It seems it's not only Samsung which is planning to scale down its latest flagship handset into a more affordable option, with rumours suggesting the HTC M4 will be the pint sized brother of the HTC One.
We've already seen a number of reports pointing towards a Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, and now Digitimes and its infamous "upstream supply chain sources" claim HTC is looking to capitalise on a brand name as well.
According to the somewhat dubious sources, the HTC M4 - which we assume is a working title - will arrive in June with an estimated 70,000 units making up the initial shipment.
What a Catch(er)
All this comes from a company called Catcher Technology, which claims to be the sole provider of the metal-alloy chassis for the M4 - suggesting the cheaper device will sport the same premium finish of its big brother.
Catcher currently manufactures the chassis for the HTC One so it does seem well placed to provide future materials for the Taiwanese firms, but these sources are very much hit and miss.
We wouldn't be overly surprised if HTC decided to produce a cut-down handset to target those on smaller budgets, especially after the positive reviews garnered by the HTC One.
Nokia promised us more phone love in 2013 and the Finnish company looks set to deliver, posting a tantalising teaser for the launch of a mysterious new device that will take place this Wednesday.
"On Wednesday morning at 7am GMT we will be announcing something new, followed by a Q&A session with Neil Broadley from our Mobile Phones team and a special guest," said the post on Nokia's blog.
The picture doesn't show much, but when has that ever stopped us putting on our TechRadar analysis glasses? We can definitely see that the new phone will share the Lumia's curved form, but even more interesting are the physical buttons also in view. A new Windows phone? Unlikely. A new Asha? Don't rule it out.
More blips!
Other bite-sized things have happened in tech and we've gathered them up for your perusing pleasure.
The Nokia Lumia 820 isn't meant as the Finnish firm's flagship handset - that accolade belongs to the Nokia Lumia 920 - but this colourful Windows Phone 8 smartphone is impressive nonetheless.
The Nokia Lumia 820 carries plenty of unique features and costs less than the Lumia 920, making it a tempting offer for anyone considering making the move to Microsoft's OS.
It's now part of a quintet, with the Nokia Lumia 520, 620 and 720 also joining the Windows Phone 8 party at Casa del Nokia.
It goes without saying Nokia is pinning a lot of hope on this phone. Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S3 are kicking up dust both in terms of sales and as standard bearers for their respective operating systems - plus both have big updates coming soon.
In the UK, you can now pick the Lumia 820 up free from £17 per month on Tesco, albeit with only 300 minutes and 500MBof data, on a 24 month contract. Alternatively the SIM-free version of the phone has now dropped to a very palatable £280, making this a much more attractive phone indeed.
Australians can enjoy the phone for AUD$649 outright, or for $0 up front on a $50 plan over 24 months. Optus customers - who get the benefit of 4G - can grab the handset for $0 up front on a $35 plan.
There's a reasonable amount of power on offer at that price thanks to the dual core 1.5Ghz Snapdragon processor and Adreno 225 GPU. Windows OS is a typically smooth operating system the Lumia 820 runs off 1GB of RAM which keeps things nice and slick.
Outwardly though, this is a different-looking phone from the Lumia 920. The unibody is gone, replaced with a removable plastic back that lets you change the colour of the handset. Our review model came with a bright yellow rear cover, although red, black, magenta, blue, white and grey are also available.
Hopefully over time third-party designs will become available allowing you to customise your handset just like the Nokia's of old.
Unfortunately, the back cover is also where we run into our first problem with the Lumia 820. Basically you'll need fingernails like Wolverine to claw the cover back from the body of the phone. It took the TechRadar team several amusing minutes trying to remove the casing in order to insert our SIM to begin using the phone.
Once you're happy with the casing, and you've spent the required ten minutes struggling to get your Micro SIM installed, you'll be able to sit back and notice that at 160g, the Lumia 820 isn't as heavy as its bigger brother.
It's also got slightly smaller dimensions - but at 124 x 69 x 10mm with a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen we wouldn't go so far as to call it tiny.
Compare it to the rest of the new Lumia range, and you can see that the Lumia 820 might struggle to stand out.
From left to right: Lumia 520, Lumia 620, Lumia 720 and Lumia 820
It's a chunkier beast than the rest in the range, and only really deserves its place as 'best of the non-920 bunch) by way of the dual-core Krait Qualcomm processor and OLED ClearBlack display compared to the standard dual core and LCD screen of the 720.
The curved sides and rounded corners of the handset make the 820 comfortable to hold and certainly give it a friendly appearance. We could easily wrap our hand around the Lumia 820 and access the physical buttons, which are all located along the right hand side of the phone.
You get a volume rocker at the top, followed by the power on/off button in the centre and then a physical camera shutter button - something we're always happy to see on a smartphone. All the buttons can be easily flicked with either the thumb of your right hand or the fingers of your left, depending on which you use to hold the phone.
One point though, the plastic backing on the Lumia 820 is completely smooth which looks nice but doesn't offer any great amount of grip.
The front of the phone is minimal in terms of design, with just the Nokia lettering at the top and the three standard Windows phone soft touch keys at the bottom. While the 4.3-inch AMOLED, 800 x 480 screen is up to Nokia's usual high standard, there's definitely a noticeable black bezel around the display.
Usually this doesn't cause too much concern, but given the near edge-to-edge displays of handsets like the Motorola Razr i and the iPhone 5, it's becoming more of an issue.
The display isn't as large as other smartphones out there. It won't compete with the 4.7-inch HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4 or the 4.5-inch Lumia 920, for screen real estate but compromises with portability.
Screen size itself is becoming far more of a subjective issue anyway with a device on offer at pretty much every stage from pocket-friendly smartphone to sofa-surfing tablet.
The top and bottom of the Lumia 820 are given over to the 3.5mm headphone jack and the micro-USB charging and connection port respectively. There's also a small speaker to the right of the micro-USB port which we felt didn't look as nicely uniform as the dual speaker vents on the Lumia 920.
Overall build quality is as good as you would expect given Nokia's long history of mobile phone craftsmanship. While we would expect the casing to scratch fairly easily if this phone took a tumble, there's a reassuring heft to the handset that suggests the internal workings would stay protected.
Importantly then, first impressions are quite good. It's a good looking, feature-packed phone from a pair of companies that really have something to prove this time around. So, how does it fare when we dip below the surface?
The HTC Desire L snuck out of the Taiwanese manufacturer over the weekend as the firm looks to bolster its mid-range offerings.
Packing a 4.3-inch display, 5MP camera, 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, microSD slot and 1,800mAh battery it looks set to go head-to-head with the Windows Phone 8 toting Nokia Lumia 720.
The Desire L comes running Android Jelly Bean (version 4.1.2), weighs in at a comfortable 118g and measures 128 x 66.9 x 8.9 mm.
Tickled pink
In terms of design, the Desire L follows in the footsteps of the Taiwanese firm's latest smartphones with a smooth, unfussy finish.
You'll be able to pick up a HTC Desire L in black, white or an interesting faded-pink hue - if you're lucky enough to be in Taiwan that is, with a global release date currently unknown.
It's not clear if the Desire L will make it to the likes of the UK, US and Australia after a company spokesperson told TechRadar "HTC doesn't comment on future roadmaps for devices".
Like previous Fitbugs, the Fitbug Air is a small device that acts as a pedometer that records every step you take. By noting each step it can extrapolate the distance you've travelled and the calories you've burned off.
What's rather new and exciting about the Fitbug Air is that it comes with Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, enabling you to hook it up to your iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, the latest generation of iPad or the newest iPod touch.
Support for Android apps is apparently coming, though Bluetooth 4.0 adoption hasn't quite taken off with Google's mobile OS.
The Fitbug Air uses the data it collects about your day-to-day activities, and sends it to your device where it will upload the data to an online account. You're able to see the calories you burn, as well as take part in challenges and games designed to keep you fit.
The online part of the Fitbug experience is well designed and comes with extensive coaching plans that can help you get the most out of your exercise. It's not free, though. You can buy the Fitbug Air Premium package for £49.99 /US$59.99, which comes with 12 months membership of fitbug.com, or you can buy the Flexi package for £24.99/US$29.99, which comes with one month's membership.
After the prepaid time is over in both packages you then pay £2.99/US$3.99 a month. It's more expensive than the Nike+ service, where you only need to pay for the app or device once, though it's still cheaper than a gym membership.
Verdict
We found the Fitbug Air to be accurate and responsive when running, and connecting it up to our iPhone 4S was a breeze. You can have more than one person share the Fitbug, which is a nice plus, but having to pay monthly for membership of the website won't be to everyone's tastes.
