OnePlus One is official, runs custom CyanogenMod 11S

Finally after months of teasing and releasing details one bit at a time, OnePlus announces the One - its first Android smartphone.

In terms of specifications, there's little surprise. The OnePlus One features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (8974AC) platform with a quad-core 2.5GHz Krait 400 CPU, 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM. The display is a 5.5" full HD JDI-made, resulting in a pixel density of 401ppi.

The OnePlus One runs CyanogenMod 11S based on Android 4.4 KitKat. The company has worked closely with the ROM team to release a special minimal and flat UI. There are also a bunch of custom themes and icons specially made for the device.

OnePlus put a great deal of effort into the design of the One and its hows. The company tried materials such as stainless steel and aluminum for the One, but with a weight of 198g and 175g, respectively, was unacceptable. As a result, the team chose magnesium for the build of the phone and it brings down the weight of the phone to 162 grams. In fact, OnePlus claims this is the lightest 5.5" smartphone in the world.

       
OnePlus One official photos

Interestingly, the company admits that its only regret is that it wasn't able to use metal borders for the One. The problem is that it was creating signal issues as well as added unwanted weight to the body of the phone.

The One measures 152.9 x 75.9 x 8.9mm with the edges of the phone measure 4.6mm. At the bottom, there are dual stereo speakers and popular audio company JBL helped for their fine tuning.

At the back, the OnePlus One features a 13 MP Sony IMX214 Sensor with 6 Lenses and f/2.0 Aperture. We already saw it in action in the hands of a professional photographer as well as its 4K video recordingskills. The camera is capable of quick shutter speed of 0.3 seconds.

  
OnePlus One official photos

The back cover of the OnePlus One is removable and the company is also launching special StyleSwap covers. Available in bamboo, wood, denim and kevlar, the StyleSwap covers add a dash of personality to the One similarly to the Moto X. Sadly, the 3,100mAh Li-Po battery isn't user replaceable.

The OnePlus One will launch in Q2 with Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK and the USA getting it first. More markets are expected to follow suit soon after.

Available in Sandstone Black and Silk White, the unlocked 16GB OnePlus One will retail for $299 (€269 in Europe) and the 64GB model will cost you $350 (€299 in Europe). In the UK, the phone retails for £229 and £269 for the 16GB and 64GB model respectively.

Here are the prices in Sweden, Denmark, Honk Kong and Taiwan. Mind you, the price for Hong Kong is HKD 2599.

EXCLUSIVE: LG G3 screenies show new Optimus UI, QHD res

We just got hold of a few new screenshots taken directly from the LG G3. They not only show how the latest Optimus user interface is going to look like, but also confirm the phone indeed features a QHD resolution display (2560x1440 pixels).

These screenshots were provided to us by a credible industry source. Our source tells us that the title "You may want to take an umbrella since rain is expected during this afternoon" on the first screenshot is in fact a new feature, which combines the weather forecast with your habits to provide you with a personalized recommendations for your daily routine.

The overall look and feel of the latest Optimus UI (on top of Android 4.4 KitKat) is very clean and flat, a trend that a lot of manufacturers are embracing. Everything from the icons, launcher and notification drawer is less cluttered and looks very nice.

   

The quick settings toggles are rounded icons, similarly to the latest Samsung TouchWiz UI on the Galaxy S5. The position of the QSlide Apps remains unchanged, but still, the notification drawer seems too busy for our taste.

Here's a full resolution screenshot for you to gaze at, as we had to shrink the rest to a reasonable web-friendly size.

LG G3 QHD resolution screenshot

Unrelated to these screen caps, recent rumors claim the LG G3 is going to be based on the JapaneseLG isai FL, which leaked a few days ago. The Japan-only smartphone sports a quad-core Snapdragon 801 SoC, clocked at 2.5GHz, a 5.5-inch LCD rumored to have 2560x1440 resolution, 2GB RAM, 32GB internal memory with microSD support, 3000mAh battery, and an IPX7 rating, which means it is water resistant.

Do you like the look of the new and upcoming Optimus UI better than the old one? Feel free to express your opinion in the comments section.

Huawei Ascend P7 pops in AnTuTu, Kirin 910 CPU gets tested

The upcoming Huawei Ascend P7 just can't stay away from the internet. It has already leaked so many times that we probably know everything there is to know about the smartphone.

The Ascend P7 has already leaked in many live pictures, various spy shots, Chinese's TENAAcertification docs, official-like renders, and even the nice live shot below. But today the smartphone got benchmarked for the first time since the leaks have begun.

Huawei Ascend P7 went through AnTuTu's tests and thus its specs have become public. We already knew the 5" 1080p droid runs on Huawei's latest Kirin 910 chipset with 2GB RAM. It packs a quad-core 1.6GHz Cortex-A9 processor and Mali-T450 graphics - quite uninspiring specs indeed. Here is how its score stacks against the competition out there.

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

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• HTC One (M8)37009
• Samsung Galaxy S536018
• LG G Flex35831
• LG G235444
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact34527
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo32162
• Samsung Galaxy Note 331109
• Sony Xperia Z130850
• LG G Pro 229603
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra29185
• Samsung Galaxy S427613
• HTC One26389
• LG Nexus 525097
• Huawei Ascend P724883
• Motorola Moto G17214
• LG Optimus G16943
• Huawei Ascend Mate15714
• Alcatel One Touch Hero15667
• Oppo Find 515167
• Sony Xperia C13948
• Huawei Ascend P613776
• Sony Xperia E112951
• Sony Xperia M9902
• Nokia X7514

The Huawei Ascend P7 will go official on May 7. Meanwhile you are welcomed to check its rumored specs right here.

Apple iOS 7.1.1 is now seeding, brings minor improvements

Apple quietly released iOS 7.1.1. As its number suggests, the latest firmware update from Cupertino brings minor improvements, security and bug fixes.

The new OS update is 26.1MB large. It improves Touch ID fingerprint recognition, fixes a bug which could impact the responsiveness of the keyboard, and remedies an issue which occurs when Bluetooth keyboards with VoiceOver.

  
iOS 7.1.1 is now available

If you haven’t been prompted to install the update on your compatible Apple device, head over to its settings menu to check if it is available.

Samsung Project KQ may be the premium Galaxy S5

We've long heard of a more premium version of the Galaxy S5. Newly leaked source code suggests that there is indeed such smartphone and it's in advanced stages of development. The evidence, obtained bySamMobile suggests the project is named "Project KQ", while the S5 had been known internally as merely "Project K". The development process however has been hindered by component shortages.

Project KQ, which may also very well encompass the Galaxy F-line of products, sports a QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) resolution on a 5.2" display. There's currently no information if it's going to be Super AMOLED.

In a traditional Samsung fashion, Project KQ is set to launch with a couple of different versions, each sporting a different chipset. The model destined for South Korea is going to pack the company's latest octa-core Exynos 5430 chipset. The new silicon features quad 2.1GHz Cortex-A15 and quad 1.5GHz Cortex-A7 cores in addition to an 600MHz ARM Mali GPU. There's also a new display controller to handle the QHD display.

A new HEVC video decoder is going to make 8K UHD playback possible, while a dedicated new audio co-processor, called the Samsung "Seiren", will handle sound encoding and decoding.

If that wasn't enough, the Exynos-based Project KQ will for the very first time utilize an Intel LTE modem (XMM7620). It packs quite a punch supporting speeds of up to 300Mbit/s down and 150Mbit/s up. Only the European version will get this LTE chip, while the Korean market will make do with a Samsung-made LTE modem codenamed Shannon 300 (SS300).

There's no word about the US market, but there is evidence that Samsung will utilize the quad-core Snapdragon 805 chipset in at least one version of the upcoming phone (G906S).

An interesting piece of information is that Samsung developed ten revisions of the Galaxy S5 until it was given the green light to enter production. The source of the information reveals that the first two packed QHD displays, which explains the rumors that were floating around before the actual announcement of the Galaxy S5.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 design hinted by a patent

It was just yesterday when we reported that the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 could feature a tri-sided curved YOUM OLED screen and today Samsung filed a patent that suggests a possible design for the phone.

The patent application shows a concept for a smartphone that features rounded edges on the side - that's where the curved YOUM display would stretch.

As you can see in the image above, Samsung envisions the user interface of the upcoming phone to make use of that curved space. In the example given, the app and settings shortcuts are placed exactly there.

Samsung executive already suggested that the company is experimenting with a new form-factor for the next-gen Galaxy Note. If you want to see how exactly the YOUM display looks like , check out this video demo that Samsung did not too long ago.