Samsung Galaxy S5 launching on April 11th in 150 countries

Samsung has just announced that the Galaxy S5 will be available starting April 11th in 150 countries. Over here in the US, it'll be available on Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, MetroPCS and U.S. Cellular. Ma Bell is going one step further, offering up the Gear 2 and the Gear Fit smartwatches as well. If you'd rather go elsewhere for your mobile needs, retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Sam's Club, Target and Walmart will have the GS5 plus all three of Samsung's newly announced wearables. As for our friends across the Atlantic, UK providers EE, Three and Vodafone UK have jumped aboard the GS5 bandwagon, as have retailers Phones4u and Carphone Warehouse. Though it hasn't been announced, we expect other carriers such as O2 will support the phone too. No word on pricing just yet, but we expect we'll find that out closer to the phone's April launch date.

Source: T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T

Nokia announces the X and X+, its first Android phones

Nokia is officially launching its very first Android devices, known as the X and the X+, on stage at its annual Mobile World Congress press conference. We were all taken aback by the second (and third) device (since only one leaked), so it's incredible to see Nokia make such a huge foray into enemy territory. The X will have a 4-inch, 840 x 480 IPS screen, 512MB RAM, 4GB of storage expandable storage via microSD slot and 3-megapixel camera, while the X+ sports the same specs but more RAM (768 MB) and an included 4GB microSD card. You won't be getting Google's apps or Play store, however as both handsets will be based on the forked AOSP Android OS. Nokia says that'll have the advantages of the Android ecosystem, but with a "differentiated experience." So far, Here Maps, MixRadio, Skype and Outlook are being featured on the Nokia Store. You can access the Nokia and third party stores using the devices, but not Google Play, obviously. We've heard SwiftKey will be available on the Nokia X range (and for free, too), as will BBM, which is also coming to Windows Phone sometime "this summer."

The new devices are featuring a ported version of FastLane for Asha devices as a sort of skin, to give a similar experience as its other budget handsets. When you swipe across it, it'll bring up a sort of notification bar showing recently used apps, missed calls and texts and other activities. During the demo, Elop showed both the Nokia Store also Yandex, where he pulled down Aero Express, a Russian-flavored app. The X will be available immediately in growth markets (ie, not the US) and run 89 euros. The X+, meanwhile, will run 99 euros but won't arrive until sometime in Q2 this year.