The notification bar, camera UI and other menus also have a much different look.

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New "views, " toggled from a space right under the notification bar, are essentially glorified folders, and the "quick access area" is much like the functionality offered by years-old "Today"-style themes for the handset.

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And Apple, which has yet to include indoor maps in its Maps app, is nevertheless employing indoor positioning technology in its Apple Store app to push Genius Bar customers a check-in notification as soon as they enter the retail store.

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Software-wise, the Ultra uses a mostly vanilla Android 4.1 build, though Alcatel appears to have added a few tiny tweaks to it: the icons have a curvacious shape that brought back memories of MeeGo, and there's a quick settings bar along the top of the notification menu.

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To be frank, my favorite notification method implemented on any mobile OS is the status bar on Android, mainly because it's easily accessible and navigable the vast majority of the time (it gets hidden in certain apps).

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