HTC expands One line with E8 in China

The HTC One E8 was announced in China and will be a more affordable entry into HTC's family of products. A dual-SIM LTE-enabled smartphone, the "E8" is expected to cost the equivalent of US $450. Sporting a 5-inch screen the E8 is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (2.5GHz in Asia/China; 2.3GHz in other regions); Adreno 330 GPU. This model eschews the UltraPixel camera in favour of a more conventional 13 megapixel shooter. No word on whether this model will be sold anywhere else aside from China.

Source: Engadget

TomTom: Vancouver, Toronto are most congested cities in Canada

TomTom released its fourth global Traffic Index. This year’s Traffic Index showed that traffic congestion on secondary roads is worse than main roads, and commuters around the world are spending an average of eight working days a year stuck in traffic. In fact, it is revealed that traffic shortcuts drivers take to avoid congestion are actually ‘long cuts’, adding 50 per cent more travel time to journeys. 

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Apple Beat: WWDC 2014 is about extending the ecosystems

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla 

Today’s WWDC Keynote, the 25^th of a series, saw Apple going back to its roots as one of the most innovative software companies in the business. The event was a frills-free, hardware-free ode to the developer community and it celebrated the coming of age of iOS as well as the ascension of OS X as one of the best designed and most interoperable desktop operating systems in the market today.

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Samsung debuts first Tizen-based smartphone

After years of getting used to seeing the Galaxy brand on a Samsung device, the Korean company wants you to get used to its new naming convention. Samsung has unveiled its first Tizen-powered smartphone, the Samsung Z. The phone is powered by an unnamed 2.3GHz quad-core processor, Tizen 2.2.1, 2GB RAM, and 16GB or 32GB of storage with microSD card expansion up to 64GB. It has a 4.8-inch 720p display; 8-megapixel rear and 2.1-megapixel front cameras; sensors like accelerometer, fingerprint scanner, heart rate sensor, and gyroscope; as well as LTE connectivity.

The Z has a 2600mAh battery and features the familiar faux-leather back. It is yet to be seen how much of an impact a Tizen device will make on an iOS and Android dominated market. This device will first launch in Russia and Samsung is trying to entice developers to create apps for the OS with local app challenges in the country. It will be available in the third quarter there in either black or gold. There will be a wider release later but there is no word when this will be. Price for the device hasn’t been announced yet either.

Source: Gizmag