Casio focus group hints at quad-core 4G phone, more
updated 02:10 pm EST, Wed January 18, 2012
Casio may have hinted at major Verizon plans
A focus group member claimed Wednesday to have been asked to give feedback on devices revealing at least some of its plans for the near future, most of which were for Verizon. The range-topping device purportedly identified by a Droid-Life reader would be very different than the rugged phones Casio usually ships, carrying a 4.5- or 4.7-inch Super AMOLED screen, a quad-core processor, LTE-based 4G, NFC wireless, and eight-megapixel back and two-megapixel front cameras. It would have a large-capacity 2,000mAh battery and ran the "latest Android," which looked to the reader to be Android 4.0.
According with the new OS, it would have a "beautifully simplistic" design without hardware navigation keys and slight curves at the top and bottom.
A five-inch phone had virtually no details and "didn't feel all that great in the hand," he added. Details were short and suggested it might be very early, although the size would make it a competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Note.
A set of clamshells were present, with the implication that at least one was a dual-screen model like the Kyocera Echo that could share tasks between screens. These were "ultra-slim," the tipster said. A new G'zOne rugged clamshell was supposedly as large as the quad-core device.
One more addition, a swiveling solar-power car dock, would both recharge the phone in an eco-friendly way as well as possibly communicate with matching phones and docks.
If accurate, the focus group explanation still wouldn't necessarily reflect final results; groups are often used to get feedback for changes to be made later. From its description, though, the quad-core phone was far along enough that it might only see minor changes.
