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Intel, not to be left out of the early CES fun, had a couple of announcements for tech fans today – a low-powered platform formerly known as "Lexington," (lovingly called Atom Z2420) for "emerging" value smartphone markets, and the Atom Z2760, codenamed "Bay Trail" headed for tablets and higher-end smartphones.
Sony brought some sleek new devices to MWC, but we were surprised to see nothing truly groundbreaking - specifically, a lack of quad-core CPUs. CNET Asia got a few minutes with Stephen Sneeden, product marketing manager for Sony Mobile, and he clarified the companies stance, saying that we likely won't see quad-core phones from the company until early 2013.
The Tegra 3, NVIDIA's awesome quad-core processor (introduced last November) has been a hero of the mobile electronics world in recent times, making possible amazing mobile gaming, buttery smooth interactions, and better battery life. Until now, though, the only way to describe the chip's innovative architecture was to use its technical moniker – variable symmetric multiprocessing (vSMP). Today, however, NVIDIA coined the term "4-Plus-1" to more easily describe the configuration.
Shortly after CES ended, we heard word of a new phone from LG that would be the first to sport NVIDIA's impressive new quad-core CPU, the Tegra 3. Other specs were rumored to include a 4.7" 1280x720 display, 16GB on-board storage (plus a microSD slot), a 2000mAh battery (!), an 8MP camera in the rear, and a 1.2MP front-facer.
Around midday yesterday, I received my review kit for the Transformer Prime, complete with dock, wireless gamepad, and HDMI cable - meaning I'm well equipped to take a deep dive into the hottest new tablet to hit stores. But to be completely honest, an in-depth review on a product this brand-spanking-new requires more hands-on time than can be had in two days. The full review will be up on Friday, but in the interim, enjoy the initial impressions and gadget porn below.
CrunchGear is reporting that the Italian site HDblog has received exclusive details on Samsung's least-publicized new tablet product: the Galaxy Tab Seven (aka, the Galaxy Tab 2). The Seven will be the successor to the wildly unpopular Galaxy Tab, which debuted last fall to almost universally poor reviews (though our own Aaron Gingrich thoroughly enjoyed it). The Galaxy Tab was the first major-manufacturer Android tablet, and it seems based on the new tablet's specifications, Samsung learned a lot from the Tab's less-than-successful run.
Take this with a massive grain of salt, but BGR has just let loose an article detailing what they claim will be either the next Nexus phone or, if not a Nexus, simply the new Android reference handset. Far more exciting than that is what BGR's source has told them what kind of features the phone will be packing:
Continuing in the grand tradition of letting its less-than-flagship phones remain relatively free of fanfare leading up to release, Verizon (and Motorola) have let slip that the DROID X2 is probably coming soon, with the addition of an accessory page for the device on Verizon's website.
For round one of the HTC device leaks today, we present for your consideration the HTC Lead - a device that will be coming to the AT&T network at some point in the future (...most likely).
On the night before Google I/O 2011, I posted an open call for any questions you might have had for Google core developers. And you delivered - within a few hours, we had over 50 questions of varying complexities, and I realized I was in trouble. Office hours are meant for developers asking dev questions, whereas most of the ones you've asked were about policies and availability. Still, I proceeded to ask away at office hours and at the end of each session, fearing being shunned forever. Unsurprisingly, some devs would force me to move on after realizing the volume of questions, but some persistently tried answering, referring me to the right people along the way if they didn't know something.
HTC just announced via Twitter that the Sensation is a go - posting pictures on its Facebook page of the device at various seductive angles, as well as this video:
In a press release sent out this morning, Samsung has announced that the Galaxy S II will be hitting UK shelves on May 1 - and that it will be targeting all major networks and retailers. The flagship of Samsung's Mobile Division has had its armament upped prior to release, cranking the device's dual-core Exynos processor to an impressive 1.2GHz.
The rumors surrounding the Droid X2's hardware have been kind of sporadic, but it looks like we are starting to get a more definite look at what will be packed under the hood of this device. Some benchmarks that have appeared over at Nenamark are basically confirming the presence of a Tegra 2 dual-core processor and a qHD display, the latter via the device's reported resolution of 960x540.
According to Samsung Mobile's India Twitter account, the Samsung Galaxy S II ("SGSII") has been delayed globally by "at least a month."
Update: The 10.1-inch big brother of the A100, the A500, is also available for pre-order and ships on April 20, though it will cost you the substantially larger sum of £449. Why? It's packing an LED-backlit display (as opposed to LCD), 32GB of HDD space, and 1GB of RAM.
When you think of Android's openness, what comes to mind first? Is it the open source code of AOSP? Or maybe nearly 200 devices that run the Android now? Perhaps tethering, built right into the OS? How about the GPLv2 license requirement for manufacturers to publish all changes to the Linux kernel simultaneously with each phone's release?