HTC ditches ‘mini’ phones, will stick to large-screen smartphones

Although HTC’s last two “mini” branded smartphones were clearly underwhelming, if you are waiting for a mini variant of the One M9, you are out of luck. HTC executive Jack Tong has revealed that the company has no plans to launch One M9 mini and the company will stick to large-screen phones from now on.

“Overall the industry is moving towards new phones over 5 inches in size and our product roadmap is close to that of the industry,” Jack Tong, President of HTC North Asia, said a press event in Taipei. [Source]

NTT Docomo’s Arrows NX F-04G smartphone includes iris-scanner

NTT Docomo recently announced the new Arrows NX F-04G as a part of its summer line-up. Although the phone is like any other high-end Android smartphone, it packs a rare feature – iris scanner.

Manufactured by Japan’s Fujitsu, the Arrows NX F-04G uses iris scan to authenticate and unlock the smartphone. It can also be used to make mobile payment seamless and the company demoed the same by using iris scan in mobile payment authentication of a pizza order at the launch event.

The phone will go on sale in late-May. [Source]

Sony Lavender leaked, reportedly a selfie-focussed phone

Sony is reportedly prepping another selfie-focussed smartphone in the form of Lavender (codename). According to @upleaks, the phone will feature full HD display, MediaTek MT675264-bit octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM and Android 5.0. On the imaging front, the phone will pack 13MP shooter on both front and back.

There is no word on a release date or pricing at this moment. [Source]