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The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phablet now has 6 official colour options to choose from. While we initially reported on the Rose Gold colour option, Samsung have come out with a White Rose Gold option and a Black Rose Gold colour option in addition to the new Red colour option. Add on the existing Black, Pink and White colour options and you have a total of 6 colours to choose from for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phablet. Tech specs and features for the phablet remain the same though. Unfortunately, Malaysian users may have to wait a while as these colour options may only be released in China starting from December 2013. Malaysian release dates are expected to be in early 2014.

Celcom remains one of the major LTE network providers in Malaysia but is currently working hard to upgrade LTE performance in Malaysia. Celcom have recently revealed that they are spending millions of Ringgit to upgrade their LTE network with the goal of providing 1200 active LTE sites in Malaysia by Q3 of 2014. The previous target was only 300 active LTE sites but with this 4x increase we could soon see faster LTE network speeds, better reliability and above all better LTE coverage in Malaysia. Focus areas will include the Klang Valley, Eastern areas of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak, major highways and popular tourist locations with an expected completion date in April 2014. This move is largely seen to be an appeasing gesture due to the recent MCMC announcement that local telcos are not pulling their weight. Hopefully, things will indeed improve but we'd still recommend a wait-and-see approach if you're still on the fence about going into LTE as even 3G networks have yet to deliver the maximum speeds possible.  

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the latest and greatest phablet in Samsung's pioneering phablet range, but if rumours are true, we may soon see some less premium versions coming in 2014. Supposedly due for announcement at MWC 2014 which happens between 24 and 27 February 2014, the rumours indicate that the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Lite or SM-N7505 may come in 2 versions, one with a 5.49-inch display and a 5.7-inch display. Both versions will use LCD screens instead of Super AMOLED which could mean that they are cheaper or have lower resolutions. Other tech specs include an 8MP rear camera and a standard plastic back cover instead of the current artificial leather back cover. These downgrades will allow the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Lite to be priced at a lower price point. In related news, another Samsung Lite product rumoured to appear at the MWC 2014 is the Samsung Galaxy Grand Lite or GT-I9060 which offers a similar 5-inch display, 1.2gHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage and 5MP rear camera. No specific pricing or Malaysia release dates were available at the time but both Lite products should be more affordable than their more premium versions.

With the end of the year 2013 looming ahead, DiGi are offering a number of smartphones that include the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3, Samsung Galaxy Grand Quattro, Samsung Galaxy Note II, Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, Sony Xperia Z and Sony Xperia C for FREE. The catch is that you have to sign up for either the DG SmartPlan 88 or DG SmartPlan 148 under a 24-month contract. For more details check out the table and links in this article.

The Alcatel One Touch Idol X+ is rumoured to be coming soon with MediaTek's octa-core MT6592 processor and chipset. Other tech specs and features are equally high-end including a 5-inch Full HD display, 2GB of RAM and a 13MP rear camera. However, new rumours have just come up showing a teaser of the upcoming smartphone with silhouettes of a bracelet and smartwatch along with a rather cryptic title of "1+1>2?". The smartwatch silhouette definitely looks like the Samsung Galaxy Gear, right down to the camera located on the smartwatch strap but we're not so sure what the other device is. While it could mean a completely new Alcatel smartwatch and smart bracelet this seems a lot more likely than the Alcatel Idol X+ being compatible with the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch. No specific Malaysia release dates or pricing were available but earlier Alcatel One Touch Idol X prices indicate that we could be a fairly affordable Alcatel One Touch iDol X+ when it is released.

Solid State Drives or SSDs continue to lead in terms of performance while more affordable hard disk drives or HDDs offer more storage space at better value per GB. In a move to combine the best of both, Western Digital or WD have announced the WD Black 2, the world's first Hybrid SSD + HDD storage device. The WD Black 2 features a 120GB SSD melded together with a 1TB HDD and only measures 2.5-inches to 9.5mm thick, allowing it to be used for notebook computers. The WD Black 2 connects via standard SATA connections with support for SATA 6Gbps. Priced at $299 (RM963) the WD Black 2 is currently available or soon to be available in Malaysia and also comes with a WD 5-year warranty.

It seems that the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 may soon get some new colour options. This time around they are appearing first at Samsung Argentina where the new colours were revealed as red and rose gold. The red colour option will be available within the first week of January 2014 while the rose gold colour option will be available in Argentina in week 3 of January 2014. Samsung will then make both colour options available globally and we should then see these options available in Malaysia sometime in or after week 4 of January 2014. Malaysia pricing should be more or less the same. Check out the pics in this article for yourself.

One of the accessories supposedly due for release back during the initial teasing period for the Nokia World Dubai event was the Nokia Guru Bluetooth headset. Apparently, the cyan blue coloured acessory may be called the BH-121 Touch with added NFC functionality. The BH-121 Touch features the ability to connect to your Lumia smartphone and stream music via Bluetooth to the attached earplugs. The NFC function will let you pair the device with just a Touch while the volume rocker will let you control the volume without having to pull out your paired Lumia. According to reports, the BH-121 Touch will arrive in mid December 2013 along with the Nokia Lumia 525. While there aren't any specific Malaysia release dates or pricing, we should see it soon afterwards.

Everyone seems to be getting on the smartwatch bandwagon,  including ZTE who are rumoured to be coming out with a smartwatch in Q1 of 2014. Initial rumours say that the ZTE smartwatch will only work or sync with ZTE devices and eventually work with every other Android smartphone. However, new rumours indicate that the upcoming ZTE smartwatch could be a stand alone device where it could call, SMS or connect to the Internet without having to sync with a smartphone through Bluetooth. This is because rumours say that will be able to accept a SIM or micro SIM card. These rumours go on to state that the ZTE smartwatch will be launched first in China before being rolled out internationally and reaching Malaysia. It is expected to be priced much lower than the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch which retails at RM999 here in Malaysia. 

It appears that some users of the recent Microsoft Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 tablets have been having problems with their tablets related to overheating. The main symptom of this is that the screen for the tablets becomes so dimmed that users can't see what they are doing. This often comes up when either the Surface 2 or Surface Pro tablets were doing processor intensive tasks like games or multi-tasking (multiple programs running at the same time). When contacted, Microsoft have said that the company is aware about the problem and are currently working on an update to fix the problem. According to them, a quick fix is to let the overheated tablets cool down first, which should take about a minute or two. The screen should then return to normal brightness afterwards. Here were their exact words:

"Surface devices may dim the screen as thermal temperatures rise from extended, high CPU intensive activities - like gaming. In some scenarios this does not appear necessary...We’re working on a tuning update that will remove this unnecessary dimming event. You can expect this update in an upcoming Windows Update package. In the meantime allow the Surface to cool down for a minute or so in order to return the screen to previous brightness levels."