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We're hoping we won't need to use Nokia's JobLens app for real any time soon, but at the Lumia 925 launch event, we thought we'd at least explore our options. It's essentially a proximity-based job searching tool that, in the lens mode, is much like the CityLens AR app for Lumias, and points you in the direction of your next potential employer using icons on top of the realtime camera view. In another mode, JobLens uses the Here Maps platform to show you a top-down view of openings in your vicinity, and can subsequently direct you to your interview on time. From either views, you can poke at vacancies to see more about the job and share it, email it to yourself, or respond directly with a CV -- various sites populate the in-app listings. The software also integrates with Facebook and LinkedIn so you can hit up your contacts for the inside track. No word on a release date yet, but we imagine it'll coincide with the Lumia 925 launch. As they say, it's who you know that counts, and now we know Matt from Nokia, who treated us to a quick tour of the app in the video after the break.

Update: we've been having trouble with the video -- it works on some devices and not others. It may work for you right now, but if not -- we're working on a fix.

Update #2: This should now be working for everybody. Apologies for the delay!

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The Lumia 928 isn't the first of Nokia's Windows Phone 8 handsets to hit Verizon -- that distinction goes to the 822 -- but for all intents and purposes, it's the first true flagship Lumia to bear Big Red's branding. From the jump, you'll note that Nokia's bent somewhat to Verizon's heavy hand, customizing the 928 in a way that shucks the smooth polycarbonate unibody of the 920 for something more hard-edged and angular, yet still plastic. So, what's so new about this Lumia? Apart from its Xenon flash, nothing at all really. It bears the same 4.5-inch, 1,280 x 768 PureMotion HD+ display (now, OLED), 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor with 1GB RAM, 2,000 mAh battery, integrated wireless charging, NFC and 1.2-megapixel front-facing / 8.7-megapixel rear camera setup as the Lumia 920. Naturally, the 928's made to run on Verizon's network, so you'll find support for LTE / CDMA, but there are also radios for HSPA+ making it "global ready." We'll have a review for this deviant Lumia coming shortly, but in the meantime follow along for our first impressions.

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We were rather surprised by Zopo's C2 (aka Xiaohei) when it was announced last month, and fortunately, it didn't disappoint us when we spotted the real thing at GMIC Beijing. For those who are just catching up, this Aliyun OS 2.0 phone packs some surprisingly good specs for its ¥1,399 ($230) price tag: a 5-inch 1080p LTPS display, a 13-megapixel main camera, a 5-megapixel front imager, a removable 2,000mAh battery and dual WCDMA 850/2100 SIM slots -- one for a standard SIM and one for a micro-SIM.

During our brief hands-on, the software ran well on top of the 1.2GHz quad-core MT6589 SoC with 1GB RAM, though the built-in 4GB storage will definitely need some microSD love, as we kept seeing a warning message about low storage space. Industrial design-wise, the C2 is quite well-built, and while it's not the most exciting-looking phone in the world, we're just glad that Zopo is finally no longer ripping off designs from the likes of Samsung, HTC and LG. Hands-on video after the break.

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Two Galaxy Notes and two Optimus Vus later, LG's ready to tackle the giant-sized smartphone niche, this time without the category's defining accessory: a stylus. The Optimus G Pro, part of the company's performance line, was a surprise when we first laid eyes and hands on it: it's a 5.5-inch embodiment of lessons learned, not just from LG's past endeavors, but also from Samsung's. That the device would ever make it out of South Korea and into the US was an uncertainty. And by entering the market now, the G Pro risks coming off as a stopgap between the Note II and III, as well as LG's own flagship G line.

Yet, LG found a way. It paired with AT&T to bring the G Pro, with its Snapdragon 600 processor and 1080p display, to the States as an exclusive. For $199 on a two-year plan, subscribers get an attractive package: LTE, NFC, 32GB of storage (expandable by up to 64GB via microSDXC), a gargantuan 3,140mAh battery and dual 2.1MP / 13MP cameras with the option for dual-recording. So, aided by some competitive pricing and top-shelf specifications, the G Pro reads on paper like a boss. But the window for that dominance is short. So while we wait for Samsung to attempt a three-peat in the category it created (a Note III could debut by summer's end), let's examine the G Pro and its 15 minutes of fame.

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Emblaze's long-canceled First Else may never come back in its original form, but to our surprise, its futuristic Splay interface has finally been ported to Android! Released as a free beta by the same company, this fan-shaped launcher offers a similar single-hand experience that the ALP device once promised to deliver.

The UI's main menu has four categories: Phone (call log, contacts and profiles), Diary (email, calendar and messaging), Media (music, video, photos, camera and file manager) and Apps (with seven customizable shortcuts). Upon laying your right thumb onto any of these, a sub-menu expands and you can go one level deeper by dragging your thumb to the left of your desired sub-category, and then let go to toggle the item. Similarly, dragging to the right takes you back to the previous menu, or you can drag to a blank area and let go to jump back to the main menu. All of this is accompanied by slick graphics like before, thanks to the good work by Israeli design house Sugapusher back in the day.

The only downside of this release is that some of the features need serious refining. For instance, the Music Player sub-menu fails to filter out ringtones, and the Video Player sub-menu only managed to load the latest few clips taken with the phone's camera. We'd also like to see integration with other apps, obviously, but this simple beta will do for now. Check out our hands-on video after the break, and head over to Google Play to grab the free Splay launcher.

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It's always better when more prizes are involved, right? In the case of this week's giveaway, Diamond Multimedia, a company specializing in gaming hardware, is hooking our readers up with four of them. The first two winners will receive a Radeon HD 7850 video graphics card (valued at $200 each), while the next two will get either a GC1000 USB game console video capture device ($130) or a VStream Wireless USB PC to TV HD content streamer ($100). Start your engines, enter using the widget below and good luck!

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Another 1080p quad-core Android phone, you say? Well, there's a bit more to it. Launched by BBK spin-off Vivo in Beijing just now, this 5.7-inch Xplay goes one step further than its smaller X1 and X1S cousins by packing one extra audio chip and the OPA2604 operational amplifier from Texas Instruments in order to add extra oomph to Cirrus Logic's CS4398 DAC and CS8422 stereo asynchronous sample-rate converter -- both of which are featured on the X1 series. If you're a DIY audio enthusiast, you might have already tinkered with an OPA2604 while making your own headphone amplifier; so in other words, Vivo is trying to save you the hassle.

Before we dive into the audio performance, let's quickly look at the rest of the phone first. Underneath the 500-nit LTPS display lies a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core SoC (1.7GHz, 2GB RAM and Adreno 320 graphics engine), 16GB or 32GB of built-in storage, 3,400mAh battery and NFC. On the back you'll find a Sony 13-megapixel imager next to a pair of speakers (FLAC playback is supported natively), but flip the phone over and you'll be looking at a surprisingly generous 5-megapixel front-facing camera -- much like the one on Oppo's mid-range Ulike 2. Vivo's somehow managed to pack all of this into a 7.99mm-thick body with a screen bezel of just 2.3mm thick (which bests Pantech's thin-bezeled Vega Iron) and a large viewable-to-total area ratio of 75.11 percent. Alas, for 3G there's only WCDMA 2100, meaning the phone may have to rely more on GSM 850/900/1800/1900 or WiFi in many parts of the world. More after the break.

Update: Hands-on photos added below, followed by a couple of video clips after the break.

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Earlier today, AT&T made the Optimus G Pro official as an exclusive on its network, giving subs an alternative to that other 5.5-inch handset, the Galaxy Note II. To LG and AT&T's credit, the G Pro's remained mostly unchanged in its transition to the US market, retaining the same 1080p HD IPS display, 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, 2GB RAM, 2.1-megapixel / 13-megapixel rear camera setup and 3,140mAh battery of the Korean-only model. The only major changes to the handset's internals are in its LTE bands, made to now run on AT&T's network, and inbuilt wireless charging. Oh and it still doesn't feature a stylus, but you'll hardly miss it.

Fans of the glossy white G Pro we reviewed back in March will be disappointed to know that the AT&T variant will only ship in black -- at the carrier's specific request. That restrictive color choice and the carrier's familiar globe on back thankfully appear to be the only two intrusions AT&T's made to the G Pro. It still evokes a sense of solid craftsmanship, despite the overall use of plastics. And, given that it's just slightly more compact width-wise than the GNote II, the G Pro actually feels better in the hand and doesn't confer a sense of instability or slipperiness so often encountered with Samsung's same-sized smartphone.

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It was just about a week ago that we first told you about Siva Cycle's Atom, a pedal-powered battery charger that's currently taking Kickstarter by storm, healthily surpassing its $85,000 goal, with 21 days to spare. Lo and behold, the kinetic peripheral popped up on the Hardware Alley floor at TechCrunch Disrupt, here in NYC. Actually trying the thing out is a bit much to ask in the crowded Manhattan Center, but the company was nice enough to demo the device with a little good old-fashioned hand power.

The system is pretty minimally invasive, from the looks of it. The removable battery pack sits next to the rear wheel axle, and there's also a USB port just below the seat for charging devices more directly. Get in early, and you'll be able to pick the system up for $85. Not convinced? Check out the company's plea in a video just after the break.

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Google Now is, perhaps, one of the more compelling reasons to opt for an Android device over iOS. But, Mountain View is smart enough to realize that its big push to deliver information pre-emptively would be severely hampered if it was isolated to one platform. So, here we are, almost a year after Now debuted with the launch of Jelly Bean, and the (mis)labeled Siri competitor has finally landed on Apple's mobile OS. Obviously, to truly come to grips with a product like this, you'd need days or weeks to truly judge it, but we're familiar enough with the Android version to feel comfortable passing along our initial impressions. So head on after the break to see whether or not Google was able to replicate its virtual assistant magic on iOS.

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