The monstrous 6.1 inch Huawei Ascend Mate was showcased at CES earlier this year along with a little bit of information on the product. However, now we seem to have a price tag to pin on the big product.

The new Huawei Ascend Mate will be on retail for around 3500 Chinese Yuan, the equivalent to $575 US dollars. For the price, the Huawei Mate doesn’t seem half bad, however, there still hasn’t been any news on the Ascend Mate reaching the United States, or anywhere else other than China.

The 6.1 inch screen on the Ascend Mate is a LCD IPS display with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels, or around 241 pixels-per-inch, certainly not super-HD, but for the size and the prize it’s more than reasonable.

Huawei’s new phablet also comes with an expected 1.5GHz own-brand quad-core KV32 processor, and a solid 2GB RAM.

Do you think Huawei has pushed the boundaries too far with the Ascend Mate’s huge 6.1” screen, or would you love to get your hands on a phone this size?

[Source]

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At CES Samsung has been busy showing off a prototype Android phone which features a curved glass display, tech that some are claiming will soon be available to buy in the next generation Samsung Galaxy S4 and possibly even the Note 3.

In addition to Samsung’s own phones devices, LG are also reportedly looking into using flexible screens on some of it’s own devices which might also include tablets, TV screens and laptops.

It’s still unclear just how much the Youm display from Samsung can bend, and how the curved areas will be used to enhance users experience, but judging by the state of the current hardware we won’t have long to find out.

[ Source ]

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Hisense has unveiled a new Google TV this year at CES, the XT780.  While Hisense may not be a make you are familiar with, they are quickly trying to change that.  Hisense first got into the Google TV market back in 2012 at IFA in Berlin.  They unveiled the Pulse set top box, add-on hardware similar to the Roku series.

This year they stepped it up with a TV, with integrated Google TV and other standard pre-loaded apps like Netflix, Pandora, Google Play Store and Chrome browser.  This TV will be available in a 55 inch and 65 inch model.

The XT780 also has a smart search that will search live TV and paid and free services to find the content that you want.  It also allows for multitasking, being able to browse the net or social network while watching television.

Also a multiscreen play feature allows users to share content and control between iOS and Android based devices so that with a simple swipe of the device screen they can share music, movies and photos.  The remote control for the XT780 comes with some premium features as well, a double sided wedge shaped remote that even has a built-in touchpad and a QWERTY keyboard for easy web surfing.  The remote also has a built in mic for voice control of the device.

The Vice President of Consumer Electronics at Hisense USA said “The XT780 gives a whole new audience the opportunity to enjoy Google TV,” “Offering access to a vast array of content and services, the intuitive XT780 with Google TV brings the convenience of an all in one entertainment hub in a beautifully designed, upgradeable package.”

I would say Hisense is doing it right, and I look forward to picking up one of their sets.  Hopefully the price point will be one that makes them a common name in households across North America and beyond.

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[CES 2013] Right on schedule, the Sony Xperia Z was officially announced at the company’s CES press conference. For those that don’t know the Z, you might better know it as the “Yuga”.

The Xperia Z is the latest Sony flagship and it is shaping up to be a rather powerful offering.

The phone has a 5-inch 1920×1080 display, 13MP camera, 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor and 2GB of RAM. Other specs include 4G, NFC, microSD and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Sony claims the upgrade to Android 4.2 is coming shortly after the launch as well.

As far as pricing and exact launch date is concerned? We don’t know much about either, though Sony does state the phone will arrive in Q1 of 2013. For those wondering about the Xperia ZL (aka Odin), it has also been confirmed by Sony and will be available in select markets around the same time frame.

What do you think, excited for the new flagship 1080p Sony handset or not?

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[CES 2013] When you think of “cloud gaming”, OnLive probably is one of the first major services that come to mind. That said, there are many other options out there, including Ubitus, which is a popular Japanese cloud gaming company.

Now it seems that Ubitus and Google are teaming up with a new partnership to bring cloud gaming over to the Google TV platform. The idea is that this will allow “console and MMO games” to work with these devices.

Smart TVs and set-top boxes will both work with the Ubitus library of games which include Resident Evil 5, Super Street Fighter IV, and Lost Planet 2.

Expect Ubitus and Google to show off the new partnered technology at CES over the next few days. What we don’t know is where the service will launch. Will it eventually arrive in North America and Europe or will Ubitus stay in home turf of Japan?

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Recently, there have been many factors pointing to the idea that Sony is  planning to officially reveal a pair of brand new 1080p 5 inch smartphones at CES 2013 next week. Now it seems that some official press releases of the Xperia ZL and Xperia Z have hit the net, found directly on Sony’s website.

These phones have been mentioned in the past under the names Odin and Yuga, but this latest information seems to confirm the phone is in fact coming soon.  The Xperia Z is a standard Sony phone, however the Xperia ZL is a scaled down version of the Xperia ZL and has a different location for the front facing camera.

Past rumors have suggested the Z will have LTE connectivity, 2GB of RAM and the same quad core Qualcomm processor as the HTC Droid DNA and LG Nexus 4.  At this time, it is not clear if the Xperia ZL will sport the same specs.  It is also possible that one of these is only for the Japanese market, while the other is an international version.

I don’t know about all of you, but I’m getting stoked for CES 2013!

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Thanks to some “leaked” photos on Flickr, it is known that Samsung is going to release a new model to its robotic vacuum line.  This tease, leaked or released, by Samsung shows The Smart Tango Corner Clean robot that has the standard circular design, but also has one other little feature.

A first in the form of two pop out brushes, one on each front side, that allows the robot to swipe out debris from corner and other hard to reach spots.   It also has a front mounted camera system used for the Visionary Mapping System, which maps out the cleaning path automatically.  There is also a built in LCD on the top of the vac, used for error codes and programming the device.  At the rear of the device is also the standard removable dust collection bin.

We have no indication of model name or number or a price point for the device, so we will have to wait until CES for the full rundown.

While robotic vacuums are nothing new, they are starting to become more efficient and more affordable. There may be a time when traditional vacuums are a thing of the past. What do you think of Samsung’s latest effort?

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Samsung is apparently planning on revealing a television at CES 2013 that will take TVs to the next level: see through.

Yesterday, on the Samsung blog, the company showed a picture of a vertically sitting television.  In the picture is a landscape type background which you can see directly through the TV.  While Samsung didn’t give any details about the TV, it did a it did say  “A true innovation of TV design is coming up with an unprecedented new TV shape and timeless design”.

So the questions that will have to wait until next weeks Consumer Electronics Show are, is this tv going to attempt to convert TV to portrait viewing?  Is this truly a see through set, or are they just showing off the realism of the display?

Last year if we recall, Samsung did show off a transparent LCD panel  designed for store windows and kiosks, so this wouldn’t be that much of a stretch considering they did hint that a 46 inch version was in the works.

Check the picture, what is your opinion? If a see-through TV did exist, what practical implications does it have? Would you want one?

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LG has announced it will release a brand new line of Google TVs with 3.0 software starting in 2013.  These very sleek and slim TVs will come in sizes ranging from 42 inches to 60 inches.

According to LG, the new Google TVs will have a “beyond simple voice input” voice recognition system and run Google TV integrated right into the panel itself.  You will be able to watch TV and search for different content simultaneously.

Also included with the new TVs is a remote with a built in microphone, as  well as a QWERTY keyboard and gesture input controls.

Looking to get into some gaming action? The next generation LG Google TV line will have OnLive cloud gaming built-in with a detachable controller that connects directly to the TV set.

LG has plans to unveil the new line at CES 2013 and is shooting for a US launch in the first half of 2013. These new TVs sound awesome, and I hope they are at an affordable price so I can pick myself up one! What do you think?

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It’s hard to believe that there was a time when most Internet users were content with 56k and lower connections, especially with connections today that are nearly a gigabit in speed. Each year the power of the Internet and networking equipment continues to evolve. Last January at CES Broadcom teased us with the idea of a Gigabit-speed Wi-Fi system that would work great with mobile phones, about three times faster than the current Wi-Fi standard, in fact.

Nearly a half year later, the time for teasing and hinting is seemingly over as Broadcom has officially announced its BCM 4335 chipset and the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard. This new standard uses an 80MHz channel bandwidth that is two times wider than the channel on similar products and helps greatly with all sorts of bandwidth heavy tasks such as HD movie and game downloads. The chip also packs Bluetooth 4.0 and FM radio.

The speed of the new Broadcom chip is impressive enough, but they don’t stop there, the new chipset is actually more efficient in terms of power, meaning it can actually help your battery last longer when using Wi-Fi on your phone. So when should we expect to get our hands on devices with this new chipset? Broadcom anticipates it will have the technology ready in products starting in early 2013.

[Broadcom via Gizmodo]

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