LG announces a duo of affordable L Series smartphones

LG announced a duo of affordably L Series smartphones. The 3G-only LG L Fino and L Bello will be showcased by the Korean manufacturer during the upcoming IFA in Berlin. In line with the company’s new strategy, both devices will boot Android 4.4.2 KitKat, dressed in LG’s proprietary UX interface.

 LG L Bello is the slightly more capable member of the duet. Available in white, black, and gold, it packs a 1.3 GHz quad-core CPU, 5” FWVGA (854 x 480 pixels) IPS display, 21Mbps HSPA+, and 8MP main camera. There’s a gig of RAM and 8GB of built-in, further expandable (via microSD card slot) memory on board.

Measures of the LG L Bello are 138.2x 70.6x 10.7mm. A 2,540mAh battery powers it.
LG L Fino on the other hand, packs a 4.5” WVGA display and 1.2GHz quad-core CPU. An 8MP main camera, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of expandable memory, HSPA+ network connectivity, and 1,900mAh battery complete the list of highlights in the handset’s specs

Measures of the LG L Fino are 127.5 x 67.9 x 11.9mm. The smartphone will be available in white, black, gold, red, or green depending on the market.
The duo of devices will begin rolling out in Latin America this month. Europe, Asia, and CIS will follow soon after. Pricing will be announced locally at launch.

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HTC One (M8) for Windows preview: First look

Freshly announced for Verizon in the United States, HTC One (M8) for Windows is a welcome return to the Windows Phone platform for the Taiwanese manufacturer. The twin brother of One (M8) with Android arrives two long years after HTC 8X made its debut as a Windows Phone 8 flagship device (last year's 8XT for Sprint was way too low key to count).

HTC One (M8) for Windows has all the makings of a smartphone flagship. This should hardly catch anyone by surprise - as the Windows Phone 8.1 sibling of one of the best Android smartphones money can buy, the newcomer surely doesn't skimp on specs and features. As usual, here goes the full list.

HTC One (M8) for Windows at a glance:

• Connectivity: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE/HSPA/HSPA+; LTE; Ev-DO; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 4.0; GPS; GLONASS; microUSB 2.0; NFC; DLNA; IR port
• Display: 5" Full HD Super LCD3 unit (1920 x 1080 pixels)
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset with 2.3GHz quad-core CPU; Adreno 330 GPU; 2GB of RAM
• OS: Microsoft Windows Phone 8.1.1
• Camera: 4MP UltraPixel main camera with 1/3" BSI sensor; 2µm pixel size; 28mm f/2.0 lens; secondary camera for depth information; 1080p video recording; 5MP front-facing unit
• Storage: 32GB of built-in memory; microSD card slot (up to 128GB)
• Battery: 2,600 mAh non-removable battery
• Dimensions: 146.36 x 70.6 x 9.35 mm; 160 grams
• Misc: BoomSound stereo speakers; HTC BlinkFeed; HTC Dot View case support

In case the specs of HTC One (M8) for Windows look a tad familiar to you, don't be surprised. When we mentioned earlier that the device is a twin to One (M8) with Android, we meant it literally. With One (M8) for Windows, HTC simply swapped the Sense-d Android KitKat we know and like for the latest Windows Phone 8.1.1 build.
HTC One (M8) for Windows might be toting the Windows Phone tiled UI, yet it still offers the signature Sense UI apps, including BlinkFeed and HTC Camera. Even the HTC Sense wallpapers have made it over from Android.

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