android
Gingerbread has been officially announced
Great news for Android aficionados all over the world today- Google has officially announced the successor to Froyo- Android 2.3 or more commonly known as Gingerbread. The long-awaited update to their mobile operating system is finally here, and along with it the arrival of a new flagship phone- the Samsung Nexus S. Here is a rundown of some of the features available in Gingerbread:
– A refined user interface: the whole operating system has been given a facelift, and users will now find it much easier to learn, use and navigate the system with its high contrast, power-efficient design.
– Faster and more intuitive text input- the virtual keyboard has been redesigned to work better and faster. With the ability to add new words to the dictionary, one touch word selection for copy/paste and a multi-touch mode to quickly enter numbers and symbols without switching modes.
– Improved power management: Android now automatically monitors apps that run in the background and takes appropriate actions if they drain too much battery. This ensures longer battery life on your Gingerbread phone. You can now monitor how much power an app is using with detailed statistics from the OS itself.
– Internet calling, NFC and native support for front-facing cameras are now part of the operating system, though these features depend on the manufacturers to include them in their devices.
There’s a whole lot more that’s not listed above, but you can read the complete list can on the Android developers website. The software development kit (SDK) has just been released to developers today as well, so you can expect to hear more about the operating system in the coming days. Stay tuned. Watch a video introduction to Gingerbread after the break:
The Fairphone 2 was first unveiled in June earlier this year, where this particular handset carried a modular design while featuring majority of its components that have been sourced from conflict-free mines. It seems that this particular handset that you can purchase with a clear conscience has begun to ship to those who happen to live across Europe.
Fairphone announced in a blog post, “It’s been almost two years in the making, and some of the earliest buyers have been patiently waiting since July to receive their new phones. As community manager, I want to personally welcome the new batch of Fairphone owners to our community.” The initial 1,000 units are tipped to ship this month, before the other pre-orders follow in January 2016.
In terms of hardware specifications, the Fairphone 2 will run on a Snapdragon 801 chipset, has a 5″ 1080p screen with Gorilla Glass 3 protection, 2GB of RAM, an 8MP camera, with Android 5.1 Lollipop in tow. It will be a dual SIM capable handset with a microSD memory card slot and plays nice with 4G LTE networks, retailing for approximately €525 a pop.
It looks like the upcoming flagship model from Xiaomi will feature NFC support, at least based on a document that was released by China UnionPay. Just in case you are scratching your head and wondering who China UnionPay is, they happen to be the only domestic payment gateway supplier and card organization, and hence, to see them offer detailed support concerning the newly released NFC-based payment system points to the very real possibility of the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 5 featuring NFC capability.
After all, the Xiaomi Mi 3 was also mentioned on the list, which so happens to feature NFC, and there is no mention of the Xiaomi Mi 4 which does not come with NFC. Still, such a new payment system would be the ideal tool to see the reintroduction of NFC to the flagship model.
OnePlus did make an announcement in the previous month that the Ceramic variant of the OnePlus X will be released on November 24. True to their word, they did exactly that – although only a pitiful number of units were made available, and not only that, this was through a charity auction. Thankfully for the rest of the masses who are on the lookout for this device, it has gone on sale officially already.
Needless to say, this particular variant is available only by an invitation, although do bear in mind that standard OnePlus X invites are not good here – you will still need to snag yourself a specific Ceramic variant invite before you make a purchase. OnePlus is also on the lookout to offer additional methods of picking up this smartphone, although no further details were revealed.
The OnePlus X Ceramic will be available only in select markets, where among them include Europe, India, and Hong Kong. To date, we do know that OnePlus had made only 10,000 units of the handset available. A case of the early bird getting the proverbial worm here?