AMD Trinity Pushed Back to Mid-2012, May Be Faster than Initially Thought

AMD seems to have a lot of confidence in the performance of its upcoming Trinity APUs as reportedly the company has increased the projected speed expectations for these chips when compared to previous Llano parts.  According to the chip makers own internal tests, a 35W Trinity notebook APU is expected to provide 25% better computing performance compared to a similar Llano APU, while on the graphics side Trinity may extend that lead to 50%. The sad news however is despite the increased in performance, AMD’s Trinity chips won’t see the light of day until mid-2012. "We are indeed on track with Trinity for mid-2012," said Chris Hook, and AMD spokesman to Xbit Labs, without going into any more details. Previously, the company’s reps have...

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Fujitsu m532 Tegra 3 Tablet Will Arrive in May Running Android 4.0

Fujitsu isn’t that big of a name in the mobile space, but the Japanese company is looking to change that in the near future with the introduction of a new tablet, called the Stylistic m532, rocking Nvidia’s Tegra 3 quad-core SoC. Ignoring the high-res screen trend imposed by Acer’s Iconia Tab A700 and the Asus Transformer TF700, the m532 is built around a 10.1-inch screen capable of pushing a “mere” 1280x800 pixels. Pop the display out, and inside you will find Nvidia’s Tegra 3 SoC placed alongside 16GB of Flash storage, which should be enough for many users. If this however doesn’t satisfy your needs, you can also expand the storage space available by installing a microSD card. The slot required by this sort of cards is placed on the side...

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Intel Intros Overclocking Warranty for K & X-Series CPUs

Intel has just announced the introduction of new program called the Performance Tuning Protection Plan (PTPP) which allows K- and X-series processors owners to purchase an additional warranty for their CPU, enabling them to get a replacement in case the old one is killed thorough overclocking.  This new plan is an addition to the standard 3 year warranty covering all Intel processors, which means that it will go into effect only if the CPU is damaged when running beyond its reference specs, otherwise the standard warranty applies. The only catch right now is that the so called PTPP program will be launched as a test that will last six months, and afterwards Intel will decide if it will continue with its new plan. “Intel is pleased to...

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NFC Mobile Payments with BlackBerry Bold 9900 Now Possible in Turkey

Touted world’s first SIM-based smartphones to receive MasterCrad PayPass handset certifications for NFC mobile payments, BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Curve 9360 were also the first to run RIM’s BlackBerry 7 operating system.  To capitalize on NFC (Near Field Communications) technology, major carrier Turkcell and Research In Motion (RIM) have just introduced the NFC mobile wallet application for BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone users in Turkey. Turkcell’s application combined with the powerful features of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 will allow the carrier’s customers to make secure mobile payments by simply tapping their smartphones against a MasterCard PayPass reader. These readers can be found in shops, retail outlets, cafes and...

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Matrox Licenses M-Series Multi-Display Drive Source Code

Matrox Graphics Inc. is not dead yet and, as it happens, it has decided to make the source code of its M-Series drivers available for licensing by OEMs. Matrox' G450, G450 Low Profile and G450 PCI graphics cards already have open-source drivers for Linux 32 and 64-bit operating systems. Now, Matrox has made it possible for OEMs to contact them and collaborate on the development of software for multi-display desktop management. The company claims that it can render images of 8 megapixels across multiple screens easily. Also, the drivers can combine multiple cards in a single system, for better performance, versatility and quality of service. Once a licensing agreement is reached, OEMs get access to tools, resources and the suitable Matrox...

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HTC’s Quad-Core Edge to Be Renamed HTC Endeavor

Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC Corporation is expected to unveil to the world its first quad-core smartphones as soon as next month.  Among these devices, we should see an HTC Edge smartphone, some of the previous rumors on the matter suggested.  We all knew that “Edge” was only a codename for the handset, and confirmation on the matter has just emerged.  According to a recent article on Pocketnow, the new mobile phone will be rebranded HTC Endeavor, though it appears that this is still a codename for it.  For those out of the loop, we should note that HTC usually uses an internal codename for its devices long before and after they are launched. However, the codename is different from the market moniker these devices...

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Samsung to Deliver Smartphones with Better Battery Life This Year

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung is getting ready for the release of new, highly appealing mobile phones this year and promises better battery life for them as well. Today’s always-connected smartphones offer multitasking and fast data transfer speeds, while also packing large touchscreen displays. All these result in the phone’s battery being drained fast, which means that you’ll need to be close to a power outlet at least once a day, if not more often. Samsung says that their devices will be able to fare better this year, and that users will enjoy prolonged battery life with new handsets.  "When you wake up to when you go to bed, we don't want you feeling anxiety about your battery life," Kevin Packingham, vice president of...

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Nokia Belle Update Confirmed for Next Week

Nokia issued an official statement last month detailing the Nokia Belle (previously Symbian Belle) update, as well as the roadmap and the devices that will get it.  The Finnish company launched only three smartphones that run Nokia Belle, the 701, 700 and 603. However, based on users’ positive feedback it decided to bring the update to more devices launched on the market with previous versions of Symbian OS. Initially, Nokia confirmed the following models would receive the Nokia Belle update in early 2012: Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia E6, Nokia X7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia C7, and Nokia Oro. In addition, the handset maker announced that the update would be rolled out starting in February, though no exact release date was revealed at that time. Several...

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Sony's 2012 Android Roadmap Leaks with Full Prices and Release Dates

Sony has big plans for 2012 and the Japanese company started full force with two new amazing handsets that were announced last week at the International Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, the Sony Xperia S and Xperia ion.  In addition, Sony announced the Xperia NX and acro HD, which were especially designed for the Japanese market. However, while the Xperia NX is just the Japanese version of the Xperia S, the acro HD is a completely new device. Even though Sony Xperia S is rumored to hit shelves at the end of January at the earliest, Sony plans to keep launching quite a range of Android devices in Q2 and Q3. In this regard, it looks like the folks over at GSMArena have just received news on the complete Sony 2012 Android roadmap,...

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Windows 8’s ReFS Won’t Initially Support Boot

Windows 8, the new platform version from Microsoft, is bound to arrive on devices this year with a series of appealing new features inside, including a new file system, called ReFS.  The Resilient File System is a newly developed feature that will arrive in both Windows Server 8 and in the Windows 8 client.  Based on NTFS, it should deliver increased reliability, support for large volume, file and directory sizes, better security and the like.  Moreover, it will go along nicely with Storage Spaces, another feature new to Windows 8. Storage pooling and virtualization are supported by both of them.  One thing that it will not offer in the beginning will be support for boot. Surendra Verma, development manager on the Storage...

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iPhone 5 with Dual Home Buttons on Steel Rim Might Just Work [Video]

An iPhone 5 concept by Kris Groen shows what is possible with dual home buttons on each side of the phone’s steel frame, including fast app switching and clean navigation through your icon-filled springboard. The next iPhone is expected to have a bigger display, which, according to many people in the Apple blogosphere, might just force the company to eliminate the traditional home button altogether. Kris Groen, an AppAdvice reader, believes this theory holds water. He created this mockup (video embedded below) to show just how cool it would be to have two physical ‘home’ buttons on each side of the device. He believes it would be completely normal to use the phone this way, as this is the natural holding position of any smartphone. “‘Squeezing’...

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Canon EOS 300 Cinema Cam Available for Pre-Order, Ships at the End of January

Introduced back in November of 2011 in front of the film industry’s elite, Canon’s EOS 300 cinema camera is now available for pre-order with shipments starting at the end of this month. Designed by Canon to come as an alternative to the RED cameras used by many in Hollywood, the EOS 300 draws its power from a Super 35mm CMOS sensor capable of supporting up to 4K resolutions. The sensor reads Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) video signals for each of the three RGB primary colors, a feature that Canon promises it will decrease the incidence of moiré while realizing high resolution with 1,000 horizontal TV lines. Furthermore, the C300 sensor was also built in order to reduce rolling shutter skew, while its association with a DIGIC DV III image...

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RIM to Be Putting Itself up for Sale

Rumor has it that the Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion plans on putting itself up for grabs, and that it has already kicked off the process.  Apparently, the leading handset vendor hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to look into various strategic options.  The BlackBerry maker has been long rumored to plan putting itself up for sale, but nothing has happened so far.  However, it appears that there are not too many options left for the handset vendor, following a series of quarters during which it lost market share and saw its profits drop.  Clearly, RIM needs to rethink its strategy for the smartphone market, and a sale could be one of the options. Other reports suggested that the company was considering...

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Samsung to Be Interested in Buying Parts of RIM, Licensing BlackBerry

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung is reportedly interested in purchasing parts of Canadian smartphone designer Research In Motion.  The maker of BlackBerry has been long rumored to plan selling its assets due to falling stocks and slimmer market share.  Nothing has been officially confirmed for the time being, but the company is said to have already kicked off the process, through hiring investment bank Goldman Sachs to seek strategic options.  We heard that Microsoft and Amazon were among the possible bidders, and it seems that there are even more companies interested in the acquisition of RIM.  Samsung is one of these companies, and rumors emerged that it would be planning the purchase of parts of RIM.  The...

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Windows 8 Demoed on LTE-Capable Snapdragon S4 Tablet

The first tablet PCs to arrive on shelves running Windows 8 have started to trickle in, unveiling great capabilities and features.  Some of these would be powered by Qualcomm processors, and the chipmaker took its time to showcase devices at the recently ended 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  Microsoft and Qualcomm are working together on putting Windows 8 on devices based on Snapdragon processors, and the video embedded at the bottom of this article will offer you a glimpse at one of these devices.  The tablet PC that can be seen there features support for AT&T’s LTE network, something that was suggested even before CES kicked off.  “Qualcomm and Microsoft showed the results of their continued...

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iPad 3 Launch Event in February, Says Asian Supplier

A new report from Japan claims Apple has scheduled a special event for early February to launch its next-generation iPad 3, while another, from Taiwan, says the company will continue to sell the iPad 2 at a cheaper price. The sources cited by Japan’s Macotakara have been reliable in the past, so there is some reason to consider the accuracy of this report that claims there will be a special Apple event in February focused on the iPad 3 launch. The Asian supplier, presumably a partner of Apple Inc., reportedly told the blog that since the factory workers would be on holiday around that time, Apple’s iPad 3 would be shipped around March. The blog points out that Apple held its iPad 2 launch even in early March 2011 and then shipped the tablet...

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