UPDATE from AT&T – Samsung Announces Galaxy S6 Active

CGlodt8UIAA98cp.jpg largeUPDATE!

AT&T has finally weighed in! The Galaxy S6 Active will be available starting June 12. They’re being frustratingly coy about pricing, just giving us the Next monthly payment pricing. At $23 a month on Next 24, that would put price near the HTC One M9 and LG G Flex 2. We can expect an off contract price over $700.

Also interesting, AT&T is listing the battery at 3500mAh, instead of the 2550mAh that Samsung listed the battery at. If thisĀ  is true, we could have a monster variant of the S6 on our hands, as battery life on the regular S6 is often criticized.

You can catch AT&T’s full press release after the original blog post below.

Continue reading “UPDATE from AT&T – Samsung Announces Galaxy S6 Active”

OtterBox Leak Points to Camera Refinements on HTC One M9

HTC One M9 Otterbox LeakWe still don’t have a lot of information on what will be coming for HTC’s next flagship phone. No confirmation on screen size or resolution. We don’t even know yet if it will use Qualcomm’s new 810 chipset.

This leaked line up of cases from OtterBox however do show some detail as to what we might expect from HTC. Cut outs show they’ll be keeping the front facing stereo speakers. Also the button arrangement looks like HTC will yet again be “inspired” by Nokia, which would be a welcome change from the top mounted power buttons on the M7 and M8.

Most interesting however is the large square-ish cutout for the rear camera. We don’t see a secondary port for a duo camera sensor.

My biggest complaint with the M8 came from the camera quality, walking away from Optical Image Stabilization (a feature which greatly improves video and low light photos) in favor of a fun gimmick which developers never really embraced. We obviously don’t know the particulars of what will go into HTC’s next camera, but a return to a single sensor with OIS would be a welcome change.

And I’m always glad to see accessory manufacturers ready to support new phones. OtterBox’s Commuter case has seen regular rotation on my M8.

We’ll need to wait until March for the full scoop! What are you hoping to see in HTC’s next flagship phone? Drop us a comment below!

Galaxy S5 Pics Leak Ahead of Samsung Unboxed

Galaxy S5 camera appAnd here we get to the meat of the rumor and leak market, some decent pics of Samsung’s next flagship.

Following the design language of the Note 3, the GS5 is rumored to sport a 5.2″ display, which is creeping up on the 5.3″ screen of the original Note. Remember when we thought a phone that size was crazy? Yeah. Good times.

We still don’t know the full spec sheet, screen resolution, how many megapickles the camera will have, what the official battery capacity might be, but at least for now, we have a pretty good idea of what the phone will look like. We can also see a few new features like Download Booster which can use your LTE and WiFi at the same time, and there’s a covered USB port which might mean some kind of waterproofing is being used.

We can be thankful there will still be SOME discovery during Samsung’s event later today. Fingers crossed there might actually be a surprise or two…

Pics via SaudiAndroid and Hardware Zone

Verizon employee leaks image of HTC One Max

android central htc one maxA friend of a Verizon employee posted this pic of the up coming HTC One Max in the Android Central forums. According to Jeremy, his mysterious pal has confirmed the One Max will have a finger print scanner and a removable back plate. Looks to be some decent competition for the Galaxy Note 3, especially with BoomSound in tow.

What I’m really happy to see, is this doesn’t appear to be a Droid. The last larger screened phone HTC released was a carrier exclusive to VZW in the USA, dubbed the Droid DNA. This image shows us a phone which very much follows the design language of the One and One Mini, meaning HTC is moving towards the same kind of device branding that Samsung and Apple have already figured out. Consumers will no longer be confused by seeing One’s on one carrier and Evos/Droids on another.

Of course, Verizon did still have to slap their weird checkmark logo right on the face of this otherwise beautiful phone. Right where the HTC logo would’ve been too. Kind of a slap in the face. Here’s to change?

(via Android Central)

TLD gives us a sneak peek of the iPad 5 casing!

This is actually a pretty decent scoop. TLD has gotten their hands on an iPad 5 shell, and they spend some time comparing it to the current iPad 4. The design will be very similar to the iPad Mini, thinner and slimmer with more rectangular edges. I still want to see a “pick it up off of a flat surface” test, as the Mini can be incredibly difficult to pick up off a tablet without sliding it around, potentially scratching it.

iPad 5 looks like it will feature much smaller bezels, but this means it’ll be an even tighter fit for all of the guts inside. Hopefully battery life doesn’t take a hit, and fingers crossed it doesn’t run any hotter than the current iPads do.

Rumor: Nokia to launch Lumia 1520 on September 26

nokialumia1520leaknew9_1020_verge_super_wideI’m not a big fan of rumor posts, there’s enough real stuff to actually play with that I don’t like getting bogged down by speculation. This rumor comes courtesy of @evleaks however, and they’ve been pretty good about not engaging in wild speculation regarding gadget leaks…

The timing on this seems pretty legit. We know Microsoft is gearing up for a couple big moves over the next couple months, including dropping a new Surface and the public release of Windows 8.1. Updating Windows Phone with a killer Nokia phablet would fit into that release line up nicely.

More news when we get actual news.

Pics of the Nokia Lumia 1520 Phablet leak again – Now with more specs.

lumia1520photos5_1020_verge_super_wideThis is becoming a contender for my “worst kept secret in tech” award, but another round of leaked pics featuring the Lumia 1520 have SURFACEd on the Verge. It looks a lot like previous leaked renders, and it’s looking like we might have a legit contender for the first Windows Phone phablet.

Also leaked/confirmed are the specs powering this giant slab. According to the leaker, the 1520 will sport a 6″ 1080p screen powered by a Qualcomm 800 series chipset. 32GB of storage will be on board with the ability to add more via SD card, and 2 GB of RAM should keep all your apps happy. The bulge on the back is rumored to house a 20MP camera which looks similar to the camera bump on the Lumia 925. No 1020 PureView action here, but it should still be a fantastic performer. nokialumia1520leaknew9_1020_verge_super_wideThis would be an exciting development for WP fans, as it would bring Microsoft’s platform screaming up to the cutting edge of the smartphone hardware heap.

Seeing how tightly MS controls what goes into Windows Phone, this could also be a clue that we’re due a refresh soon, and I personally wouldn’t be surprised to see the 1520 released around the time that Windows 8.1 is announced. This would make a great flagship phone to show off a new OS update, while also reinforcing Microsoft’s commitment to improving the WP8 ecosystem. I’m looking forward to more news surrounding the GDR3 update.

(via The Verge)

Rumor: No surprise Microsoft MIGHT be working on a Surface 2. Gasp!

microsoft surface pro somegadgetguy

No really folks. Apparently we’re going to treat this rumor like it’s really hot news. Great.

Apparently Microsoft hasn’t been sitting around twiddling its collective thumbs since the release of the Surface Pro. Color me shocked, they MIGHT just be working on a follow up to their groundbreaking slate PC. Real facts here are slim, but there’s a lot we can glean without much effort.

See there’s this new lower-power processor out from Intel called Haswell. It wasn’t out when the original Surface Pro was released, but it’s popping up in all kinds of new laptops, and is proving very popular thanks to its improved power management. It sips way less juice, and is now the brains behind the new Asus Transformer Book T300 and Sony’s beautiful new Tap 11. Those two represent the closest direct competition to the idea which bore the Surface Pro. Taking laptop-grade hardware, and cramming it into a device little bigger than an iPad.

So here’s the hot scoop, Microsoft will use THAT processor in their follow up to the Surface Pro! Bam! I KNOW!

It’ll probably even have more RAM too! BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS WITH TECH! IT GETS MORE RAM!

I mean seriously. These aren’t even “leaks”, they’re just obvious paths of improvement. How frustrating would it be if I acted all coy about the Samsung Galaxy S5 having a more powerful processor and a better camera. SHOCKING! But you heard it here first. EXCLUSIVE! HOT!

What no one really knows for certain is what a release schedule might look like. The original Surface RT was released in October of last year, with the Surface Pro held up until February of this year. Microsoft would do well to get ahead of this hardware cycle, as they have to play a little catch up with all the Haswell products hitting the market now.

We also know that Windows 8.1 will be released to consumers on October 17th, so the timing on a refreshed Surface could tie together really well.

If a refreshed Surface Pro even happens.

Because apparently people are surprised when major companies secretly work on improving products. And this is why I hate writing up rumor posts…