BlackBerry's upcoming A10 flagship leaks in photos and video

BlackBerry is reported to be working on a bigger and faster flagship smartphone called the A10, and a new series of leaked photos have provided one of our best looks yet at the upcoming device.  Three pictures of the purported BlackBerry smartphone, showcasing its home screen, boot screen, and rear cover has been leaked. While nothing on the device is out of line with what we'd expect from BlackBerry's next flagship, the rear view — which is pictured below — helps to detail the rounded taper that we heard about previously.

The BlackBerry A10 has been rumored to resemble the shape of Samsung's Galaxy S4, and that description doesn't seem to be too far off from what's been pictured so far. The device also has an HTC One-styled chin — while BlackBerry has used that same shape before on its own Z10 smartphone, which actually preceded the One, the two-tone color scheme appears to have become much more pronounced on the new device. The A10 is also rumored to have a 5-inch AMOLED display, a dual-core processor, and 2GB of RAM. Reports suggest that BlackBerry will target the device toward gamers and launch it sometime this November.

HTC Desire 500 with 4.3-inch display, Android 4.2 launched

HTC has been aggressively launching smartphones all around the globe that include devices under its One and Desire series. Following the strategy, the company has launched Desire 500 in Taiwan. The device is said to be targeted at the younger consumers and is considered a mid-ranged smartphone.

The HTC Desire 500 is powered by 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 quad-core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. It features a 4.3-inch WVGA display with a resolution of 480x800 pixels. The phone measures 131.8x66.9x9.9mm and weighs 123g. There is 4GB internal storage that can be further expanded up to 64GB with the help of microSD card. An 8-megapixel rear camera can be found at the back accompanied by an LED flash and a 1.6-megapixel front camera. The device can record videos at 720p and also features Beats Audio.

HTC Desire 500 comes with a 1,800mAh battery that the company claims will deliver 17.8 hours of talk time and 401 hours of standby time. The HTC Desire 500 runs on Android 4.2 with Sense 5 on top and other features like BlinkFeed. However, the HTC Desire 500 does not include BoomSound which has been a part of HTC One series and features dual front speakers at the front panel.

HTC Desire 500 is priced at NT$11,900 (approx. Rs. 24,000). There is no word yet about pricing and availability in markets other than Taiwan.

Last week, the Taiwanese handset maker unveiled HTC One mini. The handset will be available from August in selective markets with the global roll-out expected to start in September.

The HTC One mini is a compact version of its flagship smartphone, the HTC One and features the same design as the flagship model. The HTC One mini features a 4.3-inch S-LCD3 display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels and a pixel density of 341ppi. The device is powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and has 1GB of RAM. It comes with 16GB of internal storage and does not feature any expansion features. The smartphone is based on Android 4.2 with HTC Sense 5 UI layer on top and also includes HTC BlinkFeed.

Samsung unveils Exynos 5420 Octa processor

Samsung teased its next generation Exynos 5 Octa processor on Twitter last week. The South Korean giant has finally unveiled the new Exynos 5 Octa processor dubbed as the Exynos 5420.

The latest iteration of the Exynos family is based on ARM Mali - T628 MP6 cores and boosts 3D graphic processing two times greater than the predecessors of Exynos 5 Octa processors.

The Exynos 5420 processor is powered by four ARM Cortex-A15 processors at 1.8GHz with four additional Cortex-A7 cores at 1.3 GHz in a big.LITTLE configuration.

Taehoon Kim, vice president of System LSI marketing, Samsung Electronics said in a press note, "Demand for richer graphic experiences is growing rapidly nowadays. In order to meet that demand from both OEMs and end users, we developed this processor which enables superb graphical performance without compromising power consumption."

Additionally, the new Exynos 5420 features multiple image compression (MIC) IP block inside the System-on-Chip that lowers the total system power when bringing pictures or multimedia from memory to display panel. This feature increases the battery usage time with a high-resolution display such as WQXGA (2500x1600) especially when browsing the web or running multimedia application that requires the frequent screen refresh. It also features a memory bandwidth of 14.9 gigabytes per second paired with a dual-channel LPDDR3 at 933MHz that enables fast data processing and support for full HD Wi-Fi display.
The press note further suggests that the new Exynos 5 Octa processor currently sampling to customers and is scheduled for mass-production in August.

There is no word about which upcoming devices will feature the new Exynos processor. But rumours suggest that the announcement of the new Exynos 5 Octa processor comes at a time when Samsung is preparing to unveil its next phone in the Note series, the Galaxy Note III.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom now up for pre-orders at Rs. 29,390

Samsung's official India online store has started taking pre-orders for the recently launched Galaxy S4 Zoom at Rs. 29,390.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is a variant of company's flagship device, Galaxy S4, which puts the camera in focus. The device was launched earlier this month with another Galaxy S4 variant, the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini. Few days back the company started taking pre-orders for the Galaxy S4 mini through its online channel for Rs. 27,990.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD display with a resolution of 540x960 pixels. It is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor coupled with 1.5GB of RAM. The highlight of the device is the 16-megapixel CMOS sensor with 10x optical zoom along with a Xenon Flash and Optical Image Stabiliser (OIS). There is a 1.9-megapixel front camera as well.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom includes a 2330mAh battery. It also packs in 8GB of internal storage which can be expanded up to 64GB via a microSD card. The device runs on the Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) with Samsung's TouchWiz UI on top. Connectivity options includes Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth and A-GPS.

Samsung's eStore is currently offering the device with introductory launch package that includes accessories like flip cover, lens or LCD replacement and entertainment pack among others.

The company is also giving EMI offers for 3months at Rs. 9,797 and 6 months at Rs. 4,898 for the Galaxy S4 Zoom. The site mentions that the expected availability of Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is end of July.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom key specifications

• 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD touchscreen display
• 1.5GHz dual-core processor
• 1.5GB RAM
• 8GB internal storage expandable by up to 64GB via microSD card
• 16-megapixel rear camera with Xenon Flash, 10X Optical Zoom
• 1.9-megapixel front camera
• Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0
• 2,330mAh battery
• Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)

Nokia Lumia 625 with 4.7-inch display officially unveiled

Nokia has just announced the Lumia 625, a budget Windows Phone with the largest display the company has ever put in a smartphone. It's a 4.7-inch WVGA (480 x 800) panel with 201ppi, however, which makes it one of the least dense displays.

The rest of the specifications are in line with what was leaked earlier, including a 1.2GHz dual-core processor alongside 512MB RAM and 8GB internal storage, that can be expanded by another 64GB via microSD card. It comes with a 5-megapixel rear camera and a VGA front-facing shooter. The 4.7-inch screen sports a disappointing 480x800 pixel resolution.

Nokia Lumia 625 runs on Windows Phone 8 with Nokia Amber update and is powered by a 2,000mAh battery.The Nokia Lumia 625 also provides some software features found in the recently announced flagship Nokia Lumia 1020. These include a range of integrated camera applications like Nokia Smart Camera, offering handy features like removing unwanted objects from pictures, and Nokia Cinemagraph, which turns photos into living memories with added movement.

"With our largest smartphone screen to date, the Nokia Lumia 625 is a perfect example of how Nokia is delivering leading smartphone innovation and experiences at every price point," said Jo Harlow, executive vice president, Nokia Smart Devices.

The Nokia Lumia 625 will be available in a range of colours including orange, yellow, bright green, white and black with an array of changeable shells. With an estimated retail price of 220 Euros before taxes and subsidies, the Nokia Lumia 625 is planned to begin selling in China, Europe, Asia Pacific, India, Middle East, Africa and Latin America in Q3 2013.

Nokia Lumia 625 key specifications

• 4.7-inch 480x800 resolution
• 1.2GHz dual-core processor
• 512MB RAM
• 8GB internal storage, expandable by up to 64GB
• 5-megapixel rear camera
• VGA front camera
• 2,000mAh battery
• Windows Phone 8 with Amber update