Huawei fields another ridiculously thin Android phon​e

We're live from London, where Chinese manufacturer Huawei is showing off its latest Android smartphone, the Ascend P6. An insanely svelte little handset, the P6 measures in at just 6.18mm thick, making it the thinnest Android phone we're aware of. (In fact, Huawei claims that the P6 is the world's thinnest smartphone.)

It's also a good-looking piece of kit, with an iPhone-like metal trim around its top and sides, and a featureless back panel save for the Huawei logo and rear-facing camera. It comes in white, black and pink color options -- the white and pink versions have a soft touch pack panel, while the black has a more granular texture. The main camera is an 8-megapixel unit, and In today's presentation Huawei was keen to talk up its wide range of software capabilities designed to boost dynamic range and improve color vibrancy. But it's actually the front-facer that's most unique here, as it packs a 5-megapixel sensor, far beyond what's offered by most competitors.

On the front there's a 4.7-inch 720p display -- no longer cutting edge, but equally nothing to sniff at. Once again, Huawei's sporting on-screen buttons as part of its Emotion UI, which brings a unique, highly themable user interface to the P6. As with previous Huawei handsets, there's a central focus on the big "Me" widget containing weather details and other pertinent info. There are plenty of customization options too -- the manufacturer boasts 100 custom skins out of the box, and more than 1000 more online, including seasonal variants. The software experience is speedy, with no sign of lag whatsoever, on account one-two-punch of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and Huawei's custom-built 1.5GHz quad-core CPU.

One thing you won't be enjoying on the P6 is 4G LTE connectiity -- the current model is HSPA+-only, though Huawei boss Richard Yu did mention that an LTE-capable version would be launching around October or November.

Check out our hands-on video and gallery after the break.

More: Huawei London liveblog

Huawei is pretty proud of the new flagship Ascend P6 and its Emotion UI, which it unveiled today in London. And while we're seeing the likes of Samsung and HTC -- and probably Sony -- get on board with "Google Edition" versions of their top-shelf phones, Huawei has no plans to do so with the Ascend P6, Richard Yu, Chief Executive Officer for the Huawei Consumer Business Group, said at Tuesday's event.

That sentiment was echoed in the press release.

“The HUAWEI Ascend P6 is a star among smartphones with its industry-leading design, high-quality camera, and intuitive user interface. Building on the success of our Ascend P series of fashion smartphones, the HUAWEI Ascend P6 provides unsurpassed technology and a design that is simply stunning.”

"Stock" versions of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One will go on sale June 26 at Google Play.

Former head of sales at HTC Michael Coombes, and former U.K. marketing director James Atkins may have left HTC during this tumultuous spring, but that doesn't mean they plan to stop making smart phones. The two high level HTC execs have joined together to create the startup Kazam, and they plan to keep building phone hardware with a "stunning design, robust hardware, and intuitive technology, underpinned with improved customer service" for the European market.

While there is no news about any actual hardware just yet, CEO Coombes says they will be focused on support after the purchase. This should allow them to differentiate themselves in a very competitive market, but it will be easier said than done.

We're assuming Android will figure big into their plans, and we're going to keep a close eye on the duo and their new company.

T-Mobile U.S. has announced that (as was rumored) it'll carry the Sony Xperia Z "in the coming weeks." No pricing was announced. It'll be available in black and, for a limited time, in purple.

The phone looks to be the same that we reviewed some weeks ago -- 5-inch display at 1080p (and with Sony's Bravia 2 engine), 13-megapixel camera and, more important -- it'll work just fine on T-Mobile's fledgling LTE network.

More: Xperia Z at T-Mobile

Huawei this morning from London announced the Ascend P6 smartphone, a ridiculously thin 4.7-inch Android device.

The thinness is Huawei's lead bullet point here, with the phone measuring in at a mere 6.18 mm. It's sporting a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor and runs Android 4.2.2. The LCD display proclaims to have "MagicTouch" -- basically meaning you can rock gloves with this guy.

Camera-wise, the Ascend P6 has an 8-megapixel shooter out back with an f/2.0 aperture. It's also sporting a full 5-megapixel camera out front, so your duckface pics will have a higher resolution than ever before.

We're live from the launch event in London. Be sure to check our liveblog!

A quick heads up for those of us who can't make it to London on Thursday for Samsung's Galaxy & ATIV event -- it'll be streamed live on YouTube. Specifically, you can find it at youtube.com/SamsungMobile.

Start time is 7 p.m. BST, or 2 p.m. on the east cost of the U.S., or 11 a.m. out west.

HTC this morning took the wraps off the diminutive Desire 200, sporting a look that mostly is a throwback to the pre-HTC One days but still has hints of its flagship line.

This is decidedly not a high-end device. The 3.5-inch display has a 480x320 resolution -- nearly unheard of these days but not unexpected for a phone this small. It's rocking a Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 processor running at 1 GHz, and it's got a mere 4 gigabytes of internal storage and 512 megabytes of RAM. (The included SD card slot lets you bump that up, of course.)

We're live from Camden's Roundhouse in London, where Huawei is showing off its new smartphones. We're expecting the Ascend P6 -- heavily teased, but not yet officially unveiled, along with more Android goodness. And there's a chance we might get a look at the manufacturer's new Windows Phone handset too, the Ascend W2.

We'll bring you live coverage starting at 1pm local time (BST). That's 8am EDT, or 5am PDT. Liveblog's after the break!

Following up on a pivot that shifted Minus to be a chat and photo sharing service, an update to version 2.0 today brings a nicely refreshed and improved interface to the table. Building on the idea that Minus is made to help people meet and chat with its app, the new interface gives users an easy option to browse around a globe to find new people to connect with. Once you've made some new connections, the changes continue including a new greetings inbox for incoming chats, icons to indicate online users and an overall simpler navigation paradigm. As always, you still have access to a full-featured chat interface with both text and media sharing options.

The new version 2.0 update of Minus is now available in the Play Store, which you can find at the link above.