You may know ZTE as that low-end phone maker, but they are actually a big deal!

I would like to make a confession: I knew that ZTE was a fairly large company, but I didn't realize it was this large! Fourth largest phone manufacturer around the globe is not a trivial thing, and, as a major contributor to the LTE standards that keep us connected, make for a company that we should all respect.

I had originally titled the article "Why I think you should love ZTE, and their low-end phones." Those words resound strongly for me, as they sum up my realizations in researching ZTE and all they've done for the industry as a whole.

Bottom line, ZTE is a major phone manufacturer, whether you like their gear or not, they are out there. They shipped their five hundred millionth device last year, not bad, and are getting more and more into the Android game as they move along.

Canada may soon be home to another smartphone manufacturer, Yota Devices

Like it or not, BlackBerry is not doing so well as a company and, if nothing changes soon, destined for complete failure. I am not here to suggest that BlackBerry is doomed for failure, just that they've never impressed me and have been shedding good employees for several years now.

The great news here is that Yota Devices, maker of the dual-display YotaPhone, is reportedly looking to move to town and get those good people back to work.

YotaPhone, as I mentioned, has two displays, one on each side. What you see in the image above is the second generation YotaPhone equipped with e-ink on one side and a 5-inch AMOLED panel on the other. In all other regards, this is a mid-range Android phone by today's standards, due to ship by the end of the year.

Huawei reports H1 2014 numbers, and they're looking good

If you needed more proof that Chinese (and Taiwanese) smartphone manufacturers are on track to rock the Android world in 2014, Huawei has announced their first half 2014 numbers. In short, 62% growth, up to 34 million smartphones shipped around the globe.

Further, Huawei total business operations pushed out over 60 million device, including smartphones, WiFi hotspots and more.

We've been watching manufacturers like Huawei and Xiaomi for a while now. Xiaomi especially has been flying with Huggo Bara at the helm, recently launching into India and continually selling out batches of devices in a matter of minutes.

Flexible displays, they're cool and they could prevent cracked screens

Last week was a pretty big week for flexible displays. The SID 2014 conference gave out some awards and saw some great new ideas come to light, then the University of Akron popped onto our radar with a new transparent display technology of their own, which promises a lower cost and no more cracked screens!

Cracked, smashed and shattered displays have been a nuisance to many users. Requiring a costly and problematic repair, if repair is even possible, a severely cracked screen could be the end of a device. Users take precautions, like installing a rugged OtterBox case, but accidents still happen.