Hasta La Gadget!

The International Data Corporation, more commonly known as the IDC, has revealed its smartphone shipment numbers for the second quarter of this year, showing a global increase of 6-percent over the same quarter last year. The growth, at least in part, was the result of makers other than the top 5, such as Huawei and Alcatel, seeing a boost in shipments.

The growth seen by these lower-on-the-rung handset makers outpaced the overall market growth, and in some instances resulted in triple-digit growth rates for makers who typically fall low on the totem pole. The total shipments for the second quarter of the year amounted to 432.1 million phones, while the same quarter last year came in at 407.7 million.

In addition, the handset makers that aren’t part of the top 5 saw an increase in their representation of the shipment volume, increasing year-on-year this quarter from 42.2-percent to 44.8-percent. Samsung is at the top with 72.4 million shipments this quarter, and Apple is in second at 31.2 million shipments. From there – and in order – is LG, Lenovo, ZTE, and then the rest.

While Samsung and Apple are both still the dominate players in the market, those that fall outside of the “Top 5″ are seeing a rise in sales, predominately in China and India where demand is increasing. IDC says that there is “ample opportunity” for vendors that have something new to bring to the market.

IDC’s Mobile Phone Research Manager Ramon Llamas said: “While Samsung and Apple accounted for significant share of the overall market, they were not the only vendors active in the high end of the market, and recent device introductions and upcoming launches signal more vendors targeting this space. Comparisons will certainly be made to the flagship Galaxy and iPhone models, but clearly the competition refuses to be shut out altogether.”

SOURCE: IDC

Smartphone global shipments increase 6% in Q2 2013 is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve known about the ZTE Geek in the past, but very few details were known at that point, other than that it was running Intel’s Atom Z2580 SoC. However, today we’re being treated with what appears to be an unveiling of the ZTE Geek, running an NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor, making it the world’s first Tegra 4-equipped smartphone.

This ZTE Geek is the same one as the Intel Atom-powered version, but the Tegra 4 model will be available on China Mobile. The company shared some product shots on a Chinese forum ahead of the official announcement of the device. Details and specs of the new device still are not yet known officially, but leaks indicate the phone will pack quite a punch.

The Tegra 4 quad-core chip is said to be clocked at 1.8GHz and will have 2GB of RAM. Covering up the internals will be a 5-inch 1080p display with Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean running the show on the software end. There’s also an 8-megapixel camera with an LED flash and a 2MP shooter on the front for those inevitable selfies.

This is the first smartphone to carry the Tegra 4, and it’ll only be available on China Mobile for now, so a North American release may never happen, or we could see an international version pop up at some point, but specs could change if that happens. It probably won’t be long anyway until a Tegra 4-equipped smartphone lands in the US, as well as other parts of the world. It’ll only be a matter of time.

VIA: Android Community

ZTE Geek claims world’s first Tegra 4 phone title is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

When we first caught a glimpse of the ZTE Geek in Beijing, it was merely an awkwardly named prototype. Now, it looks like the smartphone with “Intel Inside” will soon be ready for primetime — in China, anyway. It boasts the same Clover Trail+ processor as the Lenovo K900, but with pared-down features that help it achieve a lower price point. The phone’s outfitted with Android (Jelly Bean), a 5-inch 1,080 x 720 pixel display, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1-megapixel front cam, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage space. Clearly, it’s not the most tricked-out phone there is, but its price might entice people to try it out. The ZTE Geek will make an exclusive arrival at Jingdong Mall on July 25th, where it’ll retail for ¥1,888 ($307). If you despise cables and your wallet can take a hit, you can also get one bundled with a wireless charging kit for ¥2,288 ($372).

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: Engadget Chinese (translated)

Source: ZTE (Sina Weibo)

Various Chinese smartphone makers such as Huawei, Xiaomi, ZTE and Lenovo are reportedly gearing up to penetrate the tablet market later this year.

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We’ve crossed paths with Firefox OS before, but today marks the first time we’ve played with handsets running the final build of Mozilla’s mobile software. The Alcatel OneTouch Fire and ZTE Open you see above are the same hardware we saw at MWC earlier this year — in fact, the latter just launched in Spain on Telefónica for €69 ($90) contract-free including €30 ($39) of airtime for prepaid customers. We took both phones for a brief spin and immediately noticed a slight improvement in performance. Unfortunately, there’s still a significant amount of lag in the UI, especially when scrolling through web pages and navigating the app tray. Websites also take a while to load, even when connecting over Wi-Fi. Then again, what do you expect for €69? Check out the gallery below and hit the break to watch our hands-on video.

Note: the ZTE Open we handled was destined for Movistar (a Telefónica brand) and is launching today for €69 (not €63 as mentioned in our video).

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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