Mobile World Congress has officially begun and the first company to send in its new products is Alcatel. The company’s keynote is where three new interesting devices made their debut – the Alcatel Hero 4, Hero 4S and the Hybrid Plus 10.
The two Hero 4 models will of course be the successor of the OT Hero 3 that we saw last year at MWC. Both phones bear the signature reversible design of the Hero moniker. On top of that, Alcatel has teamed up with JBL to give the Hero 4 phones a boost in audio performance.
Specs-wise, the two Hero 4 phones sport slightly different innards. The base model comes with a Snapdragon 617 chipset with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. It also sports a 13MP+8MP camera combo as well as a 5.2-inch Full HD IPS LTPS display, Cat. 6 LTE, dual-mic noise-cancelling setup and two 3.6W speakers.
On the other hand, the higher end model comes with a slightly bigger 5.5-inch AMOLED panel and sports a more powerful Snapdragon 652 chip and 32GB of expandable storage. Battery has also been upped from 2610mAh from the base Hero 4 to 3000mAh.
Both phones will come with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and will ship with a retail box that transforms into a VR headset much like Google’s cardboard.
Lastly, there’s the 2-in-1 Alcatel Plus 10. As the name suggests, the device sports a 10.1-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. The innards is composed of an Intel Atom x5 Z8530 processor clocked at 1.92GHz and comes with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board storage which is expandable up to 64GB using a microSD card.
The tablet also comes with a 5MP+2MP camera combo and a plethora of ports including a full-size USB port, a microUSB and microHDMI ports. The tablet also sports built-in LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and two battery packs – one for the tablet (5830mAh) and one for the keyboard (2580mAh).
By the looks of it, Alcatel is going to market the Plus 10 as a budget tablet probably for consumers or students on a budget.
Alcatel’s highly successful Flash 2 is now getting a fairer version as the Mica White version of the phone is now available in select stores nationwide. The Flash 2 has been out in the market for quite some time now, but the handset was only offered in one finish until now.
The Mica White finish gives the Flash 2 with a more posh feel compared to the more rugged look of the Volcanic Grey version. The white version of the Flash 2 will be priced at around Php 6,790 and will be bundled with a Smart SIM card with free 100MB/month of data for 6 months plus 500MB for accumulated top up of Php200/month again for six months.
Users who are interested in getting the Alcatel Flash 2 can grab the phone from the company’s authorized resellers nationwide, which includes Best Contact, Into Gadgets, Primehub and Tekphone. As for the specs, you can check our Hands-on and first impressions here.
The typical description of a budget smartphone is one that’s
priced less than a hundred dollars. This week, India’s Ringing Bells has
shattered this definition of the budget phone by announcing the Freedom 251
that’s priced at $4. Yep, you read that correctly, it’s just $4.
Looking at the device specs sheet, it’s not that bad. The
Freedom 251 is packing a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of
internal storage. Now this may look like a phone from 2 years ago, but at just
$4, that’s actually not too shabby.
Other notable features of the handset include a 4-inch qHD
display, a 3.2MP camera at the back, a VGA selfie snapper, a 1450mAh battery,
3G connectivity, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth and GPS.
LG has always been known for being the first company to make announcements ahead of Mobile World Congress. Last year, the Korean tech giant announced four phones ahead of the event. For 2016, it seems LG is planning to outdo itself by announcing a number of phones including its next-generation flagship model – the G5.
This week, the Korean company has announced the first batch of handsets it plans to unveil in Barcelona.
For starters, LG is launching a new series of smartphones, which is headlined by the X Cam and X Screen. According to the company’s executives, these phone are built with a specific consumer group in mind – those who want a great camera or great display without the high-end price tag.
On one end, the LG X Cam sports a 5.2-inch Full HD display and comes with a 1.14GHz octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It also has a 2520mAh battery and is equipped with two rear cameras (13MP+5MP) and an 8MP front shooter.
On the other end, the LG X Screen runs with a 4.93-inch HD screen that is complemented by a 1.76-inch LCD secondary display that is implemented in the same fashion as that of the LG V10. Performance is handled by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
The X Screen also comes with a 13MP+8MP camera setup, a 2300mAh battery and runs on Android Marshmallow.
Then there’s the LG Stylus 2, which will replace the G4 Stylus from last year. The Stylus 2 will be a phablet with a 5.7-inch HD display. It will be powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor which is partnered with 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
The device also comes with a 3000mAh battery as well as a 13MP+8MP camera combo. Of course, the highlight of the handset will be the stylus, which according to LG will now have a nano-coated tip instead of the rubber tip used on the stylus of its predecessor.
In order to maximize the use of the stylus, LG has baked in a number of software which include Pen Pop, Pop Memo, Pop Scanner and Pen Keeper.
All three phones will be officially showcased next week in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress 2016.
Source: GSMArena
Samsung isn’t the only manufacturer in the smartphone market that’s moving into the use of metal in their products in order to attract more buyers. This week, Microsoft announced the Lumia 650 which sports a solid aluminum frame.
Although the back plate of the Lumia 650 is still plastic (and is removable), the use of metal around the device hints that the company is going to the right direction.
Specs-wise, the Lumia 650 is sporting a 5-inch HD AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 212 chipset with four Cortex-A7 processor clocked at 1.3GHz, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. There’s also an 8MP camera on the back of the device (f/2.2 aperture) and a 5MP snapper on the front with the same aperture.
The phone is rocking LTE connectivity, Bluetooth v4.1, NFC, Wi-Fi b/g/n, an FM radio, GPS, dual-SIM functionality and a 2000mAh battery which is replaceable too.
The Microsoft Lumia 650 will be launching in select markets in Europe this week for $199.
Source: Windows Blog
The champ among the recently announced chips is the Snapdragon 625 which is built around the 14nm process. This allows the phone’s processor to be clocked beyond 2GHz and brings 4K video recording via 24MP cameras.
Unfortunately, the Snapdragon 625 maxes out at 1900 x 1200 resolution (60 fps) or 1080p (at 30 fps).
A notch lower are the Snapdragon 435 and 425 chips which are built using the 28nm process. These chips support up to eight Cortex-A53 cores that can be clocked up to 1.4GHz.
The Snapdragon 435 has an Adreno 505 GPU and supports displays up to Full HD at 60fps. The chip comes with an X8 modem that gives it Cat. 7 connectivity (300Mbps download and 100Mbps upload). There’s also Wi-Fi ac, Quick Charge 3.0 and Full HD video recording using 21MP cameras.
A notch lower, is the Snapdragon 425, which supports up to four Cortex-A53 processors that can be clocked up to 1.4GHz. The chip also comes with an Adreno 308 GPU, an X6 modem (Cat 4 connectivity - 150Mbps download and 75Mbps upload), Wi-Fi ac and Quick charge 2.0.
Qualcomm has also introduced the Snapdragon Wear 2100 for wearables. The chip is said to be 30% smaller but are 25% more energy efficient than the chips brands today use on their wearables.
The Snapdragon Wear 2100 supports a quad-core Cortex-A57 CPU that can be clocked up to 1.2GHz, an Adreno 304 GPU and supports displays up to 640 x 480 pixel in resolution ( up to 60Hz). There will be two version of the chip - one with 2G/3G/LTE connectivity and one with Bluetooth/Wi-Fi only.
The chip also supports NFC, GPS and Quick Charge 2.0.
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