Full HD displays have made quite a splash on Android smartphones and Chinese company Neo has developed the world’s cheapest 1080p smartphone. Costing just 899 yuan or $145, the Neo N003 will feature a 5-inch 1920×1080 display, MediaTek MT6589 quad-core processor, 13 megapixel camera, and 3,000 mAh battery. There is no official release date yet other than “soon” and it will only go on sale in China.
Source: Gizchina
Apple continues to fight Samsung even after being awarded $599 million, and U.S District Judge Lucy Koh has refused to suspend a lawsuit against Samsung involving several patents relating to Siri. The case is scheduled for March 2014 and both companies have declined to comment. To make matters worse, Apple has also appealed Judge Lucy Koh’s decision to not implement a permanent sales ban on infringing Samsung devices. A ruling for that is not expected to be reached until September at the earliest.
Source: Reuters
Great news for Sony Xperia J owners out there! Like its brothers, the Xperia T/TL (LT30p, LT30at, LT30z) and Xperia V (LT25i), the Xperia J (ST26i) will finally see the much anticipated Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean OTA update rolling out to handsets.
This is amazing in itself since the Xperia J only has a single-core CPU and 512 MB of RAM. The kernel version is 3.4 and the firmware is 11.2.A.0.21.
Rumor has it that the Xperia TX (LT29i) will be seeing its update to 4.1.2 Jelly Bean goodness here in the next couple of weeks. So fear not Sony fans, the company is working hard to ensure their Xperia handsets stay up-to-date in an ever-changing mobile market, making it that much easier to live with signing that two year service commitment…mmm, okay, maybe just a little easier anyway.
Source: XPERIA Blog
In February of 2012, ASUS showed off the original Phone/Tablet hybrid, the Padfone, which was released in April of the same year. Now, only six months later, they will unveil the next iteration of their 2011 hype-machine on October 16th. As someone who was very excited when the original Padfone was unveiled, I’ll be anxiously awaiting for the 16th to arrive.
The original Padfone was somewhat overhyped. The original was preceded by a swath of “leaked” benchmarks and specification sheets, only to be released with mainstream specs and a severely underwhelming display. Now, complete with its own set of leaks and promises, the successor is in the same position. Fans and followers of the original are now anxiously awaiting for October 16th to see if ASUS can release the groundbreaking device that was promised with the original.
Source: NotebookItalia
Earlier today we reported on Dyzplastic’s plans to start taking orders for their Series 3 Android collectibles starting on September 24th and shipping slated to commence on the 26th. With that announcement, Dyzplastic also showed the 7th figurine in the series. Since then they have updated their blog with yet another figurine bringing the count up to eight. This one goes by the name Professor Skully McRivethead and is graced with a design by artist Huck Gee, famous for his Skullhead designs.
If you are looking for a little bling to decorate your desk space, you may want to get ready to place your order.
Source: Dyzplastic
The game-changing Wikipad is one step closer to being in the hands of Android gamers everywhere, but one lucky son of a gun was able to see the intriguing tablet in action, courtesy of its creator James Bower. Right off the bat, users are treated to what is a fairly slim and trim profile that is smooth to the touch except for the middle of the back. That section of the device has a square-shaped groove along the back center of the tablet, which is intended to help give it a solid grip. Oh and Bower also touts the groove helps to “keep the tablet cool under stressful gaming power-consumption”.
The big focus of the device is no doubt its performance capabilities and the Wikipad delivers. Powered by a Tegra 3 chip and Jelly Bean, it helps to power games like Cody and a port of famed action-adventure game Max Payne like a true champ. The graphics were fluid as expected, while he controls gave better-than-expected results– thanks to comfortable dual analog sticks and responsive buttons. One minor critique may be the fact the tablet plus controller dock can possibly make the complete unit a little heavier than some would like. Then again, it’s assumed most people won’t be playing on the Wikipad for hours on end.
You can see more pictures and details of the hands-on when you hit the source link below.
Source: Twinfinite
With Amazon unveiling their new Kindle Fire lineup at such low prices given the specs of the tablets, it looks like they have been finding numerous ways to make back some of the money they’re going to lose upon each Kindle Fire they’re going to sell. First Amazon places ads around the OS (most notably the lockscreen) to create some extra revenue, and now they have struck a deal with Microsoft to make the Fire’s default search engine into Bing, as opposed to Google Search in the first Kindle Fire.
This is a huge win for Microsoft as we should expect to see the new set of Kindle Fire’s to outsell last years predecessor. Anything to help subsidize the costs of these tablets, right? Looks like there will be some slight drawbacks in having these high end tablets for a cheap price.
Source: Business Insider
Sources scouring the LG US web site stumbled upon some product information for a new LG smartphone. Dubbed the LG Splendor, the model number is US730. The information was found on the support pages of the LG US site and included some product images and specifications. No news on a release date or the cost for the device. The pages have since been taken down.
The LG Splendor is similar to the LG Optimus L7. Equipped with an 800×480, 4.3-inch screen, a 1GHz cpu, and 2GB of built-in memory, the new phone will come loaded with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
Source: Unwired View
Samsung has built a major part of its reputation with its line of Smart TVs, but has yet to fully dip its toes into Google TV — until now, that is. While not a part of its press conference, the company is showing off new Google TV hardware on the show floor of IFA 2012.
Details are scarce, but Samsung plans to utilize its Smart Hub as the central user interface for switching between television and apps. As expected, the company has already ported some of its own Smart TV apps to the Google TV unit. With these added tweaks, the company hopes to “enhance the Smart TV experience.”
Google TV has undoubtedly failed to catch on with consumers, but Samsung is hoping that it can make an impact with its prominent branding. Let’s just hope Samsung can actually bring this thing to market for a reasonable price. More on this story as it develops.
Source: Engadget
Via: Phandroid
Swiftkey announced today an update to their popular keyboard app for Android devices. For users who like to dictate instead of type, Swiftkey has enabled use of the Google voice typing tool that is available in Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean. For those into themes, Swiftkey has introduced two new ones – Sky (a blue theme) and Fuschia (a pink theme). They have also added two new languages – Malay and Urdu – to bring the number of available languages up to 44.
Users who have been experiencing problems with Swiftkey, including those with Samsung Galaxy S III devices, running Jelly Bean, or who frequently use Chrome will benefit from numerous bug fixes. The new version, Swiftkey 3.0.1, is available from Google Play, Amazon Appstore, and AndroidPIT. Hit the source link for more information on all of the bug fixes and a video on how to change themes.
Source: Swiftkey
via: Android Police
