Today, Samsung Poland officially announced the much-anticipated Galaxy Note 3 Neo as a scaled-down variant of its current flagship smartphone, the Note 3. However, much to our surprise, the new handset is available in two variants: the Neo 3G and Neo LTE+ — the + symbol signifies that the device supports LTE Cat 4, which is particularly rare on any mid-range device.

Earlier today, a leaked image appeared online revealing that Google is expecting to launch its flagship smartphone anodized in red on Tuesday, February 4. The handset will be available directly from the Play Store and is believed to be priced from $120 upfront on a two year contract, or $350 with no contract at all.

Samsung starting taking pre-orders for its new Galaxy NotePRO 12.2 in the United Kingdom yesterday, and those who placed an order would have paid £649 for it. But quite incredibly, they could have gotten it £100 cheaper from Carphone Warehouse.

Project Ara

Google shocked us all on Wednesday when it announced that it had sold Motorola to Lenovo less than two years after it was acquired, but the search giant is holding onto certain parts of the company.

Not only will it keep the vast majority of Motorola’s massive patent portfolio, but it’s also maintaing a firm grip on the Advanced Technology and Projects group, which is responsible for the Project Ara modular phone.

Samsung has confirmed that it is researching iris scanning security technology for its future smartphones, but its upcoming Galaxy S5 may employ a fingerprint reader instead — just like Apple’s iPhone 5s. A Galaxy S5 APK file named “FingerprintService” has been leaked ahead of the handset’s release.