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More details about Sony’s S1 and S2 tablets revealed
Have you been eyeing the Sony S1 and S2 tablets? If you have we can’t blame you as this will be Sony’s first foray into the tablet market, as late as they are, but they have done a pretty good job generating hype within the tech world with their teaser advertisements and photos.
Although there’s still no specific launch date, there is speculation that we could be getting that elusive date at the IFA show in Berlin come 2nd of September. While we still don’t know much about the tablets, more details have been revealed so if you have been keeping tabs on the devices perhaps now is the time to add on to those details.
The S1 tablet will come in four flavors – a 16GB WiFi-only model, 16GB WiFi/3G, 32GB WiFi-only, and 32GB WiFi/3G and it will be getting a full-sized SD card reader. It is also said to feature TruBlack and Bravia technologies on board with attery life is said to rival the iPad 2’s with dock and keyboard accessories also mentioned. It will also feature PS3 connectivity, DLNA and a built in infra-red remote.
The S2 will be launched as an AT&T exclusive in the US and will be available in two WiFi/3G models with 16GB and 32GB of storage respectively. Apart from the dual-screen clamshell design, not much else is known. Are you guys excited yet? I know I am.
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?