Sony Xperia M2 pricing details revealed in Netherlands

Details on the pricing of the freshly announced Sony Xperia M2 made the rounds in Netherlands. The mid-range device is said to launch in April for €289.

The smartphone will be offered with free multimedia content when available. It will include three Sony Pictures movie downloads and a free month of Music Unlimited streaming which gives access to over 25 million songs.

Sony Xperia M2 features a 4.8” qHD display and Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC, tucked into a sleek-looking body with the same design as that of the company’s high-end Android devices. You can find out more about the device in our MWC hands-on.

Source (in Dutch)

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Acer will make a Windows Phone after the OS hits 15% in EU

Acer's smartphone strategy is currently focused solely on making Android smartphones but that may change if Windows Phone reaches 15% market share in Europe. The company's VP of Smartphones Allen Burnes said in an interview that Acer wants to see more demand from consumers on WP before they take risks with Microsoft's OS.

The Acer Allegro is the only WP smartphone the company has made so far. Now, almost three years from its launch, the company still hasn't made a second one, but that may change sooner than you think.

According to a recent report by ABI Research, WP sales have more than doubled in a year. Reports from Strategy Analytics and Kantar World Panel also share similar data.

Not everyone shares Acer's vision on Windows Phone, though. Sony has been rumored to be currently in talks with Microsoft to make a Windows Phone under the Vaio brand. An official photo of an upcoming Samsung WPhone has also leaked just yesterday. Outside of Nokia, Microsoft has not been getting much love from OEMs.

Source | Via

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Asus announces KitKat update schedule for the PadFone lineup

Asus has announced its plans to upgrade the latest PadFone devices with Android 4.4 KitKat. The update will not only bring your device to the latest Android version, but will also install the latest Asus Zen UI.

So, the compatible PadFones to get KitKat + Zen UI are Padfone Infinity (also known as PadFone A80), PadFone Infinity 2 and PadFone 2. There is no word on other PadFone devices, but we hope Asus will consider updating the mini PadFones as well.

The Android 4.4 KitKat update is currently in development for all three gadgets. It will launch in Q2 for the PadFone 2 and PadFone Infinity, while the PadFone Infinity 2 will get it in Q3.

Source | Via

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HTC Desire 816 will reportedly cost below $300 in China

According to a report in Chinese online media, the freshly announced HTC Desire 816 will cost below $300 when launched. Allegedly, the phablet will be priced at ¥1799 (about $294) when it goes on sale in China in the near future.

Should the reported pricing turn out to be the real deal, the HTC Desire 816 is bound to become a mighty good mid-range proposition. The phablet sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC, 1.5GB of RAM, 13MP camera, and 5.5” 720p display, tucked into a sleek-looking, well-built body.

There is no word on international pricing of the HTC Desire just yet. We surely hope that it remains in the same vicinity as in China.

You can find out all about the HTC Desire 816 in our MWC hands-on.

Source (in Chinese) | Via

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Sony Xperia Z2 will be flagship for half the year

Speaking to Japanese K-Tai.Impress Sony Mobile's Creative Director, Director of Product Planning and UX General Manager, Yoshiro Kurozumi, addresses the early rise to the throne by the Xperia Z2 and why he thinks a half a year upgrade cycle is a better fit for this industry.

According to him, in order to maintain a the flagship status of the product, you must upgrade it faster to keep it competitive. He went on to confirm that the Xperia Z2 will likely be Sony's flagship for only the first half of 2014.

He also commented about design, saying Sony doesn't want to rely on a single design, which could mean the company will perhaps move away from its OmniBalance design language, which has dominated the Xperia line so far (including Z, Z1 and Z2, compact and ultra included).

And while we can extrapolate from Mr. Kurozumi's words that Sony will be releasing its next flagship some time in Q3 or Q4 of 2014 and that it may feature a new design, we truly hope Sony will at least continue to update its Z and Z1 flagships for the sake of those users, who have purchased these devices for a handful amount of money (all of which are still waiting to receive Android 4.4 KitKat).

Source (in Japanese) | Via

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Samsung Huron for Verizon to be called ATIV SE

Samsung Huron for Verizon has been confirmed via the GFXBenchmark's database and @evleaks tweets. Huron is supposed to be a Windows Phone 8.1 running device headed to Verizon this spring.

According to the latest info, courtesy once again of the notorious @evleaks, Samsung codenamed Huron will be called ATIV SE. Since Verizon is already offering the first ATIV, we guess the SE might be short for Second Edition.

Anyway, Samsung ATIV SE is rumored to pack either a 4.3" 720p or a 5" 1080p display. It should be running on a quad-core Snapdragon processor with 2GB RAM and a 13MP camera.

As the latest rumor has it the ATIV SE will come with the latest available Windows Phone 8.1 OS. This means it will most probably launch in April or later, after the Microsoft's BUILD conference where the WP 8.1 is going to premiere.

Source | Via

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Carrier SFR reveals KitKat update plans for LG G2, Xperia phones

French carrier SFR has posted the Android 4.4 KitKat update plans for the LG G2 and the flagship Sony Xperia phones.

The 4.4.2 update for LG's flagship will arrive over the air on March 3. Note that the KitKat update for the AT&T G2 and Korean G2 is already available, but this should get the ball rolling for all G2's with no update yet.

The current Sony flagship models – Xperia Z1, Z1 Compact and Z Ultra – will get KitKat in April. The Xperia Z1 and Z Ultra were updated to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean in mid-December (Z1 Compact launched with 4.3).

Note that this update schedule applies for SFR and your carrier might be on a different schedule.

Source (in French) | Via

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Boeing Black is a highly secure and modular Android smartphone

Boeing has announced a new Android smartphone called the Boeing Black with security and modular design in mind. The hardware and the software on the phone is built from the grounds up for securely storing and transmitting data especially for the US defense and security community.

You get features like disk encryption, hardware root of trust, hardware crpto engine, embedded secure components, trusted platform modules and secure boot to safeguard your data. The phone will even go as far as to delete the data if it detects some is trying to break open the casing of the device.

The design is also modular to some extent, so you can remove the back cover and attach various modules such as extended battery, satellite transceivers, advanced location tracking sensors, etc.

On the specification side, the Boeing Black has a 4.3-inch, qHD display, 1.2GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, microSD card slot, dual SIM support, Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR, 1590mAh battery and an unspecified version of Android.

No pricing or availability details have been revealed, yet.

Source

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Iphone 6 to have Sapphire coating but no May release

Apple and Gorilla Glass will be parting ways with the release of their iPhone 6, as the Cupertino-based tech giant will be switching to sapphire screen-coating for their next line of smartphones.

Sapphire coating has been used in high-end watches for a while due to its high-durability and scratch-resistance.

Currently, sapphire coating has only been used on iPhone camera lenses and the iPhone 5s fingerprint sensor. The upcoming iWatch will supposedly enjoy sapphire coating as well.

And the company behind Apple's sapphire coating, GT Advanced, stands to make a pretty penny from their deal. They are looking at $500-$700 Million for the first six months, since coating a display with sapphire costs 3-4 times more than coating it with Gorilla Glass (which only costs $3 per screen).

Although the specific number of displays GT Advanced will be producing isn't known, we do know they haven't produced enough to make a May shipment date of the iPhone 6. Analysts believe that, based on GT Advanced's shipments, that the iPhone 6 will be ready for sale come September 2014.

Anyone excited to see how the sapphire displays will hold up on the iPhone 6?

Source

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Mediatek to launch its own hexa-core chipset - MT6591

Beside working on two Cortex-A53-based chipsets and on the reportedly super-fast octa-core Mediatek MT6595, the company obviously has a hexa-core chipset in the pipeline, too. Yup, that's a six-core chipset, much like the just announced Samsung's Exynos 5260 Hexa.

The new chip is called the Mediatek MT6591 and it should already be in production, unlike the previous chipsets that we mentioned. The roadmap reveals that these would enter into production no earlier than the second half of the year.

The roadmap was leaked on the Chinese social network Weibo. It's unclear whether this hexa-core chipset will be using ARM's big.LITTLE architecture like the Samsung Exynos Hexa, but most likely it won't.

Via

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Nokia X series phones won't reach the US, Canada, Korea, or Japan

Jussi Nevanlinna, VP for Mobile Phone marketing, officially confirmed for Nokia Conversations that the three devices, which make up Nokia's X series, won't be available in the North America, Canada, Korea, and Japan.

Jussi Nevanlinna, VP for Mobile Phone marketing at the Global Mobile Awards 2014 (Photo: GSMA)

When they announced the Nokia X series back the other day, Nokia's official press materials only mentioned launch dates for the Asia-Pacific, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. So up until now it wasn't clear whether the devices will reach other key markets such as the US, Canada, Korea, and Japan.

Then again, perhaps those markets are too developed for low-cost smartphones to make a dent on the grand picture. On the other hand a 5-inch Android smartphone that cheap, made by one of the world's most renowned manufacturers, would not go unnoticed no matter the country.

As a reminder, the Nokia X should be available right away for €89. The Nokia X+ (€99) and Nokia XL (€109) will launch in early Q2 2014.

But that's not all. Jussi Nevanlinna says we should expect even more Nokia X smartophones later this year. These will push the price points even further down.

Source | Via

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Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet is available for pre-order, here are the prices

Following in the footsteps of the Xperia Z2, the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet is available for pre-order. We made the rounds and collected the prices of the tablet around Europe. The launch date will be in April, the same time frame as the the Z2 phone.

The good news is that it's cheaper than the phone in most places – in the UK, it's £500 (€610) both from Sony's official web site and from Clove UK. This is for the 16GB Wi-Fi only version.

The price in Germany is €500 (and €650 from Sony's official web site). Note that these are pre-order prices and might change in time for the launch. The 32GB Wi-Fi model is €550, the 16GB LTE model is €650.

In France and the Netherlands the Xperia Z2 tablet is €630, €670 in Sweden (SEK 5 995,00) and €700 in Spain and Poland (PLN 2 899). These prices are from the official site, so it's possible that regional stores have it cheaper (like in Germany). If you find such a store, drop a link in the comments!

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Samsung announces Exynos 5422 Octa and Exynos 5260 Hexa

It has begun a tradition Samsung to have its flagship smartphone utilize two types of chipsets. The Galaxy S4 was the first to get a Snapdragon and an Exynos version, followed by the Galaxy Note 3. Now the Galaxy S5 is getting a similar treatment as well. The Exynos 5 Octa chipset, even though it didn't become as popular as Samsung probably hoped for, is still quite a capable chipset with flagship performance.

In an attempt to popularize its Exynos SoC, Samsung has recently started to use it for the non-LTE models of its slates (the Galaxy Tab and Note Pro series). We already met with some of those and their performance turned out great.

Today Samsung has introduced the newest revision of the Exynos 5 Octa system-on-chip - the Exynos 5422 Octa. It has four Cortex-A15 cores clocked at 2.1GHz and four Cortex-A7 cores @ 1.5GHz. This is a good 200MHz upgrade over the previous Exynos 5420 SoC. The 5422, naturally, uses the big.LITTLE ARM architecture, but comes with Samsung's own tweak - HMP (Heterogeneous Multi Processing) technology. The HMP allows the device to utilize any combination of cores, even all eight, at once.

There is nothing official on the GPU inside the new Exynos Octa revision, but we guess it is the same as the 5420 chip - Mali-T628.

Samsung has also detailed the Exynos 5260 Hexa chipset, we already met on the Galaxy Note 3 Neo. It offers two Cortex-A15 @ 1.7GHz cores and four Cortex-A7 @ 1.3GHz cores. The processor supports big.LITTLE with HMP, so the device can use all six cores simultaneously.

Samsung once again didn't specify the GPU, but we already know from the Note 3 Neo that Mali-T624 is in charge of the graphics department.

Both new platforms support displays up to 2560x1600 pixels resolution. The Exynos 5422 Octa also supports 4K video playback and recording, while the Exynos 5260 Hexa offers Full HD @ 60fps playback/recording.

Exynos 5422 Octa will enter mass production by the end of March, while the Hexa model is already in mass production.

Samsung has also introduced its newest 16MP and 13MP (16:9) ISOCELL CMOS camera sensors. Both offer 1.12µm big ISOCELL pixels and 1080p video recording. The 16MP sensor is capable of 1080p@60fps capturing plus burst mode at 16MP at 60fps and will enter mass production this quarter. The 13MP one supports 13MP burst mode at 30fps and will be available in Q2, 2014.

Samsung Galaxy S5 is probably using the new 16MP ISOCELL sensor, so we can't wait to get our hands on a retail unit to do a thorough test of its camera.

Source | Via

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Moto G is the most successful Motorola smartphone yet

The budget-friendly Moto G is Motorola’s “most successful, highest-selling smartphone”. Rick Osterloh, the senior vice president of product management in Motorola revealed the news at an MWC press dinner.

Motorola’s SVP went on to mention that the company makes money on every Moto G it sells. The profits are said to increase even further after the completion of the company’s acquisition by Lenovo.

The news should hardly catch anyone by surprise. With a combination of premium build quality, timely OS updates, and affordable price tag, the smartphone was well-received in every market where it was launched.

Furthermore, Motorola dropped a hint on the arrival of an updated Moto X. The smartphone is said to arrive in late summer like its predecessor did last year.

Motorola also announced expanded availability of the Moto Maker customization tool for Moto X. It will arrive in UK and Germany in Q2 this year. The Moto X will also arrive in India and Australia in the coming weeks, though there’s no word on whether it will be customizable.

Source | Via

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MWC: HTC One awarded Best Smartphone, iPad Air - best tablet

The GSM Association organizes the annual Mobile World Congress and along with it the traditional Global Mobile Awards (its 19th edition this year). More than 175 independent analysts, journalists, academics and subject matter experts throughout the world participated in the judging process. The entry deadline was November 29, 2013, so it's generally last year's products that get awarded every February.

There's a multitude of categories, some of which may sound pretty obscure unless you are in the telco business, so we've shortlisted the few categories that we think would matter most to mobile phone enthusiasts (such as ourselves).

The HTC One was named the Best Smartphone in the past year. The other nominees, which were considered, were the Apple iPhone 5S, the LG G2, the Lumia 1020 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Last year's winner was the Samsung Galaxy SIII.

"The HTC One remained one of the most advanced smartphones throughout 2013. Its great design and excellent user interface continue to provide a differentiated user experience, standing out from the competition."

The Nokia Lumia 520 was announced as the Best Low-Cost Smartphone (sub-$150 wholesale price). The rest of the considered nominees were all Android smartphones and included the Lenovo A390T, the Samsung Galaxy Young, the Sony Xperia E, and the Xiaomi Hongmi.

"A smartphone that hasn’t compromised on quality – a trailblazer for Nokia’s low-cost efforts."

The Nokia 105 was announced Best Entry-level or Featurephone. The other nominees were the Nokia 208, the Nokia 515, the Nokia Asha 210, and the Nokia Asha 503. Last year the winner was the Nokia Asha 305.

"Outstanding value for money, with impressive durability and battery life, this is driving mobile penetration into further markets."

The Apple iPad Air was pointed as the Best Mobile Tablet. The other nominees were the Apple iPad mini 2, the Google Nexus 7 (2013) and the Sony Xperia Tablet Z. At last year's awards it was the original Google Nexus 7 made by Asus.

"The iPad Air packs class-leading performance in an attractive and svelte frame, while its ecosystem has an undisputed advantage in the number of format-optimized apps."

LG was named the Most Innovative Device Manufacturer of the Year. Last year that was Samsung.

"Impressive across the board with ground-breaking innovation – LG is flexing its technological muscle."

The FiLIP wearable locator and phone watch for kids, sold exclusively by AT&T in the US, was announced as the Best Mobile-Enabled Consumer Electronics Device. Sony's SmartWatch 2 was another wearable device among the nominated for this category. Last year it was the Samsung Galaxy Camera that won this one.

"The FiLIP is a new breed of self-reliant wearable device that is a simple way for kids to reach their parents, and for parents to find their children quickly and easily. FiLIP affords parents peace of mind with the ability to quickly call and locate their children. This is a really well designed product fulfilling a clear market need and making a complex solution very simple for the user."

As for the mobile app awards, DEVICE 6 was announced as the Best Entertainment App (Gaming, Music, Sports, Video), CityMapper was called the Best Overall Mobile App, while CamMe was named the Most Innovative Mobile App.

You can check out the full list of winners here.

Be sure to check back with us tomorrow, February 26, as that's when the Best New Mobile Handset, Device or Tablet at Mobile World Congress 2014 will be announced. Which one would you pick?

Via | Source

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Nokia says 75% of all Android apps are compatible with Nokia X

Nokia X, X+ and XL all went official yesterday and Nokia is already trying to attract developers to its latest platform. The trio is running on a stripped-down version of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean missing on all Google Services.

Nokia has modified the entire user interface to mimic Asha's Fastlane plus it has created a proprietary application store. There is also a dedicated SDK and porting tools, which basically will make all incompatible Android apps compatible for the platform. Those apps requiring Google Services or linking to such, will be redirected to their Nokia/Microsoft analogues.

So, now that all documentation and tools are out, Nokia wants developers to submit their apk files to the Nokia Store. Nokia claims a good 75% of all Android apps currently available require no modification, while the rest should undergo a little retouch. The porting process should not take more than 8 hours though, according to Nokia.

There is even a tool, which will determine if your app is compatible with Nokia X or not, so you don't have to worry about doing all the test process by yourself.

You can find everything you need to test and port your Android app to Nokia X right here.

Via

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Xperia Z2 goes on pre-order, here are the prices

The Sony Xperia Z2 was announced at the MWC yesterday and is up for pre-order right away. Here are some of the prices and timeframes we've collected from several sites.

First off, the Xperia Z2 is available for pre-order from Sony Mobile's own site. All country-specific sites we tried promise a delivery in April, but prices vary quite a bit from them.

In the UK, it's £600 (€730), but Clove UK lists it at £564 with the first stock expected in April. The side does have a note saying the official price and availability are yet to be confirmed.

In Germany, Sony's site offers the Z2 at €600, but several other sites have it at the same price.

In the Netherlands the phone is €650 and PLN 2,800, €675, in Poland. That's still better than France, Italy and Spain where the Xperia Z2 flagship is €700. In Sweden, it's SEK 6,000 - €810!

In the US, the Sony Xperia Z2 should be available from T-Mobile at $600.

Check out our first impressions of Sony's new flagship, straight from the MWC.

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Nokia Lumia 620 finally gets Lumia Black update

The youthful Nokia Lumia 620 is finally getting the Lumia Black treatment. The update has been rolling out on other WP8-running Lumias globally since the beginning of January. Lumia 720 was the most recent phone to join the Lumia Black bandwagon a month ago.

Various reports from Finland and the Netherlands suggest Lumia 620 is getting the WP8 GDR3 + Lumia Black combo update. It is the last phone to get it, but still users will be more than happy to install it.

Nokia Black builds on top of Windows Phone GDR3 and brings various improvements. From GDR3, it gets Bluetooth 4.0 LE support and the ability to close apps from the app switcher menu, there's a rotation lock too.

From the Nokia goodies, there's a new Drive mode, Nokia Storyteller and the new Nokia Camera app (if not installed already). There are two new colors for the night mode of the Glance screen. Glance notifications are available as well. Since the device only has 512MB RAM, it will miss out on Nokia Refocus and Nokia Beamer.

We guess update notifications will start popping up soon on every Lumia 620 smartphone out there.

Source

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BlackBerry unveils the Z3 and the Q20

BlackBerry has announced a new duo of smartphones at the MWC 2014 - the BlackBerry Z3 and the BlackBery Q20.

The BlackBerry Z3 is a full-touch smartphone with a 5" display and runs BlackBerry OS 10.2.1. BlackBerry CEO John Chen says that this is the first phone to come up with the strategic partnership with Foxconn.

Sadly, that's all we know on the phone's hardware so far since BlackBerry hasn't unveiled any more specs.

Update: specifications of the Z3 came in and the 5" display boasts a qHD resolution and is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400 chipset and 1.5GB of RAM. Internal storage is 8GB, but there's no information if there's a microSD card slot available.

At the back, there's a 5MP camera, while at the front there's a 1.1MP one. Music lovers would also like the fact that the Z3 features an FM Radio, too.

The phone will hit Indonesia in April and will cost less than $200 off contract.

As for the BlackBerry Q20, the company has gone back to its roots and the phone features a physical QWERTY keyboard and a trackpad. It seems, the BlackBerry wants to attract some of its core fans back and offers them a phone they'll be productive with.

Here’s a quote from John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO at BlackBerry regarding the Q20.

"In my first 90 days on the job, I consistently heard from our ardent BlackBerry customers that the hard buttons and trackpad are an essential part of the BlackBerry QWERTY experience, that made their BlackBerry smartphone their go-to productivity tool. I want these customers to know that we heard them, and this new smartphone will be for them. Today, we’re delighted to announce the new BlackBerry Q20 smartphone, which is designed to give you the distinct experience that every BlackBerry QWERTY loyalist and high-productivity business customer absolutely loves. With the BlackBerry Q20 smartphone, you’ll get the familiar hard buttons and trackpad that you want, along with the best email service, the best keyboard experience and the best battery life possible."

The Menu, Back, Send and End buttons and the trackpad will be made an integral part of the device and user interface and in conjunction with the 3.5" display, BlackBerry says the phone will offer the best email experience on the market. The company also states that the Q20 will be made of premium materials, which will result in reliability and durability, but doesn't specify which ones.

We wish BlackBerry had disclosed more details, but that's not the case. We'll keep you posted for any new information that comes up. Hopefully BlackBerry will shed more light on the specs soon enough.

Source • Source (2)

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Samsung Galaxy S5 to also have a octacore Exynos variant

Yesterday's Samsung Galaxy S5 event had one curious omission. If you looked at the spec sheet you'd notice that the company was seemingly only offering the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC for its latest flagship with the usual Exynos variant nowhere to be found.

Turns out, there will be an Exynos variant of the Galaxy S5. According to a blog post by Samsung (which has now been redacted for some reason), the company will offer a 2.1GHz octacore variant of the Exynos SoC for the Galaxy S5.

It is unclear whether this will be limited to select markets or if Samsung will adopt its previous strategy of keeping the Qualcomm model US exclusive and offer the Exynos model in all other regions. If that is the case, hopefully the Exynos model won't lack any major features, such as 4K video recording, the way it did on the Galaxy Note 3.

The exact Exynos model is unknown. We will probably find out more when Samsung announces it officially, along with its availability on the S5.

Source (removed) • Via

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Samsung announces Galaxy S5 US market availability

Samsung announced details on the US availability of the Galaxy S5. The Android flagship will make its way to the United States in April, joined by the Samsung Gear family of wearable accessories.

Unsurprisingly, the list of US carriers which will officially carry the smartphone is extensive. It includes AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, MetroPCS, and U.S. Cellular.

Furthermore, the Samsung Galaxy S5 will be available in major retailers such as BestBuy, Amazon, Costco, RadioShack, etc. The Samsung Gear family will be available through carrier and retail channels.

Pricing of the smartphone is yet to be confirmed. We reckon that it will be somewhere in the ballpark of $199.99 with a two-year contract. The increasingly popular monthly installment payment options are also certain to be available.

You can find out all about the Samsung Galaxy S5 in our extensive hands-on.

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MWC 2014: Samsung Galaxy S5

GSMArena team, 24 February 2014.

Introduction

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is official - and it's not what we expected. Rumors got a few details right, but not the whole picture, obviously. After so many updates and sequels to the S4, it's perhaps not all that surprising that the S5 feels like a small step forward.

Samsung Galaxy S5 at a glance:

• General: 2G, 3G and 4G LTE connectivity


• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone


• Dimensions: 142 x 72.5 x 8.1mm, 145 g


• Display: 5.1" 16M-color Super AMOLED HD capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (431ppi)


• Chipset: Snapdragon 800 MSM8974-AC


• CPU: 2.5GHz Krait 400


• GPU: Adreno 330


• RAM: 2GB


• OS: Android 4.4.2 (KitKat)


• Memory: 16/32GB storage, microSD card slot


• Still camera: 16 megapixel auto-focus camera


• Video camera: Full HD (1080p) video recording


• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 3.0 with MHL, GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC, Infrared port


• Battery: 2800mAh


• Misc: Fingerprint scanner, heart rate monitor, humidity sensor, temperature sensor

The screen grew up only a bit and it kept the 1080p resolution rather than going to QHD. The camera update also shows restraint - a 16MP shooter with 1080p video capture, not the 20MP/2160p monster some rumors saw coming.

Samsung does maintain the clockspeed advantage with a rare Snapdragon 800 chipset and while the fingerprint scanner was no surprise, the heart rate monitor certainly is.

TouchWiz was a bit of a surprise too. We got pumped up for a brand new flat version of Samsung's custom UI, but the reality is closer to what we saw on the new Galaxy Pro tablets.

Samsung Galaxy S5

The back of the device is a new iteration of Samsung's leather-like plastic, with what looks like perforated holes. It only looks like it though, the Galaxy S5 is IP67 certified - we don't expect to see a Galaxy S5 Active.

Like we said, the Samsung Galaxy S5 is in part what we expected and a bit of a surprise. What is it though that sets it apart from the Galaxy S4 Advance with the leather back?

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