Sony Xperia ZR LTE, HTC Butterfly S LTE released in Hong Kong

Sony and HTC have released the LTE variants of their Xperia ZR and Butterfly S smartphones in Hong Kong respectively. While Sony Xperia ZR LTE is already available for purchase at Sony Store, HTC Butterfly S LTE will go on sale in the coming days.

To remind you, Xperia ZR packs 4.55-inch 720p HD display, 1.5GHz Qualcomm’s quad-core S4 Pro processor, Android 4.1, and 13MP rear camera. The smartphone is also dust and water resistant in addition to featuring 2GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage.

On the other hand, HTC Butterfly S features 5-inch 1080p display, 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor, Ultrapixel camera and 3200 mAh battery. The phone also comes with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and Jelly Bean.

Pricing:

• Sony Xperia ZR LTE: H$ 4,698 (US$605)
• HTC Butterfly S LTE: H$ 6,198 (US$799)

Sources(1,2)

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Micromax launches A92 Canvas Lite for INR 8,499

Micromax has officially unveiled its new Canvas series Android phone A92 Canvas Lite. Running on Android 4.1, the phone has been priced at INR 8,499. It will be available in the stores beginning this weekend, although it might take a couple of days to become available broadly.

Micromax Canvas Lite A92 features dual-SIM support, 5-inch display with FWVGA resolution and 1GHz dual-core MediaTek processor. A92 also comes with 5-megapixels rear camera, front camera, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, and 2000 mAh battery.

In addition, the usual connectivity options like Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth are present. The specifications are very similar to the company’s previously launched A110 Canvas 2 smartphone with the rear camera being the only exception (8MP in A110 & 5MP in A92).

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Huawei might bring Ascend P6 Nexus Edition

Backtracking from Huawei’s earlier stance, a company executive told UK website Pocket Lint that his company is in talks with Google for a Nexus Edition of Ascend P6 smartphone.

“We are working with Google to analyse the possibility of bringing out a Huawei Ascend P6 with Google Edition,” Kevin Ho, President, Handset Product Division at Huawei told Pocket Lint.

Ho’s statement comes in stark contrast with the company chairman Richard Yu’s remarks at the London launch of Ascend P6, where he claimed that Huawei’s Emotion UI was better than stock experience and they have made hundreds of improvement in their UI.

While Kevin Ho’s revelation to Pocket Lint does not really confirm the arrival of the Nexus edition of Ascend P6 but it looks like the Chinese telecom giant might have changed its view after seeing the publicity garnered by HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 Nexus editions.

To remind you, Huawei Ascend P6 was unveiled about ten days ago and is set to be released this month in China, followed by select European market in July. The phone packs 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 4.7-inch HD in-cell display, 5MP front-facing camera, and Android 4.2.2. It also comes with 2,000 mAh battery, 8MP rear camera with BSI sensor BSI camera and F2.0 aperture.

In related news, there have also been reports of Sony working on Xperia Z Nexus Edition but nothing has been confirmed till now.

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Sony i1 Honami images appear online

Thanks to various rumours and leaks until now, we know that Sony is already preparing its 2013 H2 flagship smartphone in the form of Sony i1 (codenamed Honami). Now, the first images of this Android phone have appeared online.

The images have come from two different sources but the phone looks same in both the cases. One of the sources claims that we will see Xenon flash in the final version of Sony i1 instead of the LED flash present in these images, suggesting that these might be the images of some old prototype and final design could have changed considerably.

As per previous reports, Sony i1 will come with 20MP rear camera, Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, 5-inch full HD display and 32GB internal storage.  In addition, the phone will pack 3,000 mAh battery, Jelly Bean, IR Blaster, NFC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 2.2MP front-facing shooter.

There is no way to authenticate these images but as we noted earlier in the post that it is very likely that we are looking at an old prototype of Sony Honami and the actual device might look different. So, take these with a pinch of salt.

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Micromax Canvas 4 pre-bookings open, launch on July 8

Micromax has begun pre-bookings for its next flagship smartphone Canvas 4 today. The company is asking for INR 5,000 as the advance payment, which can be refunded in case of the order cancellation.

Surprisingly, Micromax has not revealed any specifications of the device, and we only know what is visible in the products shots of the smartphone (i.e. 13MP rear camera).

Unless you really want to be one of the first buyers of Micromax Canvas 4, we would suggest you to wait until July 8, when the device is going to be officially launched and final pricing as well as full specifications will be revealed.

This pre-booking might not be binding but it is certainly one of the weirdest pre-orders we have seen in a long time.  The company seems to be following Samsung, which also opens pre-bookings with advance payments without even revealing the final price of the device, but at least they announce the specifications beforehand.

Anyways, you can read all the terms and conditions of the pre-booking here. The pre-bookings can be made at this link but the link was not working properly at the time of writing this post.

According to Micromax, the shipping of pre-booked Micromax Canvas 4 will begin on July 10.

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Videocon launches A55 HD Android phone for INR 13,499

Videocon Mobiles has announced the launch of its new Android smartphone A55 HD in the Indian market today.  Packing a 5-inch display, A55 HD is the latest entrant in the growing list of 5-inch smartphones in the country.

Videocon A55 HD features a 720p HD display, 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 8MP rear camera and Android 4.2.1. The phone also comes with 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, microSD card slot and 2,000 mAh battery.

In addition, the Videocon A55 HD packs 3.2MP front camera, HSPA+ connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

“The launch of Videocon A55HD heralds a new milestone, as with this device we bring to our customers best-in-class technological innovations, which we are offering at a compelling price. The A55HD brings the best of ‘high definition’ technology, processing speed, camera quality and many more features relevant to the upwardly mobile, technology savvy and brand-conscious user,” said Khalid Zamir, Head Product Planning & Development, Videocon Mobile Phones Division.

The company has also pre-loaded V-Store on the phone, which acts as the secondary appstore for the device and gives access to Android applications.

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HTC unveils glamour red HTC One, coming to UK in July

HTC today announced that it is going to release a glamour red version of HTC One smartphone in the UK. This red-coloured HTC One will be sold exclusively by Phones 4u retailer from mid-July. The company has not revealed if the new colour will be launched other markets too or not.

Packing the same specifications as the Silver and Black colour HTC One, the new variant will also come with 4-7-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, Ultrapixel camera and 2300 mAh battery.

“We have always been committed to offering consumers the flexibility to share their personalities through their choice of mobile phone, whether through colour, customisation or features. The new HTC One in Glamour Red showcases the power of our flagship model in a colour that demands attention, whilst maintaining the high standards set for sophisticated design and build quality,” said Philip Blair, President of EMEA, HTC.

There is no word on whether the pricing of glamour red be any different from other versions.

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