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LG and VMware join forces to bring virtualization to mobile phones
In a world where smartphones are becoming increasingly in the workforce, companies are having trouble keeping up with the amount of phones available. If they let their staff access corporate data with their phones, they would have to make sure that the phone is compatible with the office software, and extra precautions would need to be taken to ensure company security. This has lead to companies providing corporate phones to their staff for such purposes. But for the people wanting to use their own phones and not have the hassle of carrying an extra phone around with them, it is not a very viable solution. Not to mention the extra costs it would incur on the company to provide them a new phone and line. VMware has come up with a solution to this. By installing an app on the user’s smartphone, they can switch the phone to “work mode” whenever they need to work in the office, and go back to regular mode when they’re done. This way, the work mode for all the smartphones used in the office can be easily configured and set up by the people in charge- they just need to install the standardized app on their phones. By ensuring only corporate data can be accessed through the app, administrators can easily control the security of the data and keep tabs on who has been accessing what. In the case of a staff leaving the company, all that needs to be removed is the “work mode” of the phone and they’re done. Users won’t have to worry about their regular phone data being monitored or accidentally erased. A pretty clever solution if you ask me. This technology hasn’t been in use yet, but starting next year, VMware and LG will be working together to bring smartphones with the app integrated within. As of now the app only works with Android phones but it will be ported to other operating systems if the need arises. What do you think of such a solution in the corporate environment? Head here to watch a video of VMware in action.
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?