ZTE USA’s CEO: US investigation report is actually good for us

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You may think that Lixin Cheng, the top banana at ZTE’s USA division since June 2010, has had a tough time facing strong accusations since October regarding its ties with the Chinese government and its lack of transparency, but at MWC yesterday, the CEO told us that the investigation has actually been beneficial for his company. “So far, the report really has no negative impact on our business in the US … it actually helps us build the brand,” said Cheng. “When the report came out, it was such a high profile news and everyone was talking about ZTE. Some of our handset consumers may call the hotline and say, ‘Hey, I have a phone from ZTE, do I have security concerns?’ And of course, most people would find out no, there are no security concerns.”

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The CAT B15 Android Smartphone Has A Weird Name But The Brawn To Back It Up

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Just as some people are put on this earth to create things, others are prone to destroy everything they touch. Those people should probably spend some time with the Caterpillar-branded CAT B15, an aluminum-and-rubber-clad Android smartphone that (inadvertently) encouraged people to work on their stress issues here at MWC.

Naturally, Caterpillar isn’t actually making the phones — it’s a very far cry from the engines and bulldozers that the company is better known for. The device itself is made by a licensee called Bullitt Mobile, a U.K.-based company whose sole reason for existing seems to be churning out these sorts of rugged handsets.

In fact, It’s actually rather hard to get a firm idea of how tough this thing actually is. Sure, it’s completely dust-proof (assuming all the ports are properly closed) and the 4-inch display is swathed in second generation Gorilla Glass, but it’s all sort of abstract until you hold the thing in your hand the feel the urge to heave it somewhere. In spite of its considerable chubbiness, the B15 is actually lighter than you’d expect, though it’s still going to elicit some stares should you shove the thing into your pocket.

In a classic case of brawn vs. brains, the B15 isn’t the snappiest thing you’ll ever see with its dual-core 1GHz Qualcomm processor and but it’s still got enough horsepower to handle most daily tasks. If anything, performance is aided by the fact that the particular build of Android loaded up on the B15 is totally stock — no garish, cumbersome UI to be found here.

And perhaps best of all, the 4-inch display recognizes touch input even when it’s wet — mostly. After a booth representative shot down my attempt to hurl the thing like baseball (not a huge loss, my fastball is pretty lousy), I settled for dunking the B15 in some water a few times. For the first few instances, things worked fine, but at some point you’ll eventually have to wipe the thing down for it to start behaving properly again. Hardly a big deal, but those of you looking for an Android-powered diving buddy will have to look elsewhere (especially because it’s only waterproof until you go deeper than 1 meter).

In the event that your current smartphone is just too puny to keep up with your lifestyle, the CAT B15 will be available in March for €395 — try not to hurt yourself until then.

Click to view slideshow.

The Super-Slim Xperia Tablet Z Feels Like Sony’s Finest Tablet Yet

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After Sony released a string of curious Android tablets that failed to catch on, the company had no choice but to go back to the drawing table and try something different. That something different wound up being the Xperia Tablet Z, easily one of its most conventional designs yet — a choice that may end up paying off nicely. Now that the decidedly non-kooky Xperia Tablet Z is gearing up for an appearance stateside, we tracked one down here at MWC to get a glimpse at what Sony’s tantalizingly thin tab brings to the table.

First things first — if you’re a fan of minimalist industrial design, then you’ll find a lot to like here. Sony’s bright 10.1-inch Reality Display (running at 1,920×1200 no less) is the clear focal point of the device’s face, and there’s nothing else save for a Sony logo, an IR blaster in the corner, and an easily missed 2-megapixel camera. The display is also aided by one of Sony’s Mobile Bravia engines, which means colors can easily take on a lurid cast unless you dial it down. Meanwhile, the back is a matte black slab devoid of any detail other than a small Xperia logo and an 8.1-megapixel camera in the top- right corner. One could easily call it dull, but “understated” feels like a better fit because of how nice it feels.

The Tablet Z weighs in at a scant 1.09 pounds, and its trim waistline is only 6.99mm thick — for a bit of perspective, the iPad mini is just a hair thicker at 7.22mm. In order to keep the weight as low as possible Sony resorted to an almost entirely plastic body. That sounds like the recipe for a chintzy-feeling tab, but that’s definitely not the case here. Despite being very light, the Tablet Z has a remarkably solid, premium feel to it. There’s a little bit of give to be felt if you grab the thing by the sides and give it a twist so it may suffer from some long-term issues down the road, but it’s a far cry from some of the overly creaky, plasticky tablets that still pepper the market.

Click to view slideshow.

A quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset and 2GB of RAM are tucked away inside the Tab Z’s waterproof chassis, and my time with the Tablet Z was largely lag-free. When faced with the prospect of putting out tens of devices for public consumption at Mobile World Congress, most companies typically try to do something to keep we nerds from mucking around with them too much. Not so here — I was able to download and install Quadrant from the Google Play Store to get a slightly better idea of what the Tablet Z is capable of. Over the course of three trials the Tablet Z consistently put up scores in the low to mid-7,000s and topped out at 7601 — devices like the Nexus 10 and Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 usually hover around the mid-4,000s.

Granted, this is a synthetic benchmark and doesn’t provide a complete picture of performance, but it’s clear that Xperia Tablet Z is no slouch.

I only really have one gripe with Xperia Tablet Z — the custom UI that Sony has loaded on top of Android. Longtime readers may know that I’m an avid proponent of leaving Android untouched, and Sony’s implementation just doesn’t do it for me. In fairness, it’s lighter and less cumbersome than some of the other overlays currently clogging up other Android devices so you may disagree, but the occasional bit of visual stutter while rifling through menus, and the fact that background images were distorted when set, raised some flags. That said, Sony has added some neat features to help make up for it, such as a universal remote app that doubles as a programming guide, and a revamped new gallery that displays geotagged photos on a globe.

At an early morning press address yesterday, Sony Mobile CEO Kuni Suzuki pointed to a renewed focus on bringing the company’s “cutting-edge technology and resources” to Sony Mobile, and confidently called 2013 a “breakthrough year.” Naturally, it’s too early to tell if that actually pans out, but certainly not impossible. The Xperia Tablet Z is a (hopefully not so) rare return to form for Sony, and here’s hoping that the rest of 2013 is full of products as well-executed as this one.

ZTE Open, the company’s first Firefox OS phone, gets a spec sheet at MWC

ZTE Open, the company's first Firefox OS phone, gets a full spec sheet at MWC

Remember that ZTE teased the MWC debut of its upcoming Firefox OS phone? Well, according to this spec sheet spotted by a tipster at ZTE’s MWC booth, said device will be appropriately named ZTE Open, and it’ll come with a moderate set of components: a Cortex-A5-based Qualcomm MSM7225A (which is known to clock at either 600MHz or 800MHz), a 3.5-inch HVGA TFT display with capacitive touchscreen, 256MB DDR SDRAM, 512MB NAND storage and the usual set of radios like WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (with EDR3), GPS and FM radio. Interestingly, there will be a 3.2-megapixel front-facing camera, but it appears that there’ll be none on the back. The Open will be available in three SKUs with different UMTS bands: 850/1900, 850/2100 and 900/2100. As always, we’ll be sharing the full announcement and hands-on once we see the phone at MWC, though we have a feeling that we’ve already played with it before.

Update: As some of you have pointed out, yes, the “FF” may actually mean “fixed focus” instead of “front-facing,” and the former seems more likely.

[Thanks, anonymous]

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Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 spotted at MWC, almost hides your entire hand (updated with video)

Samsung Galaxy Note 80 spotted at MWC,

At last, here’s what we’ve been promised: an 8-inch flavor of Samsung’s Galaxy Note lineup. Spotted by an anonymous tipster on the MWC show floor earlier today, the booth shows off said tablet designed with portrait usage in mind, meaning it’ll pretty much cover up most of whichever hand you’ll be holding it with. And obviously, the Note 8.0 comes with a stylus as well. There’s not much more to share at this point, but we’ll be seeing this new device in its full glory very soon, so stay tuned. One more shot after the break.

Update: The folks over at Beste Product caught a few models posing with the Galaxy Note 8.0 for Samsung’s photographer. The Dutch website even has a video — embedded after the break — of the whole action, and there you can see some design similarities of the tablet’s backside, especially how the camera protrudes a little.

[Thanks, anonymous]

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MWC 2013 preview: what we can expect

MWC 2013 preview what we can expect

We here at Engadget are awfully fond of those hunks of metal, motherboards and magic we call smartphones and tablets, and Mobile World Congress is determined to gather as many as possible on an annual basis. Indeed, this year’s show, held in beautiful Barcelona at the Fira Gran Via, is not just a weeklong event — in fact, it’s already started. A handful of companies have announced their key products in an attempt to gather some crucial pre-show buzz, but does that mean there’s nothing left for us to hunt for? Absolutely not. Gather with us beyond the break and we’ll tell you about everything that’s already been announced, as well as what we can expect from the rest of the mobile extravaganza.

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Distro Issue 79 examines the rise of the ever-expanding smartphone screen

Distro Issue 79 examines the rise of the everexpanding smartphone screen

Once upon a time, the future belonged to an increasingly smaller form factor when it came to mobile phones. Now it seems the tide has changed, and larger screens continue to expand their requisite real estate on new handsets. In this week’s issue of our weekly, Jon Fingas takes a good, long look at the rise of those big screens, starting with 2002’s BlackBerry 5810. Weekly Stat charts a day with an asteroid, Eyes-On has a peek at LaCie’s collaboration with Philippe Starck and Brad Molen recounts week two with the BlackBerry Z10. We’ve just scratched the surface of the latest installment of this e-publication, so navigate to your favorite download link to procure a copy.

Distro Issue 79 PDF
Distro in the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Google Play Store

Distro in the Windows Store

Distro APK (for sideloading)
Like Distro on Facebook
Follow Distro on Twitter

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Source: iTunes, Google Play, Windows Store

Huawei GL07S revealed for Japan, looks like the Ascend P2

Huawei GL07S revealed for Japan 15GHz quadcore, 47inch 720p display

This one’s a little puzzling. Japanese carrier Emobile has announced a new phone from Huawei, the memorably-named GL07S. The confusing part is that it looks almost identical to the black-colored Ascend P2, with the same three-line menu button differentiating it from another handset leak. It’s hard to say just yet, but Huawei might be readying two devices like it did during CES, where it unveiled the P2’s predecessor alongside an even thinner S model. This Japan-bound offering measures up a 8.6mm thick, which while certainly no porker, is a bit more than those promises of a 6.5mm smartphone. However, there’s still enough here to intrigue us, with a quad-core 1.5GHz processor, 13-megapixel camera, 32GB of built-in storage and a 2,350mAh battery rounding out a pretty respectable spec sheet. It’s also going to be an important phone for the relatively small phone network too — it’s their first LTE smartphone.

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Via: Techblog.gr (Greek)

Source: Emobile (Japanese)

ASUS MeMo Pad Smart 10 flaunted in YouTube trailer

ASUS MeMo Pad Smart 10 flaunted in YouTube trailer

ASUS has gotten into the habit of quietly releasing info about its new MeMo Pads, and to continue that trend, has snuck a trailer for the 10-inch model onto YouTube. The vid talks up various aspects of the MeMo Pad Smart 10, including its 1.2GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, 5-megapixel rear shooter, 10-inch IPS display (1,280 x 800) with 178-degree viewing angle and SonicMaster audio tech, as well as some bundled software. Alongside “the metallic miracle,” we’re likely to see the tablet on the MWC floor in its pink, white and dark grey outfits. Before we get our hands on it, though, check out said trailer below to see if ASUS can sell you on hardware that lacks the frenzy-inducing Nexus branding.

Update: Just to be clear, the MeMo Pad Smart 10 is currently available in Europe and other territories, and is expected to cost around $299 when it launches Stateside.

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Source: ASUS (YouTube)

LG Optimus F5 and F7 smartphones now official with LTE and Jelly Bean

LG Optimus F5 and F7 smartphones now official with LTE connectivity and Jelly Bean

Based on this morning’s leak, you already knew that LG’s smartphone lineup was about to become more diversified, but now we’re able to share concrete details of the Optimus F5 and F7, which will be unveiled at Mobile World Congress. As the naming scheme suggests, the Optimus F7 is the larger of the two with a 4.7-inch (312ppi) True HD IPS display, a dual-core 1.5GHz CPU, an 8-megapixel primary camera, 2GB RAM and a 2,540mAh battery. Meanwhile, the Optimus F5 will be targeted at those who prefer a more compact smartphone, as it wields a 4.3-inch (256ppi) IPS display, a dual-core 1.2GHz CPU, a 5-megapixel primary camera, 1GB RAM and a 2,150mAh battery.

Common among both devices are Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean), support for LG’s QSlide and Live Zooming software features, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing shooter, 8GB built-in storage, microSD support and LTE connectivity. The Optimus F5 will come to market first in Europe during the second quarter, which is to be followed by the Optimus F7 “in select markets.” Sadly, pricing has yet to be announced for either smartphone. For those curious, we’ve included the complete list of known specs after the break.

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Source: LG