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Mozilla is bringing Firefox OS to new markets, as Alcatel unveils first tablet and new smartphones

Feb23
by on February 23, 2014 at 3:33 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets, Mobile, Product Launches, Product Updates

Screen Shot 2013 05 17 at 3.08.04 PM 520x245 Mozilla is bringing Firefox OS to new markets, as Alcatel unveils first tablet and new smartphones

Mozilla has announced that the number of countries where its Firefox OS devices are available to buy is set to increase in the near future thanks to pledges from Telefonica and Deutsche Telekom to make them more widely available.

Revealed at MWC 2014 in Barcelona, devices running the open source OS are set to make their way to Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama.

Outside of Latin America, Deutsche Telekom said it would expand its Firefox OS offerings too, to make them available in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Macedonia and Montenegro.

In addition to Firefox OS devices making their way to new markets, there will also be a few new ones to choose from thanks to Alcatel, which announced its first tablet – the Fire 7 – as well as the Fire E, Fire C and Fire S smartphones today too.

Fire C, E, S

The Fire C will be the lowest end of the range and comes with a 3.5-inch (320 x 480 pixels) HVGA TFT display and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, although given the rest of the spec list, we’d be surprised if it was from a well-known brand like Qualcomm.

The Fire E bumps up the specs a little, which has a 4.5-inch 540 x 960 pixel qHD screen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 512MB RAM. On board storage is limited to just 4GB, although this can be expanded through use of a microSD card.

The Fire S, which sports specs that equate to around the mid-range of the wider smartphone world, offers 4G LTE, a 4.5-inch qHD display and has a 1.2GHz quad-core processor. There’s also an 8-megapixel snapper on the rear and a 2-megapixel offering on the front.

Fire 7

The Fire 7 is specifically being touted as a ‘concept’ device, which means it could be a way off making it to market, if it ever manages it. Nonetheless, if it does arrive, it’ll be sporting a similar spec list to the Fire S smartphone.

Visit our MWC 2014 page for more coverage

Featured Image Credit – Josep Lago

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a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Mozilla is bringing Firefox OS to new markets, as Alcatel unveils first tablet and new smartphones

Feb23
by on February 23, 2014 at 3:33 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets, Mobile, Product Launches, Product Updates

Screen Shot 2013 05 17 at 3.08.04 PM 520x245 Mozilla is bringing Firefox OS to new markets, as Alcatel unveils first tablet and new smartphones

Mozilla has announced that the number of countries where its Firefox OS devices are available to buy is set to increase in the near future thanks to pledges from Telefonica and Deutsche Telekom to make them more widely available.

Revealed at MWC 2014 in Barcelona, devices running the open source OS are set to make their way to Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama.

Outside of Latin America, Deutsche Telekom said it would expand its Firefox OS offerings too, to make them available in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Macedonia and Montenegro.

In addition to Firefox OS devices making their way to new markets, there will also be a few new ones to choose from thanks to Alcatel, which announced its first tablet – the Fire 7 – as well as the Fire E, Fire C and Fire S smartphones today too.

Fire C, E, S

The Fire C will be the lowest end of the range and comes with a 3.5-inch (320 x 480 pixels) HVGA TFT display and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, although given the rest of the spec list, we’d be surprised if it was from a well-known brand like Qualcomm.

The Fire E bumps up the specs a little, which has a 4.5-inch 540 x 960 pixel qHD screen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 512MB RAM. On board storage is limited to just 4GB, although this can be expanded through use of a microSD card.

The Fire S, which sports specs that equate to around the mid-range of the wider smartphone world, offers 4G LTE, a 4.5-inch qHD display and has a 1.2GHz quad-core processor. There’s also an 8-megapixel snapper on the rear and a 2-megapixel offering on the front.

Fire 7

The Fire 7 is specifically being touted as a ‘concept’ device, which means it could be a way off making it to market, if it ever manages it. Nonetheless, if it does arrive, it’ll be sporting a similar spec list to the Fire S smartphone.

Featured Image Credit – Josep Lago

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Huawei unveils the Ascend G6, a skinny 4G-enabled Android smartphone

Feb23
by on February 23, 2014 at 2:59 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets, Insider, Mobile, Product Launches

HK68703 520x245 Huawei unveils the Ascend G6, a skinny 4G enabled Android smartphone

Huawei today unveiled the Ascend G6, a new mid-range Android handset with optional 4G connectivity. The handset follows the industrial design of the Ascend P6, which Huawei claimed to be the world’s slimmest Android smartphone when it launched in June last year. It weighs 115 grams and is only 7.85mm thin, which is slightly thicker than the P6 (6.18mm) but still delightfully slim in its own right.

The Ascend G6 has a 4.5-inch display set at a 960×540 resolution (245 pixels-per-inch) and is powered by a quad-core 1.2 GHz processor and a 2000 mAh battery. It packs an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and is 4G LTE-enabled, supporting up to 150 Mbps, although a 3G-only version will also be available.

The 4G version of the Ascend G6 will be available in black with grey and rose gold highlights, or white with pink or champagne gold highlights, from April this year. The 3G-only model will arrive in black, white, pink, gold or blue during the first quarter of 2014.

Huawei teased the Ascend P7 in an unusual video last week, which poked fun at both Apple and Samsung ahead of its press conference at Mobile World Congress. The short clip, which used an iPhone and Apple’s Siri search assistant to hint at its latest hardware, also referenced two new tablets – we expect Huawei will give us the full details on these soon enough.

Gallery:

Visit our MWC 2014 page for more coverage

Image Credit: Aaron tam/AFP/Getty Images

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Huawei launches pocket-friendly MediaPad X1 and M1 Android tablets at MWC 2014

Feb23
by on February 23, 2014 at 2:43 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets, Insider, Product Launches

Huawei 520x245 Huawei launches pocket friendly MediaPad X1 and M1 Android tablets at MWC 2014

Huawei has announced two new Android tablets – the MediaPad X1 and MediaPad M1 – at Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona today.

The MediaPad X1, which was heavily rumored ahead of the event, has a 7-inch, 1080p HD display (323PPI) and a 1.6GHz quad-core processor.

Internal storage is pegged at 16GB, there’s on-board 4G LTE connectivity and the battery is a whopping 5,000mAh, which the company claims will last for “five full days of continuous use” or around 15 hours of video playback without missing a beat.

Notably, the rear camera is considerably better specced than for most tablets – at 13 megapixels – and there’ also a better-than-average 5-megapixel snapper on the front.

X1 larger Huawei launches pocket friendly MediaPad X1 and M1 Android tablets at MWC 2014

In order to help the device stand out from the reams of other Android tablets available, Huawei has also added a few custom software tweaks to the device through its custom Emotion UI.

The company has also clearly worked hard to give the MediaPad X1 a chance of being competitive against its Nexus 7 rival, shown through the introduction of a 1920 x 1200 pixel display. It should also be pretty bag and pocket friendly too, weighing in at just under 240 grams and measuring around 7.1mm thick.

The Huawei MediaPad X1 will be available in China, Russia, Western Europe, the Middle East, Japan and Latin America from March 2014, the company said.

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MediaPad M1

The second device, the MediaPad M1, is an 8-inch 1,280 x 800 pixel HD IPS display, dual front-facing speakers and has a claimed battery life of up to eight hours video playback, according to the company.

Like the MediaPad X1, it also comes with the option of popping in a SIM card for 4G data access and also like its sibling, shouldn’t weigh you down too much either, although it is a little heavier (at 329 grams) due to its aluminium body.

On the rear there’s a 5-megapixel camera, while you’ll find a 1-megapixel affair on the front for stills and video calling.

The Huawei MediaPad M1 will be available from “Q1 2014″ – so before the end of March – in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, China, Japan, Asia Pacific, Australia and Latin America. The M1 will be priced from €299.

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Visit our MWC 2014 page for more coverage

Featured Image Credit – Getty Images

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Huawei TalkBand B1 is a fitness and sleep tracker with a Bluetooth 4.1 earpiece for wireless calls

Feb23
by on February 23, 2014 at 2:34 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets, Mobile, MWC, Product Launches

talkband 520x245 Huawei TalkBand B1 is a fitness and sleep tracker with a Bluetooth 4.1 earpiece for wireless calls

Huawei is getting into the wearables game. The Chinese hardware manufacturer today launched the TalkBand B1 at Mobile World Congress, a wrist-worn device with an intriguing 1.4-inch flexible OLED display.

The device is catered towards fitness enthusiasts, as it gives owners the ability to track steps, distance traveled and calories burned on a daily basis. Similar to other fitness trackers such as the Fitbit One, the TalkBand B1 will also monitor sleep phases to ensure owners wake up in tune with their body clock.

To stand out from the crowd, Huawei is also equipping each unit with a Bluetooth 4.1 earpiece to help people take calls while they’re on the move. It’ll support Android (version 2.3 and higher) and iOS (version 5.0 and higher) devices and sync wirelessly over NFC.

The wearable isn’t a surprise, however. One of the company’s executives posted a photo of the TalkBand B1 on the Chinese social network Weibo, with the caption: “My new toy. Do you like this color?”

The Talkband B1 will be available in China, Russia, the Middle East, Japan, Latin America and parts of Europe from March 2014.

Gallery:

Visit our MWC 2014 page for more coverage

Image Credit: Aaron tam/AFP/Getty Images

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