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Android is taking over BlackBerry at Verizon
It looks like it’s time to say goodbye to BlackBerry at Verizon. BlackBerry phones used to make up 90% of the phones that Verizon were selling – that was over a year ago in October 2009. As of November 2010, BlackBerry phones only account for less than 20% of the phones sold by Big Red. It only took a year, but their declination started about a month after the first Motorola Droid arrived on their network. From being their top selling phone to their worst in just over a year testifies Android’s rising popularity because the 80% of phones that are being sold by Verizon are now Android phones. With Verizon rumored to go Apple by selling the next iPhone and BlackBerry having nothing to offer in terms of high-end hardware when put head to head against Android, it looks like they’re being relegated to compete against the low-end and mid-level phones- definitely not the target RIM is looking at, especially since their devices have been branded for the Enterprise sector. BlackBerry’s decline at Verizon might not be the sole cause of its recent downfall in the States but with Verizon being one of the four major carriers, it could reflect a trend found in the other carriers as well. Plus, with the recent statements about focusing on the rest of the world instead of the States, it looks like they might need a change of plans if they want to stay relevant in America, which they used to dominate.
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?