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A claimed Samsung Galaxy S5 render has surfaced online, hinting that the eagerly awaited handset will feature a reworked, squarer design.


Show alongside last year’s Samsung Galaxy S4 and the preceding Samsung Galaxy S3, the leaked Samsung Galaxy S5 render has suggested that the inbound HTC One 2 rival will feature a refined form factor rather than a dramatically remodelled metal body as previously rumoured.

Whereas past Galaxy S handsets have features quite rounded forms, the S5 looks set to host more squared off corners.

Surfacing courtesy of Korean outlet Move Player, the Samsung Galaxy S5 render, which we must stress should be taken with a considerable pinch of salt given its less than official roots, shows a white, plastic bodied handset with silver edging.

Suggesting that the handset will have a considerably slimmer bezel that previous models, the Samsung Galaxy S5 render has also pointed to the phone hosting a more compact, squared off physical home button.

According to recent Samsung Galaxy S5 rumours, the iPhone 5S rival will be officially unveiled during the Korean manufacturer’s MWC press conference on February 25. It is widely expected that the handset will host a new 5.25-inch 2K display alongside a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor.

Further Samsung Galaxy S5 specs tipped for inclusion include 3GB of RAM, a 16-megapixel rear-mounted camera and Google’s latest Android 4.4 KitKat OS.

Twitters Vine video app has graduated to a new platform this weekend and is now available to download from the Amazon app store for Kindle Fire tablets.


The app, which allows users to create and upload short, 6-second video clips, had only been available on Apples iPhone or Android smartphones.

Vines arrival on Kindle Fire is the first time the app has been optimised specifically for a tablet device.

The decision to launch on the Kindle Fire is somewhat surprising considering the questionable quality of the devices front-facing camera and the lack of any rear-facing camera.

Theres also no Vine app for Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 at this time.

Instagram attacks

Vines expansion comes following new competition from Facebook-owned Instagram, which rolled out its own short video feature earlier this month.

Reports this week had suggested uploads to Vine had taken a hit as a result of Instagrams encroachment on its reason for being.

To combat the new rival, Twitter updated the Vine Android app earlier this week to include support for the front-facing camera, bringing it in line with the iOS app.

Draw Wars: Real-time strategy in bite-sized chunks

With Draw Wars, we have a unique and ambitious blend of puzzle and real-time strategy, combining the well-trodden ground of wartime tactics with the freedom of touchscreen manoeuvres.


In a sense, the name of the game says it all. Each level sets you on a terrain with a certain limited amount of resources (Tanks, infantry, planes e.t.c.) to attack the enemy’s base while defending your own. You do this by drawing paths for your vehicles to follow, destroying enemy vehicles and the enemy base to complete the level. Once you’ve decided your initial plans, everything goes into real-time and your tactics will require timing as well as cunning. Upon completion, the familiar three-star system rewards you for how well you did, as well as giving you cash to upgrade and buy items like mines and artillery.

Considering all the hurdles which could’ve led Draw Wars horribly astray, the developers have pulled this game off remarkably well. Once the tutorial levels are completed and you are settled in, the gameplay develops a rhythm and sucks you in, gradually introducing new vehicles and elements to keep its momentum. The freedom of how you approach each level makes completing them satisfying but enough effort is put into their design to make sure you (mostly) have to face a challenge to get there.

I do however have a problem with how your vehicles automatically stop, lock on to enemies and start shooting, even if you don’t want them to. While I understand how this feature may be sometimes convenient (for you and the developers), it is more often than not a real annoyance. Furthermore, I’m not a big fan of the vehicle upgrade system, which puts grinding into the equation and takes some of the puzzle elements out. If a sequel is ever made, it would be great to see the developers do something about these aspects.

o complement the gameplay, the graphics and sound design are very impressive, doing a good job of setting the tone and immersing you into the game. Due to this high quality, it is perhaps unsurprising that Draw Wars suffers from the dreaded Full Screen Ads Syndrome, sometimes even initiating them in the middle of gameplay. At this point, they become worse than simply inconvenient and detract from an otherwise excellent game. (Note: they only appear if you are connected to the internet)

Being a good all-round package, I don’t hesitate in recommending Draw Wars. These developers have shown that ambition, coupled with some innovation and attention to detail, can lead to success in the games market. Hopefully, there’s more to come!

Rating: 4/5

There are few, if any, products in the world that spark as much consumer interest and press coverage than an update to the iPhone. The next iPhone is on its way but will it be called the iPhone 6, or the iPhone 5S?

iPhone 6 release date

Apple is sure to unveil its next iPhone later this year. Since 2007 when the first iPhone was released, every year has seen a new iPhone outed.

The release schedule of previous iPhones shows a very clear pattern too – Apple plans its launches with incredible precision.

iPhone – June 2007
iPhone 3G – July 2008
iPhone 3GS – June 2009
iPhone 4 – June 2010
iPhone 4S – October 2011
iPhone 5 – September 2012

The early days of the iPhone series were all about summer launches, but these days Apple has skipped a few months back. Its last two phones were unveiled in September or October.

And, naturally, we’re highly unlikely to see an iPhone 6 arrive in July given we’re already in the thick of it. A September launch is likely.

A July release date was speculated earlier in the year, the source being a leaked document from a Japanese network, but that just goes to show you can never trust rumours.

The first we hear of the Apple launch is likely to be when the invites go out, which could be as late as two weeks before the event itself. However, previous Apple events have been revealed after having their venue booking details leaked. We’ll be back as soon as any such leaks happen.

The next iPhone will launch alongside iOS 7, which was revealed at WWDC 2013 in June, again pointing towards a possible mid-September unveil – Apple says it’ll arrive in the ‘Fall’.

However, if the next iPhone turns out to be the iPhone 5S, it’s likely that we’ll have to wait until 2014 to see the iPhone 6.

That said, there is a third possibility. Some suggest that the long-rumoured ‘low-cost’ iPhone will be called the iPhone 5S, and that the next full-fat iPhone will be the iPhone 6. In that case, both may launch this year.

However, this creates some most un-Apple-like series continuity issues – namely that the iPhone 5 would have higher-end construction than the iPhone 5S.

iPhone 6 price

Apple has a strict approach to pricing. It almost never cuts its prices mid-cycle, only lowering prices when an iPhone goes from being the ‘current’ model to an older legacy phone.

It’s not into doing anything that’ll devalue its products.

This policy is likely to mean the next iPhone costs roughly the same amount as the current one – which starts at £529 for the 16GB model.

The price escalates to £599 for the 32GB model and £699 for the 64GB phone.

iPhone 6 specs

When assessing a phone’s power, there are three main elements to consider – the CPU, the GPU and the RAM.

In pure figures terms, Apple’s iOS series CPUs have never sounded that impressive. They stuck to dual-core chips while Android rivals moved onto quad-core CPUs, but they have actually been quiet trailblazing of late.

The iPhone 5’s A6 processor uses a custom system architecture rather than the ‘off the shelf’ type seen in the vast majority of phones.

However, as our Galaxy S4 vs iPhone 5 feature showed, Apple needs to play catch-up in this area. The iPhone 6 is likely to feature a quad-core processor, rumoured to be clocked at 1.2GHz. 2GB of RAM is also likely.

This would make the iPhone 6 the very first quad-core Apple mobile device. At present, the most powerful in the iOS family is the iPad 4, which stuck with a dual-core main processor.

However, it is rumoured that the iPhone 6 will use the same GPU – the graphics chip – as the iPad 4, the PowerVR SGX554MP4.

This may sound like a disappointing improvement given the iPad 4 was released in 2012, but consider the difference in screen resolution – the iPad 4 screen has over 3 million pixels, the iPhone 5 under one million.

A lower-resolution screen needs less power to render visuals of the same perceived quality.

iPhone 6 Colours

One of the most interesting changes we’ll see in the next-generation iPhone is the introduction of a bit of colour. Claimed leaked prototypes suggest we’ll see five colours, including green, blue, pink and yellow.

Colour joined the Apple family – which has traditionally been all about black, white and silver – with the last iPod touch. You can get the aluminium rear of the music player cast in more-or-less the same shades we expect to see in the next iPhone.

This was only really made possible by the design switcheroo made by the iPhone 5. The previous two generations of iPhones prior to this one were topped with glass on both sides, and creating colour editions would have been a serious manufacturing challenge. Now that the rear of the phone is aluminium, colour editions will be much easier to produce.

However, there have been suggestions that the papped colourful iPhones are the long-rumoured ‘budget’ iPhone.

iPhone 6 software

If the iPhone 6 arrives in 2013 rather than 2014, the phone will definitely run iOS 7. This software was unveiled in June and will power all new iOS devices following its release alongside the next iPhone.

Although the software is not publically available, it has already been released to developers. We know exactly what it looks and feels like already.

iOS 7 is Jonathan Ive’s redesign of the system – he was at the helm of the design team for most of Apple’s iconic products including the iPod and MacBook.

A new look is one of the most important changes. Icons are sharp rather than rounded and other aspects of the interface have taken some cues from Android.

For example, the drop-down notifications menu gives you control over phone features.

However, the system still doesn’t offer home screen widgets, which are what many iOS detractors have been asking for.

iPhone 6 screen

One of the most speculated-about elements of the iPhone 6 is its screen. Will it be bigger? Will it be higher-resolution?

In early 2013, there were rumours that Apple was planning to release two phone in 2013 – a 4-inch phone and a larger 4.8-inch one, the latter most likely to be dubbed ‘iPhone 6’.

iLounge’s Jeremy Horwitz clarified the rumours with his own sources, saying that while a 4.7-inch device was in prototyping stage, it’s “certainly not expected in 2013.”

Horwitz wrote in January that the iPhone 5S will arrive in 2013, will have a 4-inch screen like the iPhone 5.

It is also possible that the next-generation iPhones will use Sharp IGZO screens rather than the Sharp IPS displays used in the iPhone 5. These offer more efficient power consumption than the current type.

iPhone 6 camera

The next iPhone is likely to use a Sony camera sensor similar to those seen in the Sony Xperia Z and Samsung Galaxy S4, if the iPhone 6 is to follow the series’s current direction.

Both the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 use an 8-megapixel Sony sensor – much as people may think Apple only uses its own components, it does not. Using the same sensor for three generations of iPhones is highly unlikely.

Most of this year’s top phones, including the Galaxy S4, use 13-megapixel Sony-manufactured camera sensors.

The two most notable exceptions are the 8.7MP Nokia Lumia 925 and HTC One, but both of those use rather different technologies to make their cameras stand out.

It’s unlikely that the iPhone 6 will make the same moves. The iPhone 6 is likely to be too slim to fit in the OIS components needed to copy the Lumia 925, and using a low-resolution, high pixel pitch sensor like the HTC One’s is a move that could misfire marketing-wise.

We expect the iPhone 6 to use a higher-resolution sensor and a familiar LED flash. Improvements in image quality are likely to be down to an improvement in lens construction and better noise reduction algorithms in the camera’s software.

There are clear improvements to be made in the iPhone 5’s camera lens too. It’s a reasonable f/2.2 construction, but beaten by several others these days, including the F/1.9 Lumia 720 and f/2.0 HTC One.

These figures are the cameras’ f-stop rating, which is the ratio between the diameter of the lens aperture and the focal length of the lens. The lower the figure the better – indicating that it’ll let in more light within the same exposure time, therefore giving the potential for faster shooting in good light and better low-light performance in gloomy situations.

iPhone 6 rumours

The rumour mill is always flying around the launch of another iPhone but what are the rumours to look out for?

Fingerprint scanner

The integration of a fingerprint scanner in the iPhone 6 has been heavily rumoured. Apple patents suggest it could be hidden within the phones bezel.

Plastic iPhone

Could the iPhone 6 be made of plastic? Not likely but there are plenty of rumours suggesting a budget iPhone may be launched on the same release date as the iPhone 6.

Summer release date

In June pics of the iPhone 6 or 5S were reportedly snapped on a production line. If thats the case and production is already underway we could see an early release date in August.

iPhone 6 – Worth the Upgrade?

If we assume the iPhone 6 is to arrive this year, it’s unlikely to be a huge upgrade. All the rumours point to a sensible rather than hugely dynamic generational shift. We’ll get more power, a more advanced screen and updated software – although all recent iPhones will get the latter.

If the iPhone 6 is to land in 2014, it could well be a more dynamic device that, like the iPhone 5 did, changes the form of the device altogether by adding a larger screen. However, it’s too early to tell, especially given Apple is unlikely to have finalised the design of a product more than a year in advance.