers double up as microphones as well (Alcatel has added two rear speakers making the total figure to 4 speakers) . The idol 4 smartphone  retains Alcatel's 13mp rear camera while the 4s has a 16mp one , both feature a 8mp front facing one along with a front facing flash has be...

Sony has just announced their new Xperia X series at MWC 2016 .The X series of smartphones are High end midrangers which sit one tier below the Xperia Z lineup .The X series comprises of three smartphones - the Xperia X  Performance , Xperia X and Xperia XA , the Xperia X performance  is the "flagship" product and the XA is sort of the more affordable option with a slightly bigger battery capacity .The X Performance features a beastly Snapdragon 820 , 3GB of RAM ,   the Xperia X and XA feature Android 6.0 ( Same as the performance) and the Xperia X is powered by the flagship spec Snapdragon 650 Soc - A chip that brings ARM's Cortex A72 technology (A72 is the next evolution of ARM's 64 bit design after the A57)  while the Xperia XA is powered by a Mediatek MT6755 Soc (Cortex A53) .The phones also boast of good cameras , the Xperia X Premium features Sony's new 23MP rear sensor and  a 13mp front camera while the X and  XA features a 13MP sony unit ,Sony is ...

Alcatel has unveiled 3 new smartphones under its new Pop 4 lineup , the Pop 4 , Pop 4 Plus and the Pop 4 S focuses on bringing on bringing Android 6.0 to the masses . Alcatel Pop 4  Display - 5" 720p IPS LCD Design -  140.7 x 71.4 x 7.99mm Processor - Snapdragon 210 Quad core Soc , 1.1 Ghz Storage(RAM/ROM+Expansion) - 1GB , 8GB internal , MicroSD card supported Cameras - 8MP rear , 5MP front OS -  Android 6.0 Marshmallow Battery - 2500 mAh Others - LTE Alcatel Pop 4 Plus Display - 5.5" 720p IPS LCD Design - 151 x 77 x 7.99mm Processor -  Snapdragon 210 Quad core Soc , 1.1 Ghz Storage(RAM/ROM+Expansion) - 1.5GB ,16GB internal ,MicroSD card supported Cameras - 8MP rear , 5MP front OS -  Android 6.0 Marshmallow Battery - 2500 mAh Others - LTE Alcatel Pop 4 S Display - 5.5" 1080p IPS LCD Design - 152 x 76.8 x 7.99mm. Processor -  1.5 Ghz   Mediatek MT6755   Octa core Storage(RAM/ROM+Expansion) -...

Lenovo has launched three new tablet for its Tab 3 range , the new Tab 3  7 , 8 and 10 are powered with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and are made to be affordable to anyone with a tight budget .The Tab 3 10 inch is focused for business users while the 7 and 8 inch models cater to just about anyone who wants a tablet for a starting price of $99 Adopted from official press release The TAB3 10 Business retails at $199 (Wi-Fi only), $249 (2GB / LTE) and $299 (3GB / LTE) from June 2016; TAB3 7 retails at $129 from June 2016; and TAB3 8 retails at $99 (Wi-Fi only) and $149 (LTE) from June 2016, available at all Lenovo Retail Partners. Lenovo Tab 7 and 8 specs Display - 7" 1024x600 or 8" 720p IPS display Design - plastic unibody design Processor - Mediatek Quadcore Soc Storage(RAM/ROM+Expansion) - 1GB Ram , 16GB internal +MicroSD expansion Cameras - 5MP rear , 2MP front OS - Android 6.0 Marshmallow Battery - ~5000 mAh Others - Price $99 (wifi only 8") $129(3g 7...

HTC has unveiled three new pocket friendly handsets at MWC 2016 . The handsets , aimed at a young first time buyers are available in a plethora of  candy and patterns , The phones are  said to bring HTC's unique Sense experience as well as Android 6.0 to the masses .Date of  availability of the three handsets are not available at the time of writing . HTC Desire 530  Display - 5.0" 720P SLCD Design - Poly-carbonate unibody Processor - Snapdragon 210 -  1.1GHz Quadcore A7 Adreno 304 GPU Storage(RAM/ROM+Expansion) - 2GB RAM , 16GB Internal storage +MicroSD expansion Cameras - 8mp Rear with Flash , 5MP front OS - Android 6.0 Marshmallow Battery - 2200 mAh non removable Others -  4G ,nano sim , available in Graphite Grey, Solid Stratus White HTC Desire 630 Display - 5.0" 720P SLCD Design - Poly-carbonate unibody Processor - Snapdragon 400 -  1.6 GHz Quadcore A7  Adreno 305 Gpu Storage(RAM/ROM+Expansion) - 2GB RAM , 16...

Catepillar , also known as CAT in short has announced a new Android smartphone with a FLIR (front looking infrared) camera . The phone , powered by Android 6.0 features some good specs for its asking price and it is probably one of the only devices to survive the next apocalypse . The handset features the following awesome features *Water resistance upto 5m (with flaps closed) 2m without closing * Drop resistance upto 1.8m *1mm thick Gorilla glass 4 protection *540 nit of brightness *FLIR Lepton module - 15 - 30m  detection , 80x60px thermal video recording under all conditions The Cat S60 costs $600 , but for this you do get a lot , a Chuck Norris approved shell and Android 6.0 , the handset will go on sale later this year rce - * 4.7 " 720p IPS LCD *(awesome features) *Snapdragon 617 Soc *3GB RAM ,32GB Storage +MicroSD support *4G LTE support *13MP standard camera ,LED flash , 5MP front camera *Android 6.0 Marshmallow Written by Rakitha for MasHD Sou...

Motorola has anounced Android 6.0 rollout for the Moto G 2014 .The update , which is available for both the 3G and the 4G versions of the budget handset will bring features such as Doze- a battery management feature that prevents unwanted battery drain during the night and Google now on tap as well as support for using microsd cards as a part of the internal storage .The update is currently rolling out in India and Brazil and it will reach other parts in a few days time . SOURCE - Gsmarena

Alcatel has unveiled Android and Windows tablets and smartphones at CES today . The Pixi lineup - one of Alcatels mid tier sub brands is now even bigger thanks to Alcatels lineup which includes a Windows tablet - Pixi 3 (8) ,a Android tablet - Pixi 4 (7) and Android smartphones - Pixi 4 (6) (4) (3.5) . ALCATEL PIXI 3 (8) Alcatel Pixi 3 (8) is Alcatels first tablet running Windows 10 mobile . The OS - initially designed to run on Windows phone devices is now blown up to 8" and therefore it is not the same OS as its desktop counterpart so dont expect to run any major applications . The pixi 3 also has another achillies heel as it runs on a low end 1.3ghz  Quadcore Snapdragon 210 Soc which is designed on the somewhat outdated Cortex A7 platform .The Pixi 3 also has 1GB of ram ,32GB of expandable storage and it has 4G Lte support as well .The cameras on the tablet is  said to be 5MP and 2MP . The battery on the tablet is 4060mAh and as said previously it has a 8" displa...