Pantech’s flagship Vega Iron 2 due in April, report says
Pantech’s next flagship smartphone, the Vega Iron 2, is expected to arrive in April, according to recent reports. Set to take on the Samsung Galaxy S5, the handset will battle it out in the company’s native Korea. Allegedly, at least three carriers are lined up to offer the Pantech smartphone. In terms of details, all we know at this stage is that the Vega Iron 2 should employ a fingerprint scanner and seamless metal design.
Pantech, who has a history of releasing lesser expensive devices with admirable hardware, has not made much noise in the U.S. market as of late. It’s unclear whether the Vega Iron 2 will come stateside or whether our carriers might offer a branded variation.
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Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 Lite doesn’t bring much to the crowded budget tablet market
Samsung’s regional Polish site inadvertently jumped the gun a few days ago, publishing a user manual for an unannounced Galaxy Tab 3 Lite to its support pages. Today, the Korean company’s press blog has finally caught up and formally introduced its new low-end, 7-inch slate. The standard 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3 doesn’t exactly boast market-leading specs, but this Lite variant is diminished is several areas nonetheless, making some cheap tablets look like flagships. We’re looking at a 1,024 x 600 resolution panel, 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 8 gigs of expandable storage, 3,600mAh battery and a lone 2-megapixel camera. It appears both WiFi-only and 3G editions of the black or white tablet, which runs Android 4.2, will be available come launch, whenever that may be. We’re no clearer on pricing, either, but if Samsung hopes to sell these things en masse, anything but seriously cheap is going to put a stop to those plans.
Via: Pocket-lint
Source: Samsung
China reveals COS: a government-approved operating system designed to break the monopoly of foreign software
China’s tried to create its very own mobile OS ecosystem in the past, but let’s face it, the attempt with OPhone was hardly something that would make the nation proud. This time round, though, a company by the name of Shanghai Liantong has joined forces with the ISCAS (Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences) and the government to launch COS, which simply stands for China Operating System. While there’s no official mention of this, it appears that HTC is a big supporter behind this project, which would match what we heard from a Wall Street Journal report from August.
Apart from the open source code, this Linux-based OS is said to be developed “entirely independently,” in the hopes of breaking the foreign software monopoly, as well as providing better localization for the likes of language input, cloud services and monetization. At yesterday’s launch event, the head of ISCAS criticized iOS for being a closed ecosystem, while Android has the infamous fragmentation problem, and both Windows plus Android are let down by poor security.
Ironically, all the COS variants — in the form of phones, tablets, PCs and set top boxes — shown in the promo video after the break are very Android-like, and some of those features like multi-tasking, content streaming plus remote desktop are nothing new. Even the HTC One and Butterfly S we saw looked like they were still carrying Sense 5. But hey, maybe such a close relationship with the Chinese government is just what HTC needs for its recovery this year.
Via: Engadget Chinese
Source: People.com.cn (Chinese)
Nickelodeon’s new interactive kids channel will bring streaming features to live TV
As parents have rapidly discovered, kids don’t really mind the drawbacks of Amazon or Netflix streaming (limited, older versions of the same content library) and just want to watch their favorite show, often repeatedly. That’s where the internet services are beating traditional TV channels, and Nickelodeon has been preparing an answer. As confirmed to the Wall Street Journal and Fierce Cable, its new “My Nick Jr.” channel will appear in the guide like any other but provides a custom lineup of shows based on preselected preferences, and even cuts out the ads. Other features will let parents monitor what their kids watch and set time limits, while the kids can rate shows with a smile or frown.
There’s no word on the technology behind My Nick Jr., but it’s coming to Verizon’s FiOS TV service first in the US, and eventually mobile devices too. Viacom already tested out the service on France’s CanalSat, and hints that the personalized channel concept could spread to its other networks like MTV. A major issue holding it back however, is the presence of millions of older cable boxes that won’t be able to handle the new setup. So far, massive conglomerates like Viacom and the existing US TV carriers have shown little interest in chopping up their bundles or offering video on-demand style access as an alternative. Besides an abundance of network-specific mobile apps this channel is one of the first steps towards that line, we’ll see if increasing competition and original streaming content pushes things further.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Verizon
Source: Fierce Cable, Wall Street Journal
Spotify gives desktop users unlimited music without a subscription
Streaming from Spotify’s desktop client has never been a simple affair. Users had to abide with grace periods, monthly usage caps and even limits on how many times they could listen to individual tracks, but now, that’s all changing. The company recently announced that it’s eliminated those stipulations, and you can listen to as much music as you want without a subscription. There will be ads of course (because nothing is truly without cost), but at least this move is a little more flexible than the service’s effort to free up its mobile apps; there aren’t any shuffle-only requirements on desktop. The change will certainly be a boon to penny-pinching users, but hopefully it won’t affect the payouts for new artists — rumor has it they’re low enough as-is.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Spotify
Oppo’s latest smartphone lets you text with gloves on
Answering a text message in the middle of winter can pose a serious threat to your fingers if you aren’t careful — polar vortex or not — but Oppo is looking out for you. See, the outfit’s newly announced Neo smartphone has what it’s calling “gloves mode” that apparently allows you to keep emailing or tweeting even if you’re, well, gloved. This isn’t exactly new though, as other OEMs have done it before. We’re still happy to see it spreading further, regardless. Sadly, there isn’t much else to boast about spec-wise: the device sports a 4.5-inch 854 x 480 display, a dual-core 1.3GHz processor and a twin SIM slot among other accoutrements. It isn’t the cheapest way to get a ColorOS handset (around $422) however, but it is less costly than Oppo’s flagship N1. If you live stateside and are keen on the Neo though, you’re out of luck — it’ll only be available in Indonesia to start.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Via: Android Community
Source: Oppo Indonesia
Google rolls out 3D maps for Tokyo and other Japanese urban hubs
As ubiquitous as 3D city maps might be these days, they typically don’t cover Tokyo — quite possibly due to the massive size of Japan’s megalopolis. Google, however, has just taken on that daunting task. Fire up Google Maps or Google Earth and you’ll now see 3D imagery for the greater Tokyo area, including landmarks like the Tokyo Sky Tree (that giant tower you see above). The expansion also brings 3D to the major population centers of Chiba, Kanagawa and Sendai. We’d advise against exploring the entirety of Google’s enhanced Tokyo map unless you have a couple of hours to kill, but you can at least take a quick tour at the source link.
Source: Google Asia Pacific Blog
Startup claims the US military is testing its computer-guided ‘smart’ rifles
Not all soldiers are crack shots, but the U.S. military is reportedly hoping to make that happen — with a little help from “smart” rifles, that is. According to a startup called TrackingPoint, the military bought six of its precision-guided firearms that can cost between $10,000 to $27,000 each. These pricey rifles come equipped with a Linux computer in the scope and sensors that automatically determine environmental factors such as the weather and ground inclination. Users merely have to tag a target while peering into the scope, and the built-in computer will show them how to position the firearm before they press the trigger. The company’s claim came during the SHOT gun show in Vegas, where TrackingPoint is apparently still hanging around after showing off new semi-automatic guided rifles at CES. The units purchased will be used to test if ordinary soldiers can compete against trained marksmen when equipped with superior weapons. If the tests go off as the company says, its products might share the spotlight with DARPA’s laser-equipped sniper scopes in the future.
Filed under: Misc
Source: Defensetech
Spam fighting Impermium Joins Forces with Google
Is there nothing Google won’t buy? I am waiting for them to buy a city, or a small island, just because they could. Seriously though, Google has picked up Impermium and the announcement was less than extravagant. A small G+ post from Bradley Horowitz coupled with a landing page at Impermium is all that I have seen about it.
Impermium was launched three years ago and was out to help filter and keep the wonderful spam from gracing social channels, bogus comments on blog posts and more. Needless to say, this is going to be a pretty great deal for our inboxes, our Google hosted blogs and anywhere else that spam can attempt to annoy the crap out of us.
Via Venture Beats
RoboCop Available in the Play Store for the Price of Free
The RoboCop remake is not due out in theaters until February 12th, but you can get a taste of the rebooted world with the new RoboCop mobile game. It showed up a little bit early in the Play Store, but that just gives you enough time to prepare yourself for the film.
Set in Detroit of 2028, you play officer Alex Murphy. A straight-necked cop, and loving family man, who suffers a terrible accident. He is then transformed into the part man, part machine, that is RoboCop. You pretty much know the story already.
- SHOOT your way through console quality training simulations
- USE drone strikes to take out large groups of enemies
- SAVE human hostages and capture informants
- BATTLE aggressive robot enemies from the film, like the EM-208 and the ED-209
- UPGRADE your weapons and robotic suit to the latest technology that OmniCorp has to offer
- SCAN your targets with body heat vision to find their location and weak points
Those are just some of the features you will be able to utilize in the game. The price of the game is FREE, which nobody can complain about. Click the Play Store button below to head over and download it. Let us know how you like it.
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