Micromax outs Canvas Doodle 2 affordable quad-core droid

Micromax has unveiled the latest addition to its smartphone lineup, dubbed Canvas Doodle 2. The device will retail for INR19,990 (approximately $310) and will be available throughout India starting today.

The Micromax Canvas Doodle 2 has a 5.7" IPS LCD with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, which results in a density of around 257 ppi. Te Canvas Doodle 2 is powered by a MediaTek 6589 chipset with quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU and 1GB of RAM. A 2600 mAh battery powers the whole thing.

  
Micromax Canvas Doodle 2 • the stylus

It runs on Android 4.2.1. Imaging is handled by a 12 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front-facing one. There's also 1080p video recording. There are 16 GB of internal storage, which sadly appear to not be expandable.

Equipped with a stylus, which comes in the retail package, the Canvas Doodle 2 lets you... well, doodle over pictures with the M!Doodle app. There's also a flip cover accessory, which moonlights as a kick-stand.

The Micromax Canvas Doodle 2 comes with M!Doodle, M!Live, M!Zone and M!Security preinstalled among other apps. On a more absurd note you can blow on the device to wake it up and also shake it if you want to appear more normal.

Gray SIM card tray for iPhone 5S points to a fourth color option

The gold / champagne colored iPhone 5S has been getting a lot of attention from the rumor mill, but there might be a fourth color option on the way. A grey SIM card tray popped up in a repair shop in Japan and it looks just like the leaked iPhone 5S trays.

The image above compares it to the gold iPhone 5S nanoSIM tray and the white iPhone 5 tray.

The gray SIM tray is too dark for the white iPhone and too light for the black iPhone. It's possible that Apple will tweak one of the two standard flavors of its next iPhone but it's also possible that the company is trying out a fourth color.

  
White and grey trays • color comparison with white, gold and black iPhone

Even if Apple is indeed testing a fourth color, there's no guarantee we'll see them all at the iPhone unveiling (which is allegedly scheduled for September 10). Companies usually try different prototypes before settling on a final design.

Source (in Japanese) | Via

Samsung preps 16MP OIS camera, won't premiere on Note III

A new report coming from Korea reveals Samsung is working on a 16MP camera module with optical image stabilization. The new sensor is intended to be used in company's upcoming Galaxy flagships.

Unfortunately Samsung's suppliers won't make enough sensors in time for the Galaxy Note III release. This means that the new camera will most probably premiere with the Galaxy S5 next year according to the report.

Samsung already has a smartphone with a 16MP OIS camera - the Galaxy S4 Zoom - but it's a hybrid device with 10x optical zoom and therefore it's pretty huge.

Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Note III next month in Berlin, so we'll know soon enough if those new sensors will make it to the phablet or not.

Source (in Korean) | Via

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Kids edition launches next month

Samsung seems to be preparing a Kids edition of its Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 slate. The tablet is called Galaxy Tab 3 Kids and will launch this September.

The specs of the customized Tab 3 Kids are identical with those its vanilla sibling – it comes with a 7″ TFT display with a resolution of 1024×600 pixels, runs on a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and features a 3MP camera, 1GB of RAM and 8GB expandable storage.

The Tab 3 Kids runs on a deeply customized Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with completely redesigned and simplified UI. Samsung will preload lots of educational software, games and multimedia for the kids too.

There is no official announcement yet, nor is there a rumored date and price. Samsung’s official website for Korea has already listed the slate’s manual, so we guess the Galaxy Tab 3 Kids will indeed hit the stores very soon as the source suggests.

Source | Manual

A pair of new leaked videos show more iPhone 5C panels

File this under rumors with a capital "R." While they may be a bit misleading in their titles, the latest iPhone 5C video leaks show off an "unboxing" of the device panels, as well as a "scratch test."

This scratch test video doesn't really put the panel through its paces, but it does include some measurements - though they're oddly of still images rather than a live shot. Take the 124.55 x 59.13 x 8.98 dimensions with perhaps more than the usual grain of salt.

Not much is revealed in the second video either, but if these panels do turn out to be the real deal, then the iPhone 5C will come in white, blue, green, red, and yellow.

We'll hopefully find out more as the rumored September 10 Apple announcement date nears.

Moto X hits AT&T stores as the Moto Maker site also goes live

Motorola's recently announced Moto X flagship smartphone is the first to be developed entirely under Google's supervision. The smartphone is now available from AT&T in USA and the 16GB variant of the device costs you $199 and the 32GB unit is priced at $249, both with a two-year contract.

The unlocked version of the Moto X will also be up for grabs and the SIM-free variant carries a price tag of $580.

The Moto Maker customization site is also live now. It allows you to choose the color combination for your Moto X along with its storage space and the matching accessories. The site also offers you to link your Google account even before the smartphone is shipped to you.

However, the service is not offering online purchases just yet. The Moto Maker's engraving feature will not be initially available due to some technical difficulties.

Stay tuned for our detailed Moto X review, which will come out later tonight.

Source 1 | Source 2

Sony Xperia Z1 press image and metal chassis leaks

The Sony Xperia Z1, erstwhile known as 'Honami', has leaked once again, this time through a press image. This latest image shows the device in three colors: black, white and purple.

The colors are identical to the ones the Xperia Z is sold in and the device itself looks remarkably similar.

One major difference between the exterior of the Z and the Z1, however, is the metal frame that runs around the device. It's unclear whether the metal acts are merely the frame for the device or also doubles up as the antenna as on the iPhone.

The Xperia Z1 is Sony's upcoming flagship Android smartphone that has been rumored for quite some time now. It is said to have a 5.0-inch FullHD display, quad-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB RAM, 20 megapixel camera and all the bells and whistles you expect from a flagship Android device these days.

The Xperia Z1 is expected to be announced officially at an event in Berlin on September 4.

Source

More images of the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C leak

With just couple more weeks left for the alleged launch event of the next generation iPhone, you can say the device is just around the corner. That also means, however, that the leaks are now coming in thick and fast to the point where there will be little new left to learn when the device(s) actually get announced.

Today we have more images of both the iPhone 5S as well as the iPhone 5C. The iPhone 5S here is seen in the new shade of champagne gold. It also has the glass back panels painted in white, so we now have a proper idea of what the final unit will look like, at least from the rear. The front should be identical to the current white iPhone 5. For more images of the iPhone 5S, click on the first source link below.

Then there are also images of the iPhone 5C, seen here in all five alleged shades that it would be sold in. Seen here are the yellow, green, white, cyan and pink colors with a possible color choice of black or white panel for the front.

At this point we have pretty much seen what there is to see in these new iPhones, at least as far as the design is concerned. Hopefully, the event invites come soon and it is indeed on the rumored September 10 date.

Source 1 • Source 2