Alcatel is bringing five new mobile devices to this year’s CES – two smartphones, a phablet, and two tablets. They will be available for checkup on January 6 in Las Vegas for anyone who’s interested.

Alcatel Pixi 3 (8)

The Alcatel Pixi 3 (8) is an 8″ slate running on the latest Windows 10 Mobile. It packs an IPS display of 1280 x 800 pixels, and is powered by the Snapdragon 210 chip with a quad-core 1.3GHz processor, Adreno 304 GPU, and 1GB of RAM. The Pixi 3 (8) supports SIM cards and can tap into GSM, 3G, and 4G LTE networks.

The rest of the specs include 32GB expandable storage, a 5MP rear and a 2MP front camera, and a 4,060 mAh battery.

Alcatel Pixi 4 (3.5)

Alcatel Pixi 4 (3.5) is the smallest of the new Pixi 4 series – it’s a smartphone with a 3.5″ HVGA display. The little fella runs on a MT6572M chip with a dual-core 1.1GHz Cortex-A7 processor with 512MB RAM, packs a 2MP rear and a 0.3MP front snapper, and there is 4GB expandable storage. Android 5.1 Lollipop is in charge of the Pixi 4 (3.5).

Alcatel Pixi 4 (4)

Alcatel Pixi 4 (4) has a 4″ WVGA display and ticks on the MT6580M chip with a quad-core 1.3GHz Cortex-A7 processor and 512MB/1GB RAM depending on the choice of storage – either 4GB or 8GB, both expandable. The camera department is also different – 2MP rear and 0.3MP front or 5MP rear and 2MP front lens depending on the model.

All Pixi 4 (4) run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Alcatel Pixi 4 (6)

The Alcatel Pixi 4 (6) is a 6″ phablet with a 720p IPS display and Snapdragon 210 chip (4x Cortex-A7 at 1.1GHz, 1GB RAM). It offers 8GB expandable storage, 8MP rear camera, a 5MP selfie snapper, LTe connectivity, and a 2,580 mAh battery.

The Pixi 4 (6) opens on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.

Alcatel Pixi 4 (7)

Finally, the Alcatel Pixi (7) offers a 7″ display of 1024 x 600 pixels and runs on MT8321 chip with a quad-core 1.1GHz Cortex-A7 processor and 1GB of RAM. The slate comes with 8GB expandable storage, a 2,580 mAh battery, supports GSM and 3G networks, and can snap 2MP stills with its rear camera or 0.3MP selfies. Android 6.0 Marshmallow loads right out the box.

Alcatel CareTime Watch

Alcatel is bringing one more gadget to the CES expo – the CareTime Children’s Watch. It’s a kid’s watch with a small 0.95″ OLED display (96×64) and its main purpose is GPS tracking. The kids would also be able to make calls or send messages to a list of predefined contacts. Alcatel promises 4 days of battery life on standby.

All of these devices will be available to the public on January 6. We’ll try to give you a sneak peek during our time in Las…

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MediaTek used the CES 2016 show to introduce three new system-on-a-chip products – the MediaTek MT8581, MT2523G and MT7697. The trio covers home entertainment, wearables and Internet of Things (Connected Home) devices, respectively.

The MediaTek MT2523G is the most interesting of the bunch and will soon be inside smartwatches and other wearable devices. The chip features dual-mode Bluetooth and GPS and is capable of running high-resolution mobile screens. The MediaTek MT2523 features a Cortex-M4 CPU and is capable of lasting more than a week on one battery charge.

MediaTek says the MT2523 will be ready for device makers in the first half of 2016

The MediaTek MT8581 will be used by home entertainment systems and supports Blu-Ray, DVD and CD playback. Users will be able to scale up to 4K from DVD as well as scale down to a non-4K screen. It features HEVC, H.264 and VP9 4K 60p video decoder for 4K (3840×2160) video content and also MPEG-2, VP8 and VC-1 2K 60p video decoder for 1080p content.

Finally, the MediaTek MT7697 focuses on a mix of low-power consumption and good connectivity including Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi. Specifications for this chip destined for IoT devices are still unknown.

The company also shared that it ships 1.5 billion SoCs per year used in mobile, tablets and TVs. Projection is that the market for SoCs will reach “tens of billions units” by 2020 due to the addition of IoT products to the…

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As you may have heard, Huawei has scheduled its CES press conference for 10:00 AM local time in Las Vegas today, which we will be sure to cover, but a few leaks have been unearthed that might already give us some insight on what the Chinese giant has in store. Allegedly, Huawei won’t be launching any new “D”, “M” or “P” series devices at the venue, but might instead focus on a brand new tablet offer.

The device, dubbed the Honor X3 tablet, comes as a somewhat logical successor to last year’s Huawei MediaPad X2, although as part of the Honor line and with a confusingly similar moniker to the Honor X5 smartphone.

Judging from the newly leaked specs and consequent renders, the Honor X3 tablet is shaping up as sizable 10.0-inch tablet with a slick and clean design and quite thin profile. Its body is said to measure 240 x 173 x 7.4mm, while still leaving room for a few physical buttons on the sides, what appear to be four speakers, as well as a front-mounted fingerprint reader.

Powering the DR-A01L tablet should be the OEM’s own Kirin 935 octa-core chip, instead of the highly praised new Kirin 950 model, as previously suggested. We would have definitely preferred to see another Kirin 950 powerhouse device join the ranks of the Huawei Mate 8, which the OEM has promised to showcase during the event, but lower-end specs should also mean a more competitive price point. And with recent formidable competitors, like the Xiaomi Mi Pad 2, the Huawei Honor X3 has a tough road ahead of it and can use any help it can get.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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The Surface will get a lot of competition soon – from yesterday’s Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet to this rumored, Windows-powered tablet from Samsung. Perhaps it’s the one we heard about back in August or at least the one that got Wi-Fi certified in December.

The Samsung Galaxy TabPRO S looks like a fairly standard Samsung tablet, but this one gets its own keyboard dock too. Early rumors suggest a 12″ Super AMOLED screen (2,560 x 1,600px or 3,840 x 2,400px) with S Pen support and power from an Intel Core M with 4GB of RAM.

The tablet will run Windows 10, though the “Galaxy” name is reserved for Android. It’s the ATIVs that are Windows based. So take these details with a grain of salt.

Samsung does have an event on the CES schedule for later today, so the Galaxy TabPRO S (or whatever it is called) may go official in a few…

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Prepare to kiss your tangled headphones goodbye – a report allegedly from the iPhone 7 supply chain claims that Apple is indeed dropping the analog 3.5mm audio jack. Instead, wired headphones will connect to the Lightning port and, of course, there’s the wireless Bluetooth option too. A Lightning-to-3.5mm will also exist.

Apple’s motives are two-fold – the make the iPhone thinner and to push sales of wireless headphones. We’re going back to the dark ages of proprietary audio. Also, your expensive Lightning headphones probably won’t work with your computer and other non-Apple devices.

It seems that the Lightning port does not support analog audio (the old 30-pin connector did). No analog from the port itself means that wired headphones will have to carry their own DAC and amp with them.

This will make them complicated, expensive and probably more battery hungry (not to mention that occupying the Lightning port prevents you from charging your phone). Remember the $50 Lightning-to-HDMI adapter? The one with a built-in chipset with 256MB of RAM? Yeah.

As usual, take this unconfirmed report with a grain of salt. Nay, keep your fingers crossed that it’s just plain trolling.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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Lenovo has launched the K4 Note, now known as Vibe K4 Note, in the Indian market. The phone is priced at INR 11,999 ($180) and will be available on Amazon through a flash sale model starting January 19, 2016.

The Vibe K4 Note is a mid-range smartphone, slotted above last year’s K3 Note, which continues to sell. It has a 5.5-inch 1920×1080 LCD with Gorilla Glass 3. Powering it is the MediaTek MT6753 with a 64-bit octa-core CPU and Mali T720-MP3 GPU. There’s also 3GB of RAM and 16GB storage with microSD support. The phone comes with Android 5.1 out of the box.

The camera on the back is 13 megapixel ISOCELL with phase detection autofocus, f2.2 aperture and two tone LED flash. On the front is a 5 megapixel sensor.

The phone has dual 1.5W speakers on the front with Dolby Atmos surround sound effect. For headphone users, there’s Wolfson WM8281 audio codec.

On the connectivity side, the phone has dual micro SIM support with LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, and A-GPS. There is also a fingerprint sensor on the back.

Along with the phone, Lenovo is also including a feature called TheaterMax, which turns any multimedia content into 3D VR when used with a VR…

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According to a new report, LG has confirmed that the K7 smartphone, which was made official along with the K10 yesterday, will be available for purchase in the US through Boost Mobile. However, the prepaid carrier will sell the device as LG Tribute 5, the company said.

Specs-wise, the device sports a 5-inch (854×480 pixel resolution) display, features a 5 MP front camera, runs Android 5.1 Lollipop, and packs in a 2,125 mAh battery. It comes in two variants: LTE and 3G. While the former is powered by a 1.1 GHz quad-core CPU, the latter sports a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor. Depending on the market it is being sold, the main camera is either 8 MP or 5 MP, RAM is 1.5GB or 1GB, and the internal memory is 8GB or 16GB.

The device is expected to be available in the US in Q1 this year. Its pricing details haven’t been revealed…

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Oculus has announced that pre-orders for its Rift virtual reality headset will go live starting Wednesday (January 6) at 8am Pacific Time. This comes just days after the company said that the device will be up for pre-orders “very soon.”

Oculus, however, didn’t reveal the price of the headset. Also, everything you need to know to order the device will only be shared when pre-orders go live, the company said.

If you aren’t already aware, the Rift will come bundled with Lucky’s Tale by Playful, and those pre-ordering the headset will also receive CCP’s EVE: Valkyrie for free.

Finaly, it was also revealed that Oculus founder Palmer Luckey will be doing a Reddit AMA this Wednesday at 6pm Pacific Time. So, be prepared with your questions in case you have…

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Microsoft has revealed that over 200 million monthly active devices worldwide are now running Windows 10. That’s up from the 110 million figure the Redmond, Washington-based company reported back in the month of October last year.

Of the new Windows 10 devices added in the past three months, more than 40% became active since Black Friday. “Windows 10 continues to be on the fastest growth trajectory of any version of Windows – ever – outpacing Windows 7 by nearly 140% and Windows 8 by nearly 400%,” Microsoft noted in a blog post.

The Software giant also revealed that more than 76% of its enterprise customers are currently in active pilots of Windows 10, and a total of over 22 million devices running the OS are the company’s enterprise and education customers.

Microsoft also shared a many other interesting usage statistics – head to the Source link below to access the…

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If you’re in the United States, you can now purchase the Lumia 550 (unlocked) directly from Microsoft. The Windows 10 device, which went on sale in the country early last month, is now listed on the company’s US store website for $139.

It’s worth mentioning that the Redmond, Washington-based company is currently only offering the black color variant. Whereas certain third party retailers are selling both white and black models, although they’re charging a bit extra – B&H Photo, for example, has the device listed for $149.

Specs-wise, the handset is powered by a Snapdragon 210 SoC and sports 4.7-inch, 1280×720 display. RAM is 1GB while internal memory is 8GB, although expandable. In terms of camera, there’s a 5MP rear unit and a 2MP front shooter. The phone packs in a 2,100mAh battery.

Source 1…

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