More OUYA development kits are now up for pre-order at $800, will ship in January 2013

It was only last week when we got an update on OUYA’s development, ensuring us that the console is still on track for a March 2013 release, and now we have exciting news again. More development kits are up for pre-order on OUYA’s website, being expected to ship as soon as January 2013.
More, because the first such kits should go out starting this December to early and generous pledgers of the Kickstarter project. Now for the bad news. The dev kits up for grabs now go for $800 a pop, which might seem like a lot for regular tech enthusiasts.
Then again, regular people should not think about ordering these, as they are only targeted at game developers wanting to make their work available on the Android console as soon as possible.

The package also includes an OUYA console, two controllers and the exclusive ODK (the actual software developer kit), so after all it doesn’t seem like a bad deal. Not to mention that you get the OUYA a lot earlier than other folks, and that honor should cost a couple of extra bucks, right?
No words on how many development kits OUYA has “on stock”, but we’re guessing not a truckload, so if there’s any game dev out there that’s hesitated to back up the project earlier, now’s the time to cough up the money.
As for us day-to-day gamers, we have nothing to worry about on the pricing front, with OUYA still scheduled to cost a measly $109, one controller, USA shipping and Jelly Bean butter included. Tasty or what?

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ADzero bamboo smartphone inching closer to release, will pack quad-core CPU and stock ICS

We’ve seen a lot of unusual concepts and prototypes over the years, but nothing looked as crazy as the ADzero smartphone shown off back in February. Crazy original we mean, because there was nothing to put us off at an organic, ultra-light and super-elegant phone made entirely out of bamboo.
Still, we couldn’t help but feel that this might have been a bit ahead of times, so we weren’t exactly shocked when time passed by and we heard nothing about any project developments. Believe it or not though, AD Creative not only went ahead with the idea, but equipped the device with one heck of a spec sheet, being now ready to kick off production.
The current product looks a tad different from the initial concept, but the main design lines have been kept, so the ADzero is still a very handsome little guy. The 4.5-incher measures 11.8 mm in thickness, but for some reason the manufacturers are reluctant to announce the final weight, so we don’t know if they’ll be able to keep their promise of making this half as heavy as an iPhone.

As for performance and speed, the handheld will definitely exceed expectations, sporting a 1280 x 720 pix res TFT LCD display and being powered by a 1.4 GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos processor coupled with 1 GB of RAM.
There’s no Jelly Bean on the ADzero for now, but the phone looks like a winner in the software department too, coming with stock Android 4.0 ICS and an optional ADAOS (Open Bootloader) OS. Other known features include an 8 MP rear-facing shooter, an 0.3 MP front-facing cam, a 2,050 mAh battery, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and UMTS/HSPA+ connectivity.
Such a winning combination of innovative design and speed couldn’t have come very cheap, but at $700 outright we can’t say the ADzero will be very expensive either. Not to mention that the project is due to hit Kickstarter soon, and early supporters will be given the chance to get the organic phone with a cool 200 bucks off.
Who’s ready to pledge some dough to help make this reality?

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AUO showcases world’s thinnest bezel display, who will use it first?

With the already high stakes in the patent wars increasing by the day, the debates over what is true innovation are getting more confusing than ever, especially for regular users. Still, it’s not as difficult as one would think to invent, reinvent and push technology limits, which is easily noticeable by looking at the activity of a handful of companies much less visible in the media than Apple or Samsung.
AU Optronics (AUO) is such an “underground” name that keeps to itself while inventing, innovating and strengthening its position in a very competitive and challenging market. The TFT LCD manufacturer has partnerships with big names like Samsung, Apple, LG, Dell, Acer or NEC, but the demand for its products should certainly increase after the latest Taiwan unveilings.
The most impressive new product showcased by AUO is by far a 4.46-inch mobile phone touch panel display that the Taiwanese-based company claims to have the world’s thinnest bezel. I know it’s hard to believe, but the panel’s borders (both vertical and horizontal) are only 1 mm (0.04 inches) wide.
We don’t know exactly what reliability challenges will this new screen pose for phone manufacturers, but we do know that on paper the LTPS (low-temperature poly-silicon) 720p display looks stunning. The images appear much larger than what you would expect from a panel significantly smaller than the one on the Galaxy S3, for example, so just imagine how cool would an S4 look using this technology.
AUO has been reluctant to talk about any actual upcoming “full-screen” phones, but you can bet the race is on for who can strike a partnership with the display manufacturer and start production first. Sammy, LG, Acer, Apple, your move!
The 4.46-inch display is not the only new innovative AUO product to be unveiled, and we should be pretty excited about the 4.97-inch AHVA (Advanced Hyper-Viewing Angle) panel with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, too. There’s also a 4.65-inch AMOLED panel with a 317 ppi pixel density that frankly doesn’t sound as special, and an IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) 10-incher with 2560 x 1600 pix res and “increased power efficiency”.
That last panel sounds perfect for the soon to be unveiled Samsung-Google Nexus 10, though we’re probably asking for too much too early.

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