Reports claim Pixel 3 and 3XL Lite to launch in spring 2019 in the US

OnLeaks render of the rumoured Pixel 3 and 3XL Lite

Rumour has been going around that Google is set to release a “Lite” version of its Pixel 3 flagships. And the latest round of rumours talk about the release date of the phones. According to Android Police, the Pixel 3 and 3XL Lite models are set to come to Verizon in the US in spring 2019. There isn’t a specific date or price yet, but estimates would be around the US$400-500 price range. It’s been four years since Google launched a midrange device—the last one was the Nexus 5X in 2015—so it’ll be interesting to see how these devices will fare.

Leaked specifications claim these will be powered by either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 or 710 processor and 4GB of RAM and will have 32GB of storage, 12MP rear and 8MP front cameras, and headphone jacks. The smaller Pixel 3 Lite will reportedly have a 5.5-inch screen, while the Pixel 3XL Lite will have a 6-inch screen. It depends on how Google prices these to see if these phones will be worth their specs.

Verizon buys Yahoo for US $5 billion

It's an end of a long, grueling era for dot com pioneer Yahoo. The long suffering company was purchased for $5 billion in cash by Verizon who adds the search portal as another of its growing list of media properties under the AOL brand (which also owns Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Engadget). 

Yahoo's diverse core internet business which is made up of web properties like Yahoo Mail, Fantasy Sports, the photo storage site Flickr ,Yahoo search and Tumblr as well as the company's advertising technology are now all part of Verizon.

Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO said that, "Yahoo is a company that has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL." Meyer, who was hired from Google in 2012, says she plans on staying on for the next phase of Yahoo's assimilation into Verizon.

Source: BBC

New Moto X reportedly showing up in Verizon documents with Moto Maker option

We're days away from finding out what Motorola has in store for the new Moto X, Moto G and Moto 360 but already several leaks have surfaced dropping hints about the new devices. The latest is a document from Verizon lends credence to the earlier images of Bamboo and possibly leather-backed Moto X +1's. It seems the Moto Maker option will continue to be a big feature for the Motorola flagship handset and not just on AT&T. We'd love to have the Moto Maker option for Canadian handsets too, hope it happens. Stay tuned to CanadianReviewer.com on September 4th as we report live from Chicago for Motorola's launch extravaganza.

Source: Phandroid

HTC One M8 for Windows Phone released in the U.S. exclusive to Verizon

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

HTC has just released an HTC One M8 that runs Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8.1 operating system instead of Android’s current KitKat OS. While available only in the U.S. and only on Verizon, this strategy of offering identical hardware and functionality with a different OS seems brilliant. So why aren't other manufacturers doing it?

After all, most Windows Phones and Android devices are all but identical under the hood and run on similar ARM processors and chips. HTC”s move to replicate the HTC One’s outstanding build and feature set in the Windows Phone world, suddenly makes a lot of sense.

The HTC One M8 remains one of the most impressive Android flagship devices in the market right now. Even if it launched earlier than the Samsung, Sony and LG competitors, it still bests most of these devices in a number of areas. It is a great Android phone, now that Windows Phone variant has been released, it will be very interesting to see how other phone makers will respond (is creating a Windows Phone variant of an LG G3 or Galaxy S5 going to be a thing?) and more importantly we should see how customers react to suddenly having some premium handsets on Windows Phone that aren’t made by Nokia.

Source: HTC