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ZTE teases 6.2mm-thick 'Athena,' crams in 720p IPS display and Cortex-A15 chip
Never mind Huawei's 6.68mm-thick Ascend P1 S or Oppo's 6.65mm-thick Finder, because the record's about to be beaten yet again by another Chinese manufacturer. Codenamed "Athena," this mysterious ZTE phone's been getting a fair bit of attention on Sina Weibo with its 6.2mm slimness claim, all thanks to a keen terminal device strategy director from the company. While Mr. Lu hasn't delved into specifics, what we know so far is that Athena will feature a 720p display, Cortex-A15 chip (a source of ours said it will be multi-core) and up to 64GB of internal storage, as well as a "Miflavor UI" -- something that we've already previewed on the Era at MWC -- to go on top of Android 4.0. Lu also hinted that there will be several color options, but we're more than happy to nab that black kevlar edition in the above shot (and someone should tell Motorola to take a look at this). Two more pictures after the break to keep you busy for the time being.
2600 Volume 1 released as a DRM-free ebook: phreak like it's 1984
Long-running hacker magazine 2600 has been digging into its archives quite a bit as of late (it began releasing videos of the early HOPE conferences in December), and it's now gone back right to the beginning for its latest offering. It's just released 2600: The Hacker Digest - Volume 1, a DRM-free ebook that collects its first year of newsletters -- reformatted in book form for easier reading, but with every last detail intact (including typos). That's available in both the Kindle and Nook stores, as well as through 2600's own site in plain old PDF form, each of which set you back just under $4. What's more, while there's no firm word on any additional volumes just yet, 2600 says it'll keep them coming if there's enough support for the first one.
Editions iPad app: yet another way to ingest your technology news (and Engadget!)
You've seen us on Flipboard, Boxee, Roku and even the world wide web. And now, you can see even more of us, slotted between some of the world's greatest technology sites in Editions. It's a snazzy new iPad news app, taking its place alongside a smattering of formidable alternatives while presenting a highly customizable view. Upon first launch, you're presented with a veritable plethora of options, enabling users to create an "Edition" consisting of local news, technology, business, politics, etc. You're even able to add and subtract actual news sources from within a category, amongst other subtle personalization tweaks. Of course, you can download our app on a handful of platforms, but if you're looking for a bit of variety (and really, why wouldn't you be?), hit the source link to give 'er a go. It's free, after all. Update: Seems to be US-only for now, but we're told it'll hit the UK and Canada "in the coming months." Disclaimer: This app was created by AOL, who keeps the lights on around here.
Just a few hours left to fund 'Fort90Zine4Answer' on Kickstarter
Even if a new magazine isn't distributed exclusively on iPad, the internet can still help in its distribution. For "Fort90Zine4Answer," the fourth issue of the game art and culture zine Fort90Zine, Matt "Fort90" Hawkins set up a Kickstarter account to cover the costs of production, with any extra funds going to the contributors. With just a few hours left until the 5:13PM ET deadline, Fort90 has raised over $1,400 of his original $500 goal. So those contributors will be rewarded well! Even though the goal has been more than reached, you're welcome to continue funding the project. Bonuses for those who chip in include your names in the acknowledgements, issues of the zine and its two immediate predecessors, and even prints of the previous issue's cover, featuring art by Skullgirls lead animator Mariel Cartwright.
Motorola ZN5 tortured in the name of science -- or something
Save from an occasional drop, we try our damndest to keep our precious phones out of harm's way, which is why torture tests like Smape's of the ZN5 are so painful to watch. This particular "survival guide" (their term, not ours) is pretty extreme, too, starting with a cushy stay in the freezer but progressing to a brutal tumble in a 500 RPM dryer, a thorough sandblasting, a sound crushing courtesy of a luxury SUV, and the obligatory dip in a hearty, delicious ale. The whole thing reads like a what's-what of things not to do with your phone, but hey, better their ZN5 than yours -- and we're sure it was a blast to actually perform some of these "tests."[Thanks, Max]
Motorola ZN5 gets unboxed
If you recall, Motorola's 5-megapixel ZN5 was slated for release last month, and sure enough, some units are starting to slip out -- enough units, in fact, that we now have ourselves a video unboxing out there somewhere. The packaging seems... dare we say, awfully ordinary for a phone that rests at the top of Moto's featurephone pyramid, especially considering Kodak's much-ballyhooed involvement, TV-out, WiFi, and a ModeShift morphing keypad. S'pose it's just the contents we really care about anyway, though, right? Follow the break for the full video.[Thanks, CrossBow]
In Soviet Russia, Motorola's MOTOZINE ZN5 reviews you
In the most thorough examination you can expect this side of mobile-review, SMAPE just put text to phosphor and slapped out a nearly 9,000 word review of Motorola's new 5 megapixel MOTOZINE ZN5 with Xenon flash. They've also pitted it head-to-head with Nokia's own 5 megapixel N82 for a good ol' fashioned photo shootout. While the ZN5 is a smidge thinner, features a dedicated image processing unit for quickness, and optionally stores images in lossless TIFF format for a lower price than the N82, there's one small catch: the N82 (and K850 for that matter) has already been on sale for more than half a year. Nevertheless, as the first model of the new MOTOZINE series, the ZN5 hints at the possibility of a promising future. Assuming of course Moto's phone division lives to see the day.Update: Speaking of mobile-review, they just posted their detailed review. The following quote pretty much sums it up, "It's no RAZR of our time. It's just a decent, well-rounded phone."Read -- SMAPE reviewRead -- Mobile-Review review
Motorola announces MOTOZINE ZN5
Hints of Motorola's new MOTOZINE series of devices have gone back as far as last year, but today marks the first time that Moto's officially spilled any beans on the goods. The headlining feature on the first model, the ZN5 candybar, lies on the backside: a 5-megapixel sensor courtesy of a partnership with Kodak, featuring autofocus, a xenon flash, image stitching, and on-device integration with Kodak Gallery. Otherwise, you get WiFi (score), Motorola's so-called "ModeShift" technology for morphing the keypad depending on device mode (a la the E8), and a run-of-the-mill quadband GSM radio with EDGE. China's the first country to get the hookup starting next month, but Moto expects to take the ZN5 on a world tour over the course of the remainder of the year.
Motorola's ZN5 (or whatever) in all its... uh, glory
So wait a second, let us make sure we have this right: buzz has been building for many months around this supposed Motorola superphone -- the ZN5, ZINE, or whatever it's called -- with the hope that it could be just the phone to bring Moto back from the brink. The darned thing's clearly been in the labs for ages, so they've got to be doing something amazing back in there, right? Eh, not so much. First of all, it tops out with EDGE data as expected, which is utterly inexcusable for a device in this class. Granted, it's got WiFi, but we would've expected these guys to spend the few extra bucks, upgrade the chipset, and get MOTOMAGX freaking working with HSDPA. But wait, we haven't even gotten to the best part: that 5 megapixel camera back there? Yeah, no autofocus. Amazing. Hop on over to Boy Genius Report for some more pictures of a phone we'll never be owning.Update: Whoa, yeah, the ZN5 is supposed to be a candybar. Is this the slider equivalent?
Motorola's new line of multimedia sets to be named Motorola ZiNE?
Color us fairly skeptical friends, but the word from the web is that Moto's new line of multimedia handsets are going to be dubbed Motorola ZiNE -- yeah, we thought the same. We'd heard rumors that new and wildly unoriginal ideas would be rolling out of the labs and design studios at Motorola in the near future and (fingers crossed) hopefully these'll bring a change of fortune. Apparently the "ZiNE" line will feature a Z10 successor with a big touchscreen, WiFI, and GPS and an 8 megapixel monster with optical zoom purportedly created in conjunction with Kodak. Of course, all of this is fluff and smoke 'til we see the real deal, but know we'll be posting the dodgy and blurry pics if and when we get our hands on 'em.
