Hasta La Gadget!

It’s not too often that a pair of Chinese smartphones shows up in our office, but we try to take advantage of the opportunity whenever it comes around. Thanks to Oppo Style, a trade company that sells Oppo devices directly, we have two 16GB Find 5 handsets ready for the taking! As a refresher, the phone offers a 5-inch 1080p display, Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset, 13MP rear camera, 2,500mAh battery, Android 4.1.2 and 2GB RAM, to name a few. The 16GB version normally retails for $499 in the US, while the 32GB goes for $569, so it’s definitely worth taking a few seconds to enter. Good luck!

Note: Please enter using the widget below, as comments are no longer valid methods of entry. The widget only requires your name and email address so we know how to get in touch with you if you win (your information is not given out to third parties), but you will have an option to receive an additional entry by following us on Twitter if you so desire.

Filed under: Announcements, HD, Mobile

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Just several days after Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello resigned, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada is also making the move. Square Enix announced today that Wada will be stepping down due to “a management reorganization.” However, the company also noted that they’re expecting a big loss in its next financial statement.

Wada has been the CEO of Square Enix for over 12 years, starting the role in 2000, but he’ll be officially stepping down in June, and will receive a 60% pay cut starting next month due to the company’s poor performance. Yousuke Matsuda, who joined the company in 2001, will take over as CEO. It’s not yet said if Wada will take on a new role at Square Enix, nor if Matsuda is just a temporary replacement.

The company’s expected net sales were reduced overall, and they now expect net income to fall from 3.5 billion yen ($37 million) to 13 billion yen ($138 million). Square Enix has blamed its poor performance on “slow sales of major console game titles in North American and European markets.” The company recently released Sleeping Dogs, Final Fantasy XIII-2, and Hitman: Absolution, which apparently aren’t doing so hot.

While Wada is receiving a 60% pay cut, Matsuda will also be receiving a pay cut, but only 40%. It seems that the publisher has a long road ahead of itself, and if the newly-appointed CEO is getting a huge pay cut, that can only mean that other employees will be getting pay cuts as well, and it could possibly lead to lay offs at some point.

[via The Next Web]

Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada steps down due to financial troubles is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve been hearing rumors about the Motorola X Phone, with some earlier reports claiming it to be a single device, and with later reports suggesting that it is actually a series of Android devices that may very well be customizable in terms of hardware. While Google/Motorola has yet to confirm the speculation, a new rumor has emerged (via Phone Arena) suggesting that the X Phone, or at least one device from the series, could be seeing a release pegged for the end of June or early July. If this is the case, it would certainly be in line with speculation from before that suggested that the X Phone could be unveiled at Google I/O that is taking place in May.

Not much is known about the alleged X Phone now, but we expect that it should be able to compete with the 2013 flagship phones from other Android OEMs, such as Full HD displays and quad-core processors. We’ll take this with a grain of salt for now, but with Google I/O coming up in a little over a month, hopefully more details will spill before then.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: T-Mobile Could Unveil The iPhone At Their Event On The 26th Of March, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Rumored To Have Unbreakable Display,

Good news T-Mobile subscribers, if you have been eyeing the Blackberry Z10, you’re in luck because the handset is now available for purchase via T-Mobile. The Blackberry Z10 will be amongst the first few devices from T-Mobile to support 4G LTE connectivity, and it will also be under the carrier’s new mobile plans which unfortunately will no longer offer subsidies. Instead customers can now expect to pay an upfront payment and repay it over the duration of your contract. Granted it does sound a bit like a subsidy, but we guess it depends on how you look at it.

The Z10 will be priced at $531.99 off-contract, but if you’d like to try T-Mobile’s new plans, it will cost you $99.99 upfront, and you can expect $18 every month for the next 24 months. However the kicker is that according to their website, it reads, “Qualifying rate plan required.SRP $531.99. 0% APR On Approved Credit for well-qualified buyer,” suggesting that maybe not everyone will be eligible for that plan. In any case if you’d like to pick the Z10 up for yourself, head on over to T-Mobile’s website for the details.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Basemark X Ready To Rock The Mobile Benchmarking World, T-Mobile HTC One Coming ‘Soon’ For $99,

Nokia’s Asha line of less-expensive smartphones, not developed on Microsoft’s Windows Phone but Nokia’s own proprietary OS, is getting a new boost of attention today. The company is unveiling a new (and free) premium developer program for Asha developers. Modelled on a premium program started for Lumia developers last year, those participating will get extra developer resources, credits towards promoting finished apps in Nokia’s app storefront or via advertising in other apps, and a free device, so that they can boost numbers in the Nokia Store for content made for the Asha line of phones. Nokia tells me that there are now 130,000 apps, ringtones and wallpapers for Asha in the Store already, without breaking out the number of apps compared to other content.

Not only will this help to boost the number of apps in the Nokia store, but it furthers the idea of Asha as the “other” smartphone line being pushed by Nokia — and not just another high-end feature phone. As IHS analyst Ian Fogg noted after seeing the news: “Nokia builds the case for Asha to be considered a smartphone.”

Nokia says that for developers to be considered, there are some criteria to be met. For “stage-one productivity membership” (this includes extra developer support, the free device and expanded remote access), a developer need to have at least two apps built for any mobile platform and currently in any mobile store (not just those run by Nokia itself). For “stage-two” membership (this includes the promotional options of either app store placements or $500 worth of advertising), the developers need to agree to develop and publish at least one app for the Nokia Store to work on an Asha device.

The Lumia premium developer program, Nokia says, has proven to be its most successful developer program ever.

But if Nokia’s Lumia line is considered its “flagship” fleet of smartphones, then the Asha devices are the company’s ever-essential workhorses.

In Nokia’s Q4 results that it reported in January, the company announced 9.3 million Asha devices sold, more than twice the number of Lumia devices (at 4.4 million). While Nokia has been working hard to create Lumia handsets that are stretching ever further into the low cost segment — the most recent being the $180 520 handset unveiled at the Mobile World Congress this year — Asha devices were already there, with devices going for under $100 already unveiled last year.

This fact makes the Asha and ever-more important link in the chain that Nokia has to be careful not to break as it tries to bring its vast population of users in emerging markets on to Nokia smart devices, rather losing them to the rival Android ecosystem as led by Samsung, Huawei and dozens of other handset makers. Samsung in particular has approached the market with an aggressive device strategy across virtually every mobile handset price point (and feature set).

The developer program and its stated purpose to create apps for Asha devices is very much part of that strategy. As Apple has very conclusively proven both with the iPhone and iPad tablet, one of the biggest draws to a particular piece of hardware is the software that you will be able to use on it.

The idea, of course, are for those apps to be quality as well as in quantity. “We want to reward apps that really engage the user,” Kenny Mathers, director of developer programs and monetisation at Nokia, said in a statement. “We’ll be looking for high-quality graphics and user interface, plus great user reviews, with a minimum rating of four stars from at least 25 Nokia Store user reviews.”