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Introduce Lenovo Debuts 5-Inch Vibe X Smartphone. Lenovo unveiled its new Vibe X, a fairly clear-cut smartphone, at IFA Berlin on Thursday.

The 5-inch apparatus arrives with a 1,080p IPS display, a quad-core, 1.5GHz processor, a 13-megapixel camera (coupled with an oddly powerful 5-megapixel one on the front), 2GB of recollection and 16GB of storage.

The specs are admirable, but they aren't the best out there. although, add in the premium polycarbonate body — which is just 6.9 millimeters thick and weighs about a quarter of a pound — and Vibe X becomes a solid lightweight competitor in the crowded 5-inch Android arena.

On the programs edge, just like most of its new brethren, it sprints Android 4.2. The Vibe X will never reach European or the U.S. coastlines, we've been notified. Price and release designated day are not yet available.

Touted as the world's thinnest at the time, the Huawei P1S was no slouch either, featuring a dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and a great screen.

Since then, it's launched the budget-minded G510 and the gigantic Ascend Mate phablet - but it's now ready with a new flagship, the Ascend P6.

World's thinnest

Yep, Huawei broke the record for world's thinnest smartphone again, as the P6 measures about 6.18mms, compared to the iPhone 5's 7.6mms.

Speaking of the iPhone, it's impossible to look at the P6 and not have Apple's device come to mind, mainly owing to the antenna ring and minimalistic design.

The P6 is a well-designed phone, with the back curving around to the front when you look at the bottom. I can sort of see what Huawei meant when they said that paper inspired their design.

You'll also find an array of ports and bays on the device, with the micro-USB port at the top, microSD and microSIM slots on the right and, strangely enough, the earphone jack on the left side.

Huawei claims that they didn't want to sully the phone's lines by having the earphone jack elsewhere - but why not pop it right next to the microUSB jack? It's an awkward arrangement, especially if you have the phone in your pocket while listening to music.

The one upside to the earphone jack is that it has a metal plug which doubles as a microSIM/microSD removal tool. It's a neat idea, although you don't want to lose it...

As you may have surmised, the P6 doesn't have a removable cover and thus, has no removable battery either.

Hold the P6 and it's not hard to see why they went for a super-thin design though - it's pretty comfortable to hold, while the 4.7-inch touchscreen feels smaller than it really is (not a bad thing at all).

Focusing on the cameras (is that a pun?)

Huawei has hyped the P6's camera features, and on paper, it's looking pretty good. There's an eight-megapixel main camera, as well as a five-megapixel front-facing shooter.

Back at the launch, the company compared shots from the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4, with the P6 looking like a slightly better option. But when we actually got some hands-on time, things weren't as clear-cut.

Daytime shots looked excellent, it has to be said, with quite a bit of resolvable detail and good colour reproduction.

However, when we took the phone to a local live music venue, things didn't fare so well - inaccurate lighting, out-of-focus snaps and noise are all par for the course. The Lumia 920 or HTC One this is not.

Still, the Ascend P6 has plenty of other camera features up its sleeve, such as the ability to change ISO and white balance or the usual burst and HDR modes, it's quite versatile.

The front-facing camera takes some great daytime selfies too, but the lack of a flash means that your nightclub photos will look like someone smeared marmite all over it.

Huawei has introduced a "Beauty Shot" as well, which seems to smooth a subject's skin - it's not something I'd use but hey, it's there if you want to use it.

What can it do?

Turning the phone on, I was pleased to see quite a lush 720p display - sure, it's not 1080p, but most people couldn't tell the difference. The fact that it's not a five-inch screen makes it even more comfortable to hold too.

Powering the P6 is a 1.5Ghz quad-core processor and 2GBs of RAM - but the chip has far more in common with the likes of last year's processors than this year's silicon. And the benchmarks show.

The device ranked close to the Nexus 7 in the Antutu benchmark test, while falling far below the likes of HTC's One and Samsung's Galaxy S4. But of course, benchmarks only tell a tiny part of the story.

The Ascend P6 is quite a snappy handset, as apps launch quickly and screens open fast. That's not to say it's brisk all the time - we sometimes found that switching menus would result in a second of waiting, as the phone's gears whirred.

As for gaming, the Ascend P6 copes well, running Temple Run 2 and Subway Surfers with little slowdown. So if you're constantly on the hunt for new games, it should be up for the job.

Connectivity wise, the P6 has your usual Bluetooth and WiFi, but it's missing NFC. While we can live with NFC's absence, you'll be disappointed if you're looking for LTE, as the standard isn't present here.

Huawei's additions

The Chinese giant has implemented its Emotion UI on Android, with the iteration seen on the Ascend Mate feeling like TouchWiz Lite.

Unarguably the biggest change over other Android themes is the omission of an app drawer/menu, with all apps dropped on a homescreen instead.

We're pleased to say that the default theme on the P6 is a departure from that, with some brown and blue featured.

In saying so, the Ascend Mate's theme is still an option, bringing with it that great customisable lockscreen too.

Simply hold a circle and drag it down to the padlock to unlock the phone, or flick it in any other direction to launch another app or function. The best part is that the other three directions are customisable - so if you love Vine, you can set it as a shortcut, for instance.

Other than the aesthetic changes, Huawei has introduced a few practical applications too, with the Power Manager and Permissions Manager being two of the more useful ones.

The former is easy to understand, as it lets you tweak settings to extend your phone's battery life, also offering a few preset modes. Does it help? Yes it does, but you won't see a dramatic increase.

Speaking of which, the Ascend P6's battery life is merely okay, with music playback and the occasional game session killing the phone come evening. I'd prefer if Huawei launched a thicker version with a bigger battery.

The Permissions Manager is quite an innovative idea, with the phone letting you approve or ban apps from using certain device functions. For instance, you can ban a game from constantly sending you push notifications. We'd like to see this kind of feature on other phones too.

Worth it?

The Huawei Ascend P6 doesn't quite have the specifications of a 2013 flagship phone nailed down, but it's still a capable and slick-looking device.

Whether you're playing games on it or taking snaps at the beach, the device handles tasks well, but of course, the question is, how much will you need to pay?

We were originally told that the price was R5999, which, while cheaper than most flagships, is still pretty steep for a smartphone at the upper end of the mid-range tier.

However, Huawei has since confirmed that the phone will cost R4999 from MTN, making it a very reasonable deal.

So, should you get it? Well... if you don't mind the ho-hum battery life and poor low-light performance, you'll have a well-designed phone that offers great performance relative to its price. So why not?

Delta Airlines announced Thursday that it has adopted Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 platform and the Nokia Lumia 820 as its go-to handheld device for 19,000 flight attendants. The smartphones will be used to handle a range of tasks both on the ground and in the air.

 The phones are running customized software for Delta from Avanade that runs on the Microsoft Dynamics for Retail mobile point-of sale platform. Delta believes that the system, together with Wi-Fi/4G connectivity provided by AT&T, will empower its flight attendants while also improving its customers' experiences throughout the boarding, flying and deplaning processes.

The Lumia 820 is fairly compact, which makes it easy to carry around and use. It has a 4.3-inch ClearBlack display, a dual-core 1.5-GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, 1 GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, NFC and Nokia's suite of software.

 Together with the Avanade software, the Lumia 820 should be a powerful ally for flight attendants. It can handle near real-time credit card processing for onboard purchases, including upgrades to Delta's Economy Comfort seating, as well as food and beverage purchases. Customers can choose to have e-receipts emailed to them rather than accept a paper receipt on the plane. The system promises to speed up transactions by about 10% across the board. It is compatible with regular and prepaid credit cards, and will soon be able to read digital coupons that are displayed on a customer's mobile phone. Delta said that its flight attendants will be able to pull up flight connection details for passengers, too.[via]

New Delhi: While Samsung is highly expected to show off its new Galaxy Note smartphone on September 4, a new report from Bloomberg claims that the South Korean giant will also unveil its long-rumoured smart watch, unofficially dubbed 'Galaxy Gear', at the September 4 event. 

Citing two people familiar with the matter, the report says that the smart watch can make phone calls, surf the Web and handle e-mails. The Galaxy Gear smartwatch will be powered by Google's Android OS and is likely to go on sale this year. 

Samsung Electronics has already applied for US and South Korean trademarks for a watch that connects to the Internet in the latest sign that consumer technology companies see wearable devices as the future of their business.[via]

Setting a new record as the highest-earning fixed crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo, a total amount of $10,288,472 (approximately £6.6 million) has, thus far, been generated in pledges by London-based developer Canonical for its Ubuntu Edge smartphone.

The money raised by the Canonical Ubuntu Edge smartphone in its Indeigogo crowdfunding campaign has surpassed the record set by the Pebble smartwatch last year. Pebble had raised a total of $10,266,845 in its crowdfunding campaign.

However, with the Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding campaign scheduled to end on August 21, Canonical is far from its achieving its overall funding target of $32 million. If the developer fails to reach the funding goal, it will have to return all the money to the backers.

In case Canonical is successful in achieving the funding target of its Ubuntu Edge smartphone campaign on the Indiegogo crowdfunding website, it plans to deliver 40,000 handsets to qualifying backers by May 2014.

Noting that the public interest in the Ubuntu Edge smartphone is apparently quite high - with the handset having reportedly caught the attention of phone enthusiasts as well as innovators, futurists and device-makers -, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth said in an interview woth the BBC: "The campaign has sparked a level of interest that has surprised even us." [via]

The new Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone is worth paying attention to, but not for the reason you've heard.

The key figure in Nokia's ads and marketing is 41 -- as in, the number of megapixels of the Lumia's camera. That's a crazy number, triple what any other manufacturer except Nokia itself with its 808 PureView (which runs the old Symbian operating system, as opposed to the Lumia's Windows Phone 8) has ever put into a smartphone.

The thing is, the number of megapixels, while important, is vastly overrated in evaluating smartphone cameras. Where it matters most is in maintaining sharpness at large sizes. Now, when was the last time you printed a poster from a photo taken on your phone?

In fact, photos that pixel-dense can be a problem in real life; they take up lots of storage space and don't lend themselves easily to sharing.

So now that we've disposed of that, here's what's important about the 1020: the camera.

Nokia has included several features not found on many phones, including an optical image stabilizer and backlit sensor, which make an appreciable difference in picture quality. The 1020 is particularly good in low-light situations or those with complex scenes, such as a night baseball game with areas both brightly lit and pitch-black.

The Lumia also includes several apps and features that give photographers who know what they're doing a level of control not typical for smartphone cameras.

The default camera app, Nokia Pro Cam, provides settings for ISO, shutter speed, white balance and manual focus, among other things. Another Nokia app, Smart Cam, captures a series of shots and identifies the best one, while allowing you to do such tricks as erasing a moving image or choosing the best faces -- eyes open, everyone! -- in a group shot.

There are other nice aspects of the Lumia 1020 besides the camera. Its screen, 4.5 inches, is neither too big nor too small; its 1280 by 768 resolution, while not the highest around, is more than sufficient. At 5.6 ounces, it's not exactly featherweight, but is noticeably lighter than earlier Lumias that tended toward the bricklike.

And while Windows Phone 8 hasn't exactly set the app-developing world afire, it remains an attractive and capable operating system, augmented here by not only Nokia's camera apps but by its Here service, a rival to Google Maps.

Still, none of those other features are enough to justify the Lumia 1020's premium price -- $299 on a two-year contract from AT&T for a model with 32 gigabytes of storage. For that kind of money, you have to be the kind of user who'll be able to extract maximum benefit from its camera-related features. Point-and-shooters need not apply.[via]

Samsung looks to have taken the humming world of personalised tech gadgetry by surprise today by officially launching the highly rumored, but quite secretive, Samsung SCH-W789 Android-based flip phone in China on Wednesday. Samsung has simply branded the phone with its model number without giving it any personality, unlike the Samsung Galaxy smartphones that received attention akin to the birth of the Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and husband Prince William's royal child in Britain recently.

Features wise, Samsung SCH-W789 Android flip phone comes with dual 3.3 inch HVGA touch screen displays with the resolution of 320x480 pixels. It is running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system version and it is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Quad Core processor along with 1GB of RAM memory. It is a dual SIM device with CDMA + GSM support with dual-standby features. Connectivity features of the phone include Bluetooth, WiFi, Micro USB and GPS. It also boasts a relatively staid, when compared to HTC One, 5 mega pixel rear camera with LED flash. 

There is no information on the internal storage of the phone at the moment but it comes with microSD card slot to expend the memory. The phone is powered by a 1500 mAh battery and it comes with pre-loaded applications like Samsung Apps and Chat On messaging. 

It will be available on China Telecom for 4999 yuan (about $816). There is no word on whether the phone will be released in any other market globally but another Android flip phone that has been seen is the Samsung Galaxy Folder that might be launched globally. via Muhammad Zulqarnain Zulfi

North Korea says it has produced its first home-grown smartphone, but experts have disputed its origins.

The Arirang handset, described as a "hand phone" in state media, was shown to leader Kim Jong-un during a factory tour.

The country has had a mobile network since 2008, but activity is heavily monitored and restricted.

Last year the country launched a tablet, but it later emerged it was likely to have been made in China.

Clues to the tablet's origin were uncovered by Martyn Williams, an expert on North Korean technology, who noted that parts of the tablet's software code suggested links to a manufacturer in Hong Kong.

The Arirang smartphone, named after a popular folk song, was unlikely to have been made in the country, Mr Williams added.

He noted that actual manufacturing was shown, and that the device was "probably made to order by a Chinese manufacturer and shipped to the May 11 Factory where they are inspected before going on sale".

The leader was accompanied by the Korean Workers' Party propaganda chief and the head of the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a hint that the devices could be used for widespread dissemination of government information.

Mr Kim was seen to be demoing the device, which appeared to be running a version of Google's Android mobile operating system.

There are no further details available about the smartphone's exact specifications, but the KNCA reported that the leader praised the "high pixels" of the built-in camera.

The article said Mr Kim had high hopes for the "educational significance in making people love Korean things".

He advised that factory workers should "select and produce shapes and colours that users like".

Mobile phones in the secretive country have been available since 2008. The national network is maintained thanks to a joint operation by the North Korean government and Egyptian telecoms company Orascom.

Phones on the network are heavily restricted. They cannot access the internet and can only make calls within North Korea.

For a short time, foreigners in the country were able to use mobile internet, but this access was later revoked.

It is believed that many in North Korea, particular those near the borders, use illegally owned mobiles to contact people outside the country.

One man, a 28-year-old who left North Korea in November 2010, told a research paper: "In order to make sure the mobile phone frequencies are not being tracked, I would fill up a washbasin with water and put the lid of a rice cooker over my head while I made a phone call."

Being found in possession of a foreign phone would be a very serious crime, the paper's authors said.

WASHINGTON — Chinese telecom giant ZTE announced plans Monday to sell a low-cost smartphone using the open source Firefox operating system in the United States and Britain.

ZTE said its Open Firefox OS phone will be sold through eBay in the US for $79.99 and 59.99 pounds in Britain.

The phone, unlocked to allow use on a variety of mobile networks, uses the open source Firefox operating platform from the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, which is aiming to break the dominance of Google's Android and Apple's iOS.

"The global availability of the ZTE Open through eBay means that more consumers worldwide are now able, for the first time, to buy an affordable smartphone based entirely on open Web standards," the Chinese firm said in a statement.

"The ZTE Open is powered by Firefox OS, which frees developers, operators and consumers from the constraints of existing closed ecosystems by using the Web as the platform for all functionality and applications."

The statement said sales would begin "soon," without elaborating.

ZTE vice president Dai Wenhong said the company "is devoted to providing more options for customers globally and enabling them to live better lives via advanced technology.

The ZTE Open offers customers a smartphone experience at an incredible price point, making it ideal for cost conscious consumers or those looking to upgrade to a smartphone for the first time."

The phone offered for US and British consumers is orange in color, while a blue version has been on sale in Spain and Venezuela and a black version in Colombia.

In June, Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision said it aims to hire up to 3,000 new employees to develop devices and software for Mozilla's Firefox operating system.

Hon Hai, better known by its trade name Foxconn and a major supplier to Apple, plans to produce five devices running on Firefox.

The Firefox operating system uses applications on HTML5, a Web standard which operates across platforms, unlike those developed for specific systems such a Apple's iOS or Google Android.