Mobile Mobile

If you thought Marissa Mayer was done snatching up companies and was ready to turn her focus internally, you were wrong. Clearly the CEO sees no reason why the company can't handle both simultaneously. So, while the forgotten brands are shuttered and the struggling ones given fresh coats of paint, new products are joining the Yahoo family. The latest addition is bouncing baby Qwiki, a standout from TechCrunch Disrupt 2010, at which Mayer was a judge. The iOS-only startup combines Vine-like social video sharing with Zoe-esque filters, photo transitions and soundtracks to create "stories." Then you can post your Qwiki (apparently the creators have a slightly sophomoric sense of humor) for others to see. Obviously the purchase is meant to keep Yahoo competitive with Facebook and Twitter, which have their own respective video sharing platforms. After the break you'll find a pleasant celebratory video from the latest startup to sellout.

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Samsung may already have its 8-core Exynos 5 Octa offering, but the cunning "big.LITTLE" implementation means only up to four cores work together at any time -- either the Cortex-A15 quartet or its lesser Cortex-A7 counterpart. In other words, we'd rather rename the chipset range to something like "Exynos 5 Quad Dual." But according to recent intel coming from Taipei and Shenzhen, it looks like Taiwan's MediaTek is well on its way to ship a true 8-core mobile chipset in Q4 this year.

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You may have already read our Sony Xperia Z Ultra hands-on last week, but since then we've also been able to spend a tiny bit more time with a pre-production unit (with firmware build 14.1.B.1.277). Instead of going over again how hilariously large this 6.4-inch, pen-friendly phone is, this time we'll focus on some early benchmark results, camera performance and Sony's very own UX features.

As you'll see after the break, many of the benchmark scores aren't too far off from what we saw on the MDP phone with the same Snapdragon 800 SoC, and the final units should be optimized with higher numbers. While we didn't manage to get CF-Bench and Quadrant running on the phone, the higher-than-before 3DMark score did cheer us up, meaning either Sony or Qualcomm's managed to fine tune the latter's new Adreno 330 GPU.

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It's not a Nexus, so suspend your disbelief: HTC's One S will not be getting any further Android updates. That's right, One S owners, your device is now officially a relic. In a statement released to the press, HTC today confirmed that the mid-ranger, which bowed last year in tandem with the One X, will remain frozen on 4.1.1 Jelly Bean. That means current owners will have to look elsewhere (read: developer forums) for unofficial access to Sense 5 ROMs and the latest tweaks Google's packed into Android 4.2 updates. We can't really lament the loss of BlinkFeed, but it sure would've been nice to see HTC port Zoe over to the device. At the very least, this makes a strong case for that Google Play edition One and its promise of consistent updates.

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Yes, last night's rumors were true. Pebble just announced that it's sealed an exclusive retail deal to sell its iconic smartwatch at Best Buy locations nationwide. The wearable device is available online right now (source link below) and will land in stores starting July 7th for $150. Color choices include Jet Black today followed by Cherry Red in August. Pebble will continue taking pre-orders for the other colors (orange, grey and white) directly on its own website. The partnership with Best Buy also brings new retail packaging (above) to store shelves. We've sure come a long way since Pebble launched its Kickstarter campaign -- one of the most successful ever -- back in April 2012. Check out the promo video and full PR after the break.

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Spotify's Discover area isn't quite as ubiquitous as we'd hoped by this point, primarily serving computer-based Spotify users. But today that trend begins to change, with Spotify's iOS app getting an update (version 0.7.1) which adds the long-awaited Discover functionality alongside a slew of other updates. The "Now Playing" section is changing a bit as well, getting a makeover, and playlists can now be edited directly from your phone. Oh, and Spotify says all this stuff is heading to other mobile devices "soon." The full list of changes is below, including the always exciting fictitious addition. We won't spoil it for you.

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Lava has an eclectic mix of smartphones on the market under its Xolo brand, including the Intel Atom-based X1000 and dual-core X800 ARM model with an 8-megapixel camera. A common thread is that all are, shall we say, cheap, and the Q600 unveiled today is no exception at 8,999 rupees (about $150). For that sum, you'll get a quad-core Mediatek 6589M processor, 4.5-inch 854 x 480 screen, 5-megapixel rear camera, 0.3-megapixel front cam, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal memory (expandable via microSD) dual 3G sims and Android 4.2. Residents of India can grab it as of today, though we can't see this particular model ever making occidental travel plans.

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We've been hearing stacks of rumors recently about a Sony flagship called Honami, which will supposedly come with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 and a 20-megapixel camera. A system dump, purportedly from a Honami phone, surfaced last week and now XDA developer "krabappel2548" has managed to dissect the camera app and get it working on some existing Xperia devices -- including the Xperia Z, ZL and Tablet Z, so long as they've been suitably prepped for hacking. From the resulting screenshots, it looks like Sony is set to introduce features such as augmented reality, "Time shift" (which sounds a lot like HTC's Zoe feature), live filters and an image search engine dubbed "Info-eye." All of this sounds reasonably in tune with the "One Sony" strategy of focusing on mobile and imaging. If Honami is real, and if it comes with the right hardware to support the updated camera module, it could be a big deal.

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An almost empty webpage has appeared on Motorola's US portal, apparently confirming the existence of a handset going by the name of the Droid Ultra. Now, while there are specs listed, all the numbers match those of the RAZR M, so we're pretty sure it's a cloned template and not a true indication of hardware. Alongside a space where the device would normally be pictured sits a box headed "think thin," which pegs the Droid Ultra as having a DuPont Kevlar body and a selection of "glossy colors." There's nothing more to add right now, but it seems the Moto X isn't the only handset Google's smartphone division has been working on.

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The last time we caught up with news of Colin Giles was a year ago, right after some particularly downbeat Nokia financials, when he left the Finnish manufacturer to spend more time with his family. Now, having clocked up sufficient mileage in his station wagon, he's accepted a major role at Huawei as an executive VP responsible for consumer sales and marketing. He brings with him 20 years' experience of growing Nokia's market share in Asia and beyond, including a 12-month stint within its Leadership Team, all of which will now be put to work undoing itself and potentially adding to a sense of encroachment.

Update: We've added the press release after the break.

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Looks like gamers with Amazon Kindle tablets will no longer be competing amongst themselves... because starting today, Amazon's proprietary GameCircle platform is now open to all Android devices. The backend cloud service has offered up leader boards, achievements and progress saves to Kindle users for a year now, and as of today, it also supports conflict resolution between mobile devices. The reveal comes at an interesting time, which parallels the recent launch of Google Play game services. Naturally, it's reasonable to speculate that Amazon's move could be an attempt to keep its service relevant. More than 500 games currently support GameCircle, but for all Android users to benefit, developers must first integrate the latest API into their games. At least they now have a bit of motivation to do just that.

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Vivo may not be a well-known smartphone brand here in the states, but the firm's been pushing out audio-centric phones in China for more than a minute. Its latest handset, the Y19t, is aimed at the female market (hence the hot pink exterior) and is a more imaging-conscious unit -- it's got a 5-megapixel camera and flash on its front complementing an 8-megapixel shooter round back. The phone's also equipped with a 4.5-inch, 960 x 540 IPS display, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of storage and dual SIM slots (one for micro and one for nano SIMs).

Like its cousin, the X1, the Y19t has a MediaTek SoC and a non-removeable 2,000 mAh battery, but unlike its predecessor, this new phone has an MT6589 1.2Ghz quad-core chip inside its 7.4mm thick chassis. Naturally, it has Chinese-friendly TD-SCDMA and GSM radios and comes running Android 4.2.1 skinned with a Vivo UI. Like what you've seen (and heard) so far? Head on down to the source to see some screenshots, more device pics and a review of the Y19t's capabilities, but you might want to bring a translator with you -- it's written in Chinese.

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