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Leaked photos of Galaxy J3 suggest Samsung is showing its budget phones some metal-cased love

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Samsung’s Galaxy J3, originally expected to be launched in January but delayed, is nothing to write home about spec-wise. It’s a 5-inch 720p display powered by a 1.2GHz Cortex A7 running Lollipop and giving a choice of 8- or 16GB storage.

But photos leaked by the reliable Evan Blass suggest that even such a low-end phone may get a metal casing. For someone who wants a budget phone with non-budget looks, the J3 may be just the thing.

New HTC Desire 5xx handset by the name of ‘A16’ leaks via Evan Blass

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Don’t get too excited. While HTC does have an “A” line of HTC One smartphones, the above leaked handset renders (via Evan Blass) are actually a refresh of the company’s mid-range Desire line. That’s according to famed leaker LlabTooFeR who told us just a couple of weeks ago that there are two new Desire handsets scheduled to be released before HTC comes out with the “Perfume” HTC One M10 sometime after Mobile World Congress. According to Evan, the above images are of the Desire phone codenamed A16, making it a Desire 5xx phone…


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Sony ‘Xperia PP10’ and ‘Smart Ear’ accessory leak before Sony event tomorrow

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Not more than a couple days after saying that his fans “criticized [themselves] out of any leaks for a while,” (in reference to hateful comments about the LG G5) Evan Blass is on fire once again. Now, he has shared images of a mysterious Sony “Xperia PP10” smartphone (he says that might not be its launch name), as well as Moto Hint-like accessory called the Sony Smart Ear…


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Upcoming 10-inch Amazon Kindle Fire tablet press render leaked

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A press render of Amazon’s upcoming 10-inch Kindle Fire tablet has been leaked ahead of its alleged launch. Although we’re light on specs, the renders show the (rather uninspiring) design of the next Kindle Fire. The image comes from well-known and usually reliable leaker, Evan Blass on Twitter.

From the renders, it appears the next Kindle Fire will have a completely flat front and back, with a slightly more angled, metallic frame around the edges. We can just about make out the power/sleep key on the top edge as well as the front and rear camera. Amazon’s branding is expectedly prominent, although the software is a completely different story. If the render is accurate, it looks like Amazon’s new software will be much more in line with standard Android. Or, at the very list, Amazon software disguised as standard Android. Whatever the software is, it’s a far cry from Amazon’s previous efforts.

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Previous Kindle Fire tablets have featured a cover flow-like user interface, pushing Amazon apps and content to the forefront, similar to the UI found on the Amazon Fire TV and Stick. If Evan’s leak is anything close to the finished product (which it normally is), it’ll certainly make a refreshing change from a user experience perspective.It almost certainly has something to do with having fewer staff to work on skins after the job cuts recently. Perhaps it’s a lesson learned by Amazon after the catastrophic failure that was the Fire Phone. A shift to a more familiar UI will surely make the product less confusing to regular consumers.

We don’t yet have a release date, price or specs for the 10-inch tablet, but there have been rumors of a $50 6-inch model which is expected to hit the market in time for the holiday season. Both tablets will likely be announced and released at the same time to take advantage of the busy Q4 shipping period.

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Upcoming Huawei device leaks ahead of purported September launch

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With Samsung pulling out of IFA this year and opting for hosting its own event, you may be left wondering if there’s anything worth looking forward to at this year’s tech show in Berlin. Thankfully, it looks as though Huawei is preparing to show off one of its own new devices. Two leaks have shown up on Twitter today, one press render from Evan Blass and another picture of a pre-release device running AnTuTu benchmark tests from Steve Hemmerstoffer.

According to Evan Blass, better known as @evleaks, the device is going to be announced on September 2nd, at an event during IFA. Although he doesn’t know what the device’s name will be, he does state that it will feature ‘Force Touch’. If true, this will make it one of the first smartphones announced with a built in sensor to detect pressure on the touchscreen. Of course, Apple is expected to implement the technology in to its upcoming smartphones, but Cupertino isn’t likely to announce anything new until September 9.

Add that to the images of what is almost certainly a prototype, or pre-release test unit, and we start to get a clearer picture of the device. Looking at the information on screen from the benchmark tests suggests we’ll see a 1080p display, with an octa-core 64-bit processor. If you were to look at design alone, you might think this is perhaps the next generation Huawei Ascend Mate device. However, look closely and you’ll realize that can’t be the case.

You’ll also see that it has a 13MP camera and runs Android 5.1.1. But what’s really interesting to me is the claimed DPI count (better known as PPI or pixels per inch). The benchmark states that it has a pixel density of 480ppi. If so, using a pixel density calculator, it can’t possibly be a follow-up to the 6-inch Mate7. 1080×1920 over 6-inches is 367ppi. So this could perhaps be the mini version of Huawei’s Ascend Mate 7, with a screen measuring 4.6-inches diagonally. That’s not forgetting, the Mate 7 was only announced in March this year.

Of course, this is all just speculation for now. We’ll find out all about this device once it has been announced. It’ll be intriguing to see where in the market this supposed device will sit alongside the Huawei P8 and P8 Lite and if it’ll be restricted to just specific markets, or available globally. It’s unlikely that this is the long-rumored Huawei Nexus phone, if it is being announced at IFA.

Could this Galaxy S6 Edge+ keyboard cover possibly be real? [Update: Yes]

Update: Yes, it’s real.

Evan Blass of evleaks has a pretty solid track record, and we’ve cited his leaks hundreds of times. This time, though, we can’t tell if what he has leaked is a joke or if it’s actually a real product on the way from Samsung. As you can see above, it looks like the Korean company might maybe possibly eventually release a keyboard cover for the yet-to-be-announced Galaxy S6 Edge+.

Knowing Samsung, this could very well be the real deal. And Evan hasn’t exactly been known to be a jokester when it comes to his leaks. He’s ended up wrong a couple of times, but I can’t remember many times that he has just posted a “leak” that was purely a practical joke. With that in mind, I have to say that this cover looks absolutely horrid — and useless.

A physical keyboard is something that many have desired since the move away from BlackBerry-esque devices, but I don’t know if this is the solution. I would much prefer that some companies — like BlackBerry, maybe? — make a smartphone that actually has a physical keyboard built-in. This hunk of plastic covering up half of your screen is surely be a nuisance and nothing more.