Android Community |
- HTC One S ‘Special Edition’ boasts 64GB of storage and white paint job
- ISIS Mobile Payments officially launching October 22nd
- Nexus 7 32GB retailer listings spotted once again
- Google data centers get a Street View virtual tour
- Casio G’zOne TYPE-L is an Android phone that takes a beating
- Galaxy S III to get Jelly Bean “in the coming months”
- $99 Nexus 7 gets another Q4 guesstimate
- Blu Products debuts Dash 3.5, a $99 unlocked smartphone
- KDDI AQUOS Pad SHT21 has an IGZO display for up to 2.5x better battery life
- HTC J Butterfly features a 5-inch 1080p screen
- Motorola DROID RAZR M, RAZR HD, Atrix HD and more all get root access
- ISIS Mobile Wallet lands on the Play Store for T-Mobile
- Motorola DROID RAZR HD unboxing and impressions
- New Angry Birds Star Wars teaser pays homage to Millennium Falcon
- Huawei Ascend D1 Quad XL Review
- Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs to give keynote at CES 2013
| HTC One S ‘Special Edition’ boasts 64GB of storage and white paint job Posted: 17 Oct 2012 11:36 AM PDT Who loves a white smartphone? No we’re not talking about an iPhone here either. The folks from HTC have announced an all new “special edition” HTC One S with a brand new paint job. They’ve dressed the dual-core powered smartphone up with a white color and added 64GB of internal storage to make it even better.
The One X got its own special edition earlier this year and now the smaller 4.3-inch sibling is getting the same treatment. As you can see from the image above, it has a nice new paint job. Although we aren’t fans of the different white colors we’re seeing already. I was hoping for a solid color experience but sadly that didn’t happen. It’s all about perfection guys! This enhanced HTC One S has all the specs and characteristics we already know and love about the HTC One S (see our review) but the fact that they’ve tossed 64GB of internal storage inside is probably the best part. I’m not too worried about color, just give me 64GB of storage and a micro-SD slot for the best option. Period. The special edition One S still rocks that 4.3-inch qHD display, Qualcomm’s 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8 megapixel camera and more. Nothing’s changed here internally other than the 64GB of storage. So far we’re hearing this device will only be offered in HTC’s home town, which is Taiwan. Hopefully this beefed up model makes it stateside because we’re sure many would love the 64GB storage option. Device Info
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 [via Engadget]
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| ISIS Mobile Payments officially launching October 22nd Posted: 17 Oct 2012 10:52 AM PDT Today the folks from ISIS have actually confirmed the October 22nd launch date for their mobile payment system. After multiple tips, leaks, and rumors suggested it was coming soon today they’ve made it official. After multiple delays ISIS will finally launch on October 22nd in two test cities. Those being Salt Lake City, Utah, and Austin, Texas.
We clearly saw this coming after yesterday’s T-Mobile ISIS app launched early in the Play Store, not to mention leaks on Verizon have been pegging the same October 22nd release date. For those not fully sure what ISIS is, it’s a NFC mobile payment system similar to Google Wallet. Using built-in NFC chips, and NFC capable SIM and SD cards to make purchases nationwide. Well, nationwide once ISIS payments are accepted in more locations like MasterCard and Paypass. T-Mobile recently released a blog post, detailing a few things they have planned for ISIS payments, and we’ll surely be hearing more from the three main carriers on board soon. Those being Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Sadly Google Wallet currently only works on the Now Network. While I wish Google Wallet would be accepted by all carriers, it looks like that won’t be happening any time soon unfortunately. Today we didn’t get specific details, but ISIS states we can expect “as many as 20″ different ISIS capable devices by the end of the year. That certainly is better than the few from Google. Paypal is aiming to offer something similar, but so far ISIS looks to be in the best position to make things happen since they’ve got 3 major carriers and multiple hardware partners all on board. Hopefully we see and hear more about “ISIS Ready” systems and smartphones soon. [via VentureBeat]
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| Nexus 7 32GB retailer listings spotted once again Posted: 17 Oct 2012 10:42 AM PDT Well this is just getting ridiculous. Every day it seems we have a new Nexus 7 32GB leaks of some sort to share with you, and today is no different. The folks at Android Police have spotted even more listings for the fabled device, with the tablet making an appearance at two European retailers and Best Buy Canada. Are you convinced that the 32GB Nexus 7 exists yet?
The 32GB Nexus 7 has appeared in listings at Dixons Retail and Argos, with Dixons giving the tablet a price of €199.99 and the Argos listing (which was uncovered by Rock Tech Daily) showing a price £199.99. As stated above, it made a brief appearance on Best Buy Canada’s website, with a price tag of $269. If you’ll remember, the tablet popped up in a Staples Advantage listing yesterday, sporting a price that was actually less than the going rate of the 16GB model. Though £199.99 is a little high for the range we’ve been seeing the 32GB Nexus 7 at, most of these listings put the tablet right around $250, give or take a couple Hamiltons. Normally this would be the part of the post where we tell you to take all of this with a grain of salt considering that Google hasn’t officially announced the 32GB Nexus 7 yet, but is there really any point to that anymore? It’s clear from the absurd number of leaks that the Nexus 7 32GB is real, unless all of these retailers decided to come together to massively troll us all.
Admittedly, something like that would be pretty awesome, but we’re thinking that these retailers didn’t just decide to troll us. The 32GB Nexus 7 is on the way, and at the moment, it looks primed to replace the 16GB model. The only things we need now are an announcement and a launch date, and given how many retailers have been prepping online listings lately, it seems like both of those are just around the corner. Stay tuned, because it can’t be much longer before Google finally reveals the device.
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| Google data centers get a Street View virtual tour Posted: 17 Oct 2012 10:10 AM PDT Have you ever wanted to see inside one of the many data centers owned and operated by Google? Well today you’ll get the chance to do just that. Google has opened the virtual doors and is allowing the world an inside look at “where the internet lives” with a virtual tour of multiple data centers across the globe. You even can roam the halls with Street View.
We are getting an awesome behind-the-scenes look at what goes on at a Google data center in all its wired and wireless glory. "Our first priority is the privacy and security of your data, and we go to great lengths to protect it, keeping our sites under close guard" says the Mountain View company. In my imagination they are guarded by massive Android robots with AK-47s — but can you spot the Storm Trooper guard in the video? They even show us their process for destroying hard drives one they fail or are replaced to protect precious data. From there Google walks you through one of the many data centers that keeps your searches fast, email readily available, images at your fingertips (or lips with Google Now) and everything else we love and use daily from Google. Check out the quick video they’ve released today giving us a virtual tour. Since this is Google, you’ll notice neat little Easter eggs and fun throughout the video. Like golf putting greens, razor scooters, and even themed data centers. We notices one was racing-themed with posters all over the walls. One of the coolest aspects of this inside look at these centers is the fact that Google’s added their popular Google Maps street view mode. This means you can literally take a virtual tour and roam the halls of Google’s largest data centers. The segment is broke into 3 parts where you can see the tech, the people, and then the places — as Google has them all over the world. The photos are pretty impressive too considering what they are photos of. Enjoy the virtual tour at the link below.    [via Data Center Tour]
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| Casio G’zOne TYPE-L is an Android phone that takes a beating Posted: 17 Oct 2012 08:48 AM PDT NEC and Casio are teaming up to bring a new Android phone to market that is designed to endure some serious punishment. This phone is being built to handle the rough forces of nature as well as the beatings that cell phone users put their devices through every single day. Think of this as the smartphone version of the popular GShock device.
Besides being rugged, the device also comes equipped with five sensors that will be useful for outdoor enthusiasts. It can detect temperature, acceleration, gyro, atmospheric, and orientation. This means it can provide important data, while at the same time minimize the risk of breaking while traveling through the mountains and other harsh terrain. The Casio G'zOne TYPE-L comes with a dual core 1.5GHz MSM8960 processor and 1GB of RAM. It runs Android ICS, and Casio is undecided if the device will receive an upgrade to Jelly Bean. It comes with 8GB of memory and supports microSD cards up to 32GB. The display is 4-inches and offers a resolution of 800 × 480. Overall, this phone packs some pretty solid specs, especially for a device that is touted more for its toughness than it’s power. The device will hit Japan’s KDDi network early next year in red and black. Perhaps we could see this in other parts of the world at some point, but no plans have been announced at this time.     [via Newlaunches]
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| Galaxy S III to get Jelly Bean “in the coming months” Posted: 17 Oct 2012 08:02 AM PDT Samsung has confirmed that a Jelly Bean 4.1 update is coming to all iterations of the Galaxy S III. This sounds like fantastic news, but it’s coated in some less than stellar details. When asked for a time frame, Samsung only offered that it would be “in the coming months.”
Samsung began rolling out Jelly Bean updates in other parts of the world recently. Part of Europe received it in late September. South Korea received the latest Android version earlier this month. Of course, the update process will not be as smooth is the US with Samsung relying on carriers to push the updates through. Either way, we can’t wait to see Jelly Bean on the S III. It will be bringing some awesome features that seem to have Samsung just as excited as owners of the device. Samsung cites Project Butter and Google Now as two of the features it is most excited about its users having on their smartphones. We will keep you posted as carries announce Jelly Bean updates for Galaxy S III owners. [via SlashGear]
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| $99 Nexus 7 gets another Q4 guesstimate Posted: 17 Oct 2012 07:34 AM PDT We’ve heard rumblings of Google bringing a $99 version of its incredibly popular Nexus 7 tablet to market. A while back, we reported that Google and ASUS were working together to make this tablet a reality. A new report from Digitimes claims that Google is, in fact, working on a $99 Nexus 7, but ASUS is not part of the equation this time.
All that is known as far as specs on this new tablet is that it will feature a single-core ARM processor developed by China-based WonderMedia Technologies. It will also feature a HUVA TN panel made by Taiwan-based HannStar Display. According to the report, ASUS has made it very clear that they have nothing to do with this tablet, if it exists at all. Quanta Computer declined to comment on the existence of this tablet, which neither proves or disproves its existence, but is interesting none-the-less. Only time will tell if Google is actually going to make this happen, but if they do, it could be a big deal for the tablet market. We will keep you posted as more develops on this story. [via Digitimes]
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| Blu Products debuts Dash 3.5, a $99 unlocked smartphone Posted: 17 Oct 2012 06:39 AM PDT Typically, a smartphone that suports dual SIM cards without a contract from a carrier is quite expensive. Usually, the price for such phones is in the hundreds. However, the new Blu Dash 3.5 breaks the trend and comes in at just under one hundred dollars, which is quite impressive for a fully unlocked Android smartphone.
The Blu Dash 3.5 comes with a 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 320 x 480. It is available in white or black and there are optional door covers for the back of the phone in pink, blue, green, and yellow that offer some extra customization. The phone comes with a 4GB microSD card for storage. The phone supports GSM quad band, EDGE, and 3G HSDPA, so it will work on cellular networks that support those. The phone runs Android 2.3 for its operating system and sports a QUALCOMM 1 GHz processor. It features a 2-megapixel rear camera. No, this is not a top of the line phone by any means, but when you consider the price, and the fact that is not tired to a contract, it is certainly not a bad deal at all. [via SlashGear]
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| KDDI AQUOS Pad SHT21 has an IGZO display for up to 2.5x better battery life Posted: 17 Oct 2012 05:57 AM PDT Sharp’s new screen technology called IGZO has made a lot of noise because of the improved battery life it claims to offer. Now, a second device featuring this screen has been announced, and this time it comes in the form of the KDDI AQUOS Pad SHT21, a 7-inch tablet. It features a 1280 x 800 screen resolution, and according to Sharp, has 2.5x the battery life of similar tablets.
Device creators can go a few different ways using this technology. They can keep standard battery lives while making devices smaller, add extra life to regular sized batteries, or create super bright screens designed for outdoor use. With the AQUOS Pad SHT21, it appears as though there is an option for extended usability or an ultra bright screen, depending on your preferences. The tablet supports 4G, WiFi a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz), Bluetooth 4.0, and 1-Seg digital TV for connectivity. It is water and dust proof and comes in at an impressive 280g. It has an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and VGA camera in the front. It runs a customized version of Android 4.0 and has a Qualcomm's MSM8960 1.5GHz dualcore processor. It also features 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage with support for microSDXC. The device drops in Japan in December, but a price is not yet know.    [via SlashGear]
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| HTC J Butterfly features a 5-inch 1080p screen Posted: 17 Oct 2012 05:31 AM PDT Rumors have abounded about this HTC phone. From the beginning, rumors always mentioned a 1080p resolution and 5-inch screen. Rumors also stated that the device would probably launch sometime in September or October. Well, it appears as though those rumors were correct, as HTC has just shown off the J Butterfly in Japan, and it does, in fact, feature an impressive 5-inch 1080p screen.
As far as the rest of the specs for the phone go, they are solid, but nothing that will blow you away. It has 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, microSD support, and a quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 processor. It has a solid 8-megapixel camera that can take photos at up to 3280 × 2464 and record video at 1080p. The J Butterfly also comes equipped with a 2,020 mAh battery — which is underwhelming to say the least. So, that was a lot of good news. Now, it’s time for some bad news. The HTC J Butterfly is exclusive to KDDI in Japan, which means those of us outside Japan will not be able to get our hands on one. However, HTC says that they plan to use this fantastic screen on other devices in the near future, so it may not be long before those of us in other parts of the world can get our hands on a similar phone.            [via SlashGear]
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| Motorola DROID RAZR M, RAZR HD, Atrix HD and more all get root access Posted: 16 Oct 2012 04:46 PM PDT If you’re a fan of Motorola hardware but have been holding out on their recent line of smartphones we have some good news for you. The new and impressive line of RAZR phones, and the AT&T Motorola Atrix HD have all been rooted. Good news right? Now we just need those bootloaders unlocked. More details available below.
Those awesome developers at XDA have been working hard on a root exploit for the latest round of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich powered Motorola device, and today they’ve delivered just that. Thanks the the speedy developer @djrbliss you can now root that shiny new DROID RAZR M, the RAZR HD when you get it in a few days, or that awesome Motorola Atrix HD among others. As usual this is something you’ll be doing at your own risk since it voids the warranty. If you don’t know what root is you probably shouldn’t proceed either. What we have here is a standard 1-click (or a few clicks) root method for the new Motorola smartphones. You’ll need to hit this XDA thread for all the details. You’ll essentially just need a Motorola device, a Windows PC, and a few quick files and you’ll be up and running with root privileges in no time flat. Comments suggest the entire process is just a few clicks and will only take a minute or two. You’ll need to download the Motofail2go_windows.zip file, unzip it, download the latest Motorola USB drivers and follow a few simple steps. This same exploit will also work on the Motorola PHOTON Q, RAZR i and international RAZR HD’s. Give it a try and let us know how it goes. As always, proceed with caution. Hit the XDA link above for details or help. [via Droid-Life]
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| ISIS Mobile Wallet lands on the Play Store for T-Mobile Posted: 16 Oct 2012 04:15 PM PDT The ISIS Mobile Wallet solution and competitor of Google Wallet has apparently launched a bit premature this afternoon. We’ve been hearing rumors and reports suggesting ISIS will launch for T-Mobile on October 22nd, but today the T-Mobile specific version has landed in the Google Play Store.
With only one carrier having full support for Google Wallet, ISIS is here to help out the folks on Verizon, AT&T, and of course T-Mobile. We haven’t heard much from the mobile payments company as of late, but the leaks have slowly been appearing. This was originally supposed to kick off late this summer and even in September but that never happened. We’ve been seeing ISIS appear in recent updates from both T-Mobile and Verizon, and both are supposed to be starting a limited test period later this month if rumors are correct. T-Mobile recently went on record detailed what they’ll do with ISIS and NFC payment solutions. Then Verizon’s DROID Incredible 4G received an update with ISIS support. So far the T-Mobile branded ISIS Mobile Wallet app that is available right now won’t be of much use. You’ll need a T-Mobile SIM that has NFC support, a NFC and ISIS capable device, and of course a retail store that accepts ISIS instead of Paypass. T-Mobile offers the Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III, and the Amaze 4G with NFC capabilities just to name a few. We should be hearing some official statements from both T-Mobile and ISIS sometime soon so stay tuned if you’re interested in mobile commerce. [via Droid-Life]
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| Motorola DROID RAZR HD unboxing and impressions Posted: 16 Oct 2012 03:47 PM PDT The official launch date for Motorola DROID fans to get their hands on the new RAZR HD is getting close. With Verizon and Motorola announcing the new RAZR-thin smartphone will be available in-stores and online starting October 18th. The wait is almost over with the phone being available later this week, but we’ll give you a peek a bit early. Enjoy our hands-on and unboxing below.
Yup, we’ve already got our hands all over the brand new Motorola DROID RAZR HD smartphone. Complete with that RAZR-thin design we all love, Verizon 4G LTE, and of course that new “HD” screen. This is certainly the best RAZR yet — but it remains to be seen if this can compete with the Galaxy S III and other similarly spec’d devices that are already widely available. So today, we’ll give you a quick look at our hands-on and uboxing video while we explain the specs of this new device, and share a few pictures of the beautiful 4.7-inch 1280 x 720p resolution AMOLED HD display. Before we move on you should probably take a peek at our DROID RAZR M Review since they are basically running very similar hardware and software specs. Now enjoy a few minutes with the RAZR HD. As you already know, the RAZR HD comes complete with a 4.7-inch Super AMOLED HD display running a 1280 x 720p HD resolution. You’ll get an 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 1.3 front for self portraits, micro-USB and micro-HDMI for options, as well as a micro-SD slot for expanded storage. Under the hood is where this thing shines though. We have Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor running at 1.5 GHz, 1GB of RAM (sadly not 2GB like the GSIII) 16GB of internal storage, and a massive 2,530 mAh battery.
So far our initial impressions are rather favorable. Motorola has always had awesome hardware, and this is no different. It’s the software and locked bootloaders that we aren’t fans of — but Motorola’s slowly but surely coming around on both fronts there. The Kevlar coated rear is an awesome change and feels extremely durable, yet comfortable at the same time. It’s soft to the touch yet can handle all types of rough surfaces. The only thing we’re still not too sure about is the metal band wrapping the device. While it looks great the edges could potentially be a bit rough and sharp. The corners differ throughout the different buttons and the coloring isn’t uniform — so that’s a bummer.
One thing I’m happy to see here is a notification light. We wish more device had them too. The RAZR HD’s Motorola logo up top has a huge multicolor notification light (see picture below) that will notify users. Good Job Motorola! Overall, so far we like what we see. Here at Android Community we’ll be sure to run loads and loads of benchmarks, 4G LTE speedtests (more at least), play some games and the usual goodness for a full review coming soon. Drop us a comment if you have any question about the new RAZR HD from Googlerola and Verizon. This device will be available to all in just two short days!              Device Info
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| New Angry Birds Star Wars teaser pays homage to Millennium Falcon Posted: 16 Oct 2012 03:33 PM PDT As a smuggler, Han Solo’s talents can’t be understated (except for that part with the carbonite, but let’s not get into that). Han Solo’s talents can only take him so far though – it’s his ship, the Millennium Falcon, that does most of the work. A new teaser trailer for Angry Birds Star Wars gives the Millennium Falcon and Han Solo the respect they deserve, using one of Solo’s famous lines from the films in the process.
The trailer, sadly, doesn’t show too much, only the clip from A New Hope where Han tells Luke and Obi-Wan that the Falcon is “the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs,” before cutting to an Angry Birds version of the Millennium Falcon as it struggles to make the jump to hyperspace. That’s all there is to see, so sorry, but we aren’t getting any new details this time around. Of course, one problem we have here is that Angry Birds Star Wars is now guilty of reinforcing the idea that a parsec is a measurement of time, when really it’s a unit of length. It was bad enough when George Lucas did it, but now we have Rovio – developer of the most popular video game series ever – doing it as well. We’re not mad Rovio, just disappointed. In any case, Angry Birds Star Wars is the next game in the series after the wildly successful Angry Birds Space. We still don’t know that much about the game, but we do know that it’ll be released on November 8. Could Angry Birds Star Wars become the most successful Angry Birds game yet? That’s a tall order to fill, but with the words “Star Wars” right there in the title, we’re thinking that it has a pretty good shot.
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| Huawei Ascend D1 Quad XL Review Posted: 16 Oct 2012 01:41 PM PDT With the release of the Ascend D1 Quad XL, the folks from Huawei are ready to play with the big boys when it comes to Android smartphones. They’ve tossed in a quad-core processor of their own, a 4.5-inch HD display and more into their new flagship smartphone — but is it enough to compete with the Galaxy S III and other quad-core devices? Read on to find out.
Today we’ll be taking a more in-depth look at Huawei’s new Ascend D Quad XL smartphone. Late last week we gave it a quick unboxing and you’ll want to start off by checking that out. With the Ascend D Huawei looks to compete with Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and Samsung Exynos in the quad-core arena, while also offering an overall exceptional smartphone. Here’s what we thought. Hardware
The specs are pretty impressive here with this new smartphone. Huawei’s added their own in-house 1.2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A9 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage all to a sleek and quality device with a 4.5-inch 1280 x 720p HD IPS+ display. That's 326ppi for those counting at home. They’ve added micro-SD for extra storage, MHL for the micro-USB port, and a massive 2,600 mAh battery all in a 129 x 64 x 10.9 mm size at just 150 grams. The original Ascend D Quad came with an 1,800 mAh battery — but this new XL is a about a half a mm thicker and packs that huge battery. To get better acquainted here’s our hands-on video: Now you might be thinking to yourself wait, I thought the Ascend D Quad ran a 1.4 GHz quad-core? And you’d be right. This is a sample unit and might not be final hardware, but we indeed are running a 1.2 GHz quad-core here as you can see in the benchmarks below. As far as actual hardware however, this phone both looks and feels excellent. By far one of the best Huawei smartphones I’ve ever held in my hand. With a few design hints from the HTC Rezound and the DROID Incredible 2 I’m actually liking the overall look and feel — even if this phone is a bit on the heavy side.       As you see above we have a pretty standard phone layout here, in all aspects. Huawei’s added the volume up/down rocker to the right edge, with the power button up top along side the 3.5mm headphone jack. The left is equipped with only a micro-USB/MHL port for charging and syncing. Smack dab in the center on back is that 8 megapixel 1080p capable camera with dual-LED flash, a noise cancellation microphone, as well as the Dolby Digital Plus enhanced rear speaker. The front houses the 1.3 MP front facing shooter and 3 capacitive touch buttons for navigation. As stated above, we are really enjoying hardware here from Huawei. This is a quality device and is very solid all around. The screen is extremely crisp and vibrant, colors and viewing angles are great with the IPS panel, and of course that processor under the hood is keeping Android 4.0 ICS running quite smooth. We could live without the red accents, but overall the hardware from Huawei finally gets a thumbs up here.
Software
As you see above and below, you can simply tap the 3D or 2D home button right from the settings on the homescreen to enable Huawei’s own launcher with a 3D effect. Overall this was fun and as nice change up — not to mention you can tweak the icons — but as stated above this added a slight bit of lag to the overall experience. This lag was minimal and hardly something we’d dock serious points for. The menu has been overhauled with colorful icons to give the phone some unique character, but overall Android is mostly unchanged aside from that and the lockscreen. Pre-intalled apps will vary from location or region, and since this phone isn’t in the US and only a demo unit we won’t speculate too much here. Out of the box however we do have all of Google’s awesome apps, a few backup and security apps, Huawei’s File Manager, sound recorder, Security Guard for anti-virus protection, and their weather options. Pretty lightweight — something we’d prefer all manufacturers followed.
As far as controlling that quad-core processor, Huawei has a “Power Saving Mode” where users can set to save mode where you’ll use data connectivity once the device sleeps — which means you won’t be getting those push notifications for emails, so we’d recommend the Balanced or Performance mode as shown below to enable data 24/7. Performance didn’t seem to change too much with these settings, and they mainly control data and sync options once the device is asleep. Here’s a few more pictures. Huawei states that Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is coming soon.    Benchmarks    Here we had a bit of a toss up. Clearly the device is handling itself in regards to benchmarks quite well — but that was pretty much expected. In the end the Huawei quad-core falls a bit short to the already released (for a few months now) Galaxy S III and its 1.4 GHz quad-core. We beat out the NVIDIA Tegra 3 powered Transformer Prime — but overall things are relatively close. If we were in fact running at 1.4 GHz here the results might be more in favor of Huawei. Their quad-core aspirations were delayed and didn’t quite make the July release date, which would have been excellent timing for this smartphone. We have a feeling their round two will be more of a knock out, but we’ll have to wait and see. Camera and Battery       Battery life however wasn’t quite as easy to check. Huawei claims this will net the average person about 3 days of regular usage — but we’re inclined to say a little less than two days sounds a bit more realistic. We did do a quick video loop of a 720p video clip with screen brightness at 65% at it managed to last about 10 hours with that massive 2,600 mAh battery under the hood. Being a device not available in the US we tossed in a T-Mobile 3G SIM card so our results won’t indicate what most users can expect. Either way here’s a few screenshots. It’s safe to say that big of a battery should last well over a single day. but we still can’t fully comment on the efficiency of their new quad-core processor.
Wrap-Up
While their future in North America is still up in the air given recent events, and the fact that they’ve yet to hit our market with a flagship device such as this it’s hard to say what we can expect from Huawei moving forward. If they can continue to improve on their hardware internals and externals to produce a fine machine such as this, the future looks good for Huawei. For now the Ascend D1 Quad and XL are both available in China and a few other international markets priced around $425. If this was available on AT&T with 4G LTE would you pick it up over the Motorola Atrix HD or some of their other offerings? Hard choice if you ask us!            Device Info
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| Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs to give keynote at CES 2013 Posted: 16 Oct 2012 01:22 PM PDT The folks behind CES have announced who will give the keynote address during 2013′s show, and it may surprise you to find out that it’s Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs. Okay, it might not be that surprising considering that Jacobs also gave the keynote address at the 2012 and 2010 shows, but with Microsoft giving up its keynote spot, many thought that the CES people would choose a more well-known company. That’s not to say that Qualcomm isn’t well-known among technophiles like all of us, but for the mainstream crowd, Qualcomm isn’t the first name that comes to mind when the word “technology” is mentioned.
Still, as CNET points out, the fact that Qualcomm will be giving the keynote seems appropriate. That’s especially true when you consider that PC sales are on the decline while smartphones and tablets seem to be getting more popular by the minute. Qualcomm, as many of you already know, is one of the smartphone and tablet industries’ biggest players – and indeed is a force to be reckoned with in the realm of Android – so the fact that Jacobs will get up on stage to deliver the keynote for CES 2013 is fitting. You’d think that Microsoft would want to rethink its decision to skip out on CES with Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and Microsoft Surface all launching soon, but that clearly isn’t in the cards. In any case, the theme for Jacobs’ keynote will be “Born Mobile,” and he’ll naturally be highlighting the role of mobile technology in the world today. Qualcomm has even released a teaser video for the keynote address, which features a 14-month old toddler who is quite adept at using mobile devices. Check it out below. Obviously, Jacobs’ keynote will kick off the Consumer Electronics Show for 2013, which is scheduled to run from January 8 to January 11. He’ll be taking the stage at 6:30 PM Pacific time on January 7 to get everything started, and we certainly look forward to hearing what he has to say. Only time will tell if Qualcomm will serve as a suitable replacement for Microsoft, but we’re thinking that Jacobs won’t have any problem getting people excited for CES 2013. Stay tuned.
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