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The international version of the Lenovo-backed ZUK Z1 runs Cyanogen 12
There's a lot to like about the ZUK Z1, a Chinese flagship smartphone backed by the folks at Lenovo -- it has a USB Type-C port with support for audio output, a huge 4,100 mAh battery, a multi-function fingerprint reader and an attractive 1,799 yuan ($280) sticker price. If Cyanogen is your favorite flavor of Android, it just got a little better: today ZUK announced that the international version of the handset will come loaded with the commercial version of Cyanogen OS 12.1.
Lenovo-backed phone has reversible USB 3.0 and a big battery
Following the LeTV "Superphones" and the OnePlus 2, here's yet another Chinese smartphone that supports the reversible USB Type-C port; except this time, we're going beyond USB 2.0 speeds. The Android device we're looking at here is dubbed the Z1, which is the first product by Lenovo-backed startup ZUK (pronounced "z-u-k") to compete with affordable online brands like Xiaomi, Smartisan, Meizu and Huawei's Honor range. The competitive 1,799 yuan or $280 price point is of no surprise in today's market, but what stands out here is the presence of both USB Type-C and USB 3.0 (or USB 3.1 Gen 1) specs, which is a first for smartphones. To be exact, the Z1 boasts a USB data rate of up to 500 MB/s or 10 times that of USB 2.0, which comes in handy for its 64GB of internal storage.
ZenZui becomes Zumobi in preparation for December public beta
Remember Microsoft spinoff ZenZui and its crazy, patented "Zooming User Interface" concept back at CTIA earlier this year? The company's still kicking around, and they've got a fresh name (apparently to better reflect its product, though we're not sure it's any better than the old) and a fresh beta to show for it. Beginning December 14, the newly-christened Zumobi will be releasing Windows Mobile 5 and 6 flavors of its client to intrepid users looking to check out, create, and trade the content "tiles" that make Zumobi what it is. Even cooler, though, might be the news that the company is prepping both BlackBerry and generic J2ME versions of its client for release in the second quarter of next year. Hop on over to the Zumobi site to register for the beta in the meanwhile.
Microsoft spinoff ZenZui's "Zooming User Interface"
Borne of Microsoft Research, newly-announced ZenZui is coming out of stealth mode at CTIA this week to introduce what we think is a fairly novel approach to mobile content browsing -- a concept ZenZui calls the "Zooming User Interface" (hence the "Zui" part of the name). The concept sorta has to be seen to be fully appreciated (we intend to do a full hands-on from the show floor here before too long), but essentially, ZenZui uses an array of extremely easy to browse content "tiles" that can be zoomed in and out using numeric keypad presses. The tiles themselves -- which can be anything from news, to traffic, to mini-games, to whatever -- are developed with an open API, encouraging developers large and small to get involved. They can be sent and received in a "viral" fashion from other ZenZui users, and since everyone's getting paid based on the ad revenue their tiles generate, it's a pretty happy ecosystem (theoretically, anyway). Since it's coming outta Redmond, Windows Mobile is obviously the initial target, though other platforms are in the works. Expect a beta later this year with availability directly from ZenZui and its content partners.
