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Initially thought to be the OPPO N3 Mini, the super thin OPPO R5 smartphone recently got it's official announcement alongside the OPPO N3. While it isn't 4mm thin exactly as originally reported, it is 4.85mm thin, making it the current world's thinnest smartphone. Utilizing a 3D-welded aluminum alloy frame, hand-polished to shiny perfection, the OPPO R5 measures in at 148.9 x 74.5 x 4.85mm and 155g. The overall design is flat and thin while the rear camera protrudes out. Other tech specs include a 64-bit 1.5GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 procesor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 5.2-inch AMOLED display with full HD 1080p resolution, 13MP rear camera with Sony IMX214 sensor and f/2.0 aperture along with a 5MP front camera. Features include 120fps slow motion video at 720p and 2160p video record (2K) at 30fps. Somehow, OPPO have managed to pack in a 2000 mAh battery while also offering 4G LTE and a fast charging VOOC mini rapid charger. The smartphone works with OPPO's O-Music accessory for media streaming partly because it does not feature a 3.5mm audio jack. No Malaysia release dates or pricing yet but it is expected to retail at $499 (RM1640).

Breaking into the global smartphone market isn't enough for Huawei as they've recently been named one of LinkedIn's World's 100 Most InDemand Employers of 2014. Coming in a 95, the survey was done using LinkedIn data and user surveys. Huawei continues to grow globally and here in Malaysia specifically, coming out with great value for money devices like the Huawei Honor 3C and Huawei Honor 6 smartphones or designing beautiful products like the Huawei Ascend P7.

Microsoft recently announced their first device for the smartband category with the Microsoft Band. Compatible with iOS, Android and Windows Phone the Band offers mostly fitness tracking, notifications and for those Microsoft Lumia users, voice commands with Cortana. Using a flat screen in a thermal plastic elastomer (something like silicon) it also features a UV sensor, optical heart-rate monitor and galvanic skin response sensor. Tech specs include a 1.4-inch flat touchscreen wutg 320 x 106 pixel resolution, GPS and 2x 100 mAh batteries. The Microsoft Band will work with the Microsoft Health platform to help track fitness globally. According to the app descriptions, features also include a 24 hour heart rate monitoroing and automatic activity counting system, which could indicate that it will last at least 24 hours on a single charge. No Malaysia release dates or pricing details yet but it does retail for $200 (RM657).

Huawei recently unveiled another worthy addition to their Honor smartphone lineup with the Huawei Honor 4X. The most notable feature that it offers a 64-bit 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor. Other tech specs include a 5.5-inch display with 720 x 1280 pixel resolution, 2GB RAM, 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, 4G LTE, 3000 mAh battery and Android 4.4. Measuring in at 7.9mm thin it uses the same flat and thin rounded corners look as the Huawei Honor 6. Like the Honor 6 it also seems to do away with any Huawei branding whatsoever but it should be noted that it is all set for Android 5.0 Lollipop as the capacitive keys below the screen match with those on Android 5.0. While we don't have any Malaysia release dates or pricing, it is currently on pre-order for 1299 CNY (RM694) which would really shake things up more in the midrange. It is expected to ship on 6 November 2014.

It has been some time since OPPO came to Malaysia but it looks like they are finally warming up to Malaysia's telcos with some new bundles from U Mobile. For now, the first two devices will be the entry-level OPPO Neo 5 and OPPO Joy. U Mobile has the Neo 5 available at RM598 on a postpaid plan while the OPPO Joy is going for RM348 on a prepaid plan. Benefits includes a free 6-month U58 subscription for the Neo 5 but you have to sign up for a 24 month contract. The OPPO Joy gets a free SIM pack, free RM20 top-up voucher and 4 months worth of free Internet on a contract-free prepaid plan. There are conditions for the prepaid freebies though as you will only get the free Internet if you keep the line active (make sure you have enough airtime). However, after the four months of free Internet are up, U Mobile will also throw in 250MB worth of free Internet for every RM30 top up. Check out the tables and links in this article for more details.

Barely a few days after OPPO is supposedly working on a 4mm thin smartphone and rumours have come up that Vivo could be working on a 3.8mm thin smartphone too. This comes from two teaser images of what appears to be a metal-frame Vivo smartphone, which is then compared against an Apple iPhone 5 or iPhone 5S both of which measure 7.6mm thin. There is no news on what sort of tech specs or features such a thin device could pack, but it should be technically possible. Also no news about a Malaysia release date or pricing but with Vivo officially available in Malaysia it could just be a matter of time. As always, do take such rumours with a pinch of salt, but we can't help but ask; when is a thin smartphone too thin?

ASUS has officially announced the MeMo Pad 10 (ME103K) 10.1-inch display tablet for just $199 (RM652). If it does come to Malaysia, this would place it in direct competition with the ASUS FonePad 8 tablets. However, the tech specs for the MeMo Pad 10 (ME103K) are a bit lower-end with a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB Storage, 10.1-inch display with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, 2MP/5MP rear camera, 0.3MP front camera, SonicMaster speakers and Android 4.4 KitKat. It also weighs a good deal more at 525g but has a 9.5-hour battery life. No Malaysia release dates or pricing yet, but do check out the video in this article.

With the announcement of Android 5.0 Lollipop, practically every Android user is asking, will my phone get that update? Well, ASUS ZenFone smartphone users and those who are going to get the ASUS PadFone S superphone will definitely get it sometime in April 2015, at least according to rumours in Taiwan. You may be asking why it is going to take such a long time, but we're thinking that this is due to having update all the ASUS ZenUI to fit the Android 5.0 Material Design. Hopefully, ASUS will also include all the latest camera modes like slow motion video recording or maybe a panorama shot for the front camera, but only time will tell. As usual of such rumours, do take this with a pinch of salt, but since most ASUS ZenFone smartphones here in Malaysia have already received their Android 4.4 KitKat updates, we assume ASUS will stay on track and deliver the next Android update too.

It seems inevitable that other Apple products will get a bend test as well, especially after how easily the Apple iPhone 6 Plus bent due to bare hand force. This time around the 6.1mm thin Apple iPad Air 2 goes through the bend test and rather predictably, breaks. While we're not surprised at such a thin and big device bending or snapping in half, it appears that you do need a good deal of strength to bend it. If you've got pencils for arms then you probably won't have to worry too much about it. In the meantime, do check out the iPad Air 2 bend test video in this article.

Unveiled recently, the Dell Venue 8 7000 tablet wowed everyone by being the world's thinnest tablet at just 6mm thin. It even manages to beat out the Apple iPad Air 2 which is 6.1mm thin. Tech specs and features for the Venue 8 7000 are also much higher-end with a quad-core Intel Atom Z3500 processor, 8.4-inch OLED display with 1600 x 2560 pixel resolution and Intel's RealSense 3D camera on the back consisting of three cameras. It also features 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and stereo speakers along with a metal frame. While there are no Malaysia release dates or pricing details yet, it has been announced for a very affordable $499 (RM1634) coming in or after November 2014.