ZTE to bring a Firefox OS smartphone to Europe this year

 

ZTE and Mozilla are on track to reveal a collaboration effort that would be debuting in Brazil and later come to Europe. The two companies are working to bring the first Firefox OS-powered smartphone and are in talks with an unknown European carrier.

The information comes directly from Cheng Lixin, Chief Executive Officer of ZTE USA. He also shared that ZTE could unveil a Firefox OS smartphone in the US, depending on the demand and interest. ?If that is ready and if consumer studies support that data, then we may launch one in U.S. also this year.?, he said.

Jay Sullivan, Vice President of products at Mozilla, shared that the software company is working with China-based manufacturer TCL (which owns the Alcatel One Touch brand), ZTE and Qualcomm on making devices with Firefox OS. Chairman of TCL, Tomson Li Dongsheng confirmed that the company is in business with Mozilla. These reports align with what we previously heard.

Firefox OS will first launch entry-level smartphones with the intent on tackling the dominance of Android in that market. We've already seen promising early shots of the OS and its app Marketplace. We even managed to do a hands-on, complete with video back at MWC 2012, but we are still curious to see how the actual Firefox OS smartphones turn out.

Source | Via

View the original article here

LG Nexus smartphone expected to be announced on October 29

The LG Nexus smartphone rumors are coming in thick and fast, with each one adding a new piece to the puzzle that is very close to being complete.

First off, there are couple of new pictures as seen below that show the phone in a better light. The back says 'with Google' that has raised a few questions, as Nexus phones usually have just the Google logo on the back. Then again, this is not a final product so the back could change by the time it releases. In fact, from what we have heard, the actual phone has a Nexus logo, with a big multi-colored 'X' in the middle.

Next bit of rumor pegs the worldwide launch date on October 29. This bit of information comes from a French publication Le Figaro. They also say that France itself will get the phone around December.

The next bit of info comes from Carphone Warehouse's inventory listing, that suggests that the phone will be called the LG Nexus 4 (which, just for the record, is an infinitely better name than LG Optimus Nexus) and that it will be sold in black and white.

Lastly, there is some disappointing bit of information regarding the internal storage of the phone. It is being said that the phone only has 8GB internal memory and just like previous Nexus devices there is no microSD card slot. If true, it will be an absolutely appalling decision on Google/LG's part. 8GB is way too less for a handset that otherwise sports top notch specifications. We honestly doubt Google/LG will ship the phone with so little memory and think this specification could be changed by the time the phone is announced.

We'll continue to put our ears to the ground and report anything new learned about this device.

Source 1 ? Source 2 ? Source 3

View the original article here

Amazon looking to enter the smartphone game, WSJ says

Amazon, the number one retail site in the world, is apparently looking to move beyond the tablet market. WSJ has it that Amazon is working with various Asian component suppliers to create a new smartphone.

The Amazon Kindle Fire, which controlled a whopping 54% of the Android tablet market a few months ago, was a huge success for Amazon, due in large part to its low retail price.
Whether the upcoming device (should it reach production) will look to offer a similar type of appeal to price-conscious consumers is unknown at this point. There are indications, though that the screen size will be quite spacious, measuring between four and five inches.
This comes after news that Amazon are already creating a successor to the Kindle Fire, which will hopefully hit retail during Q3 of this year.
We'll bring you more info on the upcoming devices from Amazon as it breaks.
Source

View the original article here