core - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

[CES 2013] Intel Uncovers Low-Power Atom Platform For 'Value Smartphone' Market, 'Bay Trail' Quad Core SoC For Tablets

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, News

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.

Intel says that it's already found partners in Acer, Lava International, and Safaricom for the Z2420 platform, and that the chip will be capable of 1.2GHz speed, 1080p hardware acceleration, and support for two cameras (with burst mode). With the Z2420, Intel is hoping to target what most call the budget smartphone market, which their release indicates will reach 500 million units by 2015 according to "industry sources."

The high-end Bay Trail SoC, meanwhile, is a quad core, 22nm chip that Intel hopes will expand tablet prospects in both the Windows 8 and Android arenas.

Mar

Sony Spokesman Says The Company Likely Won't Go Quad-Core Until 2013, Cites Battery And Performance Concerns

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in News, Sony

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.

"We're going to join quad-core when we feel that the performance matches the battery efficiency," he said. "Because right now we don't feel that is there. What we are going to be doing in the second half of the year is moving to the Cortex A15 architecture, which we feel outperforms the current quad-core architecture.

Feb

NVIDIA Demystifies Tegra 3's 'Ninja-Core' Architecture, Renames vSMP '4-PLUS-1'

Posted by Liam Spradlin in News

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.

For those unaware, the Tegra 3 uses four cores for resource-taxing activities like gaming, while its low-powered "ninja core" lays back, ready to handle simpler tasks like e-mail processing or standby operation.

Feb

LG's Tegra-3 Sporting P880/X3 Specs And Quadrant Leak - And It's Every Bit The Beast We Expected

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in LG, News, X3/P880

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.

Now, the extremely reliable Paul O'Brien of Modaco has word from a source that those specs are correct - the sole exception is that the front-facing camera is 1.3MP (not 1.2). The build used in the shots sent to him runs Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.3) and the latest kernel from NVIDIA, and suggests little UI customization by LG.

Dec

[Weekend Poll] Now That The First Quad-Core Tablet Has Landed, Would You Still Buy A Dual-Core Tablet?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Polls, Tablets

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see What Is Your Ideal Tablet Screen Size?

In light of the slew of Asus Transformer Prime (the first tablet to pack NVIDIA's quad-core Tegra 3 CPU) reviews and the pending release of said device, we are curious to know: would you still buy a dual-core tablet? Perhaps you would, but only for a secondary/budget tablet? Or only if it were smaller? Sound off in the poll below, and head down to the comments to share your thoughts.

Nov

ASUS Transformer Prime Initial Impressions: Four Isn't A Prime Number, But It Sure Feels Special

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in ASUS, Eee Pad Transformer Prime, News, Reviews

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.

First up, let's run over the specs, largely from our official announcement post:

10.1-inch SuperIPS + display with Gorilla Glass
1.3GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 Processor with 12-core GPU
1GB RAM
32GB or 64GB internal storage with microSD card slot
microHDMI port
8MP F2.4 rear shooter with continuous flash for video recording, 1.2MP front camera (1080p camcorder!)
8.33mm thin
586g (1.29 lbs.)
12 hour battery life playing 720p video, 18 hours with keyboard dock
Metallic spun finish
Two available colors: Amethyst Gray and Champagne Gold (show below, respectively)
Android 3.2.1 - will be updated to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) as soon as possible after release
$499 for 32GB model, $599 for 64GB, and $149 for the dock
North American availability is expected to begin the week of 12/19 - this is straight from Asus's mouth in the Prime details that were sent to us (and again confirmed a few hours ago), contrary to the other "official" date of December 8 that we heard earlier today.

Jun

The New Samsung Galaxy Tab Seven Is Coming This Fall, Will Run Gingerbread - Wait, What? Seriously?

Posted by David Ruddock in Galaxy Tab Seven, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Rumors, Samsung

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.

Unfortunately, it looks as though they failed to learn from the Tab's biggest failing - the OS.

Jun

[Rumor] The Next Nexus Phone: The Nexus 4G - LTE, 720p Display, Dual Core, No Function Buttons?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Rumors

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:

A 720p "monster-sized" display - exact size unknown (also, goodbye qHD - nice knowing you)
Dual-core processor @1.2 or 1.5GHz (either a TI OMAP 4460 or a ULP Qualcomm 28nm Krait Snapdragon)
Android Ice Cream Sandwich (possibly dubbed Android 4.0)
Software function buttons (ala Honeycomb - no more capacitive touch)
4G LTE (yes, yes, yes!)
1GB RAM
5MP rear camera w/1080p video, 1MP front camera
Release around Thanksgiving

Unfortunately, several big questions remain unanswered.

May

[Review] Motorola DROID X2: Even Raw Horsepower Can't Save This Phone From Mediocrity

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Droid X2, Motorola, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Update: June 4, 2011 - I've taken an awful lot of flak for this review (and that's fine). I stand by the review because I can't honestly recommend this phone in good conscience. With that in mind, I realize that not everyone may share my opinions, and that's why I suggest potential purchasers go and take a look at it to see if they will notice the screen issues as much as I do.

Further, a lot of you seem to think I was using or inspecting the phone in a critical way; this was not the case. I noticed the screen and performance issues immediately and continuously under normal use conditions.

May

DROID X2 Shows Up On Verizon Accessory Page; Still Unannounced

Posted by David Ruddock in Droid X2, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

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.

In case you've forgotten, the DROID X2 is the dual-core, qHD-display packing successor to the wildly popular DROID X (the most popular Android phone to date, in fact). The X2 will be dropping with Gingerbread and the latest iteration of Motorola's not-MOTOBLUR overlay when it lands supposedly some time this month (maybe May 26).