Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers, including: HTC U11 Australian review, why the Aussie dollar is dragging, Elon Musk clashes with President Trump on climate change.

HTC's first two glass-backed, AI-enhanced phones are about to launch in Australia. Here's how much you'll pay and when you can get one.

The HTC Vive is one of the best virtual-reality platforms on the market (provided you have a PC that's beefy enough to handle it.) Unfortunately, the online ordering process involves astronomical shipping costs from overseas suppliers.

This month, the HTC Vive will finally be available to purchase locally from JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman. Here are the specifications, pricing and pre-order details for Australia. We've also listed all the locations where you can test the device for yourself prior to buying.

Oculus wants to attract more users to its Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) headset by lowering the minimum PC specs required to run it. According to Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe, you can now run it on a US$500 PC. This move is likely motivated by a drastic increase in competition since Oculus Rift first launched earlier this year. Competitors include the HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and Google Daydream View. Here's what you need to know.

LG, Samsung and HTC have released their new flagship smartphones for the first half of 2016. They're all pretty great -- but which one is best? That largely depends on what you look for in a smartphone. We compare the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, HTC 10 and LG G5 to help indecisive Android fans make the right decision.

The slightly smug sounding "10" is the latest flagship Android handset from HTC. Boasting an all-metal aluminium chassis, a versatile UltraPixel camera and beefed-up specifications across the board, it's easily one of the best smartphones that the Taiwanese vendor has released in quite a while. Here are the specs, pricing and launch details for Australia.

Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers, including: Australian beats 5x5 Rubik's Cube world record, Europcar fined $100,000 for making, HTC 10 Australian review.

Virtual-reality is set to explode in the coming months, with Sony, Razer, Oculus/Facebook and HTC all releasing high-end headsets that take VR to a new level. During Nvidia's GTC technology conference in Silicon Valley, we were given a hands-on demonstration of the HTC Vive in a variety of gaming and work situations. Over the course of an hour, we battled Imperial stormtroopers with a lightsaber, explored the International Space Station with NASA astronauts, scaled the summit of Mount Everest, and designed a bespoke BMW sports car. Early verdict? Virtual reality is legit.

Good smartphones don't come cheap, with high-end models easily setting you back $600 or more. If you don't mind having a slightly older device, bargains can be found on the likes of eBay for superseded models. Take this deal for a refurbished HTC One M7, complete with 32GB of storage, 1080p screen, 1.7GHz processor and 2GB RAM for $280.

Everyone loves a freebie, which is why you're going to love having the best Android phone with no access fees for the first 2 months when you switch to a Vodafone 24 month plan by September 9, 2014. The new Red $70 Plan also gets you 3GB of data to use in Australia on Vodafone's lightning-fast 4G network.

There's been loads of speculation about the HTC One M8's strange new camera. With one large lens on the back and a slightly smaller one just above it, no one quite knew what to think. Is it just a 3D camera? Is one telephoto and one wide? Is it a light field camera like the Lytro? None of the above.

Earlier this week, HTC officially announced its new One M8 handset,. One of the lesser-touted but potentially more significant features of the handset is the new HTC Service Pack. This background app allows HTC to distribute its Sense applications independent of over-the-air (OTA) updates. HTC is now the third company to follow this very encouraging trend: unbundling of apps and services.

Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers including: Get Gran Turismo 6 for $44 from Harvey Norman, Twilight actress to star in 1984 remake, cosplayer takes her hobby to the extreme by posing and making out with a bear.

Everyone wants to exploit the potential of big data, but few businesses are managing it effectively. One major problem? Even within a single organisation, departments can't co-operate on the basic level require to make data available for analysis.

I was wondering if and when will Australia be getting the Google Play editions of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One? All this waiting is killing me! Thanks, Stock Impatience

Which flagship smartphone has the best inbuilt camera? We compare the photographic chops of four cutting-edge models: the Samsung Galaxy S4, Nokia Lumia 920, HTC One and iPhone 5. Check out the results for yourself to see which phone comes out on top.

The HTC One is a beast in a shiny, silver jacket. Underneath its bright, 4.7-inch, 1080×1920 (469ppi) Super IPS display hides a monstrous 1.7Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 600 chip, 2GB RAM, a 4MP camera with Ultrapixel technology and up to 32GB storage juiced by a 2300mAh lithium-polymer battery. Want to win one? Simply answer this one easy question in the comments...

MWC wrapped up last week with plenty of news on new phones. However, not all of the new and shiny models will make it to Australian shores, at least not officially, and for the moment, few vendors are offering guidelines.

Are you on the lookout for a high-end smartphone that can take decent photos? We pit the HTC One's controversial four-megapixel camera against the Samsung Galaxy S III's eight-megapixel camera. The results may surprise you.