Hasta La Gadget!

Last week, Microsoft announced that it had entered a patent licensing agreement with Foxconn parent Hon Hai, covering devices that run Android and Chrome OS. Today, it has made the same announcement, this time concerning ZTE. Says Microsoft, the agreement grants the Chinese smartphone maker license to its “worldwide patent portfolio.”

Microsoft brings up the smartphone patent wars in its announcement, saying that such a reality could be sidestepped if companies recognized and fairly sought another’s creation. It boasts having patent licensing agreements with almost all major Android smartphone vendors, and says that 80-percent of handsets running the mobile OS are covered by such agreements.

For its part, Microsoft says it has shelled out in excess of $4 billion in the last ten years in acquiring intellectual property rights for its products, something it calls part of a balanced approach that has lead to its success with entering into license partnerships with many vendors. The company wraps up by mentioning that a few global businesses are still holding out from getting a license.

Says Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft’s VP and Deputy General Cousel of Legal and Corporate Affairs: “The ZTE and Foxconn agreements show once more that technology companies around the world, including some of the world’s largest and fastest growing manufacturers anchored in China, recognize licensing is an effective way to share technology and build on each other’s work…”

[via TechNet]

ZTE gets Microsoft patent license for Android and Chrome OS devices is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It goes without saying that not a week or two passes by without a whiff of a possible new tablet, and ZTE steps up to the occasion this time around, with word that they are currently working on a new 7” tablet that will run on a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor. Greek site Techblog.gr (it’s all Greek to us, literally, but thank the heavens for the wonders of machine translation) has mentioned that the ZTE V72A will be powered by Android Jelly Bean right out of the box, in addition to offering support for 3G/HSPA networks.

The ZTE V72A will also feature a resolution count of 1,024 x 600 pixels, sport 1GB RAM and will be accompanied by 4GB of internal memory. Hmmm, 4GB is not going to get you very far these days, and chances are this would most probably be a low-cost tablet. Other hardware specifications of the ZTE V72A include a 2-megapixel shooter at the back, a VGA front-facing camera, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, HDMI output, and a 4,000mAh battery to keep it going. No idea on pricing or availability, but hopefully additional information will be revealed in due time. In the meantime, bear in mind that ZTE does not only churn out budget-minded devices, they too, have their fair share of high end models like the ZTE N988.

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Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs was present at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference today and he revealed that Firefox OS is going to be launched in five countries this summer. Initially being called Boot to Gecko project, Firefox OS is Mozilla’s contribution to the mobile OS market. It has been designed for low-end devices. This OS is based on HTML5 and JavaScript. Mozilla’s decision to launch their new OS in these markets is good, considering that low-end devices might gain better traction there.

The Firefox OS will be launched in Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Poland and Venezuela this Summer. AT MWC, where they showed off a sample of Dreamfone running Firefox OS, the company announced its partnerships for this OS with various manufacturers. Alcatel, ZTE and LG have committed to manufacture low-end smartphones that are based on this OS. Carriers such as Telefonica in Europe and Etisalat, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia and Telenor have also committed their support. There are some who believe that the market has no place for another operating system, the low-end is already being catered to by Windows Phone and BlackBerry. It’ll be interesting to see how it turns out for Mozilla’s ambitious mobile plans.

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US Cellular, a regional carrier known for offering the lower rung of smartphones running older varieties of Android than you typically find elsewhere, has just added a budget Ice Cream Sandwich handset to its lineup: the ZTE Director. Perhaps because $0.00 is too conventional, the carrier is offering this smartphone for $0.01 alongside a new two-year contract.

While a (nearly) non-existent price tag is always nice, that two-year contract might not look so attractive in light of the Director’s unsubsidized price of just $99. For such a modest price, users will get a low tier ZTE handset that doesn’t have eye-catching specs, but that will provide those on a budget with all the basics you’d need in a smartphone.

Inside, users will find a 1.0 GHz single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor alongside 512MB of RAM, as well as 4GB of internal storage space. Because that little storage would prove problematic for just about everyone, there’s also a microSD expansion slot for more space. The rear camera is an adequate-but-lower-than-usual 3-megapixels; you’ll be able to take pictures, but don’t expect much from them.

The battery is a fairly average capacity at 1,500 mAh, which should last awhile when paired with the 3.5-inch WVGA display. There are some preloaded apps, including Amazon Music and Slacker Radio. If you’re interested, you can head on over to US Cellular and check out the rest of its specs. Overall, the Director won’t be taking names and winning awards, but it will make a nice handset to give to the kids.

[via Android Community]

ZTE Director budget smartphone arrives at US Cellular is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Earlier today we reported that the ZTE Geek smartphone was spotted at IDF Beijing. Moments ago ZTE officially announced the Geek smartphone at the conference. It is the first ZTE smartphone powered by Intel’s new 32nm Atom Z2580 processor. The 2.0Ghz Clover Trail+ Processor is said to be twice as fast for computing and thrice as fast for graphics. It also consumes less power then Intel’s previous processor.

The ZTE Geek smartphone runs Android Jelly Bean, has a 5-inch HD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720. There’s 8GB of onboard storage and 1GB of RAM. It has a 2,300 mAh large-capacity battery. On the back there’s an 8 megapixel camera with an LED supplement light. A 1 megapixel camera can be found at the front. Apart from the Geek, ZTE is also showcasing its V98 tablet and Grand X In smartphone at the conference. Both of these devices have chips provided by Intel. Price or availability information for ZTE Geek has not been announced as of now. It remains to be seen whether or not the company releases this smartphone in markets other than Asia.

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