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agora posts

Kogan shows off Agora prototype, promises retail model will be way cooler

by Chris Ziegler posted Feb 23rd 2009 @ 9:29PM

So, what's up with Kogan these days? It's just been a few weeks since the Australian shop went back to the drawing board with its Android-based Agora series, but Ruslan Kogan himself is talking up big plans for the redesigned version -- whenever it gets around to launching. According to Gizmodo Australia, Kogan says he wants the retail Agora to feature a 3.8-inch full touchscreen in concert with Cupcake's virtual keyboard place of the physical portrait keyboard he'd originally envisioned; cool, yes, but sadly, he'll have to play second fiddle to the Magic at this point. In the meantime, he's carrying around his original prototype, which looks... shall we say, not ready to ship. Then again, a hand-built Android set is better than no set at all, eh?

Back to the drawing board: Kogan working on a redesigned Agora

by Chris Ziegler posted Jan 27th 2009 @ 12:23PM

It's always fun to root for the little guy, but more importantly, it's fun to root for the $200 unlocked Android phone with 3G, right? It wasn't clear what would become of Ruslan Kogan's dream of building his own Android set after Google apparently told him the Agora's design wasn't such a good idea, but let's be honest: the dude probably didn't build his Australian off-brand electronics empire by giving up every time he hit a bump in the road. We talked to Ruslan today to confirm reports that there's a new model in the works, and he assured us that his company is "certainly in the process of redesigning and launch [sic] the improved Kogan Agora" -- which presumably means he'll be putting a phone onto the market that'll overcome the app compatibility issues that kept the original model from shipping this month. We don't have a timeframe yet, but considering how quickly he was able to pump out the first draft, we wouldn't be surprised to see something within a handful of months.

Kogan 'not aware' of sketchy Agora clone

by Chris Ziegler posted Jan 21st 2009 @ 3:38AM

Only in the bizarro world of KIRF can canceled, nonexistent handsets be cloned and released in quantities of 100 for just $240 a pop, and by all accounts, that's what has happened -- already -- to poor Ruslan Kogan and his doomed Agora. The Aussie with an admirable desire to get one of the first Android devices on the market recently had to delay his pet project indefinitely over compatibility concerns, but knockoffs running knockoff OSes have no such concerns, which is where the lovely Shining phone comes into play. After seeing the all-too-familiar render, Kogan contacted iTWire to say that "I am not aware of this manufacturer and I have doubts that it runs Android OS. It is certainly not what the Agora was going to be or in anyway related to it." 'Course, all it'd take is a couple chats over dinner between Chinese ODMs for Kogan's design to get recycled running something less than Android -- and granted, the Shining isn't identical to the Agora, but the similarities are striking, are they not?

"Shining" phone steals a little Agora magic

by Nilay Patel posted Jan 20th 2009 @ 6:02AM

Okay, we don't really know what's going on here, but a "Shining" phone that looks almost exactly like the original version of the Kogan Agora Android phone just popped up on Alibaba with a three-day delivery time and a 100-unit wholesale price of $240. Of course, the Agora was just delayed indefinitely, so this could just be nothing; contracting design and development out to faceless Chinese manufacturers like Kogan's doing is pretty much a deal with the KIRF devil, and those are definitely renders on the site, not actual pictures. Still, we're dying to see a flood of non-G1 Android handsets shake up the mobile market, and if getting stoked over sketchy Asian copies of semi-vaporware Australian phones is how we have to get our kicks, well, we're looking for new friends with an extra 24 grand and a healthy sense of forgiveness.

[Thanks, Raymanism]

So close, yet so far: Kogan Agora delayed indefinitely

by Chris Ziegler posted Jan 16th 2009 @ 12:48AM

Oh, Kogan -- we were so, so hopeful that you weren't peddling vaporware, and the latest indications seemed to suggest that the Agora and Agora Pro were very much real devices. We wanted to root for the little guy, get another Android handset out into the unlocked market, review it, and love it to death. Unfortunately, scrappy Australian entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan has decided to delay the launch of his independently-designed phones indefinitely citing concerns over compatibility with future Android apps -- concerns that were likely raised in a hush-hush meeting he'd recently scored with Google. One issue, it seems, is that the Agora's screen resolution won't likely play nice with Android apps going forward; that doesn't seem quite right since the form factor is totally standard, but who really knows? The dude's had working prototypes on video, so we can't totally write it off just yet.

[Thanks Alex Z., and everyone who sent this in]

Kogan's Android-powered Agora gets handled on video

by Sean Cooper posted Jan 6th 2009 @ 1:03AM

Color us believers, friends. Not only did we catch the Agora in full glorious -- albeit blurry -- color yesterday, we're now seeing it handled by some lucky type who owns a video cam that's able to focus. We're pretty stoked about this device and with a dash of luck we may have a chance to check it out ourselves in the next few days. Video follows the break.

[Thanks, Vuki]

Continue reading Kogan's Android-powered Agora gets handled on video

Android-powered Kogan Agora meets Mr. Blurrycam on way to CES debut

by Chris Ziegler posted Jan 5th 2009 @ 10:42PM

Okay, yes, we were mad skeptical that the Agora would ever see the light of day, and you know what? This is one situation where we're absolutely delighted to be proven wrong. Kogan's homegrown Android handset just got pictured in the wild -- the first time we've seen anything but a render -- on its way to a supposed CES debut. Rest assured: if it's really going to be meandering around Vegas this week, we will hunt it down.

Kogan's Agora gets tweaked ahead of release -- in Photoshop, anyway

by Chris Ziegler posted Dec 13th 2008 @ 3:47PM

You're bound to face a few hiccups when you're a no-name brand trying to source an Android handset from a no-name ODM buried deep inside a Shenzen industrial park, and it seems Kogan's going through those growing pains right about now. The Australian company still says the Agora and Agora Pro will ship before the end of January (barely), but it looks like they're down to the wire with tweaks to the phone's design. For starters, the soft keys are gone -- not much use for those in Android anyway, last we checked -- replaced with a decidedly WinMo-esque set of home and back keys; the keyboard's been redesigned, too, and the d-pad is looking more usable than it had been before. For the Agora's price point, we're still sold on this thing -- but only if we can get something more than a printout of a pretty render delivered to our doorstep.

[Thanks, Big Mike]