android
Le Pan II lines up for Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich update
Do you remember the Le Pan II tablet that was first announced to the masses at CES earlier this January in Las Vegas? Well, we are looking at a new version of the Android operating system being made available to this tablet that could, bumping up the version number from Android 3.2 Honeycomb to Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. Of course, this should be good enough for most of us, considering how Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was just announced last month at the Google I/O Conference in San Francisco.
If you own the Le Pan II and are looking out for the update, then you can start marking down July 15th on your calendars. The operating system and interface will not be too different from Honeycomb, but at least you get to enjoy improved Wi-Fi connectivity, better battery life and processor performance, a more intelligent use of RAM and its internal memory space, a faster and smoother camera as well as NFC connectivity thanks to Android Beam. Your camera on the Le Pan II should also work in a faster and smoother manner, so get the update and see for yourself!
There are whispers that there is a third generation Le Pan tablet coming in time for the holiday season. WIll it come with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean then? Only time will tell.
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?