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

Samsung Galaxy A3 shows its face in TENAA photos

The Samsung Galaxy A series of smartphones is coming closer to launch and the latest evidence to prove this is the Galaxy A3 hitting the Chinese TENAA. Additionally, we get to see the first photos of the phone showing it in its full glory.

  

The metal frame of the phone is going to be the the main characterizing aesthetic of the Galaxy A-series with both the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 sporting it.

In terms of specs, the Galaxy A3 is pretty much set in stone. It's going to sport a 4.52-inch AMOLED display with 540x960 pixel resolution and Qualcomm's 64-bit Snapdragon 410 chipset. It is featuring a 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU, aided by 1GB of RAM.

Internal memory is 8GB expandable via microSD cards. The phone's dimensions, previously reported at 130.1 x 65.5 x 6.9 mm, are confirmed by TENAA, too, as is the weight of the phone - 112 grams. It runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat, which will most likely be updated to Android L.

At the back, the 8MP camera coupled with LED flash will be capable of recording full HD video. The 5MP selfie unit at the front will be also welcome, we're sure. Samsung hasn't hinted a time frame for the Galaxy A series smartphones announcement yet, but with leaks so intense, we guess it's going to be sooner rather than later.

BlackBerry has another unusual device in the works

Hot on the heels of last week’s BlackBerry Passport launch, a word got out that the company plans to introduce more devices with unconventional design going forward. The head of BlackBerry’s Devices unit, Ron Louks delivered the news in an interview with Reuters.

According to Mr. Louks, the trimming of BlackBerry’s losses allows it to take more risks and introduce more unconventional smartphones in the future. The company will be looking to introduce at least one unconventional device every year.

Furthermore, the high-level BlackBerry executive hinted that the company has a new unconventional device in the works already. Wireless carrier partners have reportedly given positive feedback on the new project.

Despite its quirky design and questionable ergonomics, BlackBerry Passport has so far been well received by the public - it sold out within hours of its retail launch in many outlets and raked in more than 200,000 sales in three days.

Huawei Honor Tablet debuts with 8” display and 3G

Huawei quietly launched the 8” Honor Tablet in Malaysia. The budget-friendly 3G slate with metal-clad body will be available to pre-order on September 29 for RM. 599 (about $184).

Huawei Honor Tablet features Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 MSM8212 chipset with 1.2GHz quad-core CPU and a gig of RAM. There’s 16GB of built-in memory, which can be further expanded via microSD card slot.

The screen of the device is an 8” IPS unit with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. A 5MP main camera, VGA front-facing unit, and 3G connectivity with HSPA+ are also on board. Huawei Honor Tablet boots Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with Emotion UI 1.6.

The device is 7.9mm thick and weighs 360 grams. It is powered by a 4,800mAh battery.

It is hardly a surprise that Malaysia is the launch market for the tablet. A recent report by IDC revealed that tablets with 3G connectivity are quite popular in Asia.

iPhone 6 sales in China tipped to begin on October 10

According to a new report, Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus might go on sale in China on October 10. The devices’ launch in the vital consumer market is yet be officially confirmed.

The October 10 sales launch was allegedly revealed in an Apple retail store preparation timeline, which was presented during an employee-training course. Product readiness training is expected to begin on October 7.

Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus recently got China Compulsory Certification (3C), as well as approval from the State Radio Regulation of China. The handsets still need network access licenses in order to be allowed to go on sale.

Sales in China will be vital for Apple’s fiscal performance during the quarter that includes the holiday shopping season. Last year, iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c were available in the vast market during their official launch weekend.

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.

Xiaomi gearing up to sell 100,000 units per week in India next month

Xiaomi is gearing up for the festive season in India next month by increasing the availability of devices. Company Vice President Hugo Barra said the company is planning to make provisions to sell 100,000 units per week from the 60,000 they do currently.

Xiaomi recently started selling handsets in India and has been operating exclusively through online retailer Flipkart. In the short amount of time, the company made a reputation for having frustratingly low stock, which is made available through flash sales and goes out of stock in mere seconds.

The ridiculously inexpensive but feature packed Xiaomi Mi 3 was discontinued in India briefly after it was launched but the company plans to bring it back during Diwali, which sales of electronics are at an all-time high in India. It will be sold alongside the Redmi 1S and will later be joined by the Redmi Note.

Samsung launches the new Galaxy Alpha in India

Samsung launched the new Galaxy Alpha smartphone in India today. The device is priced at ₹39,990 ($654).

The Galaxy Alpha is Samsung's first smartphone after a while to have a metal-body. It uses an anodized aluminum frame with chamfered edges on the side. The specs of the phone are mostly that of a flagship device but in a smaller body, and as such, it will be competing directly against the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, which was recently launched in India for ₹44,990.

The Galaxy Alpha will be available in black, white, and gold starting next week. Due to a decision taken by Samsung India recently, the Galaxy Alpha, along with the upcoming Galaxy Note 4, will only be sold through offline retailers.