Archos G9 Turbo Tablets Ship with Android 4.0 ICS Preinstalled

After releasing the Android 4.0 ICS update for the entire G9 tablet series, Archos has now decided to preinstall this latest version of Google’s OS on all of its G9 Turbo slates.

This means that you will not have to wait for the update to arrive OTA to your tablet, or manually install the firmware yourself, as Archos will take care of this for you.

This will cover both the 8-inch Archos 80 G9 Turbo and the 10-inch 101 G9 Turbo, says Eurodroid.

Archos’ G9 Turbo slates are basically supercharged versions of the regular G9 models as they are fitted with faster 1.5GHz processors.

If you’re interested in getting your hands on these Android 4.0 tablets, you will be able to order them from Archos’ website, with the 80 G9 Turbo starting at £199.98, and the 101 G9 Turbo at £249.98.

Read more »

Intel 22nm Haswell Processors Will Launch in March 2013, Says Report

Even though Intel has yet to release its new 22nm Core processors based on the Ivy Bridge architecture, sources in Taiwan have already found out when the chip giant plans to introduce its next-gen Haswell CPUs.

According to DigiTimes, the outfit has scheduled the official introduction of these processors, and that of the accompanying Lynx Point chipsets, for March of 2013.

No specific date was mentioned as we are still a year away from the alleged launch, but this report seems to confirm a leaked Intel slide, which made its appearance about a month ago, revealing that Haswell is scheduled for a March-June release.

This previous report also mentioned that Intel would go for a multi-stage launch for Heswell, the first chips to arrive making part of 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 next year.

Haswell will be a “Tock” on Intel’s roadmap, meaning that it has an entirely new architecture built using the 22nm production node.

With Haswell, Intel plans to split its product range into two distinct groups. The first group includes the company's desktop and notebook processors, while the latter is especially designed for Ultrabooks and drops the usual 2-chip platform approach that Intel has been using for quite some time in favor of a system-on-a-chip (SoC) design.

Desktop CPUs will feature either two of four processing cores with TDPs of 35, 45, 65 or 95 Watt, and will include a dual-channel DDR3/DDR3L memory controller, as well as GT2 or GT1 integrated graphics cores.

Mobile chips will be available in the same dual or quad-core configurations, but feature the more powerful Intel GT3 GPU, while the memory controller only supports DDR3L DIMMs. 

Other features include support for the DirectX 11.1 API, support for the AVX2 instruction set, as well as a series of IPC improvements meant to increase single-thread performance.

Read more »

Gigabyte’s Factory Overclocked Radeon HD 7870 and HD 7850 Now Official

A little more than a week after AMD officially introduced its Radeon HD 7800 series GPUs, Gigabyte unveiled two new graphics cards based on the Radeon HD 7870 and HD 7850 designs that come factory overclocked in order to boost their gaming performance.

The more powerful of the two solutions announced today is dubbed the GV-R787OC-2GD and, as its name suggests, this is based on the faster AMD Radeon HD 7870 design.

Much like other high-end Gigabyte creations, the GV-R787OC-2GD also sports the company’s proprietary WindForce 3x cooling system, which relies on three 100mm anti-turbulence inclined fans to dissipate heat produced by the card.

The advanced cooling system is also accompanied by a special Ultra Durable PCB that utilizes only high-end components in order to improve the reliability and overclocking potential of the card.

According to Gigabyte, this design has the benefit of making the card virtually silent even at full load as it generates just 31dB despite being overclocked to 1,100MHz.

The second video card to be announced by Gigabyte today is the GV-R785OC-2GD, which is built around AMD’s Pitcairn Pro graphics core.

Compared to its older sibling, this card uses a much simpler cooling solution dubbed the WindForce 2x by Gigabyte. Despite this change, the installed GPU is also coming factory overclocked to work at 975MHz.

Both cards include a 256-bit memory bus that is connected to 2GB of GDDR5 video buffer working at 1.2GHz (4,800MHz data rate).

As far as pricing goes, Gigabyte has chosen to respect AMD’s MSRP for the Radeon HD 7870 and HD 7850, meaning that the two solutions cost $349 and $249 (265 and 190 EUR), respectively.

Both AMD Radeon HD 7800-series graphics cards have been made official by AMD the last week and are based on the company’s new Graphics Core Next (GSCN) architecture, which made its debut in the Radeon HD 7970.

Read more »

Windows Phone Tango Officially Introduced in China on March 21

Microsoft is readying its official entrance on the Chinese smartphone market with its latest mobile platform, Windows Phone Tango.

It appears that the Chinese press has already started to receive invitations to the event that will be held on March 21. Although the invitation does not hint to any devices announcements, Chinese customers can already purchase a Windows Phone device.

True to its promise, HTC launched yesterday its Triumph device, a rebranded HTC Titan. The smartphone is powered by Microsoft’s Windows Phone Tango operating system, which is the company’s lighter entry-level software.

The HTC Triumph is currently available in China for about 700 USD (535 EUR) outright, which is exceptionally high if we take into consideration Windows Phone prices in other regions, such as North America and Europe.

While there’s no indications that all Windows Phone devices launched in China will be shipped with Windows Phone Tango, it remains to be seen what is the exact software configuration of Nokia’s Lumia series smartphones, which are expected to arrive on the market on March 28.

Nokia’s CEO, Stephen Elop already confirmed the company’s launch event will be held on March 28 in Beijing. 

The Finnish handset vendor is expected to release the Nokia Lumia 800C at China Telecom, as well as other Lumia smartphones, specifically designed for the Chinese market.

Aside from Lumia 800C which has already been confirmed, rumor has it that Nokia plans to release the Lumia 719C and Lumia 610S, though the information has yet to be confirmed.

So far, Nokia and HTC are the only handset manufacturers that expressed their intention to launch Windows Phone devices in China, but other companies may follow suit.

According to the folks over at Liveside, Microsoft also plans to open up the Windows Phone marketplace for Chinese customers, soon after Windows Phone Tango’s official announcement.

Read more »

1150MHz Factory Overclocked PowerColor PCS+ HD7770 Now Official

A little more than a month after AMD introduced the Radeon HD 7770, PowerColor announced a new custom video card based on this design, which utilizes the company’s high-performance PCS+ cooling system and comes factory overclocked to an impressive 1150MHz.

The graphics card in question is called the PCS+ HD7770 GHz Edition and comes as one of the highest clocked HD 7770 solutions we have seen to date.

In order to do so, on top of the Cape Verde XT GPU PowerColor installed a large aluminum heatsink topped by a high-airflow fan, especially designed to dissipate the heat generated by the card without increasing the noise generated while running.

In addition, the company included a custom-made plastic shroud which ensures that some of the resulting airflow is pushed towards the card's PCB where it should reach its VRMs and memory chips.

Speaking of memory, PowerColor decided to pair the PCS+ HD7770 GHz Edition with 1GB of DDR5 video buffer, which operates at 1,250MHz (5,000MHz data rate), while the GPU is run at 1150MHz. 

This is 150MHz higher than AMD's reference clock. Going to the back of PowerColor’s latest creation, we get to see that the Taiwanese company has decided to go with its standard video output arrangement for midrange GPUS, which includes a DVI, an HDMI port and two mini-DP connectors.

The PCS+ HD7770 GHz Edition should be available right as we speak, but so far the PowerColor hasn’t released any info detailing the price of this graphics card.

The Radeon HD 7770 is AMD's latest mainstream card and is based on the Cape Verde XT core, which includes 640 streaming units, 40 texturing units, 16 ROP units and a 128-bit memory bus. 

The load TDP is estimated at 80W, so it can be powered using a single PCI Express 6-pin connector.

Read more »

Intel Adds Five New CPUs to Xeon E5 Processor Range

Officially introduced just the other week, Intel’s Xeon E5 processor range was quietly updated a little while ago with five new processors, two of these coming as embedded options while the other two target the OEM space.

The OEM processors, which were uncovered by CPU-World, are called the Xeon E5-1603 and E5-1607. 

According to the information gathered, the Xeon E5-1603 and E5-1607 operate at 2.8GHz and 3GHz, respectively, while featuring four processing cores, a 130W TDP and 10MB of shared Level 3 cache memory.

Both of these processors are destined to be used in single-socket workstations and lack support for Intel's Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost technologies. 

Since the two E5-1600 series processors are positioned as entry-level Xeon CPUs, their prices are set accordingly, with the E5-1603 retailing for $198 (151 EUR), while the Xeon E5-1607 has a $244 (roughly 186 EUR) MSRP.

The two other chips uncovered by CPU-World are the Intel Xeon E5-2648L and E5-2658. As mentioned previously, these target embedded systems and their base clock speeds are set at 1.8GHz and 2.1GHz, respectively with 2.1GHz and 2.4GHz maximum Turbo.

Both chips feature an eight-core design with Hyper-Threading support, 20MB of Level 3 cache, and carry 70 and 95 Watt thermal envelopes. They support all the technologies and instruction set extensions available in the Sandy Bridge-EP architecture.

Finally, the last chip to be unearthed is the octo-core Xeon E5-2689, which has a 2.6GHz base clock and 3.6GHz maximum Turbo Boost frequency. The CPU also sports 20MB of L3 cache memory and features a 115W TDP.

The official price of the Intel E5-2689 was not disclosed, but the MSRP of both the Xeon E5-2648L and E5-2658 is set at $1186, which roughly translates into about 908 EUR.

Read more »

Nokia Gets Its Own Slide-to-Unlock Patent

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has got its hands on a slide-to-unlock patent of its own, though its procedure is a bit different than the one used by Apple. 

Nokia’s patent involves the sliding of an icon across the screen to reveal at least one app icon. At the same time, the icon slid across the screen expands and is eventually overlaid onto the app icon. 

If the user slides further across the screen to a specific unlocking area, the screen will be unlocked and the desired application launched. 

Some owners of Android-based devices might have already met this, since manufacturers chose to implement it with their products. 

While Nokia has filed for this patent back in 2007, Google reportedly filed for a similar patent last year, though it might take a while before USPTO has a closer look at it.

Read more »

Samsung’s Windows Phone-Based i667 (Mandel) Spotted at the FCC

Nokia and HTC are the first mobile phone makers in the world to have announced the release of a Windows Phone-powered LTE-capable smartphones, but they are not the last, that’s for sure. 

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics is also gearing up for the release of a device to pack these capabilities. 

The handset was previously rumored to arrive on shelves under the codename of Mandel, while featuring model number SGH-i667. 

The mobile phone was expected to be officially introduced during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but the only Windows Phone device to be launched there was the Lumia 900. 

Featuring support for LTE connectivity, the handset has just made an appearance at the FCC, which suggests that it might soon become official. 

The FCC documents also confirm that the new mobile phone will arrive on shelves with support for AT&T’s LTE network in the United States, and that it will also include dual-band AT&T HSPA+ capabilities, complemented by the usual WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity options. 

This first LTE-capable Windows Phone device from Samsung should be a larger flavor of the Focus S. 

Beyond that, there are no details on its features and capabilities. Specific info on when the upcoming mobile phone might become available for purchase lacks as well. 

However, we could expect Samsung to try and push it to shelves as soon as possible. The South Korean maker has been long trying to become the leading handset vendor in the world, and has been fighting Nokia and other phone designers in the various areas of the market, including Windows Phone and LTE. 

This means that it might consider launching the phone as soon as possible, to offer a rival for Nokia’s new Lumia 900 and for the HTC TITAN II device, which should arrive on shelves at AT&T in the coming weeks.

Read more »

FCC Approves RIM’s PlayBook with HSPA+ and LTE

Research In Motion has been long expected to bring PlayBook versions with enhanced connectivity capabilities to the market, and it appears that the company is finally nearing the availability of these models. 

Both HSPA+ and LTE-capable PlayBook versions have been spotted at the FCC, although no specific info on when they might be launched has emerged so far. 

However, the documents that appeared over at the FCC confirmed some additional details on the new devices, such as the fact that RIM upgraded their dual-core processors to 1.5GHz. 

Moreover, the upcoming PlayBook flavors are also said to arrive on shelves with support for NFC connectivity.

Previously leaked details on RIM’s plans for the current year suggested that the company might launch these new tablet flavors in the middle of the year, but no confirmation has emerged so far. Stay tuned for more on this.

Read more »

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) 6.2 Available for Download in Beta Zone

Research In Motion recently updates it instant messaging application, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) to version 6.1, which is now available for download in the App World. 

However, it appears that the company has more features to add to its popular application, which is why it has released a 6.2 beta version.

BlackBerry Messenger 6.2 is now available for download via Beta Zone, but requires users to sign up for an account. 

According to the folks over at BlackBerryCool, BlackBerry Messenger 6.2 will bring a new NFC (Near Field Communications) feature called “Tap to Auto-Add,” which allows users to set up their application to automatically add any contact that is shared by tapping.

Other new features that are expected to make it in the final version of BBM includes: Animated display pictures, Chane name or massage inline, BlackBerry Tag enhancements, Resend a message and Search.

Read more »

Script: KinectJS

KinectJS is a JavaScript library for supporting motion gestures in HTML5. The motion gestures are acquired from a Kinect device via a custom built Adobe Air app.

For now KinectJS support is limited to Google Chrome 15+ and Firefox 10+, but as more browsers implement the needed HTML5 features, they'll be able to interpret motion gestures and render out the desired action on the page as well.

Usage scenarios for KinectJS include game engines mostly, allowing developers to port some classic NES and even newer, more powerful Microsoft Kinect games to the browser.

Currently, KinectJS supports some cool features like 20 tracked joints per skeleton, motor controls, 2 people playing/tracking at the same time, the ability to take screenshots and save them locally, joints tracking relative to the body or to the Kinect's field of view, predefined gestures and much more.

KinectJS is framework agnostic and can be used all alone, or with a more powerful framework like jQuery, MooTools or Prototype.

Download KinectJS here.

Read more »

Google Is Using Sewage Water to Keep Its Servers Cool

Google is becoming increasingly creative with its data centers and we're not talking about the hardware, but the cooling systems. Google is trying to be as green and efficient as possible, but even the latest green technology can help you so much.

To get the best results, you have to rely on the local conditions at any data center. That's why it built a huge data center in Sweden which uses sea water to keep cool.

Now it's detailing how it uses recycled water, waste water that has been partially cleaned, to cool another data center in the US.

"A typical data center can use hundreds of thousands of gallons of water a day. When we first built the Georgia facility in 2007, the water we used came from the local potable (drinking) water supply," Google explained.

"But we soon realized that the water we used didn’t need to be clean enough to drink," it said.

"So we talked to the Douglasville-Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority (known locally as the WSA) about setting up a system that uses reuse water—also known as grey- or recycled water—in our cooling infrastructure," it added.

Google taps into about 30 percent of reuse water from the local treatment plant, pipes it through its data center and then diverts whatever doesn't evaporate in the process into another treatment plant it built specifically for this project.

There, the dirty water is cleaned up with disinfectants and by removing any mineral solids from it.

The water then goes back to the river cleaner. Not only is Google keeping its servers cool without using up precious drinking water supplies, it's also cleaning up 30 percent of the partially recycled water that would have otherwise made its way back into the river untreated.

Read more »

NVIDIA Kepler May Include a New Anti-Aliasing Algorithm

NVIDIA's Kepler GPU is on the minds of many people right now, so it stands to reason that there are many eyes out for leaks, like the one that we stumbled upon just a short time ago. 

Someone on the Expreview BBS forums posted a comparison picture of two Anti-Aliasing algorithms in action, side by side. 

On the left we have the 8x AA often used by gamers, while on the right we have the new algorithm that the next-generation GPU will supposedly bring. 

We aren't sure what to think about the picture really. While the source is pretty reputable, we can't help but wonder if 8x AA really does look as bad as that. Perhaps the monitor photographed had a particularly large screen, but still. 

At any rate, there are many AA algorithms in use today, most of which are better than the “ordinary” MSAA, not necessarily because of higher image quality, but because of better operational efficiency. 

That means that Kepler must have one that is superior in both areas, but especially the former, if this is to make any difference in consumer interest.

Read more »

Sapphire's Radeon HD 7970 OC Edition Graphics Card

There is a new graphics card in town, one that Sapphire created based on the Radeon HD 7970 from Advanced Micro Devices, the one that leads its single-GPU collection. 

Making an already powerful video card stronger than ever takes a bit of effort and imagination, especially when it comes to cooling. 

Sapphire managed it by means of the Dual-X multi-heatpipe cooler that has two fans and a heatsink that covers more or less the whole PCB. 

The base specs of the HD 7970 OC Edition, as the card is called, are left intact, except for the clock speeds. 

The GPU runs at 950 MHz instead of 925 MHz, while the 3 GB of GDDR5 VRAM operate at 1,425 MHz (5.7 GHz) instead of 1,375 MHz (5.5 GHz). 

What's more, the dual BIOS feature allows owners to easily push the card even higher, to 1 GHz and 1,450 MHz (5.8 GHz), respectively. 

That said, there are still 2,048 stream processors, plus a memory interface of 384 bits. 

Furthermore, for connection to more or less any monitor or HDTV, Sapphire tossed in Dual-Link DVI, HDMI with 3D, DisplayPort 1.2. 

Not only that, but for those who want multi-display setups, the company will be shipping some cable adapters so that three or even six screens may be used. 

There is an 8 PIN to 4 PIN Power Cable, a DVI to VGA Adapter, a Mini-DP to DP Cable, a 6 PIN to 4 PIN Power Cable, an HDMI to SL-DVI Adapter(Full Retail SKU only) and a Mini Display Port to SL-DVI Active dongle. 

Finally, this would not be a top-tier graphics board if it didn't have a CrossFire Bridge Interconnect Cable, for multi-card setups. 

The price is of $579.99 on Newegg, which translates into 444 Euro, according to current exchange rates. All one needs now is a motherboard to match, like MSI's or any other provider's 7-Series.

Read more »

Deepcool’s Gammaxx 400 CPU Cooler Targets Gamers on a Budget

Just one week after it was showcased for the first time, the Gammaxx 400 CPU cooler was launched officially by Deepcool, which has also started shipping this low-cost solution to retail stores all over the world.

The CPU cooler itself is formed from one of the most compact tower heatsinks we have seen to date, equipped with four U-shaped direct contact copper heatpipes that are designed to draw the heat away from the CPU and into a large aluminum fin array, seconded by a 120mm fan.

Like most other fans used for today's coolers, this one is also PWM controlled and its speed varies between 900 and 1500 RPM, depending on the CPU temperature.

According to Deepcool, its noise level should never go above 32dBA, while, at the minimum rotation speed supported, this generates only 21dBA of noise, making it almost inaudible.

Performance freaks should be glad to know that Deepcool’s latest creation can be fitted with a secondary 120mm to create a push-pull configuration.

Outside of the 120mm fan, the Gammaxx 400 is also shipped together with a tube of high-performance thermal grease, an additional pair of fan mounting clips as well as with the required AMD and Intel CPU mounting clips.

These are compatible with Intel's LGA 1155, and LGA 1156 sockets and can also be used with AMD's AM2, AM3, AM3+ and FM1 processor mounts. Sadly, LGA 2011 Sandy Bridge-E systems aren’t supported.

Thanks to the low dimension of the heatsink, Deepcool was able to decrease the overall weight of the Gammaxx 400 to 638g (a tad under 1.1 pounds) together with the included 120mm fan. 

According to TechPowerUp, pricing is set at a €29.99 (roughly $39 US). In addition to the 400, Deepcool’s Gammaxx CPU cooler range, introduced at CeBIT 2012, also includes the Gammaxx 200 and 300 models, but no info regarding their availability was made official.

Read more »

Canon 5D Mark III Camera Almost Selling in Singapore

Canon was found to be the most popular camera brand in a recent survey conducted by Sortable, but even that reputation might not be enough to prevent people from fainting or crying at the sight of a certain price tag. 

Said price tag belongs to the Canon 5D Mark III camera, which is supposed to go on sale in Singapore this Saturday, March 17, 2012. 

The EOS 5D Mark III body alone costs S$4,699, or US$3,705, while the EOS 5D Mark III kit (body with EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens) will need S$5,999 / US$4730. 

In case you're wondering what could possibly cost so much, the product has the new DIGIC 5+ processor, a 36 x 24mm full-frame CMOS sensor, ISO sensitivity of 100 – 25,600 (expandable up to L:50, H1:51,200) and a shooting speed of up to 6 fps.

Read more »

RIM Confirms BlackBerry OS 10 for the PlayBook

Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion is set to deliver an update to the BlackBerry OS 10 to the owners of the PlayBook tablet PC, the company has confirmed. 

We already knew that the vendor planned the release of this OS upgrade for its smartphones, and it appears that tablet PC owners won’t be left out of this either. 

Rob Orr, RIM's VP of product management, is the one to have confirmed the company’s plans on the matter. He was clear about this, and also detailed the availability of the update for BlackBerry smartphones. 

"We've said publicly a number of times that our first BB10 handset will be available towards the end of 2012, and that's still firmly the case," he stated, a recent article on TechRadar notes. 

At the moment, RIM’s tablet runs under PlayBook OS 2.0, which was released in February.

Read more »

Nokia’s Marko Ahtisaari Confirms Plans for a Windows Tablet

Before the end of this year, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia might bring to the market its first tablet PC, some of the latest reports on the matter suggest.

The company has been long rumored to plan the release of a slate that could arrive on shelves with Microsoft’s Windows platform, and it appears that we’re finally nearing an official release. 

In 2012, Nokia is expected to launch a tablet that would take advantage of Microsoft’s soon-to-be-released Windows 8 platform. 

These are only suppositions, since nothing has been made official on the matter as of yet. However, Nokia hasn’t yet denied the possible release of such a device. 

In fact, it appears that the company has confirmed the upcoming device. According to Reuters, Marko Ahtisaari, head of design at Nokia, spoke of this tablet with the Finnish magazine Kauppalehti Optio.

While he did not offer specific info on the device, nor on its availability, what he said offered some substantiality to previous reports on Nokia’s plans. 

The Finnish handset vendor is expected to release the said slate with a Qualcomm Snapdragon application processor inside, and with a 10-inch screen. 

This means that its owners will be provided with the features and capabilities of Windows on ARM, and that they will enjoy only the Metro UI and the applications designed for it. 

Considering the tight relation between Nokia and Microsoft, it does not come as a surprise that the former is working on the release of a Windows 8 tablet. 

In fact, its release was somehow expected ever since Nokia announced that it adopted Windows Phone as its only smartphone OS moving forth. 

The release of this device should prove beneficial for all involved parties. After all, Nokia does have an impressive smartphone user base to tap on to with a tablet PC (Windows Phone, Symbian and MeeGo Nokia users included).

Read more »

MSI Officially Introduces Its 7-Series Motherboards

The Intel Ivy Bridge central processing units may have been pushed back, but that doesn't mean motherboard makers have to delay their own product launches, and MSI definitely isn't willing to do so.

The company has formally released the 7-Series motherboards based on the high-end Z77, the slightly less high-end H77 and the mainstream B75 chipsets.

The Z77 models are called Z77A-GD80, Z77A-GD65, Z77A-GD55, Z77A-G45 and Z77A-G43. The H77 motherboards bear the names of ZH77-G43 and H77MA-G43. As for the B75, they are called B75A-G43 and B75MA-P45.

We aren't going to start listing all the features of each platform, since that would take forever and people would be better off just going here if they want spec sheets.

Still, for those who want to get at least some idea of what to expect, the newcomers have the OC Genie II overclocking tool and the UEFI / Windows-based dual-graphical interface ClickBIOS II.

Buyers will also find native USB 3.0 support in the chipsets, along with Thunderbolt (on the Z77A-GD80).

Furthermore, the military Class III components, like Highly-conductive Polymerized Capacitors (Hi-c CAP), DrMOS II, Super Ferrite Choke (SFC) and Solid Capacitors (Solid CAP), increase stability and product life.

Moving on, the PCI Express 3.0 interface technology should also get a mention, for its bandwidth of 32 GB/s, which even the fastest video cards will be hard-pressed to use fully.

Not only that, but the Multi-BIOS II technology lets overclockers, through use of a switch on the mainboard, boot a second BIOS when the first one becomes corrupted.

Finally, MSI gave its Z77/H77/B75 motherboards the THX TruStudio Pro audio and the Lucid Virtu MVP automatic graphics switching technologies.

All in all, buyers can start planning their new and beastly PCs and how to best use the Control Center II software to overclock the living lights out of them.

Read more »

Alleged Rendering of Samsung Galaxy S III Emerges

What would allegedly be a leaked photo of Samsung’s Galaxy S III smartphone has started to make the rounds on the web recently, only to be considered more fake than the real deal. 

We all know that Samsung is getting ready for the release of a successor for its Galaxy S II smartphone, and that it might make it official as soon as this month. 

What we don’t know as of yet is how exactly the device would look like, or what specific features Samsung might include inside it. 

Of course, leaked info on the phone’s specifications has already emerged online, suggesting that it might be released with a quad-core application processor inside, most probably running at 1.5GHz. 

The handset was also said to be on its way to the market with a larger, 4.8-inch touchscreen display, and to pack an 8-megapixel photo snapper on the back. 

Moreover, the upcoming device is said to run under Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, while featuring the TouchWiz UI on top. 

If you have a quick look at the smartphones that have been announced during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, you’ll realize that these specs are bound to prove real. 

What might not pan out, however, is the phone’s outer design that can be seen in the photo attached to this article. 

Available courtesy of phoneArena, the photo is supposed to be showing us the upcoming Galaxy S III flagship device, but, instead, it appears to be nothing more than a Photoshop rendering. 

While the larger display could pan out, along with the lack of physical buttons and thinner body, what can be seen on the display proves that this is not the real press photo of Galaxy S III. 

The fonts used are too large, the notifications are too vague, while the line of light traveling across the phone’s front is discontinued, as SlashGear explains in a recent post. 

This does not mean that Galaxy S III might not resemble this handset, it only means that it is not the device that can be seen in this photo. Hopefully, it won’t be long before the actual Galaxy S III makes an official appearance, so stay tuned.

Read more »