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ZTE Nubia 5 hands-on (video)
In the US, unlocked devices like the Nexus 4 and the suite of Google Play editions are starting to become popular, as a growing number of consumers eschew the tradition of buying phones under subsidy in exchange for a two-year contract. As we mentioned two weeks ago, ZTE is putting a lot more effort into wooing this crowd by announcing two unlocked and unsubsidized phones: the $400 Grand S, which we played with at CES 2013 in January, and the $450 Nubia 5. Both handsets began shipping from outlets like Amazon yesterday, so one of these darlings can be all yours. We had a few minutes to play with the 5-inch Nubia 5 last night and came away with some good first impressions. Though it's not meant to be a high-end device, ZTE did a good job of giving it more of a premium look as well as a comfortable fit and finish. Its back cover consists of matte-backed plastic (although it sadly still attracts greasy fingerprints quite easily), while the top half of the sides are constructed with aluminum. It's also not going to set any records for being the thinnest device, but 7.6mm is actually ideal for our particular tastes -- it's still much more slim than most smartphones, and it's plenty easy to handle one-handed if you prefer. The 1080p display looks fantastic on the Nubia 5, and it provides good viewing angles (indoors, at least, but we don't know about how it looks in direct sunlight). It runs Android 4.1.2 and is surprisingly zippy, especially given the older 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro inside. We have a gallery and video of the Nubia 5 with its huge Houston Rockets logo (this is only a limited edition, and the other version is what we'll see as final hardware), as well as its logoless counterpart, which will be the model that ships to the consumers.
HP Pre 3 listed for pre-order on Amazon.de: €449 for the best of webOS
We're not dealing with price estimates anymore, here's an honest-to-goodness pre-order for the HP Pre 3. Amazon Germany, a traditionally quick retailer to put device listings up, has added the webOS 2.2 QWERTY slider to its online catalog at a price of €449 ($640) -- though availability is predictably undefined for now. Lest your memory needs a refresher since the Pre 3's announcement back in February, this is a 3.6-inch smartphone with a WVGA (800 x 480) resolution, a 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8x55 processor, 512MB of RAM, and a pair of cameras, the rear of which can record 720p video and 5 megapixel stills. To fill the time until a launch date is made known, why not consult our handy chart for a detailed look at how else the Pre 3 improves on its Pre-decessor. [Thanks, Timo]
Best Buy lists unsubsidized "regular price" for Palm Pre at $850; punch in the face is no extra charge
While subsidies, long-term contracts and unbecoming groveling are all part of the game when it comes to getting a hot new phone for a reasonable price, we'd say Best Buy's listed "regular price" for the Palm Pre is a little extreme: $849.99 will buy you a lot of Palm shares these days. That's miles away from Sprint's supposed $550 off-contract price, and it sounds like somebody along the chain doesn't want just anyone walking out of a Best Buy with Pre in their pocket and no "Simply Everything" plan hanging around their neck.[Thanks, Fredrick C]
Rumor: Unsubsidized iPhone to be offered by AT&T
Looking to pick up an iPhone, but not interested in getting bogged down by any contracts with "the Man?" Your time may have come -- The Boy Genius apparently got their hands on some slides from an AT&T training session saying on March 26, AT&T will offer a "No-commit" for their existing customers on both iPhone models -- it'll be $599 for the 8GB and $699 for the 16GB.This isn't quite a deal anyone's planning to jump at, however, since the phones themselves are likely still locked to the AT&T network. Not to mention that you've got to already be an AT&T customer, and they're only selling one phone per line that you've already got. Which means these phones are... for Grandma, who doesn't want a contract and can't make it to the store herself? Businesses might be interested as well, we guess, but for most of us, it's still cheaper to just buy the phone and sign the AT&T contract (assuming that you actually want to use it as a phone).What it does likely say, however, is that AT&T is expecting an iPhone hardware upgrade, and wants to clear out as much of the stock they've got now as they can (to suckers who are willing to pay more). [via Engadget]
AT&T to offer unsubsidized iPhone 3G with no commitment required?
For existing AT&T subscribers looking to get a new handset for a few months before they make that inevitable Pre / iPhone 3.0 / Gizmondo decision this summer -- or folks who just despise contracts in general -- it looks like AT&T will be offering unsubsidized iPhone 3Gs at last. According to some training slides obtained by The Boy Genius, the "no-commit" price will only be available to existing customers, and will run them $599 for the 8GB model and $699 for the 16GB. Sounds like somebody's looking to flush a bit of stock, or perhaps they've finally decided to almost treat the phone like pretty much every single other device on the market -- wild times we're living in, folks. The no-commit option should be available as of March 26th.
Unsubsidized iPhone 3G priced at ???499/???569 in Europe
This morning we're getting a first look at unsubsidized prices for the iPhone 3G in Europe. Vodafone Italy have set an out-of-contract price for the iPhone 3G at 499/€569 ($773/$881) for the 8GB/16GB models, respectively. Subscription rates have not yet been announced. While steep, those prices are actually smartphone-reasonable in Italy (and around Europe) where an HTC Touch Cruise with its WiFi, tri-band HSDPA data, GPS, and touchscreen sells for €549. Capisce?[Thanks, Andrea]
