Author: Nirave

Huawei rules out 4k smartphone displays over battery life fears


If you’re looking for the next-generation display in your next Huawei smartphone, you may be disappointed as the Chinese manufacturer as advanced displays come with a battery life compromise that the company isn’t willing to accept. FoneArena spoke to Kevin Ho, President of the Handset Product Line at Huawei, in a special briefing at Huawei’s Shanghai campus where he explained the trade-off the company is facing with adopting next-generation displays.
“On the large screen 4k is very good but on a smaller smartphone display of five to six inches, maybe our eyes cannot tell the difference between this and 2k.”
“4k needs a lot of power, so if you use it you have to make compromises. A 4k display on a smartphone may give you half a day of battery life but a 2k display can give you maybe one day or more.”
“4k has four times the pixels of Full HD so the power consumption is maybe 4 or 8 times as much as Full HD so the smartphone has to have compromises with battery life.”
That being said however, Huawei isn’t ruling out the possibility of 4k devices in the future as it acknowledges it will provide the best possible experience and …


If you’re looking for the next-generation display in your next Huawei smartphone, you may be disappointed as the Chinese manufacturer as advanced displays come with a battery life compromise that the company isn’t willing to accept. FoneArena spoke to Kevin Ho, President of the Handset Product Line at Huawei, in a special briefing at Huawei’s Shanghai campus where he explained the trade-off the company is facing with adopting next-generation displays.
“On the large screen 4k is very good but on a smaller smartphone display of five to six inches, maybe our eyes cannot tell the difference between this and 2k.”
“4k needs a lot of power, so if you use it you have to make compromises. A 4k display on a smartphone may give you half a day of battery life but a 2k display can give you maybe one day or more.”
“4k has four times the pixels of Full HD so the power consumption is maybe 4 or 8 times as much as Full HD so the smartphone has to have compromises with battery life.”
That being said however, Huawei isn’t ruling out the possibility of 4k devices in the future as it acknowledges it will provide the best possible experience and …

BlackBerry Classic lands at Carphone Warehouse


The BlackBerry Classic has already launched in the UK with Vodafone, Selfridges and BlackBerry Direct and now retailer Carphone Warehouse has announced it is stocking the handset from today. The retailer has the handset available on a range of contracts starting at just £26.50 per month and is also selling the handset for £329.99 SIM free.
If you’re looking to get the BlackBerry Classic on a Pay Monthly plan, there’s several networks to choose from – the handset is available on 4G plans from EE< O2 and Vodafone and 3G plans on Orange and T-Mobile. With the Classic able to support download speeds of up to 150Mbps, we’d recommend picking a 4G plan and the cheapest is on Vodafone for £26.50 per month with unlimited minutes and texts and 1GB data each month.
For customers on O2, the cheapest is £28 per month whilst EE plans start from £30.99 per month (both with 1GB data, EE limited to 1000 minutes). With superfast data speeds, we’d recommend spending a little more to get more data so the Vodafone plan at £31.50 per month (4GB data), the O2 plan at £33 per month (5GB data) and the EE plan at £38.99 per month (4GB …


The BlackBerry Classic has already launched in the UK with Vodafone, Selfridges and BlackBerry Direct and now retailer Carphone Warehouse has announced it is stocking the handset from today. The retailer has the handset available on a range of contracts starting at just £26.50 per month and is also selling the handset for £329.99 SIM free.
If you’re looking to get the BlackBerry Classic on a Pay Monthly plan, there’s several networks to choose from – the handset is available on 4G plans from EE< O2 and Vodafone and 3G plans on Orange and T-Mobile. With the Classic able to support download speeds of up to 150Mbps, we’d recommend picking a 4G plan and the cheapest is on Vodafone for £26.50 per month with unlimited minutes and texts and 1GB data each month.
For customers on O2, the cheapest is £28 per month whilst EE plans start from £30.99 per month (both with 1GB data, EE limited to 1000 minutes). With superfast data speeds, we’d recommend spending a little more to get more data so the Vodafone plan at £31.50 per month (4GB data), the O2 plan at £33 per month (5GB data) and the EE plan at £38.99 per month (4GB …

Samsung to launch round smartwatch at MWC?


Samsung looks set to follow rivals LG, Motorola and Acer by announcing a round smartwatch at Mobile World Congress in March. The annual conference is likely to see the introduction of a plethora of new mobile devices, tablets and wearables and Samsung’s first round wearable would run on its Tizen OS (and not Android Wear like its rivals).
Although Samsung has already introduced an Android Wear device – namely the Samsung Gear Live – its next smartwatch is still set to run on the Tizen platform which also powers the Gear 2 Neo, Gear Fit and Gear S wearables. The rumour comes from SamMobile who say the new smartwatch has model number SM-R720 with codename Orbis (which would actually be a rather good launch name for the device no?)
The site also notes that Samsung has been granted a series of wearable-related patents recently and one of these is for a ring-operated design which could be set to launch on the Orbis. The smartwatch, which is very much in rumoured status, is likely to be completely different from any Gear smartwatch yet and with most manufacturers launching wearables – including Apple with the Apple Watch around the same time as MWC – Samsung will need …


Samsung looks set to follow rivals LG, Motorola and Acer by announcing a round smartwatch at Mobile World Congress in March. The annual conference is likely to see the introduction of a plethora of new mobile devices, tablets and wearables and Samsung’s first round wearable would run on its Tizen OS (and not Android Wear like its rivals).
Although Samsung has already introduced an Android Wear device – namely the Samsung Gear Live – its next smartwatch is still set to run on the Tizen platform which also powers the Gear 2 Neo, Gear Fit and Gear S wearables. The rumour comes from SamMobile who say the new smartwatch has model number SM-R720 with codename Orbis (which would actually be a rather good launch name for the device no?)
The site also notes that Samsung has been granted a series of wearable-related patents recently and one of these is for a ring-operated design which could be set to launch on the Orbis. The smartwatch, which is very much in rumoured status, is likely to be completely different from any Gear smartwatch yet and with most manufacturers launching wearables – including Apple with the Apple Watch around the same time as MWC – Samsung will need …

BlackBerry Classic in-stock in the UK and UAE


BlackBerry may have been through the wringer over the past twelve months but the company is still going strong and their latest handset, the BlackBerry Classic, is now in-stock and available to buy in both the UK and United Arab Emirates.
We’ve previously heard that ShopBlackBerry will have the handset in-stock and available to ship in mid-January in the UK but if you don’t want to wait that long, Selfridges have the BlackBerry Classic available to buy right now for £329.99 SIM free and unlocked. Better still, if you’re based in a country where the handset isn’t likely to launch, Selfridges will deliver it internationally for £15 (if you’re within Europe) or £25 (if you’re outside Europe).
If you’re located within the United Arab Emirates, you can also get your hands on the BlackBerry Classic from other than the official BlackBerry store in Dubai Mall. CrackBerry report that in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, retailers Axiom Telecom and Carrefour are both now offering the BlackBerry Classic for the suggested retail price of 1799 AED, which equates to roughly £319.50 at the current exchange rate.
Not sure if the BlackBerry Classic is for you? Recapping the device, we can see BlackBerry’s latest handset sports …


BlackBerry may have been through the wringer over the past twelve months but the company is still going strong and their latest handset, the BlackBerry Classic, is now in-stock and available to buy in both the UK and United Arab Emirates.
We’ve previously heard that ShopBlackBerry will have the handset in-stock and available to ship in mid-January in the UK but if you don’t want to wait that long, Selfridges have the BlackBerry Classic available to buy right now for £329.99 SIM free and unlocked. Better still, if you’re based in a country where the handset isn’t likely to launch, Selfridges will deliver it internationally for £15 (if you’re within Europe) or £25 (if you’re outside Europe).
If you’re located within the United Arab Emirates, you can also get your hands on the BlackBerry Classic from other than the official BlackBerry store in Dubai Mall. CrackBerry report that in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, retailers Axiom Telecom and Carrefour are both now offering the BlackBerry Classic for the suggested retail price of 1799 AED, which equates to roughly £319.50 at the current exchange rate.
Not sure if the BlackBerry Classic is for you? Recapping the device, we can see BlackBerry’s latest handset sports …

BlackBerry Classic in-stock in the UK and UAE


BlackBerry may have been through the wringer over the past twelve months but the company is still going strong and their latest handset, the BlackBerry Classic, is now in-stock and available to buy in both the UK and United Arab Emirates.
We’ve previously heard that ShopBlackBerry will have the handset in-stock and available to ship in mid-January in the UK but if you don’t want to wait that long, Selfridges have the BlackBerry Classic available to buy right now for £329.99 SIM free and unlocked. Better still, if you’re based in a country where the handset isn’t likely to launch, Selfridges will deliver it internationally for £15 (if you’re within Europe) or £25 (if you’re outside Europe).
If you’re located within the United Arab Emirates, you can also get your hands on the BlackBerry Classic from other than the official BlackBerry store in Dubai Mall. CrackBerry report that in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, retailers Axiom Telecom and Carrefour are both now offering the BlackBerry Classic for the suggested retail price of 1799 AED, which equates to roughly £319.50 at the current exchange rate.
Not sure if the BlackBerry Classic is for you? Recapping the device, we can see BlackBerry’s latest handset sports …


BlackBerry may have been through the wringer over the past twelve months but the company is still going strong and their latest handset, the BlackBerry Classic, is now in-stock and available to buy in both the UK and United Arab Emirates.
We’ve previously heard that ShopBlackBerry will have the handset in-stock and available to ship in mid-January in the UK but if you don’t want to wait that long, Selfridges have the BlackBerry Classic available to buy right now for £329.99 SIM free and unlocked. Better still, if you’re based in a country where the handset isn’t likely to launch, Selfridges will deliver it internationally for £15 (if you’re within Europe) or £25 (if you’re outside Europe).
If you’re located within the United Arab Emirates, you can also get your hands on the BlackBerry Classic from other than the official BlackBerry store in Dubai Mall. CrackBerry report that in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, retailers Axiom Telecom and Carrefour are both now offering the BlackBerry Classic for the suggested retail price of 1799 AED, which equates to roughly £319.50 at the current exchange rate.
Not sure if the BlackBerry Classic is for you? Recapping the device, we can see BlackBerry’s latest handset sports …

Microsoft sells MixRadio to LINE


In a rather surprising announcement today, Microsoft have announced that they have sold the popular MixRadio service to LINE, who are more commonly known for their LINE Messenger application on smartphones.
Shortly after Microsoft completed its acquisition of Nokia’s services back in April, MixRadio announced they would be operating as a separate company and supporting both iOS and Android – today’s announcement means the company will be backed by a fast growing company with pedigree in providing popular services on mobile devices.
Jyrki Rosenberg, Head of MixRadio, said:
“We wanted MixRadio to continue to operate with a commitment to constant innovation and aspiration to deliver the best possible mobile-first experience to listeners. LINE share this vision and our passion for simple, personal and fun user experiences in every way”.
He then goes on to clarify that
“In terms of the MixRadio app and service itself, MixRadio fans can expect the same level of commitment to bring a personalised music experience to Lumia smartphones, thanks to MixRadio’s recently launched recommendation engine.”
The team will continue to be based out of Bristol, England and the deal – which should complete in early 2015 – means that we’re likely to see MixRadio grow into more markets than just mobile. …


In a rather surprising announcement today, Microsoft have announced that they have sold the popular MixRadio service to LINE, who are more commonly known for their LINE Messenger application on smartphones.
Shortly after Microsoft completed its acquisition of Nokia’s services back in April, MixRadio announced they would be operating as a separate company and supporting both iOS and Android – today’s announcement means the company will be backed by a fast growing company with pedigree in providing popular services on mobile devices.
Jyrki Rosenberg, Head of MixRadio, said:
“We wanted MixRadio to continue to operate with a commitment to constant innovation and aspiration to deliver the best possible mobile-first experience to listeners. LINE share this vision and our passion for simple, personal and fun user experiences in every way”.
He then goes on to clarify that
“In terms of the MixRadio app and service itself, MixRadio fans can expect the same level of commitment to bring a personalised music experience to Lumia smartphones, thanks to MixRadio’s recently launched recommendation engine.”
The team will continue to be based out of Bristol, England and the deal – which should complete in early 2015 – means that we’re likely to see MixRadio grow into more markets than just mobile. …

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge lands at Vodafone UK


Expecting to wait until December 18th for the Galaxy Note Edge to become available in the UK? As we’ve already heard, the wait is over as the handset is available from Carphone Warehouse but now Vodafone UK have also launched the handset (albeit only in black).
If you’re interested in buying the Galaxy Note Edge from Vodafone UK, the handset certainly won’t be cheap. The ‘recommended’ price plan will cost you £58.50 per month with a £49 upfront charge which will give you unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 10GB 4G+ data each month but if you’d rather not pay anything upfront, the same deal is available through Carphone Warehouse without the initial charge.
There’s a range of other plans available but given the niche-status of the Galaxy Note Edge, the plans are certainly expensive. As we’ve previously covered, buying the Note Edge on a Vodafone 4G contract will also give you access to either Spotify Premium, Now TV from Sky or Sky Sports Mobile TV as an inclusive benefit. Furthermore, customers buying the Galaxy Note Edge on a Vodafone Red 4G plan will also receive a 3 month NOW TV Sky Movies Pass – which offers access to over 1,000 movies on-demand and streaming …


Expecting to wait until December 18th for the Galaxy Note Edge to become available in the UK? As we’ve already heard, the wait is over as the handset is available from Carphone Warehouse but now Vodafone UK have also launched the handset (albeit only in black).
If you’re interested in buying the Galaxy Note Edge from Vodafone UK, the handset certainly won’t be cheap. The ‘recommended’ price plan will cost you £58.50 per month with a £49 upfront charge which will give you unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 10GB 4G+ data each month but if you’d rather not pay anything upfront, the same deal is available through Carphone Warehouse without the initial charge.
There’s a range of other plans available but given the niche-status of the Galaxy Note Edge, the plans are certainly expensive. As we’ve previously covered, buying the Note Edge on a Vodafone 4G contract will also give you access to either Spotify Premium, Now TV from Sky or Sky Sports Mobile TV as an inclusive benefit. Furthermore, customers buying the Galaxy Note Edge on a Vodafone Red 4G plan will also receive a 3 month NOW TV Sky Movies Pass – which offers access to over 1,000 movies on-demand and streaming …

Check out EE 4G with a free SIM and 200GB FREE data


Want to check out exactly how good EE’s 4G network is or just want bag loads of free data? EE is trying to push it’s Pay As You Go SIM deals and the chaps over at CoolSmartphone have spotted an incredible offer on the EE website. The ‘Dan and Phil’ campaign allows you to get free texts each week and 100GB data free each months for two months.
EE has the largest 4G network in the UK and has been actively promoting both its Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go plans in a bid to see off growing competition from rival networks O2 and Vodafone. The UK’s largest operator, who is rumoured to be subject to a takeover bid by British Telecom, provides 4G services to over 75% of the UK population and is more advanced than its rival networks.
On their website, EE have posted the following message about the promotion:
NO STRINGS, NO CONTRACT
Just free access to loads of extras from Dan and Phil, including weekly text messages and a whopping 100GB of free data each month.
It’s a great chance to see what life’s like on the EE network and to try out 4GEE, if you’ve got a 4G phone.
Try our Limited …


Want to check out exactly how good EE’s 4G network is or just want bag loads of free data? EE is trying to push it’s Pay As You Go SIM deals and the chaps over at CoolSmartphone have spotted an incredible offer on the EE website. The ‘Dan and Phil’ campaign allows you to get free texts each week and 100GB data free each months for two months.
EE has the largest 4G network in the UK and has been actively promoting both its Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go plans in a bid to see off growing competition from rival networks O2 and Vodafone. The UK’s largest operator, who is rumoured to be subject to a takeover bid by British Telecom, provides 4G services to over 75% of the UK population and is more advanced than its rival networks.
On their website, EE have posted the following message about the promotion:
NO STRINGS, NO CONTRACT
Just free access to loads of extras from Dan and Phil, including weekly text messages and a whopping 100GB of free data each month.
It’s a great chance to see what life’s like on the EE network and to try out 4GEE, if you’ve got a 4G phone.
Try our Limited …

Huawei Honor 6 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Photo Gallery


Chinese manufacturer Huawei have been producing handsets for many years (both as white-label for companies and under their own name) but one area where the company has particularly struggled is adoption of devices bearing its name in European and American markets. Earlier this year they announced the new Honor 6 smartphone for Europe and whilst it shares many hallmarks of other Huawei devices such as the Ascend P6, it does drop the Huawei branding. How does this smartphone designed for Europe compare with the phablet behemoth that is the Samsung Galaxy Note 4?
Whilst the Galaxy Note 4 has a specs list to rival any handset, Huawei have set their sights a little lower with the Honor 6. Unlike the Galaxy Note 4 which has a 5.6 inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display, the Honor 6 comes with a 5.0 inch Full HD 1080p IPS LCD display offer 445 pixels per inch density (versus 515 ppi on the Galaxy Note 4).
On the back both handsets have reasonable snappers with the Galaxy Note 4 sporting a 16MP sensor with Optical Image Stabilisation and LED flash whilst the Honor 6 has a 13MP sensor with dual-LED flash but no OIS. It’s in the …


Chinese manufacturer Huawei have been producing handsets for many years (both as white-label for companies and under their own name) but one area where the company has particularly struggled is adoption of devices bearing its name in European and American markets. Earlier this year they announced the new Honor 6 smartphone for Europe and whilst it shares many hallmarks of other Huawei devices such as the Ascend P6, it does drop the Huawei branding. How does this smartphone designed for Europe compare with the phablet behemoth that is the Samsung Galaxy Note 4?
Whilst the Galaxy Note 4 has a specs list to rival any handset, Huawei have set their sights a little lower with the Honor 6. Unlike the Galaxy Note 4 which has a 5.6 inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display, the Honor 6 comes with a 5.0 inch Full HD 1080p IPS LCD display offer 445 pixels per inch density (versus 515 ppi on the Galaxy Note 4).
On the back both handsets have reasonable snappers with the Galaxy Note 4 sporting a 16MP sensor with Optical Image Stabilisation and LED flash whilst the Honor 6 has a 13MP sensor with dual-LED flash but no OIS. It’s in the …

Archos 10.1 XS2 + Keyboard Dock Hands On


During IFA 2013, alongside additions to its smartphone and other tablet ranges, Archos introduced the Archos 10.1 XS2 tablet that comes with a very cool ultrathin magnetic keyboard. The keyboard is a pleasure to use and slips away out of sight beneath the tablet (which can also be removed from the keyboard and carried around on its own).
Great design is one thing but does the Archos 10.1 XS2 have the specs list to back up Archos’ bold claims that this isn’t your average 10 inch tablet?
The Archos 10.1 XS2 comes with a 10.1 inch display of the IPS variety. The display sports 1280 x 800 pixels resolution, which equates to 149pixels per inch density. That’s not all though – given the design and keyboard accessory, the Archos 10.1 XS2 display sports 4:3 aspect ratio – in comparison, most smartphones and tablets (aside from the LG Vu 3) sport 16:9 aspect.
Under the hood, the Archos 10.1 XS2 is powered by a quad-core 1.6GHz processor and comes with 3D OpenGL (ES 2.0) graphics for superior colours and gameplay. The Archos 10.1 XS2 runs on the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system and comes with 2GB RAM to ensure you can run as many applications as you’d like. …


During IFA 2013, alongside additions to its smartphone and other tablet ranges, Archos introduced the Archos 10.1 XS2 tablet that comes with a very cool ultrathin magnetic keyboard. The keyboard is a pleasure to use and slips away out of sight beneath the tablet (which can also be removed from the keyboard and carried around on its own).
Great design is one thing but does the Archos 10.1 XS2 have the specs list to back up Archos’ bold claims that this isn’t your average 10 inch tablet?
The Archos 10.1 XS2 comes with a 10.1 inch display of the IPS variety. The display sports 1280 x 800 pixels resolution, which equates to 149pixels per inch density. That’s not all though – given the design and keyboard accessory, the Archos 10.1 XS2 display sports 4:3 aspect ratio – in comparison, most smartphones and tablets (aside from the LG Vu 3) sport 16:9 aspect.
Under the hood, the Archos 10.1 XS2 is powered by a quad-core 1.6GHz processor and comes with 3D OpenGL (ES 2.0) graphics for superior colours and gameplay. The Archos 10.1 XS2 runs on the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system and comes with 2GB RAM to ensure you can run as many applications as you’d like. …