S860
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Lenovo outs three budget phones, we go hands-on (video)
As it promised, Lenovo became a manufacturer of US smartphones when it purchased Motorola for $3 billion -- instantly. Meanwhile, it's still producing its own models for Asia, and just announced a trio at MWC 2014. The most highly spec'd of the three is the metal-backed $349 5.3-inch S860 (pictured above), which comes with a 720p screen, quad-core 1.3GHz MediaTek CPU, 2GB of RAM and 8-megapixel front / 1.6-megapixel rear cameras. But Lenovo is boasting more about the battery life, saying it'll last a rather stunning 40 days on standby and give 24 hours of talk time. As you might expect for its target Asian market, there are also dual-sim slots (but no 4G, sadly). Stepping down, the S850 model is aimed more at the "fashion-savvy," according to Lenovo, thanks to a thin, lightweight all-glass body. It also packs a 1.3GHz quad-core MTK chip and 720p screen, but drops the RAM to 1GB. Oddly, there's a better 12-megapixel rear / 5-megapixel front camera, and a considerably cheaper $269 price. Finally, the S660 brings an upmarket metal back to downmarket specs, with the aforementioned MTK CPU, 960 x 540 screen, 1GB RAM, expandable storage, 8-megapixel camera and $229 price tag. Lenovo said all the models will arrive to "selected countries," but don't count on the US being one of them.
Samsung's entry-level S860 and S760 shooters with "E" button
Samsung just loosed a pair of low-end digital cameras for your newbie'n consumption. The $169, 7.2 megapixel S760 and $179, 8.1 megapixel S860 both feature a 3x optical zoom Samsung SHD lens, digital image stabilization, face detection, a 30fps VGA video recording mode in AVI (MJPEG) format, and the ability to motor off a pair of AA batteries in an photographic emergency. A special effects "E" button gives PC-less control over red-eye and basic image manipulation -- it does not, however, give you a sense of lime-green lollipop euphoria. Look for them on shelves in January.[Via Photography Blog]
