Filed under: Cellphones
All indications have certainly been pointing towards the
Meizu M8 finally, actually being released this year, and it looks like things just got a tad more official, with Taiwan-based retailer Geek IT Stores announcing that it’s signed up as a distribution partner. While it didn’t announce a date in its press release, a bit of prodding by Tech Ticker apparently convinced the company’s sales head to reveal that the phone would be released in December, with China first on the list to be followed shortly by a roll-out in India, where it’ll run you between Rs. 18,000 and Rs. 22,000 (or roughly $384 to $469) for the 8GB model — which, incidentally, is apparently the only model that’ll be available at launch.
[Via Electronista, Tech Ticker]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Cellphones
Neither LG nor Samsung have ever gone so far to as pin down an actual release date for their promised Android-based phones, but it looks like they could each now be giving themselves yet more wiggle room, at least if the supposedly in the know Mirae Asset Securities is to be believed. According to it, we now shouldn’t expect to see Android handsets from either manufacturer before the second half of 2009 “at the earliest,” which doesn’t exactly match up with earlier word that both companies were aiming for a release in “early 2009.” Venturing even further into speculation, Mirae says that the delay is a result of “negative responses” from mobile phone operators like Vodafone, as well as some general skepticism among advertising sponsors about Google’s profit model for the phones. Of course, none of those parties mentioned are actually saying anything themselves just yet, so you may do well to take all of this with a hefty grain of salt for the time being.
[Via Unwired View]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Rumors are coming fast and furious today citing unnamed tipsters that Apple is hard at work hammering out a CDMA iPhone for its friends at Verizon to be announced and released next year, the carrier it had initially approached about carrying the device back in 2005. Way we see it, though, 2009 ain’t 2005; Apple’s wielding boatloads more power in the wireless biz than it was before the first model launched, the industry’s economics have changed, and technology roadmaps have been rewritten.
So why isn’t this happening, exactly? First, Apple appears to be having no trouble finding enough customers (carriers, that is) to keep iPhone 3G production at a nice clip. Second, CDMA represents a minute fraction of the world’s mobile customer base that GSM / UMTS does — no matter how big Verizon, Sprint, Telus, Bell, KDDI au, and the remaining CDMA stalwarts may be. Third, CDMA is a dying technology that will be finished off in the early part of the next decade as networks make the migration to LTE and other 4G platforms. Fourth, we have to believe Apple would sooner pour its engineering efforts into advancing the iPhone platform in the same direction as the world’s networks than divert considerable resources to busting out a one-off special.
Might this mythical CDMA iPhone yet exist? Yeah, Verizon’s a huge carrier, and yes, stranger things have happened — but until Steve and Ivan get on stage together at Macworld 2009, we’re not buying it.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Robots, Transportation
Nissan’s already hard at work on some
crash-avoidance systems for regular, human-driven cars, but it looks like it’s not stopping there, with it now also showing off its
BR23C robotic “car,” which apparently takes its inspiration from the humble bumblebee. That comes in the form of the BR23C’s laser range finder (or LRF), which acts like a bee’s compound eye to detect obstacles up to two meters away within a 180-degree radius. When combined with the slightly mysterious crash avoidance system, that apparently lets the car react “instinctively” the split second it detects an obstacle and maneuver accordingly. Of course, as you can see above, Nissan doesn’t seem to be quite ready to test the system with any human passengers just yet, but the company has some big plans for the future, with it aiming to cut its rate of car crashes in half by 2015 compared to its stats from 1995.
[Via Autoblog]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Storage
What’s been keepin’ ya, SanDisk? We knew these little buggers were legit late last week, but for whatever reason, the outfit chose to keep its trap shut until today. Finally, SanDisk has confessed in painful detail that its 16GB microSDHC and M2 cards are for real, marking the largest capacity available in both formats. Of note, even Sony doesn’t have a 16GB M2 card on the market, though it’s possible the firm is too busy dealing with all those other proprietary formats to mess with this one. At any rate, Best Buy Mobile and Verizon Wireless stores will be your go-to place for either one, though we’d be prepared to shell out $99.99 (16GB microSDHC) or $129.99 (16GB M2) when they land in November.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
