Nexus 6 launching next week in Mexico for 9,999 pesos

Good news for the Mexican Nexus fans out there, as Motorola just announced that the Nexus 6 is launching in Mexico next week! Mexican residents will have a chance to get their hands on the handset, even though users are having a tough time trying to buy it anywhere else.

The only variant that will be available at launch is the 32GB White Cloud variant. The Midnight Blue 32GB model and both 64GB models aren’t even mentioned in the post, so we’re unsure of when those will become available, if at all. The White Cloud variant will be available for 9,999 pesos, which comes out to a little over $700. Exact availability and carrier information should be posted within the coming days. To get your hands on one, you’ll need to go directly through Motorola.com.mx, as it looks like the Play Store won’t offer it at launch.

Unfortunately, just because the phone is launching officially, doesn’t mean things are set to go well. The phone has been out for weeks in the United States, and most people that want the device can’t even get their hands on one yet. Most other markets are in the same boat, too. So when Google is set to launch the phone in yet another country, we aren’t extremely confident that there will be enough units to go around. Historically Google Nexus launches haven’t exactly been smooth during the first few months, so we suppose this is all just par for the course.

Who knows, maybe Google will end up surprising us — but we wouldn’t count on it. Do you think the Nexus 6 launch in Mexico will go smoother than it did in other markets?

T-Mobile Nexus 9 launch reportedly delayed

If you’re a Nexus fan and a T-Mobile customer, you’re not going to like what we’re about to tell you. After the uncarrier had a hard time launching the Nexus 6 a few weeks ago, you’d think things would go a bit more smoothly for the Nexus 9 launch that was scheduled for “early December — but apparently not. It looks like T-Mo will miss their second Nexus launch date of the year, as a leaked internal document states that the Nexus tablet launch is postponed.

Unlike the delayed Nexus 6 launch, we have no date as to when the HTC-made tablet will launch. The internal document states it will be available “on a date to be determined.”

Updated: Google Nexus 9 Launch Postponed (Retail, TPR, TPRi, EDPC)

Update: The launch of the Google Nexus 9 has been postponed. This article will be updated with the launch date once it is confirmed.

T-Mobile will launch the Google Nexus 9 on a date to be determined, which will be available on the web or through Ship-to (Direct Fulfillment) in HSO. This HTC device features a beautiful 8.9″ screen and a 64-bit 2.3GHz dual processor.
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Although this is discouraging news, don’t get too upset quite yet. The company was planning on launching the tablet in early December, but that doesn’t mean it won’t show up before the holidays. All we can do for now is wait and see.

Chinese OEM’s devices account for almost 40% of global shipments in 2014

The 21st century has seen an impressive amount of growth in a large number of areas including mobile technology, screen resolution, data speeds, and smartphone users. Perhaps no market on the planet is as important as the Chinese: almost all electronic products are manufactured there, and the population is absolutely gigantic, comprising roughly 20% of the world’s population. Everyone wants a piece of the pie, because there is a lot of money to be made. Indeed Chinese OEMs like Huawei and OnePlus have seen astonishing success stories in the past few years, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

According to Taiwanese based firm, TrendForce, in 2014 Chinese handsets accounted for 38.6% of the total smartphone shipped worldwide. That’s over 450,000,000 smartphones. Next year it’s expected to hit over 40%, and by the end of 2016, possibly 50%. Even more impressive? Since the country’s OEMs began selling internationally in 2011, the growth rate has been 50% each year, although its set to drop to 17% in 2015 as a result of saturation and subsidies. No wonder Google is looking for ways to get its services into the hands of Chinese consumers!

If you haven’t already heard of the big names from China (Xiaomi, OnePlus, Oppo, ZTE, and Huawei are just some of the players that come to mind), chances are you will soon. As the established giant Samsung now faces a serious crisis with rapidly declining sales, Sino-OEMs, with their cutting edge specs, intelligent designs and killer pricing will establish themselves as a larger presence from here on out. It doesn’t even matter if the USA sticks with Samsung or Apple though, there are enough new customers elsewhere to more than compensate for the mistrust seeded in the American marketplace.

On a side note, it should be pointed out that devices shipped does not necessarily equate to devices sold, but with Xiaomi and Huawei reporting massive profits these day, it’s safe to say customers are indeed buying them.

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Report: more evidence Samsung supplier using child labor in China

American nonprofit group China Labor Watch announced yesterday that it has collected additional evidence that child and student workers were employed “under exploitative working conditions” at the factory of Samsung supplier HEG Technology. That evidence includes interviews with children below China’s legal working age who say they worked ten-hour days with a single day of rest each week for the Samsung supplier.

According to the report, the underage workers were students at the Chengdu Urban Construction Vocational School. Excerpts from the interviews published by China Labor Watch suggest that both the school and HEG were aware that some of the workers were underage:

Gao [student worker]: What I know is, not a lot of the kids from our school who went to the [HEG] factory were under 16, but there were some. Around the end of their time at HEG, they were apparently discovered and forced to leave. So basically the factory made them come back to the school right before they were going to be inspected so that the kids wouldn’t be discovered.

Investigator: HEG won’t admit to it, but there were in fact students under the age of 16 working there for 1-2 months, correct?

Gao: One of those kids under 16 that you mentioned is with me now. There’s also one who has gone home already because today is Friday.

Investigator: Could you tell me their name?

Gao: The one next to me is named [name of child worker redacted], the other one is named [name of child worker redacted]. But when we went to the factory, the school had a lot of the under-aged kids use other students ID cards. They didn’t use their own names.
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In the interviews, another student also tells China Labor Watch that students from other schools were also employed at HEG, although that information is unconfirmed.

Unfortunately, Chinese vocational schools making arrangements like this with factories is not uncommon. In this case as in many others, it seems students were required to work at the factory, ostensibly as part of their education. Their wages were paid directly to the school, which subtracted its own expenses (like tuition) before handing over the remaining money to students. Some students say they still haven’t been paid for their work.

See: Report: Foxconn using forced student labor to build Sony’s PS4

These allegations follow months of back-and-forth between China Labor Watch, Samsung, and HEG. China Labor Watch first published allegations of child labor at HEG in July in collaboration with the New York Times. Initially, Samsung and HEG denied the allegations, saying that in their own investigations over several years they had not found a single underage worker, and HEG filed a lawsuit against China Labor Watch for defamation in September. Since then, Samsung has conducted further investigation and admitted that some student workers were employed at HEG, but it apparently continues to deny that underage workers are involved in producing its products.

In the wake of this new evidence, Samsung told China Labor Watch it would carry out a follow-up investigation. Tech in Asia also contacted Samsung for comment on this story, and will update the post if we hear back.

(Source: China Labor Watch)

Deal Alert: New Nexus 7 (2013) for $150, Nexus 9 folio case $88

If you’re a Nexus tablet fan, we have stumbled upon two deals that could potentially interest you. If you happen to own the latest and greatest Nexus tablet, the Nexus 9, and are looking to make the most of it, you can currently get the Nexus 9 folio case for just $88 on Amazon, down from its normal price of $130.

As you might guess, there is a catch: it’s currently back-ordered. However, if you aren’t in a hurry you can buy it now and Amazon promises to ship it as soon as more stock arrives. Right now delivery is expected to take place around January 22nd. While that’s a long wait, saving $42 could still very much be worth the delay.

Buy now for $88 


For those that don’t currently own a Nexus tablet but would like to, you might want to consider Groupon’s deal on the Nexus 7 (2013). Right now you can get the Wi-Fi 16GB model for only $149.99. At leas according to the description, this is a new-in-box offer and not a refurbished deal.

The Nexus 7 (2013) might not be as fancy as the Nexus 9 and doesn’t have an official keyboard folio case, but it’s still more than capable of providing a solid Android experience. As a refresher, the tablet has a 7-inch Full HD display, a Snapdragon processor, 2GB RAM, a 5MP rear-facing camera and runs Android 5.0 Lollipop (after updating). For more details on what to expect from the Nexus 7 (2013), be sure to check out our full review:



Buy now for $150

Best Sony Xperia Z3 cases

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