Huawei Ascend Mate review: a supersized phone with supreme battery life

Huawei Ascend Mate review: a supersized phone with supreme battery life

When Huawei revealed the Ascend Mate at CES this year, it felt like smartphones had reached an end point -- they surely couldn't get any larger. We've since been proven wrong by Samsung's Galaxy Mega 6.3, but the 6.1-inch Ascend Mate has gone on sale first, and it's every bit as intimidating as it was in January. The question is whether or not Huawei has more than just size on its side. Is this nearly tablet-sized device worth putting in our … [Read more...]

Rhapsody announces new iOS app, redesigned from the ground up

Rhapsody announces new iPhone app, redesigned from the ground up

Not to be outdone by some of its music-streaming counterparts, Rhapsody's releasing a revamped version of its iOS app today. Taking on a newly minted look, the service promises this version will make it simpler for subscribers to access and manage their tunes within the application. Rhapsody added features such as a "personalized" organization that, as you'd expect, organizes your jams under the My Music section and splits them into two different … [Read more...]

MediaFire promises streaming of stored music and video on its iOS and Android apps

MediaFire promises streaming of stored music and video on its iOS and Android apps

MediaFire says its cloud storage service now has 30 million users, but it seems that only a minority of those are using its Android or iOS interfaces -- so far, the former has seen less than 500,000 downloads. One extra feature that might boost the utility of these is the forthcoming addition of media streaming, to help MediaFire compete with likes of Amazon Cloud Player -- and with the added draw of 50GB free lifetime storage (or a time-limited … [Read more...]

HTC Desire 200 and Desire 600 turn up in leaked certification page, benchmark results

HTC Desire 200 and Desire 600 turn up in leaked certification page, benchmark results

HTC's Desire line of mid-range Android smartphones have typically used the alphabet to denote different models, but the company is now switching to numerals. At least according to a Taiwanese certification page, we can expect a Desire 200. Some leaked benchmark results also indicate that a Desire 600 will head to market. We don't know much about the Desire 200 apart from its name. It's listed as the HTC 102e on the certification page, and … [Read more...]

LG invites you to splash around with Optimus GJ, a water-resistant phone for Taiwan

LG invites you to splash around with Optimus GJ, a water-resistant phone for Taiwan

Come next month, NTT DoCoMo users won't be the only ones to benefit from a water-resistant version of the Optimus G. Similar to the L-01E for Japan, LG has introduced the Optimus GJ for Taiwan, which carries IPX7 certification that allows for worry-free immersion in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. The Optimus GJ also carries IPX5 certification for protection against dust particles. Dubbed the E975W, the smartphone is by and large a thicker … [Read more...]

Samsung announces Galaxy S 4 sales of 10 million, new colors coming this summer (video)

Samsung announces Galaxy S 4 sales of 10 million, new colors coming this summer

Just as CEO JK Shin predicted, Samsung has announced its new Galaxy S 4 topped 10 million units sold in record time. That beats the 50 days it took the Galaxy S III to sell that many, a mark it took 5 months for the Galaxy S II to pass and 7 months for the original Galaxy S. Samsung has been able to crank up production and speed up worldwide rollouts for its increasingly popular flagship models, contributing to the rapidly increasing pace of … [Read more...]