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"Shining" phone steals a little Agora magic
Okay, we don't really know what's going on here, but a "Shining" phone that looks almost exactly like the original version of the Kogan Agora Android phone just popped up on Alibaba with a three-day delivery time and a 100-unit wholesale price of $240. Of course, the Agora was just delayed indefinitely, so this could just be nothing; contracting design and development out to faceless Chinese manufacturers like Kogan's doing is pretty much a deal with the KIRF devil, and those are definitely renders on the site, not actual pictures. Still, we're dying to see a flood of non-G1 Android handsets shake up the mobile market, and if getting stoked over sketchy Asian copies of semi-vaporware Australian phones is how we have to get our kicks, well, we're looking for new friends with an extra 24 grand and a healthy sense of forgiveness.[Thanks, Raymanism]
So close, yet so far: Kogan Agora delayed indefinitely
Oh, Kogan -- we were so, so hopeful that you weren't peddling vaporware, and the latest indications seemed to suggest that the Agora and Agora Pro were very much real devices. We wanted to root for the little guy, get another Android handset out into the unlocked market, review it, and love it to death. Unfortunately, scrappy Australian entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan has decided to delay the launch of his independently-designed phones indefinitely citing concerns over compatibility with future Android apps -- concerns that were likely raised in a hush-hush meeting he'd recently scored with Google. One issue, it seems, is that the Agora's screen resolution won't likely play nice with Android apps going forward; that doesn't seem quite right since the form factor is totally standard, but who really knows? The dude's had working prototypes on video, so we can't totally write it off just yet.[Thanks Alex Z., and everyone who sent this in]
Kogan's Android-powered Agora gets handled on video
Color us believers, friends. Not only did we catch the Agora in full glorious -- albeit blurry -- color yesterday, we're now seeing it handled by some lucky type who owns a video cam that's able to focus. We're pretty stoked about this device and with a dash of luck we may have a chance to check it out ourselves in the next few days. Video follows the break.[Thanks, Vuki]
Android-powered Kogan Agora meets Mr. Blurrycam on way to CES debut
Okay, yes, we were mad skeptical that the Agora would ever see the light of day, and you know what? This is one situation where we're absolutely delighted to be proven wrong. Kogan's homegrown Android handset just got pictured in the wild -- the first time we've seen anything but a render -- on its way to a supposed CES debut. Rest assured: if it's really going to be meandering around Vegas this week, we will hunt it down.
Kogan's Agora gets tweaked ahead of release -- in Photoshop, anyway
You're bound to face a few hiccups when you're a no-name brand trying to source an Android handset from a no-name ODM buried deep inside a Shenzen industrial park, and it seems Kogan's going through those growing pains right about now. The Australian company still says the Agora and Agora Pro will ship before the end of January (barely), but it looks like they're down to the wire with tweaks to the phone's design. For starters, the soft keys are gone -- not much use for those in Android anyway, last we checked -- replaced with a decidedly WinMo-esque set of home and back keys; the keyboard's been redesigned, too, and the d-pad is looking more usable than it had been before. For the Agora's price point, we're still sold on this thing -- but only if we can get something more than a printout of a pretty render delivered to our doorstep.[Thanks, Big Mike]
Kogan intros world's second Android phone: Agora / Agora Pro
We'll be totally honest -- we pretty much blew Ruslan Kogan off when he proclaimed that he was about to push out a $199 Android phone by the year's end. And truthfully, the guy still hasn't totally delivered, but you won't find us kvetching about more Googlephones, regardless of MSRP. The Agora (AU$299; US$192) and Agora Pro (AU$399; US$256) are available for pre-order as we speak, though neither one is scheduled to ship out until the end of January. For those unfamiliar with Kogan, it's an online-only enterprise that has wares built specifically to its dimensions in China, and so far as we can tell, it's as legit as they come. As for specs, the Agora packs a 2.5-inch touchscreen (320 x 240), 3G networking, a backlit QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth 2.0 and a microSD card slot; the Pro adds in GPS, 2-megapixel camera and WiFi. So, with unsubsidized prices this low, are you willing to take a chance?[Via iTWire]
Kogan intros AU$349 Profile 1.1 Blu-ray player for Australia
Well, would you have a look at this. Out of seemingly nowhere, Aussies have been shown a remarkably affordable option for diving into the deep, crystal clear world of Blu-ray. Kogan Technologies is just 24 hours away from releasing its apparently unnamed Profile 1.1 Blu-ray player in the aforesaid continent / country, and with it will come 1080p output, an HDMI 1.3 port, DVD upconversion and Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD decoding. The online-only e-tailer is taking orders for the unit as we speak, and for just AU$349 (that's $218 in greenbacks), we can definitely see it moving quite a few units.[Via ITWire]
