Meizu MX4, Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Alpha lead AnTuTu chart 11/13/2014

AnTuTu has posted a chart with the top 10 best performing smartphones throughout the Q3 this year. The king of the chart is Meizu MX4, while the runner-ups are the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Samsung Galaxy Alpha.

The Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy Alpha are just a whisker below the Meizu MX4, while the rest of the devices are noticeably slower. All scores were calculated by the average of all user submitted scores.

Meizu MX 4 is based on the MediaTek's top-notch MT6595 chip with quad-core Cortex-A17 @ 2.2GHz and quad-core Cortex-A7 @ 1.7GHz plus the PowerVR G6200 GPU. The Galaxy Note 4 runs on the Snapdragon 805 chipset with a quad-core Krait 450 @ 2.7GHz and Adreno 420 GPU, while the Alpha uses company's proprietary Exynos platform with a quad-core Cortex-A15 @ 1.8GHz, quad-core Cortex-A7 @ 1.3GHz and Mali-T628MP6 GPU.

AnTuTu revealed the most popular smartphones for the Q3, 2014 in some countries. The Galaxy S5 is the most benchmarked phone in the USA, HTC One (M8) in Taiwan, Xiaomi Mi 3 - in China, Xiaomi Redmi Note in Hong Kong, LG Nexus 5 - in Russia and LG G3 in South Korea. You can check detailed graphs with the top 10 devices for each market right here.

Thanks for the tip, Chris!

NVIDIA details SHIELD tablet update, “Green Box” deal and GRID service expansion

VIDIA has already provided a brief teaser showing what Android 5.0 Lollipop will look like on the SHIELD tablet and that we could expect it this month, but today they are reaffirming that commitment along with some other updates surrounding the SHIELD tablet.

Android 5.0 and Material Design

The Lollipop update, still due out later this month, will bring with it not only a nearly stock install of Android 5.0, but it also delivers the material design language to their own apps with updates to both the Dabbler app and SHIELD Hub.

Dabbler is the pre-installed drawing app found on the SHIELD tablet which takes advantage of the DirectStylus and the Direct Touch 2.0 found in the SHIELD tablet. If you haven’t tried it previously, the level of pressure sensitivity they have achieved without using an active stylus is really remarkable. And while I haven’t used the updated Dabbler app yet, it looks like the new design will make the app much more user friendly and turn the SHIELD tablet into a solid sketching option.

SHIELD Hub will also be receiving a material design makeover. This app offers you quick access to your Android and PC games along with any media apps you have installed. If you are already familiar with this app, you’ll notice that there is now a “GRID” option in the menu, which brings us to NVIDIA’s next announcement.

GRID Expansion

As NVIDIA puts it, the GRID gaming service is basically like “Netflix for games.” If you own a SHIELD device but don’t have a PC that can leverage the GAME STREAM functionality, then this is what will bring high-end PC titles to your SHIELD. GRID currently includes 20 titles like Borderlands 2, Batman Arkham City and Psychonauts, and the lineup is continually expanding.

GRID was previously only available in San Jose, but it is expanding to nationwide coverage in the U.S. this month with servers in Oregon and Virginia and will be expanding to western Europe in December, with Asia to follow in Q2 next year. The GRID service is going to remain free for SHIELD tablet and SHIELD portable owners through June 30, 2015. No word yet on pricing after the free trial period as run out.

“Green Box” Deal

PC Gamers will have no trouble guessing what this deal refers to. Valve has already made Half-Life 2 and Portal available on SHIELD and now Half-Life 2: Episode One is joining them. All three titles will be bundled for free on the 32GB LTE version of the SHIELD tablet.

New SHIELD-Optimized Games

There are currently 20 Tegra K1-optimized titles and over 400 titles that are touch and controller optimized. A few notable additions coming soon are OddWorld: Stranger’s Wrath, Pure Pool and Strike Suit Zero.

Source: NVIDIA

Blue Steel LG G3 now available at BestBuy

The LG G3 is already available in a myriad of colors - Metallic Black, Silk White, Shine Gold, Moon Violet and Burgundy Red - but now we can add a brand new color to that list - Blue Steel.

The Blue Steel LG G3 has gone on sale in the US for Sprint, AT&T and Verizon and is sold exclusively from BestBuy on contract starting at $99.99.

   
Blue Steel LG G3

This isn't technically the first variant of the device that has some blue in it - the Japanese local LG G3 (Isai FL) does come in blue as well. Perhaps this is LG's timely answer to the Midnight Blue Nexus 6.

Otherwise the Blue Steel LG G3 remains unchanged with a 5.5" QHD display, Snapdragon 801 chipset and upcoming Android 5.0 Lollipop update.

Vivo teases 4.75mm thick X5 Play, explains how it got so thin

The Oppo R5 currently holds the title of "world's thinnest smartphone" at 4.85mm but that may not last long since the announcement of the Vivo X5 Max is drawing near. It will start a war of decimal points by coming in at 4.75mm thick.

The company is teasing the device by revealing how its impressively slender body was constructed and how it's better than the R5. Leaked photos show someone actually measuring the X5 Max with a caliper, confirming its 4.75mm claim.

  

Confirming the 4.75mm claim of the Vivo X5 Max with a caliper

How did Vivo achieve this thickness? According to the company it moved 90% of the internals (some 786 components) along the sides, instead of having the sandwiched between the screen and the back. This will make for one interesting teardown.

Anyway, the Oppo R5 had to drop the 3.5mm audio jack (which is about a millimeter and a half thinner than the phone itself) and use a microUSB to 3.5mm convertor like in the good old days. There's also no memory slot – two things Vivo says it will not compromise on with the X5 Max.

    

Vivo X5 Max teaser images

The upcoming phone will keep its 3.5mm audio jack, the memory slot and according to TENAA specswill have a 5.5" 1080p screen, 1.7GHz octa-core chipset (MediaTek chipset), run Android 4.4 KitKat with 2GB of RAM and pack a slightly bulging 13MP main camera plus a flush 5MP front-facing camera.

The Vivo X5 Max is expected to be announced next month and we may see the even thinner Vivo Xplay 5S come out of hiding along with it.

Strategy Analytics: LG has record market share in North America

According to the latest report from Strategy Analytics, LG reached a record market share in North America - for Q3 2014, the company had 16.3%. For the same period last year the company had just 7.4%, making its achievement particularly significant.

LG also managed to score another quarterly record in terms of sales. For Q3 2014, the company sold 16.8 million smartphones, 2.3 million more than it did last quarter. Operating profit is $420 million (KRW 461.3 billion), a 111.8% increase on a year-over-year basis.

The boost in market presence, according to the report, is thanks to the LG G3. LG's success brings the company closer to the leader in North America market share - Apple. The Cupertino-based company has 33.9% market share. Samsung is second at 24.8%.

Analysts expect LG to slow its stride for the upcoming quarter as competition in the face of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will hit the brakes on the Korean sales. We'll see if these predictions will come true in a couple of months.

Lollipop rollout for 2014 Moto G, Moto X gets official

Earlier today, a source apparently had information about theupdate to Android 5.0 Lollipop already rolling out to unlocked Moto G (2014) units. Shortly after, we heard that this was in fact nothing more than a 'soak test', and not an actual widespread rollout.

Well, things are different now, as Motorola has just made it official: Lollipop updates for the 2nd generation Moto G are already going out. For now, they will reach those devices sold in the US - either the US-specific SKU or the "global GSM" model (though still purchased from the US). Undoubtedly, more regions will get the new software soon, now that the ball's rolling.

Joining this year's Moto G is the 2014 Moto X Pure Edition, which is also in the process of receiving its taste of Lollipop. This is the model that runs stock Android, so it's less surprising to see it in this position. The soak test for the Moto X (2014) started a few days ago, and apparently things went well and no bugs were found.

Last year, the original Moto X got the KitKat update incredibly fast, and this year Motorola is rolling out the new Android version even before past Nexus devices got it. This is quite an accomplishment in the Android world, where such things usually take months. LG is set to follow suit at some point this week,releasing the 5.0 update for its G3, and hopefully more manufacturers will choose to go the quick update route in the future.

T AT&T Nexus 6 now available, will ship out next week

If you’ve been waiting for another opportunity to buy a Nexus 6, your time has come.

AT&T is now taking pre-orders for Google and Motorola’s Nexus 6. The big blue carrier is offering the 32GB Midnight Blue model, and orders of it are expected to ship “by 11/18/14.”

Just as expected, pricing for AT&T’s Nexus 6 is set at $0 down and 30 payments of $22.77 per month with AT&T Next 24, 24 payments of $28.46 with AT&T Next 18 or 20 payments of $34.15 with AT&T Next 12. If AT&T Next isn’t your thing, you can also get an N6 for $249.99 on a two-year contract or $682.99 without any commitment.So far the Nexus 6 has been pretty tough to come by. It sold out quickly in the Google Play store and on Motorola’s site, and T-Mobile pushed its N6 launch out by a full week, likely because it just didn’t have enough inventory. The good news is that today we should get two more chances to get the new Nexus phone thanks to AT&T and Google.

Source: AT&T