Android Authority |
- Samsung Galaxy Win gets proper unveiling, Snapdragon 200 CPU confirmed
- Facebook Home to launch in Canada a few weeks after U.S. release
- 16GB Galaxy Note 8.0 Wi-Fi priced by Office Depot at $399.99, listed as ‘out of stock’
- T-Mobile Xperia Z spotted in the wild, reportedly in testing phase
- Best Buy HTC One pre-order open; AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile models in stock
- Google Play Store 4.0 screenshot leaks on Google+, then removed
- GameStick now shipping to developers, early-backers delayed till June
- Acer Iconia A1-810 outted, takes aim at the iPad Mini
- Google Babel shows up in Gmail message and Google Groups
- HTC One available for pre-order for $149.99 at Wirefly with Sprint contract
| Samsung Galaxy Win gets proper unveiling, Snapdragon 200 CPU confirmed Posted: 08 Apr 2013 02:35 AM PDT
Last week has been a roller coaster ride of sorts for the Samsung Galaxy Win, a slightly underwhelming GS3 "clone" that got leaked Wednesday and became official in China the day after. And now the Win is back making the headlines, as Sammy has finally decided to properly unveil the phone. You know, with a press release in English and the whole shebang, meaning the Galaxy Win won't be an Asian-exclusive device, as some claimed. Then again, Samsung continues to be vague regarding Win's availability, so we don't know when and where we should expect to see it up for sale. But before anything, let's take a look at Galaxy Win's spec sheet in its fullness:
The first thing one notices looking at the list of features is probably the Snapdragon 200 CPU. This is Qualcomm's latest entry-level chip and it's going to make its commercial debut inside the Galaxy Win. We don't expect to see it breaking any speed records though, and, to be frank, we're a little disappointed that Samsung hasn't at least gone the Snapdragon 400 way. The 400, if you don't recall its introduction, is based on ARM's Cortex-A7 and is to be coupled with an Adreno 305 GPU. There are no other surprises in Win's spec sheet, so what we have here is a modest, but hopefully budget-conscious Galaxy S3 lookalike. The large display will most likely be crippled by the low resolution, but the camera and battery are all in all respectable. "Depending on the markets", the Galaxy Win will come with single or dual-SIM support, so, if you had any doubt this fellow is targeted at emerging markets, this should make it clear once and for all. But will we also see it in North America? No idea yet. And how about pricing? How cheap does the Win have to be to pique your interest? $400 unlocked? $350? $300? You tell us. The post Samsung Galaxy Win gets proper unveiling, Snapdragon 200 CPU confirmed appeared first on Android Authority. |
| Facebook Home to launch in Canada a few weeks after U.S. release Posted: 07 Apr 2013 07:25 PM PDT
The delay is likely due to the short exclusivity period that AT&T has earned, given its partnership with Facebook in releasing HTC First – the first smartphone to natively feature the new UI/launcher. But after interviewing Ami Vora, a Facebook product manager, MobileSyrup has found out that the rollout expansion will be swift and that the wait for a Canadian launch "won't be too long — we're talking days or weeks, certainly not months." Home is slated for an April 12 release in the U.S. Only the latest and upcoming high-end devices from Samsung and HTC are currently able to use Home when it arrives, but Facebook has pledged future support for more smartphones. Android tablets, in the meantime, are expected to receive support within several months. Check out last week's Friday Debate and find out what my fellow AA writers think about Facebook Home. The post Facebook Home to launch in Canada a few weeks after U.S. release appeared first on Android Authority. |
| 16GB Galaxy Note 8.0 Wi-Fi priced by Office Depot at $399.99, listed as ‘out of stock’ Posted: 07 Apr 2013 07:02 PM PDT
The 16GB Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 Wi-Fi model has been spotted on Office Depot's website, where it's currently priced at $399.99 but listed as "out of stock." The tablet has already started selling in other markets including the UK and Australia, but we're yet to see it in U.S. stores. It's not clear whether Office Depot will start taking (pre)orders for the tablet soon, or whether it published the product's page by mistake, well ahead of its launch in the region.
What's clear is that the product is already listed by the retailer, which is an indication that Samsung may be getting ready to launch the device in the U.S. Also worth noting is that so far only the Wi-Fi version of the tablet can be found on Office Depot's site. Like in other markets, the 16GB Galaxy Note 8.0 Wi-Fi model is more expensive than its 16GB iPad mini Wi-Fi counterpart (priced at $329 in the U.S.), a product Samsung is trying to directly compete against with the new Note-branded tablet.
Anyone looking forward to buy this particular Note flavor? Thanks, B.W.! The post 16GB Galaxy Note 8.0 Wi-Fi priced by Office Depot at $399.99, listed as 'out of stock' appeared first on Android Authority. |
| T-Mobile Xperia Z spotted in the wild, reportedly in testing phase Posted: 07 Apr 2013 06:15 PM PDT
T-Mobile may be getting ready to offer its subscribers the Sony Xperia Z, which has apparently been spotted with T-Mo branding.Be advised though that actual launch details from either T-Mobile or Sony aren't official yet. All we have for you today is an image showing us the branded back side of the Xperia Z, as provided by TmoNews. The publication says it confirmed with "tree separate sources" that the Xperia Z is indeed in testing, but that "there's absolutely no guarantee the device will ever hit store shelves."
The Xperia Z is Sony's current flagship device that's already available in a variety of markets. In case T-Mobile does end up selling the handset, it will have a killer smartphone line-up for potential customers interested in purchasing cheap flagship devices with monthly installments rather than the "old" two-year contracts – T-Mobile will also stock the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4, and has just launched the iPhone 5 as well. While we're waiting to see whether T-Mobile will carry the handset, we'll point you to our full Xperia Z review (see video above for shorter version). The post T-Mobile Xperia Z spotted in the wild, reportedly in testing phase appeared first on Android Authority. |
| Best Buy HTC One pre-order open; AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile models in stock Posted: 07 Apr 2013 05:52 PM PDT
The HTC One is now available for pre-order form Best Buy as well, with the retailer listing all three U.S. version for the handset, AT&T's, Sprint's and T-Mobile's. Best Buy only seems to have the Glacial Silver 32GB version of the handset in stock at this time, priced at $199.99 with new contracts for AT&T and Sprint and at $249.99 with new T-Mobile two-year agreements. While the AT&T and Sprint offers aren't surprising, considering that the two carriers sell the 32GB HTC One for the same price in their respective online stores when purchased with new two-year contracts, the T-Mobile version is definitely a lot more expensive than you'd expect. Only a few weeks ago, T-Mobile unveiled its "uncarrier" plans that ditch the mandatory two-year agreement in favor of no-contract offers. At the same time, the carrier wants to keep prices for high-end devices low by letting users pay for the device of their choice in monthly installments. A different kind of "contract" if you will, but one that Best Buy isn't offering.
The HTC One on T-Mobile should cost $99 without a contract but with a number of installments, but Best Buy's offer doesn't reflect that. Instead, buying a T-Mobile HTC One from Best Buy means you'll have to pay $249.99 upfront and agree to a new two-year contract with the carrier. At the same time, we’ll point out that Best Buy does list a special HTC One page on its website, from which buyers can choose their HTC One carrier (image above). However, the T-Mobile link isn’t activated at this time, so you’ll have to manually search for the T-Mobile HTC One to pre-order it.
The unlocked HTC One will cost you $699.99 no matter what carrier you choose. As for shipping, Best Buy will release the HTC One on April 19, again, no matter what offer you choose. The post Best Buy HTC One pre-order open; AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile models in stock appeared first on Android Authority. |
| Google Play Store 4.0 screenshot leaks on Google+, then removed Posted: 07 Apr 2013 05:46 PM PDT
A few weeks ago, we reported on a newly designed Google Play store. This subject has been pretty quite since then. Today, another Google Play Store 4.0 screenshot has leaked onto the web, this time from YouTube employee Eileen Rivera. Shortly after she published the screenshot, it was removed. Thankfully, the Internet never forgets and we we were able to snag this screenshot for your viewing pleasure.
As you can see above, the Play Store icon is a little different. The icon has the Play Store logo and a bone in a dog bowl. This is a reference to “eating your own dogfood” or dogfooding, which simply means a company is using their own products, in this case for internal beta testing. This leaked image appears to be a newer build than what was previously leaked. In this build, each of the Play Store sections seems to have a new, flatter icon. Don’t be too concerned with the pixelated action bar up top. That’ s Google’s own way of tracking images, to prevent leaks such as this. Unfortunately, we don’t really have anything else. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more leaks and you keep your fingers crossed for a before IO 2013 launch.
The post Google Play Store 4.0 screenshot leaks on Google+, then removed appeared first on Android Authority. |
| GameStick now shipping to developers, early-backers delayed till June Posted: 07 Apr 2013 04:45 PM PDT
PlayJam's GameStick Kickstarter campaign ended about 2 months ago and since then it has been generating quite a bit of hype. With Android gaming gaining so much momentum, products such as these will undoubtedly become much more popular in the coming months and years. PlayJam has kept its promise by shipping out the GameStick Dev units this month to those who signed up. All of the shipments should be out by the end of this week. While early-backers were expecting to receive their units this month as well, it appears as though they will have to wait until June to get their hands on one. According to PlayJam, the delay is caused by “high demand” for GameStick, which made the company reconsider the manufacturing process in order to produce tens of thousands of units. The company wants to use a stronger method of manufacturing for the official releases compared to the silicon-molded devices that the developers are getting. On top of that, these changes will apparently force the company to ship via sea transport instead of air transport. This marks June as the month of Android gaming as that is when the other popular Android console OUYA will be shipping out to the general public. The post GameStick now shipping to developers, early-backers delayed till June appeared first on Android Authority. |
| Acer Iconia A1-810 outted, takes aim at the iPad Mini Posted: 07 Apr 2013 04:28 PM PDT
Acer will be releasing another tablet to join the ranks of the Nexus 7 and the iPad Mini in terms of size and form-factor. While some may say that Acer is a little late to the game, it is very clear that high-powered, smaller tablets will always appeal to consumers. The Acer Iconia A1-810 will sport a 7.9-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1024 x 768, putting it right on par with the iPad Mini's display and only slightly inferior to the Nexus 7's offering. It is expected to run Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the gate and offer a 1.2GHz MediaTek MT8125 ARM Cortex-A9 quad-core processor. It will also feature all of the popular connectivity options like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS. The A1-810 also packs an micro HDMI port, a 5MP rear camera, a VGA front-facing camera, and a 3,250 mAh battery. The tablet comes with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of flash memory. The device itself clocks in at 460 grams and measures 208.7 x 145.7 x 10.5 mm.
Currently, only the French retailer Rue Du Commerce is taking orders for the tablet. It is priced at €199 (or around $259) and is expected to ship in June. Other markets and prices will be announced as the release date gets closer. The post Acer Iconia A1-810 outted, takes aim at the iPad Mini appeared first on Android Authority. |
| Google Babel shows up in Gmail message and Google Groups Posted: 07 Apr 2013 01:20 PM PDT
It’s now widely accepted that Google’s new unified chat service is named ‘Babel’. The role that Babel will play between Google’s various chat services, unifying them, is a hat tip in itself to the Tower of Babel, pictured above. Babel is said to allow users to access the same conversation list from anywhere, offer fly-in conversations, advanced group conversations, improve notifications across devices, and of course allow sending pictures. This morning Patric Dhawaan noticed while cleaning out his Inbox on Gmail a peculiar warning message. He received a popup, listed below, stating all of his conversations have been moved to trash, but some were still available in other Babel chat applications. We’ve independently verified that Google has been internally using Babel for some time. This could mean Patric was chatting with someone that was using Babel internally at Google or this message will soon be standard procedure when deleting conversations.
If you still need additional proof that Babel is the official name of Google’s up and coming messaging service and that Babel is coming sooner than later, head on over to the Chromium Google Group. You’ll find various Google engineers discussing bugs related to Babel. What steps will reproduce the problem? Use Babel. Current behavior is WIA, but based on an older design. New design was reached with GMail and we are matching mole titlebar height at 36px Based on our 8/9 meeting, this is being investigated: @markdavidscott- Check to see if we can package Babel as an app (not an extension) so if you click the Talk icon on the Chrome OS launcher, it launches the chat roster. When might we see Babel? Most likely at Google IO 2013 next month. We’re also keeping an eye on April 15th when Eric Schmidt talks at AllThingsD: Dive Into Mobile event. The post Google Babel shows up in Gmail message and Google Groups appeared first on Android Authority. |
| HTC One available for pre-order for $149.99 at Wirefly with Sprint contract Posted: 07 Apr 2013 12:12 PM PDT
HTC one pre-orders in the U.S. started a few days ago for AT&T and Sprint, but if you still haven't purchased the new HTC flagship smartphone, you should check out Wirefly's offer. The retailer has both HTC One versions (when it comes to color options, Glacial Silver and Stealth Black) available for pre-order for just $149.99 when purchased with new Sprint two-year contracts. Obviously, we're looking at the 32GB HTC One, the only one available from Sprint when it comes to storage. Comparatively, the carrier sells the handset for $199.99 on contract, so you’re looking at $50 in savings when choosing Wirefly’s offer. AT&T will be the exclusive carrier of the 64GB version in the country, in case that’s the HTC One model you’re looking for. As for shipping, Wirefly says that either device version will ship "when available." Looking at the frequently asked questions about pre-orders we find out that the retailer will "begin shipping orders on the Sprint official launch date for the smartphone in the order it was received." Sprint will launch its HTC One on April 19, which means that's when Wirefly will also ship the handset. In case you’re looking for more HTC One pre-order details for the U.S. and other markets, check our guide here. The post HTC One available for pre-order for $149.99 at Wirefly with Sprint contract appeared first on Android Authority. |
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