Sony Xperia M2 pricing details revealed in Netherlands

Details on the pricing of the freshly announced Sony Xperia M2 made the rounds in Netherlands. The mid-range device is said to launch in April for €289.

The smartphone will be offered with free multimedia content when available. It will include three Sony Pictures movie downloads and a free month of Music Unlimited streaming which gives access to over 25 million songs.

Sony Xperia M2 features a 4.8” qHD display and Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC, tucked into a sleek-looking body with the same design as that of the company’s high-end Android devices. You can find out more about the device in our MWC hands-on.

The all new HTC One leaks out wearing AT&T branding

The highly anticipated HTC One successor made yet another unscheduled appearance on Twitter. This time around @evleaks posted a press image of the upcoming smartphone with AT&T branding.

The newly leaked image shows the HTC M8 with an aluminum finish and brings no surprises. It falls right in line with previous press photo leaks where the device appeared in gold, as well as black and gray.

HTC M8 will be released next month, on March 25, likely as the All New One. We will be attending the event, so be sure to tune in for the full scoop on the device.

Project Ara component swapping gets demoed

Google's Project Ara has gotten a lot of attention recently with the announcement of the developer conference due on April 15-16. Happily, at the LAUNCH tech conference one of the Project Ara team members spent a juicy 25 minutes to talk about the modular phone concept. He even went on and demonstrated how swapping components works.

Referred to as Google Ara in the video below, the modular phone will come in three sizes at launch: a mini (about 4"), medium (below 5") and larger (think phablets). We already know that Google wants to keep Ara as cheap as possible. A recent report suggests the endoskeleton to which all modules attach will cost no more than $50.

In the video, the Ara member said that the base of the entire modular phone should run about $15 per unit. It doesn't do anything else than bridging the rest of the components so they can work together.

Google will launch its official Ara store for different modules, but is also keen to have other developers and retailers offer some as well. Check out the 25-minute Project Ara bit from the video below (jump to the 5:00 minute mark).

Iphone 6 to have Sapphire coating but no May release

Apple and Gorilla Glass will be parting ways with the release of their iPhone 6, as the Cupertino-based tech giant will be switching to sapphire screen-coating for their next line of smartphones.

Sapphire coating has been used in high-end watches for a while due to its high-durability and scratch-resistance.

Currently, sapphire coating has only been used on iPhone camera lenses and the iPhone 5s fingerprint sensor. The upcoming iWatch will supposedly enjoy sapphire coating as well.

And the company behind Apple's sapphire coating, GT Advanced, stands to make a pretty penny from their deal. They are looking at $500-$700 Million for the first six months, since coating a display with sapphire costs 3-4 times more than coating it with Gorilla Glass (which only costs $3 per screen).

Although the specific number of displays GT Advanced will be producing isn't known, we do know they haven't produced enough to make a May shipment date of the iPhone 6. Analysts believe that, based on GT Advanced's shipments, that the iPhone 6 will be ready for sale come September 2014.

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet is available for pre-order, here are the prices

Following in the footsteps of the Xperia Z2, the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet is available for pre-order. We made the rounds and collected the prices of the tablet around Europe. The launch date will be in April, the same time frame as the the Z2 phone.

The good news is that it's cheaper than the phone in most places – in the UK, it's £500 (€610) fromClove UK.

The good news is that it's cheaper than the phone in most places – in the UK, it's £500 (€610) fromClove UK.

Update: The Xperia Z2 Tablet 16GB LTE is £500 on Sony's site. The Wi-Fi only versions are £400 for the 16GB and £450 for the 32GB. If you pre-order you get a free Magnetic Charging Dock too (normally, £40).

The price in Germany is €500 (and €650 from Sony's official web site). Note that these are pre-order prices and might change in time for the launch. The 32GB Wi-Fi model is €550, the 16GB LTE model is€650.

In France and the Netherlands the Xperia Z2 tablet is €630, €670 in Sweden (SEK 5 995,00) and €700 in Spain and Poland (PLN 2 899). These prices are from the official site, so it's possible that regional stores have it cheaper (like in Germany). If you find such a store, drop a link in the comments!

Update: A commenter pointed us to a €500 offer for the Z2 Tablet, thanks http://techieeebuzz.blogspot.in !!!

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 review: Pros and gones

Introduction

Samsung is trying hard to diversify its tablet lineup and bring a little something for everyone to the market. The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 is the middle child of the premium segment, or as a more succinct description would put it a Galaxy Note tablet without the S Pen.

And it's a fairly accurate one - the most obvious difference between the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 and the Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014) is the lack of the trademark stylus. Something you might miss at first glance (but not when you lift the tablet) is that the Tab Pro 10.1 is a good 70g lighter, perfectly capable of matching the delicate elegance of an iPad Air.

There are a few other differences too, like 2GB RAM instead of 3GB and no 64GB storage option (but with the microSD card slot at hand, that barely matters).

Key features

• 10.1" 16M-color Super Clear PLS capacitive touchscreen of 2560 x 1600 resolution
• Wi-Fi only model: Quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7, Mali-T628MP6 GPU; Exynos 5420 chipset
• LTE model: quad-core 2.3GHz Krait 400, Adreno 330 GPU; Snapdragon 800 chipset
• 2GB of RAM
• Android OS v4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz UI
• One of a kind split-screen multitasking and pop-up mini apps
• Quad-band GPRS/EDGE/HSPA and hexa-band LTE connectivity cat.4 (S800 model only)
• Voice calls (on LTE model only)
• 16/32 GB of built-in memory
• 8 MP autofocus camera, 3264x2448 pixels, geotagging
• 1080p video recording @ 60fps (LTE model) / 1080p video recording @30fps (Wi-Fi model)
• 2MP front-facing camera; 1080p videos
• Side-mounted stereo speakers
• Wi-Fi 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Direct, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot
• Stereo Bluetooth v4.0
• microUSB 2.0; HDMI TV-out (adapter required), USB host (adapter required)
• microSD card slot
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack

Main disadvantages

• Expensive
• No NFC
• No DivX and AC3 codec support out of box

Another point of reference would be the Tab Pro 10.1's predecessor, the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1. That would be a brutally unfair comparison though, as the Tab 3 sports a 1,280 x 800 screen, dual-core Intel Atom chipset, 3MP/720p camera and is overall a midrange offering.

This makes the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 Samsung's flagship 10" tablet for the everyman who won't find much use of the S Pen or the slightly richer app package.

That said, the new multitasking features on the tablet are unique (shared only between the Tab Pro trio) and the custom homescreen promises a Windows 8-like experience with highly customizable tiles. The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 even shares in some of the premium goodies that the Note Pro 12.2 received, including the complete Office suite.

Samsung has always had a distinct voice when it comes to its Android devices and it has worked well for the company - it's the biggest player in town. It has been stumbling a bit with its tablet offerings recently, with the Note 10.1 (2014) lost between Galaxy Tabs that were virtually identical to the previous generation.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 signals that the lull is over and we have a proper flagship in our hands. Let's delve into it and see if Samsung finally has a tablet to challenge the iPad outside its Galaxy Note line.

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
		CDMA 800 / 1900 - CDMA version
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 HSDPA 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - for T-Mobile, AT&T
		CDMA2000 1xEV-DO - CDMA version
	SIM	Micro-SIM
	Announced	2013, November
	Status	Available. Released 2013, November

BODY	Dimensions	129.9 x 65.9 x 11.6 mm (5.11 x 2.59 x 0.46 in)
	Weight	143 g (5.04 oz)

DISPLAY	Type	IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	720 x 1280 pixels, 4.5 inches (~326 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 3

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

MEMORY	Card slot	No
	Internal	8/16 GB, 1 GB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Yes
	EDGE	Yes
	Speed	HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, LE
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0, USB Host

CAMERA	Primary	5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
	Features	Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama
	Video	Yes, 720p@30fps, stereo sound rec., HDR, check quality
	Secondary	Yes, 1.3 MP

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v4.3 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to v4.4.2 (KitKat)
	Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 400
	CPU	Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7
	GPU	Adreno 305
	Sensors	Accelerometer, proximity, compass
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML5
	Radio	FM radio
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black (front panel), 7 color options (back panel)
		- SNS integration - Google Drive (50 GB storage) - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - MP3/AAC+/WAV/Flac player - MP4/H.263/H.264 player - Organizer - Photo viewer/editor - Document viewer - Google Search, Maps, Gmail - YouTube, Google Talk, Picasa - Voice memo/dial - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Non-removable Li-Ion 2070 mAh battery
	Stand-by
	Talk time	Up to 24 h