XOLO launched its new mid-range Android-powered smartphone, the Q700S, in India today, which the popular Indian manufacturer hopes will rise to the top of the Asian ultra-affordable market in the not-too-distant future. The handset comes in either a silver or gold metallic finish and is available to purchase for 9,999 Indian Rupees, which is approximately $162.
Yesterday, HTC officially announced on Twitter that its former flagship smartphone of 2012, the One X+, and its slightly less impressive brethren, the One X, will not be receiving the much-anticipated Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update. That’s right, folks. The handsets will remain on Android 4.2.2 and Sense 5 for the rest of their days. This doesn’t come as a huge surprise, when you consider that these devices only received the 4.2 upgrade in late 2013, around the same time that 4.3 was being pushed out.
ASUS unwrapped a trio of affordable Android-powered smartphones at CES earlier today, available in four, five and six-inch models. The ZenFone 6 is the company’s latest flagship smartphone, packing a fairly sizeable 6-inch display. Whilst both the ZenFone 4 and ZenFone 5 are both targeted at the lower, more budget-friendly market.
Earlier today, ASUS introduced us to a more compact, scaled-down and lightweight version of its flagship Padfone unit, entitled the ‘Padfone mini’. The 4-inch smartphone will now slot into the 7-inch tablet dock in a portrait orientation, as apposed to landscape one, which was typical for the two previous generations of this device.
Huawei took center stage at CES in Las Vegas today to present its flagship smartphone of 2014, the Ascend Mate 2 4G. It’s the OEM’s first handset to be optimized for LTE networks all over the world, including AT&T and T-Mobile in the United States.
