| Xiaomi Phone 2 now official: 4.3-inch 720p IPS, quad core and Jelly Bean for just $310 Aug 16th 2012, 09:32  At last, no more secrets. Announced in Beijing just now is the Xiaomi Phone 2, and with the exception of the appearance, most of the specs match the many leaks we've come across: 4.3-inch 720p IPS display by Sharp, Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 quad-core chip, 2GB RAM and 16GB memory. To power this beast, Xiaomi's throwing in a 2,000mAh cell, but you can also purchase a 3,000mAh version if you don't mind the extra 2mm thickness on the phone. As for photography, you get a 28mm two-megapixel imager at the front along with a 27mm F2.0 eight-megapixel BSI camera on the back -- we saw some stunning untouched shots from the latter at the launch event. The good news doesn't stop there. On the software front Xiaomi's decided to jump straight to Android Jelly Bean for the phone's MIUI ROM, which itself packs several new features as well. Just to name a few: enhanced security, phone finder, Chinese voice assistant (apparently with 85 percent comprehension accuracy), more interactive themes and 5GB of cloud storage service with online client. As you can already see, all of this will cost just ¥1,999 (about $310) -- the same as the original Xiaomi Phone announced this time last year -- when it launches in October, and local carriers China Unicom plus China Telecom will also be offering the DC-HSPA+ handset at subsidized prices. Interestingly, Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun even admitted on the stage that the phone's raw cost is ¥2,350 ($370) per unit, so hopefully it'll go down sooner than later for his sake. But if ¥1,999 is still too much, there's also the ¥1,499 ($235) Xiaomi Phone 1S which, as we've already seen, is very much just the original Xiaomi but bumped up from 1.5GHz to 1.7GHz, along with a front-facing camera. Until we get hold of the phones to play with, here are some photos from the event. Filed under: Cellphones Xiaomi Phone 2 now official: 4.3-inch 720p IPS, quad core and Jelly Bean for just $310 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 05:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Engadget China | | Email this | Comments | | Acer Liquid Gallant Solo makes brief cameo, Android 4.0 smartphone lives up to its name Aug 16th 2012, 08:51  Just last month, Acer's Liquid Gallant Duo teased itself for preorder on the Expansys website, which promised to be an affordable Android 4.0 smartphone for those in need of dual-SIM capabilities. Now, a slightly less capable handset -- the Liquid Gallant Solo -- has reared its head, and as you might expect, it's a single SIM affair. Other than this omission, however, the Solo offers much of the same specs as before, which includes a single-core 1GHz MediaTek MT6575 SoC, a 4.3-inch qHD display, a 5-megapixel camera and a 1,500mAh battery. Similarly, the phone also features 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a microSD expansion slot. In terms of connectivity, users can expect quadband GSM and 3G support on 2100 / 900MHz networks. Like the Liquid Gallant Duo, the Solo's public presence was short-lived, as the user manual (linked below) has since been pulled from Acer's website. Its price also remains a bit of a mystery, but given the dual-SIM exclusion, it seems a safe bet that the Solo will retail for less than the £149 ($230) price of the more capable Duo. Hopefully we're not far off from a more official debut. Filed under: Cellphones Acer Liquid Gallant Solo makes brief cameo, Android 4.0 smartphone lives up to its name originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 04:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink SmartPhenom |  Acer | Email this | Comments | |
