Oppo Find 7 pre-orders are now live and you can already reserve you Astro Black or White flavor. The smartphone will set you back $599 if you order it from within the USA or €479 if you are getting it via the EU store.

Oppo Find 7 is the company's upgraded version of its Find 7a flagship. It comes with a 5.5" IPS display of QHD resolution, plus it runs on the fastest Snapdragon 801 chipset with a quad-core Krait 400 CPU @2.5GHz and 3GB of RAM. For the additional €80 or $100 you are paying over the Find 7a you will be also getting 32GB internal storage instead of 16GB and stereo speakers.
The Find 7 is available via OppoStyle online store. It is an officially endorsed retailer by Oppo, so it is the closest to official as it can get. Pre-orders are now active and the first batch of the Find 7 flagships will ship in early July.
If you are interested in the Oppo Find 7, maybe our review of its Oppo Find 7a sibling will help you decide.

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The newest Android device from Indian smartphone maker Micromax is available to order starting today. Strangely though, this has happened even though the Canvas Gold A300 hasn't been officially introduced yet.
Sure, it got leaked last week, but Micromax hasn't acknowledged it so far (perhaps because it's been too busy with its new Windows Phones).

Micromax Canvas Gold A300
Regardless, you can now order a Micromax Canvas Gold A300 from Infibeam, and the online retailer even claims to have the handset in stock. Shipping is expected to take 5-6 days, but is free within India.
All of the leaked specs of the A300 have been confirmed by the online store's listing. The phablet sports a 5.5-inch 1080p touchscreen, a 16MP rear camera, and a 5MP front snapper. Running the show is a 2 GHz octa-core processor, along with 2GB of RAM.
There's 32 GB of built-in storage space (which doesn't seem to be expandable), an FM radio, and 21 Mbps HSPA support with dual-SIM functionality. A 2300 mAh battery should keep things powered up, and the software that comes preinstalled is Android 4.4.2 KitKat.
The Micromax Canvas Gold A300 can be yours for Rs. 24000, which right now means around $400.

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Last week, the OnePlus One should have started shipping to the first people who got invites to buy it. But there's now a way to get a One without the need to wait for an invite.
The Chinese online retailer Oppomart claims to have OnePlus One units in stock and ready to be shipped - worldwide, no less. Oppomart however isn't affiliated with Oppo as its name might imply, so how trustworthy ordering from there might be is up for debate. There are also a few caveats you should know about.


First and foremost, you're going to be paying $399 for the 16GB version of the phone, which is currently the only one in stock. That's exactly $100 more than what OnePlus itself is asking for.
Furthermore, the devices you buy this way won't come with CyanogenMod 11S preinstalled. Rather, they ship with... Color OS, which is essentially Oppo's interpretation of what an Android skin should be. There go any doubts you might have had whether the two manufacturers are actually affiliated.
That's because the OnePlus One is being sold in two different ways across the globe. Everywhere but China you have to go through the dreaded invite system to get one. In China, though, it's available from time to time in batches - a sales model pioneered by Xiaomi.
However, the main difference between the Chinese OnePlus One and the international model is the software inside. That, and the 4G LTE band support.
So before you order a OnePlus One, do check whether this Chinese stock will play nice with your particular carrier's bands. The units sold by Oppomart work on 1800/2100/2600 MHz for 4G, and 850/900/1900/2100 MHz for 3G.

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After having been on sale in countless other places for a long while, the Nokia Lumia 1320 is finally out in the US.
You can get one right away from Cricket, the carrier that was recently acquired by AT&T and now serves as its prepaid arm.


The Lumia 1320 is priced at $279.99, and there's obviously no need for you to sign a long-term contract to get it. What's more, if you buy one until July 10, you can receive $50 back in the form of a Visa rebate card.
The mid-range phablet can be paired with Cricket's plans that start at $40 per month for unlimited talk, text, and data (with the first 500MB going up to 4G LTE speeds).
If you're not sure whether the Lumia 1320 is right for you, you can take a look at our review to help make up your mind.

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Even though the LG G3 hasn't yet appeared in any markets outside of Korea, rumors of a model that sports a more robust Snapdragon 805 processor have surfaced. Even more compelling is that the device could come as early as July - the same month that the current LG G3 is expected to hit most retailers.


A Snapdragon 805 chip could be just the boost the G3 needs, as the higher resolution causes the Snapdragon 801 SoC to perform below what its 1080p rivals manage. The QHD display requires more processing power, which the Snapdragon 805 should provide plenty of, as well as a theoretical download speed of 225Mbps thanks to the integrated Qualcomm MDM9635 modem.
Samsung has also been rumored to be in development of a Snapdragon 805 variant of its Galaxy S5 flagship, which could go by the nickname Galaxy S5 Prime, or Galaxy F.
The "Prime" moniker has also been tossed around in LG's camp, and the upcoming G3 variant could be the G Prime, a name that LG has recently trademarked.
We'll have more on this story as it develops, so stick around.

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It looks like LG is really hitting its stride. The Korean cell phone manufacturer is expected to ship 15-16 million smartphones this quarter alone. This is will be a 20-30% increase from last quarter.
The increase in sales come courtesy of LG's recently released flagship, the G3. 100,000 G3's were sold just five days into its launch in the phone's native Korea alone. Sources predict that LG will ship 10-12 million units of the G3 during the lifespan of the phone.


It's not crazy to think that the phone will be a large success, especially considering how many units the G2 sold. The G3 is also the first smartphone to ship with a 5.5" display with a QHD resolution.

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There haven't really been sparks flying between Sony and HTC. It doesn't look like a rivalry capable of producing the kind of ripples one would expect of a clash involving Samsung and Apple, or LG and Samsung. Yet, HTC and Sony have been contributing to the platform no less - and are the two brands that make Android look its best, both on the inside and the outside.
You do know better than take this as a beauty pageant, don't you? These two have bigger things on their mind - and we don't mean world peace. Standard-setting build and finish are matched by just as premium internals. The very first flagships to break cover this year, these two still have what it takes to be season-shapers: connectivity, screen resolution, audio, imaging and processing power.


There seem to be the right dose of respect each way but not without a dash of envy in those looks they throw at each other. After all, what we have here is probably the best Android has to offer in terms of industrial design. Two unibody smartphones by makers that have taken the skill of molding aluminum and metal and glass to an art form. Both have quality stereo speakers, great displays and both are powered by the cutting edge in chipset technology. The very latest Android experience is available right out of the box.
Sounds like a level field, but let's look at what may tip the scales one way or the other.

HTC One (M8) over the Sony Xperia Z2

• Metal unibody
• Built-in amps for the stereo speakers
• 5MP front-facing camera
• Dual LED dual-tone flash
• Dual rear camera setup for depth-of-field effects
• IR port and remote functionality

Sony Xperia Z2 over the HTC One (M8)

• Water resistant and dust proof glass-coated unibody
• Bigger display - 5.2" over 5.0"
• Higher still image resolution- 20.7 MP over 4 MP
• Higher resolution video - 2160p over 1080p
• More RAM - 3GB over 2GB
• Bigger battery - 3200mAh over 2600mAh

OK, even those pretty evenly composed lists seem to give the Sony Xperia Z2 the upper hand. A bigger screen (at pretty much the same body size overall), bigger battery, higher-res stills and videos and more RAM carry more value perhaps than a higher resolution selfie cam and an IR blaster. And even if the HTC One (M8) should turn on the offensive, the water-resistant Sony Xperia Z2 can always take it where the enemy wouldn't venture.
The lack of IP certification and the questionable choice of camera are potentially HTC's biggest disadvantages. On the other hand, 4K videos spell storage trouble while stereo speakers in a water-proofed body are no match for an identical setup where each has its own amplifier. There're a lot of things to consider - is it raw image quality that matters the most or is it image sharing and creative effects? Is it audio you care the most about or protection against the elements?

HTC One (M8) and Sony Xperia Z2
If you're looking to get the very best Android has to offer, these two are definitely in the running. In terms of style and feel, Sony and HTC are not making it easier on anyone. But hey, we would be disappointed if they did. Yet, there's nothing more subjective than good looks - we'll try to get them out of the equation (but not out of the story) and hope it's still going to be a tight game.

User interfaces

It's a story as old as the platform itself - we have two handsets powered by Android but looking nothing like each other. Both the HTC One (M8) and the Sony Xperia Z2 run on Android 4.4.2 KitKat but while the first comes with the Sense 6 launcher, the second one uses the latest Xperia UI, resulting in a rather different user interface.
To give you an idea we have short videos showing both in action.

The Sense 6 lockscreen has the usual functionality - there's a clock, weather info, lockscreen widgets and four shortcut slots that mirror the four docked apps you have on the homescreen. The unlock button gives you three options - a swipe up for the last opened app, swipe to the left for the homescreen and a swipe to the right to BlinkFeed.
As a cool bonus you can unlock the One (M8) without the assistance of the power button. A double tap will show you the lockscreen, a swipe up will unlock the device, a swipe down will prompt voice call and finally you get swipe left for the homescreen and a swipe right for BlinkFeed.

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HTC One (M8) VS Sony Xperia Z2 Reviews GSM Arena