7 Days: A week of Spartan scoops, OnePlus surprises, Nokia's sell-out and a wannabe Surface

[Half Monk 697]

Happy New Year! 7 Days took a short break while we indulged in (and recovered from) the excesses of the festive season - but it returns today, at the end of an action-packed week that has kicked off 2015 in style.

 

Many of the big announcements from this past seven days came from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but – as ever – there have also been plenty of other revelations, scoops and rumors to get stuck into.

 

 

But in fact, we begin not in Vegas, but rather in Redmond, Washington, where Microsoft will unveil ‘the next chapter’ in its Windows 10 story at an event on January 21. The company will reveal a more feature-complete version of the OS, including many consumer-focused features - and Neowin will be there to bring you everything you need to know.

 

Microsoft confirmed this week that it will not offer a direct upgrade path to the new OS from Windows versions up to and including Vista. Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 users will be able to perform a standard upgrade, but for those with older systems, a clean install will be required.

 

But there is some good news, as Microsoft also said that it will be making ISOs of the new Windows 10 preview build immediately available alongside its release via Windows Update.

 

 

Windows 10 will bring with it a long, long list of new features, of course. One that we’ve known about for a while – after we were first to reveal details on it back in September – is Microsoft’s new ‘streamlined’ web browser.

 

Known by its development codename, ‘Spartan’, we published some more info on the new browser this week, becoming the first news outlet in the world to publish accurate images (albeit hilariously blurry ones) of Spartan.

 

 

A further report via another news publication followed up with further insights into Spartan, including details of its handwriting support and Cortana integration. But one juicy detail that we also revealed in our coverage on Spartan was that builds of Microsoft’s new smartphone OS refer to it as ‘Windows 10 Mobile’.

 

 

The number of manufacturers offering Windows Phones continues to grow, with over two dozen new hardware partners joining the platform last year, including Celkon Mobiles. The Indian brand launched its first Windows Phone in November, and its price dropped even further this week to just Rs.3,999 INR (roughly $67), making it the country’s most affordable Windows Phone ever.

 

Most of the entry-level Windows Phones that have been launched in recent months have shared very similar specs, although some require more compromises of their users than others - such as living with relatively small low-res screens, or the absence of a front-facing camera. But handset-buyers on a budget do have other alternatives to consider, such as buying an older device, rather than one that has been recently released.

 

 

The ATIV S was once Samsung’s Windows Phone flagship, but has since been replaced by a newer model. Its price has fallen ma-HOO-sively since its launch, having originally been sold for well over $500 off-contract. It is now available for just $110 – and for a device with a 4.8-inch HD screen, 16GB storage, 8MP camera, and plenty more to offer – it’s certainly worth considering.

 

 

Without exception, every hardware partner that joined Windows Phone last year did so at the entry-level, leaving the high-end to HTC and Microsoft, and the mid-range to MS alone. But it may not be that way for much longer.

 

Yezz, which launched two Windows Phones last year, unveiled a third handset at CES last week, and we can only hope that it leads to other manufacturers diversifying their ranges in the same way. The new Billy 5S LTE extends the Yezz Windows Phone into the mid-range for the first time, with specs that are broadly similar to Microsoft’s Lumia 830.

 

 

Microsoft announced this week that the Lumia 830 – and its flagship sibling, the Lumia 930 – will soon be available with new color options. Although black and white versions of both devices are already on sale, the company has added new variants of these models, replacing the silver brushed metal finish with a gold trim instead.

 

The two Lumias don’t actually look as horrific as you might think, although if your opinion of gold phones is as low as ours, you probably won’t be rushing out to buy one either.

 

 

Microsoft also added a new Nokia-branded ultra-low-cost feature phone to its range this week. The Nokia 215 costs just $29, offers internet access, and comes with pre-loaded apps like Facebook, Twitter, Opera Mini and Bing. Its best feature, however, is its battery life: the company says it can go almost a month between charges.

 

 

For those with more expensive tastes, the iPhone 6 remains a popular choice among smartphone buyers. Over in the US, Apple has finally started selling the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on a SIM-free basis, with prices starting at $649, and rising to $949 for the flagship 128GB Plus.

 

 

Speaking of Apple, we’re still waiting for the launch of the company’s new Watch, and apart from vague references to an ‘early 2015’ launch window, it hasn’t yet publicly committed to an actual launch date.

 

But a report on Wednesday claimed to reveal details of its plans, stating that staff training will begin in just over four weeks, with the device actually going on sale in March. Apple has previously said that prices for the Watch will start at $349.

 

 

Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has been growing at a phenomenal rate in recent months, overtaking Samsung in 2014 to become the number one smartphone vendor in the country. The company's new Redmi 2 features some pretty tasty specs for its low price of just 699 CNY (roughly $112 USD), including a quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor, 1GB RAM, 4G LTE support and an 8MP rear camera.

 

 

On the same day, ASUS introduced two new handsets, including one that features the kind of specs that look like the results of a fanboy’s dream. With a 5.5-inch Full HD display, quad-core 64-bit 2.3GHz Intel Atom processor, 13MP camera and an astonishing 4GB of RAM, the Zenfone 2 will go on sale in March, while the Zenfone Zoom will follow in Q2. This second handset features a 13MP camera with 3x optical zoom, optical image stabilization and laser autofocus.

 

 

On Thursday, the CEO of OnePlus revealed a bit more about his company’s plans for a follow-up to its first (and only) handset, the One. He said that OnePlus had changed its mind a few times on issues such as when the device will launch, and even how big it will end up being. He added that “the final product will surprise people”, but also delivered some bad news for those waiting for a OnePlus tablet.

 

 

HTC unveiled two new handsets at CES: the Desire 826 and Desire 320. The 826 is an upper-mid-range device, with a 5.5-inch Full HD screen, 8-core Snapdragon 615 processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. For those with more modest tastes, the 320 is a new lower-end device, with a 4.5-inch FWVGA (854x480px) display, 5MP camera and 8GB storage.

 

 

It’s been almost three months since Google officially announced Android 5.0 – but according to the company’s own data, less than 0.1% of Android devices had received the update by the beginning of this week. Of course, millions of handset owners don’t need data to tell them what they already know, given that they’re still (im)patiently waiting for Lollipop to land on their devices.

 

On Tuesday, Sony announced that it will begin rolling out the Android 5.0 update to its Xperia Z3 range next month; and on Friday, info emerged that hinted at HTC’s plans to upgrade its One M8 Android flagship to Lollipop in the next couple of weeks.

 

 

Nokia’s new N1 Android tablet became available for pre-order in China this week, priced at 1,599 CNY (around $260 USD). However, it wasn’t available for long – the entire first production run sold out in just 4 minutes and 2 seconds, and Nokia says that over 560,000 people are still on the waiting list for the device. Given that the N1 sold out with just 20,000 sales, it could be a while before new orders are accepted.

 

 

But the wait finally came to an end on Tuesday for Android users keen to get their greasy fingerprints on Microsoft’s new release of Office for Android tablets. A preview version was already available, but only for those who had signed up to test it – but this week, Microsoft opened up the Office suite to everyone, and it can now be downloaded from the Google Play Store onto tablets running Android 4.4 or later.

 

 

Microsoft may soon begin testing a new service on its Bing search engine. As Neowin exclusively revealed on Monday, the company is developing a question-and-answer engine with human input, with answers integrated and presented alongside user search results. The plan is to be able to present users with useful and accurate answers to their queries, written and approved by people, rather than through machine learning.

 

 

Sony unveiled almost a dozen new BRAVIA televisions with 4K support this week, including a trio of devices that the company claims is “the world’s thinnest series of TVs”. At their thinnest point, they’re just 4.9mm thick – that’s around a third thinner than an iPhone 6. They also run on the new Android TV platform, which includes voice interaction support, access to the Google Play ecosystem and third-party apps, and multiplayer cross-device gaming.

 

 

Dell’s new curved ultra-wide 34-inch monitor finally went on sale on Thursday, after first being shown off back in August. The U3415W UltraSharp 34 features WQHD (3440x1440px) 

resolution as well as integrated speakers and a built-in USB 3.0 hub, and is priced at $1,199.99.

 

 

On Wednesday, Dell also announced a stunning new addition to its notebook range: the XPS 13. The company has managed to squeeze a 13-inch display into a device the size of an 11-inch notebook, thanks to the slim bezels around its 3200x1800px display. The most affordable configurations start at $899, but if you want all the bells and whistles on the stylish new notebook, you’ll have to pay a lot more than that. For now, be sure to check out our hands-on gallery with the XPS 13.

 

 

Dell’s new super-sleek Android tablet is now available to buy for $399, which includes a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Atom processor, 2GB RAM and an 8.4-inch OLED with 2560x1600px resolution, all somehow crammed into a body that’s just 6.1mm thick. But despite having just been released, it doesn't come with Android 5.0 Lollipop, but the older 4.4 KitKat instead.

 

 

ASUS, meanwhile, unveiled the "world’s thinnest Windows tablets" at CES this week, including the 10.1-inch T100 Chi, which is just 7.2mm thick. A smaller 8.9-inch model is available too, along with a larger 12.5-inch slate, which comes with up to 8GB RAM and 2560x1440px resolution. All of the new ASUS Transformer Book Chi Series tablets come with Intel Core M processors, and include a companion hardware keyboard.

 

 

The quintessential Windows tablet for many people is still Microsoft’s Surface, of course. But the influence of the Surface range’s design can be seen beyond the Windows ecosystem, as we reported on Friday.

 

A group of former Google employees have developed an Android device called the Jide Ultra Tablet, which owes rather a lot to its Microsoft rival. It features a large (11.6-inch) display, has a similar rear kickstand, and also has a keyboard that magnetically docks with the tablet (and even the connector itself looks rather familiar). If that wasn’t enough, the Android-based ‘Remix OS’ looks like a bad copy of Windows 8 too.

 

 

Intel has taken the idea of portable computing very seriously indeed with its new Compute Stick, which squeezes an entire PC into a large HDMI dongle. Priced at $149.99, it includes specs similar to many of the low-cost Windows tablets that have launched in recent months, but crammed into a tiny form factor that can be connected to any HDMI-equipped display. A cheaper Ubuntu model is also available for $89, but some of its specs are inferior to the Windows version.

 

 

HP has been doing a sterling job of reinvigorating its Windows-based range over the last year or so, launching many exciting new devices, especially at the lower-end of the PC market. This week, it unveiled two new PCs that share the same form factor, but with differing specs. And let’s not be coy about this: the HP Stream and Pavilion mini PCs are just adorable.

 

Like HP’s new Stream PCs and notebooks, the Stream mini PC features pretty basic specs, but offers high value, including four USB ports, a HDMI port and DisplayPort, as well as 2GB RAM and 32GB storage for just $180. The Pavilion comes in a similar package, but offers much better specs for its higher price of $320.

 

 

HP also unveiled its latest displays at CES this week, including the stunning Envy 34c. The curved monitor features an ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio, and WQHD (3440x1440px) resolution, with two HDMI ports, DisplayPort and MHL support.

 

 

 

Various other displays with 4K and 5K resolution were also announced by HP, along with the company’s bizarre new Zvr Virtual Reality Display, which comes with passive 3D glasses, and a stylus that allows you to manipulate objects on screen.

 

 

Sony announced that its PlayStation Now subscription gaming service will launch in North America on January 13 for PS4 owners. Priced at $19.99 a month, or $44.99 for three months, the service offers unlimited gameplay from an online library of over 100 PlayStation 3 titles.

 

It also emerged this week that Sony has sold around 18.5 million PS4s since the console first went on sale in 2013, including 4.1 million during the holiday season alone.

 

However, Sony’s new year isn't off to an entirely pleasing start, as the company’s plans to launch the PS4 in China have been indefinitely delayed. Reports suggest that negotiations with the Chinese government – over the terms under which Sony can sell the console there, as well as which games it is permitted to offer – have stalled.

 

The delay means that Microsoft’s Xbox One will continue to enjoy the Chinese market all to itself – at least until Sony gets its launch back on track.

 

 

So it's been an exciting start to the new year with all sorts of cool stuff to drool over – and there’s plenty more where that came from. Don’t forget to check out our 2015 preview, for a glimpse of what’s to come in the tech world over the next twelve months.