Lava Iris Fuel F2 goes official, available exclusively on eBay India

Lava Iris Fuel F2 was announced and launched immediately in India. It's an entry level handset running on Android Lollipop and priced at INR 4,444 or $66. Although it's a successor of the Fuel F1, the F2 is a less capable device.

The Lava Iris Fuel F2 has a 5" FWVGA display and is powered by a quad-core 1.3GHz Cortex-A7 processor with 512MB RAM. The Fuel F2 packs a 5MP rear camera with an LED flash, a front 0.3MP snapper, and a 3,000 mAh battery.

The Lava Iris Fuel F2 is a dual-SIM device, and it can tap to 3G networks. There is 8GB storage expandable via a microSD slot (up to 32GB).

The phone is available exclusively through eBay India, and you can get it right now in black or white for INR 4,444 ($66).

Android N System app gets previewed

We have taken a look at the Android N notification system previously, courtesy of Android Police. Now, they have released images of what is a work in progress Settings app that we might see in the coming Android N.

One of the changes is that they have removed the lines between items that belong to the same category, and only put them between different categories. Also, items on the main list will now show additional info below them, such as the Battery item showing the battery status. Lastly, if you are in Do Not Disturb mode, the app shows a drop down at the top for some reason.

If you click on any of the items on the main screen and go a level deeper, you will see the new hamburger menu appear on the top. This will let you jump to any of the other sections in the app without going back first.

Again, these are essentially mock ups of a work in progress build of Android N, so a lot can change in the final version.

Check the source for more info.

Samsung Upgrade Programme launches in the UK, nets you the latest Galaxy every 12 months

Today Samsung has announced the Upgrade Programme for the UK. This is basically the company's own device leasing scheme, which should also make its way to South Korea as past rumors have told us.

The Upgrade Programme lets you get a Galaxy S7 or S7 edge by paying a 10% deposit upfront, and then making monthly payments for the phone. For the S7, the deposit is £56.90, and after that you'll pay £24.58 per month. After 12 months, you can upgrade to the next Samsung flagship (let's call it the Galaxy S8), by simply returning the S7 in "good working condition". And from that point on you pay 12 monthly installments for the S8.

The good thing is that you can upgrade your device every year. On the other hand, there are plenty of caveats. First off, if you don't upgrade the handset after a year, you'll still have another 12 monthly payments to make on that S7, as the agreement is for 24 months (but Samsung will "cover" the 12 remaining installments if you upgrade and return your S7). And once you've upgraded to the S8, you've entered another two-year agreement (so if you don't upgrade to the S9 in 2018, then you still have 12 more payments to cover the price of the S8... and so on).

The installments are not interest-free, as they are in the case of certain smartphone purchases from US carriers. With the Samsung Upgrade Programme, there's a 14.9% APR. And obviously the scheme does not include an actual contract with an operator, so you'll have to get that separately - or use a Pay as you go SIM.

Still, despite the caveats, it's always nice to have yet another option to purchase a much-craved item such as a Galaxy S7 or S7 edge. It remains to be seen how far this Upgrade Programme will spread, geographically speaking, in the coming months.

Sony Xperia Z5 series get Android Marshmallow in Japan

Sony has begun rolling out the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update for the entire Xperia Z5 lineup in Japan - Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Compact, and Xperia Z5 Premium. The Marshmallow update for Sony Xperia Z5 has been already available in Turkey.

The new Marshmallow-based firmware improves on the battery manager, app permissions manager, notification area customizations, and it brings a new Xperia Home launcher as well as an updated Camera app.

Sony UK announced the Marshmallow rollout for the Xperia Z5 series, the Xperia Z4 Tablet, and Xperia Z3+ units will begin on March 7. Now that Sony is seeding Marshmallow updates in Turkey and Japan, we believe March 7 should be the date for the global release for those updates.

Thank you, Chary, for the tip!

Fitbit's Blaze smartwatch is now available for purchase

Unveiled at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, the Fitbit Blaze smartwatch is now available for purchase. The wearable device, which carries a $200 price tag, was up for pre-order until now.

The watch is now listed on major US online retailers including Amazon and Best Buy. It comes with a choice of Black, Blue or Plum wristbands, although you can also purchase leather straps in three different colors for $100 each and a stainless steel bracelet for $130.

In terms of functionality, the wearable offers heart rate monitoring, all-day activity and sleep tracking, music control, as well as call, text, other alerts. The company claims a 5-day battery life for the smartwatch.

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) and J5 (2016) will have laser autofocus according to Chinese certification

Chinese regulatory authority TENAA has sure had a busy day today. Having already released its certifications for the Oppo R9 and R9 Plus as well as the Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro, TENAA is now gracing us with the full details of the upcoming Galaxy J5 (2016) and Galaxy J7 (2016).

The successors to the original J5 and J7 from last year are due for a release soon. In the meantime they've kept on leaking, and now they've been put through the paces of TENAA, which has revealed that they could be sporting metal frames.

The Galaxy J5 (2016) can be seen above. It's got a 5.2-inch 720p Super AMOLED touchscreen, a 13 MP rear camera with LED flash and laser autofocus, a 5 MP selfie snapper, a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, and 4G on board. It runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. Its dimensions are 145.7 x 72.3 x 7.9 mm, and it weighs 155.4g. It will be offered in white, gold, and pink gold. This particular model, the SM-J5108, is headed to China Mobile.

TENAA has certified not one but two iterations of the Galaxy J7 (2016), the SM-J7108 for China Mobile and the SM-J7109 for China Telecom. You can see the former above this paragraph and the latter underneath.

They share most of the specs as you'd expect, with one difference being in the processor's clock speed. Whereas the J7108 has a 1.6 GHz octa-core CPU, the J7109 has to make do with a 1.5 GHz octa-core chip. This may mean they're actually employing different SoCs, but there's no way of knowing for sure right now.

Otherwise they're the same, each featuring a 5.5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display, a 13 MP rear camera with LED flash and laser autofocus, a 5 MP selfie shooter, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, and running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. The J7108 will be available in gold and white, while the J7109 will be offered in black and gold. Their measurements are almost identical, but not quite so. The J7108's dimensions are 151.7 x 75.9 x 7.6 mm, and it weighs 165g. On the other hand, the J7109 measures 151.7 x 76 x 7.6 mm, and it weighs 166g.

Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro is fully revealed by TENAA as well

Ever since January the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro has been in the rumors, supposedly arriving soon in China. We've already seen it in the databases of both GFXBenchand AnTuTu, on which occasions we've found out most of its specs.

And now the A9 Pro has been certified for sale in China by TENAA. The regulatory authority has thus outed the first images of the device, along with a pretty comprehensive list of its specs - like it always does.

The Galaxy A9 Pro will have a 6-inch 1080p Super AMOLED touchscreen, a 16 MP rear camera with LED flash, an 8 MP selfie cam, a 1.8 GHz octa-core processor, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, dual-SIM functionality and LTE. It runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Its dimensions are 161.7 x 80.9 x 7.9 mm, and it weighs 210g.

The exact chipset employed isn't named by TENAA, but from the benchmark runs that were leaked in the past we know it's the Qualcomm Snapdragon 652. Compared to the non-Pro A9, you're getting a higher-res main camera, 1 extra GB of RAM, as well as a newer version of Android from day one. And since it's 10g heavier and 0.5 mm thicker than the A9, we assume the A9 Pro will also sport an even bigger battery than the 4,000 mAh cell inside the non-Pro version.

The Galaxy A9 Pro will be available in China in black, white, and gold, and it's rumored to have NFC on board complete with support for Samsung Pay. Its estimated price is between CNY 3,300 and CNY 3,600 (that's $504 to $550 or €462 to €504 at the current exchange rates).

Oppo R9 and R9 Plus pass through TENAA, no Snapdragon 820 on board

Over the past few weeks we've seen a lot of rumors popping up regarding the upcoming Oppo R9. Despite the fact that the previous two members of the R-series have been nothing more than mid-range in terms of specs, the R9 was supposedly going to be a true flagship, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip powering it.

Well, that theory has now been debunked courtesy of TENAA. The Chinese equivalent to the US FCC has certified both the R9 and the R9 Plus for sale. As usual, this process has revealed both images of the two handsets, as well as a list of some of their specs.

Let's start with the R9, pictured above. It has a metal build as you can see, and it comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED touchscreen, a 1.95 GHz octa-core processor, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, 4G support, dual-SIM functionality, a 2,850 mAh battery, and two 16 MP cameras - one on the front, one on the back (which also has a LED flash). It runs Android 5.1 Lollipop. Its dimensions are 151.8 x 74.3 x 6.5 mm, and it weighs 145g.

While the SoC employed isn't mentioned by name, it's clearly not the Snapdragon 820, since that features a quad-core CPU, not octa-core. Based on the clock speed alone, we could see MediaTek's Helio P10 inside the Oppo R9, but that's just speculation.

Moving on to the R9 Plus (pictured above), once again the fully metallic construction is obvious. This handset sports a 6-inch 1080p AMOLED touchscreen, the same 16 MP cameras as its smaller sibling, a 1.8 GHz octa-core processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of expandable storage, a 4,120 mAh battery, dual-SIM support, and 4G LTE. Oddly, it seems to be running Android 5.0 Lollipop, which is a rather ancient version of the OS at this point. Its dimensions are 163 x 80.8 x 7.4 mm, and it weighs 185g.

Once again the Snapdragon 820 can't be at the helm, yet in this case we get a different SoC than in the R9. If we were to speculate, we'd assume the R9 Plus has the Snapdragon 652 inside (only based on the CPU clock speed and number of cores).

So the R9 and R9 Plus certainly look like solid mid-rangers, but not the flagships they've been rumored to be. Perhaps Oppo will finally unveil the Find 9 this year then. And speaking of unveilings, the R9 duo will go official on March 17.

LeEco Le 1s shatters records in India

Chinese company LeEco's (formerly LeTV) Le 1s smartphone landed in India back in January this year, and went on sale (through flash sale model) the next month. Looks like the phone has received tremendous response in the country as latest reports say it has become India’s top selling smartphone online.

LeEco managed to sell more than 200,000 units of the Le 1s in the India within a month, which is said to be a new record. Till now there have been three flash sales of the device in the country, with the company receiving a total of 20,28,000 registrations for the handset - another record. And finally, the company also received a record-breaking total of 2,20,000 orders for the handset within the shortest time span of 31 seconds.

"We are deeply humbled by the response we have received from our Indian consumers which has helped us achieve this leading industry position in such a short span of time," said Atul Jain, COO, Smart Electronics Devices, LeEco India. "LeEco is in the true sense a game changer purely because of its disruptive business model and a user-centric ecosystem providing consumers a chance to experience disruptive technology at its best."

If you aren't already aware, LeEco first entered the smartphone market less than a year ago in China. There too, the company impressed by selling nearly 3 million Le 1s units in over a couple of months.

T-Mobile LG G4 now available for just $350

If you're a T-Mobile customer and in the market for an LG smartphone, here is a deal for you: the magenta carrier has given LG's last year flagship - the G4 - a price cut. The device (Metallic Gray model) is now available for $350, down from its previous price of $600.

This doesn't seem to be an online-only deal (there's no mention of it at-least), meaning you can purchase a T-Mobile LG G4 at that price from the carrier's physical retail stores as well. For those on AT&T or Verizon, as we've already reported, you can grab an LG G4 unit for just $300.

As you might already know, LG announced its newest flagship - the G5 - last month at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The device will be available to pre-order in the US in a couple of weeks from now.

Xiaomi launches Redmi Note 3 in India

Xiaomi today announced the Redmi Note 3 for the Indian market. The phone is priced at INR 9,999 ($148) for the 16GB model, and INR 11,999 ($178) for the 32GB model.

The Redmi Note 3 for India runs on the brand new Snapdragon 650 SoC and 2GB of RAM on the 16GB model and 3GB RAM on the 32GB model. It also has a new 16 megapixel camera with f2.0 aperture and phase detect autofocus. Then there's the 5.5-inch 1080p display, 5 megapixel front camera, and a massive 4,050mAh battery. The Redmi Note 3 is also the first Xiaomi phone to have a fingerprint sensor and the first Redmi phone to have a metal body. The phone runs on MIUI 7 on Android 5.1 Lollipop.

The Redmi Note 3 will be manufactured in India as part of the country's Make in India initiative.

The Redmi Note 3 will be available through Mi.com and Amazon, starting March 9 at 2 PM, and on Flipkart and Snapdeal at a later date. The phone will be available in silver, gold, and gray.

Xiaomi reportedly sells over 200K Mi 4S units first day

The Xiaomi Mi 4S was announced late last month, and the device went on sale in China earlier this week. Now, according to reports from Chinese media, over 200K units of the handset were sold on the first day itself.

The Chinese company hasn't yet officially revealed the device's first day sales figures. However, a local retailer Suning revealed that it sold over 110,000 units on the launch day, of which 50,935 units were sold online, while 64,853 were sold through offline channels.

Given that Suning wasn't the only retailer selling the Mi 4S in the country, the 200,000 figure reported by Chinese media seems realistic. The phone carries a price tag of RMB 1,699 (around $260), and comes in black, white, gold, and pink color options.