Evan Blass

Last updated
Evan Blass
EvanBlass-headshot.jpg
Evan Blass
Born1978 (age 45–46)
Occupation(s)Blogger, Editor, Phone leaker
Known for@evleaks

Evan Blass, [1] [2] once known solely by his pen name @evleaks, [3] [4] [5] is an American blogger, editor, and phone leaker. He gained international notoriety for a series of numerous smartphone and tablet leaks on Twitter, [6] spanning the period July 2012 through August 2014, that made him a trusted source for many technology journalists. [7] Blass announced his retirement from leaking devices in a tweet on August 3, 2014, [8] although he soon returned to leaking under his pen name.

Contents

Career

From 2005–2008, Blass held several positions at AOL-owned technology site Engadget, including senior editor, [9] before departing to write briefly for the now defunct technology publication Obsessable. [10] From 2010–2012, Blass was managing editor of mobile technology site Pocketnow. [9]

Blass was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2004, and in November 2013 was the subject of a report on The Verge documenting a controversial Walgreens policy pertaining to the dispensation of narcotic painkillers. [11]

On November 23, 2015, Blass started writing for VentureBeat. [12]

@evleaks Twitter account

The account was started in July 2012, [13] or August 2012. [14]

For nearly a year, Blass maintained the @evleaks account anonymously [15]  —while some of his colleagues knew of his identity, he purposely kept it hidden from the public at large. In June 2013, Blass fully revealed himself in an interview with Android Police, [16] citing the inevitability of being unmasked as the reason for his decision.

As @evleaks, Blass was responsible for posting images and information pertaining to unannounced smartphones, tablets, accessories, [17] applications, [18] laptops, [19] and a webOS-powered TV, [20] collectively leaked from nearly every mobile device maker and US wireless carrier, often weeks or even months before their launches. He was particularly adept at obtaining information and pictures about Taiwanese manufacturer HTC Corporation and one-time Finnish handset maker Nokia, reporting on numerous devices those two companies planned during his two-year stint of activity. [21] Additionally, he leaked materials about the Moto X (1st generation), [22] Moto E (1st generation), [23] Droid Ultra, [24] Droid Maxx, [25] and Droid Mini [26] from Motorola; the Nexus 4, [27] Nexus 5, [28] G2, [29] and G3 [30] from LG; the Xperia Z, [31] Z1S, [32] Z2 tablet, [33] and Z3 from Sony; [34] and the first two Padfones [35] [36] and Padfone mini [37] from Asus.

From May 2014 until his retirement, Blass attempted to monetize his leaks by publishing them on his own website, evleaks.at, deriving revenue through advertising sales. [38] [39] [40] Immediately following his retirement announcement, however, Blass conducted an interview with The Next Web [41] in which he recounted the problems he faced in trying to monetize a stream of Twitter leaks. Dozens of publications covered Blass's retirement, [42] most notably the weekly BBC technology show Click [7] and an accompanying BBC Online feature. [21]

Following his self-professed retirement, Blass has continued to leak phones, including the Moto X (2014) [43] (at the time assumed to be called the "Moto X+1"), Nexus 6, [44] and Droid Turbo, [45] all from Motorola. [46] He later also leaked the LG G Pad X, Microsoft Lumia 735 [47] and Samsung Galaxy S6 Active. [48]

Wired magazine included Blass in its 2013 "101 Signals" list of "the best reporters, writers, and thinkers on the Internet." [49] The Times of India profiled Blass (as @evleaks) in its May 11, 2013 edition. [50]

In early 2016, Blass continued to leak accurate details of then-unreleased flagship smartphones Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, LG G5, HTC 10 and Huawei P9 through tweets and VentureBeat articles. He continued to leak throughout the rest of the year, 2017 and 2018.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorola Mobility</span> American consumer electronics company

Motorola Mobility LLC, marketed as Motorola, is an American consumer electronics manufacturer primarily producing smartphones and other mobile devices running Android. Headquartered at Merchandise Mart in Chicago, Illinois, it is a subsidiary of the Chinese technology company Lenovo.

This is a list of tablet computers, grouped by intended audience and form factor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comparison of smartphones</span> A comparison of smartphones from 2004 to present

This is a comparison of the various internal components and features of many smartphones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorola Droid</span> Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility

The Motorola Droid is an Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphone designed by Motorola, which runs Google's Android operating system. The Droid had been publicized under the codenames Sholes and Tao and the model number A855. In Latin America and Europe, the model number is A853 (Milestone), and in Mexico, the model number is A854 (Motoroi). Due to the ambiguity with newer phones with similar names, it is also commonly known as the DROID 1. The brand name Droid is a trademark of Lucasfilm licensed to Verizon Wireless.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Droid X</span> Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility

The Droid X is a smartphone released by Motorola on July 2010. The smartphone was renamed Motoroi X for its release in Mexico on November 9, 2013. The Droid X runs on the Android operating system, and the latest version supported was 2.3 Gingerbread. It was distributed by Verizon Wireless in the United States and Iusacell in Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorola Atrix 4G</span> Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility

The Motorola Atrix 4G is an Android-based smartphone developed by Motorola, introduced at CES 2011 along with the Motorola Xoom, Motorola Droid Bionic, and Motorola Cliq 2 on January 5, 2011. It was made available in the first quarter of 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Droid 3</span> Android smartphone by Motorola Mobility

The Motorola Droid 3 is a smartphone released on July 7, 2011, by Verizon Wireless running the Android 2.3 operating system by Google. It comes with 16 GB of internal storage. The smartphone does not ship with a microSD card. It has a 4-inch qHD display and an 8-megapixel camera capable of recording 1080p video. Unlike the Droid 2, the Motorola Droid 3 features a 5-row QWERTY keyboard, with a dedicated number row. It also has a VGA front-facing camera for video calls. The Droid 3 ships with Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) with Motorola's updated proprietary Motoblur UI. Like other contemporary Motorola phones, it has a locked bootloader, but TWRP can be installed using the SafeStrap exploit, which allows custom ROMs to be installed. The GSM/UMTS version of the Droid 3 was known as the Milestone 3.

The HTC Rezound is a smartphone by HTC and sold through Verizon. Along with the Galaxy Nexus and Droid RAZR, it was expected to be a major competitor to the iPhone 4S. It was released on November 14, 2011. It is also the first phone to use Beats Audio technology, and comes with a special pair of the Beats by Dr. Dre's iBeats earphones with black earpieces and red wiring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Droid Razr HD</span> Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility

The Droid Razr HD and Droid Razr Maxx HD are Android-based, 4G LTE-capable smartphones designed by Motorola as the successor to the Droid Razr series released nearly a year prior. Notable changes from their predecessors include 720p resolution displays and increased display size while maintaining similar overall dimensions. Additionally, the battery capacity on the standard Razr HD is 42% larger than its predecessor. Both go by the model number XT926. These phones were released on October 18, 2012 exclusively on Verizon Wireless in the United States. The Motorola Razr HD were available as international or global phones in Europe, Latin America, Australia and Canada as early as October 2, 2012. In the summer of 2013, storyboards surfaced of television commercials that have not yet aired. These commercials will feature the Droid Maxx and Droid Ultra, the apparent successors to the Droid Razr Maxx HD and Droid Razr HD, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AOKP</span> Mobile operating system

AOKP, short for Android Open Kang Project, is an open-source replacement distribution for smartphones and tablet computers based on the Android mobile operating system. The name is a play on the word kang and AOSP. The name was a joke, but it stuck. It was started as free and open-source software by Roman Birg based on the official releases of Android Open Source Project by Google, with added original and third-party code, features, and control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia X</span> Android smartphone model

The Nokia X was a mid-tier smartphone announced as part of the Nokia X family in February 2014, running on the Nokia X platform. The device shipped on the same day as the unveiling, with Nokia targeting the product for emerging markets, and was sold and maintained by Microsoft Mobile. On 17 July 2014, Microsoft announced that it would discontinue the line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moto X (2nd generation)</span> Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility

The second generation Moto X, marketed as moto X and referred to in the media as Moto X (2014), is an Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility. Released on September 5, 2014, it is the successor to the original Moto X released in 2013. It was succeeded by the third generation Moto X Style and Play family, announced on July 29, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Droid Turbo</span> Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility

The Droid Turbo was a high end smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility. It is part of the Verizon Droid line, and was announced on October 28, 2014, on the Verizon Droid Does website. The Droid Turbo maintains a similar design shape to its predecessor, the Droid Maxx, with new durable ballistic nylon or metallized glass fiber reinforced with Kevlar as the materials offered. The on-screen buttons for back, home, and multitask functions were kept off-screen as capacitive soft-keys below the display. Due to Lenovo closing its acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google, the Droid Turbo was the first phone released by Motorola Mobility under Lenovo ownership, as it was released through Verizon Wireless first on the same day the Lenovo sale closed, October 30, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moto X Play</span> Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility

Moto X Play is an Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility, a subsidiary of Lenovo. Unveiled on July 28, 2015, it was one of three devices that succeeded the second-generation Moto X. In contrast to the high-end Moto X Style, the Play is a mid-range device distinguished by its high battery capacity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moto Z</span> Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility

Moto Z is an Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility. Unveiled on June 9, 2016, as its flagship model for the year, the Moto Z is distinguished by the "Moto Mods" technosystem which allows case accessories to be magnetically attached to the device to provide additional functionality. The Moto Z was later joined by the more rugged Moto Z Force of which shares most of the same internals as the former, and the mid-range Moto Z Play with downgraded specifications, all three devices being compatible with the modular system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bootloader unlocking</span> Process of disabling secure device booting

Bootloader unlocking is the process of disabling the bootloader security that makes secure boot possible. It can make advanced customizations possible, such as installing a custom firmware. On smartphones this can be a custom Android distribution or another mobile operating system. Some bootloaders are not locked at all, others can be unlocked using a standard command, others need assistance from the manufacturer. Some do not include an unlocking method and can only be unlocked through a software exploit.

Motorola Moto G22 is a series of Android smartphones developed by Motorola Mobility, a subsidiary of Lenovo.

References

  1. ↑ Bush, Ian (9 August 2017). "Source: Here's A Look At The New iPhone 8". Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  2. ↑ Ruddock, David (28 June 2013). "Evleaks Revealed: Android Police's Exclusive Interview With Evan Blass, The Man Behind @evleaks". Android Police. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  3. ↑ Palazuelos, Félix (24 August 2014). "La historia de Evleaks". Hipertextual (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 July 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  4. ↑ Tecnología, BBC Mundo. "El rey de las filtraciones tecnológicas revela sus secretos". BBC Mundo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 July 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  5. ↑ "Evan Blass: King of the leakers". BBC News. 23 August 2014. Archived from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  6. ↑ "Qui est Evan Blass, ce leaker vedette adulé par les fans de high-tech et détesté par les grandes marques ?". TechGuru (in French). 9 August 2016. Archived from the original on 28 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  7. 1 2 Kwek, Nick. "Evan Blass: 'My leaks give phones a buzz'". BBC. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  8. ↑ Pelegrin, Williams (2014-08-04). "Popular device leaker @evleaks calls it quits (to find a more stable job)". Digital Trends. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  9. 1 2 "Well known tipster Evan Blass (aka @evleaks) announced he's retiring". India TV. 2014-08-04. Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  10. ↑ Chowdhry, Amit (2008-09-24). "Gadget Blog War Heats Up; Obsessable.com Taking On Engadget, CrunchGear, and Gizmodo". Pulse 2.0. Archived from the original on 2014-12-20. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  11. ↑ Toor, Amar (2013-11-22). "A renewed war on powerful pain meds threatens to hurt patients". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  12. ↑ Brandão, Mário Rui André, João Ribeiro, Rita Pinto, Marco (28 March 2017). "@evleaks, o "estraga-surpresas" da tecnologia". Shifter (in European Portuguese). Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Singh, Jagmeet (18 September 2017). "The daring life of world's renowned tech leaker Evan Blass". International Business Times, Singapore Edition. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  14. ↑ "Meet Evan Blass, the king of smartphone leaks". Killer Features. 7 October 2017. Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  15. ↑ Patkar, Mir. "From the shadows". Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  16. ↑ Ruddock, David. "Evleaks Revealed: Android Police's Exclusive Interview With Evan Blass, The Man Behind @evleaks". Android Police. Archived from the original on 2014-08-15. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  17. ↑ Whitney, Lance (2014-03-13). "Razer iPhone game controller leaked online". CNET. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  18. ↑ Richardson, Aaron (2014-02-20). "Is Apple About to Let You Replace your On-Screen Keyboard in iOS?". n3rdabl3. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  19. ↑ Pena, David (2014-03-02). "Evleaks Posts Image of the Samsung Chromebook 2". AndroidSPIN. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  20. ↑ Mlot, Stephanie (2014-01-02). "Photo of LG WebOS TV Leaks Ahead of CES". PCMag. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  21. 1 2 Kelion, Leo. "Evan Blass: King of the leakers". BBC. Archived from the original on 23 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  22. ↑ @evleaks (2013-07-20). "Motorola Moto X: First Press Shots". TheUnlockr. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  23. ↑ Kleinman, Jacob (2014-05-12). "White Moto E Leaks Ahead of Tomorrow's Announcement". TechnoBuffalo. Archived from the original on 2014-07-17. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  24. ↑ Ruddock, David. "Evleaks Reveals The DROID Ultra In Full Press Shot Glory, And Yes, There Is A Lot Of Carbon Fiber (And A New Kind Of Camera?)". Android Police. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  25. ↑ Seifert, Dan (2013-07-06). "Motorola Droid Maxx for Verizon pictured in leaked image". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  26. ↑ Graziano, Dan (2013-07-10). "Droid mini photo reveals Motorola's new smartphones". BGR. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  27. ↑ Smith, Chris (2012-10-24). "LG Nexus 4 press photo (ev)leaks, showing Nexus branding and Google Now with Google Maps card [Update]". Android Authority. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  28. ↑ Kastrenakes, Jacob (2013-10-27). "Google's white Nexus 5 appears in leaked images". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2014-08-02. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  29. ↑ Smith, Chris. "Is this mystery LG device the Nexus 5 or Optimus G2?". TechRadar. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  30. ↑ Nagy, Anton (2014-07-05). "Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile LG G3 versions leaked". Pocketnow. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  31. ↑ @evleaks (2013-01-01). "Sony Xperia Z: first press shot for the full HD flagship". Unwired View. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  32. ↑ Staff. "Sony Xperia Z1S press image leaks". GSMArena. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  33. ↑ Swamy, Rohan (2014-02-18). "Sony Xperia Tablet Z2 spotted in purported press renders". NDTV. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  34. ↑ Page, Carly (2014-07-23). "Sony Xperia Z3 leak reveals near identical specs to the Xperia Z2". The Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2014-07-29. Retrieved 2014-08-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  35. ↑ White, Charlie (2011-05-29). "Asus PadFone Tablet Hides Smartphone Inside". Mashable. Archived from the original on 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  36. ↑ Wong, Raymond (2012-10-15). "ASUS Padfone 2 images leak out ahead of October 16th announcement". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  37. ↑ Lawler, Richard. "ASUS PadFone Mini 4.3 pictured ahead of its launch next week". Engadget. Archived from the original on 2014-08-10. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  38. ↑ "Evan Blass aka @evleaks, leaks his own retirement on Twitter". Christian Today. 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  39. ↑ "Evleaks - Tomorrow's news, yesterday". Internet Archive. 2014-08-30. Archived from the original on August 29, 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  40. ↑ "evleaks.at Site Overview". Alexa.com. 2014-11-19. Archived from the original on 2015-02-15. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  41. ↑ Russell, Jon (2014-08-03). "Why @Evleaks is Giving Up Reporting Phone Scoops". The Next Web. Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  42. ↑ "Evan Blass explains why he's leaving tech news and retiring @evleaks, a source of phone scoops (Jon Russell/The Next Web)". Techmeme. Archived from the original on 2014-08-06. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  43. ↑ Walter, Derek (2014-08-22). "Behold @evleaks' 'retirement gift': A crystal clear Moto X+1 leak". Greenbot. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  44. ↑ Mohan, Komal (2014-10-15). "Google all set to launch Nexus 6, Nexus 9: Report". Times of India. Archived from the original on 2014-10-18. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
  45. ↑ Epstein, Zach (2014-10-20). "This is the new Droid Turbo, and it looks amazing". BGR. Archived from the original on 2014-11-25. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
  46. ↑ Blass, Evan (2014-11-17). "The Unlikely Resurgence of Motorola". Know Your Mobile. Archived from the original on 2014-11-19. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
  47. ↑ T., Florin (2015-05-13). "PhoneArena". Meet the LG G Pad X and Microsoft Lumia 735 (both for Verizon). Archived from the original on 2015-05-15. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
  48. ↑ T., Florin (2015-05-13). "PhoneArena". New Samsung Galaxy S6 Active renders show the phone's camouflage versions. Archived from the original on 2015-05-15. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
  49. ↑ Staff (2013-08-15). "101 Signals: You Only Need to Listen to 16 People to Know What's Up in the Tech World | Gadget Lab". WIRED. Archived from the original on 2014-08-20. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  50. ↑ Patkar, Mihir (2013-05-11). "From the Shadows". Times of India. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.