ZUK Z1 to reportedly land in India as Lenovo Z1

We already know that the Z1 smartphone from Lenovo subsidiary ZUK will be launched in India soon - Lenovo has started teasing the device and also sent out media invites for the launch event (date isn't yet confirmed).

However, what's new is that the phone could shed the ZUK branding for its India launch. According a report out of China, the ZUK Z1 will be sold in India as the Lenovo Z1. There was, however, no word on why the Chinese company has decided to take this step.

Given that the brand Lenovo has pretty good visibility in India, it would be reasonable to assume that the company wants to cash in on it. Online-only brand ZUK, if you recall, was anyway aimed at countering the rise of other Chinese Internet brands like Xiaomi and OnePlus.

The dedicated website that the company has created for the smartphone's India launch also does not mention the ZUK branding anywhere, so it definitely seems that the ZUK Z1 will be Lenovo Z1 in India. However, Keep in mind that Lenovo is yet to confirm the move, so until then, take this information with a grain of salt.

Samsung brings Galaxy J5 (2016) and Galaxy J7 (2016) to South Korea

The Galaxy J5 (2016) and J7 (2016), which were first unveiled late last month in China, have been officially announced by Samsung in its home country of South Korea.

Carrying a price tag of KRW 290,000 (around $255) and KRW 363,000 (around $320), respectively, the handsets will be available for purchase from local carrier KT, which will be selling them in the black and gold color options.

An important thing worth mentioning here is that the South Korean Galaxy J7 comes with 720p display and 2GB RAM, compared to the full HD display and 3GB RAM that the Chinese version features.

In addition, Samsung also revealed that the Galaxy J3 (2016) will also be landing in South Korea soon.

If you're in Europe, it's worth knowing that the Galaxy J7 (2016) is already available for purchase there, although Samsung is yet to make a formal announcement about the European launch. The J5 (2016), however, is expected to arrive there soon.

Will.i.am's Dial smartwatch now available to pre-order

Remember musician will.i.am's Dial smartwatch which was unveiled back in February this year? Well, the timepiece is now available to pre-order - Three UK currently has the device listed on its website with an estimated delivery date of May 13.

As for the price, it's available on a 2-year contract where-in you'll be required to pay £49.00 up front, followed by a monthly payment of £24.00 for 24 months. The plan includes 500MB data and 100 minutes of talk time each month. Of course, there are other plans as well.

To refresh, Dial is the musician's second attempt at wearables after the failure of Puls that was launched back in 2014. Design-wise, Dial is more like a traditional smartwatch. It can work on its own without being paired to a smartwatch, allowing you to take calls, messages, play music, and keep track of your health. It also has a voice assistant called AneedA, and a front camera.

Second-gen Moto 360 and Moto 360 Sport get $50 price cut in US

If you are a Motorola fan and are in the market for a smartwatch, here is a deal for you: the company's second-gen Moto 360 and Moto 360 Sport watches will soon be available at discounted prices in the United States.

The discount - $50 on both devices - is being offered by Verizon, and will be available starting next month (May 1 to be precise), with the deal running for the whole of the month.

The carrier currently has the Sport version listed for $300, so it will be available for $250 post discount. As for standard Moto 360, the 46mm variant with metal band for example will be available for $350, down from its current price of $400.

Aside from the Moto 360 and its Sport variant, the LG TONE PRO Bluetooth headset will also get a $10 price cut - the carrier normally sells it for $70.

32GB Moto X (2nd Gen) is now down to $199.99 unlocked

The 2nd generation Moto X is undoubtedly very old at this point. In fact, in just a few months it turns two. That's a lot in the mobile world, as you may know. That said, this was a top of the line offering when it came out, so even today it can measure up to the best mid-rangers out there in terms of performance. Oh, and from this point on it can do the same in price, too.

Motorola is currently offering up the 2nd gen Moto X for $199.99 carrier-free, and we're talking about the version with 32GB of storage. This is quite the price drop even compared to its previous level of $349.99.

You can take advantage of the deal over at Motorola's own online store for the US, and you can even use the MotoMaker service to customize your device as you want it (the price may go up, though, depending on what exact options you pick).

HTC starts Mother's Day promo for the One M9 and One A9

HTC is getting ready for Mother's Day with a special sale that's already available at its US online store. The offer is clearly targeted toward people wanting to gift a new smartphone to their mothers.

You get a choice between the pink HTC One M9 and the "deep garnet" HTC One A9. The M9 can be had in unlocked form for $399, which is down $250 from its initial pricing of $649.

You can pick up an unlocked One A9 for $389, which is $110 less than before. The One A9 version for Sprint is also available as part of this Mother's Day deal, but the price is the same as for the unlocked unit, and you aren't tied to a particular long-term contract with the carrier. Basically, buying the Sprint version just ensures that the phone will work on that network, since the unlocked model only functions on AT&T and T-Mobile. There's no option whatsoever if your mother likes Verizon, unfortunately.

The deal is available until May 8, "while supplies last".

Google drops Moto 360 Sport from its store

After dropping the Nexus 9 tablet, Google has now removed the Moto 360 Sport smartwatch from its online store.

The Moto 360 Sport is a variant of the Moto 360 second generation that comes with a few changes, such as AnyLight display that uses ambient light outdoors to illuminate itself, built-in GPS, and silicone bands.

Unfortunately, it seems people didn't quite find that worth the $300 price tag. In fact, Motorola recently dropped the price to $200 but now Google has gone ahead and removed the device entirely from its store, which is odd as the watch only went on sale back in January.

For what it's worth, the watch can still be purchased from Motorola and Amazon.

Leica announces M-D (Typ 262) with no LCD

Leica has announced another model in its M-series of digital rangefinder cameras. This one is a bit different though. The Leica M-D (Typ 262) does not feature an LCD on the back like most digital cameras, instead wanting the photographer to focus on the art of composition and framing without being distracted. This is not the first Leica camera to lack an LCD; we saw theM Edition 60 before this forego the display, but the M-D (Typ 262) is the first serial production camera while the M Edition 60 was a limited edition. 

The M-D only comes with dials to adjust shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. This leaves you with just the bare minimum to adjust your camera. The M-D also saves all images in DNG RAW format and there is obviously no video recording option. In order to make the camera more discreet, Leica has painted the entire body in black and also left out the traditional red Leica dot. The shutter is also quieter and tops off at 3fps in burst mode.

The Leica M-D (Typ 262) is priced at $5995/£4650 and will go on sale in May.

Samsung Gear 360 launched, priced at $350

As scheduled, Samsung has launched the Gear 360 camera. The device is now available for purchase in the company's home country of South Korea - it's currently listed online, but will be available in around 450 stores starting next month.

Priced at KRW 399,300 (around $350), the camera - which was announced at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC) - is currently compatible with the Galaxy S7, S7 edge, S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+, and Note5.

Aside from South Korea, the device is also expected to made available in select other countries. However, those in the United States are currently out of luck as the tech giant has already confirmed that the US is not in the list of launch countries.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 getting May security patch already

April hasn't even ended, and Samsung has already started rolling out the Android security patch for the month of May to its Galaxy Note 4 smartphone. Weighing in at around 380MB, the update is currently rolling out to units in India.

There's no clarity on exactly what else the update brings along - the change-log contains generic language like performance and stability improvements, and bug fixes. Rolling out OTA, the update carries a build date of April 22.

This comes less than week after the device started receiving April security update in India. That update weighs in at around 360MB.

Lenovo has sold half a million K4 Notes since launch

enovo has announced that half a million units of the K4 Note have been sold since the device was launched in India back in January this year. Aside from this, the Chinese company has also sold 100,000 units of the ANT VR headset.

The VR headset was initially bundled with the smartphone, but was sold separately shortly thereafter. However, the company is bringing back the smartphone+headset bundle to celebrate the milestone.

"To celebrate the milestone of 5 lakh happy customers, Lenovo is bringing back the VR bundle offer," a company spokesperson said. "Customers will be able to purchase the K4 Note and VR Headset together for a bundle price of Rs 12,499 on Amazon.in on April 29th, 2016."

Interested in purchasing the bundle? Head to the Amazon link below.

Rumor says Huawei Mate 9 will feature 20MP dual camera setup, Kirin 960 SoC

It's been just a few months since Huawei launched its Mate 8 smartphone, and rumors about the device's successor have already started pouring in. According to a latest one out of China,Huawei Mate 9 will be powered by the homegrown, and yet-to-be-announced Kirin 960 chipset with octa-core CPU.

Huawei Mate 8

In addition to the SoC, it was also revealed that the Mate 9 will sport a 20MP dual rear camera setup. This compares to the dual 12MP cameras that the Chinese company's newly-announced P9 and P9 Plus feature.

There was, however, no word on whether - like the P9 duo - Leica will have any role to play in the Mate 9 as well. The device is expected to made official sometime later this year.