LG will launch its curved G Flex Android smartphone in the United States during the first quarter of 2014. During its press conference at CES, LG said the device would be available on Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile.
The 6-inch Android handset is certainly different, with a noticeable arc along its length. It also comes with a “self-healing” cover, capable of withstanding the odd scratch from your house keys, and a rear-mounted set of power and volume buttons.
LG has already released the device in Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore – it’ll be hitting India “ soon ” and the UK with local carrier EE next month .
Read Next: G Flex review: LG’s giant smartphone with a natural grip is proof curved could be mainstream
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The HP Chromebook 11 is a 2.3lb Chrome OS laptop with Micro USB charging for $279.99
Google unveiled the HP Chromebook 11 today, a new Chrome OS laptop with USB charging and a $279.99/£229 price tag.
The 11.6-inch IPS screen has a 1,366 x 768 resolution and a wide 176-degree viewing angle. It weighs only 2.3 pounds and is powered by a Samsung dual-core Exynos 5250 processor, alongside 2GB of RAM and a 16GB SSD.
There’s a VGA webcam and two USB 2.0 ports down the side, as well as a headphone jack and SlimPort video out. The speakers are hidden directly under the keyboard to keep the sound “crisp, clear and pointed up towards your ears.”
The HP Chromebook 11 is powered by a micro-USB charger, which should please travellers who already carry an external battery for their power-hungry smartphone or tablet. HP says you’ll get up to six hours of charge with the 30 Wh battery, but as always that’ll depend on your overall usage.
The laptop’s design is rather striking too, opting for a predominantly white, plastic look similar to the entry level Macbook from years gone by. It’ll come with either blue, red, yellow or green color accents, as well as a lightbar on the lid. For traditionalists, an all-black version will also be on offer.
HP said a version of the Chromebook with a Micro-SIM slot for 4G LTE connectivity (via Verizon in the US) will be available at a later date. Just to sweeten the deal, it’s worth noting that each laptop comes with a 60-day trial for Google Play Music All Access, as well 100GB of Google Drive storage for free over two years.
It’ll be available at Best Buy, Amazon, Google Play and HP Shopping in the US, as well as Currys and PC world in the UK later today. Caesar Sengupta, VP for Product Management at Google, added: “It will be available in other countries that sell Chromebooks in time for the holidays.”
Fitbit Force is a sleek fitness and sleep tracking wristband with incoming call alerts
Fitbit unveiled the latest addition to its line of fitness wearables today, the Fitbit Force, which comes with a $129.95 sticker price and will be available to order later today at fitbiom .
It’s a refinement of the Fitbit Flex , replacing its predecessor’s line of tiny LED lights with a more advanced OLED display. This provides real-time information on the steps that you’ve taken, distance covered and calories burned, as well as active minutes and the number of floors climbed.
The Fitbit Force also monitors the quality of your sleep and can wake you up with a ‘silent alarm’ that relies on vibration, rather than ear-splitting audio. Taking a page from recent smartwatches such as the Samsung Galaxy Gear , it can even offer notifications for incoming calls.