Hello everyone, it’s another Tuesday and it’s time again to
get ourselves updated with the latest news in the tech industry. And this week,
the biggest news is about rumored phones; from the long awaited to the surprisingly
fast to emerge.
Let’s start off with the Facebook phone. Last week the social
networking giant sent out invites to press with a teaser saying that the company
will have a new “Home” on Android. And today a developer build of the alleged
Facebook phone was leaked on the internet. According to reports, the Facebook
Phone will run on a device built by HTC (codenamed HTC Myst) and will sport a
modified version of Android 4.1.2, a 4.3-inch screen, Sense version 4.5, a 5MP
rear camera, a dual-core processor and at least 1GB of RAM.
The new phone will also come with a Facebook-oriented home
launcher which will let users see Facebook news feeds and updates right on the
home screen. There will also be a more standard clock screen, shortcuts for
launching apps and search via Google. The home replacement app will also have a
feature called Chat Heads that will
allow users to use Facebook’s chat functionality anywhere in the device.
Rumors are also suggesting that Facebook may offer a
toned-down version of the “Home” app to other OEM who run either the stock
Android UI or on top of a skin such as Samsung’s TouchWiz UI.
Next on the list is the long rumored Amazon smartphone. Rumors
about the development of the device were fanned again after the Ex-Microsoft
Executive Charlie Kindel announced that he’ll be joining Amazon to work on a “secret”
project. According to a post on his Google Plus account, he’ll be building a
team in Amazon that involves a project that the company has little experience
with.
Furthermore, a post on Kindel’s LinkedIn page reveals that
the team he’s supposed to build will be compromised of developers, program
managers and product managers. Charlie Kindel’s previous work in Microsoft
involved the development of servers and the Windows 7 application platform so
it doesn’t take a genius to establish a connection between Kindel and Amazon’s
possible plan of developing its own smartphone that may complement the Kindle
Fire tablet in the future.
Last on the list is Samsung with its Galaxy S4 Mini.
According to reports, the S4 mini might debut within the week. The S4 mini is
reportedly scheduled to be released by late May or early June. Earlier reports
say that the phone might come in several variants.
These include a single-SIM, dual-SIM, LTE and a Chinese
version with TD-SCDMA. The S4 mini may also have two variants when it comes to
the processor. According to reports, the dual-SIM version of the phone may have
a 1.6GHz dual-core processor while the single-SIM version will reportedly have
a quad-core processor.
All version of the S4 mini will have an 8MP camera at the
back, 1GB of RAM, a 4.3-inch display and will run on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
And that concludes this week’s edition of Tech Tuesdays on
TFL. Which phone are you most excited about? Do tell us by leaving a comment
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