CES 2012: Polaroid Tests Smartphone Market with SC1630, an Android Device with 16MP HD Smart Camera

Polaroid’s new camera/smartphone hybrid, the SC1630 is one of the strangest devices showcased at the International Consumer Electronics Show. At 18.5mm, the device is a bit thicker than most Android smartphones that are launched on the market these days. For those who are looking for a camera, the main attraction will probably be the 16-megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom, F3.1-F5.6 aperture, HD (720p) video recording, and up to 3200 ISO. On the other hand, Android fans will probably be thrilled by the fact that such a good camera comes with Google’s platform and can be used to make phone calls as well. The device features quad-band GSM support and tri-band 3G connectivity. It only works with microSIM cards and features a decent 3.2-inch...

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Reported Hands-On with Potential iPad 3 Prototype

With spring 2012 approaching fast, anticipation for an iPad 3 unveiling is building up. One person now claims to have had a hands-on experience with a potential prototype. It’s not unheard of to gain access to prototype parts of an upcoming Apple product, but according to iLounge, this new iPad was fully assembled and looked almost identical to the current-generation of Apple tablets. Jeremy Horwitz says it’s useless to post any photos of the thing as there is nothing to be seen. The next iPad is an upgrade from the iPad 2, much like the iPhone 4S was to the iPhone 4, he claims. According to his contacts, the new iPad’s body is only slightly thicker than the iPad 2. On first inspection, the change was unnoticeable, he said. Horwitz believes...

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10-Core Intel Ivy Bridge-EP CPU Has 95W TDP at 2.4GHz

Intel might not have yet made the server version of its Sandy Bridge-E processors available in the retail market, but the company is already working on the successor of this architecture, dubbed Ivy Bridge-EP, which will feature up to 10 processing cores. Scheduled to be released no sooner than 2013, an engineering sample of such a CPU has recently been detailed by a leaked CPU-Z screenshot published by Hardcore Hardware. The 1.59 version of CPU-Z correctly recognized this chip as an Ivy Bridge-EP/EX processor and reveals that it packs 10-cores with Hyper-Threading support working at a base frequency of 2.4GHz. According to the screenshot, the CPU requires only 1.016V in order to operate at this clocks speed which enables it to fit inside...

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CES 2012: AMD Also Demos High-End HD 7000M GPU Based on Pitcairn Core

Outside of the Trinity APU demo that we talked about earlier today, AMD has also brought a working sample of a high-end Radeon HD 7000M-series notebook GPU based on the company’s Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture at this year’s CES fair. The graphics card that was showcased running both in single, and as part of a dual-GPU CrossFireX setup, was actually based on the company’s Pitcairn GPU according to VR-Zone. Built using TSMC’s 28nm fabrication process, the Pitcairn core is a true Graphics Core Next (GCN) design and will also be used by the Sunnyvale-based company as the base for its desktop Radeon HD 7800 parts. In the notebook space however, this graphics core is highly likely to appear as the Radeon HD 7900M which is a general occurrence...

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AMD Radeon HD 7950 to Arrive on January 31, Says Report

January 9 2012 has come and passed, but AMD’s Radeon HD 7970 hasn’t been joined by the cheaper HD 7950 as some of us have hoped for, but fortunately it seems like we won’t have all that much to wait until the graphics card makes its appearance. According to some recent rumors, less than a month separates us from the launch of the Radeon HD 7950 as this is now expected to arrive on January 31. Unlike the Radeon HD 7970 December 22 launch, the HD 7950 should be a hard release with retail availability, pricing being expected to be set at $449 (353 EUR), according to Fudzilla. AMD’s Radeon HD 7950 is based on the same Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture and Tahiti GPU as that used for the HD 7970, but this comes with four of the core’s Compute...

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Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge CPU Pictured

In about three months’ time, Intel is expected to let loose upon the computing world a new series of processors based on the Ivy Bridge architecture and recently the most powerful of these chips, the desktop Core i7-3770K was pictured online. The CPU spotted is actually an engineering sample processor, but according to its maker it runs at its full 3.5GHz base speed, which means that this is most probably one of the last ES parts to arrive before Intel introduces Ivy Bridge in retail. Outside of its 3.5GHz base clock speed, the Core i7-3770K will also support Intel’s Turbo Boost technology which can increase its operating speed to 3.9GHz when not all cores are loaded. Much like the current Sandy Bridge-based Core i7 parts, the 3770K will...

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CES 2012: Gigabyte Outs 7-Series Motherboards With 3D BIOS

Since CES is well underway, Gigabyte is eagerly demonstrating the new technologies that will make its motherboards much easier to interact with. Though they were revealed some time ago, Gigabyte's 3D BIOS and 3D Power technologies are only now being publicly demonstrated. With the 2012 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) underway in Las Vegas, Nevada, Gigabyte arguably couldn't have hoped for a better opportunity. The Gigabyte 3D BIOS technology is actually a new representation of the BIOS, with an interactive view of the mainboard itself. Thus, even PC owners less versed in IT will be able to make heads or tails of what each component does. Gigabyte even added helpful tips that pop up when the mouse hovers over a specific...

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CES 2012: EVGA Plans to Enter PSU Market with NEX

EVGA is about to expand its horizons, branching from the motherboard and graphics market into that of power supplies. The series of PSUs that EVGA is preparing bears the name of NEX and is aimed at the high-end market. That means that the company doubtlessly wishes them to be paired with its motherboards and video adapters. That said, there will be four models to start with, their outputs being 650W, 750W, 1000W and 1500W, respectively. The first two are for 'regular' gamers while the other two are for people who want multiple video cards in their systems (and/or serious overclocking). There will be a “Dummy Mode” for multiple/redundant PSU operation and an “OC Mode” (all 12V rails are linked into a single 133A one). All of them will be...

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Intel Romley 8-Core Sandy Bridge-E Chips Set for CeBIT 2012

Since consumer processors from the Sandy Bridge-E line are already running rampant, even with two cores sealed, the Romley platform for workstation has to hurry up and arrive too, along with the Core i7-3000 series processors. Apparently, the wait will not be too long, as VR-Zone reports that the official launch date has finally been set. It is on March 6, 2012, during CeBIT 2012, that the Santa Clara, California-based company will go ahead and release the processors and chipset. As people may or may not know, the Core i7-3000 chips are the workstation versions of the latest, high-end CPU line. Meanwhile, the Romley X79 will replace the X58 based Tylersberg chipset. There is one truly important detail about all the chips that will draw attention:...

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Team Group Reveals Xtreem LV 2,600 MHz Quad-Channel Memory

Team Group's latest press release states that the company is ready to sell quad-channel memory for systems based on the latest Intel CPUs. The new memory series that Team Group has launched is called Team Xtreem LV DD3 2600 Quad-Channel CL10. The name alone is enough for people to guess the most important details about it. Thus, this is a series of memory that operates at a clock speed of 2,600 MHz and a latency of CL10. More specifically, the timings are of 10-12-12-31. There are two quad-channel kits in the collection, of 8 GB and 16 GB capacities, respectively. The first is made of two 4 GB modules while the latter is composed of four similar modules (240-Pin Unbuffered DIMM Non ECC). Finally, the new RAM utilizes 8-layer PCBs (printed-circuit...

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iPhone 5 and iPad 3 GPU Potentially Revealed

When Imagination Technologies announced the first licensees for the next-generation Series6 family in June 2011, Apple was not mentioned, though it was later revealed that the Cupertino company was indeed a partner. The iPhone maker currently utilizes Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR SGX543MP2 in their A5 system-on-a-chip (SoC). So when Imagination unveiled the upcoming Series6 family this week, touting performance improvements of 20x or more for the G6400 and G6200, we had to ask: just how fast will the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 be? There’s little to no doubt that Apple is one of the companies licensing the new technologies in their upcoming A6 processor believed to be used in the next-generation iPad and iPhone. According to Imagination, “The...

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