A few hours after officially going on sale, the first batch of Firefox OS developer phones are listed as “Out of stock.”
Geeksphone, a smartphone manufacturer based in Madrid, started selling the first developer devices this morning: the Keon for $119 and Peak for $194. It may not have been expected, with Firefox OS’s decidedly average hardware and fledgling software, but a representative from Geeksphone told TechCrunch that demand has been “tremendous so far.” How tremendous? Well, TheNextWeb reported yesterday that Geeksphone could handle the sale of about 5,000 devices each day so sales must have surpassed that mark and then some.
Recommended Videos
Keon and Peak are basically preview devices, meant to gain interest with developers and allow for time to play around with the operating system, try out new features, and assess its capabilities before Firefox OS see a wider release to the public. June is the expected month for that to happen with Firefox devices hitting Spain, Brazil, Portugal, and Venezuela off the get-go. We aren’t expecting Firefox’s devices to usurp the Apples and Androids of the world, but they seem poised for a mid-market takeover.
The Keon retails for $119 unlocked (believe it). It features 3G and EDGE connectivity, a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 3.5-inch HVGA screen, and a 3-megapixel camera. The RAM comes in at 512MB with 4GB internal storage and a microSD slot if you need it. The $194 Peak, on the other hand, is a bit more powerful. It won’t match up to something like the HTC One, but it’s no slouch. A 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 powers a 4.3-inch qHD IPS display, 8-megapixel rear camera, and a 2-megapixel shooter up front. It’s also outfitted with 512MB of RAM, 4GB of onboard storage, and microSD.
It’s difficult to judge the platform’s long-term success on these numbers alone as it hasn’t seen a public release yet. Most of these sales are being made to an interested and enthusiastic group of developers, which definitely skews the devices’ sold out status. As well, compared to bigger name manufacturers, the Keon and Peak are being produced in relatively small numbers. Still, Geeksphone must be feeling pretty good right now.
Apple updated two of its biggest iPad apps, and they look amazing
Apple pulled off a surprise today with a pair of new iPad Pros that leverage the new M4 silicon. To go with it, the company has also revealed updated versions of the Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro apps that introduce a healthy bunch of new features to take advantage of all the firepower the M4 offers.
Starting with Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad, the app gains new tricks such as Live Multicam, external drive support, Live Drawing, and more. Apple claims that thanks to the M4 silicon, the updated app boosts rendering speeds by 2x and opens the doors for 4x higher streams for editing ProRES RAW content.
With the excitement of the Google Pixel 8a launch, it might have passed a little unnoticed that Google also launched a new Pixel Tablet — though not exactly. For one thing, the “new” Pixel Tablet is the exact same device as the “old” Pixel Tablet. We mean that literally: same specs, same look, same screen. The only difference with the newly launched Pixel Tablet is that it’ll be sold without its charging/speaker dock, unlike the previous model, which included it.
At $399, the new Pixel Tablet is $100 cheaper than the earlier model, but that’s to be expected — both because it doesn’t come with any hardware refresh and also because it cuts the dock. It's also worth noting that it will not be launched with any new first-party accessories like a keyboard or stylus, which were previously rumored for the tablet.
The Google Pixel 8a is official. Here’s everything that’s new
A week ahead of its annual developers' conference, Google has dropped a new budget phone in its Pixel-A series. The Google Pixel 8a retains the line’s signature look with a horizontal camera island at the back, but serves it in a package that embraces rounded corners and also happens to be fractionally smaller and lighter
The most meaningful changes are reserved for the display, silicon, and battery. The OLED screen’s size remains the same at 6.1 inches with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. However, the refresh rate has been increased to 120Hz, up from the Google Pixel 7a's 90Hz display. This HDR-ready panel offers a peak brightness of up to 2,000 nits and also features a fingerprint sensor underneath.