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Qualcomm often does many things because they can which results in some interesting setups like this slow-motion surround rig crafted from 130 HTC One smartphones. Qualcomm are calling it "The Ultimate Smartphone Photobooth" and have done a very interesting video showing how they made awesome 360-degree rotation slow-motion videos with just a Qualcomm powered smartphone, or in this case 130 of them. Qualcomm haven't said why they chose the HTC One but do check out the video in this article.

The smartphone formerly known as the thinnest in the world, the Huawei Ascend P6, is now being offered by Maxis from RM499, which is just awesome considering the original price was RM1399 and you can now get the smartphone under a 12 months or 24 months contract. The deal is available under the Maxis SurfMore and TalkMore plans. For more details, check out the table and links in the article.

Before Nokia got bought over by Microsoft, there was apparently a patent for a Nokia Facet smartwatch. Unlike other smartwatches with a single slab of touchscreen, the Nokia Facet design looks more like a bracelet with slots for slabs of touchscreen, each offering a different function. We're not sure how heavy that would make it but it would be awesome to add in a module with WiFi/3G/LTE or a 41MP camera or even a bigger battery. Now that Nokia is property of Microsoft it seems unlikely that such a smartwatch may actually be produced but then if Microsoft don't have plans of their own, they always have this one. We think the concept is awesome but it wouldn't be very comfortable to wear, however, things may change still.

Good news for those of you looking to get a more affordable Sony Xperia Z as Sony Malaysia has recently announced the Sony Xperia C for RM999. Following a similar design as the Sony Xperia Z, the Xperia C retains a 5-inch display but lowers the resolution to 960 x 540 pixels, resulting in 220ppi pixel density display. The smartphone is still quite slim and while it may not have the exact same tempered glass sandwich and aluminum unibody design, it is still super slim and has the now standard metallic power button. The smartphone comes in Black, Purple and White. Other tech specs for the Sony Xperia C include:

• 1.2GHz Quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor
• 1GB RAM
• 4GB Storage + microSD
• 5-inch display (960 x 540, 220 ppi)
• 8MP rear camera (fast Capture, Exmor R, HDR, 4x digital zoom, autofocus)
• Supports Dual-SIM
• 141.5 x 74.15 x 8.88mm | 153g
• 2390 mAh
• Android 4.2

Sometimes, a company's own store can jump the gun and reveal details like pricing a couple of days ahead of the actual reveal date, which is what happened in a Nokia China store which revealed the price of the Nokia Lumia 1520. The 6-inch phablet has yet to be announced and is expected to get it's official announcement tomorrow at the Nokia World event in Abu Dhabi. For now, the Nokia Lumia 1520 was priced at 4999 Yuan (RM2599) and also confirms a number of tech specs and features. This includes tech specs like the 6-inch display along with 1080 x 1920 pixel resolution, a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and a 20.7MP PureView camera. As mentioned earlier, no Malaysia release dates were available but with the event happeneing tomorrow we expect the Nokia Lumia 1520 to arrive in Malaysia sometime in November 2013.

While both the Nokia Lumia 929 (or otherwise known as the Lumia 1320) and Lumia 1520 have yet to be announced, both mark the point where Windows phones begin the assault on higher-end premium smartphones. While the Nokia Lumia 1520 is the larger 6-inch phablet, the Nokia Lumia 929 is the 5-inch display little brother and has recently been leaked by evleaks, showing a Nokia Lumia 929 for Verizon. Tech specs and features for the Nokia Lumia 929 include:

• A quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
• 2GB RAM
• 32GB storage
• 5-inch AMOLED screen (1080 x 1920 resolution)
• 20.7MP PureView rear camera (ZEISS lens, dual-LED flash, dual-capture mode, OIS)
• Supports built-in Qi wireless charging + 4G LTE

While the Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C are already slated for a Malaysia release date of 31 October  2013 to 1 November 2013, the official pricing for the smartphones in Malaysia have yet to be released. However, Malaysian Wireless has recently got some insider information regarding what could be the official pricing of the newest Apple iPhones. This includes:

• Apple iPhone 5C 16GB ~ RM1899
• Apple iPhone 5S 16GB ~ RM2299
• Apple iPhone 5S 32GB ~ RM2599
• Apple iPhone 5S 64GB ~ RM2899

While these are not official prices, they do match rather closely with the price of the Apple iPhone 5 when it was launched last year at RM2199. It also matches with what Apple have done for other countries with weakened currencies like Japan and France which have seen minor increases in price for the new Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C smartphones.

China's smartphone makers reveal another world's first, this time being the first manufacturers to put in MediaTek's MT6952 8-core processor into a smartphone, which they have announced as the UMI X2S. All 8 of the cores on the MediaTek MT6952 are working at the same time unlike Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa which also has 8 cores but only has one set of quad cores working at one time. Other tech specs include 2GB RAM, a 5-inch 1080p display, 32GB storage, 13MP camera with Sony lens and probably a Mali 450 GPU. Other features include LTE and NFC support but there is no mention of a battery. Overall, the design looks much like a slightly larger Samsung Galaxy S3 but we have no idea as to how the battery life or processing benchmarks are as the UMI X2S is a China only smartphone. We could still see it in Malaysia from local sellers but so far there are no exact Malaysia release dates or official pricing just yet. In China it may be sold from RMB1499 (RM776) to RMB1999 (RM1035). Keep an eye out at MobileMegaMall.com or other similar Malaysian markets and it may crop up.

In line with their flexible displays, Samsung recently demoed their new flexible battery technology. Rather than create a bendable battery in the form of a cable Samsung are using a non-liquid electrolyte for their batteries which while being not a liquid still follows the shape of whatever object or case you put it into. This sort of battery in a pouch offers even more versatility as you can now have the battery in anything with some space. The other cool thing about it is that due to the nature of the material it cannot overheat and start a fire even under the most extreme conditions. No details on pricing or Malaysia release dates but we should see some models offering the new Samsung battery technology soon (or next year). 

When the Acer Iconia W3 tablet first came out it marked the beginning of the first 8-inch Windows 8 tablets in the market. Unfortunately, it didn't have a very good screen and suffered somewhat from performance lag. Looking to fix this is the Acer Iconia W4 tablet, which looks to be a revamp of the W3. This includes a better 8-inch IPS LCD screen with Zero Air Gap touch and better 170-degree viewing angle. The resolution remains 1280 x 800 but the operating system gets an update to Windows 8.1. Another notable tech spec added on includes a 1.8GHz 4th generation Intel Bay Trail processor along with a 5MP autofocus rear camera and 2MP front camera. In addition to the main tablet, there are also a number of new accessories including a microfiber Acer Crunch Cover and Acer Crunch Keyboard. Pricing for the Acer Iconia W4 is set at $329.99 (RM1039) for the 32GB tablet and $379.99 (RM1197) for the 64GB version. The Crunch Cover goes for $40 (RM126) while the Crunch Keyboard goes for $80 (RM252). It would be nice if it came with a Keyboard combo but at least the tablet comes free with Office Home and Student 2013 edition. While there aren't any specific Malaysia release dates the Acer Iconia W4 is expected to be released in October 2013.