Something to consider before buying the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact for $400 on eBay [DEALS]

Without question the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is one of the best smartphones on the market. Fantastic battery life, great camera, all in a bite-sized package that’s perfect for 1-handed use. Today, the Z3c — in black, white, red, and green — was thrown up on eBay where it’s been marked down to a very reasonable 0. It’s a great deal to be sure, one that’s about cheaper than you’ll find on Sony’s website. But before you grab your credit card, keep in mind this is not the US model (D5803) sold direct from Sony’s US store.

This particular model is the D5833. That means if you’re looking to buy for use here in the states, you should be okay if you’re on AT&T (it seems to supports all of AT&T’s frequency bands), but even then we’ve seen reports of weird IMEI editing tricks that needed to be done in order to fully unlock dormant LTE bands. So, proceed with caution.

If you’re looking to purchase for use on T-Mobile, you’ll want to stick with the D5803 model on Sony’s site. For everyone else in other parts of the world, you’ll want to make sure this specific model plays nice with your carrier’s frequency bands before picking it up. In either case, it is a great deal and probably the best small smartphone you an buy right now.

[eBay]

OnePlus is announcing something on June 1st, could be the OnePlus Two

Last year, the original OnePlus One was made official back in April. Here we are at the tail-end of May and suffice to say, we’re probably a little overdue for a One followup. Now, OnePlus never committed to a yearly release schedule for their devices, so it’s not like they’re actually “late.”

But with OEMs like Samsung, HTC, LG and Sony already playing their hands for this year, OnePlus has to do something and quick. If we had to give them credit for anything, it’d be keeping their cards so close to their chest. After several mini announcements this year (like OxygenOS) we may finally have a date for actual new hardware.

OnePlus is once again teasing an event on their Google+ page, but this time it looks like it could actually be the OnePlus One followup we’ve been waiting for and not some new portable battery charger or anything like that. The startup posted a photo of the original One being erased along with the tag line “we think it’s time for a change.” If we were betting men, we’d say a OnePlus Two is almost certain. Of course, this is OnePlus we’re talking about here, so we wont get our hopes up lets we find ourselves blindsided by a new OnePlus color or denim battery cover.

Like in previous years, 2015’s flagships all have a little something they’re missing. The Galaxy S6 has some of the worst battery life we’ve experienced on a handset, the G4 is simply too big to use comfortably with one hand, the One M9 has a terrible camera that only performs in the best lighting conditions. If OnePlus was smart, they’d carefully consider all of these weaknesses when building their new phone. With rumors that there could be 2 OnePlus handsets this year — a smaller sized phone and larger sized phablet — we hope they can surprise us.

 

 

Nest has something new to show off June 17th, but what?

Nest is gearing up to make their first big announcement since being acquired by Google (and since snapping up Dropcam). It happens June 17th, which is only a short week and a half from now. So what is it?

They didn’t go into detail on their official invitation, of course, but trusted sources close to the situation have revealed to us the company’s likely plans. Nest will apparently look to refresh their current product line — which includes the Learning Thermostat, the Protect Fire + CO2 Alarm, as well as Dropcam — with new hardware.

The details are scarce, but we’ve at least heard that the thermostat will be a few millimeters thinner than the current model. But the refresh isn’t just to usher in a new good look. The company will build the three products in a way that makes sure they all harmonize with each other, so the Thermostat, Dropcam and Protect can work under the same umbrella.

This functionality will be driven by a new app that combines the functionality of all three into one nice package, though details on how they would work together weren’t shared. We also know that the Nest Thermostat will have a faster processor which will naturally make for a smoother user interface.

One interesting thing to stay on the lookout for is some sort of voice control. If you didn’t know, Nest recently sought to hire audio engineers, which we’re hoping was to facilitate development of some sort of Amazon Echo-like competitor. Of course, it’s just as likely that they could be looking to beef up Dropcam audio. All will be told June 17th so be sure to circle back to make sure you’re kept in the loop.