Foldable smartphones have been patented, demoed, and scrapped more times than any of us can count over the years. Maybe foldable phones aren't the future—maybe the future is going to be about expandable phones. Samsung has filed a patent for a smartphone display that expands when you pull on the sides. It's like carrying a smartphone and a tablet at the same time.
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You might remember the Oppo N1 as the first official CyanogenMod phone, which was quickly eclipsed by the OnePlus One. It was a very big phone (physically, not popularity-wise), but now the Chinese OEM is announcing a smaller version called, you guessed it, the N1 Mini. The thing is, the mini version of the N1 still has a 5-inch screen.
Amidst all the hustle and bustle of CES this year, there will be ZTE with an assortment of new devices just revealed today. The Chinese OEM will be showing off phones, phablets, smart watches, and even a strange little projector.
ZTE will debut a new version of its Grand S II flagship phone, which you can just call "S II" if you want to confuse people. It will have a few new features like unlocking by voice and system-wide voice commands. The rest of the specs are apparently on a need-to-know basis. The Nubia 5S and Nubia 5S mini will be present as well.
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When it comes to buying a new smartphone, Archos generally isn't the first company that crosses ones mind. The company is looking to change that with a new line of highly affordable "3G+" smartphones, which were just unveiled today. Say hello to the 35 Carbon, 50 Platinum, and 53 Platinum.
This trio keeps the somewhat familiar Archos branding – the number indicates the display size, while the suffix alludes to the "quality" of the product (i.e. Carbon is lower-end, while the Platinum name is reserved for higher-end products).
The 35 Carbon is the smallest and packs the least impressive specs of the trio, but for $99 without contract, you shouldn't expect much in the first place.
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While Ubuntu (and Linux as a whole) may not be hugely popular among the consumer desktop computing crowd, it'd be folly to discount the OS as a whole. Especially among the Android developer crowd. Well, if you happen to be among the tech-literate faithful who use open source desktop operating systems to write code for your open source phone operating systems, Canonical would like to make your life a little weirder: introducing Ubuntu for smartphones!
Not to be confused with Ubuntu for Android, which allowed a docked Android phone to run a more-or-less full version of Ubuntu a la Webtop, this new product is a full-blown smartphone OS, distinct from Android entirely and meant to run all on its own.
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Last week, we took at a look at the best tablets for students and parents alike. Today, we've picked through the hundreds of offerings out there to pick the best overall and best on-a-budget smartphones on all the major carriers. As a bonus, we took a look at the latest offerings on some of the more popular pay-as-you-go carries, which can oftentimes be the best choice for a student.
With that, let's get started.
For the first time in the history of forever, there is one clear winner for "best Android phone" on all major carriers:
The Samsung Galaxy S III
As I started working on this roundup, I realized after completing two carrier breakdowns that nothing would trump the GSIII on any of the Big Four (or U.S.
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Sony has had a busy morning so far, announcing no fewer than four new Android smartphones. The newly announced Xperia miro, tipo and tipo dual will all ship with Android 4.0, despite each having underwhelming specifications, whilst the HSPA version of the Xperia ion is still set to ship with Android 2.3, but as the name suggests it will be lacking 4G.
The Xperia mio packs a 3.5-inch display with a resolution of 480 x 320, Android 4.0 and a 5MP rear camera. Unfortunately, this is all being powered by a 800 MHz Qualcomm MSM7225A processor, so don't expect any performance miracles.
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Oh snap, here comes another entry into the mobile OS game. Instead of some no-name third-party, though, Canonical has plans to step up to the plate with Ubuntu and see how it fares at on-the-go computing. Once the finishing touches have been put on the the upcoming LTS (long term service) release -- version 12.04 -- Canonical plans to start porting Ubuntu to mobile handsets, tablets, and even smart TVs.
Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical founder, stated that Android will be their primary competition, going as far as to say that Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility has "[shaken] up the hardware vendors, so some of them are looking for non-Android alternatives."
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Sony's new PlayStation Suite isn't the PlayStation Phone (or the Xperia Play) we were expecting, but it's arguably something even better for those of us who love gaming but hate the idea of giving up our current Android device(s).
Sony claims that PlayStation Suite will offer "legendary original PlayStation content" and says it will be a "cross platform, cross device" PSOne emulator. In reality, it's limited to Android 2.3 and beyond - a version of Android only one currently available handset runs (and it's not Sony's own Xperia X10). Still, PS Suite does look intriguing, especially when you consider Sony's "PlayStation Certified" program for hardware manufacturers, which will, supposedly, ensure a high-quality gaming experience.
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