Promo videos are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes when you pay close enough attention to promo videos, gems start to emerge.

Case in point, this recent video released by Samsung for the Galaxy S4. At first glance, it may look like any other feel good video but when you look closely, the video reveals three new colours for the Galaxy S4 — blue, brown and red. You can see the new colours on display in the video around the 1:08 mark.

No official word from Samsung yet but you can expect these new colours to be released soon.

Check out the promo video after the jump. It’s a pretty good video too.

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HTC has just taken the covers off its latest offering to take on the mid-range market that the troubled Taiwan tech company say, bring premium performance and versatility to the mid-range smartphone market.

The Desire 600 packs a 4.5-inch LCD2 display, a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, dual-SIM support, an 8MP rear camera and a 1.2MP front camera along with almost all the features seen on the HTC One like Sense 5, BlinkFeed and Beats Audio with BoomSound and dual front speakers in an affordable package.

HTC says the Desire 600 dual sim will be available with mobile operators and major retailers in a number of markets from early June 2013. No pricing detail was announced.

It’s always nice to have options but when you consider the Sony Xperia ZR would probably occupy the same price bracket, it’s hard to chose the Desire 600 over the Xperia’s water friendly talents. In this case, we’d go with the Sony. The ability to shoot videos underwater trumps dual-SIM support any day.

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OtterBox, the makers of tough, durable, quality cases for smartphones have just released their range of protective cases for the Galaxy S4 in Malaysia, and if you’re looking for a case that offers more than just basic protection for your Galaxy S4, there’s really not much else that can compete with the OtterBox.

At the top of the range is the OtterBox Defender series with 3 layer protection and built-in screen protector. The the Defender case is made out of a soft yet durable, impact-absorbent outer layer, an interior polycarbonate hard shell and a built-in screen protector. It also comes with holster that holds your devices face in or face out and doubles as a stand. But with such a high level of protection, the Defender series makes the S4 bulky and don’t win any style points.

For less bulk, OtterBox makes the Commuter series case for the Galaxy S4. The Commuter series offers higher levels of protection over standard cases but none of the bulk of the Defender series. You get an impact deflecting outer shell and an impact absorbent soft interior slip cover. A screen protector is also included in the kit.

The Defender and Commuter series cases for the Galaxy S4 are available now at most gadget stores and retails for RM189 and RM139 respectively.

More videos on the OtterBox cases after the jump.

It turns out Microsoft can make interesting ads too. Like this one that pits a Windows 8 tablet — ASUS VivoTab Smart — against the Apple iPad.

As far as messaging goes, we will have to agree with Microsoft on this one. The iPad may be our preferred tablet for content consumption but when it comes a full-featured Windows 8 hybrid-PC running in tablet mode is just much more flexible with the things that you can do with it. So we’ll take the Windows 8 device over the iPad for a true all-rounder, do anything tablet.

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There has been much talk about a Galaxy S4 variant that’s built to withstand damage from excessive exposure to dust and water but there has been very little substance to back up the hype. Up till now.

The Galaxy S4 Active makes a brief appearance in the video after the jump sporting physical navigation buttons (over the S4’s capacitive fare) and a 1080p HD display. Other details we can gather from the video include a Snapdragon S4 Plus CPU which contradicts an earlier leak of the S4 Active that revealed a 1.9GHz quad-core processor. Considering Samsung might want to extend the battery life of this rugged smartphone, the dual-core Snapdragon makes more sense over a quad-core processor. Other specs include a 8MP rear camera that, like the rest of the details of the S4 Active, has not yet been confirmed.

Judging by the frequency of these leaks, you can expect Samsung to go official with the Galaxy S4 Active pretty soon. And judging by the speed in which Samsung brings its latest devices to Malaysia, we’re guessing the S4 Active might be available in stores before October.

Video after the jump.

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What do you get when you combine the water- and dust-resistance capabilities of the Xperia Z with the dedicated camera button of the Xperia ZL?

You get the Xperia UL, a Japan-only (at the moment) Sony smartphone with IPX5/8 water-resistance and IP5X dust resistance capabilities with a 5-inch 1080p display, 1.5Ghz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and a 13MP Exmor RS camera that does 15FPS burst shots in addition to NFC, DLNA and IR.

We’re not sure if Sony has plans to bring the Xperia UL out of Japan but if you’re looking for a phone that you can take swimming with you, the upcoming Xperia ZR is something you want to wait for.

Head after the break for the promo videos

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One of the biggest issues we have with the HTC One is the lack of a microSD card slot. Granted, 32GB (or 64GB, depending on which variant you’re getting) is a lot of storage for most people and HTC has also included a two-year 25GB Dropbox storage for free, so there’s plenty of space to go around but having a microSD beats putting stuff in the cloud any day. Well if you’re like us and prefer a HTC One variant that comes with expandable memory then this could be could news for you.

HTC has just released a variant of the HTC One in Japan that sports a microSD card slot. The HTC J One looks virtually identical to the HTC One and comes with all the same features that we get here with the addition of a microSDXC slot that can support cards up to 64GB in size.

The HTC J One is currently a Japan only variant at the moment but its silly for the Taiwan company to keep it there. A HTC One with expandable memory would be almost perfect for Malaysia.

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Widely regarded as a reliable resource for stringent, methodical and unbiased reviews, Consumer Reports have released their test results for the Galaxy S4.

The independent non-profit have much praise for the latest Samsung flagship putting the Galaxy S4 on top of its list of the best smartphones you can get at the moment. The S4, Consumer Reports said, “delivered top-notch performance” in the most critical areas of its battery of tests, including the camera performance.

In its latest list of top smartphones, the Galaxy S4 sits at the number one spot on top of the LG Optimus G (previous number one), the HTC One and the Galaxy S III. In a list dominated by Android phones, the iPhone 5 is ranked at number five on the list of top phones available in the US market currently.

In its findings, Consumer Reports said:

The S4 has an excellent 5-inch, high-definition (1080p) touch-screen display, as well as oodles of gesture- and sensor-based tools for accessing and sharing content you create and capture on your phone. The display is sensitive enough to use with gloves on—handy during cold weather.

It added that the Galaxy S4 is a “true multi-tasker” with its multi-view feature that allows you to watch a video while replying to an e-mail, while the S4 built-in IR transceiver blaster and programme get notable mentions as well.

In addition, the publication said the device’s camera was “among the best phone cameras for photo quality.”

On the other hand, the Galaxy S4 scored poorly in video quality, portability in addition to mediocre voice quality.

While we usually agree with Consumer Reports’ findings, we are not too sure about this one. The Galaxy S4 is a competent phone but we don’t think its a great one. Like Consumer Reports we too purchased our S4 off-the-shelf but unlike the publication, we found the device to be laden bugs and a feature set that is mostly unnecessary and gimmicky than useful.

We do agree that the camera is good but in terms of usability, built quality, display quality, battery life and in almost every other aspect, the HTC One trumps the Galaxy S4.

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The classic Karateka side-scrolling game is now available on your smart phone. This is the game the game that started it all before Prince of Persia. To give it a more retro feel, the loading of the game even includes the sound of a loading old school 5 1/4″ floppy disk. Just like the original, you can’t save the game midway and the only way to end the game is by killing it in the recent apps on Android.

To relive your childhood memory, you can download it now on Android and iOS for US$0.99.

For those who didn’t know, there’s an alternative ending of the Karateka game. Watch it after the break.

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Samsung is not letting Sony having all the fun in the water and here we have is the purported Samsung Galaxy S4 Active with water and dust resistance. Seen as a direct competitor of Sony’s Xperia Z, the S4 Active comes with top notch specs such as a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 Quad-Core 1.9GHz processor with a 5″ Full HD display like the current flagship device.

Over at the front, it comes with 3 physical buttons which makes it usable in any tough situations while the opposite side sports a metal looking back secured with bolts. In terms of imaging, it comes with a 8MP camera instead of a 13MP shooter found on the S4. If the rest of the specs are similar as the S4, it should also pack a 13MP shooter as well.

Apart from the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, more S4 variants such as the Galaxy S4 mini, Galaxy S4 Mega are expected to be released as well. This was unofficially confirmed in the description of Samsung’s WatchON app which has been changed at time of posting.

Head after the break for another shot of the S4 Active.

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