Hands on photos of the Meizu m1

Meizu m1 hands on photos have been published. Take a look at the Meizu m1 photos in the gallery and let us know what you think of the little Meizu.
If you missed the news, then yesterday was mostly about the launch of the Meizu M1 in China. The phone released for 699 Yuan in the country with largely the same specifications as were rumoured ahead of the event, with just few surprises (both good and bad). The hardware for the Meizu m1 is overall pretty good and includes a 5-inch HD display, 64bit processor, LTE, 13 mega-pixel camera, 5 mega-pixel front camera, 2610mAh battery and support for a micro SD card. All good, but issues have arisen of the fact that the phone only has 1GB RAM and more importantly an WCDMA/FDD version hasn’t yet been announced meaning the m1 will only work in China for now.

The look of the Meizu m1 is similar to the larger, 5.5-inch m1 note, but at 5-inch it looks even more like the iPhone 5C. Take a look at the hands on photos below and let us know what you think.

[ More photos at Meizunews.com

China Focus: Chinese smartphone makers rise to rival Samsung, Apple

BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's top smartphone companies challenged Samsung and Apple with surging sales and revenue in 2014, vowing to scramble for a larger share in a global turf war with the top two makers.

As one of the major competitors, telecom behemoth Huawei Technologies reported a 45-percent rise in smartphone shipments in 2014, reaching more than 75 million units.

Sales revenue of Huawei's consumer goods branch, which makes mobile phones and other gadgets, increased 30 percent to 12.2 billion U.S. dollars last year.

Currently, Huawei is the world's third largest smartphone maker following Samsung and Apple, according to market tracker Gartner. They held a global market share of 5.3 percent, 24.4 percent and 12.7 percent respectively in the third quarter of 2014.

Last year, 52 percent of Huawei's smartphone sales revenue came from overseas markets. The tech giant's presence in Africa, Asia and Latin America was rapidly consolidated.

"We will try to rival Samsung and Apple globally in 2015," said Shao Yang, vice president of Huawei Consumer Business Group. He said the company will work to improve its overseas brand reputation.

Huawei aims to hike smartphone shipments to 100 million units and sales revenue to 16 billion U.S. dollars in 2015.

Another homegrown smartphone maker Xiaomi said it sold 61.1 million units in 2014, surging 227 percent year on year. Its revenue grew 135 percent to 74.3 billion yuan (about 12 billion U.S. dollars).

Xiaomi is now marketing products in six foreign countries and regions. More than one million units have been sold in India, for example, one of the company's most successful markets abroad.

"We will enter more overseas markets in 2015 and strive for better performance there," said Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, who is called China's Steve Jobs by fans.

Steve Koenig, director of Industry Analysis of the Consumer Electronics Association, said Chinese smartphone brands are putting pressure on their global competitors.

Referencing Xiaomi Mi5 and Huawei Mate 7, Koenig said Chinese brands are not just focused on making cheap phones, but also on creating quite sophisticated devices.

Huawei's helmsman Ren Zhengfei said earlier this month at the World Economic Forum that the company will shift away from a growth route based on low price and low quality.

Gartner estimated that the combined global share of Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo increased 4.1 percentage points to 15.5 percent. Analysts predicted there is still great potential for further growth at their "home court", although China's mobile phone market is almost saturated.

"China's western regions, especially the rural areas, will see double-digit growth in smartphone sales in coming one to two years," said a research note from market intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

Fast-growing 4G networks will also create large room for compatible smartphones, according to IDC.

RETREATING SAMSUNG, ADVANCING APPLE

The South Korean company retains its crown as world No.1 smartphone maker, but its market share declined 7.7 percentage points from a year earlier to 24.4 percent in the third quarter.

Earnings from their mobile division rebounded on a quarterly basis, but the number dropped 64 percent on a year-on-year basis to 1.96 trillion won (1.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the fourth quarter.

Samsung launched two cheap models in January in its home market to fight China-made low-end smartphones.

To diversify earnings, Samsung will focus on Internet of Things in 2015 as one of its new growth engines.

Apple's financial results showed its quarterly revenue and net profits grew 30 percent and 38 percent annually in the fourth quarter.

These results were fueled by all-time record revenue from iPhone and Mac sales as well as record performance of the App Store.

Apple is experiencing their most rapid growth in China since opening the first store in 2008, according to Apple VP retail real estate/development Bob Bridger.

Earlier this month, a report from investment banking firm UBS showed China has overtaken the United States as the largest iPhone buyer thanks to strong demand for iPhone 6 and 6 plus.

How to unlock your Chromebook using an Android device Chrome OS has been updated to include a beta version of Smart Lock.

Smart Lock may sound familiar to Android users with devices already updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop. The feature allows you to set specific locations as safe zones, or Bluetooth devices as trusted connections, both of which disable your device's security screen.

The theory is that since you're in a safe location, or connected to something like an Android Wear watch, the device is in your control and an unlock mechanism isn't warranted.

Originally announced during Google's developer conference in 2014, Smart Lock is a feature that pairs your Android device with a Chromebook. The end result is the ability to unlock your Chromebook without having to enter your password, simply by having your Android device nearby. And it's now available in the Stable channel of Chrome OS.

If you have a Chromebook and an Android smartphone (tablets aren't supported right now) running 5.0 Lollipop, you can set up Smart Lock in just a few minutes.

The Chrome OS settings screen.

• First, make sure your Chromebook is running the latest version of Chrome OS by launchingSettings and clicking on About Chrome OS (top arrow in screenshot above).
• Chrome OS version 40 or higher has Smart Lock enabled.
• After your Chromebook is updated, sign into your account and click on your profile picturefollowed by Settings then Show Advanced Settings (bottom arrow in screenshot above).

Smart Lock setting and setup screen.

• Scroll down until you find the section titled Smart Lock (Beta) and click the Set up Smart Lockbutton.

You'll be asked to sign into your Google account to verify you're the one requesting Smart Lock. Then the Chromebook will find your device, and finish the setup process.

Your Android device will need to be nearby, with Bluetooth enabled and signed into the same Google account you're signed into on your Chromebook.

I've found the feature is missing on my Chromebook when I sign in using a Google Apps account, while a standard Gmail account has the feature present and functioning properly. I contacted Google asking if there is a control in the Google Apps admin panel that would enable Smart Lock for Chrome OS, or if Apps users have simply been left behind, but have yet to hear back. I'll update this post when I do.

If you run into any issues during setup, try restarting both your Chromebook and your Android device. If that doesn't work, give this support document from Google a read.

Vine goes child-friendly with Vine Kids app The new app from Twitter's 6-second looping video service serves up only clips that have been screened for family-friendliness.

Kids are known for having short attention spans and it appears Vine is banking on that with a new app that should also help put parents at ease.

The Twitter-owned video-sharing company rolled out Vine Kids on Friday to let children watch looping 6-second Vine videos that have been screened for child-appropriateness.

"Kids love Vine," Vine head of communications and marketing Carolyn Penner wrote in a blog post. "So, we built Vine Kids, a simple new app that gives young children a fun way to watch Vines."

Since launching in 2012 Vine has steadily grown its audience to at least 40 million. The video app is known for users who upload and share videos that show people doing goofy stunts, playing sports and other high jinks. In 2013, Vine had a dustup after a plethora of porn videos appeared on the site, which led Twitter to give the app a NC-17 rating. This newest Vine app, however, could easily be G rated.

Vine Kids features animations, Sesame Street characters like Elmo and videos with cute animals like hedgehogs and puppies. Vine's goal is to have a collection of videos for a young audience that are safe to watch.

The company picks the kids videos by choosing from its millions of daily uploads in its regular Vine app. Once a child tires of looking at one clip, they can swipe left or right to get a new video. By making Vine Kids a completely separate app, Vine has ensured that kids won't happen upon adult videos.

Vine Kids is only available on iOS.

Some HTC One versions will get Android 5.0 later than expected

Some carrier versions of HTC One (M8) and One (M7) will get updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop a bit later than expected. HTC initially promised to update all versions of its 2013 and 2014 flagship smartphone within 90 days of receiving the Android 5.0 code.

Mo Versi, HTC’s Vice President of product management delivered the news in a dedicated post. The delay is caused by issues Android 5.0 initially contained, which were subsequently fixed by Google with minor updates. HTC is working hard with Google and its carrier partners to incorporate the latter into its OS build.
HTC already updated several versions of the One (M8). They include the factory unlocked model, the Developer Edition, and the Google Play variant. Mo Versi promises “good news to share soon” on the rest of the One family.

Galaxy Note 4 Lollipop update delayed due to Gear VR

With the Lollipop craze in full steam and the Galaxy Note 3 already up for a soak test in Russia it is only natural to expect that Samsung will give an equal share of attention to the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge.
We already saw a leaked manual for Android 5 with the device model on it so the OTA is getting closer, but no official news is available as of yet. Faryaab Sheikh, Editor-in-Chief of SamMobile might have just shed some light on the issue with a recent Twitter post. According to him the Galaxy Note 4 ROM is still in the hands of Oculus VR who are "tweaking the kernel" to ensure compatibility with the Samsung Gear VR.


For anyone unfamiliar with the device it is Samsung's current take on virtual reality headset based on the popular Oculus Rift. Gear VR however takes the experience one step beyond by using a wireless setup. This is achieved with the help of a mobile display, in particular the 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED panel of the Galaxy Note 4.
While compatibility issues might explain the delay the question still stands why this can't be achieved in a later update. This is supposedly what occurred on the Verizon version of the phone last month.
Delivering Gear VR compatibility is most definitely a huge deal in terms of marketing strategy, but the fact of the matter is that a very miniscule percentage of all Samsung Galaxy Note 4 devices will ever be put inside a VR headset. So why make everybody wait for what is essentially a niche feature?
Source Gsm Arena