So the rumor is true: the world’s first Jolla Sailfish device will be launching this month. In fact, Marc Dillon, the ex-CEO and now Head of Software Development at Jolla, was kind enough to flash the back of the product at the GMIC Beijing conference earlier today — mainly to emphasize his love for the booming Chinese market. It was very brief — no more than two seconds — but the orange device appeared to be no smaller than five inches in screen size. Dillon only added that the official launch is “coming in a couple of weeks,” so we’ll be keeping an eye out for an invitation in our mailbox.
With the OPPO Find 5 seeing a surprising amount of interest in the forums and across-the-ocean mobile carriers of the world this month, it comes time to compare to one of the other most-searched smartphones on the planet: the iPhone 5. Both devices are the hero smartphone for their manufacturer, and both work with the newest (or ever-so-close to newest) mobile operating system available to them. Other than that, they’re quite a bit different from one another.
While the iPhone 5 has seen significant success since its launch last year, OPPO’s launch of the Find 5 has been limited. The OPPO Find 5 is only out in and around China, and if you’re planning on using it in the USA, you’ll need to make more than a little bit of effort to have it sent to you. Once you have the Find 5 in-hand, you’ll find it impressive as a non-major-brand device can be.
The OPPO Find 5 works with a 5-inch display with 1080 x 1920 pixel resolution, this bringing it up to 441 PPI. Meanwhile the iPhone 5 has a 4-inch display with 640 x 1136 pixel resolution, putting it at 326 PPI. Both devices have generous viewing angles, and the operating systems running on each device is optimized for the screen size they’re working with
Android and iOS can be compared, but because they’re working with completely different app ecosystems, it’d be a mistake to compare the iPhone 5 to the OPPO Find 5 in any more than a piece-by-piece fashion. It really comes down to user preference when you see these devices in action, and with both using Google or Apple’s newest operating system right out of the box, basic system abilities are more similar to one another than they’ve ever been before.
The iPhone 5 is significantly smaller than the OPPO Find 5, coming in at 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm (4.87 x 2.31 x 0.30 in) with a weight of 112 g (3.95 oz). The OPPO Find 5 is sized at 141.8 x 68.8 x 8.9 mm (5.58 x 2.71 x 0.35 in) with a weight of 165 g (5.82 oz). You’ll find the iPhone 5 fits the palm of your hand in a more natural way while the Find 5 brings a display size better suited to those looking to play high-powered games and high-definition videos.
The iPhone 5 and the OPPO Find 5 take fine photos and video, but the Apple product is perfected in a way that allows basically any user to take really nice looking shots. The Find 5 has the ability to capture media that looks nice, but it’s not quick to do so. A user not ready to hold their device steady against a solid surface for every photo and video should beware, for certain.
Have a peek at our iPhone 5 review as well as our OPPO Find 5 review and see for yourself which device is ready to command your hand. This selection will likely be based a bit more on your location on this planet than your preference for smartphone prowess and the release size is quite different between these two bits of technology – and let us know if either strikes your fancy.
If you were wondering about the app and game limitations of the Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon gaming table before today, you’ll be glad to know that BlueStacks is in full effect. SlashGear has this massive oddity in the house here in its first week of launch, and amongst the surprising number of pre-loaded touch-friendly games included with the unit we’ve found BlueStacks, right out of the box. BlueStacks is an app interface which allows Android apps and games to be used on a Windows or Mac machine, here expanding the world of the Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon with essentially every app an Android user works with on a daily basis.
When you first encounter the Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon, you’ll find yourself mystified at how such a device was ever put into production. It’s certainly not a traditional sort of PC. Such is the atmosphere we’re in here in 2013 with Windows 8, touchscreen hype, and Lenovo’s current freedom of creation.
In our past encounters with this machine you’ll find connections to accessories (that do, indeed, come in the box), up and down usability, and Windows apps galore. Today we’re having a look at BlueStacks specifically – down the line we’ll have a full review of this machine for you in SlashGear’s main review hub. It’s all about Android right this minute.
What we’ve done is to side-load the Google Play app store to download some games that certainly aren’t optimized for this device to show right along some that are. This means you’re going to see games that look nice as well as games that work, but just barely. You’ll quite likely find the native Windows apps – some optimized for this device specifically – much more engaging.
The back of the Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon has a support bar stronger than any we’ve seen on a tablet or PC, able to hold the entire device up at a variety of angles. Push the device flat and Lenovo brings up a touch interface made for multiple users – more on this in our full review.
That said, it’s important to show the versatility of this device through BlueStacks, an app interface that just this February arrived for Windows 8 and just this May passed 10 million downloads. You’ll find BlueStacks on Mac with a wireless interface app on Android for your smartphones and tablets as well.
The Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon is here with SlashGear for a full review aside from this BlueStacks peek, so make sure to let us know if you’ve got any questions on its inner workings before we get there! Stay tuned to SlashGear’s Lenovo tag portal for more information on this device as we reach that point!
Another 1080p quad-core Android phone, you say? Well, there’s a bit more to it. Launched by BBK spin-off Vivo in Beijing just now, this 5.7-inch Xplay goes one step further than its smaller X1 and X1S cousins by packing one extra audio chip and the OPA2604 operational amplifier from Texas Instruments in order to add extra oomph to Cirrus Logic’s CS4398 DAC and CS8422 stereo asynchronous sample-rate converter — both of which are featured on the X1 series. If you’re a DIY audio enthusiast, you might have already tinkered with an OPA2604 while making your own headphone amplifier; so in other words, Vivo is trying to save you the hassle.
Before we dive into the audio performance, let’s quickly look at the rest of the phone first. Underneath the 500-nit LTPS display lies a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core SoC (1.7GHz, 2GB RAM and Adreno 320 graphics engine), 16GB or 32GB of built-in storage, 3,400mAh battery and NFC. On the back you’ll find a Sony 13-megapixel imager next to a pair of speakers (FLAC playback is supported natively), but flip the phone over and you’ll be looking at a surprisingly generous 5-megapixel front-facing camera — much like the one on Oppo’s mid-range Ulike 2. Vivo’s somehow managed to pack all of this into a 7.99mm-thick body with a screen bezel of just 2.3mm thick (which bests Pantech’s thin-bezeled Vega Iron) and a large viewable-to-total area ratio of 75.11 percent. Alas, for 3G there’s only WCDMA 2100, meaning the phone may have to rely more on GSM 850/900/1800/1900 or WiFi in many parts of the world. More after the break.
Update: Hands-on photos added below, followed by a couple of video clips after the break.
This week we’re having a peek at the OPPO Find 5, a device aimed at China’s Android-loving smartphone market made by a manufacturer that, if this handset is any indication, has a very bright future. This device delivers a 5-inch 1080p display – the same resolution as the DROID DNA aka HTC Butterfly, works with the same Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core processor as the Google Nexus 4, and comes with a 13 megapixel camera on its back. It’s also quite charming to see.
When the device is off, the display is so black you’ll not be able to tell where the blackness of the bezel stops and the screen begins. The bezel around this device’s display is quite thin to begin with at 3.25mm, and it’s nearly full-faced glass front allows for a healthy presentation of the display, a display the company should be quite proud of.
At 441 PPI, this device is one of the most densely-packed on the market, and with the device’s “one glass solution”, also known as OGS, OPPO have implemented an optical lamination to bond the touch layer of the display as close as possible to the rest, allowing this device to also be rather thin overall. The battery inside is also non-removable, allowing OPPO to make it slim too.
On the back you’ve got a 13-megapixel camera with an f/2.2 aperture and the ability to shoot 120fps video for some excellent slow-motion action. The camera software in the end is extremely simple with a no-nonsense user interface and its very few features made easy to access. Another of these features is the ability to shoot 100 photos every five seconds.
This device’s main speaker is back-facing – this is unfortunate as it does sound rather good when facing towards the user. With Dolby 3D sound and Dirac HD, you’ll still have substantial sound as it reflects off the palm of your hand.
More insight and details about the innards and overall package this device delivers will be available to you from SlashGear in the near future in our full review. Until then, please feel free to ask any and all questions you may have about the devices – no limits!
Taiwan might have an HTC One and an HTC First, but starting today, Singapore has a Synrgic Uno to join the banter (get it?). The name Synrgic might not immediately ring a bell, but if you dig a little deeper, you’ll see a mention of its earlier phone plus three tablets from a while back. Alas, said phone was eventually canned as the quality didn’t meet expectations, so consider this Uno a new attempt by the same Singaporean startup.
Announced in its home city just now, this device is positioned as a mid-tier Android phone with some modest specs, namely a 4.7-inch, 720p IPS display with Gorilla Glass and, more interestingly, a dual-core 1.5GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 SoC (with 1GB DDR2 RAM and SGX 544 graphics chip). With the upcoming TI OMAP 5 series shifting towards automotive systems, chances are the Uno will be one of the last OMAP-powered smartphones before TI waves goodbye to the mobile world. More after the break.
Update: We’ve added a hands-on video after the break. In short: smooth software and solid hardware build, with some room for improvement on the coating at the top and bottom sides.
When we spoke with Matias Duarte earlier this year about Google Now, it seemed as though Google Now would become the “control panel” of sorts for every smart device it appeared on. Now that we’ve seen the initial Google Now push for the iPhone and iPad, it would seem that Google doesn’t want to simply give Apple products their whole “Now” experience. Instead Google’s release of the Google Now experience on iOS is an assistant to Google Search.
While Google Now exists as a cohort of Google Search in Android, and indeed is allowed to be summoned by a long-press of a button here or a swipe-up of a home button there, the iOS integration released today pushes this functionality down. When a user opens Google Search – the home of Google Now on iOS – “cards” as they’re called are stacked in a neat pile below the main Google Search interface.
“It’s kind of a new paradigm, and one which I think does speak to the future of this very helpful type of computer interface, as opposed to the current start screens where you have to make all the choices, it’s almost like a computer control panel in a rocket ship where there’s lots of icons you have to punch-punch-punch.” – Matias Duarte
Swiping up from the bottom of the iOS Google Search app shows the selection of cards available to an Android user as the app is opened. This is due in a large way to the necessity of a set of buttons between the search bar and the cards. Where Google Now can exist as a set of cards directly below a decorated Google Search bar in Android, iOS’s Google Search app also includes quick links to other Google services.
From a user’s Google Search app in iOS, one is able to reach Google Calendar, Gmail, and a collection of other Google Services. These Google connections are made at the base of an Android operating system build with a series of apps that appear in a user’s app drawer. Apple’s version of this is the set of apps that come built-in to an iPhone or iPad when one opens their device up for the first time.
Above you’ll see the launch build of Android’s Google Now experience as it existed approximately one year ago when it was launched at Google I/O 2012. You can see how this app evolved in our Google Now tag portal. Below you’ll see our hands-on with the iPad and iPhone version of Google Search with Google Now integration, released just today. Equal experiences, but certainly different.
This week the until-now Android-exclusive system Google Now reaches out to iOS inside the Google Search app for Apple’s iPad and iPhone. Both versions are tuned to the display size they appear on, with sets of “cards” appearing in a single column for iPhone and a set of two columns for iPad. These cards contain information about current events and the environment around the user based on their search history and interests.
Much like the Android version of Google Now, this interface shows several different kinds of cards, each of them containing information based on the unique user that’s using them. If a user has worked with Google Now outside of iOS before they sign in initially, they’ll find cards based on their use of Google waiting for them. In our example here, two sports teams recent game scores appear, a map to work appears, and several birthday announcements appear.
Google Now is part of a user’s Google Search experience, meaning they’ll be getting results – cards, that is – based on what they’ve worked with in the past for search terms. If a user has never searched for anything in Google while being logged in to their Google account at the same time, results will appear as example cards. Example cards show what COULD be displayed for the user if they’d agree to have their search results utilized.
With the iPhone and iPad versions of Google Now, it would appear at first that the user’s calendar will not be used as it would in an Android device. If one does use Google Calendar separate from iOS, they’ll still be able to see dates of Birthdays, connections to events, and etcetera. Birthday announcements can be sourced from a user’s Google+ social networking account as well, as this connection is also made possible via the user’s all-encompassing Google account.
One of the key reasons a user might prefer using Google Now with an Android device rather than with an iOS device is their ability to access the system easily. With some Android devices, the user is able to hold their finger down on their on-screen home button and swipe up to move into Google Now. Some devices working with Android allow access to Google Now with a long-press of a back or menu button.
Jailbreak app “Activator”
Intrepid iOS hackers have already made inroads to similar access with apps like “Activator”. This app allows Jailbroken (read: hacked) iPhones to launch apps using a variety of gestures and button presses. Tie your home button to Google Now for a real slick experience.
Users can turn Google Now OFF in Google Search settings – that tiny gear!
Users will be able to check this Google Now experience out by updating (or downloading) Google Search for iOS on their iPhone or iPad starting today. Let us know how you’re liking it – or if you’re avoiding it – in our Google Now chat in Google+ right this minute!
The Epson Moverio BT-100 is a pair of augmented reality glasses that, in the wake of the future success of Google Glass and the Occulus Rift, keeps itself unique with its own combination of abilities. This week SlashGear had a chat with Eric Mizufuka, Product Manager of New Markets at Epson and Scott Montgomerie, CEO and lead developer of Scope Technologies about the newest use of this still very developer-stage pair of futuristic glasses: augmented reality industrial product training.
As Eric Mizufuka explained this week, the Moverio BT-100 is “a wearable display – smartglasses – with a shade that’s removable.” What you’re seeing with these glasses is an image that can get as large as an 80-inch display depending on what you’re using them for, and they’re able to work with apps such as the one presenting 3D device augmented reality training that Scope AR is showing off this year.
At it’s base, this device is powered by an Android control unit – it’s able to run and launch Android apps just like a smartphone would, so to speak. This product in its current form was launched over a year ago, and according to Mizufuka, the unit was and is “seen originally as more of a developer platform so developers could take the lead on creating apps that would eventually shape the device.”
Epson’s Moverio BT-100 glasses are not yet consumer market ready – they’re not yet in a place where they’re meant for the consumer market, instead concentrating on developer efforts to create “that one killer app” to start the machine that is the succssful launch of the platform.
As for how they fit into the augmented reality or “smart” glasses universe thats coming to light here in 2013, Mizufuka suggests that there’s a four-point set of categories that each unit in this new market fall into, each pair of said glasses working with two.
While the Epson Moverio BT-100 unit falls into the binocular and transparent category, Occulus Rift is a binocular, non-tranparent device. Google Glass, on the other hand, is a monocular tranparent device.
Epson’s product makes its way in the market with features that are, as Mizufuka suggests, rather unique. “[Moverio BT-100] is unique in that you can see 3D, and unique in that it’s in the center of your field of view so you can overlay 3D images over real objects.” This is what the company calls Real Augmented Reality.
“Glass is a beautiful product and it’s miniturized very well, but you still have some consumer kickback saying it’s too geeky.”
Mizufuka let SlashGear know that they’d be creating the final consumer units as a product that people will want to use, one that they intend to be able to be worn by everyone. “Glass is a beautiful product and it’s miniturized very well, but you still have some consumer kickback saying it’s too geeky.”
CEO and lead developer of Scope Technologies Scott Montgomerie let us know that as soon as they discovered Epson’s augmented reality glasses, they knew they had to collaborate. Their need for such a solution for their idea to overlay machine parts in 3D for users training in the industrial market seemed like a perfect fit. “Industrial Augmented Reality for machinery, overlaying 3D images over real machines seemed impracticle at first – until the idea of augmented reality glasses, like Moverio BT-100, came up.”
Mounting a camera on top of the optics they’d already had, they created the device you see demonstrated here:
Montgomerie continued: “Our strategy is in the near term to focus on these verticle market applications. I think the consumer is just getting comfortable now with wearable displays, as soon as we’re able to find that killer app in the market, we’ll be there.” Sound like the right path to take to you? Epson’s Mizufuka let it be known that the final consumer product would be both affordable and made for the mass market – and we’re hoping for more soon!
When we first reported on the leaked image of China Unicom’s HTC One with its back cover off, some questioned its authenticity since the phone touts its unibody design in other parts of the world. Well, as we found out at HTC’s Beijing launch event on Wednesday, the Chinese variants (802w, 802t and 802d; ¥4,888 or about $790 for 32GB) do indeed have a removable cover for access to their dual SIM slots and microSD slot. But the question is: how does that piece of metal come off? It’s simple: the usual micro-SIM tray at the top left side of the phone is replaced by a latch release (close-up shot after the break), and pushing it up would pop the cover open, as pictured above.
While this may technically not qualify for the “unibody” moniker, HTC’s Vice President of China Lin Zurong told us that the removable cover and its accompanying parts at the top and bottom are cut out from the same piece of aluminum; so if you mix and match covers across two Ones of the same color, the fit or texture may not feel “right.” Other than that, the Chinese One feels and looks very much the same as its foreign counterpart.
And finally, we asked whether the much anticipated red HTC One will be sold in China, to which a representative replied this was originally designed with other regions — namely Japan — in mind, so there’s no confirmation as to whether China will get it just yet. Come to think of it, wouldn’t the red HTC One be a nice fit for Verizon?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
