BlackBerry Passport wins a design award

Once more proving that it is hip to be square, the BlackBerry Passport won the IF Design Award.

For over 60 years, the iF DESIGN AWARD has been recognized around the world as a label of design excellence, and the iF logo is an internationally established symbol identifying outstanding achievements in design.

The international high-profile jury assessed almost 5,000 entries from 53 countries in order to determine who would receive this coveted seal of excellence. They found the Passport to be new and innovative, The awarding body also had some nice things to say about the BlackBerry Z3, which also received similar recognition.

Source: Inside BlackBerry

Nokia Z Launcher stays in beta, adds new features

The Nokia-made launcher hasn't left beta but it has new features to help out its users. The app has new UI improvements as well as better performance for carousel widgets. They also worked on improving scribble handwriting recognition. It also now supports icon packs. And there is the usual bug fixes as well.

Source: Android Community | Download: Google Play Store (Free)

Facebook to suggest nearby places to you on iOS app

In another move to encroach Foursquare's main business, Facebook is introducing a new nearby place recommendation feature into its iOS app. The social network calls the feature as Place Tips. It will display posts about a certain shop, restaurant, or other establishments when it sees you're in the area. It is currently testing in select areas, like New York, before a universal rollout. We don't know yet when that would be or if it'll come to Android. Let us know if you're able to try it out and what you think about it.

Source: Cult of Mac

HTC can't meet self-imposed deadline for Lollipop update

HTC was the first OEM to set a deadline for their Android update to Lollipop for the One M7 and M8. But it looks like they won't be able to meet their 90-day deadline. And they are placing the blame on Google.

According to HTC's Vice President of Product Management Mo Versi, Google had to address issues with the software release and they are trying to implement Google's fixes into the update but it won't be available for some of the carrier versions of the two devices. Versi added they will try to keep as close to the deadline as they can but he won't say when that may be.

Source: HTC | Via: SlashGear