Xiaomi Mi 3 to make a return to India

The Xiaomi Mi 3 was a runaway success during its short stay in India earlier this year. The smartphone batches were selling out in seconds with thousands of people never managing to get the unit they wanted. That's why when the company announced that it will be stopping the sales of the former flagship and replacing it with the Redmi 1S it caused quite a lot of discontent.
There's a silver lining to this cloud though - Xiaomi has reevaluated its decision and decided to bring the Mi 3 back to India. During an event in Bengaluru, a Xiaomi spokesperson confirmed that the smartphone will be back in stock in time for the Diwali festival (Thursday, October 23).

There were no specifics mentioned about the pricing and availability channels, but there will likely be no changes there. This means that Xiaomi will probably stick to Flipkart as its partner and sell the Mi 3 for INR 13,999 (roughly $230). We are just hoping the Chinese manufacturer brings enough units this time so they last for more than a few seconds.

Alleged Motorola Nexus 6 appears in a live photo next to the LG G3

The Motorola Shamu, believed to be the upcoming Nexus 6 smarptohne, is starring in a live photo with the LG G3. The phone looks substantially larger than the G3, which carries a 5.5" display. This lends further credence to rumors that the Shamu is going to feature a display in the 6" ballpark.

The photo clearly shows that the Shamu features a soft-touch plastic back and keeps the metal frame from the Moto X (2014). This is clearly an indication that Google likes to keep the soft touch back that made a debut on the Nexus 5 and the Nexus 7 (2014).
In terms of specifications, the rumor mill suggests the Nexus 6 by Motorola is going to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in memory. The screen is said to have a 5.92" diagonal and QHD resolution for a pixel density of 498ppi. At the back, the camera is reported to have a 13MP sensor, LED flash and 4K video recording skills.
The battery of the Shamu is allegedly a 3,200mAh unit. As with all recent Nexus smartphones, don't expect a microSD card slot. The Shamu should be unveiled at Google's Android L release event and will run it out of the box.

Google tipped to require more of its apps on Android devices

According to a report in The Information, Google will require more of its apps to be preloaded on Android devices. Confidential contracts obtained by the media have revealed the upcoming change.

Allegedly, Google will require up to 20 of its apps preloaded going forward. Currently, the number hovers below 10.
Additionally, the search giant will require the apps to be prominently displayed on a device’s homescreen. The list of manufacturers in Google’s contracts includes the likes of Samsung, HTC, and Huawei among others.
The shift in Google’s policy towards its own Android apps is reportedly related to the ever-increasing importance of the OS as an income generator. Google’s apps and services have become a key contributor to its bottom line.

Snapdragon 210 with quad-core CPU and LTE goes official

Today Qualcomm announced its next generation affordable chipset - Snapdragon 210. Its key upgrades over the existing Snapdragon 200 include better Adreno 304 GPU, 1080p video capture and playback support, and LTE Cat.4 connectivity.

These are the new Snapdragon 210 key specifications:

• Quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor up to 1.1 GHz
• Adreno 304 GPU with support of 720p displays
• 8MP camera support
• 1080p video recording and playback
• LTE Cat.4 connectivity
• LTE dual-SIM support
• Quick Charge 2.0 support (up to 75% faster charging)

Qualcomm expects the new entry-level Snapdragon 210 chipset to become available in various affordable smartphones in the first half of 2015. The manufacturer hopes its latest design will enable the creation of the first LTE-A sub-$100 smartphones.

Android in August: KitKat runs on a quarter of all devices

Google released its Android distribution report for the month of August. Unsurprisingly, Android 4.4 KitKat continues its march towards larger market share – it now runs on almost a quarter of all devices out there (24.5% to be precise).

The gain of Android 4.4 came mostly at the expense of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Both builds lost some of their share over the month of August.
Android 4.2 and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean registered a slight gain in share. Android 2.3 Gingerbread dropped to 11.4%, while Android 2.2 Froyo remains on 0.7% of all devices.
We don’t expect any dramatic changes to the overall landscape in September – Android 4.4 will certainly continue its march towards larger cut of the distribution pie. The impending launch of Android L will surely alter things in the months beyond.

Motorola to announce the Moto 360, G2 and X+1 on September 4

Motorola has decided to make one of its biggest announcement in recent history on September 4. The company has sent out press invites and the hints are very clear.
We're in for the announcement of the Moto 360 smartwatch, as well as the Moto G 2 and Moto X+1 smartphone duo. Additionally, a new bluetooth headset accessory is going to get its announcement, at the event.

The Moto 360 was announced on March 18 and will finally be launched almost half a year later. The smartwatch leaked in a series of photos recently flaunting its metal body. The wireless charging and the charging cradle were also shown. The price of the watch was rumored to be around €249, but we'll let Motorola have the final say.
The Moto X+1 is expected to be the company's next flagship. It's said to come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset (with a 2.5 GHz quad-core CPU) along with 2GB of RAM. Earlier reports and different mumblings also had it coming with a 5.1" or 5.2" touchscreen of 1080p resolution, a 12 MP rear camera, and a 2,900 mAh battery.
As for the Moto G2, we reported that it's going to ship on September 10 for €250. It's going to be a dual-SIM device with a 5" display of 720p resolution, a Snapdragon 400 chipset with a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 CPU and Adreno 305 GPU, 1GB of RAM, plus an 8MP rear camera. The phone is also known as the Moto G+1, but we'll know its final name on September 4.

Micromax Canvas Knight Cameo A290 launches in India

Today Micromax has released a new Android smartphone in its home market of India. The Canvas Knight Cameo A290 is already up for grabs at one online retailer, going for INR 12,350 (that's around $202 or €151 at the current exchange rates).
The Canvas Knight Cameo comes with a 4.7-inch 720p touchscreen, an 8 MP rear camera with LED flash, and a 5 MP front snapper for selfies.

It's powered by MediaTek's MT6592M chipset, which sports a 1.4 GHz "true octa-core" CPU, aided by 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable internal storage (of which 5.64GB is user accessible).
The phone has support for 21 Mbps HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and a 2,000 mAh battery. It runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat.
The Micromax Canvas Knight Cameo is being offered in Pure Black, Black and Gold, and White and Gold.

Moto X+1 rumored to launch at Verizon on September 25

The oft-leaked but not so far announced Moto X+1 now gets a rumored release date. According to some unnamed sources, it should land at Verizon "by September 25".
Motorola has previously told us to expect the successor to the original Moto X to arrive in "late summer", and this is close enough - as summer officially ends on September 22. And the "by" in the release wording above could potentially mean that it might be out a little while before September 25 too.

And let's not forget that other carriers are expected to sell the Moto X+1 as well, so one of those may have it for sale before Verizon manages to.
There's nothing new to report on the front of a release date for the Moto 360 smartwatch, though. Obviously it could be launched alongside the Moto X+1, but this rumor doesn't say anything about that.
The specs are Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset (with a 2.5 GHz quad-core CPU) confirmed along with 2GB of RAM.
Earlier reports and different mumblings also had it coming with a 5.1" or 5.2" touchscreen with 1080p resolution, a 12 MP rear camera, and a 2900 mAh battery.

Sony rolling out KitKat for Xperia E1 and E1 dual

Sony is delivering on its promise to deliver KitKat to the Xperia E1 and Xperia E1 Dual. The update is rolling out now though there might be delays varying by market and carrier. Go to Check for updates in the About screen of the settings on your phone to see if you're among the first to get it.

The update boasts performance enhancements that stem from Android 4.4 KitKat. Other than that the changes are similar to what the Xperia T2 Ultra got, including a tweaked status bar and quick toggles. The custom Sony apps like the Walkman music player, Stamina Mode and others have been updated too.
Despite Google's changes to KitKat, Sony has enabled moving apps to the external microSD card in case the 4GB of built-in storage starts to run low.
Another change is the inclusion of PlayStation 4 like boot animation and live wallpaper. You can change up the look with Xperia Themes.
The Xperia M2 and Xperia M2 dual are next in line to receive KitKat.

50000 Xiaomi MiPad units sold in 3 Minutes 59 Seconds on launch day

Xiaomi the famous Chinese phone maker had announced its plans to enter the tablet market with the Mi Pad back in May and looks like the tablet has gone on sale recently. A post on the official company forum says that Xiaomi sold 50000 units of the MiPad tablet on launch day thereby running out of stocks. Continue reading for some more breathtaking news. The 50,000 MiPads were sold out in just 3 minutes and 59 seconds. There is no mention about the location but we place our bets on China as it is the home market for handset maker which is now headed my Ex-Googler Hugo Barra. Priced aggressively at about 240 USD / Rs.14400 for the base 16GB version , the company is clearly taking on the Apple iPad Mini with its first tablet.

Here are the specs of the Xiaomi MiPad -

•  7.9-inch (2048 × 1536 pixels) display at 326 ppi with 4:3 aspect ratio and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
• 2.2 GHz NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor
• 8MP rear camera with Sony BSI stacked sensor, 1080p video recording, f/2.0 aperture
• 5MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture
• 8.5mm thick and weighs 360 grams
• WiFi 802.11/b/g/n/ac Dual Band (2X2 MIMO)
• 2GB of RAM, 16GB / 64GB of internal storage, up to 128GB expandable memory with microSD
• 6700 mAh battery
• Android-based MiUI ROM

Xiaomi is expected to enter the India market soon and we can only hope that it launches the MiPad tablet here along with the Hongmi and MI3 phones.