Android Phone Fans |
- Hands-on with the Alcatel OneTouch Idol X+ [VIDEO]
- Facebook acquires Little Eye Labs for improved Android development
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo (Lite) leaks in new photos; hexacore processor confirmed?
| Hands-on with the Alcatel OneTouch Idol X+ [VIDEO] Posted: 10 Jan 2014 12:52 PM PST Alcatel brought with them to CES a phone they hope will change people’s perceptions about their line of smartphone products. The Alcatel OneTouch Idol X+ is the name of that phone, and they’ve really outdone themselves compared to previous attempts at high-end telephony. The specs sheet reads as follows:
Unfortunately this phone doesn’t seem headed far out of the Asian market, though we wouldn’t be mad to see it launch in Europe or even the Americas. It’s designed pretty well, with Alcatel hitting a nice point on aesthetics. That the phone will launch with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean is a bit disappointing, though considering this will be treated as a flagship model it probably won’t take long to get higher than that. On top of Jelly Bean is a slightly customized user interface.     Alcatel didn’t try to do too much here, and the device is probably better off for it. Moving around the user interface proved quite snappy, a concern we had considering MediaTek’s processors don’t usually perform quite as well as the likes of NVIDIA’s, Samsung’s or Qualcomm’s. We have a full hands-on look for you above, so be sure to take a look if you’re curious about the Idol X+. |
| Facebook acquires Little Eye Labs for improved Android development Posted: 10 Jan 2014 11:34 AM PST If you didn’t believe the Facebook team wasn’t making nice on its promise to focus more on quality Android development, perhaps their latest acquisition will make you a believer. India-based Little Eye Labs has announced that they have been acquired by the social networking giant for an undisclosed sum (though sources tell TechCrunch that the deal was for anywhere between $10 million and $15 million.
What does Little Eye do? It’s a suite of development tools for developers who want to keep tabs on their apps’ performance, giving them a suite of tools such as resource consumption trends, performance monitors, fine details about events and listeners, detailed reports and even a performance score. It’s a sensible move for Facebook considering they are often bashed about their app’s poor performance. Even after making the app an all native, non-HTML experience, Facebook for Android could use some vast improvements in these areas. The company is known to have recently toyed with the idea of using a Holo-based user interface, though they have yet to officially reveal the final product. Several users in the Facebook alpha test have already reportedly seen quick glimpses of the user interface, but their apps were reverted back to the original after they exit and re-enter the app. We’ve already gotten a bit of an idea of what they can do with Holo thanks to the latest version of the Facebook Messenger. We’re all smiles about that particular app, so getting an overhaul for the full Facebook experience will be welcomed with open arms. Let’s hope they put their newly-acquired tools to good use in the near future by bringing us a Facebook app that doesn’t suck. [via Little Eye] |
| Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo (Lite) leaks in new photos; hexacore processor confirmed? Posted: 10 Jan 2014 11:14 AM PST
We’ve been hearing a lot about Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 Lite, which is apparently now known as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo. SamMobile’s gotten their hands on some new shots of the device, showing its differences up against the original Samsung Galaxy Note 3. According to them, the main differences between the Galaxy Note 3 Neo and the original Note 3 are in display, camera and processor departments. Specifically, the Galaxy Note 3 Neo sports a smaller 5.55-inch 720p display, as well as an 8 megapixel camera (vs the 13 megapixel camera found inside the Note 3). Curiously enough, SamMobile also reports that the Note 3 Neo will be among the first devices using Samsung’s hexa-core processor, which is a 6-core architecture that features heterogeneous asynchronous processing (meaning all 6 cores can be used at the same time). We’re still not sure what sort of performance can be expected out of such a processor, but some early benchmarks might give us an idea. The 29,000+ it scored in Antutu was enough to beat out the Snapdragon 600 / Exynos 5410-toting Galaxy S4, but comes just shy of the Octa-Core / Snapdragon 800 configuration of the Note 3. Either way, it seems like a beast, and should be a fine phone for the money (that’s assuming this thing comes in cheaper than the original Note 3 did).       As for other specs, we’re told to expect Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC — that’s in line with the Note 3 — but the USB 3.0 capability of the Note 3 would not make its way down. The device will launch with Android 4.3, though an upgrade to bring that up to 4.4 KitKat is likely to happen. Be sure to find all the shots above. |
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