Android Community |
- LG Optimus Vu 5-inch phablet headed to Verizon next month
- Black Galaxy S III confirmed, hits the UK in September
- Motorola laying off 20% of staff while refocusing efforts
- Android Community Weekly: August 12th, 2012
| LG Optimus Vu 5-inch phablet headed to Verizon next month Posted: 13 Aug 2012 10:23 AM PDT LG’s new Optimus Vu 5-inch “phablet” smartphone might not be selling as well as Samsung’s Galaxy Note, but they have recently announced over 500,000 have been sold. Along with that news they managed to share a few details for when those stateside can expect the device to arrive. It looks like we can expect to see LG’s new smartphone sometime in the 3rd quarter, so before the end of September.
We first saw this oddly shaped 4:3 aspect ratio phone in February at Mobile World Congress, and it went up for sale in South Korea back in March. However, those here in the US, particularly on Verizon Wireless could be seeing this option sooner than later. Recent filings at the FCC lead us to believe the Optimus Vu will be coming to Verizon Wireless, and it has been spotted in the wild with Verizon brandings too. While LG hasn’t released an official date, they mentioned it would be available in the US “before the end of the 3rd quarter.” You never know how a device launch will go on Verizon, but if all goes well users should be able to purchase this massive smartphone before the end of September. The Optimus Vu comes with a 5-inch display, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a stylus for pen input, and is powered by the same 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 as the Galaxy S III. This will be another fine choice from the folks at Verizon and LG. Who’s interested? Device Info
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 [via Unwired View]
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| Black Galaxy S III confirmed, hits the UK in September Posted: 13 Aug 2012 09:56 AM PDT Last week Samsung teased the world with the possibility of offering their flagship Galaxy S III smartphone in a new color option, black, but now its been confirmed. After being spotted on their Facebook page during Samsung’s Olympic coverage many were curious, and now a UK retailer has confirmed the device will be available in 4-6 weeks.
We first reported on this last week, with Carphone Warehouse screens leaking that appeared to confirm the device, but now UK reseller MobileFun actually has it available for pre-order. This is the same Galaxy S III as the Pebble Blue and white folks, just in the color black. Being in the UK, and not a US model, this comes with Samsung’s own 1.4 GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM. Not a dual-core with 2GB like the US based models from Verizon, T-Mobile and others — just to be clear. Samsung currently offers a white model, and the pebble blue had initial delays but is now widely available, and garnet red as an AT&T exclusive. MobileFun states the black model will be available in 4-6 weeks. We are still expecting Samsung to make a formal announcement on possibly color options later this month at IFA 2012 in Berlin, Germany, but still can’t confirm that. Does the color of your smartphone matter that much to you? Or are you more concerned with specs and an up to date OS? Let us know below and we’ll update once we hear more from Samsung. Device Info
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[via SlashGear]
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| Motorola laying off 20% of staff while refocusing efforts Posted: 13 Aug 2012 09:37 AM PDT The new Google-owned Motorola Mobility is getting ready to make some changes. Now that Google’s finally earned full control after purchasing Motorola, they are ready to dig in and get started in their efforts. Google and Motorola are set to lay off roughly 4000 employees, nearly 20% of the staff as they prepare to refocus their mobile game and get back to winning. More details below.
In a similar sounding move as HTC, Motorola is stating they’ll be focusing on less devices, while offering overall better experiences and top-tier products. Specifically less low-end budget phones. The 20% cut in their job force will be a big blow, and one third of those will be US based employees. This won’t be the first time either, as Motorola’s recently cut down their highly paid presidents and execs list by 40%, so the arm swings both ways. This is all in an effort to help their bottom line, and let good ol Google do their thing. With the PHOTON Q 4G LTE being their first phone with an unlocked bootloader, things are slowly starting to come around in Moto town. According to the NYT Motorola will also be pruning efforts in Asia and India, while bailing completely on some of their most “unprofitable” markets — although no specifics were given. While a third of the job cuts will be stateside, they’ve also said to be increasing R & D and spending at various research locations in Chicago, Sunnyvale, CA and Beijing, China. Things have been quiet on the Motorola front the past few months waiting for this acquisition to complete, but we have a feeling Google’s about to get started in a big way. [via SlashGear]
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| Android Community Weekly: August 12th, 2012 Posted: 12 Aug 2012 01:20 PM PDT With the past week finally winding down one of the best ways to enjoy your Sunday afternoon is to catch up on all the latest Android news. Here at Android Community we had another exciting week of news. With the OUYA gaming console dropping all sorts of news, and T-Mobile launching three new smartphones. Head on below for your weekly fix!
To start the week off was exciting news for Motorola DROID 4 fans, as they finally received Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich from Verizon. Then Motorola teased a new smartphone on Facebook that ended up being nothing but the already released Atrix HD on AT&T. The Nexus 7 was in the news again, as it has been for a few months straight. This time it was mounted inside a Dodge RAM for some in-dash entertainment — and was amazing.
That isn’t all the N7 did either. As you can see above it was overclocked to 1.7 GHz on that quad-core processor and blew away the benchmarks. Thanks to the Trinity kernel it has far exceeded the limits we thought it was capable of. Google’s Google Now search arrived in small pieces for the iPhone, and the rest of the non Jelly Bean Android users are hoping they get the same treatment too. Then as we mentioned above T-Mobile launched two new smartphones on the 8th. One being their version of the original Samsung Galaxy Note, then their budget friendly myTouch smartphones. The OUYA game console added a list of games and even XBMC support, as well as multiple announcements you can see in the timeline below. To round off the week HTC announced the ThunderBolt would see Ice Cream Sandwich before the end of August, and same goes for their Desire S. Last but certainly not least we are giving away some brand new Nexus 7 tablets. Yes you read that right! Android Community and NVIDIA have partnered again and are giving away 3 brand new 16GB Nexus 7 tablets. Full details can be found in our Nexus 7 Giveaway post. Hit the links below for more coverage from this week, and enjoy the rest of the weekend.
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