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Mobile World Congress is just a few weeks away, and you can expect an onslaught of smartphone and tablet news to come out of Barcelona in late February. But plenty of companies are getting a head start by announcing that they’ll be have announcements.
Case in point: Meet the LG G2 Mini. While LG hasn’t officially named the new phone, the company posted a picture of its 5.2 inch LG G2 smartphone sitting next to a phone with a similar design and a much smaller body.
Here’s a roundup of tech news from around the web.
- LG G2 mini on the way, official announcement likely coming Feb 24th
It’ll be interesting to see whether LG takes a page out of the HTC and Samsung books and strips some features as well as size from its new “mini” phone, or follows Sony’s example and offers a smaller phone with similar top-tier specs. [LG] - Google Play Music for Android gets a major update
Big ticket features include support for caching stations for offline playback, the ability to manage your list of devices, and a new “play next” button. [Android Police] - Windows Phone 8.1 to support higher, lower screen resolutions
At the high end, it looks like Microsoft’s mobile OS will add support for 2560 x 1440 pixel screens. On the low end, expect support for 960 x 540 and 640 x 360 pixel displays. [Phone Arena] - Tiny, efficient Bluetooth module could enable smartwatches with longer battery life
And you thought the components of your phone had to be small and energy efficient compared with laptop parts. Smartwatches could drive the miniaturization race even further down the rabbit hole. [Gizmodo] - Mobile app store GetJar is under new ownership thanks to a $50 million sale
Chinese company Sungy has picked up one of the most popular third-party Android app stores… which is sort of like picking up the second most popular maker of iPhones… [GigaOm] - Leak: HTC Desire 8 could be a 5.5 inch, mid-range phone with 13MP camera
HTC’s Desire brand has always sounded more like the name of a perfume than a smartphone. But the company’s next Desire phone looks pretty good… like a cheaper version of an HTC One. [Engadget] - Jolla plans to offer Sailfish OS ROM for select Android phones from Samsung soon
There may only be one smartphone that ships with Jolla’s open source Sailfish OS right now. But soon you may be able to install the operating system on existing handsets, starting with select Samsung models. [The Jolla Blog] - Ideum Platform 46 is an Android-powered coffee table(t)
So you thought Samsung’s 12.2 inch Galaxy Note Pro tablet was big for an Android device? This table has a 46 inch, 1080p touchscreen display, Android 4.1 software, and a waterproof surface. It can be yours for just under $7000. [Android Community]
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