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[Weekend Poll And CES News Roundup] Which Android Device Came Out On Top At CES?
Which Android Device Came Out On Top At CES?
CES is done and over, and while Android announcements were a little sparse this particular year, we didn't come away empty-handed. Sony unveiled its new flagship phones, NVIDIA dropped a bomb on everyone with Shield, and Huawei even made it to the front pages with its massive 6.1" phablet. Who do you think ended up rising above the noise, though? What Android product are you going to be watching most closely now that it's official? Who ran away with the show?
[CES 2013] ARCHOS Introduces Titanium Line, Including The 70, 80, 101, And Previously Seen 97 Titanium HD Tablets
ARCHOS Introduces Titanium Line, Including The 70, 80, 101, And Previously Seen 97 Titanium HD Tablets
ARCHOS is not messing around! After releasing the first in its iPad Titanium line of tablets, the 97 Titanium HD, sans price, the company is back for more with three new slates in the family: the 70 (a 7" tablet), the 80 (an 8" tablet), and the 101 (can you guess? can you? I bet you can. Yes, it's a 10.1" tablet!). The company isn't even being shy about its intent. The 70 specifically targets "competitors such as Amazon", the 80 goes after "the iPad mini, for a fraction of the price", and the 9.7 "aims to be an alternative to the new iPad." Well, yeah. David kinda picked up on that.
Do you like octa-core processors? How about displays that curve? Or just Samsung in general? If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, then you're going to want to watch Samsung's second CES event, which just so happens to be available now on YouTube.
Hi, my name is Eric Ravenscraft and I'm an addict. I have a weakness for trying out new online media services. I've signed up and, where applicable, paid for Spotify, Rdio, MOG, Rhapsody, Pandora, Last.fm, Jamendo, Grooveshark, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Epix, Crackle, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, and virtually every other movie and music streaming service on the internet. So it bugs me that I haven't yet been invited to add Redbox Instant to my collection of collections. According to Verizon's CEO, though, people like me won't have to wait too much longer as the service will be going public 'before the end of the first quarter.'
We've heard quite a bit about Samsung's prototype flexible OLED display over the past couple of years, and it looks like the company is starting to mature the tech, as it showed off the most practical phone design we've seen yet.
This year's CES sucks. But that doesn't mean there can't be a few genuinely cool things floating around out there in an otherwise dull ocean of 4K and touchscreens. Case in point: YotaPhone, which sadly isn't even on the CES show floor at all. We covered the announcement of the YotaPhone, but really, seeing and using it in person does the idea so much more justice.
The long, long wait is finally over, at least for those of you who backed the phenomenally successful Pebble Kickstarter campaign. After initially promising to ship orders in September, then getting swamped with almost 70,000 pledges and more than $10,000,000 in funding, Pebble Technology has committed to shipping its e-paper Bluetooth watch on January 23rd. The email was sent to backers to coincide with Pebble's CES press conference. There is no word on when Pebble's watches will be available for general purchase.
Oh man, if you thought quad-core phones were crazy, your brain should prepare itself for at least twice as much explosion. Samsung just announced at CES its new Exynos 5 Octa processors. These chips, on a 28nm architecture (which means they're small and use less power) have eight dang cores. The company says that this will result in up to 70% battery savings (compared to what is unclear...we would assume the previous Exynos processor).
[CES 2013] Hands-On With The I'm Watch Color, A $400 Brick Of Failure That Straps To Your Wrist
Hands-On With The I'm Watch Color, A $400 Brick Of Failure That Straps To Your Wrist
I love the idea of wearable computers. When I heard I'm Spa was giving away the I'm Watch Color at CES, I ran over to their booth to grab one. The plan was to get it, review it, and maybe even use it after the review, even if it made me look a little geeky. I'm Spa has a new version of the OS, "I'm Droid 2.0," which is just a scaled down version of Android, so it should be very powerful and work well with my phone. It has a tiny app store for watch apps, and a pull down notification panel. It will alert you of Facebook messages, emails, incoming calls, texts, and a million other things. It sounds awesome. I was ready to love it.
When I went to CES in 2012, I had a pretty good time. I’m having a pretty good time this year, too, but that’s in no way thanks to the gadgets that have been unveiled thus far (well, with one exception).
Fancy a new 5" superphone? ZTE may have something to pique your interest - if you live in China. The company's latest high-end device, the Grand S, was unveiled yesterday prior to CES, and we got some hands-on time earlier today. It hits all the right points: 5" 1080p display, 13MP rear camera, 1.7GHz quad-core processor, Android 4.1, LTE connectivity, and is a fairly stunning 6.9mm in profile.
I could probably count on one hand the amount of things at CES that are 1, new, and 2, run Android, so we are left with stuff like this.
We reported a few days ago that T-Mobile was rumored to be implementing an unlimited data option for its prepaid phone service. Well, now the carrier is confirming it. Starting on Wednesday January 9th, customers will be able to sign up for unlimited 4G HSPA+ data, voice, and text on prepaid for just $70 per-month.
Aren't you jealous that South Korea and Japan get all the cool over-the-air TV gadgets, while we in America are stuck in the stone age with things like "YouTube" and "Hulu"? Well, RCA's got you covered. The company's 8" mobile TV tablet - in TV-optimized 4:3 aspect ratio - is coming to the US in April for just $249, and does both over the air broadcast television as well as Dyle TV, which is also broadcast over the air and provides special content based on your location.
As you probably already know, Sony made the Xperia Z and ZL official yesterday at CES. David got to spend some hands-on time with both handsets, and shared his initial thoughts on the duo right here. If that wasn't good enough for you, though, then perhaps the metric ton of videos Sony just uploaded will get the job done.
[CES 2013] ZTE Reveals The 5-inch, 1080p, 6.9mm-thin Grand S: When Skinny Isn't Good Enough
It seems like every month we get a new world's thinnest smartphone, but Chinese manufacturer ZTE knows that's a mug's game.
It seems like every month we get a new world's thinnest smartphone, but Chinese manufacturer ZTE knows that's a mug's game. They've decided to go for broke with the Grand S, which sports a 5-inch 1080p screen (like all the cool kids do) and still manages to fit into a case that's just 6.9mm thin at the thickest point. For what it's worth, that makes the Grand S the thinnest 5-inch, 1080p phone out there. (The current holder of the coveted "world's thinnest" title is the 6.45mm Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra, introduced just yesterday.) Other drool-worthy specs include a 1.7Ghz quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 13MP rear camera.
We have long speculated what the future will actually be like: flying cars, livable space stations, intergalactic travel will be the norm – you know, all that stuff. Alas, none of those things have quite come to fruition yet, and I doubt they will in my lifetime. What may actually become a thing that we can have, though, is wearable tech. And I'm not talking about smartwatches and the like. I'm talking about intelligent, sophisticated clothing.
Do you think phones should be even bigger? Good news: so does Huawei. You've probably already heard about the Mate, but we got a little hands-on time before the show floor opened last night at CES Digital Experience, and, well, it's big. Really big. And yes, we put it next to a Note II to show you just how mind-bogglingly large it is.
Drop this one in the "noteworthy, but not notable" bucket, but we had some time last night to check out AT&T's Pantech Discover, a phone with a pretty impressive specification sheet given its price point - just $50 on contract.