If you have been in the market to pick up a Samsung Galaxy S4 for the longest time, but somehow or rather have never managed to do so simply because the color of your choice is not available, well, here we are with the Aurora Red version of the Galaxy S4 that was recently announced by the folks over at AT&T. It goes without saying that this is definitely a somewhat eccentric color, and will be an AT&T exclusive from June 14 onwards.

Of course, you can always play the role of being the early bird by placing your pre-orders from as soon as tomorrow, namely May 24th. Those who do so will have to fork out the usual $199.99 asking price, where it will be accompanied by a 2-year contract, of course, which is similar to what one would have to fork out for the ‘Black Mist’ and ‘White Frost’ colors. Any takers?

Now here we are with word that there is a new version of the Opera mobile web browser for the Android mobile operating system, where it is tipped to be the first version to do away with Opera’s Presto rendering engine while making full use of Google’s Chromium foundation. If you were to put it differently, then it would be this way – you should not run into any issues when it comes to opening up web pages as well as web apps which were specially designed for use in Chrome or majority of the other Webkit browsers.

Opera’s Webkit-based browser for Android has been made available as a public beta for a few months already, where it is now graduated from beta status and is more than ready to be used among the masses. Bear in mind that Opera will not be a Chrome clone, as this particular mobile browser also comes with its very own user interface, an article discovery service, alongside optional data compression so that users are able to save bandwidth. The Opera browser is available for those who are running devices which have Android 2.3 Gingerbread and later. [Press Release]

Waze used to be part of the Windows Mobile platform, but when Microsoft made the jump to Windows Phone 7, that was the end of Waze as we know it. Or at least, this is what most folks thought, but it seems that things have taken a turn for the better with Waze being paraded in the Windows Phone Store at this point in time, although you will be unable to download it at the moment since Waze for Windows Phone is right now undergoing a private beta test.

Still, Waze’s popularity on the Android as well as iOS platforms have proven to be phenomenal, where there are already 40 million and counting users who are helping one another out on the road, knowing just which road to avoid because of a traffic snarl, or perhaps there are others who have sighted the men in blue hiding under a bridge with their speed traps in hand.

So, you are thinking of picking up the Samsung Galaxy S4, but somehow or rather, your finances does not add up in the long run. What are you to do then? You can always take the slightly different route with the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini which looks set to arrive, where it should be accompanied by the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active. Well, images of the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini have leaked in the past, and this time around we have a bunch of benchmark results concerning the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini that reveals more information of it.

Word has it that the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini will be equipped with a 960 x 540 pixel resolution display, where it will be powered by Android 4.2 Jelly Bean right out of the box, in addition to a 1.7GHz dual-core Krait processor and an Adreno 305 GPU. Connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11n, with GPS support thrown into the mix.

Now this is definitely a modern day version of Hansel & Gretel (no, not the high tech witch hunting pair of siblings as depicted on the silver screen earlier this year), where a 28-year old man who was abducted more than two decades ago (when he was just 5 years old) actually managed to find his way home. Of course, there was no gingerbread house in the picture or breadcrumbs for him to follow, but rather, his ingenious use of Google Maps to figure out his 1,500km journey home to Guangan City, Sichuan Province from Sanming which is located in the Fujian province.

The abducted Luo claimed that ever since he was abducted, he would remind himself of what his hometown looked like mentally every single night before he fell asleep. Obviously through the past 23 years, his memories faded with age, although there was one thing in his mind that stuck out like a sore thumb – a set of two bridges. It was last year that Luo stumbled upon a website that provides services for victims of abduction, where he posted a rough depiction of his hometown. Approximately half a year later, he was pinged by a volunteer who informed him that a couple in Guangan, Sichuan, had lost a son exactly 23 years ago. Serendipity, perhaps? Luo then used the satellite view of Google Maps to check out whether anything clicked with his memory, and much to his amazement, he saw the same set of bridges which had been burned into his memory all those years ago. Needless to say, there was a happy ending to Luo’s story as he eventually reunited with his family. Of course, there are certain quarters who doubt the veracity of this story, but it is a great way to end the week with a smile on our faces, right? This is the kind of stuff that Disney movies are made out of.

Both iOS and Android number close to a million apps each on their respective app stores, which is one of the reasons why smartphone users flock to either operating system. Of course there are other factors, such as hardware, pricing, availability and so on, but it is safe to say that app availability plays a big role as well. Well Blackberry seems to think so as well as they have revealed that the Blackberry World app store currently sits at about 120,000 apps, which while still pretty small compared to iOS and Android, is a pretty huge deal considering that the platform and its accompanying devices were only launched earlier this year! Blackberry’s CEO Thorsten Heins praised the thriving ecosystem, which we guess was boosted by Blackberry’s efforts where they held events to encourage developers to submit as many apps as they can, and even offering monetary rewards on top of earnings for every app successfully submitted to Blackberry World. We can see that Blackberry is going for quantity at the moment, and we suppose there are quality apps within those 120,000, but for now it looks like as far as apps are concerned, they may very well be edging Windows Phone out of the picture!

Word on the street has it that Samsung has another tablet up their sleeves apart from the Galaxy Tab 3 (7.0) which has already been announced. This alleged device is the Galaxy Tab 3 (8.0) which is a slightly larger sibling of the 7″ model, and thanks to the folks at SamMobile, they claim to have gotten their hands on what appears to be a leaked photo of the tablet. While the design is slightly similar to the Galaxy Tab 3 (7.0), it is noticeably difference in the sense that the front-facing camera and ambient light sensor are positioned in the middle, versus to the right on the Galaxy Tab 3 (7.0), and the fact that its bezels are also thinner than the 7″ model, suggesting a slightly larger display.

While the device has yet to be made official, the specs as it stands include a 1.5GHz dual-core processor along with 1.5GB of RAM, 16GB of storage expandable via microSD, and an 8″ 1280×800 display. It will feature a 5MP rear-facing camera, a 1.3MP front-facing camera, and is expected to run on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Still no word on when the 8″ model of the Galaxy Tab 3 will be released, but hopefully it will be soon, so stay tuned for updates, and in the meantime take this with a grain of salt for now!

There is a new smartphone from Sony coming our way, and this time around, it would be the Sony Xperia UL that will take center stage. Just in case the name Sony Xperia UL sounds familiar, this is because it was spotted making its rounds at the FCC earlier this month, under the guise of the Sony SOL22 with the final destination being AU by KDDI of Japan. Of course, it remains to be seen whether the Sony Xperia UL will eventually end up as a Japan only device, or will there be other variants that will be shipped out to the rest of the world? Time will tell.

What you see above is a leaked image of the Sony Xperia UL, where it is touted to run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset with other hardware specifications such as 2GB RAM, 32GB of internal memory, and a 2,300mAh battery to get it going.

Would you buy a smartphone that is made by a Chinese manufacturer? Why not? After all, they already have the technological expertise, it is just a matter of brand positioning to sort things out. I guess Chinese smartphone manufacturers are currently in the same boat as that of Korean companies in the 1990s – remember Samsung and LG and their extremely plastic phones which seemed to be all too fragile when they were first released to the market? See where both companies are right now, and I rest my case. China is going to be the next powerhouse in consumer electronics, and the ZTE Grand X2 certainly looks set to take on the challenge.

Officially unveiled in Monaco, the ZTE Grand X2 will be powered by a dual-core 2GHz Intel Atom processor, carry a 4.5” HD display at 1280 x 720 pixels resolution, has 1GB RAM, an 8-megapixel camera at the back with a 1-megapixel front-facing shooter, 8GB of internal memory, a microSD memory card slot, a 2,000mAh battery, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in tow. No word on pricing but it should arrive in Europe sometime in Q3 this year.

Sony recently announced that they have yet another water- and dust-resistant smartphone in the market – calling it the Sony Xperia ZR, and this particular model has more or less the same specifications under the hood as their flagship Xperia Z, although it will come with a smaller 4.55” display at 720p resolution in addition to a 10.5mm profile. I guess with word that the UK, France and Germany not receiving the Sony Xperia ZR coming out from the mouth of Sony France itself, it could very well be a move that Sony has taken in select markets so as not to cannibalize on the sales of their flagship device itself.

Having said that, chances are the Sony Xperia ZR will then make its way to less developed markets, offering folks the choice of whether they want a high end smartphone, or one that is just a notch down the pecking order without having to compromise on its ability to function under water.