Android Phone Fans |
- Google Glass’s interface feel a little sloppy to you? This video shows some possible improvements
- HP Slate 21 Pro brings an all-in-one Android PC for the business class [VIDEO]
- Write your break-up letter to AT&T, Verizon and Sprint using this tool T-Mobile provided
- T-Mobile announces 1.6 million net additions in Q4 2013; 4.4 million on the year
- T-Mobile announces “get out of jail free” cards for people who want to leave their carriers
- OnePlus launches #NeverSettle wallpaper campaign for their OnePlus One CyanogenMod phone
- This is what the Nokia Normandy’s Android-based user interface looks like
- ZTE hotspot has Android, a tiny projector and a huge battery that can charge your phone [VIDEO]
- ZTE Iconic Phablet hands-on [VIDEO]
- Hands-on: ZTE BlueWatch smartwatch [VIDEO]
- CES 2014: We go hands-on with the ZTE Nubia 5S and 5S Mini [VIDEO]
| Google Glass’s interface feel a little sloppy to you? This video shows some possible improvements Posted: 08 Jan 2014 04:03 PM PST While it would appear that everyone under the sun with a pair of Google Glass is enjoying it immensely, there are still some complaints that many feel need to be addressed before the product is ready for public consumption. One of those problems is the user interface — it’s just clunky. Part of the problem is that the screen real estate doesn’t leave much room for sensible user interface design. Google employs a scrolling mechanism to give you access to all your things with the swipe of a finger, but having all of those things jumped up into one unorganized list is counterproductive (and makes for some very tired arms). Serge Berig identified some of these shortcomings, and took it upon himself to present a proof of concept of a new user interface design that could help settle some of these issues. For instance, a folder/hierarchy system would make it easy to sort between photos, video and other multimedia. If all you want to see are emails, then you’d be able to dip right into email and nothing else. As it stands, there really is no easy way to drill down into a specific subset of items like you’d do with a smartphone app. Some of his ideas might not be possible due to the limited space inside the projected heads-up display, but the debate isn’t whether this specific implementation will work. The real purpose of the video was to show Google how they could think differently about the user interface powering Google Glass, because there won’t be a ton of consumers willing to buy a product that’s hard or confusing to use. Let’s hope top brass from the Mountain View company sees this (though we wouldn’t be surprised if they’re already working on new interfaces behind the scenes). Watch the video above. [Thanks Jake!] |
| HP Slate 21 Pro brings an all-in-one Android PC for the business class [VIDEO] Posted: 08 Jan 2014 02:42 PM PST HP has come to CES with an new all-in-one PC that runs Android. It’s called the HP Slate 21, a 21-inch 1080p IPS desktop device with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean to start. It isn’t all that unlike the original Slate 21, but the “Pro” at the tail-end of this thing’s name means it’s aimed right at the business class. That means HP will be loading this thing up with software and services fit for anyone in the enterprise sector or in education. Specifically, they’ll be preloading it with Kingsoft Office, Skype, Evernote, HP’s Classroom Manager, 50GB of storage from Box for life, and Citrix Receiver for remote controlling other Window PCs. Despite this being a “business” centric PC, HP says it could be used for a typical classroom setting, public kiosks (such as a business center inside a hotel) and other uses.    For specs, it’ll feature NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 4 processor, an HD webcam, WiFi N, Bluetooth 4.0 and more. All of that comes with a cool price tag of just $399, which doesn’t seem bad at all if you can make this thing work for you. It’s available right now, but if you were looking for some hands-on time with this thing before taking the plunge you’ll be able to find it sitting above. |
| Write your break-up letter to AT&T, Verizon and Sprint using this tool T-Mobile provided Posted: 08 Jan 2014 02:18 PM PST Need to write a tough break-up letter to your ex-carrier? Finding it hard to find the right words to use? Maybe T-Mobile’s break-up letter generator will help you do the trick. The company revealed it as part of their marketing strategy to promote a new incentive that will have them pay for your ETF fees if you switch to their network. It’s simple:
The end-result is what you see below (that’s if I ever had the nerve to leave Verizon):
Ready to try your own? All it takes is a few minutes on Facebook. Find it here and put your own break-up letter together. We’d love to see yours, so don’t be shy in posting yours in the comments section below! |
| T-Mobile announces 1.6 million net additions in Q4 2013; 4.4 million on the year Posted: 08 Jan 2014 01:21 PM PST T-Mobile has just announced some early numbers from their 2013 results. They revealed that the company brought in 1.6 million net customers in the foruth quarter of 2013. That number brings T-Mobile to 4.4 million net additions on the entire year, which they’ve announced makes them the fastest growing wireless carrier in America right now. T-Mobile also reminded us that Q4 2013 was their best 4th quarter in 8 whole years — yowza. All of this came on the heels of an announcement that the carrier will now offer to pay the entirety of your ETF (up to $350) for up to 5 lines for porting your number over from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. T-Mobile believes they’ve already done a ton to shake the industry up with the first three phases of un-carrier, and this growth milestone is definitely evidence of that. But they feel they can go even further by allowing folks to break the chains from their current carriers without looking back and without regret. Un-carrier 4.0 is a good first step toward that, and it’ll be interesting to see how 2014 fares for T-Mobile now that there’s practically no excuse to not give them a shot. |
| T-Mobile announces “get out of jail free” cards for people who want to leave their carriers Posted: 08 Jan 2014 12:55 PM PST We’re sitting in on a very loose-mouthed press conference by T-Mobile CEO John Legere right now, where he aided the company in announcing their new “Get out of jail free” card. “Jail,” if you haven’t guessed it, is your commitment to other carriers under a contract that charges you to leave. So what will this “card” do for you? It’s simple: bust you out while T-Mobile foots the bill. To explain it deeper, T-Mobile says that an eligible phone trade-in plus the cost of paying your ETF could give you up to $650 for each line in total value for switching over. It’ll have to be from one of the big carriers, you will have to fork over your old phone to do it, and you will have to port your number, but you won’t have to pay a dime (and you might even be in for a little extra cash at the end of it all).
And it’s as simple as that. It’s nothing that we haven’t seen before, with other carriers offering similar deals for customers. The difference is that T-Mobile is planning on making this a permanent mainstay. It’s yet another of their bold moves that they hope will convince consumers that T-Mobile is the place to be. They’ve already managed to move 4.4 million new customers to their network in the past year, which makes them the fastest growing carrier in America right now. |
| OnePlus launches #NeverSettle wallpaper campaign for their OnePlus One CyanogenMod phone Posted: 08 Jan 2014 12:16 PM PST Just yesterday, we reported that the OnePlus startup will be launching their first phone later this year. Up first on the roster is a big one, the first CyanogenMod phone designed from the ground up to run CyanogenMod out of the box. Dubbed the OnePlus One, both companies aim to offer a perfect harmony between user experience and hardware, disrupting the smartphone industry in 2014. Seeing as we’re only just starting out the year, a device launching later this year could be a very long way off. The OnePlus team has something to tide us over for now and launched their #NeverSettle campaign.
You can show your OnePlus pride by sporting the Lock Screen and Home Screen wallpapers below in full 1080p glory. Enjoy!   Source: OnePlus
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| This is what the Nokia Normandy’s Android-based user interface looks like Posted: 08 Jan 2014 11:48 AM PST Wondering how the Nokia Normandy’s Android-based software would look if the Finnish company actually decides to launch it? This low-cost Android phone was leaked a while ago, and while we thought there was a slim chance of seeing it released after the sale to Microsoft, newer rumors suggest we might not have heard the last of it. That must be true, as @evleaks has yet another leak giving us a peak inside this mysterious device. The Normandy’s apparent user interface can be seen in the photo above. What we’re seeing doesn’t immediately make it obvious that this is Android at first glance. The first slide shows what could be some sort of agenda / updates widget, showing you important details about meetings and missed calls.
The second is a typical dialer interface, though the “Regular Call” and “Call Transfer” options have us intrigued. It sounds like something that has to do with Skype integration. Imagine a feature that’ll allow you to pick a call up on your desktop and vice versa in a seamless way? Microsoft does own both Nokia and Skype, so it would sound like the perfect feature to flex those muscles with. Finally, the last slide gives us a glimpse at the Skype login screen (which doesn’t look far off from what we already have on Android today). If there really is a snowball’s chance that this thing will launch, it’ll be interesting to see who and where it’s aimed. Earlier reports suggested the Normandy was meant for developing markets as a low-cost option for those who want a capable smartphone. If true, we’re not surprised to see Nokia wanting to go that route. The manufacturer once dominated the world in terms of entry-level handsets. They probably feel like they’ve lost their way a bit with their new focus on Windows Phone, so this could be the perfect way for them to break back into that market and try and reclaim some of the market share that Samsung, LG and others have stolen. That said, we’d love to hear more than “maybe, maybe nots” when it comes to whether or not this thing will ever see the light of day. Let’s hope we hear more about that at some point down the line. [via WinSource] |
| ZTE hotspot has Android, a tiny projector and a huge battery that can charge your phone [VIDEO] Posted: 08 Jan 2014 10:37 AM PST For most folks, a WiFi hotspot has to be small, simple, solid and effective. The biggest concerns are usually battery life and signal strength, and most OEMs tend to focus on that and nothing more. But ZTE took it upon themselves to change our train of thought on what a hotspot should be. The little guy you see in the video above runs Android on a tiny display, giving you access to the operating system at 480 x 800 resolution. While color displays and light OSs on hotspots aren’t new, a couple of other elements on this bad boy is. For starters, ZTE has chucked a projector inside, giving you a way to beam video content (any surface’ll do) at up to 120 inches in size. This could be great for showing a quick presentation on the go, though we’d understand it if you found difficulty finding tons of practical use-cases for this thing.         This WiFi hotspot also has an insane 5,000mAh battery, which just sounds like a dream come true for a hotspot device. While that battery’s main use is to charge a smartphone using its built-in microUSB port, we’re excited about the prospect of all-day hotspot goodness alone. It’ll serve up 3G and 4G speeds whenever you need it, though that’s subject to carrier approval (we imagine they’d only help you out if they officially sold it themselves). While everyone’s getting all googley-eyed over smart watches and connected cars this year, we’re secretly hoping that this WiFi hotspot forces others to come up with a solution that’s just as useful as this one should turn out to be. There’s a quick look at it above, and then you can let your eyes wander below for a sample of video playback through that projector. |
| ZTE Iconic Phablet hands-on [VIDEO] Posted: 08 Jan 2014 09:38 AM PST Have big hands? Want a ZTE phone? If both of those things are true, the ZTE Iconic Phablet might be the device for you. The Chinese company toted this big guy to Vegas with them for CES, so we did our due diligence in getting some hands-on time with it. The specs seem a bit underwhelming for a phablet at first glance:
That said, it could still be a very capable device if the price is right. Our early look at this thing’s software shows a very bare-bones version of Android with light customization by ZTE. One element of their user interface tweaks is a multi-pane apps feature, not unlike the multi-view feature of Samsung’s latest smartphones. This allows you to run two apps at the same time, and it gives you the freedom to adjust the viewing area of each app at a moment’s notice. It seems to work rather well, though there wasn’t much else immediately noticeable that takes advantage of that 5.7-inch screen real estate. CDMA and GSM radios — plus LTE — inside suggest this thing could launch pretty much anywhere. While we don’t see the likes of Verizon or AT&T touting this as a heavy hitting device here in the States, we wouldn’t be surprised if someone like Virgin or Boost Mobile offered this up as an affordable biggie-sized phone for those who want a massive display. Guesswork only gets us so far, though, so we’ll wait for more availability details from ZTE before we start making assumptions. Find the hands-on video above. |
| Hands-on: ZTE BlueWatch smartwatch [VIDEO] Posted: 08 Jan 2014 08:46 AM PST Everyone wants to be in the smart watch arena, so we weren’t too surprised to learn that ZTE came to CES with a smart watch of their own. They’re calling this the BlueWatch, a Bluetooth 4.0 wrist-dweller that, quite honestly, doesn’t seem to do anything special. The watch seems competently designed and should look stylish aside any ensemble of clothing you put on. The 1.26-inch x .38-inch e-Ink display will serve up the time, weather, Facebook, Twitter, texts, email and more, and will do it in varying lighting conditions. The e-Ink display also ensures the 235mAh battery isn’t taxed too heavily. ZTE has implemented a simple 4-button user interface for easily scrolling through all the options, settings and apps you need, a relief considering touch-based e-Ink implementations are often more shoddy than helpful. ZTE also chose to forego a cable-based charging solution, instead opting for a 2-pin connector for charging the thing within a dock. The BlueWatch honestly feels like one of those “you’ve seen one of them, you’ve seen all of them” devices. I can’t think of any one standout quality that would make me want to consider one of these over something like the Pebble. It’s a prototype, but unless ZTE goes back and erases the entire drawing board we don’t see much changing. Price could be a determining factor, of course, but we’re not quite sure where the BlueWatch stands in that category just yet. There’s also no word on the when and where with this thing. The fact that it’s still in the early prototype stages means we shouldn’t be expecting it at any point within the next few weeks or months. In the meantime, grab yourself an early look at this thing in our hands-on video above. |
| CES 2014: We go hands-on with the ZTE Nubia 5S and 5S Mini [VIDEO] Posted: 08 Jan 2014 08:46 AM PST We ran into a couple of ZTE’s newest entrants in the Nubia line-up, with the recently revealed Nubia 5S and Nubia 5S Mini catching our attention quite handily. ZTE hasn’t always had the best reputation for quality smartphones, but they’re banking on these little guys (as well as a couple of other devices) to change all that. Starting with the Nubia 5S, this upgrade brings us a slightly refreshed set of specs, the most notable of which being Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 processor sitting inside. It also has a pretty crisp 5-inch 1080p HD display for those who were wondering if ZTE would skimp on display quality for this one. Here’s a quick look at the full spec list:
We’re a little disappointed to see this thing still running on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, but this should be one of ZTE’s top priorities when it comes to software upgrades down the line. Everything else looks quite good, though, with an insane 13 megapixel camera that can shoot 4K video on the back. That sensor is accompanied by a 5 megapixel sensor on the front, which is something you just don’t see on many smartphones. One thing that really caught our attention with the Nubia 5S is its design. It feels like ZTE finally caught a groove in terms of engineering, and found a way to eliminate those ugly bezels for a more sleek look and feel. That’ll go a long way to presenting itself to potential smartphone shoppers looking for something different. Nubia 5S Mini What caught our eye even more effectively was the Nubia 5S Mini. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m having a hard time calling any phone over 4.3 inches “mini” in this day and age. We suppose it’s sensible, though, considering it is technically smaller than the aforementioned 5S. Here’s how it reads out in comparison:
That isn’t bad for a small phone, though. The negative connotation that usually goes with the term “mini” is starting to fade with each passing year, even though this particular phone is as big as some of 2013′s flagship devices. Nubia 5S and 5S Mini Software Both these things run Android 4.2, though not without ZTE’s own custom UI tweaks running beside it. ZTE has put a heavy emphasis on customization and themeing, allowing folks to change the look and feel of the device to their taste. ZTE also surprises us with a pretty robust suite of camera features, even if the software was acting a bit wonky in our quick testing. Both of these devices are headed for the Chinese market soon, but we wouldn’t hold our breath to see it go much further than that. You can find our hands-on video above, so take a look if you want to get more up-close and personal with them. |
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