CES 2014: Alcatel Onetouch announce Idol X and Idol Mini smartphones coming to Canada

– ALCATEL ONETOUCH today announced the upcoming availability of the flagship Idol X and Idol Mini smartphones in Canada. Part of the Idol family of smartphones, designed to deliver rich features within a slim form factor, the 5" Idol X and 4.3" Idol Mini will be available in Canada through Bell and Virgin Mobile Canada in the coming weeks.

“This Canadian launch is a major step in ALCATEL ONETOUCH’s continued growth in North America,” said Steve Cistulli, Senior Vice President of North America for ALCATEL ONETOUCH. “We look forward to delivering on our promise to offer customers high quality smartphones at a great price.”

Click to read more ...

CES 2014: Lenovo joins the 8-inch Windows 8.1 tablet category with the ThinkPad 8

The 8-inch tablet market for Windows 8 devices is going to see some serious competition. We love Dell's Venue 8 Pro and what it brings to the market but Lenovo's done one better with its recently revealed ThinkPad 8 which brings an 8.3-inch screen with a  1,920 x 1,080 resolution. It is powered by a 2.4GHz quad-core Atom processor, 128GB storage and an 8-hour battery life plus 8 hours of battery life. It should start at around US $449 when it comes to market in the next month.

Source: Engadget

Apple's new Mac Pro has a replaceable socketed CPU

The new Mac Pro is truly a uniquely designed desktop unlike anything anyone has seen before. Yet, the fact that this compact computer is one of the first fully-solid state workstations in the market (meaning no moving parts), makes some potential buyers nervous.

But fear not, the most important components of the Mac Pro can be replaced and upgraded quite easily. The RAM and, most surprisingly, the CPU can be replaced if need be. The fly in the ointment is that the SSD drives and the graphics cards are permanent. 

Source: ExtremeTech

First look at Nokia's Lumia 1520 and the Lumia 2520

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

The future of Windows Phone rests in Nokia's Lumia line. As Finland's finest continues to refine its Windows Phone hardware and features, more models have been making waves in the market. All this, while other Windows Phone hardware partners have fallen from the wayside.

The dozen or so OEMs that graced the Microsoft stage when Windows Phone debuted, have left the party, with HTC and Samsung as the last two OEMs to release notable handsets, but that was in 2012. 

While not yet available in Canada, the Lumia 1520 and the Lumia 2520 round out Nokia's pre-acquisition family of devices and here are my impressions after having had a chance to try both devices out.

Click to read more ...