Apple iPad Air 2 dummy photographed extensively

The new generation of iPads may be as close as a week away but rumors have been trickling in for a while. Yesterday we reported on a number of updates for the iPad Air 2, now it's time to look at some pictures of an Air 2 prototype.

They come from Vietnam and seem to show a dummy used to develop cases. The design seems to be unchanged from the previous generation, which suggests the iPads will not follow the iPhones in shedding last year's design. The new iPhones do take some cues from the rounded aluminum design of the iPad Air.

  
iPad Air 2 front and close-up detail

Close-ups show a curvature on the glass, like iPhone 6's ion-strengthened glass. The Home key is also finally TouchID-enabled, after last year's models missed out on this features.

  
iPad Air 2 back and detail

Reportedly the new iPad Air 2 will measure just 7mm thick, a hair thinner than the 7.5mm iPad Air.

The new iPads will allegedly be unveiled at an event on October 16, next Thursday. They are also expected to improve the cameras, add 2GB of RAM and bump up the storage options (starting at 32GB).

  
The sides of the iPad Air 2

Asus PadFone S launches in Malaysia for just $275

Asus has announced its plans to launch the PadFone S and the accompanying it PadStation dock in Malaysia. In the coming weeks, both will launch with a respective price tag of $275 and $152.

For the money, the PadFone S brings a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset with a 2.3GHz quad-core CPU and 2GB of RAM. Internal storage is 16GB and is expandable, too. The phone is built around 5" IPS display of 1080p resolution and the phone supports Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and LTE.

The PadStation, which is sold separately, quickly turns the PadFone S into a tablet. The dock comes with a 4,990mAh battery, which can charge the phone when docked and its 9" display packs a 1920 x 1200 resolution.

The combined price of the two is $427 (RM 1,398), which is half the price Asus asked for the original PadFone two years ago. The Asus PadFone S will initially be available in black, but a white color version will be available later down the road.

Asus hasn't detailed plans for a wider release, but we'll let you know if we hear anything.

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales kicks off in China on October 17

The Chinese regulator approved the iPhone 6 for sale in the country just a few hours ago and Apple has rushed to announce the new generation iPhones' pricing and availability.

Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will become officially available on October 17 in the Apple online and retail stores. The online pre-orders will kick off on Friday, October 10, while in-store pickup will be available from Tuesday, October 14.

The two models will be available in all three color flavors and all three storage options. Here is the official pricing:

Apple iPhone 6:
• 16GB - CNY 5,288 (€678)
• 64GB - CNY 6,088 (€780)
• 128GB - CNY 6,888 (€883)
Apple iPhone 6 Plus:
• 16GB - CNY 6,088 (€780)
• 64GB - CNY 6,888 (€883)
• 128GB - CNY 7,788 (€999)
The iPhone 6 duo was initially available in the United States, UK, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. As of September 25 it also launched in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and UAE.
Even more countries will be joining those until the end of the year.

Project Ara smartphones will allow module hot-swapping

The recent silence surrounding Google's modular smartphone Project Ara has been broken at the Linaro Connect US 2014 conference. There, Project Ara team leader Paul Eremenko announced that users will be able to swap parts of the modular phone when it's powered on.

For example, if the memory of the phone is full, you'll be able to swap with another memory module and go on with your day. Swapping the battery is also possible without turning the phone off thanks to a power reserve.

The only two parts that will not be hot-swappable are the phone's processor and display. Google is targeting a $50 entry price tag for the Project Ara smartphone. Pricing of the various modular blocks isn't known yet.

Expect the first Project Ara modular smartphone to get its official announcement in January 2015. It will run a modified version of Android L, which will be also interesting to check out.

Apple Watch production rumored to start in January

Apple presented its first wearable earlier this month, but the release of the Apple Watch is only going to happen next year. That said, the company was a bit vague on details when it came to this subject.In these situations, though, rumors sometimes come to the rescue. The latest one on this matter, originating in Taiwan, says we should expect mass production for the Apple Watch to start in January.

That's because Apple wants to have it in stores in February, right before Valentine's Day. There's apparently going to be only one company making the Apple Watch, and that's Quanta. The Taiwanese OEM is looking to hire a lot of people for the plant that will handle the production for Apple's smartwatch, planning to reach a peak of 40,000 employees in January.

Although Quanta is the exclusive manufacturer of the Apple Watch right now, it's unclear whether this exclusivity has an expiration date attached. On the other hand, some unnamed "industry analysts" believe that if sales of the Apple Watch will go well, there will be a second OEM added at some point next year.

Interestingly, Quanta's deal with Apple might have terms prohibiting it from making smartwatches for any other company but Apple.

Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime is official in India, costs $280

Samsung just made the Galaxy Grand Prime official in India with its pricing and availability also revealed. The phone will launch by the end of the week with a suggested retail price of $280 (INR 16000).

The Galaxy Grand Prime features a 1.2GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU and 1GB of RAM on the Snapdragon 400 chipset. Internal memory is 8GB but can be expanded with an additional 64GB microSD card. At the front, there's a 5" LCD display of qHD resolution (960x540 pixels). The dual-SIM smartphone (dual standby, too) runs Android 4.4 KitKat and comes with a 5MP selfie camera. At the back, there's a more capable 8MP shooter with LED flash and 1080p video recording. The phone measures 144.8 x 72.1 x 8.6mm and weighs 156 grams. Its 2,600mAh battery is user replaceable, but there are no estimates on talk and standby times provided. As for the color variants, the phone will be offered in white and black.

BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9983

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - all versions
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 - EU, EMEA
		HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 - North America
	4G Network	LTE 800 / 900 / 1800 / 2600 (Bands 3, 7, 8, 20) - EU, EMEA
		LTE 700 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 (Bands 2, 4, 5, 17) - North America
	SIM	Micro-SIM
	Announced	2014, September
	Status	Coming soon. Exp. release 2014, October

BODY	Dimensions	119 x 67.1 x 10.6 mm (4.69 x 2.64 x 0.42 in)
	Weight	140 g (4.94 oz)

DISPLAY	Type	Capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	720 x 720 pixels, 3.1 inches (~328 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration, MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Card slot	microSD, up to 128 GB
	Internal	64 GB, 2 GB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Yes
	EDGE	Yes
	Speed	HSPA+; LTE
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	v4.0, A2DP, LE
	NFC	Yes
	USB	microUSB v2.0

CAMERA	Primary	8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
	Features	Geo-tagging, face detection, HDR
	Video	1080p@30fps
	Secondary	2 MP, 720p@30fps

FEATURES	OS	BlackBerry 10.3 OS
	Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon
	CPU	Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait
	GPU	Adreno 225
	Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
	Messaging	SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email, IM, BBM
	Browser	HTML5
	Radio	FM radio
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
	Java	No
	Colors	Black
		- SNS integration - HDMI port - BlackBerry maps - Organizer - Document viewer - Photo/video editor - MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+/FlAC player - DivX/XviD/MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264 player - Voice memo/dial - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Li-Ion 2100 mAh battery
	Stand-by	Up to 288 h (2G) / Up to 288 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 9 h (2G) / Up to 14 h (3G)
	Music play	Up to 45 h