In Other News: 23/04/2013.

• Sony have decided to add the Xperia Z to their AOSP github. That means that they're busy at work for the Xperia Z which is good to hear, you can check out the video below showing where they've got to and head to the Sony developer blog here for full details!
  Via AndroidPolice.

• Microsoft is expanding the availability of their Surface tablets. From April 25th you can get one of the RT devices in Malaysia and at some point relatively soon after you will be able to get one in Mexico or Korea and then they'll arrive in Thailand in either May or June. The Surface Pro on the other hand will arrive in 19 more countries which are spread across Europe, Asia and Oceania for this time next month! One of those places in the UK!
  Via Engadget.

• Lenovo have confirmed that their K900 smartphone, the first to be powered by a dual-core Intel processor will be available on the 6th of May in China! We're not sure if this uber thin, 5.5" screened monster will head West, but we'll bring you more details if we have them after the big day!
  Via GSMInsider.

• Facebook have redesigned their mobile website to work better with the touchscreens which you'll be viewing it on! It looks a little bit like Google Now, but we'll forgive that if it is an improvement!
  Via AndroidCommunity.

• Geeksphone are the first company out of the block with a Firefox OS phone and you might have tried to get the Keon or Peak today, but you may well have been greeted with issues on the Geeksphone Store. It seems they had a bit more attention then they were expecting!

We are aware some of you have experienced issues due to the number of concurrent visitors... working on it! Sorry for the inconveniences
— Geeksphone (@geeksphone) April 23, 2013

• Bloomberg are reporting that Nokia will show off their much rumoured Lumia 928 for Verizon in May! We'll have to wait and see!
  Via TheVerge.

• BeagleBone are back with a new dev board. This is called the 'black' board and for $45 you can buy yourself a 1GHz SitaraT AM335x ARM CortexT-A8 processor from Texas Instruments, 512MB of RAM, 2GB of internal storage, Linux or Android compatibility, a micro-HDMI port, as well as USB and Ethernet ports! If you're interested head over here to get more details!
  Via Hothardware.

• Virgin Mobile are offering the Samsung Galaxy S4 on contract soon! The pricing will be a £99 up front charge for the phone with either a £36 ‘Starter’ package which give you 200 minutes, 500 texts and 500MB of data, or the £41 ‘Essential’ package which offers 600 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data or you can go for the £44 ‘Premiere’ deal in which case you can have 2500 minutes and unlimited texts and data. If you want to reduce the upfront cost you can pay £2 per month extra and get the phone for £69 and don't forget if you're a Virgin broadband customer you get your £5 a month discount which makes these plans much more appealing!
  Via TrustedReviews.

And finally, Gamestick have unboxed the developer edition of their Kickstarter backed project. You can check out the video below if you're a backer because it shows you how the menus will look and how Riptide plays on the console!

Via AndroidCommunity.

Read More

Geeksphone price up the Keon and Peak for general sale next week!

   If you cast your minds back a fair few weeks to the big Firefox OS reveal then you will probably remember the Geeksphone Keon and Peak pairing, which are the two developer devices for Firefox OS. But, not everyone out there is a developer and some of you might fancy giving the devices a little go anyway, perhaps just to see if HTML5 based operating systems are actually something which we can use in the future and whether or not this generation gives us something to really get excited about!

   With that in mind Geeksphone have announced that their smartphones will be landing on their own online shop next week and they're happy to ship them to anywhere in the world! So how much will these devices be? Well that one's a little complicated, it all depends on the taxes in your specific country, but the two devices are priced up in the images below and there's also a little reminder of what your money will buy you with each device! Full details of how to get them are below the images.

   Let us know what you think! Are you interested in either of these devices? Do you think Firefox OS has a future? Let us know in the comments below and if you want to pick up either of these devices then you can get them here at the start of next week! If you follow that link at the moment you will find that both devices are there and everything is ready to go, but it will say both devices are out of stock!

Read More

Geeksphone and Telefonica show off Firefox OS developer devices!

   You might never actually have heard of Geeksphone before, they're a Spanish company who have previously produced the Geeksphone Zero and One, both of which were received very well by the modding communities in particular!

   It's been a while since we heard anything from the guys over there, but today they will be showing off two new phones, both of which will be developer preview devices, which have been developed in conjunction with Telefonica!

There's two new developer preview devices coming soon and the first of which is the:

Geeksphone Keon.

This is the lower end of the two devices and should give an indication of how well Firefox OS can run on lesser hardware. The device features:

CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 1Ghz.
UMTS 2100/1900/900 (3G HSPA).
GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (2G EDGE).
Screen 3.5" HVGA Multitouch.
Camera 3 MP.
4 GB (ROM) and 512 (RAM).
MicroSD, Wifi N, Light & Prox. Sensor, G-Sensor, GPS, MicroUSB.
Battery 1580 mAh.

Geeksphone Peak.

   This second device is the sort of thing we can expect to see from companies who use Firefox OS when they produce higher-end devices! By the looks of things this is a solid mid-range phone in it's own right! On board there's:

CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.2Ghz x2.
UMTS 2100/1900/900 (3G HSPA).
GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (2G EDGE).
Screen 4.3" qHD IPS Multitouch.
Camera 8 MP (back) + 2 MP (front).
4 GB (ROM) and 512 (RAM).
MicroSD, Wifi N, Light & Prox. Sensor, G-Sensor, GPS, MicroUSB, Flash (camera).
Battery 1800 mAh.

   Currently we don't know any pricing or availability details, but Geeksphone have said that they will be releasing that information in the coming weeks!

We`ll give more details about the prices and the availability during the next weeks #geeksphone
— Geeksphone (@geeksphone) January 22, 2013

   On an aside there's also a couple of other things which Mozilla was keen to show off their Firefox OS App Days! These will offer you the opportunity to "learn, hack, share and celebrate Firefox OS".

   If you're wanting to try out Firefox OS and an app you've created then you can have a preview if you use your Android device:

1. Install Marketplace for Android on your Android phone. (Your friends and family can also do this – it’s as easy as installing an app, so they can try out your app too.)
2. Use the browser-based Firefox OS Simulator to view and test your mobile app on the desktop.
3. Install Firefox OS on your own hardware.
4. Purchase a Firefox OS Developer Preview device! Working with Geeksphone and Telefonica we’ve created a Firefox OS Developer Preview phone especially for developers. Be the first to show off Firefox OS and your app! First phones will be available in February.

Via Geeksphone.com and hacks.mozilla.org. 

Read More