Review TechRadar: Phone and communications news 09-04-2014

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Versus: Sony Xperia Z3 vs Samsung Galaxy S5 Sep 4th 2014, 15:19, by Simon Hill Sony is playing catch-up in the smartphone market. Samsung is the runaway leader, unleashing a new best –selling Galaxy S sequel every year. The pace of innovation is slowing to iterative updates, rather than revolutionary leaps. In an attempt to catch the attention of the phone-buying masses, Sony has stepped up the schedule, doubling its output by releasing a new flagship every six months, instead of every year. Now it's twice as likely to have the best smartphone on the market at any given time. Isn't it? Has it outfoxed Samsung? Let's see how the Xperia Z3, hot off the conveyor belt, compares to the rapidly ageing Galaxy S5, released way, way back in April. Design Classic industrial design has been a hallmark of the Xperia Z range so far and Sony has no intention of breaking with that tradition. The Z3 is a touch less angular, slightly slimmer, and lighter than the Xperia Z2, but it's still bigger and heavier than the S5. That's largely down to the premium mix of metal and glass, and the large bezels above and below the screen. The S5 sports that controversial pocked plastic back plate, and while it may be more comfortable to handle, it certainly doesn't look or feel as expensive. The Z3 is almost a full millimetre slimmer than Samsung's best. Both come in four colours. Samsung opted for black, white, blue, and gold. Sony went for black, white, brown, and silver/green. They are also dust and water resistant, but the Xperia Z3 is more so with an IP65/68 rating to the S5's IP67 rating. Screen Samsung's display technology is genuinely market-leading. The S5 has a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED with a full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and a pixel density of 432. The Z3 has a slightly larger 5.2-inch IPS LCD with the same 1080p resolution and a slightly lower 424ppi. It's not the fact that Samsung's screen is a touch sharper that really makes the difference. The S5 display also wins plaudits for contrast and brightness, making it easier to read outdoors, even in direct sunlight. Sony has focused on this issue with the Z3 and boosted the brightness by up to 50% compared to the Z2. The Z3 is also likely to have better colour reproduction than the S5, but a lot of people like the saturated colours of the Super AMOLED display. Camera The Galaxy S5 has a 16MP main camera and a 2MP front-facing camera. The Xperia Z3 has a 20.7MP main shooter backed up by a 2.2MP front-facing camera. Both offer a wide range of tweakables and special gimmicky modes. Sony has upped the ISO capabilities of the Z3 to kill low light noise and put a wider lens in, so the Z3 camera will have a wider field of view. In ideal real world conditions using automatic settings the S5 edged the win against the Z2, but was beaten in low light conditions and for close-ups. The refinements in the Z3 could widen that gap. Battery To make that svelte body possible Sony has actually reduced the battery in the Z3 compared to its predecessor. The Z3 battery is rated at 3100mAh, a full 300mAh bigger than the 2800mAh battery in the S5. Sony is claiming that greater power efficiency in the display is going to deliver two-day battery life. Even if it doesn't quite hit that lofty goal, it's going to last longer than the S5. Both phones have power-saving modes designed to squeeze a little extra time from limited juice, but they heavily hobble the functionality. CPU, RAM and storage Both the S5 and the Z3 have exactly the same 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processors with Adreno 330 GPUs, but the Z3 has an extra 1GB of RAM giving it 3GB to the S5's 2GB. The S5 beat the Z2 in most benchmarks, but the Z3 has the same slightly newer SoC as the S5 now, so there shouldn't be much of a difference. You would expect the extra RAM to give the Z3 a performance edge. There's no real difference in terms of storage. There are 16GB and 32GB versions of the Z3 and the S5, and they can both accommodate a microSD card up to 128GB in size. Price The Z3 is going to start at £549 SIM-free and we expect to see two-year contract deals in the £35-per-month region. The Galaxy S5 was £600 SIM-free on release, but it has dropped significantly since then and you can pick it up for less than £450 now. If you're willing to sign up for a two-year contract then you can get an S5 with no money down for as little as £31 per month. The S5 is definitely the cheaper option. Anything else? If you're looking for other notable USPs worth considering, here they are: The Z3 has dual front-facing speakers and supports high-res audio which may thrill audiophiles. Sony will also offer PS4 compatibility, allowing gamers to pick up on the Z3 where they left off on the console. The S5 has the heart-rate monitor and S Health service for fitness fanatics, and it boasts biometric security with the fingerprint sensor. So which is better? It looks like the Z3 has a few solid advantages over the S5, most notably the battery life, camera, and audio, but Sony faces two major problems. Firstly, the Galaxy brand is almost synonymous with Android in some quarters and it shifts a lot of phones. Secondly, the S5 is going be significantly cheaper than the Z3 for the foreseeable future. If you're due an upgrade right now it's going to be tough to look past the Xperia Z3. We'll be taking an in-depth look in our full review. Watch this space. IFA 2014: Lenovo lifts lid on 'layered' Vibe X2 and Z2 smartphones Sep 4th 2014, 14:30, by Desire Athow Lenovo has refreshed its smartphone range with the addition of two new devices under the Vibe banner showcased at IFA 2014. The new flagship will be the Vibe X2, which is the world's first layered smartphone, which is exactly what it sounds like - the chassis is made up of three different "slices" adding to 7.27mm. It is the first smartphone on the market - from a tier-1 player - that comes with Mediatek's MT6595m True8Core system-on-chip; this has four Cortex-A17 and four Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and 1.7GHz respectively with 4G connectivity baked in. The rest of the feature list makes it a compelling mainstream competitor; a 5-inch full HD IPS display, a rear 13-megapixel camera, a 5-megapixel front facing one,, a 2,300mAh battery plus a new range of accessories called Xtensions. No Motorola updates yet As for the Z2, it sports a brushed metal unibody chassis, 5.5in HD display, a rear 13-megapixel camera with Sony Exmor BSI sensor, an 8-megapixel front facing camera, a 3,000mAh battery and dual-sim support by default. A 64-bit, quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 401 system-on-chip powers the Z2. Both smartphones come with 32GB onboard storage, 2GB of RAM and Android 4.4 OS with Lenovo's customized user interface, the VIBE 2.0; the X2 carries a $399 SRP (about £250, AU$ 450) while the Z2 will, oddly enough, sell for $429 (about £270, AU$470). The Chinese manufacturer expects to become third biggest smartphone maker worldwide after Motorola's acquisition and noted that about 2000 Motorola engineers will join Lenovo. Behind Lenovo's plan to become king of the smartphone Kazam outs budget Windows Phone Thunder 340W Sep 4th 2014, 14:20, by Chris Smith Think no-one but Nokia makes Windows phones anymore? Kazam has just announced it is making a Windows Phone 8.1 mobile called the Thunder 340W. The Kazam Thunder 340W is an entry-level Windows Phone mobile, and apparently it's the first among a future Kazam Windows "range", not a one-off. "KAZAM is a new mobile brand with a fresh approach that compliments the more personal experience of a Windows Phone," says Andrew Bell of Windows Phone Ecosystem Partners. That other brands haven't had that much luck with Windows Phone may have something to do with this move. But either way it's good to see a new face arrive. The Kazam Thunder 340W has a 4-inch IPS screen of 800 x 480 pixel resolution, a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU and 512MB of RAM. Making full use of the looser restrictions of Windows Phone 8.1, the Thunder 340W also has 512MB of RAM. Other specs include a 5-megapixel main camera, VGA selfie cam and 1500mAh battery. It's also a dual-SIM phone, suggesting it may also have markets other than the UK in mind. There are currently no UK pricing or availability details on offer, but we'll be keeping an eye on this as a possible alternative to the Nokia Lumia 530. IFA 2014: LG announces launch date for the G Watch R Sep 4th 2014, 14:00, by Matt Hanson The war of the wareables has heated up with LG announcing the release and specs of its G Watch R smartwatch at IFA 2014. According to LG the wait won't be too long at all, with a launch date pencilled in for October 2014 – though that's as specific as the Korean maker is willing to go regarding dates at the moment. While we count down the weeks before the October launch of the LG G Watch R we can pass the time by looking over the specifications that LG also announced at IFA 2014. Watching the clock The specifications announced by LG for the LG G Watch R include a 1.3-inch circular P-OLED display with a 320 x 320 resolution and 245PPI backed up with 512MB RAM and 4GB of storage. The LG G Watch R's display is slightly smaller than the Moto 360's, which comes with a 1.5-inch LCD screen. Connectivity is provided via Bluetooth 4.0, it has a built in microphone for voice controls and swimmers and water sports fans will be pleased to hear that the LG G Watch R is also waterproof. There will also be a number of bio sensors including a barometer to help keep track of your health while wearing the watch. Just how well these features tie together remains to be seen, but we'll only have to wait until October to find out. Read our initial thoughts on the LG G Watch R in our hands on review Versus: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact vs Sony Xperia Z1 Compact Sep 4th 2014, 13:20, by Andrew Williams Design, screen and camera The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is here, and while it may not attract quite as much attention as the top-end Sony Xperia Z3, it's actually a more interesting, unusual phone. Like the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, it gets you all the spec power of Sony's top-end giant, but in a smaller package. If you want a powerful phone that's not going to fill your palm and your pocket, you're looking in the right place. But the real question is – how does the new Compact compare to the old one, announced just a year earlier? Their aims are identical, but their specs and screens aren't. In the new model you get a bit more power, a better camera and a significantly larger screen in a phone of the same size. What's not to like? Design In a very basic respect, there's not a great deal of difference between the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact and the older Xperia Z1 Compact. The new model is 0.3mm longer, precisely as wide and 0.9mm thinner. Sounds pretty boring, doesn't it? Wrong. That they're so similar in size is hugely impressive, because the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact has a significantly larger screen than its predecessor. The bezels have been trimmed down, and the areas below and above the display put on a diet to make the Xperia Z3 Compact just as, well, compact as the last phone. It's a bit lighter too – although we'd challenge people to honestly notice a 10g difference between phones unless comparing directly. Whether a result of this miniaturisation or a separate choice, the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact uses a nano SIM rather than a (now regular) micro SIM. So if you're actually upgrading from the Z1 Compact, you will need to get hold of a new SIM or get creative with a pair of scissors on your current one (not advised). Speaking from nerve-wracking experience, we recommend dropping your network a line. Both phones have a Gorilla Glass 3 front layer that covers the screen, but Sony has improved the rear design this time. Where the Xperia Z1 Compact uses flat front and back panels that appear to be glass, only the front actually is – the back is polished plastic. This time around, both sides are toughened glass, which should make the back a bit less prone to scratches. The sides of the Xperia Z3 Compact are plastic, though, with a translucent finish that has an eye-charming depth to it. Last time, Sony used aluminium for the sides in the last phone rather than plastic – which some might prefer – but the new model looks and feels like a winner. There are – in our opinion – better colours on offer in the Xperia Z3 Compact too. Where the Z1 Compact comes in pink and yellow as well as the standard white/black, you can get the new model in green and orange/red. The colour models look great, perfectly showing off the translucent plastic sides. Both phones offer pretty comprehensive weather resistance, using socket-covering flaps to keep water out. The design of the actual flaps has been improved, though, in order to make them a bit more resilient. We'd heard numerous reports of Xperia phone flaps failing, so that can only be a good thing. The IP certification of the Xperia Z3 Compact has been slightly upgraded over the Z1 Compact too. This time around you get IP65 and IP68 instead of IP55 and IP58. It's easy to get lost in these certifications, so we'll make it simple: both phones can be submerged in water of at least 1.5m for at least 30 minutes, but where the Xperia Z1 Compact is merely "dust proof", the Z3 Compact is "dust tight". For most people the difference is fairly meaningless. But it's a good one to show off if you want to bore your friends. Yep, it's not that exciting an upgrade, but we still love being able to take the phone into the bath without worrying. Screen As already detailed, one of the most impressive things about the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is that it fits a much larger screen into the same size frame. The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact has a 4.3-inch display, the Z3 Compact a 4.6-inch one. When you look at how small the Z3 Compact is, and think its display is only 0.1 inches smaller than the lovely-but-much-larger HTC One, you have to give some design props to Sony. A larger screen will be better for games, better for browsing – better for everything, really. However, there is a downside to this change, Sony has not upped the resolution. It's 720p but at the price there are plenty of 1080p phones to choose from, it's a tough compromise to swallow. Get up close and personal, eyeball-to-pixel and you will be able to tell the difference. But let's not get too upset. Even with the larger-screen Z3 Compact you get a display of 319ppi, which is just a shade below the 326ppi "Retina" resolution of the iPhone 5S. It could be better, but it's certainly not bad. Both phones get to wear Sony's Triluminous and X-reality branding. These are technologies born in Sony's TV department. You get great image quality, very nice vivid colours and very good contrast for an LCD display. Despite all the fancy-sounding technologies in these phones, both the Xperia Z1 Compact and Z3 Compact use IPS LCD screens at heart. Camera Look at the core camera specs of these two phones and it seems like Sony hasn't made any significant upgrades. Both phones have 20.7MP main sensors that are 1/2.3 inches a piece. That's very large for a phone, and is the standard size for decent compact cameras. However, where the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact shares its camera hardware with the Xperia Z1, the Xperia Z3 Compact has the same camera setup as – you guessed it – the Xperia Z3. There are a few important differences. The maximum ISO sensitivity setting has been bumped up from 6400 to 12800, making the Xperia Z3 Compact even more capable in low-light conditions. ISO 12800 photos are usually quite noisy even if you use a DSLR, but Sony is a pro at using extreme noise reduction techniques in its top phones to make even super-low-light photos quite clean-looking. Often unnaturally so, in fact. For very low light conditions, the Xperia Z3 Compact camera will be a little bit better than the last model. The lens has changed too. Where the Xperia Z1 Compact has a lens with an equivalent focal length of 27mm, the Z3 Compact goes a bit wider with a 25mm 'G' Lens. Field of view is a question of personal preference, but we're also hoping the new phone's lens may be faster too, with a wider aperture. We're looking for clarification on this spec at present. That said, the Z1 Compact is no slouch with a f2.0 lens. In good lighting, you can expect to get similar sorts of short between the two models. But as conditions get a bit trickier you'll get better results from the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. As most high-end phones can produce good photos in good lighting, this is a result. There's a minor upgrade to the front camera, from 2MP to 2.2MP, but neither is on the level of the up-to-5-megapixel front cameras we see in phones like the HTC One M8. Battery, CPU/Ram, price and early verdict Battery Even though the Xperia Z3 Compact is a millimetre thinner than the Z1 Compact, Sony has still managed to fit in a larger battery in the new model. This time around you get a 2600mAh unit instead of a 2300mAh one. Sony says the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact will last for a solid two days from a charge, but thanks to the larger screen it isn't quite as long-lasting in all tasks. For example, the Z1 Compact will last for up to 12 hours of video, but that's chipped down to 10 hours in the Z3 Compact. Talk time has been reduced by four hours too, from 18 hours to 14. The Xperia Z3 Compact's stamina isn't quite as great as that of the old model, but it's good enough not to prove remotely annoying. CPU / RAM What we loved so much about the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact when it arrived was that it was just about the only small phone to offer the power and specs of its bigger brother. It uses the Snapdragon 800 2.2GHz, a quad-core processor shared with the Xperia Z1. In a similar vein, the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact uses the same 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 as the Xperia Z3. There are no CPU compromises to go with the shrunken size. But how does the Snapdragon 800 compare to the Snapdragon 801? Well, the Xperia Z3 Compact gains an extra 300MHz in clock speed, which can't hurt. However, the basic architectures of these chipsets are very similar. There's not a big generational gap between the two, and there are no massive efficiency improvements – as it proved by the smaller-screen model's longer stamina. There are some improvements. The camera image signal processor is better in the Snapdragon 801, which should improve camera-shooting performance a bit, and the GPU's maximum clock speed is a fair bit quicker too. In all honesty, we're not convinced a 720p phone like the Xperia Z3 Compact needs the extra grunt. But a bit of bonus power is like a free doughnut – you're not going to say no even if it doesn't really do you much good in the long run. Price When the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact first launched it went for around £430 (around $740, AU$850) SIM-free. And, no surprises here, that's exactly what Sony lists the Z3 Compact as. Those hoping to see the phone sell for loads less than current top-end phones may be disappointed. But that's what these Compact phones are about – offering the high-end experience in a smaller package. Now that it's a slightly older model, Sony lists the Z1 Compact at £399 (US$530, AU$559) SIM-free, but you're likely to be able to find some better deals from networks or retailers. For example, in the UK Phones4U lists the Z3 Compact for free on contracts of £30 (about US$49, AU$53) a month while the Z1 Compact is available on contracts of £25 (about US$41, AU$44) a month, again without any up-front cost. You can also get a decent saving on the Z1 Compact if you shop around on Amazon. It's unlikely you'll see the Xperia Z3 Compact for a load less than the retail price for a little while. So while Sony lists the prices as quite similar, you can probably save around £100 SIM-free, or about £120 over the course of a 2-year contract, if you get the Z1 Compact. Early verdict In some respects, the relationship between the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact and Z1 Compact is much the same as that of the Xperia Z3 and Z1. This newer model gets you a bit more power, a slightly improved camera and a tweaked design that's a bit easier on the eye. However, the real star attraction of the Z3 Compact is that you get a significantly larger screen without adding to the size of the phone at all. It's a pretty impressive feat of handset design. That the screen resolution hasn't been increased to match is a minor league disappointment. But for people who aren't in love with the idea of a huge handset but still want a high-end phone, the Xperia Z3 Compact should be just the ticket. Check out our hands on review of the Xperia Z3 Compact for more details. IFA 2014: Supersized Huawei Ascend Mate 7 arrives with iPhone rivalling finger scanner Sep 4th 2014, 13:00, by John McCann Hauwei has announced four new handsets at IFA 2014 in Berlin, and the leading light of the line up is the Ascend Mate 7. The Huawei Ascend Mate 7 is another huge handset from the Chinese firm, but the inclusion of the number 7 in the name is a little confusing. This isn't a 7-inch tablet, rather a 6-inch, full HD phablet. Under the hood sits a powerful octa-core Kirin 825 processor (consisting of 4 x A15 1.8GHz chips and 4 x A7 1.3GHz chips), crammed into a body which is a slender 7.9mm thick. You also get a 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, 4100mAh battery, CAT 6 LTE (providing data speeds of up to 300Mbps) and a fingerprint scanner on the rear. The fingerprint scanner is interesting, as unlike the one found on the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One Max, you don't have to slide your finger over it. It instead works in a similar way to TouchID on the iPhone 5S, allowing you to come at it from any angle with a simple touch of your digit. Its placement on the rear isn't the best, but it's certainly a promising development. Ready to Ascend? It's not just the Mate 7 that Huawei is giving us though. The Huawei Ascend G7 is a mid-range, all metal device boasting a 5.5-inch 1280 x 720 display, 1.2GHz quad-core 64-bit processor, 2GB of RAM, 13MP camera and 5MP front snapper. Like the Mate 7, the Ascend G7 features Huawei's new Android overlay - Emotion UI 3.0 - over the top of KitKat, while you also get CAT 4 LTE, a 3000mAh battery and 32GB of internal storage (but no microSD slot). Then we have the Huawei Ascend Y550 and Ascend G620S - two lower spec (and low cost) devices both sporting Emotion UI 2.3 over the top of Android KitKat. The entry level Y550 has a 4.5-inch display, 64-bit quad-core processor, 5MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, 4GB of storage, microSD slot and a 2000mAh battery. You'll find the same processor inside the Ascend G620S, plus an 8MP rear camera, 2MP front option, 5-inch HD display, 1GB of RAM, 8GB internal storage and a microSD slot. The Ascend Mate 7, Y550 and G620S will land in stores in October, while the Ascend G7 is due for release in November. Cat S50 Android phone is rugged and ready for a pounding Sep 4th 2014, 11:00, by Chris Smith The Cat S50 is a fully ruggedised Android smartphone, with a Gorilla Glass 3 screen layer and shock absorbent frame. Water resistant phones like the Xperia Z3 have made weather-proof phones more accessible, but they don't provide the sort of toughness you get with a phone like the Cat S50. As well as IP67 weather resistance, the Cat S50 has a frame lined with rubber that's designed to act as a shock absorber should you drop the phone. It positively wills you to throw it at the pavement. The Cat S50 has been certified to the Mil Spec 810G standard too, which involves dropping a phone on each part of its surface from a height of 48 inches a total of 26 times. We dread to think what an iPhone 5S could look like after that sort of treatment. Cat also appears to have optimised the S50 for use in wet conditions, saying "the screen can be used even with wet fingers." As suspicious as that sounds, it could prove useful as most capacitive screens go haywire as soon as they come into contact with a bit of moisture. Specs Aside from hardcore ruggedisation, the Cat S50 has mid-range specs rather than high-end ones. Running the show is a quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400, largely the same seen in the Motorola Moto G. You get a 4.7-inch 720P LCD screen, Android 4.4 and 4G. There's just 8GB of storage, but there's also a microSD memory card slot. The Cat S50 features an 8-megapixel rear camera, and there's one up front too, for those can't-miss selfie moments when you're dangling off an ice axe on the side of a mountain. Or whatever it is outdoors types do these days. The "designed for the outdoors" Cat S50 will sell for sound 479 Euro/$499 SIM-free, which should place it around the £450 mark in the UK. IFA 2014: Nokia Lumia 730 wants to be the saviour of the selfies Sep 4th 2014, 08:47, by Hugh Langley Microsoft is another one guilty of encouraging the selfie trend, having just announced the Lumia 735 and 730 Dual-SIM which puts all its focus on the front-facing camera. Speaking at IFA 2014, Chris Weber, CVP, Mobile Devices Sales at Microsoft, made a point of the poor quality of Ellen DeGeneres's famous Oscar selfie - apparently the world deserves better. The Lumia 730 and 735 put a 5MP camera on the front with a 24mm focal length, and come with a Lumia Selfie app, which does everything you'd expect. It'll also be available to download to other Lumia devices. Features Both handsets also have a 720p 4.7-inch display, a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 6.7MP rear camera. Storage is a paltry 8GB of onboard with support for microSD cards of up to 128GB and Nokia is throwing in 15GB of cloud storage through MIcrosoft's OneDrive. The 730 will be available for 199 Euros while the LTE-enabled 735 will sell for 219 Euros. IFA 2014: all the latest IFA 2014: Nokia Lumia 830 is the first 'affordable flagship' smartphone Sep 4th 2014, 08:22, by Hugh Langley Microsoft has just announced the Lumia 830 in Berlin, which puts a 10MP PureView camera onto a phone that Microsoft is calling "the first affordable flagship". And it's no surprise that Microsoft has dedicated a large part of its press conference to that snapper, making direct swipes at Apple's and Samsung's own phone camera offerings. The phone also arrives with a new dynamic flash feature that will let you switch the flash on or off after the picture is taken. As for design, think the Lumia 930, putting an aluminium frame on a pocket-friendly design. It also comes with Lumia Denim, the next Windows Phone update. Features Away from that snapper, the Lumia 830 boasts a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor and the relatively low 16GB of onboard memory is at least helped by the potential to add a 128GB microSD card. Battery wise, there's a 2200mAh removable battery that gives a standby time of 22 days and it's compatible with Nokia's charging plate. The phone will arrive priced at 330 Euros, and will start shipping globally this month. We'll let you know the global prices as soon as we get them. IFA 2014: all the latest news IFA 2014: HTC Desire 820 takes aim at Android L and the selfie craze Sep 4th 2014, 06:30, by Michelle Fitzsimmons After striking a nice mid-range note with the Desire 816, HTC is back with a follow-up, the Desire 820. Announced here at IFA, there's some carry over from the Desire 816, including the 5.5-inch screen and plastic body, but the Desire 820 features a little flare of its own. Immediately noticeable is the color scheme. Instead of a solo color all the way around, the 820 sports a two-toned motif comprised of a main base and a trim around the camera, buttons and flash. Also stepping up its game is the front-facing camera. Whereas the Desire 816 had a 5MP front sensor, the 820 jumps up to 8MP snapper. It should deliver high-quality selfies, if that's your thing. What's more, the HTC Desire 820 will eventually be upgraded to Android L, bringing Google's latest OS to a lesser specc'd phone. What else does the Desire 820 have cooking? On the back, the Desire 820 has a f/2.2 aperture, 13MP BSI camera sensor. The phone carries a fun bag of HTC's image-enhancing features, including Live Makeup, Photo Booth and Zoe Highlights. Pressing the shutter button will trigger continuous shooting, so you can grab in-action shots and cull out the best at another time. As you might expect, the Desire 820 comes bumping BoomSound. It only managed to snap up a Snapdragon 615 processor, but with integrated 4G LTE Cat 4 connectivity (capable of hitting 150mbps) and a 64-bit, multi-core CPU, users should be downloading, streaming and multitasking with ease. There are no details on battery life, but HTC promises Qualcomm's processor helps maximize performance at the lowest power drain, giving you more juice to guzzle throughout the day. The HTC Desire 820 supports the company's Dot View case, bringing a high-end accessory to the mid-range offering. Look for the Desire 820 worldwide beginning at the end of this month. No word on pricing yet, but in some global markets the phone will support dual-SIM. Yes, but how does the Galaxy Note 4 look? IFA 2014: Spotify has a new rival - a lossless music streaming service called Tidal Sep 4th 2014, 04:08, by James Rivington There's a new music streaming service in town, it's called Tidal and it's packing a secret weapon. Instead of serving up compressed MP3, AAC or OGG files, Tidal streams lossless FLAC files that offer several times the bitrate of most other music services. When Tidal launches in the US and UK in the next month or so, it will boast more than 25 million lossless FLAC tracks, all encoded at 44.1kHz / 16 bit / 1411 kbps and you'll be able to stream them over the internet as well as download them for offline listening. By comparison, Spotify's maximum quality (which its default setting last time I checked), tops out at 320kbps in the OGG format. Tidal will be available on mobiles in the form of iOS or Android apps as well as on PCs and Macs as a browser-based web player - so expect it to function similarly to existing services. Subscribers will also get access to 75,000 HD music videos and exclusive editorial, curated around new and important releases to help you discover new bands. Tidal is effectively a US-UK repackaging of WiMP Music, another Swedesh service similar to Spotify that also offers a premium FLAC service - it's only available in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany and Poland. The service comes at a price, costing twice as much as rival streaming services like Spotify and Deezer. In the UK that means a subscription of £19.99 per month and in the US a price of $19.99. "Tidal reflects our mission to deliver the highest quality music streaming service," said Tidal CEO Andy Chen. "From making sure there's no loss in sound quality to telling the stories behind the creation of the music, we aim to maximise the listening experience. We are catering to people who really appreciate the quality things in life, whether that is music, sound or lifestyle, because quality should not be compromised and because music fans now demand more from their music service." As fast as the music streaming business has matured, there is surely a gap in the market developing at the high end. Storage capacities are increasing and network connections are speeding up, meaning lossless CD-quality music is becoming a feasible reality rather than a distant pipedream. Tidal will, of course, face competition from Neil Young and his PonoMusic service that's expected to launch alongside the PonoPlayer later this year, as well as big names like Sony who just launched another high-res Walkman - the A17. So would you pay £20/$20 for a lossless music service? Let us know, and we'll bring you a review of Tidal in due course. Nokia maps apps coming to iOS and Android, no internet required Sep 3rd 2014, 18:54, by JR Bookwalter Free from the burden of smartphone and tablet hardware, Nokia is refocusing efforts on new mapping products intended for the very mobile platforms the Finnish firm once considered to be the competition. The Wall Street Journal spoke with Nokia about its plans to serve up all-new mobile apps sometime by the end of the year. Rather than focus on former partner Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 platform, the new apps will make a beeline straight for iOS and Android, where they will be offered free of charge from Apple's App Store and Google Play. Both of those smartphone titans already have their own free mapping solutions, but Nokia's new apps will specialize in downloading maps for offline use instead of needing an active internet connection for navigation and routing details. Here, there, everywhere This certainly won't be Nokia's first time at the iOS mapping rodeo. Two years ago, the company unleashed HERE Maps app for iPhone, essentially a weak mobile website in sheep's clothing, which was unceremoniously yanked from the App Store last year. "It was a rushed product that was never thoroughly proven," said Sean Fernback, the Nokia executive tasked with overseeing the mobile-centric reboot. "Honestly, it went horribly wrong. But we've regrouped now." Nokia doesn't expect the new mobile map initiative to bear financial fruit anytime soon, and has no immediate plans to support the smartphone and tablet apps with ads, which Google places prominently alongside search results. In addition to offline maps, Nokia's iOS and Android solutions will also include support for searching without an active internet connection; the company announced a similar initiative late last month for Samsung's fledgling Tizen OS. Feast on our hands-on look at the new Sony Xperia Z3 smartphone! IFA 2014: Sony Xperia Z3 is headed to T-Mobile in the fall Sep 3rd 2014, 18:39, by Michelle Fitzsimmons It usually takes ages for Xperia phones to launch in the US, but Sony's latest flagship is bucking the tardy trend and heading our way soon. T-Mobile will start carrying the Xperia Z3 sometime this fall. Price remains a mystery along with a firm release date, but the fact one carrier has signed on to sell the latest Xperia sometime soon is a victory in itself. We couldn't get the same commitment from other carriers; both AT&T and Verizon said they had nothing to share at the moment, and Sprint said it wouldn't comment on "rumors or speculation around this device." The door is of course open for other carriers to sell the Xperia Z3 at some point; there's no "exclusive" tag attached to T-Mobile's offering. Its predecessor, the Xperia Z2, didn't go on sale in the US until July, and even then it was sold through Sony directly and not a carrier. The handset had been available in other regions for quite some time. The Xperia Z3 flexes a 20.7MP rear camera, a 5.2-inch screen and is water-proof up to 1.5 meters of fresh water for as long as 30 minutes. Check out our hands on review straight from IFA 2014 to find out more. Xperia Z3 vs Xperia Z2: which phone takes the K.O.? In Depth: Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge release date: where can I get them? Sep 3rd 2014, 16:34, by Michael Rougeau The event we've been anticipating for weeks has finally arrived, and at Samsung Unpacked during IFA 2014 the company finally unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. It also threw in the Galaxy Note Edge, for good measure. The former is exactly what we expected: a massive, high-resolution phone with a better camera and other upgraded specs when compared with its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 3. The Samsung Galaxy Edge, on the other hand, came as a bigger surprise. It's nearly identical to the Note 4, besides one key difference: the display wraps around the left-hand side, making the Galaxy Edge one-of-a-kind. The Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge will launch on every major US carrier, with one small exception. We'll update this article as more information becomes available. T-Mobile T-Mobile was quick to send out a press release bragging that it will carry both the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy Note Edge later in the fall. No word on pricing yet, but in the meantime T-Mobile has set up a "Gear-A-Day Giveaway" sweepstakes in which it will give away a Samsung Gear 2, Samsung Gear Fit, Samsung Gear 2 Neo, or Samsung Gear Circle to one person each day until September 11. In addition one grand prize winner will receive multiple Samsung mobile devices. Head to t-mobile.com to enter. Verizon A Verizon spokesperson confirmed with TechRadar that Big Red will indeed carry both the Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy Note Edge, as well as the Samsung Gear Circle and the new Gear VR headset. The Gear Circle is an odd earbud necklace device that vibrates when the user gets a call. The carrier tweeted that the Galaxy Note 4 is "coming soon," while the Note Edge and the other two new Samsung gadgets will arrive sometime in the fall. Sprint Sprint sent out an announcement as well to confirm that it will carry both the Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy Note Edge, as well as the Gear VR, though it didn't specify any pricing or release date details. No doubt the new Samsung phablets will arrive on Sprint in the coming months, but other than that Sprint hasn't shared much. US Cellular A US Cellular spokesperson confirmed with TechRadar that the fifth-largest US carrier will host the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, but not the curved Galaxy Note Edge. The spokesperson said the new Samsung phablet will arrive in October, and that US Cellular will share more details about its availability "as soon as we can." AT&T AT&T confirmed in a press release that it will carry both the Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy Note Edge, as well as the Gear Circle and Gear VR. Like the other US carriers at this time, we're still awaiting word from AT&T on further pricing and availability details for these devices. We pit the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 vs the Galaxy S5

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