HTC financial report for February 2016 shows record low revenue

HTC outed its financial report for February with some grim numbers. Revenue for the month was $128 million (NT$4.2 billion), less than half than the same period of 2015 - $261 million (NT$9.2 billion). Worse still, the revenue is 35% less than it was in January, which traditionally is a slow month after the Christmas holidays.

Sadly for HTC, this is just another month in a series of poor financial performance. For Q4 2015, the Taiwanese phone maker reported a net loss of $101 million (NT$3.5 billion). Revenue for the period was $766 million (NT$25.7 billion).

The company retains an upbeat mood however. The upcoming HTC M10 flagship will carry a new dose of hope for turning the company's fortunes around. The phone will be announced on April 19, according to recent rumors.

Oppo R9 and R9 Plus unveiling officially scheduled for March 17

You can officially mark March 17 on your calendars as the announcement of the camera-focused Oppo R9 and R9 Plus.

Both phones passed through TENAA and will bring all-metal bodies and AMOLED screens. The R9 will have a 5.5" 1080p screen, the R9 Plus will be bigger with a 6" 1080p screen. Both have octa-core processors with 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage (before you put in a microSD card in the hybrid slot) and will run Android 5.1 Lollipop at launch.

As for the camera, they will have 16MP sensors on the front and back (yep, 16MP selfies!). It's not clear if they will feature the sensor-shift image stabilization tech Oppo demoed at the MWC.

They will have VOOC rapid charge for their 2,850mAh (R9) and 4,120mAh (R9 Plus) batteries. It won't be the Super VOOC from MWC, though, that tech is still in development.

Poll results: Sony Xperia X bested by the Xiaomi Mi 5

On to poll number 2, where we gave you a chance to pick between Xiaomi's long overdue replacement to the Mi 4 and Sony's Xperia X, the pioneer in the company's new X-series. TheMi 5 left no chance to the Xperia X and took a decisive victory, collecting 61% of upvotes.

Admittedly, there was a catch here - the Xperia X Performance is still months away, while the Mi 5 you can already order.

Whatever the case though, the Mi 5 is a pretty strong contender all on its own, with a Snapdragon 820, 4 gigs of RAM and 128GB of storage in its top-specced Pro version. That same variant comes in ceramic attire too - a stunner to look at. So come to think about it, the Xperia X Performance might have had a tough time against it as well.

Poll results: Galaxy S7 edge defeats the LG G5 in the battle of Korean flagships

One of the most action-packed editions of MWC of recent years saw the introduction of two (okay, technically three) of the most important smartphones of the year - the LG G5 and the Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 edge. We figured the S7 edge is the more attractive part of Samsung's pair (meanwhile so did consumers, apparently), and chose that one to pit against the G5.

And the S7 edge did splendidly, beating the G5 3:2. In other words, Samsung's dual-edge glass-and-metal top model gathered 58% of the upvotes, while the modular G5 had to settle for 42%.

Fandom aside, the two devices have a bunch of conceptual differences, which can sway users either way. AMOLED vs. LCD, removable battery vs. a larger sealed one, big pixels and near-instant focus vs. dual cameras with extra wide coverage - choices must be made and it's just that the S7 edge has ticked the right boxes for the majority of our readers.

Samsung launches Notebook 9 series of Ultrabooks

Samsung has launched the new Notebook 9 series of ultraportable laptops. The series consists of four models, one of which has a rotating display.

The base model has a 13.3-inch 1080p display with 6th gen Intel Core i5. It has a battery life of 10 hours and is priced at $999.

The second model has a larger 15-inch 1080p display, Core i7, and 12 hours of battery life for $1199.

The third model called Notebook 9 Spin has a 13.3-inch 3200x1800 rotating display that can be turned around and folded flat. It's powered by a Core i7 and has a battery life of 7.3 hours. It is priced at $1199.

The last model is the Notebook 9 Pro, which has a 15.6-inch 3840x2160 display, Core i7, and 6.5 hours of battery life. It is priced at $1399.

All models have 256GB flash storage, 8GB RAM, and run Windows 10.

HP Elite X3 hands-on

HP managed to surprise us at the MWC with the announcement of a Snapdragon 820-powered flagship - the Elite x3. The 6" phablet is running on Windows 10 Mobile and supports Windows Continuum.

What's most interesting about the HP Elite x3 is the IP67 certifications for water and dust resistance, as well as the MIL-STD 810-grade salt, fog, humidity, transport shock and thermal shock resistance. How about that?

The HP Elite x3 has a big 6" display of 2K resolution (1440 x 2560) and runs on the Snapdragon 820 chipset with 4GB of RAM and 64GB expandable storage. The built-in 4,150 mAh battery should come in handy, too.

The phone is mostly made of matte plastic, which surprisingly attracts lots of smudges and fingerprints.

The speaker at the bottom is covered with a glossy piece of metal - a nice accent of the B&O speaker. The irregularly dotted pattern is novel and looks beautiful.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge to allegedly launch in India next week

According to a report by BGR India, Samsung could be launching the next generation flagship Galaxy S7 and S7 edge smartphones in India as early as next week.

The exact date is unknown, the Economic Times believes it will be around March 8 and that the phone will go on sale in the third week of March with prices matching the iPhone 6s in India.

ET also believes Samsung will be spending about $15 million worth on marketing the phone in India, an unprecedented amount for the company, to compete against the iPhone that has a massive reputation in the Indian market.

You can check out our hands-on of the S7 and S7 edge here.

Telus delays Marshmallow updates for Galaxy Note5, S6 edge, S6 edge+

The carrier Telus has some problems with the Marshmallow updates for the Samsung Galaxy Note5, Galaxy S6 edge, and Galaxy S6 edge+. Previously the Note5 and S6 edge+ were supposed to get the Marshmallow firmware on March 9 while the S6 edge update was scheduled for March 16.

As it turns out, Telus had some minor setbacks, and those updates will be postponed for a few days. The Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ updates will arrive on March 13 while the S6 edge firmware will be ready for distribution on March 30.

The regular Galaxy S6 Marshmallow update for the Telus model is still coming on April 13, no changes here.

HTC 10 reportedly won't have a version running Windows 10 Mobile

It looks like you're not likely to see a Windows logo on an HTC smartphone ever again. Or not anytime soon, anyway. Back in 2014, the One (M8) for Windows was basically the Windows Phone running version of the Android One (M8). Hence, some people may have hoped for HTC to pull the same stunt with this year's upcoming flagship device, which will be called 10. The hopes were there despite the fact that 2015's One M9 did not get a Windows variant.

According to Evan Blass (of @evleaks fame), neither will the HTC 10. He firmly stated today that there won't be an iteration of the HTC 10 running Windows 10 Mobile.

So it turns out that HTC has chosen to stick with Android alone for its smartphones, at least for the foreseeable future. On the other hand, if you're looking for a high-end Windows-powered handset, HP has surprisingly announced one at MWC - and obviously there's also Microsoft's very own Lumia 950 and 950 XL duo.

OxygenOS 2.2.1 update for the OnePlus 2 brings RAW support to the default camera app

A new software update has started rolling out today for the OnePlus 2. It's not going to change the underlying Android version unfortunately (so no Marshmallow for you), but it does come with some bug fixes and improvements.

Chief among the latter is the added RAW support for the preinstalled OnePlus Camera app. RAW image capture has been supported in third-party apps ever since a previous update in September of last year, and now this is finally part of the built-in app as well.

You'll also find that compatibility for Bluetooth devices and Ultra SIM has been improved, along with a GMS 3.0 upgrade. Roaming issues should have been mitigated, Romanian language support has been added, as well as some security patches. Finally, a fix has been deployed for an occasional image corruption issue in OnePlus Camera.

As you might expect, the rollout will be incremental, so it may take a few days (or even weeks) for the update to reach your OnePlus 2 unit. But it is on its way, so all you can do is wait.

Samsung Galaxy TabPro S now available for purchase

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy TabPro S tablet at CES in early January. It's a 12" premium slate running on Windows 10 with a 12" Super AMOLED QHD display, and 6th generation Intel Core M dual-core 2.26GHz processor coupled with 4GB of RAM. a 5MP AF rear camera and a 5MP front snapper.

Now, Samsung has finally made the Galaxy TabPro S tablet available throughout Europe. You can get it in the Netherlands via the official Samsung online store. Amazon UK and Amazon DE, among other retailers, have the slate in stock. Too.

You can choose between 128GB and 256GB SSD options; you can also opt for an LTE-enabled model. The OS is also configurable - you can either get Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro.

Finally, there is a full-sized keyboard cover bundled within the retail box, and it comes with a touchpad and a flexible hinge.

Oddly, Samsung UK has the TabPro S on pre-order, and it will ship on March 16, but you can get it through Amazon UK right now.

The prices are the same we confirmed a while ago - the Wi-Fi 128GB SSD with Wind 10 Home options costs €999, add €100 for Windows 10 Pro, and another €100 for LTE capabilities. Note that the 4G model ships only with Windows 10 Pro.

So, if you liked the tablet and its keyboard, now you can place your order. Additionally, you can get the official Bluetooth Pen and the port hub with HDMI and more USBs.

Huawei P9 looks different in new leaked renders, passes FCC, might not be outed on March 9

MWC has come and gone and Huawei hasn't yet unveiled its next flagship smartphone, theP9. When the Chinese company sent out invites for a March 9 event in Berlin a couple of days ago, we assumed this would be when the P9 would finally get official. But now it turns out that may not be the case.

According to a report from China, Huawei will not be unveiling the P9 on March 9. Unnamed company officials have confirmed that the phone exists and is being worked on, but the project has apparently suffered some delays. These have to do with the need to improve some technical issues related to the much-leaked dual camera setup on the P9's back. Because of this, the release of the handset is reportedly delayed by a whole month.

An exact date (either for the presentation or the start of sales) hasn't been mentioned, but we should all rest assured that the P9 will be out "in the coming months". The same source claims the P9 will not have 6GB of RAM, as previously rumored, nor a brand-new Kirin chipset - thus it's likely to use the same Kirin 950 found inside the Mate 8 phablet.

Moving on, some new renders allegedly depicting the Huawei P9 have been leaked, as you can see. Though they confirm that dual camera setup once more, they are different than the last two batches - gone is the laser autofocus this time around, and the fingerprint sensor on the back is now round, and it was shown to be more squared in the past. Furthermore, the positions of the front-facing camera and proximity sensor are changed too.

So now the actual design of the P9 has gotten quite unclear, with two differing perspectives both being claimed to be leaked renders of the real thing. Hopefully you've had a healthy serving of salt nearby for this one.

An additional P9-related tidbit is that the FCC has certified a Huawei EVA-L09, and this could be one of the model numbers for the top of the line device. If so, then at least one of its four versions will feature a 2,900 mAh battery, as FCC docs have revealed. The cheapest hardware iteration for the P9 is said to cost CNY 1,888 ($289 or €264), while the most expensive one is bound to go for CNY 4,088 ($627 or €571).