Posts by Gaurav Shukla
First Blink-enabled Chrome stable build arriving in ten weeks: Google
Google has revealed that we might see the first Blink rendering engine powered Chrome stable build in around ten weeks. This comes just a day after Google announced its plans to switch from WebKit to Blink in its Chrome web browser. Blink is the new rendering engine by Google and is a forked version of WebKit designed to suit the need of Google.
Apparently, Chromium (the project behind Chrome) uses a different multi-process architecture unlike other WebKit based browsers and over the year of Chrome development, this has led to increased complexity. Google wants to remove this complexity and speed up development of Chrome and Chromium projects, thus the switch to Blink.
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HTC One Developer Edition now on pre-order in US
HTC has started taking pre-orders of the developer edition of HTC One smartphone in the United States. The phone will begin shipping on April 18, so that it starts reaching consumers on April 19, when telecom operators like AT&T and Sprint are also starting to sell the contract version of the phone.
It has been priced at USD 649.99, and for this amount, you will get a SIM-unlocked and bootloader-unlocked HTC One smartphone.
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Intex to launch quad-core Aqua Wonder 2 phone under-INR 10,000
Intex seems to be planning to get in the budget quad-core smartphone game but launching its first quad-core smartphone soon. According to several reports online, Intex will launch a new smartphone Aqua Wonder 2 on April 15 with MediaTek’s MT6589 quad-core processor at core.
The phone will be priced under INR 10,000, making it one of the first (probably first) quad-core smartphone to get an under-10K price-tag.
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HTC launches Desire Q, now available in Taiwan
Within days of officially unveiling Desire P, HTC has also launched Desire Q smartphone. The smartphone was officially released in company’s home-country Taiwan. The phone has been priced at NT$6,990 ($234 or €182) and is now available via telecom operator FarEasTone.
HTC Desire Q packs almost the same features as previously released Desire U model. The only difference is looks. It is very surprising why HTC is launching two smartphones with same specs that too in the same country.
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Samsung, Sony, Huawei, Lenovo to make Facebook Home-powered phones
In addition to the launch of Facebook Home, the social giant also introduced Facebook Home Program for handset manufacturers. As a part of this program, mobile-makers can approach Facebook to make Facebook Home-powered devices like HTC First that adhere to the performance guidelines set by the company.
According to Facebook, some of the major names from the smartphone industry have already signed-up for the program like Samsung, Huawei, Sony, Lenovo, ZTE, Alcatel and HTC (obviously). The list is not limited to just smartphone makers, but telecom operators like AT&T, EE, and Orange along with chipmaker Qualcomm are already part of the program.
There is no word on when we can see Facebook Home devices from Samsung, Sony or other companies from the list, but we suspect they will wait to see the fate of Facebook Home powered HTC First as well uptake of Facebook Home in Google Play.
Facebook Home will be available in Google Play on April 12, and HTC First will also go on sale the same day in United States via AT&T.
Facebook to put ads in Facebook Home, just not now
Well, this isn’t surprising at all. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed in Q&A session after the Facebook Home launch that there will be ads in Facebook Home one day, just not at launch. There is no word on when this “one day” will come, but Facebook is likely to wait for a significant uptake of the Facebook Home before thinking of plastering it with ads.
“There are no ads in this yet, I’m sure that one day there will be,” said Mark Zuckerberg. He further confirmed it when another technology journalist asked about advertisements in cover feed of Facebook Home. Another Facebook Home team member revealed that advertisement will be coming to cover feed, which is going to be the most visible section of Facebook Home.
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Facebook Home to only support Android 4.0+ devices
When Facebook unveiled its new home-screen replacement app “Facebook Home” for Android, it skipped a small detail in the main announcement and even the press release. Apparently, Facebook Home is only compatible with phones powered by Ice Cream Sandwich and newer Android versions, the social giant revealed in Q&A following the event.
If your phone has Gingerbread or below Android versions, which are still present on about 45pc of total Android devices, you are out of luck. Facebook did not reveal if it plans to expand the compatibility to Gingerbread, but it seems highly unlikely. Facebook is clearly planning for the future and in the next one year or so, Gingerbread and older versions will be out of the scene and we will have a majority of devices running on 4.0+
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HTC First to be sold via EE, Orange too, contract-free US pricing revealed
HTC along with Facebook unveiled its first phone to come with Facebook’s newly announced ‘Home’ user interface later yesterday. It is dubbed as HTC First, we have already talked in detail about it in our announcement report, but lot more information has appeared since, so here is a round-up of where else we can expect to see HTC First, apart from AT&T and what will be its off-contract pricing in the United States.
The HTC First will be sold exclusively sold by EE in the UK, while Orange will be offering it in France. There is no word on exact pricing or availability dates till now about both the country, but if you want, you can register you interest at the telecom operators’ Facebook pages.
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LG Optimus 4X HD getting Android 4.1 update in Europe
LG has started rolling out Jelly Bean update for its H1, 2012 flagship smartphone Optimus 4X HD in Europe. The update, which was first released in Czech Republic, is now available for all phones bought in Europe in SIM-free and unlocked form.
This Android 4.1 has been made available only via LG Update tool, so you will have to download it from their support site and it works only with Windows. There is no word on when LG (if ever) plans to release it over-the-air.
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HTC announces First, an Android phone with Facebook Home
HTC today became the first smartphone manufacturer to announce the first phone to come with Facebook Home in the form of HTC First. The phone will be first available in the United States with telecom operator AT&T and LTE support. Although, HTC did not reveal about global availability, there were some hints about possible launch with EE and Orange telecom operators in some other countries, probably UK and other European countries.
Apart from the presence of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, HTC First packs the newly announced Facebook Home interface. The Taiwanese manufacturer is putting a lot of confidence in this UI by Facebook that it removed Sense from one of its phone, which believe me is a rare site.
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