Samsung Galaxy S5 to use Sharp 2K display

According to a report by Chinese website Tencent, Samsung has decided not to use a Super AMOLED HD display panel for its Galaxy S5 flagship smartphone. Traditionally, ever since the first Galaxy S smartphone, Samsung has always preferred its own AMOLED displays for its flagships.

The Galaxy S5 will be an exception, as Samsung has chosen Sharp to provide a 5.25" 2K Ultra HD LTPS display panel. It's going to pack an exceptional pixel density of 560 pixels per inch.

The reason behind Samsung's decision resides in one of its subsidiaries, which has run into production issues with the 2K Ultra HD AMOLED displays. As a result of them, the company can't keep up the production and won't be able to make enough of them to meet the expected Galaxy S5 demand.

Choosing Sharp will also allow Samsung to free up its display factories for the upcoming flexible line-up of AMOLED displays, which it hopes will reach large market availability by 2015. Additionally, if Sharp really turns out to be the manufacturer of Galaxy S5's displays, this will be beneficial to Samsung, which owns 3% stake in the company back in March.

The report confirms earlier evidence of the Galaxy S5's 2K UHD display, which popped up in a leaked benchmark of the device. Other rumors suggest the Galaxy S5 will be launched (or at least shown) as early as Q1 of next year, have a 16 MP snapper with the ISOCELL tech, perhaps without optical image stabilization and possibly with some elements resistance in tow.

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Sony Mobile to launch Windows Phones

Sony Mobile Communications has decided to launch ODM models of Windows Phone 8-based smartphones, while concentrating its R&D efforts on Android and Firefox models, according to industry sources.

Through the cooperation deal, Sony Mobile aims to sell its WP8 phone to telecom operators in the US, while Microsoft aims to tap the Japan market in order to expand the global share of WP8 phones, said the sources.

Sony Mobile and Taiwan-based ODM Compal Communications have nailed down orders for 1-2 models, with an additional 2-3 models still under discussion, noted the sources, adding that order volumes for the initial 1-2 models will reach only tens of thousands of units each.

Global sales of WP8 phones are expected to top 50 million units in 2014, accounting for 4% of total global smartphone sales in the year, the sources estimated.

Nokia will account for 90% of WP8 phone shipments in 2014, and other vendors including Sony Mobile, HTC, Samsung Electronics and Huawei will share the remaining 10%, added the sources.

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HTC One’s successor to be called the One+

@evleaks revealed what he called “preliminary” specs for the HTC M8, which included a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU, 2GB RAM, a 5-inch 1080p display, an UltraPixel rear cam, 2.1MP front cam and KitKat with Sense 6.0. Now if a new report from recognized XDA member Mike1986 proves correct, we’re learning even more about the handset.

First, the phone will reportedly be named the HTC One+, and it will feature the newer Snapdragon 805 CPU after all. We also have learned a bit more about battery size, camera and other specs.

Specifications
5″ FullHD 1080p covered by Gorilla Glass 3
Qualcomm Snapdragon 805
2GB LPDDR3 RAM
6 or 8MP UltraPixel camera (possibly with double lens)
2.1MP front camera
Software buttons
2900mAh battery
Android KitKat with HTC Sense 6.0
micro-SIM, microSD
NFC

The HTC One+ might not be a massive leap up from the original, but it look like it will feature some welcome changes when it comes to processing power, battery size, screen size and — most importantly — it will have an SD slot for memory expansion.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 coming at MWC 2014

According to Korea’s inews24, Dong-hoon Chang today confirmed that Samsung would unveil its new Galaxy S5 high-end smartphone at MWC this February. Unfortunately, that’s all that the Samsung exec allegedly said. 

The Korean publication notes that Galaxy S5 is a “tentative name”, so we may have a surprise when it comes to the handset’s final moniker (although, frankly, S5 seems to be the best choice for the smartphone's official name). 

Rumors regarding the features of the new Galaxy appeared countless times until now, suggesting that we should expect to see it having a 64-bit Exynos processor and a 5.25-inch Quad HD (1440 x 2560) AMOLED display. We also saw a few concepts that envision the Galaxy S5 through the eyes of fans, but there’s no way of telling if any of them resemble the real device. 

MWC 2014 debuts on February 24 in lovely Barcelona, so we’re not that far away from finding out if the Galaxy S5 will be announced there. Of course, 'till then, CES 2014 kicks off next week, albeit Samsung will probably not reveal any new smartphones at this show, (but it might showcase the Galaxy Gear 2).

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Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo with 5” display

A word got out that Samsung will release another version of the popular and affordable Galaxy Grand. Dubbed Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo, the handset is said to sit below the Galaxy Grand 2 in the company’s smartphone range.

The Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo is tipped to have a 1.2GHz quad-core A7 CPU and 5” WVGA display. The smartphone is said to boot TouchWiz-ed Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. There is no further info on the handset’s specifications for the time being.

Given Samsung's proclivity for releasing multiple iterations of the same device, it's easy to believe that these rumors will turn out true. Expect the design of the Grand Neo to be in line with that of the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2.

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