At the heart of ZTE's next-generation smartphones will be Intel's dual-core Atom Processor Z2580 processor, the Chinese company announced this week.

This strategic partnership incorporates the fastest of the three Clover Trial+ CPUs announced at Mobile World Conference 2013, with a clock speed of 2.0 GHz.

That's significantly speedier than the last-generation 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Z2460 processor that ZTE put into its first Intel smartphone, the Android-based ZTE Grand X IN.

At the same time, ZTE said that next-generation Z2580-based phones will be able to "deliver the same competitive battery life."

"The platform's dual-core processor with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology provides double the compute performance and up to 3x graphics capabilities over the Intel Atom Z2460 processor," said ZTE in a press release.

Four Leaf Clover Trail+ relationship

ZTE said that it will build off of the success of the Grand X IN, but didn't reveal whether or not its next-generation Intel smartphones will be Android-powered and has yet to announce any other specifications.

"The Grand X IN was ZTE's first flagship smartphone in Europe to feature Intel Inside," said ZTE Europe Mobile Devices General Manager Ao Wen.

"We've launched it successfully across Europe in strong cooperation with Intel, and as a result have significantly increased our brand awareness in these important markets."

Governments have been less than thrilled with the the Chinese manufacturer, but Intel seems smitten with its continued relationship with the company.

"ZTE is a fast growing global handset maker that strives to create products with features and capabilities that people care most about," said an Intel spokesperson to TechRadar.

"We share a similar goal in that our focus is on providing customers with compelling Intel technology options that ultimately translate into great products and user experiences."

Intel finally inside more smartphones

With the exception of the Grand X IN, ZTE has been using other semiconductor chipset makers for phones like the ZTE Grand S, ZTE Grand Memo and FireFox OS-running ZTE Open.

However, Intel is taking steps to rival Qualcomm Snapdragon and ARM Cortex processors and make itself a bigger player in the mobile space.

When TechRadar asked about the timing of its move, an Intel spokesperson said that "there is a tremendous amount of innovation happening in the market segment and the landscape is continually evolving."

"Computing is also becoming more and more prevalent in smartphones and we see this as a natural extension of Intel technology. We see tremendous opportunity ahead."

The Humble Bundle has launched its fifth Android-friendly event offering six popular indie games for a fraction of their individual retail price. In addition to working across Windows, OS X and Linux, the games will run on Google's mobile operating system, with three requiring Android 2.2 or higher and at least 2.3 for the other half.

You can view the full desktop system requirements and supported mobile devices for each game here. It's worth nothing that although the titles are technically available for Android, some of them have only just launched and may be a little buggy, but the developers are working on patches and you're encouraged to report glitches.

As of writing the average cash submission is $6.64, which will bag you all six items, including Dungeon Defenders with its DLC, Super Hexagon, Beat Hazard Ultra, Dynamite Jack, Solar 2 and NightSky HD, as well as soundtracks for all but Dynamite Jack. Several of the titles are pretty well rated with Metascores of at least 80/100 or better:

• 81/100 Dungeon Defenders (action-RPG tower defense)
• 86/100 Super Hexagon (abstract action)
• 91/100 Beat Hazard Ultra (music-influenced arcade shooter)
• 82/100 Dynamite Jack (2D stealth action)
• 72/100 Solar 2 (action space sandbox)
• 78/100 NightSky HD (ambient physics puzzler)

Even If you can only spare a buck, you'll still get access to everything but Dungeon Defenders and Super Hexagon, and you may already own the former from December's deal. As usual, all of the titles are offered in a DRM-free direct download or with Steam keys in case you prefer to keep your digital purchases under one roof.

A new bug has emerged on the Samsung Galaxy S3, which when active, enables anyone to bypass the lockscreen with relative ease.

By tricking the smartphone into allowing you to enter emergency contacts, the full device can be unlocked for anyone with bad intentions for your S3.

Samsung isn't the first manufacturer to fall victim to a lockscreen busting bug, as Apple's iOS only recently went through a similar situation.

While Apple is reportedly working on a fix to be included in its next software update, Samsung has yet to address this particular issue.

Emergency con-hacks

The bug was exposed by Sean McMillan on the Full Disclosure mailing list, where he detailed step-by-step just how simple it was to gain access to any Galaxy S3.

Though some efforts took more attempts than others, he was able to full open three separate S3s using a combination of button presses that anyone could easily memorize.

Fortunately, it doesn't appear to be an Android issue, and seems to be localized to Samsung's software rather than the widespread Google operating system.

TechRadar asked Samsung to find out if there will be a fix incoming, and will update this story when the company responds.

Until then, keep a close eye on your S3.

Valve CEO Gabe Newell told the BBC its upcoming Steam Box gaming system will be ready for testing within "three to four months". The Steam Box is Valve's answer to game consoles, with which it hopes to offer a "dumbed down" living room PC gaming experience before efforts by companies like Apple beat it to the punch.

Newell didn't share many specifics about the Steam Box, but said the company is still determining how much performance it can cram into its tiny PC-based game console. "There are noise issues and heat issues and being able to [deal with] that while still offering a powerful enough gaming experience is the challenge in building it." Newell told the BBC.

The interview also indicates that Valve has been working on novel technologies, like a controller equipped with a heart rate sensor. 

"If you think of a game like Left4Dead - which was trying to put you into a sort of horror movie - if you don't change the experience of what the player is actually feeling then it stops being a horror game," Newell told the Beeb. "So you need to actually be able to directly measure how aroused the player is - what their heart rate is, things like that - in order to offer them a new experience each time they play."

The first glimmers of a possible Steam-powered gaming console appeared in March of last year. Numerous rumors followed, including the addition of "Big Picture" mode to Steam -- a feature geared toward improving Steam's TV and controller experience. However, the Steam Box had been all but officially confirmed until January's CES where Valve and Xi3 joined together to showcase a fist-sized computer labeled "Piston".

Xi3 wouldn't discuss specifics, but we noted the X7A -- the company's offering slated to be the supposed basis for the Steam Box -- weighed in at $999 and featured a quad-core AMD APU, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM and up to 1TB of solid-state storage. X7A connectivity and expansion features included an ethernet port, 1/8" audio in/out, SPDIF optical audio, four USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, four powered eSATAp ports, two mini DisplayPort ports and a single DisplayPort/HDMI port.

Newell did not declare a price range for the Steam Box, but mentioned that Valve wouldn't be able to subsidize its hardware the same way game console makers do. Price "remains a major unknown" said Newell.

A new bug has emerged on the Samsung Galaxy S3, which when active, enables anyone to bypass the lockscreen with relative ease.

By tricking the smartphone into allowing you to enter the emergency contacts, the full device can be unlocked for anyone with bad intentions for your Galaxy S3.

Samsung isn't the first manufacturer to fall victim to a lockscreen busting bug, as Apple's iOS only recently went through a similar situation.

While Apple is reportedly working on a fix to be included in its next software update, Samsung has yet to address the issue.

Emergency con-hacks

The bug was exposed by Sean McMillan on the Full Disclosure mailing list, where he detailed step by step just how simple it was to gain access to any Galaxy S3.

Though some efforts took more tries than others, he was able to full open three separate S3s using a combination of button presses that anyone could easily memorize.

Fortunately, it doesn't appear to be an Android issue, and seems to be localized to Samsung's software rather than the widespread Google operating system.

TechRadar has reached out to Samsung to find out if there will be a fix incoming, and will update this story when they respond.