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Cellphone theft is a very serious issue. Its one thing to get your device stolen by a pickpocket or someone who runs off with your bag, its another to be threatened by a lethal weapon. Such incidents can also prove to be fatal for those who try to resist or negotiate with thieves or muggers. We’ve already seen people such as the Mayor of London and New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman write to big manufacturers urging them to make their devices more secure, essentially make them useless to thieves.

Now after an act that went into effect on August 13th, all domestic smartphones manufactured in Korea from now until Q2 2014 must come with a “kill switch.” This safety feature will allow users to turn off their devices remotely. Once the kill switch is flipped, the device freezes and is rendered unusable. Thieves won’t be able to format it, the device would essentially become an expensive paperweight. Both Samsung and LG will start producing smartphones soon that will come with this switch, whereas Pantech has already incorporated the feature in its devices since February 2013. The “Complete Preventive Measures against Illegal Use of Mobile Phone” act aims to reduce the number of lost or stolen devices that are shipped out and sold in grey markets around the world.

Samsung And LG Smartphones In Korea To Get Kill Switches original content from Ubergizmo.

Seems that one of the better smartphone values on the market today is about to reintroduce itself to AT&T’s customers, as @evleaks has just tipped the LG Optimus G Pro in white. Up until this point, the carrier has sold the phone only in black, but its large 5.5-inch, 1080p display, Snapdragon 600 SoC and 13MP camera seem to grab all the attention. AT&T currently sells the Optimus G Pro for $100 on contract or $440 outright, but there’s no definitive arrival date for this pearly creation.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, AT&T, LG

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Source: @evleaks (Twitter)

Just a few days ago, we brought you yet another edition of rumors concerning the Nexus 5 which is said to be manufactured by the folks over at LG. Vietnamese rumor site Tinhte might have something more concrete to add to the situation, where they have leaked out details that the Nexus 5 could very well arrive later this October, which is a further “confirmation” of a rumor that dates all the way back to March. Hmmm, a rumor confirming a rumor? That’s rich. We would like to advise our readers to take all rumors in with a pinch of salt, of course.

Apparently, the alleged Nexus 5 by LG will be based loosely on the recently unveiled LG G2 flagship model, which means it should share some key characteristics from the LG G2 such as its 5.2” Full HD display in addition to a quad-core 2.26GHz Snapdragon 800 processor and a glass back like the Nexus 4 After all, it was also leaked by Tinhte that LG dropped $1.5 billion on a couple of Vietnamese factories, which were the very same factories that previous hands-on videos of prototypes and shipping models were first captured. Do you think that the Nexus 5 will be able to do better than its predecessor by the time it hits the market?

LG Nexus 5 Sees October Launch (Rumor) original content from Ubergizmo.

The LG Optimus L5 II Dual is hardly the company’s most powerful handset (the honor would probably go to the recently announced LG G2), but given the specs we expect the Optimus L5 II Dual will be an affordable option for those who are on a tight budget. Well if the original handset was a bit too plain for your liking, LG has unveiled a special edition Optimus L5 II Dual which as you can see in the image above, will see the front and back adorned with a floral design which we guess helps jazz up the phone a bit. Unfortunately it seems that this special edition handset is limited to the Russian markets at the moment and is also expected to be priced at a rather affordable $256.

No word on whether LG will be bringing special edition device to other countries but at the moment it is limited to the Russian market, so if you want to get your hands on it, grey imports will be your best bet. As a quick recap for those wondering  about the device, the LG Optimus L5 II Dual will sport a 4” WVGA display with a 1GHz MediaTek processor under the hood. It will also come with 4GB of onboard storage, a 5MP rear-facing camera and will be powered by Android.

LG Optimus L5 II Dual Special Edition Revealed original content from Ubergizmo.

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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