05
Jan
2011-01-05 19h27_25
Last Updated: January 6th, 2011

Nope, Motorola hasn't announced this gem at their CES press conference yet, but it's already live on their site - it's called the Droid Bionic, and it's Motorola's LTE phone for Verizon.

It packs:

  • 512 MB of RAM
  • A dual-core processor of some sort (our bet is on the Tegra 2)
  • A front-facing web cam (VGA variety)
  • An 8 MP rear camera
  • A 4.3-inch qHD (960x540) display

Of course, it's also got a LTE radio under the hood, as evidenced by the "4G" logo in the top right corner and the "4G-like power" mentioned in the description. Excited? So are we...

04
Jan
lg-optimus-tab-lg-ces-tablet-engadget-wm

Well, well, well, what do we have here? The device Engadget found in LG's CES booth (see the thumbnail above and the video at the source link) could very well be the long-rumored Optimus Pad. The 8.9-inch device, which is said to be powered by a Tegra 2 dual-core processor, is something I have been lusting after for a while now.

While we can't be sure that the device in the thumbnail is the Optimus Pad, it sure looks a lot like the render below. Obviously, at this point, we have no way to confirm the exact specs, so all we can do is speculate - hopefully, LG will clear this up at CES.

03
Jan
logo

Here's a little something to tide you over while you're waiting for CES: eLocity today made no fewer than seven Tegra 2-powered Honeycomb tablets official.

While the company hasn't publicized many details about the devices yet (they say in-depth specifications will be available at CES), here's what we do know:

  • All of them are members of the A10 line
  • They will feature "high-resolution" multitouch displays
  • They will be powered by dual-core Tegra 2 processors
  • They will include microSD card slots as well as USB ports and an HDMI port capable of 1080p output
  • They will ship with a front-facing camera

While this is all very exciting, there's another item of interest here: the press release consistently refers to Honeycomb as "Android 3.0," despite the previous information we had indicating that Honeycomb would be version 2.4.

30
Dec
archos-7-android-tablet-version-2-8gb

Nope, the Archos 70 wasn't the death of the good (or not so good) ol' Archos 7 Home Tablet, apparently. The manufacturer has just let revision 2 of the Archos 7 loose, and while it's still got a resistive touchscreen (ugh), its CPU has been upgraded to an 800 MHz Rockchip processor (the older model was powered by a 600 MHz chip), and it now comes with Android 2.1 (as opposed to Android 1.6 on the original).

Expansys will sell you the device for $194.99, though it's currently out of stock and is said to be shipping within 5-10 days.

30
Dec
LG-Logo

Looks like Motorola won't be the only one showing off a Honeycomb tablet at CES 2011 - according to the Korea Times, LG plans to bring an 8.9-inch Android (2.4?) device to the infamous electronics show.   

While the words "LG," "Honeycomb," and "tablet" are probably enough to excite many Android fans, the Korea Times was also able to confirm that LG will have another awe-inspiring device on display at CES: the much-anticipated Optimus 2X, better known as the world's first dual-core phone.

What say you - are you ready for LG to (finally) make its appearance on the high-end Android scene?

21
Dec
htc-evo-shift-4g-3
Last Updated: January 4th, 2011

Sprint's current WiMax-capable phones are no slouches, but there's no denying the lineup could use a third phone, if only for the sake of keeping things fresh. The HTC EVO Shift 4G could be just what the doctor prescribed - it looks like the love-child of the T-Mobile G2 and the original EVO 4G. In fact, according to PhoneArena's tipster, the G2 and the Shift 4G  share the same processor - an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7X30 unit - though the latter has inherited the EVO's plastic casing (lame) and HTC Sense UI (also lame). Additionally, the G2's optical trackpad has been moved from under the display to the keyboard.

30
Nov
lg-star-back
Last Updated: December 23rd, 2010

Say what you may about the custom UI that was on the LG Star we saw earlier today, but you can't deny that there's something to be said for its dual-core processor. GSM Israel has proven just that via a hands-on video in which the LGP990 (aka the Star) is compared side-by-side with an iPhone 4, which comes off a bit undersized next to the Star.

Another factoid mentioned in the video: the handset packs a Tegra 2 processor driving a 4-inch display. Additionally, the video confirmed that the device will indeed ship with an 8 MP camera as well as a front-facing counterpart and an HDMI port.

18
Nov
snapdragon

Despite all this talk about upcoming phones and tablets running on the Tegra 2 processor, you may want to stop and consider the new offering in the Snapdragon line of processors from Qualcomm. Taking a 28-nm dual core beast (MSM8960), the company promises speeds up to five times their current offerings, as well as 75% less lower power usage.

But the real shocker here is the updated GPU, which Qualcomm claims is capable of delivering gaming performance equal to the of an Xbox 360 or PS3.

We should certainly wait for some real life tests and comparisons to Tegra 2 before really hyping this up, but still: can you imagine the PSP phone launching with these capabilities?

25
Aug
t-mobile-g2-itw-2-04
Last Updated: August 27th, 2010

Based on a tweet by Cyanogen, the G2 isn't going to be sporting another rehash of the Snapdragon family of chipsets that has come to dominate HTC devices for the past 6 months.

You may remember back in November of 2009 (or maybe not, I didn't) that Qualcomm demoed an updated family of chipsets for mobile multimedia devices. The name of that chipset is the remarkably catchy MSM7X30 (really has a ring to it, no?), and it's bringing a little more to the table than its predecessors.

We already knew the G2 would be shipping with HSPA+ connectivity (the first phone to have it), but that's only one of the goodies Qualcomm's upgraded chipset will be offering:

  • 720P video encoding (recording) and decoding at 30FPS
  • Integrated 2D/3D GPU's with OpenGL ES 2.0 and Open VG 1.1 API support
  • 5.1 surround sound output
  • Up to 12 megapixel camera support
  • Integrated GPS
  • Support for processor speeds between 800MHz and 1GHz (Scorpion CPU's, same as Snapdragon's)

All of this considered, the G2's spec sheet could really cause some heads to explode.

13
Apr
Intel Atom Android

Most, if not all, Android phones on the market run exclusively on an ARM architecture and Intel wants a piece of the action.

On Tuesday (that is today), Intel announced that it had ported Android to run on its Atom CPU line. Intel calls Atom its smallest chip, built with the world's smallest transistors. Atom is aimed at portable devices and consumes only 1-2.5W of power.

To make things even more interesting, Renee James, general manager of IDF (Intel Developer Forum) in Beijing, said the company has plans to port *all* mobile operating systems, not just Android, to run on Atom CPUs.

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