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.

[source, via]

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.

[source, via]

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.

[ SOURCE ]

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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You can add DiGi to your list of operators offering the BlackBerry Q10 as the QWERTY-toting BlackBerry will be available from DiGi from May 30.

Currently the Q10 is available from Celcom and Maxis from as low as RM1,388 and RM1,178 respectively. Outright the Q10 is priced at RM2,388. Pricing details for the BlackBerry Q10 from DiGi has not yet been revealed.

While the BlackBerry Q10 supports 4G LTE, there’s still no indication on when DiGi will announce its commercial 4G LTE service. We can only hope that by the time they launch, their 4G LTE coverage would cover most populated areas nationwide.

Couple of weeks back, we did a camera comparison of the latest flagship devices such as the HTC One, BlackBerry Z10, Nokia Lumia 920, iPhone 5 and Sony Xperia Z. With the Samsung Galaxy S4 being launched recently, it’s time for another round of camera shootout. This time we’ve thrown the Galaxy Note II in the mix as well.

Topping the megapixel count in this comparison are the 13MP shooters – Galaxy S4 and Xperia Z while the Lumia 920 8.7MP shooter shoots at 7.9MP. The iPhone 5, Galaxy Note II and the BlackBerry Z10 comes with the usual 8MP count. Of course not forgetting is the HTC One’s Ultrapixel camera which shoots an effective 4MP.

Without further ado, head after the break for the comparison. Let us know which you think is better?

Chili & Ketchup

Galaxy S4

Xperia Z

Lumia 920

iPhone 5

HTC One

Note II

BlackBerry Z10

Nut & Bolt

Galaxy S4

Xperia Z

Lumia 920

iPhone 5

HTC One

Note II

BlackBerry Z10

Mall Indoor

Galaxy S4

Xperia Z

Lumia 920

iPhone 5

HTC One

Note II

BlackBerry Z10

Books

Galaxy S4

Xperia Z

Lumia 920

iPhone 5

HTC One

Note II

BlackBerry Z10

Coloured Cubes

Galaxy S4

Xperia Z

Lumia 920

iPhone 5

HTC One

Note II

BlackBerry Z10

Typewriter

Galaxy S4

Xperia Z

Lumia 920

iPhone 5

HTC One

Note II

BlackBerry Z10

Previous Comparisons

(HTC One, Nokia Lumia 920, iPhone 5, Xperia Z, BlackBerry Z10)

Daytime – Photo Comparison
Daytime – Video Comparison
Night – Photo Comparison
Night – Video Comparison

Acer has quietly revealed its new Iconia W3 Tablet which comes in a more portable 8″ form factor. Considering most Microsoft based tablets are 10-inchers, this would be the smallest Windows 8 tablet currently. While it is small in size, surprisingly it runs on a full fledged Microsoft Windows 8 Pro and not the scaled down Windows RT version. Being a productivity tool, the Iconia W3 comes with a accompanying keyboard which connects via Bluetooth. From the product pics, the tablet can be attached to the back of the keyboard.

In terms of specs, it runs on Intel Atom Z2760 processor with 2GB of RAM and there’s a choice of 32GB and 64GB storage option. The front 8.1″ display does a WXGA resolution capable of 1280×768. It also comes with a 2MP camera, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, micro HDMI and micro USB port. Battery life is rated at 8 hours.

No pricing details yet but the Iconia W3 is expected to be introduced in early June. Head after the break for more images of the device.

[ SOURCE, VIA ]

The HTC One currently runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean which is a notch lower than the latest Android 4.2. As comparison, the Galaxy S4 already runs on Android 4.2.2 out of the box. If you’re itching for the latest, now word has it that HTC will be rolling out Android 4.2.2 update for the HTC One in 2-3 weeks time.

For older HTC devices such as HTC Butterfly, HTC One X, One S and One X+, a software update is expected to come soon which will bring HTC One’s BlinkFeed and Zoe as well. Software updates is a critical factor for smart phone ownership and it is good to see manufacturers giving existing loyal users the latest features.

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