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Starting off the new year with a deal, Celcom are now offering the Apple iPhone 5C from a more affordable price of RM1888 for the basic 16GB version with, in their own words "no strings attached", which means zero contract. This offer is available from 2 January 2014 to 7 January 2014 but is exclusive to online sign ups only. The other Celcom offer involves the HTC Wildfire S, Nokia Lumia 520 and Sony Xperia U, where Celcom is offering these previous generation entry-level smartphones for FREE provided you sign up for a 12 month or 18 month contract. That deal ends on 31 January 2014. Check out the table and links in the article for more details.

Sony's Cybershot DSC-QX10 and DSC-QX100 wireless lens can improve photography immensely for almost any tablet or smartphone, provided the clip of the frame can fit. Since the clip can only reach 5-inches, this means a lot of larger phablets and tablets won't be able to clip the lens on, and this includes the Sony Xperia Z Ultra phablet. For this reason, Sony have created a QX lens camera case allowing you to clip on either the DSC-QX10 or the DSC-QX100. At first the Sony QX Lens case will only be available in Hong Kong, but it should eventually reach Malaysia. The QX Lens case will be priced at 238 Hong Kong dollars (RM100) which doesn't sound too bad at all.

The recently revealed Nokia Lumia 635 or codenamed Moneypenny may also have 4G LTE connectivity, on top of having dual active 3G dual SIM support. This rumour comes courtesy of evleaks who has leaked another Moneypenny screenshot this time with 4G LTE. Unfortunately it looks like it won't be 4G LTE for both SIMS as there is one active. The Moneypenny looks to be headed to China, India and other emerging markets where dual-SIM is used a lot. Still no news on Malaysia release dates or pricing, but we'll let you know as soon as we do.

Apart from the other rumoured Samsung Galaxy Grand Lite it appears that there could be another version coming as well called the Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo. Tech specs for this version could include a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, a 5-inch display and Android 4.3. The design is likely to follow the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2. While this could be just another name for the Galaxy Grand Lite it could be a slightly upper scale version (better screen, camera, etc) or it could be priced higher or targeted for a specific country or market. Unfortunately, there isn't any news on how much it might cost or any Malaysia release dates just yet. Stay tuned and we'll keep you posted.

HTC recently announced another smartphone for the midrange with the HTC Desire 601. Designed for the mid-range user, the Desire 601 offers dual-SIM support, a 1.2GHZ quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a 4.5-inch display with 960 x 540 pixel resolution, 4GB of storage and microSD support. Other tech specs and features include a reasonable 5MP f/2.0 rear camera with wide 28mm lens along with a VGA front camera. A 2100 mAh battery provides a good amount of battery life unplugged and while it is rather thick at 9.88mm it weighs in at 130g. While it does have dual-SIM support it doesn't have 4G LTE connectivity. The single-SIM HTC Desire 601 version on the other hand does pack in 4G LTE along with a larger 8GB worth of internal storage. The HTC Desire 601 is currently available in Malaysia for a retail price of RM1099 at most retail shops but should get a release from major telcos as well soon.

The Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 continued the large but budget smartphone trend when it was released but fearing that the price for it may have been a bit too high, Samsung quickly came out with the Samsung Galaxy Grand Lite. Now, the Galaxy Grand Lite has yet to be officially announced, and is expected to be revealed at MWC 2014, but it has already passed the FCC in the US. This basically confirms it's existance along with it's model number which will be the GT-I9060. Unfortunately, the FCC isn't as revealing as Tenaa in China with the only other tech specs to be revealed being a 2100 mAh battery and the ability to connect via WiFi and Bluetooth.

The BlackBerry Jakarta is a smartphone resulting from a collaboration between BlackBerry with Foxconn. It also looks to be following in the footsteps of the BlackBerry Z30 and Z10 touchscreen smartphones as it has been rumoured to have no physical QWERTY keyboard. Headed for Indonesia where BlackBerry has a very strong consumer base, the device will have 3G connectivity and should be available ther by April 2014, with no news yet on a possible Malaysia release date or pricing. As every tech user should know by now (and we sincerely hope BlackBerry decision makers are listening) coming out with yet antother touchscreen BlackBerry is like looking for trouble when you're already neck deep in crap. BlackBerry's other touchscreen devices have not been selling well, especially in the face of more powerful, more feature filled and more affordable smartphones. Hopefully we're wrong and the BlackBerry Jakarta suddenly has a slideout QWERTY keyboard at the very least.

Archos is usually better known for their affordable tablets but they have recently announced that they will be bringing a number of new and affordable devices to CES 2014. This includes a number of Archos smartwatches that may cost less than $50 (RM164). The Archos smartwatch in the picture looks a lot like the pebble smartwatch but there is no news on other tech specs, features or functions available for these supposedly affordable smartwatches. In related news, Archos will also be bringing a 7-inch tablet called the Smart Home tablet, an activity tracker, a blood pressure monitor, a home camera and a weather station to the show under a main theme called Archos Connected Home. All of these Archos devices will use Bluetooth LE and should be compatible with Android and iOS devices. Check out the devices in the article.

The first generation Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch really didn't wow us despite it currently being the most feature-filled consumer smartwatch available. It cost too much, lasted just a bit more than 24 hours and still had to rely on your smartphone to use most of the apps. So when rumours that Samsung could be coming out with a 2nd version surfaced we're still a bit skeptical about the whole Samsung smartwatch thing. As it is, rumours are saying that the Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 and another wearable to be called the Samsung Galaxy Band could be revealed at MWC 2014 in February. Tech specs and features are very limited but the Galaxy Gear 2 is expected to have a flexible screen while the Galaxy Band would be a health tracker much like the Nike FuelBand. No details on pricing or Malaysia release dates but if they do get revealed at MWC 2014, we'll probably see them in Malaysia sometime in 2014. For now, check out the whole bunch of flexible display tech from Samsung's own Display group below. Do watch out for a FuelBand like bangle smartwatch in the video.

Following their motto "In Search of Incredible" Asus are releasing teaser videos of upcoming devices to be revealed at CES 2014. With CES 2014 just around the corner on 6 January 2014, Asus have released two teaser videos hinting at a dual-boot Android and Windows tablet along with devices with 4-inch, 5-inch and 6-inch screens. The first teaser video shows off the Statue of Liberty holding up a tablet flashing green and blue, which in terms of OS, probably mean Android green and Windows blue. The second teaser video shows variously coloured and numbered balls falling down from the sky in Taipei, with closeups on balls with the number 4, 5 and 6. While Asus could be gunning for a 6-inch tablet, it seems more likely that the 4-inch, 5-inch and 6-inch devices would be smartphones, possibly following the Asus Fonepad or Padfone. Check out the teaser trailers for yourself in this article.