Pink Sony Xperia Z5 Premium now available in Taiwan

A couple of weeks ago Sony unveiled a Pink version of its Xperia Z5 Premium smartphone, but there was no word on price or launch date. Now you can actually buy one, at least you can if you are in Taiwan.

The pink 4K flagship is available today at NTD 24,900 ($770, €685) from the Sony Stores in the country.

Online prices are even cheaper - Yahoo Shopping Mall, PCHome24h and momo Shop offer it at NTD 20,900 ($645, €575). The first to order will get a free Hello Kitty case (while supplies last).

Starting on May 3, Chunghwa Telecom will offer the Pink Z5 Premium exclusively at NTD 1,500 a month with an NTD 7,000 upfront payment.

ZTE Blade L5 Plus launched with 5-inch display, 8MP camera

A new ZTE smartphone dubbed Blade L5 Plus was launched today. The entry level device is powered by a MediaTek MT6580 chipset, and sports a 5-inch HD display. The handset comes with 1GB RAM and 8GB expandable internal memory, and packs in a 2,150 mAh battery.

The Blade L5 Plus features an 8MP rear camera and a 2MP front shooter. Running Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box, the phone comes in gray and white color options. It measures 143x72x8.3mm and weighs in at 160g.

The Blade L5 Plus has been launched in China. In addition, the device is also available for purchase in Thailand, where it carries a prices tag of 2990 Thai Baht, or around $85 at current exchange rates.

Meizu m3 goes official: new chipset but same $92 price

Meizu has just announced the successor to its entry-level m2 smartphone. The new Meizu m3carries a lot of the traits of the existing model, including the $92 base price, while offering a few minor upgrades.

One of those is the chipset, a Mediatek MT6750 with an octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU (4x1.5GHz, 4x1.0) replaces the MT6735 with a half the cores. There are two versions, the base one with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage, and a higher-specced one with 3GB/32GB. There's a microSD slot for expansion either way.

The polycarbonate body still holds a 5-inch 720p display, but the footprint is marginally increased, likely to accommodate one of the changes - the m3 has 2.5D glass on its front. At 141.5 x 69.5 x 8.3mm, it's a little thinner though, and still packs in a larger 2,870mAh battery (2,500mAh in the m2).

The primary camera is the same 13MP unit with an f/2.2 aperture and phase detection autofocus. On the front you get a 5MP f/2.0 shooter, nothing new here either.

Thanks to the new chipset, you also get LTE over a number of bands - what in China seems to be called Full netcom support. There's the mandatory Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi a/b/g/n connectivity, but no Wi-Fi ac.

Available in a number of fresh colors, the m3 can be had in China for CNY 599 (2GB/16GB version), while the top 3GB/32GB version goes for CNY 799 ($123). Global availability is unlikely to happen over official channels though, so importing one where you are will inevitably put a premium on those numbers.

Lenovo Vibe K5 now available for pre-order in Europe

The Lenovo Vibe K5, which was unveiled alongside the Vibe K5 Plus back in February at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC), is now available to pre-order in Europe. Specifically, pre-orders are currently live in Greece, with the device carrying a price tag of €199.

This comes over a month after the Chinese company launched the Plus variant of the smartphone in India. Given that the Vibe Plus carries a price tag of INR 8,499 ($126) in the Asian country, the €199 tag for the standard K5 seems a bit on the higher side.

Specs-wise, the Vibe K5 is powered by a Snapdragon 415 chipset, and sports a 5-inch HD display. Memory configuration is 2GB/16GB, while camera configuration is 13MP/5MP. A 2,750 mAh battery is there to keep the lights on.

Xiaomi Max to be officially unveiled on May 10

The Xiaomi Mi Max, which the company recently started teasing officially, is set to be unveiled on May 10, which is around a couple of weeks from now. This was revealed by the Chinese company in a post on Weibo.

There has been very little information available related to the device's specs all this while, but that's not the case anymore as the handset has now been spotted on bench-marking website GFXBench, revealing several of its key specs.

Although the listing confirms a whopping 6.4-inch display, other information like full HD display, and hexa-core 1.8Ghz CPU (Snapdragon 650) is contrary to what we've been hearing in rumors so far. As for the camera department, it's handled by a 16MP rear unit and a 5MP front shooter.

Huawei Honor V8 spotted on TENAA with 5.7-inch display and 4GB RAM

Huawei's upcoming Honor V8 smartphone, which has been the subject of a few teasers and rumors until now, has now been spotted on the website of Chinese regulatory TENAA, revealing most of its key specifications.

Three variants of the device have been certified by the government agency: the KNT-AL10, KNT-TL10, and KNT-AL20. While the first two only differ in color options, the third variant features an upgraded processor, display, and internal memory.

Specs-wise, the KNT-AL10 and KNT-TL10 are powered by a 2.3GHz octa-core CPU and sport a 5.7-inch full HD display. RAM is 4GB, while internal memory is 32GB. A 3,400 mAh battery is there to keep the lights on.

In terms of camera, both feature a 12MP dual rear camera setup and an 8MP front shooter. Measuring 157.00 × 77.60 × 7.75 mm and weighing in at 170 gms, the devices run Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.

The KNT-AL20, on the other hand, has similar specifications, except for a 2.5GHz octa-core CPU, QHD display, and 64GB internal storage. Available color options for the Honor V8 smartphone include Gold, Silver, and Rose Gold. The phone will become official at an event on May 10.

All Apple Watch apps required to use native SDK from June 1

Apple has informed the developers that all Apple Watch apps will be required to use the native SDK starting June 1.

The native SDK is what allows the Apple Watch apps to run natively on the Watch itself, unlike the original watchOS SDK that would run the apps on the phone and then stream it to the watch over Bluetooth, which was the main reason for the slow performance of third party apps on the Apple Watch.

With watchOS 2.0, Apple announced native apps but the older SDK and apps were still supported. Starting June 1, that will no longer be the case. This should finally force developers to move their apps to the newer SDK, which is good news for the users as these apps tend to work much better.

Apple is also expected to watchOS 3.0 at WWDC this year, and possibly even a second generation version of the Apple Watch.

In Canada, Microsoft gives a free Lumia 950 if you buy a Lumia 950 XL

Well, this is one way to boost tumbling sales numbers - Microsoft's Canadian store is throwing in a free Lumia 950 with the purchase of a Microsoft Lumia 950 XL.

That's right, get the big one for CAD 850 and get the small one for free. You probably don't need both, so presumably, you have to find a friend that wants one and split the two between yourselves.

This deal seems exclusive to Canada, the US store just offers a free year of Office 365, same goes for the Euro stores. Although, finding a friend that wants to fly to Canada may be easier than finding a friend that wants a Lumia.

Lenovo Tab3 7 is now available for purchase

The Tab3 7 from Lenovo, which debuted at the MWC in February, is now available for purchase.

The Wi-Fi version of the tablet is now listed on Lenovo's official website in Greece. It carries a tag of €79, which translates to around $90 at current exchange rates.

The Lenovo Tab3 7 is powered by a 1.0GHz quad-core processor, and sports a 7-inch (1024 x 600 pixel resolution) display, while RAM is set at 1GB.

An important note here is that the currently available version of the Tab3 7 is apparently not exactly same as the device announced by the company at MWC. As per the listing, the handset features 2MP rear and a 0.3MP front shooters (down from 5MP/2MP), and comes with 8GB storage (rather than 16GB). It's also said to run Android 5.0 Lollipop and not the most recent Marshmallow.

Xiaomi CEO teases next-gen Mi Band

Looks like the next-gen Xiaomi Mi Band could soon be launched as the Chinese company has started teasing the device. The image, which was shared by none other than CEO and co-founder Lei Jun, show a wearable device with a display.

This is a major upgrade over the company's previous Mi Band versions - Mi Band and Band 1S - that didn't have a screen. In addition, the teased image also shows a round, physical button, and the device being attached to a rubber strap.

There was, however, no information on the specifications of the device, the price tag it'll carry, as well as its launch time-frame.

Best Apps and Games of the Week

These are some of the best apps and games that came out this week.

Billy

Billy is an easy way to keep track of your online subscriptions. Add the various services you are subscribed to and the app will help you keep track of your expenses. Choose from the hundreds of existing services within the app or add your own. Billy will also notify you when a bill is due.

iOS

Giphy

Giphy, the internet's largest library of GIFs (geef? jeef??), now has an Android app. All the GIFs you will ever need, and many, many more now in the palm of your hand.

iOS • Android

Bank of America

The second largest banking company in America now has an Android app that lets you sign in with the fingerprint sensor on your phone. To be precise, the app did previously suppor fingerprint sensor sign in, but it only worked with Samsung phones. The latest update adds support for Marshmallow API so any phone with Marshmallow and a fingerprint sensor can now take advantage of the feature.

iOS • Android

Crossy Road

Crossy Road added support for offline multiplayer. Now, up to four people can simultaneously play over a local Wi-Fi network. Gameplay is similar to that on Apple TV version, where you can push and block other players as much as you want, and the last one remaining on screen is the winner.

iOS • Android

Exploding Kittens

Originally a card game and the most backed Kickstarter campaign of all time, Exploding Kittens made its iOS debut earlier this year. The game is now available on Android. Created by the guy behind The Oatmeal, Exploding Kittens is a card game where you have to avoid the exploding kitten card. You play against other players in a local or online multiplayer, and each draws a card, and the one who draws the exploding kitten card has a few seconds to diffuse it, or else it's game over for them. All other cards are to move, mitigate, or avoid the exploding kitten card. It's simple enough to learn but can be quite fun due to its animation style and humor, especially with friends.

iOS • Android

Weekly poll: what's the ideal screen size for a smartphone?

What's the ideal size for a smartphone? It's a question so uncertain that for the last couple of years all manufacturers have adopted a two-size strategy.

Samsung did it way back when with the Galaxy Note - a larger, updated Galaxy S. Apple sees things differently, it launches the iPhone and iPhone Plus simultaneously, so the Plus model isn't an upgrade but instead an option.

Other manufacturers are doing it too, even if they name the phones different things instead of tacking on a Note, Plus, Pro, Max, Ultra, XL or to the name of the larger phone. Case in point, Huawei has the 5.5" Mate S and 6" Mate 8. Then again it also has the 5.2" P9 and 5.5" P9 Plus.

There are multiple considerations. For one, browsing (even of mobile sites) is just so much easier on a large screen. Even just showing someone a photo on a sub-5" screen can be disappointing compared to your friends' 6" juggernaut.

The opposing school of thought points out that one-handed use of anything much over 5" is tricky at best. Sure, there are mini keyboards and such that try to patch things up. However, counters the other side, you spend so much time on your phone, doing so much that it requires your full attention - and both your hands.

There's no consensus here in the office, some have ordered the 4" iPhone SE, others are eyeballing 6" slabs. What about you, what's your ideal screen size?