Latest leak shows re-vamped variant of the Droid DNA's international cousin

It looks like HTC's betting big on its "BoomSound" front-facing speaker technology, as images from Chinese site VR-Zone seem to show that the feature's made its way across to yet another upcoming phone, the Butterfly S. The design is almost unchanged from the original Butterfly (that's the international version of the Droid DNA) but there's one interesting addition down below. That's right, the new Butterfly now rocks dual front-facing speakers, just like the HTC One.

According to the source of the leak, the Butterfly S still features a 5-inch 1080p screen, and the rear speaker has been deprecated by the new front-facers. It's speculated that the internals have been upgraded too, and that the Butterfly S will be powered by a Snapdragon 600 chip. (And of course we can clearly see HTC's latest Sense 5 UI on-screen.)

More information is due at an Asian announcement event next Wednesday, June 19.

Source: VR-Zone; via: Engadget

The new method would make it easy to hide your data from any application

Steve Kondik took to Google+ earlier today to talk about something new he's been working on called Run in Incognito Mode. Designed to help maintain control over your personal data, it's a per app command that will stop your phone from sending out data to an app that might ask for more than you're comfortable sharing.

We aren't providing ad-blocking or device info (IMEI) spoofing. This feature is designed explicitly to help protect your personal data, and it will remain as such.

So what exactly will Incognito Mode do? Of course we haven't seen it yet, but according to Kondik, the new flag will allow the software on your phone that delivers data (called content providers) to either return the "real" data, or a limited set of data using the following privacy features:

• Return empty lists for contacts, calendar, browser history,and messages.
• GPS will appear to always be disabled to the running application.
• When an app is running incognito, a quick panel item is displayed in order to turn it off easily.
• No fine-grained permissions controls as you saw in CM7. It's a single option available under application details.

In other words, with Incognito Mode turned on, an app like Facebook will be told that you have zero contacts, nothing in your calendar, no message history and no browser history. Your real contact list, calendar, messages list and browser history will remain unchanged, but the third party app will never know the difference. If the app queries for a location, it will be told that GPS is turned off. All of this will be easily toggled on and off in the quick panel.

No word on when to expect this feature, or even a promise that it will make it's way into CM. It sounds like a pretty easy way to keep your valuable data safe, though, and we hope to see it soon.

Source: +Steve Kondik

AT&T was less than subtle in its YouTube teaser for the Galaxy S4 Active earlier today, but T-Mobile U.S. is leaving more to the imagination. In a video entitled "What if your smartphone could do this?," we see the action from a phone's perspective as it follows a diver into a pool.

Like AT&T, T-Mobile's promising more information tomorrow, suggesting it too may be preparing a Galaxy S4 Active announcement. But let's not forget that the Sony Xperia Z -- also water-resistant -- is rumored to be heading T-Mo's way in the near future, too.

So which are you hoping for -- Xperia Z or Galaxy S4 Active? Share your thoughts down in the comments.

AT&T's being all coy about it, but it's pretty clear the phone in its latest teaser trailer is the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active. The ruggedized, water-resistant version of Samsung's flagship was announced last week, and will be on show at the company's Premiere 2013 event in London next Thursday. Meanwhile, AT&T's promising more info tomorrow, June 13.

Check out the video above -- and note the Active's trademark button setup at 0:11, and the TouchWiz UI towards the end. We'll be live from London on the 20th to bring you full coverage of the Galaxy S4 Active.

4.3-inch HTC One variant snagged by source for Engadget

The HTC One Mini -- previously known by its codename of "M4" -- is quickly coming into focus as HTC's leading mid-range handset for 2013. Last week brought the first blurry-cam photos of the device. Earlier today reports from Bloomberg suggested an arrival 'by August.' And now Engadget has published a photo of the unannounced handset alongside its big brother, the HTC One.

The photo, which the site says was provided by a trusted source, shows very few external differences between the big One and the little One, though the One Mini will reportedly feature plastic front sections instead of the metal of the original. Never fear, though, aluminum fans -- the back of the chassis remains furnished in brushed metal. Engadget's report repeats some previously-rumored specs, including a 4.3-inch 720p display, Beats Audio and (obviously) a pair of bassy front-facing "BoomSound" speakers. The IR blaster found on the HTC One reportedly hasn't made the cut though, sadly. The CPU is speculated to be a 1.4GHz Snapdragon 400, and the handset is currently said to be running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and HTC Sense 5.

As for release windows, it doesn't get any more specific than Q3 2013, which would fit with what's been reported elsewhere. So, in this world of five-plus-inch phones, is anyone still in the market for a well-made 4.3-incher? Shout out in the comments.

Source: Engadget

Connectivity, battery life noted as issues for some in MD3 update

Verizon has confirmed in a statement to Android Central that the Android 4.1.2 update for the Galaxy S3 has been halted, and a fix is in the works following a number of complaints over connectivity and battery life. The VRBMD3 update, heralded as a "major" release that brought a bit of functionality seen in more recent releases -- multi-window and multi-screen, to name two -- sparked a number of threads in our Galaxy S3 forums of folks experiencing issues, and word of a fix started trickling out last week.

Here's the official word from Verizon:

A software update was recently pushed to the Samsung Galaxy S III, and while a majority of customers downloaded and installed the update successfully, a small number were negatively impacted. As a result the software update push has been postponed as a precaution for customers. We will notify them when a new software update is available for download. 

So, everybody hang tight for an update, which hopefully will come sooner rather than later.

Mini HTC One reportedly due 'by August'

The evidence that HTC is working on an HTC One "mini" is growing, with fresh reports from Bloomberg seemingly confirming the rumored specs, and offering a tentative launch window. The publication says it's heard through two insider sources that the miniature HTC One will come with a 4.3-inch screen of lower resolution than the original. In addition, a "less powerful" Qualcomm CPU is said to be onboard.

As for release dates, Bloomberg says the new handset will go on sale "by August," meaning we could have a few weeks to wait before the device becomes official.

Earlier rumors have pointed to the "M4," as it's codenamed, shipping with an "Ultrapixel" camera, like the HTC One, and a screen resolution of 1280x720. Leaked photos have revealed a design almost identical to the 4.7-inch One. If the rumors are accurate, it'd compare favorably against the Galaxy S4 Mini, due to go on sale in July.

Source: Bloomberg

Vodafone UK has just launched a new smartphone for the budget-conscious, and it's available for just £50 on PAYG with no subscription. The Vodafone Smart Mini packs vanilla Android (Jelly Bean) UI onto a 3.5-inch HVGA (320x480) display, running on a 1GHz single-core MediaTek CPU. That's backed up by 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a microSD slot. Around the back there's a 2-megapixel camera. 

So the Vodafone Smart Mini isn't going to win any awards for cutting-edge technology, but it is impressive that you can pick up a fully functional (if basic) smartphone for a tenth of the cost of the latest high-enders. The Smart Mini will be available from Vodafone.co.uk later today in black and white, with a pink version to follow.

Regional carrier C Spire this morning announced that it'll carry the HTC One. And that's all it announced, saying it'll follow up with more details "in the future."

We, however, have far more on the HTC One, as well as some kick-ass discussions in our HTC One forums.

Source: C Spire

Apps-to-SD support is coming to the Galaxy S4 in a new software update - here's how to use it.

Samsung's answer to the controversy over storage space on the Galaxy S4 has been to resurrect an old Android feature -- the ability to move apps to your SD card. By offloading heavier apps to your expandable storage (the S4 supports microSDXC cards up to 64GB) you're able to save precious internal storage for other stuff, like the many apps that can't be moved to the SD card. That's right, just like in the Froyo (Android 2.2) days, developers have to specifically allow you to move apps to the SD card, and some popular apps don't support the feature.

Nevertheless, if you're big on gaming, the latest mobile titles can take several hundred megabytes each, and the ability to move these apps to the SD card is a great way to save space. The update to allow apps to be moved to the SD card is rolling out now to unlocked German Galaxy S4s, and other regions and carriers should follow in the weeks ahead.

In the meantime, you can check past the break for our video walkthrough.