Saturday
Sep032016

Introducing Lenovo’s new smartphones

Lenovo’s own line of smartphones weren’t neglected during this week’s IFA 2016 in Berlin. There’s the new A Plus, Vibe P2, K6, K6 Power, and K6 Note. We give a quick rundown on five of its new devices here.

Starting us off with the image above is the A Plus, a budget-friendly smartphone with meager specs. It has a 4.5-inch FWVGA screen (480 x 854 resolution), MediaTek MT6580 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage expandable up to 32GB via microSD, dual-SIM support, and a 2,000mAh battery. This 4G with VoLTE-ready device has a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and 2-megapixel front shooter. The Android 6.0-powered handset retails for €69 (approx. CA$100) for the single SIM version and €79 (approx. CA$110), which will be available in Europe starting this month.

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Friday
Sep022016

Google shelves Project Ara

It wasn’t too long ago when Google announced it planned to bring the modular Project Ara smartphone by 2017. Unfortunately, it seems those plans have been scrapped. As a refresher, Project Ara allows users to swap out various parts of a smartphone for times when you need to upgrade or just want to improve a particular feature. A Google spokesperson confirmed to TIME that the initiative isn’t pushing forward as the company wants to consolidate its hardware operations, which include the Nexus line of phones and Chromebook computers. But while Project Ara might not live in its current form. It might still live on in the initiatives from the likes of Lenovo’s Moto Mods and the LG G5. Reuters has reported that Google might be open to working with partners via licensing agreements to bring Project Ara’s technology to the market.

Friday
Sep022016

X marks the spot: Sony’s new mobile focus

Sony is streamlining its smartphone arm and has officially dropped its Xperia Z, M, E, and C lines to focus on its Xperia X range. This line though, according to Sony Mobile EVP of Global Sales & Marketing Hideyuki Furumi, will include a “range of X series, top to bottom.” The company is also attaching the Xperia name to other categories like the Xperia Ear and Xperia Projector. We’ve seen other brands try to focus on a specific line and perhaps it might work for Sony. Furumi told Tech Radar that the other products will still be on sale but don’t expect any new Xperia Z’s heading your way.

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Friday
Sep022016

Bang & Olufsen introduces BeoVision Horizon, an Android-powered 4K TV

It’s not Bang & Olufsen’s first venture into the 4K UHD space so we were hoping it packed in the latest High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology (unfortunately, it does not). But the new BeoVision Horizon isn’t exactly a slouch either. Coming with 40- or 48-inch screens, these stylish yet minimalist TVs come with different stands to suit your preference. There is the default wall mount, a rolling cart design (which Digital Trends pointed out looks like the TVs we borrowed from AV department at school), and a pivoting stand that lets the screen pan from left to right. It’s an Android TV so expect all the features the platform has to offer.

The remote makes use of both Bluetooth and IR so you don’t even need to point it at the TV to get it to work. The remote is a looker in itself, being made out of a single piece of aluminum. The TVs include four HDMI 2.0 inputs (which support HDCP 2.2) to allow for other 4K sources to be connected. It also has HEVC and VP9 codecs included so you can stream 4K content from YouTube, Netflix, and the like.