Android Community |
- Android Community CES 2013 Wrap Up
- White Galaxy Nexus appears on Verizon site
- Pelican launches two new cases for Samsung Galaxy S III [Hands-on]
- Ubuntu hands-on with the Galaxy Nexus
- Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE hands-on
- Sony may shift to focus on higher-end devices
- Huawei planning 8-core processors and world’s thinnest phone for later this year
- HTC M7 flagship leaks along with Sense UI 5.0 screenshots
| Android Community CES 2013 Wrap Up Posted: 12 Jan 2013 10:39 AM PST While the biggest news in general from CES this year was probably massive HDTVs with 4k resolutions and such, we still saw tons of Android goodness this year. The growing trend is each manufacturer (like Samsung) want their own stage at a separate event to announce their latest and greatest, so most the big hitters were missing this year from the mobile scene. However we still have plenty to show you so lets take a look.
As mentioned above, Samsung will be having their own event to show off their new phones like the Galaxy S IV, and we’re expecting the same from LG, Motorola, and HTC. We’ll also get a glance at many upcoming smartphones and tablets at Mobile World Congress late next month. For now however, check out NVIDIA’s new game console, Lenovo’s new Intel Atom smartphone, and tons of other stuff we saw at CES 2013. First off we’ll start with NVIDIA. Those dudes announced and impressed us with their upcoming Tegra 4 quad-core Cortex-A15 processor. We can expect that superchip to be powering tons of smartphones and tablets throughout 2013, and out of the gate NVIDIA showed us Project SHIELD. Yup, NVIDIA is bringing their own game console running Android to the market.
For everything you’ll need to known about SHIELD you’ll want to direct your attention to our announcement post. Then we were able to enjoy some Project SHIELD hands-on, check out the video below for your viewing pleasure. Then the team from Lenovo dropped a big one on us at CES. That being their new 5.5-inch 1080p smartphone known as the IdeaPhone K900. What makes this unique and different is the large 5.5-inch screen, 1080p, as well as the Intel Atom processor powering Android. It rocks a 12 megapixel rear camera, a wide-angle front that sports an 88 degrees viewing angle and more. We’ll be learning more about this phone soon but here’s our hands on: While we’re showing you some of the impressive smartphones that were on display at CES, we can’t forget the Sony Xperia Z. This little powerhouse complete with water-proof features and more is certainly a looker. Not to mention you’ll be able to use NFC to tap the remote on your SONY TV to instantly enable mirror mode. This 5-inch 1080p quad-core smartphone should be quite fun. While we have plenty more to show you we wanted to take a quick moment here to talk about the YotaPhone. This is truly what CES is all about. And that is innovation. This 4.3-inch HD phone sports a 4.3-inch E-ink display on the back that will mirror the front, share maps, save battery, show you the weather and so much more. We actually weren’t sure what to expect, but left our YotaPhone meeting rather impressed. Here’s our hands-on folks: Then as expected, Huawei had quite the show. The unveiled their Ascend Mate with its massive 6.1-inch display, as well as their new 5-inch 1080p quad-core Ascend D2. And you can check out the latter of the two here. The Ascend Mate having a 6.1-inch screen and 4,050 mAh battery make it pretty impressive by itself. We had a few seconds to quickly check it out too. Don’t mind the video below. It was quick. Then Vizio had a few things to say on the Android side of things at the show. They have both a 4.7 and a 5.0-inch HD smartphone on display. Then they will also be bringing a 7 and 10-inch tablet to market at some point too. They weren’t to successful the first time around so we’ll see how it goes. The phones will only be available in China but here’s more details here, and here.
Pantech who’s been known for their budget smartphones is back with another impressive offering for AT&T. The Pantech Discover was detailed here, and we have a hands-on video below. With a 4.8-inch 720p display, dual-core power, 4G LTE, and interesting stereo speakers this phone should be quite nice on AT&T for just $49. Check it out: To end with a few unique bits check out this 24-inch Tegra 3 powered Android 4.1 Jelly Bean “tablet.” This is actually ViewSonic’s new 24-inch 1080p PC Monitor that doubles as an Android powerhouse. The entire display has full multi-touch features, stock Android, Tegra 3 under the hood, and is pretty neat. the possibilities are pretty endless with this thing, size aside. Then Archos also made an appearance. They announced a trio of new Titanium tablets, but we want to talk about their 7-inch GamePad tablet. You get a 7-inch 1024×600 display with dual-core power, quad-core graphics, and built-in gamepad controls. They hope to compete with the gaming market but I have a feeling the NVIDIA SHIELD might rain on their parade. Either way here’s the hands-on video. Then for a speed round to help you guys catch up with some other good odd bits we saw this year at CES. Verizon’s Galaxy Note 10.1 with 4G LTE received some hands-on time. We also saw a few new cases from Pelican for the Samsung Galaxy S III. We’ll end however, on Ubuntu running on the Galaxy Nexus. This is still very much a beta project, and we’ll be seeing and hearing more from that team shortly. Enjoy the quick demonstration they gave on the floor since we weren’t able to toy with it ourselves: As we mentioned at the start of this quick wrap-up, All the big hitters in the world of Android have learned that they want their own limelight and own stage to announce their products. Samsung, LG, Motorola, HTC, and many others all have 1080p smartphone coming soon this year. Mobile World Congress at the tail end of February will probably show us many, but not all. While CES wasn’t huge this year for Android you can rest assured knowing the next 2-3 months will be extremely exciting. We have a new generation of quad-core, 8-core, and 1080p displays coming to a pocket near you. Now lets just wait for 4k smartphones running on 12-core processors. Or is that a stretch? We have plenty of odds and ends, cases, and accessories we’ll be sharing over the next few days. In the meantime enjoy all of the links to content and videos shown above for an idea of what you missed at CES regarding Android. For a full show rundown head to our sister site SlashGear. What was your favorite device from CES — Android or otherwise — and what were you hoping to see but didn’t? Let us know in the comments. |
| White Galaxy Nexus appears on Verizon site Posted: 11 Jan 2013 03:12 PM PST We’ve been hearing tips and rumors suggesting the folks from Verizon and Samsung were going to release a white version of the Galaxy Nexus, but nothing ever arrived. Now recently there’s a new page right front and center on Verizon’s own website showing off what clearly seems to be a white Galaxy Nexus. Interesting right?
Not really. The smartphone has been out for well over a year, and hasn’t seen any attention from the folks at Verizon in any manor. We’re still stuck with an old and outdated version of Android while every single other Galaxy Nexus has been updated to at least newer versions of 4.1, let alone Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Even at one point we saw official White replacement battery doors from Verizon, but the color never arrived on their shelves. Most likely there’s no chance they’ll be releasing a different color at any point, but this sighting as of late has us wondering what’s going on over there at Big Red. This isn’t the first time they’ve had a photoshop failure though, so it’s nothing new. In the end do you think Verizon will for some odd reason be releasing a white version of their Galaxy Nexus? We sure don’t. They never gave it proper attention with advertising when it was released, they’ve been painfully slow with updates, so why release another color. Most likely this is just another mess up from Verizon and we’ll see nothing of it. This does bring up one important question however. Where is our Android 4.2 Jelly Bean? Seriously! Device Info
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| Pelican launches two new cases for Samsung Galaxy S III [Hands-on] Posted: 11 Jan 2013 02:25 PM PST The heavy duty case company Pelican who is known for their hard, durable, and waterproof cases for everything from cameras to rifles is entering the smartphone business. Pelican has actually offered a few waterproof “cases” in the past, but they were more of a bag or box completely protecting the device. At CES we learned they’ll be offering actual every day cases soon, so here’s a few hands-on pictures.
I’ve used Pelican’s popular crush-proof cases for camping gear and things in the past, but it looks like their extreme levels of protection will be making their way to our favorite Android smartphones soon. Complete with lightweight aircraft grade aluminum and all these cases will be as strong as they come. Now the first case you see above is from their ProGear Vault Series, and as you can see it certainly isn’t the prettiest case around. However, it does require a few screws to secure down and will basically protect your beloved Galaxy S III from almost any situation. This case is actually made from magnesium and engineering-grade polymer, with aircraft-grade lightweight screws to keep things thin, lightweight, yet strong. It certainly isn’t the thinnest or lightest but it can handle all the elements and is completely shock proof. Expect it to arrive soon for around $75.
Then the case you see above is Pelicans new ProGear Defender series that aims to still offer ultimate protection, only with less intrusion and a lower price point. This bad boy will be priced around $34.99 to be more wallet friendly, and is designed for ease of use. It's built with the same engineering-grade polymer and sports a rubber interior to make the case crushproof and shock-resistant. Pelican also pointed out the curved sides were done on purpose, with extra rubber inside to act as a better point of impact on drops and reflect the fall into a roll instead of a loud slap onto the concrete. I’m thinking that’s more because the Galaxy S III is extremely round on the sides however. Either way there you have it. These are just two of many new and durable cases from the popular folks at Pelican. We’re expecting plenty more from them soon and can’t wait to give these cases a try out in the wild.           |
| Ubuntu hands-on with the Galaxy Nexus Posted: 11 Jan 2013 02:11 PM PST Ubuntu for smartphones was announced earlier in the month, and naturally, we wanted to bring you some hands-on coverage from CES. And while this is far from the first time we have seen Android and Ubuntu together, or sometimes a full install of Ubuntu crammed onto a tablet (such as the Nexus 7) — the version of Ubuntu for smartphones is much nicer and much smoother.
Though, that is not to say perfect. What is being shown off is being described as an early build and currently running on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. We heard more than a few times about how they use no buttons, not even a home or back button because they use all the edges of the phone to access content. For example, you can swipe left get access to applications.
Alternatively, you can swipe right and you can go back to the previous screen. The main home screen shows “relevant” content — which is to say, the content that is most frequently used. The home screen can be customized and is broken down into sections. There are pages for apps, the gallery, video and even people. The People page will show you what your friends are up to. The expected details are included such as whether they are online and most recent updates from services such as Facebook. The one question that seems to be key for many — apps. In the case of Ubuntu OS for smartphones, apps are a combination of web and native and both types of apps seem to blur. The apps section is interesting because they have it broken down into apps that are currently installed along with apps are available to be installed. That second section in the apps can also be customized by the carrier, which we see as something that may be a perk for the carriers, but an annoyance for the users. Going back to using the four edges of the phone (as opposed to buttons) and we find that by swiping up when viewing an image in the gallery — you will be given options to share the image. Moving up to the top and a swipe down will bring you to the system settings. Another interesting section is the messages, which will allow for direct integration. For example, you can send a reply and even return a call without leaving. All said and done, Ubuntu does look really good running on the Galaxy Nexus, however time will tell how well received it will be. |
| Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE hands-on Posted: 11 Jan 2013 01:47 PM PST While we were running around for CES the folks from Verizon Wireless announced a new tablet would be arriving on their shelves later this month. Which tablet you ask? The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 S-Pen and all will be coming to Verizon complete with 4G LTE. We managed to catch up with Samsung during the week to get some quick details, pictures, and a hands-on video with the new slate.
Everything you guys already know and love about Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 is present here. To see it all check out our Note 10.1 Review. You get the same 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 resolution display, front facing stereo speakers, dual cameras, and of course that S-Pen stylus we all love from the Note line. What’s different is this already has Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, as well as that new multi-view feature. The same multi-view and multi-window mode that arrived for Samsung’s Galaxy Note II on AT&T, T-Mobile and others lately is already installed and working great here with the Note 10.1 — not to mention we already have Jelly Bean. For those not following the Note 10.1 too closely, it launched with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and has yet to be updated to Jelly Bean. When Verizon releases theirs in the next week or so you’ll already be loving Jelly Bean. Here it is: Samsung’s own product manager Ryan Biden (above) neatly shows our sister site SlashGear exactly what they can expect from their new slate, shows us the new features, as well as a quick tour of the hardware. Being able to browse your Gmail while watching a YouTube video on the other 5-inches of the screen sure is nice. I can’t wait to get my hands on this tablet with Verizon 4G LTE under the hood. Previous details didn’t give a release date but we’ve been hearing before January 20th. Stay tuned for further details.     Device Info
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| Sony may shift to focus on higher-end devices Posted: 11 Jan 2013 01:00 PM PST We had previously learned that HTC is ready to step up their game moving into the new year, and it looks like another smartphone maker may be doing something similar. The other company is Sony Mobile and according to recent statements from Stephen Sneeden, Sony Mobile is looking to become a “premium smartphone provider.”
For those not familiar with Sneeden, he is the Xperia product marketing manager for Sony Mobile. According to plan, Sony Mobile is looking to make this move within the next two years. This of course, means that the lower-end devices that we have seen released with Xperia branding will be going away. Or at the very least, just not being introduced moving forward. According to Sneeden, the entry level is where you lose the “Sonyness.” And at that entry level they are not always able to implement everything they want and keep the cost down. Sneeden suggested that they “might leave the very entry tier to some other manufacturers.” All of this is certainly not set in stone just yet. In fact, it seems that while Sony Mobile may desire to be a premium smartphone provider, they are also willing to become a “mid-to-premium tier” provider. In fact, further statements from Sneeden suggested that this is because some of the features on the premium/flagship devices will likely make it down to mid-range devices. And all of this comes just a short time after we saw Sony Mobile announce the Xperia Z, which seemed to make a decent splash during CES. Moving away from the bad pun considering the Xperia Z is waterproof and instead focusing on the high-end specs which include a 5-inch Full HD display, quad-core Qualcomm S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM and a 13 megapixel rear-facing camera. [via CNET] |
| Huawei planning 8-core processors and world’s thinnest phone for later this year Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:44 PM PST The folks from Huawei had a pretty impressive showing this year at CES. We were live at their press conference where they unveiled two new exciting flagship smartphones. The first being a 6.1-inch Ascend Mate phablet, as well as a few others. Today however new details are surfacing that later this year they’ll be taking on Samsung and others with some next-gen smartphones.
During CES Samsung announced their upcoming Octa-core (yes 8-core) Exynos processor for later in 2013, and Huawei wasted no time by confirming they’ll be doing the same. Late last year Huawei launched the Ascend P1S as the “world’s thinnest smartphone” and this year they plan to do the same and beat anyone around in terms of a sleek phone. So how do those go together? According to the folks at Engadget Huawei’s own Richard Yu confirmed both the 8-core processor and a new Ascend “P” series phone would arrive together in the second half of 2013. If you thought Huawei’s devices from CES were impressive, wait until you see what they’re planning for later. We were able to get hands-on with the new Ascend Mate 6.1-inch phablet, and their 5-inch 1080p Ascend D2 live at the show, and both of those are available for your viewing pleasure below. Huawei didn’t give any details on their 8-core processor or their upcoming phones but surely we’ll be seeing both late February in Spain for Mobile World Congress. So stay tuned as we’ll be there live too. I’m not sure we’re ready for octa-core phones, but they are coming so lets embrace it. |
| HTC M7 flagship leaks along with Sense UI 5.0 screenshots Posted: 11 Jan 2013 11:52 AM PST Now that all the CES news is starting to wind down we have some juicy pictures and details that were just revealed about HTC’s upcoming flagship Android smartphone. We’ve mentioned the HTC M7 before, but today we are getting what could be our first look at the handset along with leaked HTC Sense UI 5.0 screenshots. Check it out below.
While this is our first actual image of what could be the HTC M7, the photo surely doesn’t show us very much of the actual smartphone. From what we’re seeing HTC will be bringing their impressive polycarbonate design and new smartphone approach from Windows Phone 8 over to Android. I love the thought of it, just check out the HTC 8X Review from SlashGear for an idea of hardware. Below is also multiple HTC Sense UI 5.0 screenshots that have also leaked, but we have bad news. The M7 is reportedly going to arrive with Android 4.1 or 4.2 Jelly Bean, and many sources claimed HTC would be going with on-screen navigation buttons and removing those pesky capacitive buttons of old. Sadly we’re still seeing that eye-sore better known as the legacy menu button in these screenshots. That means just like the HTC One series we’ll have 3 capacitive touch buttons, and a dedicated on-screen menu button when needed. Sadness. From what we’re seeing the rumors suggesting a cleaner and leaner HTC Sense UI were accurate, but still looks just like Sense. We were hoping for a closer to stock Android look but that won’t be happening any time soon. Either way I’m more excited about this 4.7-inch 1080p quad-core smartphone after seeing a few screenshots. Hopefully images of the full smartphone leak soon — but expect it to look similar to HTC’s Windows Phone offerings.     [via HTCSource] |
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