Check out the first glimpse of the Huawei G750 (credit: MyDriver)
It seems Huawei has some Android tricks up its sleeves, one of them being the newly leaked eight-core Huawei G750.
The previously unheard of device reportedly packs MediaTek's powerful new octa-core processor, according to the photos and info that leaked on the Chinese site MyDrivers.
However, it's unclear whether the G750 is merely the codename or model number for the Huawei Honor 4/Glory 4, which are also rumored to be powered by the new MediaTek chip, or a separate device entirely.
Bragging rights
MediaTek has been vocal about its new 1.7 GHz MT6592 System on a Chip (SoC), which it claims is the "world's first true octa-core mobile platform."
The Taiwanese chip maker says in addition to the eight-core chip's raw processing power, it has the advantage of being fully scalable and consuming less battery power than the quad-core processors that are currently popular in various flagship smartphones.
Other than that juicy tidbit, based on the specs pictured in this leak it seems the Huawei G750 will sport a big but disappointing 720p 5.5-inch display, 2GB of memory, 32GB of storage, and 13- and 5-megapixel cameras.
It will also reportedly come with the slightly outdated Android 4.2.2 and be available on China's three big carriers, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom.
There's some powerful, albeit nonsensical, imagery on the Revolution teaser site
Geeksphone said "Happy Thanksgiving" today with the announcement of a new, reportedly higher-end Firefox OS device, the Revolution.
There's a catch, though: the mysterious new smartphone isn't technically running Firefox OS.
According to CNET, the Geeksphone Revolution actually runs Boot2Gecko, an identical Mozilla OS with a different name, because the Firefox OS brand is apparently unavailable to telecoms companies not associated with specific carriers.
Regardless, the Revolution has one very interesting feature: the hardware is capable of running either B2G/Firefox OS or Android.
Split personality
Geeksphone said when customers order the Revolution they'll be able to choose whether they want Mozilla's OS or Android.
The Spanish company dealt in Android phones before throwing its support behind Firefox OS.
Besides that literally no details about the new hybrid phone are known, but Geeksphone's new teaser website at geeksphone.com/revolution teases "a creation with a powerful heart" (is that an amoeba? Nope, looks like a processor!) and recommends we "stay tuned."
(The meaning behind the site's prominent imagery of a very pregnant woman is not quite clear.)
"We are...confident that we will surprise everyone by its very high performance," Geeksphone co-founder Javier Aguera said in a statement. "And it's very competitively priced."
Join the Revolution
Despite the apparent restrictions, Geeksphone is fully behind Mozilla's web-powered OS initiatives. It was one of the earliest supporters of Firefox OS, releasing two phones, the Keon and the Peak, to developers earlier this year.
An upgraded Peak model, the Peak+, is also reportedly in the works, though customers who ordered the Peak+ already can switch to the Revolution at no additional cost. It sounds like the Revolution will drop first.
As CNET noted, the Norwegian company Telenor today launched another Firefox OS device, the Alcatel One Touch Fire, which will be available in regions including Serbia, Hungary, and Montenegro by Christmas.
No word yet on whether the low end One Touch Fire will hit the US or UK, but as always we'll keep an eye out.
Huawei, LG, ZTE, and Sony are also committed to Firefox OS to varying degrees.
HTC offers a mean flagship, in the form of the HTC One. But the firm knows that a lot of the mobile market now lies in the budget sector, and this is where the HTC Desire 500 is pitched. It might not have the super low price of the ZTE Blade V, but even so, the price is hardly going to make your eyes water.
This puts the Desire 500 in direct competition with the Sony Xperia M and the Nokia Lumia 625, and just a little more costly than the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini. It's also worth considering the cheaper Moto G here, which sports a deceptively low price for its feature set.
So has HTC equipped the Desire 500 with the necessary weapons to beat an increasingly difficult market?
It packs Qualcomm's Snapdragon 200 processor, backed up with 1GB RAM. This means that the Desire 500 might not pack the biggest punch, but the 1.2GHz quad-core chip is hardly a slouch.
While the Desire 500 does boast a 4.3-inch screen, it's unfortunately only 480 x 800, meaning a rather low 217ppi.
This is all packed into a 131.8 x 66.9 x 9.9mm plastic chassis, leading to a low 123g weight, and a rather inconspicuous footprint in your pocket. The HTC Desire 500 is ideal then, if you like wearing skinny jeans.
HTC also has also provided the Desire 500 with Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (so no dual band surfing), as well as NFC, GPS and 3G. Unfortunately, there is no 4G.
Design wise, the HTC Desire 500 is very visually reminiscent of the HTC One S. So much so, in fact, that we found it a little difficult to tell them apart.
The plastic casing wraps around the screen, causing us some difficulty when it came to removing it.
We passed it around to a few friends, and eventually they all realized that just pulling gently below the screen would ease it off.
A massive hint for this was that the screen doesn't sit flush within the casing. This is a minor niggle, but made the Desire 500 feel a lot less premium than it could have done.
Sat behind the screen is an 1800mAh battery, which is removable. We're getting ever-more skeptical about the need for a removable battery, but it is a nice touch for intense users.
The microSD slot (supporting up to 64GB) and microSIM port are also hidden in behind the wrap around case.
The Desire 500 is by no means an unattractive device. Our review model was white and red, but we did also get a chance to play with a white-and-blue one (which we preferred), and there is an all-black version.
We can't work out why HTC hasn't done a black and red version, as it's a color scheme we were big fans of on the HTC Sensation XE.
The red wraps around the edge of the Desire 500, as well as providing highlights to the camera and the HTC branding on the back.
Speaking of cameras, the Desire 500 doesn't come packing the same UltraPixel technology that we have seen adorning the entire One range. Instead, the HTC Desire 500 comes with an 8MP sensor, as well as a 1.6MP snapper on the front. Thankfully, there is an LED flash on the rear as well.
In the way of buttons, the Desire 500 comes with two soft keys, sat just below the screen. We felt that this made the handset look a little odd, given the massive gap between the back and home buttons.
Long pressing the home button doubles up as the menu key, but we can't see why HTC wouldn't just put in a dedicated menu button.
For physical keys, the power/lock button is placed in the upper left corner of the HTC Desire 500.
The volume keys are sat on the right hand side, integrated into the red band. This is a great design touch, especially as the small break in the band allows you to easily differentiate between the two buttons, without the need for a rocker.
We found that we were able to hit all the buttons easily one handed, a consequence of the smaller 4.3-inch screen.
HTC has also provided the Desire 500 with the obligatory 3.5mm headphone port (in the top right corner), and the microUSB in the centre of the base.
Overall we're impressed with the design of the HTC Desire 500. It is light, and the 4.3-inch screen means that it sits very nicely in the hand.
The screen not sitting flat with the casing is disappointing, as is the slight unbalanced feel of only having two buttons, but not enough to stop us taking another look.
Windows Phone users may have got a little excited after news from Italy confirmed that Sky Italia would be providing Sky Go support for the Microsoft platform.
Unfortunately we've been brought back down to earth with a bump, as BSkyB in the UK has confirmed that it does not have any similar plans at this time.
A BSkyB spokesperson told TechRadar: "Sky Italia and Sky are separate companies operating in different countries. We as BSkyB are currently prioritising bringing support to additional Android tablet devices."
Bumpy ride
Sky Go had a bit of a bumpy ride since its launch, with just a handful of Android devices gaining support for the live streaming application, and while Sky is committed to rolling it out to more tablets, its pace still feels a little slow.
It does, however, give full support to Apple's range of iPhones and iPads, with the iOS platform a lot easier to develop for thanks to the lack of fragmentation with plagues Google's OS.
Windows Phone integration isn't completely out of the question though, as the spokesperson confirmed that "we will continue to monitor the marketplace and should we see an uptake by our customers of Windows phones will explore support."
The five star HTC One may be about to get even better as word that the dual-SIM version is heading to our shores, complete with microSD slot.
We didn't find much wrong with the HTC One when we reviewed it, but one of the minor points against the handset was the lack of expandable storage - but that's about to be rectified.
The dual-SIM HTC One has been available in Asia since the handsets launch, but only now has the Taiwanese firm made the decision to roll it out to other countries.
However, that additional functionality will come at a price - the back cover will be removable, which has the effect of making the phone feel less well-packaged, as we saw on the supersized One Max.
Why, exactly?
The dual SIM offering is an interesting - HTC reckons there's a large amount of users who are carrying two phones for international reasons, or just want to have a work and home phone.
Here's the weirdly good news: there will be very little price difference between the two models, with the HTC One dual SIM coming for the same price as the original HTC One, according to HTC's official store.
It will also be coming to the high street as well as be available through online retailers in the new feature, as HTC is touting that fact it's talking to a number of outlets at the moment.
In terms of the HTC One dual SIM release date, we're a little in the dark. The model launched in China quite soon after the announcement of the original One, so it's not a case of getting production up and running.
Here's hoping that HTC has opened its eyes and realised there's still a huge appetite for expandable storage on phones - will the HTC One Two follow suit?
