Industry sources have suggested that Samsung is making concerted efforts to forward the release date of the Galaxy Note Phablet as a means by which to make up for the poor performance of the S5 Smartphone.

There’s a rumor floating around this weekend that Samsung may have decided to bring forward the launch of its upcoming Galaxy Note 4 Phablet. Interestingly, motivation for the early arrival is said to be nothing less than disappointing sales of the current Galaxy S5 flagship.

Reports from the Korean media suggest that just as was the case with last year’s S4 and Note 3, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is being hurried along behind the scenes as its Smartphone counterpart continues to struggle on store shelves. Mass production of the device may have already begun as early as June and is expected to be stepped up even further this month, as the South Korean brand looks to restore faith in its hardware following a lukewarm reception for the sS5.

In terms of hardware, the fourth-generation Note could turn out to be quite the stunner. Fronting the assault for Samsung will be the new Note’s 5.7-inch QHD touchscreen with 500+ppi pixel density, which company executives recently hinted could also be curved. Power will be served up courtesy of either Samsung’s own Exynos 5433 octa-core or a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 CPU, 3GB of RAM will see the Note 4 fall right in line with new-generation standards and the latest build of Android KitKat will sit at the helm right out of the box.

There remains a chance that the Note 4 could make its debut alongside the Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime at the very beginning of September, though analysts in general don’t expect the IFA stage to be shared by more than one flagship device.

The 2020 debut of 5G cellular connectivity is looking more probable than ever before, with Ericsson having confirmed it is already well into the testing phases of a system 250-times faster than regular LTE.

So here’s the good news if you’re still finding 4G LTE too slow for your liking – 5G is coming and perhaps much sooner than you’d think. LTE-Advanced may have only just started making its mark and many major markets like the UK only adopted 4G LTE as standard pretty recently, but attention has nonetheless turned to the next big/fast thing…and it’s seriously fast.

With the way things are going and the advances being made, it’s looking probably that 5G will make its first outing in 2020, which might sound like an eon away but really isn’t far ahead at all. As for those fronting the charge, reports from CNET suggest that Ericsson is already neck-deep into the project and is currently testing the pants off a preliminary 5G network prototype.

“The telecommunications gear maker said Tuesday it had conducted a test that achieved a connection speed of 5 gigabits per second over the air, part of its plans for 5G wireless technology,” CNET reported.

“The 5Gbps benchmark, which is 250 times faster than today’s standard LTE connection, marks a record for the wireless industry and is an indication of speeds to come. Such speeds are beneficial for smartphones, of course, but also for cars, medical equipment, and other devices.”

Highlighting the need for and the importance of super-fast cellular connection speeds, Ericsson’s network business head insist it goes far beyond connecting people.

“If LTE was about getting everyone connected, 5G is about getting everything connected,” said Johan Wibergh in a CNET interview.

“We don’t put out tests we can’t achieve in real life,”

“We know what it takes to bring it to a real high-performing network.”

The latest update on Microsoft’s upcoming Smartband suggest that not only will the device display messages from the mobile device it’s paired with, but also that it will work with iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

To call Microsoft’s entry to the wearable tech party ‘news’ isn’t entirely accurate…various sources have been banging on about the subject for years. However, it’s only as of late that the leaks and rumors have taken a decidedly more believable slant, with the latest example having spilled the beans on a pretty crucial feature for the unannounced Smartband.

We’ve come to know/expect that the Microsoft Smartband will have a broad target market as it is being designed to work with Android, iOS and Windows Phone alike. What’s more, it’s recently been suggested that the device also display messages and notifications, which will be displayed on the inside of the wrist for better privacy.

Sources claiming familiarity with the project told Tom’s Hardware that the first wearable from Microsoft will look relatively similar to the Nike FuelBand, only with a slimmer, sleeker and generally sexier design. Up to 11 sensors are said to have been fitted into the tiny device in order to keep tabs on various facets of health and fitness – the primary purpose of the Smartband. From calorie burning to heart rate monitoring to distance travelled and so on, the device appears to be following a similar path to several other wearables set to hit the market over the coming months.

With an estimated price of $199, the Microsoft wearable may have a distinct advantage over its rivals simply due to its wider compatibility. So far, the vast majority of big name Smartwatches have been designed to run only with their makers’ respective mobile operating systems – Apple’s iWatch is also completely unlikely to support Android or WP.

The latest high-end tablet PC range from Samsung has already been dubbed a potential iPad Killer by a fair few observers, but in reality it’s unlikely and Android tablet will dethrone Apple’s iconic slate.

Cliché cannons at the ready – ready yourself for the return of the ‘iPad Killer’!

Yeah we’re as sick as you all are of hearing this pointless and puerile claim, which to date has been slapped on about a million tablet PCs which have all ended up tossed on the ‘tried but failed’ pile. Not that there aren’t more powerful and way better value for money slates on the market that the iPad, but it’s a bit like saying a cheaper Kia with great gas mileage is a better buy than a Ferrari Enzo…they’re totally different animals.

Nevertheless, the launch of the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S range is already leading to a thousand and one headlines claiming we’re finally looking at a real iPad-killer in the flesh. And there’s just-cause for such cries too, as not only do the new flagship tabs serve up one hell of a hardware and feature list, but they’re also on the market for lower prices than the near nine-month-old iPad Air.

The long and short of the push behind the slates is simple – they’re lighter, thinner and more capable than any tablet PCs Samsung has launched to date. What’s more, they feature the best quality screens ever, tons of power under the hood and the kind of wall-to-wall appeal that’s often missing from the recipe in the Android fondleslab world.

Speaking at the Australian launch of the new range, director of product marketing for Samsung, Jenny Goodridge, admitted that the firm has never had a genuine crack at launching a super high-end tablet with the potential to rival the market’s front-runners.

“What’s been missing for Samsung has been a tablet that really matches the experience that Australians are getting from our smartphones,” she said.

“The Galaxy Tab S will be our flagship tablet and we’re hoping to have the same success we’ve had with the Galaxy S5, which is the number one selling smartphone in Australia.”

Each of the tablets has a thickness of 6.6mm, which Samsung likens to “five credit card” stacked on top of each other. The touchscreens boast a higher pixel count than the iPad Air, each of the size variants will be lighter in weight than the equivalent iPad and software enhancements have been implements for better integration with Samsung Smartphones.

What do you reckon – enough to tempt the average iOS devotee over the fence to the Android camp?

With no sign of the Windows Tablet version of MS Office on the imminent horizon at least, it’s looking more and more probable that Office for Android will launch earlier…MUCH earlier.

It’s borderline unthinkable that Microsoft could be pushing its MS Office for Android forward at a faster rate than its own Windows tablet version…but it’s happening.

Not that bringing a full Office suite to Android is in any way surprising…Lord knows it’s probably going to turn out to be the mother of all lucrative ventures for the Redmond folks. What is quite shocking however is that we’re still seeing little to nothing of the version of Office optimized for Windows tablets, which in turn leads to the obvious prediction that Microsoft is dealing its own interests a pretty sizeable blow by allowing Android to pip it to the post.

We’ve already been playing with Office for iOS for quite some time now, which has already been downloaded well in excess of 27 million times. And with considerable more Android devices doing the rounds that iOS gadgets, there’s a pretty solid chance this figure could be equaled or improved upon.

At this rate, by the time the Windows tab version of Office makes an appearance, it will have about as much appeal as a pimple.

Back to the point, new reports from The Verge have stated that a private beta version of Office for Android is baking away nicely behind the scenes, which is of course an obvious precursor to its eventual launch. In terms of timeframe, it’s still largely theorized that the suite could be prepped and ready to go by the end of the summer, though at worst we’ll be seeing it before the end of the year.

As for the Windows tab build – best guess estimates are now falling around Q1 of next year.

Apple has applied for a patent which could result in future iDevices being automatically locked or password protected in accordance with the location of the user at the time. Sublime security or a step too far?

Apple has decided to further its ‘Big Brother’ tactics to keep tabs on what its fanbois are up to and where they’re going. Or more specifically, where their devices are going. The only problem is, the new patent application picked up on this week could see the rightful owner of iPhones and iPads locked out of them entirely, if they find themselves in a particularly far-flung region.

Long story short, Apple has registered an application for what it outlines as “location-sensitive security levels and setting profiles based on detected location.” Roughly translated into plain English, it’s all about some kind of security feature that kicks in automatically in accordance with the location of the device at the time.

The device would essentially scan the surrounding area to pick up on its location, how many others devices were around and so on and so forth in order to make its mind up whether to beef-up security or perhaps lock-up altogether.

In theory, this could mean that if you were to carry your iPhone into one of the dodgier parts of South Central Los Angeles, there’s a good chance it would lock you out until you hammered your password back in. If on the other hand you were taking a relaxed midday stroll around Beverly Hills, it would let you in and out with no password needed.

“To provide a reliably pleasant and secure experience for a user operating a mobile device, it can be desirable to modify security settings or other device behavior based on a detected location,” reads an extract from the filing.

“Mobile device users often frequent the same locations. Mobile devices can be configured to detect the current location. Based on the detected current location, the mobile device can modify settings and configurations,”

“Security settings are one example of device behavior that can be modified in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.”

Another idea that blurs the increasingly fine line between cool and creepy – we’ll let you decide on which side it’s weighted.

The world’s biggest organizer of video gaming tournaments has responded to calls for better gender equality by abolishing its men-only division, though is still to keep its women-only division in use. Mixed messages?

It’s being heralded as a victory for equal rights and fair representation – no longer will male and female video game tournaments be held separately. That is, at least not those organized by the International E-Sports Federation, which is one of the world’s biggest organizations of its kind.

But here’s the thing – in making a stand against discrimination, the IESF has actually managed to ruffle a few feathers on the other side of the fence. It’s great to see that a new “Open for All” division has been put in to replace the “Male” division, but at the same time they’re still keeping the “Female” division open for women only.

So no male-only group, but still a women-only group.

The IESF faced a heavy backlash after it announced a Hearthstone tournament that would be close-off entirely to women. As for its reasoning for changing it’s often aggressive standpoint on single-sex gaming, the folks behind the organization made a pretty fair argument.

“The IeSF Board addressed its reason for maintaining events for women, citing the importance of providing female gamers with ample opportunities to compete in e-Sports—currently a male-dominated industry,” read the statement.

“Female gamers make up half of the world’s gaming population, but only a small percentage of e-Sports competitors are women,”

“The IeSF’s female-only competitions aim to bring more diversity to competitive play by improving the representation of women at these events,”

“Without efforts to improve representation, e-Sports can’t achieve true gender equality.”

Fair point and well made, but what’s with the women-only division still holding in place?

Not sure about that one…

A supposed battery-saving feature baked into all versions of Android since 3.1 is apparently gathering and transmitting worryingly precise information as to the respective movements location, movement and behaviors.

Every breath you take, every move you make…well, you know the rest.

Being told we’re being watched by the world’s biggest tech brands every hour of every day is about as surprising as the sunrise. Nevertheless, biggies like Google still seem to be able to come up with new and innovative ways of keeping tabs of where we are and what we’re doing on a scale above and beyond that we’ve come to consider the norm…albeit a rather scary norm.

This time around, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has produced a report suggesting that regardless of whether your Smartphone or tablet PC is asleep or awake, it could still be doing a number on your privacy. In the firing line this time are devices running Android 3.1 Honeycomb and all later builds – all of which feature Preferred Network Offload. Roughly summed up, PNO maintains and transmits a log of 15 recently accessed Wi-Fi networks even when in sleep mode, automatically connected to known networks without powering up as a means by which to safe battery life.

Which is all well and good, but the concern of the EFF is that by keeping this log, the device builds and transmits a terrifyingly detailed and ongoing map of where you’ve been, how long you’ve been there and where you’re going.

“This data is arguably more dangerous than that leaked in previous location data scandals because it clearly denotes in human language places that you’ve spent enough time to use the Wi-Fi,” reads the ensuing report from the EFF.

“Normally eavesdroppers would need to spend some effort extracting this sort of information from the latitude/longitude history typically discussed in location privacy analysis. But even when networks seem less identifiable, there are ways to look them up.”

As for the really bad news, the report primarily singled out the Android devices mentioned above…tens of millions of the things…but the creepy snooping isn’t only limited to Google’s mobile OS.

“Many laptops are affected, including all OS X laptops and many Windows 7 laptops,” warned the EFF.

“Desktop OSes will need to be fixed, but because our laptops are not usually awake and scanning for networks as we walk around, locational history extraction from them requires considerably more luck or targeting.”

Big Brother is watching you…