Court overturns Google's previous win in battle over using Oracle's Java APIs in Android

Google had previously won in court over its use of some Java APIs within Android. The judge had ruled that it was within fair use for Google to build on the Java API because it was offered free.

But today a federal court overturned that decision, opening the way for Oracle to demand money from Google for the time it was using the APIs without permission. Google had used Java's APIs because it wanted to make developing for Android as easy as possible. The move achieved this, and Android no doubt grew quickly as a result, and Oracle wanted money from the outset.

The original jury couldn't decide if the use was fair or not, but that didn't end up mattering because the judge tossed the case out anyway, claiming that it wasn't possible to copyright an API. Today's judgement suggests that the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals does not agree. The next step in the case will be for Oracle to take it to the Supreme court, which will probably take years.

This is something of a big deal in terms of precedent too, because APIs are widely used for one service to build on the core of another. APIs are crucial for helping with software development, and letting companies work with each other, without the need of complicated legal contracts to do so. And what's more, it will also cause problems for applications that leverage services without an API, but via clever engineering. That could affect any number of apps you currently use and mean that only "official" apps will work with a service.

Read more: 8 Best Android Phones 2014

Via: Vox

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Moto E photo crops up on Facebook ahead of launch

Moto G and Moto E side by side

The Moto E may have just been debuted on Facebook ahead of its official launch next week.

Motorola has scheduled the Moto E launch for May 13, but that hasn’t stopped one user leaking a photograph of the budget Moto on Facebook.

One user apparently posted the above image of the Moto E on the Motorola Mexico Facebook page, but that image has subsequently been removed.

That wasn’t before Android Police managed to take a screengrab of the entry-level Moto E though, which is shown next to the extremely successful Motorola Moto G.

You can see the older style Motorola branding on the Moto E (on the right hand side), suggesting that the device is a pre-release testing unit rather than finished article.

However, it looks like the Moto E is a touch shorter than the Moto G, which matches up with the rumour the E should arrive with a 4.3-inch 720p HD display, downgrading the 4.5-inch 720p HD Moto G display and 4.7-inch 720p HD Motorola Moto X.

From the looks of it, the Moto E strangely lacks a front-facing camera altogether, which may bother those in the market for a budget phone with video-calling capabilities.

That sensor to the right of the speaker is similar to the light sensor on other Moto devices, so we’d expect that’s what that is rather than a front-facing snapper.

Rumoured specs suggest the device will come with a 5-megapixel rear camera though, with the whole phone running on a 1,900mAh battery.

The Moto E is expected to feature a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The latter is tipped to be complemented by microSD card support though, so don’t fret.

You can’t see in this image, but the Moto E is supposedly just 6mm thick, making it thinner than even the 6.5mm Huawei Ascend P7 and decidedly cheaper than the 11.6mm Moto G.

Read more: Moto G vs Nexus 5

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MacBook Pro vs MacBook Air: Which should you buy?

Which Apple laptop is the best?

There are two main lines of Apple laptop. The MacBook Air is the more portable option, while the MacBook Pro is there for the people who need a laptop with the sort of power you might normally associate with a desktop PC.

However, the somewhat-similar pricing means it’s not actually that easy to choose which one to buy, particularly if choosing between the top-end 13-inch MacBook Air and the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro where there's a minimal £100 difference. Here’s a closer look at the benefits of each.

When Were the Latest Versions Announced?

Whenever you consider buying an Apple gadget, you should always consider when the last version was released. Apple tends to release a new edition of each of its main lines each year, like clockwork.

The last MacBook Air line-up was revealed recently, in late April 2014. We’re unlikely to see new MacBook Airs for quite some time.

Current MacBook Pros have been around for longer. The Retina models were introduced in October 2013, and the best bets suggest we’ll see new models outed at WWDC 2014, which takes place between 2-6 June.

If you’re lured-in by the idea of a MacBook Pro, consider waiting a little longer.



Next, which is better?

The MacBook Pro is more powerful than the Air

We’ve already mentioned this, but the extra power of the MacBook Pro is one of the main reasons to buy it over the Air. This is especially true now that none of the Pro models have an optical drive, which was the other reason to buy one before.

All base versions of the MacBook Air feature a dual-core Intel i5 1.4GHz processor, with a Turbo mode clock speed of up to 2.7GHz. If you’re willing to spend an extra £120 you can get a dual-core i7 CPU.

These are relatively efficient CPUs designed to promote battery life just as much as performance. The Pro models all offer higher clock speeds, with the base model using a dual-core 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 CPU.

Upgrades in the Pro model go much higher than the Airs too – you can get a quad-core Intel Core i7-powered MacBook Pro if you have deep enough pockets. This extra upgradability is seen in RAM too. MacBook Airs comes in 4GB and 8GB varieties, MacBook Pros in 8GB and 16GB.

If you’re out for one of the cheaper MacBook models, beware of the non-Retina MacBook Pro, though. It does not use the latest-generation Haswell type of processor, but an older Ivy Bridge model. This is both slower and less power-efficient. Avoid, unless you really know what you’re getting into.

Aside from this ‘dud’ model, the MacBook Pros all have more powerful GPUs than the Airs. The Intel HD 5000 integrated graphics used in the MacBook Airs aren’t too shabby by old standards, but the Intel Iris chips of the Pros are slightly more powerful.

The real difference? The Intel Iris chip is clocked at 1.2GHz, just 100MHz up from the 1.1GHz of the HD 5000, and it’s designed to run at the higher 28W power of the Pro, rather than the 15W of the Air. They are of the same generation, but the Pro’s GPU is a bit more powerful. And the 15-inch version has the even more powerful Iris Pro edition as well, which has an extra 128MB eDRAM.

‘Real’ gamers should consider a 15-inch MacBook Pro with a dedicated graphics card. However, these don’t come cheap – you’re looking at upwards of £2,000. Still, a Windows laptop is still the way forward for gaming, not least because Windows support for games is much more comprehensive.

The Air and Pro come in different sizes

This point is dead obvious – the MacBook Air and Pro laptops come in different sizes. Although these days there is more overlap than there once was, relatively speaking.

You can get 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch MacBook Airs and both 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch MacBook Pros. There was once a 17-inch MacBook Pro, but it was discontinued without much ceremony in mid-2012.

The MacBook Pro is intended as more of a desktop-replacement than an Air. A 13.3-inch screen works fairly well as either a portable or everyday laptop, but most of you will find the 11.6-inch display of the smaller MacBook a little too fiddly and cramped for hours-long typing sessions.

Equally, the 15.6-inch MacBook Pro is arguably a bit big to be totally convenient to carry around all day. And weight is an important factor in any laptop you’re going to carry around…

Retina Pro models have better screens than Airs

Aside from the power difference, the best reason to buy a MacBook Pro instead of an Air is the Retina display used in all but one of the Pro laptops. With a Retina MacBook Pro you get the sort of screen sharpness you might normally associate with a tablet display. Most other laptops, including the MacBook Air, fall way behind in this respect.

If you want more details, the 15.6-inch Pro has a 2,880 x 1,800 pixel screen, the 13.3-inch version a 2,560 x 1,600 screen. Text will look much smoother, and ultra-high-resolution videos a little bit sharper, than on a MacBook Air.

Resolution on the Air models is good among laptops, but isn’t quite at the same level. The 11.6-inch Air has a 1,366 x 768 pixel display, the 13.3-inch a 1,440 x 900 display.

The Retina MacBooks offer improved image quality in aspects other than resolution too. Contrast and black level are much improved, giving richer-looking images. The Air is, once again, good among laptops in general, but not quite a match for the Retina Pro team.

The Air laptops are a good deal lighter across the board…

If you’re after a laptop you can carry around all day without getting shoulder ache, you ideally need something that weighs roughly 1.5kg or less. This is something the MacBook Air laptops are fantastic for.

The 11.6-inch Air weighs 1.08kg, the 13.3-inch version 1.35kg. Both are among the lightest Ultrabook-style laptops you can buy.

For an everyday carry-around laptop, we’d suggest discounting the 15.6-inch MacBook Pro. It weighs just over 2kg, making it a bit weighty for the purpose. The 13.3-inch version strikes a good balance, though. It is 1.57kg, which is light given the sort of power you get with this laptop. And that it’s made largely of aluminium, not plastic. All MacBooks are.

… And slimmer, but not by much

As well as being lighter, the MacBook Air is a little slimmer than the MacBook Pro. However, the dimensions do not tell the full story.

The MacBook Air is 17mm thick, the Pro 18mm. Not much difference, is there?

These figures tell you how thick they are at their thickest point, but the MacBook Air design is a good deal more tapered. This gives it a much greater impression of slimness. The Pro seems relatively chunky next to the Air, even if there’s not really much in it looking at the figures.

The Air range has significantly better battery life

The MacBook Air is the Pro’s nimble, slight sibling. And this is part of what gives the Air better battery life. It uses lower-power components, letting it run cooler and go a bit easier on the juice.

For a fairly direct comparison, the 13.3-inch MacBook Air can last for up to 12 hours (Apple’s figures) while the Pro lasts for up to nine. A three-hour difference is huge – some cheap laptops only last that long in total.

As these are Apple figures, you can expect to exceed them with light use. However, drive a MacBook Air hard and you can drain it within a few hours.

Both the smaller 11.6-inch Air and 15.6-inch Pro offer slightly worse battery life. You get nine hours from the Air and eight from the Pro.

Let’s not get too down on these models though – all the figures are excellent among laptops.

Connectivity is slightly better in the Pro

The number of connections is pretty similar between the Pro and Air models, but there are a couple of pretty important differences. The smaller MacBook Air does not have a memory card slot – enough to rule out a purchase for some people, especially photographers.

In the 13-inch Air and both Pro sizes you get a full-size SDXC memory card slot.

The larger Pro models also offers a second Thunderbolt port. You get just the one with the Airs and the smaller MacBook Pro laptops, but two with the 15.6-inch versions. As we saw with the various configs on offer, this makes the 15-inch Pro a much better desktop replacement.

Which Apple laptop should you buy?

The MacBook range has caught a lot of flak over the years for being expensive and a case of style over substance. However the shrinking of the market as a whole has meant PC makers have struggled to offer many truly compelling, high-end alternatives on the Windows side. The MacBook Pro and Air really are among the best laptops you can buy, regardless of platform.

Which you should buy depends on how much power you need, and how highly you value screen quality. Those who do a lot of video editing, batch image processing or other processor-intensive work should opt for a MacBook Pro. However, more casual buyers may actually be better off with the slightly cheaper, lighter Air.



Next, read our best laptops round-up

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Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 photos leaked

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5

The first photographs of the AMOLED display Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 have leaked online.

Although the heavily rumoured Galaxy Tab S is expected to arrive with 8.4- and 10.5-inch variants, we’ve only seen what the larger version of the AMOLED tablet will look like.

At first look the Galaxy Tab S 10.1 looks very similar to the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 launched earlier this year, but the display found in this 10.1-inch slate will be an AMOLED panel with more vivid colours and better contrast.

According to rumours, the Tab S range will feature the same fingerprint sensor as the Samsung Galaxy S5, with features like unlocking, PayPal payments, multi-user login compatibility and other digit-related functionality.

What is quite nice is Samsung has apparently abandoned the faux leather back panel found on its latest tablets and phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, in favour of the perforated plastic back of the Galaxy S5.

According to the SamMobile source, those two bizarre dots on the back are proprietary ports for Samsung’s book cover, which could suggest some smart new functionality for the tablet.

The Galaxy Tab S is expected to pack an AMOLED 2560 x 1600p resolution display running on an octa-core Exynos 5420 CPU with four 1.9GHz Cortex-A15 cores and four 1.3GHz Cortex-A7 cores.

In the back, Samsung is supposedly shoving an 8-megapixel camera, coupled with a 2.1-megapixel front-facing alternative.

It is expected to feature Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, GPS and 4G LTE connectivity, as well as an IR blaster.

As the image clearly shows, it looks like Samsung is going with its new Magazine UX for the Galaxy Tab S over the top of Android 4.4 KitKat.

There’s no information yet as to when Samsung will officially unveil the Galaxy Tab S, but the frequency of these leaks would suggest it could be soon.

Read more: Best tablets 2014




The Galaxy Tab S gets the perforated back of the Galaxy S5

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Netflix increases UK subscription price to £6.99

Netflix has increased its UK subscription price from £5.99 to £6.99 per month for new customers.

Just a couple of weeks ago, in a note to shareholders, Netflix announced its intention to raise prices in a number of key regions.

It didn’t note which areas these would be at the time, but it was noteworthy that company based this decision off a successful price increase test run that took place in Ireland. There, the company increased its price from €6.99 to €7.99 with "little impact."

Now Netflix has emailed subscribers to note that the increase has been applied to the UK, but only for new subscribers. As for existing subscribers, Netflix has revealed that "as a thank you for being a member of Netflix already, we guarantee that your plan and price will not change for two years."

Netflix added the important caveat that the earlier, lower price "is guaranteed so long as you remain a member on your current plan."

Of course, this latter catch can be seen as a sneaky way to stabilise subscriber numbers.

Many people will join Netflix when a specific series or range of films becomes available, then quit when they’ve watched them all, only to rejoin further down the line for a similar burst of viewing activity. Such ones would now rejoin to find that the price has increased despite their earlier support.

It’s believed that the US will see a similar increase of between one and two dollars by the end of July.



Read More: Best TV shows on Netflix

Via: Pocket-lint

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Apple planning $3.2 billion Beats purchase

Apple is planning to acquire Beats Electronics for an estimated $3.2 billion, according to a new report.

The deal for the headphone maker founded by Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre would represent Apple’s biggest acquisition yet.

The Financial Times is carrying claims that Apple could complete the massive acquisition very soon, with an announcement to that effect coming as early as next week. However, there are still said to be details to iron out.

Though Apple is one of the most cash-rich companies around, it is not in the habit of making such large company purchases. Rather, the company tends to make numerous smaller acquisitions of promising start-ups, usually for a single specific technical feature that Apple wants to assimilate.

Beats, of course, is one of the biggest names in headphone hardware, which would have obvious benefits for Apple’s iPhone range. Of course, having Beats on board did little for HTC when it bought half of the company in 2011.

The failure of that particularly mobile partnership caused Beats to start buying back HTC’s shares just a year later.

Beats also launched its own subscription streaming music service, Beats Music, earlier this year. With downloads of traditional MP3 tracks through iTunes stalling, Apple could be looking for a way into the competitive streaming market currently dominated by Spotify.

It’s worth remembering that back in March 2013, Apple and Beats were said to be working on a collaborative music-streaming service. Nothing materialised, and Beats went on to launch Beats Music alone, but there was evidently an interest in Beats from Apple at that point.



Read More: Best Headphones 2014

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Bound by Flame Game Review

Available on Xbox 360, PS3, PS4 (version tested), PC

Sometimes you come to a game rooting for it, and in Bound by Flame’s case it’s not hard to see why.

It’s a plucky upstart title from a small European developer. It’s an old-fashioned, hack-and-slash fantasy RPG, and it’s the first of its type to appear on a next-gen console.

It looks pretty good in the trailers, with detailed graphics and some nice lighting effects, and you can’t help feeling that it might have been the next Torchlight or The Witcher – a low-budget game that comes from nowhere, but turns out to be a contender.

We’ll admit it: we had hopes that Bound by Flame might be one of these games.

Unfortunately, it’s not. It’s a game full of problems, some deep, some superficial, yet the biggest is that it’s just not much fun to play. At best, it’s a playable stopgap for PlayStation 4-owning RPG fans until something better comes along, but – really – wouldn’t you rather splash your cash on something more?

It’s hard. We can see that Bound by Flame is the work of a small team trying hard to perform miracles on a meagre budget, and we can also see where Bound by Flame is pushing to do the same as a Dragon Age or Witcher, but without the resources Bioware or CD Projekt bring to bear.

Bound by Flame is the story of a mercenary fighting in a war between humanity and the seven Icelords who have trapped the world in endless winter. As with Dragon Age and The Witcher, it sits more in the school of gritty, dark fantasy than Tolkien-esque high fantasy, and there’s a focus on moral choices that aren’t simply black or white, but between different shades of grey. So far, so good.

There is more good to come as well. The basic gameplay blends Diablo-style action RPG mechanics with the kind of combat you might see in a hack-and-slash brawler like God of War; a mix we’ve seen handled successfully in games like Darksiders II or Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning (though without the platform adventure elements of the former).

Your mercenary can switch between three stances: the warrior, where he or she uses two-handed weapons, blocks and counters and deals out heavy blows; the ranger, where he or she dual-wields lighter arms and relies on speed and evasion; and the pyromenancer, where you supplement your attacks with spells, gifted to you by the flame demon who shares your body from the opening prologue onwards.

Each stance has its own weapon set and skill tree, and the experience system works in a way that you level up fastest in the attacks and abilities you use most. In practice, you’ll need to mix and match to defeat specific enemies, but there’s certainly some room to hone your favoured style.

To be fair, Bound by Flame works as a functional RPG. It’s structured around a series of hub areas rather than a sprawling open world, but each is stuffed with main mission quests and side quests, and all the staples – shops, blacksmiths, crafting – are in place.

As in a Bioware RPG you’ll find yourself recruiting different characters to your cause, and how you treat them and what you say to them will alter the relationship for good or ill – to the point that characters can stop cooperating altogether. This matters. You can keep one ally with as you explore, and picking the right one becomes crucial in some situations.

Meanwhile, the tried-and-tested cycles of fighting, levelling, upgrading then fighting more still have their merits, and there’s a solid weapon crafting and customisation system in place too. If you love fantasy RPGs so much that you’re prepared to play practically anything, then you might find Bound by Flame a decent bet.

But for most of us the game’s faults will be too many and too serious. The most superficial come down to presentation. Bound by Flame isn’t a bad looking game by any means. The PS4 version has some nice, detailed textures and some fine dynamic lighting effects. Even when the models look dated, there’s a layer of surface sheen that covers up.

Sadly, the art and production design is generic, there’s a ridiculous amount of re-use, and the close-up animation is just plain awful.

For instance, all the male human characters seem to have been cobbled together from the same small assortment of body parts, and in the cut-scenes, nothing appears to be animated bar the eyes and jaw. They have several noted video-game actors providing voices, but the dialogue is frequently awful, and the delivery painful to watch.

What’s more, here’s yet another fantasy game where the female characters wear stupidly revealing outfits, presumably in the hope that monsters will be fatally distracted by the acres of heaving cleavage on display. After years of playing RPGs we can state categorically that this strategy has never worked, and never will.

Then there are the controls and interface. While Bound by Flame has some nice ideas here, like slowing time while you pick items and abilities from a radial menu during combat, it’s a very fiddly game. There are too many different skills, abilities, quest and inventory screens to flip through, and switching between different stances or using spells is never that quick or easy, partly because the game is so reliant on using the shoulder triggers as shift keys for shortcuts.

Locking onto targets and using ranged weapons or spells is a faff, and not always a guarantee of accuracy. In a combat-focused action RPG like this, everything needs to be tight. Bound by Flame feels worryingly loose.

Next, we come to the quests and level design. We’ve seen it all before. Too many dull "go here and fight this" quests. Too many quests with unclear objectives, where you spend more time staring at the map than you do ticking off your goals. Too many monsters simply dumped in a space, without any thought to strategy or a measured challenge, and too many boss battles that become wars of attrition rather than feats of skill or cunning.

To make things worse, Bound by Flame runs the old Dragon Age 2 scam of making you revisit the same few locations on multiple quests; good for budgets and development constraints, not so good when it comes to making players feel excited about what’s around the next corner.

Beyond all this there’s an overall lack of polish. Little things keep getting you, like the way that skipping a pre-boss battle cut-scene means taking a huge whacking blow, or the way that your CPU-controlled allies can get stuck behind a scrap of vegetation or lump of rock, or leave your company with just a brief line of text as a warning – a line you’ll miss until you find yourself in combat and wonder where they’ve gone.

All these things make the game a little less fun, and when the world feels so generic and the action so average, there’s just not that much fun left in the tank.

Verdict

Bound by Flame looks like a budget RPG contender, and there are some nice ideas in the combat system and the Bioware-like treatment of the side-characters. Sadly, there’s just too much about it that’s generic, unpolished, badly animated, poorly implemented or uninspired. If you must have a fantasy RPG to play on PS4 then this might do, but there will be better around the corner, and this really isn’t an easy game to love.



Read more: Mass Effect 4 rumours

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Netflix targets 1% of all streamed content to be 4K by late 2015

The 4K streaming revolution has begun, but Netflix has suggested it will take a long time to fully find its feet.

Already offing House of Cards in 4K, and with a remastered version of Breaking Bad on the way, Netflix is pioneering the move into 4K streaming.

However, the company has suggested that the move to a 4K standard will be a long, drawn-out process, predicting it will take a year and a half for 4K to account for just 1 per cent of all Netflix streamed content.

“1 per cent, we should see that in the next, I would say, year and a half to two years,” Greg Peters, Chief Streaming and Partnerships Officer at Netflix said fielding questions from TrustedReviews at the company’s Silicon Valley HQ.

This window would see the 1 per cent tipping point achieved by late 2015 to early 2016.

Although stressing that this timeframe is “a personal guess”, the Netflix chief has predicted that once 4K streaming hits this 1 per cent marker, adoption could grow at a much higher rate.

“These rates tend to go aggressively and that [estimation] is based on 4K TVs as being the consumption point not so much just 4K content because we will have enough content to get to that 1 per cent level,” he told us.

Peters added: “You have seen that penetration model where as that technology [4K TVs] become less and less expensive, it gets portioned down the SKU plan so it will be more accessible to more and more consumers.

“That will see it accelerate. The next 12 to 18 months after will see it go several times that and then go faster and faster.”

Promising to continue its push into 4K content, Peters said Netflix will look to build on its currently small, but growing 4K content pool.

He stated: “You will see us license more and more content in 4K as studios start to produce that.

“It will start small, but it will get bigger and bigger.”

Read More: Best 4K TVs

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London taxis planning road-block protests over car service app Uber

Uber is taking parts of the world by storm, it offerers a private car service to users of its app, and of course the licenced cabbies of London are up in arms about it, so a protest is planned.

The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association says that 1000s of licensed cab drivers will take part in the protest, which could bring gridlock to London's roads. The core of the dispute is that the LTDA claims Uber cars are not entitled to be fitted with equipment to determine a fair. It says that only licensed cabs can have a taximeter, which it claims the Uber app essentially is. Transport for London doesn't agree, and has refused to get involved.

Uber, if you haven't used it, is an app with which you must pre-register. You enter credit card details in advance, then, when you want a cab it uses GPS to locate you, and gives you a final price to get to your destination. You need hand over no cash to the driver, and a tip is factored in to the price. Uber keeps about 20 per cent of the drivers fee. Drivers are background checked too, and the app sends you a photo of your driver so you can confirm they are the right person.

We've used the service to get out of London and into the sticks later at night, and it is far more affordable than a black cab, and get this, its drivers are prepared to head south of the river. This has obviously enraged London's black cab drivers, who hate south London and refuse ever to go there.

Uber is no stranger to controversy, and has already faced legal challenges in Paris, Sydney and is banned in Brussels. The LTDA described it as "not some philanthropic friendly society, its an American monster" which "has no qualms about breaching any and all laws in the pursuit of profit". This is in stark contrast to black cabs, which never take you the long way around, or make a profit in any way, obviously.

Uber is backed by Google and Goldman Sachs and has been operating for five years now in San Francisco, where it was set up to provide taxis to people in a city where there are literally no taxis anywhere to be seen.

Via: BBC News

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Gold LG G3 photos suggest multiple metallic hues at launch

Photographs of a gold version of the LG G3 have emerged online, suggesting LG has several metallic shades of its 2014 flagship to launch.

Previously we’ve seen leaked pictures of a gunmetal grey metal version of the LG G3, but with this fresh lick of gold paint, we could see the LG G3 launch with a colour option line-up similar to the HTC One M8.

Plus, although these pictures are a little blurry, they do tell us a bit more about the LG G3’s design ahead of its official May 27 unveiling.

According to GSM Arena’s insider source, one of the key selling points of the LG G3 will be its camera.

It will apparently feature a 13-megapixel rear sensor with the same OIS Plus technology as the LG G Pro 2 and will be capable of recording 4K video.

The source also revealed what that new sensor on the left hand side of the rear camera is for. Supposedly it is a laser beam that will help the LG G3 produce better night and low-light photography, but other than that we haven’t been given any other details about how it will function.

As for the front-facing camera, you’ll be able to utilise voice commands like “cheese” to trigger the shutter, or take a selfie with a clapping of the hands or a twist of the finger.

The confirmed 5.5-inch QHD 2560 x 1440p 2K display has a very slim bezel around it, as you can see from the image, which is aided by the panel’s minimalistic 1.15mm bezel requirement.

Internally, we should see the G3 launch with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage helped by microSD card support, unlike the LG G2.

The phone should be powered by a 3000mAh battery and come with IPX7 waterproofing that lets you immerse the phone for up to 30 minutes down to depths of 1m.

LG has apparently revamped the Optimus UI for the LG G3 too, making it look much cleaner and flatter than previous iterations. There should also be a brand new Google Now rivalling service from LG.

Read more: Best mobile phone 2014

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Panasonic Toughpad UT-MB5 Tablet Review

What is the Panasonic Toughpad UT-MB5?

Tablets are big business, but slates designed for the workplace haven’t done as well as consumer products. That won’t stop companies like Panasonic trying, though, and its Toughpad UT-MB5 is an unusual device that pulls out all the stops.

For starters, there’s the 20in, 4K screen, and if that ground-breaking component isn’t enough, there’s the ruggedised chassis and discrete Nvidia graphics. Panasonic has built this tablet for architects, photographers, designers and salespeople, and it clearly means business.

READ MORE: The Best Tablets from 2014

Panasonic Toughpad UT-MB5: Design & Build Quality

Let’s get the numbers out of the way first, as the UT-MB5 is a beast: it weighs 2.35kg, and it’s 475mm across. That makes it twice as bulky as some Ultrabooks and heavier than many serious work laptops, and many times larger than today’s top tablets: the fourth-generation iPad weighs 652g and is just 186mm wide, and the latest Nexus 7 tips the scales at just 299g.

Despite those dimensions, the UT-MB5 is no giant iPad. It has been given the Toughpad treatment, which means it’s ruggedised: it will continue to function after drops of up to 76cm on its back panel and 30cm on any of its angles, and it’s designed to operate in temperatures between 5°C and 35°C.

Hands-on time reveals just how sturdy this system is. The 20in screen has been sealed inside a metal shell that extends around the sides and across the rear of the machine, and there’s no give around the screen’s seal or any of those curved edges. There’s a little give in the back panel, but we’re not concerned – the flex stops a long way short of the screen.

READ MORE: Tablet Reviews

The Panasonic is stronger than most tablets, but it’s not as good-looking. The ruggedisation means the back panel is made from ridged metal covered with clear material, and the slanted rear sides are covered in vents and grilles. There are exposed screws, a port for a docking station, rubber feet and plenty of stickers.

The edges are littered with buttons, lights and ports too. The right-hand side has power, volume and screen orientation buttons alongside an SDXC card slot and a USB 3.0 port, and the opposite side serves up four status lights. We wish the Toughpad was more versatile: just one USB 3.0 port feels mean when the QM77 Express chipset supports four ports, and there are no display outputs.

There’s no room for Gigabit Ethernet either and internal connectivity isn’t without issues. The dual-band 802.11n chip is a dual-stream rather than a triple-stream card and, while Bluetooth 4.0 is included, there’s no mobile broadband.

Panasonic Toughpad UT-MB5: Screen & Sound Quality

This is a tablet for work, so we’re pleased that Panasonic hasn’t skimped on the screen. It’s a touch panel with a 4K resolution, which is 3,840 x 2,560 pixels, and it uses IPS LCD technology. All told, quality is exceptional.

Those who work with colour-sensitive software will be delighted by this screen’s accuracy. The average Delta E of 1.38 is stunning, and colours across the board were almost universally excellent – one shade of blue faltered with a poorer Delta E of 6.23, but that’s the only issue. The colour temperature of 6,441K is close enough to the ideal of 6,500K to make no practical difference.

READ MORE: This Year's Best Laptops, Hybrids and PCs

The top brightness of 277cd/m² is good without searing the retinas, and the black level of 0.29cd/m² is just as impressive. It means a 930:1 contrast ratio which, in turn, delivers a broad, vivid spectrum from top to bottom and good distinction between subtle light and dark shades. There’s no backlight bleed, either.

IPS technology means viewing angles are excellent, but we’re not too pleased with the glossy finish – we prefer matte on work systems.

The huge resolution is a boon for work – it’s easy to zoom in on detail in photos or spread numerous windows across the desktop – but it causes issues elsewhere. Most of Windows 8’s features have no problems with smoothly scaling to fit the resolution, but web browsers and third-party software are often hindered by pixelated lettering, low-quality images and other avoidable issues.

The Panasonic has loud speakers for a tablet, and they have good balance between bass, treble and high-end, but quality is consistently poor: bass sounds insipid, the mid-range lacks punch, and the high-end is tinny.

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Huawei Ascend D3 teased as top-end phone-tablet hybrid

At the launch of the Ascend P7 Android phone, Huawei teased the release of its next phone-tablet hybrid, which is most likely to be called the Huawei Ascend D3.

We talked to Huawei’s European vice president Richard Ren, who said that the company is planning multiple ultra-high-profile “iconic” grade mobile devices later this year.

When asked which would come next, Ren said, “It’s in the D series, in which we combine the tablet and the phone together, we call it phablet.”

He positions the next D-series phone as a very high-end device: “the screen, the chipset, memory, software – almost everything will have the latest technology.”

Although fairly non-specific, this suggests the Huawei Ascend D3 may have a 2K resolution display. These ‘more than Full HD’ screens are expected to start appearing in the next few months – starting with the LG G3, whose QHD 2K screen has already been confirmed.

Ren suggested the Ascend D3 may be unveiled at the IFA 2014 show later this year, saying “In the coming IFA, we are planning to launch one of our Iconic products.” IFA takes place on September 5-10 this year.

There have been relatively few Huawei Ascend D3 leaks to date, but you can expect to see the phone use a screen significantly larger than five inches. The D-series phones have traditionally used larger screens than the P-series phones, and the latest Huawei Ascend P7 has a 5-inch screen.

Last year’s Huawei Ascend D2 has a 5-inch 1080p screen, a 13-megapixel camera and quad-core 1.5GHz Huawei processor. You can expect the next model to improve upon all these specs, although in the UK the most important question is whether the phone will get a full release. The Huawei Ascend D2 was not widely distributed over here.



Next, read our best mobile phones round-up

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Elder Scrolls Online for Xbox One and PS4 delayed

Bethesda has delayed The Elder Scrolls Online release date for Xbox One and PS4 by six months.

Originally the Xbox One and PS4 versions of The Elder Scrolls Online were supposed to launch in jJune, but now it seems we won’t see them until around Christmas time.

Apparently publisher Bethesda and developer ZeniMax have pushed back the console launch to allow time to “solve a series of unique problems specific to those platforms.

“It has become clear that our planned June release of the console versions isn’t going to be possible. Though we have made great progress, we have concluded that we’ll need about six months to ensure we deliver the experience our fans expect and deserve,” said Bethesda in a statement to CVG.

“We know that the news of an ESO console delay is as disappointing to many of you as it is to us. We want to do what we can to make it up to our fans who want to start playing now, so we have worked out the following arrangement with Sony and Microsoft.”

If you purchase the PC or Mac version of The Elder Scrolls Online before the end of June, you’ll be able to transfer your character to the Xbox One or PS4 version when they are released.

You won’t have to pay full price for the Xbox One or PS4 version if you do this either. For $20 (£12) you can add the full, digital version of the console edition to your membership with an additional 30 days of game time.

“Whether you decide to take advantage of this offer or not, we promise to do everything we can to get the game released on both consoles as quickly as we can. We will keep everyone updated with additional details regarding characters transfers, specific offer dates and when you can expect console beta to start, and of course, when ESO on both consoles will launch.”



Read more: The Elder Scrolls Online Guide

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Nintendo outlines mobile app plans

Nintendo has outlined its mobile app plans as part of its financial year reports.

Although Nintendo has already confirmed you won’t see Nintendo games coming to mobile, the company will use the smartphone and tablet platform to market its titles.

The company has release a trio of screenshots for a mobile concept as part of its rather disappointing financial results, where Nintendo posted a huge $500 million operating loss.

Before you get too excited, apparently this isn’t even an app. It’s a mobile version of a web portal that will enable more people to get aware of Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS titles.

“This web service will enable more people to easily watch Nintendo’s official videos, view rankings, watch videos that their friends have shared and videos of tournaments in which they have participated”, reads the outline Nintendo provided.

At present the web service is being temporarily called “Mario Kart TV” and will attempt to reach out to customers with Nintendo Network IDs, although you’ll be able to use the service without one.

“We will work on providing this type of service so that players can enjoy video games more and be in contact with them even when they are not in front of a video game system.”

Nintendo has always maintained it would never bring its software to rival hardware, so obviously this is their attempt to tackle mobile in a way that won’t penetrate its software sales.

“We recognise that there are a lot of smartphones and tablets out there, and so what we’re doing is we’re being very smart in how we use these devices as marketing tools for our content,” said Nintendo America President Reggie Fils-Aime back in December.

“We’re also doing a lot of experimentation of what I would call the little experiences you can have on your smartphone and tablet that will drive you back to your Nintendo hardware. It’s largely going to be much more marketing activity-orientated, but we’ve done little things where there’s some element of gameplay – a movement, a shaking, something like that.”



Read more: Mobile won’t save Nintendo – 5 reasons why Mario won’t go mobile

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LG G3 QHD display officially confirmed

You can't tell in this photo, but this screen is going to be amazing

LG has officially confirmed the LG G3 display will be the heavily rumoured 5.5-inch QHD panel.

The panel will go into mass production shortly, but will definitely be introduced with the LG G3 when it is unveiled on May 27.

This production schedule suggests there may be quite a gap between the official announcement and the LG G3 release date.

“The new Quad HD LCD panel will be unveiled with the forthcoming LG flagship smartphone to be launched in the first half of the year”, came the official LG Display statement.

The 5.5-inch panel in question is a QHD AH-IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 2560 x 1440p, which is four times the resolution of 720p HD panels, hence the QHD name.

The image density of this resolution and screen size works out at a whopping 538ppi, which should be absolutely stunning.

It looks like the LG G3 screen will put the likes of the HTC One M8 and Samsung Galaxy S5 to shame, which both pack ‘just’ a full 1920 x 1080p full HD display with image densities of 441ppi and 432ppi respectively.

According to the LG Display press release, the 5.5-inch QHD panel is only 1.2mm thick and requires a bezel size of just 1.15mm, which apparently the narrowest available at present.

This means the LG G3 should feature a near edge-to-edge display, similar to the LG G2 but even more so.

“This product fulfils the core qualities of smartphone displays, which are high resolution and slim design and I believe the consumers can enjoy vivid images that are close to real life with this display,” said Byung-koo Kim, VP and Head of LG Display’s IT/Mobile Development Group. “LG Display will continue to maintain technology leadership in the super high-resolution smartphone display market above 500ppi resolution, which will take off this year.”



Read more: Samsung Galaxy S5 vs HTC One M8

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Samsung replaces head of mobile design

Samsung Galaxy S5 in gold

Samsung has reportedly replaced its head of mobile design amidst continued criticism of the look and feel of devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S5.

According to a recent Reuters report, Chang Dong-hoon offered to resign last week. He will be replaced by vice president for mobile design Lee Min-hyouk.

Chang will continue to oversee Samsung’s overall design strategy, but tellingly this move sees the return to the smartphone design hot seat of the man who helped boost Samsung’s mobile division to success with the original Galaxy series.

Samsung did not comment on the reasons behind this shift in personnel, but widespread criticism of the Samsung Galaxy S5’s plastic design is the likeliest candidate. Indeed, the company’s cheap-looking mobile devices have been a source of criticism for several years now, even as sales have been strong and general feedback has been positive.

In our own (largely positive) review of the Samsung Galaxy S5, one of the few major criticisms we had was for the way the high-end smartphone looked.

This included condemnation of Samsung’s use of imitation material effects as "not plastic that's happy to look like what it is."

We also concluded that the look of the Galaxy S5 was "not a wholesale improvement" over the Samsung Galaxy S4, which itself was hardly a looker.

Meanwhile, we noted that "the phone is nowhere near as good-looking as the HTC One M8," the Samsung Galaxy S5’s closest Android rival. This followed last year’s HTC One outstripping the Galaxy S4 for critical plaudits, if not sales.



Read More: Samsung Galaxy S5 vs HTC One M8

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Nintendo making new console for emerging markets

Nintendo will bring a new console out some time next year, but it will be aimed exclusively at emerging markets.

It’s the news that many disgruntled Nintendo fans have been longing to hear - that Nintendo is all ready with a brand new console. But don’t think that this is the troubled Kyoto company putting the Wii U out of its misery.

According to a new Bloomberg report following a recent analyst briefing, Nintendo will not release the Wii U at all in emerging markets. Rather, it will develop an all-new console for such regions.

"We want to make new things, with new thinking rather than a cheaper version of what we currently have," said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. "The product and price balance must be made from scratch."

In addition to new affordable hardware, Nintendo will apparently seek to capitalise on its recognisable cast of characters in such markets by offering NFC-equipped figurines. These will enable the transfer of data between devices.

Chief in Nintendo’s thoughts is the recent lifting of the 13-year ban on foreign games consoles in China. It’s an incredibly lucrative new market, and it seems as if Nintendo has decided to tackle it directly by treating it (and other similar markets) as a separate entity.

Both Sony and Microsoft, conversely, are said to be planning on launching the PS4 and Xbox One respectively in China over the coming months.

Such a radical change of tack on Nintendo’s part could be just the boost that it needs, having recently announced another calamitous sales quarter. It represented the third consecutive annual operating loss for the house of Mario.

Elsewhere, Iwata reiterated the company’s stance on making games for smartphones. "We have had a console business for 30 years, and I don’t think we can just transfer that over onto a smartphone model," he said.



Read More: Best games of 2014

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Nintendo's Tomodachi Life won't allow same-sex relationships in-game

With same-sex marriage now legal in the UK, and many other countries, it seems to make sense for games to represent that, but Nintendo doesn't agree, it seems.

Its new game, Tomodachi Life, which is due for release on June 6, will not allow "same-sex" characters to marry one another, even though this functionality was present in the original Japanese release, but was subsequently removed via a patch.

Nintendo has responded to criticism saying that it never intended the game to be a "social commentary". The company also hinted that it could be open to reversing its decision, and said "We're using this as an opportunity to better understand our consumers and their expectations of us at all levels of the organization".

This latest controversy comes after Nintendo announced a $500 million operating loss as the Wii U sales have slumped. Sony's PS4 has already outsold the console in the short time it's been on the market, which is something of a reversal given that the Wii has sold 20 million more units than the PS3.

A campaign called #MiiQuality had hoped to change Nintendo's mind on the matter, with its lead campaigner Ty Marini releasing a statement on Vimeo saying "Relationships and marriage are a huge part of the game. The relationships and interactions between Mii characters in the game, coupled with their relation to you in real life, are what makes this game so appealing. I want to be able to marry my real-life fiance's Mii, but I can't".

Whatever your personal preferences when it comes to marriage, gaming is hugely important to young people and it's only a positive thing to let them see all sorts of relationships, and to be able to echo their own feelings. It's also worth pointing out that same-sex relationships are possible in The Sims, so consider that when you're spending your money.

Read more: Nintendo posts huge $500m operating loss as Wii U sales slump

Via: ArsTechnica

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Band that earnt $20,000 from an album of silence have been asked by Spotify to remove it

The band Vulfpeck asked its 1000 or so fans to put the silent album on while they slept, racking up royalty payments at a rate of around $0.005 per play.


The idea was that by earning money via Spotify, the band would then be able to play a series of free concerts, and would target areas of the US that had listened most to the album. It's kind of a cool idea, and it's also a fairly clever dig at music royalties and the fairly tiny sums of money involved in each "play".

That said, the band's initial video about the project indicated that someone putting the album on all night would generate $4 in revenue for Vulfpeck.

Spotify apparently emailed the band's frontman Jack Stratton saying that while the company thought it was funny, and a good publicity stunt, it was in violation of Spotify's terms and conditions. It asked him to remove the album, which he seems to have done. He has, however, replaced it with another album, which contains a spoken-word track explaining what happened.

The album also has a middle track of, you guessed it, silence, and a final original instrumental composition. It's all a bit odd to be honest, but we wouldn't be all that surprised if the band is able to earn even more money from this new endeavour.

On the flip side, Vulfpeck needs to be careful, because in 2002 musician Mike Batt had to pay a "six figure sum" to settle a lawsuit by the publishers of US musician John Cage who had originally published a silent piece of music, and claimed Batt was in violation of copyright law.

The music industry is a very, very silly place sometimes.

Read more: Spotify vs Napster vs Rdio vs Pure Music: Apps, Sound Quality

Via: Vice

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Wearables will soon control your TV says LG

Forget standard remotes and even compatible smartphone and tablet apps, your TV will soon be controlled by your smartwatch, LG has suggested.

With some early smartwatches – such as the Samsung Gear 2 – already offering infrared remote options, LG has suggested this wrist-based TV controlling could expand and become the widely adopted future.

“[wearables] is an interesting area to us, and how that (your smartwatch) will connect to that (your TV),” Henry Levak, LG’s Product Lead for the webOS Connect SDK said speaking with TrustedReviews.

Discussing the future of television control out at the company’s Silicon Valley Lab, Levak stated: “You will probably start seeing more stuff on that from us and others by the end of the year. For us that is a natural move.”

He added: “Why would you not just be able to slide your finger [over your smartwatch] to turn down the volume?

“There is something really interesting about this, and for us it is all about device connectivity and making it all work harmoniously together.”

Although remaining coy on any confirmed plans or upcoming products, The LG Product Lead offered insight into potential user cases of a TV controlling smartwatch.

He told us: “To me being able to do this – (slides finger across his smartwatch’s screen) – and being able to turn down the volume makes sense and other quick actions.

“This is an interesting space, the internet of things.”

As well as smartphone control options, Levak hinted LG is working on a range of further projects for TV control and second screen experiences.

“We are looking at a lot of different things. You will see a lot of interesting ideals coming out of the Silicon Valley Lab,” he said.

Although not mentioning the device by name, it seems likely that LG’s TV controlling wearables plans could be expanded to include the LG G Watch, a device set to hit retailers later this quarter.

Read More: LG TVs 2014: Everything you need to know

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Huawei Ascend P7 sales predicted at 10 million – twice the Ascend P6's sales

Huawei has placed an ambitious target of 10 million unit sales for the Ascend P7, the same – missed – target it setup for the Ascend P6 last year.

In a case of sales predictions déjà vu, Huawei says it expects the Ascend P7 to sell 10 million units worldwide.

“For the P series, it is so important for Huawei. When we talked about the P7, we set our internal targets for the coming twelve months – which is 10 million units, “ Huawei’s device president of Europe Richard Ren told TrustedReviews.

Although by no means a ridiculous target for a flagship phone, it means the Ascend P7 needs to more-than double the sales of its predecessor the Ascend P6.

Huawei originally predicted P6 sales to top off at 10 million, but in October 2013 the company announced the phone had sold only three million units. More than six months later at the Ascend P7 launch, Huawei told us sales had reached four million. Its final sales are likely to linger around that mark. 10 million is a long way off.

While this might encourage some to trot out a popular ‘definition of madness’ – performing the same act continually and expecting different results, Ren explained the process behind the company's continued high expectations.

“The P6 was the first flagship, which helped Huawei to gain a strong position in the premium segment,” sais Ren.

“After the P6 launch, all the global key accounts like Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, Telefonica: all these bigs guys selected Huawei as their strategic partner. They opened more slots to Huawei. Before 2013 they only opened the mid and low segment to Huawei. But from P6, they opened the premium segments.”

Getting better placement in-store and online will go hand-in-hand with increased brand recognition to give the Ascend P7 a bit of a boost of potential. But will it be enough?

The Huawei Ascend P7 will go on sale throughout the UK and Europe in early June, for a price of around 449 Euros, which should equate to around £450. That’s around £100 less than better-known rivals like the Galaxy S5.



Next, read our best mobile phones round-up

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Carphone Warehouse and Dixons on brink of merger

Carphone Warehouse and Dixons are apparently on the verge of announcing a huge £37 billion merger.

If the deal goes ahead, the two high-street technology chains would be one of the largest groups in the UK.

This isn’t surprising, especially as Carphone Warehouse has almost 800 stores to its name and the Dixons group has over 500 stores across the UK.

The two companies are expected to make a formal statement including concrete merger details on May 19, but the merger would see the companies become 50-50 equals in a new electronic goods retailer know as Dixons Carphone Group plc.

Apparently, CArphone Warehouse co-founder Sir Charles Dunstone will become the chairman of the combined group, while Dixons’ execs Sebastian James and Humphrey Singer will take up the Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer roles respectively.

The deal could result in some non-executive level employees at head office being cut, as both companies will be looking to make some cost savings.

There is only limited overlap between the two companies, but the purported aim is to serve “connected world” consumers in all areas of technology from smartphones to household electrical goods.

Phones 4u has an existing mobile phone retailing venture with Dixons, but that looks set to be scrapped if the merger goes ahead.

The UK smartphone retailer was apparently trying to highjack the Carphone/Dixons deal, but now a formal deal looks close to completion, Phones 4u must have been knocked down.

Read more: Moto G vs Nexus 5

Via: Sky News

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iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 to feature Touch ID fingerprint sensors?

The iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 should feature Touch ID fingerprint sensors, if a new report is to be believed.

It looks like Apple could bring the Touch ID fingerprint sensor technology introduced with the iPhone 5S to its upcoming 2014 tablet range.

According to the latest rumours, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (or TSMC for short), produced and sent the first batch of Touch ID sensors in mid-April.

The information comes from sources within the Sazhou Semiconductor Technology Co, a manufacturer to which some iPhone and iPad back-end services are given.

TSMC is a company regularly used by Apple for key iPhone and iPad parts and is rumoured to be working with Apple on the iPhone 6 A8 processor.

Some have speculated it seems a bit early for Apple to start production on components for their upcoming products, especially seeing as the iPhone 6 launch isn’t expected until September and the iPad Air and iPad mini 2 Retina successors shouldn’t arrive until November.

However, iPhone 5S stock delays at launch were in part due to issues producing enough Touch ID sensors to match demand for the 2013 flagship.

It may be that Apple is trying to get ahead of the game this year by ensuring it has enough components to build plenty of new products later this year.

This Touch ID report does fit well with the report that Pegatron has received an order for around 15 per cent of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 orders, as Apple starts preparing for a September launch well ahead of time.

Pegatron is one of the third party manufacturers responsible for assembling iOS devices, along with the likes of Foxconn.

This isn’t the first rumour of the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 featuring the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, so it’s looking more and more likely Apple will introduce the technology to its tablets this year.

Read more: iPad Air vs iPad 4

Via: GforGames

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Moves will share your data with Facebook following acquisition

Moves has updated its privacy policy stating that it might share your personal data with Facebook.

Following the new Facebook has acquired the Moves fitness tracking service, users were very concerned what would happen to their personal data.

The company immediately tried to soothe its userbase with a blog post outlining that Moves would continue to operate as a separate entity from the social media giant.

“The Moves experience will continue to operate as a standalone app, and there are no plans to change that or commingle data with Facebook”, read the company’s blog post after the acquisition was announced.

However, Moves has now updated its privacy policy to reflect the fact it has already backtracked on its initial claims.

“We may share information including personally identifying information, with our Affiliates (companies that are part of our corporate groups of companies, including but not limited to Facebook) to help provide, understand and improve our services,” reads Moves’ updated privacy policy.

It has only been two weeks since the acquisition was announced and no doubt users will be a little perplexed why Moves couldn’t keep Facebook away from its users’ data like it originally outlined.

Facebook’s official statement on the matter comes from The Verge, which despite claiming Facebook and Moves are two separate entities, also revealed the two could share data obtained through the Moves app.

“Commingling, or merging, data would allow us to identify Moves users who are also Facebook users – we have no plans to do that. In other words, Facebook is not adding Moves user data to a Facebook user’s Facebook account. But, Facebook will be providing support and services to the Moves app and to be able to do this, we have to have access to the data that Moves already collects from its users – which is “sharing” data.”

Read more: Best fitness trackers

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Huawei Ascend P7 release date confirmed for June 7

Huawei has announced the new Huawei Ascend P7 release date will occur on June 7.

Following today’s official unveiling of the company’s 2014 flagship, Huawei has confirmed you’ll be able to get hold of it early next month.

On June 7, the P7 will be available in 30 countries, with a recommended price tag of €449, or around £370 in the UK.

Huawei Ascend P7 Features

Living up to the company’s reputation for launching ultra-slim smartphones, the Huawei Ascend P7 is just 6.5mm thick, which is actually a touch fatter than the Huawei Ascend P6.

Its main focus though is the screen though, which is a 5-inch full 1080p HD affair, improving its predecessor’s 4.7-inch 720p display.

The Ascend P7 used a HiSilicon quad-core 1.8GHz CPU, which isn’t that powerful but it is an upgrade from the previous iteration. It definitely won’t be matching the processing prowess of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 though, found in high-end smartphones like the HTC One M8.

Featuring 16GB of internal memory, the Ascend P7 has microSD card support and comes with 4G LTE support.

In the rear is a 13-megapixel camera, which is paired with a selfie-centric 8-megapixel front-facing camera.

Of course, it runs the latest Android 4.4 KitKat OS and a new Emotion UI that lets you customise the phone’s look with a number of themes.

Read more: Samsung Galaxy S5 vs HTC One M8

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