Dual-SIM ARCHOS 50c Oxygen with Octa-Core CPU Unveiled Ahead of MWC 2014

French company ARCHOS has just unveiled its lineup of smartphones for the first half of 2014, which contains only 3 devices: 50c Oxygen, 64 Xenon and 40b Titanium.

The most advanced of the three, ARCHOS 50c Oxygen is a dual-SIM smartphone that comes equipped with MediaTek's true octa-core chipset. The good news is that the smartphone will be available for purchase for less than £200 (€240 / $330) off contract. Unfortunately, there's no word on when exactly the ARCHOS 50c Oxygen will go on sale and where you will be able to pick it up. All three ARCHOS smartphones will ship with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box. It's unlikely that any of these devices will receive any major upgrades in the future.

As we have mentioned earlier, ARCHOS 50c Oxygen is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6592 processor, a Mali 450MP4 graphics processing unit and 1GB of RAM. ARCHOS 64 Xenon is equipped with a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582 processor, a Mali 400MP2 graphics processing unit and 1GB of RAM. Last but not least, the ARCHOS 40b Titanium packs a 1.3GHz dual-core Mediate MT6572 processor, a Mali 400 graphics processing unit and only 512MB of RAM.

“ARCHOS’ new lineup of products highlights the company’s commitment to innovation and confirms its position in the 3G/4G market. Our new product offerings continue to push the boundaries of technology, blending superior design, cutting-edge technology and impressive affordability,” said Loic Poirier, CEO of ARCHOS. It is also worth mentioning that the 50c Oxygen sports a 5-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display that supports HD (720p) resolution, while the 64 Xenon boasts a huge 6.4-inch IPS LCD display with HD (720p) resolution. ARCHOS 40b Titanium comes with a much smaller 4-inch display that supports 800 x 480 pixels resolution. Apart from the ARCHOS 50c Oxygen, which packs 8GB of storage, the rest of ARCHOS' smartphones feature 4GB of internal memory.

“MediaTek is very pleased to see its portfolio of dual-, quad-, and octa-core ‘Systems-on-a-Chip’ well represented across ARCHOS’ breaking new smartphone line-up. This is another proof-point of MediaTek’s commitment in making rich multimedia features, leading edge multi- processing and multi-mode connectivity available to everyone at affordable price levels,” added Siegmund Redl, MediaTek's VP and GM of corporate marketing in Europe.

ARCHOS 50c Oxygen

ARCHOS 40b Titanium
Images credits to ARCHOS

Read more »

Sony SmartWatch 2 Might Arrive with New Garmin Navigation App

The smartwatch competition is getting pretty intense, so Sony is looking to up its game with its all-new intelligent time-keeping wearable.

The most recent batch of rumors claims the new Sony SmartWatch 2 device will come equipped with a Garmin navigation app, says Pocket-Lint. Regardless of how diversified the market for smartwatches seems to be now, keep in mind that Sony was one of the first to offer such a product back in 2012. The device didn't really catch on back then, perhaps being a little ahead of its time. Garmin is another company that’s clinging to existence, in recent times. The company used to provide top-class navigation devices and software, but ever since the advent of services such as Google Maps, its time seems to have passed.

By partnering up with Sony, Garmin is hoping to reestablish itself by offering its servicing to an established Android platform. Sony’s upcoming SmartWatch 2 is said to be capable of displaying higher quality images. The same Garmin Navigation app is said to arrive on the upcoming Xperia Z2 code-named Sirius.

Sony SmartWatch 2 might come bundled with the Garmin app
Image credits to AndroidCommunity

Read more »

Nexus 8 to Arrive in July with Android 4.5

We have told you about the upcoming Google Nexus 8 in the past before, but as it turns out we’ll get to see the device appear this summer in July.

This week it's been announced Google will be hosting its I/O 2014 developer conference between 25 and 26 of July, which raised a lot of speculations regarding what we were going to see during the event. The guys over at the AndroidGeeks were a tad more curious, so they got in touch with a person familiar with the matter who managed to confirm that the new Android 4.5 build was going to be introduced to the press during the event. The Google Dublin employee said the conference would be the launching platform for something else as well. Yes, you've guessed it, the Nexus 8 is going to be introduced at the I/O 2014 conference, too. As you might probably remember, Google was said to be abandoning the manufacturing of 7-inch tablets, a decision prompted by seeing disappointing Nexus 7 2013 sales. Albeit being a good tablet, featuring a set of capable specifications and a decent price-tag, the tablet has failed to impress the public.

On top of that, pressure from the phablet-market is cueing customers to reorient their preferences towards tablets with larger displays, so Google will be taking up the manufacturing of 8-inchers, instead. At the moment, there are a bunch of notable 8-inch products on the market, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, new Galaxy TabPRO 8.4 or LG G Pad 8.3. The Dublin Google employee couldn't specify whether the new Nexus 8 will come pre-installed with Android 4.5, but it’s highly likely this will be the case. A previous Asian report placed the rolling out of the Nexus 8 somewhere around April, but if we are to listen to the Dublin source, the launch date has been pushed a few months.

Nexus 8 tipped to arrive with Android 4.5
Image credits to Pocketnow

Read more »

Dual-Boot (Android / Firefox) Geeksphone Revolution Goes on Sale for $300 (€220)

Last week, Spanish company Geeksphone confirmed that it would make its “revolutionary” Revolution smartphone available for purchase on February 20.

The smartphone is unique in the fact that it allows users to switch between two operating systems (Android & Firefox) while on the move. The Revolution is now available for purchase via Geeksphone's online store for only $300 (€220). The device can be shipped anywhere in the world, but shipping fees are not included in the outright price mentioned earlier. Aside from the dual-boot smartphone, Geeksphone has previously announced that it will launch a series of accessories for the Revolution, but they are not available yet. Geeksphone Revolution comes equipped with a 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2560 processor, which is complemented by 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory.

Although it comes with such a low amount of storage, users will be able to further expand internal memory up to 32GB via microSD memory card. For those wondering if Geeksphone Revolution supports their carriers' networks, the Spanish company has confirmed that the smartphone is fully compatible with the following HSPA/WCDMA bands: 2100 / 1900 / 900 /850 MHz. In addition, the Revolution supports the following GSM / GPRS / EDGE bands: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz. The Revolution has a more than decent 4.7-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display that supports 540 x 960 pixels resolution. It also packs an enhanced 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording, as well as a secondary 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls.

Geeksphone Revolution is powered by a 2000 mAh battery and offers a wide range of connectivity options, including HSPA (21Mbps) and HSUPA (5.76Mbps), along with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Keep in mind that Revolution comes with Android Jelly Bean operating system by default, but you will be able to switch to Firefox OS seamlessly thanks to the “Multi OS” technology integrated in the smartphone.

Geeksphone Revolution
Images credits to Geeksphone

Read more »