Author Archive: Gareth

It’s not Tegra 3, it’s 4-Plus-1

NVIDIA wants to make sure that consumers get the full skinny on their new Tegra 3 chip’s architecture. Sometime last year we did an article sharing that the Tegra 3 is actually a 5 core chip, rather than just a quad-core chip. It has 4 primary cores for running intensive calculations, but also has a 5th "shadow-core" (which has also been called the "ninja-core" by NVIDIA). This 5th core is designed to handle easy to calculate and mundane tasks to free up battery life and improve over-all efficiency. Previously, their in-house name for this architecture was "Variable Symmetrical Multiprocessing", but that is rather a mouth-full to share as marketing speak. So, to make things easier, they came up with the simple alias, 4-PLUS-1.

You can see below the quote from NVIDIA’s press post:

Fujitsu announce some insane specs

Fujitsu are set to make their debut in the phone market later this year. According to the Unwired View, Fujitsu’s handset will come packing a Nvidia 1.6GHz Tegra 3 processor – a quad-core chipset, a 4.6in screen (no further details there unfortunately), a 13.1MP camera, a fingerprint sensor, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, as well as "long battery life" and some kind of water and dust resistant finish. Yes, that was a 13.1mp camera!

It’s at a stage where anything can happen in the world of mobiles, as for a company like Fujitsu to make any sort of dent in the market they have to arrive guns blasting. Unless of course they want to take the market slowly, easing in at the bottom of the market like HTC did and ZTE are currently doing. There are concerns with specs like this. That CPU is going to really require a long life battery just to get you through to a day of heavy use.

At any rate, this looks to be one to watch and has the potential of blowing a few members of the competition out of the water!

Posted by: Gareth

Googles lucky unlocky screen

It looks like the crafty folks at Google have decided to "head Apple off at the pass", when it comes to Apple’s slide-to-unlock patent disputes. Google engineers and/or patent experts have just filed for a patent on a new way to unlock devices.

In case you haven’t followed the Apple vs. the "world" news much, Apple is suing Samsung and Motorola for various violations of a "slide-to-unlock" patent, that many people feel is a bogus patent to begin with. Google isn’t having any of that though, and instead of needlessly fighting potentially wasteful battles on that front, they are "going over the top" and skipping the issue altogether in the future. Their new patent application is for an "Input to Locked Computing Device" method of locking and unlocking your device. Here’s a quick quote from Engadget’s article with some more details,

Quote:

…the application claims a method for a device unlocking process using one or more user inputs while simultaneously executing a command — like calling a specific contact or opening an application. Those user inputs can take the form of passcodes, touch and drag, or audio commands. While the application’s drawings depict such a system on a phone, it claims an unlocking system for desktops and laptops as well, so it could easily find its way onto a Chromebook or two.

Clever Google. Very clever…

Posted by: Gareth

The Acer A510 looks pretty smart

Acer’s next high-end Tablet, the Iconia A510 has just passed through its FCC certification hoops. The tablet is due to come out in Europe sometime in April. The tab has some fairly impressive specs:

• 1.3GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor
• 1GB of RAM
• 10.1-Inch screen with resolution of 1280 x 800
• 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions
• A microSD slot, mini-HDMI and mini-USB

There is no word yet on a potential price as yet however Acer do tend to come in a little lower than the competition.

Poster by: Gareth

A Love story: Google and Motorola Mobility

The Department of Justice gave its seal of approval to Google’s proposed takeover of U.S. cell-phone maker Motorola Mobility on Monday, just hours after European regulators also gave the deal clearance.

The $12.5 billion acquisition positions Google to move into the device market and potentially into more direct competition with companies like Apple.
Google wants to own the hardware to pair with its Android operating system for smartphones, and could use the acquisition to protect patents as well as to develop other devices such as home gaming systems.

“The combination of Google and Motorola Mobility will help supercharge Android,” Google’s Don Harrison said in a blog post earlier in the day. “It will also enhance competition and offer consumers faster innovation, greater choice, and wonderful user experiences.”

The European Union earlier on Monday approved the deal, which still needs the approval of regulators in several other countries, including China.

Posted by: Gareth

Toshiba AT200 arrives

Carphone Warehouse has put the Toshiba AT200, also known as the Toshiba Excite X10, up for sale. The 7.7mm 10 inch tablet houses a 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 5 megapixel rear camera, a front facing camera and comes in configurations of either 16GB or 32GB. This one’s still running Honeycomb, unfortunately, but Toshiba assures us that it will be getting the upgrade to Android 4.0+ sometime down the line. Pricing is £399 and £449 for the 16GB and 32GB configurations, respectively. Deliver to the mainland and store are free, but you’ll have to wait until February 15th to find it in-stores. Get started here and here.

Full specs after the below:

No Samsung Galaxy S III for MWC

TechRadar received an official statement from Samsung that the much anticipated Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung’s successor to the Galaxy S II that turns one year this month, won’t be announced at this month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The official statement says that  "Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012. The successor to the Galaxy S2 smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product". At this point the real reasons for the announcement-shift are unclear.

Rumours have circled the internet of just what to expect from the Galaxy S III’s load out. More recently we have hear it’s going to launch with ICS, the camera is going to be upgraded and 12MP and it will run with a 1.5GHz-1.6GHz quad-core processor. It all sounds like a dream phone but lets not forget The SII rumours were pretty much spot on.

Posted by: Gareth