Motorola RAZR MAXX Goes Official in the UAE, Priced at 625 USD (500 EUR)

Motorola RAZR MAXX has just been introduced in the UAE. The smartphone is one of RAZR’s sequels, but with a much better battery. The handset can be purchased via major retailers in the UAE for a suggested retail price of 2,299 AED (625 USD or 500 EUR).  Powered by Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread platform at launch, Motorola RAZR MAXX has been scheduled for an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade sometime in Q2 2012. Due to the fact that it packs a 3,300 mAh Li-Ion battery, the RAZR MAXX is a bit thicker than the Motorola RAZR. The phone measures 130.7 x 68.9 x 9 mm and weighs around 145g (battery included). According to Motorola, the high-capacity battery should provide up to 25 days of standby time or up to 17.6 hours of talk time....

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HP Will Drop the Compaq Brand Next Year

Once a well-known developer and vendor of computers and related products and services, Compaq has finally reached the point where its name is about to become history. And by “become history” we don't mean to say that it will make some grand achievement, but that it will finally become a thing of the past. HP has stated that, starting at some point in 2013, it will cease using the Compaq brand on everything except some entry-level PCs. Compaq was established in 1982 and was the one that made some of the first IBM PC compatible computers. HP bought it in 2002 but didn't strive to develop it, instead relegating the brand to the low-end monitor and system market. It is for this reason that many consumers don't recognize...

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New Samsung Galaxy Note II Concept Phone Emerges

In early May, Samsung unveiled to the world its latest flagship Android-based device, the Galaxy S III, with a quad-core application processor packs inside, and with a large 4.8-inch touchscreen display on the front. The handset builds on the success of last year’s Galaxy S II, which was also used as base for the building of another high-end handset from Samsung, namely Galaxy Note. Following tradition, a new Galaxy Note model might arrive on shelves with specs that would remind of Galaxy S III, and one concept phone that steps down this road has just made an appearance online. We’re referring here to the Galaxy Note II concept device from Bob Freking (via Concept-phones), which shows design elements familiar to Samsung’s...

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Huawei Ascend P1 Gets FCC Approval, Coming Soon with HSPA+ Support

Ascend P1 is the second Huawei smartphone that gets FCC’s (Federal Communication Commission) approval this month. Huawei Ascend D1 got its certifications last week and is expected to arrive in the US as well. According to the documents filed at FCC, the Ascend P1 has been approved with penta-band HSPA+ / UMTS, which might be an indication that the smartphone is headed to T-Mobile USA or AT&T. However, before making its entrance in North America, Huawei announced the Ascend P1 would be launched in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia this month. Europe and Latin America will also get the smartphone starting June. Huawei Ascend P1 will be shipped with Android 4.0 ICS on-board and a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen...

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Google to Buy Arduinos, Raspberry Pis for Students in England

Google's Eric Schmidt has been relegated mostly to public relations stuff, but that doesn't mean he's not doing some interesting things for the company. For one, it's getting the UK government to reconsider computer science education and science education in general. Not only that, Google is leading, by example, by paying for teachers and computer labs in England. Through an organization, Google will pay for some 100 science teachers, mostly computer science, which will hopefully open children's eyes to the wonders of writing code and science in general. The teachers are just part of the equation, Google will also pay for Raspberry Pi devices, to be used in classes, and even Arduino starter kits. The program is hoped to reach...

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Nokia Plans Slimmer PureView Handsets

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year, Nokia unveiled to the world its first smartphone packing a 41-megapixel photo snapper, namely the Nokia 808 PureView.  The handset is impressive, especially due to its camera capabilities, but the facts that it is quite bulky when compared to today’s slim high-end devices and that it runs under Symbian can be seen as deal breakers. However, it seems that this might change in future models, and that Nokia aims at launching slimmer, more appealing PureView handsets. Vesa Jutila, head of product marketing for the 808 PureView, reportedly confirmed that the company was working on new high-quality imaging devices, but he did not offer specific details on a planned model. However,...

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ZenBook SSD and MacBookAir SSD Are Not Compatible with mSATA

It’s a very good thing that mobile computers are starting to ship with integrated SSD drives next to the traditional HDDs or just SSDs altogether.  We’d rather each notebook came with two 2.5” bays, so that the user can choose whatever configuration he desires. On very small systems like Apple’s MacBookAir and ASUS’ ZenBook, there isn’t room for two 2.5” bays and it’s understandable why the manufacturer would go for only one mSATA SSD, like Apple did, or for a combination between an mSATA SSD and a normal HDD like in the ZenBook. We’ll underline again that we prefer ASUS’s implementation, as it offers good storage capacity, next to the SSD’s speed and short access times. If the user desires greater speed or lower...

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Sprint LG LS860 (Cayenne) Blurry Picture Emerges, It Boasts LTE and Android 4.0 ICS

Two weeks ago a certain LG LS970 (Eclipse 4G LTE) leaked online, but no details on the smartphone’s availability or pricing were unveiled at that time. Today, we have another device that is likely to make its way onto Sprint’s stores. The folks over at BriefMobile have been tipped on the possible upcoming release of another LTE smartphone, the LG LS860, also known as LG Cayenne. Unlike the Eclipse, which is a top-tier Android phone, the LS860 seems more like a mid-range device, though it does come equipped with a dual-core processor. Unfortunately, only a few of the Cayenne specs have been revealed, but more may be unveiled in the near future. Apparently, the LG LS860 will be shipped with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating...

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Nvidia’s Icera Smartphone Chipset Validated by AT&T on the LTE Network

IC and GPU chip designer Nvidia has just announced, on its official website, that the company’s new Icera software modem was certified to work on AT&T LTE networks. The Icera chip has a multimode radio transceiver that can offer 4G LTE at category 2 transfer data rates of up to 50 Mb/s. This is a very fast data transmission solution over mobile phone networks and, for Nvidia, it is truly a necessity if the company wants to succeed as a smartphone processor manufacturer. Future Tegra chips might actually incorporate this type of technology to allow the platform to achieve lower energy consumption and thus, a longer battery life. "Validation with AT&T is an achievement that paves the way for NVIDIA Icera-powered...

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Galaxy S III’s TouchWiz UI Ported to Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II

One of the most appealing features that Samsung’s new Galaxy S III handset arrives on shelves with is the new TouchWiz UI that the handset vendor loaded on top of Google’s Android operating system. It brings along a more appealing visual appearance, icons structured on four or five columns, smoother transitions and the like. Clearly, when coupled with the quad-core application processor inside the Galaxy S III, as well as with the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich platform running on the device, this UI can deliver a great user experience. However, more users of Samsung Android handsets can now take advantage of the goodies that the phone maker packed this UI with. TouchWiz was extracted from Galaxy S III’s ROM and ported...

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First Radeon HD 7700 Card with Overvoltage Support and TransThermal Design

Taiwanese mainboard manufacturer MSI, also known for its powerful notebooks and video cards, has recently announced the R7770 Power Edition 1GD5/OC video card, on its official website. This is a unique model with special cooling and overclocking features. MSI’s new Radeon HD 7770 video card comes with a very special cooling system. It has two fans that can slide back and forth on the cooling heat sink, and that can be removed when the card is not in high overclocking mode. This way, MSI’s R7770 Power Edition 1GD5/OC video card will be quieter and the unnecessary cooling fan can sit tight in the box and doesn’t get worn out. Also, one of the fans can be stacked over the other to increase the airflow in a certain area of...

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Samsung Launches GALAXY Ace DUOS with “Always On Call” Feature

South Korean handset vendor Samsung has just announced the upcoming availability of Galaxy Ace DUOS Android phone. At first glance, this seems to be the GSM variant of the CDMA-enabled Galaxy Ace DUOS, which was launched back in February. The previously launched Galaxy Ace DUOS is dual-SIM and supports both CDMA and GSM networks, whereas the new Galaxy Ace DUOS only comes with GSM support. However, customers looking for a dual-SIM device may want to check this one out, as the handset comes with a neat new feature called “always on.” While this “dual-SIM always on” feature is enabled, the Galaxy Ace DUOS will automatically forward calls from the phone number on SIM 2, even if the owner is using the SIM 1 phone number. This...

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Google to Release 7-Inch Tablet in June, Expects to Ship 600,000 Units

It looks like Google has been working hard to deliver its first 7-inch tablet. Although there have been some speculations that the slate has been delayed due to the fact that it wasn’t competitive enough, new information has emerged that confirms Google is ready to announce the tablet in June. However, the information needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as we don’t have any official confirmation yet. According to DigiTimes, citing “sources from the upstream supply chain,” Google’s 7-inch tablet will start shipping in June. Initially slated for a May release, the tablet was delayed for July, “sources close to the project” claimed last month. Given the fact that the tablet’s price was set at about $250 USD, Google thought...

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Windows Phone 8 Is Expected on Current Devices

Windows Phone 8, the next-generation mobile platform version from Microsoft, is expected to make its way to devices currently available on the market, the latest reports on the matter suggest. Microsoft is preparing new versions of its Windows platform to arrive on shelves later this year, and it is set to target various market segments with them. Thus, we’ll see Windows 8 loaded on x86 devices, regardless of their form factor, we’ll have Windows RT on ARM-powered computers, and there will also be Windows Phone 8, targeted at current-gen smartphones. A recent article on My Microsoft Life claims that the info comes from a source who discussed this with a Waggener Edstrom person, which should add credibility to it.  Clearly,...

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Nokia Phi Emerges in WP Bench Running Windows Phone 8

Microsoft and its partner phone makers are gearing up for the release of Windows Phone 8 and of new devices running under it, one of which might be the Nokia Phi that was just spotted in WP Bench. The Windows Phone benchmarking application shows this handset as being the latest to have been added to its database, with Windows Phone 8 loaded on top, WMPoweruser reports. In fact, the application shows that Nokia Phi packs Windows Phone OS 8.0.9698.0 inside, which could be one of the latest versions of the OS before the final build is pushed out. Since WP Bench results can be tweaked, we’ll take the info on this Nokia handset with a grain of salt, but we’ll keep an eye out for additional details on the device, especially since...

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Power Color Shows Glimpse of Vortex III Cooling System

Following the popular rule “more is better,” well-known video card manufacturer Power Color is reportedly working on a new Vortex cooling solution. The novelty is called Vortex III and comes with three fans. By looking at the picture, we can tell you that the fans feature a smaller diameter than the usual 80 millimeters, or so it appears. Unfortunately, this is still a triple-slot cooling solution. We’d like manufacturers to concentrate on advanced single-slot cooling solutions and efficient passive cooling, but the overclocking trend is on a high wave right now. The GPU that will benefit from Power Color’s Vortex III cooling technology is AMD’s Radeon HD 7970 GHz edition. Yes, this is a faster version of the fast Radeon...

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AMD Piledriver FX Chips Enter Mass Production in Q3

The Bulldozer AMD FX series of central processing units ended up disappointing most people, even though the chip did exactly what AMD said it would. That said, we'll be more cautious in our assumptions regarding the FX-series central processing units that will replace them. Speaking of which, we now know when the first Piledriver FX chips will enter mass production. The information made its way to the Internet not too long ago. Advanced Micro Devices will give the green light for volume production in the third quarter of this year (2012). That's July-September, just before the back-to-school season, which may or may not work in the company's favor. The first client models, or some of them, will use the so-called...

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