Android News 22 January 2014 – 12:00 GMT / 07:00 EST:
- Sony to Launch the Xperia Z Ultra WiFi Only in Japan
- Huawei MediaPad 7 Youth2 is Yet Another Mid-Range Tablet in Gold Color
- Rose Gold Galaxy Note 3 to Be Available Exclusively on Verizon
- Android KitKat Availability for HTC One, Galaxy S3 and Note 2
1. Sony to Launch the Xperia Z Ultra WiFi Only in Japan
Sony Xperia Z Ultra is a 6.4inch phone which can be considered both as a phablet, due to its GSM network support and size, and a tablet due to its almost 7inches screen. But the Japanese OEM is about to launch the WiFi only edition of this beautiful and powerful device this week in Japan. So, we can consider it as the tablet edition of Z Ultra with a 6.4inch 1080p display, snapdragon 800, 2GB of RAM, and 8MP rear camera with no LED flash.
The WiFi only Sony Xperia Z Ultra will go on sale in Japan, this Friday at about $499 USD. There are no words on the wider availability, but it is expected to be released worldwide sooner than later.
Source (in Japanese)
2. Huawei MediaPad 7 Youth2 is Yet Another Mid-Range Tablet in Gold Color
The specifications of Android devices in different classes are getting too close, as you cannot even find a tiny difference between 2 different devices, except the color, brand name and the default launcher. Today, Huawei introduced a mid-range device, called MediaPad 7 Youth2, which features a 7inch display with 1024x600 resolutions, 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of Internal Memory, microSD card support, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with Huawei Emotion UI, 3MP and 0.3MP rear and front camera, and 4100 mAh.
The only notable feature about Youth2, which weighs about 360g, is its Golden (champagne) color in the back that is barely seen on a mid-range device.
At the moment, Huawei hasn’t specified any availability time frame or price for this new tablet, but according to the features we are expected it to be in the budget price range.
3. Rose Gold Galaxy Note 3 to Be Available Exclusively on Verizon
White and Black are the 2 typical colors for Samsung devices at launch and for some devices, the Pink color will join the other 2 ones. Additional colors, including Red and Gold will get available in the next months of release. Galaxy Note 3 is also following this pattern, as the Rose Gold version is about to get available worldwide, and if you happen to be in the U.S., you have to pick the Verizon Wireless as the exclusive U.S. carrier to offer Rose Gold Galaxy Note 3.
Verizon hasn’t reveled when the new color will be available, and we just know other than the color, there shouldn’t be any changes in the specs and price, compare to the Galaxy Note 3 in black or white.
4. Android KitKat Availability for HTC One, Galaxy S3 and Note 2
If you own a GPE or Developer unlocked editions of HTC One, you have already updated your device to the latest Android’ version, but the international, U.S. and European variants are still waiting for the update to hit their device, and it seems for the EU variants the wait is over, as French carrier SFR has just started to roll out the OTA update to upgrade HTC One’s firmware to Android 4.4.2. More carriers in Europe will definitely join the SFR to cover the entire HTC One handsets all over the green continent.
For Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 we still have to rely on the rumors and hunches, and according the latest one the Android 4.4.2 update will be coming in the late March with no more provided details.
