Hasta La Gadget!

Recent years saw the birth of many new online brands in China, with Xiaomi being the most notable one with its complete ecosystem on top of aggressive pricing. And at last, it looks like local competitor Oppo wants a share of that pie as well. According to a rumor from just before the weekend, the company’s VP Pete Lau (pictured above) will be developing a new online brand from scratch, and its first product will feature top hardware specs along with CyanogenMod — the same renowned Android ROM that’s headed to Oppo’s flagship N1 and Find 5. More interestingly, Lau has just announced that today’s his last day at Oppo.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Google+, Sina Weibo, Sohu IT

It’s annoying how you can’t seem to find a pen when you need one the most. Cue the Jackpen, which is a pen that’s meant to be plugged into your smartphone’s headphone jack.

It was created by Andrew Jewson after he couldn’t get his hands on a pen for the nth time. Annoyed, he came up with Jackpen, which is your basic pen shrunk and reduced a few times over.

When it’s not in use, the pen fits snugly into the headphone jack. When you’re ready to use it, just pull it out and re-insert it with the non-writing nub facing the jack this time around. Flip your pen over and voila! Your phone is now a pen handle of sorts.

The Jackpen is available in packs of three, which retail for £3.99 (~$7 USD.)

[via LikeCool]

With the Ti liberating Vertu from the Symbian shackles, it was only a matter of time before the luxury phone maker released its second Android device. The Constellation, as it’s called (instead of “Constellation V” as listed by the FCC), takes a small but bold step away from Vertu’s usual design language, as it lacks the iconic ceramic pillow on the earpiece. What it gains instead is the largest piece of tough sapphire glass that Vertu — or any phone maker for that matter — has ever crafted, as well as a layer of soft but durable calf leather wrapping around the Grade 5 titanium body. It’ll also come in five colors: dark brown, orange (our favorite so far), black, light brown and cherry.

Vertu’s CEO Massimiliano Pogliani told us that this “less is more” approach is to have a more neutral, less showy offer that he believes will appeal to a larger audience.

“It tested extremely well [in study groups] in China and Russia,” said the exec. “In terms of design and appearance, it is being luxury but not too bling, too wild, too pushy, so I’m very happy and very confident.”

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Vertu

Oppo’s already made quite an impression with its N1 earlier today, and now that we’ve gotten our hands dirty with said Android phone, we can confirm that it’s just as dandy in real life. As per usual Oppo standard, the N1 comes with a solid plastic build around an aluminum alloy frame, and we dig the silky matte finish that keeps fingerprints off the body. The O-Touch panel on the back is indicated by some tiny glossy marks, without which it’d be totally invisible. It took some getting used to in order to avoid accidental camera shots, as a one-second press on the panel triggers the shutter; but otherwise, we found the design to be very handy (literally!) and natural for taking selfies. And of course, O-Touch is also great for scrolling. %Gallery-slideshow89992%

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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If you can’t be bothered with those wire clips that help keep your earphone cord from getting all tangled up, then maybe you’ll find the Cordli more convenient and maybe easier to use.

Cordli cases are made for the iPhone 4/4S and 5 and have deep grooves at the back where you’re supposed to push the wire in. It effectively shortens your headphone wires so you won’t have to twist them around your device when you’re using them to deal with the extra length.

The Cordli was designed by Aki Attawia. It’s up for funding on Kickstarter through October 9th, where a minimum pledge of $15(USD) will get you one of your very own.

[via InStash]