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Alcatel had recently announced the global release for the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3, which is a flagship under its OneTouch series that can be reversed from top to bottom to take calls. The phone has the following tech specs including a 64-bit Snapdragon 615 chipset with Octacore 1.7GHZ SoC bearing the Adreno 405 GPU, 2GB RAM, 16GB built-in storage with expandable micro-SD up to 128GB, 5.5-inch IPS LCD (1080x1920 pixels) display with Technicolor Color Enhance technology, a 13MP rear camera sensor backed by Sony IMX214 with an aperture of F2.0 and a 8MP front camera. Other noteworthy features include the symmetrical top/bottom design of the phone supported by its user interface, allowing users flexibility to use the phone in either direction. The limiting factor is that there is no dual microphone, so users will still need to angle the phone correctly for calls. It's JBL-branded stereo speakers are equipped to overcome loss of music details and over-compression through the Harman Clari-Fi technology. The phone supports 4G LTE connectivity but access is limited to GSM carriers in the US only. The phone is available from the Alcatel US website for USD 249.99 (RM 918) while the suggested retail price is USD 279.99 (RM 1028). Malaysia pricing or Malaysia release dates have yet to be revealed and no announcement has been made on the Alcatel Malaysia website yet but stay tuned for more developments as US pre-orders are set for 21 April 2015.

The recent Xiaomi Mi Fan Festival 2015 has broken world records by selling 2.11 million phones in just 12 hours worldwide. The total revenue for the sales came up to a staggering RMB2.08 billion (RM1.22 billion) in a single day. This years Mi Fan Festival 2015 also included India, Indonesia and Malaysia which could have contributed to the world record breaking sales somewhat. The sales also included other products like Mi TVs, Mi Bands and Mi Power Strips. This excellent performance further vindicates Xiaomi's online sales methodology proving without a doubt that it is a very lucrative way to sell phones and other devices. We expect other phone and tech manufacturers to follow soon and more online sales from Xiaomi in the future.

As we've been reporting all along, the ASUS ZenFone 2 is not coming to Malaysia in April 2015. In an official email, ASUS Malaysia has announced that the ASUS ZenFone 2 will be launched in Malaysia on 9 May 2015 at KL Live. If you want to be there at the launch, you can even register but only 1000 places are available. No news yet on which models would be available at the time but we expect even the ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML with 4GB RAM to make an appearance as it is already available at third party sellers. We also expect other ASUS products to be available like the ASUS ZenFlash or ASUS ZenPower bank. No news on pricing yet but we think that the if ASUS wants to make a killing they're going to offer the ZE551ML with 4GB RAM at RM1099 inclusive of 6% GST (the original pricing was at around RM1049). Go check out the ASUS #IncredibleZenDay site to register.

Canon recently unveiled the Canon XC10, a digital camcorder for 4K video recording than can also capture still photos. Features include the ability to shoot 4K and 1080p video at up to 30 fps and 60 fps. The device allows recording in 4K UHD (3,840 x 2,160) and 4K DCI (4,096 x 2,160). Tech specs include a 1-inch 12 MP CMOS sensor with a 10x f/2.8-5.6 zoom lens, which gives 24-240mm full-frame equivalent with optical image stabilization. The lens has a 35mm-equivalent range of 24.1-241mm for still photos and 27.3-273mm for video. It has ISO sensitivity of 20000, fast motion sensor, touchscreen LCD monitor, face detection mode, independent microphone and headphone jacks, WiFi support function and an option for you to extract stills from the captured video footage. Overall, it shares similar features to the higher-end C100 Cinema EOS line but the XC10 is more reasonably priced for USD 2500 (RM 9101) and should be a good device for photojournalists or videographers on the move. Slated for a release in June 2015 there is still no news of this device on the Canon Malaysia website yet, so stay tuned.

HTC recently announced the release of an all-new HTC One E9+ smartphone, which is exclusive to the Asian market. Compared to some of its predecessors in the upper-mid range segment, this model falls under the high-end category with its attractive and powerful features. The phone is backed by the following tech specs: a Mediatek MT6795M with Octacore 2GHz SoC, 3GB RAM, 16GB storage expandable via microSD card, 5.5-inch 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution LCD display measuring 156.5 x 76.5 x 7.5 mm, a 20MP rear camera, 4MP front camera with UltraPixel feature, and a 2800mAh battery backed by Android 5.0 (Lollipop) with HTC Sense UI 7.0.  Similar to the HTC One E9 the One E9+ has 3GB RAM, a 20MP rear camera and a higher-end 2K or quad HD display. The design is also different in that the One E9+ uses a plastic back with glossy finish. No official word is out on when it’ll be released in Malaysia or how much it’ll retail in the market for yet but we expect it to be priced at a premium considering the higher-end tech specs and features.

There are many unboxing and tear-down videos but almost no assembling videos for the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge, until now of course. Samsung have seen fit to release their own "Inboxing" video for the Galaxy S6 edge highlighting key features of the smartphone including it's curved dual-edge display, built-in wireless charging and solid metal frame set to a sound track. We found it to be rather refreshing after all the drop tests recently so do check out the video for yourself below. The Samsung Galaxy S6 edge currently retails for RM3099 but you can check out it's various other telco deals using our phone plan comparison tool.

News about the all-new HTC One M9+ model and its E9 variants were recently leaked at MWC 2015 and about a month later, the new One M9+ has been launched in a press conference in Beijing, China on 8 April 2015. Based on the HTC One M9, the One M9+ has the following tech specs including a 2.2GHz MediaTek MT6795T chipset with octa-core CPU processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB built-in storage, 5.2-inch QHD (1440 x2560 pixels) display, 20MP rear f/2.2 camera with secondary lens on the top and an UltraPixel front camera. It uses Dolby Surround technology for its BoomSound speakers and comes with a 2840 mAh battery along with Android 5.0 Lollipop and HTC Sense. Released for China initially, the China-release models are equipped with a fingerprint sensor/scanner, which supports the payment system of AliPay in China. No news if this may come for international versions as well but it will be available in Amber Gold, Gunmetal Grey and Silver Gold. There is no word yet on Malaysia release dates or its retail price in Malaysia so we’ll have to wait for now. 

The ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML remains the only smartphone in the world to have 4GB of RAM and while it isn't the top-notch version packing in 64GB of storage, the 32GB storage version is available in Malaysia from RM1377. Coming courtesy of third party sellers like DirectD and SatuGadgetDotCom, this version of the ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML offers tech specs like a 64-bit Intel Atom processor, 5.5-inch full HD display, dual SIM 4G LTE and ZenFone's pretty metallic design. We've already noted that the ZenFone 2 comes with many new features like double tap to wake, a manual mode for the camera and the ZenMotion gesture shortcuts from the standby screen but there could be more. Just bear in mind that these ZenFone 2 smartphones are likely international versions and therefore may not be able to get over-the-air updates when the official Malaysia version gets released (this happened before with the first ASUS ZenFone smartphones). We can't confirm this just yet though but we'll know more in just a few more weeks as we're going directly to the regional launch on 21 April 2015. No news yet on specific Malaysia release dates or pricing but considering that the initial price was at 8990 NT$ (RM1049) with 6% GST this could become RM1112 when it does come officially to Malaysia. 

Samsung Malaysia Electronics has just launched their Samsung SUHD TV range of curved display Ultra High Definition TVs for Malaysia. Based on a new nano-crystal technology the new SUHD TVs deliver brighter 4K display video and images with better clarity while maintaining the same energy efficiency as existing LED-backlit UHD TVs. In addition, each SUHD TV uses an intelligent SUHD re-mastering picture quality engine for seamless and high-quality upscaling from full HD 1080p to 4K resolutions. Available in 55-inch to 88-inch sizes, the Samsung SUHD range will include the JS9500 at 78-inches, JS9000 at 68-inches and JS8000 at 55-inches for now. The JS9500, JS9000 and JS8000 SUHD TVs will be priced at RM39999, RM24999 and RM9999 respectively. Prices are inclusive of 6% GST and they should be available starting from today, but if you're looking for a clearer explanation, there will be a roadshow at the Concourse in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. 

Huawei Malaysia recently announced that Mr Abraham Liu, CEO of Huawei Malaysia recently got awarded the CEO Faculty Program certificate with the Ministry of Education Malaysia. In this program, Mr Liu will mentor staff and students of universities across Malaysia for the next two years, focusing on ICT education, leadership mentoring in the ICT sector and more. In related news, Huawei recently announced CNY288.2 billion (RM169 billion) worth of revenue for 2014. Of note is that 32.6% or CNY75.1 billion comes from the Consumer Business Group which handles Huawei's smartphone and mobile device business. This shows a rapid growth and demand for Huawei devices that should extend to 2015 as well.