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2013-06-18T19:07:01Z

The Ascend P6 is Huawei's latest attempt at a flagship Android smartphone

2013-06-18T14:35:42Z

Huawei is in London today launching its new smartphone, the Ascend P6. The first thing you'll notice about the P6 is it's incredibly thin — Hauwei says it's 6.18mm thick, which is far thinner than Apple's iPhone 5 or the Samsung Galaxy S4. Huawei also claims it's the "world's thinnest" smartphone, but as is often the case with such titles, that achievement is set to be eclipsed by another Chinese competitor soon. The Ascend P6 is pretty light: at 120g, it weighs 10g less than the Galaxy S4. Despite its small shell, Huawei has managed to squeeze in what are essentially the internals of the LG Nexus 4. There's a 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 LCD with in-cell touch, an unspecified 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a 2000mAh battery, and 8GB...

Sony's flagship Xperia Z finally arrives on a US carrier, available from T-Mobile in 'coming weeks'

2013-06-18T13:10:58Z

Sony's Xperia Z, the high-end, ruggedized Android phone that was announced at CES, is getting its first launch on a US carrier. The phone will be available exclusively on T-Mobile in the "coming weeks;" it will come in both black and a limited-edition purple model. The Z is Sony's latest flagship phone, and it sports a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, 1080p display, and a 13-megapixel Exmor RS camera that Sony touts as offering HDR video — though we found the camera underwhelming in our review. Unusually for a US phone, it comes with a water-resistant coating, something that sets an otherwise relatively ordinary device apart from comparable Android phones.

The similar Xperia ZL is already available as an unlocked phone in the...

Sprint LTE reaches 110 markets with launches in Miami, New Orleans, Tampa, and more

2013-06-17T15:24:35Z

Sprint may be in the middle of a complicated set of acquisitions and mergers, but it's continuing to build out its LTE network. The company says that it has activated LTE service in 22 US cities today, including Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, and Raleigh, bringing its network footprint to 110 markets around the country. That compares to 278 LTE markets for AT&T and 497 for Verizon Wireless, which was the first to build the high-speed cellular network across the country. T-Mobile's nascent LTE network only covers seven cities. Today's announcement still leaves Sprint with major holes in its LTE coverage, however, with cities like New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and many more without service. Some users have seen LTE connectivity in...

Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE Advanced coming soon, but most carriers aren't ready

2013-06-17T10:23:45Z

Samsung is planning to release a variant of the Galaxy S4 that supports LTE Advanced (LTE-A), the next generation of superfast mobile data. The device will come to South Korea within weeks, Samsung Mobile head J.K. Shin tells Reuters. The updated device could prop sales of its flagship up as Apple and other competitors bring new smartphones to the market. J.K. Shin also confirmed Samsung is in talks with "several overseas carriers" to sell the new phone, but refused to confirm where and when the device would go on sale outside of Korea.

Jay-Z giving away 1 million early copies of new album to Samsung owners

2013-06-17T01:43:15Z

It's been four years since Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 was released, but Hov is back next month, and this time with Samsung in tow. The new album is called Magna Carta Holy Grail, and Samsung has apparently inked a deal to give it away free to the first million Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy Note II users on July 4th at 12:01AM ET, 72 hours before the official retail release.

People will be able to download the album with a free app that's coming to the Play store on June 24th, which promises an "unprecedented inside look into the album" with "personal stories and inspiration." The description immediately conjures to mind his book Decoded, which breaks down the lyrics and thoughts that went into the rapper's biggest hits. We'll...

EU committee to probe Google over alleged anticompetitive behavior with Android

2013-06-13T20:33:26Z

Google can't seem to stay out of the crosshairs of regulators in the European Union: According to a report from the Financial Times, the antitrust watchdog is planning to investigate Google over alleged anticompetitive behavior with its Android mobile operating system. Specifically, the regulators' probe will look at whether or not Google was licensing Android to manufacturers "below cost" in an effort to get widespread adoption, and "potential requests by Google to cancel and / or delay the launch of smartphone devices" that were running competing operating systems or used competing services to Google's own. The investigation follows complaints from Microsoft and Nokia, which alleged that Google used the Android platform to force...

Google updates Plus, Play Music apps for Android with faster downloads, synced notifications

2013-06-13T18:44:52Z

Google pushed out a couple of app updates for Android smartphones and tablets on Wednesday; one for its Google+ app and one for its recently redesigned Google Play Music app. The Google+ update is part of a revamp of the social network's notification system, and is one of the first Google apps to make use of Android's new synced notifications feature, which eliminates the need to clear the same notifications across multiple devices. The notifications panel has been updated with a new bell icon for new alerts, and the app has also received some photo management improvements and more sharing details on each post. The new notification system is also rolling out to the web and then to iOS users in the future.

The updated Play Music app...

Samsung's rumored Android-based Galaxy NX mirrorless camera shown in leaked shots

2013-06-13T18:37:53Z

Samsung may be prepping a proper mirrorless camera powered by Android if newly "leaked" photos are to be believed. Having already fiddled with an Android point-and-shoot cam — and after essentially converting the Galaxy S4 into a camera in its own right — the photos at Tinhte suggest Samsung is more serious than ever about building a competitive shooter running Google's OS. The camera in question, allegedly called the Galaxy NX, is significantly larger than Samsung's existing mirrorless options like the NX100. (Think of Panasonic's Lumix GH3 Micro Four Thirds camera and you won't be far off.)

In the leaked shots, we see a trio of compatible NX lenses, and the Galaxy NX itself is said to feature a 20.3-megapixel APS-C sensor running...

AT&T launching Galaxy S4 Active June 21st for $199, pre-orders start June 14th

2013-06-13T13:47:47Z

If Samsung's standard Galaxy S4 somehow isn't durable enough for your day-to-day activities, take note: AT&T will be offering the toughened Galaxy S4 Active beginning June 21st. The water-resistant and dustproof handset will be priced at $199 on contract and is set to be available in gray and blue varieties. Other than its resistance to the elements, the Galaxy S4 Active largely resembles its regular counterpart when it comes to internal specs. The main difference here is that the 1080p display is an LCD rather than an OLED panel, and the S4 Active's camera has a lower megapixel count. AT&T will start taking online pre-orders for the device tomorrow with in-store availability coming a week later.