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Lenovo launches the Vibe Z, its first LTE phone, plus three other handsets
Sometimes Lenovo is ahead of the curve: It was first to market with Intel's mobile chips for two years in a row. When it comes to LTE, though, the company has been sadly trailing; it's only just getting around to releasing its first 4G device. But you know what they say -- better late than never, right? Lenovo's LTE-capable Vibe Z is finally reaching markets outside China, and though it won't win any awards for timeliness, it at least arrives on the scene with some solid specs. What we have here is a 5.5-inch handset with a 1080p IPS display, a pixel density of 400 ppi and a thin, 7.9mm-thick build. Inside, it's powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip (not Intel this time), along with 2GB of RAM, up to 16GB of internal storage and an 802.11ac WiFi radio. Imaging-wise, you get both a 13-megapixel f/1.3 camera along with a 5MP webcam up front. Lenovo also threw in some custom camera software allowing you to add special effects, if that's your sort of thing. What's interesting is that although this is Lenovo's most advanced phone to date, it has generally the same industrial design as Lenovo's other recent mobile devices, including the Vibe X and the doomed Yoga Tablet. All of which is to say, it has a textured plastic back, which in the past has stood up well to scratches and fingerprints, even if it doesn't look premium, per se. It also appears to run the same heavily skinned version of Android (version 4.3, in this case). That means some oversized icons, for starters, and also a missing app drawer. As it happens, though, heavily skinned phones are fairly common in the Asian market, which is precisely where the Vibe Z is headed: Lenovo says it will arrive in February in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the Philippines, with an unlocked price of $549.
Lenovo's Vibe Z unveiled with Snapdragon 800, dual-SIM tray and Samsung-inspired flip cover
Lenovo's been using a lot of MediaTek chipsets for its phones of late, but don't worry, it hasn't forgotten to share some love with Qualcomm. What we have here is the Vibe Z aka K910, which is a Snapdragon 800 cousin of the MT6589T-powered Vibe X, but with the same anti-fingerprint finish on the back. By comparison, the former is bigger and 1mm thicker (at 7.9mm), but it does pack a 5.5-inch full HD IPS display, a dual-SIM tray, a 13-megapixel f/1.8 main camera (with dual-LED flash) and a 5-megapixel wide-angle front imager. For the Sony IMX135-powered main camera, Lenovo says it's capable of shooting up to 10 stills per half second, plus its proprietary low-light algorithm apparently produces notably brighter pictures with effective noise reduction. We'll believe it when we see it. While no battery size is mentioned just yet, Lenovo claims a lab-tested standby time of 278.5 hours for the WCDMA + GSM model. There will also be a CDMA2000 + GSM model for China Telecom users, as well as an LTE + GSM flavor for the international market. Interestingly, the company is offering an S View Cover-like flip case for the Vibe Z, but it comes with the added trackpad that lets you receive or reject calls in the usual spot, instead of having to poke inside the window. We doubt Samsung is going to be happy about this, though LG, Pantech and some others have borrowed this idea before. Lenovo China's website says it will soon be taking pre-orders for its latest Android device, but you'll have to stay tuned for the pricing and availability for the rest of the world.
TrekStor vibez DAP gets US pricing / release info
Despite the fact that most of the "high-resolution photographs" of its vibez MP3 player still look like concept renderings, German manufacturer TrekStor claims that the 1-inch hard drive-based DAPs will nonetheless be in US stores by the end of the year. You probably recall from our previous write-up that the curvaceous vibez comes in either 8GB, 12GB, or 15GB capacities, and features a 1.5-inch TFT display, replaceable 20-hour battery, and a rubber scroll wheel for sorting through your tunes even during a heavy downpour. Although MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG, and FLAC files are supported out of the box, you'll need to buy separate modules if you want to endow these units with an FM tuner or video playback (add-on cards featuring either the former or both the former and the latter will be available next year). Expect the 8GB and 12GB versions to come out sometime next month, while the 15 gigger is slated for a January release -- and at $220, $250, and $280, respectively, they're a heck of a lot cheaper than some of the other TrekStor gear that's floating around.
TrekStor announces Vibez audio players
It looks like it's still in concept / mockup phase right yet, but quality portable audio company TrekStor (who?) is announcing vibez at IFA. Yes, that logo, the shape of the device, that suggestive title, it's all enough to put the wrong idea into one's head; this player's all about the 20 hour battery life, 8-15GB capacity (wait, do they even make 15GB 0.85-inch drives?), great audio codec support (MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, FLAC, and PlaysForSure), in addition to its color 176 x 132 display, remote, and 105 x 50 x 18mm (4.1 x 1.9 x 0.7-inch) body. We're still a little unsure about how that interface is supposed to work, but it sounds like come November we'll have a chance to discover ourselves for the princely sum of €199.00 ($255) for the 8GB player or €229 ($293) for the, um, 15GB version.