Nokia N1's impressive run continues, new batch sold out

Last week, when the Nokia N1 tablet went on sale in China, the first batch of 20,000 units sold out in only 4 minutes. The second batch went on sale today and it too sold out in minutes.

Although there’s no word on the number of units that were up for grabs, the flash sale lasted longer this time around, the report notes. As clear from the snapshot above, the third batch is set to arrive on January 22, with registration opening tomorrow.

The Nokia N1 sports a 7.9-inch 2,048x1,536 touchscreen display and is powered by Intel's Atom Z3580 SoC, which comes with a 2.3 GHz quad-core CPU. It features an 8 MP main camera, a 5 MP secondary snapper, and packs in a 5,300 mAh battery. The tablet comes with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, and runs Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Samsung is reportedly in discussions to buy BlackBerry

Samsung is in talks to purchase BlackBerry. Reuters reports that executives from both companies have met last week to discuss the transaction.

Update: Samsung also denied the report in a separate statement. The company clasified the rumor as "groundless."

The Korean manufacturer has allegedly offered a price in the range of $13.35 to $15.49 per BlackBerry share - well above today’s opening price. This brings the total of the transaction to as much as $7.5 billion.

An acquisition of BlackBerry will give Samsung access to the company’s immensely rich portfolio of patents. It will also instantly transform the Korean company in to a major player on the highly-lucrative enterprise market.

BlackBerry has denied any discussions about such talks with Samsung in a short statement. However, it is more than likely that the representatives from both companies have met informally to discuss the matter. After all, this is not the first time there has been talk about a sale of the Waterloo-based company.

Unsurprisingly, BlackBerry’s stock price surged right after news about the acquisition got out. The stock price jumped almost 30% to $12.60. BlackBerry’s statement brought the after hours price to $10.65 - still more than a dollar above this morning’s price.

EE adds 5.7M LTE users last year, becomes largest LTE carrier in EU

British carrier EE had a good year, adding 5.7 million 4G LTE users to its flock, bringing the total to 7.7 million - enough to makes it the biggest LTE carrier in Europe. EE now covers 80% of the country's population, aiming to bring that up to 98% by the end of this year.

Coverage includes 510 cities that number 10,000 people or more 200 of which were added in Q4. EE isn’t leaving rural areas behind either, over the last few months it expanded its coverage to 1,000 new villages bringing the total to 3,894.

Curiously, the smallest village to get 4G LTE is Elvanfoot, South Lanarkshire, population 52. Yep, 52. Think about that the next time you can't get a decent 4G signal in a populous area.

Speaking of, London and UK's busiest areas are getting "4G+" this year.

The three areas with the most 4G traffic were Silicon Roundabout, Hoxton and Shoreditch High Street. 4G data transfer increasing six-fold from 2013 to 2014. Selfies and videos uploaded to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, plus streaming video from the likes of BBC's iPlayer, YouTube and Sky Go account for most of the traffic.

Samsung Galaxy A3 and A5 finally coming to Europe

Following the official launch in India of the Galaxy A3 and A5 two days ago, it appears the European market will not be left out. Firmware versions have been made available by Samsung for both smartphones for an extensive list of countries, indicating that initial production issues have been resolved and a European launch is imminent.

Specs of the devices shouldn't be different from the rest of world, meaning the Galaxy A3 gets you a 4.5-inch qHD Super AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 410 with a CPU ticking at 1.2GHz, 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage with the option of microSD expansion, and a non-removable 1900mAh battery.

The Galaxy A5 ups the RAM to 2GB and the battery to 2300mAh, while packing a 5-inch screen of 720p resolution. A better 13MP main camera also comes in the Galaxy A5 over the A3's 8MP shooter.

The two phones follow the design language of the Galaxy Alpha, offering the premium feel of an aluminum frame in a more reasonably-priced package. A month is a long time, but earlier reports could give you an idea of the pricing ballpark.

Samsung shows its thinnest phone yet - the Galaxy A7

Samsung has hit somewhat of a stride as of late, releasing the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3 in India andofficially announcing the Galaxy E7 and Galaxy E5 alongside them.

And now at an official Samsung Galaxy A launch in Malaysia, Samsung also showed for the first time the new Galaxy A7 - it's thinnest smartphone yet.

     
Samsung Galaxy A7

The Samsung Galaxy A7 is a metal unibody smartphone with a 5.5" 1080p Super AMOLED display with a waistline of 6.3mm - 0.4mm thinner than the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy Alpha.

Packed inside is a 2,600mAh battery (although CPU-Z claims it's 2,000mAh), a 64-bit Snapdragon 615 chipset with octa-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz, 2GB of RAM, LTE support and 16GB of built-in storage.

     
Samsung Galaxy A7

The Samsung Galaxy A7 is expected to arrive in Malaysian stores in February costing RM 1,499 ($420/€354).

HTC Desire 320 brings quad-core CPU, 1080p video to the low end

HTC announced that its CES presence will be focused on the Desire line and the first product is already out of the gate – meet the HTC Desire 320, the Desire 310's younger twin. The 310 was announced almost exactly a year ago and now the 320 comes with essentially the same specs.

The phone is basically the same size and keeps the 4.5" FWVGA screen (that's 480 x 854px). It's powered by a quad-core 1.3GHz processor again (no info whether it's a Cortex-A7 or not). It will come with 512MB RAM or 1GB depending on the region, the internal storage is similarly 4GB or 8GB.

At least the Desire 320 will launch with Android 4.4 KitKat. Regardless of which storage version you get, you'll want to insert a microSD card. The 4GB version leaves barely you 1.5GB left over.

The rest is pretty similar though, a 5MP camera with 1080p video capture (impressive for an entry-level device). On the front is the same VGA camera as before.

For connectivity there's quad-band 2G and 3G with HSPA going up to 21Mbps. The phone uses microSIM cards. Anyway, there's Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS as can be expected. The 2,100mAh Li-Po battery is good for 12 hours of talking on a 3G network and 690 hours on standby.

Microsoft unveils Nokia 215 and 215 Dual SIM

Microsoft still hasn’t given up on feature phones, the new phone even bears the Nokia name. The Nokia 215 comes in single and dual-SIM version and offers essential Internet connectivity plus amazing battery life for just $30 (with no contract, but before taxes and subsidies).

The Nokia 215 has Opera Mini for general web browsing and handles social networking with the Facebook app and Facebook Messenger, Twitter too. Bing Search and MSN Weather are also on board.

All this web access happens over 2G and EDGE (dual band) on a 2.4" QVGA screen (240 x 320px). This is a Series 30+ device so it's a throwback to a bygone era. Additional connectivity includes Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM (for easy file sharing).

There's also FM radio connectivity and the Nokia 215 will last 45 hours. 50 hours if you're playing MP3 audio, there's a microSD card slot supporting 32GB. The 1,100mAh battery is good for 20 hours of talking and 29 days of standby for the single-SIM model. The dual-SIM lasts 21 days.