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- Clove UK to sell Sony Xperia J for £190 on October 29
- Nexus 7 up for pre-order in Taiwan, to start selling by mid-September
- Samsung unleashes the Galaxy S3 4G in Australia, to come with Jelly Bean and in two new colors
- LG Optimus L7 coming to US Cellular as LG Splendor US730
- O2 UK cancels ICS update for Sony Xperia Ray, Xperia Arc, and Xperia Neo
- Android Authority On Air – Episode 27 – IFA 2012 Recap
- Samsung finishes audit of Chinese component manufacturer HEG, vows long-term solutions
- Huawei D1 Quad is on its way, half a year late to the party
- Acer hoping to strengthen its smartphone presence, announces six new devices for 2013
- New Mobile browser Baidu Explorer is 20% faster than competition
| Clove UK to sell Sony Xperia J for £190 on October 29 Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:13 AM PDT
It was only yesterday we brought the news that Sony's latest budget phone, the Xperia J, is heading to Carphone Warehouse in the UK in a matter of days. Now, another retailer in the country has announced that it too will be selling Sony's colorful offering. Clove has put up the product page for the Xperia J. This time, we don't have to guess just how low Sony is willing to price the J for to grab the attention of those who are looking for an entry-level Android phone. As listed on its website, the black and white variant of the Xperia J can be had for £190. The price for the pink and gold flavor of the phone hasn't been shared. While Carphone Warehouse said that they will have stocks of the Xperia J on September 5, Clove will only start stocking the phone on October 29. We're not sure if this is a typo or whether the former has some kind of exclusivity deal with Sony. It just strikes us odd that the phone's availability on the two retailers differ by two months. For the J's sake, we hope the phone will come much sooner than end of October. We'll be paying attention to Carphone for any sign of the Xperia J. In the meantime, you may be interested to learn of the phone's specs once again.
Do you think the Sony Xperia J is worth the £190 SIM-free price from Clove? Will you wait for the J that long? Related PostsUK's Clove to sell unlocked white Sony Xperia Go for £210, Sony Xperia T and J coming early to UK's Carphone Warehouse, Xperia Tablet S to follow soon, Rogers' Sony Xperia Ion officially on sale for $49.99This article, Clove UK to sell Sony Xperia J for £190 on October 29 , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Nexus 7 up for pre-order in Taiwan, to start selling by mid-September Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:04 AM PDT
It may come as a bit of a shocker for some, but Google's highly successful Nexus 7 tablet is still not available in Asia. This is even more surprising if we take into consideration that the 7-incher is co-branded by Asus, whose headquarters are in Taiwan. Now things are about to change for those of you who live in Taiwan and crave a Nexus 7, although the rest of Asia might again be left out of the mix. All three major Taiwanese wireless carriers, as well as a bunch of electronics retail stores, have started taking pre-orders for the 7-incher and will ship the tab in a matter of weeks. Chungwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, and Far EasTone Telecommunications have started teasing the Nexus 7 Taiwanese launch, although none of the three carriers has announced an exact release date just yet. The 16 GB model is the only one offered for pre-order at this time and we don't know if the 8 GB version will go up for grabs anytime soon. We're guessing it won't though, following Google's marketing strategy in Europe and US. As you might have already noticed, the 8 and 16GB versions of the tabs are available for sale via Google Play, while retailers and carriers are only selling the second variant.
Unsurprisingly, as far as pricing goes, the Taiwanese Nexus 7 is considerably more expensive than its US counterpart. The 16 GB version goes for TW $8,990, which would translate into around $300 at today's conversion rates. Then again, this is slightly cheaper than what Google is charging for the Nexus 7 in France, Germany or Spain, where the 16GB Nexus 7 currently goes for €249 (around $312). You also get a set of free headphones and free shipping (at least from Taiwan Mobile), so all in all, this sounds like a pretty decent deal. Taiwan Mobile is hinting at a September 12 shipping kick-off on its official website, although this might not be 100% accurate. Still, that's the most probable ETA for Taiwan's Nexus 7, give or take a couple of days. The Nexus 7 is expected to go out in Hong Kong next, according to an unconfirmed report from last week, while the rest of Asia, including big markets like India, China and Japan, is still left pining. But all hope is not lost for those waiting for the tab in those countries, so stay tuned for updates on the subject. We’re also pretty excited about the possible release of a 3G-enabled version of the Nexus 7, so it seems that the 7-incher’s legend will go on for quite some time. Who hasn’t jumped on the Nexus 7 bandwagon yet? Why and what are you waiting for? Related PostsSony Xperia acro S to start selling in August in Taiwan and Russia, other markets to follow soon, Sony Xperia Tablet S is now official, to start selling on September 7 for $400 and up, Could Google’s Nexus 7 Tablet start shipping next week?This article, Nexus 7 up for pre-order in Taiwan, to start selling by mid-September , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Samsung unleashes the Galaxy S3 4G in Australia, to come with Jelly Bean and in two new colors Posted: 04 Sep 2012 01:02 AM PDT
Australia has joined Germany on the list of countries outside of South Korea that will be offering the Samsung Galaxy S3 4G. Naturally, we're talking about the quad-core variant of the phone, and not of the dual-core Snapdragon S4 version that Americans are getting. The Samsung Galaxy S3 4G will be carried by Australian mobile operators Optus and Telstra. If you pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S3 4G on Optus before September 17, the carrier said that the phone will be shipped out on September 20. The service plan on Optus starts from as little as $30 (200MB data allowance) to $80 (2GB data allowance) per month with a two year contract. Meanwhile, the 4G phone will only be available on Telstra in October, though no specific date has been given. You can register yourself on the carrier’s website to get timely updates of the phone's availability. As for the price of the Galaxy S3 4G there, Telstra hasn't provided any details either. Both carriers will have the Onyx Black and Titanium Gray version of the phone for sale. And yes, the phone will run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box. If you don't particularly like being stuck on a two-year contract, you should be able to buy the phone outright from Samsung stores as well, such as this glitzy Sydney branch. Any folks in down under ready to snag the 4G-capable Samsung Galaxy S3? Related PostsOptus Australia to release Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1″ today, Samsung Galaxy S3 in Australia? Availability information roundup [Updated], Telstra Samsung Galaxy S2 now receiving the Android 4.0.3 updateThis article, Samsung unleashes the Galaxy S3 4G in Australia, to come with Jelly Bean and in two new colors , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| LG Optimus L7 coming to US Cellular as LG Splendor US730 Posted: 04 Sep 2012 12:50 AM PDT
LG is improving its mid-range lineup in the US with the addition of the LG Splendor for US Cellular. The Splendor (US730) is actually a rebranded, slightly modified version of the international LG Optimus L7, which was first announced at MWC this year. The news comes from the guys at SmartPhenom, who spotted a product page for the Splendor on LG's site, along with a brochure for the device. It appears that someone at LG pulled the trigger too fast and published the product page before the phone's official outing. Since news broke, LG took the product page offline, but for some reason, the specification brochure is still available for download, so we are able to provide you the entire specs sheet of the US Cellular-bound Splendor. LG Splendor key specs and features:
Studying the specs a bit, we can notice that the Splendor features a better processor than the Optimus L7, its international cousin, replacing the Snapdragon S1 MSM7227A chip, with a slightly improved single-core MSM8655 clocked at 1GHz. On the other hand, the ROM memory is slightly lower, at 2GB instead of 4GB. In terms of appearance, the L7 and the Splendor look identical, save for the carrier logo on the back. We don't have any information about the LG Splendor's release date or pricing, but we can assume that the official launch can't be too far. Will you be interested? Related PostsHTC One V officially confirmed as coming to US Cellular and 27 regional carriers, Samsung Galaxy S3 now on sale on US Cellular website, coming to stores this week, Official: Galaxy S3 coming to US Cellular, pricing and release date to be announced on June 12This article, LG Optimus L7 coming to US Cellular as LG Splendor US730 , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| O2 UK cancels ICS update for Sony Xperia Ray, Xperia Arc, and Xperia Neo Posted: 03 Sep 2012 11:37 PM PDT
It has to be said that Sony has done a better job than most manufacturers in keeping their older phones fresh with software updates. Except for one model, all Xperia phones that were released in 2011 are guaranteed to receive the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade. The ICS updates for the Sony Xperia Ray, Xperia Arc, and Xperia Neo have been gradually rolled out by Sony for quite some time now – with some even starting three months ago – but it looks like O2 subscribers will not be seeing what folks in other parts of the world are sporting. O2 has officially announced on its website that the Xperia Ray, Xperia Arc, Xperia Neo will remain on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. While the update to Android 4.0 has been tested for a few months, the testing apparently has failed to meet the carrier's requirements. To be more specific, O2 said that the upgrade to ICS affected "the phone's speed and performance" due to the "more advanced hardware requirements" of the OS. The decision not to approve the ICS update was also partly taken because, once it is installed, users wouldn’t be able to go back to Gingerbread without losing the phone's data. A quick read on Sony's support forum reveals that many customers aren’t too happy with how ICS run on the three phones. Not to say that there aren't any satisfied users, though. Any thoughts about O2 pulling the plug on the update? Will you risk updating your phones to ICS through unofficial means? Or will you be content staying on the more stable Gingerbread? Related PostsNo related posts. This article, O2 UK cancels ICS update for Sony Xperia Ray, Xperia Arc, and Xperia Neo , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Android Authority On Air – Episode 27 – IFA 2012 Recap Posted: 03 Sep 2012 09:12 PM PDT
If you don’t know what IFA 2012 is, that’s ok. All you need to know is that it’s similar to CES…but in Berlin. It’s an extremely large electronics show. And, like any electronics show in this day and age, it’s littered with tons of mobile devices and gadgets. Of course we had to be there, check out our hands on devices reviews from IFA 2012. Naturally, this week on the show we talked about a few popular ones such as the Samsung Galaxy Note II, the Samsung Galaxy Camera, the Archos GamePad (it runs Android) and a few others. This week had a ton of major app updates. We saw an extremely nice update to the Google Play Store with personalized recommendations. That’s right, you’ll now get recommendations from your friends as well as similar users and items popular in your area. Google also updated Google Now, the information automation service that comes with Jelly Bean. Google Now users will receive public service announcements, movie showtimes and you can now manually add your favorite sports teams (as long as your favorite team is not a college team). HBO Go now supports Jelly Bean and PayPal got a major UI overhaul. If you want to send text messages from your Android tablet, have we got an app for you! And last, but not least, the much anticipated 3D Android game that was demoed at Google IO 2012, Horn, finally launched this past week. And man, does it rock! We ran around the rumor mill a few times this week with an upcoming device from Motorola. All we know thus far is that they’re bringing it to the edge. Does that mean a device with zero bezel? Or is that the name of the upcoming #motoedge device, the Motorola Edge? I guess we’ll find out on September 18th. We didn’t stop the rumor mill there though. We hammered away at the 3G variant of the Nexus 7. Will this device launch in 6 weeks? Will it ship for just a few bucks more than the WiFi only Nexus 7? Will it come with HSPA+ only? Your guess is as good as ours. Finally, the Kindle Fire 2. Rumor has it that Amazon will launch an ad-supported version of the Kindle Fire, making it the cheapest 7″ tablet to date. Samsung plans to unleash the legal beast against Apple if they launch an LTE equipped iPhone 5 in a few days. Sammy owns roughly 10% of all LTE patents. Apple has repeatedly argued that these Samsung patents should be made industry standards due to their broad, sweeping nature…where have we heard that before. Hey kettle, how ya doin? And finally, there’s a rumor going around that Tim Cook and Larry Page are going to meet to discuss patents. Only time shall tell. The Give Away We're giving away a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (International) here in the near future. If you're interested and want another chance to win, during the show we give away a super secret entry code. Once you get the code, just head on over to the contest page and enter your code into the Rafflecopter. Miss the show? Tune in or watch below:
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Related PostsAndroid Authority On Air – Episode 18 – Google I/O12 Recap, Android Authority On Air – Episode 24 – Weekly News Recap (aka back from the beach!), Android Authority On Air – Episode 20 – Big Android BBQ 2012This article, Android Authority On Air – Episode 27 – IFA 2012 Recap , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Samsung finishes audit of Chinese component manufacturer HEG, vows long-term solutions Posted: 03 Sep 2012 07:03 PM PDT  A Samsung employee works in a Seoul shop in this file photo. Samsung has published its audit findings of a Chinese supplier accused of child labor. While no underage workers were found, the South Korean company still vows long-term solutions to labor issues. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) Mobile manufacturers have been repeatedly under fire for employing contractors and ODMs that don’t exactly have a good track record in terms of labor standards. Apple, for one, had been trying to improve working standards in its Chinese facilities at Foxconn. Meanwhile, HEG, one of Samsung’s component suppliers in China, had also been accused of employing underage workers and for under-paying its employees. Chinese officials have earlier disputed claims by the New York-based China Labor Watch that HEG was employing workers below the legal age of 16, and that wages were often delayed. Samsung says it “audited all HEG employees including face-to-face ID checks, reviewed HR records, and conducted 1:1 interviews with student workers.” The company reports having finished its audit of HEG, and found no underage workers. However, some health-related issues were found, and Samsung demanded that HEG immediately improve its worker conditions.
In view of the potential implications of poor worker standards, Samsung has vowed long-term solutions, and will address these through the following:
Samsung has stressed that the company enforces zero tolerance to child labor, and says it does its best to comply with the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates. Are worker conditions in China improving? The fact that Apple, Samsung and other big names are outsourcing manufacturing to the region is reportedly resulting in overall improvements in worker income and skills. But there are still kinks to be worked out, and the big brands need to be involved in order to improve goodwill. Related PostsChinese officials dispute child labor accusations in Samsung supplier facility, Samsung's component supplier is accused of exploiting underage workers, Chinese manufacturer OPPO embrace the world of AndroidThis article, Samsung finishes audit of Chinese component manufacturer HEG, vows long-term solutions , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Huawei D1 Quad is on its way, half a year late to the party Posted: 03 Sep 2012 06:10 PM PDT
When the Huawei Ascend D1 Quad was originally announced, we expected great things from the device. It was a quad-core smartphone in a world dominated by dual-core devices. It was supposedly going to be priced very competitively, as well. The launch date for the new Ascend D1 Quad was planned for Q2 of 2012. It’s now nearing end of Q3. What happened? Internal delays, for one. The good news is that the Huawei D1 Quad is finally coming, for real this time. The bad news is that the D1 Quad is a half-year late, and technology changes quickly. Had a Q2 launch occurred, the Huawei would have been one of the best phones on the market. Now it’s just another quad-core. The phones specs include the following:
These specs aren’t bad, but they aren’t special either. The new smartphone will launch first in China, on September 12th. The phone will cost 2699 Yaun, or 425 U.S. Dollars. In comparison, the Xiaomi Mi2 and Lenovo K860 are both quad-core and priced under $350. This means that the D1 Quad has similar power to its competitors, yet it’s more expensive. When the phone launches internationally it will also have to compete with the popular Samsung Galaxy S3. The Huawei D1 Quad is still a worthwhile handset, but the company needs to rethink its pricing. What do you think of the new D1 Quad? Too little, too late? Related PostsHuawei's quad-core Ascend D Quad to make its China debut later this month, Report: Huawei Ascend D Quad shipping in July, Huawei Ascend D Quad launch delayed again, CPU issues at faultThis article, Huawei D1 Quad is on its way, half a year late to the party , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Acer hoping to strengthen its smartphone presence, announces six new devices for 2013 Posted: 03 Sep 2012 04:40 PM PDT
What do you think of when you hear the brand name Acer? Odds are that laptops and tablets are the first products that come to mind. They have a small presence in the smartphone world, but they certainly have room to grow. Acer hopes to change all of that. The company plans to strengthen its place in the phone market with six new devices. These new phones will launch in 2013, targeting Europe, China and Southeast Asia. Out of the six models, five will be based on the Android platform. Unsurprisingly, the sixth model will run on the upcoming Windows Phone 8 operating system. All the higher-end models will run on dual-core Qualcomm processors. The entry-level models, on the other hand, will utilize single-core chipsets from MediaTek. Some might find it surprising that Acer is working at all on WP8. Acer had extreme displeasure with Microsoft’s plans to enter into the hardware market with Microsoft Surface. Despite Acer’s displeasure in Microsoft’s recent decision to get into hardware, the company has apparently decided that WP8 is too big of an opportunity to avoid altogether. Outside of plans to expand smartphone offerings in 2013, the company has also recently released several new smartphones. In Europe, the CloudMobile S500 became the flagship cloud computing-enabled device from the company. Then we also have the Liquid Galant and Liquid Glow for the entry-level and midrange markets. It remains unseen whether or not this new push will help Acer jump ahead in the smartphone market. Right now, Samsung leads the pack in the Android world. With Samsung’s recent legal troubles versus Apple, perhaps Acer feels now is the perfect time to expand its smartphone presence. The bad publicity that Samsung has received might give Acer the room it needs to sneak its way into a larger spot in the smartphone market. Related PostsAcer A1 Android smartphone to hit shelves in September?, CEO confirms that Acer is working on Android smartphones for 2009, Acer smartphone in 2009? Company exec says it’s likelyThis article, Acer hoping to strengthen its smartphone presence, announces six new devices for 2013 , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| New Mobile browser Baidu Explorer is 20% faster than competition Posted: 03 Sep 2012 03:27 PM PDT  (Image credit: Tech in Asia) When it comes to the master of search, who do you think of? For most markets, Google comes to mind. In China though, Google is far from the leader of search. Instead, the market leader is a company called Baidu. Like Google, Baidu also develops its own mobile operating system, and it also has apps and online services for things like Maps and more. Now the company wishes to take its efforts even further with the release of its new Baidu Explorer mobile browser. The new Baidu Explorer browser arrives with a pretty bold claim: it’s supposedly 20% faster than any of its competitors, at least when it comes to JavaScript and HTML5. The speed element comes from its new engine, which they call T5. According to CNET, its own tests confirm the claim that the new mobile browser is faster. The Baidu Explorer rated a score of 482 out of 500 for HTML5 compatibility. The next highest scoring browser, in terms of HTML5, was Chrome at 371. The only catch is that the T5 engine must be downloaded as an add-on in order to get the most out of the browser. Luckily, the download is only 5MB. Similar to how Google uses Chrome to drive traffic into its search engine, Baidu will do the same thing with this new app. The app is only being marketed to China for the moment, though it is available in both Chinese and English. Will it be available outside the country in time? Yes — Baidu has already signed a deal with Egyptian service Telco to offer the software bundled with its subscribers. The Chinese APK is only available directly through their site, not on Google Play. A Windows Phone version also exists. Related PostsBaidu’s custom Android ROM now available for Nexus S, swaps Google’s services with Baidu-made clones, Dolphin Browser is "highest performing HTML5" mobile browser, Dolphin Engine in Beta available to download, Baidu Steps On Android Market’s ToesThis article, New Mobile browser Baidu Explorer is 20% faster than competition , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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