Oppo Ulike 2 comes with a 5 MP front camera to replace the mirror for ladies’ makeup on the go

The Oppo Ulike 2 (model number U705T) isn’t your run of the mill device that got a new paint job and a few ‘girly’ gimmicks and has thus been rebadged as a full-on ‘women’s phone’, such as the HTC Rhyme or upcoming Samsung La Fleur handsets. No, this is something a little bit more thought through. And it’s been inspired by a Chanel lipstick, apparently.

That, of course, doesn’t mean that it will be the first ever women-focused smartphone to actually be successful, mind you. But it may have a bigger chance at that than its predecessors from the competition.

The Oppo Ulike 2 has a 5 MP front-facing camera. That fact alone is rather intriguing, since this is the first smartphone in the world to come with such high-res optics in its secondary snapper. In fact, most if not all of today’s top of the line flagship devices don’t go much above 2 MP for their front-facing shooter, so the Ulike 2 is ahead by a wide margin.

That camera is in there for two reasons. First, to enable the women who’ll buy the device to use it as a mirror, when need arises for a quick make-up session or do-over on the go. Using the front-facing camera’s preview mode, and watching the resulting image on the big, 4.5-inch touchscreen, will probably replace a pocket/purse mirror without any trouble. The 5 MP unit should make the images look crisp enough for spotting even the most minute details.

Furthermore, the front-facing camera is perfect for self-portraits, Oppo claims. The camera app comes with five different ‘effects’ that can be applied, in real-time, to the viewfinder, among them being “dermabrasion, whitening, face-lift, eye enhancement” – so that self-portrait will turn out just perfect. The company also claims that its new camera app is faster than third party offerings which come with filters too.

Of course, video calls also benefit from the good front-facing camera, but that’s probably not going to be the main selling point here (who does video calls on mobile anyway?).

The Oppo Ulike 2 will be incredibly compact for a smartphone bearing a 4.5-inch touchscreen, thanks in no small part to its ridiculously small screen bezel – just 2.2 mm. This will help with one-handed operation, which is essential for the ‘mirror’ use case to actually work in practice. The phone’s dimensions are 127×63.7×8.95 mm.

Oppo has confirmed to Chinese media that it is working on this device. It hasn’t announced all its specs, but the rumors making rounds in China speak about a 4.5-inch 540×960 touchscreen, an 8 MP rear camera, a yet-unknown dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of built-in storage space, and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. We’ll keep you posted.

Via IT168

Samsung Galaxy S III Smartphone Announced

Finally, Samsung unveiled its long-waited, long-rumored flagship Galaxy S III smartphone. According to the phone maker, the phone is “designed for humans and inspired by nature,” which “recognizes your voice, understands your intention, and lets you share a moment instantly and easily”. Unlike the Galaxy S II with a more rectangular shape, the third generation of Galaxy S has a pebble-like shape and looks a bit like the Galaxy Nexus.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is powered by a Samsung Exynos 1.4GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM. It sports a 4.8-inch 1280×720 HD Super AMOLED (PenTile, however) touchscreen display, NFC support, AllShare DLNA, Bluetooth 4.0 (LE), GPS, and WiFi connectivity. It comes with 8 Megapixel auto focus camera with flash, Zero Shutter Lag, BSI sensor, 1080p Full HD video recording, and a 1.9 Megapixel front camera for video chat. Samsung also added burst shot, best photo, recording snapshot and HDR features to enhanced the camera. The handset is available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities, and supports microSD/SDHC up to 64GB.

The Galaxy S III runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz and Samsung’s own enhancements, including S Voice Music Hub, Game Hub, Video Hub. As a phone designed for humans, it recognize your face and voice. With front camera identifies your eyes, the phone maintains a bright display for continued viewing pleasure, when you are using your phone. The new Galaxy features S Voice, a Siri-like application, that listen and respond to your words.There is also Buddy Photo Share function that lets share photos with all your friends pictured in an image directly from the camera or the photo gallery; Direct Call that will call your friend when you are messaging someone as you lift the phone to your ear. It also includes the S Beam, which is an enhanced Android Beam, allowing a 1GB movie file to be shared within three minutes and a 10MB music file within two seconds by simply touching another Samsung Galaxy S III phone, even without WiFi or cellular signal.

The Samsung Galaxy S III supports quad-band GSM/EDGE, quad-band 3G HSPA+ 21Mbps networks. There will also be 4G version for some markets. Samsung is going to ship the device from the end of May in Europe, then in other countries. It comes in Marble White and, instead of black, Pebble Blue.

[Samsung 1|2]

Pebble smartwatch keeps time with your iOS and Android devices, has e-paper screen

While smartwatches are nothing new, there really hasn’t been one that has all the features you’d expect, not to mention they’ve typically been expensive. That’s all set to change, as a new Kickstarter project presents the Pebble watch. It’s compatible with iOS and Android thanks to Bluetooth, and has an e-paper display so that you can easily view it outside.

The watch connects to your iPhone or Android device using Bluetooth, and alerts you to notifications with the built-in vibration motor. While text messages aren’t supported on iOS, almost everything else is: incoming calls, Facebook and Twitter notifications, as well as email, calendar, and weather alerts. Luckily for Android owners, text messages are supported by the watch.

You’ll also be able to configure the watchface. If you want something simplistic, like text, that will be available, as well as classical and more modern faces. Pebble say that the watch will come with a wide variety of different faces, and more will be added as time goes on.

The big selling point of the watch is apps. The Pebble will be able to run different apps for various scenarios: for example, cycling would tap into the phone’s GPS in order to display speed and distance, while runners would be able to control their music from the watch. Pebble is also working with Freecaddie to bring a rangefinder app to the watch, with data on over 25,000 courses. Developers will be able to make their own apps for the watch with the available SDK and upload them to Pebble’s phone app.

If this sounds like your dream watch, head over to Kickstarter and make a pledge. Right now, the first 200 people will be able to get their hands on a black Pebble watch for $99. After that, they’ll set you back $115, with a white and red option costing $125.[Kickstarter]

Instagram Will Be Out In Android Phones Really Soon

A few weeks ago, Instagram CEO Kevin Stystrom promised that Instragram woul be available for Androids really soon. Now it looks like its getting closer.

Instagram has just posted an official sign up sheet for Android users who want the app on their phones. Just click over http://instagr.am/android/ and enter your email address. The Instagram team will notify you whenever its ready.

Instagram is a photo sharing app that debuted in iPhones. It has a lots of filters to spruce up your photos before sharing to the Instagram network, Twitter and Facebook.

Stystrom said that the Android version will have more features when it is released. Instagram has 27 million subscribers and tapping the Android market will help the numbers grow.

Source: Engadget

Sony Xperia sola Smartphone with Floating Touch

Sony Mobile announced yet another Xperia smartphone, the Xperia solo featuring the Floating Touch navigation technology allows you to browse the web without actually touching the screen. The Floating Touch allows uers to navigate the web by hovering their finger above the screen so it acts like a moving curser, without actually having to touch the screen.

The Xperia sola is powered by a dual-core 1GHz STE U8500 processor. It sports a 3.7-inch 854×480 Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine, a 5 Megapixel camera with auto focus and flash, xLOUD and 3D surround sound audio technology, 8GB internal memory and a microSD card slot. The phone is capable of 720p HD video recording and includes 2D and 3D Sweep Panorama shooting mode. In addition to Bluetooth and WiFi, the sola also comes with DLNA certified and NFC enabled. Using the included two Xperia NFC SmartTags, users can launch a re-configured profile in the smartphone easily with a simple tap.

Sony Xperia sola will come with Android 2.3 with future upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich during Summer 2012. It will be available in black, white and red, and will be released in China as Sony Xperia MT27i.

Xperia sola

[Sony Mobile 1|2]

Instagram For Android Demoed AT SXSW

We know that the Instagram team have been working on a version of their application for Google’s Android platform, and now the company has shown off Instagram for Android at this years SXSW.

The application was briefly demonstrated, and they also announced that Instagram now has over 27 million users, which is an increase of 12 million users in January.

Unfortunately we still don’t have any photos of Instagram for Android, although the creators of the app have described it as “In some ways, it’s better than our iOS app. It’s crazy,”.

As soon as we get some more information on when Instagram will be available for Android we will let you guys know, although we suspect we wont have to wait very much longer for the app to be released.

Source :  geeky-gadgets

LG announces the Optimus 4X HD ahead of MWC

Rest assure, LG is still on top of things and announced today its Optimus 4X HD a new Quad Core Smartphone! Available later this year, the Optimus 4X HD comes pre-loaded with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwiches and will offer you all the bell and whistles that comes with an 1.5Ghz Tegra 3 CPU (Quad Core). Screen-wise the Optimus 4X HD comes with a rather nice little 4.7” True HD IPS screen (1280×720) alongside 16GB of internal memory and 1GB of RAM and a 8Mpix rear camera.

Source : en.akihabaranews

Eden TAB, Japan’s latest Android 4.0 Tablet

Coming straight from China here you are the eden TAB from Xiaomi that is set to conquer Japan. Sold next week running on Android 2.3.3 but schedule to be upgraded soon to Android 4.0, the eden TAB, a 7” WXGA Tablet, is powered by a Samsung S5PC210 1.2GHz Dual Core CPU, comes with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory.

Announced at around 29,800 Yen, the eden TAB comes with the usual WiFi and weight just 330g for a total size of 199×118.8×10.4mm

Via  -   en.akihabaranews

Optimus LTE Tag launched in Korea

LG just couldn’t wait for Mobile World Congress to get underway on the 27th before showing off its new Optimus Vu handset. These new pics offer a much clearer look at its 4×3 aspect ratio, 1024×768 res, stylus-friendly 5-inch IPS LCD display, while the official specs confirm rumors it would pack a 1.5GHz dual core CPU, 8MP camera, LTE, 2080mAh battery and Android 2.3 in a slim 8.5mm thick frame. An upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich is promised within three months of its launch, currently scheduled for March on Korean carriers SK Telecom and LG+. For example, users can walk into an office and swipe a tag to put their phone in silent mode and activate WiFi. Using a tag on the car dashboard could be programmed to turn on Bluetooth, GPS and raise the volume.

The phone will go on sale in Korea late February for 800,000 Korean Won ($710).

Source : engadget

Boost Mobile LG Marquee Smartphone

Boost Mobile, Sprint’s non-contract wireless brand, launches the LG Marquee mid-range Android smartphone with a ultra thin design. The slim device is just 0.36-inch thick. It sports a 4-inch 700-nit NOVA touchscreen display, a 5 Megapixel main camera with 720p video capability and a 2 Megapixel front-facing camera.

The Marquee runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS on a 1GHz processor. It has 4GB internal storage and supports microSD card slot. For connectivity, you can find GPS/AGPS, Bluetooth with stereo support and WiFi. The LG Marquee is now available with Boost Mobile’s no-contract $55 Android Monthly Unlimited plan with Shrinkage, which includes unlimited nationwide talk, text messaging, Web, email and calls to 411.

[Sprint]