Hasta La Gadget!

Here’s a bit of good news to soak in over the weekend. After the unveiling of the Xiaomi Phone 2 (aka Mi2) in front of some 3,000 people yesterday, a reliable source informed us that the Chinese startup is already looking to bring its highly affordable phones to Europe next year. Alas, we couldn’t get a more specific time frame, but assuming Xiaomi wants to deliver its first quad core device to the Europeans as well, it’d likely be within the first half of next year, well before the next August 16th announcement (the company’s managed to stick to the same date so far).

Of course, it all depends on whether Xiaomi can scale its business model for the unknown territories, and it’ll certainly need some solid partners to do so — much like its collaboration with local retail channels China Unicom, China Telecom and Vancl. Luckily, the MIUI developer will be doing a warm up first in Taiwan. As reported by Business Next last month, chairman Lei Jun made a high profile visit to several Taiwanese carriers in the hopes of breaking into their market by the end of this year. If successful, Lei should be able to meet his ambitious sales target of 6 million Xiaomi Phones accumulated — still some way away from the 3.52 million units sold so far. Judging by the madness at the event this week (see gallery below), it should be no problem.

Filed under: Cellphones

Xiaomi Phones may enter Europe next year, because China ain’t big enough originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gartner is reporting that worldwide mobile phone sales this quarter dropped 2.3 percent as buyers postponed upgrades and held out for the next big thing. Of the 419 million units sold in the last three months, Samsung, Nokia and Apple unsurprisingly took the lion’s share of the sales, while ZTE and LG rounded out the top five. Overall, Android’s the most popular phone operating system, running 64.1 percent of all new handsets, while iOS phones came in second with 18.8 percent. If you feel like you need some more spreadsheets in your life, then read on for the full breakdown.

Continue reading Gartner: worldwide mobile phone sales dipped 2.3 percent while users wait for next iPhone

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Gartner: worldwide mobile phone sales dipped 2.3 percent while users wait for next iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 05:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The topic of mobile phone radiation is once again on the burner in Washington D.C. Along with Representative Dennis Kucinich’s proposed legislation that would institute labeling requirements and extensive research into the health effects of RF exposure, the US Government Accountability Office has issued a recommendation that the FCC update its current exposure limits and reevaluate current testing methodologies. As is, the FCC’s radiation guidelines are based on research that was concluded in 1996, and while the US GAO concedes that this may lead to the adoption of higher SAR limits (in certain usage scenarios), the organization contends that it’s time to bring current research and international recommendations into consideration.

As potential cause for concern, the US GAO has also identified a failure of current testing methodologies. Put simply, manufacturers are currently required to submit specific absorption rates that reflect usage against both the head and body, however in the case of the body test, this is always done with the assumption of a holster. While a distance of 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters may not seem like much, SAR values increase with proximity, and many who use their mobile phones in their pockets — say, with a Bluetooth headset — are at risk of exposing themselves to RF limits that exceed current guidelines. The actual absorption rates are currently unknown.

For its part, the FCC has responded to the US GAO and asserts that it has independently arrived at many of the same conclusions, and adds that it has initiated the procedural requirements necessary for the reevaluation of RF safety rules. Those who’d like to learn more can scour the complete recommendation, along with Rep. Kucinich’s proposal, at the source links below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

US Government Accountability Office recommends FCC reassess radiation limits for mobile phones originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Aug 2012 10:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Having seen the next-gen Xiaomi Phone’s more colorful yet rejected designs, we’re rather baffled by these dull-looking certification images of the real deal. According to a filing from the good old TENAA, this new device from Xiaomi goes by the codename “2012051” and packs WCDMA radio, but that’s pretty much it in terms of specs. Eagle-eyed readers may have already spotted the striking resemblance to the original Xiaomi Phone (aka MI-One Plus), but it appears to be getting an extra front-facing camera and, for some reason, a smaller speaker grill on the back. But wait, there’s more! We dug up two additional models in the China Compulsory Certificate database: there’s the “2012052” also with WCDMA radio, plus the “2012053” with CDMA2000/WCDMA dual radio.

Bearing in mind that the current Xiaomi Phone has three variants, our guess is that its successor will follow a similar pattern: the WCDMA flavor may again have a 1.5GHz version followed by a slower and cheaper version (much like what the Youth Edition aka MI-One is to the MI-One Plus); and depending on Xiaomi’s arrangements with China Unicom and China Telecom, the CDMA flavor for the latter may or may not be launched alongside its WCDMA cousin. Let’s hope for the best when this alleged quad-core phone gets announced next Thursday.

Update: Another possibility is that the design pictured above only applies to the lower-end model, which may just pack a dual-core chip (hopefully a Snapdragon S4). We shall see.

Filed under: Cellphones

Next-gen Xiaomi Phone outed by certifications ahead of launch, will again come in three variants (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you Brits were looking forward to utilizing the 808 PureView’s 41-megapixel sensor while sipping Pimm’s this summer, well, be prepared to pay a hefty price. We’ve heard from O2, Three and Everything Everywhere (the parent company of Orange UK and T-Mobile UK) that they will not be selling said Nokia device in the UK, and Virgin Media told us it isn’t in the pipeline “just yet.” Our friends over at Wired UK have also heard the same bad news from Vodafone and O2, with a source close to the latter laying the blame on Nokia’s “outdated” Symbian Belle system. Ouch. So yes, this means all the major carriers in Her Majesty’s backyard are out of the game; but until we hear back from Carphone Warehouse, there may still be a small chance for keen British mobile photogs to dodge the full £500 ($780) price tag on Amazon (in comparison to $699 on the US site), so stay tuned.

Nokia’s 808 PureView will not be sold by major UK carriers, time to save up some pounds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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