Sony Xperia Z1: Official Honami name revealed

Z successor.

Sony’s much-touted Honami handset will be officially dubbed the Xperia Z1 when it’s unleashed at a press event on September 4th.
That’s according to an XDA developers forum member, who claims to have the inside line on the device.

The new phone, which has appeared in a series of newly leaked press renders, is said to rock a 5-inch display, with Full HD smarts, as well as 2GB of RAM and Qualcomm’s now-ubiquitous Snapdragon 800 processor.
What’s more, it’s expected to supersede Sony’s Xperia Z, which was first revealed back in January of this year.
The camera is also set to wow users, with a 20.7-megapixel sensor. That should put it right up against Nokia’s new Lumia 1020 and Samsung’s Galaxy S4 Zoom.

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Samsung Galaxy Gear colour options revealed, on sale late September

Smartwatch taking shape.

The Samsung Galaxy Gear will come in a suite of colourways, it has emerged, as details of the smartwatch seep out with weeks to go before it makes its anticipated debut in Berlin.
Sam Mobile, citing an insider who’d understandably prefer to remain anonymous, today reports that the Galaxy Gear will come in white, orange, grey and black and will start shipping the week commencing September 23rd.

A white and gold variant will apparently ship a week later and is tipped to be exclusive to some regions and/or networks.
The device's retail date is set to be around late-September or early-October, with Samsung purportedly open to releasing more colour options in future.
Colour-scheme details for the Gear come hard on the heels of yesterday’s spec-sheet leak that gave us some idea of what we can expect under the bonnet.
Alongside a 2.5-inch screen, the smartwatch is expected to pack a dual-core processor, the S-Health fitness monitoring app and the same eyeball-tracking technology as the Galaxy S4.
It’s also set to feature NFC support for contactless payments and transferring content when bumped against other NFC-enabled kit and will connect and pair with users’ smartphones via Bluetooth 4.0.
What it won’t do is make or take calls, disappointing anyone holding out hope of acting out their Dick Tracy watchphone fantasies.

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iPhone 5C video reveals scratch resistant plastic surface

The end to scrapes from car-keys?

The plastic cover of the low-cost iPhone 5C is a lot more robust than some snatched spyshots might suggest, a leaked video of the handset reveals.
Much-leaked online in recent weeks, the polycarbonate shell for Apple’s budget handset has been derided in some quarters as cheap and flimsy-looking. Even less kind comments compared the back cover to something tatty you might find a street market.
However, a clip doing the rounds online, which comes to us from Chinese site Apple Daily, proves that appearances can be deceptive.

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iPhone 5S gold edition shell snapped alongside iPhone 5, design unchanged

‘Old’ meet ‘gold’.

Photos of the back plate for the next-gen iPhone in gold have cropped up online alongside the current edition, giving us a glimpse at how the fresh colourway will look.
Snapped alongside black and white models of the iPhone 5, the photo suggest that rather than the gaudy gold colourway of some tech-scribes’ imaginations, the handset will feature a subtler shade, probably best described as ‘champagne’.
And there’s scant sign of radical changes elsewhere too. As earlier leaks have shown, the new photos indicate that the placement and design of the iPhone 5S’s fixtures and fittings (SIM try, buttons, volume rocker) will remain unchanged.
Earlier this month, reports surfaced claiming that the golden edition of the iPhone 5S could come in a super-deluxe 128GB edition and will be aimed principally at the bling-fancying middle-classes in China.

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Samsung Galaxy Gear: Five key rumours you need to know

With the Watch seemingly months away, all eyes are on Samsung's smartwatch.

Samsung’s iWatch-bashing Galaxy Gear is all set to officially break cover in the next few weeks.
But like all good top-end mobile kit, Sammy’s new slice of wearable tech has been the subject of a slew of rumours.
From colour schemes to flexible screens, there’s a heap of gossip about the futuristic timepiece. Here’s our pick of the five key rumours you need to know.

1 It’ll be revealed on September 4th

Samsung is holding its much-anticipated Unpacked event on September 4th in Berlin, ahead of the annual IFA gadget show in the German capital.
The Galaxy Gear is expected to be the headline-grabbing device at the event, gazumping the new Galaxy Note 3, which will also be unveiled at the same time.
A release date is expected at the end of September or beginning of October.

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Sony teases Xperia Z1 on Twitter

Phablet update primed.

After a whole heap of rumours, Sony itself has begun teasing its forthcoming Xperia Z1. The company has taken to Twitter, posting a cropped image of the device, with the missive, “It’s the smartphone everyone’s been talking about…Not long now #bestofSony.”
While the Xperia Z1 has undoubtedly been the subject of intense gossip, Sony’s pushing it somewhat to say it’s the phone everyone’s been talking about. That title falls to Apple’s forthcoming iPhones, surely.

That said, the Z1 certainly promises to mix things up. A step up from January’s Xperia Z, it’s said to rock a Full HD 5-inch display, 2GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor.
The big news, though, will doubtless be the handset’s 20.7-megapixel camera. Sony will be desperate to wrest back the initiative from Nokia’s new Lumia 1020 and reassert itself as the premium camera phone brand.

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One in ten British kids own a mobile phone by the age of five

The age gap in mobile ownership and spend in Blighty is shrinking.

More than a million British children get their first mobile phone by the time they are just five years old, uSwitch research reveals.
According to the study, the typical British child gets their first handset by the age of 12, costing just £125 on average, which is a little more than half of what parents spend on their own mobile devices.
Young ‘uns also spend about £11 per month on mobile bills, compared to £19 by their parents. However, more than one in ten (11%) children end up with bigger outlays than their old folks.
In something of a shocking revelation, 42 per cent of mums and dads admit they seldom check how much their children are spending on mobile phones, with just a quarter of parents bothering to place caps on their kids’ contacts.

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Exclusive: iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C parts revealed in new leaked photos

Fourth iPhone 5S colour spied.

New images of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, shared with uSwitch Tech, appear to show a fourth iPhone 5S colour option, as well as a string of new angles of both of Apple’s forthcoming handsets.
The graphite grey iPhone 5S appears alongside the now seemingly nailed-on 'champagne gold' edition of the device. The images suggest it’ll have a slate-coloured central panel, with black panelling along the top and bottom.
Once again, the gold iPhone 5S looks as if it won’t come in a gaudy bullion-colour, but rather a more mute champagne tone.
Other images, from insiders close to Apple’s supply chain, show the iPhone 5C’s plastic shell in a rather natty red/orange colour.
Both the budget iPhone 5C and top-end iPhone 5S are due to be launched on September 10th, with a number of sources close to Apple confirming that date for a special event. The phones will then go on sale on September 20th, according to reports last week.
As those dates near, expect to see plenty more snapshots of the devices leaking out across the web.

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Blue HTC One seen in the wild

Blue for you.

HTC is priming an amped-up phablet edition of its flagship One smartphone. But while we wait for the so-called One Max, another version of the One is also said to be edging closer to launch.
A blue-coloured HTC One has been spotted in the wild and papped by a worker at one of the Taiwanese giant’s factories. The device was seen earlier this month in a leaked press shot.
While the colour is different, there’s little to suggest the internals of the device will not be the same. That means the latest version of Android, layered with HTC Sense and the company’s ace Ultra Pixel camera round the back.

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IFA 2013: Five key gadgets you should be excited for

We list five mouthwatering kits you should be looking forward to this year's tech expo in Berlin.

Berlin’s annual gadget bash, IFA, is just over a week away. And while trade shows have become less of a draw in recent years, with the biggest players preferring to reveal products at their own specially organised events, this year the German capital is set to see some pretty major launches.
Some of late 2013’s key phones, tablets and, yes, smart watches, are going to be unveiled. Here are five key products you need to know about.
Samsung Galaxy Gear
Samsung has done a purposefully poor job of keeping a lid on leaks about its forthcoming Galaxy Gear smart watch. Details of the iWatch rival have been leaked extensively over the summer, even if spy shots have so far proved hard to come by.

The timepiece is expected to rock a 2.5-inch flexible touchscreen display, use the same eye-tracking tech as the Galaxy S4 and pack in a string of fitness-focused features. Expect this to be the most talked about product at the show.
**Samsung Galaxy Note 3 **
Of course, Samsung will also be wanting to tout a new device to work with the Galaxy Gear. And that’s where the Galaxy Note 3 comes in. Hyped all year, this new phablet is believed to pack a 5.7-inch Full HD display, Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 800 processor, 3GB of RAM and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

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