ZTE Open Goes Official with Firefox OS

Mozilla is pushing hard on the deployment of its Firefox OS on handsets, and has showcased at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today a ZTE smartphone running under the platform, none other than the ZTE Open. Only an entry-level device, the smartphone will arrive on the market with a 3.5-inch (480×320 pixels) touchscreen display, as well as with a 1GHz single-core Qualcomm processor and 256MB of RAM. The phone’s specs list also includes 512MB of internal memory (with a microSD card slot for expansion purposes), along with a 3.2-megapixel photo snapper on the back, and a 1,200 mAh battery. Furthermore, ZTE packed the Firefox OS device with Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, HSDPA, and GPS with AGPS. Apparently, the company...

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Firefox OS Mascot, a Fox That's on Fire

Firefox, the animal from which the browser gets its name, isn't actually a fox. It's not really on fire either, though you probably guessed as much. In fact, the red panda, also known as the firefox, is more related to raccoons and bears than to foxes. And, no, it's not a panda either. But such intricacies are of little importance to Mozilla or fans of Firefox the browser. Mozilla has used a stylized fox as a mascot or, at the very least, the Firefox mascot and logo looks more like a fox than like a red panda. For Firefox OS, which is getting a big push at the Mobile World Conference, Mozilla decided to drop all pretense and use a fox which is on fire as the logo and mascot, a literal fire fox. To make things even less confusing,...

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Nokia’s Mapping and Navigation Services Will Be Known as HERE

Today, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona two new smartphones running under Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 operating system, namely the Lumia 520 and Lumia 720, and also announced some changes to its mapping and navigation services for smartphones. Starting today, these will be known as HERE, following the rebranding that the company first announced last year. Through HERE, Nokia shows its commitment to delivering on maps and cartography, and is slowly moving towards renaming all the location experiences on smartphones, computers and cars to it. “The HERE experience is built on the world’s most complete and accurate map data based on 25 years of mapping technology leadership. We offer...

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Windows Blue Hit RTM in June

Microsoft is reportedly working on Windows Blue, the first major makeover for Windows 8 that’s expected to hit the market in just a few months. According to reports coming from Win8China, Blue is expected to reach the RTM development stage in June, so the August release date rumored a few days ago pretty much makes sense. As for the public beta that could see daylight before general availability, expect it to surface in May, just a few weeks before Windows Blue goes RTM. It appears that Windows Blue will be offered at absolutely no cost to Windows 8 users, as it’ll pack plenty of improvements for Microsoft’s latest operating system. As usual, Microsoft doesn’t comment on Windows Blue, but with so many insiders talking about the...

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Pwnie Express PwnPad, an Android-Based Penetration Testing Tablet

Cybersecurity solutions provider Pwnie Express has unveiled the Pwn Pad, an Android tablet based on Google Nexus 7 that’s designed to allow penetration testers to easily analyze both wireless and wired networks. Pwnie Express representatives have told Wired that they’ve added the TP-Link wireless adapter to Pwn Pad in order to enable packet injection on Android. The adapter also enhances the range of the wireless packet injection. The long list of toolkits installed on the tablet includes Aircrack-ng, Reaver, MDK3, btscanner, Nikto, Nmap, Tcpdump, Ettercap-ng and John the Ripper. The company will start shipping Pwn Pad in the first week of April, but pre-orders can already be made. The price of the tablet is $795 (600 EUR). Pwnie...

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Nokia 301 Arrives with 3.5G, HD Voice, 39 Days on Standby

The new Nokia Lumia 720 and Lumia 520 were only two of the new devices that the Finnish mobile phone maker made official today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The Nokia 301 was also among them, featuring a classic Nokia design from all angles, and set to arrive on the market in the second quarter of the year with a price tag of only €65 ($86) attached to it. The new phone will be launched in single and dual-SIM flavors, with a 2.4-inch QVGA TFT color display, 256MB of internal memory, up to 32GB of external storage via microSD, 64MB of RAM, Bluetooth 3.0, 3.5 mm AV Connector, and 2.0 mm Charger Connector. Nokia 301 measures 114 x 50 x 12.5 mm and weighs 102 grams, while also packing support for 3.5G connectivity...

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Samsung Hands Out Invites for Galaxy S IV’s March 14 Event

Earlier today, rumors on Samsung’s plans to introduce the upcoming Galaxy S IV smartphone on March 14 have been officially confirmed, and it seems that the company has already started to hand out press invites for the launch event. The South Korean mobile phone maker handed out paper invitations to the New York City events at its booth at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona, thus offering further confirmation on the upcoming release. At the same time, the press invite (available courtesy of SamMobile) not only confirms the March 14 event, but also appears to provide confirmation on the handset’s name, which should be Galaxy S IV in the end. Unfortunately, the same as before, specific info on the smartphone’s hardware specifications...

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Sony Quad-Core Xperia Tablet Z Released

This week will be a week of tablets, as the Mobile World Congress, 2013 Edition, has finally started (February 25-28). Sony, as one might guess, is present at the show, launching things like the Xperia Tablet Z. Some may be quick to note that it is incorrect to say Sony is releasing the tablet. After all, the device was released in Japan last month. On the other hand, the tablet has only been available in the Country of the Rising Sun so far. This is why the presence of the slate at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, is such a big deal. It also exposes some information that was previously unknown, like the MHL (mobile high-definition link technology), top storage capacity expansion via microSD card (64 GB instead of...

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Intel Confirms ASUS Fonepad Impending Announcement

A couple of days back, ASUS published a very unusual “trailer” video, of sorts, for a tablet called Fonepad, which had voice call capabilities not unlike smartphones. Now we are told that the slate will be launched sooner rather than later. Intel has mentioned that a tablet will be released later today (February 25, 2013). While we were not given a name for the device itself, ASUS was specified as the developer, so it is all but certain that the Fonepad is the one. The tablet will rely on the Atom Processor Z2420, codenamed Lexington, which has up to 1.2 GHz frequency and all the video playback and I/O capabilities that SoCs (system-on-chip devices) are expected to possess. Fonepad will have a metallic silver finish, 1 GB of...

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Intel Talks LTE-Enabled Atom Clover Trail+ Processors on MWC 2013

Today at the MWC 2013 trade show in Barcelona, chip maker Intel announced a new dual-core Atom SoC (“Clover Trail+”) platform designed for use inside smartphones and tablet PCs running under Google’s Android operating system, with support for LTE connectivity packed inside. The new Atom processor platform (“Clover Trail+”) and smartphone reference design is meant to provide low power and long battery life, as well as increased performance capabilities to Android devices, the company says. Furthermore, Intel claims that the new SoC will offer support for smooth Web browsing, viewing of full HD movies while on the go, as well as a great Android applications experience. Three 32nm dual-core Intel Atom processors were announced in the...

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Mozilla Firefox OS Previews at MWC 2013

Mozilla’s Firefox OS is moving closer to making an official appearance on the market, and the platform has been previewed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona over the weekend (a video demo can be seen at the bottom of this article). The platform is set to become available on devices in Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Venezuela in the beginning, with more markets set to arrive soon. 17 wireless carriers around the world have committed to Firefox OS devices, Mozilla also announced: America Movil, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Three Group, KDDI, KT, MegaFon, Qtel, SingTel, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia Group, Telefonica, Telenor, TMN and VimpelCom. The handsets will...

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Galaxy S IV Announced on March 14, Confirmed by Samsung

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung has been long said to plan the launch of its 2013 flagship Android-based smartphone on March 14 in New York, and confirmation on the matter has already emerged. No details on the smartphone itself have been provided, but a recent article on AllThingsD notes that a Samsung spokesperson has confirmed that the smartphone will be made official on that day. Last year, the company announced the Galaxy S III in London, but it will unveil the new device in Apple’s homeland market, in an attempt to hurt sales of the iPhone even more. Galaxy S IV is expected to be capable of delivering superior performance when compared to last year’s flagship device, courtesy of a Snapdragon processor. It is also...

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