android
Sharp’s Clamshell Android Phone Comes To The US?
Remember we talked about Sharp’s Aquos phone which was supposed to be the worlds first clamshell Android device? Remember we also said that it would only be available in Japan? Well if you were hoping that it would make its way to the US then you’re in luck as it made its way to the FCC which means we may very well see the clamshell Android device some time in the not too distant future.
If you’re a clamshell phone enthusiast or you just miss texting with T9 support or you just want to trick your friends into thinking you’ve gone old school then I guess this phone will be right up your alley. In case you forgot, the specifications for the phone, also known as the AQUOS PHONE THE HYBRID 007SH, are below:
- 3.4-inch naked-eye 3D LCD touchscreen with 854×480 resolution
- 0.7-inch OLED sub-display
- 16MP CCD camera with 1,280×720 HD video recording support
- waterproof body
- IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0+EDR
- GPS
- digital TV tuner
- digital wallet function (Felica/RFID)
- infrared port
- Micro HDMI interface
- Blu-ray recorder connectivity
- microSD/SDHC slot (shipped with a 2GB card inside)
- W-CDMA, GSM
- size: 113×51.8×19.3mm, weight: 140g
Those are the specifications for the Japanese model so we have to wonder if the digital TV tuner and the digital wallet function will be seen in the US version as well? After all NFC is starting to make some waves so perhaps they will be keeping the digital wallet feature in anticipation of NFC catching on in the future.
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?