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Possible HTC One X Variant Hits FCC
HTC’s variant for the One X in the States with the model number PJ83100 landed at the FCC in the beginning of March along with the expected support for AT&T’s LTE bands. Now however, it looks like another HTC model has flaunted its stuff for the folks over at the FCC and it looks to be yet another variant of the international HTC One X. The phone with the model number PJ83100 has gotten several parties thinking that it could be another HTC One XL which is what the variant of the One X in the States is called everywhere else.
The band coverage from the filing doesn’t look like something that is intended for release in the US with 3G on 1900MHz but not 850MHz. From the manufacturer’s website, it has two versions of the One XL; the AT&T model and another one for Asia and Australia. That said however, it would make sense that we wouldn’t see the FCC test operation on LTE bands that aren’t used in the US, but there is something a little out of place here with the other XL model which is apparently supposed to support 3G on 850MHz, and we’d expect the FCC to clear it for operation on that band if that’s the model that is really in question here.
While the information with regards to the device is really scarce, the only thing we know is that the model number hasn’t been seen anywhere before so until either the manufacturer or a related carrier comes up with an official announcement as to what it is, we’ll have to take this news with a pinch of salt and keep our ears and eyes open for something about it.
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?