android
Motorola Xoom confirmed to be running stock Honeycomb
Great news for everyone looking forward to having the “pure” Google experience on Motorola’s upcoming Android tablet – according to the latest reports online, the Motorola Xoom will be running a stock version of Honeycomb (Android 3.0). Pocket-lint sat down in an interview with Google and Motorola to discuss about Honeycomb and dug up some interesting facts. The Xom tablet that was demonstrated at CES wasn’t running the complete version of Android 3.0 – it was a half-baked version that was readied in time just for demonstration purposes, and the complete version is supposed to be very different.
It was also pointed out that Motorola had some staff working at Google for the tablet, and Google had some of their staff working at Motorola as well. The arrangement was made to ensure the final product would really be what both companies wanted in the Android tablet.
Google mentioned that with each major iteration of Android, they chose to work with a different partner to build the flagship devices – HTC had the Nexus One (Android 2.1), Samsung the Nexus S (Android 2.3), and now Motorola Xoom (Android 3.0). Seeing how almost all the major Android players have been named, will LG be getting their turn at championing the next version of Android?
While there’s no guarantee that Motorola will be bringing the first Android 3.0 tablet to the market – if the source code is released before the tablet (however unlikely that might be), there’s a chance that another manufacturer could push out the Honeycomb tablet before them. But if you’re looking forward to the Android experience as Google intended, the Xoom will be your best bet. Google won’t be limiting what manufacturers can do with the operating system though, so it looks like we’ll still be seeing custom user interfaces skinned by the manufacturers themselves if they ever choose to do so.
No new information concerning its release date and pricing have been released, but let’s hope it won’t be too long before we can get our eager paws on the device. Are you looking forward to the Motorola Xoom?
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?