The E3 event, which has been scheduled to be held from June 11 to June 13, is strictly press and industry-centric. People who attend the event are required to have some professional connection to the industry. But the guys behind OUYA seem to believe that it is wise (and it indeed is) to include the players themselves while doing their marketing.

They will be showing off their Android-based console in a parking lot outside the LA Convention Center. And they will be providing equipment and free food among other stuff to developers for making sure that their booth attracts a lot of people with plenty of games.

Developer’s Best Friend (that’s apparently a job title) Kellee Santiago says, “OUYA will be present for all three days of the event, and we’ll provide everything you’ll need to put on a killer game demo. OUYA console…check, controllers…check, TV…check. We’ll also make sure that you’re fed and have plenty to drink while you’re onsite because hydration and nutrition are key.”

As we reported earlier, the device’s launch has been delayed by the company due to higher demand, and also to make sure that the console arrives without any hardware issues.

So, who all are headed to E3 for taking a peek at OUYA?

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Today’s smartphones offer multi-core configurations, tons of RAM and are considerably more powerful than the PCs of late 90s and early 2000s. Unfortunately, they are also very expensive.

You look around and see tablets coming in at ridiculously cheap prices with mainstream brands going as low as around $150-$200, and lesser known brands hitting sub-$150 pricing. Wish the same could be said for phones? It can, as seen with the new ThL W100, a quad-core smartphone with an extremely affordable $170 price tag.

The catch with the W100 is that it is designed for the Chinese market, though getting in shipped internationally isn’t all that hard, just check out reputable sites like Chinavasion. As for the actual specs, the ThL W100 has a 4.5-inch display with a 960 x 540 resolution, a 1.2GHz MTK6589 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8MP rear cam, 5MP front cam and comes with Android 4.2 (with Google Play support).

The phone also has tons of sensors (proximity, light, etc), microSD, dual-SIM support, Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi and support for 2G 850/900/1800/1900MHz and 3G 850/2100MHz. Probably the biggest downside for the handset is it only has 4GB internal storage. Luckily, the phone has microSD and has a special settings option that allows you to designate the external storage as the default write location.

The phone isn’t perfect, but for those of us looking for quad-core performance and reasonably high-end features without signing a contract, this could be a perfect way to do it without spending a fortune. As for the brand? You might not know ThL, but it is actually quite popular in China, with over 340 retail locations. In other words, this isn’t some no-name operation that will disappear overnight.

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The Nvidia’s Android powered handheld console, Shield, which we originally revealed in February of this year, has finally begun taking preorders today for its upcoming June release.  The original pre-order date was the 20^th of May, but apparently has been bumped up.  The device has a reasonable $349 price, and pre-orders can be made directly to Nvidia or from participating retailers such as Gamestop, Newegg and Canada Computer.

Shield will come with full Google Play access as well as a myriad of different add ons such as TwitchTV, Hulu Plus, TegraZone, Expendable: Rearmed and Sonic 4 Episode II THD.  Nvidia stated that growing buzz for the device was the reason for the bumped up pre-sale date.  More likely they wanted to space themselves a bit from Microsoft’s reveal of it’s new next gen Xbox on Tuesday the 21^st.  Either way, this device deserves a bit of it’s own time in the spotlight.

If you haven’t yet, check it out and get yours ordered today!

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It was expected by many that Google would announce the next version of Android (4.3 or 5.0), at their I/O conference. But that didn’t happen, and neither did they announce any new hardware. But, as rumored earlier, they have plans to bring out a new version of the Nexus 4 in the very near future and it will be running the new OS version.

It’s not a 32GB model that’s been talked about, but it will apparently be the same Nexus 4 that’s available now but with a white casing. The best thing is that the 16GB model will arrive running Android Jelly Bean 4.3 and the device will be released on the 10^th of June. There are no hints regarding the rumored LTE support, though that is expected to be available as well.

As for the next version of Android, nobody knows what all features it’s coming with, though many believe that it will only be a minor update. Head here if you are interested in taking a better look at the white Nexus 4.

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While ZTE might not be as well known as major brands like Sony, Samsung, HTC and LG – it is a decent Chinese handset maker with a reasonable international presence, and it’s latest ZTE Grand X2 doesn’t look half bad.

The newest phone sets itself apart from the competition by ditching the ARM processor in favor of an Intel Atom 2GHz Z2580 processor. While it is certainly not the first Intel smartphone, they still are somewhat of a rare breed, so this is an interesting enough choice.

Outside of the processor, the phone has 8GB storage, 1GB RAM, microSD support, 2000mAh battery, 8MB rear cam, and a 4.5-inch display with a 720p resolution. There is also Android Jelly Bean onboard.

What seems a bit odd is pairing a fast 2GHz Atom with only 8GB storage. Still, this should be a reasonably high-end device, and yet will still likely have a pretty low cost compared to “more mainstream” brands.

So when is it coming? No specific date, simply a project fall release for Europe. No word on other markets like North America, but considering the United State’s recent attitude towards Chinese carriers, I wouldn’t be that surprised if ZTE decided to skip releasing the phone stateside.

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They are calling it the “tablet for the cooking enthusiast”. The Archos ChefPad is an Android 4.1 running tablet that is meant to be used in the kitchen, although no one is going to stop from using it in the garden or elsewhere.

The slate is coming with Chef Apps Zone which will filter through the Play Store to bring you cooking apps. The device features a 1.6GHz dual-core CPU and 1GB of RAM, which should be enough for your selection of apps to work fine, and a 9.7 inch 1024×768 screen.

With the 8GB of storage, you can add a lot of cooking related stuff including cooking lessons which will guide you through your cooking experiments via a pair of speakers. You can even save your own speeches about that special soup all thanks to the built-in mic and take snaps of your spicy salmon with the device’s 2MP cam, and maybe send your works to Gordon Ramsay.

And coming with the tablet is a waterproof silicone case and an adjustable stand which will be very useful while you are video chatting while cooking. The device will be available next month with a price tag of $210. Are you interested?

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Google Wallet has already been available on a few smartphones and tablets, and now the search giant has announced more phones onto the list. From now on, users of Sprint’s HTC One, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S4 and US Cellular’s Note II will be able to use Google Wallet to purchase in store via NFC-based contactless payments.

You can download the app for free by heading to Google Play here.

Meanwhile, Google has also announced a way to make sending payments simple, which will be as easy as sending an email. They are integrating Google Wallet with Gmail, and sometime in the coming months US users over 18 years old will be able to send money through Gmail via a $ icon in the attachment options. “It’s free to send money if your bank account is linked to Google Wallet or using your Google Wallet Balance”, but you will be charged a flat fee of 2.9% per transaction for payments using your linked credit or debit card. Receiving money will always be free.

Check out the video below to know more about the upcoming service.

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This year’s Google I/O keynote didn’t see hardly anything in the way of hardware announcements, but it did see one very interesting development: the announcement of a Samsung Galaxy S4 “Google Edition”.

This new version of the Galaxy S4 will be sold unlocked through Google Play, and will run on a stock version of Android – ditching Sammy’s TouchWiz UI and custom S4 software. The idea here is that you effectively get a Nexus device, which means that you will get the latest and greatest versions of Android directly from Google at a much quicker pace.

It also means that some of the customized features on the Galaxy S4 won’t work, as they rely on the TouchWiz UI. Still, for those that absolutely love a pure vanilla Android experience, this could be their dream phone.

Unfortunately, it might be like a Nexus – but there isn’t Nexus pricing here. The 16GB Galaxy S4 will sell through the Play Store for $649. While the Nexus 4 sold like hotcakes, part of its success was that it was dirt cheap relative to the specs that the phone packed.

Considering there are devices that aren’t much weaker than the S4 (like Nexus 4) but considerably cheaper, this might be a hard sell except for those that absolutely want the most cutting edge hardware or are big Samsung phone fans that happen to dislike TouchWiz.

So when is it coming? The phone will arrive to Play on June 26th and will only be sold in the United States. Additionally the phone will have LTE and will work with both AT&T and T-Mobile.

More than likely this will be the same Snapdragon 600 version sold by carriers, but how cool would it be if the Google Vanilla version of the S4 instead ran on the Exynos processor? What do you think of the S4 Google Edition, would you pay $650 outright for it?

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Tech lovers everywhere should be excited about the 2013 Google I/O conference which kicks off today! So what all things are expected to be unveiled at the event? Let’s take a look.

The search giant has been rumored for quite some to be working on a music streaming service similar to Spotify. And apparently Google has already signed deals with Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group for launching a paid subscription service which will give users access to a whole library of music and not just individual songs or albums. As for the fees, they most probably will ask close to $10 per month. Spotify users are charged $9.99 a month for listening to as many songs as they like.

If Google launches their service today, it would give them a head start on Apple who themselves are reportedly trying to introduce a service similar to Pandora. But recent reports have suggested that the Mac maker’s service will be delayed due to deal making problems.

Next up is Google Glass, their high tech wearable computer. They could have plans to announce some more exciting stuff about the device. But don’t expect too much as the developers are still testing the “Explorer” edition and it will take about a year for the final product to arrive.

We might get a peek at the next version of the Android OS “Key Lime Pie”, but it is looking more likely we will instead see another version of Jelly Bean. And the Jelly Bean update could be previewed on new hardware, maybe an upgraded Nexus 7 with a much faster CPU and improved display. And if that device is also given the $199 price tag, that will be more trouble for the iPad Mini starting at $329. The iPad Mini sales are reportedly against Apple’s expectations at the moment, probably because consumers are waiting for the device’s successor.

Also expected is a possible Nexus 4 smartphone refresh. There also are quite a few gaming-related announcements planned!

What do you hope to see shown off at I/O?

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Surprise, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is a smash hit! Okay.. so that’s not really a shocker, is it? As expected, the Galaxy S4 is a runaway success so far, but the big question is just how many units have already been shipped. According to Samsung, the number has now reached 4 million globally (through April) and is quickly rising.

In comparison to Galaxy handsets of the past, the Galaxy S3 took 21 days to reach 3 million units and the Galaxy S2 took 55 days to reach just 3 million.

Demand is continuing to grow for the S4, and one unnamed Sammy executive even says they’ve already sold more than 6 million units, and some predictions say that by this month’s end, they will reach 10 million Galaxy S4 shipments.

Keep in mind that Samsung’s “sales” are not to the end-user, but to the wireless carrier, making them look a little better than they actually are.

Still, no matter how you slice it, the Galaxy S4 is looking to be Samsung’s biggest hit yet. What’s interesting is that for the first time in a while, Samsung actually has major competition in the form of solid devices like the HTC One and Sony Xperia Z and yet it doesn’t seem to be slowing the Korean giant down any.

With S4 variants like the Zoom and Mini rumored to be on their way in the not-too-distant future, I’d say that it will be a long while before the Galaxy S4 hype dies down.

What do you think of Samsung’s latest? How does it compare to devices from Apple, Sony, HTC, Nokia and other major competitors?

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