Apple is prepping a thinner, lighter fifth-generation iPad that shares some of its design cues with the recently released iPad Mini, CNET reports citing Japanese blog Macotakara. The report also calls for the next iPad Mini to be released with a Retina display. The new generation iPad will be 4 mm shorter, 2 mm thinner and 17 mm narrower, acording to Macotakara.

New BlackBerry's OS 10 will be released on January 30th. There has been more than few photos of the full-touch BlackBerry Z10, but not much of the full QWERTY N-Series. Crackberry has published this photo of the N-Series, possible known as the BlackBerry X10. As per BlackBerry OS 10′s claims, all the new devices will feature a new sensual UI, powerful messaging features, and supposedly up to 30,000 apps on launch day.

Acer is planning to launch an Android tablet priced around US$99 early next year, a person with direct knowledge of the project, said to the WSJ. At seven inches with a 1024 x 600 resolution screen and 1.2GHz dual-core processor, the so-called Iconia B1 tablet will have somewhat similar specs to Kindle Fire and Nook Color. The world’s fourth-largest PC maker by shipments hopes to be the first big-brand company to launch a tablet priced to jostle with Chinese white-box tablet makers for consumers in developing countries.

Here is one more pre-CES, unofficial presentation. Richard Yu, Huawei chairman of devices revealed this one in front of fans at a Huawei store in Guangzhou, Engadget reports. According to earlier rumors, the Ascend Mate will feature a 1.8GHz HiSilicon K3V3 quad-core chip, along with a massive 4,000mAh battery, 9.9mm thickness and a price tag of just under ¥3,000 (about $480).

As CES is just around the corner, we hear more and more info about new products that will officially be introduced in Las Vegas. This time, here is one that leaked from ZTE, a new ZTE z753 five-inch 1080p smartphone, better known as Grand S, Engadget reports. This one will join the ever-growing list of five-inch 1080p devices, including those from HTC, Sharp, Oppo and eventually Nubia, Huawei, Lenovo and Sony.

Motorola Mobillity, a Google owned company, is working hard on a new sophisticated smartphone, internally known as the "X phone". This cutting edge handset should rival anything coming from Apple and Samsung, Wall Street Journal reports based on statements from people familiar with the matter. Motorola is primarily working on two fronts: devices that will be sold by carrier partner Verizon Wireless, such as the "Droid" line of smartphones, and the X phone, these people said. Motorola is also expected to work on an "X" tablet after the phone, the people added.

HTC seems very busy these days. The new flagship model, M7 will probably have a full HD 4.7-inch screen with a pixel density of 468 PPI (pixels-per inch), Unwiredview reports. Inside a case we should fond a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, accompanied by 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal flash storage and a 2300mAH battery.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Grand, a new upper mid-range smartphone. Grand runs Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean), it will have 5.0" display but with only WVGA resolution and 1.2 GHz Dual Core processor. The phone will come equipped with a 2MP front-facing camera and an 8MP rear-facing camera with Full HD video recording, as well as 8GB of internal memory, 1GB of RAM, and microSD expansion capabilities.

Samsung is said to be working on the Galaxy Note 3 with the 6.3-inch display. This would be the successor for the current model, Note 2, that has a 5.5-inch display. According to The Korea Times, local parts suppliers have discussed a 6.3-inch OLED screen for Samsung's Galaxy Note 3. The company isn't alone in that market, though. Huawei is rumored to be working on the Ascend Mate, which reportedly boasts a 6.1-inch display.

Google announced that it is closing several products, features and services as a part of winter cleaning. Starting January 30, 2013, consumers won't be able to set up new devices using Google Sync; however, existing Google Sync connections will continue to function. Google Sync will continue to be fully supported for Google Apps for Business, Government and Education. If you want to use sync feature in future, Google suggest CardDAV protocol instead. Also, Google is discontinuing Google Calendar Sync on December 14, 2012 and Google Sync for Nokia S60 on January 30, 2013.