BlackBerry Mercury tipped to be coming to Verizon

The yet-to-be-announced BlackBerry Mercury smartphone will be available from Verizon in the United States. This was revealed by well known tipster Roland Quandt in a tweet late last week.

So far, it was being said that the Mercury - which features a physical QWERTY keyboard, a la original BlackBerry phones - will be the last device to be released by the Canadian company, but Quandt revealed that it is in fact being built by TCL - design is from BlackBerry though.

Specs-wise, the phone is said to be powered by a Snapdragon 821 chipset and sport a curved display with a screen size of around 4.5-inch. It is also rumored to pack in a large battery, enough to get the handset through two days of use.

New updates about phones 26-12-2016

Two Nokia flagships leak - a powerhouse and a cameraphone to debut at MWC

Both devices will run on Snapdragon 835 and come with Android Nougat out of the box.

Samsung's investigation of the Note7 debacle complete, findings report sent out to labs

The report is yet to be released to the public, but there's plenty of time until the end of the year.

4.6-inch Xiaomi Mi S reportedly on the way with Snapdragon 821, 4GB of RAM

It's been a while since we've seen a true flagship-grade small smartphone, and this may just be the next one.

ZUK Edge is official with Snapdragon 821, slim bezels

Lenovo offers the ZUK Edge with 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 64GB of fast UFS 2.0 internal storage.

Sony Xperia XZ emerges as top late 2016 flagship after Note7's demise

In Apple-land, adoption of the iPhone 7 is slower than that of its predecessor from two years ago.

Nougat update could bring fingerprint gestures on current Galaxy devices

Samsung's reply to a beta tester leads to believe the S7's fingerprint scanner could be updated with more features with the Nougat update.

Nougat update confirmed for Xiaomi's Mi Note, Mi 4c, Mi 4s, and Mi Max smartphones

The confirmation came in the form of a Weibo post from a company representative.

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) and Galaxy A5 (2017) to hit Europe next month

Specifically, the devices will be available in western European Union in mid-January.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge getting a $170 discount for the holidays

The units in question are offered SIM-free in the US - a great option if you don't want to get tied up with carriers.

Samsung Galaxy S8 may be 15-20% more expensive than the S7

The figures come from experts at Goldman Sachs, who think the S8 will cost more to make than the S7, and this will reflect in the final price.

LG partners up with Apple, Google, and Microsoft to develop foldable display panels

Partnership suggested by a report out of South Korea, no specific time frame for mass production has been cited.

Xiaomi is unveiling a new Mi Notebook Air with 4G support on December 23

A teaser image has surfaced referencing the event and showing a new version of the company's laptop.

Nokia files new patent infringement lawsuits against Apple in the US and Europe

The infringement claims cover 32 patents and have been filed in three regional courts in Germany and one District Court in the US.

Beast Mode could be a feature of the Galaxy S8 as Samsung files for trademark

The Korean company seems intent on outfitting its next flagship with a switch that enables top performance.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 may be delayed until April, so that it's free from MWC's bustle

Reportedly, the event will be held in New York, moving the S8 away from the launch grounds of its forefathers.

Next Samsung Galaxy Note phone to pack an LG-made battery

Talks are on, and nothing is finalized yet, but a deal seems likely.

Xiaomi releases blue and black Redmi Note 4

For now, the two new color versions are only available in China, but we assume they're headed to other markets eventually.

LG officially announces 2017 K series and Stylus 3 smartphones

All the handsets will be showcased at the upcoming CES 2017 show.

Apple AirPods disassembled by iFixit, given the lowest score possible

X-ray images show the chips were poorly soldered, which hints that Apple was in a rush.

Super Mario Run breaks record for most-launch-day downloads in App Store history

2.85 million downloads on day one is more than three times as many as Pokemon Go did a while back.

LG blames cheap USB Type-C cables for V20 bootloops

An LG Service center has reportedly concluded V20 bootloops were caused by cheap USB-C cables.

Cancelled Samsung Galaxy Note7 still has more users than LG V20, HTC Bolt and OnePlus 3T

More than 90% of Note7 units sold have been recalled and yet it's one of the more popular Android flagships.

Redmi Note 3 gets Marshmallow update

MIUI 8.1.1 update rolling out to the global variant that finally brings the Marshmallow update to the device.

Red Oppo R9s is now official, goes on sale on Christmas eve

Specs-wise, there aren't any changes. Pricing remains the same as well.

ICC Test Cricketer of the Year – Ravichandran Ashwin

Quinton de Kock and Carlos Brathwaite won the ODI and T20 awards respectively.

Indian off-spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, has become the third India player and 12th player overall to win the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy after being named as the ICC Cricketer of the Year 2016.

Earlier Rahul Dravid (2004) and Sachin Tendulkar (2010) received the Sir Garfield Trophy. Last year it was the Australian captain Steve Smith.

Ashwin was also named as the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year. He is second Indian behind Rahul Dravid (2004) to bag this coveted prize.

South African wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock has been named the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year award. He is second South African behind AB de Villiers (2010, 2014, 2015) to clinch this award.

Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman won the ICC Emerging Player of the year award for his splendid performance for his country. He is the first Bangladesh international player to win the coveted prize.

The ICC T20 cricketer of the year went to West Indian Carlos Brathwaite for his match-winning knock in the ICC World Twenty20 Cup final against England.

Afghanistan’s flamboyant wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad has been named as the ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year.

The full list of ICC Award 2016 winners is:

ICC Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy) – Ravichandran Ashwin (India)

ICC Test Cricketer of the Year – Ravichandran Ashwin (India)

ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year – Quinton de Kock (South Africa)

ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year – Suzie Bates (New Zealand)

ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year – Suzie Bates (New Zealand)

ICC T20I Performance of the Year – Carlos Brathwaite (West Indies )

ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year – Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh)

ICC Associate/Affiliate Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Shahzad (Afghanistan)

ICC Spirit of Cricket Award – Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)

ICC Umpire of the Year (David Shepherd Trophy) – Marais Erasmus