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The ASUS ZenFone lineup has seen tremendous popularity throughout the world and it looks like another variant of the popular ASUS ZenFone 5 is all set to hit the Malaysian market. This rumoured variant could be the ASUS ZenFone 5 Lite, the affordable version of the ZenFone 5 and is expected to be available in Malaysia pretty soon. The device with the model number A502CG was recently released spotted on the Malaysian SIRIM database.  While ASUS Malaysia has not yet made any official announcements about the pricing or availability, the device recently went on sale in Philippines for just 5595 Pesos (about RM417). If Malaysian pricing comes around this figure, the ZenFone 5 Lite would lie in between the ZenFone 4 and the ZenFone 5, giving another option to choose from in the ASUS smartphone lineup. Some of the main tech specs of the device include a 1.2GHz Intel Atom Z2520 processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage, MicroSD card expansion slot, qHD 5 inch 960 x 540 pixel resolution display and a 2,500 mAh battery. As you can see, the processor and the display have been downgraded, but what is surprising is that ASUS has included a larger 2500 mAh battery on the device.

If you are looking for a cheap smartphone, the new Huawei Honor 3C Lite is a great option. This affordable version of the Honor 3C will be available for pre-order starting 28 November 2014 from VMall.my. Starting from the above date, you can pre-order the device for just RM399 from the online store as opposed to its regular retail price of RM449. In addition, 10 lucky winners who buy the Honor 3C will get a free holiday trip to Langkawi. The pre-order starts at 10AM on the said date and ends at 6PM on 3 December 2014. The first batch of pre-orders will start shipping from 8 December 2014. Even though the Honor 3C Lite is much cheaper than the original Honor 3C, the tech specs remain more or less the same. You get a Quad Core 1.3GHz Mediatek processor, 5 inch 720p display and an 8MP rear camera like the Honor 3C model. However, the RAM is reduced to 1GB, as is the battery capacity from 2300 mAh to 2000 mAh. Surprisingly, Huawei has increased the onboard storage from 8GB to 16GB in this cheaper variant. The Honor 3C also comes with 6 months exchange warranty along with a 1 year Original Manufacturer warranty.

Huawei is expected to launch the next flagship in the honor lineup called the Huawei Honor 6 Plus on 16 December 2014. The device has already passed TENAA certification, which is the Chinese equipment certification agency. Recent rumors indicate that the Honor 6 Plus will come with two camera sensors at the back. This dual camera system may offer 3D capture or even a refocus feature like the setup found on the HTC One M8's Duo Camera. Expected tech specs include 1.8 Ghz Kirin SoC, 3GB RAM, 16/32GB internal storage options, MicroSD card slot which support cards up to 64GB, 5.5 inch 1080p display, 150.4 x 75.68 x 7.5mm dimensions, dual camera system and Android 4.4 Kitkat OS. There are two models listed in the TENAA database for the Honor 6 Plus, one with the model number PE-TL10 and the other with PE-UL00. However, the only difference between the two models according to the website is in the supported network bands, with the PE-TL10 getting an additional TD-SCDMA band. Unfortunately, there are no details on the Malaysia pricing or commercial availability of the phone just yet, but we don't think you'll have to wait too long to get this information.

Qualcomm has just announced its new Mobile Development Platform Smartphone (MDPS) which features the latest 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor. Along with this super-fast SoC, you get other ready-to-ship technologies developed by the chip maker. The Snapdragon 810 64 bit Octa Core processor inside is made up of four Cortex A57 and Cortex A53 cores built on a 20nm process. As a result, even with a 50% increase in the processing power, the chip should be power efficient. The device comes with an Adreno 430 GPU, which is 30% faster than the previous generation along with 4GB LP-DDR4 RAM. The device also comes with many more features as listed below but unfortunately, these technologies don't come cheap, and anyone interested can purchase the device from Qualcomm for $800 (about RM2682).

On the back, there's a 13MP camera sensor with OIS capable of recording 4K videos at 30 fps. While on the front, there is a 4MP auto focus camera which can take 1080p videos. Other notable features include USB 3.0, a fingerprint sensor, 11.1 surround sound with Dolby and DTS, Bluetooth 4.1, Snapdragon StudioAccess technology and SecureMSM digital rights management. There are a number of sensors onboard too, like an ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, pressure sensor, temperature and humidity sensor, UV sensor, Mobeam sensor, 3 axis gyro and 3 axis accelerometer. Obviously, there are no Malaysia release dates or pricing for the Qualcomm MDPS but it does give an indication as to what new features are coming in smartphones for 2015.

Although both Sony Xperia Z4 and Xperia Z4 Ultra are expected to be announced only in January at CES 2015, we have already come across the tech specs of these devices. Latest rumors suggest that the Xperia Z4 features a 5.4 inch Quad HD Triluminous display along with the powerful Snapdragon 805 SoC. There will be 4GB RAM onboard and a 20.7MP camera at the back. While the resolution remains the same as the Xperia Z3, the rear camera features a new sensor, quite possibly the Sony IMX230. The company will also upgrade the front camera to a 4.8MP wide angle sensor, which makes the device more selfie friendly. It is said that the Z4 will come with 3420 mAh sized battery.

The Huawei Ascend Mate 7 brings any number of high-end features to the Malaysian market with a single-touch fingerprint scanner, octa-core Kirin 925 processor and 4G LTE Cat 6 connectivity. Priced at RM1799 for the standard silver and black coloured versions, we managed to get our hands on the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 silver version. We open up the rather large black box and see what else comes along with the smartphone in the unboxing video in this article.

The folks at iFixit have done it again, tearing down the Google Nexus 6 phablet to see what makes it tick and then trying to put it back together again. According to them most of the build is modular except for a few components which have either been soldered or glued to the board. As such, they've given the Nexus 6 a repairability score of 7 out of 10 which is quite good all things considered. While there isn't anything new discovered about the Nexus 6 it does mean if you drop it or break it somehow, you won't have to replace the whole phablet.

The OnePlus One sparked the revolution of flagship smartphone features and tech specs at affordable pricing with many other smartphone manufacturers following in their footsteps. Based on current stats, the OnePlus One has already sold 500000 units, when originally they only wanted to achieve 100000. However, while the OnePlus One is still fairly flagship level, it is showing signs of age and OnePlus seem to be recognizing this by coming out with a teaser image for a new OnePlus device. According to the translation of the teaser image, OnePlus stated:

"The theory of evolution applies to all things in the world, including technological devices, so stay tuned!"

This could indicate that the OnePlus Two or a OnePlus Tablet could be coming soon. While it is still too early to say what tech specs, features, Malaysia release dates or pricing will be available, many think that the new device will utilize 64-bit components. This could mean a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, 4GB of RAM (which is one of the advantages of a 64-bit system) and a 20.7MP rear camera. Stay tuned for more details as we'll let you know as soon as we do.

Sony has made a surprising addition to the Alpha 7 family, with the official announcement of the Sony Alpha 7 II. The new model comes with a number of notable features including the 5-axis Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). The company has made some changes in the design too, giving it a better grip and a DSLR like shutter button. The 5-axis sensor shift stabilization is the first of its kind to end up in a full frame mirrorless camera. It corrects movements along 5 different axes namely left/right, up/down along with three different angular movements: tilting up/ down (pitch), swinging left/ right (yaw) and rotating clockwise/ anti-clockwise (roll). This new 5-axis OIS system can reduce shakes up to 4.5 stops using the CIPA standard, which effectively means, it can eradicate shakes when you are holding the camera up to 4.5 stops slower.

The A7 II features the same 24.3MP Full Frame CMOS sensor found on the original Alpha 7 with 117 Phase detect and 25 contrasts detect points. But the new version improves auto-focus responsiveness by up to 30% and object tracking by up to 50%. It also comes with bigger grip and a better positioned shutter release button, which Sony claims decreases camera shake.  However, these changes have increased the weight of the device by almost 140 grams to 556 grams, making it the heaviest camera in the A7 family. No Malaysia release dates or pricing just yet, but the Sony Alpha II will be released in Japan on 5 December followed by the European markets in January 2015. Pricing has not yet been revealed.

While both Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus feature resolutions less than 1920 x 1080 pixels, apparently they may be capable of playing 4K videos. Softorino, a company known for its Mac software called WALTR which helps you upload images and videos on iOS devices, recently discovered that the A8 processor in the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus are capable of playing ultra-high resolution 4K videos. However, you won't be able to enjoy 4K videos on your iPhone 6 anytime soon as the resolution is 1335×750 pixels which is far lower than the 3840×2160 resolution for most 4K videos. These 4K videos also take up a lot of space, on an average 2GB per minute of video, which will decrease the internal storage on your iPhone to a considerable extent. So, even if the iPhone 6 came with a 4K display, it would be impractical to play 4K videos directly from the phone's storage due to its large size. The app makers have made a proof of concept video to show that the iPhone actually plays the 4K resolution video smoothly. Check out their video in this article.