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May

evleaks Posts Photo Of Unknown LG Handset – 'G2? Just A Guess…'

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Leaks, LG, News, Rumors

If there's one thing that never goes out of style in the Android community, it's rumors. Oh, and leaks. Around Google I/O and "Nexus season," leaks and rumors abound. Some Nexus-related, some … not. Today, one of tech's most prolific leaksters, evleaks, let loose an image of an unspecified LG handset. Posting to Facebook, evleaks asked "G2? Just a guess…" as speculations began whirling.

The device, which has an undeniably sparse front side (of which the most interesting aspect is the speaker grill), bears all the normal sensors, no hardware keys or buttons, a huge screen, small bezels, and a sheet of glass that appears to feature a comfortable (yet subtle) curve on all sides.

May

[Rant] Reality Check - HTC Has Plans For Bluetooth LE And OpenGL ES 3.0 But It Doesn't Make Them "Android 4.3 Features"

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Editorials, HTC, Leaks, News, One, Rumors

It's 4 a.m., I just read the 6th mention of the same misleading story in the last 24 hours, and it's time for a rant.

Yesterday, several "independent" reports all claiming to arrive at the same conclusion at the same time (does anyone properly credit their sources anymore?) appeared on the web suggesting HTC had just (*gasp*) leaked two new Android 4.3 features: Bluetooth Low-Energy and OpenGL ES 3.0. And it's done so via a public meetup organized by the San Francisco Android User Group. HTC is so careless that they've just published not one but two unreleased features coming in the next version of Android and therefore protected by strict NDAs.

May

HTC M4 Details Leak – It's Basically Just A Smaller, Less-Powerful One

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Leaks, M4, News

If we showed you a picture of the rumored HTC M4 right now, you would just think it's the One. Since HTC's newest flagship has such a fantastic design, it only makes sense (I really love that pun when talking about HTC) that the company would apply the same design elements to other handsets, as well – but the M4 is essentially a direct copy, only smaller. So it should be perfect for those who don't like huge phones. There's a downside, however: the M4 also takes a hit in the spec department, leaving this device in the mid-range department.

Rumor has it the M4 features a 4.3-inch 720p display, an unnamed dual-core processor, 16GB of storage, and the trademark UltraPixel camera.

Apr

WhatsApp: No, Google Isn't Buying Us, Don't Believe Everything You Read

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

We've been seeing leak after leak about Google's rumored unified messaging service. Now, as more details get seemingly confirmed and and we even get a look at the possibly near-finished app, clearly this is the time for Google to acquire a competing IM service, right? Well, not so much, according to AllThingsD. As it turns out, Mountain View is not about to buy WhatsApp, a company that makes a product that Google is currently nearly done building itself. Just in case you were wondering.

This contradicts rumors that WhatsApp would be selling to Google for close to $1 billion.

Apr

[Rumor] Second Generation Nexus 7 To Come With Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor, Could Be Available 'Around July'

Posted by Cody Toombs in ASUS, News, Nexus 7, Rumors

It seems that no company can keep a secret for very long. With I/O fast approaching, Google and ASUS are in the spotlight again as details creep out about a pending refresh to the Nexus 7. According to Reuters, two undisclosed sources have leaked plans for a likely release date around July with pricing as low as $149. The tipsters also let slip that the revised tablet will be packing an unspecified Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and that Google hopes to ship 6-8 million units before the start of 2014.

A shipping window of "around July" is pretty vague, but that might have something to do with the lessons learned during the Nexus 4 launch.

Mar

Galaxy S4 Mini Spotted, Rumored To Have 256ppi Display, Dual-Core Processor, Android 4.2.2

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Leaks, News, Rumors, Samsung

Well, that didn't take long. Just a week after Samsung announced its newest flagship phone, we get rumors of the Mini version of the same. As before, it's not just a smaller version of the phone, but a lower-specced version as well. In fact, in terms of the display, the rumored specs are much lower. 960x540 to the tune of 256ppi. In other words, exactly half the resolution (the GS4 packs 1920x1080) and a little more than half the ppi (441ppi).

Here are the rest of the alleged specs:

Super AMOLED qHD display (est. 4.3")
1.6GHz dual-core CPU
TW Nature UX 2.0
Android 4.2.2

So far, that's all she wrote.

Mar

Google May Be Working On Another Wearable – Android Team Reportedly Developing Smartwatch

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Google, News, Rumors

Last Updated: March 25th, 2013

There's no denying that wearable tech seems to be where it's at among industry analysts. Indeed, the concept of wearable devices separate from smartphones and tablets has piqued the interest of many would-be users. Pebble's smartwatch drew some pretty significant attention, and rumors of more advanced watches from both Samsung and Apple have fueled buzz for several weeks.

We've also, of course, heard rumblings about a Google smartwatch (remember that watch patent the PTO granted Google late last year?). The question remains whether Google would venture into a second wearable device (in addition to Glass), but – according to Financial Times – there's reason to believe that not only is the Google watch real, it's being developed by the search giant's "Android unit."

Of course, this information comes from "a person briefed on the subject," and we all know how incredible Mr.

Mar

CyanogenMod's Team Hacksung Expresses Frustration With Exynos But Neither Confirms Nor Denies Plans For CM On Galaxy S4

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Development, Galaxy S4, News

Last Updated: April 22nd, 2013

The rumor mill is hot today after a comment on XDA caused some to worry that CyanogenMod would not arrive for the new Galaxy S4. XpLoDWilD took to the forums to respond to questions about the difficulty of developing for the handset. The comment appeared to be speaking on behalf of TeamHacksung (the sub-group within CM that deals with devices like the SII, Note, SIII, Note II, etc.), other CM members were quick to point out that no one person has the authority to speak for the entire team.

Here's the initial comment:

Nobody at team hacksung (the team behind galaxy s2, note, s3, note2, gtabs...

Mar

Purported Screenshots From The U.S. Variants Of The Galaxy S IV Show Up, Show Off 1.8GHz Quad-Core Processor, Smart Pause/Scroll, And More

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy S4, Leaks, News, Rumors

Well, we're little more than a week away from Samsung's Galaxy S IV Unpacked event in New York. You know what that means: rumors, leaks, and the like are all starting to pour in like mad. This go around we're seeing supposed screenshots from the U.S. version of the GSIV, which showed up on GSM.Israel.co.il. Sure, it's a curious place for a U.S. device to make its debut, but the shots are convincing nonetheless.

As you can see, this confirms a few things right out of the gate: a 5-inch 1080p display and 1.8GHz quad-core chip. Past that, all other pertinent information has been blurred, so at least next week still holds some surprises.

Mar

[Rumor Smash] That Rounded, Gradient-Covered Rectangle Wasn't The Galaxy S IV, It Was An Expansys Placeholder

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Rumors

Rumors are tricky things. On the one hand, one of the best ways to verify that a suspicious-looking leak is legit is to examine the track record of the leakster. On the other hand, when an image comes out that's nothing but a rounded rectangle with a few gradients, it should be assumed that the picture is complete bunk or, at best, resembles a real device by virtue of adhering to predictable patterns. Those two principles collided, however, when the legendary @evleaks tweeted the following images that turned out to be Expansys placeholder photos.