Intel Haswell CPUs to Launch in Mar-Jun 2013, Says Leaked Company Roadmap

The launch date of Intel’s 2012 Haswell processors has so far been covered in mystery, but recently a leaked company roadmap has revealed that these chips are expected to arrive in the March-June timeframe. Just as it’s the case with the upcoming Ivy Bridge launch, the first CPUs to arrive will be introduced in the Core i5 and Core i7 product lines. These will cover the mainstream and performance sector, while the lower end Core i3 processors are expected to be launched later that year, according to the info leaked by Donanim Haber. Haswell will be a “Tock” on Intel’s roadmap, meaning that it has an entirely new architecture built using the 22nm production node. Intel plans to split its product range into two distinct groups. The first group...

Read more »

Alienware Could Consider Building a Gaming Tablet

Razer’s Project Fiona might not be the only gaming tablet in the works, since Alienware is also considering branching off in the same direction by delivering a slate designed from the ground up to satisfy gamers. Alienware is still not convinced about the success of such a tablet, but the idea came up a couple of times during its internal discussions. “We have discussed it [tablets] a couple of times. There are issues and limitations that make it difficult to see that would appeal to our core audience right now,” said Eoin Leyden, product manager at Alienware, during a meeting with Pocket Lint. According to Leyden, even though the touch interface used in tablets makes a lot of sense for Web surfing and playing casual games such as Angry...

Read more »

16GB Galaxy Nexus in White Up for Pre-Order for $660 (500 EUR)

The white-themed Galaxy Nexus was officially unveiled several weeks ago, but the phone has yet to hit shelves. According to Samsung, customers should be able to grab the white version of the Galaxy Nexus starting February 13. However, major retailer Negri has just listed the 16GB Galaxy Nexus in white and is now taking pre-orders. Customers who wish to reserve it will have to shell out no less than $659.50 (500 EUR) upfront. This unlocked version of Galaxy Nexus has the same features as the original black model. Keep in mind that only the back cover of the smartphone is white, the front part has the same black tint as the standard Galaxy Nexus. According to Negri, the estimated shipping date for the 16 GB Galaxy Nexus in white is February...

Read more »

Kodak Backs Out of Camera Market

As part of its effort to be reborn as a company, Kodak has announced the decision to gradually stop offering digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames.  Basically, the company is phasing out what used to be a major part of its global business, which means that it will focus on desktop inkjet printers and photo printing (online and retail-based).  Kodak plans to completely stop selling dedicated capture devices, as it calls them, by the end of the first half of this year (2012).  After that, it will only try to find new licenses in this category and generally expand its brand licensing program.  As soon as these newer changes are complete, it hopes to make savings of about $100 million a year.  “For...

Read more »

HTC Rezound Gets Its First ICS ROM with HTC Sense 3.6 UI

HTC Rezound continues to receive maintenance updates through Verizon Wireless, but the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade has yet to be announced.  However, Rezound owners are probably aware that XDA Developers already leaked an official Android 4.0.3 ROM for their devices, which enables them to cook some new custom ROMs. In this regard, XDA forum user JoelZ9614 has just released an Ice Cream Sandwich ROM for the HTC Rezound, which features Sense 3.6 UI.  According to him, the ROM won’t receive any updates, as it has been especially built to be used as a base for every Rezound owner. The new ROM features the stock Android 4.0.3, HTC Sense 3.6 UI and Sony Bravia Engine, which should improve the image quality. There are also a few non-functional...

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy S II HD Headed to Canada

Samsung already launched its Galaxy S II HD in South Korean and the United States. The good news is that the Korean handset manufacturer plans to launch the smartphone in Canada as well. Although the company has yet to confirm the exact release date of the device, the guys over at MobileSyrup have learned from sources close to the matter that the Galaxy S II HD is expected to arrive in the country in “early Q2.” Given the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S II HD is LTE-enabled, the smartphone will be carried by one of the three Canadian major operators, TELUS, Rogers or Bell, in order to take advantage of their LTE networks. Aside from LTE capability, the superphone packs a stunning 4.65-inch Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen display...

Read more »

More iPad 3 Parts Leak, Some Specs Determined

A new iPad 3 leak is being reported, this time complete with inner parts and more details about the potential end-specifications. Obtained from iPatch, a U.K. repair shop, the parts showed by Cult of Mac tell the same story as the Apple.pro leak reported earlier today. But in addition to leaking the back aluminum shell of the next-generation iPad, iPatch also leaked a flex cable containing the sleep/wake button, the volume buttons, and the mute switch, as well as iPad 3’s microphone, which appears to be different from the one used in the iPad 2. There’s a good chance Apple wants Siri in the next iPad, and for that, they’ll need a top notch microphone and perhaps even a better processor. But there’s an even more notable difference between...

Read more »

Apple Loses, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N Not Banned in Germany

Samsung tried to go around the Galaxy Tab 10.1 ban in Germany by releasing the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, and that seems to have worked.  While Apple attempted to persuade the court that the product infringed its property and should be denied sale, the Judge thought otherwise.  This only means that there will be no preliminary injunction, though.  Apple could still, eventually, win the case and get the item banned, for all the good it would do.  By all accounts, it is more likely that Samsung will have already replaced the Galaxy Tab 10.1N with the Galaxy Tab 11.6 by then.  The next big battle is bound to go down in Australia, where Apple really let loose the dogs of war and launched an explosive legal action not long ag...

Read more »

VIA Intros Dual Core VIA EPIA-M910 Mini-ITX Board

VIA keeps expending its embedded motherboard lineup with new solutions based on the company’s own Nano and Eden microprocessors, the latest of these additions being the EPIA-M910 mini-ITX mainboard. Users have the option of choosing between two board revisions, one packing a 1.6GHz VIA Nano X2 processor, while the other comes with a low-voltage 1.0GHz VIA Eden X2 CPU with passive cooling. Both of these include two processing cores and are paired with the company's VX900H media system hub sporting hardware acceleration support for various HD video formats, including MPEG-2, H.264, VC-1, WMV9 and HDCP for Blu-ray content.  The EPIA-M910 mainboard can also be configured with up to 8GB of system memory, via a pair of full-length DIMMs socket,...

Read more »

More Windows 8 Build Numbers Emerge

On the last day of February 2012, Microsoft will show to the world the beta flavor of its Windows 8 operating system, called Consumer Preview.  The Redmond-based software giant has already confirmed the move officially, and we’re all eagerly waiting to learn more on what it has to unveil to the world on that day.  In the meantime, however, we learn that the work on the final build of the Consumer Preview is not over yet.  In fact, it appears that Microsoft is applying the final touches to the platform, and that it is currently testing beta release candidate builds for the new OS flavor.  A recent post on Winunleaked.tk shows that Microsoft has Windows 8 Consumer Preview in its Escrow period, and that they are moving along...

Read more »

Nokia Maps Suite 2.0 with Full Support for Nokia Belle

Soon after making the new Nokia Belle platform version available for its devices around the world, Nokia announced updates for some of the apps that users can take advantage of on these smartphones.  Among them, we can count the Nokia Maps Suite 2.0, which is now offering full support for the new operating system, while also delivering some additional enhancements.  Among these changes, we can count voice search and geo-tagged photo display, along with a new and improved Route Planner, and more.  The new Maps Suite offers users the possibility to find everything they want faster than before. To select how to reach a destination - including public transport - you will simply have to press and hold.  Moreover, the application...

Read more »

The iPad 3 Doesn’t Have a Quad-Core CPU, Sources Say

Sources talking to The Verge about the latest iPad 3 leaks say the new Apple tablet will deliver pretty much everything that’s been rumored, save for a quad-core CPU. People who are allegedly familiar with the next-generation iPad are telling the publication that Apple has ordered a double resolution display — “a true iPad Retina Display, clocking in at 2048 x 1536.” The sources further said that the iPad 3 would be almost identical to its predecessor in terms of design and form factor, and that it might be about 1 millimeter thicker. Finally, these people said, “the A6 CPU the iPad 3 is likely to sport will include a significantly more powerful GPU.” Nothing to gush about here, except the same people say “the A6 will not be a quad-core...

Read more »

Pre-Orders Suspended for Nikon D800 36-Megapixel DSLR Camera

One would think that a product whose price is of multiple thousands of dollars wouldn't draw so many customers, but Nikon's D800 totally subverted this expectation.  It was only a few days ago that online stores finally began to accept pre-orders for this small technological wonder.  Now, they have stopped accepting such requests because too many have been sent already.  “This item is in high demand and supplies from the manufacturer are limited,” Amazon warns.  “Its availability will fluctuate, and if the item is not currently in stock, we cannot guarantee that we will receive additional quantities in a timely manner.”  Nikon's 36-megapixel FX D800 camera can record video in Full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080 pixels)...

Read more »

Lytro Light Field Camera Dismantled by FCC

The Lytro Light Field Camera is, one might say, the closest thing to a unique device on today's market of photo and video capture products, especially given the FCC's recent findings. The Lytro Light Field camera has passed through the hands of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Indeed, even though the product was never said to possess any sort of wireless connectivity, just this recent filing shows that it does. In fact, the camera boasts an SoC (system-on-chip), called Marvell Avastar 88 W8787, which provides both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi links, though it is unclear if both will be enabled. It is feasible that Lytro will sell Wi-Fi-only / Bluetooth-only models, as well as versions with no wireless support at all. On that note, perhaps...

Read more »

Sony Builds Cyber-Shot TX300V Wireless Charging Camera

Sony has a very special camera on track for the Japanese market, but no other parts of the world, apparently, even though there probably would be no shortage of customers in other regions. Some people may be familiar with the Cyber-shot Digital Camera TX200V, a high-end, waterproof and dustproof camera. It so happens that Sony used that product as a starting point in the creation of a new camera, the Cyber-shot TX300V. By far the most relevant of its assets is the “Multi-Cradle” dock, which uses the TransferJet technology to achieve a rare effect. Long story short, through some techno-magic, the dock can wirelessly charge the TX300V camera, not just read the photos/videos stored on it. Cyber-shot TX300V relies on an 18.2-megapixel backside-illuminated...

Read more »

iPad 3 Aluminum Chassis Leaked

A number of iPad 3 back shells have been photographed in China and subsequently leaked on the web for everyone to see and compare with the iPad 2 version. Not much has changed, as this high-res photo on the left shows, but the manufacturers reportedly say there is a bigger hole for the camera module on the iPad 3. Apple’s next-generation tablet computer will not only boast a better camera, but also a more powerful processor and a Retina display, most analysts agree. The image reportedly stems from a Chinese supplier who makes a living by providing parts to iPad repair shops worldwide. Not long after this leak, a second one emerged - via Apple.pro. This blog has single-handedly leaked more iPhone and iPad prototype cases than any other source...

Read more »

Nokia Belle Brings Great Camera Enhancements

One of the great improvements that Nokia has packed inside the Nokia Belle platform update was related to the device’s camera. To be more precise, the camera update packed inside the new Nokia Belle operating system is the same enhancement that was delivered to the company’s Nokia N8 smartphone a while ago.  Thus, users who will install the new Nokia Belle platform release on their devices will notice a new, streamlined camera UI, similar to the Beta Labs N8 Camera update. Moreover, the update brings along 30fps video recording and continuous autofocus in video close-up mode (though only N8 will benefit from it), along with a series of other enhancements.  “The camera UI in Belle has been further improved compared to the earlier...

Read more »