Special Apple Watch Edition for celebrities comes with solid gold band

An Apple Watch Edition model with a solid gold band has been seen adorning the wrist of celebrities like Beyonce and fashionista Karl Lagerfeld. This appears to be a band that only celebrities and other influential people are able to score from Apple. The tech titan considers its smartwatch to be just as much a fashionable piece of jewelry as it is a piece of technology for your wrist.




If Apple does end up offering this gold band to consumers, it will extend the price range of the Apple Watch Edition, which currently ranges from $10,000 to $17,000. The high end model is the Rose Gold version of the timepiece which comes with a red leather band and a gold buckle. But apparently that is too pedestrian a combination for the elite of the elite.

The Apple Watch officially launches this coming Friday and as we get closer to the April 24th launch date, Apple continues to make sure that the wearable is seen on the wrists of celebrities like Drake, Pharrell and Katy Perry. Last Friday, Apple design chief Jony Ive was spotted at an event held in a high-class restaurant in Milan where the merely rich and famous (a tier below celebrity status) received free Apple goodies including an Apple Watch Band offered in exclusive colors. Of course, the band without the watch is useless and some in attendance were given a free Apple Watch.

Apple gives celebrities a special gold band for their free Apple Watch Edition timepiece

1. Beyonce wearing her Apple Watch Edition smartwatch with a special gold band

Sony Xperia Z4 launches with 5.2” FHD display in Japan

After many weeks of rumors and leaks, Sony has formally unveiled its next flagship - Xperia Z4. The new Xperia Z4 is the successor of the Xperia Z3 but has only been announced in Japan market for now.

The Sony Xperia Z4 has a slightly tweaked OmniBalance design with 6.9mm profile with a metal frame running around the sides. Just like the predecessor, the Xperia Z4 brings IP68 certification for dust and water resistance.
The corners are built with resin to provide strength and entire phone has two-layer coating to retain the overall shine.
Sony sticks with 5.2-inch 1080p display and still hasn't succumbed to the QHD wave. Under the hood, it houses a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset armed with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board storage. A microSD card slot will let you expand the storage by up to 128GB. By default, the smartphone runs Android 5.0 Lollipop.

At the back is a 20.7MP camera with Exmor RS image sensor coupled with the BIONZ image processing engine. Clad with G Lens, the 1/2.3-inch image sensor can offer sensitivity all the way up to ISO12800 to capture well exposed images in poorly lit environments. Along with the usual set of HDR and the imaging modes, Sony has added new 'Cooking Mode' for clicking the best images of your food.
Front side 5MP wide-angle camera with Exmor R sensor has been optimized to take selfies along with new shake feature to record videos with reduced shake.
The Xperia Z4 now supports high quality audio performance for wireless playback. Weighing 144 grams, the Xperia Z4 packs a 2,930 mAh non-removable battery. As of now, there is no word on the price and the launch of this flagship in other markets.

LG G4 release date confirmed to be May 31

LG has been sharing teasers of its upcoming flagship G4 set to go official on April 28. While the phone is still under wraps, LG Korea confirmed that the G4 will hit the stores on May 31 or at least in the company's home market.

Earlier today, LG announced it will offer free screen replacement and free 64GB microSD card for all those who pre-order the G4 in Korea. As you might know LG is also running a LG G4 trial program in few countries to let a select group of people try out the phone before it officially launches.
LG G4 is set to arrive with a 5.5” True HD IPS display of QHD resolution and made from Corning Gorilla Glass 4, sporting the Snapdragon 808 chipset, it will pack 3GB of RAM with 32GB on-board storage. The company has been harping about the 16MP rear snapper with f/1.8 aperture for clicking wide-angle images

Is this the first look at a Cheaper OnePlus Model?

Weibo posters are reporting that the above image might be the first look at a new cheaper OnePlus model set for release sometime in the future.
Later today OnePlus will hold an announcement relating to some mystery service or product from the brand. No one is sure what it will be, but there are reports that the company will unveil a low-cost version of their popular OPO.
To partly prove these reports a famous tipster on Weibo has posted a photo of a phone that has the distinct OnePlus look and rumoured to be an entry level phone. In the photo the device has the same metal panel around the main camera and single flash on a white plastic body with power button on the right.
At this point it is hard to tell if this is in fact a budget OnePlus phone or one of the many knock off devices which have been available for the past few months.
If it is a budge OPO then what specifications could it offer? In our opinion OnePlus would likely stick with Qualcomm for a processor and allow for easy development, they could even go for the same 801, but with 2GB RAM instead. The screen could remain 5.5-inch with a HD resolution or possibly a 5-inch FHD. What are your ideas for a possible budget OnePlus device?

OnePlus One now available without invites forever

OnePlus is feeling the excitement of the first anniversary of its One smartphone. On that occasion, the Chinese startup has announced that it will offer the OnePlus One smartphone without invites in all supported regions.

So it took 12 months but the invite-only strategy has finally been canned. Interestingly, that decision comes immediately after the Xiaomi announced open sale for its smartphones in India.
The OnePlus One sales will be opened globally along with 75% discount on Flip Covers and Premium Screen Protectors only for today. Besides that, Bamboo StyleSwap covers will also be made available until the stocks last. Do note that the promotion on accessories are limited only to USA, Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Oppo launches the low-end Joy Plus in India for $111

Oppo has launched a new budget Android smartphone in India. The Oppo Joy Plus will retail for Rs. 6,990 ($111) and is Oppo's cheapest phone on the market.

The Joy Plus has a 4.0-inch, 800x480 display, MediaTek MT6572 SoC with dual-Core 1.3GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory, 3 megapixel rear camera, VGA front camera, 1700mAh battery, and Android 4.4 KitKat.
While this may have been fine a couple of years ago, Oppo seems woefully out of touch with the current market situation in India, where you can get the Xiaomi Redmi 2 for the same price as the Joy Plus and is in a different league altogether. If Oppo wants to get a bigger foothold in the market, it will need to be more aggressive with price and specifications in a value conscious market like India.

Motorola sends out Moto E (2015) launch invites in India

Motorola Moto E (2015) went official a week ago with new chipset and LTE support. A less-powerful 3G-only flavor featuring the old specs - a dual-core processor and 3G connectivity - is also available and it is already on sale in the USA.

Motorola is yet to launch the new Moto E in India, but it is almost there. The company sent invites to the press for a dedicated Moto E event in New Delhi. There everyone will be able to try the successor of the best low-cost smartphone for 2014.
The new Motorola Moto E brings a bigger 4.5" qHD display, a Snapdragon 410 chip with a 64-bit quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU and 1GB of RAM, a 5MP cam and LTE connectivity on both the single-SIM and dual-SIM flavors.

Motorola Moto E (2nd gen) is here

In a unique press announcement of the device, Motorola delivered the new Moto E smartphone to some select media organisations overseas. It was previously announced that Motorola would hand-deliver a box to members of the press although it wasn’t clear what would be in the box.

Now we know that it is the new Moto E smartphone. The second generation Moto E has a 4G LTE speed, a 4.5-inch qHD display with 40×960 245 ppi IPS resolution and Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
The LTE version has a 1.2GH quad-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor and a 400MHz Adreno 306 GPU. It comes with 8GB storage space and 1GB of RAM.

The device has a VGA camera in the front and a 5 megapixel rear camera with autofocus and 720p video recording capabilities. The storage space can be expanded via a MicroSD slot with 32GB limit. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0LE, GPS/ A-GPS, GLONASS, FM radio, and Micro-USB.

According to Motorola, the Moto E LTE has a 2390 mAh battery which will last a full day. The new Moto E weighs 145 grams.

There is also a 3G version of the Moto E which has 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 32-bit processor and has a 400MHz Adreno 302 GPU. The new Moto E also runs Android Lollipop and Motorola is also bringing personalised software experiences from Moto X to the budget Moto E device.

Users will also have the option of choosing from interchangeable Motorola Bands and Grip Shells. There will be six Motorola Bands in the following colours: Golden Yellow, Turquoise, Blue, Raspberry, Purple, Red. The Grip shells are available in Golden Yellow, Charcoal, Turquoise, Blue, Raspberry.

The company is rolling out the new Moto E in 50 countries starting with the US. The unlocked 3G version will cost $119.99 which is around Rs 7430, so it could cost slightly more when it launches in India, thanks to taxes. The 4G LTE version will cost $149.99, which is around Rs 9288. What is not clear is if the 4G version will come to India because Motorola’s blogpost says that 4G might not be supported in all regions.

Motorola is announcing something on February 25

Motorola is slowly letting people in the media know that it has something planned for February 25, which is next Wednesday. On that day, the company will be making "an exciting announcement". What it will unveil, though, is still unknown.
It's an unconventional product launch, that's for sure. Motorola is sending media outlets a mysterious box, which is set to arrive at their doorsteps on the aforementioned date. The contents of the box haven't been revealed yet, but apparently "everything you need fits inside one box".

So those who will receive these boxes will be "in the front row" for the announcement thanks to what's in the box. It's all rather puzzling.
But MWC is fast approaching, and perhaps Motorola wants to steal some thunder from Samsung and HTC, who are set to intro their new flagships at the end of next week.
The Lenovo-owned company may be presenting a successor to the Moo 360, or perhaps a new smartphone. Stay tuned and we'll find out.

Motorola Moto Maxx (Global Variant of Droid Turbo) coming to India, exclusively on Flipkart

Flipkart, one of India's biggest online stores has just released an interesting teaser on Twitter. It has to do with a new Motorola device that the retailer simply refers to as a "Moto beast". Now this could refer to a lot of smartphones, but thankfully the included banner clears the smoke and almost definitely point in a single direction.

It reads "Accelerated performance. Ballistic Nylon Fairing. Revving in soon." Whole this sounds like a lot of gibberish to ramp up the hype it most likely describes the Motorola Moto Maxx. The phone is essentially a global variant of the Droid Turbo and comes with a unique back panel, dubbed "Ballistic Nylon" so Flipkart is most certainly talking about the Maxx.
The Moto Maxx comes equipped with a formidable Snapdragon 805 SoC with four Krait 450 cores, clocked at 2.7GHz. The GPU is an equally impressive Adreno 420 and the setup is backed up by 3GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. Cameras also do not disappoint. Motorola has invested heftily in the primary shooter, which is a 21 MP, f/2.0, dual-LED model, capable of 2160p video at 24fps.
Another important aspect of the phone is its extremely spacious 3,900 mAh battery pack, ensuring maximum endurance. And if this is not tantalizing enough, Motorola also promises that its own turbo charger can restore up to 8 hours of battery life in the phone for a mere 15 minutes of charging.
There is still no word on pricing for the device or when it is going to be up for sale, but it looks like it will be hitting Flipkart really soon. So if you are in the market for a high-end device, be sure to check out the Moto Maxx in all its "turbocharged" glory.