Hasta La Gadget!

Neo is known for building smartphones with price tags so low that a Nexus 4 would seem like a luxury. If GizChina‘s contact (and convenient product render) is accurate, that bang-for-the-buck ratio may grow especially wide in the near future. The N003 will supposedly include a 5-inch, 1080p display and a quad-core processor for a target price of ¥899 ($145) in China for a basic Youth version, and ¥1,499 ($241) for a Premium model — both big deals for the size, we’d reckon. However, there’s little doubt that the N003 at those prices would be slower than a truly high-end phone like the HTC Butterfly, especially considering its pedigree. The N002 uses a MediaTek chip and just 4GB of storage, and earlier rumors have the N003 using MediaTek’s frugal MT6589 alongside either 8GB or 32GB of space for its respective trim levels. Neo hasn’t confirmed the details as of yet, let alone set expectations. Any alignment between the claims and reality could nonetheless see the N003 punching well above its weight, even if most Americans would never feel the impact.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: Unwired View

Source: GizChina

Acer pushed the boundaries of price for major brand tablets with its $150 Iconia B1. It’s not about to quit with just one model under its belt, however. The company’s Greater China head, Linxian Lang, explained to China Times that there should also be 8- and 10-inch tablets on the way with “aggressive” prices. Acer isn’t just adding more glass, either, as it’s looking at quad-core MediaTek processors for a speed jump. There’s no word on just when the larger budget slates might appear, although we wouldn’t count on them coming to the US when the B1 has already been ruled out.

Filed under: Tablets, Acer

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Via: Notebook Italia (translated)

Source: China Times (translated)

We’ve seen a handful of rugged Androids in our time, but none are as affordable and as weird as these ones at CES. The backstory here is that a couple of Chinese guys in camouflage gear approached us at our CES stage, and after an awkward conversation, it turned out that they just wanted to show us the three rugged phones they brought all the way from Shenzhen. Starting from the right we have the Runbo (like Rambo?) X1 IP67-certified featurephone cum walkie-talkie, which packs a 2-inch 176 × 144 display, a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera, a laser pointer, quad-band GSM plus 800MHz CDMA cellular radios, 400 to 470MHz range for the software-configurable walkie-talkie, a surprisingly loud speaker and a 2,200mAh battery. This will be available for ¥980 or about $160 on Taobao online store (the Chinese equivalent of eBay) in the next couple of days, and we’ve been told that there will also be a variant with GPS added.

But the real stars of the show are the two brick-sized vanilla Android 4.0.4 devices. The phone pictured in the middle is the Runbo X5, a device featuring a 1GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 MTK6577 chipset, 1GB RAM, 4GB storage, microSD expansion, a 4.3-inch 800 x 480 IPS display, an app-triggered laser pointer, an eight-megapixel main camera, a 0.3-megapixel front camera, a super loud speaker (again) and a massive removable 3,800mAh battery. And yes, this also comes with a 400 to 470MHz walkie-talkie radio (up to 10km range; with detachable antenna), along with the additional 850/1900/2100 WCDMA radio, two SIM slots (WCDMA plus GSM), WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS. These specs are the same for the Runbo X3 on the left, except for the smaller 3.5-inch 800 x 480 IPS panel to make space for the QWERTY keyboard below it. The best part here are the prices: both of these IP67-certified devices are available on Taobao or the official website for just ¥1,999 or about $320, which is a bargain for both the ruggedness and the fact that these double as standard walkie-talkies. US folks can also order directly from eBay for $380, which is also a steal. But does this surprisingly low price reflect the quality? Find out in our hands-on after the break.

Continue reading Runbo X5 and X3 rugged Android phones moonlight as walkie-talkies, cost just $320

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Runbo, eBay

This week the Lenovo IdeaTab A2107 7-inch tablet has been revealed in its mobile data-connected iteration as carried by AT&T right here in the USA. This device will be appearing in your hands with 3G – UMTS 850/1900 MHz connectivity and the same 7-inch 1024×600 LCD TN (170 ppi) display you’ll get with the wifi-only version. This machine comes with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich inside as well as a MediaTek 6575 1.0 Ghz Cortex- A9 processor (single core) to keep you running smooth.

We saw and got our hands on the original version of this 7.68 x 4.92 x 0.47 inch, 14.11 oz machine back in August of 2012. Back then our impressions were that Lenovo was taking on the Google Nexus 7, though not exactly directly due to the underpowered nature of the slate. Though the form factor had us impressed, what with its soft-touch rear cover and its friendly size and shape, the innards did not make for a perfectly pleasant software experience.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is also a bit of a surprise as the bulk of the Android universe is now releasing devices with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean or higher with new hardware across the board. We’ll expect some software updates rather rapidly after the release, but won’t be betting too much cash on that possibility. Lenovo’s Android experience is unique one way or the other though, bringing widgets and cloud connections galore to the game. You’ll be able to pick up the Lenovo IdeaTab A2107 from AT&T for $199.99 with a two-year contract starting right this minute (if not very, very soon).

Have a peek at our Lenovo IdeaTab A2109 review from this past October to see how the software experience treats you. Then head down the Lenovo rabbit hole to see everything you may have missed from this hardware-heavy company over the past week at CES 2013!

Lenovo IdeaTab A2107 tablet hits AT&T for $199 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you were wondering whether or not the ZTE Grand X would cross the oceans to launch in the US, there’s a good chance the mystery is over. An unusually detailed FCC filing has uncovered a V970T variant that’s destined for T-Mobile USA, complete with the carrier branding, Wi-Fi calling and AWS-based 3G data to match. Other details of the Android 4.0 phone are lacking despite the presence of a manual, although the V970 edition we’ve seen elsewhere runs on a dual-core, 1GHz MediaTek MT6577 chip alongside the more familiar 4.3-inch screen and 5-megapixel rear camera. T-Mobile’s release plan is about all that’s left to ponder; knowing the entry-level components, though, any possible launch should come with a low price tag.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, T-Mobile

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Source: FCC